Introduction
Have you ever had your opponent against the ropes, ready to strike the knockout blow, only to have them thump you for 40? Loosing all your life in one turn can give you a serious case of the Magic Blues. ´´My Serra done left me, and now she’s gone. Got trampled for 40, just like mowing the lawn…´´ Ok, I’ll stop, I wouldn’t be playing Magic if I could sing.
Here is a deck that is both fun to play and can deliver that knockout blow that leaves your opponent in shock. No ´´one, two´´ punch. One is all it takes.
Consisting mostly of common cards, The Vital Wagon is an easy deck to assemble. The hardest rare to obtain will be the Saproling Bursts.
The Deck -- (Creatures 22, Land 21, Instants 7, Sorcery 4, Enchantment 6)
Type
Card Name
Quantity
Casting Cost
Rarity
Creature
Keldon Battlewagon
x4
5
Rare
Creature
Battle Squadron
x4
3RR
Rare
Creature
Saber Ants
x3
3G
Uncommon
Creature
Lanowar Elves
x4
G
Common
Creature
Vine Trellis
x2
1G
Common
Creature
Sacred Puma
x4
R
Common
Creature
Silt Crawler
x1
2G
Common
Instant
Vitalize
x3
G
Common
Instant
Harrow
x4
2G
Common
Sorcery
Restock
x1
3GG
Rare
Sorcery
Elven Cache
x2
2GG
Common
Sorcery
Saproling Symbiosis
x1
3GG(2)
Rare
Enchantment
Fires of Yavimaya
x3
1GR
Uncommon
Enchantment
Saproling Burst
x3
4G
Rare
Land
Shivan Oasis
x4
Uncommon
Land
Mountain
x10
Land
Land
Forest
x7
Land
The Early Game
The first task will be to build our mana base. You will need five mana for this deck to really function effectively. I have included three ways to accelerate this process: Lanowar Elves, Vine Trellis and Harrow.
Lanowar Elves are a solid one casting cost creature and are excellent at building our early mana base.
Our Vine Trellis’ are good on the defense and again assist us in quickly establishing our mana base. They can keep all but the strongest creatures stymied in the early game.
If you need some mountains, you can Harrow them right out of our library. A positive side effect of Harrow is that it helps thin the land out of our deck. This helps us in the mid and later game to draw our kill cards instead of land. The best time to use the Harrow is at the end of our opponent’s turn, but don’t fret if you need to use them in the main phase. Except for Vitalize, we don’t have any instants that we want to use during our opponents turn early in the game. We will be saving our Vitalizes for later in the game.
The Shivan Oasis’ helps us avoid getting mana hosed. If you are confidant, and have the cards, you could swap these with some Karplusan Forests. I included 10 mountains so we don’t have to worry about having only green mana when we want to cast the Battle Squadron. Seven forests along with the mana producing creatures brings in a solid green base.
Don’t attack with the Scared Pumas, unless of course the door is wide open. We have better uses for them. Their secondary purpose is to slow a fast beatdown. I will show you their true power in just a bit.
The Mid Game
Attack and block with your Saber Ants at will. Opponent has a 4/4? Don’t worry, attack anyway. Remember that the number of 1/1 insects that you get is equal to the damage dealt to the Saber Ants, not how much it takes to kill them. In this example the Saber Ants will die, but you will get 4 1/1’s in return. The harder they hit, the more our Saber Ants will splinter.
If you haven’t caught on just yet, for our purposes four 1/1’s may serve us better than one Saber Ant.
Welcome the Battle Squadron! Alone, it’s an overpriced 1/1 flyer, but didn’t we just lose our Saber Ants in our last attack phase? Now we have a 5/5 flyer.
Enter the Keldon Battlewagon, the star of our show. A junky 0/3 artifact creature that requires our creatures to tap for power, can’t block and attacks only once. Now the upside, cost is 5 colorless so mana mix isn’t an issue, neither is tapping our creatures for power Lets do the math, shall we?
We have our 4 1/1 insect tokens, a Keldon Battlewagon and a Battle Squadron that is a 6/6. Are you still with me? Ok, here we go, lets see of what your opponent is made of, really?
The End Game
Declare your attack. How about we play it safe and send over a 0/3 Keldon Battlewagon? No harm in that is there? Your opponent may not see you're rouse and let our Keldon Battlewagon through without declaring blockers, of course, this is good for us. Even if they do block with their 4/4, the lights have already begun to flicker.
Now the real fun begins! Put on your multiplication hat. With our attackers declared, tap our Battle Squadron and give the Battlewagon 6/3. Now tap each of our 1/1 insects to give the Battlewagon 10/3. Pause and see if your opponent plays any instants? None, play our Vitalize.
