Unspeakable deck

[Maraxus of Keld]

Cunning Bandit x1
Earthshaker x3
Teller of Tales x2
The Unspeakable x2
Reach Through Mists x4
Peer Through Depths x4
Psychic Puppetry x2
Veil of Secrecy x2
Sift Through Sands x4
Lava Spike x4
Crushing Pain x4
Glacial Ray x3
Overblaze x1
Blinding Powder x2
Planar Portal x2
Island x11
Mountain x9

[Maraxus of Keld]

I've wanted to build a deck around The Unspeakable since the first Kamigawa set came out. I know it's not the greatest creature in the game, but it's pretty cool and I like the flavor. It took me years to finally get around to putting such a deck together, and this is the result.

It's not without flaws - there aren't a lot of creatures, and the deck isn't super fast. Add to that the fact that creatures have grown steadily powerful in the years since Kamigawa came out, and it can be difficult to survive long enough to put the three card combo together.

Even getting The Unspeakable into play is far from a guaranteed win; indeed, I think the deck has only won one time. Unfortunately, Arcane spells were only in this one block (I guess every other spell in Magic is divine? ), so my choices of what to put in the deck are somewhat limited.

That means there isn't a lot of room in this deck for cards outside the Kamigawa block. Planar Portal seemed a natural fit. I'd throw a Mystical Tutor into the deck if I had one to spare, but I don't. Blinding Powder is kinda crappy, but it helps fill out the deck. I could probably replace those if I had something to put in their place that would help the deck.

[Baron Sengir]

Yeah I had to get a Mystical Tutor myself online for my Merfolk deck; luckily they aren't too expensive. I remember this deck doing decent, but you have so many decks its hard to keep them all straight; I'm not Chris after all.

[Maraxus of Keld]

Even Chris would have trouble now, I think. He used to be able to figure out what I was playing just by the edition of the first land I played, most of the time at least. But there's a lot of overlap in that now, and I do have a ridiculous amount of decks, even though many of them rarely get played.

[Baron Sengir]

Chris calling out the deck by the edition of the land always made me laugh.

[Baron Sengir]

Out of curiosity how often do you get to use that Planar Portal? It just seems very expensive to get much use out of.

[Maraxus of Keld]

Generally it gets use in the longer games where I'm sitting there not able to do very much. At 6 mana a turn, it's a last resort to fetch cards. I could be using more useful cards like Mystical Tutor, Fact or Fiction, or even Impulse, but A) I use those cards in other decks and don't really want to switch them around or buy more, and B) I don't want to take up a lot of space in the deck with non-Arcane stuff since that reduces the usefulness of The Unspeakable.

Anyway, Planar Portal is definitely a rather poor way to get the cards I need, but in the absence of better options I don't really know what else to do.

Honestly the best way to make the three-card instant combo work is probably to Isochron one or two of them, but my only Scepters are locked up in my Burn deck and again, I don't really like to juggle cards between decks.

I think an unfortunate side effect of having as many decks as I do is that I can't always use certain really good cards. I mean, there's basically no such thing as a black deck that doesn't want four Dark Rituals, but I don't want to have to buy another four every time I make a deck with black in it. I run into the same problem with other cards sometimes as well.

[Baron Sengir]

Understandable. I was going to suggest Mystical Tutor but I figured you didn't have extra and didn't want to buy more. It also has the disadvantage of being restricted, but we don't always follow the vintage list anyway; though I try to.

[Maraxus of Keld]

I might have one sitting in my Mirage set, maybe. I suppose I ought to check that.

[Baron Sengir]

Yeah that would be nice to have an extra. Though I'd understand not wanting to pull it out of your set, I know I feel that way with Tempest cards.

[Maraxus of Keld]

I do feel that way to an extent, but I already do it all the time. I use cards out of my Fifth Dawn set in my Sunburst deck and a little in my Ironworks deck too, I think. I use Phyrexian Dreadnought in my one black deck, and I pulled the second one from my Mirage set. So I guess pulling a Mystical Tutor wouldn't be that big a deal. But there's probably another deck that would benefit at least as much as this one, and maybe more.

[Baron Sengir]

Well as long as you have the card somewhere its still part of your collection so I guess its not a big deal, were just OCD or something about it hehe.

[Maraxus of Keld]

Yeah, I like having every card in the binder without all those open spaces. At least, for the sets that I keep in binders. I don't actually have binders for Mirage, Visions, and Weatherlight, just plastic boxes.

[Baron Sengir]

I totally understand not having empty spots in a binder, and you sure have a lot of sets so I can understand not having binders for them all.

[Maraxus of Keld]

Okay, this deck needed an overhaul in a bad way, and this is my attempt:

Creatures:
Blistercoil Weird x1
Nivmagus Elemental x2
Cunning Bandit x1
Earthshaker x2
Teller of Tales x2
The Unspeakable x2
Nivix Guildmage x1
Mercurial Chemister x2

Instants/Sorceries:
Reach Through Mists x3
Peer Through Depths x3
Psychic Puppetry x2
Veil of Secrecy x2
Sift Through Sands x3
Lava Spike x3
Crushing Pain x3
Glacial Ray x3
Firemind's Foresight x2
Epic Experiment x1

Artifacts:
Izzet Keyrune x3

Lands:
Island x8
Mountain x7
Izzet Guildgate x4
Steam Vents x1


I trimmed crap like Blinding Powder and Planar Portal, which didn't really add much of anything. Overblaze never got cast either, so I cut that. That made room for some more creatures, which this deck needed in a bad way. I'd rather have more Nivix Guildmages, but I'm working with what I've got. Guttersnipes would be devastating in this deck, but I don't have any. I think if I did, I would put them in place of the Earthshakers to start.

There are a few non-Arcane spells now, but I think Epic Experiment will be a good fit for this deck. Firemind's Foresight I'm worried about since it costs so much to cast, but if that becomes a problem then I can try pitching it to my Mercurial Chemister.

The mana base changes should be self-explanatory, I think. Sadly I had to go up to 61 cards, but some playtesting might help me get back down to 60.

Overall, this is never going to be one of my scariest decks, but I'm hoping that with these changes it will at least put up a better fight, maybe win once in awhile. It's probably no good for multiplayer though.