[Magic][Decklist] Werewolves Inc.

Werewolves Inc.




Hmm lame ya. Monsters Inc. Werewolves Inc. Werewolves == Monsters

Get it? no?  Well. Maybe not with Emrakul running around :)


Werewolves are like big fuzzy bears in Innistrad. Made all the more endearing by Emmy.


I meant even the innistrad folks would rather see a normal(???) werewolf these days.


"Small case" as the locals would call it.


Anyways enough nonsensical ramblings... though one would consider a werewolf.dec kinda nonsensical :p



Still.  This is about ze passion in ze ragin' heart no? Werewolf? ragin'? they do that alot. Hell theres even a
RPG game called Rage. Anyone remember that? I believe if was by a company called Whitewolf? I could be wrong.


Anyways werewolves.


I love innistrad. Its so flavorful. I love the horror themes, spirits, were-whatever (technically lycanthrophy?),
vampires, zombies blah blah blah. We live in a world of consumerism and these are our sins of distraction.

Fine. Culture. Whatever. These are flavour tropes I grew up with, so ya :)



Anyways. When I first saw Howlpack Resurgence, I was enamoured by it (plus I gotz me a foil! Those shiny green eyes lol).
And with Arlinn Kord, I thought the stars were aligned for a werewolf deck finally.

Not a mish mash tribal for the kitchen table. But a competitive one. Preferably with a wincon/method/process unique
to werewolves, but I will take plain old competitive :)

However to my horror (see? so in theme with Innistrad!), Shadows over Innistrad did not provide enough juice. The red
competitively costed werewolves were too small and did too little. Or were too heavily costed (you could build
some funky kitchen table or EDH werewolf theme deck tho).

The green ones were good but only those 2 cc ones. And actually only one was good (duskwatch recruiter), the other
lambholt pacifist is ... too pacifisted :) But it is good for gumming the ground tho.

So there is a dearth of competitive werewolves.



However in building/thinking/dreaming about the deck. I realise there were probably flawed assumptions we were
makng that is compounding the problem:


1) We wanna allz the critters to be werewolves

2) We expect it to be a normal creature weenie deck

3) We are not thinking hard enough about the werewolve related tools


We also should consider the restrictions we have

4) Humans are lame, Werewolves are slow ---> i.e. the flip mechanism sucks.. it is too nerfed

5) Good werewolf cards are hard to find



With regards to 1) Wolves! Wolves! Thats where we have some more play. Unfortunately it is also quite a dearth.
But! Eldritch Moon brought us these sweet puppies:

Deranged Whelp
Brazen Wolves

Crazy is the new cool yo?

These were to replace the red werewolves.. which were just not cutting it. 2 and 3 cc is rough, but remember
this is standard, so hyper efficient is less crucial. Also werewolves have that flippy thing going on so the
action is really not at 1cc but 2-3cc kinda timeframe.

Another nice pup, who is a little touched by Emmy's visit:

Kessig Prowler

This provides early pressure and can transform at will late game to a 4/4. This is relevant as it synergises
with Arlinn and Lambholt Pacifist.

Actually also with regards to 1) I first replaced the red werewolves with Gnarlwood Dryad and Noose Constrictor.

I tried to work in Delirium. But it was a little bit half assed.

I liked Gnarlwood Dryad alot as it had death touch and can upgrade to a 3/3. However without dedicated slots to
enable delirium it is most of the time going to be a 1/1 death touch. So it is almost going to be purely
defensive.

Noose Constrictor is awesome, it enables delirium and is offensive and had reach (I see you spirits!!!)

But it alone is a little weak on the delirium enabling front.

Still I am keeping the Noose Constrictor + Gnarlwood Dryad package in the sideboard.


In truth I actually really like the Noose Constrictor + Gnarlwood Dryad package of early pressure. And it
kinda turn the deck into a green stompy (together with kessig prowler).

But I felt I was not utilising the Howlpack Resurgence and Moonlight Hunt enough (I want 4 of each).


I actually thought it was oki. But it meant I will have moments when I had the wolf/werewolf enablers but have only snakes
and dryads in play. A little nonbo, but livable. (I would have only 12 werewolves but I did Arlinn to make little wolves...)


But I decided i wanted to see if wolves could make the card. Meaning I give up defensive ground and reach
protection as well as give up a more hyper aggressive front for a more midgame aggro game that seeks to
overwhelm with werewolf related goodness.

Hence the search for good wolves.

I could only come up with

the crazy

Deranged Whelp

and the brazenly brazen

Brazen Wolves.


Oh well :)

Going off will continue later...

[20160809 13:19]


back...


So with respect to 2) , originally I just went, low cc red werewolves + low cc green werewolves

There was'nt much of a plan :p

So with new gusto, I went the way of the stompy. Since Eldritch Moon did bring many nice small green creatures.

But as mentioned earlier, It created a dichotomy in what the deck wanted to do. Moreover I was concerned that
my opponent could simply pick off the 12 werewolves and up to 8 of my cards would be rendered worthless (well
there is still Arlinn, but my opponent would probably say "screw you!!!" to her too!)

Hence I wanted to try wolves.

Really we should try to turn ourselves inside out, since its all about Emrakul these days and she is all about
bringing out your inner/innards beauty.

