Essentially turning all your creatures into versions of Viashino Firstblade sounds decent to me. Might not have the direct damage you like, but it makes even the tiniest creatures into threats, even if for only a turn. You're not relying on them having +1/+1 counters for the haste either.
652 2013-07-14 18:08:23
Re: [Standard] Izzet/Azorius FNM Deck Feedback (14 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
I would suggest looking up Travis Woo's Izzet Blitz deck. It looks like a lot of fun to play and it's been doing quite well, go figure. You can see a writeup about it here: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles zet-blitz/
653 2013-07-14 17:28:49
Re: RDW cards from M14 (7 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
My sense is that Ogre Battledriver will be the best replacement for Hellrider currently out there once rotation happens. That being said, there's no need to modify RDW too much until rotation takes place.
I agree with elpablo on pretty much everything he's saying about the current setup. Burning Earth is a solid SB card at best for when you run into that U/W Sphinx's Revelation deck. Aside from that... really you're not looking at much to change for the time being.
654 2013-07-14 17:24:17
Re: Mtg: Magic 2014 Core Set (10 replies, posted in Announcements)
Nicely done! Thanks as always Sebi!
655 2013-06-24 15:21:24
Re: {Standard} Tokens (2 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
For tokens, really, the biggest name out there for the time being is Junk Tokens (so that's white, green, and black). That gives you access to the mother of all token producer cards, Lingering Souls. Additionally, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad fits in nicely, offering a solid token producer while also potentially offering a few power bumps with his emblems.
Take a look on TCGplayer's decks section and you can likely find a few junk tokens decks that are actually doing quite well out there these days. I would seek to emulate them if I were you and you're really interested in going that route.
656 2013-06-24 15:18:46
Re: Just want to see what people think.... (10 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
Think of it this way. As novel as it might be to mill someone out (yes, it's fun), adopting a milling strategy automatically makes your job three times harder than when you started.
As such, Ral Zarek is going to likely provide most of the PW fun you'd want in grixis colors for the time being. If you're looking for something different and splashy, Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker is a fan favorite (who also wins games all on his own).
Aside from those though, the others are right, focus more on the control aspects and aim for Aetherlings - just remember artifact hate in the SB, otherwise Pithing Needle will turn your win-con into a 4/5 that's open to removal and chumping.
657 2013-06-24 15:15:03
Re: modern knight deck, viable? (7 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
Cavern of Souls as a 4x would also be pretty useful.
658 2013-06-23 17:12:44
Re: modern knight deck, viable? (7 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
You have a lot of good pieces, but literally NO answer to opposing threats. Path to Exile strikes me as a very important piece.
Given the aggro nature of what you have, I would suggest dropping Elesh Norn, dropping Hero of Bladehold to 2x and moving Kinsbaile Cavalier up to 4x as giving ALL your creatures double-strike is more important than pumping out tokens.
Perhaps Adaptive Automaton could serve you well... might as well pump things while you can. The only other hole I can think is the lack of any card draw (typically a challenge in most colors outside of blue). As you're going to dump your hand quickly, you'll end up top-decking a lot... some of these knights aren't exactly the bombs you would want to draw beyond turn four or five.
659 2013-06-23 17:04:41
Re: Just want to see what people think.... (10 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
I'm assuming this is for casual play? Or if you're wanting to play competitively, which format?
660 2013-06-20 00:32:06
Re: [Modern] Goblins (5 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert on modern or goblins. You're welcome to take or leave any of the intput I'm giving, but here are a few cards to consider:
Personally, I'm not a big fan of the Wardriver - I'd rather have Krenko's Command or Dragon Fodder. The latter two will each yield you two 1/1 goblins, which is exactly what Wardriver can yield if you get things working correctly - however, Wardriver has the echo cost and ends up either costing 2 CMC for a 1/1 token or 4 CMC for a 1/1 goblin that gives you a 1/1 token when it dies.
Foundry Street Denizen - When will it not be getting pumped? The potential for a LARGE attack with a one CMC creature is always a plus.
Tattermunge Maniac - You're going to be swinging every turn anyway, so why not swing for two with your one drop?
Hellraiser Goblin - Again, you're going to be doing a LOT of swinging, haste could be huge here as it could easily turn Krenko into a much bigger threat. This isn't really one you see in a lot of goblin lists out there, but it has promise if used correctly.
Hellrider - If the game even goes long enough to get a 4 drop out, this strikes me as a GREAT option given the all out attacking you'll be doing.
