Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
Yet another Magic thread by me, Shas'aia Toriia! 'Cause I'm sure you weren't sick of looking at me yet!
All art by Uncle Festy. Worship him for his god like art skills.
Also, he takes requests. Sometimes. Usually he bites your head off if he isn't in the 'art' mood.
It's the 6th official Magic: the Gathering thread on Giantitp forums!
This is a 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/pros/articles, the absolute glory terrible creation that is Elder Dragon Highlander [Joking, joking. You can put the bats down now. Hey guys? Guys? ], 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. (Except, you know, those of us who play in tourneys.)
If you want, you can post decks and have them placed here in a list similar to the one below! Just, you know, tell me. Perhaps Definitely multiple times if because I will forget.
The Deck Gallery:
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 Mono White Control
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.
Please include lots of info on how to play the deck so that people who don't understand your brilliance can bask in its true glory.
Also, it should be noted that this list was maintained by tgva and Johnny Blade before me. I don't think I could have done it on my own. Except, ya' know, for the part where I did. Take that, copy paste!
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Spoiler
Avvies by Z-Axis, now bearer of 3 divine rank.
So you may have heard of Lord Herman. Well, he's pretty awesome.
Chief Arial Commander of HALO
Through hostilties, Leader of AMEN
Annoyingly Androgynous Elf
List of MtG-related websites put together by Johnny Blades and others:
Spoiler
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. They also spoil all the cards of the next set well in advance, so this is where we'll usually get future cards from.
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.
The Mana Drain, more forums, this time for people looking into Vintage.
Tapped Out, a deck building and critique community. Build any number of decks and put them up for review/critique/comment/display. Or, keep them private. They also have pretty graphic representations of your mana curve, colour costs and colour generation.
Also, for those who don't get the title, really good cards are, obviously, really good. As such, people try to explain ways that a card is bad, and that card dying to removal is one such response.
However, just about every card dies to removal, so it is a very weak argument.
Also, please let me know if you want something in the first post added, edited or removed.
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Spoiler
Avvies by Z-Axis, now bearer of 3 divine rank.
So you may have heard of Lord Herman. Well, he's pretty awesome.
Chief Arial Commander of HALO
Through hostilties, Leader of AMEN
Annoyingly Androgynous Elf
Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
If you're interested in adding more websites to the topic. I know of www.mtgthesource.com for those interested in Legacy, as well as www.themanadrain.com for those interested in Vintage. They are forums, and while they may act a bit annoyingly at times, I believe that they are a fantastic source of information.
Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
TappedOut.net is a fantastic deckbuilding resource/community. You can build any number of decks, put them up for public display/review/comment/critique or keep them private, and they have useful graphical displays of your mana curve, color costs, and color generation percents. Very nice.
Well, I'm going to the prerelease in a little while this morning. Here's to cracking a fantastic pool (and here's to knowing what it is when I'm looking at it! )
Black:
Death Cultist
Zulaport Enforcer
Null Champion
Cadaver Imp
Bala Ged Scorpion
Zof Shade
Dread Drone
Nighthaze
Shrivel x2
Essence Feed
Vendetta x2
Induce Despair
Nirkana Cuttthroat
Arrogant Bloodlord
Pawn of Ulamog
Escaped Null
Curse of Wizardry
Suffer the Past
Red:
Goblin Arsonist
Grotag Siege-Runner
Kiln Fiend
Lavafume Invoker
Battle Rampart
Emrakul's Hatcher
Fissure Vent
Raid Bombardment
Brood Birthing
Wrap in Flames
Spawning Breath
Staggershock x2
Heat Ray
Valakut Fireboar
Lust for War
Explosive REvelation
Traitorus Instinct
Surreal Memoir
Green:
Nest Invader
Beastbreaker of Bala Ged
Sporecap Spider
Ondu Giant
Nema Siltlurker
Snake Umbra
Ancient Stirrings
Might of the Masses
Leaf Arrow
Jaddi Lifestrider
Realms Uncharted
Vengevine
Colorless:
Reinforced Bulwark
Ulamog's Crusher
Hand of Emrakul
"Winnings":
Lone Missionary
Glory Seeker
Ikiral Outrider
Dawnglare Invoker
Hyena Umbra
Halimar Wavewatch
Jwari Scuttler
Frostwind Invoker (again?)
