Mutating Into Mythic Ranks of MTG Arena

March 29, 2022

I’ve stated unequivocally many times how Magic: The Gathering is hands down the best game ever created. I love me some tabletop roleplaying games including a lifelong affection for Dungeons & Dragons but at the end of the day it’s all about that cardboard crack, or digital crack thanks to MTG Arena — the free-to-play digital version of the OG collectible card game. Every so often when I get into a groove (and winning streak) I’ll share the decklist and thoughts here. Rather than updating the first of these posts as I sometimes do when I tweak a deck instead I’m starting from scratch here because this one is significantly different than its original version. Let’s get into it.

MTG Flash makes you king of the impossible

Most of my MTG Arena play takes place in the Standard format. Historic generally gives me the heebie jeebies because there’s so many degenerate combos not the least of which make my most hated archetype — white life gain with +1/+1 counters — reach new heights of depravity. My current favorite deck to play Standard is what I’ve been calling Deckna and I managed to dip a toe into Mythic rank with it but I could not get another deck off my mind and since the core of the list rotated out I can only play it in Historic.

When I revisited the deck, which I’ve dubbed BLUTate (because it’s mostly blue cards with a focus on the Mutate keyword — clever, right?) a whole new world opened up. Oddly enough this was not because access to older cards became available but instead because of several new cards introduced since this rotated out of Standard. The real key(word) to this deck is Flash, which I’ve come to feel is the No. 1 best keyword in MTG. If nothing else the power to summon creatures on your opponents’ turns exploits one of the game’s principles terrifically. I love when an opponent attacks my open field on turn 2 with something like the deplorable Soul Warden and BAM! Taken out by Cunning Nightbonder.

Earlier this week I experienced my greatest success with good ol’ BLUTate — achieving Mythic rank. Through playing Historic no less! After I graduated from Platinum Rank 1 I wasn’t even sure if I ought to play ranked matches at all so I could simply savor the accomplishment. But this wouldn’t be very gamer of me. BLUTate got me there so why not keep going? I’m in the 89% range for what it’s worth and loving each time I rack up another win. It’s particularly gratifying when playing against the life gain I loathe so much and other janky decks, especially when the opponent drops a snarky, “Good Game” before the match even gets under way.

The core of this deck remains true to its roots with the interaction between crucial cards playing a significant role. This excerpt from the original post holds true in this permutation as well.

“So many of the cards in this deck become tremendously more versatile and useful with Cunning Nightbonder. Mutating creatures or removing spells from the game completely become huge bombs strung together on crucial turns. The most important thing I learned playing this deck is patience. Flash means you don’t have to cast your spells until the very moment they’re needed most. This includes creating blockers for attacks, countering key spells from your opponent and in many ways keeping them confused, paranoid and on their toes. I won a game just today coming back from holding out at one point. Cunning Nightbonder and Slitherwisp make a devastating combination when all those lower cost cards that can’t be countered also deal 1 damage to the other player and draw you a card.”

Artifacts

Midnight Clock (2). Extra mana is never a bad thing. After a few turns — perhaps accelerated by using untapped lands at the end of your opponents’ turn — you refresh your entire hand and graveyard too! This is not a crucial card in the deck but it comes into play often enough and since nothing really depends upon it but it’s such a good card it becomes a juicy target to distract opponents from getting rid of your better stuff on the board.

