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Deckbox Forum » Posts by TyWooOneTime
He's pretty solid I hear...
I would suggest swapping the 2 Skylashers in the main to the SB for the 2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride. If you put a +1/+1 counter on Brimaz, he's a 4/5 vigilance that will crap out dudes... at that point he's REALLY hard to stop outside of a removal spell.
As always, excellent work!
I understand it's not a BTR yet.
I am trying to prevent it from becoming one. I feel that I shouldn't have to pay again for shipping and probably a new envelope.
And i'm sure he probably is feeling that he would like his card's.Was just looking for guidance to try and find a middle ground so it does not reach that level.
You never answered my initial question. Are you still in communication with your trading partner? If so, perhaps you can learn why the cards are on the way back to you. If it's an error on his part, perhaps the two of you can work out an arrangement that defers the cost of shipping a second time... the guidance is already there. Talk to your trading partner first, as the mods here likely won't need to get involved unless something goes terribly awry.
Have you been in communication with your trading partner? That would be the most obvious place to determine the next course of action. See what your trade partner wants to do and go from there.
Unless there's some other sort of complaint or problem this really isn't a BTR. I'll leave this open for another 24 hours to be sure you can see the response, but afterward I will close this post. In the event things go sour, you are free to submit a BTR following the forum guidelines. Best luck!
Format? Setting? Budget?
C'mon people, there are directions at the top of the forum about posting in here and getting useful feedback...
Maybe this is just me, but I think the Consuming Aberration + Phenax combo is strong enough without having to add in Traumatize. Yes, that's a "quick" mill win, but let's be honest, you're talking about casting three five cost spells... not exactly what I'd call a "quick" kill or a combo by any means. Maybe in EDH... but hardly in constructed.
I think there's more promise in a deck that's mostly U/B control but features, Ashiok, Emo Jace, Wall of Frost, Aberration, Phenax, and tons of removal. You literally have to control the board for turns and turns to be able to win via mill... so what's the rush with Traumatize?
Additionally, Pack Rat is going to be more hit/miss with Bile Blight, as the opponent can now sit back and wait until you've discarded two cards to up your rat count to three before they take all the rats out...
I'll take a more in-depth look here in a bit, but the one card I noticed was missing was Triskelion. It pairs with Mikaeus to offer a non-stop, one-sided board wipe in your favor. You just remove the counters, other stuff gets zapped, it dies, comes back with four counters, rinse and repeat. Outside of indestructible and hexproof creatures, it will single-handedly wipe their side of the board.
Ideally you want to guarantee you have at least one on the field T2, so 12 is a good number. T3 you have options, and T4 if you're not holding out to drop Advent during combat or their end phase, you can drop two of them. Lots and lots of threats.
Albeit an interesting feature idea, I cannot think of a single site that offers anything of that sort to date, so I would imagine it's awfully difficult to implement... but that's just a guess on my part.
Technically this site does that already by showing you the price of cards you don't have for the deck... although you can't just toss 10 decklists at it en masse to see which one you have the most pieces for.
Then again, why are you looking at other peoples' decklists? Why not just brew one on your own?
First off, thank you for actually following through with the directions stickied at the top of the forum. I was starting to wonder if anyone even read them. So to that end, you have my undivided attention as I'm happy to help whenever possible.
So, with no further ado, the deck.
As I see it, you're not too far off from being a mildly competitive deck. A friend of mine piloted a Selesnya aggro build to a top 300 finish at GP Vancouver this weekend and, in actuality, would've made day 2 had he not been robbed by a total BS judge ruling.
Having said that, you are a bit over-crowded at the four-drop and have some sub-optimal choices in your deck at the moment. I'll go through this card-by-card to help out as best possible.
Elvish Mystic - typically a good dude, but normally reserved for most mid-range decks which, I would argue, you definitely do not want to be. Mid-range decks have access to a LOT better tools than you and will just ruin you if given the chance, so let's not venture down that road. Additionally, while the potential second green is nice, it just throws you off as it doesn't really help you meet WW casting costs like on Precinct Captain. So I'd start by dropping these (don't worry, I'll give suggestions for what to add back in shortly).
