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(1 replies, posted in Site Discussion)

Bump.  Is there a reason why the 'quick add' button only exists on the Sideboard, and not the main Deck list?

Also,  it would be nice to have something for quickly moving cards from Sideboard into Deck, and vice versa.

Thanks for all the good advice.  I'll play around with this a bit. 

I was originally thinking 3 colors (w/g/r).  The only reason I splashed blue was to get the galeriders in there against flying-heavy decks.  I've definitely had a few matches (not this deck, but concept is still valid) where I just had to keep taking hits because I had no defense against flying.   I suppose that is why you have the Shocks, Mortars and Celestial Flare's.  Throwing some Plummet's on the sideboard might not be a bad idea, as well as maybe some Gift of Orzhova and Windstorm or Thunderbolt.  Just thinking about the cards I have available...(no mortars in my collection yet). 

Otherwise, most of the good slivers are in w/g/r anyway.  I can see the advantage of losing blue, for sure.  It's a shame that Black and Blue each only have one sliver to add to the sliver tribe, or other color combos would be more viable.  Maybe theros will throw out a few more blue or black slivers. 

I was also thinking that the 4x manaweft sliver along with 4xHive Stirrings and some TrollHides might make for a strong base of any color mana from creatures that are hard to remove.  Seems like that could make for a pretty strong 4 or 5 color deck.  I'm not knocking the elvish mystics, though.  Green decks with an elf on the first draw definitely hit the ground running fast.   

I have 1 domri rade to throw in (was already considering that), and door of destinies sounds like a good fit too (I don't have any, though).   Picked up a Primeval Bounty as part of last weeks booster draft prize pool, and I agree it should go in. 

I'm finding that this deck wants to share a lot of cards with my w/g weenie token deck.

Now if I can just get my wife to buy me some shock lands for my birthday.....

I play tested this deck with my kids for 2 full matches today, and I have to say that dropping white would be a bad idea.  I beat them both 2 out of 3, and they are playing with the canned  green/black M14 deck and the canned blue/white M14 deck (that come pre-packaged).  The combination of Feeling of Dread, Boros Charm (double strike option), and Artful Dodge set up the win condition almost every time.  3 sorcercy/instants with low mana cost allow you to pump up the a Nivix Cyclops to at 10/4 unblockable creature with double strike = 20 damage in one swing.   And Faithless Looting comes in extremely handy as soon as you get any other 2 cards with Flashback into your hand.  Discard the 2 cards with Flashback (Feeling of Dread, Artful Dodge, Faithless Looting, etc.) and get 2 more, and your playable hand is just that much larger.  Several wins were made by casting 1 or 2 spells from the graveyard. 

I also have to say that Young Pyromancer and Guttersnipe (free damage) synergy is nice too.  Getting a bunch of chump blockers with Pyromancer means not having to risk the cyclops to block with.  Strionic Resonator has good synergy in this deck, too.  Using 2 mana to pump up a cyclops an extra +3 or get another elemental token is nothing to sneeze at.   

Once the Innistrad block cards have to rotate out for Standard, this deck is going to have to rely more heavily on "draw a card" spells and cheap burn spells, I think.  Goblin Electromancer and and the Hypersonic Dragon may find a place in this deck, too.

I have to give a nod to the advice to get some shock lands, though.  I'm still not willing to spend the money (yet), but the unfortunately slow tempo of using Guildgates  does slow up the play a bit and makes it harder to set up the win condition early.  Cost me at least a turn or two more than it should have to get a win condition in place.

I made this deck because I came home with about a half dozen slivers from my first booster draft a few weeks ago.  And in play, they were just too fun not to base a deck on.  So I built this deck because I think it will be fun. 4 colors. We'll see if it holds up at FNM.  A sliver-strong booster draft deck put me in second place tonight when I "should" have had first place. 

Comments are welcome.  I have a couple more Bonescythe Slivers and a couple of Syphon Slivers in the mail.  Have to go 5 color at that point for the syphons.

