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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Bird Deck

May 30, 2006

Today's deck list comes to us from my most common client, Anonymous.  Sadly, he/she not only left off a name, but any other information at all save the cards in his/her deck.  I know I never actually said this outright, but you make my job easier when you include a lot of information about your deck.  The more I know about your playing style, your favorite cards, what sort of cards you can/can't obtain, what your ultimate goal for the deck is, et cetera, the better I can fix your deck.  But I'll do my best with what I've got to work with.
18 land:
2 Seaside Haven
7 plains
5 island
4 flooded strand

Creatures:
4 Soulcatcher
4 Skyshroud Falcon
4 Stormscape Familiar
4 Zephyr Falcon
4 Courier Hawk

Non creature spells
4 Static Orb
2 Enlightend tutor
4 battle screech
4 shared Triumph
4 Soulcatcher
4 Bonesplitter
 
Okay, this deck revolves around Birds, I know that much.  There's Seaside Haven, Soulcatcher (listed under creatures and under non-creatures, so I'll assume that the one under non-creatures refers in fact to Soulcatchers' Aerie), Battle Screech, and Shared Triumph all promoting the "we love birds" theme. 

Upon looking up each card, I found them all to be Birds as well.  Skyshroud Falcon, I noticed, is functionally identical to Courier Hawk except for one less toughness, so I was going to suggest replacing the Falcon with the Hawk until I saw four Courier Hawk already in the deck.  Then I saw Zephyr Falcon, which is exactly Skyshroud Falcon except blue.  I had to wonder why there were so many sub-par Birds in this deck, until I saw Static Orb and realized the strategy-- stop the opponent from untapping while your own Vigilant creatures never need to tap in the first place.  Once again, if Anonymous had written something more than just a decklist, I might have figured that out already.  So Static Orb and all the little Vigilant ducklings can stay.
 

Now, most (well, all) of these Birds are 1/1's or 1/2's.  While Soulcatcher can easily grow, and their Aerie can enhance the other Birds along with Shared Triumph and Bonesplitter, that strategy still requires Birds to go to the graveyard.  With only so many Birds in the deck to begin with, that strategy has a flaw.  The solution?  Replace Battle Screech with Pride of the Clouds.  Battle Screech can supply at most 4 Birds, if you're willing to tap 3 Birds to get the second pair.  That's a higher price than you think in a Static Orb deck.  Pride of the Clouds, on the other hand, can make an infinite amount of Birds in the same way Vitu-Ghazi can make an infinite number of Saprolings.  And then it becomes a sort of faux Bird lord, getting +1/+1 for each new Bird you make with the second Pride you draw.  Granted this is still tricky under a Static Orb, since you may run out of mana, but the Pride has other advantages.  Why sacrifice actual Bird cards to Seaside Haven when you can sacrifice replaceable tokens?  The Soulcatchers don't know or care about the difference, and neither do their Aeries or any other card in this deck.
 
Another modification; if Static Orb grows too oppressive for you and not fun enough for people to want to play with you, consider replacing it with Dovescape.  Dovescape will stop most spells and create a lot of Birds, which is all the better for you.  Of course, giving your opponent access to Birds may be a mistake, especially since all your tribal enablers all say "all Birds", not "Birds you control".  But of course, Dovescape won't stop Pride of the Clouds, so it's something to think about at least.
 
That's all I've got as far as specific ideas go, but I'll wrap up this article with some suggestions for cards that really spread their wings when the skies are full of Birds.
 
~Airborne Aid
~Kangee, Aerie Keeper
~Soraya the Falconer
~Keeper of the Nine Gales
~Crookclaw Elder
 
Until next time, good luck and don't look straight up.
 
~BMoor

 
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