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MDV Featured Article - [Mini-Article] The Creature Only Game. - by Death_By_Beebles & Luthervamplord - posted 2/25/08 - discuss here

There are many different types of cards in Magic. Normally when you create your deck, you mix them all up and utilize them in the best manner to defeat your opponent.

What would you say though if I told you that you couldn’t use instants in your deck? Oh, and you also can’t use artifacts; or enchantments. Please don’t use sorceries either. They are very bothersome. One last thing… you can’t use planeswalkers either.

Welcome to the Creatures Only Game.

In this Mini-Article, Death_By_Beebles and Luthervamplord will discuss that very concept.

The Creature Only Game
by Death_ By_Beebles

Creatures are an integral part of Magic: the Gathering. From the game's very inception, players have been relying on creatures to "get the job done" and win the game for them. However, most people rarely think that decks comprised of nothing but creatures can win.  In fact, they feel that decks like this can't do anything but lose.

Every deck needs support spells, you say. Like, for instance, counterspells to stop your opponent’s creatures from getting into play, or creature removal spells to destroy opposing creatures so that you can push through your creatures for game winning damage. And sometimes, you just HAVE to have that burn spell to clear up nasty troubles you might have on the creature front, or you might just want to throw your damage straight at your opponent’s head. And don’t forget about card drawing spells, and mana fixing spells, and artifacts to do all sorts of nifty things, and enchantments and and and and and...

STOP. I’m here to pull you from your misguided ways.

Creatures can do all of those things you want them to do. Whether it's Spiketail Hatchling or Nekrataal, creatures can do almost anything another type of spell can do, provided you’re in the right colors. Spiketail Drake can act as a psuedo-Mana Leak, Shriekmaw as Terror, Mournwhelk as Mind Rot, Briarhorn as Giant Growth, and Man-o-War as Unsummon, to name but a few.


Creatures, as some people have surmised, have been quite efficient in the wake of some of the newest sets. It's not a hard concept to grasp when you look at creatures like Loxodon Hierarch, Venser, Shaper Savant, and Angel of Despair; these cards are amazing and they have a cost that's pretty hard to beat. While many pros consider creatures and attacking to be one of the worst strategies of the game, creatures and creature combat have, since the very inception of the game, been an integral part of Magic. It's not a stretch of the imagination to build a deck completely out of creatures.

But wait, you ask, what if I want to play nothing but creatures, but get outclassed by players that are playing normal decks with counterspells, burn and the like? You won't if you pick your creatures carefully, and play the right way; your opponent only has so many counterspells, and only so many burn spells. Eventually, you'll drop a creature your opponent can't answer. You'll have what it takes to beat them into the ground (as it should be).

If you’re worried about non-creature spells ruining your all-creature fun, calm down. Let me show you a deck that eats those decks for breakfast.

 

 [back to top]

 

Treefolk Troublers.
60 Card Creatures Only Casual Deck

Land - 23 total land
11 Forest
8 Swamp
4 Llanowar Wastes

Creatures - 37 total creatures
4 Battlewand Oak
4 Yavimaya Elder
2 Timber Protector
3 Cloudcrown Oak
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Heartwood Storyteller
4 Dauntless Dourbark
4 Treefolk Harbinger
4 Bone Shredder
4 Shriekmaw

Other Spells:
None
by Death_By_Beebles

Dauntless Dourbark has been called the “poor man’s Korlash” and it’s easy to see why. At the same converted mana cost, with the same ability (almost) as Korlash, Heir to Blackblade, he beats hard and fast right out of the gates, but he costs only a fraction of Korlash’s $5 price tag. Dauntless Dourbark, despite being slightly subpar to Korlash, can get bigger much faster because of the amount of Treefolk that are in this deck. Plus, Dourbark has something that Korlash is never going to get; trample. Use your Treefolk Harbingers to search up your “Poorlash” and use Dourbark’s overwhelming attacking strength to push through blockers.

To add utility to the deck, Bone Shredder and Shriekmaw are both in the deck for creature control. By adding 8 copies of Terror to the deck, you can be sure that any problems you might have with a clogged board will be swiftly kicked in the rear. Yavimaya Elder has a sacrifice effect that nets you 2 lands and replaces itself, and in a completely creature deck where card advantage is hard to come by, this is a welcome feature. Sakura-Tribe Elder also gets added to the list to find those necessary Swamps, or pull a sneaky move in conjunction with Battle-Wand Oak; sacrifice your Elder, and you’ve suddenly got a new Forest and a 3/5 Treefolk in play.

Timber Protector graces the list because he keeps away those nasty Wrath effects that normally wreck creature decks. He also protects your lands from being destroyed and, against cards like Armageddon, that's a blessing in and of itself. Timber Protector really holds the deck together, and it's a card you'll be wanting to play as soon as possible. Even with his high mana cost, with Sakura-Tribe Elders and Yavimaya Elders in the decklist, you shouldn't have that many problems getting enough lands to play him earlier than expected.

Heartwood Storyteller is an amazing creature, and I think it’s one of the most overlooked creatures in Future Sight; it allows you to draw additional cards whenever your opponent plays one of those non-creature spells you’ve avoided with this deck. What is normally a universal effect from the Storyteller now becomes one sided; you’ve refused to play any non-creature spells that would draw your opponent into cards. Especially against control based decks where non-creatures are the core of the deck’s moving power, Heartwood Storyteller is a great addition to your game plan.


Well, this was short and sweet, but it’s time to say goodbye... wait, what? There’s more to go? Alright then, bring on the second course!

~Death_By_Beebles~

The Creature Only Game
by Luthervamplord

The creature only game is not an alien concept to most people; but is one that is rarely applied to a deck in a serious manner. The truth is that we have it “inbuilt” into our deck building process that we cannot run a pure creature deck; even in such a format as tribal!

