I work in advance which means this article was basically written before Rivals of Ixalan stuff was being spoiled. It might wind up being bumped a few times, who knows. The important thing is, this is a kind of semi-evergreen article where it doesn’t REALLY matter if what I write about is a bit old news, because it’s about a process rather than a play. Still, it might get bumped if RIX shows me something I wanna talk about, though I’m not holding my breath so far.

After the fun of my Jund deck, which took a lot of research and framing, I decided to work on another, similar puzzle I saw while I dug around in those colours. Making a Jund deck, in the vein of the Standard deck ‘Jund’ was kind of an experience of finding a midrange deck that worked and slotting in the combo kill I found so exciting. It mostly worked on the idea that a deck of dredgers and wheels had an explosive end-game toy, in the form of Dread Returning something that could be one-hit lethal in some fahsion or another, exploiting haste.

This got my attention to the Mimeoplasm – a sort of Dread Return on its own that you always have in hand. Rather than go through the whole process again I figured I’d give you a cut-down look at a Mimeoplasm skeleton I wanted to work on. The appeal of Mimeoplasm after Jund is that the removal or red for blue changes what can be put in the deck. If the combo kill is the Commander, it also means fewer slots need to be dedicated to that combo kill, meaning instead of a dredgy explosion this deck wants to control the game, clear the board, then when there’s a window of opportunity, just up and kill your opponent. And there are lots of ways to make that window of opportunity happen in these colours.

First of all, let’s give ourselves a basic pile list:

• Mana Advancement
  This is my way to refer to things like Rampant Growth but also mana rocks. For a control deck that wants to blow up the board, cards that are permanents that need to remain on the field are less appealing.
• Card Draw
  In blue and green if I can’t get some decent card draw going on I’ll be ashamed of myself. Note that draw-and-discard is pretty good in a deck that wants to be able to fire off the Mimeoplasm to win in one shot.
• Board Holders
  This is the slot for creatures that either assert control over things or force my opponent to over-extend. Walls, for example. Important is that these cards need to be cards I don’t mind losing if I wipe the board, or that can survive a board wipe on their own.
• Board Clearers
  See, this is why we need to care about the Board Holders being okay with being destroyed. We don’t need to build a critical mass to protect ourselves or attack our opponent – our Commander will do that all in one big hit.
• The Good Stuff
  Things that let us catch up or smooth out our draws. In a control deck small cheap spells will let you use mana efficiently – even just some instant speed cantrips or cyclers here will smooth things out.
• Spot Control
  Either creature/permanent removal or cards like Duress. Things that protect me from being gutted out and things that can be used to clear a path before the big turn.
• Countermagic
  I don’t need a lot of this if I’m doing a single big combo kill turn, but that’s fine by me – just need enough to protect the Plasm. This plays into the card draw too – this isn’t a deck that needs to constantly be getting ahead with card draw, because it only needs to answer enough to create a window of opportunity at 5 or 6 mana to crash in.
• The Combo
  This pile will be where we put the cards that have no purpose but to enable a one-hit-kill with the Mimeoplasm.

But what is our combo? Well, originally the combo I hit on was [mtg_card]Blackcleave Goblin[/mtg_card] + 8 power graveyard creature, and if you use [mtg_card]Buried Alive[/mtg_card], you can put Goblin + Graveyard Beast + [mtg_card]Wonder[/mtg_card] in the yard all at once, which means you have a 3 mana spell that sets you up for a 5 mana instant kill. This combo puts more weight on the graveyard card, but there are two other Hasted Infecters – [mtg_card]Putrefax[/mtg_card] and [mtg_card]Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon[/mtg_card]. Skith – I am not going to try and get that name right every time – adds a mana to the cost (a 6-mana kill) and Putrefax makes it definitely a one-shot attempt. These are both okay, and I’d prefer including both because of toolbox reasons – sometimes you might want to trample over for an extra point. What’s more, Putrefax also casts-and-dies on its own, putting itself in the graveyard. Skithyrs is also a pretty decent creature to defend with – infectors that block well are really saucy, because they make any threat they stand in front of less of a threat later.

So we’ll include both of them, but the goblin can go wait on the outside for now.

The reason I think of this as a puzzle then, is that now we want creatures that when added to Putrefax or Skitters become lethal… but aren’t blobs that sit in our hand uselessly when we draw them. Which is to say, how many roles in this deck can be covered by a 6-power creature? I’m hoping more than one or two, but two names leapt straight to mind.

One other difference between this and the Jund deck is that this deck doesn’t need to stock the graveyard. Being able to select anything for Mimeoplasm isn’t actually all that interesting compared to just winning, and there aren’t many situations where, if you have the game under control, you’ll need to repurpose the Mimeoplasm as into, like, a [mtg_card]Deathbringer Regent[/mtg_card] or [mtg_card]Noxious Gearhulk[/mtg_card]. This is good! It means a single card like Nihil Spellbomb or Bokuja Bog doesn’t destroy us.

So here’s our piles, with a special note for each creature that can be fed to the Plasm with Skitters or Putrefax. Note that this is a shell – there’s going to be a lot of stuff that’s probably better and easier depending on things like your mana base or your pre-existing collection.

The Combo Kill

[mtg_card]Buried Alive[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Wonder[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Putrefax[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Corpse Connoisseur[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Deadbridge Chant[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Jarad’s Orders[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Mage’s Guile[/mtg_card]

Here’s your basic combo. With a Skitters or Putrefax in the graveyard, and a creature whose power is 6 or 5 (respectively) or higher, from your graveyard or anyone else’s, you cast the Mimeoplasm, and immediately serve for lethal damage. The Mage’s Guile is to protect the Plasm, the Chant, Order, Connosieur and Buried Alive are there to stock your graveyard in a not-uncontrolled fashion. You could use a lot of things in those spaces, of course.

