So, these two guys at my store came up with a format called SCS, or Sixty Card Sorcerer. Here are the rules:
- Each deck is sixty cards
- It is a 1v1 format
- It is highlander, so no more than one copy of each card, other than basics.
- Each player must pick a uncommon or common nonpermanent cards to start in their command zone, this is your ritual.
- The ritual functions like a commander, so it costs 2 more for each time you have cast it, but you can cast it as many times as you want.
- Like in commander, the cards in your deck can't be any colors other than those of your ritual.
- Every card in your deck must be either common or uncommon.
Now, I have been instructed to build a deck for them to play agains, and I chose boomerang. The goal of the deck should be to bounce their lands to their hands over and over again so that they can't do *****, and slowly poke them to death. I really need card suggestions! Anything helps!
My Decks. BKalitas ZombiesB BGonti FunB WUBRGScion of the Mirrorwing DragonWUBRG UGPrime Speaker ZeganaUG URArjun, the Shifting FlameUR RGRosheeen MeandererRG WUEphara, God of the PolisWU
What do you plan on making your win condition though? Bouncing lands is one thing, but eventually you will run out while they still have their lands (or threats) in their hand and you won't be able to deal with all of it. Maybe something like Skywise Teachings or Trail of Evidence to get more out of your bounce spells? If you add red, you get access to Kiln Fiend, Wee Dragonauts, Mercurial Geists and Nivix Cyclops.
How do the rules on your "ritual" work? Does Boomerang cost an additional 2 more to cast each time you reuse it, but you can recast it as often as you like?
Frozen Æther makes their lands enter tapped. That means they can't use it for mana the turn they play it. So you can bounce it and they never get to use it!
Because there aren't 30 good land bounce spells in Magic, recurring and digging for bounce spells is going to be important to keep the pressure coming:
Crystal Shard lets you soft lock the opponent by recurring Archaeomancer (returning a bounce spell each turn). It also bounces enemy creatures easily.
The other softlock is Capsize + lots of mana (which is why it's important you get to high mana count).
Rise from the Tides seems like a good win condition. Also Spire Golem and Peregrine Drake, which are essentially free spells, so you can easily cast them while still bouncing lands every turn.
When the two creatures blink, you can return Ghostly Flicker/Displace to your hand and you get to untap some lands (2 or 5). With Peregrine Drake, you untap 5 lands and net 2 free blue mana. You can repeat the cycle, getting 2 blue mana each time. With Cloud of Faeries, you only untap 2 lands. But with High Tide, 2 Islands will produce UUUU, netting you 1 blue mana for each untap.
With the appropriate set up, you generate infinite mana and infinite storm. You can then Boomerang their whole board away. And you can keep comboing at instant speed every single turn, so they will never get to get anything in play ever again. Meanwhile you can poke them to death with Peregrine Drake and Black Vise...
If your format doesn't allow recasting the "Ritual" spell over and over infinite times (even if you have unlimited mana), then just replace Boomerang with Capsize and use the buyback to keep recasting it.
Broken enough?
Actually, if you choose Recoil as your ritual instead of Boomerang, then you get access to black and it gets even sillier.
Black gives you better tutors, discard, access to enough Karoos to go off with Karoos + Cloud of Faeries without High Tide, and Recoil to better stall the opponent while setting up the combo.
Two guys at my LGS created a format that is a mix between commander, and sixty card constructed. Here are the rules
- Each deck must be sixty cards, no more, no less
- It is highlander, so no deck can have more than one copy of each nonbasic card.
- Each deck must have an uncommon or common instant or sorcery that starts the game in the command zone. This card is the deck's ritual.
- Each card in the deck must not have a color in it's color identity that it doesn't share with the deck's ritual.
- Each card in the deck must have a printing that is either common or uncommon
- You may cast your ritual from the command zone any number of times, but each time you do it costs 2 more to cast the next time.
- it is a 1v1 format.
Now, they wanted me to do some research, so I was wondering: What decks come to mind? Tell me what those decks would look like!
Also, what are some creative possible names for this format?
