After reading the deck list and then reading the comments, here's my 2c:
1. You don't need Serra Avatar. You get infinite life, most decks scoop. Doy.
2. Aether Vial is nice. Going off a turn early rocks.
3. Go ahead and Cranial Extract Test of Endurance. I'll just go ahead and get infinite life. See #1.
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I agree with Vial I don't agree with Meddling mage. We know the dominate decks in the format but what really scares us with what they could play? What do you meddling mage for? Either your going to combo out agains an aggro deck or you are going to vial out against a control deck. The inclusion of meddling mage doesn't make too much sense to me.
At the person who thought that "once you have infinate life the opponent will scoop" Yeah that probably works casually but in a PTQ/Grand Prix people arn't going to roll over and die they are going to try and kill you by decking you. Even though this decks draw engine isn't that good enough has been said about a few deep analysis to have you end up decked with no way of winning in the mean time. I personally hate decks with too few win conditions so I will be trying to go ahead and find a few more to add to the deck. I welcome suggestions:
Treetop Village - Its in a base color which is nice. I feel if we cut the number of forests to 1 and add a few of these with maybe one in the board they can help quicken the clock so people actually do conceed.
Serra Avatar - In the board. Wish for it, ramp of vail and away you go.
About Face - Yeah its red but its almost instand death or a must counter. A nice trick thats cheap to boot. (you can also combo this with Fling )
Budoka Gardener - A inexpensive green card that is easy to play with Vail and then produces huge creatures for an inexpensive fee. Since you only have to worry about decking yourself the larger creature generator can pile up an army at your leasure for the alpha strike
Phyrexian Processor - Nothing says life gain more than this card yeah pay 1000 life and let the fun begin. Pros are that it can be found with Enlightened Tutor and have a reasonable cost. Cons are can't be played with Vail.
Thats what I can think of right now. I think alot less people are going to do the scoop when you gain life like they used to I feel a few more threats, a few more options will make the games easier to win and give you better alternate win conditions. I would appreciate some suggestions if you have any. Thanks
Either your going to combo out agains an aggro deck or you are going to vial out against a control deck. The inclusion of meddling mage doesn't make too much sense to me.
Totally agree, but then you lost me with all the inclusions that you tried to do - anything that takes away from the combo makes this a worse deck then it needs to be. The only win conditions that this deck needs are realistically Test of Endurance and Serra Avatar in the sideboard to be wished for.
If you are worried about the hate, you can add more redundancy, but anything else (About Face, Treetop, etc.) weakens the deck.
At the person who thought that "once you have infinate life the opponent will scoop" Yeah that probably works casually but in a PTQ/Grand Prix people arn't going to roll over and die they are going to try and kill you by decking you.
Here's the thing:
Game 1, comboed out - Any smart opponent is not going to prolong the agony if they feel that the Life deck still has any shot, because they know they still have 2 games to pull it out. Why continue with a game 1 under the gun when there is still a shot of not taking it to time?
Game 2, comboed out - 40 minute game is not unrealistic, without any stalling (just do the math). Life doesn't mind winning 1-0. Even if Life has lost game 1, a draw is just as bad as a loss in many situations.
Again, no one pays attention that the combo is created by creatures, and once you get the first infinite life combo, your creatures essentially become invincible to damage.
We laugh about "20 turn ticker", but a deck who has infinite life doesn't mind a "20 turn ticker", even if a single 1/1, 1/3, 1/2 is getting through.
I definatly think you are right on this one. The 20 turn clock should be ready to go and with the vial in the deck you can get uncounterable clocks into play. This deck should be a force to be reckoned with I just have to remember to relax and enjoy the 1-0 win ;-).
post sb just chant to draw the spell out, or go off right there, pre sb you need to have either another spell for the combo or enough to buyback and play a worthy cause. Possibly rule of law might help as if they play a spell on their turn, then you can combo out that turn without fear of them doing anything. Overall, I think as long as we know what to expect we can play against it easily enough.
i played in a tournament on fridcay. i played affintiy to a sedond place finish. vial lis broken i wonws many games son th3e poever oif it.
