Some decks ask you to draw the right answer. Survival of the Fittest gives you a toolbox and lets you go looking for the right answer instead.

This green-black Premodern deck combines a varied collection of creatures with tools for finding them and bringing them back. It is a good fit if you enjoy flexible plans, useful creature abilities, and making the most of cards that have already done their job once.

The two cards behind the name

[[Survival of the Fittest]] lets you pay green mana and discard a creature card to search your library for another creature. That turns the creature you need least into one that might solve your current problem.

[[Recurring Nightmare]] lets you sacrifice a creature and return Nightmare to your hand as part of its activation cost, then return a target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield giving you plenty of ways make use of all those creatures that end up in your graveyard. 

Together, these cards create a deck where your hand, battlefield, and graveyard all contribute to your options.

Meet the supporting cast

[[Birds of Paradise]] and [[Wall of Roots]] help develop your mana. [[Wall of Blossoms]] draws a card when it enters and provides an early blocker.

Next up are some of your toolbox creatures. Need a removal spell? [[Bone Shredder]] can deal with certain opposing creatures. Troublesome artifacts or enchantments causing you a problem? [[Nantuko Vigilante]] can answer an artifact or enchantment when turned face up. Need to recover from an early beatdown? [[Ravenous Baloth]] offers a substantial body and a way to gain life.

[[Deranged Hermit]] supplies a group of Squirrel tokens. Remember its echo requirement on your next upkeep. Sometimes paying the echo cost is right; sometimes keeping the tokens and spending your mana elsewhere is more useful.

Your graveyard is part of the plan

[[Squee, Goblin Nabob]] can return to your hand during your upkeep, giving you a recurring creature card to discard to Survival, essentially giving you an endless supply of creature tutors each turn. [[Genesis]] offers another upkeep option: while it is in your graveyard, you can pay to return a target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.

[[Living Death]] can dramatically change the battlefield for both players. Before casting it, inspect both graveyards. You may be giving the opponent a much stronger board along with your own.

Your first game

Look for mana development and a useful early play. Once Survival is active, ask what you need now: more mana, an answer, life, or a threat. You do not have to search for the same creature every game.

Keep your graveyard organized so you can see your options. Also remember that a repeatable engine still needs mana and the right resources to operate.

Be particularly careful with [[Tempting Wurm]]. Its arrival can let your opponent put multiple permanent cards from their hand onto the battlefield without paying their mana costs. Treat that as a serious drawback, even when the Wurm’s size looks appealing.

Sideboard options

[[Engineered Plague]] and [[Smother]] help against creatures. [[Spike Weaver]] can prevent combat damage, while [[Naturalize]] and [[Uktabi Orangutan]] provide additional permanent removal.

Gamelandia’s Recurring Survival loaner decklist

[deck title="Recurring Survival | Gamelandia Premodern Loaner"]

Main deck
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Bone Shredder
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Deranged Hermit
3 Duress
10 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Genesis
1 Living Death
4 Llanowar Wastes
1 Masticore
1 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Nantuko Vigilante
1 Naturalize
1 Ravenous Baloth
2 Recurring Nightmare
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
4 Survival of the Fittest
6 Swamp
1 Tempting Wurm
4 Wall of Blossoms
4 Wall of Roots
1 Withered Wretch

Sideboard
3 Engineered Plague
2 Naturalize
1 Sadistic Hypnotist
3 Smother
1 Spike Weaver
1 Tempting Wurm
2 Tranquil Domain
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Withered Wretch

[/deck]

Find your next favorite creature

Borrow Recurring Survival for a Wednesday Premodern event at Gamelandia in Palo Alto. This loaner has plenty of moving parts, so contact us about availability and give yourself time to get familiar with it.

See upcoming events and register.