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One of the best parts about this great game that we call Magic is the camaraderie of playing. It's even better when you've got a group of people to get together every week and talk about anything and everything under the sun - order pizza, drink beer, and just have a good old time. I'm lucky enough to have such a group of people. Every Thursday night, we get together at someone's house at about 8:00 p.m. and play Magic until about 1:00 a.m.

I joined the group about six months ago, and since then we have gotten many new players. We have someone who has been playing for about a month to someone who has been playing seemingly forever. I have learned a lot from my Magic group about all aspects of life. For example, I learned that card sleeves are not really card sleeves - they're actually"card condoms." That's just a useless piece of information that I thought was necessary for every Magic player to know!

We play multiplayer - and we play all sorts of multiplayer games, including two-on-two or three-on-three team games, free-for-all games, and emperor games (like three-on-three where the ultimate goal is to kill the opposing emperor). Until I joined the group, I normally only stuck to head-to-head match-ups. While these are fun, too, multiplayer Magic adds a whole new dimension to the game. Popular head-to-head archetypes like Mirari's Wake, Sligh, and Psychatog are just not good in multiplayer (actually, Phantom decks that use Wake to prevent your creatures from being able to be killed are pretty good, but that is not the Wake build I was referring to).

Multiplayer is all about creatures, because spells only last a turn. Even if you kill someone with a creatureless or creature-light deck, then there are still at least two other people that are going to take advantage of you having no defenses. Therefore, multiplayer is all about creatures.

With this in mind, I look at my options for a deck. I want something that will be both fun and competitive. I should mention that we normally stick to newer cards, so I normally play Type 2. Since I'm trying to go for big creatures, I think green is the way to go... Then I realize that beasts are pretty good, too, and there are some cool beasts and beast-related cards in Onslaught. In order to accommodate Onslaught's beast land and add some versatility, I decide to add red to my deck. Since I'm a poor college kid, I don't have access to four of every card, and some of my card choices may not make any sense. At the end of this article, I will talk about what changes I would make to my deck after testing it and what I would do if I had unlimited access to cards (that's what is called Magic heaven!). Without further ado, here's my decklist:

3x Llanowar Elves
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Moment's Peace
2x Genesis
3x Chainflinger
2x Ember Beast
2x Longhorn Firebeast
2x Anurid Swarmsnapper
1x Ravenous Baloth
2x Snarling Undorak
3x Beast Attack
4x Hystrodon
1x Spitting Gourna
1x Krosan Groundshaker
4x Krosan Tusker
3x Contested Cliffs
2x Karplusan Forest
4x Mossfire Valley
4x Mountain
11x Forest

The first thing you may notice is that there is no sideboard. That's true. In our multiplayer games, we don't use sideboards, unless you have a Wish in your deck; you just have to deal with it.

Second, you may say that the deck seems rather passive. That is true. My experience of multiplayer is that it is best if you get some threats out early and then wait until you have control to go for the kill. That is the reason I use many cheap, fairly useless beasts; I like the mana curve of this deck. If I get a Bird or Llanowar out on the first turn, then I have the ability to play a beast every turn to apply pressure to players with slower decks, while still having defenses for decks that get out of the gate quickly.

Now I guess I'll explain the reason I picked some of the cards that I used:

Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves:
It is essential to get one of these out on the first turn in order to speed up my game. If I don't, then I don't have a beast to play until my third turn. At that point, I may already be dead.

Moment's Peace:
You never know what is going to happen in a multi-player game, so this card is amazing. Also, it costs two mana, so in case I don't have a bird or elf out on the first turn, then I'll have some defense on my second turn. This card single-handedly allowed me to win one of my games. I'll explain more about that later.

Genesis:
Even though I don't have any way to discard it straight to my graveyard, Genesis is still a nice 4/4 for five mana. Once killed, however, he's incredible. One game, I had a Genesis in my graveyard, Ravenous Baloth out, and a three-casting-cost beast. Every turn, I was gaining four life for six mana!

Chainflinger:
Pingers are always so much fun - especially when they are beasts! When I was pulling out cards for this deck, I came across Chainflinger and couldn't believe my eyes when I realized it was a beast. It's only a 2/2 for four mana, which sucks... But it can produce a mini-Contested Cliffs ability and destroy any one-toughness - or, eventually two-toughness - creature that it wants to destroy.

Ember Beast, Longhorn Firebeast:
The only real reason I have these in here is to fill the mana slot. I wanted the deck to have a smooth mana curve, and these beasts cost three mana. Besides, they aren't really that bad, considering I can be attacking with a 3/2 on the third turn.

Anurid Swarmsnapper:
Another three-casting-cost beast... Only this one is actually good. It shores up one of red/green's main weaknesses in that it can block fliers. Also, it has a big butt, so it can take out weenies and survive when using Contested Cliffs.

Ravenous Baloth:
What do I have to say about a 4/4 for four mana with no drawbacks? Not to mention that there are countless other beasts in this deck. Excluding the recursion from Genesis, there are twenty-one other beasts and six more from Beast Attack, so I can potentially gain 112 life! I just wish I had three more.

