Description

--Boros Creativity-- (Yeah, it's technically Mardu, but don't tell anyone)



x3 Indomitable Creativity - The build around card, it's very powerful but carries huge deck building restrictions. In order for this card to be good, you need to fulfill a bunch of conditions:

- Be able to fill the board with artifacts or creatures, without actually playing artifact or creature cards in your deck.

- Have a few game winning targets in your deck; preferably your targets are cards you can hard cast, because you will draw them sometimes.

- Reliably have the required mana - RRR, and whatever off-colour mana needed too; WW & B for us..

- Have ways to survive long enough to actually cast it.

- Be able to still win the game if for whatever reason you can't play Indomitable; you don't draw it, it gets countered, hit by Lost Legacy etc.



Now keeping all that in mind, I decided the best way to use this card is in a token shell. All the creatures give you a great way to pressure slow opponents, and survive against fast opponents. The tokens fuel Indomitable Creativity with targets, let you live long enough to cast it, and all the bodies are the source of lethal damage when Angels of Invention hit the board.



While it is a really important card in the deck, you don't need to draw it to win games. Curving out with tokens and then hard casting an angel is game winning in many situations. The planeswalkers can win games on their own as well. Behind a wall of tokens and removal, Gideon, and Chandra especially, are serious threats. Indomitable is just gravy on top of that plan in our deck.



There's some secret tech you can use this card for as well; don't forget it targets creatures and artifacts, and you can destroy your opponents stuff too. Against decks that are comboing off with something like Paradox Engine, God-Pharaoh's Gift, or Aetherflux Reservoir, this can be game winning. Also a good way to handle certain nasty creatures if you have no other removal (or if you have extra mana left over when you cast it to on your tokens) Keep in mind your opponent gets the first Artifact/Creature they hit off the top of their deck, so knowing your opponents deck list is key to using Indomitable in removal mode effectively.



--The Creatures--

1x Zetalpa, Primal Dawn - This big dumb dinosaur is hard to get rid of, and will murderize everything in his way! He can also hang back and kill almost anything that could possibly attack! Drawing him definitely awkward, sometimes it essentially turns your 7-card hand into a mull to 6 with no scry. But it's not impossible to hard-cast, and having this baby cheated into play is just so, so sweet.



1x Lyra Dawnbringer - A solid 5 drop, helps keep us alive by stopping attacks and gaining huge chunks of life, she also has a little synergy with AOI's hitting the table beside her!



3x Angel of Invention - A board in a box! Makes a great curve topper in fair games, and a few of them hitting the board at once off Indomitable is a threat that ends the game unless immediately answered.



1x Hazoret the Fervent - Our backup win condition. Immune to a lot of removal. His activated ability can chip away for lethal. He has haste so he can attack right away when hit off indomitable. He's easy to hard cast if you draw him. Just all-around a great card.



-- The Planeswalkers --

We have boat loads of tokens to block, and a bunch of removal to keep these babies safe, to let them win the game for us!



2x Gideon of the Trials - Against an open board, he represents 4 damage a turn. Otherwise, he slows the game down long enough to let you setup. By both preventing the largest source of damage every turn, and by forcing your opponent to attack him instead of your life total. His emblem ability is also another layer of defence against "You win the game" decks, mostly Approach of the Second Sun.



2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance - She's removal, she's card advantage, she's 2 damage every turn, she can ramp into a huge Creativity, and her ultimate wins the game. And as a bonus, she also extends the game by drawing attacks.



1x Karn, Scion of Urza - Another great walker, he can keep you from running out of steam with his first two abilities. And the third ability to make a token is super relevant in our deck, it has a bit of synergy with Servo Exhibition and Angel of Invention too. Karn also draws a bit of heat off your life total to help you get to the late game as well.



-- The Tokens --

The tokens let you play the game on your own terms. If they're aggressive, our tokens trade and block to slow them down till the late game where we over power. If our opponent is slow, we flood the board with bodies and get in damage fast to end the game before we lose control.



