Motivation
King Midas was a powerful king that ruled over a city in Phrygia, who had found a satyr named Silenus sleeping in his rose garden. When Midas discovered this, he realized that Silenus was a patron of Dionysus and had taken care of the satyr for eleven days by throwing him parties. On the Eleventh Day, Dionysus himself came to King Midas and offered him a wish. Midas had chosen his golden touch, which became his greatest curse.Elsewhere, on the Island of Crete, King Aegeus was forced by King Minos to send fourteen children every nine years into Daedalus' creation: The Labyrinth. Seven boys and seven girls would discover the evil that lurked inside the Labyrinth. The Minotaur was created out of jealousy from Aphrodite. She had forced Minos' wife to fall in love with a prized bull and that led to one Daedalus-Inspired-Contraption-of-Bizarre-Love-Making. The Minotaur lurked deep within the Labyrinth hunting any who entered his territory.
Obviously the motivation for this deck comes from this two legends and because of the Theros block release there are many similarities. We have a King Midas, certainly a god like king like Minos and also his horrible offspring the Minotaur. The deck focuses on having a strong early game by having cards that effectively deny the opposing player from having creature cards out. This allows your Minotaur army to keep swinging with both axes and horns.
Deck Contents
Land (20)
- 1- Felhide Spiritbinder ($0.34)
- 1- King Macar, the Gold-Cursed ($0.22)
- 1- Mogis, God of Slaughter ($5.64)
- 1- Rageblood Shaman ($0.77)
- 1- Thunder Brute ($0.09)
- 2- Kragma Warcaller ($0.30)
- 2- Ragemonger ($0.54)
- 2- Warchanter of Mogis ($0.10)
- 3- Oracle of Bones ($0.72)
- 3- Kragma Butcher ($0.15)
- 3- Deathbellow Raider ($0.27)
- 3- Felhide Petrifier ($0.42)
- 4- Shrike Harpy ($0.36)
Spells (13)
- 2- Asphyxiate ($0.08)
- 2- Claim of Erebos ($0.10)
- 3- Grisly Transformation ($0.12)
- 4- Magma Spray ($0.36)
- 2- Searing Blood ($1.98)
Total Cost: $16.56
Ways to Improve the Deck
Land
- 4- Temple of Malice ($19.80)
- 1- Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx ($5.40)
- 4- Mutavault ($104.00)
Creatures
- 3- Rageblood Shaman ($2.31)
- 1- Purphoros, God of the Forge ($5.49)
- 4- Fanatic of Mogis ($0.96)
- 4- Spawn of Thraxes ($0.88)
- 3- Thunder Brute ($0.27)
Spells
- 4- Lightning Strike ($0.96)
- 4- Doom Blade ($0.88)
- 4- Silence the Believers ($3.16)
- 2- Worst Fears ($3.48)
- 1- Dictate of Erebos ($1.39)
Potential Sideboards:
1) Spell Focus
- 4- Doom Blade
- 4- Lightning Strike
- 4- Silence the Believers
- 2- Worst Fears
- 1- Dictate of Erebos
2) Creature Focus
3) Hybrid
Strategy of Play for Base Deck:
The most ideal hand is: Three Land Cards (Either 2 Swamps or 2 Mountains), 1 Ragemonger, Mogis or Macar, Claim of Erebos or Grisly Transformation and an instant or sorcery. Macar focuses solely on removing creatures whenever he untaps. His ability exiles creatures (any creature in play) and gives you a gold token which you can sacrifice to gain one mana of any color. Mogis on the other hand either nukes a player for two damage every turn or they must sacrifice a creature. This creates tension as Mogis eventually scales into late game as a 7/5 Indestructible creature. Two other creatures in the deck that change the game are Oracle of Bones and Felhide Spiritbinder.
Oracle of Bones is a 3/1 Minotaur that has a tribute ability. Giving him tribute makes him a 5/3, but denying his tribute allows you to cast a sorcery or instant card from your hand for free. That's right, you get a 5/3 with haste or you can drop a free Lava Axe (or even a turn 4 Worst Fears [see above]). Felhide Spiritbinder on the other hand functions with an Inspired ability. He is a 3/4 Minotaur, but whenever he untaps you may pay one colorless mana and one mountain and create a token that is a copy of another target creature on the battlefield. This token has haste and it is exiled at the next end step. The best thing of all is that it triggers enter-the-battlefield abilities when that creature comes into play. That will allow you to use more of the tribute cards in the deck for full advantage, like Thunder Brute. Thunder Brute is a 5/5 Cyclops with trample, but when his tribute is paid he becomes an 8/8 with trample. Underneath the circumstance of the Spiritbinder, you could potentially put an 8/8 with trample on the field for two mana.
