xenagos slugfest
Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:29 am
Grabbed a xenagos and built this pretty quick, not tuned, most of it just shit I had lying around. Works really beautifully, play a creature, double it, swing, opponent plays removal spell, rinse, repeat. Probably needs more ramp, and some anti-synergies to be work out, but over all I like the way it works, just keep throwing huge dudes at them until they die. I basically have to play a new creature each turn, untapping with a creature still alive is magical Christmas land. Keeping your devotion under 7 is important, because indestructible enchantments are far harder to kill than indestructible enchantment creatures, so watch out with the enchantments and multiple creatures.
[Deck]
Boss man
1 xenagos, god of revels
Dudes
1 apocalypse hydra
1 archetype of endurance
1 atarka, world render
1 bane of progress
1 balefire dragon
1 bearer of the heavens
1 burnished hart
1 deadbridge goliath
1 engulfing slagwurm
1 ghoultree
1 giant adephage
1 gruul ragebeast
1 hellkite charger
1 hydra broodmaster
1 krosan tusker
1 living hive
1 living inferno
1 malignus
1 magus of the arena
1 magus of the library
1 mistcutter hydra
1 nemesis of mortals
1 pelakka wurmcoil
1 penumbra wurm
1 phytotitan
1 plated slagwurm
1 putrefax
1 ruric thar, the unbowed
1 siege behemoth
1 silent arbiter
1 silvos, rogue elemental
1 skarrg goliath
1 terastodon
1 thorn elemental
1 thunderfoot baloth
1 thunderblust
1 valley rannet
1 verdant force
1 vigor
1 wilderness elemental
Shiny metal bits
1 atarka monument
1 carnage altar
1 grafted exoskeleton
1 gruul signet
1 gruul warplow
1 helvault
1 mage slayer
1 sol ring
Weird glowing shit
1 berserkers' onslaught
1 burning anger
1 elemental bond
1 might makes right
1 song of the dryads
Other mystical crap
1 cultivate
1 fatal frenzy
1 harmonize
1 restock
1 sarkan's triumph
1 savage twister
1 skyshroud claim
1 tempt with discovery
1 temur battle rage
Kick ass fire chick
1 chandra, pyromaster
Turf
1 command tower
1 evolving wilds
1 flamekin village
10 forest
1 forgotten cave
1 gruul guildgate
1 gruul turf
1 haunted fengraf
1 highland weald
1 karplusan forest
1 kazandu refuge
1 kessig wolf run
1 mosswort bridge
6 mountain
1 rogue's passage
1 rootbound crag
1 rugged highlands
1 skarrg, the rage pits
1 temple of abandon
1 temple of the false god
1 terramorphic expanse
1 tranquil thicket
[/deck]
Malignus and grafted exoskeleton are serious overperformers. Malignus should probably sit in your hand until after a board wipe, swinging for "life total" on an empty board should either make you feel absurdly high amounts of shadenfreuda, or like the worst kind of asshole in the world depending on your temperament. Temur battle rage will kill people if they don't see it coming, doublestrike and trample (because you'll always have ferocious) when they just throw a token in front of it, ditto fatal frenzy (though you're going to lose the guy, do note that it stacks with doublestrike). Infect is just brutal, grafted exoskeleton makes all your dudes (minus the little guys that aren't for fighting) swing for the kill against an empty board, and with all the big tramplers it might still kill the gangblockers. Putrefax is also a one hit wonder, like malignus he should be waited on. Atarka monument and gruul warplow have the ability to turn into dudes and contribute when inanimate, note that when equipped to grafted exoskeleton they will be destroyed when at the end of turn, this is fine when it kills a player. In general expect to have your creature killed every turn, and swinging into an opponent who controls a big mess of dudes, providing your dude has trample, even if he will die, you should just get ready to play a new one. Giant adephage is kinda risky, because he makes copies of himself, which means more mana symbols for xenagos to see. Berserkers' onslaught is risky for a similar reason, but quadrupling is always fun, even the 5/5s will be swinging for 20. Helvault is included as a "sac outlet", if you feed your dudes to it as they die you'll get them back pretty easy because mass artifact destruction effects happen all the time, and even if you don't bane of progress's etb trigger or bearer of the heavens's death trigger can do it for you. Bearer of the heavens requires some maneuvering, mostly sandbagging lands, though if you have a full helvault and no lands in hands you can just run it out and watch one opponent counter another opponent's removal spell. Bane of progress may seem a nonbo with the various enchantments and artifacts, but none are that important, and you get an effective +2/+2 for each. Chandra clears a death toucher or some similar nonsense out of your path while being able to getting you cards, and her ultimate is blank. Valley rannet and krosan tusker are just fine as creatures, they are, as normal, primarily included as land fetch, but their 6 power is relevant enough.
