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By: somrandomguy, Alexander
Mar 18 2010 2:51am
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There are some cards which, deservedly or not, are just embarrassing to lose to.  Cards like Battle of Wits.  One card in today's standard environment that many would put on the same level is Sen Triplets.  "5 mana for a 3/3?  Building around that card is crazy!"  There are, however, some of us out there who have enough of a masochistic streak to attempt to to just that.  I present to you a little concoction we'll call Sen Triplets Lockdown.
 

 

                                                         

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Creatures:

 

Instants:
 
Sorceries:

Hopefully, at this point the method behind the madness is at least beginning to become clear, but I will go ahead and explain the card choices and how it works:

Sen Triplets - the linchpin of this deck, the card's ability is your primary win condition.  If you can resolve one and protect it from removal, you will win the game barring being in terrible board position.  

Tidehollow Sculler - an aggressively costed combination of  Grizzly Bears and Thoughtseize.  Its "drawback" of being a creature is actually a plus for this deck because it gives an additional threat if you need to beatdown for the win, and can be bounced to allow you to play the spell with Sen Triplets.

Meddling Mage - primarily useful for the purpose of eliminating the threat of removal, it also can be used to prevent your opponent from dropping any game-changing cards you may peek with Duress or Tidehollow Sculler,

Wall of Denial - there are few creatures with the necessary power to bash through one of these, and shroud makes them very resistant to removal.  A must against an aggro-heavy casual meta to buy you enough time to play a Sen Triplets.

Esper Charm - card draw, but the ability to force discard can also be incredibly useful in a tight situation to buy yourself some time.

Call to Heel - Useful both for bouncing your own Tidehollow Scullers as well as your opponent's creatures.  Giving your opponent the card isn't really a drawback because it is usually just another card for you to play out of their hand during your turn.

Unsummon - this one is pretty self-explanatory I think.

Soul Manipulation - serves the dual purpose of countering creatures which are too dangerous to be let on the battlefield and bringing back Wall of Denial from encounters with Gatekeeper of Malakir as well as your other creatures.

Negate - essential for protecting Sen Triplets from removal and countering Planeswalkers or sweepers.

Duress - useful for getting rid of your opponents Path to Exiles or Terminates, or whatever other removal you encounter. 

Rupture Spire and Exotic Orchard - both these lands are essential if you want to cast your opponents spells which are not esper colors.

Your early game plan should be to lock down your opponent with Tidehollow Sculler and Wall of DenialMeddling Mage is useful both when naming your opponent's removal of choice and keeping cards you have seen with Duress and Tidehollow Sculler from being played. 

Hopefully by turn 5 or 6 you will have Sen Triplets in hand/in play, and then the fun really begins.  Use Call to Heel and Unsummon on your opponent's end step to either bounce their creatures to allow you to play them or your own Meddling Mages and Tidehollow Scullers.  Tidehollow Sculler especially is great in this deck, as it can lock down cards you don't want your opponent to play and/or cards you want to play yourself later in the game with Sen Triplets.  The Rupture Spires and Exotic Orchards should give you the necessary mana to play virtually any spell you encounter.

                                                       

Unfortunately, due to MTGO not allowing me to watch replays, I do not have any game reports to share.  However, I can assure you in the seemingly countless number of games I have played with it, it does have quite a bit of game, and can win its fair share of games in the casual room.  It does have its share of problems, such as a lack of a good alternate win-condition if your opponent has no cards in hand to play with Sen Triplets and you have no bounce spells.  I have had to revert to Sen Triplets and Meddling Mage beatdown on more than one occasion, but ultimately I think this is a very fun deck which I encourage you to give a try!

5 Comments

"There are some cards which, by JustSin at Thu, 03/18/2010 - 09:54
JustSin's picture

"There are some cards which, deservedly or not, are just embarrassing to lose to. Cards like Battle of Wits. One card in today's standard environment that many would put on the same level is Sen Triplets. "5 mana for a 3/3? Building around that card is crazy!" "

while I appreciate the building of a deck around the triplets, and it seems to have turned out pretty nice, I personally disagree with this statement, there is a lot more to the triplets then size and if someone can keep a battle of wits on the table then they deserve a win and I'm not embarrassed to take the loss

one thing you can do if you cant get individual reports up is include a record and perhaps a little more information on how it ran

Thanks for the comment and by somrandomguy at Thu, 03/18/2010 - 17:33
somrandomguy's picture

Thanks for the comment and criticism.

What I meant by this is that Sen Triplets is not a card which a serious constructed player would rate very highly (same with Battle of Wits). It is not efficiently costed for its size and its ability both makes it a removal magnet and is not very good, as there's no guarantee you have the mana to play your opponent's spells.

If I was playing Jund or what have you and lost to this deck, my thoughts would surely be along the lines of "I can't believe I lost to a deck built around Sen Triplets." Not necessarily embarrassed, but at least amused.

If the environment were a tad by Paul Leicht at Thu, 03/18/2010 - 17:51
Paul Leicht's picture

If the environment were a tad slower Sens would be a perfectly fine control card. Nothing embarrassing about losing to it. Unless you feel all your games should end by turn 4.

Also if you were a dedicated Jund player you would probably thinking "why isn't this guy playing Jund instead???"

Fun Deck by Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer (not verified) at Thu, 03/18/2010 - 12:31
Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer's picture

Really a fun looking deck ... nice to see an article about a casual off-beat deck ... keep 'em coming :)

I agree with JustSin about the embarrassing comment .... in casual, anything can happen, who cares ...

for example my new deck is 0-1-6 ... Divine Intervention FTTie!!

Fun Deck by Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer (not verified) at Thu, 03/18/2010 - 12:33
Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer's picture

Really a fun looking deck ... nice to see an article about a casual off-beat deck ... keep 'em coming :)

I agree with JustSin about the embarrassing comment .... in casual, anything can happen, who cares ...

for example my new deck is 0-1-6 ... Divine Intervention FTTie!!