So among the biggest issues I'm seeing are the following:

1) With only 20 mostly underpowered creatures, sure, you have options to trigger Ephara, but you aren't really pumping out  anything all that threatening.  God-Favored General, for instance, likely will never untap against a good standard constructed deck - if it attacks, a 1/1 on T3 won't survive or it gets tagged with quick removal.  Similarly, I feel like Vanguard of Brimaz will similarly underperform.

2) The enchant/heroic theme is certainly out there, but you're leaving out a LOT of the good heroic options - Fabled Hero, Battlewise Hoplite, and Akroan Skyguard come to mind off the top of my head.  You could even explore Phalanx Leader if you like.  Similarly, many of the auras you're playing just don't have the power you might want.  You definitely want Eidolon of Countless Battles as a 4x for starters... etc.

3) No Detention Sphere?

4) Heliod, God of the Sun actually provides you with a trigger for Ephara whenever you like.  Sure, it costs 4, but you can pay it whenever to trigger Ephara.  To this end, a more mono-white splash blue deck would be ideal as you can turn on Heliod, access Devotion and Nykthos, and other shenanigans of that nature.  You can even slide up the curve to include Elspeth and Angel of Serenity.

5) The auras you have included don't really feature much in the way of colorless mana to be made cheaper by Hero of Iroas.  I'm not sure what else to include other than perhaps different bestow creatures, but you might explore some other options.

I think there's some promise here, but I just think you're focused too much on the synergy and not enough on having the power to actually win.

227

(10 replies, posted in General Discussion)

If you'll note from the form, the S in PSA stands for sports, so it's entirely possible that you cannot even submit CCGs in this fashion... as such, the videos are exactly what one would want/need.  Unfortunately nobody here seems to know about the process as we're not exactly sitting on Power 9 cards that need to be graded...

228

(2 replies, posted in General Discussion)

mcbad88 wrote:

is it just me or shouldn't Born of the gods been converted to standard yet? I like deckbox and I mean really like deckbox, where is my standard decks that I want to search with born of the gods card's in it?

First off, jassi007 is correct.  This is the wrong forum for this post.  I will move it to the General Discussion forum.

Second, Born of the Gods is standard legal.  That being said, the site currently only has two admins that have full access to edit the site's functionality.  As such, they have yet to fully update the changes in the deck and search format restrictions (BNG moving into standard, Deathrite Shaman being banned in modern, and the unbanning of Wild Nacatl and Bitterblossom in modern).  To my knowledge this will be resolved soon.

Having said that much, if you want to search for what is currently standard legal, it's easy enough to simply use the "editions printed in" filter and select everything from RTR forward.

229

(10 replies, posted in General Discussion)

I believe it has to do with getting card conditions being professionally rated or something to that end...

230

(10 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

unclemantis wrote:
sk00gle wrote:

Bump. Also, I recognize that Deathrite Shaman has been banned, but I'm going to leave it in the list for the moment... At least until I've updated my inventory.

Page still says it is legal in all formats.

http://deckbox.org/mtg/Deathrite%20Shaman

The Deckbox listings have yet to be fully updated regarding the format changes.  For instance, if you do a search for all standard legal cards at the moment I don't believe it pulls up BNG.  Similarly, the banning of Deathrite and legalization of Wild Nacatl and Bitterblossom likely have not been updated as of yet.  I'm assuming Sebi is aware of this and it working to resolve the matter and if not, I can let him know.

231

(10 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Google "PSA submission form" man.  It brings up two or three youtube videos that should cover everything you're looking for.

232

(3 replies, posted in General Discussion)

One, moved this to the proper forum location.

Two, considering that the token is an exact copy of Pack Rat perhaps they figured you could just put another normal Pack Rat card into play if you were really hard up?  The same question could be asked of Giant Adephage...

233

(2 replies, posted in General Discussion)

I'm not aware of any way to request a more "credit card" like DCI card from Wizards or even your local shop.  But I guess if it's important to you, you could always have a custom one made: http://www.customdcicards.com/order.html.

234

(5 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

I'd suggest dropping one Abrupt Decay and one Selesnya Charm for 2x Obzedat.  Then swap one Polukranos and both Ultimate Prices for 3x Hero's Downfall.  This will give you some added power against control and PW reliant decks while not really losing any power against most others. 

Advent is just crazy good in an alarming number of scenarios - as it can often be thought of as if it were removal because you can play it in combat to then block favorably.  I also think that Polukranos might under-perform here, but you can likely speak more to whether he's been good or bad for you.

