1.) You have little in the way of being able to interact with an opponent's game plan. All decks have had some way to interact with their opponents - be it Gigadrowse to tap opponents lands in order to combo off safely to removal for opposing permanents to critters that can chump block and sacrifice for an effect (Sakura-Tribe Elder) or be a wall in a pinch (Drift of Phantasms), or win on turn one. You have three Pact of Negations, eight birds to chump block with no extra effect, and four titans. That is not enough to meaningfully interact, and you cannot win on turn one.
2.) Your combo pieces (apart from Jace) do nothing by themselves in this deck. Easiest way to fix that is to use more planeswalkers to get more usage out of Doubling Season and cards or lands that produce tokens, or get a bunch of silver bullet singleton instants and Mystical Teachings or something to use Wheel of Sun and Moon to its fullest effect.
3.) You are very reliant on Jace. How do you win if you can't use Jace? Primeval Titan beats? Noble Hierarch pecks? I can't see that being very effective if you can't interact with your opponents to remove blockers.
I would drop some of the digging and the titans for additional planeswalkers, splashing black for Sorin (to steal opposing critters and walkers and provide chump blockers), Vraska (to drop six 'remove me or die' critters and kill troublesome non-land permanents), and perhaps even trying to add Ajani, Caller of the pride (when combined with Doubling Season, his ultimate drops 4x your life in power on the board, though not very useful when without Doubling Season).
I would also attempt to add in some discard (Thoughtseize), removal (Path to Exile) or permission (Remand, perhaps, if you're trying to out tempo opposing decks). I'd drop one of your bird-likes for Sakura-Tribe Elder (though he's a pet card of mine) to chump larger critters.
The deck, as it is in the first post, looks like it'll do fine against a goldfish. I doubt your opponents will be goldfish. (I could be wrong. They might indeed be tasty, tasty crackers with little smiling faces on them. Though, if that were the case, I doubt you'd need help to beat them. ;))
I've been wondering about this card (Sundial of the Infinite), and how it can be made useful. The only thing I can come up with is stopping your opponents from casting instants at the end of your turns.
It's also useful against Eldrazi, for those variants are heavier on the mill; or stopping Wurm tokens from Wurmcoil Engines from being made. It's limited, but I could see its uses.
Eternity Vessel is the best card to use with Phyrexian Unlife. Well, as long as you can drop lands as well. And, as a bonus, it's in standard, unlike Form of the Dragon.
I had the combo in hand but it would have only been for 17 damage and he was at 18. I should have gone for it anyways since he had dark tutelage out and I could have lucked into a win off that if he a hits a 3cc spell. A 1cc would have let him sac hexmage and drain 2 khalastria before it resolved.
Lurker popping in here. Bit late, and probably won't make you feel better, but: If he revealed ANY spell, he would have lost; there's no opportunity between seeing the card and losing life to sac anything.
As for Besieged cards that look like they may fit the deck: Beyond those mentioned, could Psychosis Crawler work in the sideboard? Without testing the deck (I play on MTGO, so it'd be some time before I could test it out), it seems like it could function as an alternate win condition. Potentially beefy, and drains each opponent for 1 for each card you draw. Though, it is 5, and so probably Not Good, but it could be an option for catching control decks with their pants down after they side out creature removal.
As for the cards mentioned my Mshnik, Inkmoth would probably be the most likely to make the cut, simply for the ability to become a creature and block. The blue Zenith might also make it in blue heavier decks - the triple blue cost can be negated with Prisms, and could be a way to tempt control decks to tap out to counter, or fill up aggro decks hands prior to comboing off. Instant speed is amazing, and it targets a player.
Scars of Mirrodin just came out on MTGO, and so we finally get the opportunity to join in on building around fun Scars cards. I picked up a playset of Furnace Celebrations, and I want to abuse them. I had a cute little Raid Bombardment deck that I played with occassionally, and after playing around with it, I've made a few tweaks. I'm currently sitting at the list below, and I'm looking for feedback as well as general suggestions for sideboard and what not - I think I want more token producers and win conditions, I'm just not sure what they could be.
The game plan is to get out Furnace Celebration with Eldrazi Spawn tokens, turning them into shocks for 1 mana. With Awakening Zone, it can win surprisingly quickly. Culling Dias turns Birds, Nest Invaders and tokens into fodder for drawing more cards (triggering the Celebration when it adds counters and when it sacrifices itself to draw cards). Garruk is the result of me looking for more token-making cards, and looking for an alternate win condition.
I suppose that I could run fetchlands, and thus make a splash in another color in the sideboard, but I haven't thought much about that and whether that would even be helpful at all. Perhaps black to get Pawn of Ulamog and Bloodthrone Vampire? Blue for... counterspells and more card draw? White for more token producing?
If I were to use Genesis Wave, I'd run G/U/B. You want to win the turn you cast Genesis Wave, and you do that with Excavators and Diabolists. Blue also opens up counters, card draw, and Shapeshifters, while Green gives you Druids, the Wave, and perhaps a 3rd win condition with Turntimber Ranger. Black gives you some removal, a win, and control. Yes, white is generally a great Ally color, but it doesn't give you much when you're trying to combo off with one big turn. The only card that would fit would be Ondu Cleric, and that is fairly hard to justify splashing for.
A rough draft of such a list would be (off the top of my head)
Not the greatest of deck lists, and certainly needs tuning, but that's how I'd look at building it. Perhaps you cut something for Mimic Vats, possibly the Leyline. I just love the idea of Draw-step Thief triggers.
