Chen_Chen_CHN was Poisoned!!! A look into Scars Block Constructed

Block Constructed is one of the easiest ways to make profit on Magic Online. The startup costs are typically low, since there are no Jaces, Primeval Titans, or other cards close to that price in the format. In fact, the deck I'm going to advocate costs a total of around 20 tickets.

Right now, somewhere between 3 and 5 MODO daily events are run each day for block constructed (I know, the name is kinda misleading). For 6 tickets to enter, you get 6 packs of scars for going 3-1, and 11 for 4-0. If you don't actually care about the math involved, feel free to skip ahead to the decklists, but I'm going to quickly show how awesome this prize structure is.

Now, assuming you're a coin flip in every round, you're going to 4-0 1 out of every 16 times and 3-1 4 out of 16 times. This means you're expected winnings are (11+6*4)/16=35/16=2.1875 packs per event. For an entry fee of 6 tickets, this means that if packs are worth 2.74 tickets, you'd be breaking even.

In reality, however, you should be way ahead of breaking even. For starters, packs of Scars are going for pretty much exactly 4 tickets as of writing this. Plus, since block constructed is a reletively unknown and irrelevent format, many of the people playing in these events don't really know what they're doing, meaning that a prepared player is going to be favored in every match instead of being a coin flip.

The format itself is also more interesting than you might think. With all the artifacts and mana fixing available, a lot of different decks and color combinations are possible. The most popular decks right now include mono red, with RB and RW varients, mono blue, UW control, and UG control. Aggresive decks have a lot of problems to overcome in the format, since the cheap creatures aren't that great. Also, Contagion Clasps fit into every deck in the format, which has the notable side effect of making mana myr unplayable. Planeswalkers, most notably Elspeth, are also rather difficult to deal with profitably, although Volition Reigns is an extremely powerful answer

However, as the title would suggest, the deck I recommend for this format is the following:

Poison | The Rusty Machete

30 Creatures:  
4 Plague Stinger
4 Blight Mamba
4 Ichorclaw Myr
4 Necropede
4 Hand of the Praetors
4 Putrefax
4 Corpse Cur
2 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon

6 Spells:  
2 Untamed Might
4 Grasp of Darkness

24 Lands:  
12 Forest
12 Swamp

15 Sideboard:  
3 Mimic Vat
4 Slice in Twain
4 Ichor Rats
3 Contagion Clasp
1 Untamed Might

This deck is pretty straightforward. In reality, you have 4 Putrefax and 56 other cards that hopefully can combine to deal the other 5 poison. Almost all of the commonly played removal spells in the format are sorcery speed: Arrest, Skinrender, Volition Reigns, Venser+Stag, and Sunblast Angel being the big ones. Tumble Magnet is really the only main obsticle to Putrefax getting in for at least some damage, and I honestly believe that the 'Fax is the single most powerful card in the format. As for the rest of the deck, Hand of the Praetors is an obvious 4 of. Skithiryx acts as Putrefaxes 5 and 6, although only dealing 4 means 2 attacks alone aren't enough. The Corpse Curs are best at being extra Putrefaxes, but can also simply be +1 creature when trying to get critical mass to kill with Untamed Might. The full 16 2 drops give you the maximum chance of playing a guy on turn 2 and getting in for at least a couple poison. Grasp of Darkness is simply the best possible removal spell, and Untamed Might can randomly get you free wins where no other card could.

The sideboard is not 100% ideal as of now. I know for a fact that 4 Slice in Twain is correct, since in the matchups where it's good you want as many as possible. Mimic Vat is very strong at beating the decks that bring in a bunch of creature removal but not much artifact removal. Ichor Rats and Contagion Clasp are also good vs. the decks that make it difficult to force through damage in combat. Lastly, the additional Untamed Might is good vs. decks that don't have instant speed answers to the card.

So far, I've played this deck in 3 daily events, going 3-1 in all of them, with my losses all involving multiple Skinrenders (sometimes Venser). I probably should have 4-0'd the first daily as well, but played my 2 drops in the wrong order. As a result I possibly missed a damage and lost the game with my opponent at 9 poison.

The deck is extremely favored against all of the slow control decks in the format. The red decks can kill your dudes, but Putrefaxes and Corpse Curs will kill them eventually, and none of their threats actually do anything since they have to play defensively. The non-red decks are pretty bad at dealing with Hand of the Praetors, who can dish out several poison counters without even attacking. Certain decks, such as mono blue, are almost a bye, and the control decks are so popular right now people have started tuning their decks to win the control mirrors, making poison an even better choice. Elspeth is an issue I haven't yet figured out how to deal with, as making 3 tokens makes dealing damage on the ground impossible, but they still need a strong follow up to end the game before you crack through the defenses.

Plus you get the added benefit of seeing the message "(opponent's name) was poisoned!!!" every time you win a game, which is pretty awesome/tilting depending on your perspective.

The other candidate for the best deck in the format is UW control.

UW Control | The Rusty Machete

7 Creatures:  
3 Glimmerpoint Stag
2 Sunblast Angel
2 Myr Battlesphere

26 Spells:  
3 Venser, the Sojourner
3 Elspeth Tirel
4 Contagion Clasp
4 Revoke Existence
2 Arrest
4 Stoic Rebuttal
2 Tumble Magnet
4 Volition Reins

27 Lands:  
4 Seachrome Coast
12 Island
11 Plains

15 Sideboard:  
4 Halt Order
2 Dispense Justice
2 Tumble Magnet
3 Disperse
3 Precursor Golem
1 Elspeth Tirel

This deck simply goes bigger than every other deck in the format. Against the other control decks, you have 4 Stoic Rebuttal, 4 Volition Reins, 6 Planeswalkers, and "value" creatures in the form of Sunblast and Battlesphere. Venser + Glimmerpoint Stag is an answer for essentially every relevent permanent in the format, using Venser to blink your stag, then using the stag to blink your opponents permanent which comes back on their end of turn. Arrest, Tumble Magnet, Revoke, and Contagion Clasp give you a nice variety of removal to complement your end game. Cards like Koth and Putrefax can be nearly unbeatable if played at the right times, but the deck has answers to both, and it is definitely a solid choice if you want to get started playing Block Constructed.

If you're tired of staring down Jaces in standard, or simply looking to get started playing Magic Online, Block Constructed might just be the format you're looking for. The message "Chen_Chen_CHN was poisoned!!!" alone makes it worthwhile.