Playset of Stomping Ground - $80
Playset of Loxodon Hierarch - $44
Playset of Burning-Tree Shaman - $50
The look on your opponent's face when they get beaten by a Peasant Deck – Priceless

The idea of Peasant Decks appeals to me in lots of different ways. First, there's the cost of the cards. All cards in a Peasant Deck are common and uncommon, and are very cheap: hence the name “peasant.” I can't spend that much money on cards. There are other important things, such as food, shelter, and a high-speed Internet connection. Another thing that appeals is that the cards are a lot easier to get hold of. I'm not a hardcore player – and I'm lazy as well - so I won't spend a lot of time and effort trying to get hold of cards I need for a deck. I don't like running decks that are filled with proxies of cards that I want but will probably never have. It's like taunting a fat kid on a treadmill with a cupcake. It's just wrong. Amusing at times, sure, but wrong.

As a result, most decks I make are from random cards that I manage to get at prereleases, or are based on some weird card combinations. I also like to make decks with cards that are all from the same block. It has a certain sort of flavor to it. Though, if I find a weird or interesting deck idea, I'll make a deck with proxies (of card I'm likely to obtain – not of those high-cost rares I'll never have), or add a couple of non-block cards. I once proxied up a deck based around Junktroller and Sunforger. Sure, it wasn't exactly tournament worthy, but it wasn't an overly bad deck and was reasonably fun to play. But anyway, I digress.

One Peasant Deck that comes to mind is the Splice deck. A U/R deck from the Kamigawa block that ran no rares, and not many uncommons. Based on Ire of Kaminari, it was very cheap to build, yet very effective. Now, I'm not saying that my deck will be anyway near as good as this, but its not a complete pile of trash. By adding rares such as Twincast, the Ire deck gets even better… but then it isn't Peasant, and it's not as fun to beat someone with it.

Now, my friends have commented that most of my deck ideas since Ravnica was introduced tend to involve “equip Sunforger, bash” or something to that effect. Sunforger doesn't exactly fit into a Peasant Deck, so I surprised my friends by making a deck that didn't involve Sunforger beatings. One of them had pointed out a group of cards that combo to give infinite mana. Cards that would fit into a Peasant Deck. I found this idea intriguing, so I decided to set about designing a deck. With the exception of one card, they are all from the Ravnica block.

Infinite Mana Combo Featured by Craig Symonds on 2006-03-19 As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/11521.html Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 4 Izzet Signet Creatures 4 Dimir Guildmage 4 Drift of Phantasms 4 Tidewater Minion 4 Wild Cantor Enchantments 4 Freed from the Real	Instants 4 Muddle the Mixture 4 Pyromatics Sorceries 4 Compulsive Research Basic Lands 13 Island 7 Mountain Lands 4 Izzet Boilerworks	Stats: Average mana: 1.53 Average creature mana cost: 2.75 Average creature power: 1.75 Average creature toughness: 3.00 Deck Composition: Basic Lands: 33.33% Lands: 6.67% Artifacts: 6.67% Instants: 13.33% Creatures: 26.67% Sorceries: 6.67% Enchantments: 6.67%
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For those of you yet to come across the infinite mana combo, let me explain how it works:

• Enchant Tidewater Minion with Freed from the Real. Have a bounce land in play (in this case, Izzet Boilerworks, but any Blue/something land will work).
  
• Tidewater Minion Untaps the bounce land, if necessary
  
• Tap the bounce land for U/R in the mana pool
  
• Use the U to untap the Tidewater Minion with Freed from the Real
  
• You're now back where you started, except you now have R in the pool
  
• Rinse and repeat

How does one use this abundance of mana? Take infinite mana burn in an act of Seppuku? Tempting, but I wanted something a little less suicidal.

After Guildpact came out, the more technology orientated Izzet guild appealed to me, so I decided to go with a U/R combination. The win condition for the deck is to pull off the infinite mana combo and replicating Pyromatics a ridiculous number of times to hit the opponent for lethal damage. Or Tidewater Minion beatdown; either one works. The creatures can be used to stall out the board, or to fetch parts of the combo.