Unless i am mistaken Oxidize, V Shaman and E Witness are showing up in just as many decks and warping the metagame as much as Affinity. They should just ban all of Mirrodin block. Onslaught was always the best block ever. I had a U/W Cleric wizard deck that couldnt be beat.
well people, as a player of life, the WORST card they can sideboard against you is either dread of night stopping the daru spiritualist, en-kor combo thus cutting your deck in half or the all mighty horobi, death's wail, that it prevents our combo completely.
I have seen goblins using horobi in the side since horobi/ sharpshooter can take really good care of madness and rock.
What is the new equip 0 that costs one? That will be very important when the "en-kor's" rotate out You could 'try' and remake the deck with those, lightning greaves and Leonin Shikari .
Hey guys I went to a tournament the other day at my local card shop which was holding a tourney the other day. Basically the only restraints on the cardpool were the banned and restricted list, and it wasn't a sanctioned tourney, so pretty much everything from T1 to Unhinged was there. For the sake of time, I'll only post game by game descriptions for the extended matchups.
Matchup:U/G Madness Game1:
Turn1: He goes first, plays a land + chrome mox imprint brawn and drops a mongrel.
I go play a plains and a nomad.
Turn2: He plays a land, and another mongrel and attacks with the first. I'm at 18.
I play a starlit sanctum and a daru spiritualist which he counters with a circular logic.
Turn3: he attacks with both mongrels and pumps one to play a rootwalla. I'm at 13.
I drop a brushland and wish for a spiritualist. I'm at 12.
Turn4: he attacks all out with no pumps. I'm at 7
I drop a plains, and play the spiritualist. He has no counters, I combo off. He conceded. Game2: I get both a nomad and spiritualist out by turn two. He thinks about his options, and passes to me. I combo and he concedes.
Matchup: Ravager Affinity Game1: He plays a cabal therapy turn1 on daru spiritualist since he knows I'm playing life. I discard one from my hand. By turn3 I have a nomad in play and a wish in hand. he has 2 skullclamps in play and 1 vault of whispers.... obviously it wasn't a lucky draw for affinity. Shortly after I play a seal of cleansing on his only land. He didn't get any more and I safely comboed out for the win. Game2: I get my pieces into play on turn 2 and he has nothing to deal with it. He tries to cabal therapy a worthy cause out of my hand by sacking a frogmite, but all he finds is a starlit sanctum. He concedes.
During some spare time inbetween rounds I also got to play 1 game against a version of RDW which wasted me. The only lands I got into play were pain lands and I couldn't combo out fast enough to win.
Overall I did ok in the tourney with the deck.... I only had 1 match loss against a crazy T1 black control deck with pox, racks, discard and strip mines. Other than that match the deck held up being suprisingly consistant allowing me to win 2-0 all my other matches ending with a 4-1 record.(which was good enough to earn me back my entry fee in prizes :)) I don't know if this will help anyone, but I thought I'd post it just the same....
i played in a tournament on fridcay. i played affintiy to a sedond place finish. vial lis broken i wonws many games son th3e poever oif it.
Unless i am mistaken Oxidize, V Shaman and E Witness are showing up in just as many decks and warping the metagame as much as Affinity. They should just ban all of Mirrodin block. Onslaught was always the best block ever. I had a U/W Cleric wizard deck that couldnt be beat.
Overall I did ok in the tourney with the deck.... I only had 1 match loss against a crazy T1 black control deck with pox, racks, discard and strip mines. Other than that match the deck held up being suprisingly consistant allowing me to win 2-0 all my other matches ending with a 4-1 record.(which was good enough to earn me back my entry fee in prizes :)) I don't know if this will help anyone, but I thought I'd post it just the same....
yes you will surprised but the local decks that people make
Wait.. why are leonin shikari needed to combo with equipment?