Precinct Captain - also typically a solid dude, but again I'm not sure he's what you're looking for at the two-drop. I wouldn't drop him just yet, but he's going to be tough to cast consistently with a WW cost (without messing up the rest of your curve). But, if you do intend to keep him in, I would go up to 4x.
Wayfaring Temple - man he sounds good doesn't he? Just one problem, without a bunch of reinforcements, he's just a 1/1. I honestly don't know that you're going to get his populate trigger to go off without trample given that many opponents will see the value in that and will stop him. To that end, I'd probably have to say to drop him... sorry... but he's worth $0.30 for a reason...
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice - as far as pieces go, this is a good one, especially considering what you're up to. I would keep her in as a 2x and just leave life alone there.
Armada Wurm - the idea of getting 10 trampling power for 6 is pretty solid, no? I like him more than he gets love these days and would suggest running 2x of him in the deck (but cut the other one as you don't want to flood the top end of your curve). He'll be a crazy life swing if Trostani is out and can provide an endless stream of wurms... good times.
You're solid on the Charm, Advent, and Call of the Conclave at 4x each. I would suggest moving Rootborn Defenses to the sideboard as it's often just a dead card forcing you to keep three mana open. Then again, if your local meta has a lot of removal floating around or just a bunch of control decks, feel free to run 2x main.
Unflinching Courage - this card is good not for the trample you cite, but for the lifelink it provides. You can move these to the SB to use against aggro decks that are trying to race you.
Growing Ranks - tempting isn't it? Just one problem, this card costs four to cast and doesn't affect the board in any meaningful way AND requires you to have a token in play for it to even do anything for you. Compare it to Assemble the Legion (admittedly a very different card that costs one more) where the five cost might not affect the board immediately, but it produces the tokens all on its own, no other requirements needed - further, it accelerates to the point that it ensures you will eventually win if the board is just flooded. To that end, I would drop these too.
Heliod, God of the Sun - as much as I'd like Heliod to be good here, once you've dropped all those other pieces and move more toward an aggro shell, he won't be nearly as useful. Further, he's unlikely to ever become a creature AND paying four for a 2/1 isn't my idea of good value. I'd drop him too.
Grove of the Guardian - this too is tempting, but it's a trap. The likelihood you get the 8/8 isn't very high nor are its chances of staying in play. You would be better suited running 2x Selesnya Guildgate until you can compile a playset of Temple of Plenty when Born of the Gods hits.
For the SB, I would keep the 2x Sundering Growth and drop the others... as there really won't be instances where they're as relevant as you think.
So, in sum, that's:
-4 Mystic
-4 Wayfaring
-1 Armada
-2 Rootborn (to the SB)
-3 Unflinching (to the SB)
-2 Ranks
-2 Heliod
-2 Grove
That's 20 cards down... ouch... but don't worry, there are some really solid options out there to slide in... and if you act quickly you can get them before they go back up card of Born of the Gods making W/G more accessible.
+4 Soldier of the Pantheon - for one you get a 2/1 (already off to an aggressive start) who has pro-multicolor (take that Burning-Tree Emissary) AND gains you life... what's not to love (note this is probably the most expensive addition to the deck).
+4 Experiment One - he might seem like a silly little 1/1, but if you consider that he grows every turn and can regen himself only to grow again in response to a Verdict or most other board wipes, well... what's not to love?
+4 Fleecemane Lion - better hurry here as these kitties were at like $9 earlier in the season and could jump back up soon. This is another 3/3 for your stable to go with all those centaurs, but who can also become quite the little nightmare if made monstrous.
+3 Spear of Heliod - one of Selesnya's advantages is that their stuff is, on average, bigger than their opponent's... why not further extend this situation?
+3 Banisher Priest - he's a bit behind the curve you're typically aiming for, but on the flip side, he's removal and tempo advantage (AND he can remove any creature, including the gods when they're online). Just be wary as he is a bit of a target and can easily lead to you getting two-for-one'd if you attack blindly without keeping their kill spells in mind.
