I guess they really wanna get rid of graveyard decks. an unblockable 3/2 two-drop might actually see a little play without any further abilities.
I usually like strong cards, but I really think this should have been a little bit weaker. I mean, as long as your black deck plays creatures, the question is really more like "do you play 4 of this?", not "do you play this?", unless graveyard decks disappear completely (and even then it's powerful).
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bobthefunny posted a message on is mono white actually that bad.Mono-white will likely not be taking too many competitive tables, outside of something like Sram cheerios, or something; but that's because Competitive is a whole different beast.Posted in: Commander (EDH)
That said, for regular EDH, mono white can absolutely be a blast. White has some weaknesses, but it's not hard to shore those up, and White has a huge host of strengths to play off of in order to make some one-sided options. White has a strong set of removals, from excellent single-target Creature, Artifact and Enchantment removal, and mass removal of Creatures, Artifacts, and Enchantments as well. White also has mass land removal, but many groups may frown upon that. White also has a strong set of protection spells to contribute to fighting on the stack, and even some (very) limited counter magic. White also has excellent access to Equipment tutoring, which can shore up some weaknesses quite handily. White also has absolutely insane recursion potential as well, of almost any permanent type. Playing Mono-White also has some hilarious anti-multicolor tech, such as Ravnica at War, and Renounce the Guilds, which can be quite valuable plays.
Your main issues will be ramp and card draw, but both of these are easily overcome. My heliod deck will often times outramp even some green players, though this speaks more to my dedication to ramp. Obviously green players who dedicate to ramp will far outpace you, but White (and any color, thanks to colorless options) can generally hold its own.
Equipment: White can use cards like Stoneforge Mystic and Relic Seeker to grab Sword of the Animist and Skullclamp to offset some of the Ramp/Draw issues. If mystic is outside your pricepoint, or depending on your commitment to equipment, Several other options exist. Sword of Fire and Ice and Sword of Feast and Famine can also shore up the draw/ramp in a pinch as well.
Ramp:
For ramp, some white-specific options also include: Boreas Charger, Knight of the White Orchid and Kor Cartographer, which play well with Blink Effects, or with Resurection effects. You also have Legion's Landing, which at worst can be a sort of White rampant growth.
Some of my favored colorless options of ramp include Rings of Brighthearth with fetchlands, as fetches also pair well with Sun Titan and Crucible of Worlds. Thawing Glaciers also pairs well with Rings, and also with Deserted Temple, though be careful there as Deserted Temple and Rings can go infinite with a land that produces enough mana, such as Nykthos or Serra's Sanctum.
Burnished Hart goes well with Gift of Immortality, and also gets reclaimed by Sun Titan. Solemn is a solid add as well. From there, a few mana rocks should set you up well.
Card Draw:
Card draw will often be limited to Artifact and Colorless sources, but there are a few good white options, such as Mentor of the Meek and Bygone Bishop. Dawn of Hope is a new one I'm trying out, and Inheritance, while mana-hungry, can be potent.
From there, I've generally liked Endbringer as a useful utility creature for card draw and other stuff, while Mind's Eye and other generic artifacts can also do their thing. If you're really confidant about your mana base, you can also run the Kozilek pair.
Recursion:
Where to even Begin? Sun Titan slots in well with most of the cheap sides of the ramp/draw packages, especially since he can bring back lands. I like to pair him with Mirrorpool, since you get to immediately bring it back. He also works well with Emeria, the sky ruin, as many others have said. Emeria Shepherd is all sorts of crazy bonkers, if you hold onto it well. I've also liked Marshall's Anthem as a way to recover post-wipe. Angel of Serenity has also been recommended to me, and despite being high cost has served as a powerful multi-utility card. Multiple cards exist to recover artifacts, creatures, and enchantments, in single or in mass. I personally am a fan of Salvage Scout, since mono color decks run a lot of artifacts, and he is quickly returned by Sun Titan, or Sword of Light and Shadow (which is fetched by the equipment package...). Restoration Specialist is a new potential addition as well. Certain powerful spells, like Rally the Ancestors can provide a potent surprise as well, especially as you return some of your other recursion pieces to bring stuff back permanently, and use a sac outlet to not lose yours, or use blink effects/Teferi's protection in response to the delayed trigger... etc.
In the lands section, I like to add Buried Ruin, and even sometimes Haunted Fengraf. Don't forget Mistveil Plains as an option, especially if it feeds back into a tutor loop.
In short, White has a lot of recursion options that feed into each other and protect each other piece, while also having the capability to tutor/fetch multiple pieces of it.
Removal:
White has plenty, so I'm just going to list my favorites:
Single Creature: Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile. Dispatch, Crib Swap, Declaration in stone.
Single Artifact/Enchantment: Return to Dust, Banishing Stroke
Attack Deterence: Wing Shards, Dispense Justice, Settle the Wreckage
Mass: Rout, Tragic Arrogance, Hour of Revelation, Hallowed Burial, Akroma's Venceance, Austere Command, Descend upon the Sinful
Mass Enchantment/Artifact: (of those not included above) Patrician's Scorn.
Colorless: All is Dust, Oblivion Stone, Ugin. (stone can be recured, Other two, you likely have more artifacts/colorless than most).
Grave Hate: Hallowed Moonlight, Rest in Peace, Containtment Priest, Scavenger Grounds, Angel of Serenity, Stone Cloaker. - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
1
(Combat)
4 Stone Quarry
4 Shimmering Grotto
4 Tormenting Voice
Lands (34)
17 Mountain
17 Plains
Creatures (33)
1 Loyal Sentry
1 Thraben Gargoyle
1 Mesa Unicorn
1 Dire Fleet Daredevil
1 Raptor Hatchling
1 Mardu Scout
1 Truefire Paladin
1 Hanweir Militia Captain
1 Hinterland Hermit
1 Kessig Forgemaster
1 Harvest Hand
1 Filigree Familiar
1 Mudbutton Torchrunner
1 Laccolith Grunt
1 Gavony Ironwright
1 Impetuous Protege
1 Proud Mentor
1 Dragon Egg
1 Lightform
1 Valakut Invoker
1 Militia Bugler
1 Tethmos High Priest
1 Timely Hordemate
1 Lavaborn Muse
1 Fumiko the Lowblood
1 Palace Sentinels
1 Hollowhenge Spirit
1 Goblin Racketeer
1 Bloodfire Enforcers
1 Havengul Vampire
1 Wildfire Cerberus
1 Fortress Cyclops
1 Lightning Shrieker
1 Akroan Conscriptor
1 Stonehorn Chanter
1 Subjugator Angel
1 Desolation Giant
1 Chaos Maw
1 Minotaur Aggressor
1 Ancestor's Chosen
1 Grim Poppet
1 Platinum Angel
1 Boros Battleshaper
1 Razia, Boros Archangel
1 Lava-Field Overlord
Spells (23)
1 Swift Justice
1 Kor Chant
1 Dazzling Reflection
1 Adamant Will
1 Artful Maneuver
1 Martial Glory
1 Honor's Reward
1 Spiteful Motives
1 Faith Unbroken
1 Fall of the Hammer
1 Fight with Fire
1 Spit Flame
1 Wrack with Madness
1 Street Spasm
1 Blood Feud
1 Banishment Decree
1 Sheer Drop
1 Pariah
1 Spectral Grasp
1 Compulsory Rest
1 Skin Invasion
1 Besmirch
1 Grab the Reins
Complexity: Local Gaming Store, lower end, but not quite Friends and Family
Portability: Requires Opaque Sleeves for DFCs
Cards still using counters: Wildfire Cerberus, Honor's Reward, Sheer Drop, Grim Poppet
After experimenting with several multiplayer ideas in this space, this is the first deck I have completed with the Realms rule set proper. It is intended to on the easier end of complexity to grasp compared to the other decks I've built having realized that most players don't know what any of the cards in the deck do when they themselves didn't build it. Until I can retrofit my other multiplayer decks to fit Realms, this is the only example deck I have.
