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Deckbox Forum » Posts by TyWooOneTime
@naviguessor: I normally try to make a reference to what's going on in the deck or make something fun about the title... thanks for the props
@tawnos: No rush man. I'm just curious why it looks like you and I are the only ones offering comments for decks... I thought the idea of being part of a community like this is to get ideas you might not have thought up to make the decks more effective/fun/competitive/whatever.
Nobody has any thoughts on either one?...
A few thoughts.
First off, you're completely correct that you're sitting on too much land here. For a 60-65 card deck you should realistically be sitting at 20-24 lands (you could go up to 26-28 but only if you're fully ready to be land-flooded).
Okay, so onto the other issues.
I'm confused as per to why you've decided to make an entire deck centered around the morphing ability, but I can understand theme decks, so why not. But I'm not seeing the win condition here. Based on the cards you currently have in the deck, what is the typical strategy? What do you do if the game gets drawn out say 10-15 turns and your creatures can't get through? What would you do if you ran into a bunch of flyers? I think you really need to sit down and think about how you would actually envision the deck winning on a regular basis and once you have an idea what the goal is, you should be able to find several other cards to pick up that will make a LOT more sense (I know you didn't want to buy more, but Deckbox is a great place to trade or even just find cards that would be helpful - and thankfully you can pick up most cards for the low-end prices via TGCPlayer if you decide to purchase them).
I'm guessing this is mostly for casual play, correct?
So I partook in my first booster draft in 15 years the other day and actually managed to win the thing (go figure) using the following deck:
http://deckbox.org/sets/179111
I used the winnings to pick up the Venser vs. Koth Duel Decks which has spurred on a few new ideas to try. I would love any feedback anyone can provide.
The first is a constructed transformation of my draft deck. The engine that really makes this deck work is Mad Prophet who will let me cycle through cards much more quickly than normally. Reforge the Soul also helps if I've spent down to only one or two cards. Otherwise the idea is just to burn through the deck quickly, play out lots of critters and even if they die, you recycle the graveyard with Elixir of Immortality and you use Mad Prophet to burn back through it again. It will likely see primarily casual play, but given that it's actually Standard, FNM isn't out of the question. I'm definitely open to any input here.
http://deckbox.org/sets/179397
The second deck takes advantage of the wonderful "flickering" that AVR has introduced to us. The real idea here is to be able to flicker EVERYTHING and get some benefit out of it - whether it be life gain via Cathedral Sanctifier, unsummony goodness via Aether Adept, spirit creation via Geist-Honored Monk, or just scrying through my deck to ensure I get what I want via Augury Owl. There are a variety of big plays to make here. First, I could simply have Venser, the Sojourner drop his emblem and then I exile all my opponents' stuff (simple enough, right?). Second, I can blow up all their creatures with Gideon's Lawkeeper and a flickering Sunblast Angel. A third option is to simply overpower the enemy with the Geist-Honored Monk and the spirits getting pumped via Cathar's Crusade, with each flicker of the Monk yielding +3/+3 counters all around. Lastly, if all else fails or if a creature is really appealing Roil Elemental lets me steal their creatures as I can flicker my lands and trigger landfall numerous times a turn with Venser or Ghostly Flicker. Even if they try to kill the Roil Elemental, I can flicker him and then just go back to taking their critters again. As an added bonus, flickering Mnemonic Wall serves as a blue Charmbreaker Devils but with the luxury of picking what I want to cycle back. This will also likely see mostly casual play, but any feedback is welcome.
Great to see things up and running again! Thanks for all the work you guys do!
This looks significantly improved, but you can still tinker with it a bit here and there. Zombie Master works well with the Nested Ghouls and Zuran Spellcaster, as you don't care if you kill the Nested, since you can just regenerate it.
I would suggest taking Skaab Goliath out in exchange for another Zuran and Endless Ranks. Consider the casting cost of six for the Goliath, sure it gives you a 6/9 creature, but what does that really accomplish? The real strength of the deck from what I can see is the ability to produce a LOT of zombies (mostly tokens) and then fling them at your opponent with no regard for whether they live or die because you have Diregraf Captain on the battlefield. To that end, the only thing you would need the Goliath for is to deal with trample, as you're not looking to overpower their defenses as much as you're trying to overwhelm them.
I would again suggest changing out Reap the Seagraf with Moan of the Unhallowed, but you should playtest to see how things work out on that front. I prefer the deck being a touch slower with Moan because it gives you two zombies instead of one, especially with Endless Ranks of the Undead, that can be the difference between getting enough zombies to overwhelm them and coming up one attacker short.
