Have you ever felt the urge to crush your opponent with an enormous monster from the deep? Or extinguish their hopes of victory with creatures that nature deems superior? Well look no further as control of the ocean and the woods can now claimed. The Wilds and the Deep Intro Pack is here for Magic: The Gathering.

The Wilds and the Deep is a Blue and Green introduction deck that, as the name suggests, contains cards that revolve around the sea and the forests. It concentrates on ramping up your mana as quickly as possible and hitting hard with big creatures. To add sea salt to the wounds of the opposition, the Monstrosity mechanic is one of your main win conditions. This mechanic allows certain cards to become bigger and more troublesome to deal with. Swing with a 9/9? I’d love to.

26 Lands:

15 Forest

11 Island

24 Creature:

1 Agent of Horizons

1 Arbor Colossus

1 Archetype of Imagination

1 Bassara Tower Archer

1 Cloaked Siren

2 Fleetfeather Cockatrice

2 Golden Hind

1 Heroes’ Bane

2 Kiora’s Follower

1 Nessian Asp

1 Nessian Courser

2 Nessian Game Warden

2 Ravenous Leucrocota

2 Sealock Monster

1 Swarmborn Giant

2 Swordwise Centaur

1 Triton Shorestalker

The main damage dealing engine in this deck is high cost, end game creatures. However, thanks to the two mana cost Golden Hind, you are able to add one more green mana to your pool to get to your game enders quicker. Multiples of this creature and/or in combination with the blue/green Kiora’s Follower allows the player access to two more mana from which to spawn creature with. Creatures such as the massive 6/6 Swarmborn Giant which will jump to 8/8 if you pay mana to make it monstrous.

As for the late game, providing you keep the Golden Hind and perhaps a Kiora’s Follower alive, you can drop a monstrous Sealock Monster on 8/8 or head the assault with a Heroes’ Bane hydra. The hydra enters on 4/4 but don’t let that fool you. Like all hydras, it has the possibility of gaining more power. By paying two colourless and two green mana you can have it gain a number of +1/+1 counters equal to its current power and toughness essentially doubling it every time.

10 Spells:

1 Defend the Hearth

2 Font of Fertility

1 Font of Fortunes

1 Hubris

1 Market Festival

1 Savage Surge

1 Thassa’s Ire

2 Time to Feed

There are only ten spells in this intro deck. It might seem a little thin on the grounds to support your creatures but they are there to ensure you hit the ground running and without interference. The two spells, in my opinion, that keep the destruction rolling are Font of Fertility and Market Festival. An early game Font of Fertility allows you to ramp you mana on turn two providing you with your third land. That is one away from a Swarmborn Giant of which you can drop the turn after. As for Market Festival, paying four mana to enchant a land, that you may or may not have searched with the Font, allows you to gain two mana whenever that land is tapped. This means on turn five you could have seven mana to throw at your opponent.

The other spells are primarily ways of keeping the other player in check. This is by manipulating your creatures stats to win a battle, preventing any damage that would be dealt to you, or outright removing a threat on the board. They are in limited supply though, so use them wisely.

Other key cards that stand out for me in this deck are Fleetfeather Cockatrice and Nessian Game Warden. The Cockatrice is a five mana 3/3 flying, deathtouch creature that can go monstrous to 6/6. Even when it is not monstrous it can be very hard to deal with mid-game. As for the Warden, it is also a five mana creature but with a 4/5 body and can search a number of cards from the top of your library equal to the amount of Forests you control. This is great for searching out your opponents doom.

The Wilds and the Deep intro deck possesses a fair amount of power. It can steamroll if left unchecked. However, you can be very vulnerable in the early game and your powerhouses are susceptible to removal spells which can turn the tables. There is room for improvement as you continue playing. For instance, more mana ramp cards and creature searchers can get you on your feet faster. Also, it is lacking any significant board control. You can drop big creatures but they can be dealt with relatively easily. Overall, this is a fun deck to play and is a great starting point for newcomers to Magic: The Gathering.