Lastly, things like Dynacharge, Weapon Surge, and Trumpet Blast aren't always considered, but that means they're almost never expected. Swinging with three 1/1 goblins might easily be let through... turning that into nine damage with an instant could easily be the difference between winning and losing.
Best luck!
661 2013-06-20 00:21:07
Re: Will people be playing Esper come m14? (6 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
I mean the walkers for Esper have been spoiled and are staying the same, which is a bummer. But that aside, there are still a ton of options in those colors. Hell, until Theros comes out you can run Geist of Saint Traft and don't even have to worry about the legend rule. So that being said, look at your current competitive Esper decks and those will be good until Theros hits, at which point, well, all bets are off.
662 2013-06-20 00:16:19
Re: looking for some cards (2 replies, posted in Trading Post)
Moved for ya. Good luck finding the cards!
663 2013-06-15 04:33:43
Re: What works better? Pack Hunt, Bifurcate, or ? (2 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
My sense would be Bifurcate will be more effective than Pack Hunt as it puts it directly into play. Sure there are ways to cheat out a creature, but Darksteel is a bit on the expensive side to cast, so having three more in your hand, especially early in the game just strikes me as having dead cards.
664 2013-06-15 04:30:26
Re: New to MTG and DeckBuilding. (4 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
So I think if you're looking to go EDH, you really should look through the available generals by their colors to really figure out what you want to do, as, to be honest, neither Oyobi or Kaiso really strike me as being very effective generals. Both require you to be VERY spirit-centric, while also limiting you to ONLY white. If you're up for spirits, why not go with something from W/B for the sake of scoring some of the other spirit-based stuff? If you'd like to learn how to search the card database for possible generals, take a look at the EDH sticky I've written up at the top of the deckbuilding forum.
Here's a link to the makings of a deck I was thinking through that's tribal spirits that uses Teysa or Obzedat as the general (note that you could easily go with W/U or some pairing that includes blue as well): http://deckbox.org/sets/366974. Obviously it's not complete, but you can see how adding a second (or third) color will give you a LOT more options. That's not to say that a mono-colored EDH deck won't work, but given that spirits are spread across three colors, by only looking at one of them, you're really ham-stringing yourself.
Remember that a LOT of EDH decks will draw on weird cards that see almost ZERO competitive play. This is a good thing, as you can often times pick up the pieces you might not have already for only a few dollars (I just managed to piece together an entire deck for like $15-20). Do some directed searches to see what sorts of tribal things you can manage or otherwise the sorts of interactions you might WANT, not just based on what you have. After all, looking for the off-the-wall cards is half the fun of building an EDH deck.
665 2013-06-12 02:34:21
Re: Incomplete Kemba EDH deck (1 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
I have a deck that features either Kemba or Raksha Golden Cub as the general. I've actually found that Raksha tends to be more effective, given the fact that he will often take people out very quickly with general damage if you get him out (and equip with a sword mind you). You're welcome to look at it here: http://deckbox.org/sets/355176
666 2013-06-10 04:26:59
Re: GW Exalted (aggro) deck - could use some sideboard help... (8 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
Against Rites, I could see where you would pull the Unflinching Courages and the Smiters. It might sound odd, but you would be better suited to be dropping the bigger creatures and smaller ones - putting the smiters in the middle, as you could easily spend 3 mana to put down two creatures, allowing you to then get more exalted triggers when you eventually drop the Angel (or you could be casting your Paladins). I could actually see moving the smiters to the board more generally.
Really there aren't that many options to deal with Lily and Ral outside of the O-rings and generating more targets than they can deal with - which often ends up with a bunch of tokens.
I'm thinking you would benefit from Experiment One rather than Avacyn's Pilgrim in many instances. Sure, it's not helping with the ramping, but it gives you a creature that can easily grow and that can offer human triggers for your champions.
Alternately, you could go full junk colors, gaining you access to Knight of Infamy, Vampire Nighthawk (arguably a better exalted target than any of your current pieces care of lifelink), AND Lingering Souls (think about a T4 Sublime, T5 cast and flashback lingering to generate four more exalted triggers). Sorin, Lord of Innistrad becomes an option - but at the 4 drop you're just happy with the archangels.
Personally I'd go junk, but that's just me.
667 2013-06-10 04:14:50
Re: Reaching out to the wonderful community (2 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
Here is the link to the deck for any interested parties:
http://deckbox.org/sets/402818
That being said, there are a number of changes that could be made to this deck depending on how you want to take it.
