Quite a few articles dispersed among the various Magic: The Gathering sites published waaaay back in 2011 outlined how the best way to “go infinite” on Magic Online (MODO) is to play Block Constructed queues. That may actually be the case (I have no reason to question the assertion, though I’ve had very good luck with M12 Sealed Premier Events), but the most interesting aspect of Block Constructed, in my opinion, is that there is such a limited card pool—this lends itself to the ability to create fun archetypes that in almost any other situation would be subpar, but given the restricted power level of the format can be effective.
With a little extra time over the holiday break, I set about to tinker with the format. Although it has actually evolved to some extent since I began playing it in mid-December, there are several key pieces in the format that seem to be relatively unchanging.
Two of the last three ISD Block Premier events have been won by “Spider Control,” which is a more streamlined version of the draft archetype of the same theme:
Creatures (25)
- 4 Boneyard Wurm
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 4 Deranged Assistant
- 1 Evil Twin
- 4 Kessig Cagebreakers
- 4 Splinterfright
- 4 Armored Skaab
Lands (13)
Spells (22)
At first just a niche archetype, it is becoming increasingly clear that in order to win a Premier Event or to succeed in a number of Daily Events in this format, we must be able to deal with the powerful late game engine that this deck creates.
The most expensive (in terms of real dollars) archetype is also one of the most popular control options—Jund Control, which utilizes a variety of planeswalkers and powerful sweeper spells to control the board while generating incremental advantage.
Creatures (4)
Planeswalkers (8)
Lands (15)
Spells (33)
- 1 Forest
- 10 Mountain
- 4 Devil's Play
- 3 Curse of Death's Hold
- 4 Brimstone Volley
- 4 Sever the Bloodline
- 4 Geistflame
- 3 Traveler's Amulet
Sideboard
This was the original format powerhouse and continues to post fantastic numbers whenever it’s played. Some players have opted to swap the red for some blue for cards like Dissipate, but these shifts are less common.
Admittedly, it was only after taking cursory glances at these “most popular” archetypes that I began to design the first draft of a deck (which obviously turned out to be a mistake). My first draft was designed around the premise of using both ideal and less-than-ideal token generators in conjunction with Intangible Virtue. However, rather than using the standard G/W plan, which seemed to be weak against the heavy control components of the format, I opted to begin with a U/W strategy.
Creatures (14)
Lands (2)
Spells (44)
- 10 Plains
- 4 Dissipate
- 14 Island
- 4 Think Twice
- 4 Cackling Counterpart
- 4 Intangible Virtue
- 4 Midnight Haunting
Sideboard
This list had a number of problems, both in terms of the control decks listed above and in terms of some archetypes that I hadn’t taken as seriously as I should have. We might identify the following significant problems with the list:
- Delver of Secrets doesn’t really fit well with the deck. Sure, it’ll flip with reasonable frequency, and copying a 3/2 flyer with Cackling Counterpart is good (especially with Intangible Virtue on the board), but it’s very susceptible to a number of removal spells that otherwise aren’t optimal against this deck, such as Geistflame.
- Mausoleum Guard is a reasonable draft pick but isn’t quite Constructed quality—even in such low-powered format.
- Frightful Delusion isn’t great against decks that have so many flashback cards.
- There are a lot of other archetypes in the format! Boros aggro and RUG both have a lot of burn spells to point “to the dome,” and this deck doesn’t always interact well with aggressive draws.
I played this deck to some success in the smaller queues, but I was never quite able to 3-1 a Daily Event with it because the key weaknesses identified in the list above were fairly crippling—a single unanswered threat, such as a Bloodgift Demon, frequently had the potential to end the game. In addition, some of the faster draws from other decks were incredibly problematic.
In order to more fully develop our new archetype, we need a better understanding of the format. There are two aggressive decks that all can pose problems for us. The first is a rival token build utilizing green and white. This deck doesn’t seem to be able to make it past the key control decks in the format, but it performs fairly well.
Creatures (23)
- 2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
- 1 Mentor of the Meek
- 4 Fiend Hunter
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 4 Doomed Traveler
- 4 Geist-Honored Monk
- 4 Mayor of Avabruck
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (4)
Spells (29)
Sideboard
G/W Tokens is able to make use of Garruk very effectively, and it has more ways to increase the threat potential of its tokens (i.e., Gavony Township and Mikaeus, the Lunarch), with the downside that it can have draws that are very, very susceptible to standard removal spells. For our purposes, we are most concerned with cards like Mayor of Avabruck, which we can’t immediately answer because we don’t currently run any removal spells. In addition, Geist-Honored Monk (which should be in our own deck) poses a sizeable threat on its own. It is clear that we need a reactive spell that affects the board if we are to deal with an archetype like this.
