Welcome back to another Delusions of Mediocrity article! Hopefully you made it all the way through the last few. If you’ve never made it through any, I would recommend at least checking them out after you have read this one. Here are some links:

Getting to Know Dandân

Familiar with it, Part 2

Familiar with it, Part 1

To recap, this article series is all about mediocre cards where I take one mediocre card and make something more of it with combos and other fun cards. If you want to get more into it than just one sentence, check out Familiar With it, Part 1 (linked above). The whole first section talks about my concept of a mediocre card.

With that aside, I’ve debated greatly on which card I should do. I was going to do Burning Sands… but considering the extreme temperatures outside recently, I wasn’t up to it. Then I thought about Bone Dancer, but I did a black card last time around. Ivory Gargoyle? No… too narrow (and it will be mentioned in another article soon). Then I thought about this cute little blue creature from Arabian Nights.

Could it be Island Fish of Jasconius?

He was in Arabian Nights, despite most people thinking his first appearance was in a Core Set. Maybe it was just me. Anyway, no! It’s not Island Fish. He’s definitely not a little creature. Nor is he cuddly.

How’s about Old Man of the Sea?

Well, while he would make a fun Delusions article, he’s too old to be cute.

Giant Turtle?

No… there’s nothing fun or exciting or even cute about a shell with legs. Every time I think of Giant Turtle I think of Neverending Story… you know, that scene from the swamp.

How’s about…

Dandân!

Now that’s one cute fish. I mean it's a cuddly 4/1, for only two blue mana, that lurks under the water. In fact, it only lurks in the water. You can only attack with it if your opponent has an island. That’s nothing compared to his admirable and adorable fins and big bulgy, loveable eyes. How’s about I stop talking about Dandân as a cute fishy-wishy and get to the reality of it. It’s undercosted, deadly and nostalgic!

Last time, during my last Delusions of Mediocrity article, I was joking about Dandân being the center of the article. This time I’m serious. I’m not going to bring in some big, black Djinn card to ruin Dandân’s one and only party. Today it’s really all about Dandân. If only he had some Dandân friends. Alas, we’ll talk about that later. You see, unlike Fish or Serpents, there is only ONE Dandân. His creature type was never expanded on and alas I fear if they ever release him on MTGO (Magic: the Gathering Online – eww!) he will in fact become a fish, beast or serpent.

Dandân would never be printed by today’s standards because all of blues weenies have to have some drawback or be overcosted. Blue just isn’t blessed anymore with good, small creatures. There are few exceptions… like any of the blue guildmages from the Ravnica block, but that’s not important here. Neither is talking about its place in the color pie.

I think some combos are in order. Eh, skip the combos. Let’s go straight to some decks.

Dandân loves traditional.

What is traditional exactly? You know, making your opponent’s land an island and attacking with Dandân. That’s traditional. But I can’t just do plain traditional. It has to be traditional with a twist! First, let’s take a look at a decklist I found on www.phyrexia.com that incorporates the traditional strategy for Dandân:

Now that’s pretty traditional. It has Tidal Warrior, Reef Shaman, Sea’s Claim, Phantasmal Terrain and Lingering Mirage as a means to make an opponent’s land an island. It also has lots of Merfolk and Lord of Atlantis so you can go all out and attack once your established your mark on your opponent’s land. However, it’s not interesting enough.

Nor does it focus on Dandân. With all of those merfolk in there, Dandân is just another creature. There’s nothing special about Dandân in this deck. And it isn’t even a Merfolk so it doesn’t gain the bonus from the Lord of Atlantis. This seems like a fun deck and all, but I think it’s boring. I want a deck that focuses entirely on Dandân in a traditional way.

Let’s see if I can correct this:

Now this is traditional, with the twist that I was looking for. The first deck used a lot of land changers but all it really did was take away from the possibilities of winning. Having too many land changers makes for a lot of dead cards in your hand in the late game. Once you have one of your opponent’s lands as an island, you can start pounding them in the face with your cuddly Dandân.

There are many land changers in Magic, but there are few that are actually good. Phantasmal Terrain is nice but doesn’t optimize the use of it in the late game. Same thing with Sea’s Claim, it just doesn’t help much in the late game. I chose Lingering Mirage. It’s only 1U to cast and it does the sole purpose you are looking for while still not causing you trouble in the late game. This is because you can cycle it. Plus I have four copies of Reef Shaman to provide the extra coverage for island making in case Lingering Mirage doesn’t show up soon enough. And Reef Shaman is a creature so he can chump block in place of your Dandân – and this deck is all about Dandân.

For some control I’ve included a play set of both Rune Snag and Counterspell. Remember that this is ultimately to protect your goal of the deck – lots of Dandâns and an Unstable Mutation or two topped with a sprinkle of Part Water or War Barge.  War Barge and Part Water are old-timers in Magic and both deserve some time in a deck with Dandân. Combo’d with a Lingering Mirage or Reef Shamans, they make a 4/1 unblockable creature.