If you're going for more of a mid-range populate, overwhelming the enemy strategy, you would benefit greatly to have cards like Trostani, Selesnya's Voice and Thragtusk as part of the build (if you'd like I have a decent build that would need to be adjusted for post DGM that you can see at http://deckbox.org/sets/239316).
If you're going for more of a W/G aggro tokens build, you would benefit to have to roll with Loxodon Smiters.
In either event, if you're wanting to be really dangerous, it can get expensive VERY quickly. Personally I've found them to be underwhelming, but Voice of Resurgence is typically a HUGE piece of decks running W/G.
If I were you, I would drop the guildmages, add more champions, drop the temple, drop Odric, and potentially swap the Monks for Scion of Vitu-Ghazi. You need to 4x the Lingering Souls and add more Advent of the Wurm. Drop the Wakes, Increasing Devotion, Rancors, Arrest, and Growing Ranks. Slide in a second Parallel Lives as it's more likely to have an impact on the board. 2-3x Trostani and 3-4x Thragtusks are definitely needed. If you're still looking for pieces, Midnight Haunting gives you another couple of spirit tokens at instant speed, which, with one or two Intangible Virtues can be huge. Lastly, perhaps an Armada Wurm or two as a finisher. The only black splash should come with dual lands to flash-back souls and to trigger Vault of the Archangel (which wouldn't hurt as a 2x here).
That's a lot and likely a fairly large amount of cash to get it squared away, but it'll have better odds the closer to that you get.
668 2013-06-10 04:00:02
Re: New to MtG, how's my decks? (3 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
Eventually I'd like to build decks by just choosing 9 cards that work well together and then add four of each, then make up the rest with land.
Has anyone tried this?
What are the decks like for this method?
Some would argue this is one of the ideal deckbuilding strategies out there, but personally I like the added flexibility that can come with running a combination of more cards at 2x and 3x rather than just the blanket 4x of everything. Obviously 4x gives you increased consistency, which is definitely important, but not always ideal. Take a look at the top decks out there. Many aren't running 4x of all the cards in them, some of them even toss in power cards as 1 offs.
So the take away point would be that you shouldn't pidgeon-hole yourself into a particular deck building strategy. Rather, pick out combos or cards that you think work well and would be powerful in tandem, and then build around those. But you shouldn't feel like the goal is to reduce a decklist to 9 distinct cards.
669 2013-06-10 03:56:15
Re: Boros Aggro Standard (2 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
For anyone interested, here's the link to his deck:
http://deckbox.org/sets/402945
That aside, I would suggest you look at the Naya Blitz decklist that is currently doing well in most of the big standard tourneys (pro tour, GPs, etc) as you're not THAT far off from it and I think it'll add a little bit more power behind what you're running.
670 2013-06-09 01:12:23
Re: [Standard] Intentionally bad but fun deck (14 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
Why leave out the guild leaders? I mean if you're shooting for something fun like that... why not? They would be way more helpful than many of the charms.
671 2013-06-08 02:59:27
Re: Thespian's Stage question (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.
That's the plan... add it to Vampire Hexmage and you have some options for those Marit Lage decks...
672 2013-06-06 21:49:19
Re: Thespian's Stage question (8 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Although there is a rather comical combo in legacy that pairs Thespian's Stage with Dark Depths as the copy won't have any counters on it...
673 2013-06-05 14:22:32
Re: [Standard] Intentionally bad but fun deck (14 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
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.
I think even beyond this, you still need a way to win too. I mean if you're just wanting to be wonky, there are plenty of more amusing things to do here. I don't even see a win-con with Melek.
Why not swap the lands for gates and Maze's Ends, and then refine the spells to give you some added utility (and a way to actually win the game)? OR Toss in some Augur of Bolas, added ramp spells (Ranger's Path perhaps?), some burn options (Devil's Play, Clan Defiance, or even Aurelia's Fury), perhaps some added card draw (Faithless Looting, Desperate Ravings, Uncovered Clues, Think Twice, etc.) and a few other things here or there. THEN you'll be able to actually DO things while having fun with Melek and his weirdness.
I've actually thought about including him in builds as of late, but unless you have reliable ways to drop him on the field AND spells that are worth casting from the deck, he won't be as much fun as you expect.
674 2013-06-04 16:25:58
Re: [Modern] Defender Milling Deck (2 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
Okay, first off, just to be sure, you're aiming for a Modern deck, right? The reason I ask is because shy of Harrow the deck is nothing but standard cards.
That being said, modern offers a LOT more options for milling the opponent successfully than we have in standard.
