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Welcome back to another Budgeted Resources last article I finished off my Zendikar Block Constructed series and this week I'm going to bring the first of the next series.

I was looking through my cards for idea's for an article and I keep end up thinking about how I can use the white mythic rare from Zendikar Felidar Sovereign. I really like this creature, he has a nice set of ability's Vigilance, lifelink and a built in win condition "At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have 40 or more life, you win the game". Now I expect you can see where I'm coming from in respect to the next lot of articles I will be bringing you.

Yes that's right I'll be building decks around the cards that have the same win condition built in. Mayael's Aria, Felidar Sovereign, Battle of Wits, Chance Encounter, Barren Glory, Mortal Combat, Epic Struggle, Darksteel Reactor and Coalition Victory.

There are two that I'm missing that I will not be building round Test of Endurance as it's the same win condition as Felidar Sovereign and Helix Pinnacle because I think it must be one of the most boring ways that you could possibly win by paying 100 mana over a number of turns.

I've not included the image for Coalition Victory yet as its going to be the first card in the series. For these articles I'm going to keep to the most recent format the card is legal in, so this time round with Coalition Victory we will be looking at extended as it was reprinted in the Timeshifted set. The card isn't expensive this version is currently $0.12 each.

So let's have a look at the win condition for Coalition Victory "You win the game if you control a land of each basic land type and a creature of each colour.". As this is a budget article we won't be using the Ravnica dual lands so that adds a small barrier already as they would have been very useful as they count as two different basic land types. So it's going to be basic lands and maybe some search lands as well. Terramorphic Expanse is a great card for searching out basic lands, they can go straight in. For spells that search out basic land types the most common ones are found on the green side of the mana pool, this means that our staple colour will be green. I decided to go for Rampant Growth and Harrow, they are different mana costs so shouldn't tie up your hand too much. 

The second part of the win condition once you have your five different basic lands in play is to have a creature that is every colour . There is one creature that instantly springs to mind from the Dissension set Transguild Courier which is a Golem that counts as all colours, so we will have four of those. The next creature that has a similar ability is from the Scarecrow family Scrapbasket you have to pay one mana to activate the ability so that means we would need access to nine mana which should be possible. I've also included some one off creatures to help boost the deck and make things a bit more interesting Horde of Notions is the first, 5/5 trample and haste is nothing to be laughed at. The second creature I choose is Maelstrom Archangel she has a built in trick, as you need all five sources of mana to cast her if she connects you get the chance to cast Coalition Victory for free.

Next I'm going to look at the support cards to help pull off the win. I'm going to include a few largish creature's that don't fulfill the win condition but are there for back up if we need to win via beat down. They had to be green really as it's the main colour so I went for three Imperiosaur's.

For removal I looked at Path to Exile but as Lord Erman pointed out in a previous article the price is way too high for budget decks, the next best thing is Condemn. I also added few Lignify's to stop any creatures with super ability's and a few Terminates to keep players on their toes. 

I also looked for ways to protect our Transguild Courier's and as they are multi coloured the best card I found for this is Clout of the Dominus it gives / creatures +1/+1 for each colour and shroud for blue creatures and haste for red ones, so the Couriers would get all four ability's from the enchantment making them 5/5 with shroud and haste. 

There is a final card that also makes this deck tick which is Glittering Wish which gives us access to gold coloured cards in our sideboard. So for the Sideboard I added a number of useful cards that I thought could be needed. A fourth Coalition Victory, Lightning Helix for those last 3 life points, Mortify for creature and enchantment removal, Putrefy for creature and artifact removal, Numot, the Devastator because he's a fun card to bring to your aid and a third Terminate. I left the other spaces blank so you can add what cards you feel you need. In game I represent this by using basic lands until I find a card I could need at a certain situation then add it to my sideboard for the following games.

This is how the final deck list turned out, current cost from MTGOTraders as of 19/12/09 $13.00

 

Games

Game 1 vs sparrow_kh

I start off with 1 swamp, 1 plains, 1 forest, 2 Transguild Courier’s, Coalition Victory and Rampant Growth.

I start off with a forest and then a swamp into Rampant Growth for an Island. While sparrow_kh has a forest and an island in play.

Next turn I play my plains and Transguild Courier, while sparrow_kh plays a forest.

Turn 4 and I play Terramorphic Expanse and sacrifice it for a mountain giving me all five colours. I cast Clout of the Dominus on the Courier making him a 5/5 and send him off into battle. There’s not much action from Sparrow this turn as he plays a forest and passes.

In my turn I draw and play Scrapbasket and send in the Courier for five damage. Another forest from sparrow_kh and a Wickerbough Elder this turn.
I draw and play Horde of Notions in my turn and send in all 3 sparrow_kh uses the ability from the Wickerbough Elder to destroy my Clout of the Dominus and blocks the Courier. The courier dies and sparrow_kh takes eight damage dropping him down to two life. In sparrow’s turn he plays sage Owl and passes.

