I mean, look at this art. There's a dolphin and flying turtles, and a few sails that look like rugs being sold by a sketchy guy in a street corner. Doesn't look threatening, right?
TappedOut user "pbnj" calls his design "Plague-iarism," and let me tell you, that's just what he wants you to see-
a 5-cost 0/3 with open arms to greet you.
But the minute he starts Proliferating, you might as well start walking the plank.
Fortified with many pieces of removal and a Commander to help, this deck is designed to control the game by getting counters of all kinds out and abound.
Inspired during Scars of Mirrodin, pbnj told me he started building this deck because he liked the new mechanic and the potential for abuse. Enticed by the nice disguise of hilarious sea-life around this bony vessel, he began the laborious process of building this strangely powerful monstrosity.
Much of his original design came largely from trying to get -1/-1 counters on everything. Currently, however, this deck runs quite a bit differently.
One of the things about this deck that attracted my attention was the sort of "anti-power" power that this deck has. By choosing to stay away from combos, planeswalkers, and things that might seem immediately obvious to most players, pbnj was actually able to find an Island of Buried Magic Tech Treasure, which is really pretty special. Cause when I asked him what was good in this deck, he gave me a few little tricks with this deck I couldn't have even imagined.
Of these, my favorite is this little engine he creates with Mind Unbound and Descent Into Madness. With the help of Proliferate and upkeep triggers to balance them out, pbnj is then able to make ensure that his board state is protected while his opponents get chased slowly by an imposing Death Cloud-style beating. Though rather expensive to maneuver, this type of thinking shows a nice dimension to his level of thinking. Maybe he didn't stumble on it right away, maybe it was a happy accident, but he was able to find synergy with cards that probably no one would look twice at.
Let's look a little more at some of the power cards in this design.
Though it is an infect card and it does ensure each player getting 9 steps closer to death, Ichor Rats isn't nearly as offensive to players. I'm not normally up on combos like this, but with the amount of proliferate happening, I can see this card being really nice here.
What's cool about Necroskitter here is that it's a completely overpowered Grave Betrayal. And in this deck, it's abilities are only intensified, working with his recurrable general and many of the cards I'm going to mention in a minute. This design works to further actualize how good this card can be. It makes me want to play this deck.
This is a card I think everyone thought would be abused and abused during Scars. Instead, it got tossed into junk rare-dom without a second glance.
Perhaps this card is a bit of a stretch when we consider how good the other cards are, but I can see a lot of value here. It's one of those cards that, if you get to untap with it and your opponent has a few poison counters, there's a quick handshake and shuffle about to happen. Having cards like this in the deck aren't necessarily "answers," per se, which is where the game is mostly won, but Inexorable Tide is definitely good pressure with a type of card that not a lot of people keep spot-removal answers for.
Again, this card is actually substantiated by the stuff in this deck. It's a 4/3 for three if you need a body, and there's plenty of opportunity to maximize its draw power. Maybe a little cute, but I like it. Generates value that matches the style of this deck quite well.
Carnifex Demon is a nice threat for this deck. I've played this card quite a bit, and I felt it worth mentioning here because of how dedicated this design is to counters. Even his threats stay aligned with the theme, and they're effective. Sure, he could play Gravy T and get Zombies, and that's good. But this card says a lot more, and I really appreciate what's going on here. It's also better to kill everyone else's stuff than to have your own.
Last card I want to talk about is Lazav. I've talked before about this card on a design level, and how cool it is because it inhibits some different styles of play.
Well, this is one of them. Pbnj's got it in here to catch the cards he's getting rid of. It might not be as "on theme" as the rest, because we don't get any counter power here, but it's an excellent choice for a support card. Not all your stuff has to be so focused on what the deck actually does- but when it isn't, make sure it's as good as Lazav. Nice choice.
So, in keeping with the tradition I started last week, I went to Photoshop and made a nice mockup of Skeleton Ship for pbnj as a way of saying thanks for letting me share and talk about his designs.
That said, go check out his list here.
Plague-iarism (Skeleton Ship EDH)
Good work pbnj. Thanks again for your incredible design.
Keep working on your designs, guys!
Till Thursday, Pass.
-UL
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