A Witches Brew

So I don't normally write much about the decks that I build (mainly because no one wants to know how to build a deck that loses!) but this one is so much fun that I thought I would give it a go and see if anyone is interested...

When these cards were first spoiled early in July I new that it was something that I would love to build ...

these cards had all done ok at the prerelease events - the cauldron in particular and although I did not get to play this time around I made sure that I traded for what I needed to give the deck a go!

The festering newt can cause your opponent to lose 4 life, you to gain 4 life and give a creature -4/-4 until end of turn (as long as the other components are on the battlefield). This is a pretty good result from sacrificing a 1/1 creature but is was clear that I would need to do it more that four times if it was going to be a viable win condition.

I needed a few cards to recycle the newts as much as possible. Obvious choices were...

I would also need some card draw as finding the components in particular the witch would be crucial so I added ...

these seemed good as the life loss could be easily gained back and sacrificing a newt early game would result in possible creature removal even without the other cards and I could hopefully get it back in a couple of turns anyway. Next I needed a couple of other creatures that could do something when they die. Tenacious Dead had been good at prerelease and was another one drop and I also liked the idea of adding a few bones to the brew. What else would a witch be likely to add a cauldron to make her spell work - of course at rat and Drainpipe Vermin is another one drop.

Add in a couple of spells to remove the opponents creatures such as Ratchet Bomb (because I love it! although I have added Mutilate to the sideboard as this may be more versatile) and of course Doom Blade!

Grim Return is there in case I need to claim back the witch of something from my opponents side of the field.

Just in case I need to get some blockers or return the cauldron I added Trading Post plus what better creature to sacrifice other than a goat, it costs me one life to get the goat and I can get 4 back when I block and sacrifice!

The final component was Immortal Servitude - this card has not seen much play but as the bulk of my creatures are 1 mana this card is simply awesome! My opponent thinks that I have got rid of all my newts, rats and skeleton's only to be face by them all over again!

The final deck list looks like this....

LANDS

20 Swamps

CREATURES

4 Drainpipe Vermin

4 Tenacious Dead

4 Festering Newts

3 Bogbrew Witch

ARTIFACTS

2 Ratchet Bomb

3 Bubbling Cauldron

1 Trading Post

SORCERY

3 Disentomb

3 Immortal Servitude

INSTANT

3 Altar's Reap

4 Doom Blade

2 Grim Return

2 Sign in Blood

2 Undying Evil

SIDEBOARD

3 Mutilate

4 Ultimate Price

2 Undying Evil

3 Glaring Spotlight

2 Elixir of Immortality

1 Altar's Reap

So that's it, it can be a little slow to get started and will not win against the more competitive Standard Decks but it is great fun to play and that's is what MTG is all about for me! 

Gary of Team Gambit