Lands:
4 Arcane Sanctum
2 Fetid Heath
6 Island
2 Plains
4 Sunken Ruins
4 Swamp
Creatures:
1 Ghastlord of Fugue
1 Hunted Phantasm
3 Mulldrifter
2 Planar Guide
3 Shriekmaw
4 Thoughtcutter Agent
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
Other Spells:
3 Coalition Relic
4 Coldsteel Heart
4 Delay
3 Gather Specimens
3 Parallax Wave
1 Treacherous Urge |
   Broken
Specimens.
Description of deck by its author
(quoted):
As you can see from the captured blue-eyed owl
on the art of Gather Specimens, those sparkling etherium chains are
surely the stuff of Esper. Unlike the brutal mind-cuffing of Curse of
Chains, Gather Specimens tethers creatures with a different sort of
method. With reins of power, one might say.
The first natural interaction with Gather Specimens
was with fellow Esper denizen Thoughtcutter Agent. By keeping tabs on
your opponent's hand, you'll know to play Gather Specimens at the right
time. A similar way to pull this off is an easy turn-two Tidehollow
Sculler. You've got the gist of your opponent's grip, minus the threat
your Sculler has taken.
Of course, I didn't want Gather Specimens to merely be
a Treacherous Urge (which I've also included since it fits so well).
Somehow I wanted to rig the game so lots of creatures would come into
play at the same time. If you then Gather those Specimens, that's a
massive creature swing in your favor. With Parallax Wave, you can do
exactly that. Remove all the Wave's fade counters to remove opposing
creatures from the game. Then, in response to its leaves play ability,
play Gather Specimens. You'll get far more than just one creature this
time! Planar Guide can do the same, while still acting as its
wrench-in-the-works old self even without a Gather at the ready.
The deck's evolution continued when I added some cards
that benefited from Planar Guide, like Mulldrifter and Venser, Shaper
Savant. Hunted Phantasm is hilarious with Gather Specimens, if you can
stomach the mana. For easier mana ingestion, try Coalition Relic today!
The Relic ramps you up to five mana early, perfect for your evokers or
for playing and activating Planar Guide. If you time it right, play
Delay on an opposing creature spell. The turn it's supposed to
materialize into play, respond with Gather Specimens for a sort of
suspended stealing. |
