Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
Let's start this off with Uncle Festy's excellent work:
Yes, he takes requests. Sometimes.
Now that everyone is appropriately awe-struck, I announce the third Magic: The Gathering thread to be open.
This is the place for everything regarding the game - rules questions, your own card creations, decks, reports, rants about recent sets/cards/rules changes, the storyline, favorite cards/colors/sets/characters, the absolute glory that is Elder Dragon Highlander, whatever you can think of.
And definitely don't be shy if you're new to the game or think about starting. We're pretty casual players around here anyway.
If you particularly like one of your decks, it can be immortalized as a part of the list in the upcoming spoiler. Just say so. Repeatedly if I forget to add it.
Our deck gallery so far:
That deck focuses on getting the kill as fast as possible, and is an extremely simple deck to play - I gave it to my mom, and she managed to beat me with it, twice out of three games. The other one was multiplayer, and did manage to take down somebody else before I did the same to her.
It has a very good record, wins most games it plays and consistenly trounces my Faerie deck.
Start the game off by playing Flamekin Harbinger to tutor up either Nova Chaser or the Soulstoke, depending on what you need more. Then play Smokebraider for some cheap mana. Play Incandescent Soulstoke turn three, and up to 3 Nova Chasers through the Soulstoke's ability turn 4 for the win.
If they somehow survive this, just champion Flamekin Harbinger, fling your Nova Chasers and Changeling Berserkers at the opponent. When they do, search up a new one and do it again! Vengeful Firebrand is great end game. He'll likely have haste from one of the many warriors in the deck, and his firebreathing effect quickly escalates from Smokebraider's ability.
Conspiring Ultimatums
A truly magical, non-budget deck by tgva8889
Gameplay:
When playing this deck, it's important to survive the early game. Once you get into the late game, any deck without an abundance of counterspells will suddenly be faced with an onslaught of powerful spells. Between the 5 game-winners, one being a repeatable spell, the 4 Naya Charms, and the 3 Primal Commands and 4 Cone of Flames to control the game a bit, this deck should have no problem pushing through a late-game backbreaker. Maelstrom Archangel is there to help you push through some spells; after all, it's not very likely you'll be able to play two Ultimatums in one turn, is it?
In terms of your early game, the key to surviving is to play Sprouting Thrinax, Naya Charm, and Cone of Flame as much as possible to slow down your foe. In addition, don't be afraid to take a bit of damage; you can afford to go down to 10 or even 5 before you're really in dire straits. The Primal Commands can gain you some important life early on, and it's not uncommon to be casting Maelstrom Archangel on turn 5 if it's in your opener, so the Angel can act as a last-ditch blocker if need be. Garruk's Beast tokens are also extremely helpful in surviving to your big guns, and Garruk himself provides you some acceleration that can get you there faster.
Naya Charm is truly your ace in the hole. Acting as Regrowth, Lash Out, and a fourth of Cryptic Command is truly something amazing. However, don't be afraid to spend Naya Charm early on. If you get Wort up and running, you can recycle your Naya Charms with your other cards extremely easily.
Remember, the objective with this deck is to conspire ridiculous spells for ridiculous fun. If you're about to lose, don't be afraid to Conspire Conflux and show off your deck in a glorious fashion. It's all about making big explosions, after all!
The basic strategy is to play evasive creatures with nice CIP abilities, then bounce them with ninja to replay them again, gaining tons of card advantage. Save the instant counters for things you can't handle, like high cost spells that Spellstutter Sprite can't hit, or board-wiping spells. The deck has lots of disruption and can usually play pretty aggressively. Nearly every spell can potentially 2-for-1 the opponent, giving me control of the game thanks to my strong card advantage. It's a very cheap deck to build due to being made entirely of commons, yet I find that it's still a solid deck to play in other casual formats as well. Its biggest weaknesses appear to be board-sweeping spells and pingers, so my sideboard is built to accomidate either of those threats. Peppersmoke handles most pingers and can decimate casual aggro decks. Remove Soul is also good against aggro, while Negate is for control decks that have been popular lately. Echoing Truth is to stop pauper storm decks based on Empty the Warrens, and the Mistblade Shinobi is for keeping midrange creature decks off balance.
