1,251

(19 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

With Venser I really needed to use his flicker just to get enough Golems to overrun their life since they like to counter my flicker spells.

I totally hear you guys about the cost of Nephalia Smuggler and it might be just my limited experience playing competitively, but the idea of a one casting cost creature that can guarantee a flicker engine for the more important pieces like Glimmerpoint Stag, well, count me in.  I thought the cost was too high myself when I first saw it, but then I also thought the same thing about Moonlight Geist until it managed to win an entire draft tourney for me.

That aside (and I've been out of it for a few days), not saying you sold out Hellnikko, just that Delver decks have, for better or for worse, been done to death.  I agree that if it works and everyone uses it, you might as well do the same, but I have more fun doing something weird and losing than playing someone else's deck and winning (but that's just my preference).  Best of luck with that one though.

1,252

(27 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

I'll second that point.  You've provided some invaluable feedback on a few of my decks.  While it seems there are only three of us in these discussions, I'm definitely benefitting from it.  A key example, I'm looking to track down an Earthcraft for my squirrel deck, as it gives that deck a turn 4 kill, no matter how many opponents.

1,253

(19 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

First, would you mind moving the last post about the new deck to another thread?  It helps me keep things straight.  I'll happily comment on it there.

Okay, so for the flicker deck...

For the Snapcasters, I completely understand why you're using them (lord knows, if everyone else is, why not?).  Personally I've always liked breaking from the norms a bit with my decks and not going with everyone else's ideas (hence my distaste for Hellnikko's Delver deck).  However, given the straying from the flicker theme, I'm curious if you might be better served to just make this a pure artifact token generation deck, rather than trying to hang onto something that's not the key mechanic going on.  For instance, Tezzeret, the Seeker would let you pull the Blightsteel Colossus same as Shape Anew but without the fear of countering (unless they counter him, at which point you've used one of their counters and have better odds of successfully getting Shape Anew out.

The key for the Platinum Emperion is that it will almost certainly prolong the game for long enough that you could either get a Blightsteel or otherwise pull off Venser's third ability or even something else nasty.  In response to the Vault of the Archangel, the deathtouch COULD screw with the Emperion, but only if they're using it for a blocker.  If they're attacking, just let the creatures through, as your life total won't change anyway.  To that end, you could also swing a Darksteel Colossus as it's indestructible.  All three of them are golems, so they would get the flying and whatnot from the splicers too.

My other thought on including Sundial of the Infinite is obvious with the permanent exiling mechanic, but it also would make the opponent have to consider more than just Shape Anew as a target for their counterspells.  It's addition by substraction, as you're less likely to Shape Anew into Blightsteel Colossus but it will make them pay more mind to Glimmerpoint Stag, Venser, Oblivion Ring or a wealth of other things.

My reasoning for Elspeth over Gideon or the others is her third ability when mixed with a flickering mechanic.  She can completely clear the board with the exceptions of tokens and, if flickered, herself and perhaps another key permanent or two.  You dump her ability and then before it resolves Ghostly Flicker her and one of the splicers... you end up completely screwing your opponent, keeping your tokens, generating a new token, and laughing your way to victory.

Lastly, I know the ability is expensive for Nephalia Smuggler, but it ensures at least one more way to flicker things so that you can save Cloudshift for more dire circumstances (or they can help protect Deadeye Navigator).  Perhaps I'm still too hung up on flickering (as my deck isn't complete yet so I've yet to really play it), but I'm thinking that it still is at the center of something really fun.

1,254

(19 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

First off, what do the Snapcasters accomplish?  From the look of the construction, Shape Anew is only going to get a Blightsteel Colossus or Platinum Emperion (as in there aren't any other artifacts for it to pull).  So outside of the opponent countering one, really, why would you need a Snapcaster to flashback Shape Anew?

Negate vs Turn Aside is definitely going to be up to you.  I just know that non-countering decks that use creature control would be easier to deal with using Turn Aside given that it's one cheaper, but that should come down to what you're playing against.

My only reasoning for the Venser - Tamiyo swap was to avoid having one Venser in play with the other one stuck in your hand.  But more is normally better, so you can stick with that (I personally like going to 65 cards as opposed to 60 as I'm sure you've noticed).

For Tempered Steel it's a take it or leave it card.  If things go correctly, you can deal with things like Curse of Death's Hold and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.  Remember that the key to the deck is flickering and exiling things.  If you're wanting to be more competitive, why not use Sundial of the Infinite?  Sure it's a dick move for casual play with friends, but then you can use both Glimmerpoint Stag AND Oblivion Ring to take out their stuff.  Shape Anew would still yield a game changing card no matter what, with Sundial letting you exile their stuff, Emperion being both an 8/8 AND preventing your life total from changing, and Blightsteel giving you an 11/11 trample-infect.  Sounds like you can't lose any way it plays out.  OR, you can leave the Tempered Steel out with the knowledge that Venser's often forgotten second ability wins the game as soon as the Colossus can attack.

