I can't claim pure originality for this list, as it was based off of another forum/tappedout member's list, but I made some of my own personal improvements to improve its consistency in landing the turn 1-2 Daretti into stax pieces into Mass Land Destruction (MLD). I originally was wanting to build a powerful, foiled out and altered version of my Daretti deck that could handle the extremely strong Rasputin and Kharador decks in my meta. While my 75% Daretti was strong in casual groups and occasionally could Blightsteel into a win, it was, as mono red is, inconsistent and had too much cute stuff going on.
Now it is a lean, mean, stax machine. The idea is to come out swinging, and never let up. We want to lock down players from playing anything, by blowing up their lands, creatures, and preventing them from casting anything that might stop us.
"If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a planeswalker's face - forever."
- Daretti or some guy from an old book or something.
Alhammarret's Archive A new addition to take advantage of all of our looting effects: Daretti's +2, Faithless Looting, Wild Guess, Tormented Voice, etc.
Blinkmoth Urn A way for us to survive under MLD and still be able to generate oodles of mana each turn.
Contagion Engine Contagion Engine, a personal favorite of mine, comes back to help us accelerate Daretti and foil the plans of pesky token decks.
Crucible of Worlds Obvious addition to help recur my own lands that I destroy. It can also be tapped by Clock of Omens, and since we operate 99% at sorcery speed, Unwinding Clock wasnt cutting it.
Chrome Mox I prefer Mox Diamond to this, but it helps early game to get that turn 1-2 Daretti. Later on I cast it for 0 and weld it away.
Ensnaring Bridge Since we dump our hand so quickly, this stops pesky mana dorks and fliers from lowering Daretti's loyalty. When combined with Bottled Cloister, things get out of hand.
Gilded Lotus Added this one since we need Red mana, and it's quite helpful at producing oodles of mana.
Grim Monolith Unfair fast mana. Not quite as good as Mana Vault or Mana Crypt, but it helps power out early Daretti's and later, can be pitched or used to help hardcast MLD.
Hedron Archive Replaced Dreamstone Hedron since it's easier to hardcast. While Dreamstone may make another appearance, this artifact, like Mindstone, is an easy, fair way to generate colorless mana without a drawback. In addition, it can be tossed for some cards in a pinch.
Mana Crypt Some really good fast mana. Just watch the lifeloss. Use Daretti's -2 or Goblin Welder to toss it for a cooler artifact after using it if the lifeloss concerns you.
Mana Vault Some really good fast mana. Just watch the lifeloss. Use Voltaic Key to avoid the lifeloss, or just toss it for a cooler artifact after using it.
Memory Jar A good way to grab some goodies and make your opponents pitch seven cards.
Mindslaver A win condition to help us combo out on another player's turn, disrupt other players, and generally cause chaos. With our emblem and the mana, it is unstoppable.
Mind Stone A pitiful mana rock that can draw a card in a pinch.
Mox Diamond One of the better fast Red mana pieces you have,
Mycosynth Wellspring Essentially a mana rock that thins our deck pretty quickly, especially if we need to dump cards to our +2, or just recover from our own MLD.
Mycosynth Lattice Lattice is a combo piece with Vandalblast and one that makes MLD, combined with Daretti's emblem, particularly unfair.
Null Brooch A very weak, underwhelming card... until it saves your butt. Being able to stop someone from utterly ruining your lock is key. Added synergy with Bottled Cloister, since you'll have no hand!
Possessed Portal An excellent post MLD target to lock the board. Our opponents cannot draw cards, and cannot keep lands on the board. Careful when using it, as you need to maintain parity to survive.
Prismatic Lens A way for us to filter to red mana if need be, as well as being another mana rock to help accelerate.
Sensei's Divining Top This is mostly used as a mana dump, and a way to dig deeper. Later on you can weld it away if needed.
Smokestack One of the most fun lock pieces, as much like the card Pox, you get to do some mental math and risk vs reward. How many counters can you handle without the emblem? 2-3 is where you want to be early on to keep your opponent's behind. After you hit the emblem, this is a wincon on its own.
Sphere of Resistance A great way to keep our opponents down after MLD, or just to slow them to a crawl.