So repeat after me:

Werewolves are wolves too!
Werewolves are wolves too!


Ok so thats my lame attempt at a XXX are people too joke lol

Anyways, if you use the wolf tribe as your gel, you get a bit more breadth in your choices. The wolfir remnants
also become possible choices.

Spririt Guardians etc (the Spirit Wolf that can flash into play)

So we are really building a wolf deck, and Arlinn would approve :)


Another thing that seems important is recognising what the deck is trying to do.

Werewolves are slow. The whole flip thing is such that the weak part of the card is often the front side and
you pay premium casting cost to get the oppotunity for flip side. So often if you want the flip side you gotta to
do nothing. (This is really addressing point 4)

Thats not good.


So your cards must do more, so that when you do not cast you are not doing "nothing"

Thats what makes Duskwatch Recruiter so awesome as a werewolf. Thats also what makes the red werewolves not that
great as its tough to keep the pressure on when it is only a puny 1/1.

What I am trying to say is that you need to use cards that pack alot of value and/or can preferably
have some recurring triggered or activated ability. (Like Duskwatch Recruiter!!! what a winner!)

So given that you sometimes want to pass the turn doing nothing to trigger the flip you need activated abilities
so that you are not really doing "nothing" when you are not casting spells.


That is also what makes Kessig Prowler awesome, on three counts.

It only flips once
It is a flip on demand
It is one of those do something while you are doing nothing abilities =D

Arlinn fits here too!

Passing the turn with Howlpack resurgence or waiting to cast Moonlight Hunt works here too!

So what about if you cannot find these "waiting in the wings" kinda effects/cards


Well thats where the awesome Deranged Whelp and Brazen wolves come into play.

Essentially, they actually pack in recurring value.

Brazen wolves is really a 4/3 for 3 on offense. the toughness of 3 is also likely to be relevant
against languish. (This is assuming with Howlpack resurgence backup). Every turn you attack it is
a +2/+0 that is really a recurring benefit :)

How good is that? Lets just say in a tangle with a reflector mage it comes out alive?


Deranged Whelp? Menace is not to be scoffed at, especially when you are doing a wolfie pump deck essentially.
One Howlpack resurgence gives +1/+1. There is a total of 4 in the deck. Plus Arlinn's +1 first ability (+2/+2 with
vigilence and haste) and you are looking at a world of hurt. Did I mention that the flip side of Kessig
Prowler has the ability where it can only be blocked by 1 creature (while Deranged Whelp must be blocked by
at least two). All these mess with ppl's minds when they are assigning combat.

This kinda addresses point 5 where good werewolves are hard to find, so lets find good wolves instead :)


And lastly point 3. This is a werewolf deck, so I really want to play with stuff that hit that trope.

I want Howlpack resurgence and Moonlight Hunt. I really really wanted to play waxing moon? that card from Eldritch
Moon that flips a were wolve on demand? it is so flavorful but a one shot flip is simply not strong enough.

Howlpack Resurgence tho, is offense and defense. Being flash, means it has ambush capabilities. And... it gives trample!

Moonlight hunt only hits creatures, but its a hit em' only fight effect and it utilises all your werewolves.
Which is pretty brutal when they flip or have been pumped.

How to win?

There are 4 Incendiary Flow :)

Fine.

I intend to to also hit a few times with werewolves and hope they are strong enough to overwhelm
my opponent's dudes.

Arlinn can pump and burn as well.

Also the flipped Kessig Prowler, Deranged Whelp and Brazen Wolves will hope fully result in more bad blocks
from opponents :p

And you should also seek to ultimate Arlinn. Hopefully in the late game you have pumped your werewolves some,
and the direct damage should seal the deal.


Thats the plan, tho I can see this deck folding to black removal and sweepers tho.

I don't really have a solution :p

there is Spirit of the Hunt (3/3 flash wolf that gives a temporary +0/+3 to all wolves
and werewolves) and Woodcutter's Grit (instant +3/+3 with hexproof) however both are 3 cc.


I have not tried those yet, but they are definitely candidates for sideboard options.

Mainboard, I feel like they seem a little slow and non aggressive.


For mana fixing I use warped landscape and the tango and shadow lands.

I will go out on a limb and state that the midrange decks we are seeing at the moment in standard are making
a mistake using Evolving Wilds instead of Warped Landscape.

The reason is this:

Warped Landscape can produce mana.

This is a pretty big deal.


With Warped Landscape, you fulfil your land drop and can wait to draw a land. You can wait til you draw enough
land before popping it for the colour fix. In the meantime you are not down 1 mana in your mana production
capability

With Evolving Wilds each turn you wait to pop it, is a turn you are 1 mana down in your mana production
capability. Until you actually pop it do you get your 1 mana down effect removed (and even then, the fetched
basic land comes into play tapped). Think about it, you have just placed a sphere of resistance on yourself :)
Well not really, since sphere of resistance makes ALL your spells cost one more, not just one spell... but you
get the point.. I hope :p

Not that Evolving Wilds is not good. Being able to fetch for no mana is a big deal too. It means EW is active turn
one. While WL is really only active turn three. Oh reread previous four sentences. Carefully.

We just stated the difference.

You need mana fix pronto? EW

if you can wait a few turns (say most of your cards really work on turn 3 onwards)? WL is just as good without
screwing with your mana production.

