n.M.o. [New Minotaur Order]
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The New Minotaur Order
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In October of 1995, Homelands was released. Universally panned as the "worst Magic set of all time," Homelands became a complete bust as far as Magic expansions were concerned - especially as time went on. Typically, older cards from older sets have the upside of becoming better or more useful because of the massive influx of new printings, especially over the course of 20-plus years. One such card from Homelands follows this protocol:
Didgeridoo
Didgeridoo is a card that, since its printing, has summoned minotaurs from far and away to join battle at instant speed and for a bargain of three colorless mana. At one mana to cast, that seems very good. However, with all of the old minotaurs being relatively useless, the Didgeridoo has sat in the desert wasteland buried in a bunker:
https://i.imgur.com/vR1Lx4K.jpg
But now, it's back.
With the printing of Morophon, the Boundless, Didgeridoo becomes even more powerful. Functionally abusing this card means not only using it to its full extent, but avoiding complete and total dependence on it. With that being said, it's time to cheat some big-ass fucking creatures into play, Homelands-style:
n.M.o. - new Minotaur order - since 1995
//Main
4 Karn, the Great Creator
3 Lotus Petal
3 Serum Powder
3 Didgeridoo
3 Torpor Orb
4 Morophon, the Boundless
4 Boros Battleshaper
3 Phyrexian Dreadnought
2 Goblin Welder
2 Goblin Engineer
1 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Thoughtseize
3 Abrade
2 Enlightened Tutor
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Arid Mesa
3 Great Furnace
2 City of Traitors
2 Plateau
2 Badlands
1 Scrubland
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Mountain
//Sideboard
2 Pyroblast
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Dread of Night
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Didgeridoo
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Phyrexian Dreadnought
1 Torpor Orb
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Trinisphere
1 Pithing Needle
1 Zuran Orb
Go big or go home. Here is a list of card choices and synergies, most of which should make sense:
Didgeridoo
This card enables some incredibly broken starts. There are a multitude of ways to locate the card: Serum Powder, Enlightened Tutor, Goblin Engineer and Karn. All of these cards are very good on their own merit, and open up multiple avenues to find whatever the deck needs at any given time. Didgeridoo with fast mana can lead to ridiculously quick starts and can end the game in a hurry.
Serum Powder
This obviously helps you locate any of your combo pieces and, especially with the new mulligan rule, makes for a much better opportunity to find Didgeridoo in the opening seven. Serum Powder also has inherent synergy with Karn, because nothing is truly gone forever.
Karn, the Great Creator
Karn opens up so many avenues for this deck in particular. It's the most important card in the entire deck, hands down. Not only does it help you locate multiple combo pieces with Serum Powder, it shuts down decks reliant on artifacts. Karn also destroys Chalice, which is also very relevant. The sideboard has many options available that correlate to the main-deck, in addition to Lattice as an alternate win-condition.
Torpor Orb and Phyrexian Dreadnought
A powerful combination. Each piece of this combo can be located in a multitude of ways, as indicated above. Torpor Orb shuts down so many decks on its own - mainly tribal or aggro - such as Elves, Goblins, Death and Taxes and other similar strategies. Swords to Plowshares on Dreadnought is no longer a concern, especially with Karn being able to fetch the Dreadnought back from exile. A Serum Powder search for whatever the opening hand dictates is key, because if you don't need a certain piece to start and it's exiled, it can be retrieved later by Karn.
Morophon, the Boundless
One of the Outsiders of the n.M.o. This huge fucking creature will smash face, and pump up other minotaurs like Boros Battleshaper or your smaller creatures like Goblin Engineer or Welder. Morophon makes your other colored spells virtually free. Smash face.
Boros Battleshaper
Combat cold-cuts. This creature shuts down Marit Lage and other would-be attackers or blockers to smash in for five a turn. Battleshaper is the one true minotaur - one of the other Outsiders - that can end the game in a hurry if left unchecked.
Abrade
Yeah, Chalice crap isn't happening here. Karn nails that down, as well. Abrade takes out other annoying creatures and stalls the early game to land a big turn three and beyond.
Thoughtseize
Protection and disruption, especially against faster combo decks. Karn has merit against Storm, and fast mana helps. Thoughtseize slows the game down and opens up turns two to four.
Enlightened Tutor
Finds you any artifact combo piece you need.
Goblin Engineer
Finds you any artifact combo piece you need, and brings it back when needed (i.e. Didgeridoo, Orb or Dreadnought). It also brings back countered artifacts from Karn that might be of use.
Goblin Welder
Same as above, without the Entomb built in. Welder sucks up counters or removal early, which is exactly what you want.
Dread of Night
This becomes easier to find as a singleton out of the board with Enlightened Tutor or Serum Powder. Death and Taxes can be annoying, so this slows it down quite a bit.
That's it. Smash with minotaurs and join the n.M.o.
Re: n.M.o. [New Minotaur Order]
It’s still a work in progress. Lackey is too situational and harder to procure in the opener (when it’s really only optimal). Didgeridoo is available to get with multiple options.
The deck could, in theory, use one or two more Minotaurs or Changelings.
Re: n.M.o. [New Minotaur Order]
I’m rooting for you, very excited for reports. Minotaur soldiers with preeminent captain is definitely the better deck though.
Re: n.M.o. [New Minotaur Order]
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kinda
I’m rooting for you, very excited for reports. Minotaur soldiers with preeminent captain is definitely the better deck though.
Thanks, appreciate it.