Creatures

Cunning Nightbonder (4). Almost everything in this deck gets exponentially better with these rogues. I like to play them on the opponents turn 2 when they swing with a 1/1 creature against an open board. Sorry! One of these surviving a clash with another creature or as a target of something nasty thanks to Starlit Mantle can stay out there for a long time. In multiples it’s off the hook. The game I came back from one to win was enabled by several of these and Slitherwisps — I just cast a bunch of Flash spells for a mana each and the burn took care of the rest.
Brazen Borrower (2). A chef’s kiss of a card to bounce unwanted stuff back to the opponents hand and offer a juicy start for mutations galore
Dirge Bat (2). I like the surprise factor of mutating this onto another creature already on the board so for me it’s a potential later game bomb. This can make it a bit painful when it gets milled away but there’s plenty of other toys in the chest to play with too. With a Cunning Nightbonder or two out there the cost becomes very low. Throwing this onto the board at the end of an opponent’s turn for two black mana then mutating it for one blue mana via Sea-Dasher Octopus has led to many what I can only assume are frustrated scoops.
Lochmere Serpent (2). Like Dirge Bat this one’s a surprise for later in a game. That being said I’ve had a couple of you know what’s out and dropped this big boy in a big bad way rather early a few times. In the graveyard it does a wonderful job chewing up all the fodder for Escape and other forms of recursion.
Pouncing Shoreshark (2). My precious. I love this card! It’s beefy enough to survive as a Flash blocker sometimes and phenomenal to Mutate onto something like a flyer to keep it a little safer. Followed up with a Sea-Dasher Octopus for 1 blue mana and another bounced enemy has saved me so many times.
Sea-Dasher Octopus (3). Mutating this onto Threnody Singer early on is very useful. I like to leave the siren on top for the extra toughness — it’s all about drawing those extra cards. The times this creature made an entire match smoother from early on are uncountable.
Slitherwisp (3). I really like the nightmare creature types. The art is always very cool and they’ve got weird abilities. This critter nets you extra cards and dings the opponent every time you cast a Flash spell, which is almost every time you cast a spell full stop. Dropping one at the end of the opponent’s turn three puts you in a great position for your next turn. Be wary though! I once got three or four of these out and wound up decking myself trying to survive an endgame rush. If I hadn’t run out of cards I could have won. Careful with your elemental nightmares y’all.
Threnody Singer (1). Faerie Rogue used to hold this spot until I noticed people seem to really hate them with a mutated Sea-Dasher Octopus. Even though I’d often get a counter on there they had a huge target on their back. These sirens don’t come across quite so dangerous and they can turn a dangerous attacker into barely a scratch (or nothing!) under the right circumstances. A little extra toughness is nice and of course they’re a terrific target for mutation just like Brazen Borrower.
Voracious Greatshark (2). It’s got to be pretty demoralizing to cast your big creature or powerful artifact and get noped out by a giant shark not only countering it but hitting the board themselves. Facilitated by Cunning Nightbonder this terror from the deep is most satisfying against ramp decks dropping huge cost creature early on who get snatched from the jaws of victory.
Spectral Adversary (2). Whenever a new set comes out I take a look for Flash cards and Innistrad: Midnight Hunt provides this gem. Sometimes it’s just a chump blocker but if you’ve got the extra mana it can make a tremendous impact and swing momentum back your way. I’ve saved my entire board from complete wipes by phasing all the creatures out of harm’s way, which often leads to a scoop when the opponent’s big move falls so flat and they’re staring down a field of mutating creatures.
Dragon Turtle (2). Courtesy of the wonderful Adventures in the Forgotten Realms expansion this fella puts a pause on big creatures or those with annoying activated abilities and gives you some breathing room. It doesn’t hurt this creature is kind of beefy too, and since it’s non-Human this makes it a terrific target for Mutate.

Enchantments

Starlit Mantle (2). I like to think of this as the workhorse doing the tough jobs so everything else runs smoothly. Seriously for one blue mana making a creature untargetable for a turn is awesome. There’s so many come into play effects, sagas and on and on and on to ruin your day by destroying a key part of your board. This stops them plus anything else for the whole turn and sticks around as a permanent buff to power and toughness. It’s one of those seemingly simple common cards but when you need one it can really vex the opponent.
Mystic Subdual (2). I can’t say enough great things about this card, which hoses creatures’ with annoying abilities. Like all those damnable white creatures who get +1/+1 counters whenever you gain life and the despicable creatures who grant life every time a creature comes into play. And other stuff too but mostly those types of creatures, which I detest above all others. I’d rather face Eldrazi or slivers (who could themselves get shut down via this card too).
Ashiok’s Erasure (2). For what it’s worth I often avoid counterspells and the like even when I’m playing a deck with blue cards. It’s annoying but at the end of the day it’s part of what blue does best. And this has Flash, which means for as little as two blue mana you can put the kibosh on basically anything — permanently. (Or until this card gets removed from the board.) If you know a deck’s key card and exile it with this it’s crippling. Sometimes when I cast this I get the sense whatever Ashiok erased was uber important to the opponent’s deck because they’ll concede immediately.

Instant

Erebos’s Intervention (2). Although not a Flash card this is an instant and a very, very good one. It’s got two potential effects, one of which is exiling cards from a graveyard I don’t think I’ve ever used. The other and much more useful effect is giving a creature -X/-X depending how much mana you spent. Indestructible creatures beware! It’s also great for turning what looks like a chump block into a victory for yourself. And you gain X life too!
Absorb Energy (3). This gem from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Alchemy got shuffled into the deck as a replacement for Siphon Insight, which was only there because I noticed it when searching for all the cards with “flash” in the text. Like the card its replacing this does not have Flash but it’s a great counter (I removed one copy of Ashiok’s Erasure as well). One of my favorite uses for this is using it when the opponent casts a creature. With Cunning Nightbonder out there — a highly likely scenario — and a handful of Flash and Mutate creatures I can really go off.

Lands

Clearwater Pathway (4). I love these dual lands from Zendikar Rising. You can hang onto them until you know what you need and there’s no delay from coming in tapped or anything.
Island (8). Makes blue mana. I got some neat 3D versions a while ago from somewhere.
Otawara, Soaring City (1). The rare lands from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty with Channel abilities I find myself including in lots of decks. They don’t come into play tapped, produce mana and the Channel abilities can be clutch.
Swamp (5). Makes black mana. I got some neat 3D versions a while ago from somewhere.
Temple of Deceit (4). As dual lands go these are perfect in this deck. A sneak peak at what’s coming up is handy, especially on turn one when I don’t have anything to play. Cunning Nightbonder’s cost reduction for so many of this deck’s spells mitigates the coming into play tapped component of this one too.

Would you play this BLUTate deck? Does it have some descriptive name out there in MTG metagame world already? What are your favorite decks to play at MTG Arena?

*Featured image — Cunning Nightbonder and Slitherwisp are both from the super fun Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths MTG set. [Illustrations by Ekaterina Burmak and Yigit Koroglu]