Historic Rockin’ Oxen: Fun & Jank Episode 7

Welcome back to Episode 7 of Fun & Jank with Farmer Plum!

I hope you’re ready to do some plowing.

This week we’re going to checkout a list I like to call Rockin’ Oxen, which is a fun take on UW Vehicles for the Historic Format. If you’re caught up from Episode 6, last week we talked quite a bit about the idea of “packages.” Groups of cards that are either made to be played together, provide value through synergy, or are just the best at what they do. This time I want to break down that concept a little even more and talk about how we can find and evaluate synergies while brewing.

Brewing Concept #2: “Build-Arounds”

“Build-Arounds” can come in a few different forms:
1.) Single Cards (usually with unique or powerful abilities)
2.) “Perfect Packages” (requires specific cards to function)
3.) “Value Packages” (cards chare a similar theme and work well together)

To me, build-arounds are the inverse of packages. Rather than having a pre-determined package of cards that can be slotted into multiple shells (aka “bottom up” brewing), build-arounds are cards that significantly shape the direction and strategy of your deck. Your goal is to try and build a list using cards that support whatever card(s) you’re trying to get the max potential out of. This could mean needing specific creature types, a particular number of cards in hand, or certain spells to be played. Because of this, focusing on build-arounds involves selecting complementary cards that enhance their effectiveness or help meet their conditions for an effect.

Evaluating Build-Around Cards

Now I know we’re here to focus on jank, but jank isn’t fun if all it does is lose. So when you’re deciding on how worthwhile an idea is, ask yourself the following questions:

1.) What is the card asking me to do?
2.) Is the payoff worth the effort?
3.) Can the list win in the current meta?

Let’s apply these questions to an easy example, Hedron Alignment.

Hedron Alignment is what I consider a textbook example of a build-around. Playing 4 copies in your list is really the only true requirement, but it clearly defines how the rest of your deck will be built.

Let’s go back to our questions.

1.) What is the card asking me to do?
We want to get a copy of Hedron Alignment in 4 different zones at the same time. Having one in hand and one on the field isn’t too hard, but we will need a way to get one in exile and one in our graveyard. That will be a challenging task to complete with decent consistency and speed.

2.) Is the payoff worth the effort?
This question might not have an answer until you actually start testing a rough draft for a deck. On paper Hedron Alignment is a 3 mana card that wins us the game on it’s own. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me. However, we can’t just take it at face value. We already know from question #1 that the game ending conditions will take a lot of work to achieve. In this case, the likely conclusion is that the juice ain’t worth the squeeze. If it was, we’d probably already see a competitive version of the list show up somewhere (we’ll talk more researching deck ideas for inspiration in the future).

3.) Can the list win in the current meta?
In our case? Not a chance. Yes you may snag a win here or there, but if we’re talking about the current Modern metagame, there is no way a Hedron Alignment list will be strong enough to compete against decks like Energy, Murktide, or Titan. Just like question #2, this might not become clear until after you start testing your ideas.

So the final verdict is that although Hedron Alignment has a fun and powerful effect, it requires too much set up in order to be a viable deck in the Modern meta. Now should that stop you from brewing a deck with it? Heck no! These questions aren’t etched in stone. This is just my way of looking at things when it comes to deck building. Enjoy the game in whatever way you like.

You gotta do you boo.

You might enjoy racking up losses just for that one sweet victory, and I’ll be cheering you on when you win, but I’m here to help you aim for more than that. I want you to be creative and explore interesting ideas, but I also want you to learn how to make them competitive enough to climb the ranked ladder. In my opinion there’s nothing more fun than playing jank and winning with it.

The Deck

Now that we have a basic idea of how to evaluate and brew with build-arounds, lets look at this week’s deck.

This is a brew of mine that started with the strange desire to build a deck based on the “perfect package” of Giant Ox and Colossal Plow. My brewing process included all of the concepts we’ve covered in terms of “top down” brewing so far.