My turn starts with the Scrapbasket and Horde of Notions attacking sparrow double blocks the Horde and then casts Banishing Knack to use the Elder to return the Scrapbasket to my hand. The Horde dies but it’s not a great loss as I play my newly drawn Maelstrom Archangel . sparrow is trying to everything to stay alive and casts Chronozoa in his turn.

In my turn I draw and play a forest and attack with Maelstrom Archangel and she’s blocked by the Chronozoa, sparrow plays Call to Heel to return his creature to his hand.  I play a Transguild Courier and pass the turn. In sparrow’s turn he casts Air Elemental and Sage Owl and passes.

The Maelstrom Archangel and Courier go in for the attack. The Courier dies to the Air Elemental and the Owl to my Angel. I only need to deal a single point of damage with the Archangel to win the game as I have Coalition Victory in hand. I play my Glittering Wish which I drew at the beginning of the turn and wish for something hot and spicy in this case Lightning Helix.

Sparrow concedes in his turn as he knows my wish will come true.

Win 1

Lost 0

Game 2 vs algreen3x

My starting hand is 2 forests, 1 mountain, Terramorphic Expanse, 2 Transguild Courier’s, and Imperiosaur.

Algreen3x kicks off first on turn two with a Deadly Recluse followed on turn three by Gilt-Leaf Ambush generating two elf tokens while I’m setting up my mana.

Turn and I play Lignify on the Deadly Recluse and play my Terramorphic Expanse and sac it for a plains as I know have and island and mountain in hand. algreen3x plays Llanowar Elves and Quiet Disrepair on the Lignify enchanting his spider. algreen3x then attacks with the two elf tokens.

On my turn four I play an island and Transguild Courier and pass. algreen3x plays Tel-Jilad Wolf and passes. Of all the creatures in extended I end up playing someone with a creature that benefits from their opponents having artifact creatures how unbelievable is that.

In my turn I play a forest so I can play my Imperiosaur. algreen3x plays a Wild Cantor and passes.

Down goes the swamp this turn giving me all five colours of mana plus an extra forest. I attack with the Imperiosaur which is blocked by one of the elf tokens. As I’m playing against mono green I don’t need to fear wrath effects so play my second Transguild Courier. Algreen3x Plays Deglamer returning one of my Couriers into my deck and the attacks with Tel-Jilad Wolf taking me down to 15 life. 

I draw a mountain and play it on my turn and send in the Imperiosaur again which is blocked by the other elf token. Algreen3x plays Natural Spring on his turn gaining him eight life and attacks with his wolf, I’m ready this time and play Condemn putting the wolf back into his deck.

In my turn I play a forest and then cast Coalition Victory which I had just drawn for the win. 

Win 2

Lost 0

Game 3 vs jefguitar

 

My starting hand this game is 1 plains, 1 forest, Terramorphic Expanse, Lignify, Transguild Courier, Condemn and Coalition Victory.

Jefguitar kicks things off with a turn one Terramorphic Expanse into a swamp followed by Akoum Refuge. While I play my Terramorphic Expanse for a swamp followed by a plains.

A mountain from jefguitar and he passes. I play a forest and Harrow, I sacrifice my forest for a forest and an island.

Jefguitar plays Duress taking my Coalition Victory from my hand and then follows up with Goblin Ruinblaster, which hit’s me for two damage. I draw a plains and play Transguild Courier.

In jefguitar’s turn he Terminate’s my Courier and attacks with the goblin again. I draw and play Harrow sacrificing a plains for a forest and a mountain giving me all five basic lands. I then play Scrapbasket and pass. At the end of my turn jefguitar cycles Viscera Dragger for a card.

Jefguitar lightning Bolt’s my Scrapbasket in his turn and plays a second Goblin Ruinblaster and hits me for four damage taking me down to 12 life. In my turn I draw and play Imperiosaur to hold back the goblins.

The Imperiosaur did his job and the goblins didn’t attack. In my turn I cast transguild Courier and enchant it with Clout of the Dominus and send in the hungry Imperiosaur and jefguitar throws a goblin to it for its first meal of the day.

Jefguitar plays Breath of Malfegor in his turn taking me down to 7 life. In my turn I attack with both the Imperiosaur and Courier and jefguitar feeds the goblin to the Imperiosaur again taking five damage taking him down to 17 life.

In jefguitar’s turn he draws and plays his only card Sparkmage Apprentice dealing me one damage. I attack with both my guys and the Imperiosaur has another meal this time Sparkmage Apprentice.

In jefguitar’s turn he draws and plays Lightning Bolt taking me down to 3 life. I attack in my turn taking him down to 2 life.

