Hi guys. I've got a standard black/white life gain life drain deck that I'd like to completely reconstruct and "upgrade" to casual since most of the cards will be phasing out soon but I love it too much to give it up. I'd like to build it around the Festering Newt, Bogbrew Witch, Bubbling Cauldron combo with the addition of Angelic Accord. I want it to have style and be just a tiny bit evil. Do you have any suggestions?
@Fang2127
I've gotta say, I myself have looked forward to making a Witch Deck. Seeing that you would like to see Angelic Accord to be in there too, it's going to be a B/W deck...
If fearing a burn removal, go with Mark of Asylum on the side
P.S. This whole list was something I devised awhile ago, lost the list I originally had for the idea, and now spewed the white coloring to go along with it within 10 minutes with only 3 hours of sleep, so if there's something I have missed, let me know :3
I've been working on a lobotomy deck for a long time now. It demolishes combo based decks, and is highly disruptive to generally speaking any deck I run into because of it's heavy "strategy" hate. This deck has a lot of trouble winning though. Especially since I play mostly multiplayer games. Would you mind taking a look and seeing if there is anything you would do differently?
I hate to say this, but your strategy is generally flawed in its current execution and it's also never going to be good in multiplayer. I'm sure this isn't what you want to hear and doesn't sound productive, but let me try to justify this statement.
First, you're doing something that a lot of players attempt at one point or another - focusing on attacking the hand and library. It feels awesome to rip cards out of your opponent's hand and deck, but it doesn't actually advance your board. You aren't putting lots of solid creatures on the field and you can't defend yourself against any threat your opponent plays. This makes it a fundamentally weak strategy. Also, it gets weaker the more of it you use. Including one copy of Thought Hemorrhage or similar can help you kill a nasty combo deck, but with each additional copy you play your opponents' deck gets fewer and fewer good cards to rip out. You get more targets in multiplayer, but this just means annoying more people and the lack of board control makes that even more fatal than usual.
In free-for-all multiplayer formats you want to avoid making people attack you, getting them to instead attack each other. This means playing solid defensive cards that don't irritate people, or going so big and powerful that no one can stop you (the second option is a lot harder). You're clearly not going that big and powerful, and your core strategy is just the opposite of solid defense. You're reaching out and violating your opponents, irritating them without actually preventing them from being able to hit you back with at least some form of revenge.
Hand and deck disruption can be a powerful tool, but you can't build a deck around it. Especially not for most multiplayer formats (unless, maybe, you're playing a team format such as two-headed-giant or emperor and your job is to disrupt the other team while your team mates do the actual winning).
I'd recommend figuring out what makes you like these cards so much, which kind of things you enjoy doing with them. Then you can see about approaching another strategy that has a similar feel, but is a lot more powerful.
This is what I was afraid of. I've been tinkering with this strategy for a couple years now, and I was thinking that there may not be a way to make this work as the dominant strategy.
I should be able to make it a supplement to another strategy or at least focus it as a 1v1 strategy though right? Put in a play set of Vesuva, Preators grasp, and nightveil specter?
so the heartless lich Deck's Havengul Lich does not allow it to cast creatures from the grave for 1 mana right? So it is not like i can cast perilous myr for 1 mana, but it does mean i can cast him for 3 mana from the grave? Or am i messing it up.
Would Priest of Gix provide infinite mana when combined with Heartless summoning/semblance anvil?
Also does the lich's ability mean i can cast that specific copy of the creature from the grave as many times as i want without paying the 1 to the lich again? This would enable a net gain of 1 black mana on each cast after the first right? Making it useful to cast X spells like Exsanguinate.
Havengul Lich requires you to pay 1 mana for the privilege of being able to cast the spell out fo your graveyard as though it was in your hand. So you need to pay 3 mana total for the Perilous Myr. However, combining Perilous Myr it with Heartless Summoning is truly brutal. The same goes for Priest of Gix, Priest of Urabrask and similar toys.
I am new to magic. I started playing with some friends around 2 months ago and we proxy all of our cards (hand drawn with abilities written) and I would like a deck to dominate all of them with a deck. we usually play 4-5 man ffa as well as 2v2 or 1v1. all cards are allowed. can anyone help me put a deck together to make my friends hate my existence?
I would also like a link or list of the cards if it isnt too much trouble. We mostly play ffa so that is my main concern. No card is banned within our game type so please dont hold back.
i really want them to hate my existence. thank you.
I am new to magic. I started playing with some friends around 2 months ago and we proxy all of our cards (hand drawn with abilities written) and I would like a deck to dominate all of them with a deck. we usually play 4-5 man ffa as well as 2v2 or 1v1. all cards are allowed. can anyone help me put a deck together to make my friends hate my existence?