My ideas for names:
- Sixty Card Sorcerer
- Peasantlander
- Lazy Wizard
- Ritual Highlander
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My Decks. BKalitas ZombiesB BGonti FunB WUBRGScion of the Mirrorwing DragonWUBRG UGPrime Speaker ZeganaUG URArjun, the Shifting FlameUR RGRosheeen MeandererRG WUEphara, God of the PolisWU
Deck Legality Notes:
-60 cards including the ritual
-1 copy of each card (numbers for nonlands denote mana cost, not quantity)
-all cards were printed at common or uncommon in at least one set
Then you generate infinite mana and Boomerang their whole board away. If they don't immediately concede, you can keep repeating this every turn at instant speed so they can never develop a board position. Meanwhile they are poked to death by Black Vise and Cloud of Faeries attacks...
-----------------
Offering to Asha would make for an interesting blue-white prison deck.
It should be easy to count to 20 when you can Goblin Grenade for R and then grenade again for 2R. That's 10 damage already!! So if you play multiple creatures on turns 1-3 and attack as much as possible, on turn 4-5 you can double Goblin Grenade their face to finish them off. Seems good.
You could build a mono-green toolbox with Worldly Tutor as the ritual. Then make the an Elf Tribal core (for mana acceleration and synergy) and use the Tutor to find silver bullets and answers.
THANKS SO MUCH! I am gonna build goblins first. I need an ago strategy because the only other deck so far at the store is force of will:(
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My Decks. BKalitas ZombiesB BGonti FunB WUBRGScion of the Mirrorwing DragonWUBRG UGPrime Speaker ZeganaUG URArjun, the Shifting FlameUR RGRosheeen MeandererRG WUEphara, God of the PolisWU
THANKS SO MUCH! I am gonna build goblins first. I need an ago strategy because the only other deck so far at the store is force of will:(
No problem. Aggro should crush Force of Will! Goblins might be the best aggro deck at goldfishing because your ritual lets you double Goblin Grenade for 2RR for 10 damage to the dome, which is just nuts...
Obviously play cautiously against the Force of Will deck. Don't sacrifice goblins to Grenade if you can keep attacking. If he wastes resources countering 1-drops, he is going to fall way behind. If you are metagaming to beat him, you can even include Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast and Active Volcano. LOL. It'll be so 1-sided.
------------------
I tried building Gruul aggro, which has access to a better creaturebase, but I quickly realized that the manabase restrictions make it REALLY HARD to have a consistent 2-color aggro deck. You either play a bunch of tapped lands or risk mana screw. Either way, you cannot curve out aggressively with 2-colors. Any advantage from the higher average quality creatures is negated by the tempo loss of tapped lands.
Deck should be pretty self-explanatory. Play aggressively-costed early creatures. Cast 1 or more pump spells. Berserk. Deal opponent a lot of damage. If necessary, you can even Berserk something else the next turn (for 2G). In rare cases, you can double Berserk in one turn (for 2GG) if you have one or more free pump spells. This might be able to goldfish as quickly as Goblins, but the inherent card disadvantage makes it much easier to disrupt via removal, counterspells or bounce.
For maximum durdle, monogreen can play Skyshroud Claim as its ritual. You can theoretically cast Claim every single turn (each turn it costs 2 more, but each turn it gets you 2 more mana). Then you can dump all that mana into some game-winning mana sink. That's a lot of durdle though, because turns 4-10 will be "Skyshroud Claim, go".
To fight the counterspell decks and combo decks, monoblack can play Inquisition of Kozilek as its ritual. Then a deck full of hand shredding and attrition stuff.
Make lots of mana and Consume Spirit / Corrupt opponent to death over a few turns. Or cast a bunch of rituals and cantrips to generate storm and then Tendrils FTW.
It seems silly that you can Demonic Tutor repeatedly to set up your combo... but that's what opponent gets for not playing Force of Will.
But blue artifact-based combo is probably the most degenerate yet.
So you can Tinker whenever you want... Seems good.
PLAN A: Needs Power Artifact in hand, 1 artifact in play, and UUUU + colorless mana Tinker any artifact into Basalt Monolith.
Cast Power Artifact on Basalt Monolith.
Generate infinite colorless mana. Tinker any artifact (even Monolith) into Rocket Launcher
Use Rocket Launcher to blast opponent for 1,000,000 damage
PLAN B: Beatdown Tinker any artifact into Phyrexian Juggernaut, with counterspell back-up.
Smash opponent for 5 infect each turn.
Use this plan if there are no ground blockers and/or if it's turn 1.
If there are blockers, go for Pilgrim of the Fires instead.
PLAN C: Refuel / mini-beatdown Tinker any artifact into Sandstone Oracle to draw a new hand.
Swing for 4 in the air.
