Mystic Hippo

by Jessie on 13 June 2014

Main Deck (60 cards)

Artifacts (4)


Enchantments (7)


Land (22)

Sideboard (0 cards)

No sideboard found.

The owner of this deck hasn't added a sideboard, they probably should...

Submit a list of cards below to bulk import them all into your sideboard. Post one card per line using a format like "4x Birds of Paradise" or "1 Blaze", you can even enter just the card name by itself like "Wrath of God" for single cards.


Deck Description

Main idea is to Nuke their lands. Pretty simple idea. If they have no lands, they can't play anything. It is a douche way to win, I know.

First step: Play Spreading Algae on your opponent's land.
Second step: Turn their land into a swamp.
Third step: Tap their swamp, destroying it.
Fourth step: Repeat.

How to Play

Breakdown of the cards:

Mystic Compass. For one mana, you can tap it to make one of your opponent's land a swamp. This has two purposes. First, it makes your opponent's land a swamp and that messes with his mana base. It limits what your opponent can play. Second, it makes it to where you can put your Spreading Algae on his land.

Reef Shaman. He is brutal. Tap him to make one of your opponent's land a swamp. Same as Mystic Compass, but he is a creature, and it cost no mana to activate. Again, as with Compass, use Reef Shaman to turn their land into a swamp. It disrupts their mana base, and it allows Spreading Algae to be put on his land.

Copy Enchantment has two purposes here. To copy Spreading Algae (essentially making you have 7 copies of Spreading Algae in the deck). AND to copy Convincing Mirage. It is nasty with Spreading Algae. Put a Spreading Algae on your opponent's land. Then copy the Spreading Algae with Copy Enchantment and put Copy Enchantment on another opponent's land. Now, nuke their first land, and Copy Enchantment stays Spreading Algae even though the first Spreading Algae went to my hand. THEN nuke the second land with Copy Enchantment and it TOO goes back to your hand. Fun stuff.

Spreading Algae. Is the main card in the deck. It is used to destroy their lands. Can only be played on Swamps...that is where Reef Shaman, Convincing Mirage, and Mystic Compass comes into play. Use them to turn your opponent's lands into swamp types. Then cast Spreading Algae on them.

Dizzy Spell. Another card with 2 purposes. No crap, if you can make it where cards in your deck serve more than 1 purpose, then you are doing something right. It can be used to reduce an attacking creature's power. That can help reduce the damage you receive and make it to where the attacking creature can be blocked without harming your own creature. But it's second purpose is the important one: it searches for Spreading Algae. If you don't have Spreading Algae, you will lose the game. Dizzy Spell, for 3 mana, puts Spreading Algae into your hand.

Dream's Grip also has 2 purposes. You can pay 2 mana and tap one permanent AND untap another permanent. Of course you are going to be wanting to tap their enchanted land, destroying it. But also check out Reef Shaman. Look at the combo there!! Looks like this: Have Reef Shaman out on the board, and Dream's Grip and Spreading Algae in your hand:
1) Tap Reef Shaman to make their mountain a swamp.
2) Cast Spreading Algae on their mountain/swamp.
3) Pay 2 mana to cast Dream's Grip. First, destroy their swamp (tap one permanent). Secondly, Untap the Reef Shaman (untap one permanent).
4) Retap Reef Shaman and put Spreading Algae (it goes back to your hand every time a land is destroyed) back onto ANOTHER land.

Mind Games. Another card with 2 purposes. Tap creature, artifact, or land. Same principle. Use it to tap an enchanted land. But also it used to tap their creatures, preventing damage. It has buyback. So, for 4 mana, each turn, you can keep tapping their lands over and over and over.

Temporal Spring. Another card with 2 purposes. You spending all of this time trying to destroy their lands...your opponent will still eventually get out a big threat, that can win them the game. That is where Temporal Spring comes into play. It lets you return any permanent on top of someone's deck. So, they have a 5/5 creature with flying coming at you, simply bounce it to their library. Hopefully, you will destroy enough lands that they won't have the mana to recast the 5/5 creature. The second purpose, it can bounce your stuff too!!!! So, if they try to nuke your Reef Shaman, or the Mystic Compass, or your Spreading Algae...just bounce it to your hand!

Deck Tags

  • Land Destruction
  • Spreading Algae
  • Blue
  • Green

Deck at a Glance

Social Stats

6
Likes

This deck has been viewed 3,587 times.

