Winotaurs: Mooing in January 97

"Huuuuuurlooooooon" 

-The Don, upon summoning a Minotaur

"Didgeridon't"

-Common statement back in the day to a countered Didgeridoo

Top Row is sideboard

Minotaurs, the black sheep of the red tribal creatures. I remember reading sometime in the early 2000's (though I couldn't tell you where) that one of the designers of Homelands was upset that Minotaurs didn't get a moment in the sun on the competitive level, despite releasing several support cards for the deck.The tribe personally has a long history of fondness from me, mainly because it was one of the first decks my twin made. He wasn't (and isn't) super into fantasy, but he knew what a minotaur was, and he rolled with it. The Don (as quoted up above) also ran a Minotaur deck for many years, and his shop is still the shop I judge all other on (at least when judging the community in it).

Over the years, numerous minotaurs have been released, some good, not so much. It however took a changeling, to get people to notice the abusable card in the making, Didgeridoo. 

With the overnight skyrocketing price of this otherwise dollar rare artifact, I figured it was time to attempt to run my favorite horned tribe. I had long considered running it in OS 95, I felt however the deck was to limited without the inclusion of Mirage/Visions Minotaurs. Sure, Mirage only had one (the champion wasn't printed until Visions it turned out).

I went 2-4 in the format, forcing most decks into a third game. The two wins were against a u/r burn deck, and a mill deck. The first win was against my good friend Stan. We had agreed no sideboards, and I went 2-1 against him. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a great deal of fun. At one point he used Suq'ata Firewalkers to keep my Eron tapped down (and forcing me to keep mana open). The other one was against w/u mill, with one game having me win with 0 cards in my deck (through burn damage). This game also concluded at a 2-1 in my favor.

Breakdown

The Good: Minotaurs are tough. Though all the three damage burn spells in the format usually hurt them, the three toughness helps a bit in combat. Most interestingly I could use Immolation on my own creatures, at one point making a 4/1 First Strike Anaba Bodyguard. Sadly he was only around a turn. Didgeridoo was great, as expected. Outside of that, its mono-red, which is a strong color by itself. Mirage gave me access to Talruum Minotaur, a 3/3 with haste, as well as the legendary Hammer of Bogarden, which needs no introduction.

The Bad: The deck was slow, and the tribal support is lackluster. In the day an argument could be made that Anaba Spiritcaller was somewhat superior because the tribal support pumped themselves, and each other up (unlike Lord of Atlantis or Goblin King). In 2021 AD this isn't the case, as all the tribal lords have pumped each other for about a decade now. The only other tribal support is Didgeridoo and Anaba Ancestor, a lowly 1/1 that can give another minotaur +1/+1 until the end of the turn. This makes it at best a limited midrange/stompy deck, that while effective, is lacking compared to some of it's other contemporary decks.

 

The Ugly: No matter how much I tried I couldn't find room in the deck for any of my beta Hurloon Minotaur, former face of the game. R.I.P

One game against a control deck, my Balduvian Trading Post was bounced with Boomerang, then Blood Mooned. Not a good way to lose. 

A few MVP's:

Talruum Minotaur

 

A Hill Giant with haste isn't anything to scoff at. Include the tribal support, and you have the most effective creature in the deck. 

Hammer of Bogarden

I just had to include how important this spell is, even though everyone reading this should know this already. Honorable shout out to Torch as well, which was always my favorite X burn spell (until Banefire at least).

Eron the Relentless

He really did have a gold border, look it up!

One of the first legends I ever owned. Eron holds a warm spot in my heart. He's also an effective beater, especially since he has haste. The Regeneration came in handy once or twice as well, forcing my opponent to use his two beaters to keep him tapped down.

Didgeridoo 

 

In an alternative universe this had gold too.

 

This was the center of the deck, and the reason it was made. The card is shockingly good, and was the only reason it got any wins at all. Being able to cast a creature for 3, at instant speed, which technically can't be countered, is without a doubt amazing. The days of putting out a champion at instant speed to kill a blocker sadly aren't being relived atm. Flashing in a Spirit Caller to get that extra point or two was pretty cool, and surprise blockers are always nice.

Final Conclusion: The Deck ran surprisingly well as a red midrange deck. In retrospect I probably would have run a few additional Hammer's, but I only own one black bordered one. I didn't want to run it in gold. 

The deck did have some issues of being slow compared to other red decks being ran, and Wildfire Emissary was just to good for my meager burn. Still, I got the deck out of my system, and now I can focus on other decks, like mill!