I experimented with Crater Hellion, Cyclops of Eternal Fury, Seraph of the Suns, Howling Golem, Gang of Devils, Bloodshot Cyclops, and Markov Warlord as denizens. If you need a budget replacement for any of the ones I've listed, Seraph of the Suns, Cyclops of Eternal Fury, Markov Warlord, and Boldwyr Intimidator are easy stand-ins.
Ghitu Chronicler can be a budget replacement for Dire Fleet Daredevil. I experimented with Act of Aggression, but the play pattern of stealing an opponent's creature to block is not something new or more casual players are all that familiar with which is what I'm trying to optimize for with this particular deck since it's the one I'm trying to make the most hyperportable.
I tried Inferno Hellion in place of Lightning Shrieker as a card with more options, but it ended up just being a defender that traded up which slowed the game down, didn't actually push the game towards a conclusion, and didn't even get to do the shuffle effect as a result. This deck is having a bit of trouble with ending the game before the deck runs out so I'm trying less life gain and reverting this to the splashy surprise dragon that anyone might draw again at any time.
Changes:
Spit Flame replaces Chandra's Revolution, Perfect for Lightning Shrieker
Street Spasm replaces Riddle of Lightning, Street Spasm is still not ideal.
Adamant Will replaces Alley Evasion, Cleaner
Cards on the chopping block: Wildfire Cerberus, Lightform, Blood Fued, Honor's Reward, Swift Justice, Dazzling Reflection
Seeker of the Way could work as a complexity creep'd Mesa Unicorn.
GW Setessa, Haven in the Wilds
(Battlecruiser)
4 Tranquil Expanse
4 Shimmering Grotto
4 Seek the Wilds
Lands (38)
19 Forest
19 Plains
Creatures (31)
1 Topplegeist
1 Gnarlwood Dryad
1 Chronomaton
1 Caravan Escort
1 Knight of Cliffhaven
1 Ainok Bond-Kin
1 Obsessive Skinner
1 Knight of the Skyward Eye
1 Ambush Viper
1 Jade Mage
1 Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage
1 Dawnglare Invoker
1 Skyhunter Skirmisher
1 Ghostblade Eidolon
1 Citadel Castellan
1 Elder of Laurels
1 Sickleslicer
1 Flickerwisp
1 Wolfir Avenger
1 Mul Daya Channelers
1 Feral Hydra
1 Heliod's Emissary
1 Dragonscale General
1 Domesticated Hydra
1 Wildheart Invoker
1 Golgari Decoy
1 Conifer Strider
1 Bishop of Binding
1 Hundred-Handed One
1 Voidstone Gargoyle
1 Elite Scaleguard
1 Knightly Valor
1 Wurmskin Forger
1 Meteor Golem
1 Gaea's Revenge
1 Boonweaver Giant
1 Silent Sentinel
1 Archangel
1 Emeria Shepherd
1 Charging Binox
1 Breaker of Armies
1 Gigantomancer
1 Mockery of Nature
Spells (21)
1 Become Immense
1 Lace with Moonglove
1 Provoke
1 Dragonscale Boon
1 Clear Shot
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Divine Verdict
1 Divine Deflection
1 Setessan Tactics
1 Cartouche of Strength
1 Faith Unbroken
1 Vow of Wildness
1 Lignify
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Stasis Snare
1 Quarantine Field
1 Brittle Effigy
1 Banishment Decree
1 Reviving Melody
1 Fortunate Few
1 Tragic Arrogance
Complexity Goal: Local Gaming Store, a lot of +1/+1 counter math
Portability: Heavy Use of Dice
This list is a retrofit version of a much older Panglacial Wurm deck I built and as such may still need tuning to work well for Realms. (Some interesting cards in past builds include Rhys the Redeemed, Marshal's Anthem, Unstable Obelisk, Evolution Charm.) This deck was originally built on the idea of making sure everyone hit land drops and giving everyone mana sinks for all that mana. Panglacial Wurm was a card that turned excess ramp and fetch lands into a threat for whoever flooded out or ramped the hardest and thus Panglacial Wurm is directly responsible for the pushing me down the experimental path that led to Realms. As the deck is presently, I'm trying to play up the battlecruiser elements of the original list since that aspect felt like it transitioned the best.
Changes:
-
Cards on the chopping block: Mul Daya Channelers, Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage, Jade Mage, two basic lands
Cards on stand by: Unstable Obelisk, Burrenton Bombardier, Boon Satyr
UB Nephalia Drownyard
(Graveyard)
4 Submerged Boneyard
4 Unknown Shores
4 Shimmer of Possibility
Lands (34)
17 Island
17 Swamp
Creatures (33)
1 Vortex Elemental
1 Baleful Eidolon
1 Perilous Myr
1 Sultai Emissary
1 Shipwreck Singer
1 Passwall Adept
1 Pit Keeper
1 Skirsdag Flayer
1 Wight of Precinct Six
1 Graveblade Marauder
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Vizier of Tumbling Sands
1 Warden of Evos Isle
1 Geist of the Archives
1 Sedraxis Alchemist
1 Markov Patrician
1 Servant of Nefarox
1 Scribe of the Mindful
1 Toshiro Umezawa
1 Uninvited Geist
1 Youthful Scholar
1 Falkenrath Noble
1 Nephalia Seakite
1 Bone Picker
1 Sand Squid
1 Scion of Glaciers
1 Nyxborn Triton
1 Nimbus Naiad
1 Crystalline Nautilus
1 Morkrut Banshee
1 Coveted Peacock
1 Air Servant
1 Soulflayer
1 Homicidal Seclusion
1 Whisper, Blood Liturgist
1 Dinrova Horror
1 Skaab Goliath
1 Reaper from the Abyss
1 Nephalia Moondrakes
1 Angler Turtle
1 Scourge of Fleets
1 Vampire Charmseeker
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Abundant Maw
1 Elder Deep-Fiend
Spells (23)
1 Vicious Offering
1 Tragic Slip
1 Essence Extraction
1 Foul Renewal
1 Clear the Stage
1 Public Execution
1 Rite of Undoing
1 Anchor to the Aether
1 Run Aground
1 Midnight Recovery
1 Stitch Together
1 Victimize
1 Virtus's Maneuver
1 Barter in Blood
1 Illusory Wrappings
1 Singing Bell Strike
1 Stab Wound
1 Slimebind
1 Bladebrand
1 Supernatural Stamina
1 Rush of Vitality
1 Eel Umbra
1 Dive Down
Complexity: Local Gaming Store, lower end
Portability: Hyperportable, no counters or tokens needed
This is a completely reworked UB list to be maintained entirely separate from Sanitarium's mill-centric list. At present, this is technically just a rough draft.
Nephalia is a thematic UB list capturing elements of the setting on Innistrad with lots of morbid and disentomb effects with shipwreck flavor.
