Welcome to the inaugural post of The Eternal Casual. If you’re wondering who I am or what this site’s about, feel free to check out the About page. Otherwise, here’s the TLDR: I’ve had the itch to write about this fantastic game, and cover some of the game’s design and elements from a casual, approachable perspective.

Hardcore competitive players have a number of great sites filled with useful information. My focus is going to be a little more, well… casual. I’ll be looking today at a deck I call Spellslinger, which is my take on the Red/Blue “spells matter” decks I love in Magic: the Gathering.

While spell interactivity has long been a component of Red and Blue (think Fork and Counterspell as far back as alpha), the concept of being the anchoring element of a deck really caught hold with Ravnica (o hai Izzet!), and has had some very noteworthy preconstructed decks built around cards like Kiln Fiend. As one of my favorite archetypes, I wanted to see how that might look given the card pool available in Eternal.

Here’s what I came up with:

A dozen units and over thirty spells should seal the deck’s bona fides as a spellcaster’s delight, and there are so many different avenues for victory in the deck that you’ll never play the same game twice. This makes Spellslinger endlessly replayable, and while you won’t be burning up the ladder with it, you’ll have a blast in Gauntlet and Casual.

So let’s talk about the deck’s key components, starting with the card behind the whole thing.

The Phoenix has one job here, and that’s to keep ticking down the Power cost of all your spells. The more you’re able to drive those down, the more bonkers the deck can get. Free cards, free counterspells, free damage… your opponent will soon give up looking at your power bar as an indicator of what you’re capable of, and you’ll offer endless surprises. The deck’s cards interact in lots of ways that makes this the perfect synergy, and you should make playing the Phoenix a high priority once you draw one (or more).

And yes, every now and again you’ll be able to rely on a 5/2 flier to help close out a game. The deck has a lot of card draw and likes to keep its hand full, so an offensive posture for the Phoenix will be the exception rather than the norm.

The Scout is the card that’s going to do most of your work most of the time. Spellslinger is a control deck- it likes to sit back and establish control of the board, then start grinding down the opponent.

As an early defender, the Scout is peerless. Let’s say you’re being attacked by a pair of 3/3’s. Simply block one with the Scout, Torch the other, and the Scout stands alone. You also have Wisdom of the Elders to lean on as the deck’s other fast spell, letting it pull double duty as a card-drawing engine and combat trick.

Once you’ve managed to stabilize the board in your favor, the Scout pivots seamlessly. Your spells can repeatedly pump her up to fearsome heights, and if you’ve managed a Phoenix or two to drive Power costs down, you can chain several together. It’s also important to note that the Scout’s bonus kicks in when the spell is cast, not when it resolves. That means you can clear the board with Lightning Storm and/or Icequake, and the Scout will outpace the damage and stay alive (just don’t expect her to outrun two Icequakes in a row).

I always enjoy when decks give bad cards a chance to shine. Make no mistake, North-Wind Herald is a bad card, or at least a very niche one. Luckily this is just the niche that allows it to shine.

If you could craft a perfect opening hand for Spellslinger, you could do worse than to look for four of these, two Torches, and two Power. Chaining the Torches to the enemy’s face drops them to 19, and now you’ve got 12 points of evasive offense on the board- for free- to finish the job. Obviously that’s Magical Christmasland thinking, but you’re rarely going to be paying full retail for this guy. Many games will be won in the air with the Herald while you keep a Scout or two back for defense.

Longtime MTG players may remember the suspend mechanic introduced in 2006’s Time Spiral set, and that’s effectively what this card is. You get a slight discount on a 5/5 evasive Dragon provided that you’re willing to wait a little while to get it.

This is another suboptimal card for most decks that has a chance to shine here, as you’ll be casting loads of spells. Still, five spells is a higher bar than it seems- even in multiples I seldom get more than one in a match, but since they tend to arrive late in the game they offer the deck another quality finishing option. Given the choice between playing this or the Phoenix on turn 4, the Phoenix is typically the better play. As a Relic, the Phoenix discounts this each turn just like your spells.