@ lumberjack: Still haven't tested it against "real" decks in the MTGO tourney practice room, but I've run across some Jund and Soul Sisters decks. As long as I can find a Day of Judgment, I'm in fairly good shape. The two Jund decks I played either didn't see or weren't playing Sprouting Thrinax, which does appear to give the deck a bit of a fit (at least, pre-Bant Charm).
I'm replacing the 4th Into the Roil and the 2 Conqueror's Pledges with Martial Coups. While I can hit the 2WWW fairly easily, having additional wrath effects seems to be a good idea, at least until I pick up some All is Dusts. I'm not that fond of the cascade - yes it triggers the bone wand twice, but it'd require the deck to be more focused on it - as is, I feel that I have too many good things at 1, 2, and 3 mana to utilize Cascade effectively.
Not the best sideboard, I suppose, but decent enough. I really wish we had Creeping Mold.
@guest: Cast Through Time does seem like it'd be an interesting card - it would provide another way to win - beat with manlands while recurring Time Warp and Call to Mind. I'd have to look into it.
You might want to consider Time Warp if you have any. With a Sphinx-Bone Wand out and some Call to Minds things get rediculous even faster. Furthermore rebound spells are also a great way to get some tokens, but I don't think there are any good ones in your colours are there? And late game when your ramped out and your opponent isn't dead yet Time Reversal is a nice way to refill your hand.
Yeah, unfortunately there are really only two rebound spells that even remotely fit, and they aren't that good for the deck. Survival Cache is awkward, as I said before, and Recurring Thoughts is not as good as I would like it to be - it's often a draw 2, draw 1 or 0. The others require creatures (though I suppose it could be hilarious to give my opponents unblockable creatures on my turn).
Time Reversal, though, seems like it would be a great replacement for Mind Spring come rotation, but that's still some time away on MTGO. Might as well pick some up when I can, though. Hmm. May even be better - it's always a draw 7, and I have never cast Mind Spring for less than 3.
If I had Time Warps, I'd add them, at least until I grabbed an All is Dust or two. I'd probably end up replacing a Conqueror's Pledge and my 4th Into the Roil for them, in that order.
It is an amazingly fun deck to play, though - at least it is for me.
I hadn't considered All is Dust - I was wanting a DoJ 5 and 6 - Call to Mind does a decent job acting as a psuedo-DoJ, but I need to actually cast a real one first. All is Dust looks like it will do a fine job in that role - now I just actually need to get some. It also is a way to get rid of Oblivion Rings and planeswalkers, which I would certainly have trouble with right now.
I've cut Cache and Rite for 4 Bant Charms and a 4th Into the Roil. I had tried Explore before, but I never really liked it - the accel was nice, but it was too random for my tastes, unfortunately.
Thanks for the advice - Autumn's Veil will be in the sideboard, between that and Bant Charm, I feel like I have a more decent shot now against counter-control decks.
For those of you interested in how the deck plays, I have a transcript of a recent mtgo game below. For those who don't want to read it, simply ignore the spoiler button!
Against: Gelleetin, running Mono-White Emeria - landfall - not a tier 1 deck, but not a slouch by any means, I wouldn't think. Still, I feel like I made several misplays, even though I won - mostly in deciding what lands to play. I think I ought to play Halimar Depths when trying to figure out what to do, and I should discard tap-lands before lands that ETB untapped.
Most games that I play with the deck, it tends to explode if I get a chance to untap with Sphinx-Bone Wand in play. This was a game I certainly had the opportunity to punt, but I was greatly helped out by my opponent missing 2 land drops. It was probably a hand he should have mulliganed, but I'm sure he thought it would be a decent hand. Hope this was at least an entertaining read for someone.
Because I am a silly, silly person, I was challenged by a friend to build a deck around Sphinx Bone-Wand. I built it quite cheaply on MTGO, and I find myself doing quite well with it in the Casual room. I'm wanting to bring it to Tourney Practice, but before I do I want some comments on both the main deck and decent sideboard suggestions.
The game plan is very simple: Ramp up as much as possible, wrathing the board away, drawing cards, reusing cards with Call to Mind and eventually dropping a Sphinx Bone-Wand. From there, it's really easy to activate it to ridiculous levels - so many spells are so cheap that playing multiple ramp and draw spells in one turn is really easy. You can even do a surprising amount of damage with 2 Call to Minds - they bring each other back, letting you build up counters on your wand, killing creatures, and eventually players.
Rampant Growth and Cultivate are the ramp spells of choice - they're spells, and unlike Harrow they don't make me sacrifice a land, potentially putting me behind on tempo, and they help ensure I hit a 4th and 5th land drop.
Survival Cache is an awkward card. I love it when it's good, and I can drop it early without taking damage, and I love it when I have a bone-wand out because it'll trigger the wand twice. I'm not fond of it though when I'm behind, because it only gets me 4 life over 2 turns. I love the rebound, but I don't think I have any other good options in terms of rebounding in G//.
Mind Spring is my card draw of choice, simply because I often get to obscene amounts of mana, and this will draw me more cards than Jace's Ingenuity.
The deck can win without the Bone-Wand through the use of tokens - Rite of Replication tokens can help stall -or win, depending on what is copied - , and a Gelatinous Genesis where X=5 can overwhelm a decent amount of decks, as can a kicked Conqueror's Pledge. Call to Mind is excellent in a deck that consists of almost nothing but instants and sorceries.
