My Decks

[psillusionist]

I will be posting some of my decks here as a way for me to show my gratitude and give something back to the Forge community. My thanks go to the programmers for implementing several awesome cards that made several awesome decks possible.

A minor note, all my decks are prefixed with “AJ” as a way for me to easily find them when choosing which deck to play. Edit the names if you wish.

Another note I should mention is a self-imposed rule that I follow when making Forge decks. I don’t use any of the famed Power Nine. In my opinion, building a good deck incorporating those cards is too easy and takes away the fun and challenge in deck building. Every other card is open season though.

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AJAluren

2 Island
2 Breeding Pool
4 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
2 Watery Grave
2 Bayou
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Volrath’s Stronghold
4 Cavern Harpy
2 Essence Warden
2 Pestermite
2 Psychatog
2 Man-o'-War
4 Wirewood Savage
4 Aluren
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Vampiric Tutor

Cavern Harpy is a beast. Wirewood Savage nets you a free card when a beast comes into play. What does this mean? Infinite card draw! This is a slightly different approach to the usual Aluren decks. Traditional Aluren builds either win through a life loss loop using Maggot Carrier, decking via an infinite mana loop and Stroke of Genius, and storm via Brain Freeze decking or Tendrils of Agony life loss. This version however wins by putting to good use all those free cards you get from the harpy and savage combo. Still don’t get it? Psychatog! As is the case with all combo decks, you need to learn how to play this deck first.

I experimented with a version that uses Imperial Recruiter but found that I prefer Vampiric Tutor more for its ability to tutor for Aluren plus the mana base is a lot more cleaner without the recruiter. Also, adding the recruiter would mean that I would have to take out some blue cards and that would simply make Force of Will harder to free cast. Anyway, I’m just mentioning this in case someone has a better use for that idea.

AJAluren.deck

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[psillusionist]

AJAngryHermit

1 Mountain
4 Underground Sea
3 Badlands
4 Bayou
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 City of Brass
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Anger
1 Brawn
4 Doomed Necromancer
4 Hermit Druid
1 Genesis
2 Lord of Extinction
4 Psychatog
1 Wonder
4 Entomb
4 Demonic Tutor
4 Exhume
2 Reanimate
4 Mox Diamond

I love hermit decks. Unfortunately, Forge doesn’t have Sutured Ghoul yet. So what card should I use that best benefits from dumping most of my library into my graveyard? Lord of Extinction. Unfortunately, Lord of Extinction doesn’t have trample, but that can be remedied with Brawn. Heck, since I’m already giving it trample, I might as well give it flying via Wonder. Remember though that this is a combo deck, so there’s a need to learn it first.

Some tips concerning this deck…if you have a green mana source in hand or in the battlefield, use your fetch land to fetch Badlands instead. This is because of all the incarnations, Anger is the most crucial. Also, try to get basic land types into play in the following priority: haste, trample, flying. When using Entomb, most of the time it’s a good idea to search for Lord of Extinction, but other times, Anger is more preferable. You have to learn the deck first in order to determine which is which.

I’d like to explain certain card choices as well. Doomed Necromancer is here so you can recur it with Genesis in case you don’t have a reanimation spell and it also helps in case the druid dumps your reanimators into your graveyard. As a general rule though, never dump your library yet if you’re not holding a reanimator card in hand. It’s just safer that way. Psychatog provides a nice alternate win and it also allows you to discard incarnations that you have the misfortune of drawing.

This deck can win on turn 2.

AJAngryHermit.deck

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[psillusionist]

AJBlackVise

1 Academy Ruins
3 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Polluted Delta
8 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
1 Volrath’s Stronghold
4 Watery Grave
4 Shriekmaw
3 Seizan, Perverter of Truth
4 Black Vise
3 Damnation
4 Echoing Truth
2 Nevinyrral’s Disk
4 Propaganda
4 Prosperity
3 Tendrils of Corruption
4 Underworld Dreams

I think this one is pretty straightforward. It’s a combo-control deck that abuses interactions with Seizan, Black Vise, and Underworld Dreams while controlling the board with Damnation, Propaganda, etc.

