fbpx

The Kitchen Table #164: The Complete Equinaut Primer

Read Abe Sargent... every Thursday at
StarCityGames.com!

Equinaut is one of my most enduring creations. I’ve written about it several times and received tons of positive feedback, so its time for that one final primer that will give you everything you need to know to play and build your own Equinaut.

Hello, and welcome to the official Equinaut Primer. I’m your host, Abe Sargent. Today I will be talking all about Equinaut in various incarnations. This will be the final and best word on Equinaut for now.

Equinaut is one of my most enduring creations. I’ve written about it several times and received tons of positive feedback, so its time for that one final primer that will give you everything you need to know to play and build your own Equinaut.

What is Equinaut? Equinaut is a deck that utilizes the interaction between Equilibrium and Fleetfoot Panther to create a powerful game situation where things are getting bounced and more. The beauty of the deck is that you can really roll with either Equilibrium or the Panther, and that you really only need one to win.

This article will not walk you through the history of Equinaut, nor will it describe significant alternate versions that completely re-envision the deck. For that, you have to go to a previous article. That article also emphasizes the rules interactions between Equilibrium, Fleetfoot Panther, and another very powerful creature in this deck: Mystic Snake. If I wanted to create the ultimate Equinaut article it would take pages and pages, and be reminiscent of Oscar Tan own articles exploring Keeper.

That’s not my goal here. Instead, I want to walk you through the creation of your own version of Equinaut, including every major decision that you will have to make. However, in order to help you, allow me to give a brief overview of why including these core cards is vital.

The single best card in your deck is not Equilibrium, although it looks that way at first. It is Fleetfoot Panther. Nothing is better to draw than the Death Kitty, and practically nothing is more useful to have in your hand. Even without the Equilibrium, the Death Kitty can bounce, protect, reuse, and trigger a variety of effects and creatures in your deck (you’ll see, don’t worry). After that, Equilibrium is used to bounce your own creatures to keep Equilibrium up, while also bouncing opposing creatures as well. How does it do that? Through cards like the Death Kitty and other that have various effects.

Mystic Snake is the classic example. It can get bounced and hence reused by a Death Kitty. It can also get bounced and reused by Equilibrium. As a creature with Flash, it can be played to counter and bounce. As a result, the Mystic Snake is one of the core components and arguably the most abusable of “Comes Into Play” (or CIP) creatures in this deck.

Therefore, to my mind, the following ten cards are essential to any Equilibrium deck:

4 Fleetfoot Panther
4 Equilibrium
2 Mystic Snake

After that, you begin to require answers to deck building questions in order to continue.

Will I Play Any Additional Colors?

I suggest that you do not play any additional colors. In fact, you want to stick with just Green and White creatures, and not play any mono-Blue creatures. (There are exceptions to this third rule, seen later). The Fleetfoot Panther can only work in operation with a White or Green creature. Therefore, it can work with a Meddling Mage, a Mystic Snake, a Mystic Enforcer or a Soul Warden, but it will not work with a Man-o’-War or a Nekrataal, etc.

You could conceivably add another color, and just include gold creatures that are Green or White in that color. Red, for example, could lend Rumbling Slum. However, I can’t really think of many good creatures that are in Black/White, Black/Green, Red/White, or Red/Green that would be a boon to play. Certainly nothing that is worth the extra mana difficulties.

This deck really wants two Blue, a Green, and a White among your three lands by the third turn. That way you can cast Equilibrium or Fleetfoot Panther as needed. That already requires dual lands, pain lands, Birds of Paradise, and other cards. You don’t want to add Red or Black to the mix.

Should I Play Additional Gating Creatures?

After just a few games, you will understand the sheer power of the Fleetfoot Panther. You may wonder if you should play any other gating creatures. Here are the ones in color that you may want to consider:

Steel-Leaf Paladin – The first gater you’ll think about. Sure, he costs a lot of mana, but he is the only other gater in color. Does that make up for the six casting-cost? In a word, no. Your deck wants cheap creatures. Cheap creatures work well with Equilibrium and other tricks (like the Aethermage). Six-mana creatures do not.

Sawtooth LoonOf all of the additional gaters, this may be the most promising. Playing it would virtually require all of your creatures to be either gold or mono-White. That way, every creature could be bounced by both the Death Kitty and the Loon. In this hypothetical deck, you’d have to work out what replaces the good mono-Green creatures, like Birds of Paradise. However, everything looks good from here, and the Loon does provide that great card-sifting ability besides the gate.