3x Legion's Landing - This card is a huge part of both our explosive early game potential, and our ability to grind out the late game. With Servo Exhibition, flipping this baby on turn 3, and ramping out a Chandra or Karn isn't hard to accomplish. Either way, it's eventually ramp, and a source of endless tokens. It really helps the deck tick.



4x Servo Exhibition - Getting those 2 bodies on turn 2 is very important, especially after a Legions Landing on turn 1. The 1/1's don't seem like much, but against aggressive decks they trade well, and slow our opponents clock significantly. Against slower decks, they can get a few turns of unanswered damage in easily.



3x Start // Finish - Instant speed is huge. Cast it on their end step to bait a counter spell before you untap and cast the real threat. Play it after attacks are declared to kill x/1 or x/2 creatures, or deny lethal. Get 2 more bodies on the field early for Legions Landing to flip and ramp you into angel on T4. Play it after your opponent sweeps to keep pressure on. Then flash it back for removal later in the game. Solid all around card.



2x History of Benalia - This is a really powerful enchantment, if it isn't dealt with it can represent a boat load of damage. (10 damage by turn 5, when played on turn 3)



-- Removal --

Including Chandra, we have 12 main deck removal spells. If you count Start//Finish too, we have 15.



4x Abrade- You know what it is, great against early drops, great against artifacts. Solid removal.



3x Seal Away- Premium removal, deals with early game threats when needed, and can get rid of some nasty threats later on too.



1x Thopter Arrest- Exile effects are important, and being able to hit artifacts means it isn't a dead card in a lot of situations creature removal would be.



2x Settle the Wreckage - Let's us survive when our opponents board gets out of control, or against individual huge threats. People do not expect it at all from a token deck. And when they do expect it they play around it, letting us stall to setup even longer.



-- Lands --

4x Shefet Dunes - Another anthem effect, can often close out the game when you have a board full of tokens.

The rest speak for themselves, it'd be nice to squeeze in some more black sources. But unfortunately hitting WW and RRR consistently, without being bogged down by tap lands is a huge issue.



--Sideboard--

In my play-testing I've found this deck lines up extremely well against Agro and Midrange strategies, the worst match-up it has is against Control. The idea of our sideboard is to become a strange agro deck against control. If you can get a couple powerful bodies down early it forces your opponent to remove them, giving you windows to lay more threats, and snowball. It seems to be the most effective way to combat this weakness that I've found.

Keep in mind, if you're going to board in all of the cheap agro creatures (and crook) that your Indomitable Creativity's will become very bad, or at least very unreliable. Board them all out (In a game where you need the fast aggression to be able to win, you likely won't be resolving an Indomitable late game anyway); If you're only bringing in a few agro creatures to relpace some dead removal (Seal Away & Settle vs a deck that has no creatures, etc.) It can be okay to keep one or two copies of Indomitable (Turning all your 1/1 tokens into 2/1's 3/3's, and a 1/1 that makes a million tokens isn't completely terrible.)



x4 Dauntless Bodyguard - 2 power on turn 1 enables some aggressive openings, and the ability to protect another scarier threat later on is excellent as well. These guys play very well with History of Benalia, lending to some really high damage potential.



x3 Tilonalli's Summoner - Not much to look at on its own, but it's a card your opponent will be extremely motivated to remove. If they tap down for a Seal Away or Abrade or what not, it's a window to lay your three drop. If it goes un-answered, this deck easily hits Ascend, and she can get out've control very, very fast.



x2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider - Kari is a very efficent beater on turn 2, she's another threat to apply pressure early that tempts your opponent to tap out.



x2 History of Benalia - Another very neat and tidy package of pain against control, good to bring in as your 'top-end' in the faster game plan.



x2 Gideon's Intervention - This is a card that will absolutely dismantle a deck that relies heavily on 1 card to win. Deals with threats that can be annoying, before they're a problem. And is still relevant against most threats you'ld want to name if it comes down late.



x2 Crook of Condemnation - Another card that is really hateful, this shuts down GPG, New Perspectives combo, the new graveyard loops with Trawler &/or Teshar.

It's also of some use against common recursive threats; Scrapheap, Phoenix, Scarab God, etc.