Narcolepsy
Distortion Strike
Bloodrie Invoker
Dread Drone
Demonic Appetite
Contaminated Ground (Ugh. as if Spred 'em needed more spreading seas, especially one that makes the land hurt you)
Goblin Arsonist
Kiln Fiend
Goblin Tunneler
Lagac Lizard
Ondu Giant
Haze Frog
Affa Guard Hound
Hada Spy Patrol
Guard Gomazoa
Drake Umbra
Suffer the Past
Soulsurge Elemental
Nomad's Assembly
Realms Uncharted (again )
In retrospect, I probably should have tried to run red somewhere, instead of WB.
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Steam ID: Sir_Dwar_Of_Ebberon Testing the Monk: One-shot encounters designed to answer the Monkday question once and for all (or at least give us one more thing to link to each time it does come up). Monk players and DMs needed!
Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
My pool sucked for a sealed game, though it was very good for card value. I received a pool with four Eldrazi, including Emrakul, and no acceleration. I had 3 cards that accelerated, total. So everyone's plan #1 , accelerate into big game-ending monstrosities, was out. I ended up playing an aggressive white/blue deck with lots of levelers. Unfortunately it just wasn't good enough, and I ended up going 1-3 and getting one booster. Damn.
At least the cards had pretty good value. Can't remember the commons and uncommons, but the rares was Student of Warfare, Echo Mage, Consuming Vapors, Kazandu Taskcaller, Mull Daya Channelers, Splinter Twin and the aforementioned Emrakul
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Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
Oh lookie, a combo:
Echo Mage + Reality Spasm => Infinite Mana
Echo Mage + Reality Spasm + X => Infinite copies of X
It takes 8 mana to go off from Level 2 and 6 from Level 4, plus whatever X costs if X is a sorcery. 4 of this mana must be blue. The best targets I can think of for X are Distortion Strike (unblockable lethal damage), Fleeting Distraction (draw and play your library) and Spawning Breath/Forked Bolt (win).
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Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
Quote:
Originally Posted by Penguinizer
You still need at least 8 mana to get this to work. I really do like the idea though.
Half of that can come from Eldrazi Spawn or green mana creatures. And it only takes 6 mana when Echo Mage goes ultimate.
We're looking at an 10-mana investment over several turns and then a 6-mana combo, or a 6-mana investment and then an 8-mana combo. That means it can likely go off at the sixth land drop.
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Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
Might be something fun to consider in limited if you ever get an Echo Mage and a couple late Reality Spasms. Reality Spasm seems like a decent enough card anyways.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suedars
Both Nirkana Cutthroat and Zulaport Enforcer is pretty nice. I think you're underestimating the Enforcer here. He's basically a hasty hill-giant that takes up your one drop (which often goes unused anyways) but can be a late game mana-sink and fast evasive clock, which is pretty damn good.
I played 4 matches and used Black in all of them, and I can say that Zulaport Enforcer is pretty terrible from my experience. If you get to spend 13 mana to make a 5/5 unblockable he's good, but as a 3/3 he's just terrible. By turn 4 there are lots of things with 4 toughness in play, and by spending that 4 mana you've just wasted a turn playing, say, a necessary removal spell or a better creature than a Hill Giant (of which there are several).
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Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
Quote:
Originally Posted by arguskos
So, I just saw that Phyrexia vs. The Coalition is out now. Anyone picked it up yet? If yes, how's it fare compared to some of the other dual decks?
Thus far I've found the two decks are more balanced than the games I've played with Jace vs. Chandra and Elves vs. Goblins. Maybe that's just me, though. It was fun to play Phyrexia vs. The Coalition, though, and I suggest you try it.
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Pokemon White Friend Code: 3353 3706 1386
Thanks to araveugnitsuga for my current Poke-atar.
Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
Quote:
Originally Posted by tgva8889
Thus far I've found the two decks are more balanced than the games I've played with Jace vs. Chandra and Elves vs. Goblins. Maybe that's just me, though. It was fun to play Phyrexia vs. The Coalition, though, and I suggest you try it.
What's the rare list? I noticed the foils are Negator and Rage, which makes me SO HAPPY OMG, but didn't note what else is in there.
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Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
I think there's a deck list for it on the Wizard's site.
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Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
Need to check that out. When I can, I'll pick up two of 'em, since I pretty much just collect specialties anymore. Damn there not being anywhere to play casual around here.
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Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
Well, I went 2-2 at my draft. I went B/G after I ended up with multiple copies of Nest Invader and Kozilek's Predator, as well as a few of the black spawning spells, most notably Corpsehatch. Two Dreamstone Hedrons, two Pelakka Wurms, and two of the lesser Eldrazi convinced me. Unfortunately, my first two matches ended 0-2 after what I can only describe as the worst mana screw I have ever experienced. I blame my poor shuffling job. Sadly, this left me with no prizes since my FLGS only gave them to the top 8.
Prey's Vengeance
Drake Umbra
Ogre's Cleaver
Narcolepsy
Ancient Stirrings
Spider Umbra
Prophetic Prism
Eel Umbra
Evolving Wilds*2
Forest*8
Plains*1
Island*6
I wasn't very happy with the deck when I built it, and round 1 I lost 0-2 to the common black levelers + Distortion strike (tech against a deck that can mostly only kill guys by blocking), but then it just started clicking. Some games I got this insane turn 1-2 Skywatcher Adept, turn 2-3 Cobra Coralhelm Commander, MERFOLK SMASH! opening, some I curved out well with something like Beastbreaker/Aura Gnarlid -> Ogre's Cleaver -> Ondu Giant -> attach Cleaver and smash...and then some games went long enough that the Wildheart Invoker broke it open. I never actually used the white splash, though it never really hurt me any; the cards I probably would have put in were a Naturalize and a See Beyond.
Random notes:
-Aura Gnarlid is fantastic. Swings through most of their board, tends to get really big due to everyone playing totem armors.
-All the totem armors are good. Biggest props to Drake Umbra, for pushing my groundpounders over the top, and Eel Umbra for being a combat trick + shielding guys from removal. Ing eneral, being able to trade your 1 mana Spider Umbra for their 7 mana Pelakka Wurm or some such is pretty good.
-The levelers are quite good, and the mechanic as a whole plays a lot smoother than I thought it would. Most of the common levelers get big enough to be relevant with one pump.
-The Eldrazi are tough to play, especially in Sealed. In Draft it might be different, but no one was having much luck casting the eldritch abominations without a lot of Spawn creators. And a lot of them aren't actually that good; you should usually have an excess land, a cheap totem armor, a Prophetic Prism, random low-mana guys to feed to annihilator, then just chump them or eat them with a Cleaver or something.
Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
First post updated with the new websites you guys recommended.
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Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
Went 3-1 at the prerelease, and had fun with all the games except the ones in the match I lost not because I lost, but because I got colorscrewed game one, mana flooded game two, and my opponent was kinda surly and didn't talk much. *shrugs*
Ok, so rant time for a second. Not an irrational rant, but just a rant about the one thing that got me upset during the whole prerelease.
Spoiler
The ***hole across the table from me stole some of my cards for his deck.