Silver DrakeAlthough it is cheaper and bigger than the Loon, I don’t feel that the Drake is powerful enough to change your creature mix. If you add the Loon, you’ll probably only go with an additional two, so there’s still not even space for an extra Silver Drake.

Other “Gaters” – This includes other mono-Blue “Gaters” like Artic Merfolk and Shrieking Drake. These are cheap and useful, and bring you away from the need for certain colors of creatures. However, none are powerful enough on their own to replace the Kitty, and since none can be helped by a Kitty and none can be used at instant speed, you quickly realize that these only work with Equilibrium, and not the general deck. That’s too specific an ability to normally include.

Okay, with that settled, it’s time to move on to a few powerful questions.

Should I Play Tolsimir Wolfblood?

The very next question you ask is if you include Tolsimir Wolfblood. His presence will modify your creature-base slightly in favor of cards like Saffi Eriksdotter that make have just missed the cut otherwise.

This deck likes to slap down a winning condition, and Tolsimir is a great winning condition. Green/White creatures get +2/+2, Tolsimir brings a buddy with him of the 4/4 size, and even cards like Birds of Paradise and Mystic Snake get a +1/+1 boost.

He’s a great winning condition and you have to consider him. However, is he good enough for your deck? Playing Tolsimir will influence many later decisions. Will you play Watchwolf? Mystic Enforcer? Loxodon Hierarch? The abovementioned Saffi Eriksdotter? There’s a lot of questions that come later, and its best to have an answer early.

I play Tolsimir in my decks, so I like him enough to say yes. You’ll need to decide if you are in accord.

Do I Play Any Other Combo Pieces?

That last early question you need to ask is whether or not you will play any additional combo pieces. There are a ton of cards that can help out your deck in color. Let’s take a look at a few you might want to consider:

Opposition: It’s in color and, like Equilibrium, it uses you large creature base to stall an opponent until you are ready to swing. It adds to the power of the deck significantly. It also decreases the creature ratio in the deck, as you add more enchantments and artifacts at the expense of actual creatures. It is yet another double Blue card in your deck, and I prefer to limit those. Don’t forget its ability to turn off mana by tapping lands and artifacts. That’s a great follow-up after you have bounced a serious threat by tapping their mana and preventing them from replaying it.

Glare of Subdual: Like Opposition, the Glare can really help against creatures. Unlike the Opposition, it cannot be used against lands and artifacts, but it is much easier to cast mana-wise. Your manabase and other determining factors will influence your decision between the two. I sometimes run a single Glare just as a surprise.

Mirari’s WakeOne of the most powerful enchantments ever made can give your creatures and mana a boost at no benefit to opponents, at a friendly casting cost color-wise. I can absolutely understand the reason for playing a Wake. However, I wonder if the deck can actually take advantage of all of that extra mana it allows. If you think your deck can use it, then play the Wake. I have never played it in mine, since something else always seems vital enough to play.

Azorius AethermageI think this card is really good in multiplayer, where you want to draw more cards against multiple opponents. It keeps your hand stocked. It’s good when you don’t have an Equilibrium out and you still need to keep an advantage (Playing Death Kitty, returning itself, and tapping one for Aethermage is a good way of drawing cards – it’s a Whispers of the Muse with buyback for four mana instead of six). The card works in the deck, but sometimes it feels like overkill in duels. You can currently find two in my deck.

Momir Vig, Simic VisionaryHe brilliant and breaks the deck. Every Green creature played becomes a Worldly Tutor. That’s amazing. It works well with, say, the Aethermage. (Now your Panther, played as an instant, is a buyback Eladamri’s Call for 2GW). Even with few Blue creatures, the Green half is still worth playing, and I have had one in my deck since I acquired my first.

Cloudstone CurioThis can be used solely to bounce one of your own creatures. It’s great for decks that use the Equilibrium to largely self-bounce, and it turns all of your creatures into potential gaters. Its ability is a “may” effect, so you are not required to use it, allowing you to build your creature base when necessary without bouncing. On the other hand it has no offensive powers at all, unlike the Death Kitty and the Equilibrium. It may be an interesting adjunct to experiment with, but I’ve felt that the major cards are sufficient, thus eliminating the need for the Curio. Also note that the Curio could be the only artifact you’d play, thus making it an auto target for artifact removal spells and preventing your use and abuse of creatures like Uktabi Orangutan.

