Hello again, Dear Reader. Today I'm here to help out a new player at our LGS (wizardsnorman.com)! Dalton (@JDaltonGregory) has asked me for some help tuning a deck he wants to take from casual Magic to FNM. I accepted his invitation readily, as I won't ever turn down the chance to brew or to give advice!
Enough formalities, what did Dalton bring to the table?! He brought a sweet Splicer deck:
Artifacts:
1 Conjurer's Closet
Enchantments:
2 Intangible Virtue
2 Parallel Lives
Creatures:
2 Dawntreader Elk
4 Blade Splicer
2 Wing Splicer
2 Vital Splicer
4 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Master Splicer
2 Restoration Angel
2 Precursor Golem
2 Maul Splicer
Planeswalkers:
1 Venser, the Sojourner
Spells:
3 Cloudshift
4 Sheltering Word
Lands:
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Gavony Township
9 Forest
2 Island
9 Plains
First, I like what this deck is trying to do: fill your side of the table with flying, first-striking, 4/4s. I like how every creature you play is a literal 2-for-1. I think this strategy has a lot of play in the currect field of creature decks and planeswalker decks. So, my first task would be to make this deck more consistent. And the easiest way to add consistency is to run 4 copies of all your best cards. I also think the green splash in this deck is underwhelming. "Alright smart-guy, how would this look if YOU wanted to take it to FNM," you ask gruffly? How about something like this:
Enchantments:
3 Intangible Virtue
Creatures:
4 Blade Splicer
3 Wing Splicer
3 Master Splicer
3 Restoration Angel
3 Precursor Golem
3 Fiend Hunter
2 Stonehorn Dignitary
Planeswalkers:
3 Venser, the Sojourner
Spells:
3 Cloudshift
3 Negate
3 Think Twice
Lands:
3 Evolving Wilds
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Mooreland Haunt
8 Plains
6 Island
First, I know we don't all have infinity dollars or trade cards, so I tried to keep this as budget as possible while still bulking up the power level. To go buy all the cards to make the difference between these two decks it will run you just over $40 on LegitMTG.com. I added a few rares, but nothing too pocket-breaking.
As you can see, the deck is trying to accomplish the same basic goal, overrun the table with golem tokens and bash. I added more copies of the key cards, a way to dig to the cards you need, and a new package to taking over a game. More Venser, Splicers, and Intangible Virtue means you will have more and better golem tokens on any given board. Think Twice gives you something new to do on turn 2, or at the end of any turn where you have mana sitting around. Stonehorn Dignitary is quite the combo with Venser. We have all heard of these soft-locks, and some of us have even played against them. Well, in a deck with this much potential damage output, stalling your opponent until you find that Wing Splicer, or Intangible Virtue will easily win you more games.
Well, there you have it, my first deck-alter in article form. Dalton, I hope this helps. We are always welcoming new faces to the competitive side of Magic in our store, and I hope playing this deck makes you want to stick around! And for the rest of you (and Dalton) let me know what you think of the article! Do it here in the comments, or on twitter (@CapnTopDeck).