Here's what happened. This was a guy who I'd seen at a previous prerelease (though neither of us remembered how), we'd been chatting a bit, and he was helping me out with my deck. I wasn't really paying attention, he was fidgeting with my cards on his side of the table and as I'm looking through my cards, I say to myself, "Wait a second I know I had another Kor Line-Slinger and a Goblin Tunneler so what happened to them?" And as I'm thinking this, I glance up across the table and see those exact two cards on top of the guy across from me's two drop pile. Of course, this is no conviction yet, so when he's listing out my good white cards, I say, "Hey, you know, I'm pretty sure I had two Line-Slingers." He tells me to look through my cards again, picks up my white cards and his two drops, and as I watch him without him noticing *slides the Line-Slinger back into my pile. He turns back to me and says, "What are you talking about? It's right here!" I'm sure now, so I say, "Ok. And I'd like my Tunneler back too, please." He acts all injured, but he gives it back, saying he doesn't care anyways. Now I'm worried, so I count up my cards, and I'm two short. One of them I'm sure was a Repel the Darkness that was missing from my pool, but I never got a chance to confront him about it because he walked off. The other, well, I'm still not sure *but it was probably another common good in a W/R aggro deck (since I counted my uncommons and wasn't missing any). I mean, I doubt it was anything I was planning on playing, or I would have noticed, but still.
Yeah. And I used to think the prerelease was a casual environment where everyone was friendly and I didn't need to worry about thieves. Well, I know better now.
Sorry about that, needed to get that out of my system.
ANYWAYS.
Other than that one jerk, my deck turned out fine.
Deck and Sideboard:
Spoiler
All is Dust
Artisan of Kozilek
Ulamog's Crusher
Emrakul's Hatcher
Flame Slash x2
Forked Bolt
Lord of Shatterskull Pass
Ogre Sentry
Spawning Breath
Staggershock
Vent Sentinel
Left some good removal and bombs on the sideboard, sadly, but I had a consistent RG control deck (huh, never thought I'd say those words ) and didn't want to mess it up. It went pretty well, all told.
SB:
Pathrazer of Ulamog
Caravan Escort
Dawnglare Invoker
Deathless Angel
Demystify
Glory Seeker
Guard Duty
Harmless Assault
Hedron-Field Purists
Hyena Umbra
Kor Line-Slinger x2
Oust
Puncturing Light
Stalwart Shield-Bearers
Totem-Guide Hartbeast
Crab Umbra
Deprive x2
Eel Umbra
Enclave Cryptologist
Frostwind Invoker
Guard Gomazoa
Hada Spy Patrol
Jwari Scuttler
Lay Bare
Lighthouse Chronologist
Merfolk Observer
Narcolepsy
Phantasmal Abomination
Regress
Contaminated Ground
Corpsehatch
Curse of Wizardry
Death Cultist
Demonic Appetite
Essence Feed
Gloomhunter x2
Last Kiss
Mortician Beetle
Null Champion x2
Skeletal Wurm
Suffer the Past
Virulent Swipe
Zof Shade
Akoum Boulderfoot
Fissure Vent x2
Goblin Tunneler
Kiln Fiend
Vent Sentinel
Boar Umbra
Nemata Siltlurker
Spider Umbra x2
Sporecap Spider
Prophetic Prism
Runed Servitor
By the way, Lord of Shatterskull Pass is BEAST. It's a 6/6 swinging on turn 5, and if you get it up to it's "ultimate", it gets flat-out bonkers. It won me a number of games, and helped me take down two Deathless Angels.
So, Playground *do you think I should have played this pool differently?
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Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bucky
How well did these vanilla creatures work in your deck?
Quite well. The Scuttler was a decent blocker a couple of times, and a good target for the Cleaver/Umbras.
Quote:
Hedron-Field Purists aren't exactly what I'd consider a premium splash card.
I was a little hurting on playables, and I thought it'd be better than Naturalize or See Beyond. (what would have perhaps been best was a Champon's Drake, but I'm not sure if my few levelers would have been enough) Besides, with 1 Plains I had 6 white sources, it was an easy splash.
Quote:
Also, I noticed you didn't run any counterspells. Did you have any in your pool? And if so, why didn't you run them?
Deprive was the only one I had; I didn't like the tempo-setting-back-ness of it, or the fact that I didn't have many instant-speed stuff to synergize with it. I sided in a couple of times against decks with big stuff, but never used it.
Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
Champion's Drake is pretty good. 1/1 Flying for 2 gets in some early beats, then late game becomes a 4/4 when you stall and have mana to level up your team.
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Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
Went 2-2 at the Sealed prerelease, which is fantastic for me. Far better than I expected to do! Okay, so one of those "wins" was actually a bye, but who's counting?
