|
Home Decks Combos Articles Visual Spoilers Art Features Links Search Forum |
|
|
|
|
Welcome back Johnnie! It’s been a while, but the series that takes those dusty binder dwelling rares and puts them to work is back. However, this time I'm going to throw caution to the wind and use an uncommon card. Today I'm going to delve into the Ravnica block and dust off a card I've been secretly plotting to use for years. I'm talking about the one and only, Dark Heart of the Wood.
Believe it or not, having spent six years as a full time tree climber and Certified Arborist, I am here to talk about sacrificing forests. Trust me, as a treehugger to the core, it pains me to even think of it, but i have loved this card since I pulled it and have tried it in so many scenarios. Until now, it’s never quite performed at a rate that made it worth keeping in a deck. The problems are somewhat obvious. You are sacrificing land, your mana base, and not getting anything really tangible in return. By tangible, I mean permanent. Life points are simply not permanent in any sense of the word, and three of them can only go so far. So what is it about this card that I love? It’s the art. It’s the idea behind it. It’s the whole package. It's been sitting in my uncommon box for just about ever, but there's something sexy about it that I've never been able to put my finger on. (Did I just write that?) So what made me drag it out? Good Question. I have been on quite the limited budget of late, and as such, with the arrival of Shadowmoor I decided that the most efficient way to get enough cards to build a deck with would be to buy a precon. I know you don't get the choicest cards and the bomb rares, but Wizards precons can be quite hit or miss in that department, so for a budget player I think they are always worth a look. After looking online to find the decklists, I settled on the Black and Green deck featuring Doomgape. Being a huge fan of dredging and zombifying, I was easily drawn to the color combination, and knowing I'd be getting a few multiples of extremely playable cards and a couple one-of bombs, I dropped my thirteen dollars on the counter and had the pack open before I hit the car. I knew immediately that this deck could be rearranged to support the infinite Quillspike combo I was just dying to try at my casual multiplayer table. Not familiar with the combo? Well, let me explain... First, you need to acquire three cards: Devoted Druid, Quillspike, and Rite of Consumption. For a measly $5.16 US you can acquire an entire playset of this cheap and extremely accessible infinite combo in Standard. If you get the Druid and the Quillspike in play you can tap the Druid to float a green mana in your mana pool, then untap it and place a -1/-1 counter on it. Use the Quillspikes ability to pay one mana and remove the counter, giving the Quillspike +1/+1. Wash, rinse, and repeat. Once you've made your huggable little porcupine (that's what it is, right?) oh, let's say, a million/million, you then have a couple options. In duel you can just pop him with your Rite of Consumption for the win, but in multiplayer you can send him on the offensive and take out that one guy that just didn't see it coming, or that saw it but for some reason just didn't think you'd choose him. BAM! A million to the face, surely in a multiplayer game there's going to be that one guy that just doesn't have a blocker or an answer by turn four. Of course then, all you need to do is pop your Spike with the Rite in your second main phase to take out player two and gain a million life. Pass turn and let everyone scoop(except for maybe the guy with that Worship who still really believes in himself). In any case, this can translate into a downright hilarious event the first time you pull it off. The second time, especially if it’s the same crowd, everyone will just smile and say "Well done." The third time however, most of your friends will be scooping up their cards and heading for home with, "Yeah, that was sweet. I'll call you." You generally are called names by these guys if you pull these shenanigans again. So, as fun as it may be, you will most likely be shelving this combo in favor of a more casual oriented deck. In my original revamping of the Death March precon, I had simply tried to pull out the aggressive cards and supplement the Quillspike combo with means of deterring attacks, and preventing damage. All of this with the intent of simply buying some time to get the combo out onto the table. I left in the Doomgape at first, and actually won a few games without the combo by abusing the Gape and my Creakwood Liege, but eventually I streamlined the deck to decimate my opponents by turns five or six at the latest. It was working so well that I decided to take out the Liege and the Doomgape and just focus on staying alive for the few turns I needed. Enter Dark Heart of the Wood. Not so much because I thought it would be a good fit, but I saw this as an opportunity to actually play it. The combo was so cheap that I figured I could afford to pop a Forest here and there for the few life it gained me. I mean, realistically, it cuts damage dealt by Akroma in half, and against her it’s more effective than traditional techniques like packing a few Wing Snares, which more often than not end up being wasted space when your opponent chooses not to run with heavy fliers. So I threw in the Dark Heart of the Wood and something strange happened. It worked! Not only did it do its job, but it was amazingly fun to actually be using it. People would be like, "You're casting what? Really? Okay..." I love that feeling. I had fallen back in love with the Dark Heart, and decided to go with a land in the graveyard, life gaining