Fast Fauna Conscription

Team Oz – mainly Baz – has been knocking around Mythic Conscription builds since it could afford to compile the deck. Baz has had various degrees of success, and the deck has only become better since Fauna Shaman arrived on the scene. Since the win at Italy Nationals and Top 8 at Australian National’s of the Maurici-designed Fauna Bant deck, Team Oz has continued to play with the numbers.

Baz is in favour of a Wall Of Omens + Elspeth maindeck in Game 1, largely because he’s in a RDW-heavy metagame. As the number of rounds I face are lower, and the chances I’ll meet RDW lower still, I have built a list that simply goes for broke in Game 1 with the highest possible chance of a T3/4 Sovereigns. Here’s the list.

Fast Fauna Conscription
A Standard Deck by Neale Talbot

// 26 Creatures

2 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Fauna Shaman
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Vengevine
3 Sovereigns of Lost Alara (or alternatively 2 and a Something Else – Quasali Pridemage is a favourite)
1 Ranger of Eos

// 3 Instants

3 Path to Exile

// 3 Enchantments

1 Oblivion Ring
2 Eldrazi Conscription

// 3 Planeswalkers

3 Jace, the Mindsculptor

// 25 Lands

3 Celestial Colonnade
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Island
4 Forest
1 Plains
2 Sunpetal Grove
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Stirring Wildwood
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Serriji Steppe
2 Seaside Citadel

//Sideboard

2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Negates
10 creatures dependant upon your metagame

My metagame is:

4 Kor Firewalker (for RDW)
4 Quasali Pridemage (for Pyrmomancer’s Ascension and Naya post-board)
1 Sun Titan (for the mirror)
1 Frost Titan (for Polymorph, UW)

The build has an insanely high percentage chance in Game 1. There are just so many creatures your opponent wants to kill immediately, including your mana dorks on T1, your Cobra and Shaman on T2, your Knight on Turn 3, and your Sovereigns on Turn 4. The only decks that can stop the onslaught are RDW with a good hand, or UW with the early Day of Judgment, and even then UW can struggle if you start to lay down Vengevines instead of other creatures.

Basically, any hand with a couple of mana dorks and a Knight, Shaman or Sovereign is a good hand. The aim is to build a protected combo, preferably sticking a Knight first and Sovereign second. The only time you play an unprotected Sovereign is when your opponent has tapped out. Otherwise, keep fetching up Knights and throwing away Vengevines until you can keep an untapped Knight around to fetch Serriji Steppe. After that it should be all over.

Admittedly, this build is dead in the water to RDW Game 1, so if that’s your meta, be aware.

In Game 2 you have to make a decision; keep the Cobras or lose them. If my opponent can’t run sweepers, pingers, or bolts, then they’ll stay in. Otherwise, they’ll come out. The first cards to go in are always Elspeth. Yes, she slows your deck down, but she’s an alternative win condition to bet against the extra removal your opponent brings in to shut down your Eldrazi Conscription events. The rest is entirely metagame dependent, and I wouldn’t be afraid to drop a single Shaman and a single Vengevine in order to bring in a four-of with the Cobras coming out as well.

Some things to bear in mind, when playing against an opponent:

If they have a single red mana open, lead with a mana dork early and let it be killed, or a Vengevine you don’t mind recurring anyway.

If they have a single white mana open, always go the mana dork or the Ranger of Eos.

If they have two or more blue open, Vengevine is almost always your play, as they may well waste a counter on it.

If they only have green mana open, go for the Sovereigns if possible.

If they have black mana open, Vengevine is a preference, or a mana dork to bait the Blade.

So that’s the deck. I’d be interested to hear if you end up playing it, and how you go. Let me know in the comments, or find me on twitter.