Magic: the Gathering IV: "Burn, Mana, Burn" as they used to say - Page 29

Arakune · 11-05-2009, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Blade

Nice deck, but can you actually pay all those Equip costs?

At least I don't expect that you use Tinker for acceleration much.
By the way...Tinker. Heh.

Oh yes. Seething hatred everywhere.
My (mainly EDH) group's still undecided whether or not to ban Painter's Servant, the problem being that there are some combos with it that are okay. They can and will win games, but need three or more cards for it. So right now it's more of a gentlemen's agreement not to use that specific combo.

How to Accelerate it? Iona costs a lot.

MountainKing · 11-05-2009, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arguskos

I hate that combo for EXISTING.

Also, I just threw together a pile of crap and called it a deck. It's REALLY enjoyable to play too.

Check it out.

4 Tinker
4 Trinket Mage
4 Abu Ja'far
3 Myr Retriever
2 Scourglass
2 Stonehewer Giant
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Sculpting Steel
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Darksteel Forge
1 Grappling Hook
1 Worldslayer
1 Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Unscythe, Killer of Kings
1 Grinding Station
1 Blasting Station
1 Salvaging Station
1 Summoning Station

4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Ancient Den
2 Azorious Chancery
2 Arcane Sanctum
4 Island
4 Plains

Woot. Abu Jaffar is awesome; probably my favorite blocker in white, just ahead of Loyal Sentry because Loyal Sentry pops after blocking one creature, whereas Abu can be made with Lure/Entangler affects for massive damage.

EDIT: How's that Worldslayer working out for you?

The Extinguisher · 11-05-2009, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arakune

How to Accelerate it? Iona costs a lot.

Do it in green white and black.

The easiest way to get that combo out. Black tutors up your Tooth and Nail, which you use to grab Iona and Painters Servant.

Build a mild reanimator theme into the deck so you don't need the combo to win, and you're set.

Johnny Blade · 11-05-2009, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arakune

How to Accelerate it? Iona costs a lot.

Well, sometimes Iona alone is devastating enough, so Reanimator decks can have some fun with her.
Apart from that, there are the aforementioned Defense of the Heart, Tooth and Nail (into which you can accelerate just fine) and Hypergenesis if you feel lucky enough to put a second combo into your combo deck.
In Elder Dragon Highlander, the high cost doesn't even matter much. It's a multiplayer format and players start at 40 life, so playing spells like Iona is actually required if you're serious about winning.

EDIT: Expertly timed ninja attack, I have to say.

Arakune · 11-05-2009, 01:02 PM

And my patience ended. I just suck at this game TOO much for my tastes...

Probably I won't play it again for a loooooong time...

arguskos · 11-05-2009, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MountainKing

Woot. Abu Jaffar is awesome; probably my favorite blocker in white, just ahead of Loyal Sentry because Loyal Sentry pops after blocking one creature, whereas Abu can be made with Lure/Entangler affects for massive damage.

EDIT: How's that Worldslayer working out for you?

Abu Ja'far is HILARIOUS. No one suspects anything from him, it's so freakin' funny.

As for the deck, yes, actually, I can afford a few equips. Normally, the deck produces one or two equipments, and goes to town. Though, if I manage to produce a Stonehewer, it's all good.

Worldslayer's been... funny. I got the Worldslayer/Forge trick in one match. That was glorious.

The Extinguisher · 11-05-2009, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arguskos

Abu Ja'far is HILARIOUS. No one suspects anything from him, it's so freakin' funny.

As for the deck, yes, actually, I can afford a few equips. Normally, the deck produces one or two equipments, and goes to town. Though, if I manage to produce a Stonehewer, it's all good.

Worldslayer's been... funny. I got the Worldslayer/Forge trick in one match. That was glorious.

I had a friend play Abu Ja'far in a banding deck.

arguskos · 11-05-2009, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Extinguisher

I had a friend play Abu Ja'far in a banding deck.

HILARITY! Seriously, that is frikkin priceless. I love it.

MountainKing · 11-05-2009, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Extinguisher

I had a friend play Abu Ja'far in a banding deck.

Touche, sir. That certainly beats the snot out of Lure/Entangle.

The Extinguisher · 11-07-2009, 02:30 AM

So Turbofog works great against creature aggro right? Doesn't do to hot against creatureless control and burn. And the majority of the decks playing tonight were mostly creatures.

So you'd think I'd do pretty well? Of course not! I managed to get paired up with pretty much all the creatureless decks running around tonight. And I managed to get them pretty good in the first game, with one or two cards left. So you'd think I do pretty good after sideboarding out my hands of dead cards right? Nope! Got terribly mana screwed in game two. All three rounds. (out of five)

I apparently have upset the gods of Magic or something

MountainKing · 11-07-2009, 09:17 AM

Oh man, that's rough mate. Does your metagame change a lot from week to week? Maybe it was just an unlucky week for you. It definitely strikes me that a lot of people seem to be getting sick of Jund/Aggro, and are trying to do different things now... Is anyone else seeing this?

