The Typeless Permanent

Neurok Transmuter seems like a fairly standard idea for cards-that-play-around-with-artifacts that one would expect in the Mirrodin setting. He can turn creatures into artifact creatures, or artifact creatures into nonartifact creatures... that's bound to have some strategic applications here and there. The thing is, that second ability is pretty unique. How often do you see a card that can remove a type from a permanent? Now, again, he can only target creatures - you can't remove the artifact type from your Sky Diamond or whatever - so you'll always be left with a nonartifact creature.

Or will you?

There are a number of artifacts that can temporarily turn into artifact creatures, making themselves valid targets for the Transmuter, but these effects generally end at the end of the turn, the same time the Transmuter's effect stops. There is one weird and classic exception, however:

The humble, pioneering Jade Statue can be turned into a creature only until end of combat, after which it reverts back to being a plain ol' artifact for your postcombat main phase. See where I'm going with this? During the combat phase, you can animate Jade Statue, then target it with Neurok Transmuter, turning it into a blue creature. Then, after combat ends, it stops being a creature... but wait, it also stopped being an artifact! So what is it? For the rest of the turn, you are the proud owner of a (blue) permanent that has no types. It's not an artifact, it's not a creature, it's... just there. Amusingly, being typeless makes it surprisingly resilient to removal - basically nothing short of Vindicate or Apocalypse can take out a typeless permanent.

Since we've already noted the abusiveness March of the Machines allows for twice in recent memory, I might as well point it out here as well: this headache-inducing enchantment likewise pairs with the Neurok Transmuter to produce typeless permanents. In order for March of the Machines to turn something into a creature, it must be an artifact in the first place. So if it turns an artifact into a creature, then the Transmuter makes it no longer an artifact for the turn, then the March will no longer make it a creature. You see? Typeless permanents on demand! Throw in Moonlace and they can be colorless as well as typeless. What you can actually do with these no-type wonders is up to you to figure out.

You Can't Handle The Truth

Liar's Pendulum looks like a gimmicky draw engine that trades a cheap cost (both to play and activate) for an unreliable return on your investment. I mean, it's not the most reliable way to double your resources, earning what should be a 50/50 chance of drawing another card each turn, but sometimes that's not what it's all about. This is a very interactive; very fun card.

Let's say you're holding a counterspell in hand and name it. If your opponent guesses no, you can either take the extra card OR just refuse to show your hand and skip the extra draw. At this point your opponent should probably assume you aren't holding a counterspell and play accordingly, allowing you to stop whatever key card he's been sitting on for fear of countermagic. If he guesses yes, however, you can show him your hand and force him to try and play around it (and remember, you might draw a second counterspell before he makes his move) or simply refuse to show it and see if he calls your bluff. Either way is a plus for you, and either way you're playing another game within the game.

Liar's Pendulum isn't a rock steady card engine like Jayemdae Tome, but it's instead designed to let you bluff your opponent into playing based on what he thinks is in your hand - a key component of many control decks, but in this case you can actively influence it. If you score extra cards, that is great, but even if you don't, you still come out okay. Just remember that the Pendulum says you MAY reveal your hand - if you think you're better off keeping information to yourself, you don't have to.

Changelings up in this

Mistform Ultimus is all of the following:

A Giant Dwarf

A Pirate Ninja

A Turtle Rabbit

An Angel Devil

An Insect Anteater

A Deserter Coward

An Elephant Rat

A Crocodile Eye

A Horror Reflection

A Weird Licid

A Berserker Slug

A Serf Citizen

A Dryad Pincher

An Egg Orb

A Carrier Survivor

A Troll Goat

A Treefolk Splinter

A Human Bat

An Elk Caribou

A Satyr Centaur

A Whale Assassin

A Demon Squirrel

An Efreet Djinn

An Elf Orc

A Kirin Lammasu

A Manticore Masticore

A Tetravite Pentavite Triskelavite

An Ox Aurochs

A Hippo Griffin Hippogriff

A Gremlin Imp

A Pegasus Unicorn

A Hag Fish

A Spirit Dragon

An Egg Bringer

A Wall Spawn

A Rhino Oyster

A Juggernaut Advisor

A Basilisk Cockatrice Gorgon

A Mutant Wolverine Beast Rogue Cyclops Phoenix Angel

A Wizard Cleric Rogue Warrior Monk Barbarian Druid

A Prism Reflection Illusion

A Cat Bat Rat Wombat Bureaucrat

A Lurker Berserker Assembly Worker

A Minor Mutant Ninja Turtle

A Bat Bear Boar Beast Bird

Sizzle Blizzard

Magic's fun. But what's even more fun than fun? Fun with more fun.

That's right - this deck takes a boring ol' fun game of Magic and ups the ante (not literally) with a rhyming decklist. You heard me right, a collection of couplets in a list of limericks that provides an extra, metaphysical element to the brilliance of your deck. Play a game with a self-righteous, knowing smile and your opponent will drive himself crazy trying to figure out what you know about your deck that he doesn't! Or, play one of each card in order and grin at your opponent expectantly as he inevitably gets the fantastic humour of your deckbuilding might! It's enough to make even the shortest, baldest, most conniving and most Sicilian of men say "Stop that rhyming, and I mean it!"

