It's been a while since we've had a deckbuilding contest and it will be a while yet before we get any new toys to play with so...

Let's break some bad cards!

The rules:
0. I will announce 1 or more cards for each round.
1. You may choose to submit up to one deck per card, or you may submit a deck that utilizes more than one of the announced cards. Decks that use multiple announced cards may get a small bonus in the judging.
2. Your deck should "break" the chosen card(s). A card can be considered broken if it has a normally weak effect that gets utilized in an exceptionally powerful way. A card that has trade-off effects can also be considered broken if it is used in such a way that all of its effects are positive for the deck.
3. You are NOT required to run full playsets of the chosen cards.
4. Unless explicitly stated, there are NO deckbuilding restrictions (color, rarity, or otherwise). As long as it's legal in Duels and breaks one or more of the cards, it's valid.
5. The building part of the contest will last for a week. After that, I'll still consider submissions, but probably with some sort of late penalty.
6. Submissions must be sent by PM. For this round, submissions will NOT be anonymous.
7. The judging will depend on how many submissions I get. If there are only a few, I'll just use Giocher's system. If there are a lot, I might try start with a popularity vote to narrow the selection to a few finalists and then try to recruit a few players for a judge's panel.

This week's cards to break:
Hazoret's Monument and/or Macabre Waltz

The deadline for submissions is:
Sunday, September 24.

And here are the submissions:
Haven_PT: (Winner!)


CardboardNomad:


TheFlakyMage:


Cucho Lambreta:

Sweet! Looks like I have a head start. I'll try to do a version with waltz too.

I did try to make a deck around this but both cards are so bad... the deck can pull some funky madness shenanigans but never competitive enough. Its like negative counters all over again...
I will submit someting non the less.

I agree, these are very difficult cards to work with. I've actually used Waltz before but not in a way that breaks it. And my one attempt at the Monument was a fail (still brainstorming that one). Just remember, either card is enough - you don't need to use both.

I'm having a lot of fun with my new version- the waltz was a great addition, it made me focus more on the madness and transformed it away from an Orrery deck. Think it's more consistent now.

I can see Waltz but that red monument is going to be tough. I guess Izzet madness with the artifact fetcher?

I've been tinkering around with something; and while I have only played it vs. the AI so far it feels decent. Stil a worse version than without the cards, but at least they serve a purpose and are okay-ish at their job.

First theflakymage stole my contest, then wizards making another deckbuilding contest for arena, what's left for me?
Just kidding, i have no time to organize it atm, so i'm glad someone else is trying to make it continue. My idea for round 9 was to find 5 common creatures, one for each color, and everyone had to build a deck using 2 of them and run the full playset. Haven't found decent cards to build around for every color, but a good one was Nettle Drone. Good luck everyone for this contest.

I like that idea though! Good question about what common creatures are actually interesting.

I'm gonna try reworking the grixis Monument deck I put together, because its been getting slaughtered on the ladder.

Btw, Nettle Drone sucks though. I tried making that deck... It's a terrible 3 drop...

Some ideas:

W: Sacred Cats, Aviary Mechanic
U: Eldrazi Skyspawner, Ingenious Skaab, Gearseeker Serpent
B: Miasmic Mummy, Undead Servant
R: Insolent Neonate, Reckless Fireweaver
G: Scrounging Bandar, Greater Sandwurm

Not sure if its a bug, but it seems the Monument reduces the madness cost of red creatures too.

Just gave me an idea...

Yeah, madness cost (along with surge and awaken, but not embalm or optional additional costs like harbinger of the tides) is an alternate casting cost, so monuments and the like can reduce it.

Here's my submissions:

Blood Suckers Inc.

Creature(22)
2 x Indulgent Aristocrat
4 x Insolent Neonate
2 x Asylum Visitor
2 x Stromkirk Condemned
2 x Olivia's Dragoon
4 x Bloodmad Vampire
1 x Olivia, Mobilized for War
2 x Bloodhall Priest
3 x Incorrigible Youths

Instant(4)
4 x Fiery Temper

Sorcery(3)
3 x Alms of the Vein

Enchantment(4)
2 x Call the Bloodline
2 x Stensia Masquerade

Artifact(5)
2 x Smuggler's Copter
1 x Key to the City
2 x Hazoret's Monument

Land(22)
2 x Smoldering Marsh
8 x Swamp
8 x Mountain
2 x Dragonskull Summit
2 x Cinder Barrens

To view this deck go to: https://www.magicduelshelper.com/deckli ... 7790099c02

Created using Magic Duels Helper: http://www.magicduelshelper.com

It's straight up rakdos madness vamps, with a twist. Once you get a Monument, you can flood the board without running out of cards. It get pretty nuts when you do stuff like drop multiple youths for 2cc. About as Broken as the Monument can get imo. Macabre Waltz is just bad Imo, I tried it out and kept discarding it instead of casting it...

Yeah, I have tried a few ideas with Hazoret's and ended up coming to the same conclusion - red madness is the only build that can get remotely adequate value out of the card. Your list looks pretty solid - I'm not gonna bother tuning something similar. I've got a build for Waltz that uses cycling creatures with Drake Haven and Archfiend that I think I'll put in. The payload is rather weak, unfortunately, but it really gets value from Waltz in a fun/creative way.

