This article was republished on 12/28/06. ~Streetz~

Time Spiral has everyone that still plays (and even those that use to play) Magic beside themselves. The wacky, nostalgic, powerful cards are, perhaps, a little too much for us meager casual players to take in all at once. Scion of the Ur-Dragon. Ancestral Vision. Sengir Nosferatu. Deep-Sea Kraken! There is one card in particular that I would like to take the time to ‘take in’ or better said ‘poke’: Stuffy Doll. (You know, no matter how I word that, it sounds wrong…)

It’s kind of like a cross between Darksteel Colossus and Voodoo Doll with a twist of Prodigal Sorcerer. Who would have ever thought to make a card like this? In some context, it’s undeniably broken. However, for the purpose of this article, I will call it mediocre just so I can write something about it. For that’s the purpose of this series, to make cool decks using mediocre cards.

Stuffy Doll is combo-licious. There are soooo many things you can do with it while they all boil down to the same thing: damaging your own creature to kill your opponent. There are so many flavorful ways of doing it… but the most obvious way to everyone on the Internet is to use Pariah! Who would have thought it?

Actually, everyone. I’ve received about 20 emails already from people trying to be the first to say, I thought of it! I guess that’s one of the things that is a downside about casual: someone else in the world has thought of it too! However, that’s not the focus of today’s venture into Stuffiness. Making crazy, cool decks is.

Quick Note: Yes, I have read Anthony Alongi’s article on the card and I will admit some of his suggestions have inspired some of my card choices in some of the decks. However, I still made the decks (with exception to possibly one).

Stuffy Doll: Our next Pariah!

There are so many cool things to do with Stuffy Doll but I found it was inevitable to have to use Pariah in the first deck. Enchant Stuffy Doll with Pariah and sit back and watch opponent(s) kill themselves(s) while they try to kill you. Mind you, life loss effects. –X/-X effects and Edicts wreck Stuffy Doll, but let’s pretend they don’t exist for a moment.

Getting Stuffy Doll into play can be the tricky part. It costs five so without mana acceleration, getting it into play in time to wreck your opponent can be difficult. That’s why I’ve included Boros Signet and Seething Song. Plus, you'll find three copies of Trash for Treasure to search out for your Doll in the first few turns. Fodder for the Trash for Treasure lies in your Signets and your Myr.

But the Myr works on double duty. He helps to junk dive for your dead artifacts when he hits the graveyard like previously Trash for Treasured artifacts or even your Stuffy Doll should someone manage to get around its indestructibility. Privileged Position will prevent your opponent from targeting Stuffy Doll with bounce or other nasty effects.

Some other gems in the deck include Pyroclasm, Wrath of God and Entangler. Pyroclasm works wonders with Stuffy Doll but more importantly with the early game. Until you can get out your combo, you are easy pickings for anyone playing weenies or goblins… or really any deck that gets lots of creatures on the board early. Pyroclasm will help with that problem. Wrath of God serves the same purpose but for the mid game. Remember that when you cast Wrath of God, your Stuffy Doll won’t die. It will remain in play to further create havoc for your opponent. Lastly, the lone Entangler. I included this card for fun only as with it, you can block any number of creatures. That will certainly create a stalemate on your opponent’s side!

Honestly, this deck could use some fine-tuning. After playing with it you may find you need some more creatures and less creature sweepers like Pyroclasm and Wrath of God. Or perhaps you want to make it with more burn cards. However you want to modify it, read on. I may cover some of the perspectives of this deck you are thinking of.

Dipping into Tempest

Tempest had this cool little set of creatures called ‘en-Kors’. It looks like they are bringing them back into Time Spiral too.. this time with their own creature type! However, the en-Kors of old could transfer damage from themselves to another creature for the low cost of zero mana! That’s right! Zero Mana!

This kind of mechanic works wonders with Stuffy Doll as you don’t have to focus all of your efforts ON stuff doll. With the en-Kors, you can let them do all of the dirty work. Just attack and wait for them to be blocked, block with them, or whatever. Once damage is assigned to them, redirect all of that damage to your Stuffy Doll and watch your opponent cringe in pain. Let’s take a look at the deck I’ve created using them. I’ve also included a few other tidbits (some as suggested by Anthony Alongi) into the deck which I’ll get into more in a bit.

