Oops, All Spells! (Formerly The Rogue Hermit)

[phazonmutant]

Here's a deck idea from the Gatecrash spoilers. There's two "Hermit Druids" in the set, how can we abuse them?

This deck has evolved significantly from the initial list (posted below). There's a great variety of ways to build the deck, and the optimal build is still being discovered.
To the best of my knowledge, this is the most optimal core from among different builds like TallMen+Mox Opal, TallMen+Culling, Tutorless, Land Grant, LED-less.

Core (39):
4 Undercity Informer
3 Balustrade Spy
4 Living Wish
4 Chrome Mox
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
3 Kill Cards (e.g. Azami, Lady of Scrolls; Laboratory Maniac; Angel of Glory's Rise)
3 Narcomoeba
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Dread Return

In addition to this package, there's a large variety of different cards that you can add. The recommended additions for maximum consistency in turning a man into a kill:
1 Narcomoeba
1 Bridge From Below

This allows you to combo even if a Narcomoeba and another combo piece are in your hand (~5% of games).

The best mana package so far has included:
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Summoner's Pact
1 Wild Cantor

This package gives you 4 more G Initial Mana Sources and 1 color-fixing source. Because this deck can't run Land Grant, this package is suggested for fixing colors and adding IMSs.

From there, there's a few slots (~6-10) to add more protection, more rituals, or more fixing.
Cards to consider:
Infernal Tutor
Tinder Wall
Rite of Flame
Manamorphose
Cabal Therapy
Pact of Negation
Unmask


My current list:
4 Chrome Mox
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual

4 Summoner's Pact
1 Wild Cantor
1 Angel of Glory's Rise
1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
1 Laboratory Maniac
4 Narcomoeba
1 Bridge From Below
1 Dread Return
4 Cabal Therapy

4 Undercity Informer
3 Balustrade Spy
4 Living Wish
3 Infernal Tutor

// Sideboard
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Swamp
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Balustrade Spy
1 Wild Cantor
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Wispmare
4 Nature's Claim
3 Goblin Charbelcher



-- original post --

I think the best base is Mono-B Belcher. After tweaking a couple of different builds, this seems to be the most consistant:
// Mana
4 Chrome Mox
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mox Opal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Cabal Ritual

// Enablers
4 Balustrade Spy
4 Undercity Informer
4 Infernal Tutor
2 Street Wraith

// Tall Men
4 Phyrexian Walker
4 Shield Sphere
2 Ornithopter

// Combo Pieces
1 Angel of Glory's Rise
1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
1 Laboratory Maniac
3 Narcomoeba
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Dread Return

I tried out a build that cut the LEDs and Infernal Tutors for more Street Wraiths and a Land Grant package, but Mox Opal was less consistant and you had to mulligan more to find the combo pieces. This build is a little short on IMSs though.

The raw turn kill numbers (for all the different builds I tested):
1: 6 (29%)
2: 3 (14%)
3: 7 (33%)
4+: 5 (24%)

Keep in mind this was on the play, with untuned lists, and almost certainly poor mulliganing. I feel like the deck has a lot of potential, but I'm not sure where to go from here. Give this list a spin! It's pretty silly.