ALSO.

WL is really okay if your cards are mostly 1 coloured + X generic. for example Brazen Wolves is 2R.

WL is really awesome since it can produce 1 mana!

However if you play somethng like Scourge Wolf which is RR, then WL is bad, and worse than EW.


So you need to see what cards you are playing.


I am saying this because I see the popular decks running EW.. when actually I think WL is perfectly serviceable
and would result in less losses where they did not draw enough land early. Rather than pop the EW early just so
they can play something, a WL would have allowed them to play their 2 drops while waiting for more land to be
drawn naturally.

In a nutshell, if you are playing a fast deck that uses 1/2 cc cards and do not have double same mana cost
(e.g. RR) then EW is best.

but if you are playing cards that are relavant turn 3 on wards. You might want to consider WL.

For example lets use Spell Queller as an example 1WU.

I would use WL as: if I had two lands in play, with a WL I can wait for the third land and will have 2 mana while
waiting. With an EW I would have 1 mana while waiting, and if I pop? well my deck now has one less land so my
chances of naturally just dropped a little :p


Anyways here is my decklist:

Werewolves:

4 lambholt pacifist
4 moonlight hunt
4 duskwatch recruiter
4 kessig prowler
4 Deranged Whelp
4 Brazen Wolves
4 incendiary flow
4 Arlinn kord
4 howlpack resurgence
4 warped landscape
4 Cinder Glade
4 Game Trail
6 forest
6 mountain


Deck is totally untested :) But it seems fun, plus I like the process of brewing :p


So thats my take on werewolves! thanks for reading this far :)



[20160810 3:22]

[Decklist] Nissa's Bantic Thopters! (modern)

Mod_20150727_swordandequip
Legend
4 x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 x Sword of the Animist
Enchantment
4 x Ghostly Prison
3 x Thopter Spy Network
4 x Ethereal Armor
Artifact
1 x Helm of the Gods
Creature
4 x Slippery Bogle
4 x Courser of Kruphix
4 x Birds of Paradise
4 x Relic Seeker
Sideboard
1 x Godsend
Instant
4 x Gods Willing
Land
8 x Plains
8 x Forest
2 x Island
4 x Windswept Heath
1 x Breeding Pool

[Decklist] GB Elves (modern)

This was originally an attempt to try to break Nissa, by building an elf deck :p

mod_20150725_breakingNissa

Instant

4 x Abrupt Decay

Sorcery

4 x Eyeblight Massacre
4 x Duress

Creature

4 x Thornbow Archer
4 x Wilt-Leaf Liege
4 x Sylvan Messenger
4 x Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers

Legend

4 x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3 x Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen

Land

2 x Woodland Cemetery
4 x Forest
4 x Gilt-Leaf Palace
3 x Llanowar Wastes
4 x Overgrown Tomb
4 x Verdant Catacombs
4 x Swamp



This post is still in progress... so the list below is just for parking :p

[Decklist]The Big and the Fat... or Hasty Phatties

So this is a deck meant for Modern.

not that I like the format mind you. I think Modern is a broken format. My believe and suspicion is that Modern is meant to be an eternal standard. It is purposefully made to have no dominant deck, i.e. the meta is constantly in flux, albeit artificially. I think I mentioned this right at the beginning.And so far... well I hate to be right :p

Still its what we are stuck with no matter how pathetic it is (hey we are actually upset that serum visions is not being printed - I do not know whch is sadder, WOTC/Hasbro doing this to us, or use letting them do this to us)


Anyways, this deck was concocted after hearing about the "combo" Surrak/Shaman of Forgotten Ways, where a bunch of mana is ramped then a hasty Surrak comes out to pound face. It is also probably after Apocalypse Hydra is spoiled to be a rare in MM2.

At that time my thoughts were that essentially that "combo" was hasty fat. So to build a more sustainable deck my deck needed to be consistent. It needed fat, and it needed haste. It needed redundency to be consistent. I also joked that I would probably like to fling the fat to make sure it was lethal. It was also an amusing thought to fling an Apocalypse Hydra half way across town. So that stuck a chord.

So I thought of ways to enable haste as well as the best phat that modern can bring. And the unholy fusion of Apocalypse Hydra and fast fat Surrak resulted in this


Mod_20150505_theBigntheFat

4 x Stomping Ground
7 x Mountain
8 x Forest
4 x Wooded Foothills

4 x Surrak, the Hunt Caller
4 x Deathmist Raptor
4 x Lightning Mauler
4 x Shaman of Forgotten Ways
1 x Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 x Den Protector
4 x Thunderbreak Regent
4 x Apocalypse Hydra

3 x Giant Growth
1 x Fling
4 x Lightning Bolt



At that time I think the Den Protect, and Deathmist Raptor  combination is already a known entity. I was also interested to know if Den Protector is viable in modern. it may well be since Modern is rather slow..


Anywasy the Timmy in me finds this deck cute. At least on paper.

Thats all I have.

May your day not be ruined by thoughts of Modern Masters 2015 :)

[Decklist] Posched Eggs!!

Nothing to see here for MH fans :p



So I was going to rant about the hate on combo and how it is unwarranted.... but its 1 am and i am going to snooze, so I will rant later.