theme as my main stall tactic. Syphon Life fell right into place and I decide to use the obvious combo with Life from the Loam to get my Forests back. Now, when you get to that point of, as I mentioned above, realizing that you need to change your deck around, or find new friends, I decided to try and revamp the deck around the stall theme and find a new win condition. So I basically kept my stall methods and began to fill in the blanks. Having thrown in a Deity of Scars on a whim, I ran the deck and realized what a ridiculous powerhouse he is. I decided to focus on him as my main finisher and added a couple of Tombstalkers because, let's face it, between ditching lands and dredging them back to my hand I would inevitably end up with a graveyard surplus, and what better way to use those cards than to delve them out for a flying fattie. Now, the deck looks something like this:
Let's start with the mana base, which, as you can see, is a fairly inexpensive one. This is a paper deck I own, so you can upgrade it according to your budget with better dual lands if you can. However, one of the things that should jump right out is that it only carries six Forest cards. This is because once you have your engine online you really only need a couple. All of your Green spells are inexpensive, and your power spells are all based in Black. Deity of Scars itself is only a five mana spell and can be cast with any combination of these lands, so as far as mana availability goes, you will be fine. You have five lands which come into play tapped, which will be no big problem as their added abilities will outweigh their drawbacks. Being built for multiplayer you might also notice the lack of a one drop (other than Commune with Nature), so you won't need to mulligan a hand with your "comes into play tapped" lands. Lay them first turn if you can. Svogthos is there as a one of for the "just in case" late game. Most of your opponents will pay it absolutely no mind until they are attacking with that 3/3 and you eat it up for five mana. Use your +1/+1 counters from Llanowar Reborn on any of your creatures, but notice they provide instantaneous pumping to your Deity of Scars. The idea is to get a Thornweald Archer out to stall creatures, and/or a Dark Heart of the Wood to buy yourself time. Once you have Life from the Loam in your hand (or even before you draw into it) you can start sacrificing any Forests you have. Once you have your Loam, start dredging them up every other turn to start gaining some serious life. Don't start sacrificing them until you need to or can afford to, however. Let your opponents sit and look at your enchantment. They will underestimate it and will most likely not waste a Naturalize on it, and if they do, sac your Forests in response. With the advent of Esper, most players are saving their Disenchants for threats that appear much bigger than a measly Dark Heart of the Wood. The Tribe Elder's can help you search out that extra Forest and your Tilling Treefolk can net you back a couple lands as well as providing a decent blocker. Until you draw into a Life from the Loam, or even if you have one, the Treefolk is a great alternative for land recursion. Viscera Dragger works well with every aspect of this deck. He cycles to sift through your deck, has a great unearth cost, and can provide Dread Return fodder or a hasted 3/3 attacker straight out of the yard. I have not been as impressed with the entire unearth mechanic as I have been with this card. Thank you Wizards. Then we have the fatties. Deity of Scars is a powerhouse, don't let anyone tell you different. He's cheap and you can send him to his death knowing full well that he will only return a little bit larger, while most likely removing one of your opponent’s larger creatures in the process. Get this guy on the board as soon as you can. Use him as a target for your Dread Returns, hardcast him, whatever. Get him in play and start swinging. Dark Heart of the Wood and your deathtouch archers are your defense. Once you have a Life from the Loam or a Tilling Treefolk start casting and retracing your Syphon Life. You will be impressed with the results. Your Dimir Houseguard is there as your third Damnation, second Ashling, or fodder for your Dread. Use your Damnations if you need to as you should have no problem getting creatures back on the board. There are a lot of two-of’s here, but when you're dredging you'd be surprised how easy it is to find the cards you need. You may feel hurt when you dredge a Damnation into the yard, but Tombstalker makes up for it. Delve away and get this guy onto the field. Between him and the Deity you should be able to overrun most any opponent, and he gives meaning to all those cards you "waste" while dredging and sacrificing your lands. In truth, you could add one more of him if you'd like and take out Ashling, but she is just in there for fun. She has an amazing ability and can provide some punch in both the early and late games. I hope I've given you enough information here to figure out the strategy behind this deck, but don't take my word for it. Try it out and adjust it to your metagame. Does Akroma still roll large at your table? Toss in a Cloudthresher. Don't have a couple Damnations, or can't afford 'em? Toss in a couple copies of Infest or Final Revels.
Play around with it; I think you'll find that dredging up and sacrificing Forests can be effective and fun. Tell me what you think in the forums, or post your own ideas in the casual deck forums. Until then, this is hamsandwich saying: Don't be afraid to whip it out and play with it.
You can discuss this article in the MDV forums
here.
Articles
Spotlights from 2008: | |||||||||||||||
|
Heart
of Darkness. 
