Interesting stuff, but it never would've gotten going without some lop-sided trades from people because of who he is and whatnot... I guess if you have the patience, it can be done.
1,151 2012-08-05 01:04:29
Re: Trying to trade from my Pack 2 Power binder- Want tons of stuff (18 replies, posted in Reddit MTG Trades)
1,152 2012-08-05 00:17:47
Re: Trying to trade from my Pack 2 Power binder- Want tons of stuff (18 replies, posted in Reddit MTG Trades)
Not related to the trades at hand... I read the link you posted Scurvey, but I noted it was from 2010. Did the dude manage to pull it off?
1,153 2012-08-02 03:08:45
Re: New standard decks (4 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
Looking at the deck I can see where Champion of the Parish didn't fit the curve. I see a few different ways you could really run with this. In either case I think you could probably drop two forests since green makes up so little of the deck.
Your first option would be to include Garruk's Packleader and possibly even Conjurer's Closet to work with the Blade Splicers to help you draw more. I can easily see where you could get decked here and nothing is large enough to be all that formidable on its own. The creatures have relatively little evasion and could easily be overpowered if your opponent drops your Sublime Archangels. The packleaders will let you draw every time the splicers drop a golem and the closets will guarantee that happens more frequently.
The other option would be to focus on protecting your creatures via Ranger's Guile/Mask of Avacyn/Sheltering Word as it would definitely suck to put forth the effort to drop Spirit Mantle on a creature, just to see it get blown up.
In either option, I think the space could come from dropping a few lands while shuffling the other counts around. With a mana curve that currently tops out at four, you're going to be looking at a lot of turns where you're dead drawing lands.
1,154 2012-08-01 13:36:14
Re: Mill Deck...Feedback and Suggestions Welcomed (10 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
You have a good start here, but at the moment your creatures don't really help your overall objective.
First off, are you worried about maintaining a specific format? At current it says your deck qualifies as "Extended." That's ultimately going to decide which cards you're going to keep or need to pick up.
One creature that the best mill decks just NEED is Hedron Crab. Every time you play a land, they lose three cards. Play one on the first turn and another on the second turn and you've already cost them three cards and on turn three when you play a land, BAM, that's nine total cards down already. Also, they're good blockers for early game.
For other creatures, Fog Bank and Guard Gomazoa give you incredible blockers that can stop practically anything without getting killed. The only real problem you would have there is with trample damage.
Thought Scour and Mind Sculpt are GREAT. But you should also pick up Traumatize, Increasing Confusion, and Jace's Erasure. Each of those will give you more spells that can drop a LOT of cards quickly.
Another fun card to work with in a Mill context is Geralf's Mindcrusher which can serve as a big creature if you get stuck trying to win with damage, OR, you can pair it with Nephalia Smuggler/Deadeye Navigator/Ghostly Flicker/Conjurer's Closet to flicker and repeat the ETB effect, causing your opponent to drop cards five at a time. If you have Altar of Dementia you could make them drop another 10 cards when you sack it and then just flicker it to lose the undying counter - rinse repeat.
Trepanation Blade is a good piece to pair with any creature as it normally will cost them 3-4 cards per attack, if not more. Keening Stone can be a good win condition as it can snowball VERY quickly.
I would also recommend consolidating your countermagic as it's really scattered at the moment. More Mana Leaks, Unsummons (or even Boomerang). If you're open to any format, Temporal Adept is a great option that can essentially give you as many Boomerangs as you could want.
Lastly, Jace, Memory Adept is perfect for mill decks. His +0 ability results in an opponent dropping 10 cards. If you can protect him at all, that can REALLY add up quickly.
I hope all of that helps make sense. The best part being not much I've suggested is all that expensive. Jace is pretty pricey (~$10) and Altar of Dementia is mid-range (~$3-5), but outside of those, pretty much any of these should be around a dollar or less to pick up.
Good luck!
1,155 2012-07-31 23:44:15
Re: Looking for Full Arts (9 replies, posted in Reddit MTG Trades)
I have one unglued mountain that I'm not overly attached to. It's just a mountain as far as I'm concerned. So if you want to start a trade we can figure something out.
1,156 2012-07-31 16:01:08
Re: New standard decks (4 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
While the UW infect would be mean (especially if you put in Infinite Reflection to pair with either Sublime Archangel or Blightsteel Colossus), I think there's less potential there as about half of the deck will be rotating out. Then again, that might be the incentive to get the playtime out of it now while you still can.
