451

(6 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

For lack of a better way to explain it, you appear to be running a less optimal version of the mono-black devotion builds that have been doing quite well since PT Theros.  One obvious option would be to look up the decklists on magic.tcgplayer.com and just mirror those, or you can tinker with it and, I think, come up with a slightly different twist on the deck that will be even stronger.

So some specific card choices you've made that I would change:

Lifebane Zombie - He runs MB in the monoblack versions that are seeing play, but to be honest, I would have him in the SB.  The deck isn't designed to win via early aggression by any means so the 3 power, intimidate is actually not as relevant as you would think.  The ETB ability has some promise, but at the end of the day, they only affect 2 of the colors and it's not a guaran[mtg][/mtg]tee it manages to hit anything (you'll actually whiff quite a bit these days).

Necropolis Regent - This choice seems amusing enough as you could, in theory cheat it in via Whip of Erebos but unless the rest of your stuff is connecting, it's no big deal.  It also doesn't leave any residual impact unless everything else hits.  I personally ran 2x Abhorrent Overlord as my big bomb creature as you could either hard cast it with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and get a ton of tokens OR cheat it with Whip, get a 6/6 flying lifelink AND at least four harpy tokens that will stick around after he's gone.  Play him with a few other things in play and you will literally flood the skies with tokens, negating opposing Desecration Demons while giving yourself an army of flying lifelinkers.

Hero's Downfall - This is the bread and butter spell but I like running with 2x unless you're going against a bunch of PWs, at which point you would want 2x more in the SB.  But you need to fill out the deck with a LOT more removal - Doom Blade, Ultimate Price, Devour Flesh, and Pharika's Cure are definite MUSTS in some combination across the mainboard and sideboard.  Personally, I recommend 4x Devour Flesh in the mainboard as they give you the most options - you can actually target yourself, sack your Gray Merchant of Asphodel, gain four, and then reanimate him for another hit with the Whip - in addition to dealing with threats with hexproof or pro-black (Blood Baron of Vizkopa is a thing I hear).  Pharika's Cure helps against aggro and mono-blue, Doom Blade is just a nice tool against any non-black, and Ultimate Price does a good job in the mirror or against another devotion deck.

Rescue from the Underworld - I could see running 2x of this and using a Gray Merchant to go get another Gray Merchant could be fun, but in reality, I wouldn't run any of them in place of running at least 3x Whip of Erebos as it can reanimate multiple targets AND gives lifelink to the whole team.

Corrupt - I get the idea here, but it's really just too slow to rely on as a means of solid removal.  Again, maybe 2x could work, but that's probably all.

Strionic Resonator - I don't really see where this is going to do that much for you and a lot of the time could end up as a dead card.  I'd drop them as the mechanics at work are solid enough as it is.

Sanguine Bond - I had the same thought when I brewed my version, but at five you really want to be casting Gray Merchant, not an enchantment that won't do much for a while... I see how 4x can easily make a single Gray Merchant a lot bigger, so maybe 2x could work, but it'll probably not make as large of an impact as you might think.

You're spot on with the land, but I had 3x Nykthos, which I felt was enough to ensure you could do some ramping rather consistently, but don't end up with a ton of colorless mana or have trouble hitting your drops.

Cards you're missing:

Underworld Connections - Simply put, one of the biggest weapons mono-black has comes from the sheer card advantage you can generate both with Erebos and Underworld Connections.  Sure, it costs you a life to draw a card, but if you draw a Gray Merchant when you didn't have one, well, now you're draining for four and can draw another three cards before you would be back where you started.  This lets you rip through the deck at double the normal speed (or faster), ensuring consistency in your land drops and everything else.

Pack Rat - I liked this little fella for a few reasons.  Most people just like it for the potential to take over the game with the rats (definitely a real possibility), but I liked the ability to turn dead draws into meaningful plays.  Draw a 7th land, just dump it and make a rat token (which has a CMC of 2, including adding one to devotion no less).  Have Abhorrent Overlord in hand and a Whip in play?  Drop the Overlord during their end phase, enjoy the added rat token, then whip the Overlord, swing with a 6/6 flying, lifelink, haste, gain 6, it exiles at the end of turn, and oh yeah, enjoy those 6 harpy tokens you just created - all for four mana.  Really this little fella forces the opponent to have answers while also giving you blockers in a pinch.

