Howdy folks! Did you miss me?

Shards of Alara is upon us, and that means it’s time for some bargains. Cards from Time Spiral will be dropping in price, and a lot of once “good cards” for Standard are about to become dollar bin fodder.

We’re not messing around with Time Spiral this episode though; we’re going to be checking out my favorite card from Eventide, and how you can abuse it without spending a load of cash. Have I caught your attention yet? Check out the full article after the jump.

I’ve mentioned in previous articles that Eventide has a lot of fun cards to use. I mean it. Nothing says “I’m winning” than attacking with Primalcrux, and nothing says "wacky" like Mirror Sheen. The Shadowmoor mini-block has been one of my favorite blocks in recent years, and it’s probably sitting at #2 right under Ravnica (because face it, who didn’t love Ravnica?). Hybrid is an amazing block design tool, and I hope Wizards sees that and continues to work with it.

That being said, hybrid isn’t all of the fun in Shadowmoor and Eventide. There are plenty of amazing cards without hybrid mana costs that are seeing some major play, like Talara’s Battalion, Archon of Justice, and Stigma Lasher. Shadowmoor and Eventide are a careful balancing act, and some amazing non-hybrid cards came out of the block.

My favorite card in Eventide is one of these non-hybrid cards. Necroskitter is a card that begs to have a deck built around it. The ability to control your opponent’s creatures just by killing them, and only for three mana? What a deal! Sadly, I could never find a deck that it really fit into. It’s ability is a little too specific just to go in any old mono-black deck. After sitting on it and thinking for a while, I was afraid Necroskitter was never going to find a home. Then I thought, “I’ll just have to build a deck completely based on Necroskitter!” I love those kind of thoughts.

So how do you build a deck around Necroskitter? The first and most obvious point is that in order to get Necroskitter’s ability to work, you have to get some -1/-1 counters on some opposing creatures. Then, you need to kill said creatures, so that you can have them for your own. But what if you can do both? Shadowmoor has plenty of creatures with the Wither keyword, and it also has quite a few choice removal spells that use -1/-1 counters instead of the regular “Destroy target creature” clause. Incremental Blight and Scar are pretty good for that, I’m told. Oddly enough, we’ll get our best creature killing from a card that is from… Lorwyn??

Let’s check out the list.

The idea of this deck is to start off fast, playing your Necroskitter or Sickle Rippers within the first few turns. Beseech the Queen is copies 5-8 of Necroskitter, or any other key card you need. Once Necroskitter is on the board, your regular removal like Scar and Incremental Blight become game breaking, and even Soul Snuffers is dangerous. Hunter of Eyeblights Is the game winner here though; he makes a +1/+1 counter, which he then kills next turn, and for the rest of the game, he picks off your opponent’s choice creatures (which, hopefully, have a -1/-1 counter on them). As you take your opponent’s creatures, start beating face with them, and keep the pressure on with your small guys.

There are a few utility cards in this deck as well; Kulrath Knight fills a wonderful spot, keeping your opponent’s creatures from attacking or blocking when they’ve been marked for takeover, and Blowfly Infestation makes sure that you’re never out of -1/-1 counters to pass around, even after you just stole your opponent’s latest weakened creature.

This is an odd control deck, because it is controlling who has all the creatures, but it’s also very aggressive. Don’t be afraid to throw your Sickle Rippers away at bigger creatures. Chances are, you’ll be owning that creature right after your Sickle Ripper dies.

Things to Remember

1) Use Beseech the Queen for Necroskitter, but don’t be afraid to use it on other spells. Using Beseech the Queen properly is the easiest way to win the game. Have Necroskitter, but no counters? Fetch a removal spell, or Soul Snuffers. Have a bunch of counters and a Necroskitter, but no way to finish off your opponent’s beefy creatures? Fetch Hunter of Eyeblights. You get the picture.

2) Your creatures are less valuable than normal. Don’t be afraid to chump block or attack into creatures you can’t kill. All of your creatures besides Soul Snuffers have Wither, so as long as you’re not throwing the game away, you need to make sure that -1/-1 counters are distributed. This may mean you have to make some sacrifices. Don’t worry, they pay out big dividends.

3) Use Hunter of Eyeblight’s +1/+1 ability on a creature with two -1/-1 counters, but DO NOT use it on a creature with one -1/-1 counter. If you add a -1/-1 counter and a +1/+1 counter on the same creature, they both disappear. You need the counters for your Hunter to do his job. I would rather buff a creature for a turn instead of revert a weakened creature back to its normal state.

Card Suggestions

This list is kind of limited, and for a decent reason; there aren’t a lot of wither creatures. Now, I could have played a Green and Black deck featuring Blowfly Infestation and Flourishing Defenses, but that isn’t really my style. However, these two cards work great together, so give them a try if you’d like to add green. Green also has a few good Wither creatures, like Twinblade Slasher, Wildslayer Elves, and Boggart Ram Gang. If you’re going to play Green, I’d suggest Twilight Mire, since it can make the green you’ll need, and still help you make the double Black you’ll need to pay for Necroskitter.

If you aren’t in the mood for Hunter of Eyeblights, mass removal can often do the trick. Cards like Infest and Hideous Laughter are a good choice, and you can always use regular kill cards like Eyeblight’s Ending. If you’re willing to splash for red, you get Puncture Bolt and Puncture Blast, two great removal spells. I hear Graven Cairns and Sulfurous Springs are pretty good cards if you’re playing Red and Black together, but that’s just hearsay.

If you need to feed your inner Timmy, you can also check out the bomborific Midnight Banshee. She’s great in this deck. Just make sure that she doesn’t overload your mana curve.

Well, that’s it for this week. Have fun stealing your friends’ creatures, and until next time, don’t forget that casual Magic fun is merely a dollar bin away.

~Death_By_Beebles

Alex Hoffman has been parading around with the pseudonym of Death_By_Beebles for three years now. He’s a writer for Magic Deck Vortex, and can often be found tinkering with his latest decks and preparing for biochemistry research labs. He is the author of Raiding the Dollar Bins and Pauper Chronicles at MDV, and blogs about manga at http://mangawidget.wordpress.com. Alex likes kittens, reading, and generally enjoying life. He doesn’t like Brussels sprouts. You can send him deck ideas, combos and suggestions at deathbybeebles@yahoo.com.

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