Magic the Gathering - Magic Origins Clash Pack - Armed & Dangerous Deck Review

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

The Magic Origins Clash Pack is chock full of some crazy value. Right away one of the decks have Modern all-stars like Collected Company and the fetch-land Windswept Heath, immediately recouping the product's $30 MSRP. Not only that, but the deck contains six premium alternate art foils: Honored Hierarch, Seeker of the Way, Valorous Stance, Siege Rhino, Dromoka, the Eternal, and Sandsteppe Citadel. The Rhino is particular is a sweet card to have.

As far as the decks, Armed is a Green/White deck and Dangerous is a Green/White/Black deck. Armed has the majority of the dollar value, but Dangerous has plenty of useful cards such as Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit and Avatar of the Resolute.

Let's take a look first at Armed:

CREATURES

2 Topan Freeblade
2 Undercity Troll
2 Valeron Wardens
2 Citadel Castellan
2 War Oracle
1 Honored Hierarch
1 Dragon Hunter
1 Anointer of Champions
1 Seeker of the Way
1 Dromoka Warrior
1 Consul's Lieutenant
1 Dragon Bell Monk
1 Outland Colossus
1 Kytheon's Irregulars

NON-CREATURE SPELLS

2 Epic Confrontation
2 Enshrouding Mist
2 Mighty Leap
2 Titanic Growth
2 Pacifism
1 Feat of Resistance
1 Pressure Point
1 Valorous Stance
1 Dromoka's Command
1 Collected Company

LANDS

11 Plains
10 Forest
2 Blossoming Sands
2 Evolving Wilds
1 Windswept Heath

At release, this deck is worth some good money. It's chock full of great cards. Not only does it have Collected Company, perhaps the best card in Dragons of Tarkir, and Windswept Heath, but it also has the strong instant Dromoka's Command, and plenty of useful creatures. This deck is based around combat tricks complimenting a solid creature base, many of which have the Renown mechanic.

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The creatures with Renown include Topan Freeblade, Undercity Troll, Valeron Wardens, Citadel Castellan, War Oracle, Honored Hierarch, Consul's Lieutenant, Outland Colossus, and Kytheon's Irregulars. Renown activates when a creature deals combat damage to a player, giving that creature a +1/+1 counter and some have effects that only activate with Renown. Some creatures in the deck, including the Wardens and Citadel Castellans have Renown 2, meaning that they get 2 +1/+1 counters instead of one.

Valeron Wardens lets you draw a card whenever one of your creatures becomes renowned, and is a good draw engine in this particular deck build. Honored Hierarch is a poor man's Birds of Paradise. If it can get through for combat damage, it becomes an effective mana producer with vigilance. When he's renowned, Consul's Lieutenant has an ability when he attacks to give all other attacking creatures +1/+1.

Outland Colossus is probably the best of all of the Renown creatures. Not only is he already a 6/6 for 5 total mana (3GG), but he has Renown 6, meaning he becomes a 12/12 after dealing combat damage to a player just once. Plus, he can't be blocked by more than one creature, so an opponent can't team up a bunch of creatures to try to take it down. He'll have to be chump-blocked, all day.

The last of the Renown creatures, Kytheon's Irregulars, is a 4/3 for 2WW that has Renown 1, and the ability to tap a target creature for 2 white mana. It's not a super exciting creature, but the ability to tap down blockers can make Renown a much deadlier mechanic.

Onto the non-Renown creatures in the deck...

Dragon Hunter is a 2/1 one-drop Warrior that has the distinction of being able to block Dragons without dying. Anointer of Champions is a 1/1 one-drop that can tap to give a target attacking creature +1/+1 until end of turn. This can allow your creatures to win in combats that they may otherwise not. Seeker of the Way is a good 2/2 Prowess creature that gains lifelink whenever you cast a non creature spell. It's a creature that's already seen a fair amount of Standard play. Dromoka Warrior is a 2 drop vanilla creature, but it's a 3/1. Lastly, Dragon Bell Monk is a 2/2 with Vigilance and Prowess for 3 mana.

