1 Reply by SimicDragon

(6 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Thanks for the feedback! I'm just playing casually with my group of friends, and we all have different budget requirements. I'm buying boosters least frequently, only getting them when we play Sealed. My plan is to design my deck under a budget, since I care more about developing my deck-building skill than assembling a card collection. Basically, I want to subvert the "pay-to-win" idea, where whoever spends the most money on their deck wins.

And yeah, combos are fragile; I don't think this would be tournament worthy. When the combo doesn't go off, I usually win by swinging with a Hydra and leaving deathtouch blockers behind. If the combo doesn't hit infinity, I can usually keep 4 mana per turn to double Heroes' Bane's P/T.

I'm willing to sacrifice combo consistency to make room for a more consistent deck. Like win the majority of games without combo, and have the combo go off like one every 5 times or so. Any good cards that work well with the combo pieces independent of combo would be helpful (like Illusionist's Bracers and Kiora's Follower). Thanks for tips!

Go to forum: Decks and Deckbuilding

2 Topic by SimicDragon

(6 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Hi, novice deckbuilder here!

http://deckbox.org/sets/714317

I've been trying to build a Simic Budget Standard deck (no cards over $0.50/card except for the ones that I pulled from boosters. Cheap rares are fine, like Heroes' Bane.) I found this infinite mana combo that's only moderately hard to pull off. I would like the deck to be control / midrange outside of the combo, just stalling long enough with distracting creatures and instant tricks until the combo can go off.

Combo 1: Land enchanted with Market Festival, Kiora's Follower or Voyaging Satyr equipped with Illusionist's Bracers, and Thassa's Ire. Tapping the creature to untap the enchanted land generates 6 mana per tap. Using 4 of them through Thassa's Ire to untap the equipped creature nets 2 mana. Repeat to infinity.

Combo 2: Two Kiora's Follower and Illusionist's Bracers equipped to one of them. Tap the equipped one to untap the unequipped one and a land. Tap the land for mana and tap the unequipped one to untap the equipped one, netting 1 mana of that land's color. Repeat to infinity.

Combo 3: Land enchanted with two Market Festival, Kiora's Follower or Voyaging Satyr, and Thassa's Ire. Same as Combo 1, but without Illusionist's Bracers.

Now, win conditions with your infinite mana:
1) Nylea, God of the Hunt can make any creature that you already have out get +big/+big and trample, so this grants a win (hopefully) as soon as you play this god.
2) Heroes' Bane can become (4^big)/(4^big). If this isn't enough, bestowing Nimbus Naiad for +2/+2 and flying should help.
3) Polukranos, World Eater can become very very monstrous and destroy all opposing creatures along the way.
4?) Not really a win condition, but with Thassa's Ire, you can tap down all opposing creatures and give your creatures pseudo-vigilance while you wait for faster win conditions. (I've won a game in this manner without win conditions 1-3.)

I'm looking for ways to win faster and/or more reliably. For creatures, I have seven 1-2 mana deathtouch creatures (Wasteland Viper and Deadly Recluse) to gum up the battlefield early, and hopefully direct removal spells at them instead of my combo pieces. The aforementioned Nimbus Naiad can also be a good flying blocker if there's nothing good to bestow. The lone Prognostic Sphinx is a card that I already own that I can use to scry and dig for my pieces and apply pressure to my opponent (and also distract removal spells toward).

For noncreature spells, I have 4 Simic Charm and 2 Dissolve to protect my things (maybe I need more?), and 3 Inaction Injunction to stall their creatures and draw a card. (Divination used to take these 3 spots, but I decided to roll Frost Breath / Triton Tactics and Divination into one for space.)

My main issues are that I get overwhelmed too early by very aggressive decks, and that sometimes I get the infinite mana combo assembled but I don't win for a while, still tapping and stalling while trying to search for something that can win me the game (so much mana, so little to do with it). I'm also unsure of the ratios of the important cards (like I have 2 Thassa's Ire and 2 Illusionist's Bracers at the moment, because they're not so great in this deck until all the pieces come together. Is this a good idea?)

Any and all feedback is appreciated! Remember, I'm trying to stick to Budget, so while another Nylea, God of the Hunt would be great, I'd only add it if I obtained another one via booster pack. Please tell me what I should add, and also what could be removed to make room for the addition!

Thanks for reading this far!

Go to forum: Decks and Deckbuilding