Early game you can also Tinker into Dreamstone Hedron to ramp. Or Su-Chi for an early blocker, later using it as Tinker fodder (and mana acceleration) to combo-off.
My Decks. BKalitas ZombiesB BGonti FunB WUBRGScion of the Mirrorwing DragonWUBRG UGPrime Speaker ZeganaUG URArjun, the Shifting FlameUR RGRosheeen MeandererRG WUEphara, God of the PolisWU
I don't see an advantage to that. Only the first one is free. After that you still have to pay 2 on top of the 3 life. Casting it repeatedly is a lot of life to give the opponent. What benefit does it give you? Kavu Predator negates it, but that's only 1 card. Infect loves Invigorate, but you can't build monogreen Infect singleton (not deep enough card pool). So then why Invigorate instead of just Giant Growth or Might of Old Krosa or Groundswell? I posted a Berserk deck above. You could run the same list with Groundswell as the ritual instead (and Berserk as a single card in the deck).
As far as Aggro goes, White Weenie could be good too. Guardians' Pledge appears to be the most efficient Inspired Charge effect.
oh I didn't realize I still had to pay the two. my hopes and dreams are crushed.
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My Decks. BKalitas ZombiesB BGonti FunB WUBRGScion of the Mirrorwing DragonWUBRG UGPrime Speaker ZeganaUG URArjun, the Shifting FlameUR RGRosheeen MeandererRG WUEphara, God of the PolisWU
oh I didn't realize I still had to pay the two. my hopes and dreams are crushed.
Yeah. And make sure the guy playing Force of Will stays pays the extra commander cost each time. Extra costs are added after alternate costs.
Quote from Comp Rules »
601.2e The player determines the total cost of the spell. Usually this is just the mana cost. Some spells have additional or alternative costs. Some effects may increase or reduce the cost to pay, or may provide other alternative costs. Costs may include paying mana, tapping permanents, sacrificing permanents, discarding cards, and so on. The total cost is the mana cost or alternative cost (as determined in rule 601.2b), plus all additional costs and cost increases, and minus all cost reductions. If the mana component of the total cost is reduced to nothing by cost reduction effects, it is considered to be {0}. It can't be reduced to less than {0}. Once the total cost is determined, any effects that directly affect the total cost are applied. Then the resulting total cost becomes "locked in." If effects would change the total cost after this time, they have no effect.
As his ritual, the first one will be "free", but the second one will cost 2 mana on top of the pitch cost, the next one will cost 4, and so on. Same with Invigorate. So you can't just cast something infinite times (unless you can generate infinite mana). The same rule applies to the Commander format.
- Each deck is sixty cards
- It is a 1v1 format
- It is highlander, so no more than one copy of each card, other than basics.
- Each player must pick a uncommon or common nonpermanent cards to start in their command zone, this is your ritual.
- The ritual functions like a commander, so it costs 2 more for each time you have cast it, but you can cast it as many times as you want.
- Like in commander, the cards in your deck can't be any colors other than those of your ritual.
- Every card in your deck must be either common or uncommon.
Now, I have been instructed to build a deck for them to play agains, and I chose boomerang. The goal of the deck should be to bounce their lands to their hands over and over again so that they can't do *****, and slowly poke them to death. I really need card suggestions! Anything helps!
BKalitas ZombiesB
BGonti FunB
WUBRGScion of the Mirrorwing DragonWUBRG
UGPrime Speaker ZeganaUG
URArjun, the Shifting FlameUR
RGRosheeen MeandererRG
WUEphara, God of the PolisWU
If your idea is to play a tempo game by keeping your opponent off lands. here are a couple suggestions:
Wipe Away
Eye of Nowhere
Capsize
Dematerialize
Dispersing Orb (if you can find a way to create a bunch of tokens)
Aether Tradewinds
Reality Strobe
Regress
Rescind
Riftwing Cloudskate
Surging Æther
Temporal Fissure
Tradewind Rider
Consign to Dream
Windfall (helps get rid of their hand when you bounce stuff and lets you refill)
Rhystic Study (keep your hand full or make them wait longer to cast things)
If you want the same theme, but want other colors, you can also try Crosis's Charm or Grixis Charm to give you access to Red and Black which also gives you access to Deny Reality, Dinrova Horror, Recoil, Urborg Emissary, and Warped Devotion.