For now, it being the end of the easter month (well if you play MH the great egg hunt is ending in 5th? May), and a slew of GPs/GPTs? coming soon, lets bring out an eggy bogey man!!!


Presenting!


Posched Eggs!!!


Actually its Poached Eggs. A deck I found in the mtgsalvation forum.


It was an attempt to revive eggs after Second Sunrise was banned. It did'nt quite work out though, as it was alittle slow and there was no consensus on the correct composition.


If I recall correctly, it started a few weeks after the ban. Languished for a while and then about half a year later had some interest and then it died down again.


I did'nt quite follow the thread after that, but i did store the list I liked in my handy app.


The premise was was essentially:


Now that Eggs has lost the Second sunrise that gave it its consistency, how can it be modded to be competitive?

Note that it did'nt lose too many cards, but it did lose the one card that gave it enough speed to be viable.


Having sunrise as a possible turn 3 play means that it is able to undercut the fundamental turn 4 (even if that is rarely the optimal play, but it does let you take your chances)

Taking that aways means you now have your combo gutted. Kinda. There is faith rewardsm which is used as sunrise 5-8.... But the deck now has to use it as sunrise 1-4 with Open the vaults as sunrise 5-8. Thats is a very far cry, with faith's rewards being a turn 4 play and open the vaults weighing in at a hefty 6cc.

The double w was never an issue since 2nd sunrise was 1ww


Anyways the thread trying to revive eggs was looking at more sunrise effects and Krark-clan ironworks. the revival effort also forsook the use of sleight of hand, I think the original had 8 1cc draw/filter spells, Serum Visions + Sleight of hand.


The problem is speed.

Ironworks kicks in at 4cc
And as mention sunrise effects now start at 4cc and 6cc


The deck was kinda polarised between being an eggy deck and a krack-clan deck (I am not actually sure what this is, only that it is centered around Ironworks :p and not necessarily utilising sunrise effects)

Anyways it kinda died down and it may even be up now but I did'nt go look.


But I have always been tinkering with the deck on the app. I like combo decks as you can play sollitaire with them. So mucking around with the eggs deck was something I did on an adhoc basis.


So whats new?



I just suddenly felt that hey! Ensoul Artifact seems like a good ways to gum up the floor or give a good clock if available! (I was actually messing with ensoul artifact decks and just went lateral for a while... since well eggs was full of cheap artifacts, and I was wont to ensoul a blind pithing needle during the recently passed Standard)

So I stuffed it in and voila!

It was poached eggs originally, but there was a typo and I though it looked cute so thats what I am calling my variant :P


Its totally untested but

Mod_posched_eggs v 2

Instant
4 x Faith's Reward
1 x Noxious Revival

Sorcery
4 x Serum Visions
4 x Reshape
1 x Sleight of Hand
1 x Open the Vaults

Land
1 x Scalding Tarn
1 x Plains
7 x Island
4 x Ghost Quarter
2 x Darksteel Citadel
1 x Hallowed Fountain
1 x Misty Rainforest

Enchantment
4 x Ensoul Artifact

Artifact
1 x Pyrite Spellbomb
1 x Mind Stone
4 x Conjurer's Bauble
3 x Krark-Clan Ironworks
2 x Chromatic Sphere
1 x Prophetic Prism
3 x Lotus Bloom
4 x Chromatic Star
4 x Ichor Wellspring

Legend
1 x Mox Opal

I figured, part of the problem was consistency and speed. These two were taken away from the deck. The poached version tried to stuff in ironworks to support the now higher costs, added to the fact that the deck had darksteel citadel and gadzillions of artifacts, the ironworks was quite nice... but still it weighed in at 4cc.

So if we can't go faster, the alternative (which is actually the tactic taken by most combo decks) is to go slower. But the problem is the eggs deck is easily beaten down since it has little in the way of defense. Ensoul Artifact allows you to muck up the floor and go for the kill if the coast is clear.

I liked the idea of having the ability to pound quickly if the opportunity presents itself or hold back on defense while looking for the combo kill.

So there. 

I have yet to test if it is actually feasible. Flyers would suck. And the combo might be too slow. I cannot tell for now. But hey its easter.... eggs and all right?

[Decklist] Hotdogs!!

Well now.

I noticed I haven't posted anythng in November. So here it is! A post!  wonderfully empty (at the moment at least) post!

Hmmm. The idea was to post a Rakdos Blitz list. I have been putting off posting it as I have a bunch of thoughts to say about Dega blitz and Naya Blitz and Suicide Black and even Buried Alive....

But I am too lazy at the moment.

....

I guess I should touch up this post a little.

But here is the list:

Goldfishes for a turn 4 kill relatively consistently and I think you have about a 50% shot of winning. =)

The sideboard is a mess... but I think you can just borrow the standard sideboard used by Rabble Red and you should be fine.

Now why use this instead of Rabble Red. I mean, that deck is more streamlined and has a higher rate of damage output.

This deck is slower but is less of a glass cannon than Rabble Red. You know those times midgame when all you have are 1/1s. Yeah this deck tries to avoid that. Now I am not saying this is the next big piece of tech.

Hardly.

But it is an alternative and relatively cheap deck you can pick up and just brainlessly (for me at least :p) take your chances.

