March 2, 2020
genuflect – verb : lower one’s body briefly by bending one knee to the ground, typically in worship or as a sign of respect
So you opened a bobo rare in a Magic pack. Now what?
If you’re like me, you might curse, or grumble, or close your eyes and ever-so-slightly shake your head in disgust. Cue disappointed sigh.
What then?
Maybe you throw the card in a box. Maybe you file it in a binder. Maybe it goes in one of a dozen tall stacks of cards you intend to catalog in your meticulously-tended online collection tracker. (That last one is just me? Not surprising.)
Or maybe…you put it in a deck!
My Theros: Beyond Death prerelease pack from nearly a month ago contained this promo:
This is a build-around bobo. Rarely will you be able to cram this into a sealed deck and do all that much with it. I had no use for it at the prerelease, and I wrote the card off as beautifully-illustrated trash.
Even after opening 4 copies of it on Magic Arena within the first few days of the THB set being available, I ignored it.
But some bobos whisper to you, like a subtle cardboard siren pulling you towards rocky deck-building oblivion. After opening 5 copies of the card in paper and digital, I couldn’t deny that Enigmatic Incarnation had lodged itself in my frontal cortex like a chucked ninja star. I kept stealing glances at the prerelease foil (it really is a gorgeous card), and though I had no idea what to do with it, I became sure I COULD do something with it.
My favorite deck I ever built functioned a bit like a Swiss army knife, allowing me to fairly easily and consistently cough up a litany of ever-costlier creatures with varying abilities. Whatever the game situation required, I had a creature in my deck that could assist, and I just needed the game state to allow me to drag it onto the battlefield. Enigmatic Incarnation looked like it was designed to do something similar.
So I did what any new player in 2020 would do.
I netdecked.
As I mentioned previously there are people who will brew with even the worst rares, so it’s not surprising that I found various builds for Enigmatic Incarnation decks.
I shamelessly copied one into Arena, tinkered with it because it used some cards I didn’t have (and wasn’t willing to spend wildcards on), and threw it to the wolves who stalk the “Play” queue on Arena. And it was a JOY to play.
That said…
Aggro crushes it.
I’ll end up saying that about every deck I ever play in Arena (or paper, for that matter), so if ever I forget to mention it, here’s my canned disclaimer about ANY deck I play:
Aggro crushes it.
That said…
If I’m not playing against aggro, the deck is delightful to play and capable of claiming victory not-infrequently. It does several things I adore:
- It is full of “utility”, meaning it packs answers to a variety of threats.
- It provides frequent opportunities to make meaningful decisions about what the heck to do at a given moment.
- It usually survives till at least the mid-game, making even losses feel worth the time investment to play it.
I say all this not to convince anyone to build or play an Enigmatic Incarnation deck. It’s not THAT good. I say all this because everyone opens bobo rares, and a playset of 25-cent build-around bobos can still make for a fun play experience.
A good king must know his kingdom and seek to make the most out of the resources available. Some kingdoms are blessed with vast rare mineral reserves, or swaths of pristine forest. My kingdom is typically littered with clay and salt, but that just means I’m making floor tiles and tortilla chips instead of microprocessors or 2x4s.
Enigmatic Incarnation has become my favorite Theros: Beyond Death card. But make no mistake. It’s still a bobo. It’s only fitting I would fall in love with it.
Next time: back to cracking packs and tempting fate…
Casual Magicking 