The unfortunate thing about focusing this deck on the Dandân is that there are only 4 in the deck. I wanted to make this deck solely focused on Dandân and not some silly Merfolk. This is why I included Followed Footsteps. There’s nothing wrong with replicating your Dandân so you can eventually attack with four, eight or even ten of them in one turn.

Rounding out the rest of the deck is some mutations, some extra turn giving and some card drawing. I also included a copy of both Sand Squid and Grayscaled Gharial for an alternate win condition should your Dandân get killed, eradicated, or removed from the possibility of winning with him. But the focus is still on Dandân.

Dandân loves chaos.

Back in the first Delusions of Mediocrity I talked about Pandemonium and Imaginary Pet. Imaginary Pet is a cheap, big creature with a drawback. Dandân is also a cheap, big creature with a drawback but it’s more fun to play with Dandân than Imaginary Pet. At least I think you all think it is. During the first article I evaluated all of the cheap costed big creatures in Magic: the Gathering and decided not to include Dandân in a decklist. This caused uproar in the forum as many people were rooting for Dandân.

Today, Dandân gets the spotlight (many times, in fact). Here we go:

Dandân serves one purpose in this deck – to be bounced and replayed every turn via Trusted Advisor while Pandemonium is in play. That basically wraps up the deck in one sentence.

However, in order to get your combo off, you have to protect the pieces of it. And find the pieces of it. For a little permission style deckbuilding I included 11 counter spells such as the traditional Mana Leak, the new Rune Snag and the ‘not so often used’ Discombobulate from Onslaught. Mind you, you could always replace either Mana Leak or Rune Snag for good ‘ol Counterspell, but I wanted to be as two-color-deck-friendly as possible. Between those eleven counters, you should be able to protect your combo and/or limit your opponent from casting their combo.

Then you have some stall measures via the Propaganda (the old version of Ghostly Prison). Assuming your opponent isn’t playing speed green, you should be able to hold off huge attacks in the early and mid portion of the game. Also, Man-o-‘war works as a means to keep major creature threats off the table by bounce. Plus, he makes a nice tag team with Trusted Advisor. Even the one copy of Izzet Chronarch works well with Trusted Advisor. Being able to grab one of your counters or other spells in your graveyard back for another time around can prove quite valuable if done multiple times in the late game. One of my favorite cards to recur while playtesting the deck was Braingeyser. If you don’t have a Braingeyser lying around, try Stroke of Genius or Invoke the Firemind.

Discombulate wasn’t included just because it’s a hard counter. Discombulate, Magma Jet and Braingeyser all help to dig for your combo pieces. Magma Jet can either deal the lethal damage to your opponent or prevent annoying weenies from ever dealing damage to you. Discombulate not only counters a spell, but also allows you to rearrange the top four cards of your library at the same time. Braingeyser: need I say more?

Tectonic Break was added just for some additional fun. You really don’t need A LOT of mana to make the combo work once it’s all set. Tectonic break will give you the edge in the end game by limiting your opponent’s mana sources. You should be able to survive on four or five lands – three lands if you have a Sol Ring in play.

Dandân loves being Cloned!

I know you didn’t see this coming. Remember how I used Dandân and Followed Footsteps earlier? This time around I’m going to tune it up a notch and use a full play set of both!

Where to start with this deck? It has a lot of things going on, but a lot less than when I started. I originally had one copy of both Ertai and Rule of Law in the deck as a means to control your opponent. Unfortunately, it not only took up too much space in the deck but it took away from the focus I was trying to achieve with Dandân.

The ultimate goal of the deck is to have a Dandân enchanted by Followed Footsteps. Follow that up with a Cataclysm keeping your Dandân, Followed Footstep, Azorius Chancery and Sol Ring or Azorius Signet. You’ll be ahead of your opponent two fold since between your land and artifact, you’ll have access to three to four mana instead of your opponent’s one mana. Plus, your Dandân and Footsteps will churn out an extra Dandân every round.

Academy Rector and Enlightened tutor help to fetch one of your enchantments as needed. Enchantments in the deck include Shielding Plax, Privileged Position and Followed Footsteps. The more Footsteps you have in play, the more Dandâns you have in play. That’s the main focus of this deck, getting as many Dandâns as possible.

Beware Pyroclasm! One Pyroclasm will ruin this deck completely. Even those pesky black mages and their mass -1/-1 spells will ruin your deck. That’s why I’ve included both Counterspell and Muddle the Mixture. Between those eight counterspells you should be able to keep all non-friendly cards away from your Dandân. If you feel those counters aren’t enough, try a Privileged Position. That one card can keep all single-targeted removal away from ALL of your permanents.

I originally had a few copies of Enchantment Alternation or Simic Guildmage in the deck as a means for instant-speed combat tactics. Unfortunately, that and about 30 other cards I had intended for this deck didn’t make it. I am, however, happy with the final result.

The Most Loneliest Day of Dandân’s Life...

