Magic 2012 is here and it looks to be an excellent core set so far. One of the cards that I’m most excited about is Adaptive Automaton, since it gives us a ‘lord’ creature for any tribe. What does that mean? Well, that means that you can throw an eighth elf lord into your elfball deck, but it also means that creature types that previously were not covered can now get some +1/+1 action.
Check it:
Lands:
5 Plains
6 Forest
5 Island
4 Seaside Citadel
Creatures:
2 Stonehorn Dignitary
4 Rhox War Monk
4 Dauntless Escort
2 Stampeding Rhino
2 Woodland Changeling
4 Adaptable Automaton
Other Spells:
4 Fog
3 Into the Roil
4 Rampant Growth
3 Horizon Spellbomb
2 Asceticism
2 Overrun
2 Cultivate
2 Rite of Replication
The Herd
Of course there’s no point in boosting critters that aren’t going to perform for you, so this deck is packing some real bruisers. Stampeding Rhino is a simple card, but one that can’t easily be ignored. Dauntless Escort pulls double duty as a beefy attacker, but also as a means to protect your other rhinos. Stonehorn Dignitary helps to keep your opponent from attacking, which allows you to swing all out without fear of (immediate) retribution, Lastly the real MVP of the deck is Rhox War Monk, what with the lifelink and all.
Robot Rhino and Other Tech
As I mentioned before this deck is greatly boosted by Adaptive Automaton, turning the already sizable rhinos into out-of-control stompers. Rampant Growth and Cultivate let you ramp up faster, while Fog lets you stall the game until you can start dropping your somewhat expensive troops. Of course the real kicker (hyuck) is Rite of Replication which lets you put five copies of a creature on the battlefield. The optimal play there is to target your automaton, giving your troops an additional +5/+5 to play with. Which of course brings us to Overrun for obvious reasons.
Sideboard and Additions
I included Asceticsm to protect our pachyderms from direct spells, but if you wanted to go for out-and-out crazy you could swap them out for Levitation, giving you an army of flying rhinos. You might also be wondering why I didn’t include Shards all-star Mirror Sigil Sergeant. There’s a few reasons, the most important of which is that there’s not enough blue in the deck to make it worthwhile, although it’s not a bad card to consider if you maindeck some Levitations.
Here you go, some fun with new cards, if any of you get a chance to build this deck let me know how it plays.
