In the Deck Box #2: Build a Deck Challenge and Sedris, the Traitor King

So I posted this on the MTG Casual Net Facebook Group, but I'll make a more official post for anyone who may follow this blog but aren't connected to the network.

(Image courtesy of MTG Realm)

The Build a Deck Challenge is a friendly competition to find out who can design, create, and playtest a new EDH/Commander deck. I'm hoping this will facilitate entering the format for those intimidated by the daunting task of building one. You're welcome to any online guides to building one or asking for help on this network. I'm also hoping that this will help players who have been feeling the pressures of school and work get involved in Magic again and might be a fresh change of pace to the monotony of playing the same cards.

The only restriction on the deck itself is a $100 budget cap. The deck can also be as simple as a Commander preconstructed deck, but it'll have to have a really cool story behind it. I'm hoping that everyone participating chooses a really interesting general that doesn't see a ton of play, which will keep the challenge fresh. I'm asking everyone to record their playtesting by either video or field notes of some sort. You can submit the whole story on the Fb group or by sending me a personal message over Fb with your deck submission. It's free to participate and anyone on the Fb group is eligible! Tell your friends!

To send the decklist, field notes, and any footage you have, send me a Facebook message or send me an email at davidjetha@yahoo.com. You can use MTG Deck Builder or any other decklist saving site to store your list and send me the url.

The end of the challenge will be New Years Eve of 2011 and I'll announce the winner sometime the first week of 2012. The winner will get a full spread article here on the MTG Casual Net Blog, a Q&A session with me in person or over Skype, and finally a full 10 packs of Dark Ascension (that Debbie Barbour Freeland has generously offered to supply) come the February release. If you're not in the Orlando region, I will send these out to you by mail. I will be the judge who determines the winner and I'll post the criteria as we get closer to the deadline.

Luckily for me, I found the general I'm excited to work with for this challenge. Although I will be competing in the challenge, I will not be eligible to win. Let me introduce you all to Sedris, the Traitor King.

I was looking on forums for a sweet new general that would be interesting to build around and one that hasn't seen a lot of popularity on the internet or in our metagame. I was hooked when I glanced over at the flavor text: 'He bids his minions rise from their graves to their knees.' How sexy is that? (pun intended?) So there were a couple things that Sedris can do very well. He's a zombie, a warrior, and he grants Unearth to all of your creatures in your graveyard. Well, I'm quite fond of graveyard themed abilities, so let's proceed from there. I want really awesome creatures to bring back from the graveyard. Unfortunately, Sedris only brings them back for a turn so our dudes only get a brief combat phase before they're gone for good. This means the creatures I'll be using will need to have a big impact on the board when they enter the battlefield or when they attack. So, we can automatically count Rune-Scarred Demon, Sphinx of Uthuun, and our favorite on-color titans; Inferno Titan, Frost Titan, and Grave Titan in.

Another cool quality about Sedris is that he's a blue creature and he's a reanimating engine. Now, we can add those awesome blue card draw spells that dig through the library and pitch things we don't need at the moment. This awesome package of card draw include Careful Consideration, Forbidden Alchemy, Compulsive Research, Fact or Fiction, and Intuition. So far so good. With this array of card draw, we should be able to thin our deck and get the cards we need for the early and mid game and dump big fatty creatures in the graveyard so we can Unearth them later with Sedris.

An issue that Sedris runs into is the exile the creature at end of turn trigger. I generally dislike exiling any of my own creatures, so this one is a tough speed bump to overcome. The Unearth clause does hold some interesting tricks. If the creature would be exiled by some other ability than the Unearth trigger, then that creature is exiled through the 'some other ability' instead of the Unearth trigger. This interesting footnote has some potential. This will give cards like Faceless Butcher in our deck a lot of power and ability to retain creatures in play from the undead army we are Unearthing. Another interesting interaction is with Cold Storage, where we can exile our creatures away and 'freeze' them under the artifact until we're ready to unleash the army once again. Another card I've been very curious to try out is Sundial of the Infinite. When we Unearth a creature and we end the turn and the 'exile the creature at end of turn' clause goes on the stack, we can use the Sundial to end the turn, exiling those triggers from the stack. With those pesky triggers gone, we can keep our entire Unearthed army! Imagine the possibilities!

So what happens when people exile our graveyard and make us have a sad time? Cards like Tormod's Crypt and Relic of Progenitus are cards we really don't want to play against. We could simply add Witchbane Orb, but it won't solve all of our problems. I say, we need a plan B.

Say hello to Sneak Attack. This card is another engine that will allow us to run our creatures on the board and smash face for a brief appearance on the battlefield. If our graveyard clogs up, then we'll use our hand full of cards as a weapon. This engine also works well with our Sundial that we're opting to play. Cheating in multiple creatures every turn will overwhelm most opponents and will help us gain incredible card advantage and tempo over time.

I hope you enjoyed my brief intro to the deck I'll be building for this challenge. I'm hoping to see some sick creations as the next couple weeks follow. If you're not on the Facebook group and you'd like to participate, click on the Facebook Group tab on the right-hand side of the blog. Until next deck insider, Magic players!

Interested in more Magic content? Check out every series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!

-David J.

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