I would also like a link or list of the cards if it isnt too much trouble. We mostly play ffa so that is my main concern. No card is banned within our game type so please dont hold back.
i really want them to hate my existence. thank you.
I am new to magic. I started playing with some friends around 2 months ago and we proxy all of our cards (hand drawn with abilities written) and I would like a deck to dominate all of them with a deck. we usually play 4-5 man ffa as well as 2v2 or 1v1. all cards are allowed. can anyone help me put a deck together to make my friends hate my existence?
I would also like a link or list of the cards if it isnt too much trouble. We mostly play ffa so that is my main concern. No card is banned within our game type so please dont hold back.
i really want them to hate my existence. thank you.
If u really want to piss them off play a just increasingly make them reset their boards and do nothing really with a warp world deck, while u generate increasing amounts of card advantage. I run mine as URG. Otherwise i am sure u can play cawblade, control with eldrazi win-con, high tier tribal like fairies, maybe a donate deck. There are plenty of broken decks available in modern/legacy/vintage. Personally i would try to make a really nice EDH-EDH commander Deck as they rarely lose appeal fast. I mean people just dread fighting Norin the Wary and his ilk.
Oh by the way i played this deck in a 5 player multiplayer casual game ( won in a very convoluted way (with 3-4 warps triggered)and they never let me play it again, i keep it around for trollines, and it is budget too in nature.
Also thanks for the Havengul Lich help, i mainly wanted to know if infinate mana combos were possible so i could play x spells like Exsanguinate for alternative win cons.
@Kibirium:
To clarify what StairC said: Havengul Lich lets you cast creatures from your graveyard by paying 1 for his ability. You then have to pay the cost of that creature, which Heartless Summoning reduces by two. So yes, by activating the Lich's ability for 1, you can pay an additional 0 to cast Perilous Myr from the graveyard. As you said, there is an infinite combo using Priest of Gix here (Priest of Urabrask works too). That does work. I just didn't put it in that deck list because unless requested I tend not to put them in decks in this thread; it's mainly for casual and most casual players don't like infinite combos.
@Monoblackdevotion:
If you want an all-cards-legal no-restrictions deck, just pick a two-card infinite combo that you like and load the deck with Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, and the Moxen (Mox Pearl, Mox Jet, etc) for ridiculous card advantage and fast mana. Visit the Vintage section of Salvation for decklists involving these cards; those cards are restricted in that format to one per deck, but if you guys aren't playing with any rules then just max out and have a party. There's an old combo deck called Eggs that would be nothing shy of insane with those cards. This is a slippery slope and there's nothing casual about it; either everyone will start to hate Magic since you all have to build these ridiculous Powered up decks or you'll all just build them and have turn 1 infinite combo races. If you're looking for something that's just some fun, try out some of the decks that I've archived on the OP and see what you like. Feel free to come back and post what kind of deck you enjoy or a card you really like and I can help you more from there.
@Orzhozzit:
Like StairC said, the cards you're trying to use are valuable in certain situations. Memoricide ripping Splinter Twin out of a Splinter Twin / Pestermite deck is strong because it disables their combo. However, in a lot of match ups it's a do nothing card.
For example: let's say you're playing that list you posted and I'm playing a budget Vampire tribal deck. Turn one you draw a card and do nothing, my turn one I play Vampire Lacerator. Your turn two you draw a card and do nothing, I hit you for 2 damage and play Vampire Interloper. Your third turn you play Praetor's Grasp and grab some random card, my turn I play Captivating Vampire and hit you for 6. Your turn you Memoricide my Vampire Nocturnus, without a doubt the best card in my deck. But there aren't any in my hand and even if one were on the field Memoricide wouldn't touch it, so effectively you accomplish nothing; even if there were one or two or even four in my hand, you haven't touched my board. By now I'm attacking for 8 a turn without playing any more creatures.
So while library manipulation is a great tool, to focus your entire deck on it generally doesn't work. You need to be interacting with your opponent(s) and his(their) creatures in order to stay alive to be able to do fancy stuff like that. I can tell you're dedicated to this strategy so I can spend some time pondering ways to abuse some of these cards and post my thoughts here another time.