Snarling Undorak:
Since just about every creature in this deck is a beast, this guy can pump up whoever it wants. It combos well with Contested Cliffs, since I can pump my beasts to be big enough to kill whoever I need to kill. Sure, three mana is a little expensive - but with four Birds of Paradise, three Llanowar Elves, four Krosan Tuskers, and twenty-four land, I don't anticipate having mana problems.

Beast Attack:
A card that produces two beasts is good enough. The GGG in the casting cost isn't bad for this deck, since it's mainly green anyway, and this card is also great because it creates instant-speed 4/4s. This allows you to leave your mana open in case you need to cast Moment's Peace instead of this card. It also provides a surprise blocker when you get attacked.

Hystrodon:
Ever since I got my playset of these, I've put four of them in every green deck I have made. They're a little expensive at five mana, but there is always someone - especially in multiplayer - whom you can attack and he can get through. It's even better once Contested Cliffs or Chainflinger has cleared the path.

Spitting Gourna:
I wanted some defense against flying, and I only had two Anurid Swarmsnappers, so I picked this card. It's going to go as soon as I get more 'snappers, though.

Krosan Groundshaker:
I felt bad if I didn't put at least one fattie in this deck. His ability to give any beast trample is okay, but I think I'll just stick to my Tuskers for fat.

Krosan Tusker:
This card is just plain good. In the early game, I came make sure I don't get mana screwed. Late game, it gives me a 6/5. I don't get mad if I have to cycle it in the early game, since I can get it back with Genesis anyway.

Contested Cliffs:
It's a beast deck. 'Nuff said.

You may notice that I don't have any Wirewood Savages in this deck. I thought about using them, but I don't think I will need to be drawing that many cards that often, since this is a pretty mana-intensive deck with a lot of higher casting cost creatures. Besides, I can draw cards via Krosan Tusker and Hystrodon.

You may also have noticed that I didn't include any Aether Charges, either. I'm reconsidering this choice, though, after it nearly killed me in one of our games. I'll explain this later. The reason I didn't include them before is that I only owned one.

Well, now that I've rambled on for a while, you may be curious to find out how my deck actually performed. We played three games (two four-person free-for-alls and one two-on-two team game), and this deck never lost. Here we go:

Game 1: Four-person free-for-all
Jason was playing a mono-white Rebel deck, Ryan was playing the B/G Nemesis preconstructed with a few changes, and Mike was playing W/B Clerics and such. This game started off great for me. I got a Bird out on turn 1 and then beasts every turn for a while. I got my lone Ravenous Baloth out quickly, so any beasts that had to block and die netted me four life. I also managed to get Contested Cliffs out early, too. This allowed me to destroy an incredible number of opposing creatures.

The game was going well until Ryan started playing Blastoderms, which I couldn't kill with Contested Cliffs. Also, Mike had a few clerics, Doubtless One, and Volrath's Stronghold, so it was useless attacking him, too. He would gladly block with Doubtless One, have it die, gain life, and then get it back with Volrath's Stronghold.

Luckily, a few good things happened for me. As soon as Jason brought out Lin Sivvi, I killed her. Little did I know that he only had one of her! Needless to say, without Sivvi, his deck was full of rebels without a cause.

As I said before, I have no way of discarding Genesis so I had to hard-cast it. With this in play as a blocker, nobody wanted to attack me. Fortunately, Ryan ended up attacking and killing my poor incarnation and all me beasts gained the ability to go from my graveyard to my hand. I didn't abuse Genesis, though, unless you consider reusing Anurid Swarmsnapper to gain four life per turn abusing it! (As a side note, I ended the game with 52 life!)

Another game winner was the sport of volleyball. Mike had a game to go to, so his Pacifisms and clerics all died in one fell swoop when he left. Without that, I don't know if I would have easily been able to break his Doubtless One/Volrath's Stronghold combo he had going, not to mention a few other good cards he had out, including an morphed Exalted Angel that he didn't have two white mana to unmorph. We ended up killing Ryan off first, and then Mike had to leave, so Jason and I were the only ones left. I thought I would have an easy victory here, but he got out a Predator, Flagship and started killing any beast he chose. My star cards here were Genesis and Beast Attack; Genesis allowed me to replay Ravenous Baloth every turn, and Beast Attack gave me surprise blockers and too many creatures for his Flagship to be able to handle. Eventually, I whittled Jason's creatures away and was victorious.

Game 2: Four-person free-for-all
Jason was playing his W/B Reanimaniacs deck, Mike (a different Mike) was playing an interesting and annoying U/B/R deck that I'll explain in a little bit, and Al was playing a R/B Beasts deck with much bigger beasts than mine.

I didn't get as great a start this game. I had no turn 1 bird or elf, so the best I could do was play a morphed Hystrodon on my third turn. Meanwhile, Jason and Al weren't doing much, but Mike was building up an army consisting of Skirk Prospectors and Nantuko Husks. The turn after I played my Hystrodon, Mike Threatened it and attacked me with my own guy. To add insult to injury, he then sacrificed my creature to his Husk to ensure I wouldn't get it back at the end of the turn.

