In addition to my other interests, I love the card game Magic The Gathering. Yes it is very nerdy. But it has a lot of strategy behind it.
My Magic Deck
My best original Rogue deck is my Blue/Black Heartless Control deck. I based it off of the idea of Solar Flare. The first time I played it at FNM I ended up getting a buy the first round and then going 3-0 to take 1st place. Next week I went 4-0, but got second place. For reasons I don't know, I thought I should switch the deck to Mono-Black Heartless. I just really wanted to play Obliterators. I thought it was the perfect idea. I added lots of new creatures to replace the old blue tricks. After going 2-2 at FNM 2 weeks straight, I gave up. I just switched back to my Blue/Black with slight modification to the original.
Before I reveal the deck list, here are the pros and cons to the Blue/Black Heartless Control.
PROS: Big mean creatures are playable early game. After I get the combo started, there is almost no hope for the opponent. There is the aspect of draw, counter, and kill spells similar to Solar Flare/Blue-Black Control. In addition to the big creatures, many of the creatures pull cards out of the deck to act as a deck thinner so you can quickly sift through the cards you need and put others out of the way.
CONS: There HAS to be mana early game. I never keep with just 1 land in the opening hand, it just doesn't work. If my mana generation is removed quickly, or my Heartless Summoning enchantment, it is a large disadvantage to me. My deck depends on the mana generation in order to have my big creatures playable.
GOD HAND:
1) Ponder
2)Heartless Summomning/ Mana Leak
3)Palladium Myr/ Solemn/ Kill spell
4) Rune-Scarred Demon+Phyrexian Metamorph
5) Phyrexian Metamorph + Sheoldred, Whispering One
You win.
Obviously God hand doesn't happen often. Although in this deck, its easy to get a combo started.
Here's how it all works...
The entire deck is based around this card, Heartless Summoning.
First off, this card is NOT fair. Its a black enchantment
that only costs 2 mana to play, there is only one swamp in its
cost, and it's ability is broken. The only draw back is that your
creatures get -1/-1. Although, wouldn't you rather land a turn
4 Sheoldred that is a 5/5, than a turn 7 Sheoldred that a 6/6?
Heartless Summoning is NOT required to win a game, but it definitely
helps speed up your attack.
Now, in order for Heartless Summoning to be effective,
you can not have any creatures with a toughness of 1.
Or else they would immediately die when they hit the battlefield.
Although, if a creature were to have an "When this creature
enters the battlefield" ability, like Perilous Myr, its ability would still
activate and it would still pump out 2 damage to anything without
paying its initial cost of 2. But as soon as it hits the battle field, it dies.
Next, the key aspect of the early game, Mana generation.
Lets pretend that on turn 2, you whipped out Heartless
Summoning. In your hand you have either, a Palladium
Myr, or a Solemn Simulacrum. With Heartless, Solemn
only costs 2, and Palladium only costs 1. Keeping in mind
of what the opponent is playing, and what your next turn
will consist of, lets say you played a Palladium. He hits the
field as a 1/1 that taps for two colorless mana. At your next
upkeep you have 5 mana at your disposal. That means that
out comes Mr.Rune-Scarred. But lets not get ahead of
ourselves. The decision between Palladium and Solemn is
vital in your survival. It is not smart to play a palladium if the
enemy is playing any sort of Red, due to low cost burn spells
they have. This is also the case (sometimes) if the enemy is
playing black. Smart players playing black removal will kill
your mana generation ASAP. With Solemn you get the benefit
of choosing a basic land out of your deck. Depending if you
plan to drop a Massacre Wurm, or a Treasure Mage, you must decide whether to pull out an Island or Swamp. You will only need one Island out during the entire game for the deck to be utilized in every way. Knowing which mana generator you need is key in building and playing this deck. I feel that Solemn Simulacrums are generally more useful so there is a higher ratio of Solemns than Palladiums.
The Main Combo: Rune-Scarred
Demon. Drop him for 5. Assuming you have only 5 mana at your disposal, search for another Rune-Scarred Demon. Assuming you had 6 mana at your disposal, search for Phyrexian Metamorph. Since Metamorph costs only 1 Colorless and a Blue Phyrexian mana
(With Heartless Out), you can pay the one colorless mana and pay 2 life to cover the Phyrexian mana cost. Copy your Rune-Scarred Demon. Now you may search for another card. Depending on the situation, normally I would just search for another Rune-Scarred so you can do the same combo the next turn. Keep the combo going until you feel there is no hope for the opponent. Finally on your last Rune-Scarred (Or whenever you deem necessary) pull out the legendary Sheoldred, Whispering One. This combo is really unfair. Not only do they sacrifice a creature at each of their upkeeps, but you get another guy from your graveyard back! So say one of your Metamorphs died. And using Sheoldred, at your upkeep, just choose to bring back Metamorph from the grave to the battlefield and copy a Rune-Scarred Demon again and search for whatever you may need to punish your opponent.
One more fun combo is the Treasure Mage/ Wurmcoil Engine combo. Treasure Mage allows you to pull and artifact that costs 6 or greater out of your library and put it in your hand after revealing it. The only artifact that costs 6 or greater in the deck is Wurmcoil. The other great thing about Treasure Mage is the fact that he has only one Island in his mana cost. So this makes him very playable in this multicolored deck that leans heavily on black mana. Also with Heartless, Treasure Mage costs only 1 Island. He also is a great chump blocker, because lets face it, he is only in the deck to get Wurmcoils more often and be a deck thinner. Having chump blockers is a vitally important aspect of this deck because Aggro kills this deck. The faster their deck is, the worse you will be prepared.
Other cards in this deck just protect you so you are able to get the above cards out in time. Ponders are key because they let you develop a strategy of draw from as early as turn one. The Black Sun's are great for using on your Solemns and the rest of the board so you get to draw a card and clear the board before you land your giants. The Mana Leaks and kill spells are important for controlling and preventing their creatures from getting early damage on you. Massacre Wurm absolutely demolishes Human, Goblin, Spirit, Zombie, and any other type of fast aggro small creatures deck.
Deck List
Creatures:
Palladium Myr 2
Treasure Mage 2
Solemn Simulacrum 3
Phyrexian Metamorph 2
Wurmcoil Engine 3
Massacre Wurm 2
Rune-Scarred Demon 4
Sheoldred, Whispering One 1
Spells:
Heartless Summoning 4
Go For The Throat 4
Mana Leak 4
Ponder 4
Black Sun's Zenith 2
Land:
Drowned Catacomb 4
Swamp 12
Island 7
So there it is. Hope you enjoyed it. This deck works great for me and is relatively cheap when compared to Tier 1 decks. Please leave feedback about the deck!
Thanks!
-Steven