After rotation when the equipment combo is necissary then you need shikari to equip at instant speed instead of sorcery speed. Why instant speed you may ask? to help with disruption so if they target your creature(s) with anything or try to kill you when you decide to go off you can go off in response. :grin2:
Personally though, I'm not sure that this deck will be nearly as effective after rotation. It really takes a hard hit to a lot of its consistency(sp?) after the loss of en kors and other pieces to the combo.
i played in a tournament on fridcay. i played affintiy to a sedond place finish. vial lis broken i wonws many games son th3e poever oif it.
Unless i am mistaken Oxidize, V Shaman and E Witness are showing up in just as many decks and warping the metagame as much as Affinity. They should just ban all of Mirrodin block. Onslaught was always the best block ever. I had a U/W Cleric wizard deck that couldnt be beat.
Basicly if you have shikari and daru/task force plus either 0 equip you can combo out. Yup thats a three card combo instead of 2 (you need 2 creatures so you can switch the equipment between the two of them) which really hurts consistancy maybe a new card will come to help the place of worthy cause or the en-kors, we will have to see in the next set.
Basicly if you have shikari and daru/task force plus either 0 equip you can combo out. Yup thats a three card combo instead of 2 (you need 2 creatures so you can switch the equipment between the two of them) which really hurts consistancy maybe a new card will come to help the place of worthy cause or the en-kors, we will have to see in the next set.
You can actually go off with a single creature (either Daru Spiritualist or Task Force) and Reconaissance or Shaku. There's nothing preventing you from reequipping the same creature over and over again. The reason you can't do this with Lightning Greaves is that the Greaves make the equipped creature untargetable, which may be what you have in mind.
You can actually go off with a single creature (either Daru Spiritualist or Task Force) and Reconnaissance or Shaku. There's nothing preventing you from reequipping the same creature over and over again. The reason you can't do this with Lightning Greaves is that the Greaves make the equipped creature untargetable, which may be what you have in mind.
The thing is though, that the combo becomes a HUGE ammount weaker after rotation.
1. It becomes vulnerable to artifact hate
2. Without a shikari you are going off at sorcery speed meaning you are vulnerable to instant creature kill
3. You can't get all of your pieces into play under an aether vial anymore meaning your combo can now be countered
Overall I'm not sure that the deck will be worth playing if we can't overcome these difficulties.
i played in a tournament on fridcay. i played affintiy to a sedond place finish. vial lis broken i wonws many games son th3e poever oif it.
Unless i am mistaken Oxidize, V Shaman and E Witness are showing up in just as many decks and warping the metagame as much as Affinity. They should just ban all of Mirrodin block. Onslaught was always the best block ever. I had a U/W Cleric wizard deck that couldnt be beat.
The problem is that Reconnaissance will be just as rotated out as the en-Kor's. It's in Exodus... It might make the deck a little more stable and able to win through attacking in the long end, but it's no solution for post-rotation...
With the rotation, the entire Extended environment changes. Why is the concern about this particular deck being "dead post rotation" when that isn't even going to occur for a great many months?
It's exactly worrying that Ravager is going to be "dead' in standard because of the rotation.
In addition, its not like you can't get Shaman En-Kor, the one rare that isn't found in almost any other deck for $2 each still....in an environment that is more open that ANY environment in recent history
With the rotation, the entire Extended environment changes. Why is the concern about this particular deck being "dead post rotation" when that isn't even going to occur for a great many months?
It's exactly worrying that Ravager is going to be "dead' in standard because of the rotation.
In addition, its not like you can't get Shaman En-Kor, the one rare that isn't found in almost any other deck for $2 each still....in an environment that is more open that ANY environment in recent history
Well, I was just making an observation in line with the current discussion. Still, it might not be dead post-rotation. All this deck needs is a outlet which targets creatures, preferably at instant speed. They have some time to print/reprint that still...
