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You've seen enough of my decks using Ashling, Orcish Squatters, and Erhnam Djinn.  When are you going to see Flametongue Kavu, Fallen Angel, and Akroma?  The answer is "today" — let's do it!

Deck 1 Flametongue Kavu

I've said it a few times in past articles, but I usually hate this avatar.  It never kills the opponent's stuff, and it frequently kills your own stuff.

Well, I've recently uncovered ways to solve both of those problems!

Problem #1: It never kills the opponent's stuff.  This is true.  If they have a Serra Angel, Flametongue will hit it for X=3.  If they have an Grizzly Bears, X will be 1.  And if you act smart by getting out a Death Pits of Rath, X will be 0 every time.  But I eventually found something better than Death Pits of Rath.  I present....

Ha ha!  Take that, randomness — X can now be whatever you want, because I am killing that creature anyway.  (You might be saying, "Isn't Horobi himself really fragile?  Can't the opponent usually kill him easily?"  The answer is yes.  But you'll probably get off at least a few kills before then.  Including the one caused by casting Horobi himself.  Also, this deck isn't hopeless without him.  I might have been overstating the avatar's worthlessness a little bit....)

Problem #2: It often kills your own stuff.  This is also true.  If your opponent doesn't have any creatures, you can't cast a guy without Flametongue forcing him to target himself.  And sometimes your 1/1 will survive his own target.  But very often he won't, and very often neither will your 4/4.  It can be aggravating.  So you could make all of your creatures shroud, so there won't be any legal targets.  But then their stats might become inefficient.  No, I have another route.  I have...

Yeah, that's right.  And before you call it inefficient, just compare it to Light of Sanction!  Mark is cheaper and also makes your guys bolt-proof.

So let's move onto the deck's tricks.

It's easy to miss this line, but the avatar itself does not deal damage — the creatures are the ones dealing damage.  So if that's the case, let's use creatures who create bonuses when they deal damage!

   

We can also finally give Bushi Tenderfoot a chance to kill somebody and flip.

Stonecloaker is a cool bounce trick, while also being a whole lot more aggressive than his 2-mana cousin Whitemane Lion.  Changeling Hero not only has lifelink going on, but if he dies, his championed creature returns to the battlefield and creates another avatar activation.  Kulrath Knight I put in because of the many wither creatures I was already running.  But aside from being a nice "lord" for wither creatures, he also occasionally shuts down some graft creatures and spikes!

Lastly, Graven Dominator.  When he enters the battlefield, your opponent's creatures become a lot easier to kill with Flametongue.  It's still not a guarantee, because X can equal 0, but 75% odds aren't bad.  I guess.  (Man is this avatar disappointing.)

Speaking of disappointment, the avatar for some reason has a minus six starting life (it wasn't weak enough??), so we'll fill the disenchant slots with Terashi's Grasp.

Here's the list, which is casual and customizable:

Avatar: Flametongue Land (24): 12 Plains 12 Swamp Creatures (26): 2 Bushi Tenderfoot 4 Mourning Thrull 4 Rendclaw Trow 2 Stonecloaker 2 Smoldering Butcher 2 Moonglove Winnower 4 Horobi, Death's Wail 2 Changeling Hero 2 Kulrath Knight 2 Graven Dominator

Noncreatures (10): 4 Orzhov Signet 2 Mark of Asylum 2 Terashi's Grasp 2 Diabolic Tutor

Deck 2 Fallen Angel

(If you're wondering, I did in fact hack my MTGO art file to look like that.  Same basic thing for Wit's End.) 

So — Fallen Angel.  This is different from most effects like it, because it doesn't have a "non-token creature" clause.  Any type of creature of yours can die.  Let's take advantage of that by using arguably the best color for tokens, white, paired with arguably the best color for sacrifice effects, red.  (If you want to argue "green" and then "black" as better answers... yeah, that deck would work well, too.  I'm doing WR though.)

So what token producers have I got going?

     

I originally tried running Conqueror's Pledge, too, but it proved a tad slow.

I also have a few other tricks to highlight that aren't exactly tokens, but do function in a similar manner (ie they end up getting sacrificed):

• Mogg War Marshal — Raise the Alarm or Dragon Fodder would only get two sacrifices for the same cost as this guy's three.
• Safehold Elite — He has the same efficiency as Raise the Alarm (two sacrifices for two mana), but is usually better at attacking and blocking than the two tokens would be.  Of course he doesn't have flash....
• Mudbutton Torchrunner — If we're going to be sacrificing anyway, why not get some mileage out of it?
• Ingot Chewer / Wispmare — What a cool trick!  The idea behind evoke is you don't get the benefit of the creature if you play the cheaper version.  Unless the only benefit you wanted was to make it go to the graveyard anyway.  So you know have a drain life effect tacked on to your Oxidize and Demystify.  Plus... if you stack it right... you can even get a Goblin Bombardment activation before they die to evoke.

Which brings me to my next point: Goblin Bombardment.

