Maze of Webs

What do you get when you combine a bunch of Elves, mana locks and some obscure land tuckers? Umm.. this. I’ve been considering how to build this deck for quite some time now, and am happy to see it done. Seriously, I don’t even know how long ago I started this thing (hint: a long time ago). As with many brews, this one started out with just an interesting card and a dream. After a bit of research, I found that others had tried tinkering with it as well, so I drew on them for some inspiration and here’s what we got: Maze of Webs.

As you can probably tell, the name of the deck stems from the 2 main lock pieces: Root Maze and Winter Orb. Originally, the deck focused mainly on just using Root Maze. I decided to add Orb, because it adds some consistency to your draws without taking away from the main game plan: ruining the opponent’s mana. “But why Root Maze?” With most decks using fetch lands in Ancient, this card was just begging to be abused. Notice how Elf Maze uses no fetch lands? That’s because it takes an opponent 3 turns to get mana out of a fetch land.

The webs. These things are awesome for locking down an opponent’s mana. Tsabo’s Web can be used to keep certain lands tapped, and Mana Web means they really have to budget how and when they tap a land for mana. If they’re saving up their mana for a spell, then it had better be a good one.

Mana tuckers. Plow Under and Fallow Earth.. what, you’ve never heard of them? Frankly, I’m not that surprised. The effect of putting land(s) on top of an opponent’s library are pretty obscure and narrow, but oh are they ever awesome with a Root Maze in play! Just remember: friendships were not made playing Maze of Webs.

Alright, on to the cards I’d considered. Surprisingly, there is a lot of room for brewing here. So what cards did I consider? Ankh of Mishra, Opposition and Parallax Tide were the frontrunners, and were actually in a version I had considered. I don’t care for the reliance on Ankh however, and adding a second colour means can complicate the mana base (we do NOT want fetch lands). There’s certainly potential there though, and if you’re curious about the deck then you should try them out. As always – Happy Brewing!

Maze of Webs

15 Forest

4 Gaea’s Cradle

4 Wasteland

Total: 23

Creatures

4 Llanowar Elves

4 Fyndhorn Elves

4 Quirion Ranger

2 Verdant Force

Total: 14

Spells

4 Root Maze

3 Winter Orb

4 Tsabo’s Web

3 Mana Web

4 Natural Order

1 Fallow Earth

4 Plow Under

Total: 23

Sideboard

4 Tormod’s Crypt

4 Naturalize

1 Winter Orb

1 Mana Web

2 Hurricane

3 Ice Storm

Cocoa Pebbles

Ahh Cocoa Pebbles: the breakfast of champions. Back in the early days of Magic, deck builders had decided that naming their creations after breakfast cereals was the thing to do. Admittedly, I’m not quite sure of the reason; but I do know that it became a trend that spawned many a combo deck name. Over time, these cereal decks become strong, consistent and relevant.

Let’s start off by identifying the combo in Cocoa Pebbles: Enduring Renewal, Goblin Bombardment and Shield Sphere. Not only do these cards curve nicely into each other - they are also pretty hard to remove. Bombardment and Renewal are both enchantments, which helps limit what kind of removal can be used to destroy them once they hit the battlefield. Shield Sphere is a creature, but its high toughness means it can survive many direct damage spells and even block to buy you some time.

Speaking of creatures, the deck only plays 8 of them: 4 Sphere and 4 Academy Rector (4+4=8). The latter is actually a super star of the deck and the main reason I decided to opt on this style of Pebbles. Allow me to elaborate: I had started the deck with Blue instead of Black as the third colour. The “problem” was that there were so many ways to tutor for the win conditions, that Blue sort of became unnecessary. Another bonus is that Rector not only gets your key win conditions, but it also has a nice interaction with Phyrexian Tower, which allows some ramp as well.

Buying time. Despite being a combo deck, Cocoa Pebbles can take some time to win. The win involves three different cards, one of which costs 4 mana. There were a few different ways that I chose to address this problem: ramp, stall and removal. The ramping is straightforward: 4 Mox Diamond in order to cast spells ASAP. The stall should never be your go-to move, as it involves using Sphere as a blocker – thus putting it in removal danger it would otherwise not be in. The removal attacks both spells and creatures via Swords, Bolt and Duress.

Early on, I had mentioned wrestling with which colour combinations to play in the deck, and must admit that I am not sure that either is more ‘correct’ than the other. In the end, I found the low-ish number of Blue cards were not enough for FoW, which sort of cemented my choice. In the future, I plan on focusing on a more Fruity Pebbles style and perhaps comparing the two more in-depth. I certainly encourage others to try their own other versions before deciding which they prefer. As always – Happy Brewing!

Cocoa Pebbles

Land

4 Scrubland

4 Plateau

4 Flooded Strand

4 Polluted Delta

1 Plains

1 Mountain

3 Ancient Tomb

2 City of Traitors

1 Phyrexian Tower

Total: 24

Creatures

4 Academy Rector

4 Shield Sphere

Total: 8

Spells

4 Enduring Renewal

4 Goblin Bombardment

4 Enlightened Tutor

4 Mox Diamond

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Duress

Total: 28

Sideboard

4 Orim’s Chant

4 Tormod’s Crypt

3 Abeyance

4 Pyroclasm