MUD

Artifacts have always been a staple of MtG. In fact, ever since the release of Antiquities, the game has even promoted the concept of decks built entirely around the card type. The most obvious benefit to playing MUD is that it only requires colourless mana, and therefore can never get colour-screwed. Because of this, and the fact that any deck has access to them, a lot of artifacts are “over-costed”. Wizards of the Coast recognized both sides of the coin however, and decided to help negate this drawback for artificers by creating cards that helped them generate a lot of colourless mana. Cards such as Grim Monolith and Metalworker were later versions of these, as the early ones were deemed too strong (Mishra’s Workshop and Sol Ring are amazing cards..).

MUD’s main drawback however, is not its average mana cost, but rather that it relies on permanents to win the game. That’s right, MUD decks have zero instants or sorceries. This means that you need to use permanents to interact with the opponents’ spells.

As always, I’m going to focus on some of the more obscure card choices from my deck list. For example, an often over-looked card in MUD’s repertoire is Tawnos’s Coffin, which acts as both pseudo-creature removal as well as protection. It can also act as a “bounce” effect to re-stock your Triskelions. Because Ancient does not have access to more “Sphere effects” (aka Sphere of Resistance) ala Vintage, the deck must rely on other forms of prison-style magic to lock out an opponent. Cards such as Smokestack, Winter Orb, and Icy Manipulator have all been strong choices in the past, but I’ve chosen to focus on the interaction between Rishadan Port and Mana Web. With dual lands being so prevalent, using Port/Web during an opponent’s upkeep can really help lock them out of a game.

There are many different forms of MUD decks to choose from. Aggro and prison are among the most popular, but splashes of colour can really change how the deck functions as well. Happy brewing!

MUD

Land:

4 Ancient Tomb

4 City of Traitors

4 Mishra’s Factory

4 Wasteland

4 Rishadan Port

Total: 20

Creatures:

4 Metalworker

4 Juggernaut

4 Su-Chi

2 Triskelion

1 Masticore

Total: 15

4 Tanglewire

4 Grim Monolith

4 Sphere of Resistance

4 Mana Web

2 Tawnos’ Coffin

2 Voltaic Key

2 Chimeric Staff

2 Phyrexian Processor

1 Defense Grid

Total: 25

Sideboard:

2 Powder Keg

4 Smokestack

1 Defense Grid

4 Tormod’s Crypt

2 Tetravus

Deadguy Ale

Deadguy Ale was a pretty original deck when Chris Pikula debuted it back in 2005. Legacy was in its infancy, and Pikula had decided to bring his brew to one of the early Legacy Grand Prix events. At the time, Goblins was considered THE deck to beat (it won the tournament actually). People were intrigued by Chris’ deck though, and it had them talking!

The concept is based off using land destruction and discard spells to control your opponent’s board. How? by not allowing them one! It does so via cards such as Hymn to Tourach and Gerard’s Verdict, which can really help gain card advantage. Hymn in particular is great as it has the added bonus of possibly mana screwing an opponent. Vindicate is another strong catchall sort of spell because it can destroy any type of permanent. The deck wins by denying your opponent a board state and then crashing in with its main win conditions: Hypnotic Specter and Nantuko Shade, or by shocking them with Cursed Scroll.

The main difference between an Ancient Deadguy Ale deck and Pikula’s original is that he was able to use 4 Dark Confidant. Other than that, every single card in his main board was Ancient legal. I decided to add 4 Mother of Runes to help protect creatures from top-deck removal, and/or to just bash through their defenses – especially with Hypnotic Specter.  Another option is to remove the 4 MoRs for Mishra’s Factory. The deck has a lot of room for customization, depending on what you choose to focus on. Happy brewing!

Deadguy Ale

Land:

4 Scrubland

4 Wasteland

5 Fetchlands

4 Swamp
4 Plains

Total: 21

Creatures:

4 Mother of Runes

4 Hypnotic Specter

4 Nantuko Shade

Total: 12

Spells:

4 Sinkhole

2 Cursed Scroll

4 Dark Ritual

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Duress

4 Hymn to Tourach

1 Gerard’s Verdict

4 Vindicate

Total: 27

Siderboard:

4 Engineered Plague

4 Tormod’s Crypt

4 Diabolic Edict

2 Phyrexian Negator

1 Ostracize

U/G Madness

It’s Madness, U/G Madness I say! Here’s a deck that was popular in Standard, Extended, and even Legacy (before losing a key card to the banhammer). Suffice to say, U/G Madness used to be a pretty popular choice. One of the most fun things about Madness is that it offers players a unique mechanic that they can use in tandem with their spells for various effects. Another interesting thing about the deck is that many of the creatures on their own are nothing special, but the way they interact with the other cards just makes it work.