Survival of the FittestSome of these decks morph into a minor toolbox. In those decks, you might want to consider the Survival. However, I’ve tried to give myself that toolbox without using the overused Survival through cards like Momir Vig. It’s up to you to decide if you want to run the Survival or not.

What Creatures Should I Play?

After answering the above questions, you are now ready to prepare the meat of your deck for consumption. After this, you can toss in some removal, card drawing, countermagic, and tutoring. Leave maybe eight to twelve slots open, and the rest you can fill in here.

Birds of ParadiseWhile these are not essentials, I’d say they are the next highest requirement in the deck. You could replace them with, um… maybe Mox Diamond? I wouldn’t want to do that, though. They are one of your flying creatures, and can get pumped into a Pegasus-cruncher with, say, Tolsimir or Mirari’s Wake. They are one-drops, making great Equilibrium creatures. They work amazingly well with Fleetfoot Panther. Plus, I hear they make good mana. Every version of the deck I have ever played ran four.

Meddling MageThis was a four-of in my first version of the deck. It’s cheap, which makes for a good Equilibrium / Death Kitty creature. The 2/2 body is solid. It can stop combo or control decks cold. It’s great protection in a normal environment by saying “Wrath of God” or “Counterspell.” You can bounce an opposing creature, then play the Mage and keep it from getting played again. You can bounce a Mage and replay it, naming something more pertinent this time after seeing your opponent’s deck.

WatchwolfIt replaced the Meddling Magi in my modern versions of the deck. The Watchwolf is so far above the curve, that you will occasionally get WW kills. Plays where you go Wolf, Wolf, attack for three, attack for six on the next turn, and win soon after. They are great as they work well with many of the other elements in the deck due to their color combination, size, and low casting cost. However, you may find yourself cutting them for more proactive creatures in terms of interaction with the deck…

Saffi Eriksdotter … like Saffi, for example. With the same casting cost, is the -1/-1 worth the saving ability of Saffi? I currently run one Saffi in one version of my deck. It’s a great card and definitely worth considering, especially since she can help the rest of the crucial players like the Snake, the Kitty, and the Magi (Aethermagi, not Meddling, and maybe Momir Vig).

Eternal WitnessI play the Witness heavily in my online decks, often relying on them to set up powerful winning conditions. Imagine bouncing Witnesses combined with the card drawing power of an Aethermage or the bouncing of an Equilibrium. Good stuff, eh? There are many ways to use and abuse the Witness. In longer, protracted games, one or two of these are a must to bring back a Loaming Shaman.

Loaming ShamanSpeaking of which, I play one in my multiplayer friendly Equinaut. It allows you to rest your deck and keep drawing, and that’s really good. You can also use it to send back opposing cards like Wonder, Genesis, Anger, Ashen Ghoul, etc. It slows down reanimation decks, from Replenish to Living Death.

Civic Wayfinder – I currently play two. The Civic Wayfinder is great at pulling out land, but in a longer game – although he is useful early on – he becomes a chump you hate. You almost wish you could remove him from the game, or transform him into a more useful creature. I guess that means he has done his job, but it’s still not worth much at that point. I am considering cutting him for something more universally useful.

Uktabi OrangutanWith few to no artifacts, playing one of these ain’t bad at all, soldier. There always seem to be scads of artifacts in multiplayer, and being able to reliably and regularly knock them down is pretty good. I’ve never played any, choosing to use the next guy, but if I did, it’d be just a single copy.

Thornscape BattlemageYou can usually get a Red kicker from a Birds or a City of Brass in the land base. The Battlemage can be used as an Uktabi above, or it can be used as a spot of burn in case you need it. Both kickers are highly useful, but note that the kicker cost raises the bounce and replay cost of the Battlemage over that of the Orangutan. There are times when the burn is amazing and times when it is less than sterling.

Sunscape BattlemageI played a single copy in my first iterations of the deck. I still occasionally run one because it is a Kill Akroma card, and that’s useful. The kill any flyer ability is unappreciated in Magic. This is a great creature because it can handle creatures such as Shivan Dragon, Sengir Vampire, Akroma (either one), and hordes of other commonly-played creatures. Its re-usablity, being played and replayed, is golden. Later in the game, you can use its Blue kicker to draw cards, giving you a powerful engine when combined with Equilibrium or the Kitty.

Fountain WatchWould you like to protect your enchantments and artifacts (if any) from being targeted in creature form? This deck generally prefers creature solutions to enchantment ones, so Fountain Watch appears to be a good deal. It is expensive, and I doubt you’ll be doing any serious bounce tricks with it. However, if you want a creature-oriented protection scheme, this is your guy.