Thoughtseize - I really wasn't sold on this card until I was able to use it and... yeah... it's that good.  Being able to just see their hand is one thing, but picking the best card and ditching it is an added plus.  If not in the mainboard, you need at least 2x in the SB (where I would also add 3x Duress).

Now, these suggestions, shy of Abhorrent Overlord, will bring you a lot closer to the same deck that EVERYONE is playing these days.  That's no fun, right?  So you can spruce it up a bit in a TON of ways.  For instance, perhaps your weakest matchups are against RDW and Esper Rich-kid... err... Superfriends.  So what can you do?  Well, cards like Profit // Loss in the SB will totally HOSE RDW as a LOT of their aggro guys only have one toughness.  They play any combination of Legion Loyalist, Foundry Street Denizen, Firedrinker Satyr, Firefist Striker, Goblin Shortcutter, or Arena Athlete?  You're almost guaranteed to at least two-for-one them if not more.  Esper giving you fits?  It'd be easy enough to run 4x Blood Crypt in the normal manabase to add in things like Dreadbore, Anger of the Gods (although you would want more than four red sources), or even one of the most overlooked but powerful cards in the current format, Slaughter Games.  Think about it, you can easily run one Slaughter Games in the MB and take a guess based on what colors they're playing... then you get to look at their hand AND THEIR ENTIRE DECK - likely hitting several cards.  If you ever needed some info for how to sideboard, there it is.  Nevermind the potential benefit of exiling their most powerful stuff.  If you prefer a different swing, run Godless Shrines and Temple of Silence to get access to Obzedat, Blood Baron, or even off the wall stuff like Merciless Eviction.  Or, run Watery Grave and Temple of Deceit to splash Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver and Cyclonic Rift.

The point I'm making is, take the main pieces of the current shell as there really is no reason to try to reinvent the wheel, especially if you're trying to make the same thing.  Then, make some slight deviations here and there that can let you totally dominate the mirror-match (as you WILL hit it running mono-black) and to help in your weak matchups.

I hope some of this helps.  You really do already have the majority of the money cards in the list, so it's not like you're that far off from a finished product that will be really nasty to deal with at FNM.  Good luck!

I'm not normally a fan of people who bump stuff... but I'll give this a try once... any takers out there?  Anyone want to part ways with Garruk?

Note that I am in Vancouver, Canada... so sadly this would require cross-border dealings, but people up here appear to be holding their Garruks like they're made of gold...

The title here is pretty self-explanatory, but I'll go into more detail.  I'm looking to pick up 2x Garruk, Caller of Beasts for a homebrewed Gruul devotion deck I'm building.
Notables in my tradelist include:

Domri Rade
Master of Waves
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Jace, Memory Adept
Fleecemane Lion
Lifebane Zombie
Thassa, God of the Sea
and a wealth of other goodies from the Innistrad block and M13...

I know everyone likes their Garruks... but let's have some fun and make some trades

Master of Waves is also available now...

TRZ wrote:

I built a very similar deck and I think its fairly viable, though perhaps not at a major tournament. Much of what TyWoo says is very true, though we disagree about somethings. One of the big advantages to a strategy like this is you only need 1-2 cards on the field and then you sit there pumping out lots of tokens and putting on aggro pressure. If they wipe the board its not fun but it only takes you 1-2 cards to get back into the swing of things.

I would also note that Judges Familiar is considerably different to stymied hopes since it cant hit creatures. I do like the familiar though.

decklist for comparison
http://deckbox.org/sets/492341

Good catch on the Familiar... I totally forgot about that restriction.

However, I still stand by the assertion that tokens alone will not win a lot of games in a competitive environment, not in a format where something as simple as Ratchet Bomb can wipe your board for all of one mana.  Things like Advent of the Wurm, Call of the Conclave, Pack Rat and other things of that nature are making noise, but not as the ONLY real weapon.

Now let's not confuse this with the token generators that can get out of hand, i.e., Assemble the Legion and Elspeth, Sun's Champion - but keep in mind that both of these cards are at the high end of the mana curve and without some means to ramp into them, you will often find yourself dead long before you start putting a dent into the opponent's side of the board.

I guess at the end of the day it will depend on how competitive your local FNM is to determine whether this could be a fun brew or whether you're going to get blown out.  If you typically look at several tier 1 decks, well, sorry to say, you're likely going to lose, probably quite frequently.  But, if you have the majestic unicorn of an FNM where people actually home-brew, well, then you might have a shot.

