Multiplayer Magic is no different than sanctioned Constructed formats, at least in one important aspect: The most expensive deck wins. A number of last week’s multiplayer decks featured Kokushos, one of the most expensive cards in Standard today (if not the most expensive). Some ran Onslaught’s fetchlands (with or without dual lands), and others ran those really inexpensive-to-cast artifacts that kill you (Mana Crypt, Moxes, etc.). I have nothing against those who possess such power and aren’t afraid to show it off — I mean, if I had dual lands, whether or not they were in my favorite colors, I’d sure as hell find a way to use ‘em. The same goes for anything else.

But I don’t have dual lands… and that’s fine. I don’t need those cards, and neither do you in order to put together something worthwhile in multiplayer. In between classes here at LSU, some of us get together in the “Dungeon” (the game room at the Union) and melee duel. We’re run-of-the-mill college students, undergrad and likewise. Most of us are without the powerful expensive cards, and we get along just fine. We just use creatures — lots of creatures — and there’s nothing wrong with that. In this article, I’m going to share with you the best five cheap creatures you can use in multiplayer and examine some of their various applications.

But what do I mean by “cheap creatures”? I mean monetary value, so rares aren’t out of the question. I’ll set the rare cost limit at four bucks and use this fine website’s prices as a guide. Let’s begin in no particular order.

People’s (real) names are protected, just to be nice.

Shepherd of Rot
(Onslaught Common, $0.25 M/NM)
This guy’s such an ass, it’s unreal. He’s cheap to cast and can play along with Zombies and Clerics, so you can get some serious mileage out of him. His ability screams, “I WANNA PLAY WITH MY ROTTING BRETHREN!!” — and that’s where his putrid decaying heart is.

Zombie decks are the most common tribal decks I see between classes, and for good reason: they’re inexpensive to make, relatively fast, and can take a beating while dishing it out. And when there’s two or more Zombie decks involved, the game’s even faster because the Shepherd’s ability counts all Zombies. I don’t have such a deck with me at the moment, so I’ll make up a deck according to what I commonly see.

“Some Cheap Zombie Deck Off The Top Of My Head” (More Like An Outline)
Festering Goblin
Carrion Feeder
Shepherds of Rot
Nantuko Husk/Phyrexian Ghoul
Vengeful Dead
Gempalm Polluter
Noxious Ghoul
Undead Warchief

Misery Charm/Tortured Existence
Syphon Soul
Patriarch’s Bidding
Grave Pact
Miscellaneous kill spells/Creature recursion spells

Swamp
Barren Moor
Unholy Grotto

While I don’t usually play with a straight-up Zombie deck, I do play with a mono-black Cleric build, so it’s like half-and half.

“Free Speech Alley”
1 Scion of Darkness
4 Cabal Archon
4 Dark Supplicant
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Rotlung Reanimator
4 Shepherd of Rot
4 Withered Wretch

3 Grave Pact
3 Patriarch’s Bidding
4 Diabolic Edict

2 Unholy Grotto
4 Vault of Whispers
19 Swamp

The straight-up Zombie deck can take better advantage of the Shepherd’s ability, but Free Speech Alley has more interactions available: You can sac it for life, dig out the Scion, or make a replacement 2/2…. but in the Zombie-only build, you can only cause life loss.

The most important thing to remember when using the ability is that the life loss is equal to the number of Zombies in play when the ability resolves, not when you put it on the stack. And don’t forget to use the ability at the end of the player’s turn before yours. And don’t forget that the ability counts all Zombies.

Three easy things to remember to abuse the cheapest multiplayer bomb at your disposal.

Rotlung Reanimator
(Onslaught rare, $3.50 M/NM)
This fella could show up in a Zombie deck, since he can replace himself, Withered Wretch, and Shepherd of Rot, just to name some cards off the top of my head. But why just stop there? That’s why I made Free Speech Alley as posted above. I got some Rotlungs for my Zombie deck, found them not to be as great as I thought, and made a Cleric deck instead. I thought that Zombies were going to be Tier 1 in Standard…. but the rest is history.