What do you plan on making your win condition though? Bouncing lands is one thing, but eventually you will run out while they still have their lands (or threats) in their hand and you won't be able to deal with all of it. Maybe something like Skywise Teachings or Trail of Evidence to get more out of your bounce spells? If you add red, you get access to Kiln Fiend, Wee Dragonauts, Mercurial Geists and Nivix Cyclops.
You want to make it difficult for opponent to do stuff on little mana, so you should tax him:
Chill and/or High Seas
Propaganda
War Tax
Fade Away
Rhystic Study and/or Mystic Remora
Daze
Frozen Æther makes their lands enter tapped. That means they can't use it for mana the turn they play it. So you can bounce it and they never get to use it!
You also need to be ahead on mana to do more than just bounce lands every turn. Consider some of the following:
Sol Ring
Sky Diamond
Mind Stone
Coldsteel Heart
Hedron Archive
Because there aren't 30 good land bounce spells in Magic, recurring and digging for bounce spells is going to be important to keep the pressure coming:
Crystal Shard lets you soft lock the opponent by recurring Archaeomancer (returning a bounce spell each turn). It also bounces enemy creatures easily.
The other softlock is Capsize + lots of mana (which is why it's important you get to high mana count).
Rise from the Tides seems like a good win condition. Also Spire Golem and Peregrine Drake, which are essentially free spells, so you can easily cast them while still bouncing lands every turn.
This is another way to poke all the lands...
2 Boomerang
//Protection: 11
1 Spell Pierce
1 Disrupt
2 Counterspell
2 Mana Drain
2 Mana Leak
2 Arcane Denial
2 Daze
2 Counterbalance
3 Propaganda
3 Forbid
5 Force of Will
//Artifacts: 5
1 Sol Ring
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Black Vise
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Expedition Map
0 Gitaxian Probe
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Sleight of Hand
1 Serum Visions
1 Portent
1 Mystical Tutor
1 High Tide
1 Recall
2 Merchant Scroll
2 Impulse
2 Muddle the Mixture
3 Windfall
3 Drift of Phantasms
3 Call to Mind
3 Displace
3 Ghostly Flicker
//Creatures: 5
2 Cloud of Faeries
3 Trinket Mage
4 Archaeomancer
5 Mnemonic Wall
5 Peregrine Drake
//Lands: 20
1 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Tolaria West
1 Library of Alexandria
15 Snow-Covered Island
The deck functions by casting Ghostly Flicker/Displace targetting:
1) Mnemonic Wall or Archaeomancer
2) Cloud of Faeries or Peregrine Drake
When the two creatures blink, you can return Ghostly Flicker/Displace to your hand and you get to untap some lands (2 or 5). With Peregrine Drake, you untap 5 lands and net 2 free blue mana. You can repeat the cycle, getting 2 blue mana each time. With Cloud of Faeries, you only untap 2 lands. But with High Tide, 2 Islands will produce UUUU, netting you 1 blue mana for each untap.
With the appropriate set up, you generate infinite mana and infinite storm. You can then Boomerang their whole board away. And you can keep comboing at instant speed every single turn, so they will never get to get anything in play ever again. Meanwhile you can poke them to death with Peregrine Drake and Black Vise...
If your format doesn't allow recasting the "Ritual" spell over and over infinite times (even if you have unlimited mana), then just replace Boomerang with Capsize and use the buyback to keep recasting it.
Broken enough?
Actually, if you choose Recoil as your ritual instead of Boomerang, then you get access to black and it gets even sillier.
3 Recoil
//Mana Acceleration: 4
0 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
2 Talisman of Dominance
2 Nightscape Familiar
//Dig: 15
0 Gitaxian Probe
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Serum Visions
1 Sleight of Hand
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Expedition Map
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Diabolic Vision
2 Lim-Dûl's Vault
2 Impulse
3 Trinket Mage
4 Diabolic Tutor
1 Duress
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Harsh Scrutiny
1 Ghastly Demise
1 Spell Pierce
2 Counterspell
2 Mana Drain
2 Mana Leak
2 Arcane Denial
2 Daze
2 Counterbalance
3 Propaganda
5 Force of Will
//Combo: 6
2 Cloud of Faeries
3 Displace
3 Ghostly Flicker
4 Archaeomancer
5 Peregrine Drake
5 Mnemonic Wall
4 Tendrils of Agony
//Lands: 21
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Coral Atoll
1 Everglades
3 Evolving Wilds
2 Terramorphic Expanse
10 Island
3 Swamp
Black gives you better tutors, discard, access to enough Karoos to go off with Karoos + Cloud of Faeries without High Tide, and Recoil to better stall the opponent while setting up the combo.
