Rant of Valakut: Journey into the Ravaging Wilds (Horde Deck)

Your expedition has taken you deep into the heart of the wilderness. The treasure you seek is a relic of incredible power, and is rumoured to be hidden nearby. This region is treacherous, though; beasts stalk you from the shadows, and the land itself seems angered by your presence…

Journey into the Ravaging Wilds

A Horde Deck adventure for 1 or more players
by Ben Iverach-Brereton

Overview

Journey into the Ravaging Wilds is a cooperative game mode for Magic: The Gathering, where the players fight together against the Horde deck. Unless otherwise specified, follow all the rules of a normal game of Magic.

In addition to the HORDE DECK (see below), each player needs their own deck of Magic cards* to play. Players should also have a collection of dice and tokens on hand to track their life total and other information.

Terminology

The Party
This is you, the players. Whether you’re plucky adventurers or greedy cutthroats, you are all members of the Party. You win or lose as a team.

The Wilderness
This is the Horde deck, your opponent. Full of natural hazards and dangerous beasts, you’ll need to work together if you’re going to claim the ancient relic hidden deep within the Wilderness. Unlike a normal opponent, the deck runs itself; there’s no human at the helm.

HORDE DECK – The Wilderness
Journey into the Ravaging Wilds

Set the Tools aside for later. (See The Backpack, below.)

Search the Wilderness’s library for the Relic, reveal it, then shuffle and put the Relic on the bottom.

Print out the Threat Level reference card. Put it beside the Wilderness’s library so everyone can see it. Set the starting Threat to 1. (See Threat, below.)

The Party shuffles their libraries and draws opening hands as normal. They may mulligan once for free.

The journey so far
At the beginning of the game, the Party takes three turns in a row. Play then alternates between the Wilderness and the Party. (See The Party Turn and The Wilderness Turn, below.)

Winning and Losing

The Party immediately wins the game when ALL of the following conditions are met:

– The Relic is on the battlefield.

– The Wilderness controls no creatures.

– The Wilderness has no cards in its library.

The Party immediately loses the game if ANY of the following conditions are met:

– The Relic leaves the battlefield.

– The Party’s life total is 0.

– A Party member tries to draw a card from an empty library.

The Party

We’re all in this together
The Party is a team, similar to a team in Two-Headed Giant. They take their turns together, can block for each other, and have a shared life total.

Extra provisions
The Party begins the game at 30 life.

The Wilderness

No one controls the Wilderness. Its actions are dictated by the rules below. For the purposes of game rules, the deck itself is considered a “player” and is your “opponent.”

Making Decisions

Choose a path
If the Wilderness has to make a decision that isn’t covered by these rules, the players decide for it.

Survival instinct
The Wilderness can never target its own permanents with harmful effects, unless they are fight spells. It can never target the Party or its permanents with beneficial effects.

Topsoil
The Party cannot change the order of the Wilderness’s graveyard. When choosing cards in its graveyard, the Wilderness always chooses the topmost card possible.

Life and Damage

Life beyond measure
The Wilderness doesn’t have a life total. It can’t gain life, and doesn’t lose the game for being at 0 life. If a spell or ability would check for the Wilderness’s life total, use the number of cards in its library.

Search the area
If the Wilderness would lose life, it mills that many cards instead.

Hand

The Wilderness doesn’t have a hand of cards. It skips its draw step, and cannot lose the game by drawing a card from an empty library.

Rot and ruin
If the Wilderness would discard a card, it exiles the top card of its library instead.

Familiar territory
Abilities that would put cards in the Wilderness’s hand are treated differently depending on their source:

– If a spell or ability the Wilderness controls would put a card into the Wilderness’s hand (including drawing a card), the Wilderness plays that card instead.

– If a spell or ability the Party controls would put a card into the Wilderness’s hand, reveal it and put that card on top of the Wilderness’s library instead.

Creatures

Display of dominance
When the Wilderness casts a spell that causes a creature it controls to deal damage (including fighting), it targets the creature it controls with the greatest power as the aggressor. It then chooses a creatures the Party controls with toughness less than or equal to the aggressor’s power to be its victim, if able. It will target the creature with the highest power possible from among the eligible victims. In the case of ties, the Party chooses.

If the spell the Wilderness casts would increase the power of the aggressor, use the modified power of the aggressor to determine the victim.

Example: The Wilderness casts Prey Upon. Its largest creature is a 5/5 Territorial Allosaurus, so it will be the aggressor. The Party control a 6/6, a 4/4 and a 3/4. The 6/6 is too big to be chosen as the victim, so the Territorial Allosaurus fights the 4/4 instead, since it has the highest power among eligible victims. Note that if the Party’s only creature was the 6/6, it would be chosen as the victim, even though its toughness would normally be too high.