Anyway, you’d be surprised at how many Clerics see play in multiplayer (Order of Leitbur/Order of the Ebon Hand, Soul Warden, and Auriok Champion, to name a few) - and when they die, you profit off their misfortune. This Reanimator is also splashable, making it perfect for white Cleric decks that are looking for a little extra oomph and presence in the long run.

This card is without question the single most powerful creature in Free Speech Alley, since he can replace twenty-four out of twenty-five of my guys without difficulty. Because of this, he has a huge target on his head. It sucks that he’s gone so often but at least he replaces himself and gives real threats like Scion of Darkness and Shepherd of Rot excellent chances at winning games.

Of course, if he’s left alone and I assemble an evil army of followers, it’s like a cult meeting and everyone’s drinking the Kool-Aid shortly before boarding the space ship. It’s that insane (but not that stupid). Okay, that was a bad analogy. What I mean is that when they all bite it with their guide (their guide being the Reanimator, not the Archon), what happens afterwards is a lot worse. Sure they reach that spaceship — but what they leave here on Earth is absolutely terrifying.

Copperhoof Vorrac
(Mirrodin Rare, $1.00 M/NM)
This guy’s a lot more expensive to cast than the Shepherd is — but since the Vorrac’s in green, you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting him before turn 4 arrives. But this guy’s an interesting exception to green’s tendency to get big dudes out as soon as possible; you actually want this guy to come out later, since he should get bigger the longer you wait. It’s not unusual to have this guy be a 30/30 or more. And there’s a lot you can do with a body that big. Check out this green Beast deck I’ve recently resurrected for multiplayer:

“That Green Beast Deck”
2 Feral Throwback
3 Copperhoof Vorrac
3 Molder Slug
4 Krosan Warchief
4 Ravenous Baloth
4 Wirewood Savage

3 Hurricane
4 Chain of Acid
4 Pulse of the Tangle
4 Rancor

25 Forest

All this deck wants to do is beat with big Beasts, make the most out of them, and finish the game with a Hurricane. To be honest, I originally made this deck for another reason: Pulse of the Tangle. I had a set of these wondrous sorceries (and they’re cheap at $1.00 SP) and some Baloths. So I had the following conversation with myself:

“Self, what can I do with these…”

“Oh no you didn’t!”

“Did what?”

“You started asking me about some stuff. That’s so typical from men like you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Whenever someone’s on the verge of explaining some combo or some other revelation in a Magic article, they start off by saying, ‘So I asked myself, ‘Self? Blah blah blah…’’ You haven’t noticed this? It’s so embarrassing.”

“So?”

“Don’t you find this the least bit demeaning?”

“No; no, I don’t. I meant no harm. Honestly.”

“…”

“Self?”

“…”

“Self?!?”

“…I don’t know you anymore… Don’t ever take your self for granted.”

“What? I don’t understand. Let’s try…”

“GO F*** YOUR SELF IF YOU LOVE YOUR SELF SO DAMN MUCH!!!”

<Self leaves, slams the door on the way out>

I haven’t heard from myself since…

Anyway, if there’s one thing better than a gigantic creature on your side of the board, it’s an even more gigantic creature with some form of evasion. Rancor gives a slight power boost and the all-important trample to whatever it enchants, and if a Disenchant-effect or a copied Chain of Acid destroys it, it comes right back to your hand. Feral Throwback’s provoke can also clear the path for your large beater. And if your Vorrac is ever in a life-or-death situation, you can regenerate it via Krosan Warchief or sac it to Ravenous Baloth. “Pumbaa” (as I call the Copperhoof Vorrac) will find some way to screw an opponent over.

But, like the Shepherd, you don’t necessarily have to beat to win: You could always Fling the big beast. Hell, you don’t even have to cast it. You could get it into play via Oath of Druids and sac it to Altar of Dementia to mill people to death, as someone here at LSU does. (He also runs Verdant Forces and Serra Avatars along with Hunting Grounds and Gaea’s Blessings. And if he’s reading this article right now, I have this to say to him: Yes, you can run four Feldon’s Canes. Leave Strip Mine out of this.)

Seizan, Perverter of Truth
(Champions of Kamigawa Rare, $2.00 M/NM)
And now for the black legend you’re probably not playing. When there’s a Howling Mine or two on the board, you’re probably not going to go after the one who played them or destroy them right away unless you know what’s going to happen next. Even then, you might wait and draw some cards.

