This is a competitive [[Archimago]] (F)/(E) list that I'm bringing to my local Cornerstone on August 1, 2026 in Hendersonville, NC.

The strength of the deck is in its card advantage due to the Avatar and being able to cast very powerful spells more than their rarity ordinarily allows. Every third spell in the cemetery is effectively a card drawn for Archimago, but the value is even higher than that since you will primarily be re-casting very impactful spells.

The strategy of Archimago is two-fold: 1) expanding territory and out-maneuvering the opponent in the early game using spells like [[Landmass]], [[Frontier Settlers]], and [[Imperial Road]]; 2.) filling the cemetery with any spell, even if the value isn't perfect at that moment, so that you can play those spells again later in the game and gain card advantage. The two Omphalos in the deck gain additional card advantage over time, as well, and between your removal spells like [[Poison Nova]] and giant damage spells like [[Craterize]], the deck aims to get to the late game where it can finally pull ahead of other Avatars.

THE STALLING PLAN: The minions in this deck are annoying. Their goal is not always to be aggressive, but to thwart the opponent's plans. [[Root Spider]] is a notoriously hard-to-remove threat that almost never attacks, instead opting to sit underground and disabling key minions of the opponent for an entire game. [[Sinterfee]] removes the opponent's ability to cast spells on curve and punishes greedy mana bases. [[Sister Stefánia]] is warded and great at removing powerful abilities from opponent's minions. [[Gargantula]] is both a sizeable threat AND a card that can immediately disable the most powerful minions in the game.

Common finishers with the deck are: [[Common Sense]] for [[Firebolts]] or [[Smite]], [[Silver Bullet]] for [[Searing Truth]], [[Border Militia]] + [[Onslaught]], or a simple [[Craterize]] or [[Major Explosion]] re-cast from the cemetery.

Opening Hands: Ideally, you would like to have 2 Earth Sites/1 Fire Site, as one of your best EXPANSION PLAN draws will have either [[Frontier Settlers]] or [[Landmass]] or BOTH, and you need 2 (E) threshold to play those cards on curve. It's okay to mulligan your big kill spells like [[Craterize]] and [[Major Explosion]] as you run 4 [[Common Sense]] and will be shuffling your deck at some point during the game.

This particular list runs a little spice to differentiate from others - 2 [[Silver Bullets]] allow me to search for powerful Exceptional Spells in the Collection, whereas many [[Archimago]] lists run no Collection, at all. I also run a singular [[Molten Maar]] which can fetch a [[Hellhounds]] to add extra pressure. I've debated on whether or not to add a second [[Hellhounds]], as [[Mirror Realm]] can copy the land, and [[Mirage]] can replay it, but I've found that in gameplay, I often would much rather copy or pick up a [[Rift Valley]] due to its ability to reposition important targets for various minions. Other great Bullet targets are: [[Order of the White Wing]] to camp near an Omphalos or something similar casting things from a place other than hand, a third [[Onslaught]] as finisher, [[Haystack]] to prevent other decks from searching, [[Redmane Hyena]] to hate on opponent's cemeteries while also leaving behind a potentially big body, [[Drought]] to take out problematic (W) sites and potentially leave a Submerged minion dead, underground, and [[Begone]] to remove [[Lilith]], [[Lord of Lies]], or any # of problematic minions of the evil persuasion.

In addition to Collection Spice, I also run twin [[Sinterfee]] in the deck, which add to the STALLING plan, taking your opponents off of critical thresholds in the early game and forcing them to spend valuable removal spells on a simple little faerie. I also run 3x [[Gift of the Serpent]] and only 1x [[Gift of the Wolf]], which most [[Archimago]] lists run 4-of. The reason for this is because my (F) sites are increased slightly, and with so many [[Soldier]] tokens running around, I want my 1-power minion to be able to take out the biggest, baddest dudes in the game. The Serpents giving the creature Lethal makes them way more threatening than if they had a simple +2 power bump, at least in my opinion.

Lavamago

@Rule Zero