Written by Adri
This is a primer on a new deck that has been brewed in the East Coast by yours truly with many of the regulars in the 90sMTG community.
Deck Analysis
The deck in all its glory. Let’s discuss its configuration and how Ketramose, the New Dawn fits in.
Core
Consider the following as the deck's core shell:
- Swords to Plowshares / Solitude
- Swords to Plowshares is the best removal spell ever printed. We play eight of them with its elemental incarnation, Solitude. There’s no shortage of dangerous creatures to remove, from Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Archon of Cruelty to Barrowgoyf or Murktide Regent, and less commonly Marit Lage and Emrakul, the Eons Torn (which Solitude deals with).
- Thoughtseize
- Thoughtseize is our best turn one play — the only turn one play possible unless on the draw and the opponent played a creature. Thoughtseize provides early disruption against combo or other bad matchups and paves follow-up turns.
- Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd
- Phelia is as pushed a flicker enabler as Wizards of the Coast (WotC) can design — it's the deck's motor. Most of our cards benefit from reusing their enters abilities and Phelia provides degeneracy against opponent’s permanents like resetting Chalice of the Void, Murktide Regent, or Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar.
- Overlord of the Balemurk
- Phelia and Balemurk are a match made in heaven. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were designed together. The Impending mechanic works in such a way that we can cast Balemurk for 1B, then flicker it with Phelia to return it to the battlefield as a creature, milling eight cards and disentomb the two best creatures from the graveyard. Unlike Barrowgoyf, Balemurk can disentomb any creature in the graveyard. However, crucially, Balemurk cannot disentomb copies of itself.
- Orcish Bowmasters
- Much has been written about Bowmasters in Legacy, so I’ll skim through it. If you play black, you need an extraordinary reason not to play four Orcish Bowmaster.
Bullet Creatures
Since Balemurk acts as a Life from the Loam of sorts, sparse bullets are useful and more accessible.
- Emperor of Bones
- Emperor of Bones started seeing play in Reanimator to dodge cards like Grafdigger’s Cage. We fill our graveyard quickly with good enters abilities — reusing them is always good. The finality counter is all but final.
- Skyclave Apparition
- Skyclave Apparition is a generic answer to more midgame permanents like Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, The One Ring, Ensnaring Bridge, etc. Skyclave is among the few modern designs that do not return the exiled permanent to the battlefield.
- Barrowgoyf
- Barrowgoyf may surprise some since it’s not typically seen outside blue shells. It’s likely the strongest fair creatures for racing or locking the board down. We're happy to trade it for our opponent's Barrowgoyf, since we can recur it.
- Be careful with the mill effect. Unlike Balemurk, Barrowgoyf can pull a creature from the milled cards. However, Barrowgoyf works through replacement effects like Dauthi Voidwalker or Leyline of the Void, which Balemurk does not.
- Boggart Trawler / Witch Enchanter
- Lion Sash
- Lion Sash doubles as targeted removal hate and to break big boards. As a creature, we can disentomb it with Balemurk.
- We need sufficient white-card-count for Solitude.
Strange Spells
The final two spells may seem unorthodox but serve different purposes:
- Reanimate
- Reanimate has been in ban discussions for as long as I can remember and for good reason. When used unfairly, Reanimate is often the last relevant spell of the game. Even using it “fairly” is akin to Black Lotus.
- Reanimate is the best effect of this kind. In a typical game, our graveyard is full. Having them available for B and some life is exceptional. Reanimating an opponent's creatures can be powerful but Phelia flickers them back to the opponent’s control.
- Cling to Dust
- Cling to Dust is straight from Grixis Control lists, acting as a late-game card advantage. It serves a similar role to Lion Sash as graveyard hate accessible via Balemurk, though more expensive.
- Gaining three life means that Delver decks need one more attack or Lightning Bolt to win.
Lands
Lands are mostly self explanatory. We heavily emphasize basics for stability against Wasteland. Four Wastelands of our own for Urza’s Saga, opposing Karakas, and seldom to tempo an opponent out.
Our good spells start at two mana, so refrain from Wastelanding as the second land drop unless it is to survive or garner more time than we lose by delaying development.
Despite our low legendary creature count, attack with Phelia every combat and have her survive and flicker value. Ee play two to ensure Phelia can attack, flicker a permanent, bounce Phelia, and redeploy her before our next turn. Bouncing our legendaries to pitch to Solitude is also a way to trick an opponent. There are other relevant legendaries in Legacy like Atraxa and Tamiyo.
Sideboard
Our sideboard has a couple hammers and generically good cards.
- Deafening Silence
- We barely interact with solitaire-style combo decks like The Epic Storm (TES) or the like, unless they rely on creatures like Glaring Fleshraker or Ral, Monsoon Mage. We don’t play counterspells, so we need to gain time to kill our opponent or put more lock pieces into play.
- Containment Priest
- One of the most generic and best foils to “cheat big stuff into play,” Containment Priest covers every possible way a big creature can be cheated in from Reanimate to Show and Tell and Sneak Attack, to the more esoteric third lore counter on Fable of the Mirror Breaker or Dryad Arbor. In some matchups, Containment Priest creates extra removal in conjunction with Phelia.
- Disruptor Flute
- A flexible tool for locking planeswalkers or Nadu, Winged Wisdom enablers to delaying, or even nullifying the casting of spells like Doomsday. This card rewards vast knowledge of the meta and threat evaluation. Phelia can reset Disruptor Flute in a pinch or if the original threat was dealt with.
- Null Rod
- Artifact decks can explode via The One Ring with Grim Monolith. In most cases, Null Rod will delay them long enough.
- White Orchid Phantom
- Since we’re a four-Wasteland deck, opponents are incentivized to fetch basics, making White Orchid Phantom a repeatable Strip Mine with Phelia.
- White Orchid Phantom can fix your colors in a pinch or convert a dual into a basic to ensure access to a colors against an opposing tapped Wasteland.
- Most people forget about first strike, which is relevant against Baleful Strix or Insectile Aberration.
- Leyline of the Void
