Mutate, the best mechanic I have seen in a long while with a whole slew on new possibilities, and yet it was widely panned by players as having a small pool with weak abilities. In my last mechanic deck spotlight linked HERE, I discussed how we can use Mutate stacks to make a voltron style deck shine. Today however, I will take one of the most broken mechanics ever seen and Mutate it into a big mean turn five killing machine....

WHEN I LEFT YOU, I WAS BUT THE LEARNER

Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt is the reason this was able to happen at all thanks to double strike and mutate. Being able to throw Snappy down on an INFECT creature really is something super special that I think you all need to try at least once. Its a shame that Snappy's Mutate ability is so weak in EDH that it's almost a non-plus, but it can be useful to remove smaller blockers and ever restore a little health at the same time.

NOW I, AM THE MASTER

While we are going to ultimately use Infect, we need to give the deck other ways to get a leg up in case games go longer than expected. Enter the Mutate. Chittering Harvester makes each opponent sacrifice a creature, extremely handy against those Voltron style decks. Dirge Bat is "instant" targeted removal if you use the mutate due to Flash and can make an Infect creature fly, but the Mutate cost comes in at a whopping six CMC. Also expensive at five CMC is Mindleecher and given that you're a three colour deck, there is likely going to be at least one card you can use from the Mutate ability. Speaking of flying, Vulpikeet is a great creature for a Mutate stack considering it gives you wins and a +1+1 counter each time it Mutates. Necropanther reanimates any CMC three or less creature from your graveyard, meaning many of the infect creatures can be reanimated. Cubwarden gives you a small army of 1/1 cats and Regal Leosaur pumps your army of kitties to devastating numbers. The last actually works more with Infect, Porcuparot can deal damage to any target to the tune of the Mutate number in it's stack, this means you can start shooting players with Infect.

I FIND YOUR LACK OF FAITH...DISTURBING

We have only twelve Infect enabled creatures/sources in the deck, but we also run some tutors to fetch them as well. Glistening Oil is perhaps one of the coolest targets to tutor for in my opinion, as it returns to your hand if if the creature goes to your graveyard, but also gets a -1-1 counter each upkeep. Next up is the non-flying Infect creatures, Flensermite, Plague Myr, Priests of Norn, Contagious Nim, Phyrexian Digester, Core Prowler and Corpse Cur. And then the fliers, Plague Stinger, Whispering Specter, Tine Shrike and Flesh-Eater Imp. Thankfully all of the Infect creatures we have are able targets for Mutate and though we have some missing (because I didn't have them on hand), the deck still runs fine without them. Sneaking Infect through is also a priority, so we have Key to the City and Rogue's Passage. One last tricky trick, Karn's Bastion allows us some sneaky Proliferate. Remember how I said the deck was built to have legs?

I AM ALTERING THE DEAL

Extending the multiple facets of the deck, we also run a small suite of voltron pieces to make sure we can get in on the long haul. Hammer of Nazahn might be the weakest link in the equipment, if it weren't for tutors we can run to search for other equipment but really it's more the Indestructible that makes it amazing in the deck. Swiftfoot Boots gives Hexproof and Haste while Whispersilk Cloak is the more risky proposition by giving Unblockable, but also Shroud. Darksteel Plate is Indestructible and makes the creature also Indestructible as well. Brawler's Plate gives +2+2 and Trample, Conqueror's Flail gives up to +3+3 when Snappy is out and locks players out from casting spells on your turn and Blackblade Reforged gives +1+1 for each land you control. Sunforger gives an attack boost, but is also handy to tutor for (Sword to Plowshares) and Path to Exile. Finally we have both Helm of the Host to copy our Mutate stack at the beginning of combat and Argentum Armor allows us to blow a permanent up when it attacks. But why the emphasis on the combat step?

ALL I AM SURROUNDED BY IS FEAR.... AND DEAD MEN.

Now that we have the creatures mostly locked down, what can we use to kill our opponents? Seize the Day, Relentless Assault, Response//Resurgence and Aurelia, the Warleader to start us off, but the real obscene power is in Breath of Fury as it jumps to another creature, sure you have to sacrifice the one it's attached to, but small price to pay. Oh and if all else fails, just blow everyone away with a big Infect creature and Chandra's Ignition. Never claimed I was the best of men, only that I mostly played by the rules.

Mostly.

SNAPDAX, APEX OF INFECT

 

1x Aurelia, the Warleader 1x Cataclysmic Gearhulk 1x Chittering Harvester 1x Contagious Nim 1x Core Prowler 1x Corpse Cur 1x Cubwarden 1x Dirge Bat 1x Flensermite 1x Flesh-Eater Imp 1x Necropanther 1x Phyrexian Digester 1x Plague Myr 1x Plague Stinger 1x Porcuparrot 1x Priests of Norn 1x Regal Leosaur 1x Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt 1x Sun Titan 1x Tine Shrike 1x Vulpikeet 1x Whispering Specter 1x Anguished Unmaking 1x Chaos Warp 1x Crackling Doom 1x Deflecting Palm 1x Enlightened Tutor 1x Path to Exile 1x Swords to Plowshares 1x Thrill of Possibility 1x Chandra's Ignition 1x Demonic Tutor 1x Grim Tutor 1x Mythos of Snapdax 1x Relentless Assault 1x Seize the Day 1x Vandalblast 1x Vindicate 1x Breath of Fury 1x Glistening Oil 1x Arcane Signet 1x Argentum Armor 1x Blackblade Reforged 1x Boros Signet 1x Brawler's Plate 1x Commander's Sphere

1x Conqueror's Flail 1x Darksteel Plate 1x Fellwar Stone 1x Hammer of Nazahn 1x Helm of the Host 1x Key to the City 1x Orzhov Signet 1x Rakdos Signet 1x Sol Ring 1x Sunforger 1x Swiftfoot Boots 1x Whispersilk Cloak 1x Ancient Tomb 1x Bloodstained Mire 1x Castle Embereth 1x Caves of Koilos 1x Command Tower 1x Dragonskull Summit 1x Exotic Orchard 1x Fabled Passage 1x Isolated Chapel 1x Karn's Bastion 1x Luxury Suite 1x Mortuary Mire 4x Mountain 4x Plains 1x Polluted Delta 1x Reflecting Pool 1x Rogue's Passage 1x Sacred Foundry 1x Savai Triome 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse 1x Silent Clearing 2x Smoldering Marsh 1x Spinerock Knoll 1x Strip Mine 4x Swamp 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 1x Wasteland 1x Wooded Foothills 1x Cartographer's Hawk 1x Deadly Rollick 1x Mindleecher 1x Response / Resurgence

ABOUT THIS DECK

This deck is in clear violation of my social rule number one, no winning before turn ten. I probably need to explain the reason behind this, I have played around thirty games in two months whith brews that havenm't reaslly felt like they had a chance aghainst some truly gross causal decks.... Yes MTGLexicon crew, I'm looking aty you. So, I made a hit deck that was designed to be able to burst damage a win against a whole table while also allowing enough turns to fit within their social contracts. Turn four, I killed two of them with an extra combat step, turn five I killed the last remaining player at the table and fulfilled my DESTINY. 

That's all for this week, keep crackin packs and building JANK brews! - Chesh