I’m not rich, so I’ve been playing Magic the Gathering through Cockatrice and proxying. Finally, I bought my first real deck: Grab for Power. Wizards has the full deck list.
I’m a newbie, so my deck strategies have tended to be very aggressive. PewPewPew: Lightning Bolt as fast as you can. Carpe Noctem: Infect as fast as you can. Landsmack: Get land as fast as you can, swing for as much as you can. Even Denied is fairly aggressive: Discard into Bloodchief Ascension as fast as you can.
Grab for Power is not an aggro deck. It’s a combo deck. The heart of the deck is Crown of Empires, Scepter of Empires, and Throne of Empires. When activated, they tap a creature, ping players for 1, and spawn a soldier token respectively. When all three are on the battlefield, their abilities upgrade: gain control of a creature, ping players for 3, and spawn 5 soldier tokens. The abilities may not have much natural accord, but Wizards has a history of designing cards for exploitation.
What could you do by tapping a creature every turn? The goal of the deck is to assemble the three artifacts. Tapping an opponent’s creature can slow their assault, giving you more time to dig. Alternatively, there are plenty of creatures with untap abilities; tapping them without having to attack can be useful.
What could you do by pinging players for 1 every turn? Not much, in a non-aggro deck. If you could ping creatures too, this would be more useful. The 2012 Core Set has lots of Bloodthirst creatures that get bonuses if an opponent has taken damage that turn. Scepter provides a steady source of Bloodthirst. A Scepter ratches up Quest for Pure Flame, and two Scepters provides steady counters for Bloodchief Ascension. In any case, 1 extra damage every turn adds up (see Goblin Fireslinger).
What could you do with an extra Soldier token every turn? Chump block, pay sacrifice costs, swing for 1 extra damage, trigger “enters the battlefield” and “leaves the battlefield”. Rather, what could you do with 5 extra Soldiers every turn?
Devouring Swarm. That’s a fun finish. And that’s why Grab for Power is a good deck. Not because it’s tournament level. Because it’s fun. It’s fun to dig for buried treasure. It’s fun to win big or die trying. It’s fun just to use cards like Merfolk Looter and Sorin’s Thirst. Oh, you’re swinging for 5 with Arc Runner? I’ll kill it and gain 2 life. Again, not the best deck, but one that puts the fun back in Magic the Gathering.
I’ll leave you with my tweaked version of Grab for Power, Prime for Power. My favorite addition is Viscera Seer. Chump, sacrifice, scry 1. I’m safe for a turn and a card closer to constructing the Empire.
