Table of Contents
One of the coolest designs in the set is double creature amalgamation combining well-known legends from Magic’s history. Let’s take a look at eight decks featuring the best of those double-name threats.
Article List
- Many Faces of Monastery Mentor With March of the Machine
- Seven Battle Decks With March of the Machine
- Eight Team Up Decks With March of the Machine
- Seven Praetor Decks With March of the Machine
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: White
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Blue
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Black
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Red
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Green
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Multicolor and Colorless
Yargle and Multani
Fight Rigging
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
8 mythic
36 rare
8 uncommon
8 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (4)
Creatures (24)
Instants (4)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$280.32
Sideboard
15 Cards
$175.77
I have already created a piece on the deck and it’s only getting stronger. Yargle and Multani are the vanilla-est of creatures. It’s pure stats, nothing else. Is an 18/6 even good? Well, I’d say so! I like to think of it as a ‘Suspend 1: attack for lethal’ type of card. While it dies to removal, like all creatures do, it is a must-answer. Attacking for 18 in most cases is going to be lethal, so the opponent better have stuff to block it.
I’m also not really concerned about it getting Go for the Throat-ed, as almost every creature in the deck demands an answer anyways. The opponent is priced into killing every single thing they see, since our threats will outsize theirs.
Sometimes though, the lack of evasion on Yargle and Multani might come in as an issue. While Phyrexian Fleshgorger and Shakedown Heavy have menace and Archfiend of the Dross has flying, here we are left with a chump-blockable body. However, we can splash red to change the dynamic a bit.
Jund Fling
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
0 mythic
48 rare
10 uncommon
2 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (20)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$344.96
Red offers the best card in Standard – Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. You can’t really go wrong by putting it into the deck. However, there is another card released in the set that complements Yargle and Multani, namely Voldaren Thrillseeker. The main idea here is to use the backup ability on Yargle and Multani so that they get two +1/+1 counters – making it a creature with exactly 20 power. On top of that, they’d get the second ability of Thrillseeker and that’s basically Fling. It gives the deck a combo-esque finish wherein you can just shoot the opponent for twenty and that’s going to be lethal 99% of the time. It’s a great surprise for the opponent who has lined up perfect blocks to contest your legend in combat.
Zurgo and Ojutai
Jeskai Control
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
7 mythic
34 rare
0 uncommon
19 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (4)
Creatures (3)
Instants (18)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$400.04
Another deck I happened to have talked about. This is a different take that forgoes Jace and the mill win condition in lieu of actual attacks and creature damage. Zurgo and Ojutai make a great pressuring and card-advantage-y couple. While the original Dragonlord Ojutai had hexproof when it was untapped, it wouldn’t really fit into this card as you want to go to the red zone immediately thanks to haste. Thankfully, the design on this card accommodates that and gives it protection for the turn it entered.
Upon hitting the opponent, we’re getting Anticipate. It’s a great way to pull ahead on cards and take advantage of card selection. When playing control, you want to make sure you’ve got the right answers to the threats presented and choosing one card from the top three facilitates that plan.
Interestingly, at the very bottom of the card, we see an effect that allows us to return one of the Dragons that dealt damage to hand. In this deck it’s always going to be Zurgo and Ojutai. However, as this Orc Dragon has hexproof for the turn it enters, we can keep playing it and bouncing, making it the ultimate untouchable threat. In practice, if the opponent does not have a flier themselves or a counterspell, this card cannot be stopped. I suspect that Zurgo and Ojutai will make waves in Jeskai shells from now on.
Baral and Keri Zev
Izzet Pyromancer
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
0 mythic
22 rare
8 uncommon
30 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (10)
Instants (24)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$190.08
Sideboard
15 Cards
$20.33
I love me some Izzet tempo shells and when I saw Baral and Kari Zev. I immediately knew that something can be cooked up. It’s a deck that takes full advantage of Third Path Iconoclast flooding the board with 1/1 artifact Soldiers. It’s a way to both clog up the battlefield and not let opposing threats through or to outsize the opponent’s army and start attacking. Due to the adaptable nature of the deck, you can switch from one mode to another in a blink of an eye.
Baral and Kari Zev are a perfect card for a spells-matter deck. Your first spell each turn can cast a different spell of a lesser cost from hand for free. This effect is fully accounted for in the fact that there are no sorceries, just instants. It allows you to play Make Disappear on a spell and play Consider or kill a different threat with Voltage Surge. This ability does not restrict you to either your own or the opponent’s turn only so you can implement carefully thought out shenanigans every single turn.
This is where another new card comes in. Meeting of Minds is a four-mana Divination, but in this deck, it’s most likely to cost two or less – yes, it could even cost zero! It’s a great way to pull ahead on cards against other grindy strategies. On top of being great as is, it synergises beautifully with Baral and Kari Zev Meeting of Minds has a cost of four, regardless of how much you’ve actually paid for it. It means that it allows you to play any instant in the deck using our legend’s triggered ability, as everything else costs 1 or 2.