Let’s use the questions we asked ourselves earlier as a guideline as we identify more specific characteristics (both good and bad) of these build-around cards

Giant Ox

• Cheap, 2 mana
• Crews 6 by itself
• Big Butt, good at blocking
• 0 Power, bad at attacking

Colossal Plow

• Cheap, 2 mana
• Ramps
• Gains Life
• Decent Body (6/3)
• Requires creatures to crew
• Artifact

Now, we can take this any number of directions, but I always start by doing a little research to see what others have come up with. In this case I came across white devotion, ox tribal, vehicles, and even an Arcades, the Strategist build. Once you have a bit of inspiration in mind, we can start browsing through the Historic card pool to help us along.

Let me take you through my logic as I start brewing.

Initial Thought: Both parts of the package cost 2 mana. Historic is a relatively high powered format and I would prefer to keep the deck low to the ground and aggressive to make sure we can keep up.

Next Thought: If I’m going to be an aggro deck, Ox is a bad inclusion since it has 0 power. If we don’t have Colossal Plow to pair it with right away, we’re going to have to find a way to leverage its crew ability with more vehicles.

Next Thought: Aggro creatures generally have low power. If we don’t have Giant Ox to crew Plow, it’ll most likely just sit on the board. We should find another way to use it.

Next Thought: There’s a few cheap pilot creatures that can crew as if they had more power, as well as a couple cards that turn vehicles into creatures like Armed and Armored.

Next Thought: (After some searching on Arena) Blue gives us access to Experimental Pilot and Mobilizer Mech

Next Thought: If we already have an artifact subtheme, Toolcraft Exemplar can crew a Mobilizer Mech early. Ingenious Smith can find our vehicles, and grows quickly to help with higher crew costs.

Next Thought: Peacewalker Colossus and Unidentified Hovership seem perfect for what we’re aiming to do.

And so on and so on until I came to a rough draft. After that you test and refine until you feel like the deck is in a good spot.

Hopefully you feel that each thought made a logical jump from one to the next. It definitely helps to have general card pool knowledge, as well as having Arena or Scryfall open to help you search for synergistic cards.

Gameplay Highlights

This is an aggro deck but it’s aggressive nature relies heavily on synergy rather than pure stats. Our creatures aren’t that impactful on their own, but the trade off is worth it to make the vehicle half of the deck more effective.

The deck has some crazy strong lines with the most common involving Mobilizer Mech and Colossal Plow, but we have multiple ways to apply pressure quickly.

Here’s a few examples:

1.) Experimental Pilot -> Mobilizer Mech -> Peacewalker Colossus (crew Mech to animate Colossus) and swing for 9 damage

2.) Toolcraft Exemplar-> Colossal Plow -> Giant Ox (crew the Plow) and swing for 9 damage

3.) Blackstaff -> Colossal Plow -> Animate with Blackstaff, attack for 6, and use Plow mana to play Peacewalker Colossus during your second main phase

There’s a lot of redundancy in this list when it comes to getting 6+ power on the board by turn 3. Almost any combination of a 1-drop into a 2-drop vehicle will get you there.

Mech Hangar is also very strong in this list as it allows our vehicles to attack even with no other board presence or cards in hand.

Closing Thoughts

Build-arounds are one of the most fun things to brew with in MTG. They give you a focal point around which you can design your entire deck, but you have so much say on what the end result looks like that the possibilities seem endless. Whether you’re trying to maximize their potential, or just having fun plowing your friends with giant cows, I feel that build-arounds are one of the core pillars of brewing. Hopefully the simple guidelines I mentioned earlier will help you create something new and powerful. Try to remember that brewing can be just as fun as actually playing the deck! I mean can you imagine a Giant Ox flying in a Mobilizer Mech? That’s frickin’ awesome! Not every list you make will work, but it should at least be an enjoyable process trying to get it to. Tune in next time for more brewing concepts as we continue exploring all that MTG has to offer in terms of creativity and fun.

Thanks for reading.

As always feel free to comment and leave any questions you have below! Make sure to come back next week for even more Fun & Jank!

Happy Brewing!