Into the Roil is there to act as bounce. I wish sometimes that it was Creeping Mold or Rootgrapple- I'd rather kill Oblivion Rings and Leylines of Sanctity than bounce them, but there's no real other option in T2, if I'm trying to stay away from creatures.
That brings me to the sideboard: I have a very rudimentary sideboard plan of Condemns, Mana Leaks, Naturalizes and Autumn's Veils. Mana Leak, though, seems like it's a somewhat wasted card - I'd bring it in against blue control decks, mostly, and Autumn's Veil performs the same task, for cheaper. Perhaps Bant Charm instead?
Any help or comments about the deck would be appreciated.
I have a mill deck that I play on MTGO that is fairly different from most of the other decks posted here. I'm posting it anyway in hopes of getting some feedback, particularly on the sideboard.
The gameplan for this deck is simple: Put down an Erasure of two and draw a bunch of cards, and use said cards to protect life total, instead of rushing to mill as much as possible as quickly as possible. I have Condemns instead of Path to Exiles because I can't really justify spending tix on a card that's doing to rotate soon. I have a mini-Trap toolbox in order to deal with various situations - Pitfall Trap is spot removal 6, Mindbreak Trap is for uber-cascades or Eldrazi, or any big bomb that I need to counter and can't simply Wrath away. Ravenous Trap and Haunting Echoes both try to empty the graveyard of relevant things - Ravenous Trap for Eldrazi or other things that need to be dealt with at instant speed, and Haunting Echoes for sorcery speed "removal." Elixir of Immortality is there for a bit of lifegain and to help recycle mill and removal - I won one game against Jund by recurring traps - I mindbreak trap'd a uber-cascade chain twice (Bit-blast, Bloodbraid, Leach/Borderland Ranger), which was a bit of a backbreaker.
I'm not sure about the discard and whiplash trap in my sideboard - it just seems somewhat "meh." What should go in their places?
To those suggesting Primeval Titan: He's not out on MTGO yet, which is where I do my playing. He seems like he would be nice, but I'm not sure what he should replace. He's ramp, so one of the ramp spells, but he's cmc 6, which means in the early game he's useless because I can't actually play and ramp with him. He's also a finisher, so one of those? He's not as versatile as Obelisk of Alara nor Lavalanche, so I am hesitant to replace either of those with the Titan. In the abstract, he is a great creature, but I just don't know if I can play him without destroying some of the synergies in my deck.
Also, to Gaka, how do you mean "unfocused"? The cards are there to assist with problems that I cannot deal with main. Is that not how a sideboard ought to be used? Are the cards overlapping too much, focusing on one potential matchup to the exclusion of others? If so, how exactly would you fix it?
As for not running Cruel - it is too color intensive. My main color is green, so in order to play Cruel, I would have to hit all of my swamps (plus one!), all of my mountains, and all of my islands. I'm not sure I can do that reliably. Perhaps Violent Ultimatum, but that suffers the same problem (except I can actually cast it), and destroying 3 permanents late game seems... underwhelming.
Esper Charm does seem like an interesting choice. Perhaps Bant Charm as well. I shall test the charms, and see how they fare.
Not sure if I had to put in the colors for this, considering Domain is templated or keyworded or something now, but, hey, better safe than sorry.
I've been working on a domain ramp deck for most of the time Zendikar block had been available in standard, because Harrow and Grazing Gladehart gave more reliable ramp, and life gain to help offset the massive amounts of aggro decks. I've tinkered with it for a while now, and with the release of M11 (and the looming rotation of most of the deck), I want to give it one last hurrah on MTGO. The deck, at the moment, looks like:
The deck runs fairly smoothly - I'm able to reliably get to 5 colors by turn 5 or so, which means Spore Burst gives 5 tokens (which is stronger that it seems at first glance), Exploding Borders removes a land from the deck and deals 5 damage, and Worldly Council digs past 5 cards, through land pockets, and grabs my X spells, or whatever else is needed.
Day of Judgment and Lavalanche clear the board (and deals damage, in the case of Lavalanche), while Lightning Bolt and Agony Warp deal with smaller threats. I chose Agony Warp because it lets me "deal" with 2 creatures with one card. Path to Exile I'm not fond of because it ramps my opponent, and I'm supposed to be the one ramping, not him! Perhaps Oust, but it doesn't deal with the threat permanently. Mind Spring is there to help refill the hand once it is low, and I don't mind it as a 61st card.
As for the sideboard, it is fairly standard fare, apart from some unorthodox card choices. Mind Springs 2 and 3 are in the sideboard, as is Spore Burst 4. Also in the sideboard are the Grazing Gladehart, meant to come in against aggro decks, or decks that ask me to put pressure on them quickly. Qasali Pridemage is to deal with troublesome artifacts and enchantments, as well as be able to beat for 2. Voices from the Void does a reasonable Mind Sludge impression, and Slave of Bolas is fairly impressive against decks that rely on a big, non-shrouded beater - like, say, the Kozileks I see surprisingly much of on MTGO.
Voices and Mind Spring have impressed me so much, I want to find room to fit them main. However, the main seems so tight I don't know what I'd want to remove. As well, because I'm on MTGO, M11 isn't available yet. What cards seem like they would fit in this deck? I'm eying the green Titan, but I'm not sure if he'd actually be necessary, or if he'd just be pretty much a "win-more."
