Mistform Deck

8.02.04 

Hey all, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Deck Garage! Since I’ve been covering Type II and Mirrodin Block decks for the last few weeks, I’m throwing in a casual deck this time around. The deck, based around making use of Mistform creatures, comes to us from Keith, who wants to use a lot of Mistform creatures combined with cards that benefit a tribal theme to lay the smack down on his opponents.

Keith’s initial decklist is below:

2 Arcanis the Omnipotent
4 Mistform Dreamer
4 Mistform Seaswift
4 Mistform Stalker
4 Mistform Wall
4 Mistform Warchief
2 Silent Arbitrator

2 Decree of Pain
4 Endemic Plague
2 Endless Whispers
4 Shriveling Rot
4 Standardize

4 City of Brass
8 Island
8 Swamp

The first thing that jumps out at me is the land count. Although the rule of 2/3 spells and 1/3 land is still a good one, this deck requires a bit more land, so I’m going to go ahead and up the count to 22. I’m also throwing in Underground River over City of Brass, since it does the same job but helps get around damage. Salt Marsh has also been included, just to smooth out mana consistency. I adjusted the Swamp-Island ratio here, just because there are a lot more blue cards than black in the deck.

-4 City of Brass

-5 Swamp

+3 Island

+4 Salt Marsh

+4 Underground River

I will say that I really like the current set-up for creatures in Keith’s deck. He had all of the cards that immediately jumped to mind when I saw that this was a Mistform deck. Keith said he was considering running Mistform Skyreaver over Silent Arbitrator, and I think I agree completely. Keith’s deck has to rely on cool tricks and a swarm of creatures to beat down his opponents, and Silent Arbitrator can work against that.

-2 Silent Arbitrator

+2 Mistform Skyreaver

The only other change to creatures that I would suggest is dropping Arcanis the Omnipotent. Although Arcanis is a decent card, he really doesn’t fit within the theme of the deck, and Keith could probably be using that mana for cool tricks involving his and his opponents’ creatures’ types.

-2 Arcanis the Omnipotent

Next, instead of using Peer Pressure, I am seeing a much more versatile card: Unnatural Selection. Keith will have to sink some mana into the enchantment to get the same effect, but he will also be able to use it any turn he sees fit.

-4 Standardize

+4 Unnatural Selection

Don’t forget, Keith, Unnatural Selection allows you to name Legend, meaning the best your opponent can muster is one of each creature in his deck!

I’m not a huge fan of Endless Whispers. Although it does cause a lot of chaos across the board, it works for both players, and not necessarily to either’s advantage. Thus, I think it has to go. However, since I’m sure Keith enjoys the benefits of his opponents’ creatures, he could play the always overlooked Peer Pressure. Combined with Unnatural Selection, he has the potential for a very bad turn for his opponent: Use Unnatural Selection to change anything he wants to an Illusion, then play Peer Pressure to convert them to the power of the Mistform!

-2 Endless Whispers

+3 Peer Pressure

Finally, although Shriveling Rot is a decent card, I don’t really think it belongs here – at best, its removal or life-loss at the price of some of Keith’s creatures. In its place, I’d suggest sliding in a few targeted removal spells: Dark Banishing and Terror. To make a bit of room, I’m cutting a single copy of Endemic Plague – it’s good, but a bit expensive, so there is no reason to run the full set.

-1 Endemic Plague

-4 Shriveling Rot

+3 Dark Banishing

+3 Terror

I think that about wraps up the work on this deck, so here is the final list:

CREATURES (22):

4 Mistform Dreamer
4 Mistform Seaswift
2 Mistform Skyreaver
4 Mistform Stalker
4 Mistform Wall
4 Mistform Warchief

OTHER (16):

3 Dark Banishing
3 Endemic Plague
3 Peer Pressure
3 Terror
4 Unnatural Selection

LAND (22):

11 Island
4 Salt Marsh
3 Swamp
4 Unnatural Selection

I hope that helps, Keith, and good luck!

That about wraps it up for this week’s Deck Garage. Remember, if you’d like to see your deck in the Magic Deck Garage, drop me an e-mail at Hagan0001@aol.com and I will get back with you as soon as possible!

Sponsors & Polls