Mirrinus' Pauper MWC
Spoiler
Deck: Sarutabaruta (or just call it Pauper Mono-W Control)
Format: MTGO Pauper Classic
(Note: the circles of protection were common when printed in 7th edition, so they're legal for pauper.)
Anyway, I realized that most decks for pauper are creature-heavy, due to the lack of mass removal. So I built a deck designed to crush aggro strategies. I run a wealth of removal spells, some of which can earn card advantage. My creatures are few, but are versatile and are great both early and late game, oftentimes utilizing my excess mana to the fullest. The Kami of Ancient Law in the sideboard is mostly to switch in against creature-light decks as an early beater, or to replace Holy Light against white decks. I figure that if a deck is playing white, it's likely to be playing white enchantment-based removal like Oblivion Ring or Temporal Isolation, so the Kami would be great at keeping my other creatures clear of these answers.
What I'm still considering, though, is the removal suite. I like Fire at Will for its potential for card advantage, particularly against weenie swarms like Slivers. Unmake is also great simply for the lack of the attack/blocker clause. The Dawn Charms are there mostly for versatility, as I can usually think of a good use for it. I'm not sure if I should be maindecking the Holy Lights, though. So far, they've only been useful against pinger decks, Empty the Warrens, and certain elf builds. However, given that Storm may be one of the best pauper builds, Holy Light affords me with my best chance of trumping Empty the Warrens. But most of all, I'm debating Judge Unworthy. On one hand, having 8 removal spells that require attacking/blocking is kind of restrictive; on the other hand, it's my cheapest removal spell, and my only removal option for turn 2. The Scry is oftentimes a toss-up; getting rid of excess land is great, but I've had instances where I needed to draw another land, but can't put a land on top of my deck with Scry if I want to kill a creature. I guess Temporal Isolation is a possible substitute, but it's pretty lousy in the Silvers matchup, which is perhaps the most common deck played in the pauper casual room as of late.
I'm still debating whether Relic of Progenitus should be in the sideboard; perhaps I could use more aggro options to switch in against creature-light decks, even though those tend to be fewer in number for this format.
So, what does this deck do? At its core, this deck is made to abuse Mirror Sheen with various effects that can target me. Beneficial effects like Compulsive Research, Oona's Grace, and Walk the Aeons can be spread to both myself and my teammate, especially in MTGO 2HG, where turns are taken separately. Meanwhile, burn spells like Electrolyze, Cone of Flame, and Conflagrate can spread their damage to point just 1 damage at me, allowing me to copy them as well.
My plan is to lay down some beefy blockers and control the board with versatile burn while building up mana and drawing cards for both me and my partner. Lots of card drawing spells plus Drift of Phantasms allows me to quickly find Mirror Sheen, while Hinder (my counterspell of choice in extended) and Swerve protect me and my flagship enchantment. With Mirror Sheen on the board, most of my spells become super-charged. Eventually, I will seek to win the game with a huge, crazy turn. Most commonly, I'll flashback Conflagrate for just 2 mana, discarding my hand of 7-8 cards and targetting myself with just 1 point of its damage, then pump all of my mana into copying that huge Conflagrate. With 8 mana available and 7 cards in hand, that's 20 damage divided as I choose, perfect for eliminating all blockers for my partner's alpha strike, or just sending it all to the dome. Or I can copy Walk the Aeons (and buy it back) before this too. Either way, my other goal is to supercharge my partner's deck, which I hope will make the game very fun for both of us. Most players appreciate being given extra cards and turns, right?
I still have no idea what I would do for the sideboard, as that doesn't usually come up for 2HG, but it might matter if I take the deck out for a spin in 1-on-1 duels, where it'd play more like a combo deck with heavy control elements. I'm also not sure about a few individual choices. Should I run cheaper burn that can't synergize well with Mirror Sheen? Are more board sweepers necessary? Do I have enough defense to avoid being run over in the early game? Is my mana base stable enough to support UUU for Plumeveil and RR in Cone of Flame and Conflagrate, or should I cut the Cone of Flames? Is Cone of Flames even worth 5 mana? Is Swerve any good at all? (It can counter counterspells by changing their target!)