Changes:
Crystalline Nautilus replaces Silumgar Butcher
Slimebind replaces Torpor Dust
Bladebrand replaces Abnormal Endurance
Foul Renewal replaces Eviscerate
Clear the Stage replaces Artful Takedown
Graveblade Marauder replaces Rotfeaster Maggot
Cards on the chopping block:
Nyxborn Triton, Nephalia Seakite, Sedraxis Alchemist, Air Servant, Passwall Adept, Warden of Evos Isle
Cards on stand by:
Polymorphist's Jest, Man-o'-War
UB Sanitarium at Geier Reach
(Mill)
4 Submerged Boneyard
4 Unknown Shores
4 Ransack the Lab
Lands (34)
17 Island
17 Swamp
Creatures (34)
1 Bloodsoaked Champion
1 Jace's Phantasm
1 Dakra Mystic
1 Vortex Elemental
1 Void Stalker
1 Ruin Rat
1 Fathom Feeder
1 Perilous Myr
1 Gloom Surgeon
1 Daring Saboteur
1 Mindshrieker
1 Rotting Giant
1 Deranged Assistant
1 Grizzled Angler
1 Reckless Scholar
1 Graven Abomination
1 Sadistic Augermage
1 Undead Gladiator
1 Stinkweed Imp
1 Neurok Replica
1 Filigree Familiar
1 Soaring Show-Off
1 Doomed Necromancer
1 Liliana's Elite
1 Wasteland Strangler
1 Kindly Stranger
1 Gomazoa
1 Nevermaker
1 Stern Mentor
1 Thorn of the Black Rose
1 Slum Reaper
1 Sultai Scavenger
1 Pit Keeper
1 Heartstabber Mosquito
1 Wizened Snitches
1 Filth
1 Whisper, Blood Liturgist
1 Living Lore
1 Archetype of Imagination
1 Jace's Mindseeker
1 Cerulean Sphinx
1 Skaab Goliath
1 Fleet Swallower
1 Szadek, Lord of Secrets
1 Elder Deep-Fiend
1 Abundant Maw
Spells (22)
1 Jace's Scrutiny
1 Winds of Rebuke
1 Words of Wisdom
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Corpse Churn
1 Extract from Darkness
1 Grim Discovery
1 Reality Shift
1 Sever the Bloodline
1 Tragic Slip
1 Vicious Offering
1 Agony Warp
1 Grisly Spectacle
1 Commit // Memory
1 Metamorphose
1 Set Adrift
1 Conjuror's Bauble
1 Misinformation
1 Learn from the Past
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Gravepurge
1 Barter in Blood
Complexity: Going Deep, not even as complex as it could be
Portability: Complex, Requires Opaque Sleeves for DFCs, Otherwise portable, no dice needed
Play time can be unusually long. Even non-basic utility lands removed, this can be uncomfortably complex to share.
Denizens ought to be sleeved in the same sleeves as the main library due to several shuffling effects.
*This list is being cleaved from Nephalia since any amount of self-mill theme drags the entire rest of the deck with it.
This list makes many exceptions and is the fourth or fifth iteration of this general concept. A UB mill-centric deck in this spirit goes back almost a decade for me at this point and I've been trying to make it more approachable with each iteration. The deep concept of milling, fighting over control of the better cards, and tipping the deck at the right time to cause an opponent to mill out while preventing it from happening to yourself is interesting, but the audience that can handle that extreme complexity is just too narrow. Even as it is presently, the deck has a lot of moving parts and everyone has to pay attention to anything that ends up in the graveyard and explicit priority passes are much common than in any of the other decks. The individual cards complexity isn't that much higher than Setessa, but how they interact with everything else and the number of things that have to be tracked makes lines of play very cerebral. There are many on-board interactions which generate extreme amounts of board complexity, even after stripping down earlier lists. As such, this is more of a pet project than a quality Realms example, but it has a distinct play experience that I just can't stop tuning.
Not all of the cards in the deck are fixed, but quality pieces to replace them do not yet exist. I'm looking for more varied black board wipes, combat tricks that can deal with large fliers, and top-end which plays better to replace some of the denizens. Even so, the lines of play that emerge are very interesting to me and I expect to tune it more as more cards are printed.
Older versions of this list intended for the game to end via milling 90% of the time but as changes have been made, this has dropped significantly. The present configuration is less about killing with mill and more about pressing players to use tools to save themselves early rather than safe them to stop themselves from milling out. Vortex Elemental is a perfect example. It will stop you from milling out indefinitely, but you can pressure the controller to pop it by attacking them. The other interesting element of older lists is that you can invalidate a board advantage by milling the deck out if none of those cards are endgame relevant. It's hard to capture that aspect when milling isn't happening as much but threats like Liliana's Elite can be nullified by removing cards from the graveyard.
Changes:
Skaab Goliath replaces Sutured Ghoul, Ghoul didn't play as desired
Fleet Swallower replaces Angler Drake, CMC+, Minus Evasion, +Mill
Elder Deep-Fiend replaces Vexing Scuttler, tempo threat from value body
Szadek, Lord of Secrets replaces Vampire Charmseeker, mill threat from value blocker
Cards on the chopping block:
Cards on stand by:
Bladebrand
RG Skarrg, the Rage Pits
(2-Headed Giant Focus)
4 Gruul Guildgate
4 Shimmering Grotto
4 Seek the Wilds
Lands (34)
17 Mountain
17 Forest
Creature (34)
1x Wasteland Viper
1x Ambush Viper
1x Heir of the Wilds
1x Greenside Watcher
1x Zhur-Taa Druid
1x Satyr Hedonist
1x Brushstrider
1x Feral Prowler
1x Dire Fleet Daredevil
1x Gravel-Hide Goblin
1x Leafcrown Dryad
1x Azra Bladeseeker
1x Dragon Egg
1x Turntimber Basilisk
1x Hunting Kavu
1x Rage Nimbus
1x Minotaur Sureshot
1x Ravenous Daggertooth
1x Laccolith Grunt
1x Two-Headed Cerberus
1x Sacred Wolf
1x Nyxborn Wolf
1x Spirespine
1x Spearpoint Oread
1x Tattermunge Duo
1x Circle of Elders
1x Gaea's Protector
1x Goblin Freerunner
1x Needletooth Raptor
1x Nylea's Emissary
1x Purphoros's Emissary
1x Viashino Shanktail
1x Zhur-Taa Swine
1x Rubbleback Rhino
1 Flaring Flame-Kin
1 Primal Visitation
1 Magma Hellion
1 Charging Binox
1 Lava-Field Overlord
1 Tyrant of Valakut
1 Two-Headed Dragon
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Mythic Proportions
1 Gruul Ragebeast
1 Mockery of Nature
1 End-Raze Forerunners
Spells (22)
1x Mortal's Resolve
1x Coordinated Assault
1x Synchronized Strike
1x Ruthless Instincts
1x Provoke
1x Feral Invocation
1x Spiteful Motives
1x Lace with Moonglove
1x Tribute to the Wild
1x Return to the Earth
1x Dead // Gone
1x Brimstone Volley
1x Street Spasm
1x Deem Worthy
1x Stone Idol Trap
1x Thrash // Threat
1x Roast
1x Ground Assault
1x Wrack with Madness
1x Entangling Vines
1x Dragon Mantle
1x Pulse of Murasa
Complexity Goal: Local Gaming Store*
Portability: Hyperportable
(This list has not yet been tested or tuned.)
*Bestow is complex, it applies to several cards and combines with french vanilla creatures cleanly. Having a teammate to ask alleviates some of the mental burden, though 2-headed giant comes with a few added wrinkles as is.
Skarrg plays up the Realms' ability to be used as a 2-Headed Giant format. The deck is designed primarily with 2-Headed Giant play in mind. Red-Green seemed to be the most obvious color pairing for explicit 2-Headed Giant support and auras tended to drive the core of the decision-making here both with the kinds of creatures to put them on and the interaction suite.