If you want to move forward with it, it would be best to decide between U/R and R/W (of which R/W is the better token option, although R/W/G gives you access to Selesnya's token generators).  Again, take a gander at the link I posted to the Naya control deck that dude managed to do quite well with (despite however it might've behaved for Frank).

Best luck!

So realistically, I can say this probably isn't the best strategy.  I don't want to rain on your parade, but realistically FNMs are going to be chock full of devotion decks which, let's be honest, will just smash you.

Your main win-con comes in the form of tokens, but what are you going to do in response to a board wipe?  Anger of the Gods, Mizzium Mortars, Cyclonic Rift, Supreme Verdict, even Profit // Loss or Illness in the Ranks (pending you have no pumps out) all just completely hose you.

To go card by card:

Akroan Crusader - He seemed good until it was revealed that heroic requires him to be targeted by you, not the opponent (kinda off on flavor if you ask me).  But realistically you're putting yourself behind on tempo with him most of the time and aren't getting value, especially with you only having six triggers.  This translates into you paying two mana to get a 1/1... not exactly cost efficient there.  Also creating the opportunity to get two-for-one'd.

Young Pyromancer can be effective if you have enough sorceries and instants to really get more out of him.  He's better than the crusader as you can be doing what you normally would and the token(s) out of him are an added bonus.

Dragon Egg really is just going to sit there for you and not do much.  Sure, it could block for a turn, but they'll just wait to remove the token after you've blocked... not exactly ideal for what you're trying to do.

Wall of Frost is good if you're looking to stall... but otherwise it doesn't really do much for you either.  The opponent can simply go around it.

Phantom General is a strictly worse Spear of Heliod.  Why limit your pumps to just tokens?  The Spear offers targeted removal in a pinch and otherwise is cheaper to play (although the WW in the cost might be a bit harder to get to).

Counters are a decent strategy now that Cavern of Souls has rotated, but the biggest problem I see here is that you have no means to deal with anything once it hits the field.  So let's say they fake you into using your counter on a creature, you're tapped out, and then they simply cast another creature.... then what?  As a side note, Stymied Hopes can be achieved for less with Judge's Familiar and that can at least attack.  Essence Backlash is also a lot pricer than you really want a counter to be... Essence Scatter gets the job done for half the cost.

Wake the Reflections really isn't worth playing.  Again, you're behind on tempo and you're populating a token that isn't all that threatening to begin with.

Blast of Genius isn't going to deal much damage a lot of the time.  You could just as easily run some other removal in that spot that's much cheaper for you to cast and more reliable/consistent.

The Ordeals could just as easily be dropped given that Akroan Crusader isn't very good.

Lastly, if you're making tokens... why in the world isn't Purphoros, God of the Forge in here?

To be honest, the Naya control build that Frank Lepore highlighted today is probably closer to the sort of token build you're looking for.  You can find his decklist here:  http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=11475

More generally speaking, I'm not entirely sold that token builds are going to manage to perform all that well unless you get a really ideal draw.  Then again, I'm certainly no prophet, so feel free to run with it - but I would give the deck Lepore ran a look and really think about the challenges he runs into.

I think you can still really improve on the SB.  Consider the major matchups these days and what you would need to better your chances in them.

You're already not half-bad suited to deal with pretty much anything aggro. You also have some moderate answers to mid-range in Banisher Priest, Archangel, and Elspeth.  So what about control?  Well, here you have something of a problem.  The most serious build going at the moment is Esper Control which can match your Elspeth with their own, Jace will make your tokens pretty worthless unless you ultimate Ms. E first, AND the pumping of Archangel actually plays into their hands... so what can you do?  What sorts of cards would work in the SB to benefit that matchup?

I would suggest that the SB should feature some sort of protection from board wipes, so I'm thinking Rootborn Defenses as a start.  Celestial Flare is good to deal with large threats, but I'd also suggest perhaps 2x Renounce the Guilds given that you are running ZERO multicolored cards (how fun would it be to deal with their Blood Baron for two mana.  Additionally, I would consider cards to actually increase the speed of your deck - go aggro on control.  So that would mean Dryad Militant, Soldier of the Pantheon, Imposing Sovereign and possibly even things like Heliod, God of the Sun - who could easily spit out new tokens in the event of a board wipe.

Again, these are changes you'll work your way up to, but many of those cards aren't hard to get your hands on (certainly easier than 2x Archangel and 4x Nykthos).  Sideboards should be built to deal with cards/decks you MIGHT encounter that you're vulnerable to.

