Cryptic Totem
By Christina Page
Spells like Terror Pit and Holy Awe are often splashed in decks running no other Darkness or Light simply based on their high utility as shield trigger cards. Many who do this use shield manipulation cards like Mana Nexus and Emeral in order to increase the chances of having those splashed spells end up as shields. Shield manipulation is a widely popular tactic because it's geared towards creating card and mana advantage over an opponent, and it's effective in Control, Beatdown, and Combo strategies alike. Not to mention, shield manipulation plays can be highly frustrating for an opponent, as they can disrupt his attacking plans and complicate his thinking game. As shield manipulation plays and splashes have firmly secured their tactical importance in the game's most dominating decks, so have plays that aim to decrease their effectiveness, like Bolmeteus Steel Dragon. With the coming of Thundercharge of Ultra Destruction, duelists seeking to counter shield manipulation tactics and decks that are comprised mostly of shield trigger cards now have another powerful tool at their disposal: Cryptic Totem.
For six mana, Nature's Cryptic Totem sports the double breaker ability and decent 6000 attack power, which is pretty much standard fare for late-game beat-sticks. However, Cryptic Totem also packs a very intriguing negation effect that sets it apart from other late-game beat-sticks that are saddled with summoning sickness. While Cryptic Totem is tapped, your opponent can't use the "shield trigger" ability of his shields. As soon as you tap Cryptic Totem to declare its attack, its effect prevents your opponent from being able to cast for free any shield trigger cards you break. Instead, those broken shields remain in your opponent's hand--he'll have to free up mana to use those cards against you.
Cryptic Totem's effect can undo any work your opponent performed manipulating his shields to reap mana advantage, and prevent him from utilizing a random trigger like Holy Awe to stop you from sweeping his shields. If your opponent can't destroy Cryptic Totem during its round of summoning sickness (with cards like Hopeless Vortex), or with a blocker when it attacks, then he stands lose the mana advantage cards like Terror Pit would grant him as triggered plays. When you're able to place limitations like Cryptic Totem's negation effect onto your opponent's options, and thus hinder his ability to reap certain advantages from his cards, you minimize the effectiveness of your opponent's card plays, and swing control of the duel to your side of the table.
And here's the biggest monkey wrench Cryptic Totem's jams into your opponent's well-laid plans: it extends its shield negation trick to the rest of your attacking field while it's tapped. To get the most mileage out of this benefit you'd lead off your attacks with Cryptic Totem. Once that's tapped, you can safely overextend your attacking options and push for the win, if your hitters outnumber your opponent's shields and he cannot block them. Even though in some cases Cryptic Totem's effect may not be as debilitating as Bolmeteus Steel Dragon's (because your opponent is able to place broken shields into his hand), it's still a very dangerous effect. It affords you the chance to launch attacks without worry of your opponent being able to use triggered creature destruction or tapping cards that could disrupt your attacking plans or diminish your battle zone presence. With a properly timed Cryptic Totem attack and a healthy field size, its shield negation effect can be utterly game-breaking.
Resource control cards combine wonderfully with Cryptic Totem; pairing it with the aforementioned Bolmeteus Steel Dragon is likely to cause an opponent a tremendous amount of worry. With both shield trigger negation creatures on the field, your opponent stands to lose up to four of his shields without reaping the full amount of card and mana advantage they could provide as triggers or as more options in hand. Whether you're outright destroying your opponent's shields or simply making him pay the full price for his trigger spells, you're still exercising a great deal of control over his options.
You also can use hand robbing cards like Locomotiver and Lost Soul--in conjunction with Cryptic Totem--to help chip away some of the card advantage you grant an opponent after you've launched attacks under Cryptic Totem's protective cover. Plus, with hand destruction options packed into your deck you may be able to discard creature removal cards from your opponent's hand, and thus leave him with less chances to get rid of Cryptic Totem. And, to ensure that your field of attackers are able to knock off all your opponent's shields in one full sweep, you can cast Holy Awe first--with your opponent's defensive wall tapped, he will be at the mercy of your attacks and likely will be faced with an unpreventable game loss.
If you're looking for a way to supplement your deck's Control options, or a way to add more firepower to your Beatdown strategy, Cryptic Totem could be a worthwhile addition to your deck. While an opponent works diligently to build up mana advantage plays in his shield zone, you can use Cryptic Totem to make his efforts go to waste. Nice!