I'm saddened to see the majority of your flickering stuff moved to the sideboard sadGhostly Flicker is essential to this being a real flickering deck and not just another deck built around Venser.  The thought of flickering Venser or something else important while Elspeth Tirel destroys all the other nontoken, nonland permanents is pretty funny too.  To that end, there's no reason Venser couldn't flicker himself, right?

1,255

(19 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Obviously "Control" includes a LOT of possibilities.  Could you be more specific what you struggled against?

As far as counterspells and the like are concerned, based on what you said I would imagine you'll benefit more from Turn Aside than Mana Leak or Negate.  I like how Shape Anew works for you here as Blightsteel Colossus is the only artifact there.  I would suggest adding Platinum Emperion in the place of one Colossus, as then they REALLY need to focus on removal to even try to beat you (and it's standard legal through October).  Considering the amount of flickering you have, it should be relatively easy to protect one creature, especially with the addition of Turn Aside

Also, if you're sitting on a Tamiyo, you might as well give her a shot in place of one of the Vensers.  After all, you can't have both Vensers out there and you might as well make them think twice regarding which planeswalker they want to focus on.

I can see where Tempered Steel could help, but 3/3 creatures en masse aren't easy to deal with on their own.  There's definitely no need for Levitation as you already have flying defense/offense with Wingcrafter and Wing SplicerDay of Judgement could be fun, but only if you manage to flicker your important creatures when it hits.

I'm anxious to hear how this continues to play out as you already know my Power Bill deck is similar (although still under construction as I'm getting the remaining cards).

I think the biggest problem here is that there isn't any real direction.  You're sitting on 55 different cards across four colors.  What combo(s) were you wanting to focus on?  Do you have any input on the types of decks that you face during this mad block of multiplayer games?  Whatever guidance you can offer will help the rest of us so that we can make informed suggestions (otherwise you're really just asking us to make a deck for you...).

1,257

(27 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

First off, I'm with imsully on Avacyn's Pilgrim over the Llanowar Elves.  However, to be honest, I would drop either in favor of Abundant Growth, as it doesn't help the mana ramping, but helps you draw cards and can allow you to use ANY land for any color, so then if you get six of any land, you should be set to go.  I'd also find a way to include Wingcrafter to be able to make your creatures flying (even if it comes at the cost of Squadron Hawk).  Then you have the flying defense but also can generate flying offense.  The one thing I'm concerned about here is the fact that outside of Sovereigns of Lost Alara, if you don't draw Eldrazi Conscription in the first few turns, you really don't have much going on.  Perhaps you could build in a few larger creatures or some other means to ensure that you can remain competitive.  Lastly, while you have a means to make your creatures hexproof, remember that they're still free to target an enchantment on said hexproof creature.

For Cranberries, I've actually tried a copy of this deck myself with quite limited results if you start adding other cards.  While Endless Ranks of the Dead helps to generate more zombies, it could easily kill the deck's momentum, such that if you don't have another Treasure Hunt in hand, you could be up the creek for 10+ turns.  I would actually suggest including two Elixir of Immortality and taking out the Endless Ranks.  Also, how many turns are you willing to mulligan to get the right hand for this deck?  I've had to go three or four times before I have a hand with anything good.

For Land Hate, I get that it's someone else's deck design so I understand if you can't really explain the full reasoning the other person had, but I'm curious both what the win condition and typical expected play are.  I have a land destruction deck as well, but mine operates mono-red with Meekstone, Circle of Flame, Vulshok Sorcerer, Lightning Bolt, Cerebral Eruption, and a few others meant to stall the opponents' options until the land destruction really gets going.  Those can buy a LOT of valuable time since land destruction doesn't really start going until you have three or four mana at your disposal.  I do like Invader Parasite though and would recommend looking into expanding beyond Standard format.  Dual Casting and Pyromancer Ascension would also work wonders here as you can take out two lands with each spell, as opposed to only one and waiting for Charmbreaker Devils to get the spells back.  Lastly, Pillage and Stone Rain are definitely good for land destruction decks.  Check out mine at http://deckbox.org/sets/142613 and feel free to ask anything you want if it will help yours out.

Lastly, for the R/W Humans, just a few thoughts.  First, this is screaming for Mentor of the Meek, Thraben Doomsayer, Commander's Authority, and Elixir of Immortality.  The Mentors will let you rip through the deck very quickly while both the Doomsayers and Authorities will pop out added creatures (while also helping the Mentors let you cut through the deck).  Elixir will let you stay alive until you can overpower the enemy while also letting you recycle your spells.  It will give you life gain that allows you to remove Alabaster Mage.  I'll again second imsully on including another Cathars' Crusade, trust me when I say this will help make the creatures dangerous, and fast.  I'd also suggest Mad Prophet as he's another human who will help you burn through the deck, but that's up to you to decide on.

Best luck!

