Adventures in the Meta: NitroGlissarin...

Ok the world is changing, It's that time of year when the meta shifts and the $100 card become $50 cards and the $1.5 cards become $50 cards....

If I could tell the future I'd be a rich man, but whilst I ain't no prophet, I reckon a can spot a trend...

There are two loop holes coming and now is the time to abuse them... Firstly black and more importantly blue/black control got all it's Christmases at once... With Go for the Throat, Black Sun's Zenith and Massacre Wurrm turning an already strong deck into a powerhouse, there's a chance here to get your self some power cards without spending a fortune... And don't forget to stock up on Inkmoth Nexus, Phyrexian Revokers and Green Suns Zeniths too...

But I suspect the sneaky trick card you might want to get your hands on right now is Glissa The Traitor. Glissa is one of the most over powered card I have ever seen... In a world where the most effective removal wont touch artifacts and you can tutor and put into play green creatures at will, she is frankly mental...

A 3/3 for 3 is fair enough as it is, but give it death touch and I'm interested, but give it first strike and I love it... I'd have considered it powerful here, but there are not one, but two bonuses to come... Firstly the insane artifact recursion is just staggering and we're not done yet... Firstly its green and it's black so you get the best of ramp and removal but the best bit it's green and this means you can use the Green Sun Zenith to put it straight into play without having to worry about the black colour bar and if that wasn't enough it also means you can .get it out of the graveyard with ease...

I spent the latter part of Saturday getting my hands on a play set and I immediately set to work building around her... (Which is my second Glissa deck, the first I made before i'd even seen the card...)

Laides and Gentlemen i give you

Nitro-Glissa-Rin

We've had control for ages but this ones new this one is Green Black control and it's going to be nasty, really really really nasty....

You will need...

3 Everflowing chalice
3 Throne of Geth
4 Necropede
4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Mortar Pod
2 Black Sun's zenith
4 Core prowler
3 Contagion clasp
2 Grim discovery
1. Preators council
1 Glissa the Traitor
1 Putrefax
1 Fangren Mrauder.
1 Phyrexian Hydra
4 Horizon Spellbomb
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Inkmoth Nexus
5 Swamps
6 Forests

Ok this one is slick, mean, black and green...

So what does it do? Well the key to the deck is glissa, 'but there's only one' I hear you say... and indeed there is, but that's fine because there are 4 ways to find her so effectively that's actually 5 Glissas in the deck...

Ok then we 've got her, so what does she do?

Well she gets back the boomsticks... Boomsticks? Yep this deck is designed to do two things.

1. Chew gum and...
2. Kick Ass... and you'll note that this deck is all out of gum...

Turn one.... Drop a spell bomb, relax and take in the view....and pass the buck (you can recur these later so if you donlt need mana help feel free to sac them to the throne...(chose your moment though... an untapped throne can be a safety net)
Turn two... drop a chalice or a necropede...
Turn three... drop a chalice, if you haven't already, play the throne and swing with the pede... if you get through great if you don't sac it to the throne and put the chalice up and a counter on the biggest threat.
Turn four... In a perfect world you've got a chalice on 2, a throne of geth in play, a zenith in hand (and/or a Glissa )and you're facing an opponent with a critter with a counter on it...(or a poison counter...) So what to do? Well... if you can, get Glissa in play and then use all the the resources you have at your disposal to get rid of the critter with the counter - maybe drop a clasp and Finnish it off? or sac the throne? to proliferate it if you can use lay a clasp then great as soon as the enemy dies get the necropede back...

The idea is to not let anything survive more than a couple of turns and in the process keep recurring the tools of the trade.

So nothing's sticking, great now how do I win?

The end game is simple... you have loads of options... Either use a green sun's zennith to get putrefax and swing when they are most vunerable.... or you can just keep recuiing necropedes and or core prowlers to the mortar pod to get the first poison damage... and then ramp it up with the thrones and the clasps...

some neat tricks..

1. Your opponent has 3 x 2/2 knights on the field.... you have a chalice on one, a Glissa, a core prowler, a throne of geth and a mortar pod on the field and 4 untapped lands....

So you play black sun's zenith... for one point.... giving every thing a -1 counter....then equip a core prowler with the mortar pod and sac it to give you opponent a poison counter.

As he dies, you proliferate the poison counter up (chalice goes to 2) and 1 of the knights to death instantly recurring the core prowler with glissa's ability...

This time you can sac the Throne of Geth to itself giving your opponent another poison counter (both your opponent and your Chalice go to 3 )and killimg another knight and instantly getting the throne back.... now you can use the chalice to replay the throne and instantly re sac it to its self.. getting your opponent and your chalice to 4.

All you need for a win next turn is a Green Sun's Zenith...to get a putefax... replaying the coreprowler all you need to do is reequip it to the mortarpod and let it die again then, when you swing with the putrefax even if you opponent blocks you can recur the core prowler... Or you can pretty much do the same thing you did the last turn....

So let's recap...

That's a decent board position and in one turn you've wiped out a an army of knights ramped to an extra 4 mana and your opponent is half way to a game loss...

More tricks... Glissa - throne - play clasp - give a goblin guide a -1 sac clasp to the throne, give it another -1 when it dies get the clasp back - rinse and repeat...

In Trouble? Go get the Gimp... If aggro has taken its toll and you find yourself in need of life...Go get the Fangren Marauder... With the amount of sacrificing and recuring of artifacts this deck s capable of, you're going to live forever...

Of course you can also just swing in with the Inkmoths... and start the game from here... Use the Grim Dicoverires to get your inkmoths and glissa's back.... Eventually you'll get the preators council and the biggest hand you've ever seen...

For the sideboard you'll want the pistus strike... There's a sphinx coming and in addition to that you'll need a way to get those pesky inkmoths out of the sky... Also why not go for the old inquistion and duress cause game two memoricide is going to hurt...

Remember this strategy is to keep everything of the field...Use the tutors to get the threats and swing swing swing... use Glissa to hit walkers and the rest of the gang to get that infect damage up... V's aggro remember you can recur creatures so don't be afraid to let them them die and an early green Zenith should get you a 7/7 hydra that will soon stop the swinging...

The throne of Geth will keep your artifacts safe as well as helping you get the poison damage up. As you can easily recur artifacts as soon as an opponent tries to destroy or exile one, simply sac it to the throne..

Iif your finding it hard to table Gliass here;s a revised list...We lose the hydra and putrefax but it does make the list more concise..

3 x cultivate