After that turn, the game started going better for everyone. I got a few beasts out, as did Al. I don't remember what, if anything, Jason had out; he was severely mana screwed in that he had no black mana (he did have two Tainted Fields out, but no Swamps). As I said, things were looking up...

...Until Mike's turn. On his turn, he played Insurrection and gained control of everyone's creatures untapped. Then he attacked me with my own creatures and enough to kill me off. He was also hitting Al for about eight or so, and Jason for another eight. What happened? My star card of this game came out: Moment's Peace! Sure, it kept me alive - but Mike sacrificed all of our creatures once he was done attacking us with them, so I had nothing on the board except land. After my Peace, however, Al quickly rebuilt and avenged his lost men by killing Mike with a Thunder of Hooves.

This left me, Al, and Jason. Jason wasn't a big threat at the moment since he did not have enough land, so I turned my sights to Al. We had a beast on beast free-for-all. Luckily, I managed to get another Contested Cliffs out and killed his little guys. I managed to overwhelm him on one attack and finish him off. I think that Al would have killed me in another turn or two even if I did not kill his beasts, though. He had an Aether Charge out, so every beast he played equated to four damage to me, and I had no Genesis in my graveyard to gain ungodly amounts of life this time.

By the time I had killed Al, Jason had managed to get rolling. He got Reya, Dawnbringer out and began his reanimation games. The first thing he brought back from the dead was an Avatar of Woe. Since he got a slow start, though, he had already taken a lot of damage, so I simply applied enough pressure so he had to block with the Avatar and Reya. Contested Cliffs and the Krosan Tusker I had in play killed just about anything. Even though Jason recurred an Ancestor's Chosen to gain more than ten life when he was at under five, I made short work of him.

Game 3: Two-on-two team game
This game was me and Eli versus Al and Paige. Eli was playing a W/U deck with a lot of Gustcloak creatures. Paige was playing mono-red with goblins, Rorix, and Dragon Roost. Al was playing his beast deck again.

In this game, I got another near-god draw. I played a bird on the first turn, cycled a Krosan Tusker on the second, and played a beast and Llanowar on the third, giving me enough mana to do just about whatever I wanted to do.

I don't remember all the details of this game since it was beginning to get late, but I remember the main stuff: I killed off all of Al's early beasts with Contested Cliffs and hacked at his life total. His beast deck is a little slower, but once it gets going, it's just about impossible to stop since his guys are so much bigger and he has even more mana than me. Paige got out some early goblins, including a Goblin Sharpshooter, but I got out a Chainflinger one turn faster. The 'flinger made quick work of her 1/1s and I began attacking with beasts.

Paige managed to get out a Rorix very quickly and attacked little old defenseless me. Luckily, Eli came through and finished both Al and Paige of in one turn. I think she killed Paige with a 3/6 flying turtle. That's right - a flying turtle! She had a Horned Turtle enchanted with something to give it +2/+2 and flying. Just imagine, we're wizards on the battlefield, each sending our creatures into the fray. Al and I each control huge ground-pounding beasts. Paige has goblins on the ground and dragons flying through the air. Eli, on the other hand, wields the awesome power of the flying turtle and soars to victory with it!

I'm not complaining, though, since the turtle is what won us the game.

So that's how my deck performed. I went 3-0 for the night with knowledge of what cards needed to go. Here are the changes I would make to the deck if I had the cards:

-1 Spitting Gourna
-1 Krosan Groundshaker
-2 Longhorn Firebeast
-1 Moment's Peace
-1 Krosan Tusker
-1 Forest
+1 Llanowar Elves
+3 Ravenous Baloth
+2 Anurid Swarmsnapper
+1 Contested Cliffs

I think most of these are self-explanatory. I should mention, though, that I am going to add another Llanowar Elves because the deck just doesn't perform correctly if I don't get a turn 1 bird or elf. As much as I don't want to take out a Moment's Peace or Krosan Tusker, I don't really have a choice. Also, I may want to add some Naturalizes or something to take care of things like Dragon Roost.

Legions just came out, so some of the beasts in it might be good for my deck. After looking over the spoiler (I'm a poor college kid, I don't have money to actually buy cards anymore), I think Canopy Crawler is the only possible addition. It is similar to Snarling Undorak. I don't like that I have to tap it to use the ability, but it doesn't require any mana to use, so my deck becomes less mana-intensive.

Branchsnap Lorian is a great beast, but it just doesn't fit my control-oriented deck. I couldn't even use it with Contested Cliffs without it dying. The Lorian would be a great card in a more aggressive build, though. Finally, the biggest fattie of the set, Krosan Cloudscraper, doesn't fit because he doesn't have trample. I think that's why he doesn't fit many decks, but I may have to include him for style points. I guess his morph ability could be okay, especially if I play with more morph creatures.

Well, there's my deck and everything about it. Feel free to playtest it and make whatever changes you wish. If you do, then, by all means, email me at coinmagic45@hotmail.com with your ideas. You can also email me if you have any questions. Have fun!