You’ll notice I still added Pariah to the deck. My defense: it’s a mono-white deck! Why wouldn’t I add Pariah… it’s seemingly the best white combo card for Stuffy Doll. If it annoys you, just replace it with more Righteousness or something.

Primarily, this deck acts like a weenie deck. Mother of Runes, Nomads en-Kor, Warrior en-Kor, Spirit Link… all of these cards are typical to weenie decks. At least, my kind of weenie decks I guess. Anyway, the beginning of the game should involve a nice arsenal of efficient weenies with the Mother of Runes keeping all of your weenies in check. You have Eternal Dragon to fetch out your basic plains to keep your mana available there. Sol Ring was included for the mana advancement of Stuffy Doll but it also works to accelerate Pariah, Peregrine Mask and Eternal Dragon’s plainscycling. That’s assuming you get one in your first four turns.

Speaking of Peregrine Mask, I know you think I’m crazy. However, it does some wonderful things. One of the cards I was going to include in the deck was Longbow Archer, to keep the early birds at bay. However, I needed another en_kor creature so I replaced it with Warrior en-Kor. Peregrine Mask may give your creature defender, but it also gives it flying and first strike. This could not only help you in fending off creature attacks, but it helps your Stuffy Doll out when you’re ready to cast Valor Made Real. Giving Stuffy Doll flying with the ability to block any number of creatures makes Valor Made Real that much better… and Stuffy Doll that much better. The advantage of using Valor Made Real over Entangler (as used in the first deck) is surprise.  Instant-speed surprise.

Lastly, I have a suggestion. In some cases, or all cases in the case that Stuffy Doll is in play on your side of the table, cast Righteousness on an opponent’s creature. It’s more painful that way… for your opponent. Oh yes, and feel free to modify the lands as I just gave a nice mix of basic and non-basic lands to the deck. Although, they do work rather nicely.

Stuffing it in the Spirit of Maleficent…

If you’ve ever read some of Maleficent’s articles (so far there have been two) you will find his writing very dark in nature… but also very good. Perhaps it’s because of his affiliation with the Order, which is a clan all about Yawgmoth in the MDV forums. This next deck will indeed be a dark deck that maybe Yawgmoth would be proud of.  Maybe even Maleficent.

Well, honestly, there isn’t much to this deck other then a lot of black discard, creatures that cause discard, and some Pestilence. However, there are a few cards of note:

The Rack: It only makes sense to include Stuffy Doll’s cousin, the Rack. I’m mean; it’s a doll and all. Anyway, with all the discard you have in the deck including Cabal Therapy, Duress, Ravenous Rats and Order of Yawgmoth, having the Rack in play makes defeating your opponent all the more fun.

Imp’s Taunt: As suggested by Anthony Alongi, this card works well with Stuffy Idol. Want to deal some damage to your opponent but your opponent isn’t attacking? Cast Imp’s Taunt on his biggest creature (that can’t react with a tap ability) so that they will attack and you will block… with Stuffy Idol. The damage will go right back to the head of your opponent thanks to the doll.  Beware Trampling creatures.

Vicious Hunger and Swallowing Plague: These two cards can either be used on your opponent’s creatures, or Stuffy Doll. Not only will they gain you life, but in the case of an opponent’s creature, they’ll most likely die. In the case of Stuffy Doll, you will gain life, and your opponent will lose life. Sounds like a good deal to me. Vicious Hunger is the less versatile of the two, but is great in the early game. You will NEED to gain life if you plan on activating your Pestilence and/or Plague Spitter. Speaking of which:

Pestilence: You can thank Cashew for suggesting this card. Pestilence is a double-edged sword. With Stuffy Doll in play, if you activate Pestilence for four, all creatures will take four damage and all players the same. Then Stuffy Doll takes that damage and throws it back at your opponent. Thus, for four black mana, you deal eight damage to your opponent. Killer combo for sure. And literally! Plague Spitter is a similar as it deals 1 damage to all creatures and players at the beginning of your upkeep... which is really two damage to your opponent with the Doll in play every turn.

I normally don’t do the ‘card by card’ analysis of cards in a deck, but I thought it was appropriate here. For those that know the deck database here at Magic Deck Vortex, you will notice this is a variation of my Discard V3.0 deck. You have to love having a thousand+ decks at your fingertips. *grin*

According to Rancored Elf…

Well, to quote him…

“Stuffy Doll is pretty hilarious. *big smile* Flavourful in a big way, obviously! And I actually think some people are going to build decks around him, trying to hurt him as much as they possibly can. Poor little bugger! *smile*

Also, hilarious that he doesn't have Defender. Rancor him up and charge for the win!” – Rancored Elf, found in the MTGS Forums

OK. That we can do. But I think we need to do more than just add Rancor.