I'm not sure how you can say that when there's really no empirical evidence or high-level results to back it up. I think both decks are entirely different in their approach. :)
Re: n.M.o. [New Minotaur Order]
Perfect! Just got my Didgeridoos, or three of them, to get started with Morowhatevah in Minotaurs. Now it appears a substantial amount of work has been done already, I'll keep reading here and maybe come with some ideas eventually. Thanks for posting!
Re: n.M.o. [New Minotaur Order]
I don't see how Morophon is good. It's a vanilla 6/6 lord that makes your Welders free, that's about it. Is that worth jumping through all the hoops? Boros Battleshaper just wins the game a lot of the time, pwning even Emrakul, Griselbrand and Marit Lage. It's clearly your #1 target. For a 2nd fat Minotaur, what about Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion (synergizes with Welding) or Neheb, the Eternal? They're slightly smaller but have useful abilities and are theoretically possible to hardcast.
I also don't see the synergy and point of running Dreadnought. It does nothing with Didgeridoo and Morophon and Minotaurs, it just works with Welder and the artifact tutors for Orbs. Torpor Orb has very little synergy with the rest of the deck (even a nonbo with Welder 2.0) and is really just there for Dreadnought. If you want to cram in a 2-card artifact combo plan B into the deck, would Painter's Servant+Grindstone just be better and more synergistic? Or HelmLine? (SB 4 Leyline + 1 tutorable Helm of Obedience)
Is it worth playing black just for Thoughtseize and making the manabase more vulnerable? (given that you're running Sol Lands and artifact lands, it's not easy to cram in consistent fixing for 3 colors)
Re: n.M.o. [New Minotaur Order]
I'm with FTW that Orb/Dreadnought combo seems a bit out of place with the rest of the deck. I don't see the synergy outside of them being artifacts.
This may be a radical suggestion, but have you thought about running Bringer of the White Dawn? It's free to cast with a Morphon on the field and can be cast fast with your mana base / Lotus Petals. Bringer of the White Dawn and Mindslaver would work pretty well within the rest of your shell. Maybe even swap the Serum Powder for Pentad Prism?
Re: n.M.o. [New Minotaur Order]
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jander78
I'm with FTW that Orb/Dreadnought combo seems a bit out of place with the rest of the deck. I don't see the synergy outside of them being artifacts.
This may be a radical suggestion, but have you thought about running
Bringer of the White Dawn? It's free to cast with a Morphon on the field and can be cast fast with your mana base /
Lotus Petals.
Bringer of the White Dawn and
Mindslaver would work pretty well within the rest of your shell. Maybe even swap the
Serum Powder for
Pentad Prism?
That's awesome. I think Chrome Mox might be worthwhile, in the event Bringer or other big creatures get stuck in hand. Chrome Mox with cards like Battleshaper turn into Plateaus, too.
At that point, do you need to run multiple Engineers and Welders?
Re: n.M.o. [New Minotaur Order]
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jander78
I'm with FTW that Orb/Dreadnought combo seems a bit out of place with the rest of the deck. I don't see the synergy outside of them being artifacts.
This may be a radical suggestion, but have you thought about running
Bringer of the White Dawn? It's free to cast with a Morphon on the field and can be cast fast with your mana base /
Lotus Petals.
Bringer of the White Dawn and
Mindslaver would work pretty well within the rest of your shell. Maybe even swap the
Serum Powder for
Pentad Prism?
Excellent suggestion, +1.
Re: n.M.o. [New Minotaur Order]
Putting Bringer of the White Dawn into play to follow up a Morophon is devastating.
Re: n.M.o. [New Minotaur Order]
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Michael Keller
That's awesome. I think Chrome Mox might be worthwhile, in the event Bringer or other big creatures get stuck in hand. Chrome Mox with cards like Battleshaper turn into Plateaus, too.
At that point, do you need to run multiple Engineers and Welders?
Chrome Mox is probably better than Prism. I really like Goblin Engineer, especially when it's paired with Bringer's ability, it's a tutor to get whatever you want in play.
Re: n.M.o. [New Minotaur Order]
Here are some random thoughts.
Trinket Mage getting Didgeridoo seems very valuable. It also gets Dreadnought, if that's still in. Or Grindstone, for that matter.
I like Neheb even without the Minotaur theme, in the right deck, seems good here. Can easily be hardcast too, which makes me think of a blood moon and/or trinisphere version.
Tahngarth, Talruum Hero seems pretty good too, getting rid of Arcanists, Delvers and other troublesome creatures.
With Morophon, Reaper King is easily cast which makes Painter's Servant pretty great and Engineer recurring Painter even better.
Re: n.M.o. [New Minotaur Order]
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pettdan
With Morophon,
Reaper King is easily cast which makes Painter's Servant pretty great and Engineer recurring Painter even better.
Reaper King is interesting. It's an artifact, so you can find it with any tutor or Weld it into play, is free to cast with Morophon, or turns other Morophons into Angel of Despairs. Even better with Painter's Servant + Grindstone combo.
Trinket Mage is also interesting, fetching Didgeridoo, Dreadnought and/or Grindstone. I'd be really tempted to play UWR instead of RWB, using blue for Trinket Mage and Brainstorm, which go a long way to improving consistency. If you're on the Dreadnought plan, you also gain Stifles (also useful outside the combo) and then can have a tutorable 1-of Torpor Orb for when you need it instead of runnign multiple maindeck Orbs (often dead card).
Re: n.M.o. [New Minotaur Order]