Glad to hear the other suggestions have helped.

Mutavault is gone, but I'm still looking for 2x more... any takers?

The title here is pretty self-explanatory, but I'll go into more detail.  I'm looking to pick up 3x Garruk, Caller of Beasts for a homebrewed Gruul devotion deck I'm building.

Notables in my tradelist include:

Domri Rade
Mutavault
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Jace, Memory Adept
Fleecemane Lion
Thassa, God of the Sea (she's not listed in my TL, but I can go that route if someone wants her)
and a wealth of other goodies from the Innistrad block and M13...

I know everyone likes their Garruks... but let's have some fun and make some trades

The key to Brave the Elements is that it's instant speed and provides protection from the color of choice.  This means that it does triple duty for you, as it can provide protection in response to a targeted removal spell (causing it to fizzle), it can help you win defensive combat hands down as it can provide protection from the damage their creatures would deal, and it can often provide a completely free swing on the opponent, as protection from the chosen color would make your creatures unblockable... so yeah... it's worth it.

First off, I am assuming you are playing this at FNMs?  Or is this for casual play?

A few things are jumping out at me:

1) You have a LOT of potential life gain triggers, yet only two Archangel of Thune.  This essentially says, if you have two removal spells, you're hosed (outside of Elspeth).  You need to up the count to 4x in the hope that you'll always have one... otherwise, you have a lot of lifegain triggers and no real end-game.  That and having two more would increase the odds you can just cast a second one in response to them countering/Doom Blade-ing the first one.

2) I would swap Soulmender with Soldier of the Pantheon.  It's still a one-drop, but it has more power, pro-multicolor AND it might still gain you life.

3) You have 4x Syndic of Tithes in both the MB and SB... can't really do that... Nevermind the fact that you would probably be better suited getting your extort triggers from Blind Obedience...

4) Ethereal Armor will achieve what exactly for you?  You're just begging to get two-for-one'd there.

5) I'd suggest some Precinct Captains given the mono-colored nature of the deck... they can be quite the annoying threat all on their own.

6) Heliod, God of the Sun and Spear of Heliod could do well here, offering both a big, cheap beater given that you're likely going to hit 5 devotion, as many tokens as you can pay for, and a possible source of removal if push comes to shove.

7) No Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx?  You're running mono-white and it offers you a way to ramp... seems silly not to include it to me.

8) If you're looking to break the bank, I think an argument could be made for Boros Reckoner being in here too

9) Brave the Elements is your best friend here... no really... they should be AT LEAST in the SB.  You might look into Gods Willing too.

Anywhom, those are just what popped into my head... give us more info on what decks/what cards you're struggling against and we can go from there...

463

(36 replies, posted in Announcements)

Just for the sake of keeping things clear, let's us all please refrain from all telling our own personal horror stories about the user(s) in question.  If you have a trade pending, please simply say so and notify Sebi/Catinca, as I would imagine they will be in touch regarding how those issues are to be handled. 

My assumption is that if you're waiting for him to send cards, you should still receive them as normal.  In the event you never receive them, there should be some sort of mail fraud (or equivalent) recourse to follow through with.  As such, just give it time and we'll get everything sorted out soon. 

Again, this is not to stymie the discussion of how the site should handle inappropriate users; rather, it's pretty clear the recently banned parties were for a reason and we needn't waste a ton of space rehashing everything that went awry.

So having my GF run Selesnya Aggro for the time being, I can say there is a lot of promise there.  The ability to consistently drop 3/3's is pretty big and keeps the pressure on even the most polished tier 1 decks.  Here's a link to Craig Wescoe's version that he said he's planning on running these days:  http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=11460

That being said, I have a slightly different take on the deck here:  http://deckbox.org/sets/428181

My thoughts on the deck:

- As you currently have it constructed, you have essentially ZERO ways to remove opposing threats outside of Selesnya Charm (which is among the major reasons to include it over Giant Growth - the other being that little word "trample" that comes with its pump)

- Precinct Captain is a pretty solid piece who can also help you recover post-verdict on his own given the tokens he creates

- Advent of the Wurm is an absolute must have 4x.  I cannot underscore this enough... those tokens can be cast post-verdict in their end phase, leaving the board empty with a 5/5 just going to town.  This provides you with threats that are outside of pretty much all of burn range and requires more unconditional removal.

