First off, an introduction: Welcome to The Dual Brews, a series where we shine a light on Old School Magic: The Gathering cards that never quite made it out of the binder. Along the way, we might uncover a hidden gem—or more likely, just confirm why these cards were forgotten in the first place.
Either way, Bjorn and Johan are up for the challenge. In each episode, they independently brew a “budget” deck (by Old School standards) built around a single, underappreciated card. This means, no power, no excessive expensive cards.
This episode’s focus: Personal Incarnation.
Among the classic Core Set fatties, White definitely drew the short straw. While Mahamoti Djinn, Lord of the Pit, Shivan Dragon, and Force of Nature evoke both power and nostalgia, Personal Incarnation rarely gets the same recognition—deservedly or not.
Can Bjorn and Johan craft a deck that brings this oddball avatar into the limelight? A deck that might even win a game or 2 in a tournament? Or will it just confirm that this card just kind of sucks, and deserves its place in, well, the binder.
Johan’s take on Personal Incarnation
Let’s be honest, Personal Incarnation is one tough nut to crack. Keeping the Swedish Old
School format in mind (i.e., modern Oracle rules apply), let’s examine the current wording of
the card:
{0}: The next 1 damage that would be dealt to this creature this turn is dealt to its owner instead. Only this creature’s owner may activate this ability. When this creature dies, its owner loses half their life, rounded up.
Naturally, the death trigger is something we want to avoid at all costs. Like the activated ability, the life loss and damage redirection apply to the owner of the card, not necessarily the controller. And while Terror is usually seen as the bane of Personal Incarnation, I’d argue that Control Magic is an even worse offender.
VS How to deal with the drawbacks
To mitigate the card’s inherent downsides, we need to prioritize two key things:
1) Instant-speed creature exile or bounce effects
2) Enchantment removal (specifically to deal with Control Magic)
The second requirement is straightforward. Since we're running white, at least three Disenchants are a no-brainer. The first challenge is trickier. Scouring the legal card pool, here’s what I found:
For bounce effects, we’re mostly limited to blue (Unsummon, Boomerang) or the clunky and largely unplayable Obelisk of Undoing.
Because of budget constraints, I chose to stick with white and colorless solutions. Martyr’s Cry was rejected, since it is ultimately too detrimental to our game plan. That said, Swords to Plowshares is nearly an auto-include in any white-based deck. So, we begin with this core package:
4x Personal Incarnation (well, obviously!)
4x Disenchant
4x Swords to Plowshares
Filling in the slots
Now let’s look at some supporting pieces. Two cards stood out: Safe Haven and Tawnos’s Coffin. These let you reuse powerful "enters the battlefield" effects. In our format and colors, that mostly means Triskelion and Tetravus. They are expensive, but potent.
To support these heavy hitters, we need affordable mana ramp. Enter: 4x Mana Vault and 4x Fellwar Stone. To offset the life loss from Mana Vault, I’ve included Dust to Dust. Not only can it remove one of our Vaults, but it can also target an opponent’s Su-Chi or similar threats.
Furthermore, to help stabilise against aggressive decks, I added two copies of Spirit Link. And since we’re not running any Arabian Nights cards (due to budget, yes, Library of Alexandria, I’m looking at you), City in a Bottle becomes an essential inclusion.
Rounding out the deck
Serra Angel: the white creature that arguably overshadowed Personal Incarnation itself.
Balance: a potential equaliser in rough situations.
Maze of Ith: to stall aggro and protect your life total.
Is This Deck Competitive?
In high-powered tournaments? Not likely. But in budget-restricted or points-based events, this could turn heads. More importantly, will you have fun? Absolutely. Catch your opponents off guard with the raw, unpredictable power of Personal Incarnation and leave them scratching their heads in disbelief.
For full reference, this is the decklist:
As for the sideboard, it’s a meta call, but Karma and Circle of Protection effects are solid, flexible options.
Bjorn’s take on Personal Incarnation
I've always like brewing with cards you don't see that often, and I like the challenge that Johan proposed, thinking about 2 different takes on a card that you don't see that often. One of the first ones I proposed was personal incarnation, since one almost never sees it on a OS tournament. Maybe that is because it just is not that good. I must admit, mine don't see a lot of play either. But I do have them, and I have played with them.
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| The beta obviously has seen a lot of play, though mostly before it came into my possession |
Figuring Johan would not use any green, since it is the color he least likes in the game, I decided the deck would be white/green. 4 duals could be considered "budget", but that is already pushing it. So, maximum of 2 colors it was.
First off, how many incarnations would I play? I would be tempted to say 4, but chances of success with 4 might be a bit dim. So, I decided I would go for 2, as big finishers in a deck. So, I don't want the incarnation to die. Actually, it is a fate I want to avoid at all cost. So, there you have it.
Avoid Fate is one of those cards that I also am a bit wary of. I kind of like it, though it doesn't do much in many games. In this setup however, it might be just right. When you play it, the most likely responses will be instants. Terror, Swords to plowshares. Double bolt if your opponent does not understand how it works. Or control magic, which would also be bad. Either way, Avoid Fate might just work.
Obviously, since we're deeply invested in white, we're going to use the good cards like Disenchants and Swords to plowshares to give the deck a fighting chance. Also, we need stuff to have it not die, so why not a Safe Haven and a Sword of the Ages.
Thinking of how to use a big creature in white, I decided I wanted to go for an Armageddon deck, since that would be the way to winning if you get the incarnation in play. Play it. Counter the instant removal. Wait your opponents turn, play Armageddon, win. Right?
I would need some ramp to pull that off, so I went for Birds of paradise (if you get 4th edition ones there still kind of affordable) and Fellwar stones. Then I added some Sylvan Libraries and Land Taxes to get to a lot of land and doing some reshuffling. Serra Angels to play before, so those can be destroyed to give the incarnation more of a chance. I had Su-Chi's first, but then decided to go for more budget friendly chronicles Erhnam Djinns, who basically have the same function. Just play them first, let them be killed, then play the Personal Incarnation.
Since I would not be playing blue and most of my opponents in OS do, I added one main deck Tsunami, and a Wrath of god just in case things get out of hand before I play the incarnation. Also, one Disrupting Scepter. This card can me really annoying but might tempt your opponent to get rid of an elimination spell if he has not seen a lot of creatures, or just force him to if he has just few cards left. If you get to zero cards in hand, than the incarnation is pretty safe.
A Dust to dust to get rid of those nasty moxes helps to further cripple my opponent when I play Armageddon. And if he has a Su-Chi and a Mox (one of the most seen images in OS games these days), it is also good. If you can use Land tax to your advantage, a Jalum tome might also not be bad. If the game takes longer, the scepter and the Jayemdae Tome are pretty good.
The end result might look weird, but I think it might have a chance if played correctly and your opponent does not draw too much power. Could this be better? Yes, probably. Will it get you into the top 8? Unlikely. But if you do manage to pull it off and start hitting with the incarnation, it will be very satisfactory! I think I will build this deck and give it a try, maybe coming back with an improved version. Or not, if it feels like it is really bad :) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the idea! Tell us what you think on magicancients@gmail.com if you want to, or maybe leave a comment.
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To be fair, this would probably be better, but less creative and more predictable. By the time you reach the Incarnation, you would think your opponent is out of removal because he used them all on the other creatures. But you might also be tempted to play the armageddon without the incarnation, and that is sort of defeating the point.
On an end note: Turns out, Johan did not use blue. Oh well, let's just see what the next one brings. I am sure he will play blue sooner or later :) I've enjoyed this idea, and am already thinking about a new card to start thinking about.