Mana Curve

Mana Symbol Occurrence

0300013

Card Legality

  • Not Legal in Standard
  • Not Legal in Modern
  • Legal in Vintage
  • Legal in Legacy

Deck discussion for Mystic Hippo

First off. NO, I will not add:
Rishadan Port (115 dollars a piece)
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (35 dollars a piece)

Those cards would be brutal!!

Areas i need help with:
1) Do I need drawing power?
2) What is the correct mixture of cards that change basic land type/cards that tap lands?
I have 10 cards that change land types and 9 cards that tap lands. Is that enough/too much for Spreading Algae?
3) Is my Invisible Stalker/Dingus Egg viable win conditions?
4) Do i need more threat removal?


Any advice is helpful.

1
Posted 13 June 2014 at 16:11

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1) As the deck is, yes. Last Thoughts to cipher on the Hexmage would be a remedy. But if you do more of the changes I suggest, card draw is probably not needed (because I added more reusable cards)

2) That is very hard to estimate and I think only playtesting will show you the right mix. However, having excess tappers means you can use them to stall the game until you draw your turners, while drawing too many turners means you drew dead cards.

3) As it is: Not really. Your opponent can always opt to not play any lands anymore and then you are stuck with a dude that needs 20 turns to kill. It might be sufficient if you have that time but, at least under tournament rules, there is a time limit.

4) Probably, this is tricky, though. Adding more threat removal might keep you from destroying lands which in turn means you will need even more removal because the opponent plays the bigger threats now. That's why I suggested Trygon Predator and Sigil of Sleep: They add removal in key areas but more importantly: They can be used repeatedly AND help out in other areas (Predator is an additional win condition for example).

1
Posted 13 June 2014 at 16:59

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Easiest but expensive (money wise) way turn opponent's lands into Swamps would be Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.

You need to tap opponent's lands in order to activate Spreading Algae, however, if you use cards like Dream's Grip, you don't get any card advantage. And Opposition? With just 7 creatures in the deck?
I would use Icy Manipulator over Mind Games (paying 4 once and then 1 for every use is better than both paying 1 once and losing the card or paying 4 for each activation) and replace Dizzy Spell and Opposition with something else. What about Powersink? Nasty, eh? Good old counterspell that has been in the game since the beginning but everybody forgot about, counter their spells and force them to tap out at the same time, triggering Spreading Algea. If they want to kill you physically, you know that your deck works. And another favourite of mine that nobody plays with: Pygmy Hippo! Nice little fella also forces the opponent to tap out and you even get that mana (and with mana burn gone you don't risk anything).

Similarily, running Convincing Mirage just to make Spreading Algae work once doesn't get you anywhere either. This is where Tomb of Yawgmoth would come in. If it's too expensive for you, I would at least up the Mystic Compass to 4 before adding any Convincing Mirage.

I would run a few Trygon Predator in case the opponent manages to bring some artifact mana into play which would ruin your day. It won't hurt to have some extra victory conditions either.

Not so sure about the Stalker. He is almost useless as long as you don't have anything to put on him. You could replace him with the Predators. Or, if you keep him, here are some suggestions to make him useful:
Hidden Strings can trigger Algae repeatedly. Last Thoughts generates the card advantage this deck needs (then you can afford to use throwaway cards like Mirage). Sigil of Sleep will stop any creature beatdown the opponent might be able to sneak in dead. You could also throw an equipment on the Stalker, Umezawa's Jitte would be nasty (but again, has a 30 dollar tag), a Sword of War and Peace should end the game quickly.

Finally, just in case you plan to proxy this deck and thus don't have to care about money, you could use Rishadan Port to tap opponent's lands :)

EDIT:
Sorry, you underposted me :)

1
Posted 13 June 2014 at 16:22

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Yep, i thought of the Rishadan Port and Urborg immediately.

But 3 of each would run me: over 400 dollars.

And as is, the entire deck is 50 bucks.

But yeah...Port and Urborg would be brutal!

0
Posted 13 June 2014 at 17:01

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Question:
Pygmy Hippo: says, "Whenever Pygmy Hippo attacks and isn't blocked, you may have defending player activate a mana ability of each land he or she controls and empty his or her mana pool."

Is that a fancy way of saying tap all of his lands? Or as you said it, "tap out."

I see where some of the cards you suggested are great. Especially with Opposition. I knew only having 7 creatures weakened a great card like Opposition.

Plus...didn't even thing about the opponent simply not playing lands.

I never play tournaments, so time is not a problem.

