No one will argue that Apocalypse has some of the keenest cards to come along since the Urza block. Lost in the noise about Vindicate, Spiritmonger, and dual pain-lands, are cards that are begging to be broken (I’m looking at YOU, False Dawn), if only to validate their existence.

Mystic Snake is one of those cards, although it needs no validation. The Snake does not care if you like it; it will do whatever it likes anyway.

In case you somehow missed it:

Mystic Snake (Rare)
1GUU
Creature - Snake
2/2
You may play Mystic Snake any time you could play an instant.
When Mystic Snake comes into play, counter target spell.
Its fangs are in your flesh before its hiss leaves your ears.

Thank you, Wizards, for giving me a card that fits so well into one of my all-time favorite color combinations. Visions of Old Skool Tim/Fungasaur decks dance through my head, with Dream Thrush and River Boas for all. All that’s left now is to get the most from my new favorite card.

Let’s start with the obvious:

4x Mystic Snake
4x Repulse/Boomerang
2x Aether Mutation

Quite simply, we don’t really want the Snake to stay in play for long — since we’d much rather have it in our hand. Do we care if our opponent knows about it? Not really. In the current Standard environment, there are plenty of ways to bounce the snake back to our hand. We could go with gating creatures, but some of the best (Shivan Wurm, Horned Kavu, Fleetfoot Panther) would require us to splash either red or white; we’ll discuss why we don’t want to use these colors in a moment. Fleetfoot Panther would be a decent option, since he comes in at instant speed... But do we really want to pay seven mana to counter a spell? I didn’t think so.

The choice of Repulse or Boomerang is a personal one. Would you rather pay one extra mana and net a card, or pay the double blue and gain the flexibility of bouncing any permanent? I prefer Boomerang, but that’s me. Aether Mutation exists because we can’t run six Boomerangs, and I have to say it puts a smile on my face to bounce a Spiritmonger or Shivan Wurm and gain a ton of Saprolings. It’s even better if you can counter the monster directly afterward — or better yet, drop your own.

As long as we’re countering spells (and why else would you run blue?):

4x Counterspell
4x Undermine

With Undermine, our third color makes its appearance. We could still have gone Absorb/Fleetfoot Panther, but black allows us the best use of the Urborg Elf, and makes room for other beatsticks:

2x Urborg Elf
4x Doomsday Spectre
2x Spiritmonger

The Spectre is a perfect fit: Bounce our Snake, gain some flying hand destruction. As long as we’re running B/G, Spiritmonger is the perfect finisher. Urborg Elf is slightly superior to Utopia Tree, as he’s available for some early beatdown, even if he only serves for one.

We’re still a little light on creatures, so:

4x Gaea’s Skyfolk
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Jungle Barrier

The Skyfolk and Barriers are gating bait for the Spectre, but quite good on their own as well. A 2/2 flier on turn two? Sign me up. A wall that laughs at Blastoderm and cantrips? Great! Gate it to the Specter, and draw another card? Even better.

Oh, and while we’re drawing cards, let’s draw a few more:

4x Brainstorm

We can do a lot of tricks even if we don’t see many Snakes, but we’d really rather see Snakes.

Our final decklist reads as follows:

Snake Charmer Stout
4x Mystic Snake
4x Counterspell
4x Undermine
4x Repulse/Boomerang
2x Aether Mutation
4x Doomsday Specter
2x Spiritmonger
4x Gaea’s Skyfolk
2x Jungle Barrier
4x Brainstorm
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Urborg Elf
4x Yavimaya Coast (Thanks again, Wizards!)
4x Underground River
6x Island
6x Forest

 

While it doesn’t have a sideboard yet, obvious choices are Creeping Mold, Mask of Intolerance (for those players who simply can’t resist the Cromat/Coalition Victory lure), Zombie Boa, Pernicious Deed, Tsabo’s Decree, etc...

If you fear the dark, a version that splashes white instead of black is certainly viable (changes indicated by *):

Snake Charmer Pale
4x Mystic Snake
4x Repulse/Boomerang
2x Aether Mutation
4x Counterspell
4x Absorb* (gaining life can help offset some of the painlands)
4x Blastoderm*
4x Fleetfoot Panther*
4x Gaea’s Skyfolk
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Utopia Tree* (Doesn’t fall to Simoon!)
4x Eladamri’s Call*
4x Yavimaya Coast
4x Adarkar Wastes
6x Island
6x Forest

Armadillo Cloak, while in colors, isn’t a top-tier choice due to all the bouncing going on. However, in different builds there might be room for it. Another possible advantage to running white is the access to Disenchant in addition to Creeping Mold in the sideboard, closing the Worship loophole. We can also use Sacred Ground to shut down heavy land-destruction decks, since countering spells and recursing Snakes takes a lot of land.

In early playtesting, Charmer Stout performs very well, smashing Fires with relative ease. The presence of four creatures able to block Blastoderm conferred a sense of calm upon me. You can even let Fires of Yavimaya stay on the board, and save your counterspells for Saproling Burst. Shivan Wurm likewise isn’t a problem with a Spiritmonger on the board. Doomsday Specter smashes face with the best of them against Fires, since your opponent’s hand should be fairly empty. If you’ve got an Undermine in your hand and a Specter in play, Fires doesn’t do much except feed their Birds to the Doomsday.

Charmer Stout’s worst matchup is against land destruction, a la Thundercats. Since we’re light on true removal of our own, if Flowstone Overseer stays in play, it’s game over. A worthy sideboard choice if your particular metagame includes decks like this would be Teferi’s Response. You could also include counters that allow you to bounce your land as an alternate casting cost.

[Warning: Untested theory ahead...] The possibility is even here for a transformational sideboard. A melange of Stout and Pale may provide the optimal amount of flexibility against a wide field of decks.

Charmer Light has no playtesting whatsoever, but I must confess I like the following concept:"At the end of your turn, I cast Fleetfoot Panther, gating the Blastoderm (incidentally with no fading counters)..."

Ah... Reusable creatures!

However you choose to abuse Mystic Snake, remember kids — it ain’t legal until July. Did I say,"Thank you, Wizards?" I meant,"Darn you guys anyway!"

Ariel

(thetis@onebox.com)