I have yet to amass the components and give this list a proper test and tuning but it looks reasonable though likely will feel fast given that buffs tend to invalidate blockers and come with "haste".
Entangling Vines is an interesting case here as that is the kind of card which punishes Denizens hard, but I feel it's able to squeeze in here both due to multiple combat tricks causing it to fall off but also the large presence of auras allowing Naturalize Variants to be reliable combat tricks that can opt into removing the pacifism. The vines also has the play pattern where it doesn't prevent a denizen from blocking until it starts to attack. The slot also bolsters the number of removal spells that can actually deal with large creatures which was a severe constraint in crafting this list.
Changes:
Cards on the chopping block:
Laccolith Grunt - In a 2HG environment, the potential political angle is nonexistent. It's cute for the free for all variant and there are auras to support it but if the expected play pattern is 2HG, there may be better options for that environment.
Cards on stand by:
Spellwild Ouphe, Akki Coalflinger, Clear Shot, Valduk, Keeper of the Flame, Wary Okapi, Grab the Reins, Fight with Fire, Skullwinder, Smeltward Minotaur, Crater Elemental, Orchard Spirit, Snapping Creeper, Skullwinder, Boon Satyr, Roots, Krosan Vorine, Setessan Tactics, Ghitu Chronicler, Boulder Salvo, End-Raze Forerunners, Brontotherium
B(R/W) Takenuma Outskirts (1v1)
(Kamigawa Nostalgia)
2 Barren Moor
2 Swamp
Lands (18)
8 Swamp
5 Mountain
4 Plains
1 Ash Barrens
Creatures (19)
1 Brain Maggot
1 Boot Nipper
1 Spirit of Malevolence
1 Wicked Akuba
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Hand of Cruelty
1 Moonglove Changeling
1 Pestilent Kathari
1 Vampire Envoy
1 Sonorous Howlbonder
1 Takenuma Bleeder
1 Nezumi Ronin
1 Thief of Hope
1 Toshiro Umezawa
1 Order of Midnight
1 Unyielding Krumar
1 Crypt Champion
1 Kami of Empty Graves
1 Returned Centaur
1 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
1 Torii Watchward
1 Kami of Lunacy
1 Kami of the Palace Fields
1 Deathcurse Ogre
1 Oni of Wild Places
Spells (13)
1 Umezawa's Charm
1 Unlikely Aid
1 Bladebrand
1 Kiku's Shadow
1 Rend Flesh
1 Nameless Inversion
1 Blood Curdle
1 Swallowing Plague
1 Cage of Hands
1 Yamabushi's Flame
1 Harvest Pyre
1 Consecrate // Consume
1 Grave Upheaval
Complexity: Friends and Family but not entry level
Portability: Hyperportable
Cards still using counters: Blood Curdle, Boot Nipper
This Realm is exploring several new spaces at once. I've decided that my very old 1v1 decks are due for retrofitting into Realms and decided to start with the black deck and go all in on the soulshift subtheme, playing up the Kamigawa subtheme to the fullest. The small cardpool for the theme pushed me into other extra colors for a light splash which also works well as the denizens are late game plays. I wouldn't have typically used 6-drops but they fit well into the structure denziens now provide. Having Yamabushi's Flame in particular really makes me happy.
Also a deviation here are the support spells, a basic swamp and Barren Moor as the hybrid second land and way to remove an excess land from a starting hand. There are a few BB 2-drops so it was important to me that they be castable on turn 2 given that the deck is nearly monoblack. The splash colors are otherwise overrepresented in the mana base and it's quite easy to draw into the 1 source of each color to play the denizens and the scant few spells that need them. I'm quite happy with how this turned out and feel like this would work with multiple shells of this size.
Building a play environment out of Kamigawa block commons really highlit the changes in design since then and more modern cards were added to fill in the missing gameplay gaps. Returned Centaur, Umezawa's Charm, and Unlikely Aid. Older black creatures never had high toughness and combat tricks were almost nonexistent outside of green and white.
What I find notable is that Deathcurse Ogre as a 3/3 for 6 is still a valuable free card as a denizen which highlights how strong denizens end up being in 1v1 so future reworks with looser creature constraints will want to be a bit more picky than this was able to.
While posting the list here, the creature to spell ratio seems off so the spells I'm the least happy with probably ought to become new creatures.
Changes:
Boot Nipper might want to go back to Child of Night just for the minor flavor reference.
Cards on the chopping block: Crypt Champion, Blood Curdle, Nameless Inversion, Bladebrand
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1
Being able to allow anyone to aim a naturalize at a creature or planeswalker is way more relevant than being able to hang on to your 8th best card a small amount of the time.
The card seems nuts and I worry it'll be taken up mostly by the 2-mana-ramp-or-bust crowd than the people who were already playing Liquimetal Coating for the weird interactions. Granted, having a higher baseline opens up that line of fun to people with stricter deckbuilding requirements and Coating will likely remain budget.
1
Are they really going to foil stamp each and every common?
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It's too bad Forbidden Orchard isn't $3 anymore.
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Counterpoint 1: If life gain decks have powerful finishers, they can at least kill people off after gaining arbitrary infinite life instead of the game continuing to drag on.
Counterpoint 2: Life totals don't matter so much in play groups with mill, infect, infinite combos, and voltron. (Though encouraging life gain decks will encourage more of these over time; granted some amount of people are going build life gain decks regardless of the finishers available.)
Counterpoint 3: White has the worst/fewest finishers in commander compared to the other colors. (Black and red have incidental pinging. Green and blue can go over top with card advantage, overruns, and alternite wincons.) So (especially mono) white decks need more finishers printed :: mono white decks tend to be more lifegain focused than others, especially when you strip out the equipment voltron decks that win via commander damage.
I get why these exist, but it's still a journey every time I see them.
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We'll need to find out how Vorinclex got here and whether that happens before or after the story beat hinted at in the trailer, assuming the trailer is anything to go by for what will happen.
IE: Is the travel from Mirrodin to here something caused by the bifrost blade vs something the phyrexians were cooking up vs Tezzeret's Bridge Body?
Did Vorinclex travel here before or after the bifrost blade was stolen? (Assuming that the theft implied in the trailer is an event that is happening this set.)
We know at least one card in the set produces poison counters, which we've only seen from phyrexians since the last time, but we don't yet have solid confirmation that there ARE other phyrexians this set. I think it's likely that there may be less than 5, though alternatively, it would give the vikings monsters to battle. I am doubtful they would introduce us to a new plane in the middle of a war with phyrexians given that they decided to not do that when going back to mirrodin the last time and this time we have Kaldheim and an allusion to 9 other Realms they're connected to. I would expect us to at least visit most of them before Kaldheim is properly invaded.
Like, the simplest read of the information we have is that Tibalt connected mirrodin to Kaldheim after stealing the blade, but given how early things are, this is still just a hypothesis and for all we know, Vorinclex's arrival happens right as we leave the plane to explore Strixhaven.
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Tezzeret's Bridge Body was the direction it seemed like they were going to take for making the phyrexians an interplanar threat but bifrost seems way less forced and also allows evacuation of mirrans if Karn is intent on using the Sylex to cleanse Mirrodin, provided Koth will allow that.
I wasn't all that interested in vikings but this plot development has grabbed my attention and I'm so on board for this story direction. New set release cycle enables exploration of Phyrexians on other worlds in a timely manner in a way the Eldrazi would have been more interesting to explore with had their impact on worlds not been total annihilation / urgent.