4 Sizzle
4 Blizzard
4 Death’s-Head Buzzard

4 Skizzik
3 Soul Net
3 Izzet Signet

3 Muzzle
3 Frazzle
2 Zap
2 Bamboozle

2 Meddle
1 Twiddle
1 Mask of Riddles

10 Island
4 Scrubland
4 City of Brass
3 Scabland
2 Badlands
1 City of Ass

Gimme Some Candy

Peanuts, raisins, nickels... Halloween hosts can sometimes throw real crap into your candy bag. And that's just while visiting the normal everyday American folk. Imagine what it's like in Dominaria. I did, and so I tapped my Orcish Spy to find out what those bizarre Magic denizens mete out. Now, I wish I'd never asked....

Juzam Djinn gives out li'l Arabian dudes.

Kird Apes ask if you have a forest, and if you do, they shower you with kisses.

Taunting Elf calls you a sissy for dressing up.

Wood Elemental gives you a tree. Bring a big bag.

Plague Spitters... well... you don't want to ring their doorbell.

Takklemaggots... actually, forget them, too.

Stone-Throwing Devils calmly put bags of peanut M&Ms in your sack. Surprised?

Sengir Autocrats hand out Serfs to the first three kids to their houses.

Demonic Tutor hands out anti-Satanism pamphlets. It's part of his community service.

Merfolk hand out fried Dan-Dan chunk on a stick.

Goblin Digging Team will give you anything you want in their neighbors' houses.

Abominations give you slices of their gums.

Carrion Ants give you chocolate-covered ants. Creepy, no?

Time Elementals return your lost youth & beauty. Bonus!

Rabid Wombats give you popcorn.

Licids give you a headache.

Coal Golems drop a load of burning hot cinders into your sack.

Rock Hydras give out little electric guitars.

Spitting Slugs give out spoonfuls of mucus-line phlegm.

Copper Gnomes give out pennies. Bastards!

Vesuvan Doppelgangers give you a Hershey Bar, then take it back and give you a Snickers, then take it back and give you a Three Musketeers, then take it back and...

Hidden Guerrillas don't open the door.

Walking Sponges can't open the door. They're just sponges, you know.

Mother of Runes gives you a li'l baby Rune.

Opal Champion never opens the door. It'd really, really like to open the door and give you candied apples, but it just can't.

Eron the Relentless keeps giving you individual, unwrapped Jujubes, until you just walk away.

Illusionary Forces drop something in your bag, but you can't figure out which candy was theirs.

Ebon Praetor gives nothing unless you're dressed as a bunny. Then, he gives you an apple.

Disease Carriers give you syphilis.

For that special someone you really, really hate.

You've had opponents you hate. That guy who thinks he's a Magic virtuoso just because he can pilot a burn deck. The kid who just started playing and thinks he knows it all, but still tries to attack your creatures every single game. The girl who wants to play "fast mana." The old timer who plays Stasis.

But has there even been one guy... that guy... who was worse than all the others? That you really wanted to get back at? That you wanted to... physically destroy a bunch of his expensive cards? In-game... and legally, too?

That got your attention.

1. Play Mycosynth Lattice. Everything in play is now an artifact.
2. Play March of the Machines. Everything in play is now an artifact creature. (You should probably play something like Glorious Anthem to make sure your lands stick around.)
3. Play Blacker Lotus. It will now be a creature, thanks to March of the Machines.
4. Play Mindslaver to take over your opponent's next turn.
5. During his turn, play Mirrorweave, targeting your now-animate Blacker Lotus.
6. Proceed to activate the Lotus' ability for all of your opponent's permanents.
7. Oh, yes.

Be forewarned - if your opponent catches on to your master plan, he'll either concede or start bashin' heads. Still, this is among the most evil things I think you can 'legally' do in a Magic game.

A Different Kind of Experiment

Taking the activated abilities of creatures is good, but why stop there? Sure, putting a +1/+1 counter on Avatar of Woe and a Horseshoe Crab means you can pay one blue mana to blow up any creature as often as you want, but that's more-or-less under the purview of what's expected. A better combo essentially chews up and spits out the rules of the game.

1. Have Mycosynth Lattice, March of the Machines and Experiment Kraj out.
2. Play any planeswalker. Thanks to your other cards, it is a planeswalker, an artifact and a creature all at once.
3. Put a +1/+1 counter on the planeswalker. Experiment Kraj now has all activated abilities of the planeswalker. So get this - the rules that say a planeswalker's abilities can only be used once per turn pertain to planeswalkers specifically, which Kraj is not. Since they don't require tapping or anything else, you can use any +X abilities the planeswalker has as much as you want to get an arbitrary number of loyalty counters on Kraj.
4. It's like Christmas morning. Bounce everything with Jace, the Mind Sculptor, immediately wipe your opponent's lands with Ajani Vengeant, throw out Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker's ultimate ability three times just to be safe. Anyone left? The various Chandras can throw all the damage in the world at their faces.

Congratulations, you've just passed Breaking The Game 101. Who knew a planeswalker spark was so easy to replicate?