MTG Salvation

This thread is for the discussion of -spooky-'s latest article, Squandered Resources: Super Budget Super Series 6. Due to technical issues the thread that is normally created when an article is published didn't occur, so I have created this thread to allow you to talk about it. As always, please keep your comments on topic.

Great article as always. I'm still tinkering with by GB pox deck from a while back. A card I really like to use with Gravecrawler is Mutavault, which can be great with Grisly Salvage. A lot of people forget about changeling on Mutavault and how it can unleash a stream of Zombies from the graveyard. Add Life from the Loam for inevitability and you're good to go.

On the GB Vengevine you mention Crippling Fatigue as a Tutor-target - but Buried Alive can only search for creatures.

Quote from BladewingX

On the GB Vengevine you mention Crippling Fatigue as a Tutor-target - but Buried Alive can only search for creatures.

Thank you so much for pointing that out! I'm not sure why I wrote that the way I did because I'm sure I knew that already. I guess when you get into a mind set you forget things. I know that at one point I played with Entomb being used, so maybe that's where I was coming from. Either way, you are correct!

You did nic fit

I do think that deck needs spot removal like gfft/smother/innocent blood maindeck.

Thragtusk, kitchen finks, and deranged hermit are all really powerful options that I feel should be in there.

Otherwise, awesome!

GB vengevine: Blood scrivener is one of my favorite cards and I'm glad you put him in a deck

Nothing I see that can be improved.

GB varolz: I like that you're running torpor orb maindeck because it acts as hate against some decks. However, I don't think you have enough outs when you draw hunted horror. Can you think of anything else that could be put in?

All your pod suggestions are great. Which is what's awesome about the deck, you can play just about anything.

I really like hunted horror. You can still use him with scavenge, and its nice to have another creature besides dreadnought that orb works with. Its awkward when you get orb and deaths shadow though. I'm not really too sold on the fauna shaman either. Sometimes she is really nice, and sometimes I wonder why shes even in the list. If I were to take anything out it would be her or the elves, not horror.

I'm not suggesting taking horror out, I'm suggesting to add more discard just in case you draw horror. I don't know what it should be, though.

That Varolz deck looks hella fun and awesome. I really like it, and hope to see some interesting feedback on it.

Quote from wavesofice31

I'm not suggesting taking horror out, I'm suggesting to add more discard just in case you draw horror. I don't know what it should be, though.

I'm not sure. Perhaps Oona's Prowler? Really, I am finding a few things about the list that I think need to be changed. Grisly Salvage is becoming more and more awkward to me. Its great when you want to try and find Varolz, but when you have a dreadnought in hand, cast salvage, and are forced to mill an upcoming torpor orb things get iffy. I'm also not entirely sold on Fauna Shaman.

Quote from -spooky-

I'm not sure. Perhaps Oona's Prowler? Really, I am finding a few things about the list that I think need to be changed. Grisly Salvage is becoming more and more awkward to me. Its great when you want to try and find Varolz, but when you have a dreadnought in hand, cast salvage, and are forced to mill an upcoming torpor orb things get iffy. I'm also not entirely sold on Fauna Shaman.

Oona's prowler seems pretty good. I might starting testing the list and seeing how it works. I'm not sure what could replace salvage though.

Quote from Frand

How would Reaper of the Wilds work in the first deck? I've been trying to fit her in some deck and I assume you can scry after saccing a creature.

It's ok, and it does work that way, but the only problem is you don't want to pod out of it. That said, it is a possibility.

Quote from wavesofice31

Oona's prowler seems pretty good. I might starting testing the list and seeing how it works. I'm not sure what could replace salvage though.



It's ok, and it does work that way, but the only problem is you don't want to pod out of it. That said, it is a possibility.

Sweet, let me know how testing goes!

As far as Reaper of the Wilds goes, I don't think it works how you want. When you sac a creature to Pod, the pod trigger goes on the stack with reaper's scry above it. This means the scry resolves first, then you search for a creature with pod, which causes you to shuffle your deck and makes the scry meaningless.

Oh right, forgot about that. Yeah, reaper isn't good with pod.