The strong prevail
Spells the Wilderness casts that put +1/+1 counters on a creature always target the creature it controls with the highest toughness. In the case of a tie, the Party chooses.

Combat
For details on how its creatures behave in combat, see The Wilderness Turn, below.

The Party Turn

The Party takes its turn at the same time. This follows all the normal rules for team play.

Lurking danger
Creatures the Wilderness controls don’t block unless forced to do so by a spell or ability.

Search the area
If the Wilderness would lose life, it mills that many cards instead.

The Wilderness Turn

The Wilderness turn follows the normal rules of Magic, except as detailed below:

Start of Turn

The Wilderness skips its draw step.

Main Phase

During the Wilderness’s precombat main phase, it reveals X cards, where X is the number of members in the Party plus one. The Wilderness plays the revealed cards. Reveal and play these cards one at a time.

Example: There are two players in the Party. The Wilderness plays the top three cards of its library during its precombat main phase.

Relic Influence
If the Relic is on the battlefield, the Wilderness reveals an additional card each turn.

Primal roar
At the end of the Wilderness’s precombat main phase, it activates the abilities of its creatures if the Threat Level is high enough. (See Threat, below.)

Combat

Relentless pursuit
Creatures the Wilderness controls attack each turn if able.

They’re in the tall grass…
Whenever a creatures with toughness 3 or less enters the battlefield under the Wilderness’s control, it gains haste until end of turn.

I’ve got your back
The Party declares blockers as a team.

Devour the mighty
When attacking, the Wilderness always orders blockers so that it destroys the blocking creature with the greatest power possible. In the case of a tie, the Party chooses the order of those blockers.

Example: The Wilderness attacks with its 5/5 Territorial Allosaurus. The Party blocks with a 2/4, a 2/2 and a 1/1. The Party can choose to put either the 2/4 or the 2/2 in front, since their power is tied. The 1/1 will go second in blocking order, since it will always be the next largest blocker that can be destroyed.

Planeswalkers

Spark hatred
Creatures the Wilderness controls attack planeswalkers, if able. If there are multiple planeswalkers in play, the party chooses which one is being attacked.

Trample over
If combat damage is dealt to a planeswalker in excess of its loyalty, the remaining combat damage is dealt to another planeswalker of the Party’s choice. Repeat this process if necessary. If all planeswalkers are destroyed this way, any remaining combat damage is dealt to the Party.

Example: the Party controls a Tibalt at 3 loyalty and a Vivien at 4 loyalty. The Wilderness attacks with a 5/5 Territorial Allosaurus. The Party decides the creature is attacking Tibalt, but they have no creatures that can block it. The Territorial Allosaurus deals 5 damage to Tibalt. At only 3 loyalty, this is more than enough to destroy him, so Vivien takes the remaining 2 combat damage.

Postcombat and End Step

After attacking on its turn, the Wilderness takes no further actions, unless required to do so by a spell or ability.

Wilderness Turn Summary

– Untap
– Resolve any upkeep abilities
– Skip the Wilderness’s draw phase
– Reveal and cast spells, then activate abilities
     (Revealed cards = # of Party members + 1. Reveal an extra card if the Relic is on the battlefield.)
– All creatures attack if able
– Resolve combat
– Resolve any postcombat or end step abilities
– Pass the turn to the Party

Threat

The Threat Level is an indication of how aggravated the Wilderness has become. It determines how powerful the Wilderness’s spells are, as well as which abilities it will activate each turn. The higher the Threat Level, the more dangerous the Wilderness is.

Use a die to track the current Threat Level.

Ever-present danger
This far into the wilds, nowhere is entirely safe. The Threat Level can never go below 1.

X Spells
Whenever the Wilderness casts a spell with X in its cost, X is equal to the current Threat Level.

Kicker
Whenever the Wilderness casts a spell with kicker, if the Threat Level is equal to or greater than the amount of mana required to pay that spell’s kicker cost, that spell is kicked.

Example: The Threat Level is 4. The converted mana cost of Gnarlid Colony’s kicker cost is 3, so the spell is kicked.

Abilities
At the end of the precombat main phase on the Wilderness’s turn, it activates the abilities of its permanents. For each ability, compare its mana cost with the current Threat level. If the Threat Level is equal to or greater than the amount of mana required to activate it, the ability is activated.

Example: The Threat Level is 3. The Wilderness controls a Yew Spirit. Its ability costs 4 mana, so it won’t activate this turn.

Multiple Activations
If the Threat Level is at least double the amount of mana required to activate a permanent’s an ability, the Wilderness activates that ability twice if able. If the Threat Level is at least triple the mana required, it activates it three times, and so on.

Example: The Threat Level is now 8. The Wilderness still controls a Yew Spirit. This time, its ability activates twice.