As a control deck, sweepers are essential to keep the board clear of threats, as you’re particularly vulnerable to getting swarmed in the early game. Fortunately, Lightning Storm covers a multitude of quick threats, from a stream of Strangers to a gaggle of Grenadins.

This is one of the deck’s weaknesses, though, because while your Scouts will survive a Storm or two, it’s instant death to the other two creatures in the deck. This is one of the reasons why you’ll seldom see your Phoenixes take wing, as these can sit in your hand uncast all game if the need never arises, and you have no way to dump them.

Still, it’s a necessary compromise, more than made up for by your ability to clear an entire board to make room for pumped-up Scouts to charge in for lethal. I’ve also included a pair of Icequakes, which will be needed less often due to their high cost.

Spellslinger relies heavily on burn (Torch, Kaleb’s Favor, Obliterate) and card draw (Wisdom of the Elders, Swindle) to keep its engine moving forward towards victory, so it’s perhaps only fitting that the card that combines both be included as a finishing option.

I mentioned above that this is a deck that likes to have a full hand, in part because some spells are reactive (Backlash, Kaleb’s Choice), and in part because some spells may not be good to play with a full board (Icequake, Lightning Storm). Channel the Tempest turns even that into an advantage.

Eight Power is almost prohibitive, but thanks to the Phoenixes by the time you’re ready to unload these you should have had the cost reduced- often by quite a bit! These can either mitigate larger threats like a Sandstorm Titan (“Darude”), or go straight to the face of your opponent to close them down. All the while, it refills your hand for another round of spellslinging.

General Notes

I wish I could remember the article so I could properly attribute it, but there was some advice I came across on RNGeternal that greatly improved the deck. Initially I’d run 30 Power, but kept finding that as the game progressed I’d often have more Power cards than I could play. The article I read suggested dialing back the Power for every Power-fetch card you have in the deck, so I cut four Power out on account of the playset of Kaleb’s Favor.

The difference was clutch.

You’ll want to take advantage of Eternal’s generous mulligan rules here, which give you some leeway for running a Power-conservative list. An ideal draw usually has at least one creature or one sweeper, since you’ll need an early speed bump against faster decks to give you the time to establish board control.

You might be tempted to run Kaleb’s Choice out early, especially when you are light in Power, but if you have one or more North-Wind Heralds you might find the better play is to hold it back until you can find another cheap spell to chain it with.

Once you’re ready to pivot from establishing control to grinding down your opponent, resist the urge to play conservatively. Trust the deck is going to give you the answers you need at that point, so don’t hesitate to throw a Torch to the face or Obliterate a 2/2 Stranger if it means you’ll be able to trigger spark on a Swindle.

Above all, keep laying down Power, let the Phoenixes depress your prices, and find the optimal ways to chain together the different spells in the deck to win the day.

It’s important to note that Spellslinger is what I refer to as a “feast or famine” deck. Some games you’re just going to get blown out by random chance. Others, everything will come together and you’ll run the table. Like any control deck, you need to have the fortitude to be able to withstand dropping 20 points of health, knowing it’s all part of the plan.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my take on a “spells matter” deck for Eternal, and look forward to hearing your thoughts!

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UPDATE: Here’s the exported decklist, as requested!

4 Torch (Set1 #8) 3 Backlash (Set1 #200) 2 Kaleb’s Choice (Set2 #188) 4 Kaleb’s Favor (Set0 #3) 4 Lightning Storm (Set1 #206) 4 Fevered Scout (Set1 #512) 4 Wisdom of the Elders (Set1 #218) 4 Calderan Cradle (Set2 #192) 4 Library Phoenix (Set2 #22) 4 Obliterate (Set1 #48) 4 Swindle (Set2 #129) 4 North-Wind Herald (Set1 #240) 2 Icequake (Set2 #136) 2 Channel the Tempest (Set1 #244) 6 Fire Sigil (Set1 #1) 8 Primal Sigil (Set1 #187) 4 Seat of Fury (Set0 #53) 4 Skycrag Banner (Set2 #186) 4 Diplomatic Seal (Set1 #425)