New Combo Deck for Shadowmoor Standard

Hey peeps and magic fanatics, I'm here once again to share with you the new combo deck that is named as "Project 420.5n" and has risen when Shadowmoor entered Standard. This new tech abuses the "persist" mechanic introduced by the new set.

So what does persist do? When a creature with persist goes to the graveyard, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, it will return to play with a -1/-1 counter on it. Some cards that are known on this are kitchen finks and murderous redcap. Ok, that sounds cool. Now let me introduce to you Juniper Order Ranger. This guy puts a counter on your other guys that comes into play.

So how does the combo work? Here's a cut from the Mtg rulings to explain it and also to say why it is called Project 420.5n:

"420.5n If a permanent has both a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter on it, N +1/+1 and N -1/-1 counters are removed from it, where N is the smaller of the number of +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on it."

So what does this mean? It simply says that when a -1/-1 counter and a +1/+1 counter is placed on a creature, both cancel each other. So when you have a Juniper Order Ranger in play and your kitchen finks or any other creature with persist dies, it comes back into play canceling out the -1/-1 counter effect of persist. Together with a sacrifice outlet like Nantuko Husk, you can do the combo infinitely. You can gain infinite life with the finks or deal infinite damage to your opponent with the redcap.

Various deck lists have been made for this abuse(as what I call it) and here is one of them. I got this list from the decks section of magic-league dot com. It finished third at their recent online trial tournament.

Project 420.5n (piloted by CyrusKiller)
Main Deck
1 Horizon Canopy
4 Battlefield Forge
3 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Ancient Amphitheater
2 Arctic Flats
2 Highland Weald
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Wooded Bastion
1 Llanowar Reborn
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Snow-Covered Plains

3 Murderous Redcap
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Juniper Order Ranger
4 Greater Gargadon
1 Brion Stoutarm
2 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Wall of Roots
2 Saffi Eriksdotter
2 Primal Command
4 Glittering Wish
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Into the North
3 Sulfurous Blast

Sideboard
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Juniper Order Ranger
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Vexing Shusher
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Safewright Quest
3 Cloudthresher
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Firespout
3 Guttural Response
1 Dawnglow Infusion

Its sacrifice outlet is Greater Gargadon and uses Glittering Wish to get the combo pieces together.

Here is another build that uses black outlet, Nantuko Husk instead of red. This list was made by my fellow friend and player, Oliver.

Project 420.5n (by Oliver Mastilero)
Main Deck
Lands
1 Horizon Canopy
2 Forest
3 Swamp
3 Wooded Bastion
4 Llanowar Wastes
2 Gemstone Mine
4 Treetop Village
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Reflecting Pool
Creatures
3 Juniper Order Ranger
3 Murderous Redcap
4 Nantuko Husk
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots
3 Kitchen Finks
Spells
4 Harmonize
3 Primal Command
4 Thoughtseize
4 Glittering Wish

Sideboard
1 Juniper Order Ranger
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Kitchen Finks
3 Damnation
4 Raking Canopy
1 Vexing Shusher
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
2 Shriekmaw
1 Harmonic Sliver

Stay tuned for new updates and variations of this deck and see how it will affect the new standard. Till next time... chow!