URGImperial AnimarGRU BRGProssh, Tokenmaker of KherGRB WURNarset NostalgicRUW UBR"I like your deck better" JelevaRBU UBlue BraidsU GAzusa, Lost but RampingG
WUHanna, Pillowfort's NavigatorUW WBRAleshacratsBRW UBRGrixis Pew PewRBU URGYasova the ThreateningGRU BGGlissa the ArticiferGB WUSygg MerfolkUW RSquee, Value NabobR
Hey, I'm kind of new to Magic, started playing a couple months ago. Made a few decks of my own so far to use in my casual group though my general knowledge of what cards are out there and what works well is a bit lacking still. I'd kind of like to build something like a knights tribal deck using cards like Mirran Crusader. Most knights decks I've seen seem to tend towards lots of equipment but I have no idea if that's a good route to go. I'd like it to be no more than $30-40 but it seems like a lot of good related cards are pretty expensive like the Mirran Crusaders costing $3 each so I know it may be necessary to drop those although I do have one already.
Also, perhaps if you're not too busy you could take a look at the deck I've built around Armada Wurm. I don't want to be too greedy making a lot of requests though.
Edit: Looking around at more Knights decks it really seems like it'll be hard to make a good one with my budget since Knight Exemplar and Mirran Crusader already cost over half of it. Unless you think it can be done perhaps it would work out better to just see what improvements can be made to my Armada Wurm deck.
I would appreciate it PopeJP. I've pulled off a couple wins with it, it was ridiculously difficult though. However it was also incredibly satisfying to hit them with a Memoricide and hear them say "you win" I don't have anymore ways to win.
Total $53.92 but that's going by SCG prices if you were to look it up on TCG it would probably drop the price by over $13.00
It's designed to play off of flanking and indestructability. You attack with a creature that has flanking the blocker automatically gets -1-1 flanking stacks so if you have 2 Cavalry Master on the field and attack with a Knight of the Holy Nimbus their blocker gets -3-3 as soon as it's declared as a blocker.
Make your creatures indestructible, then nuke the field. Or just cast Master Warcraft and make them not block. Another fun thing with Master Warcraft if you're playing multiplayer, you can cast it during someone elses turn, make their creatures attack another opponent killing them and leaving the opponent whose combat phase you stoles field tapped for you to then attack without fear of blockers.
It's a fairly budget deck that will be fun, and fairly effective.
I like the idea of that knights deck but unfortunately it costs a bit more than I can afford right now. I'm going to keep that list in mind for trades if I happen to come across those cards though, might be able to get it built eventually.
In the meantime, I'm curious to see what ideas people have to improve my Armada Wurm deck.
Lots of ramp with the Elvish Mystics and Overgrowth and reliably getting whichever land I may be missing with Borderland Ranger as well as giving me some bodies on the board. The Leatherback Baloths give me a lot of early firepower that I can often drop on turn 2 although it feels like it needs another creature to play early. The Drumhunters are pretty self-explanatory, plenty of draw when the Wurms, Emmara, or an Archetype are out.
The problem is it feels pretty unreliable right now. It's won every time I've been able to get both the Armada Wurm and Emmara Tandris out but until that happens I'm getting pretty much no use from Intangible Virtue or Growing Ranks. It also doesn't do much before that other than play some Leatherback Baloths and more ramp. I'm thinking it either needs to drop Emmara Tandris, Intangible Virtue, and Growing Ranks for something else like Caravan Escort or Fleecemane Lion to dump all the extra mana into or replace the Leatherback Baloths with something like Blade Splicer as well as fit in something else lower cost, probably in place of the Elvish Mystics, which would also probably necessitate switching out the Drumhunters for something else.
I don't know if this thread is also meant for ideas for existing decks, if not I can create a new thread.
That would play very nicely with the Cloudshifts also. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to drop the token related cards and instead focus on abusing Cloudshift more.
For that deck I would throw Wild Pair in. Play one Armada Wurm get a 5/5 trample token, Wild Pair tutors and pipers in a second Armada Wurm and you get a second 5/5 trample token. Effectively giving you 20 trample damage for the cost of 1 spell.
Wild Pair $1.49 SCG High is cheaper than TCG mid this time.
Instead of Intangible Virtue why not Gaea's Anthem or Glorious Anthem? Does pretty well the same thing but isn't limited to only your tokens. Only problem is that it will disrupt Wild Pair.
You have an Anthem out, play an Armada Wurm you'll have to search for a Tandris instead of another Wurm. See.... http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=207929
May seem like a good thing until you've already got a Tandris on the field go to play another wurm and can't put another creature into play. Thus making that 6 mana investment worthless. Personally I wouldn't use the anthems, I would focus on mana ramp, to Wild Pair and get Armada Wurm on the field.
Either way Gaea's is $1.77 TCG Mid and Glorious is $1.11
Another couple cards I think might be good for this deck would be Garruk's Packleader to give you some additional draw power, and Trostani, Selesnya's voice for some life gain, and an increase in you're ability to create tokens on a card that isn't a mute point when you don't have tokens to populate.