 

I decided that six sac outlets was the right number, and my brother and I argued at great length, and multiple times, over whether it should be a 4-2 split or a 2-4 split between these two cards.  In the end, I'm a placater, so I went with 3-3.  But neither he nor I believes I made the right choice.

Some other random notes:

• Spark Elemental — By himself, he's inefficient.  But when he becomes a 4/1 trample, who also gains you a life... and can sometimes be sacrificed to either Bombardment or Jinxed Idol... he's sounding better!
• Pyroclasm — For being so simple, it's a surprisingly effective and unexpected trick.  Think about it.  You have six 1/1s on your side of the board.  Is the opponent going to be cautious about dropping his guys for fear of a pyroclasm?  No way!  So he over-commits, you nuke everything, and your avatar drains for a ton of points in the process.  While you simultaneously get a Mogg War Marshal token and a recurred Safehold Elite.
• Leyline of the Meek — Let's face it.  This is probably more tokens than I'll ever run again in my life.  It could be this card's only chance to shine in my collection!

The list:

Avatar: Ugly Fallen Angel Land (23): 12 Mountain 11 Plains Creatures (14): 2 Spark Elemental 2 Safehold Elite 4 Mogg War Marshal 2 Mudbutton Torchrunner 2 Wispmare 2 Ingot Chewer

Noncreatures (23): 2 Lightning Bolt 3 Jinxed Idol 3 Goblin Bombardment 2 Raise the Alarm 2 Pyroclasm 2 Even the Odds 3 Promise of Bunrei 4 Leyline of the Meek 2 Spectral Procession

Deck 3 Akroma

No, it's not a Concerted Effort deck.

This just uses Akroma how most decks do, which is to make an existing creature-heavy deck that much better.  Although the creature deck in reference is a little on the unusual side.  It centers on this card:

I remember when this card was first spoiled.  There was a huge to-do about it.  Then I never saw anybody play with it!  Years later, I think I'm the only one who still cares.  But come on, internet, you should care too!  Consider:

• He's efficient (compare @ Loyal Gyrfalcon)
• His ability makes him very hard to block
• Or, if you point the ability at your own guys, it lets you repeatedly abuse EtB effects

The third bullet is the most fun to me, so let's craft our deck around that.  Moving up the mana curve, the following EtB guys made the cut in my deck:

• Sage of Epityr — this deck needs to get certain cards
• Trinket Mage — toolbox + land fix
• Treasure Hunter — combos with Trinket Mage
• Kithkin Harbinger — primarily to get our Galepowder Mage, but more on this guy later
• Cloudgoat Ranger — flickering him one single time produces six tokens
• Maelstrom Djinn / Slipstream Serpent — not an EtB effect, exactly, but they do combo well with Galepowder Mage!

Now's a good time to talk about Kithkin Harbinger like I promised.  I originally wanted to run her solely for the Galepowder Mage's sake.  But what if I already had Galepowder in play, and didn't want to tutor up a second?  That's when I noticed the kithkin tokens that Cloudgoat Ranger, who I was already running, could make.  What if I also threw in a couple of other Kithkins?  The first obvious target was Wizened Cenn — just as a one-of, though.  I didn't want this to become a tribal deck.  Only have some tutor targets for the games when extra Galepowders weren't needed.  I also threw in a one-of Goldmeadow Harrier.  He comes in handy at odd times.

What's funny about this deck (to me) is that it also has a light wizard tribal theme going on!  Again, Galepowder Mage himself qualifies.  And so does the already-present Sage of Epityr.  But when I realized that the card drawing and counterspells I were searching for could also exist in Wizard form, thanks to Voidmage Prodigy and Azami, Lady of Scrolls... and that those wizards would also make my existing wizards stronger... in they went!  So I've now got two tribal themes going, despite having a very not-tribal deck as a whole.

"What if you don't draw the Galepowder Mages?" you may be wondering.  The answer: Momentary Blink.  It's not quite the same, and it doesn't hit for 3 damage, but it's a lot more surprising.  And the two triggers it gives is comparable to what you can expect from a Galepowder Mage before he's bolted (or worse).

Let's get to the list!  This one is also playable in nonvanguard games, although it gets a little bit weaker.  (Then again, so do your opponents' decks.)

Avatar: Akroma Land (24): 4 Ancient Den 8 Plains 4 Seat of the Synod 8 Island Creatures (25): 4 Sage of Epityr 1 Goldmeadow Harrier 2 Voidmage Prodigy 1 Wizened Cenn 3 Trinket Mage 2 Treasure Hunter

2 Kithkin Harbinger 4 Galepowder Mage 2 Cloudgoat Ranger 2 Azami, Lady of Scrolls 1 Maelstrom Djinn 1 Slipstream Serpent Noncreatures (11): 2 Æther Spellbomb 1 Bonesplitter 2 Disenchant 3 Momentary Blink 3 Pacifism

See you next time, and have fun with vanguard!