Seizan’s sort of the same thing. Players are going to draw at least three cards and lose two life a turn; they may not be too happy about the life loss, but at least everyone’s going to suffer the same… Unless they piss Seizan off. A 6/5 for five’s no laughing matter, especially when he makes everyone lose two just by being there. It’s like a Mafia cover-up. You know: Innocent family owned and operated business in the front (a grocery store or a restaurant), sinister family-run organization that gives people the business in the rear.

But I don’t think anyone’s going to miss Seizan when he dies; I sometimes could care less when he leaves. That’s where sac effects are handy. And what black deck doesn’t run those in multiplayer?

I’m the only one among us who plays this card. It was originally in a combo deck that tried to kill (or at least gain advantage) with the Megrim/Words of Waste/Geth’s Grimoire combo - but I thought it too inconsistent, especially when I’m not playing with Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor. And it’s a three-card combo; you wanna stay away from those unless you can set it off in modules like Extended’s Life can.

Here’s a deck I just made thanks in parts to some very recent trades.

Warning: I haven’t played it yet. I just made this thing before writing because I hated the old build so much:

“Woodland Critter Christmas (Hail Seizan, the Pepper Oni!)”
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star (yeah yeah, I read this week's contest rules… but it’s only one, and it can easily be replaced)

1 Visara the Dreadful
3 Seizan, Perverter of Truth

3 Corrupt
3 Mutilate
3 Panoptic Mirror
4 Chainer’s Edict
4 Consume Spirit
4 Dark Ritual
4 Innocent Blood
4 Syphon Soul

4 Cabal Coffers
22 Swamp

The deck needs a lot of work, but it’s a start. I roughly modeled the build after the mono-black control decks from Odyssey Block Constructed (and its run in Standard). Seizan should be awesome here, because it can kill multiple players (via attacking or its triggered ability) and speeds your draws — two things a multiplayer control deck can only love. With a set of Rituals, it isn’t too hard to get this death engine out a couple turns early. And unlike the Vorrac, the sooner this guy comes online, the better. Seizan can’t kill ‘em all on his own, either. That’s where the damage spells come in and whatever other creatures you have handy.

Cuombajj Witches
(Anthologies common, $0.25 M/NM; Arabian Nights common, $1.00 M/NM)
Double your pleasure, double your fun. I haven’t seen the twins in quite some time — but man oh man do they make their presence felt! No two-toughness creature is safe so long as this creature’s controller has an ally. But not even allies are guaranteed when everyone’s fighting for their lives and life points.

Woodland Critter Christmas (that MBC deck above) could use some more creatures. These could make excellent additions since they can come out really early, can kill multiple creatures with only one activation (like Shepherd of Rot), and can finish off fledgling adversaries with a little cooperation from others.

One thing you really don’t want to do in multiplayer is build up a massive army and not do anything with it. It’s even worse when everyone is hiding behind a wall of bodies. The Witches can help fight these creature stalemates; by the time the game freezes this way, everyone should know who has the biggest threats. So with a little help, you can take down what ails y’all. You can take the quest, slay the dragon (or what have you), win the girl, and be the hero of the village. And no one wants to mess with the people’s champion unless this savior turns betrayer.

Now’s the time of the show where I’d put up a decklist featuring the card and miraculously write an additional paragraph about something relevant… but I’ve personally never played with this card. I never even got to choose a target when target opponent got to choose a target!

But I can’t win ‘em all. If you’re playing black, I say give the twins a go. Now, if only they had positive interactions with tribes…

So there ya have it: Some of the cheapest multiplayer bombs money can buy. Although I admit that the decks I have posted may be a little more costly to make than first thought (i.e. the set of Baloths in That Green Beast Deck), I’ve shown that there are reasonable alternatives to Kokusho and Verdant Force and the like (although there’s certainly nothing wrong with those). At least you can make well-rounded multiplayer decks that are a lot cheaper and a lot easier to acquire than a set of black dragons. And that’s something everyone can appreciate.

See y’all between classes,
Nick
evil_doughman@yahoo.com
“evil_doughman” on the Forums (whenever I choose to participate)