Static Orb A more "fair" winter orb. Your opponents get to choose, which is unfortunate, but it's still really great at slowing them down.
Tangle Wire One of the fun cards to abuse with Goblin Welder, as he can continuously reset the Fading counters to hurt your opponents pretty hard. Outside of Welder, it's still pretty solid to keep your opponents struggling after MLD to even mount an offensive as you race for the emblem.
Trinisphere Much like Winter Orb, this crushes people after MLD. Keeps them honest with their spells, and since we run enough fast mana, we arent super concerned with its effect.
Ward of Bones Despite its higher than I'm happy with mana cost, Ward is one of my pet cards. It's particularly evil in this deck due to the fact you play so few lands, so few creatures, etc. Stax is most successful when you make symmetrical effects asymmetrical.
Winter Orb One of your key lock pieces, especially if you cant land MLD yet. Even more backbreaking after MLD. One of the key tutor targets.
Worn Powerstone This one is being tested. It's a cheap colorless rock with a minor drawback.
Sorceries
Blasphemous Act Another great way to regain control of the board in case we cannot lock the board early. Creatures are our worst enemy given how few ways we run to protect Daretti, so we rely on our lock pieces to get the job done. If they otherwise cannot, this can help even the odds.
Boom/Bust We really are using this for the side that makes us sacrifice all of the lands. I used to run Tremble. It's not that great. It's great post MLD as another way to keep them down, but I felt consistency was more important.
Decree of Annihilation Fit this guy back in for the Cycle effect, although with enough mana rocks and or Metalworker, one could hardcast it!
Reforge the Soul Nets you new cards at the expense of doing the same for the weird people across the table. Make sure it's worth it before giving them new lands or ways to remove your artifacts.
Ruination A cheap (mana cost) way to remove many, many lands.
Scrap Mastery A wincon, and a way to come back from defeat and reposition your board full of stax pieces and mana rocks.
Tectonic Break A way around indestructible lands, and with the X in the cost, you're able to tune it to hurt who you need to the most.
Thoughts of Ruin While it may not hit many lands, it should hit enough early to stall our opponents out, replacing Epicenter, which replaced Wildfire.
Tormenting Voice Some card filtering, like Faithless Looting. Redundancy and consistency are king for success
Vandalblast Sometimes your opponents play mana rocks or mean things too, and you should let them know who is supposed to be doing that.
Wheel of Fortune See Reforge the Soul. Getting new cards is fun, but sometimes refilling your opponent's hands isnt ideal. However forcing an early mulligan can be backbreaking.
Wild Guess Some card filtering, like Faithless Looting. Redundancy and consistency are king for success
Wildfire Wildfire deals with lands and creatures, both things that we really, really hate.
Phyrexia's Core Use to remove an artifact that someone is trying to exile.
Sandstone Needle Another card to help you ramp into MLD/an early Daretti.
Sea Gate Wreckage Testing this colorless land as a mana dump and for more gas over a mountain, as I think we have enough Red sources.
Strip Mine Deals with problematic lands like Cabal Coffers that would get by your MLD strategy. Or just to help remove some pesky basic lands after they think they can start to recover.
Enchantments
Impending Disaster Some cheap Mass Land Destruction that you can control, or your opponents can help you out with.
Planeswalker
Karn Liberated While I also need an Ugin, Karn is pretty solid for his ability to remove annoying permanents like Aura Shards. If annoying permanents arent around, you can rush his ultimate to make your opponents groan.
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon He helps us remove problem tokens/creatures/permanents better than any other card, and his ultimate, with Daretti's emblem, is backbreaking.
Creatures
Goblin Matron This card specifically is used to find Goblin Welder, and if we already have him, pitched to Daretti's +2 or other discard effects.
Goblin Welder One of the stronger creatures, he allows you to move some piece on the field for a piece in the yard. There isn't much to say, it's essentially Daretti's -2. You toss whatever you dont need immediately, whether it be a mana rock, for a lock piece, a big beater like Steel Hellkite, or a better mana rock! I really enjoy seeing him in my opening hand as a way to cycle artifacts via Daretti's +2 to race his emblem out. This is key. Everytime you use the -2, that's two turns you set back your emblem. The turn you use the -2, and then the next turn to re-gain the 2 loyalty.