Have you considered running a 1-of Volrath's Stronghold and 1 or 2-of Eternal Witness? You mention problems with Grisly Salvage being awkward, and the combination of Volrath's Stronghold as a back-up to the Varolz plan (say they cast Surgical Extraction on your Varolz or something) with Eternal witness providing a way to recoup lost Torpor Orbs, creatures you pitched to Fauna Shaman, and valuable spells for clearing late game blockers might be enough to clear up some problems.

Also, it'd only add about $25 to the deck.

Here's what I'll be testing

Quote from Doktor_Sleepless

Have you considered running a 1-of Volrath's Stronghold and 1 or 2-of Eternal Witness? You mention problems with Grisly Salvage being awkward, and the combination of Volrath's Stronghold as a back-up to the Varolz plan (say they cast Surgical Extraction on your Varolz or something) with Eternal witness providing a way to recoup lost Torpor Orbs, creatures you pitched to Fauna Shaman, and valuable spells for clearing late game blockers might be enough to clear up some problems.

Also, it'd only add about $25 to the deck.

They were considered, but I have a set budget limit, so you can only fit so much into the decks before you go over the budget. Man, I remember when stronghold was 8 bucks...

Eternal witness should be fine. @Doctor what do you think I should replace with it?

Salvage or Shaman would be my suggestions.

...But I already cut shaman, and salvage is supposed to be used with witness.

I'm sure Elves of Deep Shadow could go. It decreases your chances of a turn 2 varolz or dreadnought, but what you are sacrificing for speed you are making up for in resilience.

@wavesofice31, after looking at your list, I'd make the following changes if they're within budgetary/trade constraints:

I'd split Worldly Tutor 1/1 with Green Sun's Zenith. Originally I was going to argue for a move completely to GSZ, because it gets Varolz and puts it into play, as well as bullet cards like Eternal Witness (and if you're into spicy sideboard tech, Tajuru Preserver. But I can see a strong argument for Worldly tutor getting you a fatty to stick in the graveyard and scavenge if you have a discard outlet. Though with that argument, I'd stick in an Entomb in place of the worldly tutor if one could be acquired reasonably easily and cheaply.

I'd switch one Elves of Deep Shadow with an Eternal Witness. The small loss of explosiveness is nothing compared to the gain in resiliency, which you need in a format of the best cards ever printed.

Along that line of thinking, if you could afford to switch Abrupt Decay for Smother... again, this moves outside the scope of Spooky's article, which is a budget-constrained deck, but Abrupt Decay is in print right now, so there's got to be some floating around in trade binders.

Another thing to consider is a couple of Treetop Village and a Life from the Loam. Darkblast is kind of mediocre in legacy right now in my opinion, due to Deathrite Shaman's heavy presence. Life from the loam, on the other hand, is incredibly low in value right now and (since you'll be directing lots of your good removal at Deathrites and Scavenging Oozes, I assume) represents a good way to recoup card advantage and fill your graveyard with goodies for Varolz.

Finally, look at Unearth. That's a spell I can get behind in a deck like this. Cycle early for value, eternal witness it back late to get a Dreadnought or Horror with Torpor Orb in play.

For the record, I'm not actually going to build the deck; I'll just test it on cockatrice for fun/to post results.

For the sake of budget-ness I'll leave out abrupt decay and entomb.

Going -2 elves +1 ewit +1 unearth, -1 worldly +1 gsz, -1 darkblast +1 smother

I'm not really a fan of the loam package because it only generates CA with treetop village and is replacing a removal slot with non-removal.

Quote from wavesofice31

For the record, I'm not actually going to build the deck; I'll just test it on cockatrice for fun/to post results.

For the sake of budget-ness I'll leave out abrupt decay and entomb.

Going -2 elves +1 ewit +1 unearth, -1 worldly +1 gsz, -1 darkblast +1 smother

I'm not really a fan of the loam package because it only generates CA with treetop village and is replacing a removal slot with non-removal.

be sure to let us know how the testing goes either way. I'd love to hear about your experiences with the deck.