This weekend, 574 players gathered for the Magic Spotlight: The Hobbit Main Event in Brisbane to compete for prizes and Pro Tour invites. Even with such high stakes, though, some players still showed up with off-the-wall archetypes, looking to catch others off guard. One player even boasted a top 64 finish with a strange colorless Eldrazi deck centered around charge counters.
Storming Off with Artifacts
During the early turns of the game, the primary objective of this deck piloted by Lee Hung Nguyen is to build up a big mana advantage. This gameplan starts with its two “Sol” lands, Ugin’s Labyrinth and Eldrazi Temple, which then help accelerate you towards Kozilek’s Command and Glaring Fleshraker. Once you have the latter card in play, your free artifacts, including Everflowing Chalice and Astral Cornucopia, net you extra mana via Eldrazi Spawns.
While these two artifacts technically don’t do anything by themselves when cast for X=0, this deck has plenty of ways to ramp up charge counters. Coretapper is your strongest engine, since you can sacrifice it to immediately boost an artifact for explosive turns. From there, Power Conduit and Surge Node also provide a steady stream of counters.
This excess mana can then be funneled into Ugin, Eye of the Storms, whose static ability demolishes opposing boards alongside your wealth of efficient artifacts. This makes it trivial to protect Ugin until you reach its ultimate. Then, by casting all copies of Glaring Fleshraker and following up with a bunch of colorless spells, you’ll easily burn the opponent out that turn.
Interestingly, you can also accomplish a similar Storm-esque task by simply landing Mystic Forge. By chaining cheap artifacts together from the top of your library, you’ll quickly build up Storm count. Kozilek’s Command can even help set up the top of your deck and clear away excess lands via its Scry ability. All the while, Fleshraker or a tutored Paradox Engine from your sideboard net you mana.
Eventually, Karn, the Great Creator can grab Aetherflux Reservoir as a win condition, should Fleshraker not be enough. With so much redundancy in its kill conditions, this archetype is more consistent than you might expect.
With Great Power Comes Great Fragility
Ultimately, this deck’s biggest edge lies in its potential to dominate in grindy games. Slower archetypes relying on incremental advantage, like Esper Blink and Dimir Midrange, risk getting demolished by Ugin. At the same time, having access to a combo kill with Mystic Forge gives you an edge against other big mana decks like Eldrazi Tron.
Unfortunately, assembling these combos takes time, and not all opponents will give you that luxury. Given how little disruption this deck plays, it’s hard to stop Neoform or Ruby Storm from simply winning faster than you. Ugin’s inability to remove either half of the Basking Broodscale + Blade of the Bloodchief combo is also quite problematic in the matchup.
In addition to your lack of speed, you are also vulnerable to hate pieces. Unlike traditional Eldrazi shells, this deck’s emphasis on cheap artifacts and Urza’s Saga makes Wrath of the Skies more problematic. Combined with the land destruction package from Boros Ponza, the matchup becomes very poor. Additionally, Chalice of the Void can be a nuisance when you’re on the draw, shutting down Mox Opal.
Given this array of weaknesses, a breakout seems unlikely for this deck any time soon. Nonetheless, a 10-5 record at a big event is still an impressive showing, demonstrating that the deck is capable of winning despite its issues. Consider giving it a shot if you’re looking for something fun to surprise your friends with at your next FNM.
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