My friends and I weren't sure on this, so we checked with a judge. If your opponent attacks with an unblocked morph and flips it, you DO have the opportunity to kill it at instant speed (as you get priority before end of step). Also, if you're playing against Mardu and have an instant speed bounce/kill spell for their only profitable attacker, do it before attackers can be declared. Giving them raid triggers for free is a big mistake.
My first impression is that the pool is low powered, so I'm looking to make an aggro deck to compensate for a poor lategame. Sadly, I don't see a good aggro deck in the pool either. In the end I think I'd make a 5-color or 4-color (wbrg) monstrosity, jamming in all the most powerful cards.
I agree that lacking a lot of power you should look for an aggro deck, and actually, I think there's a reasonable (though far from great) Mardu build in there. Here's what I'd run:
This gives you an 8/8/8 manabase, which seems reasonable. You are going to be a little prone to flooding, but the Tormenting Voice should help with that, and I think it's more important that you cast your spells on time, as your deck's best chance to win is going to be putting your opponent on the back foot. If you're feeling greedy you could drop a land and put a Feat of Resistance (which has the potential to be quite good) in its place. It's also possible that Trumpet Blast would be better than Rush of Battle, but you've got enough Warriors that I went for the slight upside on the Rush. If you had one more token maker (Hordeling Outburst, Take Up Arms, or another Brigade) I'd have made room for both and been very happy with the deck.
which is pretty low to the ground when you consider that all 4 of your expensive creatures can be morphed or delved. Your plan should be to pressure early and hope to get in 6-12 damage before they can stabilize. Then try to make a play like killing a good blocker with a Burn Away or unmorphing a Ponyback Brigade at the end of their their turn and alpha striking (hopefully with a Rush of Battle or an untapping Jeering Instigator) for the win. Alternatively, your Sultai Scavenger or a big buffed Ainok Bond-Kin might be enough to finish them off. It's not a great deck, but it's got the potential to punish a lot of greedy/durdly decks and go 2-2/3-1 IMO. I can understand the appeal of Merl's build, but I think that with a pool this lacking in power, it's better to be proactive.
I really like all 3 of these cards - all very potentially powerful. Unfortunately, I just realized that if Sidisi is killed in response to her mill trigger, you won't get the zombie. Still has Standard potential, but makes her significantly less reliable.
You can do a normal draft with only 4 players (MTGO offers this style for employees and new players). The biggest problem with drafting with this few people is that with half as many packs getting opened, it's really hard to build a cohesive deck. And with packs wheeling so often, reading/remembering the packs you see is very important.
Necrobite also had great potential in Theros if you had some huge monster/hero. Your opponent was often forced to gang block, and Necrobite in that situation is a blowout. In M15, it's rarely more than a 1-for-1.
I suppose I might run a Mind Sculpt or 2 if I got 3+ Undergrowth Scavengers - but then again I might not if I liked the rest of my deck enough. It turns out that creatures trade so much that Undergrowth Scavenger doesn't really need any help to be quite good in M15. In a weak deck, however, it might be worth it to try to power up your nut draws.
Guess I'm honored I was your last match of M15. I agree with most of your assessments, but I did want to point out one other use for Heliod's Pilgrim. I got just wrecked by a RW aggro deck running multiple Pilgrims and 3-4 Oppressive Rays. He'd drop an early beater or 2, then use Pilgrim into Ray to lock down my best blocker. After that, if I left up mana to enable the block/trade, he'd just pass and develop his board to overpower an eventual Sanctified Charge. If I played another blocker instead, he'd either have or tutor up another Ray to keep up the beats. I'm not a big fan of Oppressive Ray in general, but he made it work in that deck.
I also think Roaring Primadox can be good, but he's not really a 4-drop. I see him as a finisher in a green control deck (pretend he's a 6/7 drop). You use him to pull ahead with ETB effects after you've stabilized. That said, he's far from irreplaceable - there are many green "finishers" at common/uncommon, and quite a few green rares that make it really hard for your opponent to ever win.
