Off-Meta Highlight

This Bizarre Changeling Deck Prepares You for MTG’s Next Big Set

On pre-brewing, tribal jank, and building for Lorwyn before it even drops

Image: PowrDragn / YouTube (source)

Every seasoned Magic: The Gathering player knows the thrill of "pre-brewing"—that unique challenge of building a deck not for the current meta, but in anticipation of a future set. It's about spotting a promising shell and theorizing how upcoming cards could transform it from a fun jank pile into a competitive force.

This forward-thinking approach is perfectly captured in a fascinating Rakdos (Black/Red) Changeling deck recently featured by the YouTube channel "PowrDragn":
🔴⚫ Changeling Deck Gets You Ready For Lorwyn! | MTG Arena Mythic Standard.

This article breaks down the key takeaways from the video, exploring how this strange deck functions, its surprising strengths, its glaring weaknesses, and why it might just be a blueprint for a future powerhouse.

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1. The Core Concept: A Tribal Mashup of Spiders and Slivers

The deck's central strategy is to use "Changeling" creatures—which have every creature type simultaneously—to enable powerful "tribal" payoff cards that would never normally work together. In a game where tribal decks are almost always restricted to a single creature type like Elves or Goblins, this mashup is both bizarre and brilliant.

By filling the board with creatures that are Slivers, Spiders, and everything else all at once, the deck unlocks explosive, game-ending abilities from just two key enchantments:

• Scions of the Ur-Spider: When this enchantment enters the battlefield, your Changelings (which count as Spiders) all gain flying, first strike, trample, lifelink, and haste.
• Thrumming Hivepool: This card gives all your Changelings (which also count as Slivers) the deadly combination of double strike and haste.

To survive long enough to assemble this combo, the deck runs a suite of removal spells like Shoot the Sheriff, Torch the Tower, Abrade, and Ruthless Negotiation, buying the necessary time to land its big enchantments and overwhelm the opponent.

2. The Glaring Weakness: "Junky Creatures" and Tapped Lands

As highlighted in the video, the deck's primary weakness is the low individual power level of the Changeling creatures available in the current Standard format. The deck is forced to play cards that don't do much on their own, simply to enable the bigger tribal synergies.

“...we got to play these junky creatures to make things work but you know you do what you got to do...”

The other major issue identified is that the deck plays too many lands that enter the battlefield tapped. This significantly slows down its game plan, with the creator repeatedly expressing frustration over being a turn behind where they need to be. A slow start is a critical flaw when your primary creatures are already underpowered.

3. The Surprise Factor: Stealing Wins from Out of Nowhere

The deck's primary weakness—its unassuming, "junky" creatures—is paradoxically the source of its greatest strength: the element of surprise. Because the core strategy is so unusual, opponents often underestimate the board and don't see the lethal attack coming until it's too late.

One incredible example from the video came against a control deck. The opponent milled a Scion of the Ur-Spider into the player's graveyard, which was then immediately reanimated with Virtue of Persistence, leading to an instant victory the opponent inadvertently set up themselves.

“...literally because we played the Virtue of Persistence, the opponent milled a Scion into our graveyard and we were already holding two creatures, so it's like ‘Oh great—we’ll just play those and then attack and win.’”

Another surprise win condition comes from Thrumming Hivepool. In one game, the creator capitalized on an opponent's miscalculation, noting with triumph:

“...our opponent doesn't know that all of our stuff has double strike, do they? Yep—that was nice.”

This "gotcha" moment—where a board of seemingly harmless creatures suddenly attacks for lethal—is how the deck steals its most satisfying victories.

4. The Verdict: Fun, Flawed, and Built for the Future

The creator's final assessment is clear: while the deck is fun and can pull off some really fun and rewarding wins, it is not at all a meta deck or recommended for highly competitive play right now due to its inconsistencies and lack of overall support.

However, the video's main thesis is that this deck is a "pseudo ready" shell for the upcoming Lorwyn set. Lorwyn is famous for its "pile of shape shifters," and the logic is that the deck's power level will be "lifted up extremely high" once new, more efficient Changelings are printed. Better creatures will fix the deck's primary weakness and make its powerful synergies much more reliable.

Even in the unlikely event our friend PowrDragn is wrong —and they never materialize—there is still hope for this type of deck in other upcoming sets.

“...if you get even like a 3/3 Changeling that has a good ability or some one-mana thing that does something well, then you can more reliably cast Hivepool and you maybe even play four of them at that point. Even one more good card could make this deck super viable.”

For more on how rule and card changes can reshape deckbuilding possibilities, check out our recent analysis: Hybrid Mana in Commander: A Rule Change That Could Help Everyone?

Conclusion: Building for Tomorrow's Meta

This Rakdos Changeling deck is a fascinating, if flawed, experiment in deckbuilding. It’s a strategic investment of time and thought, cleverly leveraging weak creatures for incredibly powerful tribal payoffs. While it may not top the charts today, its true value lies in its potential as a foundation.

For players who enjoy being ahead of the curve, this shell is perfectly positioned to become a real contender with the return to Lorwyn on the horizon. The real benefit here is how it makes you a better player—able to see synergy and build fun new decks that work. That’s something PowrDragn (go subscribe!) does exceptionally well.

Full Decklist: “SMO Changeling Slivers” by PowrDragn

Copy the decklist below for MTG Arena:

2 Abrade
4 Barkform Harvester
4 Blazemire Verge
2 Bloodfell Caves
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Duress
2 Mountain
2 Nomad Outpost
2 Restless Vents
2 Ruthless Negotiation
3 Scions of the Ur-Spider
4 Secluded Courtyard
3 Shoot the Sheriff
5 Swamp
4 Taurean Mauler
4 Three Tree Mascot
3 Thrumming Hivepool
3 Torch the Tower
4 Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber
2 Virtue of Persistence

Deck Source: Moxfield – “SMO Changeling Slivers”

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This article is part of MTG 4 Commies—a free, community-focused resource for Magic players who believe the game is better when it’s more accessible, affordable, and inclusive.