I truly cannot wait to draw two and get Make Disappear for free on top of that. Value!
Thalia and the Gitrog Monster
Abzan Legends
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
8 mythic
48 rare
4 uncommon
0 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (29)
Instants (4)
Lands (27)
60 Cards
$764.1
Thalia and The Gitrog Monster are one of the strongest duo-legends in the vacuum. It’s a four-mana 4/4 with first strike and deathtouch – the absolute most combat-warping combination. Thanks to first strike your creature is the one dealing damage first and deathtouch will kill it instantaneously. It cannot be contested in combat.
If that wasn’t enough, it provides Thalia, Heretic Cathar effect of forcing opposing creatures and nonbasics to enter tapped. In practice, it shuts off all the potential blockers that are to be played, giving you an opportunity to smash in.
The Gitrog Monsterpart allows you to sac any creature or land to draw a card. In this version I play 27 lands and once you’ve reached a point that you could cast Thalia and the Gitrog Monster, curve-wise you don’t need any more land. On top of that, you can play an additional land each turn so there should always be one to get sacrificed. You can also sac other legendary creatures, since their copies might be rotting away in your hand already.
Synergy-wise it may not be the most flashy legend but the flavour and the raw combat domination it’s going to provide certainly speak for it.
Hidetsugu and Kairi
Grixis Hidetsugu Combo
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
4 mythic
36 rare
16 uncommon
4 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (12)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$254.96
What if Grixis Midrange had a combo finish ending the game instantly? Now we will find out. Hidetsugu and Kairi are a flying 5/4 threat that’s going to close games pretty fast in the air. As its enter-the-battlefield effect is Brainstorm and there aren’t any reasonable shuffle effects, the main thing it does is provide immediate card selection…and a combo win!
This ability synergises directly with the last effect which allows you to shoot the opponent for the damage equal to the card’s on top cost and play it for free if it’s an instant or sorcery. Coincidentally, Explosive Singularity costs 10 and deals 10. If you can pull it off, the opponent gets hit for exactly 20 damage. Admittedly, Hidetsugu and Kairi have to die for that to work, but you can kill it yourself with Infernal Grasp or Go for the Throat. Using your own removal spell isn’t bad considering you’re going to win the game anyways. At that point, it’s also tough for the opponent to do anything about it. What could they do – kill the legend themselves? They’d be out of luck.
The whole shell isn’t meant to rush to the combo. It’s a grindy grixis deck that can prolong the game with interaction and value. I could see games where you just hardcast Singularity!
I am really curious how a grixis value deck with a combo finish is going to play out in the new format.
Ghalta and Mavren
Abzan Ghalta
by Skura
Explorer
best of 3
14 mythic
37 rare
4 uncommon
5 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (4)
Creatures (24)
Instants (4)
Sorceries (4)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$609
Vampires are not the most powerful tribe one could think of, but Explorer is used to one particular combination of cards and that’s Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord and cheating Vampires into play on turn three. Usually, the cheatee of choice has been Champion of Dusk, immediately drawing 1-2 cards and dominating combat thanks to its size. It’s all still very much playable but we’ve just received an even better Vampire – Ghalta and Mavren. Even though on the art you can just see a gigantic Dinosaur, it’s technically a Vampire so feel free to cheat it into play with Sorin. When you do, you get a 12/12 trampler that cannot be killed with Fiery Impulse or Fatal Push – two most commonly played removal spells. It cannot be contested in combat due to its size and can’t even be chumpblocked thanks to trample.
The rest of the shell is interaction and a ton of Vampires. At the end of the day, it is indeed a tribal deck that wants to take advantage of vamp synergies. Edgar, Charmed Groom is pumping creatures, Champion of Dusk is drawing cards, and Glata does a-smashin’.
Errant and Giada
Bant Flash
by Skura
Historic
best of 3
3 mythic
42 rare
4 uncommon
7 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (3)
Creatures (15)
Instants (18)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$366.02
The last deck is a Historic deck. Errant and Giada is a card that immediately caught my attention, as I love anything that has flash. Not only that, it also provides a Mystic Forge-type effect for cards with flash and flying. As far as I’m concerned, it slots right into Bant Flash in Historic. There is a total of 18 cards that meet the condition and so can be played off the top with Errant and Giada on the battlefield. Even The Wandering Emperor counts despite not being a creature.
The usual game plan is going to involve natural development with creatures and interaction. At some point, the legend is going to be flashed in on the end step and then the fun begins. Your hand will be full of cards, as you’ll be just playing spells off the top. You can even clear the top with Archmage's Charm draw mode to see if there are any castable threats beneath.
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Skura
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