I'm getting back into magic after a bit of a break, and ended up building a W/U enchantress deck for fairly cheaply on MTGO. I'm looking for other cards to consider, or decent sideboard cards - I have a quasi-transformational sideboard to old-school-inspired Spread 'Em, but I'm not sure how... useful that would be.
(Iona's Judgment will probably turn into Day of Judgment once I have enough tickets. Sideboard plan is -Crystalization, Narcolepsy, Hyena Umbra, Eel Umbra, one Wall of Omens, +sideboard). I'm mostly just concerned about the sideboard. The main deck is doing fairly well in the casual room, and the one time I've gone to the Tournament Practice room, it did ok, considering how much I don't know about the current meta. I'm not convinced the Spread 'Em plan is all that great of a sideboard plan, but I don't really know what else I can really put there. Any thoughts/suggestions?
The greatest problem that I see with the deck is the choice of win conditions, and the fact that it is very difficult to tutor for a key combo piece.
Why play Banefire? To win with a giant uncounterable spell, sure, but what does it do if you don't have the combo? Do you use it to kill a guy and stay alive? Can you even use it at all? (Boy, Khalni Gem is really important to the deck!)
Why play Rod of Ruin? It's a fantastic pinger, sure, but that's exactly the problem. It pings. One damage. Not all that great, unless it comes with deathtouch or something. Why play Onyx Goblet? It's even worse than Rod of Ruin - it can't even hit creatures. The only benefits it has when compared to Obelisk of Alara is that it can be tutored for with Tezzeret immediately.
Obelisk of Alara is the artifact win condition of choice. If you have the combo, and have infinite mana and untaps, then ANY artifact (or Banefire, which requires artifact mana to cast in this deck) that does damage will win the game. If you DON'T have the combo, then, you'll want something that can help you survive. Obelisk of Alara does that. Do you need to dig? It can dig. Do you need to kill a creature? It can Disfigure a creature, or pump a wall to kill an attacker. Do you need life? Boom, 5 life. Yes, it is far more expensive than the Rod or the Goblet, but if you can cast it, you should be in good shape against almost every deck if you're anywhere near even board position.
But the obelisk may not be enough. Spawnsire is a fine alternate win condition - it provides another means of comboing out, and is a win condition in one card (even though you have to devote sideboard slots to it. I reccommend a second Emrakul and an Eldrazi Conscription. Get to 40 mana (easy enough if you've comboed off), use Spawnsire's second ability twice. Cast Emrakul, get your extra turn, then use it again and have yourself a 25/25 trampling flyer with annihlator 8). Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is another win condition that can be used, but I can't see this deck wanting more than 3.
But this talk of win conditions is almost getting ahead of ourselves. Beyond raw card drawing, there's no real way to tutor up Training Grounds in WU. However, with a splash of G, two things open up:
Ramp, which accelerates and color fixes, allowing for more things to be done in a turn (and removes cards from your deck, making it more likely you'll draw a combo piece or a tutor), and
Wargate. This card allows for win conditions to be tutored and put into play, and it allows for Training Grounds to be tutored for. It can fetch removal. It can fetch card draw. It can fetch card filtering. It can fetch blockers. Yes, it is expensive, but thanks to the ramp that green provides, the cost is mitigated.
Here is my current decklist, still in the testing stages.
Four slots in the side are up for grabs - I may replace the last four with Into the Roil or some such. The singleton Fabricate main may become the 3rd Harrow, or Oblivion Ring, or Oracle, or the 4th Wall of Omens - I haven't yet decided. Everything in the deck is either a combo piece, removal, or something that thins the deck when it is played - Rampant Growth and Harrow remove lands (dead draws most of the time), Sea Gate Oracle and Wall of Omens essentially draw a card when I play them, as does Ponder, and Wargate fetches just about whatever I need. I wish the Oracle had 4 toughness instead of three, but if it did, it would be strictly better than Horned Turtle, and I suppose we can't really have that now, can we? I may play with the land count a bit more, and put in a couple Khalni Gardens for more chump blockers, but that is undecided as well.
1.) You have little in the way of being able to interact with an opponent's game plan. All decks have had some way to interact with their opponents - be it Gigadrowse to tap opponents lands in order to combo off safely to removal for opposing permanents to critters that can chump block and sacrifice for an effect (Sakura-Tribe Elder) or be a wall in a pinch (Drift of Phantasms), or win on turn one. You have three Pact of Negations, eight birds to chump block with no extra effect, and four titans. That is not enough to meaningfully interact, and you cannot win on turn one.
2.) Your combo pieces (apart from Jace) do nothing by themselves in this deck. Easiest way to fix that is to use more planeswalkers to get more usage out of Doubling Season and cards or lands that produce tokens, or get a bunch of silver bullet singleton instants and Mystical Teachings or something to use Wheel of Sun and Moon to its fullest effect.
3.) You are very reliant on Jace. How do you win if you can't use Jace? Primeval Titan beats? Noble Hierarch pecks? I can't see that being very effective if you can't interact with your opponents to remove blockers.
I would drop some of the digging and the titans for additional planeswalkers, splashing black for Sorin (to steal opposing critters and walkers and provide chump blockers), Vraska (to drop six 'remove me or die' critters and kill troublesome non-land permanents), and perhaps even trying to add Ajani, Caller of the pride (when combined with Doubling Season, his ultimate drops 4x your life in power on the board, though not very useful when without Doubling Season).