235

(5 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

You have 12 black sources, so getting to double black shouldn't be all that hard... as such, I would advise you to look into running Hero's Downfall and Obzedat.

Otherwise, I mean I don't see why you wouldn't have some luck.  Blood Baron is probably the hardest threat to deal with in the game for the time being, meaning it will definitely do a LOT of work for you most games.

236

(2 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

All I'll say is if you put in zero effort, the community shall put forth zero effort to offer comments.

I don't know that he's going to drop off anytime soon.  While the supply will go up as more packs are opened, he's a solid card that has the potential to see play in Modern and potentially even Legacy, so his value will likely stay pretty high... not that it really helps... I would keep my eyes on him for a week or so but if you need them for gameday or something, you might just have to bite the bullet.

Moving this to the trading post forum as this is not the appropriate forum for this sort of post.

So for what to drop, if it were me I'd likely do the following:

-2 Dryad Militant
-1 Imposing Sovereign
-2 Banisher Priest
-1 Aurelia's Fury

+2 Chained to the Rocks
+1 Spear of Heliod
+3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos

My rationale is as follows:

Dryad is easily the weakest of your one-drops.  Boros Elite will very frequently be a 3/3 going into combat which means it's already outperforming Dryad.  Similarly, Soldier of the Pantheon can gain life, deals with BTE, and can even stay put to block bigger stuff like Obzedat.  As such, losing two Dryads will sill leave you with 10 one-drops, but you've cut a few of the weakest link.

Imposing Sovereign is a solid card when you're just trying to outrun the opponent; but in reality it's easy to kill, becomes a quick target, and you'd likely rather be dropping either two one-drops, a one-drop and Chained, Precinct Captain or Daring Skyjek on T2.  So, as such, going down to 2x Sovereign will still let you draw it on a regular basis, but won't always stick you with one when you don't want it.

Banisher Priest is a double-edged sword - he can be your best friend OR it can really just underperform and you've dropped three mana into a creature that did nothing.  You're going up to 4x Chained, so really, you're not losing any removal power here by dropping down to 2x.

Adding another Spear will help ensure you get it.  It might seem like it's not adding that much firepower, but T1-Soldier, T2-Precinct Captain, T3-Spear is one hell of a start and the pump works with the tokens created by both Captain and Brimaz, making an army of 1/1s (normally not a big deal) into an army of 2/2s (which has been known to kill people quite often - see Mutavault if you think a 2/2 isn't valuable).  Sure, drawing a second one sucks, but then you have a backup as people will start packing more enchantment hate as Theros and BNG become the core cards in standard.

Brimaz, well, he's the cat king.  By having a 4th toughness he survives Bile Blight, Lightning Strike, Anger of the Gods, and, well, a LOT of the removal out there.  That in mind, he's a major threat that survives a lot and just oozes value.

You likely want to keep Boros Charm for the utility it provides against sweepers and even the straight burn it can offer to finish off an opponent with a low life total.

As far as Gideon and Angel are concerned, well, they are VERY useful SB cards.  Against R/G builds - which are a clear tier 1 deck now thanks to Xenagos, God of Revels.  You drop Gideon on T4 and he's an immediate distraction, forcing them to attack him and not you - often times buying enough turns for you to stabilize or otherwise assemble a winning alpha strike.  His +1 ability not only makes it take forever for them to kill him, but it also makes him an ever-increasing threat.  He could side in against R/G (as they like to flood the board) OR control to quite a bit of success.  Angel fits much of the same bill in terms of her impact.  Yes, she dies to quick removal just like everything else, but if they've been sitting there trying to take out all your little guys to keep ahead of the curve, well, she comes in and they're likely out of removal by that point.  Alternately, she could let you get 3 guys from your yard back to your hand... "Why yes I'll happily get those two copies of Brimaz and a Banisher Priest back."  Toss in the fact that outside of Stormbreath Dragon she literally outclasses ANY threat on the board and, well, that's the making of a solid SB card.  Obviously you leave her out against decks like MBD, but she's solid against R/G, mono-blue, things of that nature.  AND, even better, with Nykthos in the deck you'd be surprised how easy it is to get to 7 white care of things like Chained, Precinct Captain, Spear, and Brimaz. 

Again, they're likely SB cards, but they let you turn what is a pretty vanilla aggro deck that would get hosed by well timed sweepers into something that is able to last more into the mid-range.  Also, you can't bank everything on Assemble saving you as cards like Golgari Charm, Drown in Sorrow, and Bile Blight can easily clear away your token army for them to swing in for fatal.  Personally, Elspeth is a better option than Assemble anyway, as she actually will outpace it for the first six or seven turns (by which point she's already used her ultimate and won you the game).