AJBlackVise.deck

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[psillusionist]

AJBlackVise2

4 Tropical Island
10 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Breeding Pool
2 Multani, Maro-Sorcerer
4 Wall of Tears
4 Black Vise
3 Boomerang
4 Echoing Truth
2 Evacuation
4 Howling Mine
3 Jace Beleren
4 Moment’s Peace
4 Prosperity
4 Storm Seeker

Another Black Vise deck…this time to abuse Storm Seeker! Again, very straightforward. About Jace, always use his ability where both players draw a card. I should mention that sometimes you’ll win via milling with this deck. And don’t forget that Multani has shroud.

AJBlackVise2.deck

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[psillusionist]

AJDiscard

23 Swamp
1 Volrath’s Stronghold
4 Nyxathid
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Guul Draz Specter
1 Beacon of Unrest
3 Damnation
4 Funeral Charm
4 Hymn to Tourach
1 Liliana Vest
2 Mind Twist
1 Nevinyrral’s Disk
4 Smother
4 The Rack

A combo-control deck built around discard. I don’t think this needs much explanation though. This slightly differs from discard decks built around Liliana’s Caress and/or Megrim in that this deck forces the opponent to keep cards in his hand as an attempt to negate the advantages you get from The Rack, Nyxathid and the specter. By forcing them to keep cards in their hand, your discard spells are given extra mileage as opposed to becoming just dead cards. For the Duress and Thoughtseize fans, I’m a fan of those cards too, but I chose Funeral Charm for this deck instead for its potential to kill certain creatures and also the discard spells here are meant to help empty the opponent’s hand, not pick off specific cards.

AJDiscard.deck

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[psillusionist]

AJDragonstorm

10 Island
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Steam Vents
4 Volcanic Island

4 Bogardan Hellkite
2 Hunted Dragon
4 Brainstorm
4 Dragonstorm
4 High Tide
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Mystical Tutor
4 Propaganda
4 Remand
4 Seething Song

Enjoy! The earliest I could win with this deck is turn 3.

AJDragonstorm.deck

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[psillusionist]

AJGoblinBidding

4 Badlands
4 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
10 Mountain
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Piledriver
2 Goblin Sharpshooter
3 Goblin Sledder
4 Goblin Warchief
3 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Skirk Prospector
3 Living Death
4 Tarfire
3 Terminate

A Goblin Bidding deck minus Patriarch’s Bidding. The absence of the namesake mass reanimation spell is no hindrance however since the more superior Living Death is available to Forge. The gameplan is simple…play goblins as you normally would a goblin deck, then right when your opponent has amassed enough defenses, sacrifice every goblin you have and reanimate them with Living Death. If your opponent has no creatures in his graveyard, Living Death would effectively clear his board of opposing creatures. Don’t forget to repeatedly ping your opponent with Goblin Sharpshooter while you sac everything else. This was one of the finest aggro-combo decks during Onslaught era Standard.

AJGoblinBidding.deck

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[psillusionist]

AJKikiMite

6 Island
6 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Steam Vents
4 Volcanic Island
3 Imperial Recruiter
3 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
4 Pestermite
4 Brainstorm
3 Burst Lightning
3 Echoing Truth
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Leak

Another combo deck. I swear, I’m more of a control player, but sometimes playing combo decks is too much fun for me to resist. Anyway, this is one of those rare 2-card instant kill combos. Copy a Pestermite with Kiki-Jiki, have the Pestermite token untap Kiki-Jiki, repeat for infinite Pestermite tokens with haste, attack.

You should remember that Pestermite has flash. Ideally, it should be played at your opponent’s end the step, exactly before the turn where you plan to play Kiki-Jiki ‘cause sometimes the counterspells won’t be enough to back up the combo. Better safe than sorry.

Concerning Mana Leak, I am seriously considering taking it out for Remand instead since Remand is a more ideal counter in combo decks.

AJKikiMite.deck

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[psillusionist]

AJMadness

4 Breeding Pool
10 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Tropical Island
3 Arrogant Wurm
4 Basking Rootwalla
1 Genesis
4 Merfolk Looter
4 Wild Mongrel
3 Wonder
4 Careful Study
2 Deep Analysis
4 Echoing Truth
4 Force of Will
2 Intuition
3 Roar of the Wurm

A very traditional Madness deck. Nothing new here. Use Intuition to fill your graveyard with flashback spells or incarnations.

