The Real Natives of Arrakis (Wurm tribal) (EDH / Commander)

Thousands of years ago, Arrakis was a cultivated forest planet. It was lush and fertile. Alas there is only one species that remembers those days, the mighty sand trout. However their malleable bodies sought the water spread throughout the forest planet like locust. They consumed and consumed, until not a drop of free water remained. The remaining water held deep within the planet itself was engulfed by sand trout. Consuming it and breeding, the sand trout formed a barrier to prevent it from reaching the surface where hunting it down would take too long. Simple agriculture, really. Such a sophisticated little creature, yet so weak on its own.

However they would not stay this way. As time went on the surface water disappeared entirely and the forests and jungles withered into history. As the great desert spread across Arrakis, something new began to rear it's scaled head. A creature diametrically opposed to water itself was born. A creature who's very contact with water, brought agony and unspeakable horror to itself. Formed by the amalgamation of thousands of sand trout, and with a mighty eruption which sent sand on the surface flying. It would go by many names in the coming millenia: Shai'Hulud, Shai'Tan, The Fractured God, the Makers, but more commonly in our tongue: Sandworms (or Sandwurms in the debased dialect of WOTC)

Where sand trout are overwhelmed by water they produce a gas and a dust like particle that cause the resulting "spice blow" and from that a sand worm is born. Infantile and weak, water can be a death sentence for it. Oh how many infantile worms must have died before the great desert engulfed all of Arrakis... truly a tragedy. Those that survived however, became nigh unstoppable forces of nature. Each ring in their bodies being capable of becoming the head or tail if segmented, they are unlikable by all but atomic bombs and total cellular shock. They consume anything that dares its rhythmic trodding across the surface.

Excessively territorial and prone to violent destruction, the sand worms ARE the native species of Arrakis. The sand trout may have been brought to the planet by another species, but the worms were born there.

During Leto II's reign as Emperor, their species was almost eradicated. If only to give them freedom once more when they returned. Many sought to harness the worms, Leto II sought to end the spice dependency and free the worms from the control of the humans. By killing all other worms besides himself. Bringing them back 5,000 years later when spice was able to be artificially produced, and the worms would be left alone.

This deck seeks to pay homage to these colossal creatures, and their dominance over the desert. The true natives of Arrakis conquer all who would claim it, or their covetous spice melange. I may have fudged the details a little, but it's been a while since I read the books (sue me).

These tyrannical titans will help you rule the board, and Leto II is here to help. I mean Baru, Wurmspeaker is here to help. I replaced my Baru with a proxy of Leto II in true worm form with his loving fiancée because it's better that way. The theme still works with Grothama, All-Devouring it you want a little more true to lore since Leto II chooses to be assassinated and that helps push everyone involved to get better. But Grothama focuses more on a different kind of play style than I intended for the deck.

I wanted to capture the essence of a sand worm in general, not just Leto II. Several artifact destruction cards (for destroying filthy Harkonnen harvesters), plenty of fight cards (to deal with pesky smugglers), and many buffs (to represent that the longer a sand worm goes unchecked the bigger it becomes). To honor Leto II though I did include the Chariot of Victory to represent his cart he rode on, and the Dragon Throne of Tarkir to represent his seat of power in the empire. As many deserts as I could physically shove into a mono-green deck comprise what would be called the Sareer, a strip of desert that is all that remains of desolate Dune once verdant forests return to the planet through terraforming via the Fremen and other human cultures.

There are less worms in this deck than I was hoping for, but any single worm will prove a hassle for the invading forces. Stringing together several produces ridiculous effects, and just having them makes Baru's ability become essentially {G}{tap}: produce sandworm. Some smaller worms have been included to put out a turn 4 creature for blocking, but the real bread and butter comes from anything costing more than 5 mana. The biggest one like Impervious Greatwurm and Worldspine Wurm make great choices for the Dragon Throne of Tarkir tapping them for {2} and giving every worm +16/+16 is a beautiful thing. Especially when paired with Iron-Craw Crusher who gives a creature +X/+0 X being it's power. Even the prototype version of Iron-Craw is a base power 2, augmented by Baru to 4, modified by the Throne with either aforementioned wurms by +18 (assuming Impervious Greatwurm) to reach 22 power, and given to himself or another big wurm giving +22/+0 targetting a Worldspine Wurm hitting for a total of (15 base + 18 Throne + 2 Baru + 22 Iron-Craw) 47 damage with trample! Now imagine for a second that you added Colossus Hammer or Eldrazi Conscription to the throned Impervious or both and a non-prototype Iron-Craw for a whopping (15 + 38 + 2 + 42) for a total of 97 damage. If those "pure minded" Attreides invaders don't scoop at that point, they'll lose their whole army just trying to block Worldspine, not including your other worms going after the other players with +38/+38 each.

That's really all this is. Big worms doing big worm things. Shut off your combo-brain and let the spice blow happen. Let the worms do their thing. Everything else is just there to help you repopulate Arrakis with worms. Now get out there and "Make Arrakis Dune again!"