Have you considered picking up Undead Warchief? Not necessary by any means but he can help speed up the deck and pumps up the zombies in the process. I don't think they're that expensive if you shop around on TGC.
Three more thoughts.
First, many of the non-basic lands you're using really just aren't worth it. Sure they have a few quirks here or there that could be of use, but for the most part, putting a land into play tapped is a MAJOR pain that can screw up the flow of a deck. You don't want to find yourself spending more than one turn where you're not putting more zombies into play, otherwise you'll likely come up short (unless they take that turn off too). Second, given the importance of getting the Diregraf Captains out, you would benefit from some more islands or some additional dual lands (I know they're not cheap, so changing the non-basics out for islands might be your best bet). To this end, I ran four hand simulations and in two of them I was stuck needing blue mana with none in sight. Lastly, I can see where Divination could come in handy, but realistically, this deck doesn't have any mana ramping and is unlikely to be putting more than one or two cards out a turn until relatively late in the game. If you're worried about getting decked, you can spend about $3 and pick up a Howling Mine and then offset whatever speed you're adding to the opponent with Rooftop Storm as your trump card.
I'll leave it up to you to playtest and see what works best for you. I hope these help.
Just mark those as the only three colors you want in the advanced search filter for color and it will give you all three of those cards.
Okay, change of course here. By adding Fecundity the Words of Wilding have just created an almost never ending loop of bears. Win for a never-ending creature loop.
I've also put Conjurer's Closet in to work with Caller of the Claw to ensure that at any point if your actual bears (the non-token ones) die, you will get tokens to replace them. So that's a win too.
Now I'm looking at the challenge that might arise with Creeping Renaissance, namely that you end up with 10-15 cards in hand. You can definitely discard them and get them back later, but c'mon, that's wasting more bears. So my question is as follows: Is there an artifact or green card that will allow you to easily return cards from your hand to your deck? Given the fact Fecundity is now in the deck, you won't have trouble drawing a lot. So even if it's putting things on the bottom of the library, that would work.
Thoughts?
So I've been toying with the idea of making a bear themed deck and see some serious promise here for a pretty quick green deck, but I had a few ideas that I'm still trying to sort out.
First off, the current build of the deck can be found at: http://deckbox.org/sets/173755
The primary idea obviously is that all of the bears are cheap, relatively decently sized creatures. You play them out with a vengeance and they can pump up with the Muraganda Petroglyphs, Overrun, Garruk Wildspeaker, Hunger of the Howlpack, Giant Growth, etc. None of this is a surprise.
The real clincher here is how the bears are all expendable, which I'll openly admit from a player who hasn't logged as much time using the newer sets as many of you out there, seems almost blasphemous. I still remember the days when a 5/5 creature meant you were going to win the game (my how the times are a changin'). BUT, given the Primal Surge, Bearscape, Words of Wilding, and Creeping Renaissance, I'll gladly trade my bears for whatever you have on the board.
But I have a few dilemmas.
First, I can see where flying is clearly a problem for this deck, BUT, if you do things right, you should be able to force the opponent to keep their flyers back to defend. I can see where a pair of Katabatic Winds would be a welcome addition, but those could easily be put into the sideboard. Thoughts there would be welcomed.
Second, I have an interesting combo with Caller of the Claw and Altar of Dementia, where you're free to sacrifice all the bears you have on the board and then simply replace them with bear tokens without any pause. Then you could repeat the process with the tokens after you use Creeping Renaissance to get the original bears back from the graveyard. But is this the best use? I looked through all the sets for other ways to sacrifice creatures en masse with little luck. Any thoughts here? Ashnod's Altar also would let me sack creatures en masse, but then what do I do with all the mana that will produce?
Third, I'm not sure about the killing stroke. I'm thinking a Craterhoof Behemoth might make for another killing stroke (in addition to sending 20+ bears with an Overrun. Is there another easy option?
Fourth, given that practically everything in the deck only cost 5 or less, do I need to input any sort of mana ramping beyond Werebear?
As always, I welcome any/all comments. Thanks!
I was thinking of trying for some dual lands for black and white to help make sure I have the right colors all the time, but damn they're pricey. Is it because of Sorin or why are those duals more than pretty much any other color combo?
