By Melissa DeTora
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Melissa is a former Magic pro player and strategy writer who is now working in R&D on the Play Design team.
Demonic Pact is one of the most fun cards in our FFL (Future Future League, our internal playtesting league), and I was really excited to see a pro player bring a Demonic Pact deck to Pro Tour Magic Origins last weekend. On the surface, Demonic Pact is a high-risk, high-reward card. You gain tons of card advantage while it's in play (it can be up to a five-for-one!), but you only have three turns before the Pact kills you. You are indeed making a deal with the devil (or in this case, Liliana's demon) when you play this card.
The best use of Demonic Pact is to gain lots of value off of it and then find some way to remove it from the battlefield before it causes you to lose the game. The most obvious ways to do this are with bounce spells like Disperse or enchantment kill spells like Reclamation Sage, but Antonio Del Moral León found a more interesting way to get rid of the Pact.
Invasive Species is an oft-forgotten Magic 2015 card that was mostly known for being an efficient beater in Draft. As it turns out, it's also a fantastic way to return Demonic Pact to your hand. Invasive Species isn't really a great card if you don't have a Pact in play, so Del Moral León only chose to play two of them. Woodland Bellower, a fantastic card that is capable of searching out any non-legendary green three-drop, does a pretty good job of finding an Invasive Species when you need one.
The great thing about this deck is it doesn't even need Demonic Pact to win. It definitely helps, but this deck plays like a Black-Green Midrange deck with a lot of removal, good creatures, and attrition. You'll win most games just by controlling the board with spells such as Languish and Hero's Downfall, and then winning with Ugin, the Spirit Dragon—or by attacking with Woodland Bellower and other strong creatures.
Antonio Del Moral León's Black-Green Demonic Pact
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