What I'm Playing - 2

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What I'm Playing - Part 2

If you missed Part 1 of 'What I'm Playing', click HERE. If you had already read the previous post where I showed you the Deathbringer Leige construct, you may want to just skip down to the first image in this post.

It's not uncommon to hear Magic Players tell you just how kick-butt their particular constructed deck is. In fact, this just about dominates the banter in between games during Friday Night Magic. I'm usually the one listening and occasionally piping in with a 'that's nice' or similar non-committal contribution.

I rarely detail to others exactly what cards or combos I have available to unleash upon my opponent. There are two-fold reasons for this . . .

1. I am always evolving my deck - either dropping or picking up cards for my line-up and adjusting their numbers, and

2. I would rather not have the person I am blathering to know all the tricks up my sleeve lest they know exactly what to side-board before our very first match game.

Anywho, today is the day I lift the hood off the engine, as it were, and lay bare all the ugliness that is my deck.

As I typically rotate two decks in and out of my casual games during FNM, this will be a two-part post.

Let me first introduce to you the unimaginatively-named 'Ghast Lord' deck . .

(click to enlarge)

This deck currently consists of 62 cards mostly from Shadowmoor with a dash of Shards of Alara thrown in >

Lands
10 x Swamp
10 x Island

Creatures (in order of casting cost)
4 x Oona's Gatewarden
4 x Tidehollow Strix
4 x Inkfathom Infiltrator
3 x Silvergill Douser
4 x Wasp Lancer
3 x Cemetery Puca
2 x Oona, Queen fo the Fae
3 x Ghastrlord of the Fugue

Other Spells
4 x Spell Syphon
4 x Helm of the Ghastlord

Sideboard
Again - I am embarrassed to mention as it is currently a mess.

Before you start lobbing me with eMails concerning my choices, just know that I do not have that slippery creature known as 'Disposable Income' - I have had to feed it to my three kids and use its skin to clothe them.

Anywho, I'm fairly satisfied with the construction so far and this really is a work in progress. The goal here of course is having as many blue-black hybrid cards possible to take full advantage of the eight cards that provide bonuses for creatures with blue and black.

There are eight cards in the one-drop column. I have a fairly decent flying defender (Oona's Gatewarden) which brings wither damage to the table. Although the image shows only 2 Smolder Initiates, I do in fact have 4 within the deck . . . the other two are introverts and quite shy. Anywho - Mr. Smolder is a relatively new addition to the deck. I had playtested a series of games and determined that this Elemental on average did a decent job harassing my apponent and dinging for at least one life during my turn and quite often another during my opponents turn as well dependent upon what they were playing of course. As most spells are black within the deck, all these little nibbles did add up a rather good sum of damage before Mr. Smolder took a dirt nap.













My two-drop column is somewhat bloated with 15 cards. The new critter on the block is Tidehollow Strix from Shards of Alara. This artifact bird replaces Sygg, River Cutthroat who is now riding the bench in the sideboard. Although I did enjoy the extra card-draw that Sygg gave me when I was able to land 3 or more damage to an opponent, I really wanted to see what Tidehollow could do for me with all the extra flying menaces now hitting the table with Shards. Specifically, I am talking about Angels and Dragons. I am rather looking forward to my small 2-drop flyer with freak'n DEATHTOUCH taking out the smug egotistical 5/8 Empyrial Arcangel in one hit <>.

Still in the two-drop column, we have Inkfathom Infiltrator which pretty much guarantees landing 2 points of unblockable damage each turn and certainly more when the Leige comes out to play or the Helm gets fitted on her. For a bit of damage control, I have the very underrated Silvergill Douser which reduces or negates damage coming over from my opponent. Since most of the critters within the deck are Merfolk or Faeries, Ms. Douser does an effecient job. There is another one of her in the sideboard as well. Finally, we have a deck-set of Spell Syphon which counters a target spell unless its controller pays (1) for each of my blue permanents. As most of my permanents are blue, the price tag is exorbitant.













We have seven cards in the three-drop column. First, a deck set of Wasp Lancer, a very nice 3/2 flyer. I had a lot of solid synergy between Mr. Lancer and Sygg previously in accelerating my draws and providing me with an advantage over my opponent. The next card is Cemetery Puca which is just shy of a deck set. I have a little saying - "Always pack a parachute". Mr. Puca is just that. Should something terrible befall one of my bombs, I feel confident that this Shapeshifter can step into the breach and pick up the pieces. I also take perverse pleasure in having Mr. Puca become a copy of an opponent's recently departed critter - especially if said card is able to provide some sort of bonus to the stable on my side of the table.













We now arrive at the four-drop column. If I am not dead by now, this is usually where the game really starts turning around in my favour . . . this is the 'Pump' column of the deck. Glen Elendra Liege provides a pump for blue and black - I just wish she was a titch bigger. With Helm of the Ghastlord, not only do I get another pump for blue and black but also a potential card draw on my side and a discard for the opponent. I will always attempt to attach this Aura on an unblockable critter such as Infiltrator or the Ghastlord himself to obtain a guarantee of the Helm's draw / discard ability.

Now onto the five drops. There are 3 Ghastlord of Fugue present and accounted for. Mr. Fugue is another solid 4/4 unblockable which will allow me to take my opponent's best card when the punch connects. I have had several games where is Spirit Avatar is pumped up to an incredibly stupid strength / toughness with one or more Glen Elendras in play or even a Helm of the Ghastlord on him (which is somewhat ironic).













Finally we have a pair of Oona, Queen of the Fae in the last six drop column. I can think of only one time where I actually used her mill ability to produce a cloud of blue-black 1/1 flying Faeries. I typically use her as a big 5/5 stick to knock the remaining life off my opponent's life counter. Again, this is another parachute for me . . . If the game does go this long, I had better have the capability of producing a buch of chump blockers while I try to regain control of the board.

That's it for 'What I'm Playing'.

I do have several other 'playable' decks but am too sketched out to bring it out to a Friday Night Magic. Typically these other decks only see action on the kitchen table. I do have a nice Faerie control deck featuring Mistbind Clique, Scion of Oona, Glen Elendra Pranksters but sadly it is lacking Bitterblossom . . . It is kind of like having a race car engine with no spark-plug. If I ever find Leprechaun with a pot 'o' gold, you will see this little green scamp in the ditch while I get myself a deckset of Bitterblossom.