The Casual Monster - Introduction

Tweet by DrYoYo // Jan 18, 2015

casual monster casual

I am a monster. I say these words because in my nearly two decades of casual Magic the Gathering play I have been constantly shamed by my opponents for not playing the meta but instead building decks that lock down boards, mill out libraries, or winning games through alternate means. In player styles, I am a true "Johnny," playing the game for the sake of combos and creativity. I may only win half the time, but if I beat you it will hopefully be a combo that you had not seen before. If you are a spike, or a serious player who cares more about wins then having fun, sorry, my articles are not for you.

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I have been playing Magic since Beta and what sucked me in to my on-again-off-again life long obsession wasn't the power of the Craw Wurm or the speed of Moxen fueled spells, it was the synergy of Dwarven Warriors and Firebreathing. Over the years more combos captured my young Johnny heart like Wheel of Fortune and Underworld Dreams, or Stasis and Winter Orb. Back in the late 90's before Ice Age, combo decks were pretty much the thing. Winning strategies included Ernham Djinn Armageddon decks, land destruction brews, and counter-burn. The landscape was not dominated by any one type of build. There were no netdecks and because of that there was no real meta. Even tournament play at your local game store had a casual feel to it. In my teenage eyes, every match was a chance to learn a new combo.

I know that was a long time ago and Old Man DrYoYo does realize that times change, but I still love the game I have tried to quit many many times. These days I rarely get to play paper Magic any more. With a full time career and three kids, I really only get time to play once the kids are asleep. Magic Online is my daily cool down from stacks of paperwork, homework dodging excuses, and little boys who don't eat their green beans regardless of the butter and bacon that tops it. I keep myself up to date on spoilers and strategies, but building a meta grown netdeck doesn't give me nearly as much joy as crafting clever low-cost combos or synergistic team up decks. My defacto place to go to test these new brews is the Just for Fun room. Recently I had a fun combo going with Rescue from the Underworld / Bearer of the Heavens. It needs alot of support cards and may not win all the time, but man that value if I can pull it off on turn 5, wipe the board, and swing with a Bearer of Heavens 10/10 and the Nighthowler he rescued; it gives me the Johnny jollies every time.

So what kind of decks am I playing today? I am glad you asked. One of my favorite decks right now is built around the largely unused creature ability Inspired.

While this deck has no bomb combos, it has a lot of synergy and board action. The point of this deck was to make King Macar, the Gold-Cursed a playable threat. Pain Seer will hurt, but you need that extra draw. Once I get the cards out, I can bring serious threats to the table for free with Arbiter of the Ideal, exile all of your threats with King Macar, the Gold-Cursed, and empty your hand with Siren of the Silent Song. It works about half the time and will usually get slammed by a Top 8 deck, which is why I hang out in the Just for Fun room. This deck has fun interactions; you make cards work together, and you also make cool cards like King of Macar, the Gold-Cursed work. Let me sing you the song of my crappy combo's, the anthem of the true diehard casual monster. This deck will never see tournament play and you will lose half the time, but at 8:30pm, one beer deep, and your sock covered feet propped up, it's pretty darn fun. You also have the advantage of not giving a good target for your opponent to Thoughtseize since no one in their right mind would build a deck around the Inspired mechanic. You will be called names or get rage quit on by people who bring their SRS BUZZNESS Top 8 decks to the Just for Fun room, but that just fuels my fire and keeps me brewing.

This would not be a Magic article if I didn't speculate about the new cards coming out. The combo I really look forward to building a deck around takes the extremely forgettable Waste Not and teams it with the new Fate Reforged card Dark Deal.

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Turn 1: Land

Turn 2: Land, Waste Not

Turn 3: Land, Dark Deal

...Value

Think about the opening hands people keep: a ton of creatures, spells, and perhaps a land or two. If you are not on the draw, and can pull this off before they turn 3 cast, you can usually enter turn 4 with 3 extra cards in hand and a number of Zombie tokens. I have see this in a few test scenarios and it is brutal.

My name is DrYoYo. I love to play custom brews and I am a no skill, top decking, combo trash playing monster so please keep your Top 8 decks out of my Just for Fun room m'kay?

@dryoyo on Twitter / Docman on MTGO