In my first build of the deck, I ran Izzet Guildmage, Lava Spike, and Terrarion. This added a win condition using the Guildmage to replicate Lava Spike. All the Terrarion did was allow me to draw a card and filter mana if needed. After playing with the deck a few times, I found that there were times when I couldn't use the combo because I didn't have a Tidewater Minion or a Boilerworks. I wanted a card that could stall out the board and allow me to get the parts of the combo I needed.

A card that fit the bill was Dimir Guildmage. Its card drawing ability is very useful for getting the Tidewater Minion and Boilerworks into hand, seeing as they can't be tutored out. It's also a blocker that can help stall out the game a little longer. I decided to replace the Izzet Guildmage with this. This left Lava Spike without a replication engine, and I figured it could be replaced by something a little more useful. The Terrarion didn't seem to do a whole lot, so I pulled it off the field and subbed in Wild Cantor and an extra Signet (it originally contained only three). This provided a little more acceleration and a blocker - albeit one that was pretty useless, especially against tramplers.

As well as being a part of the combo, Freed from the Real can also be used as a sort of removal spell. Enchanting an opponent's creature with it allows you to tap it down and stop it attacking. How versatile!

Muddle the Mixture might not stop a Kodama of the North Tree from seeing play, but it will stop a kill spell that's headed for your Tidewater Minion. It can also stop enchantment and land destruction spells hitting the Freed from the Real and Boilerworks. They are, after all, the key elements of the combo. You could also use it to stop your opponent from searching out a land with Farseek on turn 2 and slowing him down (though personally, I probably won't do it a second time), or you could use its transmute ability. It can transmute for the win card, Pyromatics, or even the Dimir Guildmage if it's required.

The two main uses of Drift of Phantasms are that of the staller and the tutor. A flying 0/5 wall can be very handy in stalling out the board, and keeping your life out of the red. It also transmutes for one of the pieces of the combo - Freed from the Real - as well as Compulsive Research. The Boilerworks and the Tidewater Minion can't be tutored out in this deck, so the only way to speed up getting them into your hands is card draw… which is where the Research comes in.

That's the theory behind it, but how does it actually work in the real world? In a game of Emperor (three versus three) or Two Headed Giant (two versus two) it works really well, as your allies provide support with additional stall and possible counters for kill spells, allowing you to get your combo out before you get killed. In Chaos (free-for-all), it doesn't work so well, as your opponents tend to gang up on you once they know you're running this combo.

In standard one versus one play, it has its ups and downs, just like any other deck. I've managed to pull off the combo on turn 4:

Turn 1 – Mountain, Wild Cantor
Turn 2 – Mountain, two Wild Cantor
Turn 3 – Sack Cantors for UUU, Tidewater Minion, Izzet Boilerworks bouncing Mountain
Turn 4 – Land, Freed from the Real, Win.

Granted, the odds of this happening are pretty slim… but it's great if it does happen. It tends to be fairly consistent, though getting the Minion and Boilerworks can sometimes be a hassle. It can be a little boring as the deck doesn't interact very much with the opponent, as it largely ignores them while it puts together the combo - unless you take the Minion beatdown path, which can actually be quite fun. I doubt the deck would do well in a tournament (though I'm tempted to try it and see), but it's a fairly decent casual deck.

The beatdown path uses Pyromatics as a Wrath of God effect for the opponent's side of the board (unless they have untargetable creatures such as Kodama of the North Tree or Silhana Ledgewalker) and beating down with Tidewater Minion and Boros Guildmage. Now if you're using Pyromatics to Wrath, chances are you have the combo out, so you could just win. But that wouldn't be as fun, now, would it?

For those who like putting rares in their decks to show off to others how cool they are, you could also play cards such as Invoke the Firemind and Steam Vents. Steam Vents helps on the odd occasion when you might be color-screwed. It doesn't happen very often so you don't need it, but you would get points for coolness factor. Invoke the Firemind is another win condition and a way to draw into the combo at the same time. It has a definite place in the deck if you want to stick it in.

The infinite mana combo can be used in a variety of decks. For example, a U/B deck could run Psychic Drain or even Consume Spirit, as well as various removal spells or mill cards. There are plenty of combinations, which will be expanded greatly after the release of Dissension with the introduction of more guilds. A deck can be made to suit just about anyone. It's all about finding fun decks that can be made without spending ridiculous amounts of money.

Bye for now,
Craig Symonds