I would also attempt to add in some discard (Thoughtseize), removal (Path to Exile) or permission (Remand, perhaps, if you're trying to out tempo opposing decks). I'd drop one of your bird-likes for Sakura-Tribe Elder (though he's a pet card of mine) to chump larger critters.
The deck, as it is in the first post, looks like it'll do fine against a goldfish. I doubt your opponents will be goldfish. (I could be wrong. They might indeed be tasty, tasty crackers with little smiling faces on them. Though, if that were the case, I doubt you'd need help to beat them. ;))
It's also useful against Eldrazi, for those variants are heavier on the mill; or stopping Wurm tokens from Wurmcoil Engines from being made. It's limited, but I could see its uses.
Lurker popping in here. Bit late, and probably won't make you feel better, but: If he revealed ANY spell, he would have lost; there's no opportunity between seeing the card and losing life to sac anything.
As for Besieged cards that look like they may fit the deck: Beyond those mentioned, could Psychosis Crawler work in the sideboard? Without testing the deck (I play on MTGO, so it'd be some time before I could test it out), it seems like it could function as an alternate win condition. Potentially beefy, and drains each opponent for 1 for each card you draw. Though, it is 5, and so probably Not Good, but it could be an option for catching control decks with their pants down after they side out creature removal.
As for the cards mentioned my Mshnik, Inkmoth would probably be the most likely to make the cut, simply for the ability to become a creature and block. The blue Zenith might also make it in blue heavier decks - the triple blue cost can be negated with Prisms, and could be a way to tempt control decks to tap out to counter, or fill up aggro decks hands prior to comboing off. Instant speed is amazing, and it targets a player.
4 Khalni Garden
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Forest
8 Mountain
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Ember Hauler
4 Nest Invader
4 Culling Dais
4 Awakening Zone
4 Furnace Celebration
4 Growth Spasm
15 Island
The game plan is to get out Furnace Celebration with Eldrazi Spawn tokens, turning them into shocks for 1 mana. With Awakening Zone, it can win surprisingly quickly. Culling Dias turns Birds, Nest Invaders and tokens into fodder for drawing more cards (triggering the Celebration when it adds counters and when it sacrifices itself to draw cards). Garruk is the result of me looking for more token-making cards, and looking for an alternate win condition.
I suppose that I could run fetchlands, and thus make a splash in another color in the sideboard, but I haven't thought much about that and whether that would even be helpful at all. Perhaps black to get Pawn of Ulamog and Bloodthrone Vampire? Blue for... counterspells and more card draw? White for more token producing?
Thoughts and comments would be appreciated.
A rough draft of such a list would be (off the top of my head)
4 Genesis Wave
3 Turntimber Ranger
4 Halimar Excavator
4 Jawari Shapeshifter
3 Leyline of Anticipation
3 Sea Gate Loremaster
4 Unified Will
4 Bala Ged Thief
3 Hagra Diabolist
24 Lands
Not the greatest of deck lists, and certainly needs tuning, but that's how I'd look at building it. Perhaps you cut something for Mimic Vats, possibly the Leyline. I just love the idea of Draw-step Thief triggers.
I'm replacing the 4th Into the Roil and the 2 Conqueror's Pledges with Martial Coups. While I can hit the 2WWW fairly easily, having additional wrath effects seems to be a good idea, at least until I pick up some All is Dusts. I'm not that fond of the cascade - yes it triggers the bone wand twice, but it'd require the deck to be more focused on it - as is, I feel that I have too many good things at 1, 2, and 3 mana to utilize Cascade effectively.
An idea at a sideboard:
2 Rite of Replication
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Condemn
3 Acidic Slime
Not the best sideboard, I suppose, but decent enough. I really wish we had Creeping Mold.
@guest: Cast Through Time does seem like it'd be an interesting card - it would provide another way to win - beat with manlands while recurring Time Warp and Call to Mind. I'd have to look into it.
Yeah, unfortunately there are really only two rebound spells that even remotely fit, and they aren't that good for the deck. Survival Cache is awkward, as I said before, and Recurring Thoughts is not as good as I would like it to be - it's often a draw 2, draw 1 or 0. The others require creatures (though I suppose it could be hilarious to give my opponents unblockable creatures on my turn).
Time Reversal, though, seems like it would be a great replacement for Mind Spring come rotation, but that's still some time away on MTGO. Might as well pick some up when I can, though. Hmm. May even be better - it's always a draw 7, and I have never cast Mind Spring for less than 3.
If I had Time Warps, I'd add them, at least until I grabbed an All is Dust or two. I'd probably end up replacing a Conqueror's Pledge and my 4th Into the Roil for them, in that order.
It is an amazingly fun deck to play, though - at least it is for me.
I've cut Cache and Rite for 4 Bant Charms and a 4th Into the Roil. I had tried Explore before, but I never really liked it - the accel was nice, but it was too random for my tastes, unfortunately.
Thanks for the advice - Autumn's Veil will be in the sideboard, between that and Bant Charm, I feel like I have a more decent shot now against counter-control decks.
For those of you interested in how the deck plays, I have a transcript of a recent mtgo game below. For those who don't want to read it, simply ignore the spoiler button!
Against: Gelleetin, running Mono-White Emeria - landfall - not a tier 1 deck, but not a slouch by any means, I wouldn't think. Still, I feel like I made several misplays, even though I won - mostly in deciding what lands to play. I think I ought to play Halimar Depths when trying to figure out what to do, and I should discard tap-lands before lands that ETB untapped.
