Topic: Another idea...

So I was running a draft simulation and saw Bower Passage and, for whatever reason, hadn't realized that it would mean YOUR flyers would essentially be unblockable.  To which end, I introduce Levitation.

So I came up with a SUPER cheap UG deck.  I also realized that Sheltering Word essentially serves as a counterspell to protect your creatures.

Anyway, here's the deck:

http://deckbox.org/sets/195152

I'm actually trying to avoid using any rares so that I could play this in a Pauper tournament if the need/opportunity arises.  I also like that it's Standard format just for fun.

Any/all input is welcome.

Happy Fourth everyone.

Re: Another idea...

I think you need more fliers, it's a sweet combo but you don't have any way to protect your levitation so I feel like you'll need something else to get your creatures in the air, but where I play everyone has something in their sideboard to deal with enchantments or artifacts they don't like. I think you could use some more Nightshade Peddlers in case of annoying creatures with reach or some such. Favorable winds is also a possibility. Another thing to consider is enchanting your opponent with Levitation (If thats possible?) then they can't block you no matter what keywords they have smile

P.S. Pauper is only commons so if you want to play pauper you'll need to reshape a few things

Re: Another idea...

I concede the Pauper point... but the deck is less than $10, which is a MAJOR plus, given that I've been coming up with a LOT of deck ideas and don't want to bankrupt myself building them.

For the flyers, I can see where you might be right, but there are 3x Wingcrafter to help on that front.  Also, there are 3x Levitation, meaning they would need a LOT of enchantment removal to really stop me.

I'll let it ferment a bit and see what comes to mind.

Re: Another idea...

I'm sure you've realized by now that I like to cover myself from every angle which often takes away from the potency of the deck so if you like your build, keep it for sure, I just like to assume worst case scenario for almost everything, 3 levitations should be more than enough, I do love how cheap of a deck it is, especially if it works out well. I would suggest testing it against removal heavy decks so that you can tell if it could handle bad scenarios or not.

p.s. any updates on older decks? I'm curious about a couple of them

Re: Another idea...

Wow..... how did I never think of that for Bower Passage?!  Amazing idea.  Maybe I'll try to run this deck at my first FNM, just because. big_smile

I do agree however that it would be nice to have some native fliers, just in case.  Gryff Vanguard is a bit expensive, but gives you a flier and cantrip in one package.  And how can you not be running Mist Raven? smile  And since your creatures will hopefully be unblockable, you could also throw in a Soul Seizer to steal some creatures.

Having fliers already would then also be easier to include things like Favorable Winds.

If you wanted an interesting way to protect your enchantments and such, you could run Geist Snatch, which could counter a spell pointed at your enchantment, as well as giving you another flier in the process.

Re: Another idea...

Geist Snatch only targets creature spells, so I don't see how it could be used to protect enchantments...

Anyway, I like the idea man, hope it works.  I don't really know much as far as Standard goes...most of my cards are from Mirrodin block and earlier.  While I do have some later stuff, I don't really know many of the newer cards that well.  Let me know how well it works when you get the deck finished man smile

Re: Another idea...

Another general comment about decks depending on a specific combo, one of my new favorite cards is Gitaxian Probe, it's main use is that it's essentially 4 less cards in the deck, yes you lose some life but the way I see it you're bound to lose that life waiting for your combo anyway right? So that's another thing you could look into otherwise the cards NullParameter mentioned all sound decent, I usually prefer Tower Geist to Gryff Vanguard, especially in a combo deck, but it's a little riskier as well since you could have a Levitation and a Bower Passage next up then you'd have to dump one

Re: Another idea...

I would also consider Hinterland Harbor in place of a few basic lands.  Looked it up, it's Standard-legal.  I know you're trying to avoid rares, but you could always swap it back out for basics if you do play Pauper.

Re: Another idea...

the_wizard_666 wrote:

Geist Snatch only targets creature spells, so I don't see how it could be used to protect enchantments...

Dang..... misread that one.  Oh well, it was a good thought smile  Could still keep creatures with Reach off the field.

Re: Another idea...

Oh, I agree it would work, just not the way you intended it to tongue

Re: Another idea...

the_wizard_666 wrote:

I would also consider Hinterland Harbor in place of a few basic lands.  Looked it up, it's Standard-legal.  I know you're trying to avoid rares, but you could always swap it back out for basics if you do play Pauper.

I think in this deck the bigger issue with the Harbor is that adding a playset would triple the cost of the deck to build, it's not Pauper either way so the cost is the bigger issue IMO

Re: Another idea...

I'm definitely still wanting to keep this deck cheap (regardless of the Pauper status), although I would imagine it can be moved that way if need be (but it would come at the cost of the biggest combo as both Bower Passage and Levitation are uncommons, so not much point there).

So there is a LOT to respond to, so I'll try to move things in an orderly fashion.

Geist Snatch could be good to stop creatures with reach, but realistically, there aren't many of those out there to begin with and most of them are green.  To which point I could just soulbond deathtouch to whatever creature and swing until they have to block it, or just overwhelm them with all my "unblockable" creatures.

Gitaxian Probe and the other "pay two life rather than paying the mana cost" cards are marginal in my books.  The most of them end up helping your opponent or could simply be paid for (unless you're dealing with a card of a color not in your deck).  But for drawing cards, I'm pretty well covered with Tandem Lookout, Amass the Components, and Triumph of Ferocity.  Further, given that this deck, perhaps more so than most others I run, is going to need you to continue pressing your advantage early in the game, the thought of giving up even two life to an opponent could be a problem as I'd then have to keep more back on defense.

You hit the nail on the head with Tower Geist and given the number of Levitations in the deck, I'd rather run Aether Adept over Misthollow Griffin.  While it doesn't have the natural flying, the cheaper mana cost will help the flow of the deck, as, let's be honest, the only real reason to run either is to have the Unsummon.

