Topic: Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't Fuzzy, was he?

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!

Re: Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't Fuzzy, was he?

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?

Re: Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't Fuzzy, was he?

Why bother putting them back in the deck? Library of Leng, Venser's Journal, Spellbook, Reliquary Tower, Anvil of Bogardan, Praetor's Counsel, just keep em in your hand, and most of them are affordable, I would recommend the Library because it protects against hostile discard as well

Also the idea of a bear deck is awesome

Oops forgot about flying: Spidersilk Armor, Treetop Defense, or surprise them with Corrosive Gale, I'm not sure how effective your Katabatic Winds would be although it is pretty cool, for lockdown you would need 2 out at the same time, so I would recommend Spidersilk

Last edited by imsully2 (2012-06-07 04:24:49)

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Re: Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't Fuzzy, was he?

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?

Re: Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't Fuzzy, was he?

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?

Last edited by TyWooOneTime (2012-06-07 17:28:46)

Re: Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't Fuzzy, was he?

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!

Re: Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't Fuzzy, was he?

Well that question is way beyond my depth, I would've guessed the opposite because I thought the Declare Attackers step would be considered simultaneous, if they're able to be declared separately then you can for sure use that trick, however without Omanth all of your mana runs empties from your pool during combat, therefore you can use it to cast instants or for this deck Caller of the Claw only so I would highly suggest putting in another Omnath if you have one, other than that it looks pretty sweet, I like that there are several different ways to win with this deck, it's not just overrun or just mill it's whichever one comes up first smile

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