1,258

(5 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

That is just SICK.  I didn't even know Earthcraft was out there.  That makes the squirrel deck into a possible 4th turn kill even in multiplayer formats.  Sure it's about $10 per Earthcraft, but I can see where picking up two of them wouldn't be that bad (especially when some people out there are dropping $100 for a dual land...).

Thanks on that front!  Any other thoughts?  Do you run a similar squirrel deck?

1,259

(5 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

So here's one of my current favorite decks that I've put together.  It's based on token generation, and a LOT of it.  I know the most glaring problem at the moment is flying defense (for which I will be getting a Spidersilk Armor or two).  But I'm open to whatever other suggestions anyone might have.  And yes, one of the pre-requisites of this deck is that you bring a calculator wink.

http://deckbox.org/sets/133527

At current there are numerous win strategies. 

1) Dump a ton of squirrels via Squirrel Nest, Chatter of the Squirrel, Acorn Harvest and Deranged Hermit to simply overrun the enemy.  I'm sure many of you have seen squirrel decks and the threat of 15-20 squirrels is nasty, but when you throw in Parallel Lives (PL for future reference) things get messy and fast (Nevermind when you have two or three of them out - that's right, with two of them each tap of the Squirrel Nest gives you FOUR of the nutty li'l bastards.  Parallel Evolution triples your squirrels with only one PL out, and will make six-times your squirrels with two PLs).

2) Follow strategy above but use either Squirrel Mob, Adaptive Automaton, Deranged Hermit, or Coat of Arms to make the squirrels BIGGER than anything else on the battlefield.  Rampaging ensues.

3) Play for a stalemate while pumping out millions of the fuzzballs.  Then drop Epic Struggle and laugh at the fact that it needs only 20 creatures for you to win.  20?! What is this? Amateur hour?

4) Go about the above routes, but throw a Lure on a creature and laugh while their perfect defense chases one squirrel while the others go to town.

Lastly, for anyone who doesn't see it, one of the best squirrel generators is to enchant a creature in the deck with both Druid's Call and Lure, attack, let it get smashed, but then regenerate it with either Asceticism or Swarmyard.  Even without Parallel Lives in play, I've seen my gf pop out over 65 squirrels in a single turn this way.

Anyway, I'm open to thoughts on what should be considered either for the sideboard or even to change things up.

1,260

(27 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Glad to hear things are working!

I see the error in my ways to begin with, as I simply assumed that an online/electronic version of the game would track your cards automatically.

I'm with mbknight on this, just go get the real cards (going outside and actually seeing other people is good for you wink ).

I'm not seeing where what you've proposed isn't already incorporated into this site.  You can enter your inventory here, make decks, search for cards, prices are already pulled from tgcplayer, you can setup trades, and then when agreed trade through the site (it even changes your inventory automatically when the trade is finished).

So what exactly does your "deckbox.org online" do that isn't already here?

1,263

(6 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

And I've found the answer to my own question...

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=305124

So I would actually be able to let loose a bear-induced mill storm mid-combat phase by sacking the attacking creatures to Altar of Dementia... good times!

Realistically, I don't know that the mana are such a problem.  The curve is pretty far down on the low end if you think about it, with only five cards in the whole deck coming in at four or more mana.  To that end, the purpose of Mana Short is to be played as soon as the enemy tries to cast something to ensure that a Vodalian Mage, Mana Leak, or Broken Ambitions will be successful in countering the spell.  It's a little bit of a gimmick, but not only does it ensure that their spell is countered, but that their turn effectively ends there.  I can see where Force Spike could prove useful, but that's the ability of the Vodalian Mage (henceforth referred to as VM), so I'd rather keep Mana Leak for a more surefire counter spell when they might have one or two mana leftover (as opposed to needing to use the VM AND a Force Spike to get the same effect.  (I should note that it's actually been quite difficult to figure out how to cut down the number of cards in this beast, as there are soooooo many good ways to take it.)

For Cursecatcher, I can see where that's nice, but then you're sacking a creature for a Force Spike or even just VM's ability.

I can see where Aquitect's Will is nice on the points that it is both cheaper (one is better than two for once!) and will, in most likelihood, have me draw a card.  However, where it falls short is that the land is still considered its original type in addition to being an island.  One of the beauties of Phantasmal Terrain is that the land can no longer be used for it's original color (or colors if you're enough of a dick to cast it on a dual).  In cases where people are running two or three color decks, not only does Phantasmal Terrain help me out, it can put a big ole monkey wrench in their gears (unless they're running blue, at which point I don't need it for islandwalk and can just screw with their mana base).

Faces of the Past is sick and would TOTALLY speed up Drowner of Secrets' milling goodness.  I will have to pick one up for that.

The thought on Jace Beleren comes from two points.  First, he's two cheaper to play out, meaning that he fits the scheme of this deck and it's low cost much better.  Second, I only have one Jace, Memory Adept and he's currently slotted for my "Double Rainbow" Eldrazi deck (and I'd like to think both decks can be played at the same time or against one another, although Kozilek, Butcher of Truth going to the graveyard would certainly screw up that whole milling thing wouldn't it?).