We find a differing approach to a similar concept in the format’s Boros Aggro archetype, which uses many of the same cards but focuses on a few burn spells instead of creature growth.
Creatures (25)
- 4 Elite Inquisitor
- 3 Fiend Hunter
- 4 Champion of the Parish
- 4 Doomed Traveler
- 2 Geist-Honored Monk
- 4 Cloistered Youth
- 4 Instigator Gang
Lands (4)
Spells (31)
Sideboard
This deck is also capable of very explosive starts, and Instigator Gang can simply end the game on the spot if it isn’t answered quickly and efficiently. Further, the deck has a lot of reach—we began with at most 15 life, functionally, because at least one copy of Brimstone Volley and/or Devil’s Play is likely to be drawn over the course of the average game. This yet again reinforces the idea that we need a cheap and effective way to affect the board without significantly impeding our own aggressive development.
Finally, we also need to account for the burgeoning presence of RUG decks in the format, both with and without Burning Vengeance. While the shells of these decks are fairly similar, they often exchange Manor Gargoyle for Daybreak Ranger, and vice versa.
Creatures (5)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (15)
Spells (36)
This version of the deck is probably harder for us to defeat than the Burning Vengeance version because it has fewer targeted spells that can be answered with a one-size-fits-all Witchbane Orb and because its primary win conditions are less focused on something that can be answered with a Silverchase Fox or similar spell. Fortunately, this deck appears to be less popular than Jund Control and Spider Control at the moment, both of which seem to be more favorable for us.
Spells (46)
- 10 Plains
- 4 Dissipate
- 14 Island
- 4 Think Twice
- 3 Silent Departure
- 3 Cackling Counterpart
- 4 Intangible Virtue
- 4 Midnight Haunting
Sideboard
This draft of the deck has performed much better for me than did the previous drafts of the deck (I haven’t bothered including the intermediate step that I tested online here because it isn’t very instructive or interesting). As things currently stand, Cackling Counterpart is underperforming. Late game, it does an amazing job by copying Geist-Honored Monk, especially during combat, but it falters in the early game. It is likely that two copies are more appropriate than three, especially since there aren’t any other optimal targets in the deck (although it can copy a Snapcaster Mage to copy a Dissipate or Midnight Haunting in a pinch).
Purify the Grave is an all-star in a number of different matchups, and if it weren’t so awful against the aggressive decks, where there is less room to draw “dead” spells, then it would be worth including in the maindeck. It is incredibly potent against Spider Control and actually does a reasonable job of contending with RUG and Jund Control.
Rebuke, in conjunction with Silent Departure, does a good job of managing our opponent’s creature count, and it might actually be worth including in the maindeck. Not only is it effective against aggressive creatures such as a flipped Cloistered Youth or Instigator Gang, it also shines against threats like Bloodgift Demon, meaning that there are few situations in which it is a dead draw.
We should probably emphasize that this deck, while ostensibly a midrange archetype, can actually be very aggressive. Doomed Traveler into Intangible Virtue into Midnight Haunting is actually a very meaningful clock, especially if our opponent can’t interact with evasive creatures. If we have played an Intangible Virtue on turn two, then our opponent can’t reasonably expect to play a planeswalker on turn three or four without losing it because we have the ability to put four power of evasive creatures into play at instant speed.
Despite the relative success that I’ve had with the deck in smaller queues (two-mans and eight-mans), I haven’t been able to enter it into Daily or Premier Events yet, and so it remains untested in the more significant venues. Further, the deck probably isn’t optimal. While there aren’t many other cards that could be added in the deck’s primary colors (other than Fiend Hunter, which I have found to be less effective than Rebuke in many cases in this particular deck), splashing a color isn’t out of the question. Green would give us more effective creatures (Mayor of Avabruck), Garruk Relentless, and the potential for Gavony Township. If we decide to get “cute,” it might also give us Parallel Lives. We might also consider black for Bloodline Keeper and a different removal suite (i.e., Dead Weight, Victim of Night, etc…). Both of these options stretch our manabase to some extent, but the most popular decks in the format have demonstrated the ability to play three colors with reasonable consistency, and so neither splash is out of the question.
If you’re a Magic player who gets significant enjoyment out of designing and tinkering with deck ideas, I encourage you to give this one a shot—it’s reasonably viable, and it’s pretty fun!