- Banisher Priest is a tempo machine.  Sure he gets killed quickly and often, but being able to remove something from play even temporarily can be big.  Nevermind that he deals with a LOT of opposing threats that otherwise would cause problems all day

- You really don't need Druid's Deliverance at all in an aggro build... that's just completely counter to the plan

- Rootborn Defenses could realistically be sideboarded until you run into a deck with board-wipes.  If you're looking for more targeted protection than it or Brave, you could easily run Gods Willing which can remove any enchantments (see Claustrophobia), protect from targeted removal, AND helps you with scrying

- Ajani, Caller of the Pride is an absolute all-star in this deck.  I've lost to his flying, double-strike ability so many times it's not even funny... even at 10 life, a 5/5 wurm that suddenly has flying and double-strike simply ends the game

- Lastly, and this is a point of personal preference, but I don't really feel like Voice is an aggro card... Sure, it restricts the opposing player in some ways and has resilience to removal, but realistically, the advantage of Selesnya is to be playing 3/3s for two, rather than 2/2s for two.  It's a good card, and definitely one I would keep in the SB (if I still had any), but I don't know that I'd MB it, as in my experience, it underperforms in a lot of scenarios for an aggro deck.  Personally, you can fill those slots with some pump/anthems - namely Spear of Heliod and/or Path of Bravery - being able to bump those centaurs and lions up to 4/4s can easily make the difference in the game

Anywhom, it's not a crazy idea to think Selesnya aggro is going to work.  In reality, the power of the deck is actually quite solid and consistent.  Frank Lepore also did some videos on a build and the only deck he was struggling with was Mono-Blue Devotion as he didn't have any Banisher Priests or Last Breaths to deal with Master of Waves but otherwise, he was steamrolling the competition.

I would speak to your trading partner to try and figure out a solution.  As per the deckbox rules, when you agree to a trade by mail, it is each trader's responsibility that their cards make it to their trading partner (regardless of whether the USPS screws up) - hence the reason for the suggestion that tracking be used.

In either event, you and your trading partner need to work something out.  I'd also provide pictures of the envelope the way it arrived if possible.

FancyDoveFur wrote:

http://deckbox.org/sets/515898
is what I wanted to check is Standard, and I am pretty sure it is, but it says
This is a complete  Extended deck.

Mind Control is throwing you off from being Standard legal in this build...

467

(4 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

If anything, as DarrenM said, they've made it REALLY easy to plan for the meta you're going against.  With practically everyone clinging to three or four decks, you can make a really tight deck and your SB will be just bonkers.

For Mono-Blue Devotion, it's a friggin glass cannon.  If you can deal with two cards (Master of Waves and Thassa, God of the Sea), the deck is incredibly weak.  Last I checked, Slaughter Games is still a card... that and ANY color other than red has an easy time dealing with Master.  Even red will happily run in this matchup as it's quite easy to keep their devotion count down AND Anger of the Gods can easily deal with both the elemental tokens AND any other devotion generating creatures.

For Mono-Black Devotion, it's a bit more resilient deck than the Mono-Blue version, but even it is still really reliant on a few specific cards.  The biggest threats come from Desecration Demon (admittedly not the easiest threat to deal with on its own) and Gray Merchant of Asphodel (although it would seem newer iterations are coming out focusing more on Pack Rat).  Yet, again there are a wealth of ways to beat this.  Craig Wescoe actually just did an article yesterday pointing out how aggro decks are well suited to beat Mono-Black (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=11460), as it is quite slow to setup much of the time and will end up actually hurting itself quite a bit - making the aggro job easier than it might normally be.  Having played a variant of mono-black before it was such a thing, I can say that without access to Underworld Connections or Erebos, God of the Dead to give you added card draw, it's really not all that powerful.  So essentially, if you can outrun it, you win.  Alternately, if you can deny them life gain (see Skullcrack), you win.  Lastly, if you can deny them card advantage (see Naturalize, Destructive Revelry, Sundering Growth, Fade into Antiquity, Detention Sphere), you have a good chance of winning too.

For the Green Devotion (the Gruul Midrange that was in the PT Top 8), if you run Pithing Needle in the SB or Slaughter Games, name Garruk, Caller of Beasts - congrats... it's hosed.