The list I’ve provided is a sort of combination of Legacy decks used by Roland Chang and Caleb Durward. Chang’s deck was very similar to the Standard decks before it, but Durward’s use of Survival of the Fittest made for some really interesting lines of play. In fact, at the time of writing this, Survival of the Fittest is the only card on the present Legacy Banned List that was removed for Ancient’s. The reason for this is that the old philosophy for creatures was quite different back then and allowed the card to be good without being broken.

One card I omitted from this list that I really wanted to fit in was Rancor. I think that its cheap efficiency, combined with its natural recursion, make Rancor a strong choice for the deck. Of course, there are a lot of good cards that can be added and it’s up to you to decide how you want to build your own U/G Madness. Happy brewing!

UG Madness

Land:

4 Tropical Island

4 Wasteland

4 Island

4 Forest

5 Fetchlands

Total: 21

Creatures:

4 Arrogant Wurm

4 Aquamoeba

4 Basking Rootwalla

4 Wild Mongrel

1 Wonder

Total: 17

Spells:

4 Survival of the Fittest

4 Brainstorm

4 Force of Will

4 Daze

4 Stifle

2 Obsessive Search

Total: 22

Sideboard:

4 Tormod’s Crypt

2 Obsessive Research

4 Naturalize

2 Waterfront Bouncer

2 Hydroblast

1 Counterpell

Goblins

Goblins! Here’s another great example of a deck whose roots go far back in Magic history. Goblins has been a popular archetype since the beginning of the game, and the early sets contain lots of great cards for fans of the red tribal deck.

Goblins’ main emphasis is on getting cards into play cheaply via Goblin Lackey and Goblin Warchief, and generating lots of card advantage. It does so via Goblin Matron, Gempalm Incinerator, Siege-Gang Commander, and the deck’s all-star: Goblin Ringleader. Because most of the cards in the deck are Goblins, Ringleader can often net 2-4 cards in your hand when it comes into play. With Warchief, this can be done without paying the 4-mana casting cost of the card (it can even cost 0 mana thanks to Lackey).

Here’s an example of a somewhat stock list that I put together, but a simple search on the Gatherer website can provide you with a plethora of cards you can use.  Happy brewing!

Goblins

Land:

4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
5 Mountain

Total: 21

Creatures:

4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Goblin Piledriver
1 Siege-Gang Commander

Total: 29

Spells:

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Goblin Grenade

2 Incinerate

Total: 10

Sideboard:

1 Goblin Sharpshooter

2 Incinerate

2 Red Elemental Blast

2 Pyroblast

4 Tormod’s Crypt

4 Defense Grid

RUG Threshold

RUG Threshold is actually quite similar to the RUG Delver (Canadian Threshold) decks of today, with a few tweaks - the main difference being that you lose its namesake 1-drop. Ancient doesn’t allow new frame-only cards, but Delver CAN be replaced by a different 1-drop that sees some play in the current UR Delver deck: Grim Lavamancer. RUG Threshold also uses 4 Werebear (or Quirion Dryad) instead of Tarmogoyf, which was actually a staple of the Threshold decks prior to the printing of Goyf. The last main omission in RUG Threshold is Ponder, which can be replaced by the original: Portent. There are 2 major differences between Ponder and Portent: the main being that Ponder lets you net a card right away whereas with Portent you have to wait for your opponent's upkeep to draw the card. Ponder is not strictly better however, as Portent allows you the option of re-arranging your opponent’s top cards instead! Deciding what your opponent is going to draw can help add tempo to your play and negate the wait time of the delayed draw (just make sure they don’t have an un-cracked fetch land out in play). And there you have it: with a few tweaks you essentially have an Ancient version of RUG Delver.

Because of the dis-synergy between Lavamancer and the 8 Threshold creatures, I chose to add 4 Mental Note to the deck but these are flex slots (as are Lavamancer of course). How you want to build Ancient Threshold is entirely up to you. Happy brewing!

RUG Threshold

Land:

4 Volcanic Island

4 Tropical Island

4 Wasteland

8 Fetch lands

Total: 20

Creatures:

4 Grim Lavamancer

4 Nimble Mongoose

4 Werebear

Total: 12

Spells:

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Force of Will

4 Daze

4 Stifle

4 Brainstorm

4 Fire // Ice

4 Mental Note

Total: 28

Sideboard:

4 Tormod’s Crypt

4 Chain Lightning

2 Misdirection

2 Pyroblast

1 Red Elemental Blast

2 Chain of Vapors