A few weeks ago around the new year, I was looking through some older cards of mine hoping for an inspiration for a deck. That’s when I came across my old pair of Kiln Fiends that I had drafted in a Conspiracy: Take the Crown draft over the summer. I wanted to make them great and a spotlight of a deck. So I threw in cards that would make it bigger and unblockable. Confidently, I took it to my play group, and attempted to win with it.
Well, forgetting that four of any card isn’t enough to guarantee it pops up in a game, I found a flaw in the early version of the deck. However, since Kiln Fiend’s conditional +3/+0 ability is so vital and necessary for the deck to win, I had no idea where to go with this deck. I thought for sure that I would have to scrap this deck. 
It was after my dedicated “last game of the deck” that I was given the suggestion to add in some Nivix Cyclops. After all, the cyclops has the exact same +3/+0 boost in the same circumstances. I also was advised to play a play set of dispel, and a playset of apostle’s blessing so that I could protect the one thing that could win me the game.
I tried it out, and the deck worked phenomenally. Each game I played after making the change, I was able to draw either the Cyclops or the Kiln Fiend. The once scrappy deck became a powerhouse, and it was able to beat some of my actually good decks that I had put a lot of effort into. As a result of all the effort that we had put into a weird deck idea, we had built a deck that has consistently held its own against real, non-pauper decks.
To truly see what monster of a deck we had built, a couple of the friends who helped me build it came to cheer me on, as I participated at a random little tournament at my local game store. Although I did not win first, I was able to win fifth place, and a few booster packs. Although winning some games was fun, what was better was the experience building it. I had the support of all my friends (those who play Magic at least) as they told me some cards I should or should take out. Now I have a deck that wins a lot and that is also fun to play even when it doesn’t work.
In case you actually want to see this deck list, follow this link to my tappedout.net account where I posted the deck list, and also a little bit on how to play it. Thank you for reading my story about building a cool deck. Which deck would you like to see me cover sometime in the future? Your feedback would help me to produce the posts that you would like to see.
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