626

(12 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

ahh, i see. 

Well, i'll say this then.  Sphinx's rev is key to the control matchup right now.  IMO, the 2 cards you need the most are supreme verdict and sphinx's rev.   You'll be glad every time you cast sphinx, i guarantee it. It's not as expensive as you think because the value it provides.

in control vs aggro you usually want to see these plays.  Auger, verdict, rev, then just draw to win.

A win condition in a control deck can be almost anything.  Once you get the game down it almost doesn't matter how you win.  Ætherling is extremely popular because it's so versatile.

627

(12 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

There's tons of stuff in esper that are going to remain in standard for a long time.  In the last Pro event esper was heavily featured.

Out of the list I linked all the cards below stay in standard after rotation.  Go after those first and fill in the rest.  A lot of them are uncommons which aren't too difficult to get.  If you have to pass on the rares you can fill the slots in with cards from the current block.

I think this particular deck lacks a consistent draw engine, I like think twice better than alchemy unless you're doing rune chanters pike or solar flare.

Aetherling
Jace, Architect of Thought
Godless Shrine
Hallowed Fountain
Watery Grave
Azorius Charm
Far//Away
Sphinx's Revelation
Warped Physique
Supreme Verdict
Rest in Peace
Devour Flesh

Also, control isn't looking to blow out your opponent with big plays.  A friend of mine is a long time control player and he says "The best play you can make in a control deck is not making one."  By that he usually means you need to know what options your deck has for what they're doing and then respond accordingly, a lot of times the right answer to what an opponent does in a control match-up is just holding plays and drawing cards to open up more options. Surprise them when they try to do something against you.

628

(1 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Take a look at this deck I've been playing recently.

http://deckbox.org/sets/378031

It's a midrange deck with heavy removal and some pretty resilient plays I've been 2nd and 6th at FNM with this deck at a fairly competitive store.  We usually see 30ish players.  You have some cards that would fit into a deck like this. 

I had aurelia in it, but felt like I wanted more angels of serenity.  Aurelia works fine though. The decks basically works by leaning on removal to keep the board manageable, sorin + lingering souls are a win condition in themselves+ vault of the archangel = 8 life a turn.  You can also use faithless looting to sculpt your hand to the situation and get value out of pitching cards like lingering souls, unburial rites.

You can work towards something like this you have Olivia and cards like assemble the legion which work in this deck, or you can start over and head towards the more aggro version of boros that sees tournament play.  There are several threads here on deck box where versions of the aggro deck have been talked about.

629

(12 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

4 Godless Shrine
4 Orzhov Guildgate
9 Plains
9 Swamp

2 Beckon Apparition
4 Cremate
2 Wear // Tear
2 Blind Obedience
2 Orzhov Charm
2 Gift of Orzhova
2 Profit // Loss
2 Obzedat's Aid

2 Dutiful Thrull
4 Thrull Parasite
4 Basilica Screecher
4 Tithe Drinker
2 Vizkopa Guildmage
4 Sin Collector
2 Crypt Ghast
2 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council

I consider FNM at least mildly competitive and sometimes very competitive depending on your area.

First off 70 cards is too many we need to get you down to 60+15 side board.

You can immediately cut these.
2 Beckon Apparition
4 Cremate
2 Wear // Tear
2 Gift of Orzhova

A BW "control" deck can be possible. However, you've got some pretty decent blue cards, so Esper midrange/control is actually probably where you want to go.  there are several options here.

You can do the solar flare reanimator, esper control, esper midrange.  I think you'd want to be more midrange though.  Removal with some sweepers. Take a look at the decklist below.  It's something you should look at.

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdat … ckID=56470

I realize the lands are expensive and sometimes hard to get, but I think you'd be happier with the results. 

Extort hasn't been a mainstream mechanic so far, however, if you really want to stick with the theme of the deck.  Then I think a B/W midrange is more where you want to be. It's important to remember that extort is a long plan, you're not going to come out of the gate swinging like a red deck.  You want consistent plays that make value for you on the baord.