Jace's Erasure and Traumatize are both nice and have been added.  Drop two curses, add one of each, now they're losing cards when I draw, when they cast a spell, each of their upkeeps, etc... and if things go too long, I can drop Traumatize on them and finish the job with Keening Stone (nice find there!).

Lastly, Murkfiend Liege would be nice, but really, that's just adding more whipped cream to an already diabetic-coma inducing sundae isn't it?

1,265

(6 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

But I have a question that I'm not seeing in the WotC Bear Umbra rulings. 

A hypothetical scenario:  You have two creatures that both have the Umbra.  You tap all your lands for whatever shenanigans you want prior to the combat phase.  Then you attack with both creatures that both have the Umbra.  You untap your lands as a result of one creature with the Umbra attacking.  But could you tap the lands for mana and add those to your pool between the two Umbra effects resolving?  Then you would add X to your mana pool, where X is what is produced when you tap all your lands, and the second Umbra would untap them again for you to be able to tap again (essentially giving you a total of 3X mana in one turn).  If not, you're just untapping everything that's already untapped, which would be a bummer.

Thoughts?

1,266

(6 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

I hadn't thought of Library of Leng, as that would certainly fix the problem I would have there.  I've tacked two in place of the Muraganda Petroglyphs.  While the Petroglyphs would pump up the bear tokens, so will Door of Destinies and the whole idea is to overwhelm them with a TON of bears or mill them via Altar of Dementia, not to build some 50/50 bear that will squish them.

I've also thrown a pair of Spidersilk Armor into the sideboard.  I don't know that I need to worry about flying as it's seldom you come across a deck where everything is flying (although I have a few).  In those cases I can easily sub in the Spidersilk and Katabatic Winds.  Yes, you need a pair of Katabatic's out to really stop flyers, but to even have one out means that half of your opponent's turns they can't do jack with their flyers.  And, given the rate with which I believe this deck will be drawing cards (thank you Fecundity!), getting a second one wouldn't be a problem.

I think the thing I'm most proud of here is that I've actually created a green mill deck while including the cuteness that is Bear Cub... who else can say they've done that?

So I've talked up the Trepanation Blade and Keening Stone combo, but after some added playtesting, I've found that it doesn't fit in my discard deck.  So that means it's time to make a mill deck; but I want to venture outside the norm.  I'd also wanted to pair up Seasinger, Lord of Atlantis, some merfolky goodness and Phantasmal Terrain.  So here's what I've come up with thus far.  I'm open to thoughts, but I don't want to deviate from the merfolk too much if possible.

http://deckbox.org/sets/183377

I'm also thinking Mana Short will work quite well with Mana Leak, Broken Ambitions, and even Vodalian Mage.  Pair that with Lullmage Mentor and I should be able to produce some merfolk tokens and be able to counter a fairly good amount of what the opponent is trying to do.

Merrow Commerce works wonders with both Lullmage Mentor and Drowner of Secrets.  There's not much better than being able to tap my merfolk to either counter your spells or to make you mill a bunch of cards off your deck.

Then to top things off, either cast directly or via Seahunter, Wanderwine Prophets will light the enemy up to give me added turns with Merfolk Sovereign making them unblockable, or via islandwalk thanks to Lord of Atlantis and Phantasmal Terrain.

Given the mill nature of the deck I've considered Hedron Crab and even Ghostly Flicker to trigger landfall a bunch, but I don't know whether I want to go down that path.

I'm open to thoughts/suggestions.  Also, for your listening pleasure and to set the mood for the deck... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsnbYXyP … re=related

1,268

(16 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

There's no need to apologize.  If you like a deck idea, you're welcome to run with it.

I'd considered Conjurer's Closet for my flicker deck, but at a cost of five and only being able to target creatures, there are just better options to flicker things.  Further, with the Deadeye Navigator or even Nephalia Smuggler you can flicker something more than once.  So while I can see the appeal of the Closet, I don't know that it works for the deck I'm putting together.  Then again, playtesting might reveal you're spot on.

Since your goal is to permanently exile enemy creatures, you need to include Sundial of the Infinite.  I was unaware that you could use it to clear out things that are already on the stack to be resolved, but apparently you can.  Meaning that if you have an Oblivion Ring targeting a creature, you can exile Oblivion Ring and then end the turn with Sundial and it prevents their creature from ever coming back (although I think it would cost you the Ring because their creature would come back before the Ring would return to play), but if put together with Temporal Adept that returns the permanent to your hand, I can see where it would work.

Personally, since I'm typically playing casually, I'm not that worried about standard vs non-standard format.  Then if you're going non-standard, I REALLY have to advocate for the Roil Elemental.  You can either rock a land locator like Primeval Titan/Kor Cartographer to bring more land out to trigger the landfall ability, or just flicker lands via Venser or Ghostly Flicker.

I dig all the Golem token generation, but I'm also a fan of Geist-Honored Monk because each flicker makes two flyers.  Also, if you're on the flickering train, you should definitely consider Cathars' Crusade.

