Mafia King! Nate Heiss About two months ago, I started to examine deck lists. I started to ponder about the metagame. I began to formulate the solutions. I was thinking about what to use at the Ohio Valley Regionals tournament, a yearly event in which I always enjoy playing. For the past two years, I have been very open with my thoughts on Regionals, more so than with any other tournament. I have been told that I have played one of the best decks at the tournament for the past two years. Some people are wondering if my trend will continue. I do not plan to disappoint. In this article I will outline my new creation and talk about certain aspects of the deck. I have been working on it for about a month now and I cannot find any other changes I would make to the build for Regionals. It is very powerful versus the metagame and has a strong ability to handle rogue decks. I will not say the deck is the best deck to hit Magic since Trix, but I will say that it is a very solid deck choice for people inclined to play heavy control decks. I started off my playtesting for Regionals with a Meddling Rebels deck that used Wash Outs, Rushing Rivers, and Crusades. I felt that the deck did not have enough growth potential and showed to Mike Flores, who now thinks he has turned it into the best deck ever (again). I then moved on to green-red land destruction, which was good, but not quite what I was looking for. The deck sometimes fell apart if it did not get a good mix of aggressive spells and land destruction. I then started plowing through the card lists to find anything that might be interesting. I found a Zur's Weirding/Collapsing Borders lock that looked fun, so I decided to build a deck around it. The end result was what I was looking for. It was powerful, fun, and unpredictable at times. It was, however, too slow for the fifty-minute time limits. After hitting the lists one more time in order to find a better kill mechanism, I added it to the existing deck in order to keep the same feel the original Collapsing Borders version had. Without further ado, Mafia King Main Deck Sideboard 2 Adarkar Wastes 3 Plains 4 Swamp 5 Island 3 City of Brass 4 Coastal Tower 1 Nether Spirit 4 Dromar's Cavern 1 Teferi's Moat 1 Story Circle 2 Seal of Cleansing 2 Yawgmoth's Agenda 1 Rout 3 Wrath of God 4 Counterspell 4 Dromar's Charm 3 Probe 3 Fact or Fiction 2 Enlightened Tutor 4 Vampiric Tutor 1 Aladdin's Ring 1 Elfhame Sanctuary 1 Zur's Weirding 1 Tsabo's Web 3 Lobotomy 1 Wrath of God 1 Dry Spell 3 Gainsay 1 Perish 1 Seal of Cleansing 4 Dread of Night 1 Dismantling Blow The basic concept behind the deck is the solid tutor base. There are many 'one-of' cards in the deck that are good versus many decks, but are redundant in multiples. By only playing one copy of each redundant card and complimenting them with six tutors, the effectiveness of the deck is increased and your opening hand becomes more versatile on average. Players may be worried about only packing one or two solutions to a particular deck in fear of losing them to Disenchants or the like. This is where the power of Yawgmoth's Agenda comes into play, enabling you to recast your prime spells and reuse many of the tutors to find other important components. Using six tutors can take a toll on your card advantage, but the use of Fact or Fiction, Probe, and Wrath of God helps make up for this. You will also find yourself tutoring for cards that bestow large amounts of virtual card advantage to you, such as Teferi's Moat or Story Circle. The most intriguing parts of the deck are the kill mechanisms. The most obvious kill card in the deck is Nether Spirit, but it surprisingly does not actually kill opponents very often. Most of the time, Nether Spirit does his blocking duties and then usually is removed from the game via Yawgmoth's Agenda. The second kill mechanism is the Elfhame Sanctuary, if decking becomes an option. Usually it is good to have the Sanctuary as a safety net, but usually your opponent concedes to the fact that he will be decked long before it actually happens. The most used kill mechanism is the little used Aladdin's Ring. I am sure the question on your mind is: "Why Aladdin's Ring?" It turns out, after a long search through the legal sets, that Aladdin's Ring is the best single card to kill your opponent with that does not interact badly with Nether Spirit (assuming that you are playing control and you want to finish the match in fifty minutes). I used to use Collapsing Borders, another odd choice, because it would be a hard to stop source of damage that allowed me to gain a hard lock with Zur's Weirding (I had one Forest and one Mountain in the deck at the time). Because of the time limit constraint, I began to search for a quicker kill. Possible cards that I found were: The Shotgun Chimeric Idol: This was bad because it makes you tap out. Barbed Wire: Ok, but it was no faster than Collapsing Borders. Rod of Ruin: Same as Barbed Wire. Urza's Rage: Not a bad choice, but I would have to play two unless I planned on Agenda-Raging every game. A hard to kill creature such as Phelddagrif, Voice of All, or Darting Merfolk: I did not want my Nether Spirit to get locked in the graveyard because of a Wrath of God. The only one of these that actually had a chance of making it in the deck was Darting Merfolk. Aladdin's Ring: While it may take forty-eight mana to kill a man, the Ring provided the extra versatility of late game Air Elemental control. I always like a card that can take care of the game itself. So, for the mere price of eight mana to cast, eight mana to activate, the Shotgun became my weapon of choice. Enough about card selection, on to the match-ups! Vs. Fires: This match-up is a good one, but Fires is never