Before anyone comments on my guild gates and land setup: I know that shock lands would be much better.  I ain't gonna spend the money.  I'm cheap.  I would appreciate anyone's analysis of my mana curve and quantity of lands, though.

4 Galerider Sliver
3 Striking Sliver
4 Manaweft Sliver (gotta have in a 5 color sliver deck)
4 Predatory Sliver
3 Sentinel Sliver
2 Blur Sliver
1 Chromatic Lantern
1Darksteel Ingot
1 Hive Stirrings
3 Sliver Construct
2 Steelform Sliver
1 Bonescythe Sliver
2 Battle Sliver
3 Thorncaster Sliver
3 Megantic Sliver
1 Groundshaker Sliver
2 Azorius Guildgate
1 Boros Guildgate
4 Gruul Guildgate
1 Island
1 Izzet Guildgate
3 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Selesnya Guildgate
4 Simic Guildgate
1 Stomping Ground

Sideboard:

1 Dispel
2Pacifism
1 Spell Rupture
1 Five-Alarm Fire
1 Safe Passage
2 Solemn Offering
2 Trollhide
2 Congregate
2 Scatter Arc
1 Sleep

Thanks.  Travis Woo's Izzet Blitz was the baseline for my deck.  I have whittled it down a lot, and tried it out with my kids.  I can't justify spending the money on Snapcaster Mage's and the shock lands, nor the Geist of Saint Trafts in Woo's newer version. 

I found I didn't have near enough land, first try.   I trimmed the deck size down a lot based on advice here and think I have a better deck now.  Will try on the kids again this weekend.  Still working on my sideboard.  Also I am trying to see how to massage this deck for Standard play when the Innistrad Block and M13 cards become void for that format in another couple months.  Losing the Innistrad flashback cards is going to hurt when playing against mill decks.  My daughter stomped me with the canned blue/white pre-made M14 deck I let her pick up last week.  It was only one game, but I was seriously mana locked (my own fault).   The low mana cost instants and sorceries make for quite a wollop with the Nivx Cyclopses.  I swung for 20 damage in about turn 5, but actually missed the fact that she still had a blocker (it was on the table under her arm, she is a fidgety player, she's only 9). 

Guess I better hit the FNM's quickly while the deck is still good.   Hopefully can try it at FNM in a week or so.   

Here is the latest deck build:

4 Azorius Guildgate
4 Boros Guildgate
1 Island
4 Izzet Guildgate
4 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Transguild Promenade
4 Artful Dodge
4 Faithless Looting
1 Mugging
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Shock
4 Boros Charm
4 Feeling of Dread
1 Izzet Charm
2 Negate
1 Searing Spear
1 Strionic Resonator
1 Thunderbolt
3 Young Pyromancer
1 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Flames of the Firebrand
4 Guttersnipe
4 Nivix Cyclops
1 Last Thoughts
1 Pyromancer's Gauntlet

The Wednesday night Booster Draft at a local coffee/game shop here (Highlands Ranch, Colorado) was pretty laid back last week when I went.  They implied that FNM there is pretty laid back as well, so we'll see, if I can make it to one of those.  They do both Standard and Draft on FNM there.  Friday nights are hard for me to get away from home, though.   

I enjoyed the booster draft, but learning how to draft a winning deck is another skill I need work on.  It is a good way to amass some cards, for sure.  I came away that night with a very good start on a full out Sliver deck.  No one else was drafting them, so I ended up with a pretty good sliver deck in the draft, and got a Bonescythe Sliver as one of the prize cards out of the deal.   I was pretty nervous going in, thought my deck was crap (which it really was), but still came in 4th of 6 in my pod, and 7th of 12 overall.  Not bad for my first event ever. 

Thanks again for the advice and help!  Glad I got on the forum.

