Example Realms Decks
Akroan Coliseum(Combat)
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.
Setessa, Haven in the Wilds
(Battlecruiser)
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
Nephalia Drownyard
(Graveyard)
Complexity: Local Gaming Store, lower end
Portability: Hyperportable, no counters or tokens needed
This is a completely reworked 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 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
Sanitarium at Geier Reach
(Mill)
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 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
Skarrg, the Rage Pits
(2-Headed Giant Focus)
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
Takenuma Outskirts (1v1)
(Kamigawa Nostalgia)
Realms: Takenuma OutskirtsMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | |
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Support (4) 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 | Denizens (6) 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 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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Trample and afflict seem more elegant and much less mathy.
Soulmender seems to be granting bad lifelink.
I don't know about pierce.
1
Good point. Edit: That's a new aspect combo players would themselves consider more.
1
Legendary Creature — Human Ninja ( M )
As long as it's your turn, Kasumi has deathtouch, menace, and hexproof.
T: Choose one —
• Tap up to one target creature an opponent controls. That creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
• Destroy target tapped creature.
As a creature I think UB, T to activate might feel right. Hmm
1
Creature – Eldrazi Elk
Emerge 5G (You may cast this spell by sacrificing a creature and paying the emerge cost reduced by that creature’s converted mana cost.)
When you cast Essence of the Woods, you gain 5 life.
Vigilance
game rules
Next: Weirdscape, eternal, existence, outrider
1
Sorcery (U)
Converge — Add CC for each color of mana spent to cast Mana Cleanse.
Draw a card.
iiw: Cat Beast
1
Spell cost
Sorcery
Create a phased out 2/2 green Bear creature token.
Perhaps
Spell cost
Sorcery
Create a 2/2 green Bear creature token that phases out as it enters the battlefield.
Perhaps
Name cost
Creature - Bear
~ enters the battlefield phased out.
2/2
2
1
I've played a ton with Muldrotha already and I'll be posting a thread soon with my list. There are going to be a million ways to build Muldrotha. What follows are cards that are in my list or ice considered or may add in the future.
Reanimation
Muldrotha Protection (very important to run at least two of these. Probably at least three though. Vanishing has been absolutely amazing with Muldrotha. Why? Because you get to protect your engine without paying for Muldrotha again.)
Control
Destroy/Permanent Control
- Ratchet Bomb
- Oblivion Stone
- Sinister Concoction
- Boompile
- Woodfall Primus
- Massacre Wurm
- Shriekmaw
- Acidic Slime
- Reclamation Sage
- Ravenous Chupacabra
- Merciless Executioner
- Vindictive Lich
- Seal of Removal
Seal of Doom is bad. Don't run it. Sinister Concoction is much better and it fuels the yard. The same is true with Executioner's Capsule. This is not a Glissa deck.Tutor
- Sidisi, Undead Vizier
- Tezzeret the Seeker
- Trinket Mage
- Eternal Witness
E Wit obviously not tutor but when you have a full yard it's very good as a stand in tutor.Ramp
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Etani G
Legendary Creature — Human Druid
Vigilance, deathtouch
1/2
Lera is a lot easier for me. I like it. I wonder what sort of things you could pull off with it. It feels like a card that would get printed in response to a powerful standard deck.
Nice cards HB
Edit: Maybe Etani could T: Add W if life gain. Add B if life loss. Add WB if both.
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Artifact
Crescendo (At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on this. Whenever a triggered ability of this permanent triggers, if it's not this ability, it triggers an additional time for each verse counter on it.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, add G to your mana pool. This mana doesn't empty from your mana pool as steps and phases end.
At the beginning of your end step, if there are three or more verse counters on Monster Egg, sacrifice it. An opponent creates a 5/5 green Beast creature token with trample.
The way you have these cards worded needs tuned up quite a bit. Monster Egg ought to serve as a template for all of the others. However, I suggest we keep working on this until it comes to a more realistic point. I'm not even sure what i've suggested works as intended but I think it's close.