I dont like to come into a thread and crap on a deck, but theres so many ways to yank Life, even post combo; destroying Worthy Cause, Phage, False Cure, Ragged Veins on the Serra, etc etc etc.
This is the deck Im the least worried about during the extended season.
i'm going to make this deck... Æther Vial looks extremely cool to me right now, speeds stuff up Though I cannot think of anything that should be taken out for it I like the first build shown, it looks like it has answers to many things. And i was wondering how one would get infinite life when i looked at Spiritualist and Sanctum, then i looked up Nomad and laughed a good one
4 city of brass
2 forest
6 plains
4 brushland
3 starlit sanctum
4 windswept heath
------------------
1 academy rector
1 eternal witness
3 daru spiritualist
4 task force
4 shaman en kor
3 nomads en kor
------------------
4 eldamari's call
1 test of endurance
1 animal boneyard
1 parallax wave
1 seal of cleansing
1 rule of law
4 worthy cause
4 living wish
3 enlightened tutor
1 sterling grove
SB:
4 orims chant
1 daru spiritualist
1 eternal witness
1 nomads en kor
1 starlit sanctum
1 academy rector
1 seal of cleansing
1 energy flux
1 ensnaring bridge
1 engineered plague
1 genesis
1 isochron scepter
what to take out? i cannot decide. it looks solid and all, but I too am not comfortable in just making a deck i found on the net.
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Inserted into this signaure is all my creativity and energy...
I dont like to come into a thread and crap on a deck, but theres so many ways to yank Life, even post combo; destroying Worthy Cause, Phage, False Cure, Ragged Veins on the Serra, etc etc etc.
This is the deck Im the least worried about during the extended season.
Thanks for sharing, we will be sure to note your lack of concern. I hope that your Extended season goes as well as your lack of concern demonstrates.
Here's the problem with your statement -
Phage, False Cure, Ragged Veins all are cards which are ineffective against all other decks. Not to mention that the Ragged Veins are not effective because most of the Life decks don't even both with the Serra except in the sideboard, as a last resort almost. Adding these cards significantly weaken your sideboard choices (and comon, Phage? It's not like you are going to reanimate her).
I think when you are refering to "destroying Worthy Cause", you are refering to the Test of Endurance (and your lack of concern with the deck shows how much testing you have done - so I will give you the benefit of the doubt on this one), and generally you are going to only get one chance to do that - the Rector which will tutor up the win will do so at the end phase, so that it triggers at the begining of the upkeep - giving less then a full turn to do anything. "But kashmyr, what if they don't GET the Rector" - once you combo out, you have 6-8 tutors, depending on how many you have used to actually combo, of which have no use OTHER then to get the rector in the main, or in the side. Actually, your concern should be on the pre-combo for most decks, because most decks have no way to deal with it post-combo.
Life is one of those decks that you should be worried about - not necessarily the "primary" deck, but unless you are playing one of the terrible matchups (Aluren, Desire), it is something that you should test against.
I dont like to come into a thread and crap on a deck, but theres so many ways to yank Life, even post combo; destroying Worthy Cause, Phage, False Cure, Ragged Veins on the Serra, etc etc etc.
This is the deck Im the least worried about during the extended season.
Ah yes what a wonderful post this was, not really. Ok so here we go from the way you are talking you are going to be playing somthing
1) Horrid
2) With swamps
Now that everyone is with my excellent logic lets look at game 2 (with the assumption that we gain infinite life before your horrid deck can mise its way to victory).
Rustem thinks "LOL STUPID N00BS I HAVE PHAGE THE UNCASTABLE 4X to RUIN YOUR DAY!!!onE!!ELEVEN!!!11!!!"
Life Player thinks "Hmmm if i can win the next game in 10 minutes I can go get some food"
So the game starts as normal you play horrible cards we play combo cards. Now we will assume once again we get to infinate life but low and behold you keep playing so you can play Phage the Uncastable (just in case you forget Phage Costs 3BBBB) here is the situation
Rustem board position: Phage, 7 swamps
Life Player Board Position: 2 En-kor, task force and daru (since it will take forever and 3 days to get enough to play Phage).