Won the toss, elect to go first.
Starting 7: Plains, Plains, Plains, Conqueror's Pledge, Rampant Growth, Into the Roil, Call to Mind - mulligan - only one color. If I get a green source, it's great, but I'm not guaranteed that.
Starting 6: Plains, Plains, Island, Sunpetal Grove, Rampant Growth, Rampant Growth - keep, as I don't want to mulligan to 5. If I were on the draw, I'd probably toss this hand, too - I'm very dependent on the top of my deck for plays.
Turn 1: I play Plains, pass. My opponent draws, plays a Plains, passes. 20-20.
Turn 2: I draw Halimar Depths, play a Sunpetal Grove, play Rampant Growth, fetching an Island, and then pass. My opponent draws, plays a Plains and a Lone Missionary, and passes. 20-24.
Turn 3: I draw a Khalni Garden. I play Rampant Growth, fetch a Forest for some reason, instead of a plains, and play the Khalni Garden instead of the Halimar Depths. My opponent draws, misses a land drop, plays Honor of the Pure, and attacks for 3. I don't block. 17-24.
Turn 4: I draw a Conqueror's Pledge, and play a Halimar Depths. I see Bant Charm, Island, and Into the Roil. I put the Island on bottom and Into the Roil on top, and pass the turn. My opponent draws, misses another land drop, and attacks for 3. I block. 17-24.
Turn 5: I draw Into the Roil, play a Plains, then pass the turn. My opponent draws, plays a Plains, and swings for 3. I take the 3, and then cast Into the Roil, with kicker, on Honor of the Pure. I draw Bant Charm. He is forced to discard, and chooses Emeria Angel. 14-24.
Turn 6: I draw a Forest, play an Island, and cast Conqueror's Pledge, and pass the turn. My opponent draws, plays a Terramorphic Expanse, casts Honor of the Pure, and passes the turn, not wanting to swing into my tokens. 14-24.
Turn 7: I draw and play a Halimar Depths, and see 2 Day of Judgments and a Mind Spring. I put the Mind Spring on top and pass the turn. My opponent draws and casts a Kor Cartographer. He swings with the Lone Missionary, and I Bant Charm it. 14-24.
Turn 8: I draw Mind Spring. I play a Forest, and cast Mind Spring for 8. I draw 3 Day of Judgments, Khalni Garden, Glacial Fortress, Sphinx-Bone Wand, Preordain, and Into the Roil. I discard Glacial Fortress, when I should have discarded the Garden. I also attack for 4. One token is blocked, 3 get through. 14-21 My opponent draws and plays a second Emeria Angel, and drops a Plains. He swings for 3. I block with a token. 14-21.
Turn 9: I draw Preordain. If I had kept the Glacial Fortress, I could drop the Sphinx-Bone Wand and a Day of Judgment, but I can only do one this turn. Fearing an Emeria Angel that could get out of hand, with 6 points of damage I couldn't block, I cast Day of Judgment, without swinging (D'oh!). I then played a Khalni Garden and passed the turn. My opponent played an Honor of the Pure and a Plains, and passed. 14-21.
Turn 10: I draw a Mystifying Maze, and played it. I cast Sphinx-Bone Wand and passed the turn with 1UUUG up, tapping my Grove instead of an Island or Depths. My opponent draws, plays Archon of Redemption and plays a Plains, then passes. At the end of his turn, I cast Into the Roil, kicked, on Honor of the Pure. I deal one damage to my opponent, and draw another Into the Roil. 14-25
Turn 11: I draw a Conqueror's Pledge. I cast Preordain, deal 2 damage to my opponent, and see Preordain and Call to Mind. I keep them both on top, drawing Preordain. I cast Preordain #2, deal 3 damage to my opponent, and see Call to Mind and Cultivate. I keep them both on top, drawing Call to Mind. I cast Preordain #3, deal 4 damage, and see Cultivate and a land. I put the land on bottom and draw Cultivate. I play Cultivate, deal 5 damage, and grab 2 irrelevant basic lands. I play Call to Mind, targeting Cultivate, dealing 6 damage. I play Cultivate, dealing 7 damage and winning the game. 14-(-2)
Most games that I play with the deck, it tends to explode if I get a chance to untap with Sphinx-Bone Wand in play. This was a game I certainly had the opportunity to punt, but I was greatly helped out by my opponent missing 2 land drops. It was probably a hand he should have mulliganed, but I'm sure he thought it would be a decent hand. Hope this was at least an entertaining read for someone.
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sunpetal Grove
5 Plains
4 Forest
3 Island
3 Khalni Garden
2 Halimar Depths
Artifacts (3)
3 Sphinx-Bone Wand
Ramp (8)
4 Rampant Growth
4 Cultivate
3 Into the Roil
3 Survival Cache
4 Day of Judgment
Card Draw (6)
3 Preordain
3 Mind Spring
Tokens (5)
2 Rite of Replication
2 Conqueror's Pledge
1 Gelatinous Genesis
Misc (4)
4 Call to Mind
15 Forest
Rampant Growth and Cultivate are the ramp spells of choice - they're spells, and unlike Harrow they don't make me sacrifice a land, potentially putting me behind on tempo, and they help ensure I hit a 4th and 5th land drop.