$0.25 and $2.51 respectively.
Citanul Flute may also be a good card for this deck as it will allow you to use your mana each turn to find something else that you want to play, and finish building your board state.
$0.99 TCG mid
In place of your mystics you could use Overgrown Battlement it's a defender so you wont be able to attack with it, however for each one on the field it doubles the mana it produces, and makes for a pretty good blocker. Turn 4 two on the field you'll have 8 mana at your disposal, assuming you haven't missed a land drop. Throw in Wall of Reverence and you'll be gaining quite a bit of life every turn, as well as producing more mana than you'll need. Plus a 1/6 flying blocker that gains you life every turn for, 4 mana is a good investment, and you really shouldn't rely on 3 Prey Upon to be your only answers to flying.
I have Intangible Virtue in it because of the vigilance. The intent was to have a bunch of 6/6 wurm tokens that didn't tap and couldn't be damaged. I managed to play that combo a few times but it was just unreliable and I think I'm going to take out Intangible Virtue, Growing Ranks, Druid's Deliverance, and Emmara Tandris completely. Wild Pair is pretty cool though, it goes along with the cards I'm been looking at to make use of other enters the battlefield effects.
Garruk's Packleader will definitely be a better option than the Drumhunters. Yet another card that will work a lot better with the Wurms and the Cloudshifts.
Citanul Flute seems like an almost perfect solution to the excess mana I tend to have with this deck. With the Borderland Rangers and Overgrowths I often end up ramping to 10+ mana available each turn by the time we're 5 or 6 turns in and play the one or two high cost cards in my hand and then usually have half or more of my available mana go unused every turn. The Overgrowths also let me reach 8 mana on turn 4 even without the mystics, I'm not sure which would be ideal. The blockers would be useful but they're also susceptible to removal. Defending against flying is indeed a bit of a problem though so perhaps Wall of Reverence would be a good idea and the Citanul Flute should let me get it out when I need it.
Also looking at Flickerform and Thragtusk right now. They seem to go along with this pretty well.
Edit: Thinking I'll forego the Thragtusks for the Overgrown Battlements. I like where my list is at right now, though I think I'd like to find something less situational than the Prey Upons, perhaps Avenging Arrow or Afterlife.
Yeah I'd like to use them but I'd probably have to take out one of my other high cost creatures. Hmm, maybe I'd be better off switching Overgrowth for Overgrown Battlement since they'll also benefit from the Wall of Reverence and then switching the Archetypes for Thragtusks.
Knights is a very fun tribe, please don't be discouraged by the prices. Even the deck that orzhozzit posted isn't taking a lot of budgetary precautions and is overly complicated for what you need, particularly on that budget (not so say there's anything wrong with it, I've played a very similar deck myself).
Now keep in mind this is assuming you want to keep it mono-white, which I'd mostly recommend, especially if you're new. Branching out into black and/or red is something you could consider for the future. Don't forget to add some removal-type spells; Oblivion Ring is the classic, then you can consider Journey to Nowhere and Harm's Way.
For additional information on Knights, you can also check out the Knights primer in the modern section under "Modern Deck Creation." It doesn't take budget into consideration at all, but it ought to be able to give you some great ideas.
@DARKJDR: I'll see if I can brew something up. I picked up a foil Ixidor recently so I've been pondering something along these lines myself.
URGImperial AnimarGRU BRGProssh, Tokenmaker of KherGRB WURNarset NostalgicRUW UBR"I like your deck better" JelevaRBU UBlue BraidsU GAzusa, Lost but RampingG
WUHanna, Pillowfort's NavigatorUW WBRAleshacratsBRW UBRGrixis Pew PewRBU URGYasova the ThreateningGRU BGGlissa the ArticiferGB WUSygg MerfolkUW RSquee, Value NabobR
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I've gotta say, I myself have looked forward to making a Witch Deck. Seeing that you would like to see Angelic Accord to be in there too, it's going to be a B/W deck...
