Magic is a sport for many, and a way of life for some - the drive to win and be competitive can take all the fun out of your game. This week, I invite all you headstrong cardslingers, all you tournament jockeys, all you stressed out Magic players to cool down, relax, and play some Magic for fun, and on a budget that's right for the most casual to the most extreme.

And if you're going to cool down and play some Casual Magic for a change, what to play? Well, a Raiding the Dollar Bins deck, of course! So riddle me this: What’s the most complicated card that rewards nothing? And how can it be used in a deck that will rock your opponent’s face? I hope you’re curious, because this week’s deck is going to knock your socks off! Check it out in this edition of Raiding the Dollar Bins.

Magic is one of those strange addictions; you’ve got to be constantly buying new cards to play in tournaments, and you’ve got to constantly be considering new decks and be changing your strategies in Constructed formats as the metagame changes from one type of deck to another. It’s a very delicate balance between fun and obsession.

But that’s what casual Magic is all about, right? Not the obsession, of course – casual Magic the epitome of “fun” Magic. Not that tournaments aren’t fun, but you don’t bring a six-pack of cola and a bag of pretzels to a tournament to eat while you play in tournaments, and you surely can’t talk with your opponents during the match about how you’re going to school them. Sometimes, the best thing about casual Magic is the environment in which you play it.

But, even in casual Magic, sometimes you need to re-think your strategies and make a new deck – that’s where I can help! This week’s deck is going to use some gems from the past few blocks to take advantage of… well, nothing!

Muraganda Petroglyphs is a Future Sight “future-shifted” card, meaning, incase you haven’t been keeping up with the latest sets, or you’ve been living away from civilization for the past four or five months, that the card is supposedly from a set in the future of Magic, or of an alternate timeline where Magic cards from that “future set” could actually be the cards being developed and printed now. It’s a bit confusing, but the point is pretty neat, even if some people aren’t fond of it – Future Sight shows you what might yet be in Magic.

That’s an exciting proposal. With Muraganda Petroglyphs and Imperiosaur coming from the same "future block", and each having a strange caveman / dinosaur theme, I have my hopes up for a prehistoric themed block. I think it’d be sweet to see a full block of prehistoric cards. Dinosaurs are awesome.

Muraganda Petroglyphs is actually my dollar bins card of the week, and it’s teaming up with some token producers and some good vanilla weenies to make an unstoppable herd of destruction. Let’s take a look at the list.

I know what you’re thinking – why didn’t you put Imperiosaur in this deck? You’ve been talking about it for at least part of the article now, so what gives? The answer to that question is that Imperiosaur has an ability – an ability that regulates the way it can be played. It can’t get the bonus from Muraganda Petroglyphs, so it didn’t grace the list. Only vanilla creatures get Muraganda’s bonus. Now, I wouldn’t say that it would be a bad idea to play Imperiosaur. It may not get the bonus from Muraganda Petroglyphs, but it’s still a great card.

The idea behind the deck is fairly simple – use creatures that have no abilities. Saprolings are really good for this – Vitu-Ghazi and Sprout Swarm became almost instant includes, since, under the Petroglyphs, each 1/1 would automatically become a 3/3. The impressive 3/3 for WG that is Watchwolf would suddenly become a hulking 5/5, and Blade of the Sixth Pride would be almost as silly at 5/3. In case Muraganda Petroglyphs doesn’t show up during your games, your efficient weenie hoard should be able to take down your opponent quick enough.

Being aggressive with this deck is the best way to win. Use Temporal Isolation to keep solitary creatures out of commission while you continue to try and beat face. Use your Sprout Swarms and all unused mana (as well as all those summoning sick creatures that didn’t attack) to make more and more creatures each turn. Use Vitu-Ghazi to keep pressure on your opponent. Vitu-Ghazi is a nice land for this deck, because it’s especially good when your opponent is playing high amounts of counter spells.