+2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride - okay, maybe these will be the biggest investment, BUT, they have quite the return on them as a 5/5 wurm token does wonders when given flying a double-strike. Just mull that over for a bit.
So that should bring you back up to 60. You'll be a LOT more aggressive but also a lot more consistent.
A brief aside on Voice of Resurgence, I've been on the receiving end of some serious Voice beatdowns, but I still am not convinced that they're a MUST for this deck. Obviously they have some serious power (notice the $40 per price tag), but given the pieces you're sitting on, you should be solid anyway. Further, as RTR will be rotating out in the fall, it would REALLY suck to drop the cash now unless you're running this week-in-and-week-out.
For the SB, after the changes I've suggested you would be sitting with the following:
2x Sundering Growth
2x Rootborn Defenses
3x Unflinching Courage
You should add the following:
2x Mistcutter Hydra - might as well hate on blue decks while we can
2x Skylasher - same story, different dude
2x Last Breath - seems silly, but you NEED a way to deal with Master of Waves (how convenient)
2x Glare of Heresy - deals with opposing threats pretty well, ranging from Detention Sphere to Elspeth (kind of a deal breaker against you).
That would give you a full 15.
Anyway, I hope this helps. Obviously I know you can't just order up the entire list of changes, but work toward it with trades and such and you should be pretty set moving forward. Let me know if you have any questions, otherwise, good luck!
I know it's a pricey game to get into, but realistically, this list should be pretty solid going forward.
How long has it been since the trade was agreed upon? As per the deckbox rules, you should allow a sufficient amount of time for mail to be delivered and such. In the event you sent first, which I'm just assuming, and you're waiting on the other party to send, you should attempt to reach them via the trade chat box and also via direct message/e-mail (the message option on their page) and give them a few days to respond (life gets in the way sometimes). In the event more than a week goes by without any response, you should post a bad trading report in the appropriate forum as per the bad trading post rules (they're stickied so you can find them easily enough).
Please post the link here in the post thread.
Second, give us a description of the deck. If you're looking for feedback, it's A LOT more likely to get some useful input if you can describe the deck, the format you're playing in, how competitive of an environment you're going into, your budget for upgrades, etc.
Mistcutter could work fine in the main. Blue is a rough match up and Mistcutter gives you abit more power against them without losing much against anyone else. (And its awesome vs. Control
).
I would argue this is not the case, as you do lose a fair bit more against anyone else. In a deck where you want to be dropping a lot of threats on tempo, spending 4-5 mana on a hydra that easily gets Doom Bladed or whatever from Monoblack is pretty bad. Is it the worst option you could have? No. But unless your meta is overly heavy with Monoblue decks (which will fade after Born hits care of Drown in Sorrow and Bile Blight), it really doesn't need to be in the main.
Negative. If you build a new deck it does not automatically add them to your inventory, just to that deck sublist.
As for adding the Commander sets, you can copy and paste the list from the commander deck into the text box (use the add card list option) after setting the default set to Commander 2014 and it will work. Alternately, you can simply copy the commander list into a deck and then go through and add them to your inventory that way.
You'll go to the subtype filter and type in "legend" and it will do it for you. If you're trying to search for EDH generals, look in the Decks and Deckbuilding forum at the sticky at the top regarding EDH as I've detailed how to search for generals and such there.
Cipher stuff seems to be REALLY a lot better in a Grixis shell, given that you can repeat trigger Young Pyromancer, Guttersnipe, Nivmagus Elemental etc... get access to removal that CAN deal with Blood Baron (Mizzium Mortars) and some other options.
To be honest, while we're still lacking the Izzet Temple, I have intentions of trying to figure out some sort of Grixis build once Born hits...
-2x Banisher Priest and -2x Mistcutter Hydra (these go in the SB). I would drop 1x of each basic as well to help create space. That should give you six spots. Four go to Temple of Plenty the other two can go to Dryad Militant, Spear of Heliod, Precinct Captain, Imposing Sovereign or something along those lines to speed your deck up even more. Either that or move Brave the Elements to the mainboard.