Right! Here's a decklist I have so far:
Creatures:
x4 Festering Newt
x3 Bogbrew Witch
x3 Vizkopa Guildmage
x4 Vampire Nighthawk
x2 Archon of Redemption
Instants/Sorceries:
x4 Postmortem Lunge or you can go Unearth
x2 Profane Command
x2 Austere Command
x1 Immortal Servitude
x3 Diabolic Tutor
Artifacts/Enchantments:
x3 Bubbling Cauldron
x3 Angelic Accord
x4 Ghostly Prison
x2 Luminous Wake
Lands:
x1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
x2 Fetid Heath or Godless Shrine if within budget
x9 Plains
x7 Swamp
x1 Volrath's Stronghold only if within budget, if not, go with another Swamp
If fearing a burn removal, go with Mark of Asylum on the side
P.S. This whole list was something I devised awhile ago, lost the list I originally had for the idea, and now spewed the white coloring to go along with it within 10 minutes with only 3 hours of sleep, so if there's something I have missed, let me know :3
*Planeswalker*
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver x1
*Artifacts*
Font of Mythos x2
*Spells*
Praetor's Grasp x2
Lim-Dul's Vault x4
Extirpate x4
Lobotomy x3
Memoricide x3
Traumatize x3
Haunting Echoes x2
Reality Strobe x3
*Enchantments*
Paradox Haze x3
*Creatures*
Shimian Specter x4
Chronozoa x4
Circu, Dimir Lobotomist x2
*Land*
Drowned Catacomb x4
Dimir Aqueduct x4
Swamp x6
Island x6
First, you're doing something that a lot of players attempt at one point or another - focusing on attacking the hand and library. It feels awesome to rip cards out of your opponent's hand and deck, but it doesn't actually advance your board. You aren't putting lots of solid creatures on the field and you can't defend yourself against any threat your opponent plays. This makes it a fundamentally weak strategy. Also, it gets weaker the more of it you use. Including one copy of Thought Hemorrhage or similar can help you kill a nasty combo deck, but with each additional copy you play your opponents' deck gets fewer and fewer good cards to rip out. You get more targets in multiplayer, but this just means annoying more people and the lack of board control makes that even more fatal than usual.
In free-for-all multiplayer formats you want to avoid making people attack you, getting them to instead attack each other. This means playing solid defensive cards that don't irritate people, or going so big and powerful that no one can stop you (the second option is a lot harder). You're clearly not going that big and powerful, and your core strategy is just the opposite of solid defense. You're reaching out and violating your opponents, irritating them without actually preventing them from being able to hit you back with at least some form of revenge.
Hand and deck disruption can be a powerful tool, but you can't build a deck around it. Especially not for most multiplayer formats (unless, maybe, you're playing a team format such as two-headed-giant or emperor and your job is to disrupt the other team while your team mates do the actual winning).
I'd recommend figuring out what makes you like these cards so much, which kind of things you enjoy doing with them. Then you can see about approaching another strategy that has a similar feel, but is a lot more powerful.
Remaking Magic - A Podcast for those that love MTG and Game Design
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I should be able to make it a supplement to another strategy or at least focus it as a 1v1 strategy though right? Put in a play set of Vesuva, Preators grasp, and nightveil specter?
Would Priest of Gix provide infinite mana when combined with Heartless summoning/semblance anvil?
Also does the lich's ability mean i can cast that specific copy of the creature from the grave as many times as i want without paying the 1 to the lich again? This would enable a net gain of 1 black mana on each cast after the first right? Making it useful to cast X spells like Exsanguinate.
My Decks:
All my Decks are budget
EDH:GRWHazezon TamarGRW, RKazuul, Tyrant of the CliffsR, BMikaeus, the UnhallowedB, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GRXenagos, God of RevelsGR, BGPharika, God of AfflictionBG
Standard:BMono Black Control(devotion)B- retired
Casual:UWHeroicUW, UGWall tribalUG, BPhylactery LichB
Modern:UBAbyssal PersecutorUB, WKnight TribalW
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The Dungeon Master's Guide - A Podcast for those that love RPGs and Game Design
Sig-Heroes of the Plane
I would also like a link or list of the cards if it isnt too much trouble. We mostly play ffa so that is my main concern. No card is banned within our game type so please dont hold back.
i really want them to hate my existence. thank you.
When asking for if something was stolen on Kamigawa:
Have some irony:
If u really want to piss them off play a just increasingly make them reset their boards and do nothing really with a warp world deck, while u generate increasing amounts of card advantage. I run mine as URG. Otherwise i am sure u can play cawblade, control with eldrazi win-con, high tier tribal like fairies, maybe a donate deck. There are plenty of broken decks available in modern/legacy/vintage. Personally i would try to make a really nice EDH-EDH commander Deck as they rarely lose appeal fast. I mean people just dread fighting Norin the Wary and his ilk.
Oh by the way i played this deck in a 5 player multiplayer casual game ( won in a very convoluted way (with 3-4 warps triggered)and they never let me play it again, i keep it around for trollines, and it is budget too in nature.
Also thanks for the Havengul Lich help, i mainly wanted to know if infinate mana combos were possible so i could play x spells like Exsanguinate for alternative win cons.