Feel free to take or leave the thoughts but I'm tinkering with W/u (splashing for Ephara and D-sphere) with Gideon, Elspeth, and Angel in the main and it's actually performing quite well.

240

(1 replies, posted in General Discussion)

I'm certainly hoping you pull more than just one Brimaz out of six boxes, otherwise you got hosed.  I've already seen 4 pulled out of less than 4 boxes, one of them being foil no less.

241

(1 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Give the site admins a little bit.  They have to update the deck classification to correctly recognize BNG and the updates to the ban list.  All in due time.

242

(3 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

This sort of thing really is better suited in the Decks & Deckbuilding forum.

243

(3 replies, posted in General Discussion)

You can playtest decks over at www.untap.in - it's totally free to sign up and you playtest against actual people, not just fishbowling.

244

(3 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

I think you'd probably be best suited to be mostly white with a splash of blue for D-sphere and Ephara, but you really aren't gleaning enough from the green to make it worth messing with your manabase.  If you were running Sylvan Caryatid for fixing that's one thing, but just relying on the lands you're going to be running too many tapped lands and will likely have more inconsistency than is necessary.

That aside, you're not in full on aggro mode, more hedging the line between aggro and mid-range.  Mono-white has access to a LOT of must answer creatures, but in order to be aggro you really need to beef up the low end of your curve - Soldier of the Pantheon needs to be a 4x, Boros Elite, Dryad Militant, Daring Skyjek, Imposing Sovereign, etc.  Personally, I think if you go down to two colors you can run a devotion deck that sits on the fence a bit and will still be successful.  Another added benefit of dropping down to two colors is that you'll be able to run Nykthos, which can either let you drop a ton of Heliod tokens or can enable earlier Elspeth drops (letting you move a second one into the main).  Then you can also run Angel of Serenity in the SB for games where the more aggro strategy doesn't quite pan out.  In either event, Soldier is a solid dude... find a way to fit him in there.

I get that you're hoping to use Deputy of Acquittals for added Ephara triggers, but really I think that's just trying to be too cute.  You're going to get card advantage off of her any way you look at it.  I'd actually suggest running a 2-2 split between Ephara and Heliod as he'll often be quite the beat-stick OR he can give you a means of making tokens on their turn for the added Ephara draws.

245

(5 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

If you're going aggro, your best bet would be to look back to the GP Santiago Rakdos aggro build and then switch a few pieces around to account for BNG and whatnot.  There was also a mono-black aggro that did quite well at the SCG Open this past weekend.  Either of those could be a solid starting point to then depart toward your own build.

A few pieces you'll definitely want if you go aggro are: Tormented Hero, Spike Jester, Rakdos Shred-Freak, Firefist Striker, Mogis's Marauder, Herald of Torment, and possibly things like Madcap Skills or 1-2x Gray Merchant of Asphodel to finish them off.  The key is to force through the damage as quickly as possible, so to that end I don't even know that you'd want Desecration Demon as much as you'd want Mogis and Exava at the four.

I hope you're also seeing how they're two very different decks that will play out quite differently.  The mid-range version is far more defensive for the first turns of the game but can quickly bring the pain after say T4-T5, whereas the aggro version is hoping the game is OVER by that point.

So a few things to consider:

1) Assemble should DEFINITELY be in the SB in some quantity.  The card can single-handedly beat Mono-black (Drown in Sorrow and Bile Blight weaken it, but you get all those soldiers right back the next turn).  Personally I would drop Renounce the Guilds from the SB as you already have 4 answers to D-sphere in Glare of Heresy and Revoke Existence.  I would also reduce the count of Spirit and Fiendslayer by 1x each, creating 4 SB slots.  I'd put in 2x Assemble and perhaps 1x Gideon (he actually does more than you think in terms of occupying the opponent) and 1x Angel of Serenity (or 2x if you just don't like Gideon)  Elspeth could also go in the board.

2) I would argue that you can lower the count of Mountain to 2x, which, when combined with the foundries gives you a total of 6 to serve as targets for Chained.  But on that point, if you're running Chained, why even run Banisher Priest at all?  I would run the full slate of Chained and likely drop most, if not all, of the priests.  Here's why, Priest has a body, but you're not as likely to attack with him as you think as it's easy for the opponent to block/kill him to get their creature back.  In fact, in decks with suitable removal, Banisher Priest can actually work in their favor, as you tap out to drop him, attack, and they kill him in response, giving them their blocker back and letting them block favorably - totally skipping demon triggers and the like.  Chained, well, outside of B/G you aren't likely going to run into many instant speed responses that could do this.

