By the second turn, we had one creature on the battlefield, but even then, we were facing down an already-expanding army, buoyed by lucky scheme card draws and clever plays from our Archenemy
I started with Derevi, making a deck that not only turned the large number of untap triggers into card advantage, but also managed to make disgustingly large quantities of mana through sol lands and a subtheme of elven manadorks
The core to any challenger deck is Shere Kha, Menacing Predator, a lore generator that rewards you points every time one of your characters challenges
These cards work exactly the way you asked, you cast one half of the card for the casting cost, get that effect and the whole card goes to the graveyard
Stephens Convention Center, 5555 N
The Meathook Massacre has never been affordable, which keeps it off many tables, but trust itll turn a game around in a heartbeat if you ever see one