The aim of this deck is always to mow down that carytid or courser. Thats all =)

I might write more later but thats all for now...

oh yeah the decklist. For so amicably wasting the last few minutes of your life reading to this point... here it is: =P

Std_141003_degaaggro

Instant

4 x Lightning Strike

4 x Magma Jet

1 x Stoke the Flames

Enchantment

3 x Inferno Fist

Creature

4 x Mogis's Warhound

4 x War-Name Aspirant

4 x Goblin Rabblemaster

4 x Bloodsoaked Champion

4 x Gnarled Scarhide

4 x Monastery Swiftspear

3 x Firedrinker Satyr

Legend

1 x Purphoros, God of the Forge

Land

4 x Mana Confluence

4 x Bloodstained Mire

7 x Mountain

5 x Swamp

Later =)

[20141204 21:38]

So... first off the most important thing.

Why Hotdogs?

(Well feel free to disagree that a corny deckname is important but hey I am gonna write it anyways =D)

Well there is Mogis Warhound!! And the Scarhide is BEEF!!!

Fine.

Anyways this deck was kinda accidental. It began a long long time ago in a farm...

... wrong story.

It began back when innistrad rotated and Naya Blitz was gutted,  I  then tried to go Dega, but the parts just were'nt strong enough and the most damning development was the loss of the checklands.

Yes, did you know the checklands were essential for the Blitz deck? You see the pattern repeated with Zoo, Zoo survived in Legacy (for awhile anyways) before it died in Modern due to the lack of painless lands (it never took off in Modern, even with the release of the Wild Nacatl from the banlist). But I think I am confusing the issues here... A blitz deck needs fast mana firstly and if it comes painless better still. Fast mana with lots of pain (like Naya Blitz!!) is only viable if burn is inefficient. Well burn is alive and well in Modern... so theres that.

With the rotation of innistrad, fast mana was gone. We were left with the stupid scrye lands... which probably has its place, but that place is not blitz... or any aggro deck for that matter (which is why the current standard looks really dumb to me.... 8+ come into play tapped lands!!!! Is it a wonder decks these days die to random aggro?? - to understand how bad this is, imagine playing 8 or more guildlands. Thats bad right? Only a dedicated deck like Maze's End would even consider playing that many. But yet here we are..... where 8 "come into play tapped" lands are the norm)

During the last two blocks of Theros, we got the Hotdogs!!! ... But it always felt a little weird with the rest of the Dega team (Boros Elite, Ash Zealot and hmmm Frontline Medic?) But the mana in any case was still too slow. And the Dega blitz never did take off.

With M15, we got fast colour fixin' mana again in the form of Mana Confluence. This actually makes Dega Blitz extremely viable if the right cards were available. There are a few conditions that need to be met before such a deck becomes viable (and i mostly use the Naya Blitz structure as a guide) but that is a topic for another day. The reason I cannot answer if such a deck was possible is because I really can't. I did not put my mind to it to brew one... the reason being I was quite disgusted with how the retailers were handling Conspiracy, so I was in no mood to brew or play Magic. Which is a shame since as I mentioned in a past post, I actually saw some potential in M15. Now why even say all this if I did'nt build anything? I just wanted to point out that the fast mana is there! A crucial enabler is active!

Pain is an issue... and it is definitely worse than RTR/INN times but I think it is workable. Anyways long story short, by the time of Kahns of Tarkir, my pissiness with retailers is somewhat assuaged by the stuck inventories known as Conspiracy. Prices of boxes actually dropped. Not drastically mind you. But it says something that MM sells better. So the vindictive part of me is somewhat happier and I started fiddling with Kahns (it probably also had to do with Kahns having fetch reprints!!! Some good price lowering prints there means differences can be put aside temporarily).

What I like alot was:

4 x Bloodsoaked Champion

4 x Monastery Swiftspear

3 x Firedrinker Satyr

These guys (and gals) are all 1 cc and efficient. And the Champion is reminisent of the old Buried Alive decks where the black horde just kept coming back!! (Tho, the Champion would have be a nice bit more powerful if the Raid trigger only cost B). Swiftspear is really pretty with :

3 x Inferno Fist

4 x Mogis's Warhound

4 x Gnarled Scarhide

The synergy made me happy,  and it does a few things. Remember that in combat one either goes deep or wide? Mono Black devotion can do both, wide with Pack Rats and deep with Desecration Demon. Blitz is all in wide and Hexproof Auras was all in deep.

This?

Somewhere in between but not quite as strong as Mono Black devotion. Still it is pretty nice to build up a fatty and in lieu of exile effects, you can swarm when your voltron gets dismantled. I am absolutely serious when I say this is not very strong and is only a "nice" effect. Naya Blitz was bursty and fast. And it was resilent, with Frontline medic you got indestructible waves of attackers, Mayor of Avabruck made everything bigger, you got 5/5 Champion of the Parish, etc etc. The deck was stuffed to the brim with goodness. This deck does not come close. Still it is a nifty synergy with Bestow. (I always felt Bestow was really badly implemented, so having something workable  perhaps compelled me to do something with it)

Once the deck got started other candidates came in and fleshed out the deck:

4 x War-Name Aspirant

4 x Goblin Rabblemaster

2 mana for a 3/2 (most of the time) is pretty sweet and the Goblin Rabble master is a workable 3 cc dude as he helps with the swarm. Now the casting cost may seem high compared with the cards in Rabble Red, but still I would like to point out Naya Blitz curve is higher than Rabble Red's too. So the focus is a little different. I am not trying to be the most efficient on curve here, my main objective as mentioned above is to punch through carytids and coursers, again and again and again. Swarm and punch through when necessary, ebb and flow the toughness of the swarm as necessary. Thats the plan. All in four turns lol.

