Magic Origins (MTG) Demonic Deals Intro Pack Deck Review

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

The Magic Origins Intro Pack, Demonic Deals, has an interesting mix of cards. But when considering which Intro Pack you're going to want to build around, is this black/red deck one to consider? Let's take a look

Creatures (20)
3     Nantuko Husk     
3     Undead Servant          
2     Malakir Cullblade
2     Shambling Ghoul
2     Returned Centaur
2     Enthralling Victor
2     Blazing Hellhound      
1     Kothophed, Soul Hoarder    
1     Fleshbag Marauder     
1     Cobblebrute
1    Revenant     


Non-Creature Spells (15)
3     Act of Treason     
2     Fiery Impulse          
2     Cruel Revival     
1     Reave Soul          
1     Nightsnare          
1     Necromantic Summons          
1     Chandra's Ignition          
1     Chandra's Fury     
1     Unholy Hunger          
1     Ravaging Blaze     
1     Weight of the Underworld

Lands (25)
14     Swamp         
10     Mountain     
1     Evolving Wilds

High mana costs are the first thing that stands out in this deck. It has very few early plays. So does this more deliberately paced deck make up for its somewhat steep mana curve?

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Kothophed, Soul Hoarder is the cover card of this deck. A 6/6 flying Demon, Kothophed has an interesting ability: each time one of your opponent's permanents is sent from the battlefield to the graveyard, you draw a card and lose 1 life. This can make for some painful card draw. While paying life for cards in Black is common to see, this effect is a bit unique. On paper this guy looks pretty good, but he's quite high up on the mana curve.

The other rare in the deck is Chandra's Ignition. This Sorcery spell with a 3RR casting cost allows you to target one of your creatures and have it deal damage equal to its power to each other creature and each opponent. There are creatures in this deck that can make this effectively a boardwipe that also burns your opponent.

The first creature we'll look at is a reprint of a much older card, Nantuko Husk. He allows you to sacrifice a creature to gain +2/+2 until end of turn. This ability can be used as many times as you want. He is a 3-drop, but if you sacrifice enough creatures to the Husk, it can deal a ton of damage in a hurry.

Undead Servant has an effect that gives you a 2/2 Zombie creature token for each card named Undead Servant you have in your graveyard. For a 3/2 Zombie that costs 3B, that's not a bad effect, as long as you have one Servant in the graveyard already. He doesn't do anything if you don't already have one in there.

Malakir Cullblade is a two-drop 1/1 that gains a +1/+1 counter each time one of your opponent's creatures dies. It's not bad.

Shambling Ghoul is a 2/3 for 1B, but it has to enter the battlefield tapped. Returned Centaur costs 3B to cast and is a 2/4 that puts the top four cards of a target player's deck into the graveyard.

Enthralling Victor costs 3R for a 3/2 Human Warrior. He can grab a target creature your opponent controls with power 2 or less.

You get to untap that creature and it gains haste until end of turn. Ideally you would steal a creature, then sacrifice it to Nantuko Husk or the next card we'll talk about, Blazing Hellhound.

Blazing Hellhound costs 2BR to cast and has the ability to sacrifice a creature, plus the cost of one colorless mana, to deal 1 damage to target creature or player. Fleshbag Marauder is a reprint of an older card that has seen plenty of play in the past. When it enters the battlefield, you and each other player sacrifice a creature; the Marauder can choose itself.

Cobblebrute is a vanilla 5/2 creature for 3R. It does make for a good target for Chandra's Ignition, but not much else. The last creature is Revenant, which is a flyer whose power and toughness is equal to the number of creature cards in your graveyard. He costs 4B to cast, so most likely you'll be casting this much later in the game when you have plenty of creature cards in the graveyard already.

The non-creature spells are a mix of decent and not-so-decent.

Three copies of Act of Treason help the sacrifice theme of this deck. For 2R, you gain control of a target creature, untap it and it gains haste until end of turn. Like with the effect of Enthralling Victor, the main idea is to attack with it, then sacrifice it to your Nantuko Husk or Blazing Hellhound.

Fiery Impulse is a one-mana Red Instant spell that deals 2 damage to a target creature. However, it also has Spell Mastery, meaning if you have 2 or more instant and/or sorcery cards in your graveyard, you deal 3 damage to that creature instead. It's a fairly decent card.

Cruel Revival is a reprint of a card from Onslaught. It costs 4B and destroys a target non-Zombie creature, then you get to return a Zombie creature card from your graveyard to your hand. It's somewhat overcosted removal, even with getting the creature back to your hand.

Reave Soul is a Sorcery-speed spell for 1B that destroys a target creature with power 3 or less. This isn't bad, but it is a bit limiting.