So now that I'm getting back into playing on a more regular basis and will likely start attending some AVR drafts, I wanted to put together a black and white angels and demons deck that I can assemble over time through the drafts.
What I have thus far can be found here: http://deckbox.org/sets/170499
I'm thinking the mana-curve is far too slow. I've included Gideon's Lawkeeper, Royal Assassin, and Thraben Doomsayer in the hopes of generating fodder humans and otherwise providing some deterrents to slow the game down until I can play one of the many angels or demons that would turn the tables in my favor.
I'm thinking the deck really needs some sort of mana acceleration (which there aren't much of for white) or additional control spells, but those would come at the cost of removing some of the angelic or demony goodness.
Thoughts?
If you're ever worried about the cost of something, just check around online. It's nice to support your local shops, but not if they're marking things up that much.
If you do the math it's really no contest. Roughly $100 for a box, that's 36 packs with 36 rares, 72-108 uncommons (you're likely to get at least value for the box in rares). The fat-packs, at roughly $30-35 are only 9 packs (no guarantees you don't end up with about $15 in rares for a $30 purchase).
Sure you get all the promo stuff in a fat pack. But kass is dead on, unless you value all that other whatnot, the card value is a no brainer. You would need to buy four fat-packs to pull the same number of packs, so you'd be out an additional $20 for the same number of cards (unless you're in dire need of lands...).
If you're trying to stay on the cheaper end of things, then you could add another Nested Ghoul and two Prodigal Sorcerer, then you would guarantee to be pumping out at least two more zombies a turn by that point. I've also found Bubbling Muck to be REALLY useful in getting the bigger things out faster.
Oh I'm all for the swampwalk too, I have one in my current build. But I'm thinking about taking him out given that he's a "lord" and not a zombie, so he doesn't get any of the bonuses and that slot would be much better filled with a Death Baron in BMW's deck. It also means if you put Call to the Grave in, you'll end up having to sacrifice him.
So I'll openly admit that I'm running a mono black zombie deck (can be seen at http://deckbox.org/sets/133532), but I had a few thoughts.
First, I'm curious what type of playing the deck does the deck see? Casual? Or are we talking about possible competitive play? Are you willing to spend a bit to upgrade it?
Second, I'm in agreement with Thrifband about the Cemetery Reaper, but not as much about the Zombie Master. I've noticed the Zombie Master really doesn't end up helping that much, especially with Endless Ranks of the Undead which renders all the zombies expendable. To the extent that you're willing to spend to pick up a Death Baron or Lord of the Undead you get another +1/+1 effect with some added bonuses. Trust me when I say things get mean when you're generating 5-10 tokens a turn and they all have deathtouch.
I would drop the Reap the Seagraf in place of three Moan of the Unhallowed. Yes, the casting cost is one more and the flashback is two more, BUT, you get double the zombies. If you do the math, to get four zombie tokens out of the Reaps, you would need to spend 16 and need to cast, and flashback, two of them. Comparatively, the Moans will pull that off for only 11 and you only need one.
I'm not seeing much sense for the Preordain if there's only the one. Even if you had one more that would make it a more consistent and useful card.
Soulless One is a definite must have, as they become VERY big, VERY fast. I would replace the Unbreathing Horde with those if possible. Also Call to the Grave can be plain out sick as everyone else is dropping creatures while you're sitting there letting the horde grow. Pair that with Grimoire of the Dead (which you can discard zombies for as you'll get them back soon enough) and you have just one more NASTY combo that can easily decide a game (no matter how many opponents you're looking at).
I don't know that I'm really seeing the power of Nested Ghoul unless you can guarantee you'll be pumping him up or getting him hurt every turn. If you want to keep him in there you can imagine how a Prodigal Sorcerer or two (or something comparable) could prove VERY useful.
I like Diregraf Captain, but I think four might be too many, as they do have the three casting cost but require both colors to cast.
Lastly, you can get the same effect of Tragic Slip for the most part with Skinrender. I would even suggest changing the control cards to something more consistent like Go For The Throat, Terror, or Doom Blade.
Best of luck with it!
a wee bit dated, but thanks for the input anyway...
If you look down two posts in the forum Sebi just said Avacyn and the Venser v. Koth sets will likely be added friday.
That is rad! Thanks!