Also, Tendrils.
- Each deck must be sixty cards, no more, no less
- It is highlander, so no deck can have more than one copy of each nonbasic card.
- Each deck must have an uncommon or common instant or sorcery that starts the game in the command zone. This card is the deck's ritual.
- Each card in the deck must not have a color in it's color identity that it doesn't share with the deck's ritual.
- Each card in the deck must have a printing that is either common or uncommon
- You may cast your ritual from the command zone any number of times, but each time you do it costs 2 more to cast the next time.
- it is a 1v1 format.
Now, they wanted me to do some research, so I was wondering: What decks come to mind? Tell me what those decks would look like!
Also, what are some creative possible names for this format?
My ideas for names:
- Sixty Card Sorcerer
- Peasantlander
- Lazy Wizard
- Ritual Highlander
BKalitas ZombiesB
BGonti FunB
WUBRGScion of the Mirrorwing DragonWUBRG
UGPrime Speaker ZeganaUG
URArjun, the Shifting FlameUR
RGRosheeen MeandererRG
WUEphara, God of the PolisWU
2 Boomerang
//Creatures: 8
2 Cloud of Faeries
2 Sigiled Starfish
2 Augur of Bolas
3 Trinket Mage
3 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Archaeomancer
5 Mnemonic Wall
5 Peregrine Drake
//Artifacts: 4
1 Sol Ring
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Black Vise
1 Expedition Map
//Counterspells: 10
1 Spell Pierce
1 Disrupt
2 Counterspell
2 Mana Drain
2 Mana Leak
2 Arcane Denial
2 Daze
2 Counterbalance
3 Forbid
5 Force of Will
0 Gitaxian Probe
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Sleight of Hand
1 Serum Visions
1 Portent
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Recall
2 Merchant Scroll
2 Impulse
2 Muddle the Mixture
3 Drift of Phantasms
3 Call to Mind
//Win Spells: 3
1 High Tide
3 Displace
3 Ghostly Flicker
1 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Tolaria West
1 Library of Alexandria
15 Island
Deck Legality Notes:
-60 cards including the ritual
-1 copy of each card (numbers for nonlands denote mana cost, not quantity)
-all cards were printed at common or uncommon in at least one set
Basically you sculpt a winning position of:
1) Ghostly Flicker or Displace
2) Mnemonic Wall or Archaeomancer (could run Scrivener too, but then a lot of 5-drops)
3) Peregrine Drake or Cloud of Faeries+High Tide
Then you generate infinite mana and Boomerang their whole board away. If they don't immediately concede, you can keep repeating this every turn at instant speed so they can never develop a board position. Meanwhile they are poked to death by Black Vise and Cloud of Faeries attacks...
-----------------
Offering to Asha would make for an interesting blue-white prison deck.
4 Offering to Asha
//Prison Pieces: 7
1 Meekstone
2 Counterbalance
3 Propaganda
3 Ghostly Prison
3 Rhystic Study
3 Aura of Silence
5 Sphere of Safety
//Taxes: 6
1 Mana Tithe
1 Spell Pierce
2 Mana Drain
2 Counterspell
2 Mana Leak
5 Force of Will
//Creatures: 16
1 Judge's Familiar
1 Cursecatcher
1 Martyr of Frost
2 Wall of Omens
2 Stormscape Familiar
2 Sunscape Familiar
2 Spiketail Hatchling
3 Trinket Mage
3 Rishadan Cutpurse
3 Spiketail Drakeling
3 Auramancer
3 Fiend Hunter
3 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Archaeomancer
5 Cloudblazer
5 Sky Hussar
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
3 Banishing Light
//Search: 3
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
//Blink: 1
1 Ghostly Flicker
//Mana: 23
1 Sol Ring
1 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Sejiri Refuge
1 Boreal Shelf
1 khans dual
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Ancient Den
5 Island
5 Plains
Or something roughly like that. I haven't thought it out well yet.
There's probably a good red-green aggro deck. Ritual could be Colossal Might or some similarly-costed aggressive spell.
There's probably a decent mono-red Goblin deck with burn and Goblins.