Taxes and Tithes
Whenever a spell or ability the Party controls asks the Wilderness to pay an amount of mana, the Wilderness always pays X, where X is the current Threat Level.

Example: The Party casts Mana Leak. The Threat Level is currently 2, so the Wilderness cannot pay to prevent their spell from being countered.

Increasing Threat
The Party needs to tread lightly in the Wilderness, or risk drawing attention to themselves. Certain actions will increase the Threat Level:

(+1) Whenever a creature with power 3 or greater enters the battlefield under the Party’s control, increase the Threat Level by 1.

(+1) Whenever a source the Party controls deals damage to the Wilderness, increase the Threat Level by 1.

(+2) Whenever the Wilderness is unable to cast a spell because it has no legal targets, or because it cannot pay all the non-kicker costs for that spell, put that card into its graveyard and increase the Threat Level by 2. (Countering a spell or removing the target in response does not increase the Threat Level.)

(+1) Relic influence – At the beginning of the Wilderness’s upkeep, if the Relic is on the battlefield, increase the Threat Level by 1. (See The Relic, below.)

Desperate Measures
The Party can reduce the Threat Level by giving up valuable resources. They begin the game with an emblem called Desperate Measures with:

“Discard a card: Decrease the Threat Level by 2, to a minimum of 1.”

Note that once the Wilderness reveals a card to cast, it’s too late to affect that spell by changing the Threat Level.

Example: The Threat Level is 6. The Wilderness reveals an Ivy Elemental and immediately casts it with X equal to 6. Lowering the Threat Level will not change the value of X for this spell.

The Relic

The Party has fought their way past many dangers to get their hands on the mysterious Relic. Now it’s almost within their grasp…

This deck uses a copy of Elixir of Immortality as its Relic, but feel free to swap it out for an artifact of your choice.

Keep searching
The Relic is always the bottom card of the Wilderness’s library. When searching or shuffling the Wilderness’s library, if the Relic is in the Wilderness library, set it aside. After shuffling, return the Relic to the bottom of the Wilderness’s library.

We finally found it!
If the Relic would leave the Wilderness’s library, put it onto the battlefield under the control of a Party member of your choice, instead of putting it anywhere else.

Wait… What was that?
When the Relic is removed from its pedestal, it releases a pulse of strange energy! Shuffle the Wilderness’s graveyard into its library, then the Wilderness reveals the top two cards and plays them.

Relic Influence
With the Relic now removed from its shrine, the surrounding wilderness has flown into a frenzy. As long as the Relic is on the battlefield, the following rules apply:

– At the beginning of the Wilderness’s upkeep, if the Relic is on the battlefield, increase the Threat Level by 1.

– The Wilderness reveals and plays an extra card during its precombat main phases as long as the Relic is on the battlefield.

Don’t tell me we came all this way for nothing…
If the players lose control of the Relic or it leaves the battlefield, the Party loses the game.

The Backpack

The Party has a number of adventuring supplies on hand to help them on their quest.

At the beginning of the game, before drawing opening hands, the Party chooses four Tools from the deck list to add to their Backpack. Tools can be chosen at random, or by the players.

For the full list of available Tools, see THE HORDE DECK, above.

Put the four chosen Tool card in the command zone as the Backpack. Put the remaining Tools back in the box; they won’t be used this game.

I’ve got just the thing!
Any Party member may cast a Tool from the Backpack for its mana cost. If they do, that Tool enters the battlefield with “Teammates may activate abilities of this artifact,” and “Equip abilities of this artifact may target any creature your team controls. When it becomes attached to a creature you don’t control, that creature’s controller gains control of it.”

No, I didn’t pack any “spare” spare supplies. Stop asking!
Cards cast from the Backpack do not return to the command zone if they leave the battlefield. Instead, treat the Tool as if it was part of its controller’s starting deck, like a Companion.

Example: If a Tool is destroyed, the card is put in its controller’s graveyard.

Tips for surviving your expedition

– Try to keep the Threat below 3 if you can. Discarding a spare card at the end of your turn can make the difference between facing down a 2/2 or a 5/5.

– Keep back blockers. Attacking with too many creatures will quickly increase the Threat, and can leave you vulnerable.

– Be prepared to sacrifice your lands and Tools. The Wilderness will destroy your noncreature permanents. Don’t leave the Relic as its only legal target.

– Don’t drink the elixir!

* Need a deck for your adventure? Shuffle up with one of these Heroes of the Horde!

Looking for more Horde Deck challenges? Try these other titles by Rants of Valakut:

– Attack of the Dreadhorde
– The Eldrazi Horde
– Horde of the Lich Lord

And make sure to check out the original Horde Magic rules by Peter Knudson.

You can find more information and links about Horde Magic on the MTG Wiki.