Why not more stoke the flames? The current burn darling in Rabble Red.

4 x Lightning Strike

4 x Magma Jet

1 x Stoke the Flames

3 x Inferno Fist

I am sure brewers know this. You use the best tool for the job. Stoke the Flames is tremendous with Rabble Master.... however you notice I regard Rabble Master as a workable 3 CC, he is not the core of my deck. I find that Stoke the Flames inhibits my attacks if I use the convoke, most times i want to keep hitting, while Stoke wants me to hold back the troops. So I did'nt really feel like it fit well in the deck. A 4cc to synergise with a 3 CC? No thanks. Remember, Rabble Red is build to abuse the Stoke by playing extremely efficient bodies (1 CC) and are goblins to boot! In my deck however I am happy that Inferno Fist plays well with Swiftspear. And together with the Hotdogs!, betstow makes the activating prowess of the swiftspear happen fairly regularly. And better still, the +2/+0 is permanent! And yet still better Inferno Fist is a stored value Shock. I like the synergy. Nuff Said.

The damage tends to come in drips and draps... which is fine since from experience (from Naya Blitz - yes I do likez it lots! lol) I frequently finish off my opponents by a few points. Sure it looks like I got lucky, but I like to think that the deck consistently has a few points of damage left in the tank to deal the finishing blow. Which is what I think this deck has... testing will confirm or refute this tho

Thats about it... other stuff? The fetches add a little for consistency in the mid to late game and Purphoros, God of the Forge is really nasty with Rabble Master and even if that does not happen, he is wont to apply the last drops of hurt to finish the game...oh the pump ability is nice too....

And that is that Hotdogs! explained.

Oh wait. It was supposed to be a Dega. Well the story behind that is that I really liked Kahns so I was hyped to build a Mardu (Dega's shiny new name!!) and you know, with the Speed and Cunning duel deck.... I really thought Mardu had speed... Unfortunately wedgies and the focus on expensive removal and midrange meant that ... Mardu aggro is kinda fat. And lumbering... not quite Blitzy.... So I just went.. "To hell with white!!" And you got Rakdos instead of Dega/Mardu =)

Have a good day ppl!


[20150501 01:58]

So recently got inspired to stuff a Tymaret in after seeing its synergy with the bloodsoaked Champion! Moreover, Hot Dogs was build with the premise that I will not fear losing my betstowed dudes, so Tymaret actually presents a very nice synergy with the betstow dudes as well!

this is the list:

Std_150425_degaaggrov2

Instant
4 x Magma Jet
1 x Stoke the Flames
4 x Lightning Strike

Enchantment
3 x Inferno Fist

Land
4 x Mana Confluence
5 x Swamp
7 x Mountain
4 x Bloodstained Mire

Creature
4 x Monastery Swiftspear
4 x Mogis's Warhound
4 x War-Name Aspirant
3 x Goblin Rabblemaster
4 x Gnarled Scarhide
2 x Firedrinker Satyr
4 x Bloodsoaked Champion

Legend
2 x Tymaret, the Murder King
1 x Purphoros, God of the Forge

Sideboard
4 x Banishing Light
2 x Dark Betrayal
1 x Goblin Rabblemaster
4 x Brain Maggot
1 x Firedrinker Satyr
3 x Destructive Revelry

I reduced the number of Rabblemasters and took out one Firedrinker. So I removed a 3cc and a 1cc for 2 2cc.

I guess my curve should not be too affected, and ditto for the speed. Why two Tymaret, why not 3 or 4? Well 2 Tymaret is enough for inevitability shenanigans and I really only want to see Tymaret mid to late game so I have found that 2 is a nice number for those kinds of situations. Moreover if I stuff more 2ccs I might lose my curve.

I also wanted to keep my interaction between the rabble masters and Purphoros so I wanted the rabble master density to stay high, hence it stays at 3 and no lower.

Why not switch all the Firedrinkers to little Zurgo? Well this is mostly a casual deck, so I am mostly not playing to win. This deck also does not really care for its own life points. Firedrinkers and grow and block. little Zurgo has blocking issues.... So I might switch to little Zurgo if I go for an actual FNM or something (unlikely at the moment :p) but otherwise... well burn has always been around, and if you play a little smarter with the Firedrinker you should'nt get burn too often. Sure when playing against Norm, Firedrinker got roasted alot, but not every deck runs burn so... I take my chances ;)

I noticed that this deck kinda has a warriors theme and I like Tymaret enough, so i ended up pushing a Heros Blade deck!


Have a good weekend ppl!

Unexpected Land Destruction

This is a land destruction deck which utilises Unexpected Results.