Anyway, I hope it works for you.  I'm anxious to hear whether it's successful or not.

1,269

(5 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

The revised version of the creature removal deck looks solid.

For Enchant This, it looks good in general, but I can see where a few edits might be warranted. 

First, you only have 12 creatures, what happens if your creatures get blown up?  To that end, Asceticism would work wonders here.  It still generates +1/+1 for the Yavimaya Enchantress and +2/+2 for Ancestral Mask while ensuring that your creatures don't get blasted by simple removal spells.

Second, given that so many of your pumping enchantments are based on how many forests you have in play, you need some means by which to get forests out faster.  I'm thinking Rites of Flourishing as it will speed up the game, let you put two (or more if you have more than one out) lands down per turn and will just help speed the game up for you.

Third, I would recommend Verduran Enchantress as she will help you draw more cards.  Remember that victories can come from the degree to which you're able to keep cards coming into your hand while your opponents are sitting there top-decked.

Fourth, to speed things up a bit more, I'd suggest putting Bear Umbra into the mix.  The beauty there is that when a creature with it attacks, it untaps all your mana, meaning that you can play all you want on the front end, attack, and then dump more out after combat.  When paired with the Verduran Enchantress, that would work wonders.

Lastly, as with most mono-green decks, you need some sort of a way to make the kill when they have a sizable defense.  If you presume for a moment that Aura Gnarlid is countered or killed all four times, then what?  The other creatures are blockable without too much trouble unless you put Rancor on them.  To that end, why not throw Lure in?  It will help divert the enemy's blockers while your other creatures waltz their way in to make the kill.

So how can you include all these cards and still stay around 60 cards?  First, don't be afraid to step up to 65 cards if need be, as 24 land should be sufficient (given that nothing costs more than five to play).  Also, if you knock your counts down to three of each, you'll generate some room to add the new cards.

I hope that works out for you.  Again, most of what I've suggested is above $0.50 per card, so you should be able to swing them pretty easily.  (I think Asceticism is the only one worth more than that, and one or two of them would be sufficient).

1,270

(5 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Okay, so with the new deck I've taken a look and I really think you're too scattered.  Normally the best decks figure out 1-3 solid combos and then build around them.  When you have 25 distinct cards in a 60 card deck, that means you're not likely to see the same card very often (which is problematic if you need a particular pairing to win the game).  You've found some interesting cards that I wasn't aware of that could work wonders with some of the newer cards that have come out with AVR.

First off, you stated a fear that you have too few creatures.  I've seen some really good decks that can operate off of that many or fewer, it's just a question of how they're utilized and how you envision winning the game.  Given the current layout of your deck, I'm not seeing a clear win condition, just a lot of removal and countering to bother your opponent.  In a typical game, how do you envision winning?  The largest creature you have is a 4/4.  Beyond that the only real offensive weapon I'm seeing is Control Magic.  What if they counter Control Magic or otherwise deal with Ashling?  Then what?

So here are some suggestions.  I'll avoid any cards that are too pricey as you never want to drop $50 for a deck you hate to play. 

1) You can work Nekrataal via flickering (or briefly exiling and then returning to play).  So I would advise some Ghostly Flicker, Nephalia Smuggler, or perhaps best of all Deadeye Navigator or Conjurer's Closet.  In any of those cases you can flicker Nekrataal and when he returns to play his ability triggers again, meaning you're making them drop their creatures.  This would also require you to pick up another Nekrataal or two. 

2) Flickering will also work with Gravedigger and Parasitic Strix.  This means you could also drop down to one or two Gravedigger (as a four drop 2/2 isn't very good) and put the added Strixes in there.

3) Since the main thing going here is creature removal, Blood Artist would be good fun here.  So would Deathgreeter.  Then you're getting even more benefit out of their creatures dying.

4) You should work around Ashling, the Extinguisher as a central piece.  If you're really out to make them lose all of their defenses, you need her to do some work.  So you could pair her with Artful Dodge to slide on through their defenses for a hit (and causing them to drop their favorite creature).  You could also work with Wingcrafter to give Ashling flight to make it that much more threatening.

5) For the spells you have, you really don't need that much counter magic.  To the extent you have those in there, you should increase the number of spells up from one to two or three.  So, more specifically, I'd lose the Unsummon, Oppressive Will, Remove Soul, Mana Leak (I know that's MTG blasphemy) and Snakeform.  You could then add more Boomerang.  Sitting with four Counterspell and four Cancel should be sufficient to disrupt anyone's plans, further, unlike Mana Leak those two can't simply be paid for to negate.

7) Bone Splinters works as long as you're ready/willing to lose a creature too.  That's fine if you want to work with Raise Dead or Gravedigger.  If that's the case, I'd use something like Tragic Slip over the normal black removal spells, as it doesn't have the "nonblack" or "nonartifact" requirements those do.

Anyway, the resulting deck would look something like this:

http://deckbox.org/sets/182559

The best part, nothing I added is more than $0.50 with a TOTAL deck value of less than $20.

