Welcome back to Fun & Jank! Plum here, and I have a lovely seafood stew simmering on the stove. I’m cooking up a rich and spicy brew loaded with deep-fried Deep-Fiends, big ‘ol crabs, and some sea serpents for extra flavor.
This week, I want to show you a brew that’s gone through quite the evolution. And matter of fact, this list has undergone so much change that the deck doesn’t even play the card I was originally brewing with: Demilich.
It actually all started as a UG Demilich build. I was hyped that we finally had Abundant Harvest on Arena, which opened up a really fun package of efficient cantrips alongside Incubation // Incongruity, Opt, and Consider. We had such an abundance of cheap cantrips to churn through our deck I figured there had to be something there to take advantage of them.
Incubation has always been a card I wanted to jam in a tempo shell. Digging 5 cards deep for a creature in blue or green, while also being instant speed, exile based removal felt strong. Paired with our other cantrips, we had 16 one mana spells that could reliably find creatures, spells, and lands. This meant Demilich could easily be cast for just a couple mana most games as both a value engine and a recurring threat.
Logically, because we have so many cantrips, it was easy to fill the graveyard with instants and sorceries for cards like Tolarian Terror and Cryptic Serpent. Between those two and Demilich we could put quite a lot of power on the board within the first few turns of the game. The jank enthusiast in me even threw in a copy of Ghalta, Primal Hunger as a fun-of in the original version—because honestly, when your board is already full of cheap seven-mana sea creatures, casting a 12/12 for two mana didn’t feel that far-fetched.
With all that in mind my brain kept going onwards to the next logical conclusion. If we’re playing 5+ mana spells, in green, we should also be playing one of the best engines in the format, Up the Beanstalk. Beans was a perfect fit helping us to draw even more gas off of our creatures too. This eventually became the basic shell for a popular standard deck as well, but we did it before it was cool!
Evolution
This original version, with its massive creatures and deep digging, was fast and fun, but a little clunky. Outside of Incongruity, we had basically no interaction, and too many games were spent cantripping while our opponent just ran us over with creatures. We needed things to do in the early game—especially against aggro—that didn’t just involve drawing cards and hoping for the best.
Shredder quickly became a key piece of the puzzle. It’s a cheap, reliable blocker that slots in perfectly with our double-spell and cantrip game plan. Plus, the looting effect smooths out draws and helps fill the graveyard even faster. It blocks well, and attacks even better as the game goes on.
Stormwing Entity added another angle. Not only is it a cheap evasive beater, but it also conveniently triggers Up the Beanstalk, giving us another way to keep the cards flowing. It fits perfectly into the curve, and it can close out games quickly along with Shredder when the board gets gummed up.
But one of the biggest upgrades to the list was realizing how perfect Decisive Denial is for this kind of strategy. It checks two of the biggest boxes we were missing early on: interaction and flexibility. It’s Mana Leak and a Prey Upon all in one, which is excellent in a tempo shell where our creatures our usually much larger than the opponent’s. It helps keep us alive against aggressive decks, disrupts combo, and gives us more play overall—without ever feeling dead.
With all these new additions, Ledger Shredder, Stormwing Entity, Decisive Denial, and the growing importance of Up the Beanstalk triggers, the role of Demilich started to shrink. It was still powerful in theory, but in practice it often felt win-more or just plain awkward. It didn’t contribute to Beanstalk, and it felt bad trying to save cantrips just to get it on the board for cheap. It had become obsolete, but dropping it had made the deck better overall.
We cleaned up some numbers and had ourselves a sweet little brew.
First up is Elder Deep-Fiend, which honestly feels like it was made for this deck. With all the high costed bodies we play—especially Tolarian Terror and Stormwing Entity—we can often cast Deep-Fiend with emerge for just 2 mana. Flashing it in at the beggining of our opponent’s turn to tap their lands or creatures is often a complete blowout, and when it triggers Up the Beanstalk too? Chef’s kiss.
I’m still messing with a couple flex slots, namely Stubborn Denial, but with so many five-power creatures running around, it turns into a one-mana Negate more often than not. It gives us cheap protection against sweepers, planeswalkers, and other high-impact spells, and plays beautifully with the tempo style we’re leaning into. We’ll probably add a few more.
The crab is just a direct upgrade to Cryptic Serpent and was easily swapped out right away. Flash is such a powerful keyword for this shell, and when combined with the ability to tap down two attackers, there’s not many reasons we shouldn’t be playing it!
And most recently, from the Final Fantasy set, we picked up a spicy little tool in Commune with Beavers. It’s a card that sounds like a joke but plays incredibly well here and I’m currently testing it over Opt. I think trading instant speed for the ability to dig three cards deep for creatures or lands is worth it. Along side Abundant Harvest this is why we can get away with playing only 16 lands. we have 8 cantrips that make it especially easy to find our land drops early on, and we usually only need 3 or 4 each game.
Every new addition has made the deck smoother, faster, and more interactive—pushing it further away from its clunky, spell-slinging roots and into a lean, green, tempo machine.
Gameplay
(take the few games we played with a grain of salt as I was feeling a bit burnt out during stream)
This deck absolutely can do powerful things. When it’s humming, you’re drawing tons of cards, slamming massive threats for cheap, and keeping your opponent locked down with flash threats and interaction. There are games where you go Shredder into Tolarian Terrorbacked up by hand of counter spells and you feel unbeatable. But remember this deck has been around for quite some time. It was strong back then, and we even took a variation of it to Mythic at one point.
But Historic isn’t the same playground it used to be. With the addition of Modern Horizons 3, the format has definitely sped up. Decks like Boros Energy can flood the board at alarming speed with Guide of Souls and Ocelot Pride, gaining a ton of life while they’re at it. And with decks like Persist combo or Jet Storm it feels like if you miss a beat, even for one turn, you might not get a second chance.
That said, we do have game against most of the field. The deck has strong tempo plays, real interaction, and multiple angles of attack. But the mulligan decisions are critical. If you keep a slow or speculative hand, you’re likely to get punished. This is a deck that rewards tight play and careful sequencing to maximize the value of your spells.
When it works, it really works. But when it stumbles, the format doesn’t wait around for you to recover.
Closing Thoughts
This deck has been through a lot of iterations, and honestly? I think it’s the best it’s ever been. We’ve trimmed the fat, leaned harder into interaction and tempo, and added some truly absurd value engines with cards like Ledger Shredder and Beanstalk. Even when the matchups are tough, it feels like you always have a shot if you pilot it right.
That said, Historic’s current pace is no joke. If you’re looking for something that can go toe-to-toe with Boros piles or break up combo chains, this probably isn’t the kind of thing you want to register for an open. But if you want something flexible, skill-testing, and fun to play—this is one of my favorite decks to jam.
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!
If you want to see these decks in action, come hang out with me on stream where we test, refine, and have a ton of fun together!
Happy Brewing!
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Plum is the creator of the Jank Tank.
He started playing at the ripe old age of 12 and immediately fell in love with the infinite possibilities that deck building could lead to.
He truly understands that jank is a mindset, and spends most of his free time brewing and concocting new and exciting deck lists to help inspire and promote creativity within the MTG community.