This deck is built around my personal favorite creature, Twilight Shepherd. It started out as a simple WUB blink deck, but then morphed into a toolbox-style deck revolving around 1-mana artifacts. Nearly every single card syngergizes with Twilight Shepherd. Any of the sacrificed artifacts can be returned to my hand with the angel's ability, evoke becomes absurd when the angel activates, CIP creatures play nicely with her, and wiping the board with Magus of the Disk tends to be rather one-sided when all my stuff comes back to me, including the Magus himself! But the star of the deck is Voyager Staff combined with Twilight Shepherd, which basically lets me pay 3 mana each turn to ensure that any permanent that goes to my graveyard that turn gets returned to my hand. That includes lands like Terramorphic Expanse and Flagstones of Trokair as well (hence the high number of basic lands to fetch). Mannequin and Momentary Blink both ensure that my angel is never rid of permanently, and Trinket Mage tutors for the Staff right when I need it, or for any other silver bullet artifact. The sideboard includes stuff like Relic of Progenitus, to hose even more strategies. Lack of artifact lands is due to anti-synergy with the Magus. It's a fun deck with an insane amount of resiliance, as that angel is almost impossible to ever get rid of permanently, thanks to the massive amount of blink and recursion in the deck.
Countersliver is a classic and effective Magic deck archetype that seeks to win by playing a few cheap, efficient threats to take the early game lead, then using permission and light removal elements to prevent the late-game from coming as you press your advantage. The archetype is named after the original version, which played Crystalline Sliver as its flagship creature.
Countersliver is a good example of an effective aggro-control deck. Your creatures are weaker than your opponent's best aggro creatures, and your removal and card advantage suite isn't nearly as strong as a dedicated control player's. What you do have, though, is tempo. You have superior early-game creatures to all but the best aggro decks, and you'll be shaving pieces off your opponent's life very quickly while trying to maintain your board advantage. Countersliver especially likes to prey on slower decks. Compare a Countersliver deck to a normal permission control deck. Against a mid-range deck, both are able to stall for several turns with their counterspells. However, while the permission deck is just buying time to play a big finisher, Countersliver will have a guy in play by turn 2, and attacking the opponent relentlessly while stalling for time. In other words, it has a tangible clock in play, which will likely win before the late-game hits.
Countersliver is normally weak against fast aggro decks with superior creatures. However, my personal build contains a few elements that help that matchup. First is the high number of first-striking creatures. Bant Sureblade and Deft Duelist make formidable blockers, easily dispatching lots of popular aggro creatures with high power but low toughness. Deft Duelist is also impossible to burn out of the way, making it a particularly impressive defender. Of course, both are also rather nasty on offense as well. Another nice card in the aggro matchup is Ethercaste Knight. 3 toughness means it can handle many early-game opposing creatures with ease, and it can lend power to my offense without ever having to tap. My favorite starting plays with this deck involve Esper Stormblade on turn 2, followed by Ethercaste Knight on turn 3 with one land up for Mana Tithe. I get to swing for 4 points of flying starting on turn 3, which can lead to a turn 7 win. With Ethercaste Knight blocking on the ground and a slew of countermagic and removal, I'm likely to win a damage race with just those two creatures.
The key to playing this deck is to not overextend with your creatures, and to keep mana open for counters available as often as possible, even if you aren't actually holding a counter. Exalted lets you finish games quickly without having to play many additional creatures. I prefer my fliers for attacking while keeping the first strikers back for defense to win the damage race against aggro. Of course, if you have a clear creature advantage, by all means attack en masse! Just be sure to have countermagic on hand in case they drop a big creature or removal spell. The good thing about this deck is that practically every single spell costs just 2 mana or less (I don't count the borderposts, as I usually pay their alternate cost), which means by turn 4 you can feasibly drop another threat and still have Mana Leak or Remove Soul ready. The deck desperately wants to hit UW by turn 2 (an opening hand that can't do this should be mulliganed), but with 4 Terramorphic Expanses and 4 Borderposts, that shouldn't be too hard to do, at least in my testing thus far.