Oracle of Bones is a 3/1 Minotaur that has a tribute ability. Giving him tribute makes him a 5/3, but denying his tribute allows you to cast a sorcery or instant card from your hand for free. That's right, you get a 5/3 with haste or you can drop a free Lava Axe (or even a turn 4 Worst Fears [see above]). Felhide Spiritbinder on the other hand functions with an Inspired ability. He is a 3/4 Minotaur, but whenever he untaps you may pay one colorless mana and one mountain and create a token that is a copy of another target creature on the battlefield. This token has haste and it is exiled at the next end step. The best thing of all is that it triggers enter-the-battlefield abilities when that creature comes into play. That will allow you to use more of the tribute cards in the deck for full advantage, like Thunder Brute. Thunder Brute is a 5/5 Cyclops with trample, but when his tribute is paid he becomes an 8/8 with trample. Underneath the circumstance of the Spiritbinder, you could potentially put an 8/8 with trample on the field for two mana.
The goal to this deck is to play either Mogis or Macar as fast as possible and fill in the holes in your creature line as mana comes in. The Ragemonger will make most of your minotaurs cost either one or two colorless mana, allowing you to saturate the board quickly. Your sorcery spells will help you clean out the decks sole weakness: Flying creatures. If you cannot outpace a flying deck before Mogis or Macar are in play you are doomed. The same can be said against non-black and non-artifact decks due to Grisly Transformation granting your creatures Intimidation.
To activate your Insight cards like Macar, use either Grisly Transformation (allows him to attack and deal free damage) or Claim of Erebos, which will slowly sap energy from your opponent for the same damage he would normally do (Tap to Lose 2 Life) and it allows him to use his Insight ability at will. This same combo can also be used with Warchanter of Mogis and Felhide Spiritbinder to unleash horrifying effects upon your foe. I would not recommend Claim of Erebos on Kragma Butchers, because they deal more damage with Grisly Transformation, where they become 4/2 unblockables. If you have any Kragma Warcallers out in play, they will deal 6 and 8 respectively. This turns the simple three mana creature (two if you have Ragemongers in play) into a cruise missile.
To activate your Insight cards like Macar, use either Grisly Transformation (allows him to attack and deal free damage) or Claim of Erebos, which will slowly sap energy from your opponent for the same damage he would normally do (Tap to Lose 2 Life) and it allows him to use his Insight ability at will. This same combo can also be used with Warchanter of Mogis and Felhide Spiritbinder to unleash horrifying effects upon your foe. I would not recommend Claim of Erebos on Kragma Butchers, because they deal more damage with Grisly Transformation, where they become 4/2 unblockables. If you have any Kragma Warcallers out in play, they will deal 6 and 8 respectively. This turns the simple three mana creature (two if you have Ragemongers in play) into a cruise missile.
Conclusion
While the deck may not be effective against faster decks, it will certainly work against Blue/White Agro decks. It has two solid weaknesses:
Flying creatures will cause hell until you can play your harpies, even then they may fumble around compared to most late game monsters and control. Asphyxiate helps and so does Macar.
Beware of late game if you have lost tempo. It is more than likely that your opponent will begin to outpace you and that will only end in tears. You will have to rely on burning your opponent down quickly if he has a Green/Red agro deck.The key to this deck is really playing with your sideboard cards and finding that right pace for you. Temples will certainly increase the speed of this deck. If you want to shift the deck into more of a burn focus deck look at these two cards to fill in your deck: Fanatic of Mogis and Spawn of Thraxes. Both of them deal damage to players based on your devotion to Red. If you want to live in the world where your opponent will suffer for every creature he killed, use Edict of Erebos Edict of Erebos is Grave Pact with Flash and when it is combined with Felhide Petrifiers, you will begin to see your opponent worrying as you begin to outnumber his or her creature count.
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