Unless you have a good control deck (which is VERY hard to do with multiple Mind Sculpts in your deck), you will probably need at least 6-7 Mind Sculpts to have any real chance of milling someone out. If you can get that many in a draft, go for it - but it's pretty unlikely. I agree with Hardened that the best way to leverage Mind Sculpt is with other graveyard-based cards. Unfortunately, most of the payoffs for filling graveyards come in green and black, which already have fine enablers (Satyr Wayfinder, Necromancer's Assistant) that actually help on the board. The GB Graveyard deck does not need to splash blue for a subpar enabler like Mind Sculpt.
A more likely way to mill someone out is to build a strong control deck that has a Grindclock as one of its finishers. It's a very slow wincon that doesn't affect the board, but it will get the job done eventually if they don't have any artifact destruction available. However Torch Fiend and Naturalize are both commons in this format and are both borderline maindeckable. I'd rather use a few good fliers or green fatties to close out the my control deck's games - they can block if necessary.
In conclusion, I don't think milling your opponent out is a thing in M15. I've had 3 different opponents try it against me - none of them beat me, and it generally wasn't close.
One finding here I can believe is that Green is secretly the best Control color in M15. Most people would guess Blue or Black, your traditional Control colors, but both are kind of tempo-y. Black doesn't have great removal. Blue doesn't have great blockers and card draw. I think Green is actually the Control color just by virtue of having the most toughness.
The problem is that Control decks need to generate card advantage. M15 Green is not good at that. So they're grabbing whatever bombs they can find to help out. It makes sense that they're going out of their way to fit in the "gold" uncommons because some of those are card advantage machines.
I totally agree that green wants to be a control color in M15. It doesn't have any good early beaters - Runeclaw Bears are outclassed by the two drops of every other color, and Invasive Species hurts your tempo too much for a true aggro deck.
I think that this is one reason so many people are finding no luck with their UG decks. Traditionally this color pair is supports a tempo-based deck with green supplying the beef to complement blue's bounce and other tricks. In M15, however, this pair seems to me to support a control deck. Both colors have good early blockers (Research Assistant, Coral Barrier, Netcaster Spider) that can buy time for the UG self-bounce engine to get going, or for blue fliers/green fatties to take over. If you try to play these colors like a tempo/beatdown deck, I don't think that it will usually work, even with blue's good tempo cards, due to the lack of cheap efficient green beaters. As a control deck however, it seems very viable to me.
The lack of traditional removal hurts, but removal in general is pretty weak in M15 (except for red's burn suite). I suppose it wouldn't be too hard for any green-based control deck to splash Lightning Strikes and Blastfire Bolts to supplement Hunt the Weak and Encrust. Blue bounce and green Natualize effects can also be very strong control elements against tokens, auras, and artifacts, which are all key themes in M15.
Anyways, I would be very interested in hearing about other player's experience with these kind of decks. Has anyone else made some good green control decks lately?
While we could really use Vaporkin in this deck, I think that Thassa's Emissary is enough better that we should grab it pronto. If we had an Ordeal or 2, I'd probably switch that, but as is... If we're lucky the Charlatan will wheel - this is the deck that wants him.
I would NEVER cut Thassa's Emmisary from any deck. It can win the game on it's own, and if you bestow it on something evasive late it's even better. I'd probably cut the Guardians of Meletis for it - I like the Servent better, as it can stop a real ground threat late much better than the guardians can. Plus the Servents add a black devotion for you.
I can see going red early, but given it's lower power level in the Theros packs, I would have stayed UW as well. I only see a couple of issues with this draft. First, as you note, I'd have taken another 2-drop or two. Secondly, I really don't like how your made your manabase for this deck. You REALLY want to get your Phalanx Leaders out on turn 2, and your only double blue cards are fine in the late game. I'd either have gone with 9 or 10 plains. I'd lean towards playing a 10 and possibly looking for any other cards that you could reasonably swap out Nullify for.
Overall, I think you drafted pretty well and ended up with a very reasonable deck. It sounds like you need to work on your in-game skills now to move to the next level. You might try watching some good players stream - try to find those who keep up a good commentary on why they make the plays they do during the game. Also, Limited Resources did a couple of episodes a while ago on technical play and common mistakes (episodes 211 and 214) that might help you improve. Good luck!
