With the newfound popularity of the Momir Basic format, it’s worth taking a closer look at the metagame on MTGO. There are a couple of popular decklists out there, and we’ll be taking a closer look at some of them that we saw played in recent Momir DE’s.

Where did Momir and his species come from? It’s a little known fact that his species isn’t called “The Momirs”, though that is the name of a popular sitcom made by his people.

What we do know is that they are related to the elves, and as such they are generally tall and like to wear dresses. Like most elves, they have large, misshapen ears, but they also have large, misshapen heads, which leads some to believe that they are part of a crossbreeding experiment involving goblins, ogres, or beebles.

Other researches believe the Momir species to be descendants of a race of super-scientists that sneezed, really hard, all over each other.

The Decklists

These decks are from the Momir Basic Daily #1807358 which was fought on 11/24/2010.

This is the basic “Mountains and Swamps” deck that is really tearing up the Momir tournaments. Note the light splash for Forest, Island, and Plains to ensure that you can eventually pay the upkeep for any Elder Dragon Legends that show up.

The key strategy for this deck is to slow-roll an island until the second-to-very-last moment, when it will be almost too late to play another land, but it isn’t actually too late.

This deck by masterofhandpuppets is actually quite unusual in this format, since Islands are considered to be a major liability. However, there are ways to deal with that downside – such as the infamous Gosta Dirk.

This aggro build plays off of the ability of certain creatures to count the number of forests you have in the battlefield. If you play this deck, watch out for all of the bombs you’re going to be dropping on your opponent!

Other decks you are likely to see in the queues are the even 12, 12, 12, 12, 12 split, and OopsAllForests.dec.

More Important Considerations

Other than the composition of basic land types, a major component in most Momir decks is the particular sub-configurations within each land type. For example, a professional Momir grinder might agonize for days about which mountains they want to put in their 15th -18th slots. You may find this article about the top 40 mountains to be invaluable while making your land-brew.

If you’re going for a more cohesive look, I suggest picking up a Momir-Playset of Guru lands, seen above. Other fine sets include these beautiful APC lands.

Of equal importance is to choose the correct version of the Momir Vig avatar. Early on, people only had access to the version of Momir that I know only as “Flatface Nomouthofsignificance“:

If you are still paying X with this guy, I feel sorry for you. Next up is the famous Momir Head Beauty Shot:

He’s a good choice in most metagames, though the mirror can be tough to play unless you have been practicing daily. Finally, there is this alternate art version that I think we can agree isn’t very good:

Players have been clamoring for additional Momirs, and we at Good Gamery fully expect there to be more available in the future.

Which Creatures Should I Make? Help Me… or Else!

by llarack

There are several schools of thought on how to play Momir optimally. There is the aggressive line (first popularized by samdsherman back on MiseTings) of making creatures at 123456 and hoping to aggro people out. This was much better in the format’s infancy, when you would have a chance to out-pace your opponent in the early game.

The other line is to go 345678 on the play, and 2345678 on the draw, trying to maximize your chances of hitting bombs, since 1 and 2 drops are mostly terrible. I personally still like making a 2 on the play, and as a result usually choose to skip my 4 or 5.

I also lay Mountains and Swamps first, and usually an Island by turn 6. Other people like playing a land of each type to pay for Elder Dragon Legends (the ED in EDH!), but I think it’s usually not worth it.

Remember, Momir is a serious format that is not to be taken lightly. We are personally proud of Wizards of the Coast for stepping up and giving it the professional attention it is so deserving of.