But is this wise? Surely it is a narrow-minded attitude to not even explore the possibility that such a deck could work? That's what I plan to do here. Due to my gaming background, I will primarily be keeping to the tribal scene but where possible I will try to expand out beyond this boundary.

Those Damnable Slivers!

Slivers are possibly the most easily recognized and feared race in the whole game and with good reason! If you name any main-stream ability, chances are Slivers have both the ability to use it and the ability to fight against it. Don't believe me? Alright then, I'll prove it!

 

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Sliver's Have it All.
60 Card Creatures Only Casual Deck

Lands (20)
4 City of Brass
4 Pillar of the Paruns
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Thran Quarry

Creatures (40)
2 Sliver Overlord
3 Root Sliver
3 Talon Sliver
4 Necrotic Sliver
3 Clot Sliver
3 Crystalline Sliver
4 Gemhide Sliver
3 Screeching Sliver
3 Spinneret Sliver
3 Winged Sliver
3 Heart Sliver
3 Essence Sliver
3 Sliver Legion

Other Spells:
None
by Luthervamplord

Need proof this deck can handle anything you can throw at it? Okay then, let's go through the big threats:

Control: Shroud protects your creatures from boomerang and such tactics, Root Sliver makes counterspells pointless and mass deck milling reduces the chance of drawing the lands / cards needed to pull off a tight control combo.

Zoo: At their peek condition, these slivers can be sporting Regeneration, Reach, Shroud, Flying and Haste – plus they get +1/+1 for each other Sliver in play. Still think that you can beat me? Okay then, how about I 'Slivericate' your threat to my big game plan!

LD: Slivers equal mana in this deck, and then it's important to remember that LD decks need mana themselves to work, so I'll just play you at your own game and destroy your lands.

Mill: Tutoring into my big, bad threats at high speed and beat you down before you can get through my deck! Or maybe you're going to go for specific cards via Cranial Extraction; so what's the worst threat in this deck? Right, all of it!

Burn: Shroud is the ultimate answer to this threat but having big, bad as creatures due to 'pump via numbers' is good too. But maybe you'll chance a 'straight to the head' approach; good thing this deck gives me life equal to the damage I deal.

In fact, there are only two cards this deck truly fears – Wrath of God and Damnation; with a little room for Pyroclasm in there. And even they can be beaten to the punch if you pull this deck right. If it sounds like a slight bit of arrogance and smug confidence is sneaking into my writing here folks; it is. With this deck I have managed to beat Solar Flare, MUC, Zoo and even Stasis , and it's because this deck requires very little thought to play; drop Slivers and activate abilities to ruin your opponents’ deck – it's as simple as that! Guess this just goes to show; Slivers were, are and always will be bad-wrong fun.

But Slivers aren't the only tribe that can dish out punishment in large doses; in fact there are some clans that have made history on the tribal scene of old.

 

 [back to top]

 

They Come From the Trees.
60 Card Creatures Only Casual Deck

Lands
4 Wirewood Lodge
16 Forest

Creatures
2 Imperious Perfect
2 Wellwisher
2 Llanowar Elves
2 Leaf Gilder
2 Timberwatch Elf
2 Essence Warden
2 Bloodline Shaman
2 Priest of Titania
2 Nullmage Shepherd
2 Glissa Sunseeker
2 Lys Alana Huntmaster
3 Elvish Warrior
2 Elvish Pioneer
2 Elvish Harbinger
2 Elvish Archers
2 Elvish Champion
3 Elvish Soultiller
2 Jagged-Scar Archers
2 Immaculate Magistrate

Other Spells:
None
by Luthervamplord

Elves used to be the big-bad boys on the tribal scene and with the arrival of Lorwyn; it looks like they will be one of the top dogs again.

But back to the deck at hand; just like our Sliver deck, this deck is sporting some rather nice abilities:

Life Gain: If you drop Essence Warden as your first drop, you'll gain a one life for each creature that comes into play; including your opponent's. But then, in the later game you can drop a Wellwisher and tap him for life equal to the number of Elves you control. Double this up with a Wirewood Lodge and you can be looking at around 20+ life a turn per Wellwisher easily.

Pump: There's a lot of this in the deck – Magistrate, Champion, Timberwatch and the Perfect all increase the killing power of your Elves.

Tokens: The Perfect and Huntmasters both have the ability to give you more Elves with which to power your killing machine.

Recycling Deck: The Soultiller is just plain mean, allowing you to reshuffle all your dead Elves back into your deck. As long as you have one in play and a means to lose it; milling tactics will never be an issue.

I've played around with this deck, but I must confess it doesn't run nearly as smoothly as Slivers but it still plays rather well and is generally more fun in my opinion.


Alright these decks aren't the greatest and don't run highly on the creative side but I'll be honest - I'm a poor deck-builder. My goal here is just to open your eyes to the possibility of creature-only decks; here's hoping I managed that.

As always this is Luthervamplord, Signing Off.

You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here.
Find other articles by this author (Death_By_Beebles) here.
Find other articles by this author (Luthervamplord) here.
Find other articles from this series here.

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Articles Spotlights from 2008:
How to Win with Milling: A Guide to a Slow Painful Death
Memories of an Old Magic Player 10: The Outsiders Journal #3.
The Apprentice Magician, Part Three.
Class-Wars Deckbuilding Contest Results!
Tribal Coffee: The Smaller Tribes.
[Mini-Article] Controlling the Game: Without Blue.
Raiding the Dollar Bins: Return of the Vault Ninja.
A Fresh Perspective: Stasis - Part One.
More Evil Than Evil.
Memories of a Jarhead.

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