I'd still go the green route myself, but I'm more partial to green than blue. That and the inclusion of Ajani, Caller of the Pride when thinking about Sublime Archangel and Champion of Lambholt is just nuts. If you get Ajani to his ultimate, the game is over no matter which way you look at it. I can see where some changes could be made to make it a bit more flexible/versatile, but I'll let you figure out which way to go before really getting into any of that stuff.
1,157 2012-07-29 01:27:28
Re: What's your best/ favorite combo? (discussion) (4 replies, posted in General Discussion)
As the_wizard said, Living Plane has the promise for making this a great combo, BUT, because it makes your lands into legal targets too, pretty much ANYTHING that does any sort of damage could easily pick off either the Tabernacle (if they want to keep their own lands) or your Gaea's Cradle if they want to take you down with them. Personally I'd zap your Tabernacle so that I can then use various burn/damage spells (Bonfire of the Damned anyone?) to sit and take out your other lands while sitting pretty on my end.
Realistically to pull this combo off well, you need a means to put multiple lands down on the same turn. If you have to string this thing across 2-3 turns, odds are someone will mess you up. I can see where the Tabernacle would draw some serious attention quickly on its own.
1,158 2012-07-24 02:17:55
Re: RW Draft Feedback (4 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
Your obvious trample options will be Rancor and Ring of Kalitas.
Just remember that Infinite Reflection will make your creatures all copies of the Sublime Archangel and will rock some MAJOR exalted, but only one can attack at a time... It'll be interesting to see if that combo pans out or not, as I can imagine plenty of other creatures that could prove equally useful with Infinite Reflection that you could attack with multiples of. My first thought would be to pair that with Elderscale Wurm if you're going green. 7/7 trample and you cannot die unless they kill all of them? Yes please.
1,159 2012-07-22 00:46:02
Re: RW Draft Feedback (4 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
First off, congrats on the draft win.
The challenge you really have here with taking a draft winner to a standard deck is to figure out which combo(s) would still operate well in a constructed format. In a draft you have the luxury of your opponents having to fight over a limited number of removal spells and the like, in constructed, you will see decks that are a LOT more focused, consistent, and capable of disrupting your best laid plans. This typically means you have to identify the combo(s) that you REALLY want and drop a lot of the other cards that might've looked good in the draft.
To that end, I would imagine the Sublime Archangel was a big player for you, but unless you're looking to drop another $60 to get three more and want to focus on this being an exalted deck, I don't know that you want to go that route. Perhaps you could make it more goblin oriented with the Sublime Archangel being a win condition.
You could utilize white primarily for removal (Oblivion Ring, Pacifism, Defang) as the exiling and other white removal spells tend to be cheaper and more versatile than trying to ramp up enough direct damage via red to take out anything big.
If you do go primarily red, Arms Dealer can be nasty when paired with Krenko's Command or even Krenko, Mob Boss. I would also keep something like the Bladetusk Boars in the deck, as exalted works wonders, but only if you can get that one creature through to them. Typically in a BW exalted deck you will see this role filled by Tormented Soul, but in your case, Intimidate isn't a bad option.
Another thought, if white stays in the deck, especially when working with exalted is to incorporate a means of giving your creatures lifelink. I'm thinking Nearheath Pilgrim could work here. The same can be said for Cathars' Crusade if you're going for goblins. Pairing that with Krenko would be SICK.
Anyway, there are a few thoughts, I would argue that you should be able to pull off something that's at least mildly competitive if you are willing to spend $20-30 and can focus in on one or two particular strategies. See what you can figure out with it and I can provide more feedback when you've progressed a bit.
1,160 2012-07-21 22:28:50
Topic: Trade Opportunities update? (0 replies, posted in Site Discussion)
First off, thanks for all you guys do Sebi!
I was just curious if whatever updates are in the works include an extension of the current trading opportunities grid that extends to the entire Deckbox community as opposed to only those in a group with you. Reddit Traders includes a LOT of people, but I can't help but feel like there are more users out there that currently aren't being picked up by the trading opportunities listed.
Thanks again!
1,161 2012-07-20 20:37:48
Re: Import 4x Playset Commons / Uncommon (7 replies, posted in Site Discussion)
Go here:
http://deckbox.org/games/mtg/cards?f=53106
Then simply enter the number of each card you have in the green column on the far left.