If you want a sideboard, I would recommend trying out Steel of the Godhead. Against decks light on removal but heavy on aggro, this card is a total beating that almost ensures victory in the damage race. Just keep in mind that you can't enchant your Azorius First-wings or Deft Duelists. In such a matchups where I'd want Steel of the Godhead, such as against aggressive red decks, I'd probably swap out the griffins for Vedalken Outlander.
Oh Lawd, my now seasoned Magic: The Gathering (tm) mind cries when it sees all of these X1's! As some people can guess, this isn't the most... stable of decks.
But, boy howdy, is it fun to play! The creatures it can manufacturer are always loaded with power. This is mostly from all of the synergy. My enchanted creatures make other enchanted creatures more powerful (and in the case of magemarks, give them extra abilities!).
Plus, it's fairly fast. Personal clicks can attest to its ability of bringing out big baddies in a relatively short amount of time.
However, I could always do with making it faster. In fact, this deck is in dire need of optimization, so I will acquiesce to your greater abilities playground if you would deign to help me.
Fun Combinations; Double Vigor. Need I say more? Happy Song (Mayael's Aria) (at begining of upkeep, stuff, then win the game if you control creature with power 20 or greater) combined with Mossbridge Troll (tap a bunch of creatures, Mossbridge Troll gets +20/+20 til end of turn.
Mycoloth.
Another Mycoloth.
Spellbreaker Behemoth's to stop your big things from getting countered.
Spearbreaker Behemoth to stop them getting killed.
Vigor to make them tougher.
Hamletback Goliath+Mycoloth. I spawn more Saprolings. My Hamletback gets bigger.
I'm trying to work out what to remove for a Windbrisk Raptor and a Rage Reflection. Any suggestions?
And secondly; Foily Noble Hierach.
To start off with this deck, you want to either strip their hand away with Gerrard's Veridct or search for something good with Demonic Tutor. Once you have Graveborn muse in play, just start accumalating card advantage. If they try to attack, prevent the damage with Oriss, or block with Forbidding Watchtower. Finish off the game with Liliana Vess or Divinity of Pride. Above all, though, don't be afraid to Wrath often. With 4 wrath effects and 6 tutors, you can always get more.
Lastly, there is a soft lock in this deck. See if you can find what it is.
The basic premise of the deck is to use the triggered come into play or leaves play effects on creatures, repeatedly, in order to bring about an effective soft lock on the game through denial. This is achieved through taking two keywords abilities (Evoke and Persist)... and breaking them soundly over your knee.
The core of the deck is the interaction between Cauldron of Souls (the only card in the deck that gives creatures Persist) and Elemental creatures with Evoke alternative casting costs. In response to the Evoke's triggered effect, you tap Cauldron of Souls to give the Evoked creature Persist. It leaves play, then returns to play, causing its triggered come into play ability to go on the stack a second time, for no additional mana cost.
Example: If I evoke a Mulldrifter for 2U, when it comes into play, I draw two cards. Since I paid the Evoke cost, the triggered effect goes on the stack. I give it Persist via Cauldron of Souls, and when it comes into play a second time, I draw two more cards.
Example 2: The interaction between Spitebellows and Cauldron of Souls is fundamentally the same, except that the creature's ability triggers when it leaves play, rather than comes into play. However, when Persist brings Spitebellows back into play, it has a zero toughness courtesy of its -1/-1 counter from Persist, sending it cheerfully back to the graveyard a second time, allowing for either 12 damage to be done to one creature, or 6 damage to be done to two separate creatures.
The typical play of the deck leaves it feeling like its ramping a little slowly. Turns 1-5, you'll probably only have played an Armillary Sphere, Cloudstone Curio, Cauldron of Souls, and land. ***NOTE*** This deck likes its mana, and digging up lands with the Armillary Sphere is crucial.