[Deck]
Boss man
1 xenagos, god of revels
Dudes
1 apocalypse hydra
1 archetype of endurance
1 atarka, world render
1 bane of progress
1 balefire dragon
1 bearer of the heavens
1 burnished hart
1 deadbridge goliath
1 engulfing slagwurm
1 ghoultree
1 giant adephage
1 gruul ragebeast
1 hellkite charger
1 hydra broodmaster
1 krosan tusker
1 living hive
1 living inferno
1 malignus
1 magus of the arena
1 magus of the library
1 mistcutter hydra
1 nemesis of mortals
1 pelakka wurmcoil
1 penumbra wurm
1 phytotitan
1 plated slagwurm
1 putrefax
1 ruric thar, the unbowed
1 siege behemoth
1 silent arbiter
1 silvos, rogue elemental
1 skarrg goliath
1 terastodon
1 thorn elemental
1 thunderfoot baloth
1 thunderblust
1 valley rannet
1 verdant force
1 vigor
1 wilderness elemental
Shiny metal bits
1 atarka monument
1 carnage altar
1 grafted exoskeleton
1 gruul signet
1 gruul warplow
1 helvault
1 mage slayer
1 sol ring
Weird glowing shit
1 berserkers' onslaught
1 burning anger
1 elemental bond
1 might makes right
1 song of the dryads
Other mystical crap
1 cultivate
1 fatal frenzy
1 harmonize
1 restock
1 sarkan's triumph
1 savage twister
1 skyshroud claim
1 tempt with discovery
1 temur battle rage
Kick ass fire chick
1 chandra, pyromaster
Turf
1 command tower
1 evolving wilds
1 flamekin village
10 forest
1 forgotten cave
1 gruul guildgate
1 gruul turf
1 haunted fengraf
1 highland weald
1 karplusan forest
1 kazandu refuge
1 kessig wolf run
1 mosswort bridge
6 mountain
1 rogue's passage
1 rootbound crag
1 rugged highlands
1 skarrg, the rage pits
1 temple of abandon
1 temple of the false god
1 terramorphic expanse
1 tranquil thicket
[/deck]
Malignus and grafted exoskeleton are serious overperformers. Malignus should probably sit in your hand until after a board wipe, swinging for "life total" on an empty board should either make you feel absurdly high amounts of shadenfreuda, or like the worst kind of asshole in the world depending on your temperament. Temur battle rage will kill people if they don't see it coming, doublestrike and trample (because you'll always have ferocious) when they just throw a token in front of it, ditto fatal frenzy (though you're going to lose the guy, do note that it stacks with doublestrike). Infect is just brutal, grafted exoskeleton makes all your dudes (minus the little guys that aren't for fighting) swing for the kill against an empty board, and with all the big tramplers it might still kill the gangblockers. Putrefax is also a one hit wonder, like malignus he should be waited on. Atarka monument and gruul warplow have the ability to turn into dudes and contribute when inanimate, note that when equipped to grafted exoskeleton they will be destroyed when at the end of turn, this is fine when it kills a player. In general expect to have your creature killed every turn, and swinging into an opponent who controls a big mess of dudes, providing your dude has trample, even if he will die, you should just get ready to play a new one. Giant adephage is kinda risky, because he makes copies of himself, which means more mana symbols for xenagos to see. Berserkers' onslaught is risky for a similar reason, but quadrupling is always fun, even the 5/5s will be swinging for 20. Helvault is included as a "sac outlet", if you feed your dudes to it as they die you'll get them back pretty easy because mass artifact destruction effects happen all the time, and even if you don't bane of progress's etb trigger or bearer of the heavens's death trigger can do it for you. Bearer of the heavens requires some maneuvering, mostly sandbagging lands, though if you have a full helvault and no lands in hands you can just run it out and watch one opponent counter another opponent's removal spell. Bane of progress may seem a nonbo with the various enchantments and artifacts, but none are that important, and you get an effective +2/+2 for each. Chandra clears a death toucher or some similar nonsense out of your path while being able to getting you cards, and her ultimate is blank. Valley rannet and krosan tusker are just fine as creatures, they are, as normal, primarily included as land fetch, but their 6 power is relevant enough.