Note: I wrote this weeks ago but it never posted. . . . ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
The Mind of X. Have you ever had a hard time deciding which deck you wanted to play?
Have you ever wanted a deck that doesn’t care about the Meta?
Have you ever wanted to play with a full play set of Tarmogoyf for only $2?
I believe that I have composed a deck that will do all of this and more. It all started a few days ago when I read Mark Gottlieb’s article on the Mothership about Oracle changes. Deep into his piece he mentions a card that I hadn’t thought of for quite awhile. It started me thinking and that’s when the fun started.
What’s that card?
New Shared Fate Oracle wording:
If a player would draw a card, that player removes the top card of an opponent's library from the game face down with a fate counter on it instead.
Each player may look at and play each card with a fate counter on it he or she removed from the game.
The new text doesn’t really abuse a mechanic of take advantage of any loopholes. The only other mention of “fate counter” is on Oblivion Stone and it does nothing to cards that exist outside of the game. What reading this did was fix my mental picture of the card. My memory had blurred Shared Fate into its function not its actual text. I thought of it as saying “Play each others decks”.
Upon reading the new text I had an epiphany. The cards from the other deck are not in your hand. Discarding is not an option. So if I have a discard spell in my deck I can let my opponent use it via Shared Fate and have no real concern. You see the real secret of playing Shared Fate successfully is have a deck that cannot win on it’s own. Once Shared is in play I get to win with your deck. That’s right my $0.52 Shared Fate card lets me play all of your $50.00 Goyfs.
When Shared Fate debuted it had some issues.
First came getting to it consistently. Diabolic Tutor is an option but not a good one. What’s wrong it? Well after Shared Fate is in play your opponent could the Tutor to get one of his own cards. The “search your library” phrase bypasses the draw blockage of Shared Fate. They actually can search the good deck and get what ever they may need. Including any enchantment answer they may possess. All of the Tutors where to versatile and gave our opponent an advantage post Fate. Now we have two more narrow options. Idyllic Tutor only gets Enchantments but a Bitterblossom in play is enough to beat us even after we Share Fates. The Transmute mechanic plays out pretty well since it only grabs a 5cc spell in an age where a 5cc card better say I win on it. Idyllic Tutor will probably make the Sideboard as extra redundancy when we face a deck that has none of its own enchantments.
Second and probably more important is how we handle the cards that our opponent draws before we get to play Shared Fate. The options are many and diverse. This is where the text of the card really plays an important part. Because of the safety from discard we enjoy after Shared Fate is played I choose to include some discard effects. In that vein Thoughtseize is an auto play. But even Thoughtseize falls short to a turn one Kird Ape.
So I wanted to include some removal but here I have to be careful. If I put in to good of a removal package I can end up giving them the power to stop their own deck. I ended up slipping in both Funeral Charm and Piracy Charm. They fit in with both discard and removal of most early drops. I know Kird Ape is still an issue but maybe I’ll draw their Incinerate or something. Insist and Damnation are pretty useful here as well.
I am playing with Blue of course so I did think about pulling a little bounce into the deck but then realized that all bounce cards say “to their owners hand”. That would mean I could draw and cast their Chameleon Colossus but they could use my bounce card to put it in their own hand and then play it for themselves. I did want to include some counter spells and some card draw. The counters are Mana Leak and Rune Snag as they can be played around with a little patience post Shared Fate. I am currently slipping Perplex in the Sideboard as well. I think it’s a pretty powerful counter when my opponent is facing a limited number of cards but I don’t want it main because of the plethora of 3cc’s that can destroy my plans.
In the card draw I wanted Instant speed so I can leave mana up for the counters. Once again the fact that discarding could not be done with the cards earned by Shared Fate help. Both Catalog and Thirst for knowledge fill this role well. I really wish that they said target player like Compulsive Research. The discard part basically means that my opponent won’t play them after the switch and if one is still in my hand after the discard is a non-penalty.
In the mana area I did toy around with some acceleration so that I could play Shared Fate sooner but I really felt that it was lacking. On the back burner right now is the idea to change the card draw for accelerants but that is for another day. About the only accelerant I have used is Chrome Mox. It fits well in any Single Card Strategy. The lands of course are full of money cards like Watery Grave, Hallowed Fountain, Godless Shrine, Flooded Strand, and Polluted Delta.
Well, if you have laughed yourself into a coma yet here is the list.
It’s Polite to Share
4 Shared Fate
4 Brainspoil
4 Thoughtseize
4 Blackmail
3 Piracy Charm
3 Funeral Charm
4 Rune Snag
4 Mana Leak
4 Thirst For Knowledge
4 Catalog
4 Chrome Mox
4 Watery Grave
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Godless Shrine
3 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
2 Island
There it is. That’s how my mind worked through this one. Hope you’ve enjoyed it
Tags: Classroom X Shared Fate Combo
Related to:
Magic: the Gathering