My Decks:
All my Decks are budget
EDH:GRWHazezon TamarGRW, RKazuul, Tyrant of the CliffsR, BMikaeus, the UnhallowedB, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GRXenagos, God of RevelsGR, BGPharika, God of AfflictionBG
Standard:BMono Black Control(devotion)B- retired
Casual:UWHeroicUW, UGWall tribalUG, BPhylactery LichB
Modern:UBAbyssal PersecutorUB, WKnight TribalW
To clarify what StairC said: Havengul Lich lets you cast creatures from your graveyard by paying 1 for his ability. You then have to pay the cost of that creature, which Heartless Summoning reduces by two. So yes, by activating the Lich's ability for 1, you can pay an additional 0 to cast Perilous Myr from the graveyard. As you said, there is an infinite combo using Priest of Gix here (Priest of Urabrask works too). That does work. I just didn't put it in that deck list because unless requested I tend not to put them in decks in this thread; it's mainly for casual and most casual players don't like infinite combos.
@Monoblackdevotion:
If you want an all-cards-legal no-restrictions deck, just pick a two-card infinite combo that you like and load the deck with Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, and the Moxen (Mox Pearl, Mox Jet, etc) for ridiculous card advantage and fast mana. Visit the Vintage section of Salvation for decklists involving these cards; those cards are restricted in that format to one per deck, but if you guys aren't playing with any rules then just max out and have a party. There's an old combo deck called Eggs that would be nothing shy of insane with those cards. This is a slippery slope and there's nothing casual about it; either everyone will start to hate Magic since you all have to build these ridiculous Powered up decks or you'll all just build them and have turn 1 infinite combo races. If you're looking for something that's just some fun, try out some of the decks that I've archived on the OP and see what you like. Feel free to come back and post what kind of deck you enjoy or a card you really like and I can help you more from there.
@Orzhozzit:
Like StairC said, the cards you're trying to use are valuable in certain situations. Memoricide ripping Splinter Twin out of a Splinter Twin / Pestermite deck is strong because it disables their combo. However, in a lot of match ups it's a do nothing card.
For example: let's say you're playing that list you posted and I'm playing a budget Vampire tribal deck. Turn one you draw a card and do nothing, my turn one I play Vampire Lacerator. Your turn two you draw a card and do nothing, I hit you for 2 damage and play Vampire Interloper. Your third turn you play Praetor's Grasp and grab some random card, my turn I play Captivating Vampire and hit you for 6. Your turn you Memoricide my Vampire Nocturnus, without a doubt the best card in my deck. But there aren't any in my hand and even if one were on the field Memoricide wouldn't touch it, so effectively you accomplish nothing; even if there were one or two or even four in my hand, you haven't touched my board. By now I'm attacking for 8 a turn without playing any more creatures.
So while library manipulation is a great tool, to focus your entire deck on it generally doesn't work. You need to be interacting with your opponent(s) and his(their) creatures in order to stay alive to be able to do fancy stuff like that. I can tell you're dedicated to this strategy so I can spend some time pondering ways to abuse some of these cards and post my thoughts here another time.
Living End Contributor and Enthusiast
Come Pucatrade with me
Rules Advisor
Modern: BRGLiving EndGRB
Legacy: UBGShardless BUGGBU
BRGProssh, Tokenmaker of KherGRB
WURNarset NostalgicRUW
UBR"I like your deck better" JelevaRBU
UBlue BraidsU
GAzusa, Lost but RampingG
WBRAleshacratsBRW
UBRGrixis Pew PewRBU
URGYasova the ThreateningGRU
BGGlissa the ArticiferGB
WUSygg MerfolkUW
RSquee, Value NabobR
Also, perhaps if you're not too busy you could take a look at the deck I've built around Armada Wurm. I don't want to be too greedy making a lot of requests though.
Edit: Looking around at more Knights decks it really seems like it'll be hard to make a good one with my budget since Knight Exemplar and Mirran Crusader already cost over half of it. Unless you think it can be done perhaps it would work out better to just see what improvements can be made to my Armada Wurm deck.
Pentarch Paladin $0.99x4=$3.96
Knight of the Holy Nimbus $0.49x4=$1.96
Cavalry Master $0.25x4=$1.00
Kinsbail Cavalier $1.99x2=$3.98
Knight Exemplar $3.99x4=$11.96
Day of Judgment $1.99x4=$7.96
Rootborn Defense $0.15x4=$0.60
Safe Passage $0.15x4=$0.60
Boros Charm $3.49x4=$13.96
Master Warcraft $0.75x4=$3.00
Boros Garrison $0.99x4=$3.96
Total $53.92 but that's going by SCG prices if you were to look it up on TCG it would probably drop the price by over $13.00
It's designed to play off of flanking and indestructability. You attack with a creature that has flanking the blocker automatically gets -1-1 flanking stacks so if you have 2 Cavalry Master on the field and attack with a Knight of the Holy Nimbus their blocker gets -3-3 as soon as it's declared as a blocker.
