Polymorph Report

So I said I would do it, and here it is: my official Polymorph report. Polymorph is a deck that has been around for some time (polymorph was printed back in Mirage), but is easier to put together more now than it ever has thanks to Eldrazi Spawn token makers. Before I get too far ahead of myself, here is the decklist:

1x Emrakul, The Aeons Torn

4x See Beyond
4x Ponder
4x Polymorph
4x Spreading Seas
4x Deprive
4x Into the Roil

3x Awakening Zone
4x Explore
4x Growth Spasm

4x Halimar Depths
4x Khalni Garden
7x Island
5x Forest
4x Misty Rainforest


I got this decklist from Patrick Chapin aka The Innovator from Star City Games. The only edits I made to it was cutting 4x Jace, The Mind Sculptor for $ome rea$on, and replaced him with 1 or 2 Awakening Zones, and more Into the Roils. Also i swapped out one forest for an island.

Overall I would say that the deck is very powerful, focusing on surviving and minimizing your opponents board control with bounce spells and counter spells while builing up lands and digging for all the right cards with your draw cards. One thing I noticed very quickly is how much extra shuffling you have to do in this deck. Here are the cards that can make you shuffel your library:

4x See Beyond
4x Ponder
4x Polymorph
4x Growth Spasm
4x Misty Rainforest

Almost half your library searches and shuffles it! Aside from that random point, I found this deck to be powerful, but not necessarily fun. I am not the biggest fan of the Annihilator mechanic. At 1 or 2 it's fine, but at annihilator 6, the fun factor is simply gone. When I attack you, you have to sacrifice everything you own if i have made sure to effectively bounce and counter your spells. Then you have a freakin 15/15 flyer coming at you. If you have a flying creature that survived the initial explosion, it goes up to annihilator 7 effectively.

I'm not a fan of the mechanic, but you can't argue against what it does. It tears apart decks and almost always leaves you on top. I haven't worked out a sideboard yet, but i know for a fact that 4x Negates are going in to protect Emrakul when he comes out. Also, if I get my hands on an Iona, Shield of Emeria, she will get sided in instead of Emrakul against mono-colored decks, because it will prevent their deck from doing anything at all while you can bounce anything that gets in your way, leaving the path wide open.

This deck just won a $5k somewhere (that's what my local cardshop owner told me) so the deck is legit. You knwo what other deck is legit? Superfriends, the 12 planeswalkers (3x Gideon, 3x Jace TMS, 3x Ajani Vengent, 3x Elspeth) USA deck. You know what the big difference is? The cost. In Magic, we play with 60 card decks. If you want 12 of those cards to be those planeswalkers, heres what your shelling out:

Jace: 3 x $67 = $201
Gideon: 3 x $50 = $150
Ajani: 3 x $11 = $33
Elspeth: 3 x $50 = $150

for a total of $534

(prices according to CardKingdom.com as of May 12)

This deck also is running approx. 4x Path to Exile ($32), 2x Martial Coup ($17), 2x Day of Judgement ($20), 3x Arid Mesa ($36), 3x Scalding Tarn ($39), and 4x Glacial Fortress ($44) among other less majorly expensive stuff. If you did the math on your own, you would see that these 30 cards of the deck costs $722!!! Half the deck costs over $700!!! Thats nuts!!! This is a deck I will never play, because it is simply impossible to put together!

Compare that to the non Jace TMS I made:

1x Emrakul: $16
4x Polymorph: 4 x $3 = $12
3x Awakening Zone: 3 x $8 = $24
4x Misty Rainforest: 4 x $13 = $52

for a rares total of $104, or $52 if you cut the Misty Rainforests. I was suprised when I was gettign these prices because when I got them, Awakening Zone was $3 each, so I got it cheap and easy. All these prices have gone up (Emrakul by 25%, Polymorph by 50%, Awakening Zone by 166%, Misty Rainforest by 8%) since Polymorph got really big, but the price isn't restrictive very much. The deck plays slow enough that Terramorphic Expanse can replace Misty Rainforest, and Emrakul was the free pre-release card if you went. Beyond these rares, everything else is a common.

The funny thing after doing the price comparasin is noting that Polymorph is favored against Super Friends in the head - to - head matchup. Enjoy spending $750 on that deck? Well I will enjoy bashing you with my $110 deck (Insert cynical smile here).

Wrapping up now, Polymorph is a very feasable deck if you want something Insanely powerful but not budget breaking. I am very likely to play this at my next FNM because the only proxies I have are 2 Misty Rainforest (which are probably going to become Terramorphic Expanses) and an awakening zone. One tip for playing the deck is to take your time before you cast polymorph. Make sure you can leave mana up to play a deprive or into the roil in case your oppenent has something like an oblivion ring which can get rid of emrakul.

One last thing, I have mentioned my good friend / arch enemy (on the battlefield) Mark a couple times in past posts. He now has a blog with the full intent to compete with mine. It's called Deckmaster Central, and you can find the link at the top of this page on the right, among a bunch of other sites.

Let me know what you would put in a polymorph sideboard, and what you think of the deck.

Peace!