For the SB, you don't need 4x of either Unflinching Courage or Glare of Heresy. Knock them down to 2-3x and then you can put the Mistcutters in the board. I'm also not entirely sure I'm sold on Brave the Elements over Rootborn Defenses in the board. Brave is a great card for white aggro, but if that were your intent, you'd have it in the main, not in the board.
I thought RTR would drop out of standard when Born of the Gods was released?
Negative, sets rotate out in full blocks. The entire RTR block will be legal until the first set of the block AFTER the Theros block is released (so sometime in September). You will be able to pair your RTR favorites with M14, Theros, Born, Journey, and even M15 for a brief window before any rotation happens.
Don't forget Dreadbore.
For the first scenario, has the other person continued to communicate with you or have they "gone dark" and simply do not communicate? I would clear it with the mods in the BTR forum first, but my sense is that as long as you're fine with cancelling, you should be able to. But, given that the other person is potentially out some cards, you would want to seek clarification there.
For the second case, if both parties have agreed to cancel the trade and all pieces have been returned, then yes, you may both cancel the trade, leave neutral feedback, and go about your separate ways. If, however, either of you has the desire to leave negative feedback, again a BTR would be warranted.
I'm assuming you're aiming for Modern?
If that's the case I can't really comment too much given my lack of familiarity with the format more generally, but I would imagine they would perform alright... although probably not up there with the tier 1 decks... but that's just a guess on my part.
I'd like to start off saying thanks for actually reading the big block of text I posted... sadly this forum seems to boil down to 3-4 of us carrying the load commenting on a bunch of new kid decks 
.
That being said, I'll start off responding to elpablo and then onto drock007's comments.
Aside from a slightly shakier mana base, I think the deck is okay. I like midrange decks with decent removal and bombs. I do like the golgari charms and abrupt decays. Abrupt decay hits a decent amount of stuff right now, domri, specter, sphere, any number of weenie drops.
I have been playing mono black, splash blue, splash white, splash nothing... without gary, with gary... etc... the deck doesn't get there for me. I took it to GP FW to a 4-3 finish and have had mixed success at the local store. It doesn't feel like it has what it takes, i honestly don't know how it puts up consistent results at big tournaments. I'm with you on trying something a little different.
To be honest, I wanted to use something a little bit different. I was on the fence about running a Rakdos control build until I discovered that it just cannot win the mono-black matchup as currently constituted (which is no bueno). But that aside, the mana base has seldom given me problems. I can say that Caryatid is an all star in my books, it is sooooooo nice against aggro and easily fixes the colors for a nice T4 Ghost Dad or Blood Baron.
I still think mono-black is THE deck moving forward, but that's only if people actually think outside the box a bit. Mono-black + Rise of the Dark Realms and Nykthos just sounds hilarious... literally nobody would see it coming AND you get added value out of all that spot removal... then again, that might be a bit fantastical... in either respect, Bile Blight and Drown in Sorrow will made the deck all but unbeatable at current.
1. Why 3 whips? You're gaining enough life imo, with ghost dad and baron. Also, playing 3 golgari charms main deck _should_ be enough regenerate to save your dudes from a board wipe or spot removal. The whip/ghost dad combo is neat and if you're running the dad, I think you should run a whip to respect the combo, but 3 feels excessive.
I'd be open to going down to two, but man that added lifelink is amazing. Swing in with Reaper and Obie, gain 9? Sure. I mean I guess I could move one to the SB but I know that the life-gain is almost essential to survival given the fact that the deck is so lacking in sweepers. To this end, I can actually say I've won entire matchups simply because nobody plans for Whip and it makes that much of a difference. The Ghost-Dad combo is just the added gravy here.
2. are you sure you have enough answers to the big dudes? Master of waves, descration demons, dragons, etc... I think in the format, if you're not runing 4 down falls you're not respecting the big guys enough not to mention all the walkers.