Here's a few fairly obvious synergies that I've noticed:
Vortex Elemental bestowed with a Noble Quarry - wipe their whole board while you smash them! (Although you have to wait for 7 mana to effectively surprise them).
Oracle of Bones makes Boulderfall moderately playable. I had this done to me, and when I saw the Oracle come down in game 2, I had to think long and hard. Of course, he had it again.
Sunbond plus Ephara's Radiance... still isn't good. I beat an opponent who tried this after I mulled to 5... and I didn't even kill his Sunbonded fatty (a Triton Fortune Hunter). He wasn't a master player, but don't run these terrible cards just for decent synergy.
Plus a few general tips/strategies/observations:
Tapping and untapping at instant speed is a lot more useful than I've ever seen it. Dodge Excoriate and Asphyxiate plus activate/enable inspired. Kiora's Follower is especially good at this, but Crypsis and Springleaf Drum are useful as well. I like the drum because it can avoid the summoning sickness problem that most of the other enablers have, although Black Oak of Oduna also works.
Several times I have played Stratus Walk on an opponent's flier to cycle a card and remove a blocker.
If Hero of Leina Tower has a Karametra's Favor on her and she's playing defense, she can block and then tap to pump herself a little bit more off a combat trick. Just a little something to include in your combat math (I forgot it).
I agree that lacking a lot of power you should look for an aggro deck, and actually, I think there's a reasonable (though far from great) Mardu build in there. Here's what I'd run:
1 Chief of the Scale
2 Valley Dasher
1 Jeering Instigator
1 Ainok Bond-Kin
1 Mardu Skullhunter
1 Watcher of the Roost
1 Mardu Hordechief
1 Mardu Warshrieker
1 Highspire Mantis
1 Canyon Lurkers
1 Krumar Bond-Kin
1 Ponyback Brigade
1 Sultai Scavenger
1 Ride Down
1 Tormenting Vioce
1 Debilitating Injury
1 Mardu Charm
1 Bring Low
1 Rush of Battle
2 Burn Away
Lands
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Nomad Outpost
1 Sandsteppe Citadel
1 Scoured Barrens
1 Wind-scarred Crag
4 Swamp
5 Mountain
4 Plains
This gives you an 8/8/8 manabase, which seems reasonable. You are going to be a little prone to flooding, but the Tormenting Voice should help with that, and I think it's more important that you cast your spells on time, as your deck's best chance to win is going to be putting your opponent on the back foot. If you're feeling greedy you could drop a land and put a Feat of Resistance (which has the potential to be quite good) in its place. It's also possible that Trumpet Blast would be better than Rush of Battle, but you've got enough Warriors that I went for the slight upside on the Rush. If you had one more token maker (Hordeling Outburst, Take Up Arms, or another Brigade) I'd have made room for both and been very happy with the deck.
Your curve goes:
1 llll
2 ccccccsss
3 cc(mmm)s
4 cc(u)ss
5 cc(uu)ss
6 cc
which is pretty low to the ground when you consider that all 4 of your expensive creatures can be morphed or delved. Your plan should be to pressure early and hope to get in 6-12 damage before they can stabilize. Then try to make a play like killing a good blocker with a Burn Away or unmorphing a Ponyback Brigade at the end of their their turn and alpha striking (hopefully with a Rush of Battle or an untapping Jeering Instigator) for the win. Alternatively, your Sultai Scavenger or a big buffed Ainok Bond-Kin might be enough to finish them off. It's not a great deck, but it's got the potential to punish a lot of greedy/durdly decks and go 2-2/3-1 IMO. I can understand the appeal of Merl's build, but I think that with a pool this lacking in power, it's better to be proactive.
I also think Roaring Primadox can be good, but he's not really a 4-drop. I see him as a finisher in a green control deck (pretend he's a 6/7 drop). You use him to pull ahead with ETB effects after you've stabilized. That said, he's far from irreplaceable - there are many green "finishers" at common/uncommon, and quite a few green rares that make it really hard for your opponent to ever win.