Loxodon HierarchThe Hierarch fulfills several roles. In many decks, he is your largest beater. With a Tolsimir out he’s a 6/6 giant. He has a CIP ability that you can use and reuse with bouncing effects. And he has an ability to save your team from death. All considered, he’s a solid package, and I have played him both online and in real life versions of my deck.

Mystic EnforcerThe Mystic Enforcer has no abusable CIP abilities and no real game-winning abilities… outside of one. He is the best destroyer for a cheap price in your deck. You’ll get threshold with plenty of time to attack with this 6/6 flying pro-Black monster (8/8 with Tolsimir). He’s a larger Watchwolf, adding nothing but strength. I played two in my deck in previous iterations that were ultimately replaced with more synergetic creatures, but you can never go wrong with beef. Especially flying beef in a deck that can lack it.

Serra AvengerWhile on the topic of Watchwolf flyers, take a look at Serra Avenger. You have few flyers with an actual power, making her a solid choice. She has all of the cheapness of creatures that you come to love allowing for bounce tricks, while also being a good-sized flyer. Adding her to your deck is always a good choice.

Patagia ViperI played the Patagia Viper in one of my online versions. It’s another flyer, albeit a bit on the small size. That deck ran Glare in addition to Equilibrium, so the three creatures the Viper brought to the table made for a very tantalizing cadre. It’s a great Equilibrium and Panther creature, so you might want to take a look at it.

Man-o’-WarThis next section of creatures is entirely mono-Blue. Again, I’d generally prefer not to use them, but maybe you’ll get more use out of them that I will. If you are going to play a normal Blue creature, then this is absolutely your best option. It works marvelously with Equilibrium and Aethermage, it can restart your bouncing when you stop, and it’s great fun.

Aven FogbringerAnother option is the Fogbringer. This is a great tempo machine once you start playing bounce tricks with it, but watch out for the casting cost. With an Equilibrium out, it’s five mana to play this and bounce a creature and an opposing land. Then you can play another creature and bring the Fogbringer back.

Drift of PhantasmsI don’t really consider the Drift a true Blue creature, and I have played them in recent versions of my decks to get cards like Equilibrium and Fleetfoot Panther and Aethermage plus stuff like Dismantling Blow, Thornscape Battlemage, Uktabi Orangutan, and tons more. You can play it early as a wall then bounce it back to your hand to tutor. That’s a pretty solid card.

Teferi, Mage of ZhalfirThis hasn’t made the cut in my decks because I don’t have the manabase for it, but if I did, imagine all of your Aethermage / Equilibrium tricks at instant speed. Plus, there are no opposing instants or countermagic to meddle with you. Good, huh?

Ninja of the Deep HoursAnother mono-Blue creature, I’m sure this one is thinking outside of the increasingly hypothetical box. It can bounce a creature in a completely different way than the Death Kitty, and it gets you cards when applied correctly. It works wonders after tapping or bouncing blockers. However, its more limited usage relegates it to the bench. Plus, it doesn’t work with the Death Kitty or Equilibrium.

Raven FamiliarYet another Blue critter, this one gives you a nice minor Impulse effect on a minor flyer, for three mana with echo. Is that worth it? Probably not, but I wanted to mention it nonetheless.

Gilded DrakeThe final mono-Blue creature I’ll mention here is the Gilded Drake. Since you are giving it away anyway, it wouldn’t matter if it were Green or White because it would never work with the Death Kitty. On the other hand, it works marvelously with the Equilibrium. You might want a copy for emergencies, so you have an answer for, say, Darksteel Colossus.

Cloudchaser EagleI don’t like this (or other options like, say, Monk Realist) because you have critical enchantments, and you have to pop an enchantment with this. I’d rather play a creature that either can take out something else (like Indrik Stomphowler) or something that flips, like Nantuko Vigilante. With neither, I don’t want to be stuck with it in hand, needing a creature but unable to play it without popping an Equilibrium.

Indrik StomphowlerAlthough it is more expensive, the versatility of taking out either an artifact or an enchantment combined with its larger body make this an interesting choice. You won’t want that many, if you choose to play it.

AuramancerWith critical enchantments, you might want to consider a nice recursion creature like Auramancer. This would have been a valid choice prior to the printing of Eternal Witness, but since then, that really takes its place.