As always, these are just suggestions, but I'd wager you could get some pretty consistent play out of this and it would be frustrating as hell to play against wink.  Best of luck!

1,271

(27 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Now for your green deck...

I'm liking the deathtouch spread throughout the deck, but I'm not really seeing the multiplayer win condition.  Normally green's strength is to mana ramp and either dump 5,000 creatures to overwhelm the enemy or one HUGE one to overpower anything in your way.  Again, I'm liking the deathtouch creatures and the lures, but I'm not seeing where you have any options if you don't have at least one Lure and deathtouch.  But I have a few questions.

First, why Birds of Paradise?  They help generate mana and are definitely flexible if you're trying to splash some other colors in, but for mono-green, why not just rock Llanowar Elves?  You could use the Birds in another deck or otherwise unload them for something more useful like a Primordial Hydra.

Second, is Lumberknot the only real power play here?  What if he were to be countered or wiped out with a non-targeting ability, i.e., Massacre Wurm?  Then what?  Asceticism would help here, as you can regen your creatures while also protecting them from removal or most other effects.

Third, you have some anti-flying stuff here, which is good, but if you're not worried about sticking to extended format, green has the best anti-flying card out there in Katabatic Winds.  Sure the phasing means it won't be in effect every other turn, but that's why you have more than one.  If you play two out on alternate turns, creatures with flying are completely useless for the remainder of the game.

Fourth, I like Greenhilt Trainee, but as currently constructed, you only have two cards that will ever get him above the necessary power for more than one turn.  There are plenty of options here.  Bear Umbra is one sweet choice.  Trusted Forcemage won't quite get him there on his own, but could definitely help.  Hunger of the Howlpack is another good one if things are dying from the deathtouch creatures.

Lastly, as a thought, I saw you had Darksteel Plate in the Altered Knight deck.  Why not put those in here?  An indestructible, lured, deathtouch creature would be quite troublesome for your opponent(s).

1,272

(27 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

So for the rundown...

For playing multiplayer in general, and mind you I haven't been in more than three person games in years, but the real challenge is finding the balance between having a solid defense and still being able to affect the board.  If you have something INCREDIBLY powerful but that requires a combo that someone might spot, odds are you should setup the deck with a more defensive mindset, meaning more creature removal and blockers.  If someone spots you pulling out an infinite life combo, you'd better believe you'll be dead in the next turn or so; but if you have a solid enough defense, you can simply laugh it off, drop the bomb and win the game.  To that end, you likely will want to augment ALL of your decks depending on their key combo/standard and drawn-out win conditions.  Also, the degree to which you can figure out how to draw additional cards while your opponent still only gets one a turn is a MAJOR plus in multiplayer (via Well of Knowledge, Mad Prophet, or any of a wealth of other cards).

Captain America - I can see where it would work if you have it as a three color deck, but realistically, you should build the other colors in a bit more.  The problem with only having 2-3 cards from a color is that you ALWAYS (thanks to Murphy's Law) end up drawing the land for that color and are sitting there with mountains when you really need plains (or islands - to which point you still didn't say where the blue is coming from wink ).  You're right about Timely Reinforcements but if you're all bout human creation, Commander's Authority on a Thraben Doomsayer will work that out for you quite well.

Germans - First off, this deck is SCREAMING for Jace, Memory Adept to be included.  More importantly, here's where I'm talking about upping the defense.  If you put Keening Stone into play and your opponents have cards in their graveyards, you'd best get ready for it to hit the fan.  For blue I've found Guard Gomazoa to be among the most effective defenders at stalling the game, as he can block ANYTHING and it won't kill him or harm you.  Sadistic Sacrament can stay in and I'm sure you can find some other black removal or other things to help lighten their card load.  Gnat Miser is always a fun one.  Put that into play with 2-3 Howling Mine out and you can laugh as they're stuck discarding stuff left and right because their max hand size is down to three, while they're drawing more than that each turn.  However, as with any "everybody draws more cards" situation, it could easily backfire.  Actually, if you wanted to pull the black and go mono-blue, you have more options.  Prodigal Sorcerer/Zuran Spellcaster (or anything of the TIM family) would work beautifully with Mindcrank.  Lastly, Mirran Spy/Puppeteer/Stonybrook Anlger would be killer here as you can attack with whatever you want equipped with the Trepanation Blade, they drop how many cards, and then you untap the attacker before combat resolves to prevent your creature from getting killed.

Nightmare 2 - I hadn't realized that if you flicker Oblivion Ring and then end the turn with that effect.  When looking at the cards I don't think it would work, as whatever Oblivion Ring exiled is returned to play as soon as it leaves play, which means that before you would be able to end the turn, returning that card to play would be on the stack remaining to be resolved, then, in the same way that a Royal Assassin cannot cancel out a Prodigal Sorcerer, the effect would still have to be resolved.  If you can get a more solid ruling on that I'd be open to hear about it.