I'm also with you here about the count of removal, but I feel that I actually have a lot of favorable trades in terms of combat. Flash in wurms are often as good as a removal spell, Golgari Charm can act as a small-scale board wipe, Reaper deathtouch to trade often 2-for-1, and of course Ready // Willing are all solid actions on my part. With regard to dealing with the big dudes, to some degree, I can bank on whip and lifelink letting me ignore the random big dude here or there as no matter whether they're hitting for 4 or 6, if I can crack back and gain 7 on the next turn I'm golden.
For the demons in particular, I have Putrefy, 2x Downfall, 3x Devour Flesh, 2x Dark Betrayal, and 2x Selesnya Charm total... so I don't envision them being a problem. Master of Waves falls to Putrefy, Downfall, and Golgari Charm. Stormbreath is probably the biggest pest of the batch... I have 2x Downfall and sadly won't have the opportunity to get 2x more for this weekend, but I can see where you're coming from on this point.
3. How is ready/willing working out for you? I have to say it doesn't see much play and I haven't seen it interact with enough cards to know how to evaluate it.
This card is either AMAZING or a total miss. I like this fact as it can easily let me blow the opponent out in combat, survive sweepers, experience a HUGE life swing, or just have an easily identifiable option to move to the SB in game 2. That being said, it's not a commonly played card and I'm actually not surprised given that Junk really doesn't see much play more generally. Having said all that, it beats Rootborn Defenses in the sense that I can untap my guys (sure populate would be nice if I have a wurm, but there are lots of times when I dont), but the ability to turn my Pack Rats into little deathtouch, lifelink removal missiles is nice, along with the sudden burst of life if I don't have whip out.
4. Also, i think 25 lands here... at least, even with the caryatids. You've got sinks in the form of reaper activated abilities, whip activations, spot removal and you have to remember that underworld connections basically read, pay 1 mana and 1 life to draw a card.
Interestingly enough, I don't think I would go to 25 just because of how frequently I flood out with this deck. I don't understand it myself, but I actually added Underworld Connections because I was just flooding out game-after-game-after-game.
To drock007's point about Selesnya Charm - I had two in the mainboard along side 2x Golgari Charm for the longest time, but I found that often it really just didn't get the job done. It's definitely in the SB for the purposes of exiling the off chance god or demon, but really, it just seemed like it was under-performing for me. I'm certainly aware of its ability to circumvent Devour Flesh and have plans of siding them both in against Mono-black, as, to be honest, I would likely yank 2x Golgari Charm for that matchup anyway.
So my current thinking, would I be better served to swap one whip over to the board in favor of 1x Ultimate Price? And then, would it make sense to swap the 2x Dark Betrayal for another 2x Ultimate Price? My thinking is that offers me an added touch of removal against the bigger threats (see demon/stormbreath/polukranos/arbor colossus/Master of Waves) but would also give me the ability to deal with perhaps my biggest annoyance, Soldier of the Pantheon (sweet lord does that pro-multi-colored piss me off). Sure, they cost one more than betrayal, but isn't the added versatility worth that added cost? Thoughts?
I really do appreciate the input guys...
To that end, you can do alright with mono-green infect for like $5. Check Reddit's mtg forum for cheap Modern builds and you will likely find it.
I could make the swap the Putrefy but I just liked the unconditional removal of a creature, even one with regen... but I'm open on that front.
As for the Smiters, what exactly would I remove for it? My three spot is filled with removal and such, and with a T2 Sylvan Caryatid I jump right to the four with Reaper, Advent and whatnot.
So I'm in Vancouver for the year and, well, isn't it my luck that the last standard constructed GP before Born of the Gods is released is in my backyard...
I could easily sleeve up mono-black or go net-deck half a dozen other things. I have G/R devotion sleeved up already just for fun, but I wanted to bring something different to the table in the hopes of catching people off guard.
As such, I present to you my Junk Build:
http://deckbox.org/sets/578853
So, the deck in a nutshell... Combine Advent of the Wurm + Reaper of the Wilds + Obzedat, Ghost Council + Whip of Erebos with some of the best removal in the format... shake, win.