Make your creatures indestructible, then nuke the field. Or just cast Master Warcraft and make them not block. Another fun thing with Master Warcraft if you're playing multiplayer, you can cast it during someone elses turn, make their creatures attack another opponent killing them and leaving the opponent whose combat phase you stoles field tapped for you to then attack without fear of blockers.
It's a fairly budget deck that will be fun, and fairly effective.
My Decks:
All my Decks are budget
EDH:GRWHazezon TamarGRW, RKazuul, Tyrant of the CliffsR, BMikaeus, the UnhallowedB, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GRXenagos, God of RevelsGR, BGPharika, God of AfflictionBG
Standard:BMono Black Control(devotion)B- retired
Casual:UWHeroicUW, UGWall tribalUG, BPhylactery LichB
Modern:UBAbyssal PersecutorUB, WKnight TribalW
In the meantime, I'm curious to see what ideas people have to improve my Armada Wurm deck.
Leatherback Baloth x4
Elvish Mystic x3
Drumhunter x2
Armada Wurm x4
Emmara Tandris x2
Borderland Ranger x3
Archetype of Endurance x2
Garruk, Primal Hunter x1
Growing Ranks x2
Cloudshift x4
Intangible Virtue x2
Prey Upon x3
Druid's Deliverance x2
Oblivion Ring x3
Overgrowth x3
Selesnya Guildgate x4
Lots of ramp with the Elvish Mystics and Overgrowth and reliably getting whichever land I may be missing with Borderland Ranger as well as giving me some bodies on the board. The Leatherback Baloths give me a lot of early firepower that I can often drop on turn 2 although it feels like it needs another creature to play early. The Drumhunters are pretty self-explanatory, plenty of draw when the Wurms, Emmara, or an Archetype are out.
Pretty much it holds its own until I get the Armada Wurm out then start making lots of 5/5 tokens between Growing Ranks and Cloudshift. The Cloudshifts also serve to protect my creatures before I get Emmara Tandris or an Archetype of Endurance out. The Prey Upons serve as good removal early on with the Leatherback Baloths and later with the wurm tokens, especially when Emmara is out. Oblivion Ring generally deals with whatever Prey Upon can't.
The problem is it feels pretty unreliable right now. It's won every time I've been able to get both the Armada Wurm and Emmara Tandris out but until that happens I'm getting pretty much no use from Intangible Virtue or Growing Ranks. It also doesn't do much before that other than play some Leatherback Baloths and more ramp. I'm thinking it either needs to drop Emmara Tandris, Intangible Virtue, and Growing Ranks for something else like Caravan Escort or Fleecemane Lion to dump all the extra mana into or replace the Leatherback Baloths with something like Blade Splicer as well as fit in something else lower cost, probably in place of the Elvish Mystics, which would also probably necessitate switching out the Drumhunters for something else.
I don't know if this thread is also meant for ideas for existing decks, if not I can create a new thread.
My Decks:
All my Decks are budget
EDH:GRWHazezon TamarGRW, RKazuul, Tyrant of the CliffsR, BMikaeus, the UnhallowedB, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GRXenagos, God of RevelsGR, BGPharika, God of AfflictionBG
Standard:BMono Black Control(devotion)B- retired
Casual:UWHeroicUW, UGWall tribalUG, BPhylactery LichB
Modern:UBAbyssal PersecutorUB, WKnight TribalW
My Decks:
All my Decks are budget
EDH:GRWHazezon TamarGRW, RKazuul, Tyrant of the CliffsR, BMikaeus, the UnhallowedB, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GRXenagos, God of RevelsGR, BGPharika, God of AfflictionBG
Standard:BMono Black Control(devotion)B- retired
Casual:UWHeroicUW, UGWall tribalUG, BPhylactery LichB
Modern:UBAbyssal PersecutorUB, WKnight TribalW
Wild Pair $1.49 SCG High is cheaper than TCG mid this time.
Instead of Intangible Virtue why not Gaea's Anthem or Glorious Anthem? Does pretty well the same thing but isn't limited to only your tokens. Only problem is that it will disrupt Wild Pair.
You have an Anthem out, play an Armada Wurm you'll have to search for a Tandris instead of another Wurm. See....
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=207929
May seem like a good thing until you've already got a Tandris on the field go to play another wurm and can't put another creature into play. Thus making that 6 mana investment worthless. Personally I wouldn't use the anthems, I would focus on mana ramp, to Wild Pair and get Armada Wurm on the field.