Screwed Up - The infinite life gain is clever, but you need four cards to pull it off.  If you're going to run that strategy I would say you should focus even more on defense.  You need to stall your opponents until you can get them all into the battlefield, so gaining life quickly via Martyr of Sands and Rest for the Weary is essential.   Then I would drop Lifelink for defenders who already have it, i.e., Seraph of Dawn.  You should save the Chalices until you've already passed the 30 mark, and then you'll be able to get that damage in quickly.  With Unwinding Clock you would be able to get 10 damage in before they could do anything to stop you.

Altered Knight - I definitely feel you here.  I've actually toyed with the idea of putting together a deck like this.   Again, you can either stress the flying defense or throw in Pacifism, Defang, or Recumbent Bliss.  Those would likely solve your problems too unless their entire deck is based on flying.

Spirits - You already have the black to flashback Lingering Souls via Shimmering Grotto.

Delver - yeah... Delvers and Snapcasters, yuck.

1,273

(27 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Alright, you'll have to forgive me for the lengthy response in advance, as there are seven decks to talk through here.  So with no further delay...

Captain America - I see what you did there with the red, white and blue.  Champion of the Parish is great and could be a monster when combined with the other humans entering the battlefield (especially with Cathars' Crusade) - Wingcrafter making it flying would also be nice.  But, I can see a number of problems with this one.  First, where do your blue mana come from?  Second, to the same end, does it really need the third color?  I get how the name works with it being three colors, but from a playing perspective, cutting it to just two colors would work wonders.  If you wanted to remove the red, Thatcher Revolt could be replaced with Timely Reinforcements that both produces human tokens that don't die at the end of the turn and it could possibly give you six life for the same cost.  Then, you can replace the Zealous Conscripts with Commander's Authority and even add another Cathars' Crusade to increase the likelihood you pull one.  Then at turn five, you're producing humans every turn that are pumping up your CotPs or everything else with Cathars' Crusade.  I can speak from experience that combo gets nasty REALLY fast.  Third, why the emphasis on flickering here?  Outside of Zealous Conscript and a few other counters for CotP, you really aren't getting as much benefit as you could.  I can see where some other spells, either for control or drawing, would be more effective here.  Fourth, I'm not a big fan of Fling, especially when all the creatures you have are so essential to the deck's functioning.  What would you fling?  One of the CotPs?  Why not just attack and keep him?  Anything smaller wouldn't really do any major damage.  If you're looking for removal, Pillar of Flame is a NICE choice - note the exiling part of it.  Lastly, and this is a theme I'll hammer on, outside of Wingcrafter bonding, where is the flyer defense?  Do you think that's enough?

Germans - I guess I can see where the deck name comes in, but that requires me to think of CoD Zombies...  I like these sorts of decks because then there isn't any way for the opponent to block.  The problem, however, is that you end up having to make them drop 60-70, which is certainly more to deal with than the 20 life you normally think about.   To offer a few thoughts based on a combo I run in my discard deck, I like working Trepanation Blade with Altar of Dementia and Keening Stone.  The idea is to take a swing with a creature, let Trepanation Blade do it's discarding damage.  Then you sack the creature before it loses that power boost to cause your opponent to drop that many more cards.  I've seen that combo result in somewhere around 10-15 cards being dropped in one fell swoop.  Then the real one you need will be Keening Stone which, as I'm sure you can imagine, snowballs VERY fast.  What I'm not seeing is why you have Vampire Hexmage in here?  Just to remove the undying counter from the Mindcrusher?  If so, why not run Power Conduit?  It's a bit dated, but it would let you remove as many of those counters as you want while also pumping up the other creatures.

Nightmare 2 - I'm seeing some familiar combos here wink, where is Roil Elemental?  I'm also not following why Sundial of the Infinite (and then Buried Ruin) are in here.  While I can see where you would try to end the turn before the Geist's angel goes away, combat is technically over once the opponent's turn starts, so that's no dice.  So if you can fill me in on that front, I'm curious.  My suggestions would probably be self-serving here to move you more toward my Power Bill deck, so I'll stop on this one, suffice to say I'm curious how well it plays.

Screwed Up - I like the pairing of Unwinding Clock and Chalice of Life.  I can see where that'd be, well, for lack of a better way to say it, a dick move.   You might want to consider adding Recumbent Bliss, Martyr of Sands, and perhaps most importantly, Cradle of Vitality.  Cradle is SICK as any creature with lifelink can double in size for only two mana, all while you're still gaining life.  When paired with the other life gaining things you have in there, you can definitely see where you can make your creatures grow quickly.  I actually won a very drawn out multiplayer game because of Cradle paired with Felidar Sovereign, as the vigilance and lifelink let me attack, keeping a blocker while gaining life and doubling the Sovereign each turn with the Cradle.  I would actually suggest that you drop the Leonin Relic-Warder and Fiend Hunter for some sort of flying defense (see it came up again wink ) like Kemba's Skyguard and something else directed toward life gain like Soul's Attendant.

