Token Spam Gets a Remodeling

I apologize for not yet having anything about the Mirrodin Besieged prerelease, I'll have it up at some point before the release event.  I've been really sick the past couple days and it's been stopping me from getting any sleep since Friday.  To really go in-depth about what I saw at the prerelease, I want to shake the constant headaches at least a little bit first.  In the meantime, however, I want to go over the deck I played at FNM that Friday.  I still can't believe that actually worked.



The original Token Spam deck, found here, was a midrange deck that focused heavily on Garruk Wildspeaker, either for getting that elusive triple-white for Conqueror's Pledge or overrunning with an assortment of Beasts from Garruk, Soldiers from Elspeth or the Pledge, Eldrazi Spawn from Awakening Zone, Plants from Avenger of Zendikar, or an entire zoo worth of tokens from Beastial Menace.  The idea is that with so many token generators, you can just play one or two at a time and a good player will be able to easily bounce back from any wrath effects.

However, the deck didn't really live up to its full potential.  The deck was able to survive a DoJ or Ratchet Bomb or two, but was way too vulnerable to counterspells, and faster decks like Boros, Goblins or WW Quest could tear it apart.  But one thing about my build was the right choice, and that was that G/W planeswalkers are extremely powerful.  And so Friday's deck was born: G/W Superfriends.

The powerhouse behind this deck is behind a surprisingly undervalued card, Contagion Engine.

This card says that Garruk can overrun as soon as he hits play, this card says that Elspeth can make three soldiers every turn, this card says that Gideon can assassinate for free, and it's even attached to a wrath effect.  It's also crazy good with Ajani Goldmane, and makes Avenger of Zendikar even more ridiculous.

The issue is that it begs for a different kind of deck.  the engine is NOT aggressive in any way.  It's way too expensive to operate, and overall, I just felt like it'd be better to shift to a control focus.  Hence, Superfriends.

3 Contagion Engine
3 Gideon Jura
2 Elspeth Tirel
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Day of Judgment
1 Mimic Vat
2 Cultivate
4 Explore

2 Avenger of Zendikar
3 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Acidic Slime
3 Emeria Angel
4 Wall of Omens

4 Stirring Wildwood
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Tectonic Edge
2 Khalni Garden
5 Forest
5 Plains

SB-
1 Day of Judgment
2 Luminarch Ascension
2 Acidic Slime
4 Celestial Purge
4 Condemn
2 Mimic Vat

So as you can see, the deck's a little curve-heavy at the moment.  I can't admit to doing a whole lot of testing, but it seems to be fairly consistent.  Play this deck and you pretty much just win against elves, the maindeck Acidic Slimes really hurt Valakut, especially if you put one on a mimic vat.  Wurmcoils really help you bounce back against aggressive decks, and Gideon will seal the deal against whatever infect shenanigans are going to be big in the coming months.  The Emeria Angels are really just there for a source of flying to kill off any enemy planeswalkers so you don't have to trade them, but the bird tokens are great to extend the power of an overrun.  The cultivates are nice if you don't have that elusive t2 Explore, t3 Garruk in the early game, and later on can generate two landfall triggers off an angel or the Avenger.  The Wall of Omens is just a great cantrip to eat aggro in the early game, and it forces your opponent to overextend to do any damage, at which point you drop your Day of Judgment and they scoop.