I'm a huge fan of political cards, and this one is especially juicy. The only thing holding me back from falling in love with this card is the fact that I'm not particularly fond of Grixis.
Have you ever thought your opponent's board state was like a pigpen? Did you ever think that dragons and demons would be 200% cuter with a silly snout? Have you imagined what it would look like if Thassa and Heliod spent their days oinking and digging around for truffles? If so, then this deck may be for you.
The deck's name was suggested by a friend of mine after I told him about how I wanted to do something based around Curse of the Swine and Cyclonic Rift. The first thing that came to his mind was The Wizard of Oz, on account of a tornado running through a pig farm. I loved the idea and decided to run with it.
The gist of this deck is simple - turn your opponent's creatures into adorable little piggies, which your own deck can easily handle. You can bounce them or D-sphere them en masse, or have your monsterous Hundred-Handed One block several at a time, or even just have your Skymark Rocs snatch them away, never to be seen again (those poor piggies!). The deck runs pretty cheap, with the Hallowed Fountains easily being the most expensive cards, followed by the Cyclonic Rifts and Detention Spheres. Prognostic Sphinx is just a solid, resilient finisher that also happens to be cheap to pick up. Finally, the centerpiece of the deck, Curse of the Swine, can be gotten for a pittance right now. Just wait until you've turned $100 worth of creatures into delicious bacon. Feel free to crack all your favorite puns when that happens, like "Swords to Porkshares" or "Dreadboar" or "Rapig Hybridization" (Okay, I may have stolen those last 2 from LSV).
From my experience, this deck performs very well against creature-based decks, especially those that rely on stomping with big creatures or abuse the devotion mechanic. However, it doesn't fare too well versus control. I'm afraid I really have no aptitude at designing sideboards, so this is where I'd have to ask for some suggestions. What should I be looking for in a sideboard for this deck?
If you're looking to add money to the deck, the first thing I'd consider would be planeswalkers, specifically Jace, Architect of Thought. One or two copies of Elspeth, Sun's Champion wouldn't be too bad either. If Prognostic Sphinx isn't enough of a finisher for your liking, then Ætherling would surely get the job done. And finally, Sphinx's Revelation is an easy swap for Opportunity.
The new Jackal Pup doesn't really impress me when compared to Rakdos Cackler. Sure, it can block, but since you're taking the damage when it blocks, it's like you didn't even block at all. In which case Cackler would have been similar enough. At least it can trade on defense?
The firebreathing is a nice option, though, and options are worth something.
Presuming this is real, we know that there is at least a cycle of legendary enchantment equipment, so there is some value in tutoring for non-creature legendaries.
Immediately, I'd say Heart of Light and Artificer's Hex are the two weakest cards in your deck, both of which I'd look to replace (especially the latter). 26 lands is also too many to be running for an aggro deck with a not particularly high curve. You'd probably want to aim for no more than 24.
You could probably use more creatures, especially ones that can attack. Sunspire Griffin should have been included in the toolkit. Accursed Spirit also works as a semi-evasive attacker, just with intimidate instead of flying.
The Dimir deck just doesn't feel all that Dimir due to the lack of milling. It's more about card draw and discard. I do like the rats for disruption and the Moroii for bringing the beatdowns, though.
Warden of Evos Isle is effectively Wind Drake Chieftain. I like the flying theme that blue is getting in this set, and with Air Servant reprint plus the new 3/3 drake, the skies are looking good for limited.
Yet another Goblin (Insert Job Name) that flavorfully does the exact opposite of what the job is normally intended to do. These kinds of cards always crack me up for some reason.
Now this is top-down flavor design I can get behind. The attack trigger feels more white than blue, but one cannot deny the troper-iffic flavor of a whale swallowing up random creatures.
Drown in Filth has amazing flavor, but it's more of a build-around me. Basically Mulch as removal instead of land draw, with sweet synergy with fetches.
Gruul enchantment, like others have said, can potentially be sick in limited. It's like a mini-Madcap Skills for your whole team. But the strength of Mad Skillz was largely on its low cost, so it remains to be seen just how effective it ends up being in practice.
I'm a huge fan of political cards, and this one is especially juicy. The only thing holding me back from falling in love with this card is the fact that I'm not particularly fond of Grixis.
Have you ever thought your opponent's board state was like a pigpen? Did you ever think that dragons and demons would be 200% cuter with a silly snout? Have you imagined what it would look like if Thassa and Heliod spent their days oinking and digging around for truffles? If so, then this deck may be for you.
The deck's name was suggested by a friend of mine after I told him about how I wanted to do something based around Curse of the Swine and Cyclonic Rift. The first thing that came to his mind was The Wizard of Oz, on account of a tornado running through a pig farm. I loved the idea and decided to run with it.
Here's what I came up with.
4 Omenspeaker
4 Hundred-Handed One
3 Skymark Roc
3 Prognostic Sphinx
4 Detention Sphere
Instants/Sorceries: (17)
4 Azorius Charm
3 Cyclonic Rift
4 Curse of the Swine
3 Dissolve
3 Opportunity
4 Azorius Guildgate
4 Hallowed Fountain
10 Island
7 Plains
The gist of this deck is simple - turn your opponent's creatures into adorable little piggies, which your own deck can easily handle. You can bounce them or D-sphere them en masse, or have your monsterous Hundred-Handed One block several at a time, or even just have your Skymark Rocs snatch them away, never to be seen again (those poor piggies!). The deck runs pretty cheap, with the Hallowed Fountains easily being the most expensive cards, followed by the Cyclonic Rifts and Detention Spheres. Prognostic Sphinx is just a solid, resilient finisher that also happens to be cheap to pick up. Finally, the centerpiece of the deck, Curse of the Swine, can be gotten for a pittance right now. Just wait until you've turned $100 worth of creatures into delicious bacon. Feel free to crack all your favorite puns when that happens, like "Swords to Porkshares" or "Dreadboar" or "Rapig Hybridization" (Okay, I may have stolen those last 2 from LSV).
From my experience, this deck performs very well against creature-based decks, especially those that rely on stomping with big creatures or abuse the devotion mechanic. However, it doesn't fare too well versus control. I'm afraid I really have no aptitude at designing sideboards, so this is where I'd have to ask for some suggestions. What should I be looking for in a sideboard for this deck?
If you're looking to add money to the deck, the first thing I'd consider would be planeswalkers, specifically Jace, Architect of Thought. One or two copies of Elspeth, Sun's Champion wouldn't be too bad either. If Prognostic Sphinx isn't enough of a finisher for your liking, then Ætherling would surely get the job done. And finally, Sphinx's Revelation is an easy swap for Opportunity.
Go forth, and may the pork be with you.
The firebreathing is a nice option, though, and options are worth something.
Love the flavor on Pandora's Box. Reminds me a lot of Warp World, which is always a good thing.
You could probably use more creatures, especially ones that can attack. Sunspire Griffin should have been included in the toolkit. Accursed Spirit also works as a semi-evasive attacker, just with intimidate instead of flying.
They're still doing that. Pay No Heed quotes Shakespeare's Henry IV, and Zephyr Charge has Sun Tzu's Art of War.
Gruul enchantment, like others have said, can potentially be sick in limited. It's like a mini-Madcap Skills for your whole team. But the strength of Mad Skillz was largely on its low cost, so it remains to be seen just how effective it ends up being in practice.