Ah, a Birthing Pod deck ready to play right out of the box! So how good is it? Let’s take a look at the list:
1 Acidic Slime
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Brutalizer Exarch
1 Hex Parasite
1 Morkrut Banshee
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Perilous Myr
1 Phyrexian Rager
3 Skinrender
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Stingerfling Spider
4 Strangleroot Geist
1 Viridian Corrupter
4 Viridian Emissary
1 Wakedancer
4 Young Wolf
2 Birthing Pod
2 Diabolic Tutor
3 Doom Blade
1 Mortarpod
2 Evolving Wilds
14 Forest
1 Grim Backwoods
8 Swamp
Understandably, this is a very creature heavy deck. If you look at the main board, it’s a pretty solid line-up as you move up the mana curve. While Birds of Paradise would typically be the card of choice for a 1-drop in this deck, Young Wolf is a nice little card, as it has Undying and can immediately replace itself as you go into a Viridian Emissary or Strangleroot Geist. Hex Parasite is a nice little tech card that allows you to remove +1/+1 from your Undying creatures so that they can return yet again, although I haven’t seen how good this strategy is in competitive practice. Rounding out the two-drops you have Perilous Myr, which is a nice little card that can be popped for two damage.
The three drops are where the tech really begins to shine if you play the deck right. Wakedancer has a good morbid ability that nets you two 2/2 creatures for the price of one. Phyrexian Rager draws you a card at the cost of 1 life. Viridian Corrupter destroys an artifact when it hist the board and is a 2/2 creature with infect. Of all of the three, the Corrupter is a bit risky, since it can end up destroying your own Birthing Pod, so it’s only worth playing when you don’t have your Pod on the board or when there is an obvious target for it. It’s also a sort of random Infect card in a non-Infect deck.
Solemn Simulacrum is a great inclusion in this deck and belongs in any deck with Birthing Pod. Three copies of Skinrender round out the four drops, making for a nice cheap removal tool. The five-drops are a bit underwhelming, but still useful. Morkrut Banshee has a very good Morbid ability that causes -4/-4 to a target creature (but it’s not optional). Acidic Slime is a card that just belongs in any Pod deck, and can destroy a wide variety of things (at worst, it can hit a land) that allows gives you a 2/2 creature with Deathtouch. Stingerfling Spider is nothing special, except that it has reach, and an optional ability to destroy a flyer, something this deck has an obvious weakness against. Bloodgift Demon is the best of the five-drops. He’s a 5/4 flyer that at each of your upkeeps must deal 1 damage to target player, but that player also draws a card. My main issue with Bloodgift Demon is that as you’re already using life as a resource with Birthing Pod, since you’re going to be using the optional Phyrexian mana cost of 2 life more often than not to keep ahead of the mana curve. so he’s a risky play.
To top off the deck, you have Brutalizer Exarch and Myr Battlesphere. Brutalizer Exarch is interesting in that it has three fairly useful abilities. It’s not one of the better six drops that you could use, but considering that it’s a stepping stone to Battlesphere, it’s necessary that there be a six-drop in the deck. Myr Battlesphere is a pretty nice card. It’s never been a money card, but a 4/7 that gives you 4 1/1 Myr tokens when it enters the battlefield is already pretty good. Also, whenever it attacks, you may tap X untapped Myr you control. For each of those, Battlesphere gains +X/+0 until end of turn, plus it deals X damage to defending player. It’s not bad, and considering how aggressive this deck is on removal, that Battlesphere could get in unchecked for up to 8 damage.
For a starter Birthing Pod deck, it’s not bad. If you get your Birthing Pod early, the game could end very well for you. You have 3 Doom Blade to deal with threats, on top of all of the removal already in your creature base. Two copies of Diabolic Tutor will help you search out your Pod, but at 4 mana, you’re already well behind in the game if you have to use it on turn four to get one. You may have the removal necessary to stay in good shape until that point, but it’s not a good sign. Mortarpod is a nice little card to work with your Strangleroot Geist and Young Wolf for quick removal or pinging.
The mana base is rather standard besides the one rare land in the deck, Grim Backwoods. I’m no fan of Grim Backwoods, but I understand its inclusion in the deck, since it can draw you a card later in the game at the expense of one of your weaker creatures. But for 4 mana and a tap, plus a sacrifice? That’s not worth a card draw. You’re better off with a third Evolving Wilds. It’s one of the weakest rares in Dark Ascension, and it’s only real redeeming quality is the quote from Liliana: “I love what they’ve done with the place!” Otherwise, the mana base is fine.
The side board is as follows:
SIDEBOARD
1 Acid Web Spider
3 Autumn’s Veil
1 Beast Within
1 Despise
1 Dismember
4 Distress
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Gravedigger
1 Myr Sire
1 Wakedancer
The Acid Web Spider is basically just Stingerfling, except it destroys Equipment. Autumn’s Veil is an interesting tech choice against blue/black control decks – this deck type’s main nemesis, shutting down many counter, removal and bounce spells for a turn. Beast Within is removal for the bigger threats you may not be able to handle. Despise is a nice way to get a major threat out of your opponent’s hand. Dismember is nice quick removal. Distress is an interesting inclusion in that it adds a great deal of hand control to your deck. In theory, it could be a good idea in that you’ll be able to limit your opponent’s options and be able to know what you may have to play around. Entomber Exarch helps you with that hand control strategy that can also get you one of your creatures back from the grave. Gravedigger does half of what Exarch does (gets one of your creatures back) for the same converted mana cost. Myr Sire gives you another two-drop that relpaces itself with a 1/1 Myr token when it dies (I’m not sure why you would side it in). You also have a second copy of Wakedancer, presumably to replace Viridian Corrupter if it’s not proving useful.
Overall, I think that this deck isn’t quite as consistent as the other Dark Ascension Event Deck, Gleeful Flames. It’s a tool box sort of deck that really needs a visit to the hardware store. There are just far better cards that should be in this deck. Sheoldred, Whispering One is actually one of Wizard’s suggested additions to the deck, and that’s a definite one. You can make this deck pretty good for pretty cheap but as far as out of the box play-ability, this deck is definitely the weaker of the two. Also, in October 2012, this deck will be completely unplayable in Standard. It may be worth the $20 (or even around $15 if you can find it on sale) just for the Birthing Pods, Solemn Simulacrum and other useful commons & uncommons. It’s also pretty well structured; it just needs better tools across the mana curve.