Why not add a little blue for some Curiosity. The card, that is. You see, if you enchant Stuffy Doll with Curiosity, whenever it damages an opponent (which is easy to do given its fourth ability) you get to draw a card.

It’s like a match made in heaven.

It’s a beatdown, combo deck! Woohoo! Seriously though, what’s wrong with slapping Fists of Ironwood, Rancor and/or Curiosity on the same creature? Nothing – especially if it is indestructible. Just beware any Tranquility variants.

This decks is a wanna-be beatdown deck with some blue added just for fun. I only splashed blue for three cards: Coiling Oracle, Helium Squirter and Curiosity. With Sakura-Tribe Elder, Birds of Paradise and play set of Breeding Pool, you shouldn't have any trouble coming up with a blue mana by your second turn. From there, just accelerate to a turn three or four Stuffy Doll. And at that point, the fun begins.

Enchant your Stuffy Doll with any of your beautiful Auras and start attacking. Your opponent won’t know what to do! Should they block? Should they not? Either way, he’s going to take some damage… and you are going to draw some cards.

Quick notes about a few cards: Stuffy Doll likes the interaction of Hurricane and Helium Squirter. Give the Doll flying and then cast a Hurricane to double up damage on your opponent the same way Pestilence did in the deck before this one. Gaea’s Blessing is to help out the dredge cards Moldervine Cloak, Golgari Brownscale and Life from the Loam. Lastly, Golgari Brownscale gives you some life gain just in case you need it. Overall, this deck should provide some fun in your casual group. It might also get you kicked out!

Real quick, you could replace Seedborn Muse with Freed from the Real. I just like being able to untap and tap again your Stuffy Doll while he has Curiosity on him.

Getting Together Again.

This last deck isn’t like the rest in any shape or form. It’s not really beatdown. It’s not really combo… although there are some combo elements, and the deck isn’t by me! In fact, the deck is a theme deck. Not a tribal theme deck, but a theme deck all about the dolls in Magic. I’m not talking about Akroma or any other attractive women depicted in Magic cards.

There are six cards (post Time Spiral) in Magic that show the ‘doll’. Before Time Spiral, there were only five. Can you guess all four?

…

I’ll give you time.

…

I've even given you a hint as shown in the picture to the above right.

...

Still thinking?

…

Times up! The doll cards are The Rack, Black Vise, Cursed Rack, Leshrac’s Rite, Wall of Wonder and lastly Stuffy Doll. You’ll have to squint to find the doll in Wall of Wonder, but it’s there. Just to prove it that is the picture above.  I know I didn’t know it was there until the faithful Tekk pointed it out.

Wow. I almost forgot about Pariah’s Shield. Note to all: You could use Pariah’s Shield in any of the decks on this page should you not want to include white in it.

The decks primary win condition is through Megrim and discard. Its secondary win condition is Leshrac’s Rite on either Wall of Wonder or Abyssal Specter along with a Phantasmal Terrain on an opponent land (turning it into a swamp). If you can’t get Phantasmal Terrain, try Shifting Borders. Otherwise, you’ll have to rely on good ‘ol (or new really) Stuffy Doll.  Thanks for the deck, CV!

Well that covers a wide range of decks possible for Stuffy Doll. But know I'm not quite done... there's still some more crazy-wacky decks to come.  Unfortunately, I don't have time for them right now.  That and I don't want to lose your attention span too quickly here. Join me next time when I take a few more pokes at this mediocre card.  In fact, one deck involves an infinite combo!

Thank you to everyone who has read this article – I do hope you enjoyed it. Also, thank you to the Writer’s Staff of MDV who helped a bit with this article.

Thanks for visiting Magic Deck Vortex!

~Streetz~

P.S. Have fun at the Prerelease this weekend!

You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here.

Articles Spotlights from 2006
The Games People Play - Tactical Magic.
If I worked at R&D
The Beginner’s Guide to Rogue
Druid Week Primer
Opting In: Ravnica
MDV Idol: Finale!
Avatar Week Primer
Delusions of Mediocrity: Getting Stuffy in Here.
Raiding Ravnica: Guildmages and You!
Lands-More than Mana: Part One