I got a rakdos waltz madness In the oven... it's a blast!!
Gonna try it on the ladder.
Hmmmm.... piece of crap, it needs tweaking it went 3/3

Haven_pet, you really know your red decks! I always loved madness vampires (and also vampire madness!) and the addition of Hazoret's Monument improves the speed over regular madness. I love chaining together madness creature drops like that.

Glad you liked it.

Btw, Haven_pet??? WTF? Lol...
(The PT is actually a reference to my nationality)

Here's what I've got, currently 7-3 atop the iOS ladder with two of those losses down to flood and screw. Resolving a Monument again control is one of the more satisfying things I've found in duels- it looks like innocuous jank, and they don't realize till later they died t3.

Gimme the Loot
19 x Creatures
4 x Insolent Neonate
2 x Asylum Visitor
2 x Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 x Bloodmad Vampire
1 x Olivia, Mobilized for War
2 x Bloodhall Priest
1 x Glorybringer
2 x Incorrigible Youths
1 x Combustible Gearhulk

18 x Spells
2 x Smuggler's Copter
2 x Key to the City
2 x Macabre Waltz
3 x Hazoret's Monument
1 x Stensia Masquerade
4 x Fiery Temper
2 x Alms of the Vein
2 x Never

23 x Land
7 x Swamp
10 x Mountain
2 x Smoldering Marsh
2 x Dragonskull Summit
1 x Geier Reach Sanitarium
1 x Cinder Barrens


This is more focused on chaining than Haven's, going max monuments and no straight discard (love those Condemned though Haven) to get to the next piece in a hurry.

Early game is all about gentle pressure through Neonate/Siphoner/Copter, ideally with a monument T3 then starting the chains T4.

Waltz is fantastic and I don't know what you all are talking about. a couple madness vamps in the yard midgame with monument in play and you're getting at least 4 cards out of it; it's a huge momentum swing and it really allows you to swing carelessly with those Bloodmads early on, or pitch creatures to loot that you'll want back later. You churn through enough deck that 2 is plenty, but they're both monsters.

Glorybringer & Gearhulk: don't forget monument also just lets you play wincons a turn early. Gearhulk is fantastic; either dealing damage from pricy madness cards and feeding your next Waltz or giving you your next chain straight up.

Never: this has also been a Sinister Concoction and an Unlicensed Disintegration for me in testing, but right now I'm seeing more Walkers than Harvesters on my ladder, plus it can be a moderately useful discard target.

Major play notes: the chains all go on the stack, so they resolve backwards. This means if you start a chain with Olivia you don't get to use her ability on any vamps you chain off her. It also means if you finish a chain with a Fiery Temper to their Thalia, say (just did this while wrecking Orzhov midrange goodstuff), all your stuff comes in untapped.

Most importantly, it can be really tempting to loot away all your land, but you really want to make a drop every turn. You can't really get huge chains going if you only have 5 land, especially once you start adding big creatures or Waltzes to your operating costs. So if I don't have an immediate land drop, I'll start a chain on my turn to dig for one rather than wait to do it at the end of theirs, unless I'm really certain they're about to sweep. Prioritize red; 2-3 black sources is generally plenty for a game.

I've got another list I've been messing with and although it looks like a mess, it actually works... Sometimes... Lol

It's all Geared towards getting maximum value out of your discards, so in a way it will try to break the Monument too, problem is when the Monument comes up later on, then your probably better off dumping it.

Grixis Meat Grinder

Creature(17)
2 x Cryptbreaker
1 x Sanitarium Skeleton
2 x Wharf Infiltrator
2 x Asylum Visitor
2 x Curator of Mysteries
2 x Bloodhall Priest
1 x Disciple of the Ring
2 x Archfiend of Ifnir
3 x Horror of the Broken Lands

Instant(6)
4 x Fiery Temper
2 x Unlicensed Disintegration

Sorcery(2)
2 x Ever After

Split(1)
1 x Cut

Enchantment(5)
1 x Call the Bloodline
2 x Drake Haven
2 x Fevered Visions

Planeswalker(1)
1 x Liliana, Death's Majesty

Artifact(5)
1 x Key to the City
2 x Smuggler's Copter
2 x Hazoret's Monument

Land(23)
2 x Wandering Fumarole
3 x Island
2 x Sunken Hollow
2 x Smoldering Marsh
4 x Swamp
4 x Mountain
2 x Drowned Catacomb
2 x Sulfur Falls
2 x Dragonskull Summit


To view this deck go to: https://www.magicduelshelper.com/deckli ... 944a21261a

Created using Magic Duels Helper: http://www.magicduelshelper.com
How to play it:
Cycle the Horrors, Sphinx's and archfiends early. Try to get the Haven or Bloodline out asap. You'll need a Discard outlet too.
Then flood the board with tokens and stay alive. Then reanimate the cycled creatures and put some beef on the board. Get maximum value out of your discards and keep the cards coming.
The deck is a whole new archtype that will leave your opponents guessing wtf its trying to do. I've caught a couple of players off guard with the everafters.

It has a hard time with all the Rdw aggro on steam atm though...
Looking at the list now, I should cut the Disciple because there aren't enough instants and sorceries in this version. I do want to try good old jori in this deck, so I'll try that.

On a side note: I finally got around to brewing an izzet Prowess deck with the ideas I got from this contest. I'm still testing it, but it seems solid so far.