Journey into Darkness; Or, Out of the Shadows

Forget what your teachers/parents/authority figures might tell you. Magic is good for you. It's kept me healthy and whether you know it or not, it's probably doing the same for you.

I have not been playing very much Magic lately. This fact may or may not be correlated to the increase in minor panic attacks I have been having. Both of these facts are definitely causally linked to the fact that I recently moved out of New York City and haven't had (1) as much free time and (2) a place to play. (Social anxiety can make it hard to try new places/meet new people, it turns out.)

During one particularly bad incident, I found myself lying on my couch completely incapacitated by the dark thoughts I was having. It was 1 AM, I had work in the morning, and I could not handle being in my own head. I needed to be thinking absolutely anything else right then. On a desperate whim, I closed my eyes, searched for a mental handhold, and I found it - I started visualizing Magic cards.

The seed of the idea came from a deck I ran in Standard. I found myself going through the motions of possible turns in my head. Slowly, my brain started filling up with possibilities and quesitons - how could I make the deck faster, how could it be more consistent, how could it be updated into Modern - and soon there wasn't any room in my head for anything other than Magic. I was saved. I was stable. And I had an idea for a deck (that I would probably never play (but that was soooooooo not the point at the moment (as you can certainly imagine)).

I've been doing a little better since then. I've been able to silence the darker thoughts, but the deck has persisted. And that's probably a good thing.

Is it competitive? Is it consistent? Does it function?

Does it matter?

This is the deck that kept me sane (with a bit of post-production, since I was not exactly in a state conducive to strategy at the time of conception):

The Only Life Point That Matters

4x Blackcleave Cliffs
4x Blood Crypt
8x Swamp
2x Smoldering Spires

4x Death's Shadow

4x Hex Parasite
4x Plunge into Darkness

4x Tainted Strike
1x Double Cleave
1x Rite of Consumption
4x Messenger's Speed

4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Street Wraith
4x Dismember
4x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Inquisition of Kozilek

I'm sure that it's nothing particularly impressive in terms of Modern (not that I know anything about the format). It's a deck that hopes for a turn 2 or 3 Death's Shadow kill, dropping your life total at will with  Hex Parasite or Plunge into Darkness and then doubling up with Tainted Strike, Double Cleave, or Rite of Consumption.

It's quick and it's dirty, and I don't have illusions about how it performs (or doesn't, as the case may be (though I secretly hope it's good, as parents do)) but what it IS is an anchor. It's a light in the dark. It's a panacea.

It's Magic.