While most MTG players build decks with the sole purpose of winning, others approach the game with a little more whimsy. These are the players who build meme decks, or decks that pursue an outlandish game plan largely for comedy value. Lost in the Woods is a classic example of a build-around in this space, and now, with the advent of
Pia, Aether Ascetic
Pia, Aether Ascetic
When Pia enters, you may discard a card. If you do, search your library for an enchantment card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
, it’s back on the MTG menu in a big way.
Lost in the Woods as a Hidden MTG Commander
For the uninitiated, Lost in the Woods is an enchantment that essentially lets you block all incoming attacks as long as you keep revealing Forests from the top of your deck. In order to maximize this unusual effect, players in the past have built decks consisting of Lost in the Woods and pretty much all Forests. With this setup, once you have Lost in the Woods in play, you can’t die from combat damage, so you can just wait around until your opponents kill each other or deck themselves out.
The biggest issue with this meme deck in Commander before now has been consistency, since accessing Lost in the Woods is tough for green. Thanks to
Pia, Aether Ascetic
Pia, Aether Ascetic
When Pia enters, you may discard a card. If you do, search your library for an enchantment card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
, however, the color now has access to an efficient enchantment tutor in the command zone. This means you can drop Pia on turn three to guarantee a turn five Lost in the Woods every single game, making the dream of sitting back with 98 Forests a reality.
Players online have been talking about putting this bizarre deck together since Pia was spoiled, but it may be more meme than dream for now. While the ‘combo’ does prevent all attacks, it does nothing against the many other win conditions players run in Commander. You can still be milled out, die to a cavalcade of
Blood Artist
Blood Artist
Whenever this creature or another creature dies, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
triggers, or an infinite mana
Walking Ballista
Walking Ballista
This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
{4}: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Remove a +1/+1 counter from this creature: It deals 1 damage to any target.
combo. Opponents can also just remove Lost in the Woods, too, leaving you completely defenseless.
For these reasons, as funny as it is, this new Lost in the Woods strategy is better as a one-off gimmick than a real strategy. Fortunately, it’s also incredibly cheap to put together, so it can be fun comic relief at your next Commander night if nothing else.
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