[Magic] Snakes, Bugs & Assassins

[Dannyalcatraz]

FUGU
1x Swamp
1x Forest
2x Ice Floe
4x Bayou
2x Pine Barrens
2x City of Brass
4x Undiscovered Paradise
4x Gemstone Mine
2x Dark Ritual

2x Squandered Resources

4x Unearth (potential sub/dupe: Phyrexian Reclamation)
3x Bone Harvest
4x Terror
4x Diabolical Edict
3x Word of Binding
4x Skyshaper

4x Suq'Ata Assassin
4x Pit Scorpion
4x Swamp Mosquito
4x Sabertooth Cobra
4x Marsh Viper

I know- its more than 60 cards. That's typical of my designs, and was seldom an issue when I played.

In this deck's case, it only needs a few critters to get out and stay out- much of it is about either killing your opponent's creatures or making several of yours unblockable all at the same time. Skyshaper is just ugly in here- its cheap and it gives you a full round of flying poisoners.

In the meantime, Bone Harvest, Unearth and/or Phyrexian Reclamation, if you use it ensure that your opponent will have difficulty stripping you of all your poisoners.

While more expensive, a couple of hits from a Marsh Viper will really make your opponents sweat- see Skyshaper.

Tweek or raid to your heart's content.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I know its not in my main deck listed above, but I thought I should mention Serpent Generator (a sideboard card for me).

http://magiccards.info/5e/en/397.html

While the mana cost is high-ish, it is dependable, and if you get a good mana curve going, you keep increasing your critter force, making it harder to keep from taking on poison counters.

And actually, its not that bad- a lot of the time with this type of deck, your mana is usually sitting around untapped. The Generator at least gives you an outlet for it.

Besides, if your opponent is playing pro-black, your Terrors, Pit Scorpions, Assassins and Mosquitos are nearly usless; if he's playing pro-green, your Vipers and Cobras are useless. As artifact creatures, Generator Snakes would retain efficacy in either situation.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

duped

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

FWIW, this search shows you the cards that help you deal poison damage, as well as the single card that removes poison counters.

http://crystalkeep.com/cgi-bin/magi...xpansion=&rarity=&cardText=poison&rulingText=

That Snake Cult Initiation is interesting...it could put a whole new spin on a deck that has things like Shadow creatures, Trample (say, from Overrun) or Protection from ________, etc.

 

[el-remmen]

This is my latest version:

Land (21)
4 bayous
2 City of Brass (I may replace these with Undiscovered Paradise)
7 forests
7 swamps
1 Maze of Ith

Black (18)
3 Swamp Mosquito
3 Suq'Ata Assassin
3 Crypt Cobras
3 Ebony Charm
3 Terror
2 Dark Rituals
1 Demonic Tutor

Green (17)
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Sabretooth Cobra
3 Marsh Vipers
3 Giant Growth
1 Regrowth
2 Hurricanes
1 Sylvan Library

Red (4)
Fire whip x4

Artifacts (1)
1 Sol Ring (I may replace this with Sol Grail for another possible source of Red Mana)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Even though I'm a big fan of the Whip, I hadn't thought of it in this context! Nice wrinkle!

The Demonic Tutor is a solid card and a faultless choice, but you might also wish to consider a second Sylvan Library, or perhaps Necropotence. There is also the Vampiric Tutor to consider.

Giant Growth is an oddity- it focuses on the wrong kind of offense, and doesn't really help you deal poison damage. Rancor would be better- it gives trample, at least. If, OTOH, you were thinking defensively when you chose this card, I'd go with Fog instead. Its more help if he tries to wipe out your poison critters with a big rush of attackers.

For getting other mana colors, the Sol Grail is decent. You might also consider Lotus Petals, Quiron Elves, School of the Unseen, or the combo of Rainbow Vales & Fellwar Stones. Another choice to consider would be the Black/Red and Red/Green dual lands (their names escape me) instead of some of your Forests and Swamps...or even the City of Brass.

I'll also restate my love of Skyshaper in this deck- Snakes on a Plane, baby! They never see it coming until its too late.

 

[el-remmen]

If I had Black/Red and Red/Green dual lands I would definitely use them.

I think I have one or two Fellwar Stones - I'll need to check it out.

No Lotus Petals though. . .

And yeah the giant growths were for creature-killing defense - but maybe Fog is the way to go.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If you really want to go with creature kill in a primarily green/black deck, "always bet on the black" cards- you won't have to target your own critters (which may get killed out from under your spell, causing a fizzle). Black has a host of direct and indirect critter removal that is only rivaled by Red...

And given that you're playing some Red...maybe some Bolts or Chain Lightnings would be in order. I'd also consider Hammer of Bogardan if you were playing with more red mana than you currently are.

As for the Lotus Petals...there are a host of other sacrifice artifacts that provide mana of various colors, like the Barbed Sextant. You might want to take a closer look at the artifacts.

 

[Runestar]

I would not recommend necropotence. While it is a potent card-drawing machine, it all but requires that your deck be built around it for it to be really useful.

A little divided over marsh viper. 2 poison tokens per hit is nice, but 1/2 for 4 mana...?

Maybe replace the sylvan library with worldly/vampiric tutors. A way of rendering your creatures unblockable might be nice as well.

There is also this red card called invasion plans, which lets attackers decide how blockers are assigned. Could be useful. Get enough critters into play, cast invasion plays, have them all block some random critter, while the rest get through unblocked (and deal poison tokens).

 

[Asmo]

Instead of Fog I would play Moment's Peace. A highly playable common that you can play twice.

Asmo