Rustem: "LOL N00B I ATTACK WITH DA PHAGE FOR DA WIN!one!!!!eleven!!"
Life Player: "Umm ok, I'll block with all four, redirect next 1000 damage to task force and deal four damage to phage, it dies and my task force dies... good use of resources"
Rustem: "oh...."
yeah good job. Well then of course you have the most widely used hate card in there too. It is a good choice but just incredibly easy to play around.
Life Player: Noticing horrible deck continues to leave BB open waits for the right opportunity. Which is: Make sure you either have 2 worthy cause. or animal boneyard and cause or animal boneyard and starlit sanctum. Or has Orim’s Chant
Life Player: During my upkeep I cast Orim's chant targeting you. Combo you lose.
Great now your sideboard has horrid cards and you still lost, there may be a reason to worry, oh and don’t forget about Aether Vial if that gets out the combo is basically uncounterable
Well, I was just making an observation in line with the current discussion. Still, it might not be dead post-rotation. All this deck needs is a outlet which targets creatures, preferably at instant speed. They have some time to print/reprint that still...
has anyone considered shuko? sure its not instant speed... but its a one drop with to equip... not the best replacement, but its something...
I dont like to come into a thread and crap on a deck, but theres so many ways to yank Life, even post combo; destroying Worthy Cause, Phage, False Cure, Ragged Veins on the Serra, etc etc etc.
This is the deck Im the least worried about during the extended season.
2 things.
1) I hope for your sake that this is an attempt at trolling, because it just makes you look silly.
2) If this deck is as bad as you say, it must've been v. lucky to t8 a PT, t8 a GP last year as well as be proven to be one of the most consistent decks in the format.
the deck's a LOT better than the cards it runs. its a perfect example of synergy within a deck. the cards themselves are, for lack of a better word, crap. however, when you put all that crap together and mix it up, you dont' get a crap smoothie. you happen to wind up with a very good, very consistent combo deck that has GREAT game vs the aggro decks in the format.
If, at any time before you're under, say, 10 life vs Goblins, Affinity, RDW, Elves!!(if that's even still played), or whatever other aggro deck you run into, any combination of an En-Kor creature and a Daru Spiritualist/Task Force shuts down at least 2 attackers. If you have more than one of either side and at least one Spiritualist/Task Force then you can shut down as many attackers as you have blockers.
Yes, False Cure is a problem for the deck, but its not that hard to play around. In fact, its no harder to play around than the Mind's Desire player playing around an Orim's Chant. Playing around cards like that just require you to have some combo redundancy either in hand or on the board. Just be careful with Starlit Sanctum, as you have to sacrifice a cleric as part of its activation.
I won't even mention Phage for the sheer fact that she:
A) Costs 7 mana to play
B) Can't be easily reanimated
C) Gets blocked until you find a Test of Endurance for the win.
That said, unless you're playing ScepterChant, Aluren or Mind's Desire, Life is a deck you *HAVE* to be prepared for.
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1. You don't need Serra Avatar. You get infinite life, most decks scoop. Doy.
2. Aether Vial is nice. Going off a turn early rocks.
3. Go ahead and Cranial Extract Test of Endurance. I'll just go ahead and get infinite life. See #1.
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Fu's Cab - Retired! ||| Trade thread dead for now; returning soon!
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Quotes
At the person who thought that "once you have infinate life the opponent will scoop" Yeah that probably works casually but in a PTQ/Grand Prix people arn't going to roll over and die they are going to try and kill you by decking you. Even though this decks draw engine isn't that good enough has been said about a few deep analysis to have you end up decked with no way of winning in the mean time. I personally hate decks with too few win conditions so I will be trying to go ahead and find a few more to add to the deck. I welcome suggestions:
Treetop Village - Its in a base color which is nice. I feel if we cut the number of forests to 1 and add a few of these with maybe one in the board they can help quicken the clock so people actually do conceed.