Condemn may seem counter-intuitive when you think about the life-gain you’re opponent will garner from the loss of one of their creatures, and how you’re supposed to be attacking and winning, not giving your opponent points of life. In most cases, you’d be right. But, the fact remains that Condemn is one of the best pieces of white removal in my mind that is still in Standard. If you’re more an old school player, just use Swords to Plowshares, or if you don’t have those, try something like Cage of Hands or Faith’s Fetters.

Verdeloth and Thelonite Hermit continue our Saproling strengthening trends – Thelonite Hermit is a good enough card by himself, without the help of Muraganda Petroglyphs. The Petroglyphs is merely icing on the cake. Four Saproling tokens is nothing to sneeze at, and with the Petroglyphs bonus, these guys can get pretty crazy pretty quickly. I love making 4/4s with Thelonite Hermit. Likewise, Verdeloth is a good blocker, it pumps Saproling tokens, and, if you’re mana flooded, can produce a few Saprolings too.

Things to Remember

1) Pallid Mycoderm is a game ender. Pallid Mycoderm is an interesting inclusion in this deck because it acts as a 4 mana game ending spell – you can play it the turn you want to win, just play it, and before damage gets put on the stack from all of your attacking Saprolings, sacrifice your blocked Saprolings to push through more damage to your opponent.

2) Use Sprout Swarm multiple times at your opponent’s end of turn. The best thing about Sprout Swarm is its Convoke ability – as the number of Saprolings increases from its use, the easier it is to make more Saprolings. If you’ve got untapped creatures at your opponent’s end of turn, this is a great opportunity to make them useful.

3) Sometimes Muraganda Petroglyphs is best used as a decoy. If your opponent is playing tons of counterspells, see if you can get your opponent to tap out in order to counter your Petroglyphs, and then play the game winning Watchwolf.

Card Suggestions

Since vanilla creatures are so good with Muraganda Petroglyphs, a good card choice for this deck, albeit a pricey one, is Call of the Herd. By itself, Call is an amazing card, giving you two 3/3 Elephants for one card. That’s a pretty good deal. If those 3/3s could be 5/5s – now that would be something, wouldn’t it? If you’ve got a set of the Elephant makers, definitely add them here.

Another card in the Call of the Herd vein is Grizzly Fate. The card can definitely produce a lot of bears – and, if perchance you have Muraganda Petroglyphs, and Threshold, then things can get pretty crazy really quickly. One Dozen Eyes is another card that is of that same vein, Although with Petroglyphs out, I’d suggest getting the Insect tokens instead of the Beast token if you aren’t going to pay for the entwine cost.

This deck has a definite Saproling theme. If you’re not too into Saprolings, you could remove Verdeloth for something like Icatian Crier, or substitute Sprout Swarm for Raise the Alarm. A cool idea for a this deck would be to use Soldier tokens instead of Saprolings - Benalish Commander could be really good in this deck. As always, I like to suggest Coat of Arms whenever a large tribal theme could be involved.

Well, that’s all for this week. Make sure you check back with me in the upcoming weeks. I’ll be working with some “new” cards from 10th Edition, and it’s sure to be a good time. And never forget – casual Magic: the Gathering bliss is merely a dollar bin away.

~Death_By_Beebles

Alex Hoffman has been parading around with the pseudonym of Death_By_Beebles for three years now. He’s a writer for Magic Deck Vortex, and can often be found tinkering with his latest decks while working on 3CB scores. He is the author of Raiding the Dollar Bins and Going Blind series at MDV, and the recent startup series Pauper Chronicles. Alex likes kittens, reading, and generally enjoying life. He doesn’t like Brussels sprouts. You can send him deck ideas, combos and suggestions at deathbybeebles@yahoo.com.

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Articles Spotlights from 2007:
Lorwyn Theme Week Intro & Schedule of Events
Blink And Bounce: Timing is Key
Going Blind: XCB Metagaming - A Prolonged Conclusion.
The Science of Magic: Genetic Engineering, Part Two.
Shifting Lineaments: Casual Metagaming (Pt. 2).
The Dungeon Of Malefict: Pure Evil!
Land Week Introduction & Schedule.
Combofusion: Legends Timeshifted.
One Card to Rule Them All: Coastal Piracy
Irrational Love: Chimeras. The Lego's of Magic.