General Spells for decks for people who dont like creatures

[Rasmus Källqvist]

I came to the same conclusion a little while ago, and am now down to ~45% creatures, from 49% before. As much as I love throwing animals into the red zone, I felt like there wasn't enough freedom for people who didn't want to do that, and were looking for more spell-based shenanigans. At 45% creatures and 40% spells, there's still a ton of emphasis on combat, but I'm hoping two or possibly even three decks per draft won't be primarily creature-based, rather than just one.

Eric posted this in CMLs cube thread and that got me thinking, I've pretty much neglected people who want to play other things than creature fests. What would those players actually draft? Obviously a couple of creatures will end up in their hands, but is there a way to get those players into a real game of magic and not just some johnny durdle fest? Is there a way to get them into a game of magic that doesn't entail really unfair combos?

Let me start off with some I'm running right now that I feel could appeal to that kind of player:

 

[Eric Chan]

Speaking at least for my own list, there's three broad types of decks I'm trying to support where creatures aren't front and center:

Control decks - these decks want removal, card draw, card filtering, sweepers, discard, and other general answers. Taking a look at the current Standard Esper control decks, or the Nephalia Drownyard decks from a few years back, creatures don't really have a big role in these decks, other than as looters or pure end-game finishers. It's these same decks that've convinced me to get away from my Volcanic Hammer approach to removal - yeah, a sad day, I know.

Blue-based tempo decks - otherwise known as U/R (or Jeskai) Delver. These decks obviously need a smattering of creatures to get ahead, but they typically carry more spells than bodies to keep them ahead. They're also most able to take advantage of token-making spells, like Midnight Haunting or Hordeling Outburst.

Combo / shenanigans - I'm lumping a whole bunch of decks under this category, because different folks support different unfair decks. The common thread among most of these decks is that they require looting, tutoring, and other setup cards that don't always come stapled to bodies. You could even lump pure ramp decks into this umbrella, because the decks interested in going straight to six mana or more aren't usually concerned with interaction, and have little need for animals to fill out the curve.

 

[japahn]

Since you are blanking all their creature removal, there is an inherent virtual card advantage to creatureless decks. Attrition effects like counterspells and 1-1 removal become more powerful, though untargeted discard does not. Sweepers are essential and prison effects go up in value too.

Creature hate:


Don't do this at home:


Wincons are the biggest problem if you want to be truly creatureless:


Plus your favorite planeswalkers

Also creatures that are fine with dying:

 

[Dom Harvey]

You can go for the 'planeswalkers + removal' soup that players build control decks from in typical Cubes; otherwise, you probably want some non-creature value engine that you can build around (Trading Post being the obvious example), good sweepers/finishers that you can build towards (Martial Coup, Crater Hellion), good defensive cards (Wall of Omens), and removal that works best in control (Condemn)

 

[Eric Chan]

The only caution I'd throw out there against loading up on too many planeswalkers is that they work better in creature decks, as opposed to spells decks. It's fairly obvious why - creatures help defend your investment in your walkers, while other white and green-based walkers are built expressly to play nice with creatures. Jace, the Mind Sculptor's only real weakness is to a weenie swarm, and having some bodies to play defence for him increases his power level disproportionately.

All that's to say is that increasing the planeswalker count in your cube is most likely to serve midrange decks the most, especially those of the good stuff variety, as their plan for amassing value cards isn't opposed to equal amounts of creatures and spells. Moreover, decks without too many creatures naturally fall prey to an opposing walker or two. Supporting dedicated spells-focused decks in your cube may actually mean dialing down the knob on planeswalkers, ironically enough.