Howdy Budget Brewers! It's that time of the week for us to take a gander at some of the more budget options we can play at our local FNM's. While our main goal is ultimately to just have some fun, it's all gravy if we're able to win some matches as well. It's true, janky combo's are my bread and butter but I've been known to sprinkle in a dash of control or a smidgen of aggro. Then, sometimes a smattering of something in between the two. We tackle new and exciting ways to play that's easy on our wallet, and can have some fun at the local level!
Before I dive into this week, I want to thank all the readers who gave their input last week on some cards that I believed Modern needs. Right or wrong, it was great knowing my article saw so many views in one week.
That being said...
This week?
Well, I can't even believe what we're doing this week. I almost feel bad about it. I admit I'm no stranger to bringing some jank to my weekly Budget Brews readers, but this week we take it to a whole new level with a classic legacy All-In Combo deck.
We're combo'ing turn 1 or we probably aren't going to win at all. We don't have much in the way of protection either, so we're going to be bad versus Force of Will decks (yikes), but we're unexpected so the odds are we might be able to steal some games. I even beat an ANT Storm deck last night while I was playing around with the list, because well... we go off faster than they do.
Anyone know what we're playing yet?
Yeah. It's that deck. “Oops All Spells.”
One of the most expensive parts of Legacy is the mana base so, why use mana if we can win with out it? Our deck plays exactly 0 lands, but we're still able to win thanks to fast mana (of which there is a plethora available in Legacy). We're half reanimator half weird storm combo in that we're going to play a bunch of spells in a turn and thanks to Dread Return bring a bunch of stuff from our Graveyard onto the battlefield and win.
Admission Time: The deck costs more than $100. It sits right around $130 at TCG Market Price, but all of the cards I believe are under $5, and $130 to go battle in a Legacy tournament is nothing to sneeze at.
This deck is probably the most fun I've ever had in the Legacy format. It's exactly what I'm looking to do when I sit down to play a game of Magic. Zero interaction, zero thought process, pure janky goodness. This is the sort of deck that I feel bad about playing when I sit across from a younger and / or newer player, but... not that bad. I still give a bit of a giggle to myself as I explain how I just won the game, and see the dead expression in my opponent's eyes as they realize it as well.
Mana without Lands
Simian Spirit Guide is the first of the long list of fast mana and Rituals that we use in order to gain mana so we can play cards and win the game. We're used to seeing it in Modern where people called for its banning as it enables broken combo's and not so broken combo's. Exiling it from our hand nets us a Red Mana.
Elvish Spirit Guide is a card I almost wish we had in Modern with it's Ape cousin. Instead of Red it nets us a green mana.
Lotus Petal is a Legacy staple seen in all sorts of Legacy combo decks including the combo all-star Ad Nauseam and Tendrils of Agony aka ANT Storm.
Tinder Wall costs us 1 green mana to play, but nets us 2 red so it's important in not only gaining us mana, but it filters as well so we can play rituals and net even more mana.
Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual are also Storm staples in order to not only build their storm count, but add the needed mana in order to cast their spells. We don't care much about our spell count, but every net mana counts and since our actual win conditions are black, we're going to need at least one of these two cards to go off and win.
Pyretic Ritual isn't as strong, and is seen in Modern Storm decks netting us only 1 extra red mana, it's still a mana we can use, so it slots into the deck.
Rite of Flame was a card that was deemed too good for the Modern format since it was played in the Modern storm deck, and turn 2 Storming off in Modern was too fast for the format. As a 1-of it only nets us one extra red mana, but as we play more it's only gravy.
This is a card in a league of it's own. Not only does it filter mana for us, but it's a free redraw that lets us dig, for free, for our actual win.
The Combo
For a combo deck that can win in a single turn, Turn 1 no less, it actually requires quite a few cards in order to actually pull everything off.
Step 1: Make 4 mana.
Step 2: Play Balustrade Spy or Undercity Informer targeting ourselves. Flip the deck upside down into our graveyard.
Step 3: Trigger Narcomoeba's, at least 3 of them, otherwise we lose, putting them on the field.
Step 4: Sacrifice Narcomoeba's to flashback Dread Return targeting Angel of Glory's Rise
Step 5: Bring all the humans from the Graveyard onto the battlefield.
Step 6: Activate Azami, Lady of Scrolls tapping itself to draw a card.
Step 7: Win via Laboratory Maniac's text, since our library is fully in the Graveyard.
That's all there is to it.
Opponent has Force of Will? You probably lose.
Opponent has Lightning Bolt? You will lose, if he aims it at the Laboratory Maniac.
Like I said, it's an all in win or lose combo deck on turn 1.
Mulligan
Be prepared to do it. You're going to have to do it, a lot. You pretty much need to have the combo in hand in order to go off and do it, Manamorphose helps dig into the 8 combo triggers.
Sideboard
Since this is a pretty easily disruptible combo, most lists play a transformation Sideboard. What do we transform into? Goblin Charbelcher of course!
Upgrades
Some upgrades to the deck would be, well, better fast mana. Lion's Eye Diamond slides right into the deck as well as Summoner's Pact in order to give you 12 looks at the creatures that we need to win the game.
Force of Will or Removal got you down? Pact of Negation is your answer to those problems. It's the free counterspell that combo decks love because we're only going to use on the turn we win to protect our win.
Thanks for joining me while I try to Untap the Multiverse!
Have an idea for something you'd like me to brew up? Give me a shout in the comments!
Or in the usual social media ways -
Twitter - @maibuddha
