Hello and welcome back to Casual MTG Encounters.
Dark Ascensions!
The pre-release was last weekend (28-29 January). I’m pretty excited about this set being released for more than one reason. There is the continuation of a completely new way to play the game of Magic (even new for graveyard play, which is why the Graveborn Ultimate deck was a huge success) and, also, new abilities such as Undying. Undying reads, “When this creature dies, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control with a +1/+1 counter on it.” When I read this, the first thing I thought was, “This has potential for infinite.” After going through card after card I stumbled across a pretty recent creature in the Zendikar set, Vampire Hexmage. Vampire Hexmage reads, “First strike. Sacrifice Vampire Hexmage: Remove all counters from target permanent.” I was pretty mad, because after about two hours of research, I ran into this guy. I was mad because I run him in a Legacy deck (on Cockatrice), so before I talk about the infinite combo I’ll show the Legacy deck.
Legacy Hex Depths
Creature Spells:
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
Non-Creature Spells:
4 Dark Ritual
4 Crop Rotations
4 Torpor Orb
4 Diabolic Tutor
4 Grim Tutor
4 Rhystic Tutor
4 Sylvan Tutor
Land
4 Dark Depths
4 Bayou
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Wasteland
4 Polluted Delta
The idea behind this deck is to get the Hexmage out with the Dark Depths. Sac the Hexmage, remove the ice counters from the Dark Depths to create Marit Lage, a 20/20 indestructible flying creature. This can be done by turn two, which is what the Dark Rituals are for and the crop rotation is to get the Depths out. The other creature is the Phyrexian Dreadnought, which can be out by turn one if you get the cards; a land that produces a black mana, Dark Ritual, Torpor Orb, and the Dreadnought itself. But that’s pretty low chances because it’s five cards out of seven in your hand, and it’s a 33% chance that you will draw into it.
That is using the Vampire Hexmage, sacrificing it to remove counters. This same concept can be used for +1/+1 counters.
So the card I’m going to talk about is the new Mikaeus.
Since Mikaeus gives all other non-human creatures undying, creatures such as the Hexmage get undying as well. How can this be applied infinitely? Say Mikaeus is on the Board, and then we throw out two Hexmages. We can sac a Hexmage to remove counters from anything, and since it has undying it comes back to the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter. Sac the second Hexmage to remove the counters on the first Hexmage, then that card comes back with counters, and we can do this infinitely. So we have an infinite number of creatures (un)dying in one turn. How can we use this? With cards such as Falkenrath Noble to do infinite damage; or cards such as deathgreeter, soul warden, and essence warden for infinite life gain; or cards such as Teysa, Orzohv Scion, Golgari Germination, or Genesis Chamber for infinite creatures; or cards like Lumberknot and Unruly Mob for infinite creature pump. So now that we have a few combos we can run, the hard part is making the decision to make a deck that flows well together. Since I don’t have Mikaeus I haven’t been able to test a deck. So instead, I’m going to show the deck that I’m going to make the second I’m able to get Mikaeus.
Here is Mikaeus, the Infinite
Creature Spells
4 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Deathgreeter
4 Soul Warden
4 Falkenrath Noble
Non-Creature Spells
4 Genesis Chamber
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rhystic Tutor
4 Infernal Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
Land
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Isolated Chapel
8 Swamp
7 Plains
So the idea is to get the Mikaeus/Hexmages combo out and have the soul warden and/or the deathgreeter to gain infinite life. Then wait until there is a Falkenrath Noble or Genesis Chamber. If the noble is out, with the combo, we deal infinite damage. If the Chamber is out with the combo, that’s an infinite number of 2/2 myr creatures with undying. I know, awesome! The best reason the Dark Rituals are there is to create mana for Mikaeus.
Let’s keep this ball rolling with some more infinite.
The next infinite combo, I feel might be faster, is using the Gravecrawler , Diregraf Captain, and Phyrexian Altar. So the idea is to get out the combo as fast as possible, so why not throw in some more Dark Rituals? What will happen is that with the Altar out you sacrifice the Gravecrawler to add one black mana to your mana pool, and since the Diregraf Captain is out you make your opponent lose 1 life. Then since you have that black mana you can play the Gravecrawler from your grave and do it again, as many times as you need. So here is The Gravecrawling Sacrifice
Creature Spells
4 Diregraf Captain
4 Gravecrawler
4 Falkenrath nNoble
Non-Creature Spells
4 Dark Ritual
4 Phyrexian Altar
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
3 Turn Aside
3 Mana Leak
3 Go for the Throat
Land
4 Drowned Catacomb
9 Swamp
9 Island
I hope you enjoyed this week’s Casual MTG Encounters as much as I have enjoyed this last weekends pre-release. I think that it’s safe to say that buying a box is really worth it. The commons and uncommons, alone, make me feel this way. Then add the rares, $90, plus tax, is really an awesome deal (for those who are into standard or just good cards in general).
Enjoy!