Survival Cache is an awkward card. I love it when it's good, and I can drop it early without taking damage, and I love it when I have a bone-wand out because it'll trigger the wand twice. I'm not fond of it though when I'm behind, because it only gets me 4 life over 2 turns. I love the rebound, but I don't think I have any other good options in terms of rebounding in G//.
Mind Spring is my card draw of choice, simply because I often get to obscene amounts of mana, and this will draw me more cards than Jace's Ingenuity.
The deck can win without the Bone-Wand through the use of tokens - Rite of Replication tokens can help stall -or win, depending on what is copied - , and a Gelatinous Genesis where X=5 can overwhelm a decent amount of decks, as can a kicked Conqueror's Pledge. Call to Mind is excellent in a deck that consists of almost nothing but instants and sorceries.
Into the Roil is there to act as bounce. I wish sometimes that it was Creeping Mold or Rootgrapple- I'd rather kill Oblivion Rings and Leylines of Sanctity than bounce them, but there's no real other option in T2, if I'm trying to stay away from creatures.
That brings me to the sideboard: I have a very rudimentary sideboard plan of Condemns, Mana Leaks, Naturalizes and Autumn's Veils. Mana Leak, though, seems like it's a somewhat wasted card - I'd bring it in against blue control decks, mostly, and Autumn's Veil performs the same task, for cheaper. Perhaps Bant Charm instead?
Any help or comments about the deck would be appreciated.
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Drowned Catacombs
2 Tectonic Edge
3 Arcane Sanctuary
1 Mystifying Maze
3 Plains
2 Swamp
5 Island
Creatures (3/27)
3 Wall of Omens
Planeswalkers (4/31)
4 Jace Beleren
Enchantments/Artifacts (5/36)
4 Jace's Erasure
1 Elixir of Immortality
4 Day of Judgment
4 Esper Charm
4 Condemn
3 Jace's Ingenuity
3 Trapmaker's Snare
2 Archive Trap
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Pitfall Trap
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Oust
1 Haunting Echoes
2 Duress
3 Inquisition of Kozelik
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Sun Titan
1 Whiplash Trap
The gameplan for this deck is simple: Put down an Erasure of two and draw a bunch of cards, and use said cards to protect life total, instead of rushing to mill as much as possible as quickly as possible. I have Condemns instead of Path to Exiles because I can't really justify spending tix on a card that's doing to rotate soon. I have a mini-Trap toolbox in order to deal with various situations - Pitfall Trap is spot removal 6, Mindbreak Trap is for uber-cascades or Eldrazi, or any big bomb that I need to counter and can't simply Wrath away. Ravenous Trap and Haunting Echoes both try to empty the graveyard of relevant things - Ravenous Trap for Eldrazi or other things that need to be dealt with at instant speed, and Haunting Echoes for sorcery speed "removal." Elixir of Immortality is there for a bit of lifegain and to help recycle mill and removal - I won one game against Jund by recurring traps - I mindbreak trap'd a uber-cascade chain twice (Bit-blast, Bloodbraid, Leach/Borderland Ranger), which was a bit of a backbreaker.
I'm not sure about the discard and whiplash trap in my sideboard - it just seems somewhat "meh." What should go in their places?
Also, to Gaka, how do you mean "unfocused"? The cards are there to assist with problems that I cannot deal with main. Is that not how a sideboard ought to be used? Are the cards overlapping too much, focusing on one potential matchup to the exclusion of others? If so, how exactly would you fix it?
As for not running Cruel - it is too color intensive. My main color is green, so in order to play Cruel, I would have to hit all of my swamps (plus one!), all of my mountains, and all of my islands. I'm not sure I can do that reliably. Perhaps Violent Ultimatum, but that suffers the same problem (except I can actually cast it), and destroying 3 permanents late game seems... underwhelming.
Esper Charm does seem like an interesting choice. Perhaps Bant Charm as well. I shall test the charms, and see how they fare.
I've been working on a domain ramp deck for most of the time Zendikar block had been available in standard, because Harrow and Grazing Gladehart gave more reliable ramp, and life gain to help offset the massive amounts of aggro decks. I've tinkered with it for a while now, and with the release of M11 (and the looming rotation of most of the deck), I want to give it one last hurrah on MTGO. The deck, at the moment, looks like:
2 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Evolving Wilds
3 Plains
2 Island
2 Swamp
3 Mountain
9 Forest
Creatures (4)
4 Wall of Omens
Artifacts (3)
3 Obelisk of Alara
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Agony Warp
4 Rampant Growth
3 Worldly Council
4 Harrow
4 Exploding Borders
3 Spore Burst
2 Day of Judgment
3 Lavalanche
1 Mind Spring
3 Grazing Gladehart
2 Mind Spring
3 Qasali Pridemage
3 Slave of Bolas
3 Voices from the Void
1 Spore Burst
The deck runs fairly smoothly - I'm able to reliably get to 5 colors by turn 5 or so, which means Spore Burst gives 5 tokens (which is stronger that it seems at first glance), Exploding Borders removes a land from the deck and deals 5 damage, and Worldly Council digs past 5 cards, through land pockets, and grabs my X spells, or whatever else is needed.
Day of Judgment and Lavalanche clear the board (and deals damage, in the case of Lavalanche), while Lightning Bolt and Agony Warp deal with smaller threats. I chose Agony Warp because it lets me "deal" with 2 creatures with one card. Path to Exile I'm not fond of because it ramps my opponent, and I'm supposed to be the one ramping, not him! Perhaps Oust, but it doesn't deal with the threat permanently. Mind Spring is there to help refill the hand once it is low, and I don't mind it as a 61st card.