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Each deck has a lot of moving parts and they all need to be doing their job to produce the best play experience. While the Realms rules set didn't finally start to gel until the year of this post, I've been actively brewing decks in this vein since the release of the original Zendikar set with the original ancient prototype created back around Kamigawa. I don't claim to be an expert and I don't presume to tell you or your play group what you'll find fun, but I have found a number of heuristics that I feel make games play better when building a deck to be shared between players.
Complexity
(Do note: Denizens being in a public zone can be read and discussed by all players, which loosens restrictions the exposure problem might otherwise put on, for example, a combat trick, which would be self-defeating to have to reveal to ask how a keyword or new mechanic works.)
Maro has excellent points on the different types of casual audiences.
Think about which audience you're building for. Are you trying to play pick up games at the end of FNM? Do you want to play with family you're going to visit? Are you expecting to play the deck between Grand Prix side events? If you're playing a lot of different decks or are playing with a mix of strangers on the go, the exposure problem will be a constant. Restrict the complexity for the audience you're aiming for and err on the side of less. You can have different decks for different audiences. And why not? More decks to brew!
If you're trying to include as many potential players as possible, tend to use cards only on the simpler end of the complexity scale. There can be exceptions, but be picky with the ones you keep. Try to use printings of cards that come with reminder text, even for things as simple as Flash. Protection is an example of a mechanic that can be excluded from these Realms decks for that reason. There is plenty to say on the topic of complexity when building for the broadest audience, but the main offenders are cards that a new player won't know what it does without asking and having to reveal that it's in their hand. These are the kinds of cards you should avoid the most.
If you're building for people who already know how to play Magic, you have a wider range of cards to choose from. Complexity creep can still be an issue, but it's more of a gradient and will be a factor more on a card-by card basis most of the time. Again, try to avoid cards (or printings without reminder text) that will force a player to reveal a card and ask what it does. The greatest complexity I've run into in my builds was a mill-oriented deck where milling was the main win condition and the final turns were managing on-board tricks with instants in hand and using the various contents of the graveyard to avoid milling out but making sure everyone else did. This was not an experience that was easy for most of the players at my LGS to grasp and I decided to overhaul that deck as a result.
One point I want to include here is avoiding the use of utility lands. In many of my previous builds, lands have served various utility roles and without the support cards/denizens, numerous dual lands, fetch lands, and utility lands had to be included to even out the problem of drawing too many excess lands than other players. Lands that turn into creatures. Lands that search the deck for other lands. Lands with Hideaway. These all add minutes of time when players have to read them to find out what they do on top of whatever mana producing powers they have. With the support cards, clean, basic, textless lands should be the default for the bottom level of complexity at minimum, and given the exposure problem, this should probably extend to the LGS level of complexity as well. Denizens make those lands not dead and the support cards should guarantee people access to their colors. Simply put, clean up your deck's complexity by just playing basic lands.
As a consequence of the exposure problem, try to avoid cards that search the deck. A card like Diabolic Tutor is cool, but nobody will know what it functionally does without knowing the contents of the deck and in trying to find something they want, will have to read dozens of new cards in the process. If you intend for Expedition Map to grab Bojuka Bog or Cabal Pit most of the time, players aren't going to realize that. Even with something as simple as Evolving Wilds will lead to a player looking through the deck mid-game and having to shuffle before the next player can draw. Knowing what is still in the deck will reveal what is in players' hands and that sort of card-counting edge should be avoided for decks being built for casual play and with the support cards and denizens, very few land-searching effects should be needed anyway.
As ever, play testing will give you valuable feedback for how to tweak things. When building for the lower level of complexity, it may be necessary to get fresh players to actually test the changes with since the previous players will already have their questions about cards answered.
I am going to break the decks I list into three broad categories for complexity:
Friends and Family: These decks are specifically intended to be easier to pick up and play with people who might not know how to play Magic or might have not played Magic very much or in a few years. It may be possible to build even simpler as an introduction to Magic product, but that's not an area I've yet to explore.
Local Gaming Store: These decks play more like a board game that you bring to the card shop to play after draft with players who definitely already know how to play Magic. If it's a regular group of players you play with, they'll quickly adjust to the card pool being used so you will quickly get past the exposure problem. The audience these decks are aiming for can handle added complexity, so that added complexity is fine.
Going Deep: These decks have an unusually high level of complexity for one reason or another. Perhaps there are a lot of on board tricks or are using cards in intuitive ways. They may include a large number of non-basic utility lands on top of this. These decks may require numerous games to understand all the working pieces and are not intended for a general audience. I would advise avoiding this level of complexity almost entirely, especially if you don't have easy access to players who can manage it and don't already have a simpler Realms option to play if your regular playgroup as a new addition.
Portability
The largest factor in a deck's portability is the need for pieces outside of the cards themselves. A small number of tokens can be fine, since they can be squeezed into the deck box, but transporting dice is a larger commitment. Depending on the venue you are planning to play at, dice may already be something you plan to have on hand, but if you're taking a deck to play after dinner somewhere, you may not be able to count on dice being present. As such, counters of any kind will hurt a deck's portability, however once you've started using them, you can basically use any number of cards with counters since portability is already affected. (The reverse is true of tokens as each token will consume extra space in the deck box.)
Often, +1/+1 counters appear on spells that improve creatures or on creatures that get bigger on their own. If you are trying to improve the portability of your deck, consider looking for auras (possibly auras with flash) and creatures that can alter their stats either with mana or by checking some other condition like certain cards in the graveyard.
Managing complexity is also not to be underrated when making a deck portable. Especially when you don't know who you might end up playing with, trending towards the lower end of the complexity scale will allow cleaner games with a wider range of players.
For managing players' life totals, you can use a smartphone app. If you don't already have one, try MTG Familiar.
Support Cards
Firstly, for a deck aiming for very low complexity, especially for a new audience, simply use a single basic land of each color as the support cards and don't bother with a card selection spell. Some lists may be able to get away with a cycling land and a basic land or a guildgate equivalent and Blasted Landscape. A theme like heroic will want the Anticipate equivalent to make sure the theme actually comes up.
Consider using a land that can tap for any color of mana the deck needs.
WU: Meandering River, Azorius Guildgate
UB: Submerged Boneyard, Dimir Guildgate
BR: Cinder Barrens, Rakdos Guildgate
RG: Timber Gorge, Gruul Guildgate
GW: Tranquil Expanse, Selesnya Guildgate
WB: Forsaken Sanctuary, Orzhov Guildgate
BG: Foul Orchard, Golgari Guildgate
GU: Woodland Stream, Simic Guildgate
UR: Highland Lake, Izzet Guildgate
RW: Stone Quarry, Boros Guildgate
(G/W)(W/U): Seaside Citadel
(W/U)(U/B): Arcane Sanctum
(U/B)(B/R): Crumbling Necropolis
(B/R)(R/G): Savage Lands
(R/G)(G/W): Jungle Shrine
(W/B)(B/G): Sandsteppe Citadel
(U/R)(R/W): Mystic Monastery
(B/G)(G/U): Opulent Palace
(R/W)(W/B): Nomad Outpost
(G/U)(U/R): Frontier Bivouac
There ought to be two land support cards for each player. If the deck has several restrictive CC, 1CC, or 2CC costs, consider Shimmering Grotto and its variants as the second land option, when your audience is more entrenched and can more or less automatically skip reading and thinking about it.