Go down to 20 or less creatures including bombs and a few extort creatures.  Things like knight of obligation crypt ghast would be good.  Basilica guards have a healthy body and can block well.  Obviously your bombs like blood baron and obzedat are solid.  An angel of serenity would fit in here as well.   The tougher creatures with larger bodies would also allow you to play mutilate more consistently.

IMO the smaller creatures are either going to get removed or you'll be forced to block with them and they don't trade well.  Sin collector might be the exception here. He provides knowledge and could even get some good value.

As far as spells go, blind obedience is good has the extort mechanic as well as slowing down aggressive decks.  You need stronger removal, and it needs to be more direct.  Murder, orzhov charm, dead weight, tragic slip, victim of night.  heavy black, but direct removal is where it's at.  Try to stay away from conditional removal like smite or executioners swing. You also need a sweeper of some sort.  Look at merciless eviction and Mutilate.  Mutilate might kill your own creatures, but it's better than losing to a more aggressive deck. Also, casting a spell puts the extort trigger on the stack so, even if you wipe your board, you can still extort with them first.

Lingering souls is a fantastic midrange card and the ability to cast it twice means you can extort off it more than once.  Consistent, flying, blockers, evasive.  I play them with sorin in a RBW midrange and they're like peas and carrots.  This card gets my vote for top 10 in standard atm.

630

(12 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

What's your plans with the deck?  Casual?  FNM? PTQs?

Creature (26)

    2x Ash Zealot
    2x Aurelia, the Warleader
    1x Boros Reckoner
    3x Firemane Avenger
    3x Frontline Medic
    3x Legion Loyalist
    3x Lightning Mauler
    3x Odric, Master Tactician
    2x Skyknight Legionnaire
    2x War Falcon
    2x Wojek Halberdiers

Land (23)

    2x Boros Guildgate
    10x Mountain
    10x Plains
    1x Sacred Foundry

Enchantment (7)

    2x Hold the Gates
    2x Legion's Initiative
    3x Oblivion Ring

Instant (4)

    4x Boros Charm

Sideboard (15)

    1x Ash Zealot
    2x Divine Reckoning
    1x Elixir of Immortality
    1x Oblivion Ring
    2x Riot Control
    4x Skullcrack
    2x Wear / Tear
    2x Witchbane Orb

Maybeboard (10)

    3x Boros Reckoner
    4x Clifftop Retreat
    3x Sacred Foundry


Some things right of the top here.  You do need to get the lands and other reckoners for sure.  That will increase your consistency and board presence. Alternately, you could just run RDW until you get the lands and such, and cut white all together. I'll make a bunch of general comments and you can see what works in your area.

Notes on cards.

Aurelia - she's too expensive at 6 for an aggro deck like this.  A good 5 drop like thundermaw hellkite should be the most expensive card, but even that's pushing it. 
War Falcon - inconsistent, if they kill your soldier they just removed two creatures instead of one.
Hold the gates - you don't want to be running gates anyway.
Firemane is good - You'd have to really play her with an unbounded lightning mauler to get the full effect. I think hellrider is better, but keep these handy they could be good in your area.

Cards to consider adding maindeck

Burn - searing spear is really good here the 3 damage kills a lot of stuff on the board.
Burning Tree Emmissary, she's double red in the deck and you can chain cast a lightning mauler off her
1 drops - boros elite, and rakdos cackler are good, stromkirk noble is a great red one drop too.
Hellriders - the premier aggro 4 drop.  3/3 haste with built in burn.  If you have at least a couple guys on board he can easily finish a game.
Thundermaws - not 100% necessary, but a big heavy hitting creature to finish the game.
Silver blade paladin - another possible 3 drop with or instead of reckoners... double strike is super good here. 
Pyre heart wolf - undying and makes blocking difficult

Sidebaord

Ashzealot?  Why in the side, she's good enough to be maindeck.  She can even been maindeck after you make changes, she just doesn't combo off burning tree emmissary very well.
Volcanic strength x4 - must be in your side, comes in against anyone running mountains
Skull cracks - great choice, lifegain can stop your deck cold.