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Now to the non-creature spells....

There are a good number of non-creature spells in this deck Epic Confrontation is the first of these. This two-mana Green instant gives a target creature +1/+2 until end of turn and causes that creature to “fight” a creature you don't control. For a creature to “fight” means that it deals damage equal to its power to another creature who then deals damage to it equal to its own power. Since there are so many Renown creatures in the deck, it's likely that your creature will win the fight almost every time – especially after the boost that Epic Confrontation alone gives it.

Enshrouding Mist is an instant from Magic Origins that costs only a single White mana to cast. It gives a target creature +1/+1 and prevents any damage from being dealt to it that turn, a nifty combat trick. If that wasn't enough, it also has a bonus if the targeted creature is Renowned; you get to untap it. Mighty Leap is an instant for 1W that we've seen before: it gives a target creature +2/+2 and flying until end of turn. It's an old limited favorite that you typically don't see in Constructed. Titanic Growth gives a target creature +4/+4 for 1G. It's never had the popularity of its predecessor, Giant Growth, which gives a creature +3/+3 for only one Green mana. Again, it's a card mostly seen in Limited and never really used for Constructed purposes.

Pacifism is a classic Limited card that essentially removes a creature from ever being able to engage in combat again. It prevents the enchanted creature from attacking or blocking, although it can still use its activated abilities. Feat of Resistance gives a target creature a +1/+1 counter for 1W, and gives that creature protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.

Pressure Point taps a target creature and draws you a card for 1W. It's not a super incredible card, although it does replace itself. Valorous Stance is an excellent card that has seen considerable Standard play. For 1W it gives you two choices: give a target creature indestructible until end of turn, or destroy a target creature with power 4 or greater. It's one of the best non-creature spells in the deck.

The last two non-creature spells are easily the money cards here. Dromoka's Command gives you four options, from which you may choose two.

• Prevent all damage target instant or sorcery spell would deal this turn
• Target player sacrifices an enchantment
• Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature
• Target creature you control fights target creature you don't control.
  
  

The many combinations of options that this card creates gives it immense value, and in upgrading this deck, you should certainly invest in adding a couple more copies.

Collected Company is the real winner of this deck. Not only has it made noise in Standard, but it has single-handedly made Elves a force in Modern. For 3G, you get to look at the top 6 cards of your deck and choose 2 among them with converted mana cost 3 or less among them. You get to put those directly into play, while the other cards go to the bottom. With 19 creatures in Armed, you're extremely likely to hit 2 creatures each time that you cast it.

There's a good beginning to an aggressive Green/White deck here. As these Clash Packs are being designed, if you're looking to improve the deck, the other deck, Dangerous, has plenty to offer.

But before we think of cannibalizing it, let's take a look at what Dangerous has to offer on its own merits.

CREATURES

3 Lightwalker
2 Ainok Bond-Kin
2 Disowned Ancestor
2 Abzan Falconer
1 Dromoka, the Eternal
1 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
1 Avatar of the Resolute
1 Tuskguard Captain
1 Abzan Battle Priest
1 Mer-Ek Nightblade
1 Longshot Squad
1 Siege Rhino
1 Elite Scaleguard

NON-CREATURE SPELLS

2 Cached Defenses
2 Map the Wastes
2 Incremental Growth
2 Ultimate Price
2 Dromoka's Gift
1 Scale Blessing
1 Suspension Field
1 Debilitating Injury
1 Ancestral Vengeance
1 Abzan Ascendancy
1 Citadel Siege

LANDS

7 Plains
6 Swamp
6 Forest
2 Blossoming Sands
2 Jungle Hollow
2 Scoured Barrens
1 Sandsteppe Citadel

While this deck isn't “money” in the way that Armed is, it has plenty of interesting creatures such as Siege Rhino, Anafenza, and Avatar of the Resolute. Otherwise the deck is all about taking advantage of the interactions between the slow Outlast mechanic and the more Constructed relevant bolster. One cool thing about Outlast is that its creatures have benefits from +1/+1 counters no matter how they were placed. With Renown, a creature actually has to be Renowned, not simply have a +1/+1 counter.

