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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Zubera Reincarnation
October 2, 2006

On October 20th, as the leaves turn and the corn gets harvested, Kamigawa will officially rotate out of Standard in place of Time Spiral.  Many will be quite grateful for the influx of new cards into the format, but we'll also be losing a lot of cards and decks.  This one, for instance.
Hey BMoor,
 
 
Had a fun little deck idea I’ve been working with, and was hoping for some advice on tweaking it, possibly even improving it to a competitive level. Anyway, to the deck list:
 
Land:
Forest x 4
Plains x 4
Island x 3
Temple Garden x 4
Hallowed Fountain x 4
Breeding Pool x 4
 
Total: 23
 
Creatures:
Dripping-Tongue Zubera x4
Floating-Dream Zubera x4
Silent-Chant Zubera x4
Lifespinner x 4
Birds of Paradise x4
Oyobi, Who Split the Heavens x 1
Kodama of the North Tree x 1
Iname, Life Aspect x 2
Sekki, Season’s Guide x1
 
Total: 25
 
Spells&Enchants:
Faith’s Fetters x 4
Wrath of God x 4
Compulsive Research x 4
 
Total: 12
 
Sideboard:
Naturalize x 4
Defense Grid x 4
Ghostly Prison x 4
Sacred Ground x 3
 
Basic playstyle of the deck is simple enough – flood the board with Zuberas, get a Lifespinner out, use it’s ability to search for one of the Legendary spirits, giving both the Zubera bonuses and a big, normally cost-restrictive baddie to take down the opponent with. Late game, the Legendaries can be hardcasted as necessary. Some changes I were considering were adding Long Forgotten Gohei or Umezawa’s Jitte, or changing one of the colors to Black to take advantage of such cards as Grave Pact. (Pity Phyrexian Plaguelord isn’t currently in Standard!)
 
Anyway, I appreciate any and all feedback you’d be willing to give.
~Sean

Sean, let me say how much I like this deck.  It looks like a lot of fun and I'm really sorry it won't be Standard legal for longer.  I'm also sorry I didn't fix it for you sooner, but September has been a very busy month and I get a lot of decklists.  But I'll be glad to give this deck the care and treatment it deserves.
 
Now then, the purpose here is to amass Zuberas and use them for explosive Lifespinner activations.  You've got 12 Zuberas, and 4 Lifespinners, so it shouldn't be too hard to pull off the trick once at least.  If even one Zubera sacrificed is Dripping-Tongue, then you'll get 3 Spirit tokens that Lifespinner can turn into another superbaddy.  So that's no concern.  I'd sort of like to add in some Rushing-Tide Zubera to up the Zubera count, but since its graveyard trigger works differently and it costs 2UU, I'm not convinced.
 
Next section of the deck is big, mean Legendary Creature- Spirits.  You've got an Oyobi, a North Kodama, a Sekki, and Iname's Life Aspect.  Not bad at all, especially Iname's synergy with the Zubera strategy.  But is there anything else worth Lifespinning out?  Well, a database search for "creature - Spirit, in Standard, sort by power" gives Kuro, Pitlord as the most powerful Legendary Spirit in the game.  Myojin of Life's Web comes in a close second as an on-color choice, but if you cheat it into play, it's merely a vanilla 8/8.  After that, Ayumi the Last Visitor looks good, as does The Unspeakable.  And of course, there's still, Yosei, Keiga, and Jugan to consider, but I'm not sure what sort of budget you've got.  Not much after that to rival what you already have, but Patron of the Kitsune might be of help.  Also Arashi, the Sky Asunder, since you don't have much defense against flying.  It really depends how many slots in your deck you want to use on this, considering that you'll probably only Lifespin once or twice in a game and you don't want your hand cluttered with reanimation targets.  Those belong in your library.
 
And that brings you to your utility spells.  Wrath of God is an excellent choice for any deck that expects to have Zuberas abound.  Faith's Fetters and Compulsive Research are also great for a combo deck, but I'm tempted by the potential of the Blue and White Hondens.  Two or even three cards a turn would guarantee you'd have everything you need, except maybe it would put all your Lifespinner targets into your hand.  The White Honden would pad your life enough to keep you from losing before you win.  But I suppose that's not necessary.  In fact, I think Compulsive Research woul be better as Sensei's Diving Top.  It's a repeatable effect, and it can make gosh-darn sure you don't draw Oyobi turn four when it'd be useless.  But you do have ways of hardcasting all your legends, so I guess I shouldn't worry.  In fact, maybe something with even more draw power is called for here, like Tidings.  Nah, the middle ground is the best.  Keep it as is.  And with 12 dual lands, mana screw isn't too much of a worry, so that really should do it.
 
You know, I didn't really change much.  I guess this is a really good deck.  But you wanted feedback, Sean, and that's mine.  It's still Standard legal for now, so have fun!
 
~BMoor
 
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