Yavimaya GrangerThese next two creatures get you lands like the Civic Wayfinder, but neither is as good. The Echo here is a serious disadvantage because you have difficulty getting the mana to bounce it on the following turn. It’s still solid, just not as good as the Wayfinder.

Solemn SimulacrumSure, getting a land is great, and drawing a card when it dies is something special, but there is no Fleetfoot Panther synergy here. Since we have options that are cheaper to play and do work well with the Death Kitty, it’s only fair that I looked at them first.

Academy RectorI like tutoring for enchantments that come directly into play, thus neatly avoiding traditional countermagic. However, the Rector is a “one and done” sort of effect, and we don’t like that. We also have no way of reliably killing said Rector – no mass removal or Goblin Bombardments. We want to bounce creatures, not kill them. This is probably the wrong deck for a Rector, despite its reliance on a key enchantment.

Spike WeaverThe Spike Weaver is generally good in a lot of situations, from tossing counters on other creatures, to making three Fogs to give you time to set up. It works well with others by bouncing after removing a counter or two and reloading. It is also Green, which is nice. As I write this, I’m thinking that I may want to add some to one of my versions of the deck.

Traditional Life-Gaining Creatures (Temple Acolyte, Radiant’s Dragoons, etc) – The purpose of these creatures is to gain a bump of life that you can use and reuse. There are a couple of ways you can do this. Soul Warden is cheap to activate your triggers while also gaining you life off all of your bouncing. Or you could play a CIP creature like Temple Acolyte to abuse with the bouncing. I use Loxodon Hierarch, mentioned above, for this role, but if you don’t run him, you might want to look here for ideas.

Traditional Multiplayer Houses (Commander Eesha, Lieutenant Kirtar, Silklash Spider, etc) – There are a lot of creatures that are simply good in multiplayer. They are just as good in this deck. The two that immediately came to mind were Silklash Spider and Eesha. Both are great defenders and can hold the fort while you set up. Both are Panther-able and therefore Tolsimir-able (which is important for Eesha, who is unblockable; probably not as much for the Spider). These cards are great choices for the deck if you feel you need a little steam. Just a word of advice – avoid Akroma-type creatures. You don’t want to cause that much attention to come your way.

What Removal Will You Play?

After that, you need to decide if you need additional removal. Every version of my deck has run Dismantling Blows, whether online or real life. I always feel the need for some artifact / enchantment removal.

I find that the amount of removal that you want here corresponds to the amount that you may already have in creature form. If you have Indrik Stomphowler several Battlemagi, and a Kirtar, you can be a bit more lax in the removal area.

Since there are so many removal options, I am just going to look at general categories.

Land Removal – If you want land removal, then I’ll want to know why. Does your metagame have a lot of Dark Depths, Academy Ruins, and Volrath’s Strongholds sprayed about? If so, then I’d still just run something like Creeping Mold that can be useful in a variety of situations. If you are stuck on taking out lands, there is a good option that works well with the deck. I didn’t mention it in the creature section above, but I’d recommend you take a look at Benalish Emissary. It works well with the deck from its color to its casting cost, and its kicker ability is solid considering the bounciness of the deck.

Enchantment Removal – It’s of average importance to have this. It’s not bad to have some cards that can take out either enchantment or artifact removal. I don’t know if I would play any cards that only take out enchantments. From Dismantling Blow to Terashi’s Grasp, there are a lot of options that do both, so you might as well play them. If I were to play just enchantment removal, it would be Aura Mutation in a deck with a heavy Opposition / Glare of Subdual count.

Artifact Removal – See above for discussion of cards that do both. Due to the more ubiquitous nature of artifacts, there are more targets and therefore often a greater need for artifact destruction. You may want a greater source than just your creatures. That’s why something like Creeping Mold suits the deck. Versatility is often key when you have less true removal in your deck.

Incidentally, a great card to run with your deck to shut down opposing artifacts and enchantments is Aura Shards, and I recommend it highly. With all of your bounce tricks, it works very well. You can get it with a Drift of Phantasms and it is in color.

Creature Removal – The obvious hole in the deck is a consistent lack of creature removal. Even if you play Battlemagi and Kirtar and a Silklash Spider, there’s a need for creature elimination that you are currently missing. There are several ways you can play this.