Uncle Festy · 11-07-2009, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Extinguisher

And the majority of the decks playing tonight were mostly creatures.

From my read, it was a bunch of bad matchups, not a shifted metagame.

Zocelot · 11-07-2009, 07:43 PM

So, today I was looking up when the local PTQ was, thinking it was about the 24th of November, and I found out it was actually the 24th of October. Oh well, there was no way I would have won anyway, I just wanted experience with a serious tournament.

tgva8889 · 11-07-2009, 07:54 PM

The thing about Iona and Painter's Servant is that that combo doesn't generate fun or interesting situations, even if you know it's coming. It just annoys the crap out of everyone and theoretically makes you win the game. In reality, what happens is everyone else at the table goes "Okay, you win. Hey, guys, let's continue playing the game over here to decide who takes second" and you spend the night watching everyone else actually play Magic.

If someone did Iona/Painter's Servant in an EDH game in my playgroup, I would suggest we do just that. Because unless someone has an answer to that on the board right now, I don't need to finish a game in which I can't play spells.

EDH is a fun format, and no one else is having fun if they're not playing spells. That's generally a given. People who play Iona Combo are just asking to be cut out of the group. I would have assumed by now that no one would be playing it because honestly, there's no point.

Here's a fun article on EDH cards that people should or should not be playing. I'm wondering whether I'll decide to follow this or not...I think I will at least cut Vicious Shadows from my Wort deck. Totally not necessary!

Bucky · 11-07-2009, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tgva8889

Here's a fun article on EDH cards that people should or should not be playing. I'm wondering whether I'll decide to follow this or not...I think I will at least cut Vicious Shadows from my Wort deck. Totally not necessary!

That article makes me want to build a deck that uses Academy Ruins and Mycosynth Lattice in a fun and responsible manner.

Johnny Blade · 11-07-2009, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tgva8889

Here's a fun article on EDH cards that people should or should not be playing. I'm wondering whether I'll decide to follow this or not...I think I will at least cut Vicious Shadows from my Wort deck. Totally not necessary!

Lost me as soon as the Timmy/Spike line was drawn.

I don't get why people write articles about what people should be putting into casual decks anyway, whether it's Menery or some dude submitting at MTGSalvation. It's casual, so why not just leave it to the groups to decide?

On another note, I've finally decided to stop testing Pyromancer Ascension in my Chandra Ablaze deck. Not only was it needlessly redundant anyway (It's even countered by the same cards...well, mostly.), it also simply did nothing way too often.
(That, incidentally, leads me to the one good thing about Chandra. She's certainly not the best planeswalker out there, but she means business.

)

MountainKing · 11-07-2009, 09:27 PM

Earlier today, I pulled off a win by pointing a Spiraling Embers at my face, and then copying it a boatload of times with Mirror Sheen and Uyo. That game... went on far too long... but nuking the site from orbit gave me the giggles.

Cries of "Kill it with fire!" and "FIRE BAD" accompanied my feat. It was tasty.

EDIT: As to that article, can anyone explain a couple things to me? Namely, why Ulasht/Vicious Shadows and is bad news bears (is Ulasht being used as the General and then being endlessly sac'd down for saprolings, replayed, and used to ping a LOT?) and how Arcuum/Darksteel Colossus works, because... Arcuum can't search up artifact creatures...

tgva8889 · 11-07-2009, 10:32 PM

The article is more to show that you should be playing EDH to encourage player interaction and fun times, not to lock people out of the game. Strategies that encourage removal of player interaction are not fun, and he's just putting down a bunch of cards that are viable for those kinds of strategies most of the time. I myself will not stop playing with Tooth and Nail because when I play it I put a bunch of rather large dudes onto the table that people can answer if they have the methods, I don't play it and then instantaneously win the game. I wouldn't cut Seedborn Muse from most of my decks because it basically allows my Wort deck to start playing lots of spells.

He actually says that it was just his mileage, and not really a basis for everyone to follow. I think the article is more about the "spirit of EDH", in that you're really playing EDH more to have fun than to simply crush everyone at the table. If you want to just win, there are places you can do that and actually get some real rewards for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MountainKing

EDIT: As to that article, can anyone explain a couple things to me? Namely, why Ulasht/Vicious Shadows and is bad news bears (is Ulasht being used as the General and then being endlessly sac'd down for saprolings, replayed, and used to ping a LOT?) and how Arcuum/Darksteel Colossus works, because... Arcuum can't search up artifact creatures...

It was probably just the fact that it was a GR deck and he played Viscious Shadows and then followed it with Wheel of Fortune, ensuring that all his tokens turned into "Deal 7 damage to target player". He then probably proceeded to, say, blow up the world with something like Starstorm, Pyroclasm, or Earthquake or whatever, and all his tokens dealt 7 damage to each player, killing them. It was probably less that it was Ulasht itself.

I think he was just giving an example of how Arcuum could be used for fun things but just gets broken in half. It's probably not fun, for example, to use him to get Mycosynth Lattice and Darksteel Forge in the first few turns.