I like it alot (I like most LD decks =P)

I'll probably write more later =P

Land Destruction Unexpected
Sorcery
4 x Frenzied Tilling
4 x Demolish
4 x Bramblecrush
4 x Unexpected Results
Land
2 x Mountain
2 x Island
4 x Forest
4 x Breeding Pool
4 x Temple of Mystery
4 x Stomping Ground
4 x Temple of Abandon
Creature
4 x Sylvan Caryatid
4 x Elvish Mystic
4 x Sylvan Primordial
4 x Goblin Electromancer
4 x Ember Swallower


So this is later.... about an hour or so I guess =)

Anyways.


First off about LD decks. There are the attrition based LD decks and there are the combo LD decks.

I don;t really like combination LD decks because, the kill could have been anything.It was'nt the LD that killed the opponent, but the combo. It could have been tokens, infinite damage, whatever, but it was the combo that killed you. Recent decks that did that would be the those that utilised Conjurer's Closet. Call me old fashioned, but it just felt like it was the closet that killed ya =P


This deck is a little closer to the kind of LD deck I like. I don't profess that it is the "correct" or "real" LD, but I do know the kind of LD I like. Anyways. This deck was interesting because, I only actually saw it in action (and by in action it was just a photo sent by YH since I was'nt actually at the GP) at GP KL.

But I have actually messed with frenzied tilling and the electromancer (i.e. rug) combination (which is also why I do not really like it since I found it a little slow and the electromancer was not rewarding enough).

Further that, I actually heard about this "terrible" creature that eats lands and spits out more! I was a little lost as to what my legacy casual friend was talking about. I thought it was avalanche riders he was referring to, but he said it was'nt. It was only at GP KL that I remember Sylvan Primordial. I have to confess that I was ignorant =) I wrote off the Primordials as a cycle for EDH. And the 7 cc put me off too much. And for some reason I kept thinking it can only fetch basic forests.

But having said that, the combination of frenzied tilling, slime, electromancer and primordial and even with the unexpected results (a very nice card) is unstable and slow. The kicker that made it more viable (in my insignificant opinion) is sylvan carytid.

This ramp is what makes the combination of cards alot more stable. The hexproof is a  very big boon. The fact that the butt is 3 toughness is also significant as it stymies early damage. Remember that before carytid, there was still Blitz. That meant, your deck either lives to turn four or it is not viable. I am pretty sure there are some current decks that can muster a turn four kill consistently. ... I think =) And carytid gives a nice buffer. I think this was the reason this variant did'nt really see alot of action (not because there was no carytid, but because there was blitz, but if something as fast as blitz still existed, carytid is a strong counter)

In any case, I reconstructed this deck from what I knew about it from the photo and probably land mix and this is my variant of it (about 5 mins). It is interesting =)  Another thing that Theros gifted this deck are the scrye lands. This can work in tandem with the unexpected results, so that your returns are a little less ... unexpected =P


[20140306 00:44]

I just thought I should add that the list was just quickly thrown together to have a deck that runs with this combination of cards, however if you want to get serious with it, it probably needs some kind of defense or removal. Like Mizzium mortars or Polukranos or even just plain old aetherize =)

Mogis in Love ... or Rage of the Minotaurs!!!

Cognitive dissonance.

Thats what happens when you think of how someone wild and woolly like Mogis can be in love.

What has that got to do with anything? Nothing. As always =)

Well that and I like the song Shakespeare in Love. Again that has nothing to do with anything, so dead end again huh.

hur hur

Hurloon!

Onward.

So I wanted to build a deck around Mogis, since I like the card Abyss alot! However Mogis is NOT Abyss. And its not just the spelling. 

Mogis gives you an ultimatum: sac a critter or take two to the face. 

Every turn. 

Only problem is the opponent gets to choose the lesser evil to implement. Meaning you will always get the sub optimal option. I believe the common term is punisher cards. Few do well, and the ones that see some action are often maligned in someway. But thats magic right?

So back to Mogis. Given this situation, I tried to build a deck that either causes damage fast enough that my opponent does not want to take damage or destroys creatures fast enough that my opponent has no choice but to take damage. I think I failed and there are several reasons why.

1) I probably suck at this.

2) Now that we have that out of the way. I always felt that god cards are singletons in a deck. A singleton does not a theme make. Now. So far that assessment has borned out to be true. The only exception being Thassa, and only because she is 3cc and is highly relevant (in a fast deck) and can scrye herself away. Few if not none of the other gods do that.

Mogis had the same problem. So I ended up with a minotaur deck instead. Hey they are his faves no? I'll probably try to give Mogis another shot later, I kinda got caught up with the minotaur theme and left mogis for dead. He just does'nt fit too well in multiples, but is nice to have as a singleton.

Oh and another observation on the way gods function. Yes, they seem to be only good as a one or two of. However, you can mix and match the gods. In this case, I mix Purphoros with Mogis. I haven't actively considered what other gods may be useful in this deck, but I just want to point out that synergistic gods make up for the fact that you can only have one god of a kind out at any point in time.

So i did'nt really fail in making a deck around Mogis, not really, I just made a deck that can use Mogis =P

So on to the deck.

i wanted some burn. So there are eight of em' burn.

Chandra, Pyromaster. Much maligned planswalker is here for card advantage. (As always you need to build a deck that Chandra can thrive in)

Purphoros to have another relevant god. He burns whenever critter comes in. Critter comes in often in this deck? Check.