Is the picture getting clearer? Tap the Battle Squadron and make our Battlewagon 16/3, add the 1/1 insects for a 20/3 and now the kicker. I know you see it coming, tap our 20/3 Keldon Battlewagon to itself and trample on over for 40!
Can you feel that pain? Foolproof? No. Fun? Heck yeah! Easy? Not always. Here are a few cards to escort you to a decisive victory.
Offense is the best defense
I know that everything does not always go as planned. In our main deck we have no creature removal, direct damage, counterspells or enchantment and artifact removal. Is the best defense an awesome offense? In this case, I think so. I have added some additional help to power up our Keldon Battlewagons. Many of these cards are major threats by themselves.
Playing Fires of Yavimaya is not a guaranteed win. However, I do guarantee that unless your opponent has a Disenchant, Thunderclap or equivalent instant in their hand, from here on out, each turn may be their last.
When you have Fires of Yavimaya in play, a Saproling Burst can almost end the game by itself. Use our Saprolings to pump up our Keldon Battlewagon by popping off 3 4/4’s. If you have a Battle Squadron in play, you can make a good run at things by attacking with the large Saprolings and Battlewagon. Pop off the remaining Saproling counters from our Saproling Burst, pumping our Battle Squadron again after blockers are declared.
Remember the Scared Puma’s you read about earlier? Use them to pump up our Keldon Battlewagon and increase the strength of our Battle Squadrons’. Attack if you have an opening but don’t sweat when you have to use one as a chump blocker. What do you want for one red mana? Let our Keldon Battlewagon do the heavy beatdown.
I threw in a Silt Crawler so we would have something in the three casting cost slot. It’s a solid 3/3 and it’s down side early in the game is easy to swallow. You can easily replace the Silt Crawler with another three casting cost green creature or even throw in an additional Fires of Yavimaya.
Saproling Symbiosis can be used to double the size of our Battle Squadron. Because it’s an instant it is even more versatile, with the ability to cast it during the attack phase or on your opponents turn if you need some extra chump blockers. Vitalize can be used in a defensive pinch to surprise your opponent. Once they know it is in our deck it will pose as a defensive deterrent when you keep one green mana available.
When your opponent uses a Disenchant, Thunderclap or another spell that kills our Keldon Battlewagon, or other key card, we have a way to bring them back. Use our Elven Cache or Restock to return the card(s) to our hand from the graveyard. The recursion cards can bring back any other key card you need. I considered using Recall but it cannot bring back the Keldon Battlewagon. Remember, one in the graveyard is worth two in the library.
Another factor to our advantage is the sheer number of enchantments you have in our deck. With six major threats, your opponent is very likely to ´´think in the moment´´ and use (maybe waste) a Disenchant. Don’t feel bad when our Saproling Burst goes as fast as it came. The Keldon Battlewagon is the primary threat, if your opponent doesn’t play that way you will serve them some mean beatdown.
Other cards to try
I think a great substitution would be two Shivan Wurms in the place of two Battle Squadrons. With lots of small red and green creatures, gating shouldn’t be a problem. You can even gate a Saproling token if you want. This Wurm is a threat that your opponent must handle. Now, not later!
If gating is your thing, try the Horned Kavu in place of the Silt Crawler.
Nemata, Grove Guardian could also be a great help. Pump up your tokens, pump them up… (opps… hey, at least I didn’t include any Kavu Chameleons!)
Quirion Elves may be worth the extra colorless mana to substitute for a Lanowar Elves. It will be an interesting experiment regardless.
Be sure to e-mail Card-Shark and let me know what else works or doesn’t work for you.
Keys to Deck:
Build your 5 mana base quickly. I can’t emphasize this enough. Mana first, beatdown second.
With a Keldon Battlewagon in play you only need creatures with a combined total power of five and a Vitalize to generate 20 trample damage in one harsh lick.
Except for defensive emergencies save your Vitalize for the kill.
The main purpose of the Saber Ants is to produce 1/1 tokens to pump up the Battle Squadrons. Don’t be afraid to let them die.
Saproling Burst and Saproling Symbiosis can quickly create a creature advantage and bring you up to the critical five power you need to win.
Fires of Yavimaya keeps you’re opponent on the defense. You don’t need it to win, but extra speed for the kill is preferred.
Conclusion
I hope that now a beatdown for 40 sounds a little more realistic.
This deck is not infallible, what deck is? There are lots of combos that I didn’t mention here that I am sure you will discover on your own. Most important of all, this deck is fun to play!
Now, sit down, order the cards you need and let it be your friends that are singing the Magic blues next time they drive home from Friday Nite Magic.
´´My Serra done left me…´´
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