Johnny Blade · 11-08-2009, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tgva8889

I think he was just giving an example of how Arcuum could be used for fun things but just gets broken in half. It's probably not fun, for example, to use him to get Mycosynth Lattice and Darksteel Forge in the first few turns.

And that's exactly what happens all the time. Of course, sometimes there's also a General's Kabuto, but that's about as original as it gets.
Arcum really was made for artifact abuse.
Luckily, he's easily removed.
(Have I ever mentioned how much I like Sudden Shock in EDH? It takes care of so many problems.)

MountainKing · 11-08-2009, 10:29 AM

*scrubbed by poster*

Oh wait. I get it now. I'm sorry, it's early. I just woke up and wasn't making the connection.

Squark · 11-08-2009, 05:01 PM

Hey, I'm working on an EDH deck at the moment, and I've kind of hit a stumbling block as to what to trim out. After going through my collection of blue, black and artifact cards, here are the cards I have left at this point (cards have rough function next to them in parentheses, and are sorted by cmc)

Spoiler

Any thoughts? I was thinking of getting an Esper and a Grixis Panorama for more manafixing. What do you suggest I trim? What (few) cards should I look for?

Johnny Blade · 11-08-2009, 06:43 PM

Oona is great. Milling is not, though, and especially not in multiplayer.

On a general note, play big spells. Kraken Hatchling isn't big and fat at all by EDH standards. Remember, you start with 40 life and multiple opponents - games will last for a while, and you don't want to find your spells outclassed a few turns in. (Unless this is intended to be a 1-on-1 deck, of course.) If you want utility spells, look if there's a creature with a relevant abiltity that can replace it, or an artifact or enchantment. Hitting multiple targets is always huge, as is removing stuff from the game.

On a more specific note, you absolutely want Lim-Dul's Vault. And tutors. And Transmute stuff - at least Netherborn Phalanx and Dimir House Guard don't hurt.

Also, stuff that interacts with the graveyard, be it recursion or removal. Dimir Doppelganger is crazy good.

Squark · 11-08-2009, 07:09 PM

This will probably (initially, at least), be 1v1, as there aren't a ton of EDH players in the group I play with at this point. For the record, both Circu and Szadek exile the cards they mill. Hmm... so, I should add a couple more bombs?

Johnny Blade · 11-08-2009, 07:28 PM

Well, people still start with a 40 point life total, so higher mana curves are rewarded.

Also, what tends to be really important in 1-on-1 EDH games - at least my admittedly limited experience tells me this - is hitting your land drops.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squark

For the record, both Circu and Szadek exile the cards they mill.

Yeah, but the specific rules of EDH really wreck them. Circu doesn't do much in a highlander format. And Szadek is just too slow, although you can use him if you really want a Dimir deck. It's simply easier to win with damage, especially since Szadek will need backup and there aren't too many good Milling cards.

Penguinizer · 11-09-2009, 02:02 AM

Since some people were asking for help on their Highlander, I thought I'd also put mine up for judgement.

It's a WUG control, there's not much I can say about it beyond that.

Spoiler

I was going to put a reason for all of them but ran out of ideas for what to write. I'm still thinking if I should keep Life from the Loam and Garruk in. I'm thinking of adding Reveillark and more mass removal. I'm sorry if it's unorganized.

MountainKing · 11-09-2009, 10:41 AM

There's no reason to not run Garruk, even in three colors. He's fantastic. Other than that, you have two things to nuke artifact/enchantments out of 100 cards... Sure, you could waste your bounce to re-use the Sanctifiers, but, you might consider replacing your current artifact/enchantment removal for reusable forms, such as Nullmage Shepherd or Aura Shards.

Johnny Blade · 11-09-2009, 12:14 PM

Just so I don't have to back-pedal again: This is a Rubinia Soulsinger EDH deck intended for multiplayer games, right?

Arakune · 11-09-2009, 03:52 PM

So i decided to came back again. Must mean I'm an idiot, but w/e.

A nice vampire deck with low $$, low cost that goes all right against casuals:

4 Gruul Draz Vampire
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Child of night
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Aristocrat
4 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Vampire Nocturnus
4 Vampire bite
3 Duress
4 Disfigure
4 Consume Spirit
20 Swamps

Yes, against the top 10 this is utter trash, one volcanic fallout and the deck goes kapuf. But for a budged deck with one rare this can at least be fun

Squark · 11-09-2009, 06:51 PM

Malakir bloodwitch isn't really any more expensive than a Nighthawk or a Gatekeeper- Why not pick up a few of those? Also, consider adding a few doom blades or Hideous Ends in somewhere. Lastly, 2 Tendrils of Corruption (common) and 2 Mind Sludges (Uncommon) will probably do better than those consume spirits.

Johnny Blade · 11-09-2009, 07:02 PM

Gotta agree, Consume Spirit isn't that good. Especially not when you're only playing 20 lands, but that's a bit on the low side anyway.

No Feast of Blood?

Also, yeah, Malakir Bloodwitch is good in the current format. If you can still get her cheap, I'd go for it, but prices are apparently picking up.
Well, at least on the internet, my local store still sells them for €2,50.