3) Aurelia's Fury as a 1x will either never be drawn or never do what you're wanting... you'll end up siding it out all the time and, to be honest, you could use that spot more efficiently.

4) Brimaz... yeah, you're going to catch flak for not running him here as this is a mono-white devotion aggro deck and he is literally PURRFECT (sorry, I had to) for this situation.  At 3 he fits the top end of your curve, he's a 3/4 vigilance that makes 1/1 vigilance... you're paying one less mana for a smaller creature that makes vanilla 1/1s... but that's an auto-include 4x while Brimaz isn't even in the list?  Consider life with a Spear of Heliod out... now you have a 4/5 that craps out 2/2s regardless of whether he hits or not?  I mean c'mon... this is value-town.

Realistically I don't think you're too far off from something, but I fear you might get nailed by the sheer quantity of sweepers that are out there these days... it's worth a shot though.

247

(5 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Given the revamped look, I would say to drop Underworld Cerberus (I want him to be good too... sad) and add 3x Anger of the Gods as you REALLY want to cover your bases against most aggro and smaller decks.  Then you can probably pull some combination of Lightning Strike/Magma Jet to slide in Underworld Connections.  To be honest, I'd pull the Temple of Silence and Temple of Triumph for your normal basics as, well, you don't want to bog yourself down with too many etb tapped lands and you already have a fair amount of scry with the 4 Temple of Malice.  I'd also toy around with Stormbreath over Exava as it's far more likely to get through.

So when you're entering the card into your inventory, you would click on the emblem on the far right which lets you designate whether it is foil or not.  It's a little rainbow colored circle.

Second, this would go in the general discussion forum.  I'll move the thread to the appropriate location.

249

(5 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

So a few things I'm noting. 

1) You're pretty torn between whether you're aggro or mid-range.  Ideally you should be all in on one strategy or the other.  That means a lowered curve for aggro or less emphasis on lesser creatures for the mid-late game like Spike Jester.  It can be hard to figure out which route you're going with, but making that distinction will be important.  Either go with a rakdos mid-range/control build OR go all in aggro.  If you sit on the fence, it'll likely mess you up.

2) Pack Rat is fun and all, and it can definitely win the odd game here or there on its own; however, given the recent influx of Bile Blight into the fray, when combined with your lack of card draw, and I think it'll under-perform for you.

3) Some number of Hero's Downfall would probably be ideal.  Dreadbore does much the same for one less; BUT, there's an issue in the sense that it's multi-colored (can't hit Soldier of the Pantheon) and it's only sorcery speed (so things like Stormbreath Dragon will just totally mess you up).  Ideally I think you should have some number of both.

4) You have Anger of the Gods in the SB but it is totally opposite to what you want.  It would take out practically every creature in your build AND exiles things, making it a problem with Underworld Cerberus.  I can see where Drown in Sorrow would be more of what you're looking for, as would Bile Blight in some quantity in the SB to deal with opposing Pack Rats.

5) Why not go the full 4x Blood Crypt?  You have plenty of time to pick them up between now and gameday...

6) Sire of Insanity in the board?  He's good, like insanely good if you get him out and he sticks, but you're going to totally change from an aggro-ish build to that post boarding?  You would be better suited to have more Rakdos's Return(RR) in the board - keep in mind that if you cast RR you can redirect the damage to a PW AND they still have to discard... it's pretty good I hear.

7) I'm not sure Blood Scrivener really would be useful either...

So, is there promise, I think so.  But you really want to figure out which strategy you're going to run and move much closer to it.  It's quite alright to have some pieces in the SB to change gears a bit between games, after all, you needn't simply just yield to particular match-ups; however, if you're divided in G1, it will often work against you.

There's no need to delete the thread as it's a valid discussion worth having.  My point is just that people can view and weigh the BTRs as they will.  They're made publicly viewable although I'd imagine that could be changed easily enough if they cause problems.  Personally, I think it's good that they're open for everyone to see as it provides a means of transparency and demonstrates that, when patient, solutions are worked out.

As for the number of people who are flaming or just being incendiary, well, those folks just need to stop.  I'm on this site a lot, I use it to kill time between tasks.  I'll openly admit that I don't read every post (good lord I only wish I had that kind of time), but just today I've had to put out fires in two different spots... people need to just relax, calm down, and act more maturely.