Mana Advancement

[mtg_card]Spring//Mind[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Sakura-Tribe Elder[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Rampant Growth[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Cultivate[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Kodama’s Reach[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Shefet Monitor[/mtg_card]*, [mtg_card]Bounty of the Luxa[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Farhaven Elf[/mtg_card]

Mostly unremarkable, but the Shefet Monitor can get you some utility lands if you want them, and also it’s 6 power. The Farhaven Elf is a decent little speedbump to encourage opponents to over-extend.

Board Holders

[mtg_card]Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Spiritmonger[/mtg_card]*, [mtg_card]Sagu Mauler[/mtg_card]*, [mtg_card]Walker of the Grove[/mtg_card]*, [mtg_card]Ravenous Baloth[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Reaper of the Wilds[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Ripjaw Raptor[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Vizier of Many Faces[/mtg_card]

Teferi, if you haven’t played with him, is a creature of overwhelming control. He slows your opponents down and give you a lot of safety for doing things like pulling off your own combos. Other creatures, like Ripjaw and Reaper are just there to hold the ground, same as the Baloth. You want creatures that you can get some value out of wrathing away. Sagu Mauler and Spiritmonger are both really big, scary threats that force opponents to over-extend if they want to try and get through, and are usually cheap enough that they can stall the game out.

Board Clearers

[mtg_card]Bontu’s Last Reckoning[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Crux of Fate[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Languish[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Bane of the Living[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Yahenni’s Expertise[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]River’s Rebuke[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Crush of Tentacles[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Cyclonic Rift[/mtg_card]

Obviously, obviously, if you have a [mtg_card]Damnation[/mtg_card] it goes here. Or a Crush of Tentacles, for example. What you want here are board sweepers that are cheap enough to fire off before you Mimeoplasm for a kill (and Bontu’s being 3 is good for that). [mtg_card]Toxic Deluge[/mtg_card] does that, too. Bane, you can go for a mid-combat board-sweep and then untap into a win.

Spot Control

[mtg_card]Mockery of Nature[/mtg_card]*, [mtg_card]Noxious Gearhulk[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Wickerbough Elder[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Putrefy[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Sultai Charm[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Ainok Survivalist[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Duress[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Lay Bare The Heart[/mtg_card]

Another package of things you’ll use if you want them: The Mockery of Nature, for example, is nice because it interacts with Ravenous Baloth, Farhaven Elf, and the combo as well. I’m not wild about the Ainok or the Elder, either – they’re just useful examples of ways to deal with specific problems.

Hang on why didn’t I put [mtg_card]Reclamation Sage[/mtg_card] here? Well, hell, I’ve already made the graphic.

Countermagic

[mtg_card]Stubborn Denial[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Spell Pierce[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Turn Aside[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Remand[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Mana Leak[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Disallow[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Mystic Snake[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Silumgar’s Command[/mtg_card]

Use what you like. Daze and Force of Will, for example, would be really good. Counterspell, if your mana base can support it. Stubborn Denial and Turn Aside are my favourites here, as ways to protect the Big Plasm on the way to the face.

Velocity

[mtg_card]Visions of Beyond[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Quicken[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Opt[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Whispers of the Muse[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Hieroglyphic Illumination[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Dissenter’s Deliverance[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Think Twice[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Strategic Planning[/mtg_card]

Now, I straight up just like having cards that fill in my mana in the late game and can fill in extra purpose.

Card Advantage

[mtg_card]Mulldrifter[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Krosan Tusker[/mtg_card]*, [mtg_card]Eternal Witness[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Harmonize[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Jace the Living Guildpact[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Fact or Fiction[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Deep Analysis[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Forbidden Alchemy[/mtg_card]

And here’s a basic assortment of ways to Get More Cards.

The Final Deck

And here’s what it looks like, in total:

[d title=”Jund Vomit” style=”embedded”]Commander
1 The Mimeoplasm

Creatures
1 Sagu Mauler
1 Aethersnipe
1 Mulldrifter
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Ravenous Baloth
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Spiritmonger
1 Vizier of Many Faces
1 Wonder
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Mystic Snake
1 Reaper of the Wilds
1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
1 Shefet Monitor
1 Eternal Witness
1 Putrefax
1 Ainok Survivalist
1 Ripjaw Raptor
1 Bane of the Living
1 Noxious Gearhulk
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Mockery of Nature
1 Walker of the Grove

Spells
1 Buried Alive
1 Quicken
1 Crux of Fate
1 Jace, the Living Guildpact
1 Bontu’s Last Reckoning
1 Mana Leak
1 Corpse Connoisseur
1 Cultivate
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Remand
1 Yahenni’s Expertise
1 Turn Aside
1 Deep Analysis
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Jarad’s Orders
1 Harmonize
1 River’s Rebuke
1 Silumgar’s Command
1 Deadbridge Chant
1 Kodama’s Reach
1 Spring/Mind
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Spell Pierce
1 Whispers of the Muse
1 Hieroglyphic Illumination
1 Visions of Beyond
1 Think Twice
1 Dissenter’s Deliverance
1 Putrefy
1 Lay Bare the Heart
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Bounty of the Luxa
1 Opt
1 Duress
1 Disallow
1 Sultai Charm
1 Strategic Planning
1 Rampant Growth
1 Languish
1 Mage’s Guile

Lands
1 Temple of Malady
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Temple of Mystery
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Lumbering Falls
1 Hissing Quagmire
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Opulent Palace
9 Island
6 Swamp
6 Forest[/d]