Junk Diver Flying creatures really wreck planeswalker generals, and Junk Diver gives us some breathing room, as well as the ability to pull back artifacts we pitch to Daretti's +2, -2, or other discard/removal effects.
Kuldotha Forgemaster Probably the weakest creature in the deck, it provides a way to toss small artifacts to find the lock piece or wincon you need. It also can fill your yard for a fun Scrap Mastery
Metalworker Probably the best creature in the deck. The amount of ramp this creature provides is probably the reason he was banned in the first place. Being able to reveal some mana rocks/lock pieces, then play them all for essentially "free" is just plain mean. Daretti and Metalworker have many synergies, such as utilizing an artifact in hand to produce 2, play it, then -2 it away. Or pitch it with Daretti's +2 after getting 2 from said artifact.
Nullstone Gargoyle Sticking this after some mass land destruction can almost ensure your victory. Countering the first spell each turn is incredibly damaging to opponents after the early game. Even just getting back into the game to remove him requires them to pitch something just to kill this guy. Too bad he's an artifact. If only we had a way to pull those back...
Sandstone Oracle An AMAZING card to reduce the parity we face when dropping our entire hand early to Daretti, with the added advantage of being a solid blocker and attacker when need be. I cant believe I didnt include this prior.
Squee, Goblin Nabob A creature I once cut, but now need again, as the card advantage he grants us is sorely needed.
Steel Hellkite Removal and a beatstick all in one. I added this guy in over more MLD to deal with problem permanents and to end the game faster.
Seething Song One use mana ramp for hitting Daretti/MLD early!
Strategy Early Game
Early game, and in our opening hand, we want to see some fast mana. Whether that be rituals, artifacts, etc. We want a turn 1-2 Daretti.
Nextly, some artifacts or extra lands to pitch to his +2. We wont be using his -2 early game unless it's specifically to return something like Ensnaring Bridge/Smokestacks/Static Orb/Ward of Bones/Metalworker/Winter Orb to play. Something to stop small mana dorks, and then Metalworker to just utterly explode your hand onto the battlefield.
Finally, some mass land descruction isnt terrible, but it's not really useful until turn 4 or later.
Midgame
Immediately once you establish Daretti, and a lock piece (if you have one) to make things difficult, play some Mass Land Destruction. Continue to keep your opponents down while you move to establishing your emblem. Only use your -2, per above, to pull a lock piece to play if you could not otherwise hard cast it, or Weld it into play.
Endgame
Well by now they've either Vandalblasted you to death, killed you to death, or you luckily maintained your awesome lock. Beat them down slowly with Nullstone Gargoyle or something. He works pretty well for a slow death. Just ask them to concede so you can beat them again next game. No quick wins here. You are a huge jerk. RELISH IT
Due to the mulligan rule change, we need to move back to more of a reactive/Midrange Daretti. As a result, fast mana is less useful since we cant reliably mull into it and our stax/MLD pieces at the same time, leaving us stranded most games.
To replace it, Blinkmoth Urn to keep us afloat. Other players may also be able to benefit from it, but its a price we pay.
Goblin Matron to fetch Welder out of our deck. One I've been wanting to add in even besides the rules change
Junk Diver to be a solid blocker and to remove the 1:1 we get from Daretti's -2, commonly nabbing back things like Mana Vault if we for some reason cant untap it.
Contagion Engine, a personal favorite of mine, comes back to help us accelerate Daretti and foil the plans of pesky combo players.
Unwinding Clock replaces Clock of Omens (which will probably return) since both are incredibly good in different scenarios.
Lattice is a combo piece with Vandalblast and it shouldnt need explaining.
After contemplating the deck post mulligan change, as well as my test games with it, conversations on reddit, etc, I'll be keeping with the theme, but moving away from the fast mana back into the midrange shell I used to use. It makes me sad to do, but there is absolutely no way to consistently hit our stax pieces, mana rocks, and protection anymore. Ogre is a part of that problem, and while he has uses, he's too narrow anymore. Ugin, whove I've been after for like a year, I finally broke down and bought. He helps us remove problem tokens/creatures/permanents better than any other card.