1,162 2012-07-19 20:24:53
Re: Insert Clever Deck Name Here... Comments? (25 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
Sadly I have a move, a TON of work, and a conference to get through first. My guess would be either mid-late August or early September.
1,163 2012-07-19 18:24:04
Re: Insert Clever Deck Name Here... Comments? (25 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
Someone over at tappedout gave me a priceless idea. Rather than Balefire Dragon, Elderscale Wurm pairs with Curse of the Nightly Hunt and Mask of Avacyn for a hexproof creature that prevents all the damage done to me. Him being a 7/7 (or 8/9 when equipped) trample doesn't hurt either.
1,164 2012-07-17 18:10:07
Re: What Deckbox is Missing (11 replies, posted in Site Discussion)
Oh I totally agree a color coding or something more recognizable would be great. At current it turns blue if the person is online, but otherwise, yeah, that's about all there is.
1,165 2012-07-17 17:49:17
Re: What Deckbox is Missing (11 replies, posted in Site Discussion)
Icarus: You already can see the last time someone was on by going to their profile page and hovering your mouse cursor over the little silhouette looking thing next to their name. It should pull up their last login date.
1,166 2012-07-17 03:37:08
Re: Standard Exalted (2 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
I'm thinking there are two separate things here that you could run with, but I'm not sure both can work in the same deck.
First, I think Exalted is about to be beaten to death and I'd actually say to run it mono-white with tokens out the arse. Pair Sublime Archangel with some major token generation... yeah... that'd get sick pretty quick. It gives you ENORMOUS attacks while keeping back an absolute ton of chump blockers. You end up putting Akroma's Memorial and BAM!
Second, run along similar lines to what you are now, but you need more mana ramping toward the ultimate goal of Avacyn and Planar Cleansing. From my, admittedly limited, experience with exalted, it's really tough to have quality blockers given what has exalted. And the rate at which your mana curve climbs, I don't know that you'll still be around when you finally have the mana to dump a Planar Cleansing or Avacyn. Somberwald Sage? Or at least SOMETHING to help speed the playing of the major angels. Rites of Flourishing? They'll rotate in October, but could help you speed things up. Because the way it strikes me, you're playing the game for the BIG stuff, so who cares what big things they're sitting on, yours are better. So you need to speed things up so you can lower the boom on them.
As another thought, why no Cathedral of War? If you're going exalted, might as well go all in, right?
In either case you're onto something good here, I just think you're stuck on the fence between the two ways to run with it.
1,167 2012-07-17 03:16:09
Re: Insert Clever Deck Name Here... Comments? (25 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
The only reason I'm still wanting the BOP is because the deck REALLY needs to pull a Slumbering Dragon in the opening hand to really be effective. If I'm willing to mulligan 3-4 times to ensure that, I often end up with only forests and sadly there's no Avacyn's Pilgrim equivalent to switch between green and red. I can't even count how many hands I've simulated where the BOP are the only reason I manage to get one of the dragons out early. Further, they provide just a little bit of ramping to let me dump Increasing Savagery on turn three to wake up a dragon.
I can see the argument against the Balefire Dragon, but I figure if they manage to knock off my Slumbering Dragons it's really my only remaining bomb to try and win the game. That or if they have to choose between an 8/8 dragon and a 6/6 dragon that clears their side of the board, well, that's not a good choice for them.
Rancor would definitely be useful and I'll definitely consider it, as it could make a Roaring Primadox far more dangerous in a pinch, but I don't know that it will be necessary for the dragons. If they can chump block an 8/8 flyer consistently, (or 9/10 if I have a mask on him) more power to them.
Still good ideas though... I'm REALLY chomping at the bit to put this thing together so I can see how it plays. Sadly I have a TON of work to finish and a move before I can really afford to pick up more cards .
1,168 2012-07-17 02:50:12
Re: Insert Clever Deck Name Here... Comments? (25 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
Yeah. Someone had suggested those, but I wasn't wanting the entire deck to be rotating come RTR release.... It should be workable to lose BOP and Beast Within.
1,169 2012-07-17 01:53:42
Re: Insert Clever Deck Name Here... Comments? (25 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
That is a much better idea. I don't know what I was thinking. The added cost isn't that big of a deal... thanks!
1,170 2012-07-17 01:10:56
Re: Insert Clever Deck Name Here... Comments? (25 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
So I've been running a LOT of hand simulations on this deck and it struck me that I'd still be susceptible to a lot of removal once I'm out of Sheltering Words. So I dropped Chandra, the Firebrand and one of the Sheltering Words to be replaced by 2x Ring of Evos Isle. I won't get any counters, but that's a guaranteed hexproof for two colorless.