Poor Dandân is all alone in the world without another species of Dandân to frolic with. Why can’t Dandân be as prominent as say goblins, horrors or elves? It’s just not fair. Even Followed Footsteps can’t quench the sorrow and loneliness Dandân feels. The only one to share the pain of Dandân is Mistform Ultimus. But he shares the pain with fellow one-of’s like Being, Marid, Lurker, Lady-of-Proper-Etiquette, Archaeologist, Paratrooper, Sponge and Starfish!!! At least Ultimus combos with Endemic Plague...

Poor Dandân…

That is until you pair him with cards capable of being a Dandân for a turn or two. Enter Mistform creatures.

These guys can be any creatures they want to be, from Abominations to Beebles to Vampires. What’s really nice about them is that most have flying or are capable of gaining flying. Who needs to worry about islands when you have a flying Dandân that doesn’t die without an isle in play? However, to keep them Dandâns, it can be awful difficult and costly. To keep them as Dandân each turn, you have to pay 1 mana per Mistform. Combine that with your 4 lands and 4 Mistform creatures, this doesn’t sit well with your mana curve.

Now enter Thran Turbine. Turbine adds two mana to your mana pool during your upkeep but this mana can’t be used to play spells. It doesn’t say anything about paying upkeeps, activated abilities and the like. Why not use the mana from the Turbine to make them Dandân during each of your turns? Mind you that this has to be done during your upkeep, but who cares! With a Turbine or two, you can keep your army of Dandâns cuddly instead of illusionary. Plus, you can use your real mana to play real spells and creatures.

Let’s take a look at the deck:

**Warning**
This deck is for pure fun.
I can’t say how well it will play but Dandân sure likes the idea of it.
**Warning**

The deck is pretty straightforward with loads of Mistform creatures, an Ultimus and some cycling cards like Choking Tethers and Remote Isle. Given the number of artifacts in the deck, I figured it would be smart to include some Thirst for Knowledge cards and Fabricates. With Fabricate you can search out a Thran Turbine, Riptide Replicator, Power Conduit or Quicksilver Fountain.

Note that you obviously would want to set the Replicator to Dandân. You can even use the mana from the Turbines to help pay for the cost of the Replicator. (Recommended.)

Finally, you have three copies of Coat of Arms that solidifies this as the Pseudo-Dandân deck that it is. Overrunning your opponent with a bunch of 8+ powered Dandâns thanks to your Illusions turned Dandân is what this deck is all about.

I originally was playing around with the idea of a Dandân Conspiracy. That is, I was going to make a blue-black deck where all of my creatures were forced to be Dandâns. Conspiracy, a fun little black enchantment from the Mercadian Masques set, makes all creatures in play, in your hand, graveyard and library a creature of your choice.

Shadowmage Infiltrator? Dandân. Island Fish Jasconius? Dandân. Old Man of the Sea? Dandân! Even Kamahl, Fist of Krosa? Dandân.

However, in trying to build the deck, I just couldn’t find the right cards in black and blue to make it work cohesively with having any sort of chance to win. I found myself using more tutors than actual playable cards. However, don’t let my failure end your attempts at creating the deck! If you build it, and build it well, email it to me.

Dandân Loves Fish.

So this last deck isn't ALL about Dandân, but I think after all of the spotlight he received in this article he would be okay with sharing the fun with some fishy friends.  Using the same concept as the original two decks, I'm going to use a land changer to compliment the fish in the deck.  Here it is:

I won't spend a lot of time talking about this deck.  It has a lot of fish.  A Phantasmal Terrain or two and some islandwalking, islandhoming craziness.  And that's what I'm all about when it comes to deckbuilding.  There's nothing better than a casual, fun, crazy deck list to play with.

Well, I think that’s it for this round of Delusions of Mediocrity. I hope you enjoyed my venture into Dandân-land despite it being the mediocre card that it is. If you have any sitting around, now at least you have some inspiration to make a deck around it. Who knows, you might even beat some of your casual friends with it. You’ll have a better chance if they are playing islands…

Until next time, remember to never think twice about your mediocre cards. There’s a deck somewhere for each of them. You just have to find it.

Remember to suggest a card for the next Delusions article in the forum.

Singing off,

Streetz

P.S. 'Signing' is spelled that way purposefully.

You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here.
Find other articles by this author here.
Find other articles from this series here.

Articles Spotlights from 2008:
A Fresh Perspective: Stasis - Part One.
The Apprentice Magician - Part Six.
Design on a Dime: The Lunch Meat Edition!
Fit the Flavor 2008 - FINALE!
The Games People Play - Market & EDH.
Sarpadian Empires, Vol VII: Foreword.
More Evil Than Evil.
Pauper Chronicles: Top O' the Morningtide to You!
Words from the Streetz: Uncommon and Common Magical Treasures.
The Writers Guild: The Inside Scoop.

Articles Spotlights from 2006
The Games People Play - Tactical Magic.
If I worked at R&D
The Beginner’s Guide to Rogue
Druid Week Primer
Opting In: Ravnica
MDV Idol: Finale!
Avatar Week Primer
Delusions of Mediocrity: Getting Stuffy in Here.
Lands-More than Mana: Part One
Raiding Ravnica: Guildmages and You!