Spikes

Any Spikes deck - builds around Hardened Scales - got some nice new cards to play with.

Bristly Bill, Spine Sower in particular has great synergy with Scales.
It gets even better when paired with the second new card :

Botanical Brawler
This card has hidden potential imo because he gets stronger and benefits from Scales while simply continuing to put your Spikes on your other creatures, like Walking Ballista or Dusk Legion Duelist

Scales + Bill + Brawler can get you a huge Brawler in no time.
You can play a fetchland on your turn and put two +1/+1 counters on BOTH Bill and the Brawler, then,
during opponent's turn, crack the fetchland and put another two +1/+1 counters on both Bill and the Brawler.

I currently have just 1 Bill in my deck but he's so good I think I may have to run at least two of them.

The deck seems to handle opposing creature/permanent decks alright, combo is another matter, hence the Mindbreak Trap in the SB.
Comments and suggestions welcome.


//CC0
4 Walking Ballista

//CC1
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Hardened Scales


//CC2
4 Once Upon a Time
4 Luminarch Aspirant
4 Botanical Brawler
2 Dusk Legion Duelist
1 Bristly Bill, Spine Sower
1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch

//CC3
3 Knight of Autumn
3 Bloated Contaminator
1 Rishkar, Peema Renegade

//CC4
1 Vivien, Arkbow Ranger
1 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants

//Lands
4 Windswept Heath
4 Savannah
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Forest
2 Plains
2 Flooded Strand
1 Gaea's Cradle

//Sideboard
4 Mindbreak Trap
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Knight of Autumn
1 Agatha's Soul Cauldron

+2 Heliod, Sun-Crowned. It goes infinite with Walking Ballista and has synergies with some of the other creatures.

This deck has evolved from an aggro deck into an aggro-combo deck with the help of Heliod, Sun-Crowned and both mesh very well together.

Heliod, Sun-Crowned + Walking Ballista can deal infinite damage and gain infinite life in the process but may take some time to set up.
Heliod, Sun-Crowned + Spike Feeder is infinite life gain and can be had as soon as T3.

I added 2 Enlightened Tutor
They are card loss alright but that doesn't matter if they end the game immediately after.
ET can go fetch Heliod and/or Ballista.

I like Bristly Bill, Spine Sower very much because he can be an excellent T2 drop.
T1 Hierarch > T2 Bill > Fetchland > crack Fetchland = 4/4 Bill for 2 mana
His 5 mana ability is an outlier but is manageable in this deck and potentially very powerful and means he still has value when played later in the game.

I replaced the fourth Spike Feeder with a Green Sun's Zenith which in turn makes the addition of a single Scavenging Ooze worthwhile.

This leaves me with two spots to fill which are currently taken by 2 Mother of Runes

As always, feedback and suggestions welcome.


//CC0
4 Walking Ballista

//CC1
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Hardened Scales
2 Mother of Runes
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
1 Green Sun's Zenith

//CC2
4 Luminarch Aspirant
4 Botanical Brawler
2 Bristly Bill, Spine Sower
1 Scavenging Ooze

//CC3
3 Spike Feeder
3 Knight of Autumn
2 Heliod, Sun-Crowned

//Lands
4 Windswept Heath
4 Savannah
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Forest
2 Plains
2 Flooded Strand
1 Horizon Canopy

When it first got spoiled, I was wondering about the possible combination of Evolution Witness and Luminarch Aspirant, but it might be too slow. One nice thing is that all your combo pieces are permanents that could be returned, but not sure it is worth it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by H

When it first got spoiled, I was wondering about the possible combination of Evolution Witness and Luminarch Aspirant, but it might be too slow. One nice thing is that all your combo pieces are permanents that could be returned, but not sure it is worth it.

---

That mechanic may work in Commander but looks too slow for Legacy. The bar is really set by cards like Sevinne's Reclamation.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by H

When it first got spoiled, I was wondering about the possible combination of Evolution Witness and Luminarch Aspirant, but it might be too slow. One nice thing is that all your combo pieces are permanents that could be returned, but not sure it is worth it.

---

Evolution Witness combined with Bill and something like a fetchland or Wasteland sounds pretty strong, actually.

You should probably also run Agatha's Soul Cauldron.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Barook

You should probably also run Agatha's Soul Cauldron.

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I probably should try that out.
With the addition of Enlightened Tutor this could be worth it.

-1 Mother of Runes

//CC0 - 4
4 Walking Ballista

//CC1 - 17
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Hardened Scales
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Mother of Runes
1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
1 Green Sun's Zenith

//CC2 - 12
4 Luminarch Aspirant
4 Botanical Brawler
2 Bristly Bill, Spine Sower
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Agatha's Soul Cauldron

//CC3 - 8
3 Spike Feeder
3 Knight of Autumn
2 Heliod, Sun-Crowned

//Lands - 19
4 Windswept Heath
4 Savannah
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Forest
2 Plains
2 Flooded Strand
1 Horizon Canopy

Innkeeper's talent may be worth a look.