First off, drop 1x Duskmantle Guildmage, all the Jace's Phantasms, and Mirko Vosk. If you're going for defender mill, either go big or go home. I would also likely drop the Doorkeepers too as you'll be much better suited to rip into your X cost mill effects than simply tapping Doorkeeper to mill 3-4 cards.
So what do you add? Overgrown Battlement is a NICE replacement for Doorkeeper in that it offers you essentially Axebane Guardians 5-8. Why not toss in some Clones and Progenitor Mimic? Then you're talking Axebanes 9-14 (with two Mimics) while also offering you some added defensive flexibility. They play something huge? Then you get one and can continue to stall the board.
A few other cards to consider:
Hedron Crab - not fitting the defender mix, but an 0/2 that will mill every time you drop a land? That has some HILARIOUS potential. Even something like Ghostly Flicker can now be mill six. If you have more than one crab out, well, you get the idea.
Keening Stone - this card doesn't get much love because of the costs behind it, but read that text, you mill them equal to the total number of cards in their graveyard. As such, if you can get HALF of their deck in the yard, you will win with ONE trigger. Don't forget it's not exactly like you're going to be short on mana with all the Axebane Guardians and Overgrown Battlements.
Breaking // Entering - it's not quite Glimpse power, but it comes with an added bonus. Again, as you're not struggling with the mana and axebane can provide red and black to cast, this lets you mill them eight and then pick their best creature to sit on your side delaying the game.
Thought Scour and Pilfered Plans - good options to help improve consistency via card draw while still not straying away from the mill strategy.
Reap Intellect - I sound like I'm beating a dead horse here, but with a TON of mana care of the axebanes, you could cast this rather hilariously exiling EVERY nonland card in their hand and all the copies of those throughout the deck.
Now onto MUST haves. You NEED ways to stall the game. Here are a few options:
Fog, Moonmist, Druid's Deliverance, Hindervines (in a pinch). Unsummon, Silent Departure, and Cyclonic Rift. To name just a few.
You also NEED removal. Regardless of what happens with regard to life totals.
Devour Flesh, Tribute to Hunger, Ultimate Price, Murder, Grisly Spectacle, etc. etc.
Remember that milling decks typically aren't the most successful, as you've made your job a full three-times harder before the game even starts by adopting that path. But some of these suggestions should provide some added milling power.
675 2013-06-04 16:07:06
Re: Deck almost done - Warzhov - please give feedback (9 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
Wow, lots to think about. Naya sounds like a lot of fun.
I have some zombies on my wishlist - gravecrawler, geralf and diregraf captain. Maybe I should add diregraf ghoul?
On thing though - in the situation where I only had two knights, I probably would swing with both for 4, not just one exalted for 3... Depends what was on the table I guess.
You're missing an exalted trigger. Just ONE knight swings for three as it has its own exalted trigger. If you have two knights, you can swing with one to get an attack for 4 going (given two exalted triggers).
Further, Sublime Archangel gives creatures double instances of exalted, meaning that a board with a sublime and two knights could result in the Archangel swinging for 9 (that's FIVE exalted triggers - one from itself, two from each knight). Toss in a Silverblade Paladin and you're swinging for fatal having not even attacked before then.
For the green, I really do see the interest in splashing for Rancor, believe me, there's little out there more frustrating than swinging with a 10/10 and it's getting tripped up by 1/1s (especially Lingering Souls tokens). To that end, I could see splashing like 4-5 green sources if you already have the shocks. But, be sure to limit your green requirements to Rancors and the possible Ready half of Ready // Willing.
On the Rootborn Defenses vs Ready // Willing point elpablo raises, he is completely correct that you would be able to cast Root more easily and consistently - but it offers much less flexibility in the sense that it can't be turned into a surprise three cost Vault of the Archangel effect OR it can both untap AND offer indestructibility to your critters (the untap part not to be overlooked). This can be HUGE for an exalted deck, as you can easily swing in with one huge beater and can then surprise the opponent with lifelink and deathtouch blockers. Nevermind if you have the mana for the fused version of it where you wipe their board, gain a crapton of life, and don't lose anything. Simply put, Ready // Willing can win games if played correctly. So to that end, splashing those 4-5 green sources via the shocks would help here too. But beyond those, really, don't stress green any more than that.
So, having said all of that, perhaps top out your Silverblade Paladins at 4x, but otherwise, REALLY get to playtesting. Sadly exalted decks aren't tier one right now, so you're likely close to the top end of where your deck is going to perform. The best thing you can do is play it, see how it performs, think hard about your local meta to figure out what sorts of changes you might need to make (that none of us could anticipate), rework the SB, and go from there.
Good luck with it man.