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Another type of deck, one that I like just as much as combo is the synergy deck. Card synergy is where two or more cards work together well, but not necessarily combo. A good example of this would be Mobilization and Mirari's Wake. The Wake makes more mana, and Mobilization makes creatures with the mana. To boot everything off, Mirari's Wake pumps your soldiers. These two cards have synergy, as this “combo” isn’t enough to win the game with, but it’s a nice interaction. Card synergy is fun, but it’s not something that is going to make a one turn win. One huge part of the game of Magic is coming into play effects and sacrifice effects. These effects are one time deals, which make them a nice incentive to play the card, but not exactly great unless you’ve got some way to make them happen over and over again. Of course, using Eternal Witness just once is perfectly fine by me. But it’d be great if you could use it over and over again! That’s why, back in Mirrodin block, people came up with the deck U/G Shard, which bounced your own Eternal Witness with Crystal Shard so that you could play it over and over. It that with cards like Viridian Shaman as well, which helped out against the tide of Affinity. Now with cards like Stampeding Serow combo'ing with Eternal Witness to bring back Plow Under each turn, or Skull Collector and Chittering Rats setting a lockdown on your opponent’s hand, it’s easy to see why people like to replay those effects. And that’s what this week’s Raiding the Dollar Bin Deck does! Every comes into play effect or sacrifice effect can be used over and over and over. The catch? Each creature must have a power of 1 or less. This is a synergistic deck that does some pretty wacky stuff with one of my favorite cards to come out in a long time: Shirei, Shizo’s Caretaker. Let’s take a look.
Phyrexian Altar makes a nice little combo with Wall of Blossoms, letting you draw an extra two cards in your turn. Exhume gets back dead Shireis, and other creatures when necessary. Sekki, Season’s Guide comes in as a game finisher, as well as a creature that can be recurred with Shirei. A nice way to end things, if you ask me. This is a slow deck, so be careful with things. If you’ve only got one Shirei in hand, don’t play it against a fully untapped control/counter player. You’re just asking for trouble. Shirei is the combo, or at least what makes this deck run, so you need him out. Sometimes it’s best to take care of making him versus control when your opponent is tapped down. Things to Remember 1) Don’t forget to attack! In the midst of all the combo'ing you’re doing, you might forget to attack. DON’T! Bone Shredder and Blasting Station clears your opponent’s board so that you can come across with your weenie creatures. If you don’t like what happens when you attack, just sacrifice a Spore Frog. 2) Attacking creatures come back untapped. Another cool thing to remember is that tapped creatures, once sacrificed, will come back at the end of the turn untapped, so you can block with creatures you attacked with! It’s like vigilance, but better, since you get stuff from the sacrifice. 3) Shirei is a 2/2. That means he can be Shocked and Bolted and etc. A good card suggestion, since you are playing Sakura-Tribe Elder, is to splash white and play Oracle’s Attendants which not only recurs, but protects your Shirei from damage. Suggestions for Card Additions With Shirei, the possibilities for decks and combos is almost endless. My favorite combo is one with Deranged Hermit and Blasting Station, dealing a wonderful 5 damage each turn, or if you feel like it, 4 squirrels a turn. That’s not just your turn, that’s every turn. Again, this combo is in the vein of Beacon of Creation + Blasting Station or Endless Swarm + Blasting Station, so we know it works. Another awesome idea is to play Apprentice Necromancer. It’s ability lets you get back a dead Shirei, and the Necromancer, if you stack the abilities right, will come back before Shirei is sacrificed, meaning you can put the dead Shirei out each turn! Plus, if one of your creatures dies before Shirei is out, you can reanimate it, and get both the Necromancer and the other creature back! Now that’s utility! Endlessly recurring things makes some mediocre cards really good. One of my favorites is Pardic Miner, locking down your opponent from ever playing lands again. Here are just some, SOME, of the possibilities with Shirei. Ravenous Rats (hand control) For more fun, try Abyssal Gatekeeper by sacrificing it to Altar or Station. You pass by the protection and targeting stuff of your opponent’s creatures and you get all your creatures back! Daring Apprentice sets up a soft counter lock that can’t be countered with normal counterspells. Cards like Fire Bowman, Mogg Fanatic and Dwarven Scorcher deal creature damage, and Fire Bowman or Mogg Fanatic can deal damage in replacement of Bile Urchin. Moonlight Strider protects your Shireis, and gets back those Bile Urchins, Frostlings, Kami of False Hopes, Hana Kamis, and Dreamcatchers that you lost before Shirei came out. An interesting addition from the 3rd Portal set (which is tournament legal here in a few months) is Loyal Retainers. It provides so that you never have to worry about Shirei. As long as you can sacrifice them, they come back and he stays in play. Rishadan Cutpurse provides semi-upkeep costs for your opponents that they have to pay each turn. Can you see why Shirei costs 5 mana? For added craziness, you could combo your Shirei with Meishin the Mind Cage, a new rare from Saviors of Kamigawa. It’ll make all creatures -X/-0, which will drop most creatures below the Shirei trigger, and he’ll bring back cards like Eternal Witness, Viridian Shaman, Doomed Necromancer, Rotlung Reanimator, Lawbringer, Chittering Rats, and all sorts of other creatures ready to be exploited. Sounds good, no?
Well, that’s it for me this week. Join me next week for the results of the LandSavvy.dec competition, and another crazy Dollar Bins deck! And remember all you casual players; Magic bliss is only a dollar bin away. ~Death_By_Beebles~ If you have a supposed junk or dollar rare that you would like Death_By_Beebles to cover in Raiding the Dollar Bins, contact him at : deathbybeebles@yahoo.com You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here. Most Popular
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Shirei,
Can I? 
The
main idea for this deck is to play out some early creatures, and on turn 4 or 5,
play Shirei. Mulliganing here is aggressive, so if you don’t have Time of Need
or Shirei in your opening hand, you should probably send it back and try again.
Once Shirei is in play, the wackiness happens. Bile Urchin becomes 1 life lost
each turn, every turn. Sakura-Tribe gets you another land each turn. Spore Frog
sets up a combat damage lock. If your opponent is playing quick creatures with
no other kills, he’s going to be in a world of hurt. Bone Shredder keeps your
opponent’s creature count to a minimum, and Blasting Station takes care of
artifact and black creatures. As long as you’re sacrificing 1 power or less
creatures, then you’re ok, since they’ll come back at the end of the turn.