1 Goblin Grenade
//1 Drops: 14
1 Goblin Lackey
1 Goblin Cadets
1 Goblin Cohort
1 Mogg Conscripts
1 Goblin Glory Chaser
1 Foundry Street Denizen
1 Goblin Sledder
1 Mogg Raider
1 Goblin Arsonist
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Frenzied Goblin
1 Intimidator Initiate
1 Goblin Bushwhacker
1 Jackal Pup
2 Goblin Wardriver
2 Mardu Scout
2 Mogg Flunkies
2 Mudbrawler Cohort
2 Goblin Raider
2 Goblin Tinkerer
2 Mogg War Marshal
2 Goblin Recruiter
2 Goblin Shortcutter
2 Keldon Marauders
//Other Creatures: 5
3 Gempalm Incinerator
3 Goblin Matron
3 Goblin General
3 Reckless Bushwhacker
4 Goblin Ringleader
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Chain Lightning
1 Flame Slash
1 Reckless Abandon
1 Lava Spike
3 Rift Bolt
6 Pyrokinesis
6 Fireblast
//Acceleration: 4
0 Lotus Petal
1 Aether Vial
1 Sol Ring
3 Simian Spirit Guide
//Lands: 18
18 Mountain
It should be easy to count to 20 when you can Goblin Grenade for R and then grenade again for 2R. That's 10 damage already!! So if you play multiple creatures on turns 1-3 and attack as much as possible, on turn 4-5 you can double Goblin Grenade their face to finish them off. Seems good.
You could build a mono-green toolbox with Worldly Tutor as the ritual. Then make the an Elf Tribal core (for mana acceleration and synergy) and use the Tutor to find silver bullets and answers.
Black probably has some more storm nonsense with Tendrils of Agony.
There's probably and Esper Control shell with Esper Charm as the ritual. You could have Thopter Foundry+Sword of the Meek finisher.
Blue has another degenerate combo deck with Basalt Monolith+Power Artifact+ any mana sink, powered by Tinker and Transmute Artifact.
In general, the card Island seems broken and might warrant a ban.
BKalitas ZombiesB
BGonti FunB
WUBRGScion of the Mirrorwing DragonWUBRG
UGPrime Speaker ZeganaUG
URArjun, the Shifting FlameUR
RGRosheeen MeandererRG
WUEphara, God of the PolisWU
No problem. Aggro should crush Force of Will! Goblins might be the best aggro deck at goldfishing because your ritual lets you double Goblin Grenade for 2RR for 10 damage to the dome, which is just nuts...
Obviously play cautiously against the Force of Will deck. Don't sacrifice goblins to Grenade if you can keep attacking. If he wastes resources countering 1-drops, he is going to fall way behind. If you are metagaming to beat him, you can even include Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast and Active Volcano. LOL. It'll be so 1-sided.
------------------
I tried building Gruul aggro, which has access to a better creaturebase, but I quickly realized that the manabase restrictions make it REALLY HARD to have a consistent 2-color aggro deck. You either play a bunch of tapped lands or risk mana screw. Either way, you cannot curve out aggressively with 2-colors. Any advantage from the higher average quality creatures is negated by the tempo loss of tapped lands.
Monogreen should have a decent aggro deck.
1 Berserk
//1 drops: 16
1 Rogue Elephant
1 Scythe Tiger
1 Experiment One
1 Skyshroud Elite
1 Skyshroud Ridgeback
1 Mtenda Lion
1 Ghazbán Ogre
1 Kessig Prowler
1 Jungle Lion
1 Nettle Sentinel
1 Pouncing Jaguar
1 Wild Dogs
1 Uktabi Drake
1 Quirion Ranger
1 Skarrgan Pit-Skulk
1 Arbor Elf
2 Garruk's Companion
2 Kalonian Tusker
2 Plant Elemental
2 Spectral Bears
2 Swordwise Centaur
2 Terrain Elemental
2 Brushstrider
2 Kavu Predator
2 Stranglehold Geist
3 Leatherback Baloth
//Pump: 12
1 Giant Growth
1 Seal of Strength
1 Might of Old Krosa
1 Groundswell
1 Prey's Vengeance
1 Mutagenic Growth
1 Hunger of the Howlpack
1 Blossoming Defense
1 Rancor
3 Invigorate
3 Slaughterhorn
5 Bounty of the Hunt
0 Lotus Petal
1 Wild Growth
1 Utopia Sprawl
3 Elvish Spirit Guide
//Lands: 17
17 Forest
Deck should be pretty self-explanatory. Play aggressively-costed early creatures. Cast 1 or more pump spells. Berserk. Deal opponent a lot of damage. If necessary, you can even Berserk something else the next turn (for 2G). In rare cases, you can double Berserk in one turn (for 2GG) if you have one or more free pump spells. This might be able to goldfish as quickly as Goblins, but the inherent card disadvantage makes it much easier to disrupt via removal, counterspells or bounce.
