n.M.o. [New Minotaur Order]

[Michael Keller]

The New Minotaur Order



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:



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.