It’s Tuesday O’Clock! Time for a deck tech!
Ixalan is finally here! And with the arrival of a brand new set means a whole new slew of decks to brew. Sadly we lose Oath of the Gatewatch, and Shadows Over Innistrad blocks but we gain something new. Today we are going to find the lost treasure in standard, and become the wealthiest pirates in town!
That’s right, the deck I am about to show you is based on treasure tokens! The title card of the deck Revel in Riches is a powerful finisher for control based decks and can make for a fun alternate win-con that your opponents may not see coming. Revel in Riches says that if you control 10 or more treasure tokens on your upkeep you win the game. The challenge is how we are going to get there.
First, we want to play some cards that can generate treasure tokens for us. Deadeye Plunderer, Treasure Map, and even Vraska Relic Seeker all produce these wonderful little tokens that ramp and fix for us. Treasure tokens are powerful because of how versatile they can be. Sure, we can be like actual pirates and hoard up our booty so that no one can ever get it, or we can use our treasure tokens as another resource that can get us into the late game where we can then produce enough treasure tokens to win. I hate to break it to you booty lovin scoundrels out there, but if you want to win the game you cannot be afraid to use your treasure tokens in the early to mid-game. There is also no other way to get Vraskas help unless you offer some treasure up to her.
| Our Own Budget Scarab God |
The second thing to point out is our suite of removal. A control deck will not survive if you do not deal with your opponents threats, and cards such as Walk the Plank, Bontu’s Last Reckoning, and Tezzeret the Schemer’s minus give us ways to deal with our opponent’s creatures that would otherwise steal all of our treasure. A word of advice: the only way to defeat Carnage Tyrant is through the use of Bontu’s Last Reckoning so use it sparingly if your opponent likes big green fatties in their deck.
The third and final thing to note is our win cons. What’s unique about this deck is the sheer number of win cons available for us to play around with. We, of course, have Revel in Riches as our main win con, but we also have alternate win cons in Mechanized Production, your planeswalkers, and even Marionette Master. Whenever you tap a treasure token and sacrifice it, this will trigger Marrionette Master’s ability and will drain your opponent for x life. If you have 5 treasure tokens when you cast Marionette Master and you fabricate it into a 4/6, you should be able to just win the game. This slew of win cons makes for a more interesting deck, and also gives you answers against decks that pack removal for one of your win cons.
This version of the deck is a more budget version of a control deck. This could very easily become a 200 dollar deck, but I feel that this version of the deck should still perform while allowing you to play with fun cards such as Vraska, and Tezzeret. A lot of things in this deck are still very experimental, such as the Spell Swindles and the Mechanized Production, so if they aren’t working for you, (or are out of your budget) go ahead and cut them. This deck should be a starting point for something fun that you can bring each week to FNM.
Thank you all for reading, and have a great week and an amazing Tuesday!