Thanks, elpablo.  All good advice.  Intellectually I understand everything you are saying, but not having that many games under my belt makes it hard to get a feel for how the deck will work in the field. 

I can't get myself to pay $3 to $5 each for lands that are only "good" in Standard for another month or so.  I'd love to get more shock lands, though.  But those run $10 plus each...ouch.  This is a new hobby so far, not a passion to spend a lot of money on.  I have a fundamental problem with a game that requires people to keep investing a lot of money in order to tweak their decks to the nth degree to win.  I do understand the mana tempo issue, though.  For time being, I'm going to be stuck mainly with the guild gates for mana fixers, along with a few prophetic prisms and darksteel ingots to boost the basic lands.  Maybe I can find some bargain boosters of RTR block packs and score some lucky shock lands.

I have a hard time committing to a spell theme (control vs burn, etc.).  I don't fully understand what a "midrange" deck is, either.  Seems like I start putting the deck together, and start thinking, "well, I need some control in here just in case...yada yada". 

Based on your description below, my target is probably a mid-range deck rather than pure control.   That said, keeping the other guy from being able to do anything he wants is pretty fun. 

I think my thought process was to pound away at opponent with burn spells, and letting the Nivix Cyclops and Guttersnipe amplify that by pounding further, while Young Pyromancer floods field with cheap blockers.   Holding back just enough control/removal to keep from being too vulnerable to anything in the meantime. 

Most of my ideas came from Travis Woo's articles on his Izzet Blitz deck on Channel Fireball.   Then I got sidetracked by all these other cool cards I have....

I'll probably drop the white, on your advice. 

Thanks again.

PS: how do I insert the hotlink text that brings up card images in my post?

As I look at this deck, I think I have too many cards and maybe I've diluted the archetype a bit.  Probably need to trim down closer to 60 cards, I'm just not sure where to trim.

I'm a noob to the game, been to one draft (M14), and looking to take my first Constructed Standard deck into the wild for casual play this week (probably not a Standard tourney, just yet, but maybe). 

Below is my attempt to put together an Izzet burn/blitz style deck.  Based on cards I have.  There are cards I want to add and swap out, but I'm not willing to spend a lot of money to build a deck. 

The strategy is to use creatures that have synergy with instants and sorceries to boost them or to trigger abilities.  I'll be adding 3 or 4 "Artful Dodge" to this deck was soon as they arrive via mail.  That will really pump up the Nivix Cyclopses.  Basically, getting 5 Nivix Cyclopses in random Dragon's Maze booster packs led me to research and build this deck. 

Sideboard is basically back up Flying creatures and artifact/enchantment removal for the most part, plus a couple of helpers against healing decks. 

Comments are appreciated. 

1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Boros Guildgate
4 Island
1 Izzet Guildgate
10 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Transguild Promenade
3 Faithless Looting
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Shock
1 Thought Scour
3 Boros Charm
1 Celestial Flare
2 Deranged Assistant
2 Essence Scatter
3 Feeling of Dread
1 Izzet Charm
1 Memory's Journey
2 Negate
1 Pacifism
1 Prophetic Prism
1 Searing Spear
1 Skygames
1 Thunderbolt
3 Young Pyromancer
1 Zephyr Charge
3 Act of Treason
1 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Guttersnipe
1 Mark of Mutiny
3 Nivix Cyclops
1 Chandra's Outrage
1 Last Thoughts
2 Scatter Arc
1 Blaze Commando
1 Pyromancer's Gauntlet
(70 cards main deck)

Sideboard:

2 Wear // Tear
1 Aerial Maneuver
2 Hidden Strings
2 Skullcrack
1 Nivix Cyclops
1 Solemn Offering
2 Runewing
1 Warleader's Helix
1 Blaze Commando
1 Chandra's Fury
1 Righteous Authority

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(1 replies, posted in Site Discussion)

It would be really nice to get a "quick add" button at the top of the deck list view just like the one that appears at the top of the sideboard list in the same view.