Serra Avatar - In the board. Wish for it, ramp of vail and away you go.
About Face - Yeah its red but its almost instand death or a must counter. A nice trick thats cheap to boot. (you can also combo this with Fling )
Budoka Gardener - A inexpensive green card that is easy to play with Vail and then produces huge creatures for an inexpensive fee. Since you only have to worry about decking yourself the larger creature generator can pile up an army at your leasure for the alpha strike
Phyrexian Processor - Nothing says life gain more than this card yeah pay 1000 life and let the fun begin. Pros are that it can be found with Enlightened Tutor and have a reasonable cost. Cons are can't be played with Vail.
Thats what I can think of right now. I think alot less people are going to do the scoop when you gain life like they used to I feel a few more threats, a few more options will make the games easier to win and give you better alternate win conditions. I would appreciate some suggestions if you have any. Thanks
Totally agree, but then you lost me with all the inclusions that you tried to do - anything that takes away from the combo makes this a worse deck then it needs to be. The only win conditions that this deck needs are realistically Test of Endurance and Serra Avatar in the sideboard to be wished for.
If you are worried about the hate, you can add more redundancy, but anything else (About Face, Treetop, etc.) weakens the deck.
Here's the thing:
Game 1, comboed out - Any smart opponent is not going to prolong the agony if they feel that the Life deck still has any shot, because they know they still have 2 games to pull it out. Why continue with a game 1 under the gun when there is still a shot of not taking it to time?
Game 2, comboed out - 40 minute game is not unrealistic, without any stalling (just do the math). Life doesn't mind winning 1-0. Even if Life has lost game 1, a draw is just as bad as a loss in many situations.
Again, no one pays attention that the combo is created by creatures, and once you get the first infinite life combo, your creatures essentially become invincible to damage.
We laugh about "20 turn ticker", but a deck who has infinite life doesn't mind a "20 turn ticker", even if a single 1/1, 1/3, 1/2 is getting through.
Northern Ohio Gamers Forums
behold the wisdom of slidegob
I have seen goblins using horobi in the side since horobi/ sharpshooter can take really good care of madness and rock.
Matchup:U/G Madness
Game1:
Turn1: He goes first, plays a land + chrome mox imprint brawn and drops a mongrel.
I go play a plains and a nomad.
Turn2: He plays a land, and another mongrel and attacks with the first. I'm at 18.
I play a starlit sanctum and a daru spiritualist which he counters with a circular logic.
Turn3: he attacks with both mongrels and pumps one to play a rootwalla. I'm at 13.
I drop a brushland and wish for a spiritualist. I'm at 12.
Turn4: he attacks all out with no pumps. I'm at 7
I drop a plains, and play the spiritualist. He has no counters, I combo off. He conceded.
Game2: I get both a nomad and spiritualist out by turn two. He thinks about his options, and passes to me. I combo and he concedes.
Matchup: Ravager Affinity
Game1: He plays a cabal therapy turn1 on daru spiritualist since he knows I'm playing life. I discard one from my hand. By turn3 I have a nomad in play and a wish in hand. he has 2 skullclamps in play and 1 vault of whispers.... obviously it wasn't a lucky draw for affinity. Shortly after I play a seal of cleansing on his only land. He didn't get any more and I safely comboed out for the win.
Game2: I get my pieces into play on turn 2 and he has nothing to deal with it. He tries to cabal therapy a worthy cause out of my hand by sacking a frogmite, but all he finds is a starlit sanctum. He concedes.
During some spare time inbetween rounds I also got to play 1 game against a version of RDW which wasted me. The only lands I got into play were pain lands and I couldn't combo out fast enough to win.