I got a decent pool, but it was pretty much perfectly evenly spread out among five colors. I also didn't get much spawn-generators, many Umbras, and only one (1!) Eldrazi basher (Hand of Emrakul), so all in all there wasn't much help from my pool in terms of a direction to take. It worked out alright, though; I feel like I managed to build a respectable GW deck regardless.
Notable cards: Knight of Cliffhaven pretty much singlehandedly won me a game all by herself, with her early flying. Transcendent Master is a beast. His 1-colorless level up cost is what really makes him amazing. He and Knight sold me on levellers. Overgrown Battlements gets quite good pretty fast. Even if you only have two out there it's a great producer. Guard Gomazoa was played against me, but because I was GW (and thus had no burn), it may as well have said "Guard Gomazoa is indestructible". A very effective blocker.
Also, one game, I was able to cast Transcendent Master (three mana), level him up all the way (twelve mana), and cast Hyena Umbra (one mana) ALL in one turn! Pretty insane.
All in all, I had a lot of fun, did better than I thought I would and got some fun cards out of it. A good day!
Also, Festy, I'm sorry to hear about the fast-fingered jerk you played with. Everyone I met today was and good-natured and lot of fun. I had the good luck that when I played against experienced players (both the actual matches and the spar I played when I had a Bye) they gave me some very sound advice for my deck. Nothing makes an event fun for a relative new player like a host of friendly, welcoming people.
Last edited by Magnor Criol : 04-18-2010 at 06:45 PM.
Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
I have an interesting idea.
Anyone want to participate in a GiantITP "Rise of the Eldrazi Sealed"? My plan is that I will email anyone who wants to participate the contents of 6 booster packs that I will open from what I own, and people can play against each other. Obviously, I won't be participating myself unless someone else wants to open 6 packs for me, but I think it might be fun to try. I'll be getting a bunch of boxes of the set anyways, so I may as well do something besides add the cards to my collection.
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Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
Quote:
Originally Posted by tgva8889
I have an interesting idea.
Anyone want to participate in a GiantITP "Rise of the Eldrazi Sealed"? My plan is that I will email anyone who wants to participate the contents of 6 booster packs that I will open from what I own, and people can play against each other. Obviously, I won't be participating myself unless someone else wants to open 6 packs for me, but I think it might be fun to try. I'll be getting a bunch of boxes of the set anyways, so I may as well do something besides add the cards to my collection.
I'd definitely be interested. I'd love to hone my Sealed skills.
Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
@ Festy: Not sure you'd want to do it, and it is a little late now I guess, but what that jerk did is actually a fairly serious violation of wizards tournament rules, which would have been in force at the event (as per the tournament rules, it should have resulted in immediate disqualification from the tournament, and would need to be reported to the DCI). Personally, I would have strongly considered quietly reporting it to a judge, especially as he made no secret of the fact that he did indeed take your card (else he would have resisted handing the goblin back). Any proof you needed would be provided by a card pool count... yours was 2 short while his was (persumebly) 2 over. Something to bear in mind if it happens again?
@ tgva8899: interesting idea. How would we play the games though?
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Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
Quote:
Originally Posted by tgva8889
Champion's Drake is pretty good. 1/1 Flying for 2 gets in some early beats, then late game becomes a 4/4 when you stall and have mana to level up your team.
It's not bad if you can reliably get it to a 4/4 relatively quickly, but as a 1/1 flier for 1U it's terrible. Suntail Hawks and Scrib Sprites, 1/1 fliers for C, are mediocre, so paying an extra mana for a mediocre card fails the vanilla test pretty hard.
Re: Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
Either IM chat or PBP if you prefer to do it that way. Since there's no tangible reward, I should hope that no one will cheat, as cheating won't help anyone's skills get better.
As for Champ's Drake, it's not that hard to get a 3rd Level guy if you're playing Blue. I'm fairly certain blue is unplayable if you have no Venerated Teachers, and just one of those gives you a 3rd Level guy easily.
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Magic: the Gathering VI: This Thread Dies to Removal
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