A more likely way to mill someone out is to build a strong control deck that has a Grindclock as one of its finishers. It's a very slow wincon that doesn't affect the board, but it will get the job done eventually if they don't have any artifact destruction available. However Torch Fiend and Naturalize are both commons in this format and are both borderline maindeckable. I'd rather use a few good fliers or green fatties to close out the my control deck's games - they can block if necessary.
In conclusion, I don't think milling your opponent out is a thing in M15. I've had 3 different opponents try it against me - none of them beat me, and it generally wasn't close.
I totally agree that green wants to be a control color in M15. It doesn't have any good early beaters - Runeclaw Bears are outclassed by the two drops of every other color, and Invasive Species hurts your tempo too much for a true aggro deck.
To gain the card advantage that a good control deck needs, green wants either 1) its traditional big beaters that can eat multiple creatures (Siege Wurm, Carnivorous Moss-Beast, Feral Incarnation, Ancient Siverback, and in the right deck, Undergrowth Scavenger), or 2) reusable ETB effects (with Roaring Primadox and Invasive Species). Almost all of the green rares also play into the control style much more than any other archetype.
I think that this is one reason so many people are finding no luck with their UG decks. Traditionally this color pair is supports a tempo-based deck with green supplying the beef to complement blue's bounce and other tricks. In M15, however, this pair seems to me to support a control deck. Both colors have good early blockers (Research Assistant, Coral Barrier, Netcaster Spider) that can buy time for the UG self-bounce engine to get going, or for blue fliers/green fatties to take over. If you try to play these colors like a tempo/beatdown deck, I don't think that it will usually work, even with blue's good tempo cards, due to the lack of cheap efficient green beaters. As a control deck however, it seems very viable to me.
The lack of traditional removal hurts, but removal in general is pretty weak in M15 (except for red's burn suite). I suppose it wouldn't be too hard for any green-based control deck to splash Lightning Strikes and Blastfire Bolts to supplement Hunt the Weak and Encrust. Blue bounce and green Natualize effects can also be very strong control elements against tokens, auras, and artifacts, which are all key themes in M15.
Anyways, I would be very interested in hearing about other player's experience with these kind of decks. Has anyone else made some good green control decks lately?
Overall, I think you drafted pretty well and ended up with a very reasonable deck. It sounds like you need to work on your in-game skills now to move to the next level. You might try watching some good players stream - try to find those who keep up a good commentary on why they make the plays they do during the game. Also, Limited Resources did a couple of episodes a while ago on technical play and common mistakes (episodes 211 and 214) that might help you improve. Good luck!
Vortex Elemental bestowed with a Noble Quarry - wipe their whole board while you smash them! (Although you have to wait for 7 mana to effectively surprise them).
Raised by Wolves cast on your Nyxborn Wolf for incremental value and a flavor win!
Scourge of Scola Vale in GR makes Akroan Consctiptor and Portent of Betrayal significantly more powerful.
Oracle of Bones makes Boulderfall moderately playable. I had this done to me, and when I saw the Oracle come down in game 2, I had to think long and hard. Of course, he had it again.
Stormcaller of Keranos and Flamespeaker Adept is a little silly in UR.
Sunbond plus Ephara's Radiance... still isn't good. I beat an opponent who tried this after I mulled to 5... and I didn't even kill his Sunbonded fatty (a Triton Fortune Hunter). He wasn't a master player, but don't run these terrible cards just for decent synergy.
Plus a few general tips/strategies/observations:
Tapping and untapping at instant speed is a lot more useful than I've ever seen it. Dodge Excoriate and Asphyxiate plus activate/enable inspired. Kiora's Follower is especially good at this, but Crypsis and Springleaf Drum are useful as well. I like the drum because it can avoid the summoning sickness problem that most of the other enablers have, although Black Oak of Oduna also works.
Several times I have played Stratus Walk on an opponent's flier to cycle a card and remove a blocker.
If Hero of Leina Tower has a Karametra's Favor on her and she's playing defense, she can block and then tap to pump herself a little bit more off a combat trick. Just a little something to include in your combat math (I forgot it).