Hey guys, so you may remember a couple of weeks ago I prosponed a deck tech due to the spoiling of Reliquary Tower. That mystery deck is in fact BW Colony.
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This entire deck is based around trying to use Rat Colony to make, well, a colony of rats and then beat face. It's very similar to Pack Rat in that respect. There is one noticeable difference in deck building (excluding the play any number text!) however. Namely, Colony does not gain an increase in toughness.
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To combat this rather large issue we have two measures to make blocking harder for our opponent; Anthem Effects and Removal.
The Anthem effects are crucial, allowing our rats to hit through small blockers and survive something like Goblin Chainwhirler. To fill this slot we use a set of Metallic Mimic since it being a rat allows us to keep increasing the power of our Colonies.
Vanquisher's Banner performs a similar role, but with the handy upside of drawing us lots of cards. This is actually far more relevant that you would realize, since it allows us to have turns where we start with one card in hand and play three or four more Rats. Radiant Destiny is the main reason to splash white. While it might not seems like much but the anthem is no joke and when - not if - we gain the City's Blessing, it's simply ridiculous. Vigilance is a severely underrated mechanic and this becomes all too obvious to your opponent once you hit 10 or more permanents.
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This white splash allows us access to Ixalan's Binding. This bigger removal spell is so good here since any card advantage is clung onto when we are playing 16 copies of a single two drop. The rest of the removal is designed to combat us only running two-CMC Creatures. This is done with a set of Fatal Push and three Fungal Infections. The fact that these cost one mana is what makes them so good. We can remove a potential blocker on turn one and fit either of them in along side a Rat on turn three. Without a one-CMC removal package the deck simply falls apart, with it the curve out starts to make more sense and the deck becomes a force to be reckoned with.
Now, you may be wondering why I had to wait for Reliquary Tower in order to cover this deck. Secret Salvage is the answer. Being able to draw 12 Rats and keep all of them in hand is unsurprisingly good. I was toying around with Salvage Pre-Core 19, but the ability to keep all those rats in hand is just beyond good. Five mana, draw a lot... yes please. We only run two Secret Salvage however. This is because the second one will be totally dead. Once we have salvaged our deck for rats there is very little else we need.
The Sideboard
So this past week I went away with a group to France and, while not directly connected to Magic, I wanted to take a second to discuss learning a language. I've never been very great at words and language and all that sort of stuff, but while I was there it made me realize how useful it is to know enough to get by. So essentially, if you are thinking about learning bits and pieces or even becoming fluent in another language I'd highly recommend it. You never know, maybe one day I'll play a deck full of French Cards.
That's me tapped out for this week, so as usual do me a solid and share the article whether it be down your LGS or on Facebook... which I happen to be on right here. I'll see you guys next week for another take on Standard.