Altered Knight - Why have the red even in the deck if it's only for three cards?  Why not just switch to mono-white?  I'll be a stickler here too, but again, what about the opposing flyers?  I see Leonin Skyhunter, but what if they remove those?  Then you're up the creek, right?  There are a number of white flying knights available (I'm digging Skyhunter Prowler or Skyhunter Skirmisher, or for a good laugh with your friends, Ladies' Knight wink).

Spirit U/W - I know it's been done to death, but it's almost required to have Lingering Souls in here, isn't it?  Shimmering Grotto already splashes in a few black to flash it back, otherwise you could just live with it coming out once and being gone (or using another card to get it back, i.e., Elixir of Immortality, which you have in the deck already).  Some of those Adaptive Automatons you have in Altered Knight could work in here too.  I should note that this is the first deck I've seen that has a means of combatting getting top-decked.  I'm a big fan of Call to the Kindred in single creature subtype decks.

Delver - Really?  C'mon man.  Delver has been done to death by everyone.  It might work, but I'd suggest blowing it up out of spite.  If you were really going to stick to it, I would recommend centering around Runechanter's Pike and unblockable creatures like Invisible Stalker, Phantom Warrior, or even Blighted Agent.  I think that would be far more amusing than just another Delver deck.  But that's just my two cents.

Alrighty then, I've written about three pages here, so I'll shut up.  I hope some of those suggestions help.  As I'm sure you already know, playtest, playtest, playtest.  Unless you're copying someone else's deck, there's no way to know if my ideas are any better than yours.  Also, poor green and black feel neglected.

1,274

(16 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

I can see where Wall of Denial could prove useful, but one of the beautiful things of flickering is that you can declare a blocker, have them block, and then flicker the creature before damage is dealt, making it unnecessary to put such a solid blocker out there.  I might sideboard it though, as I can definitely see where it could save your ass from time to time.  Thanks!

1,275

(16 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

@Hellnikko - there's no need to worry, any advice is good advice.  Putting a few heads together is always better than just one.  That aside, I'm with you in thinking that both decks will need some extensive playtesting.

For the Psychic Hotline, I definitely hear ya on the 4x of the good stuff, as that's how I used to play.  I've started learning that you need a LOT more versatility in today's game or you end up finding decks that will just outright DESTROY you.  For instance, it used to be that if you put together a crazy creature ramping green deck, you just had to consider flyers.  Now you also have to consider the wealth of mass removal/board clearing effects out there (I remember when Wrath of God and Nevinyrral's Disk were all you had to worry about).  That aside, I'm mostly just going off what I found to be successful in the draft games (admittedly not representative of constructed, but still).  I too thought Moonlight Geist's ability was far too expensive, but if you think about it, it's a three-cost 2/1 flyer that can neutralize the enemy's strongest creature for four (who cares if it has trample either!).  I'm also sold on  Seraph of Dawn because it becomes a GREAT blocker when bonded with the Hanweir Lancer, 2/4 flying, lifelink, first strike?  Yes please.  Lastly, Zealous Strike is one of those simple little cards that nobody thinks about, at least not until they go attacking or blocking with that smug look on their face just waiting to get it wiped off wink.  If you (or anyone else) have suggestions for things that would be more effective I welcome the input.  I can see where this deck will be pesky, but by no means unbeatable and can imagine plenty of scenarios where I will get killed in constructed play.  I think this deck has some good things, but I'm not entirely sure about the long game win condition and such.  It has, however, opened my eyes to the beauty that is Elixir of Immortality as you can stop caring whether you dropped a card you like, because you'll just cycle through to get it later.

For the Power Bill, I hear you that Nephalia Smuggler is expensive, but it gives me a cheaper, more reliable way to ensure some flickering will take place.  I'm open to working him out if there were another means of flickering outside of Cloudshift and Ghostly Flicker.  Perhaps I'll work those toward another Mnemonic Wall or something to that effect.  For the Kor Cartographer and Roil Elemental, I'm glad you like the combo, but to be honest, I was thinking of the Cartographer just to get enough mana to make everything work.  The real strength of the Roil Elemental is if you Ghostly Flicker two of your lands, as it can target any permanent you control.  The result is that, if you play a land that turn as well, you end up triggering landfall three times in one turn and taking three of their critters (which is a win in my books wink ).  I'm definitely becoming a fan of Venser and hope to see him drop in price so I can pick up a few more to make sure I would draw him.  The idea of taking their stuff and then making them unblockable sounds just maddening to me, I cannot imagine being on the receiving end of that. 

The idea behind Journey to Nowhere is just to add another creature removal.  The beauty being that it's an enchantment, so you can flicker it too and choose a new target.  That and it's a TON cheaper than Oblivion Ring or Path to Exile.

Anyway, thanks for the thoughts.  I'll definitely consider yanking the Sunblast and Enforcers.  I could put another Roil in there to ensure that hilarity will ensue.

I'll also be happy to help out with your decks when you get them up.

Cheers!