The idea here is deciding which route you want to take: the Magic Origins Renowned direction or the Tarkir Outlast/Bolster strategy. Interestingly enough, Outlast was the primary mechanic of the Abzan clan, but competitive Abzan decks haven't used Outlast at all. They live mostly on the old “Junk” strategy of playing the best Green, White, and Black cards, led by All-Star Siege Rhino. A 4/5 trampler for 4 mana that can make an instant life-point swing of 6? Who doesn't want that?

That being said, while a bit of a slower deck, this deck has the same ability as Armed to put up a great deal of +1/+1 counters on its creatures in a hurry. It actually matches up extremely well with Armed. It also doesn't care where those counters come from, whereas the Renowned mechanic featured in Armed actually does.

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IMPROVING ARMED AND DANGEROUS

Since beginning their Clash Pack products, Wizards of the Coast has actually suggested lists to combine both included decks into a more powerful build. This is their take on Armed and Dangerous.

What they suggest is a pretty solid blend, honestly, working with only the cards that you're given. The Evolving Wilds should be replaced with Windswept Heath to speed up the mana base a bit. The life-gaining tap lands are actually decent. The “pain-lands” Caves of Koilos (white/black) and Llanowar Wastes (green/black) are likely the best long-term options for mana fixing. The Theros scry lands may be best, but are only playable until the Standard rotation.

Maxing out your copies of Siege Rhino is also important. Not only are they not all that expensive, but the Rhino is quickly becoming one of the strongest creatures in the game, and will continue to have play-ability for years in Modern. Adding perhaps a second Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit or a copy or two of her relative, Anafenza the Foremost increases the overall firepower of the deck. Avatar of the Resolute is a strong two-drop that can do a lot more damage. More copies of Dromoka's Command and Collected Company are a solid idea, too.

What can go? Cached Defenses and Incremental Growth, while they fit with the theme, are a bit slow for Constructed. You'll want to replace them with creatures. Pacifism can stand to be replaced by better removal, such as more copies of Valorous Stance or Ultimate Price. Suspension Field is fine but may be best off as a sideboard option. Abzan Ascendancy is a cool card, but you need a lot of creatures on board already to maximize its value, so it's not consistent enough to depend on in competitive Constructed play. Citadel Siege is interesting, but a bit too slow.

Renown overall is a bit of a slow mechanic. Maxing out Seeker of the Way is a good idea and the only really strong Renown creatures are Honored Hierarch (for the potential mana dorkiness) and Consul's Lieutenant (potential damage boost). Citadel Castellan has Vigilance and Renown 2, but the other creatures we'll add simply make more value. The others are fine in Limited, but are pretty vanilla if they can't get through for direct damage. Outland Colossus is a big beater, but it's just going to be chump-blocked all day. Kytheon's Irregulars just isn't all that exciting.

An updated list would look something like this

CREATURES

3 Honored Hierarch
3 Dragon Hunter
3 Consul's Lieutenant
4 Avatar of the Resolute
2 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
3 Seeker of the Way
3 Siege Rhino
1 Dromoka, the Eternal

NON-CREATURE SPELLS

2 Feat of Resistance
2 Valorous Stance
2 Ultimate Price
3 Dromoka's Command
3 Collected Company

LANDS

4 Windswept Heath
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Caves of Koilos
5 Plains
4 Swamp
4 Forest

The Armed and Dangerous Clash Pack for Magic Origins is an extremely strong product for both current and future value, as well as play-ability. It's a solid place to start for someone looking to break into the Standard format or just a place to get some strong playable cards. Plus, you get some alternate foil versions that can have future financial value, especially Siege Rhino, Honored Hierarch, Valorous Stance, and Seeker of the Way. It's definitely a must-buy.