For maximum durdle, monogreen can play Skyshroud Claim as its ritual. You can theoretically cast Claim every single turn (each turn it costs 2 more, but each turn it gets you 2 more mana). Then you can dump all that mana into some game-winning mana sink. That's a lot of durdle though, because turns 4-10 will be "Skyshroud Claim, go".
To fight the counterspell decks and combo decks, monoblack can play Inquisition of Kozilek as its ritual. Then a deck full of hand shredding and attrition stuff.
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
//Other Discard: 10
1 Duress
1 Harsh Scrutiny
1 Ostracize
1 Appetite for Brains
1 Despise
2 Hymn to Tourach
2 Wrench Mind
3 Stupor
3 Mind Rot
5 Mind Sludge
//Acceleration: 4
1 Dark Ritual
1 Sol Ring
1 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Ravenous Rats
2 Rotting Rats
2 Augur of Skulls
2 Mesmeric Fiend
3 Liliana's Specter
3 Chittering Rats
3 Phyrexian Rager
3 Mindstab Thrull
3 Hypnotic Specter
4 Abyssal Specter
4 Nekrataal
4 Skinrender
4 Gravedigger
5 Shriekmaw
1 The Rack
1 Shrieking Affliction
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
2 Liliana's Caress
3 Megrim
//Removal: 6
1 Disfigure
2 Smother
2 Geth's Verdict
2 Grasp of Darkness
2 Go for the Throat
4 Snuff Out
//Lands: 20
20 Swamp
Something like that. Pressure the opponent's hand and play value creatures.
Of course monoblack can also play Demonic Tutor as its ritual, setting up any sorts of combos in monoblack...
2 Demonic Tutor
//Creatures: 12
0 Ornithopter
0 Phyrexian Walker
0 Shield Sphere
0 Memnite
1 Blood Pet
2 Basal Thrull
3 Basal Sliver
3 Blood Vassal
3 Priest of Gix
3 Overeager Apprentice
3 Filigree Familiar
5 Skirge Familiar
//Mana Acceleration: 8
0 Lotus Petal
1 Dark Ritual
1 Culling the Weak
1 Bubbling Muck
1 Rain of Filth
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
2 Cabal Ritual
1 Aphotic Wisps
1 Cremate
1 Nighthaze
1 Chromatic Star
1 Chromatic Sphere
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Night's Whisper
2 Sign in Blood
3 Read the Bones
4 Ambition's Cost
5 Necrologia
//Life Gain: 7
1 Elixir of Immortality
2 Consume Spirit
2 Vicious Hunger
3 Essence Extraction
4 Tendrils of Corruption
4 Tendrils of Agony
6 Corrupt
1 Peat Bog
1 Ebon Stronghold
1 Everglades
1 Cabal Coffers
16 Swamp
Make lots of mana and Consume Spirit / Corrupt opponent to death over a few turns. Or cast a bunch of rituals and cantrips to generate storm and then Tendrils FTW.
It seems silly that you can Demonic Tutor repeatedly to set up your combo... but that's what opponent gets for not playing Force of Will.
But blue artifact-based combo is probably the most degenerate yet.
So you can Tinker whenever you want... Seems good.
3 Tinker
//Ramp: 12
0 Everflowing Chalice
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Chromatic Star
2 Sky Diamond
3 Worn Powerstone
3 Basalt Monolith
3 Cathodion
4 Thran Dynamo
4 Su-Chi
6 Dreamstone Hedron
//Tutors: 6
1 Mystical Tutor
2 Transmute Artifact
2 Muddle the Mixture
2 Merchant Scroll
3 Long-Term Plans
3 Trinket Mage
1 Spell Pierce
1 Disrupt
1 Turn Aside
2 Mana Drain
2 Counterspell
2 Mana Leak
2 Daze
4 Thwart
4 Foil
5 Force of Will
//Combo: 2
2 Power Artifact
4 Rocket Launcher
//Robots: 3
6 Phyrexian Juggernaut
6 Pilgrim of the Fires
7 Sandstone Oracle
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Ivory Tower
1 Aether Spellbomb
2 Sun Droplet
2 Myr Retriever
//Lands: 20
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Saprazzan Skarry
1 Svyelunite Temple
15 Island
This deck has a couple lines of play.