Possible side board cards
o-ring x 2, you shouldn't need many of these.
Rest in peace - for reanimator
Zealous Conscripts - kind of like thundermaw, but steals their dudes
These are both okay -  2x Wear / Tear,    2x Witchbane Orb

Aggro decks are like Pyramids with the base being one drops and the top being a few high cost cards.  Below is a typical layout of some aggro decks. Yours can be different.  if you want more 2 drops or 1 drops you can cut the top level.  You never want to cut the bottom level in an aggro deck.

You usually want about 30 creatures and 22 lands giving you 8 spells to cast. 

55
4444
333333
22222222
1111111111

Cards to consider removing when you get others.

Gates
Halberdiers
Odric, Master Tactician
Legions initiative is good in these colors , but you really want to make a turn 2 creature drop.  It could be a good, play with it and see how you feel about it.

I'm well versed in most standard archetypes including bant hex proof.  To get to there, from you're at requires a huge change.  It's not even close to the same deck. That's why it doesn't make sense to me. Bant hexproof is a very non interactive deck.  I don't see how people have fun playing it, unless you're goal in life is to piss people off. tongue

Aggro and counter magic is like oil and water... the two do not mix.  I wouldn't even consider this a possibility, unless you want to run a completely different deck.

You need to accept the fact that as an aggro deck you're potentially week to some kinds of removal.  There's not a lot you can do to be honest.  Sigarda is the best you can do against edict effects, but she's pricey at 5 when as an aggro deck you ideally want to finish the game around that time.   A Jund midrange deck is going to wreck your face even if you went with the completely Naya Blitz package.  It just runs so much removal you wouldn't keep anything on the board.

Trample is great, but you can get trample from better sources than unflinching courage.  You're never going to surprise anyone with it like you can a ghor-clan or  selysnya charm.

2.  Blind Obedience slows down Haste creatures - Boros Blitz, Naya Blitz.  I have been beating those decks with speed.  Also if I don't have trample it makes them block and those decks don't like to block.  However swinging 7/5 doublestrike means they have to chump block or take 14.  Then they don't get battallion and I am full of glee.  Then I use (gasp) an enchantment to gain Trample.
3.  I don't use Extort.

To me this says, you're beating aggro decks.  Blind obedience seems like a "win more" solution against the aggro mirror and could be substituted for anything else.  It they're blocking they're losing anyway, they just don't know it yet. tongue

An aggro deck mirror match should be like dueling banjos... you turn your guys side ways, then you're opponent try's to turn more guys sideways.  The first person to start blocking loses 99% of the time.

You might need the lifelink in your area. However,   Id say, try playing without it for a bit and see if you really really need it if you go more aggressive.  If you include experiment one and boros elite, I bet you start finishing games before you need the lifelink.

As for not winning by turn 6, well there are times when if you draw that one card you can win. But in general in an aggro deck like the one you're playing if you haven't won by turn 6-7-8, then you're probably not going too, you just may not know it yet. To clarify, by "winning' i don't mean deal lethal damage.  You can win a game by putting your opponent in an unwinnable scenario. You're mileage may vary.

Why, in all the worlds of magic would you go blue in this deck?  The aggro human archetype is very strong and the red synergy is practically built in for you.  The suggestion of blue... I just... I don't... My head hurts now tongue

I still strongly suggest adding in red.  It gives you access to boros charm, searing spear as well as the burning tree synergy, with lightning mauler, ghor clan rampager... oh the glorious ghor-clan and a host of sideboard options - skullcrack, zealous conscripts, volcanic str. 

If your hurting against control, cavern of souls helps there as well as being a huge mana fixer.  Also, IDK based on your statement if you think protection stops devour flesh?  Because it doesn't, I just want to make sure that's clear.  It also doesn't stop supreme verdicts or other sweepers that aren't damage related. Only indestructible keywords stops most removal.  Obviously doesn't stop edict, or -1/-1 debuffs.

With blind obedience in the side board that tells me you're still trying to lean midrange and you're worrying about the middle of the game.  You need to commit more to the early game.  The lifegain is for a  more midrange plan.  Yeah it's great when it works, but you want to be done with the game before that becomes relevant.  Also, you can't double bond a creature so you can't silver blade + nearheath which is what you'd want to do in this deck to be effective. Rancor is good because it's cheap and resilient, but everything else presents a heavy investment in resources on your part and doesn't gain you a lot of board position. 

consider this.