Icy Manipulator...that card isn't what it use to be, but is still an amazing card. Here is the trouble I am having with it. Even Opposition, on Turn 4, you can use it (if you have untapped creatures). With Icy Manipulator, on Turn 4, you get just one Artifact on the board. That is it. Nothing else. And next turn your opponent just plays Smelt or something...and your entire 4th turn was wasted. On my 4th turn, ideally, I want to be nuking at least one of their lands...maybe even two if the cards go right. Which brings me to a rant...when I first started designing the deck I wanted the ability to tap their lands every single turn. And really, only Mind Games has the ability to tap their land the first turn (giving me huge speed advantage). The idea was for it to be suicidal...almost...stuff with one time uses like Mind Games/Convincing Mirage...just to have an all or nothing rush at the opponent. But decks like that either win fast/big or sizzle out. What you are suggesting is to make it more stable/consistent...but maybe less explosive.

Convincing Mirage is suppose to combo with Copy Enchantment. I mean, having both Convincing Mirage AND Spreading Algae is suppose to give more purpose/uses for Copy Enchantment. That way I don't have Copy Enchantment in the deck for just one card (which is a flawed idea, as you know, to have a card in the deck solely for one other card). Suppose to make me having Copy Enchantment in my hand be more versatile. But I do see where it is a weak card.

Having trouble, so far, thinking about removing Dizzy Spell...only because it is a sure fire method to get Spreading Algae. Since I got back into Magic, the last year or so, I have made sure I have search engines in ALL of my decks...realizing it a mistake that I made when I played in the past. 4 Spreading Algae cards plus 3 search cards is going to boost my odds greatly that I will get a Spreading Algae on the first 4 turns.

Hidden Stings was a card first suggested when making this deck. Hate to rip off a guy ( i added Dream's Grip instead), but that makes 2 people that suggest it. So, may see where I can put it.

Sword of War and Peace would be brutal in this deck..since it is designed to nuke their lands...in theory they will have lots of cards in their hands. Kind of pricey...which I have come to realize...this deck, properly built...is expensive. Ports, Urborgs, Swords, Copy Enchantments....

0
Posted 13 June 2014 at 19:53

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Wow but the hippo is essentially say ing tap out

0
Posted 21 June 2014 at 23:18

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And once the Hippo makes the opponent tap out his lands...spreading algae/copy enchantment destroy the opponent''s lands.

0
Posted 22 June 2014 at 00:12

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Yes, that was the idea. The Hippo is a great but underrated card, i don't understand why nobody ever played him. I mean, back in his time Winter orb decks were a thing but nobody ever playing Worb with Hippos.

1
Posted 22 June 2014 at 11:32

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I, back in the day did buy 4 Winter Orbs and 4 Mana Webs...but never did make a really decent deck with them.

0
Posted 22 June 2014 at 15:27

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There, 1st change over. Will test it, and go from there.

Still needs draw and bounce power.

But need to see what I need to take out.

0
Posted 13 June 2014 at 22:03

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Destroying all their lands? That's just cruel. YEAH!!!!

0
Posted 22 June 2014 at 19:58

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Hope you liked it.

1
Posted 22 June 2014 at 20:04

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I love you, Honey! (shameless spam because Jessie's my husband and I can assert my authoritah all over his junk): go view my first ever, newbie deck, kids!

0
Posted 04 July 2014 at 18:27

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Hello new person ( being polite (-)-(-) h

1
Posted 05 July 2014 at 06:06

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What an inventive deck. Reliable and flexible land destruction designed to destroy the soul of one's opponent. I really like how most of your cards have more than one use.

Continue making decks like these! You know what Magic is all about

1
Posted 11 July 2014 at 06:27

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Thanks, friend. :)

0
Posted 11 July 2014 at 18:38

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Power sink would be really funny in here. It would also add some control aspects to it. I saw this deck on the name. It's awesome. I'm also loving the versatility of the deck. The creature that breaks artifacts when it's not blocked is fun. I may have to try something like this some time. It looks like it would drive my friends nuts.

1
Posted 12 July 2014 at 05:45

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Power sink, that is the second time it is suggested, so def will add it! Take out one of the sorcery cards for it, maybe?

Changed. Thanks :)

0
Posted 12 July 2014 at 07:22

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Hey Jessie, have you thought about the card early frost from mirrodin?

0
Posted 25 December 2015 at 16:51

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Sadly, Jessie has stopped posting many months ago.

0
Posted 25 December 2015 at 19:12

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I didn't know that, sorry to hear:( thanks for letting me know!

0
Posted 26 December 2015 at 16:09

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