Once turn 6 hits, however, you'll be causing some serious hurt, having surprisingly rapid, effective tools at your disposal during your turn. Mournwhelk empties your opponent's hand, Shriekmaw and Spitebellows tear down your opponent's creatures, while Stingscourger stalls out their creatures. Supreme Exemplar is the only huge beater in the deck, though clearing the opposing board, casting a Spitebellows (not Evoking), and then giving it +2/+0 and Haste via Inner-Flame Acolyte (if not +4/+0) can give you a suitable beater as well. Otherwise, your damage comes from lightweight, evasive creatures like Shriekmaw and Mulldrifter.
This deck isn't especially meant to play against terribly competitive players, but it *can* perform against moderately fast decks. The difference is that it moves slightly slower, and loses out on creatures, because instead of holding on to your Evoke creatures, you'll be playing them in to deal with threats on board. I've got a list of cards that I personally intend to use to tinker with the deck even further, but I'll leave the deck *as is* for the purpose of posting it. I want people to be able to tinker with it, and the deck *does* work well in its current form.
The deck also has a number of specific weaknesses, none of which should be terribly worried about. It's meant to be a fun deck... for you. It won't be fun for them.
As you can see, some info about how you play the deck is preferred.
Also, it should be noted that this list was maintained by Shas'aia Toriia so far, who did a great job.
Last edited by Johnny Blade : 08-26-2009 at 06:19 PM.
The official site. From here you can reach:
The page for Magic Online, if you want to give it a try. Note that, while you have to pay/trade for cards, there are bots who give them away for free. I don't have any experience with this, but there are people posting in this thread that do. The DCI, for organized play. Gatherer, WotC's card search.
magiccards.info, another place to waste lots of time browsing through cards. It doesn't have the user ratings and comments of Gatherer, but lists the prices of several online vendors and, surprisingly, has more card images. The interface is also better in my opinion.
MTGSalvation. That place has a lot of stuff, including a wiki, a huge forum, and many articles of varying quality.
StarCityGames - they make you pay for much of their newer content, but what you can get for free is certainly good enough.
Elder Dragon Highlander, the official page. Very...Spartan design, but that means functionality. Always up to date and it has a forum about this popular variant multiplayer format as well.
Le Bestiaire, an online draft simulator. It gives you some pretty odd ratings sometimes, but at least there is actual feedback.
Magic Workstation, a program for...a lot of things, including collection management and online play. Supports more TCGs than just Magic. There's a freeware version available.
Deckcheck, where you can see which decks have tournament success. The decks are essentially named by the people who play them, and if you're looking for, say, Legacy decks, you'll soon find out that not all tournaments are really at Pro Tour level, but this is still an invaluable site for anyone who wants to keep up with the tournament scene.
Last edited by Johnny Blade : 08-26-2009 at 06:18 PM.
Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
My twisted mind recently spawned a blue/green Darksteel Reactor deck. It's pretty weak, but has some potential. If anyone wants the decklist, I could give post it.
Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
Quote:
Originally Posted by MountainKing
Sudden thought: would giving a creature who has Persist another instance of Persist, cause both to trigger when it returns to play, thus giving it two -1/-1 counters instead of one?
They would both trigger, but the first one (resolving second) would do nothing.
Also, it would probably be best if you reposted your EDH decks here. In general, they lack recursion and reusable effects. Also, look for creatures to do what your instants/sorceries achieve. Shriekmaw over Terror and such.
The black one could use more fat creatures. Remember, everyone has 40 life and it's a multiplayer format. Small creatures don't cut it unless they're there for utility and the occasional attack.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeejimbo
Right. Regarding False Dawn, from what the official text says now, looks like it doesn't synergize with Springjack Shepherd. Sad.
Yeah...it would have before the errata, but the way it's now, it doesn't anymore.
Weird errata.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Duos
My twisted mind recently spawned a blue/green Darksteel Reactor deck. It's pretty weak, but has some potential. If anyone wants the decklist, I could give post it.
Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
okay. I usually play in games of 5+ people. this one I think there were about ten. in a game with ten people is this card http://magiccards.info/ala/en/9.html a viable way to help me win the game?
G/W deck with a splash of red.
Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyuubi
okay. I usually play in games of 5+ people. this one I think there were about ten. in a game with ten people is this card http://magiccards.info/ala/en/9.html elspeth a viable way to help me win the game?
G/W deck with a splash of red.
Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
yeah but they still have to DEAL damage. my plan is get like five of them out and then play mycoloth.
I think it'd be fun to do that. wait ten turns and get another mycoloth out after sacrificing all one hundred. then wait another ten turns and get another one out then sacrifice all two thousand. then wait ANOTHER ten turns and get an 80,000/80,000 Mycoloth who brings 80,000 saprolings into play each turn. I'm laughing at the prospect right now.
Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
my friend is making a blue/black deck at the moment based around 2 cards from the new M10 set.... which i cannot remember the names of but the effects are harsh
blue rare card: put top half of target players library into graveyard
black rare card: exile any number of cards from target players graveyard and and cards that share names with exiled cards (excluding lands)
basically "ill remove all your cards except land, those in your hand and those currently in play, from the game"
i think that it is the kind of deck which drains the fun out of a game, but oh well....
if i remember the names of these cards i will edit this post
P.S. the cards effects may not be word for word, just as memory serves...
__________________
easy 1 step guide to impersonating Sean Connery;
step 1: repeat after me "I moustache you a question, but I'm shaving it for later."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kallisti
Phn'glui mglw'nafh Roland GITP not-wagn'nagl not-fhtagn!
Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
Quote:
Originally Posted by littlebottom
my friend is making a blue/black deck at the moment based around 2 cards from the new M10 set.... which i cannot remember the names of but the effects are harsh
blue rare card: put top half of target players library into graveyard
black rare card: exile any number of cards from target players graveyard and and cards that share names with exiled cards (excluding lands)
basically "ill remove all your cards except land, those in your hand and those currently in play, from the game"
i think that it is the kind of deck which drains the fun out of a game, but oh well....
if i remember the names of these cards i will edit this post
P.S. the cards effects may not be word for word, just as memory serves...
Traumatize/Haunting Echoes
Sounds great, but I tried it- Without a lot of counter/removal/Tutoring it can be difficult. Jace Beleran can be very useful though.
Enchantments
2xDoubling Season
2xOcular Halo
2xReality Acid
Artifacts
3xDarksteel Reactor
2xEnergy Chamber
Lands
4xBreeding Pool
9xIsland
7xForest
The main win condition here is to use Ocular Halo or Banishing Knack on Gilder Bairn, who you then use to draw a bunch of cards or bounce a bunch of permanents while quickly mounding up the counters on the reactor. You use Fabricate or Long Term Plans to snag one if you didn't draw one and use the counters and the Reality Acid to stall while you set up the ouphe and the reactor. Clockspinning and Energy Chamber both help immensely, since the higher the number of counters on the Reactor when you use the ouphe, the less you have to use it. The high cost of constantly buybacking the Clockspinning or untapping the Bairn is paid for by elvish mana acceleration. If the Reactor somehow doesn't pan out, you can Clone your opponents biggest threat and Sleep his side of the board, swinging for the win.
Is that a multiplayer deck? I'm asking because it's pretty slow now and has no acceleration.
(I still hope that, some day, aggro squirrels will be possible.)
Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Blade
Wow...that must have been collecting dust in some attic for well over 10 years. And now it's worth a car.
Is that a multiplayer deck? I'm asking because it's pretty slow now and has no acceleration.
(I still hope that, some day, aggro squirrels will be possible.)
It is a for fun proxy deck I made. Not meant for actual competitive play, just for goofing off.
Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
Yeah, that box of Beta is practically invaluable. It's a miracle that it even still exists to this day and age. On this note, I did see a sealed box of Arabian Nights once. I would have bought it, but you know, MONEY.