Bonds of Faith - it can double as removal and a buff, great side option.
Nevermore - against a control matchup you can name the card that gives you the most trouble.  Can also be used in matches like reanimator.
Cut all the Unflinching courage. - The reason why unflinching courage is good in hexproof is because you can't get 2 for oned as easily. You're going to play a 2 drop then get that guy nuked after you tap the 3 mana for unflinching courage.  Then you don't' get to play anything that turn putting you at a serious disadvantage.
Gavony - good but slow, again, a mid range card doesn't really belong in the aggro deck. You shouldn't ever have enough mana open to use it, and if you get passed turn 6 and you aren't really close to winning, the game is not in your favor.

634

(11 replies, posted in Trading Post)

If you want to sell in bulk I don't think most people will drop 2k on the cards like that.  You'd have to sell to a store or a 3rd party card dealer like SCG.


Selling individually is probably the way to go.

Alternately you could try Craigslist.  Just be careful of scams, of course.

635

(2 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Agreewith Ty 100%

Even then though there are changes you might consider.  I think I like boros Elite instead of the cackler, it can still pump champ and be the 3/3 on turn 3 you need to put the hurt on.   

Reckoner is a solid card, but have you considered frontline medic?  He's the 3/3 for 3 and easier to cast.  He also pumps parish and provides some solid abilities.

That all said, really adding green is the way to go, it gives you another play off burning tree in the form of mayor, which is pretty brutal play in that deck. It does make it a lot more $$ expensive deck though the lands are very necessary for the deck to be consistent and you really really want cavern of souls if you can get them.

I'm curious how Faiths' Shield works for you.  I see it can stop targeted removal, but it's not going to stop sweepers.  I think I'd either remove it or replace it with something more universally useful. Main decking a couple O-rings would mean you'd have a good first match against any plains walkers.

I'm still not 100% sure where you're trying to go. You really need to decide what kind of deck you want to play.  Aggro or Midrange.

Aggro runs the attacking one drops and not many mana dorks.  Exp 1, Champion, thalia, Burning Tree Emmissary, Mayor.

Midrange runs the mana dorks and the beefier/more reslilent drops.  Arbor elves, pilgrims, lingering souls, plains walkers. 

You're on the human plan, but missing one of the most explosive human plays out there. Burning tree Emissary.  IMO, to be 100% honest, you'd gain a lot more by adding red and just going Naya Aggro. You're just about a 2/3rds of the way there as it is.

Smiter is a good card, but he doesn't seem to fit in there.  He's really supposed to be a turn 2 card, in decks that run pilgrim and arbor elf.   If you're not going to commit to the mana dorks then he can probably go.

Forgot to mention Lingering souls, card has great value, especially with a card like vault of the archangel.  Also being able to cast it twice gives you more extort opportunities.

gabriel_404 wrote:

Crypt Ghast makes each swamp give 2 Black mana instead of one... that would be a great addition for you because you have a lot of cards that are expensive mana-wise and you have a lot of basic swamps.  I would add him.

Also I saw you have two Pontiffs of Blight.  That guy is a great blocker and gives extort to EVERY guy you have.  Combo that with all the mana from Crypt Ghast and you will hurt the opponent bad.  The downside is he is also 6 mana, which is a lot.  The best two cards in that guild (Obzedat and Blood Baron) both cost 5....

you currently have 7 cards at 5+ mana, no 1-drop creatures, 12 total 2-drops and 14 3-drops.  I would try to smooth that out by replacing some 2 and 3 drops with 1 or 4 mana cards.  Especially since you'll probably be playing against Boros and Gruul decks that are very fast, you might not ever have time to play those high-cost cards if you have a handful of them and no cheap creatures or kills.  The cards that stand out to me as least efficient in there are Assassin's Strike, Treasury Thrull and Vizkopa Confessor.  If they're working for you then by all means keep them, but that was my experience.  Teysa is expensive but so awesome.......

