Welcome to another great installment in the Precon Recon series! This time, due to Saint Patrick’s Day, I thought I would take a look at a deck geared more towards the green color, but still try and stay Standard. This brought me to the Grave Power deck. It sure seems like a great deck potentially out of box, but I quickly noticed areas where growth are far better. For the original decklist, check it out here: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/productarticle.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/darkascension/intropacks#deck5.

Main Deck
60 cards

14 Forest
10 Island

1 Acidic Slime
1 Æther Adept
1 Alluring Siren
2 Ambush Viper
3 Armored Skaab
2 Boneyard Wurm
1 Brindle Boar
2 Chasm Drake
3 Dawntreader Elk
2 Deranged Assistant
1 Ghoultree
2 Hollowhenge Beast
2 Moon Heron
1 Splinterfright
2 Tower Geist

1 Executioner's Hood
1 Gnaw to the Bone
2 Grim Flowering
2 Mulch
2 Tracker's Instincts
2 Wreath of Geists

Now the main theme of the deck is to fill up our graveyard with all sorts of spells, and ultimately, win because of this. Many spells utilize creatures placed in the grave for effects. I personally love this idea, however, the deck fails to take these ideals over the top. That is of course where I come in, and why this article is being written. I think that in capitalizing further on some of these options, we will turn the tide this deck brings to maximum.

Every deck begins with removal. This deck thrives on exploiting our graveyard. Therefore, we will remove things that no longer help us to that end. One of the first cards I would like to remove is the two Chasm Drakes. We will find some options later on that serve a similar purpose, only much more effectively. Next, I will list off a large portion of things that no longer need be in the deck. They are: Acidic Slime, Aether Adept, Executioner’s Hood, Hollowhenge Beast, Deranged Assistant, Moon Heron, and Mulch. While some of these cards may offer some good abilities, we will be replacing them with several better options. This gives us thirteen spaces to play around with.

Thirteen vacancies. Not the most ever, but enough to truly send this deck to the next level. Now, while the deck does thrive from putting things into the graveyard, there is no answer in the way that the deck is currently built to answer the “What if the WRONG card goes to the graveyard?” question. So let us address that first and foremost. There are two cards, both of which I suggest adding in. They are the Elixir of Immortality and Noxious Revival. These cards ensure that should something go into your graveyard ‘accidentally’ you have an opportunity to get them back. The Noxious Revival I would run two copies, but the Elixir is a four copy, no doubt. So down goes six cards. Leaving space for seven more. The next card in is a great card suited well for this deck, and that is Artful Dodge. Not exactly sure how many copies you would like to run, but for me the lucky number is three. The reason why is because it keeps them staggered enough that in the event that you mill one on yourself, you have the ability to Flashback. These are quite deadly when you get some of your bigger baddies out. Four cards left, what would be a good filler card. I think that the next two cards I highly recommend are the Laboratory Maniac. Should you mill yourself, you win! And since milling yourself is a thing that is happening in the deck already, it should be pretty easy! This leaves just two more spots. Now, if you can get your hands on a Skaab Ruinator, that might be a decent choice, but remember that there is the drawback that you then have to exile creatures, and the strength of the deck lies in keeping a full grave. Thus, I think that the next couple cards to focus on would have to be either more Ghoultrees or Splinterfrights. If you could get another one of each, that would be perfect.

You final decklist should look something along these lines:

14 Forest

10 Island

 

2 Ambush Viper

3 Armored Skaab

2 Boneyard Wurm

1 Brindle Boar

3 Dawntreader Elk

2 Ghoultree

1 Alluring Siren

2 Splinterfright

2 Tower Geist

2 Laboratory Maniac

 

1 Gnaw to the Bone

2 Grim Flowering

2 Tracker’s Instincts

2 Wreath of Geists

4 Elixir of Immortality

2 Noxious Revival

3 Artful Dodge

 

 

And there we have it! Now should you start having a lot of issues with Planeswalkers or creatures or anything, do not hesitate to put in Beast Within! Take out cards like the Alluring Siren and Tower Geists if necessary. Because remember, you could always use the Beast Within to destroy your OWN stuff, giving you a 3/3 Beast, and putting something else into your graveyard, and then Noxious Revival the Beast Within back to your hand!

That’s all for this week. Join me next time when I take a look at an Easter themed deck, from SCRATCH!! That’s right, next time we see each other I will take a stab at building a competitive Easter themed deck! I will let you know how things turn out, and whether I ended up being a rabbit, or laying an egg. And the next Precon Recon might just go WUBRG!

As always, if there is a particular deck you would like to see me reconstruct, just send along an e-mail! Make sure you include the deck name, format you would like to see it remade for, and any other notes you wish!

So until next time, keep safe, and keep gaming!