Jefguitar draws and plays Doom Blade to take out the ever hungry Imperiosaur and I attack for the win with the Courier next turn.

Win 3

Lost 0

Game 4 vs bombwizzi702

 

My starting hand this game is 1 forest, 1 swamp, Terramorphic Expanse, Terminate, Clout of the Dominus, Transguild Courier and Rampant Growth.

I start out with the Terramorphic Expanse into a mountain then followed on turn two by a swamp. bombwizzi702 plays a mountain then a swamp followed by Coldsteel Heart.

Turn three I draw a plains and play my forest and Rampant Growth into an island. bombwizzi702 plays Vampire Nighthawk.

In my next turn I draw Coalition Victory and play my plains giving me all five colours. I then play Transguild Courier and Clout of the Dominus on him setting me up, all I need now is three mana to pull off the win. Unfortunately I made a mistake and attacked with the Courier which was blocked by the Vampire Nighthawk. The problem being I forgot they had Deathtouch so I lose my Courier and bombwizzi702 his vampire.  bombwizzi702 plays another Coldsteel Heart in his turn and passes.

I draw Lignify and pass and bombwizzi702 plays Dark Confidant.

In the next turn I cast Lignify on the Dark Confidant and then play Terramorphic Expanse. On bombwizzi702’s turn he plays Sedge Sliverand I Terminate it at the end of his turn and sacrifice the Expanse for a forest.

In my turn I play Scrapbasket which is Terminated and I pass. bombwizzi702 plays a third Coldsteel Heart and passes.

My turn and I draw Harrow and play it sacrificing a forest for a forest and a plains. Now I have a issue I didn’t think of when making my sideboard I have Glittering Wish in hand and Coalition Victory but no creature that’s all colours in my side board. After the game I’ll be adding a Horde of Notions for now though I have to take the next best thing Numot, the Devastator. In bombwizzi702’s turn he casts Ashenmoor Gouger.

I draw another Glittering Wish and cast Numot, the Devastator which is Terminated at the end of my turn. bombwizzi702 hit’s me with the Ashenmoor Gouger and plays Hypnotic Specter.

I play Glittering Wish in my turn for Lightning Helix and take out the Hypnotic Specter. In bombwizzi702’s turn he hits me again with the Gouger and passes.

I draw a forest and play Imperiosaur to fend off against the Gouger. In bombwizzi702’s turn he casts Blightning forcing me to discard my last card Coalition Victory and double Lightning Bolt’s my Imperiosaur, toasted!  The Gouger takes me down to 8 life and bombwizzi702 passes.

I draw a forest which isn’t much help and pass while bombwizzi702 plays Umezawa's Jitte and equips it to the Gouger who hits me for another four damage.

Next turn I draw a mountain and the Gouger finishes me off in bombwizzi702’s turn.

Win 3

Lost 1

Game 5 vs chestburster

 

My starting hand consisted of 1 forest, Terramorphic Expanse Rampant Growth, Glittering Wish and three Transguild Courier’s.

I started off a bit slowly as I was distracted and didn’t sacrifice my Terramorphic Expanse until turn two.

Turn 3 I play Rampant Growth for an Island to go with my 2 plains and a forest. On chestburster’s turn 3 he plays Vampire Nighthawk, he’s not playing mono black as he has two Arcane Sanctum’s in play.

Next turn I draw forest and play a Transguild Courier. Chestburster attacks with the Vampire Nighthawk and then plays Wall of Reverence. It doesn’t look like I have a chance to win via beat down this game.

I draw and play Lignify on the Nighthawk in my turn grounding him. Chestburster comes back with another Wall of Reverence and passes.

I’m not drawing any mana and play Scrapbasket before passing. Chestburster plays Souls of the Faultless and then Unmake’s my Scrapbasket.
I draw another Scrapbasket and play him and pass. chestburster unmake’s that one as well in his turn and passes.

Next turn and I draw Clout of the Dominus and play it on my Courier giving him haste and the much needed Shroud. Chestburster plays Oblivion Ring on the Clout and passes.

I draw a forest next turn which is of little use and pass. chestburster draw’s into Mortify and takes out my Courier, lucky for me I have two more in hand.

Next turn I draw a much needed mountain and play the next Transguild Courier with the Glittering Wish in hand and Coalition Victory in my sideboard I just need a swamp to pull off a win. Chestburster plays another Souls of the Faultless and passes.

In my turn I draw Rampant Growth for the swamp and cast Glittering Wish for the Coalition Victory and take the win next turn.

Win 4

Lost 1

Thoughts

I had lots of fun playing this deck there were a number of games after these where I had a few mana issues but most of the time it was stable other than when my only Island was destroyed by land destruction.

I found quite a few EXT decks are running life gain effects which I don’t need to worry about as my main win condition isn’t by attacking which is a nice way to play for a change.

Thank you for reading and I hope you come back for part two.