So to that end, none of the devotion decks are all that "unbeatable."  Keep in mind that they're good decks, definitely tier 1, hence why everyone is flocking to them.  BUT, they've made your job easy in some respects as you know what you're going to run into round-after-round.  Think of this as the whole Delver period before the other sets hit.  I would put money down that Born of the Gods will have answers to devotion centric decks.  So to that end, be patient.  Standard is still very much sorting itself out as Theros has only been out what, a month?  Junk Rites did the exact same thing and everyone figured out solutions to it quickly enough...  So consider this a challenge to refine your deck brewing skills... have some fun with it

I'll move this discussion to the proper location.

469

(4 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

I'll second gumgodMTG on the Hedron Crab as it really doesn't fit what you're doing.

That being said, you really need to guarantee that you're hitting land drops (or more than one) per turn.  Again, gumgodMTG is right on the mark here with Asusa and Oracle of Mul Daya, but you can also abuse things like Khalni Heart Expedition, Rampant Growth, Farseek (to a lesser degree), Cultivate, Nature's Lore, Exploration, Explore, Rites of Flourishing and the list goes on.

Another thing to consider is taking advantage of the flicker effects that were in AVR to really abuse landfall.  Specifically, you can combo Archaeomancer/Mnemonic Wall with Ghostly Flicker to ensure that you will hit an extra landfall trigger per turn - as you flicker the creature and one of the lands you used to cast it... as the spell must resolve first for the creatures to flicker, you get the land back untapped (and triggering landfall) AND the creature's ETB ability lets you snag Ghostly Flicker right back out of the yard.

Yet, outside of a few moderate sized threats, I'm not sure this deck gets the job done as there really isn't much benefit from having like 20 lands at your disposal.  You would be best suited to toss in at least one more Rampaging Baloths, top out Baloth Woodcrasher as a 4x, and then perhaps 2x (or potentially more) of some other huge casting cost threat - I'm thinking Primordial Hydra that will reward you for having 7+ lands on the field.

What to drop to put these cards in, well, that's not all that hard, I'd knock Roil Elemental down to 2x as he can be nasty, but with only 2 toughness, is rather fragile (and creates opportunities for you to get blown out in combat).  Hedron Crab, as has already been noted, doesn't really fit here.  To be honest, I'm not sure about Tideforce Elemental over just having 4x Grazing Gladehart.  Additionally, Groundswell is kinda just a bit too cute for your purposes (and at only 2x, can't be considered a reliable trick).  Harrow strikes me as a fair spot to replace with Cultivate (why sack a land when you can grab one and guarantee you hit the next land drop?).  Additionally, Lignify just strikes me as completely out of place.

Some other cards you might consider:

- Some sort of removal... I know it's not very prevalent in these colors, but Curse of the Swine could actually fit your purposes here

- Things like Boundless Realms, Primeval Bounty, and Howl of the Night Pack could easily do some work here.  As could something as simple as Anthousa, Setessan Hero could be gross with a few heroic triggers

- Other big threats that will just stomp face, think ANY of the Eldrazi.  Toss an Eye of Ugin into the deck and you can grab it with Primeval Titan.

- In actuality, there was a mono-green landfall themed deck in Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014, which you can view the decklist here: http://www.wizards.com/magic/digital/du … s#girundar

Anywhom, I hope some of that helps...

470

(4 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Sorry, it's really more difficult to offer as much insight into casual playgroups as opposed to the more standardized competitive scene.

Perhaps some added details about your opponents, the types of decks they typically play, the budget you're willing to spend to complete the deck (or to at least consider suggestions), etc.

I'll give it a more in-depth look tomorrow with the hope that I can offer some suggestions.

471

(3 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

DarrenM wrote:

Well, the reason that i'm leaning towards playing it is that in testing, It's won pretty much every match up. Due to some limits on cards on hand, I'm not using thoughtseize, erebos, the 4th lifebane, or any nightveil specters. Instead, I put in 4 copies of Rakdos Shredfreak to provide some more defence against the early 1 drop decks, 2 Blood scriveners to help out when I'm dropping my hand to rats, and a larger removal package than most decks of this type. I'm trying out disciple of phenax SB to act as a late game thoughtseize, and provide 2 more devotion, and that seems to be doing very well against control decks. I may try out the overlord, but I don't really think that its necessary because I've already Gary'd for 12 the turn before I can play it.

Thanks for the advice though, it's really appreciated. I'll definitely be changing up my list a lot with this new info.

