Maze's End Turbo-Fog

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

A few weeks ago we picked up from MTG Mint Card, our fourth and last card to complete a book set of Maze's End.  This fine rare land from Dragon's Maze offers a nice alternate win condition.  How a players wins a game of Magic: the Gathering is to reduce their opponent's life total from 20 (in standard constructed) to zero.  Currently, there are 4 cards in standard which provides an indirect or direct effect to win that game in a non-conventional means providing that the player fulfills a set of conditions.

Maze's end has been around for a while and we had not paid it much heed.  Then, recently there we had a match against one such deck at a Friday Night Magic event at OMG! Games here in Barrie.  Know what?  We got our butt handed to us - it was completely frustrating.  We did not have an Encroaching Wastes, Bramblecrush or Pithing Needle (to affect the Maze's third ability).  It would even have been nice to have a Burning Earth.  Yep - irritating as all heck which is why we became interested in this - and not having a lot of cash for cardboard, this fit our budget perfectly.  Anywhoos - let's have a looky-loo at how to build this -
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Obviously, you will need four Maze's End and at least two of each Guildgate.  Where you go from here with your mana base is dictated by your spells.

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Time is critical and you will want to get to the Maze's End finish line as soon as you can before your opponent grinds you out.  To this end, we suggest you may want to consider 'Into the Wilds' or 'Urban Evolution' to get additional gates onto the battlefield.  Also, 'Gatecreeper Vine' will allow you to 'tutor' a gate you haven't pulled yet.

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As you are assembling your Maze's End win condition, your opponent will be attempting to bash you.  Negate any combat damage with Fog, Druid's Deliverance and Defend the Hearth.  Riot Control also works wonders and allows you to gain life which could be rather important if you opponent has a few burn spells to chuck at your head.

Speaking of life, some Maze's End players like Saruli Gatekeepers which provides a nice blocker and an almost guaranteed life gain of seven.  Since we want to pack a parachute should Maze's End goes off the rails, we like 'Crackling Perimeter' to shoot damage.

Lastly, to add some control elements we consider the robust 'Detention Sphere' to neutralize threats, and 'Supreme Verdict' to board-wipe.  Negate and Dissolve offers some counter-magic while 'Fade into Antiquity' answers any of the new Theros gods or troublesome enchantments.

Some players may want a plan 'B' to include a milling effect while others may wish heavier life-gain.  Season to taste as you wish.  Drop us a line if you have a Maze's End or other alternate win deck.
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MTG Maze's End Standard

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

We hope that you had a fun filled weekend full of Magic: the Gathering.  Unfortunately for us here at MTG Realm, evil and ominous misfortune was upon us in the form of 'In-laws' up for the weekend and an empty wallet which played into the hazard when we wanted to grab a bunch of Modern Masters and spend some quality geek time in our lair with said cards.  We've got an order in to MTG Mint Card for some MM singles so we'll get to celebrate our mini-Christmas in a few day's time.

Anywhoos, enough of us whining -  let's get straight onto the point of this title - a fun 'n' funky standard constructed build with Maze's End, the signature rare land card from Dragon's Maze.  We thought this a cunny alt-win piece of jank until we were handed our buttocks with just such a creature-less deck with this weird gem in it.

We suggest you drop on over to read Frank LePore's article on this fun budget build over at TCG Player (pssst - we really like Frank's write-ups).  Essentially, you'll need a full book set of this -

Followed by at least two of each Return to Ravnica guildgate -

Next, you'll need to keep your butt alive long enough to get to that finish line . . .

Essentially, you attempt to blow off any damage to you (no need to worry about critters in your creature-free build), while dropping Guildgates.  This may be accomplished with Clinging Mists, Druid's Deliverance, Fog, Hindervines, Moonmist, Riot Control and Safe Passage.

Uncovered Clues help you get some of the above damage negation spells into your hand and Urban Evolution gives good card draw while allowing you to drop another Guildgate.

Having played against this, we'll have to say it was fun and although we did (barely) win the match, we must admit we were truly rooting for our opponent in this crazy janky 60-card stack - so give it a try at your kitchen table.
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