PLAN A: Needs Power Artifact in hand, 1 artifact in play, and UUUU + colorless mana
Tinker any artifact into Basalt Monolith.
Cast Power Artifact on Basalt Monolith.
Generate infinite colorless mana.
Tinker any artifact (even Monolith) into Rocket Launcher
Use Rocket Launcher to blast opponent for 1,000,000 damage
To get Power Artifact in hand, there's Muddle the Mixture, Long-Term Plans, 2 more tutors to find these cards, and Top.
PLAN B: Beatdown
Tinker any artifact into Phyrexian Juggernaut, with counterspell back-up.
Smash opponent for 5 infect each turn.
Use this plan if there are no ground blockers and/or if it's turn 1.
If there are blockers, go for Pilgrim of the Fires instead.
PLAN C: Refuel / mini-beatdown
Tinker any artifact into Sandstone Oracle to draw a new hand.
Swing for 4 in the air.
Early game you can also Tinker into Dreamstone Hedron to ramp. Or Su-Chi for an early blocker, later using it as Tinker fodder (and mana acceleration) to combo-off.
BKalitas ZombiesB
BGonti FunB
WUBRGScion of the Mirrorwing DragonWUBRG
UGPrime Speaker ZeganaUG
URArjun, the Shifting FlameUR
RGRosheeen MeandererRG
WUEphara, God of the PolisWU
I don't see an advantage to that. Only the first one is free. After that you still have to pay 2 on top of the 3 life. Casting it repeatedly is a lot of life to give the opponent. What benefit does it give you? Kavu Predator negates it, but that's only 1 card. Infect loves Invigorate, but you can't build monogreen Infect singleton (not deep enough card pool). So then why Invigorate instead of just Giant Growth or Might of Old Krosa or Groundswell? I posted a Berserk deck above. You could run the same list with Groundswell as the ritual instead (and Berserk as a single card in the deck).
As far as Aggro goes, White Weenie could be good too. Guardians' Pledge appears to be the most efficient Inspired Charge effect.
3 Guardians' Pledge
//1 drops: 12
1 Boros Elite
1 Savannah Lions
1 Dragon Hunter
1 Elite Vanguard
1 Expedition Envoy
1 Loyal Pegasus
1 Mardu Woe-Reaper
1 War Falcon
1 Icatian Javelineers
1 Doomed Traveler
1 Signal Pest
1 Mother of Runes
//2 Drops: 10
2 Knight of Meadowgrain
2 Soltari Priest
2 Soltari Monk
2 Soltari Trooper
2 War Priest of Thune
2 Leonin Relic-Warder
2 Accorder Paladin
2 Daring Skyjek
2 Sightless Brawler
2 Trusty Companion
2 Raise the Alarm
2 Gather the Townsfolk
3 Spectral Procession
3 Midnight Haunting
4 Battle Screech
//Lords: 5
3 Soltari Champion
3 Pianna, Nomad Captain
4 Ampryn Tactician
4 Paragon of New Dawns
4 Relief Captain
//Spells: 7
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
1 Sunlance
2 Disenchant
3 Abolish
4 Patrician's Scorn
4 Ramosian Rally
1 Aether Vial
//Lands: 20
20 Plains
Having access to an anthem effect seems good. This kind of aggro should also do decently against Force of Will.
BKalitas ZombiesB
BGonti FunB
WUBRGScion of the Mirrorwing DragonWUBRG
UGPrime Speaker ZeganaUG
URArjun, the Shifting FlameUR
RGRosheeen MeandererRG
WUEphara, God of the PolisWU
Yeah. And make sure the guy playing Force of Will stays pays the extra commander cost each time. Extra costs are added after alternate costs.
As his ritual, the first one will be "free", but the second one will cost 2 mana on top of the pitch cost, the next one will cost 4, and so on. Same with Invigorate. So you can't just cast something infinite times (unless you can generate infinite mana). The same rule applies to the Commander format.
On the other hand, that's why infinite mana combos (e.g. Ghostly Flicker+Mnemonic Wall+Peregrine Drake, Basalt Monolith+Power Artifact, Thopter Foundry+Sword of the Meek+Ashnod's Altar) seem really good in this format. Because with infinite mana you can just cast the ritual over and over again FTW.