Were there any other thoughts on sideboard items or anything else here?
1,171 2012-07-17 00:52:43
Re: Modern Illusions (2 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
Looks pretty solid, but I don't see where Aether Vial is really necessary given that the top of your mana curve is at four.
Two creatures that I think really should be in here are Phantom Warrior and Phantasmal Dragon. Phantom Warrior not only puts your opponent on a clock, but gets all the bonuses you have piling up. Pair them with Coastal Piracy or Curiosity and you're ripping through your deck to ensure those Lord of the Unreals come out to play. Phantasmal Dragon, pending you're not dealing with pingers, can either provide a sizable blocker, takes a removal spell that would otherwise be aimed at Lord of the Unreal, or, best of all, with Lord of the Unreal will pretty much end the game for you - and with a cost of only four.
Grand Architect is good for the bonuses it gives, but really, are you going to need more than a potential +8/+8 that you get from your Lord of the Unreals and Adaptive Automatons? His other ability is pretty much going to waste. Perhaps Sands of Delirium could help utilize the Architect's ability while also increasing your ability to give Jace's Phantasm it's bonus.
Lastly, I would suggest Corrupted Conscience or even just Mind Control over Sower of Temptation as most decks are already primed for creature removal far more than enchantment removal.
1,172 2012-07-16 21:22:57
Re: Looking for help with a standard Black/Red deck (1 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
Okay, I'll lead off by admitting that Standard isn't my strong suit. Having said that much, the deck as it currently sits isn't Standard legal anyway. Bloodhall Ooze, despite being what looks like a pretty mean card in a RGB deck, is the one tripping you up there.
That aside, I'm really just not seeing how you're really going to beat the opponent unless you manage to overwhelm them or keep trading pieces while Undying keeps yours in play. That or just stalling until Curse of the Pierced Heart wears them down. Am I wrong here? What are the win conditions you're looking for here?
Given the setup you're running, I would say your best option(s) would be to either run a crazy sacrifice engine to produce something cool or, perhaps more reasonably, to focus on control and board clearing effects, as you don't really care if your creatures die or not (gotta love undying). I'm thinking Mutilate or Killing Wave (also Black Sun's Zenith would be an option until it rotates)are really going to be your winners here, as you can drop just wipe out EVERYTHING, and chuckle as your items come back into play thanks to undying. You're still going to want your spot removals for bigger creatures that they'll pay the life for or that you can't quite catch with Mutilate. Thankfully, since you don't care about sacking creatures, you can run Bone Splinters for this.
Then, if you're making undying your main mechanic, you could rock Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Undying Evil to protect some creatures that might not have it. This opens the door for you to use fun items like Blood Artist, Pitchburn Devils, Rage Thrower, and Flayer of the Hatebound (who already has undying on his own). Then all your critters dying turns into a weapon. Vexing Devil would help out, as you either get a 4/3 you can give undying to, or they lose four life (which adds up quickly).
Beyond that, and I know most of the suggestions I've made thus far are black, but Demonic Rising could work well here too, as you end up sacking down to one creature and then get a 5/5 demon for the trouble. Good sack engines in Standard include Bloodflow Connoisseur (that you already have in there) and Disciple of Griselbrand, who could help you gain a fairly good amount of life in the process.
Anyway, those are some thoughts. Just be careful with this strategy though, as Tormod's Crypt has made a reappearance in M13 and I could almost guarantee it will be a sideboard staple at most FNMs soon, given that it completely screws over any reanimator decks.
1,173 2012-07-16 03:45:19
Re: Insert Clever Deck Name Here... Comments? (25 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
You are completely right. I don't know why I'd reduced the number of Beetles and Visionaries to only four. Now they're back up at three of each, ensuring a 2:1 ratio of things to unsummon and Primadoxes. I think it's settled on the right cards, now it's just a matter of how many of each.
I've also sideboarded some Acidic Slime to help with artifact/enchantment removal if they're running a lot of that. I also sideboarded Clinging Mist as it can work like Sleep if I've been getting my ass handed to me. Rolling Temblor in retrospect is another sideboard card as it will work wonders for me against token generators and exalted decks, but would likely end up hurting me more than my opponent most of the time if it's not timed correctly. Other sideboard fun includes Beast Within (I know it's rotating out soon) for anything too big to handle with Prey Upon, one Bower Passage if they're generating flying tokens to make my dragons unblockable , and some of the M13 spiders (sliklash and sentinel) to deal with things loaded down with flyers. I've been weighing Stingerfling Spider to pair with the Primadoxes, but for the time being I'm not going to track those down as they're going to rotate out in October too.