I'm thinking the cagebreakers might still be out of place, as I could just as easily throw in another Mayor that's a fraction of the casting cost, giving more bonuses to the other werewolves and producing wolf tokens much earlier in the game. To that end, the parallel lives really would be just for speeding things to press my advantage (to be honest I wanted to use the parallel lives because I have one or two extras from some trades I made earlier to build my squirrel deck - which on a funny note, might take a few turns to get rolling, but it can produce thousands of squirrels in less than 10 turns... I actually set a personal record doing over 56 million damage to a friend in a casual game with those).
I actually had a question to clarify about the Immerwolf, given that you've played with/against it. Am I correct that once one is in play the werewolves do not transform back to human form unless the Immerwolf is killed? If so, man that's one mean card.
Also, if your friend is just playing casually, the Master of the Wild Hunt would be a good final blow card, as it lets you just deal damage to an opponent without even having to worry about blockers.
I guess I have some cards to obtain to see how this thing goes... thanks for all the input!
First off, thanks for the feedback. I haven't put this thing together yet, but I'm thinking it wouldn't cost too much and could be at least a little fun (making dog noises while playing too 
).
I can see where Reckless Waif and Afflicted Deserter might work to my advantage, given the added speed of the Waif and the artifact destruction of the Deserter, given that in competitive FNM play I'll likely run into more artifacts. The whole rationale behind the Kessig Cagebreakers and Parallel Lives is for longer games, especially casual ones that tend to last to turn 15 or so, where I'll need some way to be able to overpower my opponent(s), as they will be sitting on substantially more powerful things by that point. The transformed Mayor of Avabruck also produce wolf tokens every turn too and when combined with the Master of the Wild Hunt, well, that's some wolfy goodness right there. I also thought about a version of the deck with Wren's Run Packmaster to give all the l'il buggers deathtouch, but that'd require the inclusion of other elves that really don't play into the scheme.
I must admit the flyer problem is there and I'm not entirely sure how to best address it. I could add two more Daybreak Ranger as that would give direct damage to the flyers and then use the "fight" option to take out the others once they're transformed. But would that really cut it? I've never played in any standard FNM events, so how often are flyers that much trouble? Does your friend use this for FNM or just casual play? How much success does he have?
And before anyone goes to the effort to point out that Master of the Wild Hunt is not Standard, I know this. I'm thinking this would work for casual play and I would swap in another Mayor of Avabruck for any sort of competitive situation.
So I'm looking at my first possible foray into Standard format and figured out a pretty simple, cheap wolf-based R/G deck. I'm open to anyone's feedback as I'm normally only a casual player and am looking at putting something like this together to be able to participate at a local FNM which tends to center on standard.
Any/All thoughts are very welcome.
- I know some Huntmasters and Garruk Relentless would probably work wonders in here, but I'm not looking to drop that kind of cash on a deck that might end up getting destroyed.
I really couldn't tell you why people are so reluctant to offer comments on deck ideas... it's frustrating if you're looking to either start up or get back into the game after a long layoff (as is my case). Normally Tawnos is pretty good about giving a few thoughts.
That aside, I actually got a good laugh out of your "Cranberries" deck. Have you tried that? Does it work enough to be funny or is it too erratic to be worthwhile?
For the red mono deck, it looks like it would be dropping creatures really fast, but what happens when you get top decked? Or, if the opponent manages to wipe out all of the little critters (i.e. cerebral eruption) or even just some well placed blockers and control cards in a fast deck, then what's the endgame strategy? It strikes me as a good 1-v-1 deck, but in a group setting you would get destroyed because nothing is big enough to really make an impact in a longer game. As a thought, what about Claws of Valakut for the Spikeshot Elder. Then, even in a longer game, you could deal some direct damage or take out larger creatures without losing all of your stuff.
For the blue mono deck, why not use Treasure Hunt to cycle some more cards into your graveyard to give Runechanter's Pike more punch with Invisible Stalker? Otherwise this looks like it could do some damage, even in a multiplayer format (but this is an outdated legacy player talking).
For the green mono deck, why do you need 3 of Autumn's Veil? I'd also suggest including Lure as I find that's a great killing stroke for any green creature-based deck. Combine the Lure with Acidic Slime or even one of the deathtouch snakes and you'll pump up Lumberknot REALLY fast too.
For the Gideon Deck... that looks solid enough to be robust in both 1-v-1 and multiplayer formats.
You're welcome to take a look at my inventory, but I'm not really trying to get one that hard. I'm trying to make another trade to finish out a deck and the guy only wants standard, one of them being Garruk Relentless.
Deckbox Forum » Posts by TyWooOneTime