completely tame. The long plan involves tutoring for a Teferi's Moat (naming Green) and a Story Circle (naming Red). You will probably need to gain at least five life from a Dromar's Charm during the course of the game. If you find yourself light on mana, tutoring for a Nether Sprit can buy you a lot of time. Watch out for Chimeric Idols and Seal of Cleansing them when they come out. To a lesser extent, do not be caught getting killed by a Bird of Paradise flying over and being pumped up by Fires of Yavimaya. Boy, would that ever seem dumb. Sideboard options: More Disenchant effects always helps. Perish is available to those who want it. +1 Perish -1 Elfhame Sanctuary +1 Wrath of God -1 Yawgmoth's Agenda +1 Seal of Cleansing -2 Probe +1 Dismantling Blow Vs. Counter Rebels: This is a tough match-up. You will probably rely on a devastating sideboard in order to beat them. In game one, cast as many must-counter spells as you can, trying to run them out of counter magic. Afterwards, try to Wrath of God and set up a good Agenda position. Plop down the Ring and go to town. Getting a Story Circle: White helps a good deal in this match. Sideboard options: Dread of Night is a must. Backing it up with Lobotomies and Gainsay is probably the best way to get the Dreads to stay. Counter Rebels will find it very hard to win once you play one of these and almost impossible after two hit the table, providing they do not get Disenchanted. + 4 Dread of Night -3 Probe + 3 Gainsay -2 Seal of Cleansing + 3 Lobotomy -1 Tsabo's Web -1 Teferi's Moat -1 Elfhame Sanctuary -1 Zur's Weirding Vs. Nether-Go and Probe-Go This is a matchup that will most likely come down to skill, but if the deck structure alone would determine the match then Mafia King has the advantage. I believe that Probe-Go is similar to Mafia King in many ways since they both share the same colors, but Probe-Go tries to incorporate an inferior plan instead of simply taking total control of the game. The tutors will be your biggest advantage in these match-ups. I can easily see it being the right play to tutor for cards like Fact or Fiction or Probe. Simply bounce the Spirits off of each other until you can empty their hand of countermagic. You may be forced to use Yawgmoth's Agenda in the process, but do not worry, the loss of your Nether Spirit does not matter once Yawgmoth starts planning your future and Story Circle can always take its place. Using the Yawgmoth's Agenda/Seal of Cleansing trick will help you fight counter-wars better until you can force that Ring into play. If you can't, just deck them. Sideboard options: Lobotomies are obviously the best choice with Gainsay as backup. If they are running Chimeric Idols, you will want to put in your extra Disenchant effects. +3 Lobotomy -3 Wrath of God +3 Gainsay -1 Tsabo's Web +1 Dismantling Blow -1 Teferi's Moat -1 Enlightened Tutor -1 Rout Vs. Thundercats, King Red, and Dark Ponza Mafia King is set up very well versus these decks. The only trouble comes when you start off with a land light hand to begin with. Tutoring for an Elfhame Sanctuary is usually devastating in these match-ups, assuming you have the City of Brass to cast it with. Just try to use your cards to their fullest potential and you will most likely win the match. Story Circle: Red is probably the best one-of in these match-ups. Sideboard options: I usually do not bring in any cards against these decks. The main deck is about as good as it is going to get without throwing extra hate in against them. Vs. Turbohaups and Netherhaups Mafia King is set up strangely well versus these decks as well. All of your basic threats (Story Circle, Teferi's Moat, Elfhame Sanctuary, and Yawgmoth's Agenda) are enchantments, which make Obliterate and Jokulhaups an expensive Armageddon. I like to concentrate more on countering the Chimeric Idols if they have any. Nether Spirits will bump heads all game long. You will eventually deck them with Elfhame Sanctuary. The most important thing is to conserve land in your hand anticipating the inevitable. Sideboard options: I would throw in the Lobotomies and the Disenchant cards. +3 Lobotomy -3 Wrath of God +1 Seal of Cleansing -1 Rout +1 Dismantling Blow -1 Probe Vs. Skies I imagine this is a tough match-up, but I doubt that very many people will be playing Skies. The deck simply cannot survive in a Fires oriented Meta-game. If you do find yourself paired against one though, Story Circle, Seal of Cleansing, and Wrath of God are going to be your best friends. It is important to watch for Dazes and Foils. The Dromar's Charms may be better used as creature elimination rather than countermagic in this match-up. Cards to counter: Chimeric Idols, Rising Waters, and enemy countermagic! You will most likely win your games with a Nether Spirit. Sideboard options: Dry Spell is the only card in my sideboard that is devoted to Skies. While it is possible to bring the card in versus certain other decks, Skies is where the card actually becomes good. Also, using Lobotomies may help draw countermagic better than Probe. +3 Lobotomy -3 Probe +1 Dry Spell -1 Teferi's Moat +1 Wrath of God -1 Elfhame Sanctuary +2 Gainsay -1 Yawgmoth's Agenda -1 Zur's Weirding That about covers all the most popular deck types. Mafia King is very difficult to play, but is extremely fun as well. This deck is so fun that I spent five hours at GP Detroit playing it against Mark Globus's Rat/Harpy deck, which I could not justify as legitimate testing, but I kept playing because it was so fun. At times the mana can be a little frustrating, but when in doubt, you can always Vampiric Tutor for a land. I encourage any control player that is looking for a good time at Regionals to give this deck a try. You just might like it!