(For a more competitive-oriented Realm, it may come up that grabbing as many lands as possible to get to a denizen first becomes disruptive. Either adjust the quality of the second land's fixing to make overloading on lands more costly or adjust the costs and efficiency of the denizens to make rushing for them less effective. It's possible to empower the rest of the Realm to compensate for highly efficient and powerful denizens, but it will require more effort empowering the ~90 library slots than depowering the ~15 denzien+support slots.)
Guildgate + Blasted landscape may suffice for some lists, but if you have a third support slot, that spell will serve the role of a wild card. It flexes between being an extra land or an extra spell depending on the needs of that starting hand and what it replaces. The spell you select should be something that can be cast using just the two guaranteed lands provided in the support slot. The spell probably shouldn't be a creature since that will have a ripple effect with every other card in the list. The spell should be easy to read and understand so as to not add any unnecessary complexity to the starting setup. The classic example here is Anticipate. The number of good support candidates is low. For ease of reference, I will list the best ones I've come across here.
U Anticipate
Excellent default choice. Being an instant will add potentially unwanted complexity in places where the top of the library becomes known contents. Impulse and Shimmer of Possibility are stronger for digging but become more of an autopick which is potentially unwanted.
U Strategic Planning
As a sorcery, avoids that aspect of Anticipate's complexity, but adds it back even more by dumping cards into the graveyard. I would only advise if that is a theme of your deck and only in certain cases.
U Chart a Course
As a turn two play, this offers less card selection but can ditch unwanted cards already drawn. This encourages aggression, but very loudly favors the starting player in most cases which makes me avoid this, but I don't want to forget this exists.
R Tormenting Voice
This is the only red support card I can remember finding that fits the criteria I had. It allows more hand fixing than Anticipate, but less reliability on finding a desired card. This style of looting is not ideal due to the slight complexity it adds but it's all red has at the moment.
R Thrill of Possibility
Red now has an instant speed version of Tormenting Voice. This allows it to be cast on an end-step which lets a player wait to make their discard decision with as much information as possible. Being an instant potentially makes game play more complex if scrying is involved and another player interrupts. This can be an unexpected feelbad, so be mindful of your complexity goal.
G Seek the Wilds
There are other green spells in this vein but this feels the best iteration of the ones that exist so far. It can only hit lands and creatures, meaning that it typically cannot find removal which may skew how a deck plays and how often it actually does the job it's trying to do, but this is serviceable.
B Ransack the Lab
Modern Horizons offers black its first true option for a spell in this slot, kicking out Night's Whisper which would have been an autopick. It has the exact same play pattern as Strategic Planning. Any other option should be used instead. If Realms gains a rule to prevent players from losing to an empty library, this will end up being a fine inclusion given Black's many recursion-centric spells.
WU: Anticipate
UB: Anticipate (Strategic Planning)
BR: Tormenting Voice
RG: Tormenting Voice (Seek the Wilds)
GW: Seek the Wilds
WB: Ransack the Lab?
BG: Seek the Wilds
GU: Anticipate (Seek the Wilds)
UR: Anticipate (Tormenting Voice)
RW: Tormenting Voice
(G/W)(W/U): Anticipate (Seek the Wilds)
(W/U)(U/B): Anticipate
(U/B)(B/R): Anticipate (Tormenting Voice)
(B/R)(R/G): Tormenting Voice (Seek the Wilds)
(R/G)(G/W): Tormenting Voice (Seek the Wilds)
(W/B)(B/G): Seek the Wilds
(U/R)(R/W): Anticipate (Tormenting Voice)
(B/G)(G/U): Anticipate (Strategic Planning, Seek the Wilds)
(R/W)(W/B): Tormenting Voice
(G/U)(U/R): Anticipate (Tormenting Voice, Seek the Wilds)
It is worth pointing out here that I could not find any quality support spells for pure WB. I have not yet attempted to solve that problem, but one option is to add a third color for access to the support spell there, but that might muddle the theme. Night's Whisper is simple and is castable on 2, but is pure card draw so if going that route, the cost of 2 life would have to be notable since it would become an autopick based purely on power level which is undesirable. Something that cycles for 2 might work but it offers no card selection at all and the spell it is attached to would affect the game.Even a card like Scroll of Avacyn could potentially work as a way to simply cycle away an undesired card from the starting hand but it's not necessarily worth the added complexity when Blasted Landscape can offer that utility in all cases except a starting hand of 7 spells.
The basic pattern outlined here is a good default. There may end up deck-specific reasons to experiment with departing from this default. Sticking with the default keeps it simple to transition between playing one Realms deck and another.
Denizens
A consequence of shifting extreme top end to the denizen slots is that the curve of the remaining cards in the library should go down, increasing the playability of opening hands in general. Prior to Realms, I had been using creatures like Shoreline Ranger, but decks required a critical mass of these kinds of flexible pieces to solve the hand-fixing and flooding-out problems and the cards themselves weren't thematic to the deck.
To solve the intended role of denizens, denizens should be expensive. With rare exception, denizens ought to cost six or more mana. If denizens are too cheap, the first player gets a clear advantage in picking first when reaching the appropriate amount of mana, especially if the remaining denizens cost more. At around seven mana, there will be gaps between land draws and one player will simply draw more lands than the others, reaching the denizen threshold first. That player will also need the denizen the most having not drawn as many spells as the other players. On the flip side, low cost denizens can become irrelevant later in the game when players are flooding out and empty the denizen deck too quickly. From both ends, low cost creatures undercut the intended goal.
Denizens should push the game toward a conclusion. Typically expensive creatures do this, but not all of them do. Evasion helps with board stalls and vigilance helps encourage extra attacking when wanting to block. Denizens that are mostly defensive in nature are probably not the best choice. The 90-card library gives the game about 12 turns with the full four players, so stalling after 8 turns does not play well.
Denizens should not be so backbreaking that the rest of the deck doesn't matter. The decks they are in should be able to handle them reasonably well and that threshold of playability will depend on the quality of removal a color combination has access to. A typical uncommon 7-drop from a draft environment may be sufficient for comparison.
Care should be taken with denizens that can sacrifice themselves or fall into a chump-blocking pattern too easily.
It is possible to use non-creatures as denizens. In this space, I feel like auras work the best, but there aren't too many quality top-end auras. Artifacts and enchantments don't work well in most decks since it adds a layer of needed non-creature removal and planeswalkers will both need counters and act more as value-engines than as game-enders. I could see Elbrus, the Binding Blade work in very specific configurations.