Overall I did ok in the tourney with the deck.... I only had 1 match loss against a crazy T1 black control deck with pox, racks, discard and strip mines. Other than that match the deck held up being suprisingly consistant allowing me to win 2-0 all my other matches ending with a 4-1 record.(which was good enough to earn me back my entry fee in prizes :)) I don't know if this will help anyone, but I thought I'd post it just the same....
behold the wisdom of slidegob
yes you will surprised but the local decks that people make
The bullet of justice caps evil's a$$.
4th place at CCC&G Pro Tour
Chances of bad hands (<2 or >4 land):
21: 28.9%
22: 27.5%
23: 26.3%
24: 25.5%
25: 25.1%
26: 25.3%
After rotation when the equipment combo is necissary then you need shikari to equip at instant speed instead of sorcery speed. Why instant speed you may ask? to help with disruption so if they target your creature(s) with anything or try to kill you when you decide to go off you can go off in response. :grin2:
Personally though, I'm not sure that this deck will be nearly as effective after rotation. It really takes a hard hit to a lot of its consistency(sp?) after the loss of en kors and other pieces to the combo.
behold the wisdom of slidegob
You can actually go off with a single creature (either Daru Spiritualist or Task Force) and Reconaissance or Shaku. There's nothing preventing you from reequipping the same creature over and over again. The reason you can't do this with Lightning Greaves is that the Greaves make the equipped creature untargetable, which may be what you have in mind.
The thing is though, that the combo becomes a HUGE ammount weaker after rotation.
1. It becomes vulnerable to artifact hate
2. Without a shikari you are going off at sorcery speed meaning you are vulnerable to instant creature kill
3. You can't get all of your pieces into play under an aether vial anymore meaning your combo can now be countered
Overall I'm not sure that the deck will be worth playing if we can't overcome these difficulties.
behold the wisdom of slidegob
to one who is striking at the root." --Henry David Thoreau
It's exactly worrying that Ravager is going to be "dead' in standard because of the rotation.
In addition, its not like you can't get Shaman En-Kor, the one rare that isn't found in almost any other deck for $2 each still....in an environment that is more open that ANY environment in recent history
Northern Ohio Gamers Forums
Well, I was just making an observation in line with the current discussion. Still, it might not be dead post-rotation. All this deck needs is a outlet which targets creatures, preferably at instant speed. They have some time to print/reprint that still...
This is the deck Im the least worried about during the extended season.
4 city of brass
2 forest
6 plains
4 brushland
3 starlit sanctum
4 windswept heath
------------------
1 academy rector
1 eternal witness
3 daru spiritualist
4 task force
4 shaman en kor
3 nomads en kor
------------------
4 eldamari's call
1 test of endurance
1 animal boneyard
1 parallax wave
1 seal of cleansing
1 rule of law
4 worthy cause
4 living wish
3 enlightened tutor
1 sterling grove
SB:
4 orims chant
1 daru spiritualist
1 eternal witness
1 nomads en kor
1 starlit sanctum
1 academy rector
1 seal of cleansing
1 energy flux
1 ensnaring bridge
1 engineered plague
1 genesis
1 isochron scepter
what to take out? i cannot decide. it looks solid and all, but I too am not comfortable in just making a deck i found on the net.
Thanks for sharing, we will be sure to note your lack of concern. I hope that your Extended season goes as well as your lack of concern demonstrates.
Here's the problem with your statement -
Phage, False Cure, Ragged Veins all are cards which are ineffective against all other decks. Not to mention that the Ragged Veins are not effective because most of the Life decks don't even both with the Serra except in the sideboard, as a last resort almost. Adding these cards significantly weaken your sideboard choices (and comon, Phage? It's not like you are going to reanimate her).
I think when you are refering to "destroying Worthy Cause", you are refering to the Test of Endurance (and your lack of concern with the deck shows how much testing you have done - so I will give you the benefit of the doubt on this one), and generally you are going to only get one chance to do that - the Rector which will tutor up the win will do so at the end phase, so that it triggers at the begining of the upkeep - giving less then a full turn to do anything. "But kashmyr, what if they don't GET the Rector" - once you combo out, you have 6-8 tutors, depending on how many you have used to actually combo, of which have no use OTHER then to get the rector in the main, or in the side. Actually, your concern should be on the pre-combo for most decks, because most decks have no way to deal with it post-combo.
