Those of you who are BDM fands (and aren’t we all BDM fans?) may remember an article he wrote from almost a year ago recapping the events of GP Philly. I traveled to this event with Zeilend and Tom, two of our summer interns. Personal highlights of this GP include: Traveling via Chinatown bus (and Tom almost refusing to board), staying in a hostel (and Tom sleeping with his shoes on because Wang told him to), and the Reading Market next to convention center (which has an insane food selection).

Tom and I did not make day 2, but Zeilend did playing a URG aggro-control deck that had the Kiki-Jiki combo win. This deck was an excellent pick for that tournament but has been pretty much ignored since. Now that extended season is in full swing I asked Zeilend to update her list since some of the cards have rotated out. Here is what she came up with:

Kiki Mite Get There
4 Spell Snare
3 Stifle
3 Repeal
4 Mana Leak
2 Umezawa’s Jitte

4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Kird Ape
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Pestermite
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
3 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

1 Breeding Pool
3 Steam Vents
3 Stomping Ground
4 Flooded Strand
3 Wooded Foothills
4 Mountain
6 Island

This deck plays the aggro-control game pretty well against decks like faeries, creating some good threats like Kird Ape and Ninja of the Deep Hours and then protecting them with Spell Snares, Mana Leaks, and Repeals. Pestermite is never dead without Kiki-Jiki since he can come down during your opponent’s turn to fog or ice a land, then pick up a Jitte and swing back. If there is one thing this deck does well, it’s dodge Threads of Disloyalty and Engineered Explosives. Ninja will swing in on turn 2, but his 4cc makes him pretty much immune to both those cards.

For those who don’t know the combo, all you need to do is get both Kiki-Jiki and Pestermite in play on your turn. Tap Kiki to copy Pestermite. When the copy comes into play, you get the tap/untap trigger, which you will use to untap Kiki. Make another copy of Pestermite. Repeat this process an infinitely and swing with your army of hasted 2/1 fliers. Good Game.

Often the combo is not needed to win, but it is great in the long game and gives the deck a way to capitalize if your opponent taps out on a turn to play something big or decides to pay for Mana Leak.

This deck has a lot of main deck goodness against Elves. Jitte, Stifle, and Mogg Fanatic are all good in this matchup, and the permission helps as well. An additional sideboard card to consider is Cerbral Vortex from Ravnica Block. If your opponent attempts a lethal Grapeshot or Brainfreeze, chances are they have drawn enough cards to dome them for lethal. After sideboard you can overload the elves player so that they will have to draw multiple Thoughtseize to clear out your hate.

Other sideboard cards to consider are Ancient Grudge, Echoing Truth, Threads of Disloyalty, Leyline of the Void, and more Jitte.

I don’t know if this deck is good enough to win a PTQ, but it looks like it has a lot going for it and I highly recommend trying it out. Please post suggested changes/testing results/stories in the comments if you happen to try the deck out.

~WillPoP