Hammer of Purphoros is interesting. It gives haste, so it makes your critters hit faster. But too many will reduce the density of critters (as well as clog your hand, remember they hit on the board not in your hand --- I am so sorry for that one haha) And importantly, as with all aggro decks, late lands become a liability, but Hammer solves that in a pinch, and those golems are hasty to a fault!

Butcher just is. I'm trying him out. He was very mean in limited. Lets see if he is as badass in standard.

Boros Reckoner! Defender of ... your side i guess =P

Fanatic of Mogis, is nice burn. Too bad he can't hit creatures... but I think its too much then. face is good.

Ragemonger is quite nice actually. You like free Reckoners? I reckon you do.

Fellhide Spiritbinder? meh, he seems good, so I am trying out. Obviously (I think) not a four off, as his cc is high and he does'nt rip a new one like Fanatic can. However, he allows you to hit with a copy of say.... Rageblood Shaman?

Oh Rageblood shaman! Cows love beef not. Mabbe thats why the minotaurs are so mad.

Deathbellow. is so cheap! But attacking every turn might prove a huge liability. But I am trying to see if tactical usage of combat damage can assuage the drawback somewhat. Well that and generous usage of Jedi mind trick bluffs too!

20140209_mogis_in_love

Instant
4 x Lightning Strike
4 x Searing Blood

Planeswalker
2 x Chandra, Pyromaster

Enchantment
1 x Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 x Hammer of Purphoros
1 x Mogis, God of Slaughter

Land
10 x Mountain
4 x Blood Crypt
4 x Temple of Malice
4 x Swamp

Creature
4 x Kragma Butcher
4 x Boros Reckoner
3 x Fanatic of Mogis
4 x Ragemonger
2 x Felhide Spiritbinder
4 x Rageblood Shaman
4 x Deathbellow Raider

Have fun!

Foggy Kiora

This is a recent decklist I am messing with.

20140209_kiora_fog

Instant
4 x Sudden Storm
4 x Simic Charm
3 x Opportunity
3 x Ætherize
4 x Fog

Planeswalker
3 x Kiora, the Crashing Wave
3 x Jace, Architect of Thought

Sorcery
1 x Whelming Wave

Land
10 x Forest
4 x Temple of Mystery
6 x Island
4 x Breeding Pool

Enchantment
4 x Courser of Kruphix

Creature
4 x Sylvan Caryatid
3 x Prognostic Sphinx



The whelming wave is pretty iffy, the worsepart being that it returns all creatures including yours. It is bad enough that it is sorcery, but that it is subpar to things like Aetherize and sudden storm is just sad.

Still. 

Whelming wave is a free hit if you ever amass an army of Krakens. Well that and if WOTC decide to print good quality cheap Krakens, octopuses, Leviathan, or serpents.

The problem with that thought is often a timely fog or aetherize or sudden storm should leave the opposition board empty anyways.

Courser of Kruphix together with Prognostic Sphinx is pretty nasty, as the scry for 3 can present the free land more often than not.

Still this is all untested so it may be too slow for all I know =)

Still it does look somewhat viable.



[20140227 2259]


If you have tried this deck you would have noticed it has a serious flaw. It can fog for pretty long, but eventually it has no way to deal with the opponent's creatures. This is very risky. Hence I have tweaked the deck to this:

20140227_kiora_fog

Instant
4 x Polukranos, World Eater
4 x Simic Charm
3 x Opportunity
3 x Ætherize
4 x Fog

Planeswalker
3 x Kiora, the Crashing Wave
3 x Jace, Architect of Thought

Sorcery
1 x Whelming Wave

Land
10 x Forest
4 x Temple of Mystery
6 x Island
4 x Breeding Pool

Enchantment
4 x Courser of Kruphix

Creature
4 x Sylvan Caryatid
3 x Prognostic Sphinx

I have changed the Sudden Storms to Polukranos. The reason being that polukranos serves as both removal as well as threat. It also stabilises your board.

Sudden Storms are nice, but not that great against a swarm. For reference I goldfished the deck against a regular Blitz deck. Yes its a modern deck, but it is just representing aggro with a four turn clock, something I feel a deck should be able to have a 50% chance against if it is to be competitive.

[20140305 23:53]

20140209_kiora_fogv3

Legend

4 x Polukranos, World Eater

Planeswalker

3 x Jace, Architect of Thought

3 x Kiora, the Crashing Wave

Sorcery

1 x Whelming Wave

Creature

3 x Prognostic Sphinx

4 x Sylvan Caryatid

4 x Courser of Kruphix

Instant

3 x Opportunity

3 x Ætherize

4 x Fog

2 x Cyclonic Rift

2 x Simic Charm

Land

4 x Breeding Pool

10 x Forest

4 x Temple of Mystery

6 x Island

Sideboard

1 x Pithing Needle

1 x Ætherize

2 x Simic Charm

3 x Gainsay

1 x Jace, Architect of Thought

1 x Kiora, the Crashing Wave

1 x Dispel

4 x Nullify

1 x Opportunity

Actually the only change I made is the exchange of simic charms for cyclonic rifts. Cyclonic rifts were found accidentally, its very nice for finishing your opponents off in an alpha strike (since you are Mr Fogman himself, you no fear the counterstrike!!)