Life is one of those decks that you should be worried about - not necessarily the "primary" deck, but unless you are playing one of the terrible matchups (Aluren, Desire), it is something that you should test against.
Northern Ohio Gamers Forums
This is the deck Im the least worried about during the extended season.
Ah yes what a wonderful post this was, not really. Ok so here we go from the way you are talking you are going to be playing somthing
1) Horrid
2) With swamps
Now that everyone is with my excellent logic lets look at game 2 (with the assumption that we gain infinite life before your horrid deck can mise its way to victory).
Rustem thinks "LOL STUPID N00BS I HAVE PHAGE THE UNCASTABLE 4X to RUIN YOUR DAY!!!onE!!ELEVEN!!!11!!!"
Life Player thinks "Hmmm if i can win the next game in 10 minutes I can go get some food"
So the game starts as normal you play horrible cards we play combo cards. Now we will assume once again we get to infinate life but low and behold you keep playing so you can play Phage the Uncastable (just in case you forget Phage Costs 3BBBB) here is the situation
Rustem board position: Phage, 7 swamps
Life Player Board Position: 2 En-kor, task force and daru (since it will take forever and 3 days to get enough to play Phage).
Rustem: "LOL N00B I ATTACK WITH DA PHAGE FOR DA WIN!one!!!!eleven!!"
Life Player: "Umm ok, I'll block with all four, redirect next 1000 damage to task force and deal four damage to phage, it dies and my task force dies... good use of resources"
Rustem: "oh...."
yeah good job. Well then of course you have the most widely used hate card in there too. It is a good choice but just incredibly easy to play around.
Life Player: Noticing horrible deck continues to leave BB open waits for the right opportunity. Which is: Make sure you either have 2 worthy cause. or animal boneyard and cause or animal boneyard and starlit sanctum. Or has Orim’s Chant
Life Player: During my upkeep I cast Orim's chant targeting you. Combo you lose.
Great now your sideboard has horrid cards and you still lost, there may be a reason to worry, oh and don’t forget about Aether Vial if that gets out the combo is basically uncounterable
has anyone considered shuko? sure its not instant speed... but its a one drop with to equip... not the best replacement, but its something...
2 things.
1) I hope for your sake that this is an attempt at trolling, because it just makes you look silly.
2) If this deck is as bad as you say, it must've been v. lucky to t8 a PT, t8 a GP last year as well as be proven to be one of the most consistent decks in the format.
the deck's a LOT better than the cards it runs. its a perfect example of synergy within a deck. the cards themselves are, for lack of a better word, crap. however, when you put all that crap together and mix it up, you dont' get a crap smoothie. you happen to wind up with a very good, very consistent combo deck that has GREAT game vs the aggro decks in the format.
If, at any time before you're under, say, 10 life vs Goblins, Affinity, RDW, Elves!!(if that's even still played), or whatever other aggro deck you run into, any combination of an En-Kor creature and a Daru Spiritualist/Task Force shuts down at least 2 attackers. If you have more than one of either side and at least one Spiritualist/Task Force then you can shut down as many attackers as you have blockers.
Yes, False Cure is a problem for the deck, but its not that hard to play around. In fact, its no harder to play around than the Mind's Desire player playing around an Orim's Chant. Playing around cards like that just require you to have some combo redundancy either in hand or on the board. Just be careful with Starlit Sanctum, as you have to sacrifice a cleric as part of its activation.
I won't even mention Phage for the sheer fact that she:
A) Costs 7 mana to play
B) Can't be easily reanimated
C) Gets blocked until you find a Test of Endurance for the win.
That said, unless you're playing ScepterChant, Aluren or Mind's Desire, Life is a deck you *HAVE* to be prepared for.