Here are some options to consider:
1 Angel of Deliverance
1 Angel of Retribution
1 Archangel
1 Archangel of Strife
1 Blazing Archon
1 Boonweaver Giant
1 Bringer of the White Dawn
1 Bruna, the Fading Light
1 Crowd Favorites
1 Emeria Shepherd
1 Flight of Equenauts
1 Goring Ceratops
1 Kemba's Legion
1 Konda, Lord of Eiganjo
1 Luminous Angel
1 Quarry Colossus
1 Reya Dawnbringer
1 Seraph of the Suns
1 Silent Sentinel
1 Silver Seraph
Blue
1 Alhammarret, High Arbiter
1 Angler Turtle
1 Blizzard Elemental
1 Chancellor of the Spires
1 Colossal Whale
1 Diluvian Primordial
1 Goliath Sphinx
1 Hoverguard Sweepers
1 Isleback Spawn
1 Kederekt Leviathan
1 Kraken of the Straights
1 Lorthos, the Tidemaker
1 Nephalia Moondrakes
1 Phyrexian Ingester
1 Quicksilver Gargantuan
1 Scourge of Fleets
1 Scrapdiver Serpent
1 Spellweaver Duo
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
1 The Unspeakable
1 Tidal Force
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Archdemon of Unx
1 Archfiend of Despair
1 Butcher of Malakir
1 Defiant Bloodlord
1 Delraich
1 Demon of Death's Gate
1 Dusk Feaster
1 Eater of Hope
1 Havoc Demon
1 Kazarov, Sengir Pureblood
1 Phantasmagorian
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Sanguine Praetor
1 Sutured Ghoul
1 Torgaar, Famine Incarnate
1 Zombie Brute
Red
1 Angrath's Marauders
1 Ashen Monstrosity
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Boldwyr Intimidator
1 Bringer of the Red Dawn
1 Butcher Orgg
1 Chaos Maw
1 Crimson Hellkite
1 Fleshpulper Giant
1 Laccolith Titan
1 Lava-Field Overlord
1 Magma Hellion
1 Magmatic Force
1 Minotaur Aggressor
1 Rimescale Dragon
1 Spawn of Thraxes
1 Thunder Dragon
1 Tyrant of Valakut
Green
1 Ancient Ooze
1 Arashin Warbeast
1 Arboretum Elemental
1 Archetype of Endurance
1 Archweaver
1 Axebane Stag
1 Carnage Wurm
1 Chancellor of the Tangle
1 Charging Binox
1 Crash of Rhinos
1 Elderscale Wurm
1 Foe-Razer Regent
1 Gaea's Revenge
1 Gigantomancer
1 Nylea's Colossus
1 Oakgnarl Warrior
1 Plated Crasher
1 Polyraptor
1 Protean Hulk
1 Wurmskin Forger
1 Archon of the Triumvirate
1 Ojutai, Soul of Winter
1 Angel of Despair
1 Mindleech Mass
1 Bladewing the Risen
1 Tsabo Tavoc
1 Vampiric Dragon
1 Gruul Ragebeast
1 Boros Battleshaper
1 Razia, Boros Archangel
1 Belligerent Brontodon
1 Risen Sanctuary
Colorless
1 Angelic Rocket
1 Arcbound Lancer
1 Barricade Breaker
1 Breaker of Armies
1 Death-Mask Duplicant
1 Flowstone Thopter
1 Grim Poppet
1 Lotus Guardian
1 Meteor Golem
1 Modular Monstrosity
1 Pilgrim of the Fires
1 Platinum Angel
By Color
Faith Unbroken, Voidstone Gargoyle, Banishment Decree
Griptide, Anchor to the Aether
Sever the Bloodline
Mudbutton Torchrunner, Wrack with Madness
Clear Shot, Lace with Moonglove, Provoke
Combat Tricks
One important thing to do is look at how the combat tricks you're running interact with each other, with the creatures of various sizes, and with the removal in the deck. Combat tricks that protect creatures from removal can compound the zero-sum nature of the format since it favors the players who draw the larger creatures since they can maintain their board dominance.
I have also found it less than ideal if combat tricks simply boil down to which gives the biggest boost. Thankfully there are tricks that provide a variety of options, even in green. Lace with Moonglove is a combat trick I've been on for this format for several years since it allows a small creature to trade up while giving a large creature no bonus at all. The cantrip makes this a card-neutral trade. Provoke is another nice utility trick, able to pivot between a fight spell and a surprise blocker, often in a card-positive way.
Viable combat tricks are going to vary based on color and the spread of creature sizes. White and green naturally tend to have the most options but even blue has tricks if the creatures in the deck are all of a narrow band of sizes. If you want combat tricks to be a part of your deck, they will be one of the more constraining factors since the creature sizes and removal spells will have to hang around the ones you pick.
Defiant Strike, Phantasmal Form, Bladebrand, Needle Drop, Lace with Moonglove
Removal
Pacifism variants are also off the table almost entirely, unfortunately. If a Claustrophobia is played on a denizen, the denizen remains in play preventing that player from casting any further denizens. This is really punishing to the mechanic and if that player had a denizen, it means that player also was beginning to flood out and it would be that much more punishing when they draw future lands. Unfortunately, adding sacrifice outlets and bounce effects in those same decks can be risky with how they interact with denizens and those are typically reasonable ways to deal with a creature being enchanted. Journey to Nowhere is a better tool here than Pacifism since it doesn't punish a fundamental aspect of the format.
If a particular deck's theme relies heavily on non-creature permanents, white has several catch-all spells like Banishing Light that can deal with a variety of threats reliably. For the most part, however, Realms decks need to be almost entirely creatures.
Effects which Transition Differently
If you feel your theme wants heavy tempo effects like this, consider running creatures that have a solid body attached to the effect or cards with cycling so they can be ditched when they aren't desirable.
With Flashback, instants should be almost entirely avoided. The nature of flashback means that priority comes sharply into focus whenever one enters the graveyard and just makes game play very awkward. Spells with high flashback costs actually work out pretty well, though, especially on spells that are desirable to cast from hand. This mimics Denizens helping players who flood out more. There aren't many hits here, but they are good.
Aftermath designs are varied, but the main thing here is what shows up with most other cards in this category: it feels bad to play cards that give your opponents options. Prepare // Fight no longer has the freedom to be a combat trick and has to be a 6-mana fight spell to be "safe". Planning out how to actually use these kinds of cards also adds a lot of complexity.
Unearth, Scavenge, Embalm, and Eternalize all share a game play element. The creatures with these mechanics tend to become more aggressive than defensive. The turn they die on gives the player whose turn it is more options. Players will not want to block these as much or block with them. Depending on the ability cost, they can feel effectively unusable when the controller doesn't have enough lands to use the ability but an opponent does, and that feels bad. On top of that, opponents can (and are incentivized to) use removal on these creatures so they can get a free effect for killing them which also feels bad when the cool thing your creature does is used against you. Unearth feels less bad here because it's just free damage and reverses the attacking/blocking interaction, but doesn't have any compelling designs. Scavenge plays more like an aura which can be easier to overcome. Embalm and Eternalize have the most extreme play pattern changes.
Dredge would also get a mention here, but is unsuitable for essentially every deck. It leads to milling out and drags the game into a repetitive state where the same thing happens.
Clash and Parley are similar in that they care about the top of the library. Revealing the top of the library doesn't change where cards are, so for these mechanics, only one card is ever revealed. This can defy expectations and makes these cards play out poorly. There's also a disconnect between which cards each player reveals and which cards players move. These should just be avoided entirely.
A more meta concern is that a Merfolk Looter will rapidly drain the deck, causing the game to end due to milling and that player can use the looter to adjust when that happens. This is not advisable for most decks.
Product Design
Storage space should also be allocated for a rules insert, any minimal number of tokens, and any number of reminder cards explaining three basic parts that makes Realms different from other formats.
It may also be desirable to alter deck requirements by either removing two denizens or removing two cards from the main library. This would keep the natural deck size at 100 to stick to the normal sleeve counts that are sold for Commander. Those products typically include a few extra spares, but that can't be guaranteed. I personally prefer putting denizens in alternate colored sleeves that were leftover from excessive draft play but not every player will have otherwise unused sleeves for this purpose.
The support cards will be the odd cards out for this since even with the library and denizen deck totaling 100 cards, no sleeve product will be able to include the twelve support cards as well. I don't think play would work with shrinking the library by another 12 cards however unless basic lands were used as the lands and the support spell be allowed to stay in the library/graveyard, though this may be fine? The basic parameters of the format could change to accommodate real world forces. The spell would want a similar frame treatment as the denizens if that were the case for ease of locating them from a shuffled pile of cards.
