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If you ask me, April Fools is about pranks… So we need a surprise that will be fun if it works. More than any other kind of card, silver-bordered cards will give you that April Fools feeling, since Unglued and Unhinged are about fun, jokes and pranks.
Now, I could create a 100% silver-bordered deck, but I fear it would be unsurprising. All the dice rolling, gotcha triggers, and minigames are all fine, but the ploy of playing a black-bordered deck that suddenly brings the game into silver-bordered land is something that certainly follows the definition The Ferrett stated ("a deck that does something your opponents didn't think it was going to”). Most silver-bordered rares can be abused very easily in black-bordered land, but I know more than one player who will think of that as cheating. Apparently, silver-bordered combos aren’t very popular, so for now I will leave the nasty combos untouched.
So the idea I have uses only one card from Unhinged. Until you unveil the single silver card in question, it will look like any other normal black-bordered deck. Not only that, but it uses a green creature tribe that will certainly fly below the radar. It’s one of the underdogs in tribal green, if you ask me – it's easy to create a deck with elves, beasts, or spirits, but Druids have a much harder time. I like to play with unappreciated cards - so Druids it is.
Diligent Farmhand is no Sakura-Tribe Elder, but for this deck, it will do well enough. Together with his Elder uncle, they make sure you’ll have oodles of mana to spend (and to chump block with in the meantime). Nantuko Vigilante will give us some necessary enchantment/artifact removal, and I like to add Broodhatch Nantuko so opponents will never know which Nantuko the morph is (and his effect isn’t that bad, either). Kamahl, Fist of Krosa will give the deck some additional impact, and the last druid to fill the ranks is Nantuko Mentor.
What? Yes, Nantuko Mentor. There may be better druids out there, but for this deck this little unacknowledged advisor is perfect. It can insta-kill Darksteel Colossus - and not many Druids can make that claim.
How? Well, this isn’t an unalloyed Druid deck. It has one more creature that may be unapt for the Druid theme, but will make opponents pay for their unawareness: Magical Hacker. Yes, the one and only "human gamer." His magic will alter the way your deck works; all the boost effects can become creature removal for one additional blue mana. Muscle Burst becomes quite good removal and Tribal Unity isn’t just a finisher for your alpha strike, but can also be a instant combination of Extinct and Mutilate. It will kill spirits, zombies, elves or whatever creature tribe you want slain. Let’s summarize this discussion with a decklist:
DNA Recombined (60 cards)
Lands (24)
4 Yavimaya Coast
8 Island
12 Forest
Creatures (25)
4 Diligent Farmhand
4 Yavimaya Elder
4 Broodhatch Nantuko
4 Nantuko Vigilante
3 Nantuko Elder
2 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
4 Magical Hacker
Instants (11)
4 Muscle Burst
3 Tribal Unity
4 Whispers of the Muse
The deck has one big against versus other casual decks. Until you’ve got the Hacker online, you can’t do anything against flying creatures. I wanted to use only Druids (four human gamer being an exception) and they don’t fly. You’d need a Wonder for that.
Two remarks when you’re going to play the deck: Tribal Unity can boost your Druids or your Insects. If your Broodhatch Nantuko gave you a good amount of tokens, Insects may be the better choice. Second, with Kamahl and Magical Hacker and any boosting effect you can destroy lands. It’s far-fetched, but it can be relevant.
I’ve chosen Whispers of the Muse to have some card drawing. The buyback is doable with all the land searching. You could use any kind of blue card drawing, however.
If you think Muscle Burst is a bit inept, you could replace it with Might of Oaks or Strength of Cedars. Nantuko Disciple may be a good replacement for Nantuko Mentor for the underfunded among you… but then again, I don’t believe that the Mentors ever were in high demand.
Elves are cheesy enough already so I didn’t go there, but Timberwatch Elves + a lot of other elves could also be nasty with the Magical Hacker. Belbe’s Armor and the Hacker is a killing combo, too. Belbe’s Armor could even protect the fragile Hacker against creature removal. Sakura-Tribe Elder, Eternal Witness, and another bunch of shamans could also use Tribal Unity, giving you a way to return some of the combo pieces.
You can do a lot with Magical Hacker, but I chose to use it with Druids. The deck described isn’t unbeatable, but it certainly is fun to play. I hope this gave you some inspiration to try the little gamer. Enjoy your hacks!
Arjan van Houwelingen
(Jorael on Magic forums)
Feedback isn’t unappreciated!