Last, when you tweaked the cards you changed the mix of Black and White mana costs... you are 60.6% black and 39.4% white, so I would take out 1-2 Plains and add the same # of Swamps.  24 total lands is good for Orzhov midrange.

As always FNMs are all different, but I think there are some general remarks to be made about your deck.

Adding one drops just for the sake of having them for the mana curve isn't going to help.  This really isn't an aggro deck, and won't beat a real aggro deck.  The WB creatures you're running don't have the speed and Power to do the same damage the other aggro decks can. So this deck probably needs to be played as more of a midrange deck.  I'd suggest adding in some more removal.  Merciless eviction, despite being expensive, can help against some decks since it exiles creatures. You're looking to extort them out in this budget version of orzhov so, you want to control the board and game as much as possible.  You're not going to be killing anyone in less than 10 turns most likely.

Creatures with 2/2 or less are going to get you very little advantage on the board, if any, as far as blocking or attacking, I'd actually remove all the cheaper creatures. Except high priest he can be effective removal. Crypt ghast is good if you're on the extort plan, though subject to removal, which can be a problem after a 4 mana investment. Basilica guards can block a lot of aggro, but won't kill that many with only one power. If you could get a vault of the archangel or two it might make those lower power creatures trade a little better.  Even pontiff would be able to kill then.

Cards to consider removing.
Assassin strike - too expensive for removal, and it's a sorcery.
Shadow slice - you probably wont' be killing people very often by attacking.  You'll be on the defensive a lot.
Sinister Possession - cheap, but not real removal, people will probably just attack you anyway.
Executioners swing - you want to remove them before they can deal damage hopefully
one thousand lashes - it's good-ish removal with a decent 2ndary ability, but it's expensive at 4.
Conffessor - yeah he's extort, but you don't need to be paying life for that, there's better cards that do that.
Tithe  Drinker - extort and liflink is okay, but she won't trade well. overall just to weak for constructed.
Basillica Screacher - same as tithe drinker

Cards to consider adding.
Devour Flesh - cheap easy to cast removal.  You shouldn't be worried if your opponents gain a little life you'll be stealing it back.
Tragic Slip - cheap and has great potential to be substantial removal.  Great against nayablitz
Orhov Charm - direct removal for anything. 
Oblivian ring - really better than one thousand lashes as it completely removest hem from the board.
Desecration demon - he helps control the board, he doesn't cost a lot of $$ and he's a real threat.
Debt to the Deathless - great with crypt ghast, i'd only run one maybe 2, but could finish a game that your creatures can't
Dead Weight - similar to tragic slip, but can be used on larger creatures to make them more manageable.


Gift of orzhov is a really good enchant, but it does create the opportunity for you to be 2 for 1'd with removal.  Though it is a good card for budget builds.  King Pen's Pet is okay, for 2/2, extort flying *shrug* You're options are limited for  budget creatures on color.  he's pretty solid considering.

You'll notice the only rare I mentioned was desecration demon that I didn't see in your inventory. Obviously if you had the $$ there are much better BW builds.  Black white zombies is a formidable WB deck, and adding green, red or blue would open up a lot more options, but you need the lands, and those do cost a lot comparatively. On theside you'll want cards like durres, sever the blood line if possible, sin collector helps against control and reanimiator.

639

(1 replies, posted in General Discussion)

It's a fair deal but WG isn't the most sought after shock land.  Keep in mind that SCG over prices their cards a little compared to fair market value.

640

(8 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Well with the current legendary rule if you copy the land you destroy both of them.

After M14 is released you can choose which one to sac so it'll work then.

641

(8 replies, posted in General Discussion)

That doesn't work.  Once you copy another land it loses all abilities of the first land you copied and gains the new ones. 

You can't make it a kessig wolfrun + nephalia drownyard + maze end.

706.2. When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object’s characteristics and, for an object on the stack, choices made when casting or activating it (mode, targets, the value of X, whether it was kicked, how it will affect multiple targets, and so on). The “copiable values” are the values derived from the text printed on the object (that text being name, mana cost, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, expansion symbol, rules text, power, toughness, and/or loyalty), as modified by other copy effects, by “as . . . enters the battlefield” and “as . . . is turned face up” abilities that set characteristics, and by abilities that caused the object to be face down. Other effects (including type-changing and text-changing effects), status, and counters are not copied.