Enchantments
2xDoubling Season
2xOcular Halo
2xReality Acid
Artifacts
3xDarksteel Reactor
2xEnergy Chamber
Lands
4xBreeding Pool
9xIsland
7xForest
The main win condition here is to use Ocular Halo or Banishing Knack on Gilder Bairn, who you then use to draw a bunch of cards or bounce a bunch of permanents while quickly mounding up the counters on the reactor. You use Fabricate or Long Term Plans to snag one if you didn't draw one and use the counters and the Reality Acid to stall while you set up the ouphe and the reactor. Clockspinning and Energy Chamber both help immensely, since the higher the number of counters on the Reactor when you use the ouphe, the less you have to use it. The high cost of constantly buybacking the Clockspinning or untapping the Bairn is paid for by elvish mana acceleration. If the Reactor somehow doesn't pan out, you can Clone your opponents biggest threat and Sleep his side of the board, swinging for the win.
Well, don't get me wrong, it's a nice deck, but I don't see how you plan to actually survive until you've set your combo up.
I think adding White might be helpful, and a stronger counter suit.
I'd consider the Parallax enchantments. They're pretty good with Doubling Season, and downright silly with Gilder Bairn.
Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyuubi
okay. were I to get an 80,000/80,000 mycoloth out would adding coat of arms just be adding insult to injury?
No.
Injury was when you waited ten turns to play a second Mycoloth.
The third one was insult.
The fourth was indignity.
Coat of Arms would be...um...how about invidiousness?
Last edited by Johnny Blade : 07-27-2009 at 07:57 PM.
Reason: Bla.
Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Blade
Well, don't get me wrong, it's a nice deck, but I don't see how you plan to actually survive until you've set your combo up.
I think adding White might be helpful, and a stronger counter suit.
I'd consider the Parallax enchantments. They're pretty good with Doubling Season, and downright silly with Gilder Bairn.
That's the problem I've been having. I end up chump blocking with my elves, usually.
The Parallax enchantments look pretty good. My problem lies in figuring out what I can safely remove to improve the deck without really endangering my ability to set up and execute the combo. With less available mana, I generally get the Bairn killed or the Reactor removed from the game before I can get twenty counters. With less tutoring, I have trouble getting the peices into play. With less of the combo pieces, the reactor is too slow. I'm really at a loss...
On a tangently related note, I propose we all work together to build a deck, then have one of us run it in the FNM tourny this weekend. It might improve our general pool of knowledge, and collaborative effort produces some fun and surprising stuff, in my past experience. It'll be fun!
Enchantments
2xDoubling Season
2xOcular Halo
2xReality Acid
Artifacts
3xDarksteel Reactor
2xEnergy Chamber
Lands
4xBreeding Pool
9xIsland
7xForest
The main win condition here is to use Ocular Halo or Banishing Knack on Gilder Bairn, who you then use to draw a bunch of cards or bounce a bunch of permanents while quickly mounding up the counters on the reactor. You use Fabricate or Long Term Plans to snag one if you didn't draw one and use the counters and the Reality Acid to stall while you set up the ouphe and the reactor. Clockspinning and Energy Chamber both help immensely, since the higher the number of counters on the Reactor when you use the ouphe, the less you have to use it. The high cost of constantly buybacking the Clockspinning or untapping the Bairn is paid for by elvish mana acceleration. If the Reactor somehow doesn't pan out, you can Clone your opponents biggest threat and Sleep his side of the board, swinging for the win.
The best thing you can do for consistency is to bump up the Darksteel Reactor and Gilder Bairns to 4x each.
Also, you may want to consider some creature control artifacts like 1x Ensnaring Bridge, 1x Cumber Stone and maybe even 1x Ward of Bones as alternative Fabricate targets, along with a few more Fabricates.
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Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
Ha! Yes! Someobody else has to handle formatting people's decks into the first post now!
In all seriousness though, I think colour-coding decks in the first post was a huge mistake on my part. It looks pretty terrible. Anybody else agree and think it should be removed?
The reason EDH is popular (in my opinion) is because there aren't any playsets - this means less of a drain on your wallet. If a deck is cheap, it also means you're more likely to build wacky, fun decks. This leads to wacky fun scenarios with reasonably powerful decks.
Although to be fair, I've never seen anyone play EDH outside this thread.