Either way Gaea's is $1.77 TCG Mid and Glorious is $1.11
Another couple cards I think might be good for this deck would be Garruk's Packleader to give you some additional draw power, and Trostani, Selesnya's voice for some life gain, and an increase in you're ability to create tokens on a card that isn't a mute point when you don't have tokens to populate.
$0.25 and $2.51 respectively.
Citanul Flute may also be a good card for this deck as it will allow you to use your mana each turn to find something else that you want to play, and finish building your board state.
$0.99 TCG mid
In place of your mystics you could use Overgrown Battlement it's a defender so you wont be able to attack with it, however for each one on the field it doubles the mana it produces, and makes for a pretty good blocker. Turn 4 two on the field you'll have 8 mana at your disposal, assuming you haven't missed a land drop. Throw in Wall of Reverence and you'll be gaining quite a bit of life every turn, as well as producing more mana than you'll need. Plus a 1/6 flying blocker that gains you life every turn for, 4 mana is a good investment, and you really shouldn't rely on 3 Prey Upon to be your only answers to flying.
Wall of Reverence $1.30 TCG Mid
Overgrown Battlement $0.24 TCG Mid
Archetype of Endurance doesn't actually have hexproof until it hits the field.
Garruk's Packleader will definitely be a better option than the Drumhunters. Yet another card that will work a lot better with the Wurms and the Cloudshifts.
Citanul Flute seems like an almost perfect solution to the excess mana I tend to have with this deck. With the Borderland Rangers and Overgrowths I often end up ramping to 10+ mana available each turn by the time we're 5 or 6 turns in and play the one or two high cost cards in my hand and then usually have half or more of my available mana go unused every turn. The Overgrowths also let me reach 8 mana on turn 4 even without the mystics, I'm not sure which would be ideal. The blockers would be useful but they're also susceptible to removal. Defending against flying is indeed a bit of a problem though so perhaps Wall of Reverence would be a good idea and the Citanul Flute should let me get it out when I need it.
Also looking at Flickerform and Thragtusk right now. They seem to go along with this pretty well.
Edit: Thinking I'll forego the Thragtusks for the Overgrown Battlements. I like where my list is at right now, though I think I'd like to find something less situational than the Prey Upons, perhaps Avenging Arrow or Afterlife.
If u have enough ETB Roaring Primodox could be considered.
And if u want Nylea's Disciple really helps for the long run.
My Decks:
All my Decks are budget
EDH:GRWHazezon TamarGRW, RKazuul, Tyrant of the CliffsR, BMikaeus, the UnhallowedB, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GRXenagos, God of RevelsGR, BGPharika, God of AfflictionBG
Standard:BMono Black Control(devotion)B- retired
Casual:UWHeroicUW, UGWall tribalUG, BPhylactery LichB
Modern:UBAbyssal PersecutorUB, WKnight TribalW
Knights is a very fun tribe, please don't be discouraged by the prices. Even the deck that orzhozzit posted isn't taking a lot of budgetary precautions and is overly complicated for what you need, particularly on that budget (not so say there's anything wrong with it, I've played a very similar deck myself).
While Knight Exemplar is an absolute must for the deck, they can very easily be the only expensive cards actually in the deck. There are a lot of great common/uncommon options:
White Knight (dude's a classic)
Wilt Leaf Cavalier
Knight of Glory
Knight of the Holy Nimbus
Lightwielder Paladin
Skyhunter Skirmisher
Warrior en-kor (a personal favorite)
And some relatively cheap equipment you can use too:
Bonesplitter
Grafted Wargear
Darksteel Axe
If you feel like splurging a tiny bit on some slightly more expensive cards, here's a short list of 1-3 dollar cards I might recommend:
Mirran Crusader
Kinsbaile Cavalier
Silverblade Paladin
Knight of the White Orchid
Adaptive Automaton
Thistledown Liege
Light From Within
Knight of Meadowgrain
Now keep in mind this is assuming you want to keep it mono-white, which I'd mostly recommend, especially if you're new. Branching out into black and/or red is something you could consider for the future. Don't forget to add some removal-type spells; Oblivion Ring is the classic, then you can consider Journey to Nowhere and Harm's Way.
For additional information on Knights, you can also check out the Knights primer in the modern section under "Modern Deck Creation." It doesn't take budget into consideration at all, but it ought to be able to give you some great ideas.
@DARKJDR: I'll see if I can brew something up. I picked up a foil Ixidor recently so I've been pondering something along these lines myself.
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Legacy: UBGShardless BUGGBU
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