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I didn't have to try out any new ideas with my multiplayer group - because as soon as I read this week's contest, I knew it would give me a chance to write about my favorite deck ever. I quickly found an old list, and eventually added a few new tricks to this old dog's repertoire:
Combo:
4 Sunder
3 Multani, Maro-Sorcerer
"Lock":
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Exploration
2 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1 Fastbond
1 Strip Mine
Acceleration:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Llanowar Elves
1 Sol Ring
Draw/ Search:
2 Horn of Greed
4 Brainstorm
4 Mulch
2 Sylvan Scrying
The best cards in the deck:
4 Windswept Heath
4 Tropical Island
2 Island
11 Forest
Now, the first thing you've probably noticed is that the lock looks like it'll take a substantial effort to set up. If you actually play the deck, however, you'll quickly find that you don't always win with your opponents unable to do anything. Sundering all your opponents' lands back to their hands is pretty serious and should win the game outright. If a player takes twenty damage the turn after you return all of their lands to their hand, they were kind of locked, in a sense, right? Sunder should essentially seal the deal for you, provided:
A. You've floated enough mana to play Multani the same turn
B. You spent the first few turns of the game playing Birds of Paradises/ Llanowar Elves so you'll be able to drop Multani without the lands you just returned anyway, or:
C. You can generate six mana next turn without lands in play at the beginning of that turn or any elves. To do this, you need three Explorations (unless you find Azusa) and a Sol Ring, however, so typically a combination of methods B and C is what you'll use to get that multiplayer monster out ASAP.
Multani was already a house in multiplayer, but in this deck he'll most likely be knocking someone out of the game each time he swings. Because of this, (and the fact that you're returning every player's hard-earned resources back to their hand), you'll paint yourself a large target rather quickly. Thus, the deck needs to be able to overcome the only playable cards that can possibly remove Multani: Edicts (both Diabolic and Chainer's). This was actually a considerable factor in choosing to run four Birds and four Elves over possibly more useful components, but I think it ended up being a better choice anyway.
As far as the lock itself goes, like most locks, it should mean "game over" once you get it rolling. It is, however, substantially easier for your opponents to break out of this lock than most others. If they have an Exploration or a Crucible of their own, they may be able to pull it off - but if you've been Stripping one land from each opponent (or taking out all of one opponent's lands, moving around the table each turn if you're especially mean) while drawing a card every time you recur that Strip (via Horn of Greed), you're probably still going to win the game on the back of that insane card advantage.
There is the issue of only being able to play with a single copy of Strip Mine, but I thought Wasteland might be too unreliable for most multiplayer circles. If you think it'll work against the decks you expect to face, then by all means run them. If not, this is partially taken care of by the four Mulch and two Sylvan Scryings, as well as the other limited draw the deck packs.
Yes, to completely lock a table of opponents from playing spells you will need an Exploration or a Fastbond for every player beyond the second (again, unless you draw into Azusa) - but you can still cripple several opponents even without the full suite of lock components, especially when all this is following a Sunder. Azusa is really good, and it might be a good idea to play more than two because of how much more achievable she makes the lock - but Exploration does a good job, too.
The synergy is ridiculous. You're negating opposing players' resources, which accomplishes a few big functions. It keeps them from being able to mess with your game plan as well as hindering the development of their own, which in turn keeps more cards in their hands, making Multani bigger every turn.
Unfortunately, the deck does have an inherent weakness against a rather common deck to most multiplayer games: elves. Because of their sheer volume of blockers and the fact that Sunder won't hurt them very much, I've been looking for alternatives for the maindeck, if you expect to be playing many games against Elves. So far I've thought of adding a few Natural Affinity-type effects to the maindeck, since you should have more lands than they'll have blockers, but I'm sure there's a better idea to be found.
Until next time, have fun making all your friends angry with this deck!
