An Introduction to Casual MTG Encounters

Hello, and welcome to the first ever Casual MTG Encounters. My name is Nicko Kim and I am going to post fun and exciting casual deck lists that should be both easy and, if the cards aren’t lying around your basement somewhere, cheap to make. To give an insight to who I am, I have been playing Magic the Gathering for about eleven years now. I started playing the wonderful game around the time Prophecy was released. I started with pre-made decks, made by a family friend, along with cards from the 6th and 5th edition core sets. My favorite way to play is casually, which is the main reason I am choosing to write about casual decks.

So let’s hit the ground running, shall we?

The first deck I have decided to share is a deck I like to call Madman’s Zombie Overrun. To give insight to the name I would first like to say that this deck idea was made for a friend of mine my freshman year of High School, who’s nickname is Madman; however, it is still a fitting name for the deck. The deck revolves around a combo that has been circulating in my grey matter since the first time I saw the card Zombie Infestation. This enchantment is a simple discard cards to make a 2/2 zombie, which by itself is a bit less than awesome; however, if you combine this enchantment (while it’s in play) with any card with madness, you are able to pump out creatures and sorceries instantaneously! I know, I know, OP (over powering). How does it work? Well, madness states “If you discard this card, you may cast it for its madness cost instead of putting it into your graveyard.” So on your turn, or on your opponent’s turn, you are able to pop out not only a 2/2 zombie, but quite possibly two other creatures such as Big Game Hunter or even Basking Rootwalla.  By discarding these cards you are able to put the 2/2 zombie token into play, and if your mana is open for the Big Game Hunter, because the madness cost of the Rootwalla is 0, you are able to put out two more creatures. Since you can choose to discard at any time, due to the Zombie Infestation, you can run these as instant creatures. There are also sorceries, such as  Dark Withering, that you can play as instants for cheap and with a 2/2 zombie. To make this deck complete, there needs to be an ultimate game-ender. How might we add one? By simply running an Overrun or Garruk Wildspeaker for his ultimate ability (fitting). What overrun and Garruk’s ultimate ability do is give all your creatures +3/+3 and trample until the end of turn. With the plethora of creatures you should have on the battlefield, this should be enough for a game-ender. If not, run the Gorgon Recluse with either Lure or Seton’s Desire. What this will do is wipe out any non-black creature from the board, to next turn overrun, or clear the blockers for you to be able to overrun. It’s really a simple green tactic that has worked for me countless times. So with the strategy in mind here is:

Madman’s Zombie Overrun

Spells
4 Zombie Infestation
2 Big Game Hunter
4 Grave Scrabbler
4 Dark Withering
2 Gorgon Recluse
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Basking Rootwalla
2 Nightshade Assassin
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Overrun
3 Seton’s Desire

Land
4 Vivid Marsh
4 Vivid Grove
8 Swamp
7 Forest

Sideboard
3 Go for the Throat
3 Doom Blade
3 Naturalize
3 Tribal Unity
3 Strength in Numbers

Okay, I hope you guys enjoy this deck list, as much as I have making it. Thank you, and see you again next week at for Casual MTG Encounters!