MDG: Bringer-Mindslaver Deck

09.06.04 

Hey all, and welcome back to the Magic Deck Garage. I’ve finally gotten caught up on my e-mail, so I should be able to get back to anyone who writes me within a day or two, so keep those e-mails coming!

This week, I was sent a list based around utilizing Bringer of the White Dawn and Mindslaver. Here’s the e-mail…

---

This deck is centered around the Bringer of The White Dawn/Mindslaver infinate loop. It is also made using card I own, so there are some cards I have 2 or 3 of that I'd like to run 4 of. Right now this is being run primarily in type 2. Though I might like to adapt it for other formats later. Budget concerns are not too big, but I don't have an unlimited supply of funds so adapting it to type 1 and adding a black lotus and 1 of each mox is pretty undoable as well.

Here is the Decklist I have so far.

Creatures (3)

3 Bringer of The Whie Dawn

Other (35)

3 Mindslavers

3 Diabolic Tutors

4 Fabricates

1 Beacon of Destruction

1 Beacon of Immortality

1 Beacon of Unrest

2 Rampant Growth

4 Dawn's Reflection

4 Fertile Grounds

2 Journey of Discovery

2 Naturalize

2 Serum Visions

2 Inspirations

4 Fireballs

Lands (22)

14 Forests

2 Plains

2 Swamps

2 Islands

2 Mountains

---

It looks like our contributor for this week (he didn’t give me a name) is off to an amazing start. He has a lot of the cards I would suggest already incorporated into his deck, so it doesn’t need vast amounts of work. We’ll keep the deck Type II legal, ready to go for tourney play as soon as our contributor is ready to roll.

First and foremost, I would start off by adding a fourth copy of Bringer of the White Dawn. Aside from Diabolic Tutor, we don’t have a way to hunt down Bringer, so you might as well have a full set to increase the likelihood of drawing it.

+1 Bringer of the White Dawn

Next, I’m not too sure that just four creatures are good enough to hold down the fort, so I’m throwing in a full set of Solemn Simulacrum to serve as a mana-fixer and a chump blocker. Also going in are a full set of Eternal Witness, which goes well with almost any spell, and in this deck, especially Mindslaver.

+4 Eternal Witness

+4 Solemn Simulacrum

Now that we are a little better set on creatures, we can turn our attention to the non-creature spells. The first thing I’d like to do is up the count on Rampant Growth (hopefully the Mirage art – it just looks cool!) to four. This isn’t a major change or anything, but an early mana-fix is nothing to ignore.

+2 Rampant Growth

Next, since this deck has colors all over the place, I’m going to go ahead and drop Diabolic Tutor. As much as I like a tutor effect, the two black mana associated with this spell is a bit too much to bank on.

-3 Diabolic Tutor

Next, even though they are decent spells, two of the Beacons are heading out purely for room reasons: Beacon of Immortality and Beacon of Unrest. The white Beacon is OK, but nothing special, so I have no qualms losing it. The black Beacon is a bit harder to cut, but if we concentrate on getting on Bringer of the White Dawn, then we don’t really need Beacon of Unrest in the deck.

-1 Beacon of Immortality

-1 Beacon of Unrest

What about Beacon of Destruction? Well, first, I’m going to drop Fireball from the deck. I’m not a huge fan – it seems like it can be just too slow, especially as a finisher. Instead, since there is so much deck-thinning in this deck, why don’t we up the count on Beacon of Destruction to a full set of four.

-4 Fireball

+3 Beacon of Destruction

Next, since we have put in Solemn Simulacrum and upped the count on Rampant Growth, Journey of Discovery is not really needed any longer.

-2 Journey of Discovery

Next, we have to have more artifact destruction. If you look at the Magic World Championships that went on this past weekend, you’ll notice that there are a *ton* of artifacts all over the Top 8 decklists. Three Affinity decks and a Krark-Clan Ironworks deck were hanging out in the playoffs, meaning you can expect to run into those same decks for quite a while. Thus, it might be wise to switch from Naturalize to Oxidize.

-2 Naturalize

+4 Oxidize

Next, I want to swap out Fertile Grounds for Reap and Sow. As opposed to having an enchantment waiting to be nailed with an opponent’s Naturalize, you get another land out of your deck. Yes, I realize its slower, but its probably a lot safer and you can take care of problem lands sitting across the board.

-4 Fertile Grounds

+3 Reap and Sow

The same *could* be said for Dawn’s Reflection, but that card also produces an additional *two* mana, making it a bit more worth the risk.

Finally, looking over the deck, I noticed we have a few too many cards. Unfortunately, this means something has to go, and I think that something is the card draw. I’d love to keep it in, but the only other cards that I looked at were Fabricate (which seems a bit too good to let go) and Dawn’s Reflection (helps get out Bringer).

-2 Inspiration

-2 Serum Visions

Below is the final version of the decklist. You’ll notice that I modified the land a bit, but I won’t go into any detail on why – it’s just to even everything out.

CREATURES (12):

4 Bringer of the White Dawn

4 Eternal Witness

4 Solemn Simulacrum

NON-CREATURE SPELLS (26):

3 Mindslavers

4 Fabricates

4 Beacon of Destruction

4 Rampant Growth

4 Dawn's Reflection

3 Reap and Sow

4 Oxidize

LANDS (22):

4 City of Brass

13 Forests

2 Island

1 Mountain

1 Plains

1 Swamps

I hope that helps, and good luck!

That about wraps up work for the Magic Deck Garage this week; I hope y’all enjoyed. Remember, if you’d like to see your deck in the Magic Deck Garage, drop me an e-mail at Hagan0001@aol.com, including all of the information you think I should know.

Until next week, happy gaming!

-Paul Hagan

Sponsors & Polls