642

(3 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Echo the mana, you probably want 24 at least in a deck with so many high costed creatures.

Detain is a good ability, but remember it only stalls out their board and doesn't remove anything from it.  Detain has a cost though, a lot of the creatures that possess it cost more than the average creature for the same P/T and so, you're board will be a bit weaker most of the time. There will probably be a time in your matches when you're out of detain cards and they've managed to cast quite a few creatures. 

To counters this I think you're on the right track with the evasive creatures.  There are some good flying/unblockable creatures in the white/blue colors. This will allow you to "go over the top" of their board while you cast detain and lock their creatures down.

Also, in addition to detain, you'll need cards that punish them for doing things. 

Azourious Charm - a multipurpose card that punishes your opponent for attacking/blocking.  Great tempo card. Also can be used to draw a card. Better than just bouncing a card back to the hand.
Think Twice - Common and powerful draw utility card.  The power of blue is card advantage.  You should never be out of options in a blue deck and your opponent should always be worried about what you have in your hand.

jatotek wrote:

Ok ill start with the land. 25 land in a deck allways feels excessive to me. Normally the decks im playing run on 20 or less mana. i just use creative ways to compensate for this. I will explain a lil more later.

Sorry, but this is flat out bad advice about land.  The fastest most competitive aggro decks run 20 at a minimum.  If you're playing anything over4 cost or have any cards with x in the cost, 24-25-26 lands is not unheard of or even a bad idea.  A lot of decks will run ramp cards and draw cards that also help you draw into those lands. 

As far as your deck goes you want to win with your big creatures here it looks like.  You might consider cutting some of the smaller ones in favor of spells that provide additional mana to get your big guys out faster.  You want a peppering of smaller 2-3 drops to stop faster decks, or enough cheap removal to get rid of their creatures.  Until you can play your big fat ones.

Also, enchants are okay, but if someone removes the creature it's attached too then you just lost 2 cards for one.  Some enchants are okay, but I would limit the selection to all but the most important.

The pacifism type enchants are okay for removal, but they do have the disadvantage of leaving the creature on the board so they can still use it for sac effects or things that deal with X creatures.  Also if they have a way to remove the enchant then they just get their creature back for a small investment.

jatotek wrote:

I think its charming...

Ba dum cha! smile

I don't think, even with far seek and abundant growth that you'll be able to hit your land drops with 16 lands. 

Even a fun deck still wants to be able to play cards.  I'd go up to 24 lands and maybe a couple chromatic lanterns.

Ty's right, my bad on the exalted triggers and math there.

The knights are not terrible, but they're not great either.  Something with first strike on turn 2 is going to be better most of the time, Thalia for example. First strike + any exalted makes it very hard for your opponent to trade effectively. First strike creatures on turn 2 can stop _some_ aggro...

Sublime is the real money for the exalted trigger.  The Knights are really what people call "win more".  Stacking the exalted triggers can be nice, but probably wouldn't be necessary most of the time.  You might play one set of knights, pro black stops a lot of removal.

Silverblade will be good with almost anything, but I would wager keeping both Sublime and silverblade on the board at the same time will be very hard.  They are both vulnerable to early removal like seering spear, and silverblade can be pillar'd too.  I don't see Ty's scenario happening very often, unfortunately, but it would be glorious when it does smile  I think if you test it out you'll see this to be the case.

647

(7 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Still, dice, pen and paper never run out of battery life. smile

assuming that you're opponents board is empty probably isn't a good assumption, or that they don't have removal.

Naya is explosive and very fast.

Diregraf captain is okay, but blood artist gains you life as well as losing your opponents life.  The +1/+1 is probably irrelevant most of the time. Only a geralfs messenger with a counter, with captain out is a real threat, and even then it won't be long before your opponent removes one.  Captain by himself loses flat out to boros reckoner and doesn't trade well for a 3cmc creature, any 2/2 with first strike kills him and there are several one mana 2/2s that most people would gladly trade with your 3 mana dude.  Vault does repeatable deathtouch for all your creatures so the death touch is irrelevant. And, once he's dead... he's dead, no undying.  On turn 3, i'd rather be playing a boros reckoner, loxodon smiter, a geralfs messenger or anything else than this guy.