More seriously, this deck has played REALLY well for me as of late, being able to take down any home-brew, Orzhov aggro humans, G/R devotion, R/W devotion, U/W control, and Esper Control... but it has struggled against mono-black and mono-blue (go figure, the two biggest decks in the standard metagame). I've recently adjusted the counts to include 2x Blood Baron of Vizkopa, 2x Hero's Downfall, 3x Underworld Connections, 3x Pack Rat in the SB, and an additional 2x Golgari Charm in the SB to boost these match-ups.
How do these help?
Blood Baron is a total beast against mono-black (pending I have some other creature on the field). Realistically, he won't be alone on my field and can just be the nasty beat-stick I need to pull ahead. That in mind, he's mostly for mono-black, but he's also quite the problem for most decks to deal with (he's sitting at $17 for a reason, right?).
Hero's Downfall - given the fact I was running 2x Putrefy and a 3rd Obzedat before, I found that I'd have to attack into too many PWs when I'd rather be doing damage and the mono-colored kill option helps against Soldier of the Pantheon given that almost all of my creatures are multicolored. But more to the point, taking out Jace, AOT will prove quite useful as will the added removal more generally.
Underworld Connections - who doesn't like card advantage? Between Blood Baron, Obzedat and Whip of Erebos I'm not exactly scared of a little life loss to keep up the draws. More amusingly, post sideboard I can name Swamp with Pithing Needle to turn off the mono-black opponent's connections while mine are on one of my other colored lands.
Pack Rat - I really don't like having to do this, but against mono-black I found myself often just losing straight up to the fact I couldn't wipe out more than one rat easily.... so if you can't beat them, why not join em? Toss in the advantage it gives me in aggro matchups AND the fact that it'll help me with flooding, why not?
Golgari Charm - Want to just mess up your average aggro player? Have you noticed how many x/1 creatures they tend to run? This is the closest thing I have to a board wipe (man would Bile Blight or Drown in Sorrow be welcome about now). The added versatility against control (regen and enchantment removal) is just gravy.
Other relevant decisions:
I'm sure at least one of you out there is going to go "but you don't have Thoughtseize in there!" While you are completely correct, I originally had 2x in the SB, but I found that it would only stall things in most instances. If there's a problem card in their deck, they're running more than one... meaning that me making them discard it probably doesn't get me as far as I'd like. Combine that with the fact that, while life totals really don't worry me much, paying ANOTHER two life for one spell when I'm sitting on 12 shocks and UC already is a bit sketchy... I needn't kill myself for them, right?
Dark Betrayal, Pithing Needle, Mistcutter Hydra, Skylasher, and Sin Collector in the board - these are match-up specific and I feel they should serve me well, but if someone can think of a better piece to slide in here, I'm all ears... Pithing Needle is arguably one of the BEST SB cards available at the moment... being able to name Elspeth or Elixir of Immortality can actually single-handedly win against U/W control (or at least require them to use a Detention Sphere on that rather than a threat - for which I have answers).
Ready // Willing I'm sure someone will likely look at this one, scratch their head and go "why run this?" It's actually a solid card given my setup. I've NEVER had issues with the colors to cast it and, more to the point, it gives me a very powerful trick. In almost every scenario where I've played this, it's a blowout in my favor. Attack the opponent because they have fatal on the board if they can get through... they think it's their lucky day. But note that Ready not only makes your guys indestructible (relevant against control), but it UNTAPS them. So now those 3 attackers I had are indestructible blockers. If I have the six to fuse it, well, Vault of the Archangel was pretty good... now attach it to indestructibility while giving your guys vigilance on their attack... yeah... it's solid. And, in match-ups where it isn't, it's nice to have a card you KNOW to SB out.
So I feel like I've written a book here and I'm sure just about everyone won't read all of this, but I'm looking to see if anyone has any last minute suggestions. I'm not 100% set on this list, but am very close.
Ideas?
Deckbox Forum » Posts by TyWooOneTime