This deck has not been tested yet, since I am out of wildcards. The janking will continue however once I am done. Be free to put in some feedback.
Abzan Verspermalarky
Good evening, folks, Shdorsh here from Failure Guaranteed. With the release of Jumpstart: Modern Horizons, we got a bunch of brand new cards. These can be used, of course, in very janky ways, so I decided to make my own take on a new combo right here. Let's see what this is about while I learn to memorize the shards' and wedges' names (Shdorsh, It's Abzan, you moron):
The combo
With the release of the new perpetually mechanics, that change a card for the whole match no matter where it goes (professionals are currently arguing whether this might even include up your butt), most people were crying out that we might become Hearthstone 2.0, while real jankers revelled in the thought. It wouldn't be too long before people started thinking of running this in endless combo decks.
So basically, this deck toys around the idea to give your Vesperlark forever 1 power and -1 toughness with Davriel's Withering, which makes it die as soon as it comes into play. Once Vesperlark has entered the graveyard already, its rules text takes effect, which makes it return a card from your graveyard.
What's that? A Vesperlark that now has less than or equal 1 power? Sure, let's bring it back and see it die right away, as it is a 1/-1! You highly likely see where this loop is going. Now, how do we take advantage of this?
Turning the engine into raw damage
So, this is it: All we need with this card is another creature or enchantment that deals damage each time a creature of yours dies. Luckily, there's quite a number for this to run well:
Drawing what you need quickly
Problems with combos usually lie in the game's inconsistency (or variance). You can't get the combo going because you're lacking 1 card and you're left with cards that are pretty bad outside of the context of their synergy. The opponent probably disrupts the combo before it can start while your one card is hiding in your deck and it's over, as you lose too much time: Your lifepoints dwindle and the opponent gets bigger an bigger creatures or fills his hand with counterspells. As such, I have found a bunch of cards that could fit well in here.
Rushed Rebirth works nicely to get something that synergizes with your about to be modded Vesperlark card. Just think of applying it before Davriel's Withering, please.
Collected Company also helps putting the whole combo except Davriel's Withering on the board, except it costs 4 and is clunky. I hence decided to exchange it for a Fauna Shaman: With 18 creatures, we got enough to sacrifice anyway. I would have loved that Wizards of the Coast put in Eladamri's Call in the set, as we are quite starved on creature fetches. Diabolic Intent would have been a close second, Altar of Bone a third. There's also the stupid idea of putting in a few Season of Growth and looping the Vesperlark infinitely until you can see your whole deck and choose a nice spot where you'd like to continue the draw with the scry, but that's... very questionable. I might have to try it for the memes.
I still got 2 Harrow in the deck, just to thin it out without losing too much tempo. We don't have many basic lands, but we aren't running tons of land fetches anyway. A little edit here for clarification, these lands do come in untapped, which means that if you got only green mana or you're missing one color, this card pretty much saves the day. Wonderful.
Instrument of the Bards can help if your Vesperlark is hiding below the top 6 cards in your library. Just think of keeping it at 3 counters and not going above that number.
Halp, my combo is in my graveyard!
No worries, mate, I got you covered. In case Davriel's Withering is the missing piece because you used it as a defense against an opponent's creatures, Mavinda, Students' Advocate can help you cast it from your graveyard. So long as you target your own creature, which will be Vesperlark, of course, you can cast it for the same cost. Else, it will cost you a whopping 8 more mana.
In case a creature is missing, Mavinda, Students' Advocate can help too so long as you got Rushed Rebirth in your graveyard: You put it on your Vesperlark, kill it with Davriel's Withering and instantly search for a Cruel Celebrant or Blood Artist, finishing the opponent off for 3 mana.
Else I also have a few Call of the Death-Dweller, which lets you put any creature in your graveyard into play since all of them are 3 mana at most. I doubt you'll need the deathtouch and menace, but I guess it can help you out in a pinch. This turns your graveyard into a combo storage, from which you can always finish off your opponent. Come on, tell me I'm genius, baby! I even put in a Malakir Rebirth in case you need Mavinda to survive.
Land Base
We're running 3 colors, so mana screw can always be a thing. Luckily, Indatha Triome lets us cover all our basic needs right away. As it comes in tapped, the pathways do the rest so that we can get what we need as quickly as possible.
Matchups
Since I haven't gotten a lot of feedback, it is hard to tell. There are a couple of cards that might ruin this deck real hard though and it is foreseeable how:
The future of this deck
If Davriel's Withering doesn't get banned outright and this deck lives, it might be able to improve with newer cards, which I already said. Besides, the Minion of the Mighty deck is starting to look very reliable now with Scale Up on turn 2 kills, so I believe WotC will prioritize pruning there, as this combo here isn't as fast and can be interrupted by a slew of cards, as noted above. I made a variant of Bandit_Mtg's insane deck, which you can find here. Also, Tibalt's Trickery is now even more consistent with the addition of Cascade in Throes of Chaos and there are more 3 or more-cost Cascade spells that could be released. People say it is inconsistent, but I've just had a day of 6 different Tibalt decks all popping off correctly, which is just either stupid unlucky or very consistent and not everyone runs counterspells. Anway, here's a quick list of replacements for Vespermalarky I'd take for old cards releasing into Historic:
All in all
This looks like a funny deck that could work very well. There are a lot of counters and getting the combo is pretty inconsistent for now, so I don't see any reason why they would ban it, but hey: They banned Brainstorm for no solid reasons. The fact that Cruel Celebrant deals damage past hexproof means that unlike Selesnya Papercuts, this deck here has no probems with Shalai, Voice of Plenty and Leyline of Sanctity. Valkmira, Protector's Shield will still remove 1 damage, turning your damage output 0, but at least you can get infinite life, which might turn the match into one of the slowest mill fights ever, or just make your opponent concede.
Anyway, that's it for today.I hope you liked this bit of jank combo and as usual, feel free to follow me for more janky decks. Please give me feedback on whether it works, as I am currently extremely short on wildcards for this jank. I want to know how consistent this deck can be, so that I may tune it up a bit for you. I currently have an idea for the Ultimate Delinatm ,which some people like KnightsWhoSayYee (shoutout to you, bro) have already heard about. Sadly, we need a certain card from Kamigawa in the game.
As usual, stay cool stay fresh, and I see you next time, folks!
Creature (18) | |||
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$1.37 | |||
$2.97€2.34 | |||
$0.84€0.570.03 | |||
$2.93€2.270.02 | |||
$0.25€0.130.03 | |||
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (20) | |||
2
Harrow
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$0.49 | |||
$1.13 | |||
$0.30€0.580.03 | |||
$0.71€0.780.03 | |||
$5.000.03 | |||
Land (22) | |||
$5.60 | |||
2
Forest
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$0.56€0.170.04 | ||
$2.990.81 | |||
$3.230.09 | |||
$17.49€17.137.02 | |||
4
Swamp
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$0.99€0.450.04 | ||
2
Plains
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$0.34€0.160.04 |
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