Gryff Vanguard is a five-drop 3/2 flyer.  I'll already be drawing cards as I said above and for that cost you could easily score an Air Elemental or another comparably large creature. 

Soul Seizer could prove fun and I might look into that.  But for that cost, Mind Control achieves the same goal, is the same legality, and guarantees the creature claiming effect.

Favorable Winds is a good idea and I've put two of them in the deck.

All good ideas though and I definitely appreciate the feedback.  NullParameter, if you give it a go, let me know how it plays for you.

imsully, which decks were you curious for an update on?  Some of the ones I've posted on here for ideas I haven't actually put together yet (although I will in the next month or two), but I can give you an update on the ones I do have finished.

Re: Another idea...

TyWooOneTime wrote:

imsully, which decks were you curious for an update on?  Some of the ones I've posted on here for ideas I haven't actually put together yet (although I will in the next month or two), but I can give you an update on the ones I do have finished.

Mostly the Murfolk mill deck and the Vanilla bear deck but I'd love to hear about any of them, I'm always curious as to how things do

And say what you will about Gitaxian Probe but it won me a game tonight singlehandedly, I had 5 open, a blightsteel on the board, then Probed for Venser -1 win, in combo decks it's unbeatable, no mana cost or card advantage loss, I love it

as far as Triumph of Ferocity... I'm not seeing it at all, the only way to pull it off is with a blessings of nature miracled in, but then when your opponent plays out a Wolfir Silverheart since they're not playing a cost effective deck then you've just wasted 3 mana, as long as titans are in standard I would skip the triumph.

also Abundant Growth??? For 2 colors? You only have one card with two mana symbols in the cost, skip em, they slow you down without a benefit

And finally Timberland Guide... blech, nightshade peddlers are well worth those slots instead

Re: Another idea...

TyWooOneTime wrote:

NullParameter, if you give it a go, let me know how it plays for you.

I went the other way with it and made it a WUG, all flier, spirit based deck.  Then I ran a bunch of Favorable Winds to help pump them.  Here it is.

Obviously, I went a bit more expensive because I used a bunch of cards that I have lying around, like a Phanstasmal Image and some dual lands, but those aren't necessarily required, just nice to have.  And you could probably run a mostly UG spirits deck, with a smaller splash of W (Avacyn's Pilgrim maybe) for some great support stuff like Drogskol Captain.  There's actually tons of spirits to work with and tweak things to your liking.

I threw in a Moonsilver Spear, because I just love that card way too much, and it provides extra fliers.  And I definitely took a play out of your book and used a full playset of Sheltering Words to help protect my creatures, and I actually put another playset of Ranger's Guile in my sideboard for that exact same reason, although I'm hoping that the Drogskol Captains mitigate the need for them.  I guess time will tell.  I'm hoping to throw it all together and bring it to the pre-release tomorrow for games in between official matches.

Let me know if you have any other ideas to add on.

Re: Another idea...

imsully: Sadly both of those decks are still under construction.  I've been working my ass off as of late and haven't had the opportunity to get the cards, much less be able to play them enough.  I can happily report that the Grizzlies deck runs like a dream in the hand simulator though wink.  It's not entirely uncommon to be sitting on a 6/6 and 4/4 by turn three.  The Merfolk deck, I think will have some kinks to work out.  I don't know that Lullmage Mentor will end up really helping and might need to redirect the deck toward Wanderwine Prophets, perhaps build in more instants and sorceries if I pull a Talrand from M13.  The Squirrel deck, however, is put together shy of Spidersilk Armor and Earthcraft and it's playing like a fine-tuned machine (with plenty of cute destruction too!).

- I can see where Gitaxian Probe helps you draw, but if you're sitting there with a Blightsteel Colossus on the board, I'd imagine your odds of victory are pretty good with or without drawing Venser there.  So I don't think I'd go so far as to say it won the game for you by itself.

- Triumph of Ferocity likely isn't going to get me that many cards, but for a three drop, it will let me draw once I'm bonding Trusted Forcemage to something that I've already pumped a bit with Timberland Guide (who will work wonders with Roaring Primadox once M13 comes out).  Even a few cards would help (much the same as Gitaxian Probe has helped you).  It might work, it might not.  But I'm not that worried about seeing lots of Wolfir Silverhearts... especially considering the cost of one to lay down.

- Abundant Growth is to guarantee that I have both colors (not as much of a problem with two colors as three or four, but still a good thing to cover your arse).  Further, it's a 1 cost card draw.

- See above for Timberland Ranger.

NullParameter: Man, to say you took it in a different direction would be an understatement.  Given that you've increased the cost of the deck almost a full ten-fold, I'm going to just defer on comments beyond saying Ranger's Guile is a good find and one I'll have to consider.

Re: Another idea...

TyWooOneTime wrote:

NullParameter: Man, to say you took it in a different direction would be an understatement.  Given that you've increased the cost of the deck almost a full ten-fold, I'm going to just defer on comments beyond saying Ranger's Guile is a good find and one I'll have to consider.

LOL, I know.  I wasn't going for the direction of keeping costs down, I was going for the awesome idea of making huge flying unblockable creatures.  And like I said, I think you could easily make a budgeted version of the deck if you wanted to, but this is what I'll be playing since I already have most of the cards (just need to grab some dual lands from my LGS with some store credit).  For instance, there's really no need to play the Birds of Paradise or Phantasmal Image, but I have them, so I use them.

I did play a few games with it on Cockatrice though, and I found out that it definitely needs some counterspells to back it up, for when facing things like Turbofog or anything with Terminus.  But I did manage to get out all of the Favorable Winds a couple times, along with some of the Drogskul Captains, which was very satisfying.