You can run White removal such as Swords to Plowshares, Exile, Chastise etc. This is pretty solid as a suite of removal, and it fits right into the deck. You could also run some forms of sweeping removal as an emergency method. A good choice might be Sunscour. It simply destroys all creatures, giving you a chance to use your Hierarch to save your team. Other possibilities are Kirtar’s Wrath, Retribution of the Meek, and Whirlwind.

I typically don’t run any additional creature removal, instead relying on my bounce and creatures to save the day. I certainly understand why you might choose otherwise.

Countermagic or Card Drawing?

The next question you need to ask yourself is if you want to run any card drawing or countermagic. Again, these topics are really big, so I’ll just look at the general issues.

Early versions of my deck ran Counterspell and Absorb. I felt that countermagic was a very important aspect of the deck. With Absorb, and Counterspell, and a pair of Mystic Snakes, fully ten of my cards were counters.

I then began to reduce my counters, including the elimination of double-Blue spells where possible from the deck. I often dropped to just four Mana Leaks, or cut counters from the deck altogether.

Recently, however, I’ve had a renaissance of countermagic in my real life deck, led by Voidslime. Its sheer usability is greater than a mere counterspell, so I really like it. This has led to a greater reliance on countermagic to stop serious threats.

Whether or not you run counters will shape your deck. You only have so many non-creature slots allowed in your deck, so you have to use them well.

In terms of card drawing, my first version of my deck had Opt, Fact or Fiction, Sunscape Battlemage, and Dismantling Blow. Since then I’ve trimmed the Opts, trimmed two Blows, and gone down to a pair of Fact or Fictions. However, I’ve added the Aethermagi, so there’s been some give and take there.

This is a deck that benefits from specific card selection from Impulse style effects, as well as generic card drawing like Concentrate. Both will work here, which makes Fact or Fiction deadly. I believe FOF is simply the best card drawing spell for the deck, as it combines both worlds.

Of course, you can always get away with classics like Scroll Rack or Sylvan Library.

Support

There are several support cards that you might want to consider for your Equinaut deck. These are the cards that help to make your deck go. From tutors to protection, there are some interesting cards here, so let’s look:

Sterling GroveOne of the top cards to consider for your deck is the Grove of Happiness and Joy. It protects your enchantments and tutors for one, whichever you deem is a greater need. Both of these are important, arguably vital functions. The more enchantments you play, the more you need a Grove. With just Equilibrium, you can get away with a Grove-less deck. With Glare / Opposition and Aura Shards combined with your Equilibrium, you needa the Grovea.

Enlightened TutorThis is a valuable tutor as well, although not as good as the Grove because it doesn’t protect. It’s good, but in a deck with few to no artifacts, you can’t even use half of it. I sometimes run a single E. Tutor I my decks.

Eladamri’s CallMy first version of the deck ran multiple E. Calls. Since the deck is so reliant on creatures, having an instant tutor mechanism is very valuable. Since I’ve added Momir Vig, my need for the Call has diminished. I run a single copy in my physical deck and nowhere else.

ReplenishIt’s true that an enchantment-heavy deck would benefit from Sterling Grove. It would also benefit from a copy of Replenish for emergencies. If the opponents at your table have a tendency to blast all enchantments, then you’ll want a Replenish backup in order to protect your enchantment investment. If you were to run this version of the deck, you might want to change your creature removal to something like Faith’s Fetters, which would fit more easily in the deck.

Now let’s take a look back at the deck. Let’s suppose a developed table is sitting in front of you. You have in play:

5 lands
1 Bird of Paradise
1 Momir Vig
1 Equilibrium
1 Azorius Aethermage
1 Aura Shards

Now, that’s not that much right? Let’s suppose that you top deck a Birds of Paradise. Not normally a good topdeck at this time, right? Let’s see what you can do with that one, 0/1 flying creature:

Play the Birds for one mana.
Trigger the Equilibrium, pay that mana with the current Birds in play, target the current Birds.
Trigger Momir Vig – Worldly Tutor.
Resolve Equilibrium – Birds in play bounces.
Trigger Aethermage.
Pay Aethermage trigger.
Draw a card.
Birds on stack resolves and comes into play.
Trigger Aura ShardsNaturalize something of an opponent’s

Total mana spent – three. Change in board state – You Worldly Tutored, you bounced your own Birds, you drew a card (which you just tutored for), and you blew up something. You still have three mana to either repeat with the Birds in hand or to play the creature you just drew.

Pretty good, eh? Now imagine if you had a Fleetfoot Panther… And if you didn’t, you would after using Momir Vig.

Welcome to Equinaut.

Until later,

Abe Sargent