The point behind Overlord is that you drop it via Pack Rat and then reanimate it with Whip, swing for 6 in the air, gain 6 life, and then it exiles, leaving you with 6 harpies all for four mana.  Trust me when I say that it simply wins games... it can also affect the mirror, as you can tap down their Desecration Demons with the harpies and swing in for fatal flying.

I actually didn't even run Lifebane Zombie, as it's really not that big of a deal.  You have removal to deal with Green/White and while those devotion are useful, you get it from everywhere else too...

Again, it's a good matchup in the current meta - hence why it's winning things outright all over the place.  But in the same respect, that'd mean four people at your FNM will be running essentially the same deck... sounds pretty dull to me.

472

(3 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

So Mono-Black Devotion is far more resilient than Mono-Blue Devotion, but there are still numerous ways to beat it (again, I piloted a version at Gameday). 

First off, very aggressive decks are actually quite well suited against it.  Many of its avenues of play require the payment of some amount of life (think Thoughtseize, Underworld Connections, Erebos, God of the Dead) making the job easier for a deck that is fast enough to punish them for reducing their life total.  To this end, red deck wins, Selesnya/Boros/mono-white aggro are all actually not half bad.  Sure, they have spot removal, but no board wipes, so their ability to deal with 3-4 creatures is considerably reduced.

Second, the deck can beat control, but it has some trouble.  Specifically, if you can manage to get Elspeth, Sun's Champion into play and keep her there, she will simply beat the deck.  With no way to deal with repeat instances of the tokens, it has a hard time.  But more generally, it's a pretty predictable deck, so it should be relatively easy to pick out what to counter/remove and what not to.  Mind you, the threats are pretty diverse, so even an unattended Pack Rat can take over the game.

Third, remember that black has ZERO enchantment or artifact hate, so to that end, Assemble the Legion or even Detention Sphere will really screw them up.

Fourth, you REALLY need to disrupt their card advantage.  This means dealing with Underworld Connections and to a lesser degree, Erebos.  If they cannot draw additional cards, well, odds are you can beat them when they run out of removal or otherwise stop drawing gas.

The one thing I can say is that if you plan to just join them, I would suggest adding some added flavor to the build and diverging a bit to catch them off guard.  For instance, I personally enjoyed running a list with 4x Pack Rat, 3x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, 3x Whip of Erebos, and 2x Abhorrent Overlord - the last one of which could easily win mirror games for you.

Anywhom, it's a good deck, easily more flexible and capable than Mono-Blue Devotion, but by no means unbeatable.

473

(36 replies, posted in Announcements)

Jesse_Custer wrote:

I think Sebi and the team are on the right track, I will go to the BTR's just to get a feel for how certain traders act and its certainly helped me avoid some really tricky trades, or trades with people who are looking to shark. That aside highly aggressive traders, or traders who try to enforce the rules through intimidation really had me looking for another site to trade on, I'm not as active as others on here, but traders like that will give a site a bad name and will draw out the kind of community you don't want to have. While Sebi said they don't want to restrict expression, there is a difference between expression and being a trade shark. Anyone can trade and not be an asshat.

At any rate, I think they made the right call, and looking more carefully into how trades are conducted is certainly a step in the right place.

Keep in mind that this was a result of more than just being uncivil during trades.  The user(s) in question were also being disruptive and were essentially harassing other users in the forums.  It's a simple problem to avoid.  Simply put, if you're not directly involved in a posting (are mentioned, are interested in the trade/buying opportunity, etc.), leave it be.

474

(36 replies, posted in Announcements)

I guess some people don't realize that this being a free service means it is a privilege and one to be respected.  As always, behind you 100% Sebi.

That's because Selesnya is ill prepared to deal with the threats it presents care of green's overwhelming lack of removal.  That being said, the Mono-Blue Devotion deck is a glass cannon.  If you can take out Master of Waves and Thassa (or at least keep her from being a creature), then it's a breeze.  But just off the top of my head, in G/W you have access to Selesnya Charm for Thassa, Fade into Antiquity/Sundering Growth for Bident of Thassa, and both Gideon, Champion of Justice and Banisher Priest for Master of Waves.  In addition you could easily have some fight spells in the SB or even just where something as simple as Unflinching Courage will make the race unwinnable for them (care of lifelink).

To be honest, I would worry more about how to counter Mono-Black Devotion, as it poses some REAL threats with its versatility (I can say that for a fact from taking a version and doing very well at Theros Gameday - including beating Mono-Blue Devotion).  But even then, a fast enough start should propel you to victory.