One possibility that could allow a product to still be attractive to established players as well as provide a small pool of safe replacement options would be to include a seeded booster pack with each deck that could contain on-theme cards that have looser constraints or that would be more valuable outside of the context of Realms, allowing the product to contain valuable reprints without making it unplayable when those elements are stripped out for use elsewhere.
An example of this would be a Rune-Scarred Demon reprint among the pool of cards that could appear in the seeded booster pack. It would make a reasonable denizen in any black deck, but due to its utility in commander, the player may want to use it there instead. If not, they could always replace one of the preconstructed denizens with it to make their Realms deck more unique than the stock list with the safe suggestion from the seeded pack. To stay in line with the previous points, any denizen alternatives that would be included in these seeded packs would need special frame treatment to match.
Additionally, if the seeded booster contained cards functionally similar to different pieces in the stock list, any cards the player might want to cannibalize would have a functionally similar replacement in the seeded booster to patch the hole with. Decks that are more modular would be easier to replace parts for in general. The seeded booster could also contain cards that are overall more complex but not suitable for a first play through of the format. For example, Anchor to the Aether introduces players to the concept of putting an opponent's creature back into the library. It could later be upgraded to the Griptide or Metamorphose from the seeded booster once they understand the interaction. This also allows a sliding scale of complexity put in the hands of the player after purchase but without the need to research and track down alternatives that play well with the stock list.
Many cards in my example lists below may be suboptimal due to the lack of available alternative options. Specifically designed new cards would also allow any Realm's theme to be supplemented if the existing card pool is too slim on suitable inclusions. Being constrained by existing cards also artificially raises complexity when multiple keyword mechanics get used on single cards to fill the deck out. With the ability to design cards for a specific deck, the number of keywords could be better controlled to keep complexity in check.
1
THE DECK
THE GAME
Since the library is shared among all players, no player is advantaged by deviating from deck-building rules. Sticking to them can help aid learning how to play Realms for your play group, but deviations can allow specific configurations to perform better in some circumstances.
The number of denizens a deck have will vary based on the deck size. When building a 2-player deck, it is suggested that the total deck size be no less than 60 cards and that the number of denizens in that 60-card list be no less than 6. For decks intended to support 4 players, the deck should be no less than 100 cards and the number of denizens should be at least 10, with 12 being a more ideal number of varying the number of denizens seen and the order they appear.
A creature is a denizen regardless of which zone it is in, but only being on the battlefield counts when determining whether a player is allowed to cast a denizen from the command zone. There is no restriction on casting a denizen from any other zone, such as from a player’s hand, if one ends up there. Denizens can end up in the hand, library, and graveyard as normal but there are slight differences on what to do if you are using certain kinds of sleeves.
If you are not playing with sleeves or are playing with the denizens in identical sleeves to the library, make sure it is clear which creatures are denizens on the front side. You will have to take care to make sure the correct cards are in the denizen deck at the start of the game. Playing with identical sleeves can keep game play cleaner when using cards that shuffle creatures into the library.
If you are playing with the denizens in different sleeves from the library, it will be clear where they are if they end up in the library. This is fine except when the position in the library would need to be randomized. In that situation, move the affected denizen cards to the bottom of the denizen deck in a random order. Playing with different sleeves make it easier to separate out the denizen cards and makes it more clear which permanents are denizens.
It is possible for a denizen card to not be a creature card but care should be taken when making this rare exception.
(Consider saving old sleeves from drafting in case you would like the option of playing with your denizens in different sleeves. You may wish to do this anyway depending on your library size and denizen count since that may go over the typical amount that sleeves sell with.)
In Realms, each deck has multiple copies of deck-specific support cards that are distributed to each player at the start of a game. This is commonly two lands and a cheap card selection spell, but other configurations are possible on a case-by-case basis. Each player adds one of each of the support cards to their opening hand and then returns that many cards from that larger hand to the library. This ought to allow players start with at playable minimum number of lands, but can also help hands reduce excess an excess land count. Flooding out is generally less of a problem in Realms with the ability to cast Denizens.
Players can keep any number of the support cards in their chosen seven: none, all, or just specific ones. The cards not kept are shuffled into the library along with the ones other players didn't keep and at the end of this, each player should have a 7 card hand. Players won't know which support cards other players kept. The starting Denizen selection is not revealed until after players have finalized their starting hands, though some configurations may wish to reveal them first.
The support cards are not intended to disrupt the flow of game play. You may optionally play with support cards in different sleeves from the rest of the deck to assist setup, but will need to keep them from returning to the library in this case. In 2- or 3-player games using a deck built for 4 players, it's not intended for the support cards the missing players to be part of the library, but it likely won't be disruptive if they are.
Support cards used to cease to exist when put into the graveyard or library, but are just a part of the library unless different sleeves are used.
"Owner" does not refer to the player who owns the deck. In Realms, the owner of a permanent on the battlefield is the player that most recently put that permanent onto the battlefield. This preserves the intuitive use of Unsummoning a creature from under Mind Control or Act of Treason. However this does functionally change how cards like Praetor's Grasp or Sepulchral Primordial function since you won't be returning things to an opponent's hand.
The graveyard is each player's graveyard and each card in the graveyard is both simultaneously in an opponent's graveyard and your graveyard. The same is true of the library. Of note here is that if players are to reveal the top card of their libraries, such as on cards with clash or parley, the card being revealed is the same one for each player since the act of revealing a card does not actually remove it from the library.
You may end up drawing an opponent's creature card that you targeted with Griptide effects.
If you Unsummon your denizen, you will no longer control a denizen. If you play a land and cast a new one from the command zone, nothing prevents you from then casting the one in your hand. As a result, you will not be able to cast a denizen from the command zone until both of those denizens have left the battlefield. A future rules change may effectively legend rule denizens to weaken these situations and the spells that cause them.
Soaring Show-Off makes each player draw a card. The order players draw cards matter. As per normal rules, players do so in turn order starting with the active player, the player whose turn it is. Words of Wisdom works slightly different: the caster draws two then the other players draw in turn order starting with whoever's turn it is, which can vary since it is an instant.
When a player loses, it is handled similarly to normal play.
Be careful if you happen to include abilities which change control of permanents on the battlefield as they will need to be accounted for when a player loses.
The starting team does not draw cards on their first turn. This is just a reminder when switching from four-player free-for-all since the game only has two opposing sides.
The denizen casting limitation happens at the team level as opposed to the player level. Essentially, each team can only control one denizen at a time. The denizen can be under the control of either player, but while the team has one, no player on the team can cast additional denizens from the command zone. (Again, the same caveats with disentomb and unsummon variants.) Casting a denizen from the command zone still requires playing a land by the specific player that intends to cast one. Your teammate playing a land doesn't allow you to cast your team's denizen: your teammate will have to cast it.
Drawing for turn during the draw step can occur in either order. During the draw step, players on the team may draw cards in either order. This may become relevant when the library's contents become known due to certain cards or scry effects.
For cards like Howling Mine, Soaring Show-Off, and Fleshbag Marauder, please consult this excerpt from the comprehensive rules:
805.6a If an effect instructs more than one player to draw cards in a game that’s using the shared team turns option, first each player on the active team, in whatever order that team likes, performs that player’s draws, then each player on each nonactive team in turn order does the same.
805.7 If multiple triggered abilities have triggered since the last time a team received priority, the members of the active team put all triggered abilities any of them controls on the stack in any order they choose, then the members of each nonactive team in turn order do the same.