Diregraf ghoul is an uncommon shouldn't be too hard to get.  a 2/2 for one black is good.  Alternately, rackdos cackler is the same health/body and works fine.   Doesn't have to be a zombie.

Champion of the parish is a good card.  It might even be okay in this deck, however, if you're not playing Naya (Red, green, white) then you're not able to get the full potential from the champ.  The synergy he has with burning tree emissary and any other 2 drops is too great. In that deck he can easily be a 5/5 on turn 3 swinging for game.  These colors are not capable of that.

The problem with the WB you're building there is exalted doesn't trade well on the defensive side so you're weak to the agro decks and midrange decks will just remove your creatures and block in their favor.   if you really want a flyer on turn 3, then gift of orzhov is fine and it helps with the life gain issue you're facing, but still presents a 2 for one opportunity for your opponent.

Zombies can pull off the strategy you're trying as well.  Green still inst necessary for the cards you're putting in.  IMO Rancor is not enough reason to diversify your manabase so much. BW zombies is a tournament winner too.  http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdat … ckID=53092

Gravecrawler
Geralf's messenger
blood artist
Blood throne vampire
Diregraf Ghoul


You can sac zombies to blood throne vampire or something else.  with a blood artist out.  Blood throne can get pretty big and she can finish someone pretty quick.  The deck is all about the synergies between the resilient zombies and the sac effects.  Besides what's more unholy than zombies? smile

Alternately , If you're set on the WBG and  want a creature based WBG there are other options that would work better. You could start trading for the aristocrats deck that just won SCG.  it's resilient and powerful.  It's similar to the token strategy I posted about earlier. Sublime can still work in it since voice is expensive, however, voice is important to the deck.

http://admin.starcitygames.com//deckdat … ckID=56296

If you want to stay with the current exalted strat then consider this.

Cards to consider removing:
All the green - Nothing you're getting here you can't get some where else in WB.
The Knights - if they're alone it's a vanilla 2/1 for 2, which isn't good. If they're out together, and attacking then it's a 3/2 for 4?  The protection can be relevant, but probably not enough that the deck would miss it, for 5 mana, you can cast blood baron that has protection from both, lifelink and is a 4/4... besides the plan is to cast sublime and finish the game right?  You don't need extra exalted cards that can be easily removed.  Also can't be enchanted by anything white or black depending.
Undying Evil - there are creatures with undying that are far better, and gravecrawler is soooo much better.

Cards to consider adding:
Precinct captain - 2/2 first strike for 2 that can create tokens tokens.  With an gift of orzhov on turn 3 he can gain you 4 life and put a soldier in play.  Turn 4 with sublime on the board he could swing for 6. 
More lingering souls - tokens are good with sublime and this one has pretty good value.
Gift of orzhov - it does create the bad 2 for one scenarios but it provides evasion and life link. 
Sorin lord of innistrad - creates tokens.  give screatures +1/+0....
Vault of the Archangel - it can make all the tokens death touch which can scare your opponent.
Boros Reckoner - Cost triple white in this deck, but he's a solid card, can redirect damage, and can really protect your board.
Removal - tribute to hunger, devour flesh, murder, orzhov charm, o-ring, tragic slip, ultimate price
Rootborn defenses - this + vault do the same thing as ready//willing almost and it gets you out of green, you can cast rootborn more reliably than you can cast ready and this will populate if you have any tokens on the board.

650

(7 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Well, I have a coupe problems with this.

1. My phone does all of this with the appropriate app.  What does this offer that my app doesn't?
2. Mats wear out after a couple years, usually, so what do you do with it then?  80 for a mat is excessive.
3. You have to charge your play mat now?  No thanks.


This seems like a gimmick and an attempt to sell one of those "as seen on TV" infomercial items.  The video even came with frustrated Pros that forget their pads and dice.