As for the sideboard, it is fairly standard fare, apart from some unorthodox card choices. Mind Springs 2 and 3 are in the sideboard, as is Spore Burst 4. Also in the sideboard are the Grazing Gladehart, meant to come in against aggro decks, or decks that ask me to put pressure on them quickly. Qasali Pridemage is to deal with troublesome artifacts and enchantments, as well as be able to beat for 2. Voices from the Void does a reasonable Mind Sludge impression, and Slave of Bolas is fairly impressive against decks that rely on a big, non-shrouded beater - like, say, the Kozileks I see surprisingly much of on MTGO.
Voices and Mind Spring have impressed me so much, I want to find room to fit them main. However, the main seems so tight I don't know what I'd want to remove. As well, because I'm on MTGO, M11 isn't available yet. What cards seem like they would fit in this deck? I'm eying the green Titan, but I'm not sure if he'd actually be necessary, or if he'd just be pretty much a "win-more."
Help and comments would be appreciated.
The deck as I have it right now:
2 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Evolving Wilds
4 Sejiri Refuge
7 Island
8 Plains
Creatures (11)
4 Mesa Enchantress
4 Wall of Omens
3 Kor Spiritdancer
3 Ardent Plea
3 Sigil of the Empty Throne
Auras (20)
4 Crystalization
4 Narcolepsy
4 Spreading Seas
4 Eel Umbra
2 Hyena Umbra
2 Mind Control
4 Cancel
1 Ardent Plea
4 Convincing Mirage
4 Oblivion Ring
2 Iona's Judgment
(Iona's Judgment will probably turn into Day of Judgment once I have enough tickets. Sideboard plan is -Crystalization, Narcolepsy, Hyena Umbra, Eel Umbra, one Wall of Omens, +sideboard). I'm mostly just concerned about the sideboard. The main deck is doing fairly well in the casual room, and the one time I've gone to the Tournament Practice room, it did ok, considering how much I don't know about the current meta. I'm not convinced the Spread 'Em plan is all that great of a sideboard plan, but I don't really know what else I can really put there. Any thoughts/suggestions?
Why play Banefire? To win with a giant uncounterable spell, sure, but what does it do if you don't have the combo? Do you use it to kill a guy and stay alive? Can you even use it at all? (Boy, Khalni Gem is really important to the deck!)
Why play Rod of Ruin? It's a fantastic pinger, sure, but that's exactly the problem. It pings. One damage. Not all that great, unless it comes with deathtouch or something. Why play Onyx Goblet? It's even worse than Rod of Ruin - it can't even hit creatures. The only benefits it has when compared to Obelisk of Alara is that it can be tutored for with Tezzeret immediately.
Obelisk of Alara is the artifact win condition of choice. If you have the combo, and have infinite mana and untaps, then ANY artifact (or Banefire, which requires artifact mana to cast in this deck) that does damage will win the game. If you DON'T have the combo, then, you'll want something that can help you survive. Obelisk of Alara does that. Do you need to dig? It can dig. Do you need to kill a creature? It can Disfigure a creature, or pump a wall to kill an attacker. Do you need life? Boom, 5 life. Yes, it is far more expensive than the Rod or the Goblet, but if you can cast it, you should be in good shape against almost every deck if you're anywhere near even board position.
But the obelisk may not be enough. Spawnsire is a fine alternate win condition - it provides another means of comboing out, and is a win condition in one card (even though you have to devote sideboard slots to it. I reccommend a second Emrakul and an Eldrazi Conscription. Get to 40 mana (easy enough if you've comboed off), use Spawnsire's second ability twice. Cast Emrakul, get your extra turn, then use it again and have yourself a 25/25 trampling flyer with annihlator 8). Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is another win condition that can be used, but I can't see this deck wanting more than 3.
But this talk of win conditions is almost getting ahead of ourselves. Beyond raw card drawing, there's no real way to tutor up Training Grounds in WU. However, with a splash of G, two things open up:
Ramp, which accelerates and color fixes, allowing for more things to be done in a turn (and removes cards from your deck, making it more likely you'll draw a combo piece or a tutor), and
Wargate. This card allows for win conditions to be tutored and put into play, and it allows for Training Grounds to be tutored for. It can fetch removal. It can fetch card draw. It can fetch card filtering. It can fetch blockers. Yes, it is expensive, but thanks to the ramp that green provides, the cost is mitigated.
Here is my current decklist, still in the testing stages.
6 Island
4 Forest
4 Plains
3 Halimar Depths
3 Tectonic Edge
3 Seaside Citadel
Combo (6)
2 Training Grounds
2 Khalni Gem
2 Filigree Sages
Win Conditions (3)
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Spawnsire of Ulamog
1 Obelisk of Alara
4 Path to Exile
2 Oblivion Ring
3 Wall of Omens
2 Sea Gate Oracle
Tutoring/Card draw (12)
4 Wargate
1 Fabricate
4 Ponder
3 Mind Spring
Ramp (6)
4 Rampant Growth
2 Harrow
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Eldrazi Conscription
1 Kozelek, Butcher of Truth
4 Deprive
1 All is Dust
3 Day of Judgment
1 Wall of Omens
2 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Oblivion Ring