Am I missing anything, or do we potentially have a competitive deck here?
On a total side note, I realized how much fun a deck could work with 4x Circle of Flame, Curse of the Nightly Hunt, Slumbering Dragon, and Gravity Well. Anything without a toughness greater than four is torched, while having to attack every turn, and giving my dragons counters. Toss in Furnace of Rath or something comparable and you're board wiping them every turn while working to your success... if only those were standard .
1,174 2012-07-16 01:50:51
Re: 36 decks designed and need feedback please (on all of them) (9 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
For the Elemental deck, I just see a lot of options where you can end up giving elemental creatures +1/+1 counters which would be more consistently effective than relying on the evoke ability for your creatures. Don't forget that Tormod's Crypt (which they reprinted in M13) would wipe your graveyard clean, so that automatically would take out the majority of Splinterfright's or Lord of Extinction's strength. Also, I totally spaced saying it, but there is very little in the deck to help against flyers.
For the mana ramping, Everflowing Chalice and Cultivate help, but look at their costs. Everflowing Chalice will need you to spend at least two to kick it in order to help at all, likely four if you want it to be better than just a BOP. Cultivate helps get lands, but at a three-drop. They help accelerate things, but I always like to do my mana acceleration earlier rather than later. Those help, but BOP, Somberwald Sage or even things as simple as Llanowar Elves or Avacyn's Pilgrim can make a lot of difference, as they provide mana ramping earlier and chump blockers later.
Lastly, the reason the card art isn't showing is just from a few typos/spelling errors (it happens to all of us). I normally preview my replies first to ensure that all the cards display properly, but I'm a stickler for details.
1,175 2012-07-16 01:27:36
Re: 36 decks designed and need feedback please (on all of them) (9 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)
To begin, since you're looking for feedback on all these decks, I'd recommend providing a description for each deck so that we know what your thinking was behind each one. That way we don't have to guess.
5CG - the new wave: This is certainly a pricey one, but I'm not seeing the idea here. If you're looking for a five color, you could go a lot of different ways with it. Progenitus, Door to Nothingness, or any of a wealth of cool multicolor creatures would work here, but again, I'm just not seeing how this deck wins games.
Damage Reflection: Now this is an interesting idea. I like it as I run something somewhat similar in my Squirrel deck aimed at getting the crap knocked out of a creature of your choosing for your benefit (mine generates squirrel tokens, yours does all sorts of damage). One thought would be to include something like Lure to ensure that your creature(s) of choice draw the full ire of all your opponent's critters. Another thing would be to include some means to revive or regenerate your creatures so that when they do get the crap kicked out of them, it doesn't matter (this could mean something as simple as Regenerate). I'd also definitely suggest getting another Darksteel Plate in there as those creatures won't do you any good if they're dead. Lastly, it looks like the mana curve is a bit steep, perhaps some ramping creatures? You could easily drop one of each of the 4x creatures and fit in 4x Birds of Paradise to help accelerate and stabilize the mana base.
Elemental Graveyard: So this is intriguing as I didn't recognize that you could really run an elemental tribal deck. However, I can see where there would be better options than Splinterfright as it doesn't look like you're going to have a lot of creatures in the graveyard. Outside of you using the evoke abilities, you don't have much removal to kill their creatures and I don't imagine your opponent will be working to take out your smaller creatures. Even something as simple as Fire Elemental could be much more effective. But I could be wrong there. I would also likely drop the black as you only really have Tragic Slip and Shriekmaw, which could easily be replaced with some burn spells, Prey Upon, or Beast Within to get the same effect. You just have a splash in there, but I can see where you would be able to focus a bit more on red/green. Also, from the look of things you have a LOT of options for bombs that qualify in RG and fit the Elemental bill. Chlorophant and Avenger of Zendikar are two easy options that I'm seeing. Take a look here and you might find some better fit creatures (http://deckbox.org/games/mtg/cards?f=47 Fs!734.5.6)
I hope those ideas help. Again, whatever input you can offer on the directions for each deck will help us give you meaningful comments. Lastly, try posting one or two decks at a time in a thread, as that will likely increase the feedback you'll receive.