Magic the Gathering

5 min readApr 29, 2019

Assembler programming deck

Applying ARM microcontroller assembler ideas to building a magic deck.

You can cut and paste the deck below directly into MTG Arena or play the paper version for about $100.

Timebender Deck

3 Primal Amulet (XLN) 243
3 Revitalize (M19) 35
1 Emergency Powers (RNA) 169
1 Isolated Chapel (DAR) 241
1 Glacial Fortress (XLN) 255
4 Revival // Revenge (RNA) 228
7 Plains (RNA) 260
7 Island (RNA) 261
5 Swamp (RNA) 262
1 Dovin’s Acuity (RNA) 168
1 Reliquary Tower (M19) 254
2 Gilded Lotus (DAR) 215
2 The Mirari Conjecture (DAR) 57
1 Mass Manipulation (RNA) 42
1 Azor, the Lawbringer (RIX) 154
2 Sphinx’s Insight (RNA) 209
1 Kaya’s Wrath (RNA) 187
2 Cleansing Nova (M19) 9
1 The Eldest Reborn (DAR) 90
1 Teferi, Timebender (DAR) 270
1 Mortify (RNA) 192
3 Nightmare’s Thirst (M19) 111
2 Treasure Map (XLN) 250
2 Deputy of Detention (RNA) 165
2 Warrant // Warden (RNA) 230
2 Mnemonic Betrayal (GRN) 189
1 Drowned Catacomb (XLN) 253

Explanation with some code snippets

3 Revitalize (M19) 35

Boosts life to bolster until turn 2 + card draw early game

interacts with

3 Nightmare’s Thirst (M19) 111

the Revitalize life gain (that same turn) becomes a -4 instant removal

if you have one in-hand after Revenge played later it’s a -20 something

usually it gets a -3 with Dovin or Sphinx

1 Mortify (RNA) 192

Kill Psychic Corrosion and other mill Enchantments, recur it back with Mirari

2 Treasure Map (XLN) 250

Provides mana of other colors but also scrys

movw      r0, #0x5678      @ r0 = 0x00005678
movt      r0, #0x1234      @ r0 = (r0 & 0x0000FFFF) | 0x12340000 (=0x12345678)

1 Dovin’s Acuity (RNA) 168

if casting any of the 12 instants in main phase you can gain 2 life and draw a card again recursively

2 Sphinx’s Insight (RNA) 209

card draw, gain life, triggers Dovin, again

4 Revival // Revenge (RNA) 228

using mostly Revenge you can get to 100+ life mid game with Mirari and

3 Primal Amulet (XLN) 243

Primal Amulet recurs well if Treasure Map is also in play and especially if a Mirari pulls instants or sorceries from your graveyard at lower cost

1 Teferi, Timebender (DAR) 270

2 The Mirari Conjecture (DAR) 57

STM     R5!,{R5,R4,R9} ; R5 is not predictable 
LDM     R2, {}         ; find register

these two copy above spells with Power Amulet and recur again, drawing new cards. you can end up doubling spells over with life gain. Teferi untaps Lotus

2 Deputy of Detention (RNA) 165

2 Warrant // Warden (RNA) 230

Deputy shuts down all copies of creatures, planeswalkers or enchantments in play — waiting until turn 2 / 3 to play might help

wait as long as possible then grab more than 1 copy of opponent cards
sac with Nova or
sac Deputy with Nightmare’s Thirst after life gain(s) — creatures jump back
sac with Nova and grab with Mnemonic or grab with Mass Manipulation

Warrant with above recursion repeatedly sends back for a turn early

Warden creates two sphinxes at once if Primal is flipped

1 Emergency Powers (RNA) 169

If all has failed and you are down to 4 life this shakes it all up again

*do not* run this routine IF:

they have a card draw trigger like Psychic Corrosion / Persistent Petitioners

== turbo self mill. Bad idea.

the graveyard is > library at that point

AND

you needed to do it not to die anyhow (no cards left in hand); emergency

XOR

you want to just give your opponent a sporting chance as you are probably going to win

eor r0,r1,#0x05

ELSE

1 Kaya’s Wrath (RNA) 187

2 Cleansing Nova (M19) 9

void __clear_cache(char* beg, char* end)

2 Mnemonic Betrayal (GRN) 189

pull said creatures out of their graveyard

you’ll have the right colors stored at these pointers (Treasure Map, Gilded Lotus)

1 The Eldest Reborn (DAR) 90

removal mid game but also step III (like Mnemonic)

1 Azor, the Lawbringer (RIX) 154

stops opponent’s spells next turn int 80h

1 Mass Manipulation (RNA) 42

if life > 200 *wait* for their creatures to fill the board, a minus 20 hit is np

but even if life > 1000 you can still lose if your library = 0

PUSH {R0,R4-R7} ; Push R0,R4,R5,R6,R7  ; onto the stack

Either use their dead creatures (Mnemonic) or the ones on the battlefield (Mass Manipulation). Missed the shot? pull it back with another Mirari

Lands

1 Reliquary Tower (M19) 254

2 Gilded Lotus (DAR) 215

1 Drowned Catacomb (XLN) 253

1 Isolated Chapel (DAR) 241

1 Glacial Fortress (XLN) 255

7 Plains (RNA) 260 7 Island (RNA) 261 5 Swamp (RNA) 262

Cautions with piloting this deck:

don’t trigger Emergency Powers then Mnemonic, its like calling a bunch of register contents just cleared and expecting a result back >0; it is 0 !
don’t call Kaya’s Wrath when they have (two) Open the Graves — while you destroy the battlefield of 6 creatures; it creates 12 zombies for them

War of the Spark

Some ideas:

Finale of Revelation, if you play that in this deck and they play Thief of Sanity with (two) Psychic Corrosion in play, they can grab your Revelation and mill your entire library in less than a second when they then click Ashiok, Dream Render. This puts all said milled cards into exile
God-Eternal Kefnet may fit well combining Mirari, Power Amulet and a kind of Azor, the Lawbringer in one card