Nightsnare is a bit like Duress and Mind Rot in one card. It costs 3B to play and gives you a choice. Your opponent reveals his or her hand, and you either discard a nonland card of your choice from it, or choose to have that player discard two cards. It's probably best used when your opponent only has two cards in hand. The choice is nice, but as a discard spell, it is a bit inefficient.

Necromantic Summons is a reanimation spell costing 4B. You get to return a creature card from any graveyard to the battlefield under your control. If you achieve Spell Mastery (2 or more Instants/Sorceries in your graveyard) it comes into play with 2 +1/+1 counters on it. That's a decent card.

Chandra's Fury is an instant speed burn spell that's seen Limited play in the past, as this is a reprint. For 4R, it deals 4 damage to target player and 1 damage to each creature that player controls. It's a bit narrow, but hoses players who have armies of 1/1 creatures. It's a lot better in Limited.

Unholy Hunger is another inefficiently costed removal spell. For 3BB, you destroy a target creature. With Spell Mastery, you also get to gain 2 life. Not all too exciting. Ravaging Blaze is interesting mostly for its Spell Mastery ability. It costs XRR, and it deals X damage to a target creature. That's pretty limited, but if you have Spell Mastery, it deals that much damage to that creature's controller, as well.

Weight of the Underworld is an Enchantment that Wizards loves to put in these intro packs. It costs 3B to cast and gives the Enchanted creature -3/-2. You'd likely be better off with a more efficient removal spell.

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Improving the Deck

The primary focus of this deck is to keep stealing your opponent's creatures and sacrificing them. Meanwhile your creatures hold down the field until your Cullblades get big enough to deal lots of damage, or Kothophed, Soul Hoarder hits the board. You have to ramp up to enough mana to make spells like Chandra's Ignition and Ravaging Blaze to deliver the crippling blow.

The problem with the deck as-is that it has badly overcosted removal and the creature line-up is uninspiring. It's trying to be a Zombie deck, but it's not all that good. This deck would need a ton of work to be close to competitive even in a casual environment.

The first card you would consider to improve the non-creature spell side of things is Kolaghan's Command, a card from Dragons of Tarkir that has had an explosion of play in both Standard and Modern. It has 4 modes, of which you can choose two as you cast it.

Those options make it a good choice to replace some of the less inspiring cards in the deck. Ultimate Price is a better removal spell than Cruel Revival, certainly. There are also plenty of Red spells that do a better job than those in this deck.

Here's a possible list with improvements:

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Creature-wise more copies of Fleshbag Marauder and one more Nantuko Husk would be something to consider. If you want to focus on Zombies, Risen Executioner is definitely a creature to consider.

A copy or two of the Delve creature Gurmag Angler would work as well; just be careful what you exile to reduce its casting cost if you're planning to care about what's in your graveyard. Sidisi, Undead Vizier is also a card you may want in order to use her Exploit ability to sacrifice a creature to get any card you want from your deck to your hand.

Creatures (20)
4     Nantuko Husk     
4    Undead Servant          
3     Malakir Cullblade
3     Fleshbag Marauder
2     Risen Executioner
1     Kothophed, Soul Hoarder    
1    Sidisi, Undead Vizier
2    Gurmag Angler

Non-Creature Spells (16)
4    Act of Treason     
2     Fiery Impulse          
2     Ultimate Price    
4    Kolaghan's Command         
1     Necromantic Summons          
1     Chandra's Ignition          
2     Ravaging Blaze     

Lands (24)
12    Swamp         
4    Mountain
4     Bloodfell Caves    
4    Bloodstained Mire

The red creatures are all removed since they don't really help the deck all that much, especially the Victors that were too narrow and the Hellhound for being inefficient for Constructed purposes. Revenant isn't the best win condition, so it goes as well. This means there can be much less red mana in the deck, splashing the Red for Kolaghan's Command, Chandra's Ignition and Ravaging Blaze. Bloodfell Caves and Bloodstained Mire provide the mana fixing. If you don't want to spend more on the Mires, you can add Mountains back in their place.

The better plan, however, is probably just to morph this deck into a Mardu Aggro or Mardu Dragons deck with cards like Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury. But with so many cards in those decks leaving Standard with the October 2015 rotation, it's probably best to take a wait and see approach before investing too much in improving this deck.

The best thing to do is to scrap the Zombie theme entirely and focus on aggressive creatures such as Monastery Swiftspear and Thunderbreak Regent in Red and moving into White with creatures like Soulfire Grand Master and Seeker of the Way, splashing Black just for Crackling Doom and Mardu Charm - possibly the Delve removal spell Murderous Cut, as well. Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury will probably replace Goblin Rabblemaster to some degree in these types of decks. Outpost Siege is an Enchantment you'll want to look into building around, as well.

All that being said, there really isn't anything here you'd want to build around if you're looking to use it as a shell for a Friday Night Magic or otherwise Standard-legal deck, unless you really just want to play Zombies with the sacrifice theme.