AJMadness.deck

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[psillusionist]

AJMoatWeenie

4 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Karakas
18 Plains
4 Moat
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Lantern Kami
4 Armageddon
4 Exalted Angel
4 Serra Avenger
3 Suntail Hawk
4 Leonin Skyhunter
4 Spectral Procession
4 Honor of the Pure

This is a White Weenie deck with a couple of minor variations. First, the deck uses Moat so you can focus more on attacking and less on defending, and second, all the creatures in the deck are flying creatures. Swords to Plowshares should be reserved for flying blockers only. Play Armageddon wisely…preferably when you have enough threats and/or when Moat is in play.

AJMoatWeenie.deck

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[psillusionist]

AJPonza

4 Badlands
4 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
11 Swamp
1 Volrath’s Stronghold
4 Avalanche Riders
4 Bloodghast
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Buried Alive
4 Damnation
4 Demonic Tutor
4 Rain of Tears
4 Sinkhole
4 Stone Rain

Of all the Forge decks I’ve made, this is one of my top favorites. This is a land destruction deck that wins by playing Buried Alive to put three copies of Demigod of Revenge in your graveyard and reanimating all of them by playing the 4th copy from your hand. Land destruction takes greater priority over setting up your graveyard though. The idea is to deny your opponent of his mana sources so he won’t be able to sufficiently deal with the hasted demigods. Don’t be too eager to pay for Avalanche Riders’ echo cost. Demonic Tutor is here to search for that 4th demigod. In case all your demigods find themselves in the graveyard, you can tutor for Volrath’s Stronghold as a backup plan.

AJPonza.deck

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[psillusionist]

ROFLThopter

1 Academy Ruins
4 Ancient Den
4 Flooded Strand
4 Seat of the Synod
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Ethersworn Adjudicator
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Stuffy Doll
4 Brainstorm
4 Echoing Truth
4 Guilty Conscience
4 Sol Ring
3 Sword of the Meek
3 Tezzeret the Seeker
4 Thopter Foundry
1 Time Vault
4 Tinker
3 Wrath of God

This is another one of my top favorites among the Forge decks I made. The deck has several gameplans at its disposal. You can Tinker for Darksteel Colossus or Sphinx of the Steel Wind for some fatty beatdown. If the deck you’re facing has means of dealing with the aforementioned fatties, you can instead go for a Thopter Foundry and Sword of the Meek stalling game while you build up a weenie army of thopter tokens. Another alternative is to stock up on loyalty counters for Tezzeret so you can use his ultimate to attack with several 5/5 artifact creatures. The deck also has a built-in Stuffy Doll + Guilty Conscience combo as well as an infinite turns combo using Tezzeret and Time Vault. Wrath of God, Echoing Truth, and Guilty Conscience provide some decent control should you need it.

As a side note, Tundra has greater priority than Underground Sea in this deck.

AJROFLThopter.deck

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[psillusionist]

AJSquirrelCraft

5 Forest
1 Mountain
6 Plains
4 Plateau
4 Savannah
4 Windswept Heath
4 Academy Rector
4 Auriok Champion
4 Eternal Witness
4 Earthcraft
4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Goblin Bombardment
4 Ghostly Prison
4 Squirrel Nest
4 Wrath of God

Make infinite squirrel tokens and sac them to Goblin Bombardment for infinite damage. Make sure to enchant a basic land for Squirrel Nest so you can keep untapping it with Earthcraft.

AJSquirrelCraft.deck

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[psillusionist]

AJTheRock

1 Badlands
4 Bayou
4 Forest
1 Island
1 Mountain
3 Swamp
3 Treetop Village
1 Tropical Island
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath’s Stronghold
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Carven Caryatid
3 Eternal Witness
1 Lord of Extinction
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Spiritmonger
2 Troll Ascetic
1 Visara the Dreadful
3 Wall of Blossoms
3 Damnation
3 Demonic Tutor
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Nevinyrral’s Disk
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
3 Putrefy

A green/black control deck with a red and blue splash for Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker in case the game drags on too long. This deck is really fun to use especially when you’re just teetering at less than 5 life but still manage to win. It lacks life gain cards but the deck is nonetheless very resilient against many decks.

AJTheRock.deck

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[DennisBergkamp]

These decks look nasty indeed Thanks for sharing!