The Year of Brew

Week 15: Eric Asked, So I Obliged

Julian Leal

18 Apr 2021 - 5 min read

It’s time for our second customized deck in this second half of the Arc of the Power of Friendship. Eric is next, and he gave me the following criteria:

Contains At Least White and Black in its Color Identity

Not Reliant on its Board State

Has a theme of Burst Damage

Let’s see what can do to appease our resident green mage! (hint: we aren’t playing green)

Deck 15: Mardu

So to cater to Eric’s request, I’ve concocted quite the doozy. It was a bit of a convoluted thought process to get to where we are, but I first focused on this idea of “burst damage”, which we’ll get to in a bit and decided I wanted to be in Mardu. Not only is it an underloved color combo, but depriving Eric of green is necessary for personal growth and it’ll also be fun to see him go through withdrawal. However, I did choose to give him Oros, the Avenger as his Commander. Considering how far we’ve strayed from his norm, I figured a beefy dragon would give him some comfort. If I wanted to be really mean, I would’ve made him an Esper deck, but… this is already a control deck, so we’re basically there.

That’s right, this is a control deck that we’re gifting to the King of Timmy’s. Eric didn’t want reliance on board state and by golly, who needs a board state when none of your opponents have one either? That’s always been my motto and we’re running plenty of removal, card draw, and wraths to back it up. I did try to spice up our picks a bit, divying between red looting and black drawing cards and losing life, Painful Truths being a personal favorite. Rip Apart is a versatile answer fresh from Strixhaven, and Ruinous Ultimatum is the flashiest sort of control card, meeting Eric’s taste in the middle. However, I think my favorite includes are Tragic Arrogance and Mythos of Snapdax , both of which absolutely decimate our opponents but with the extra salt of us getting to choose which measely permanents they can keep.

So now we come to that ever important criteria of Burst Damage. Initially I was thinking big mana jammin’ with things like Comet Storm and Debt to the Deathless . Too easy. Well, what about Boros Reckoner -esque effects with Blasphemous Act , Star of Extinction , etc.? Too. EASY. What’s the biggest amount of damage we can inflict in one burst? Well, all of it, duh. That’s a little overkill, but how about… half of our opponents life total? Goldy f***ing Locks, that’s *just right*.

Yup, this deck is all about smacking our opponents life totals in half. We’ve got a bunch of heaters like Blood Tribute , Revenge , and of course, Fraying Omnipotence , as well as creature-based versions like Heartless Hidetsugu and Raving Dead . A sick synergy is with Anya, Merciless Angel who just so happens to care about that halfway point, but was unfortunately stuck in a Boros pre-con. Add in an Increasing Vengeance , Dualcaster Mage or even Wound Reflection to really spread the love <3<3<3

I hope Eric likes this deck, but I hope y’all like it even more. Go forth and cleave through your opponents’ life totals!