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Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
I've heard there is a change in rules and i come to confirm it. I was sketchy with the rule in the first place...so just tell me if its currently allowed to be done.
1st Question: If an opponent attacks with an X/2 (X doesn't matter), and you block with a 1/1 creature, then tap to do an effect, say deal 1 damage to target creature Can you block than tap for a screw you I'm gonna play this one more time before this guy dies?
2nd Question: same situation.. but the requirement is you sacrifice the creature to deal the point of damage. Since its last in first out, you cannot block and take the opponents damage, then deal yours, then sac...it just doesn't work. so what happens to the opponents damage? blocking then sacrificing, the opponents damage goes straight to you right?
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Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
unless a creature has "target creature blocking X" due to new rules no an effect such as "sacrifice do 1 damage to target creature." would not work. if you play old rules I'm not sure.
Edit.: I don't know if even the first effect works due to new rules since you can't tap after you block I don't think and tapping a creature prevents it from being able to block.
Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
1. Yes, that still works, as far as I can understand the question.
2. You can't block, stack damage, then sacrifice for an effect anymore. Notably, if you sacrifice a blocker, you still don't take the damage, since it DID block.
Re: Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
Quote:
Originally Posted by Duos
My problem lies in figuring out what I can safely remove to improve the deck without really endangering my ability to set up and execute the combo. With less available mana, I generally get the Bairn killed or the Reactor removed from the game before I can get twenty counters. With less tutoring, I have trouble getting the peices into play. With less of the combo pieces, the reactor is too slow. I'm really at a loss...
Well, I'd remove all creatures but the Gilder Bairns. This is a slow combo, so I'd rate board sweepers higher than fast mana creatures. And Signets are good enough.
Then I'd also cut Clockspinning and Put Away for being too weak, Sleep for not really being a card for dedicated control, and Reality Acid because, well, sorry to say, but I have no idea why you put that into the deck.
Then I'd add some more lands and artifact mana and try to strengthen the control aspects.
Also, more 4-ofs would be good if possible, as Bucky said.
Quote:
On a tangently related note, I propose we all work together to build a deck, then have one of us run it in the FNM tourny this weekend. It might improve our general pool of knowledge, and collaborative effort produces some fun and surprising stuff, in my past experience. It'll be fun!
I suppose you mean a Standard deck?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bucky
Why use Coat of Arms when you could use Door of Destinies? The Door is a lot less likely to end up killing you. (this goes for the Squirrel deck too)
Door of Destinies doesn't work well with token decks, though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeejimbo
I have some questions about EDH. Mostly, what about the mechanics of it make it better for "social" gaming than other playtypes?
Deckbuilding is more fun due to the limitations and while it favors having a large collection, you can get away with a pretty cheap pile of cards if you accept that you won't have the versatility of 3-color decks.
Also, due to the deckbuilding restrictions and the whole 40 life multiplayer thing, you're all but forced to build a deck that has a certain theme built to be supplemented by your general, get to sling around all those crazy spells you never have the chance to in regular play (although EDH shares that with many multiplayer formats), and need to find effective card interactions. So, you pretty much get awarded for style here.
Sure, you can also spend a lot of time building a deck, but it's worth it.
Quote:
Also, any good suggestions for a deck featuring Progenitus as the general?
Uh...are you sure about that? I mean, that's going to be an expensive mana base if you don't have the cards needed and want it to be good, and Progenitus can still get killed by a sweeper, which are quite common in EDH.
Anyway, usually, it's best to go for card synergies, although you can start making decks that just play random good stuff if you play 5 colors, or the right 3 colors - WRG is still better off going for synergies, but UBG can go for whatever and still be very strong.
Anyway, if you're new to EDH, I recommend looking through the legends you have (or all that exist ) and picking one that:
1. you like.
2. has some ability that can lead to a reasonable deck theme.
3. is either two-colored or, if it has to be mono-colored, black, white or blue. Red and Green have some difficulties - Red has no recursion, tutors, enchantment removal and such, and Green can't deal with creatures and tends to have trouble recovering from sweepers as well.
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Magic: The Gathering III - These Planes Are Made For Walkin'
but the effects are harsh