So, Spine is an incredibly expensive single target removal piece, that like many other cards we used to run, are very "great while I'm ahead". While I am experimenting with more mana rocks and card draw to supplement the new mulligan rules, Thoughts of Ruin, etc, Spine will be to the Maybeboard for now for Squee, who at least allows us to not suffer as badly with our card disadvantage.
Need more ways to deal with creatures and token decks. They are our worst enemies as they can keep Daretti off the board. Test hands are incredibly promising otherwise, so I think cutting a land, given we run things like Mycosynth Wellspring, isn't a terrible choice.
Changing my strategy less on all in MLD to more of a reactive MLD, and as such, portal comes back in for Cloister, which was good, but since we wont be pitching our hands and dumping it each turn, we are more safe without it. Ogre comes back as well, hoping he doesnt get Path'd repeatedly this time, for Crack the Earth, which was only great post MLD, but only if they had one other mana source/creature that could stop me. More often than not... they'd be moving as fast as me. So it goes to the maybe.
Seriously looking to add back in, or in for the first time:
Testing Sea Gate Wreckage as a mana dump and for more gas over a mountain as I think we have enough Red sources.
Ogre has been... not great. It's tough for me to land him, have him survive a turn, then be able to ramp into MLD. Usually it's play him, he gets removed, and that's that. I'll revisit him in the future, but for now, Vessel enters as a way to play a similar game to Ogre, while avoiding most of the usual removal spells.
Per another competitive Daretti player, throwing Wildfire in to help against creatures since we removed Rolling Earthquake, which basically did the same thing. Still just adjusting slots and to the new mulligan rules!
Portcullis is included to hopefully deal with creatures, especially small ones, in a better way. Rolling Earthquake almost never came up, and I usually just pitched it. Plus, we need more artifacts. I am finding I have WAY too few in my games. I'll test this one out and see!
Sandstone gives me early and late draw, which is desperately needed with this deck, as we stall quickly in the face of retaliation. Portal has been very...win more, as we tend to MLD, then want to drop it, but end up having very few permanents. In my current playgroups, typically they will have more than I, or as many, still, due to their reliance on mana rocks and dorks. In other groups, it works better, as they have less early plays, allowing me to capitalize. Winmore needs to be cut for the time being.
Epicenter for Thoughts, as Threshold is very difficult to hit early, whie Thoughts may not hit every land, especially early, it will at least not be a dead card, and is easily castable.
Lens allows us to convert our colorless sources to red mana worse case. Vessel will make a comeback, especially with Alhammarret's Archive being so good!
We need more mana ramp early and late when we're blowing up lands and cycling artifacts. Chalice has been on the maybeboard for months and it finally comes in. Defense Grid, and to an extent, Mindslaver were very narrow cards, and good only in particular matchups or when an opponent was ahead. They'll go to the maybeboard for now I guess. I dont see putting Mindslaver back in, but Defense Grid is a definite possibility.
Obvious addition to help recur my own lands that I destroy. It can also be tapped by Clock of Omens, and since we operate 99% at sorcery speed, Unwinding Clock wasnt cutting it.
Epicenter is just better. Tremor is great early rarely. I felt the person whose deck I copied had very suboptimal cards for maintaining stax or even getting there, as it was very inconsistent and there is too much MLD, so as a result. More mana rocks. Too often I had hands full of MLD. Especially with the mulligan change, i cant just shove them all away.
How do you feel about Lodestone Golem? I plan on running him in my list as an extra wincon plus hes a stax effect built in.
EDIT: Drownyard Temple seems like a good card to add.
EDIT, EDIT: What about Crucicble of Worlds?
I've considered all of these but the problem is replacing a card. what gets replaced? I definitely like Crucible here. Lodestone provides me another beater, which is always nice. I need to do a few more games of testing. The reason they are conspicously missing at the moment, despite owning them, is mostly due to room. Getting the early lock is key, otherwise it all falls apart. Those cards dont help me hit the lock and maintain it, but just are mostly useful after the fact.
On the same topic, do you prefer magus or the original Blood Moon. I would guess that enchantments are harder to remove because magus dies to sweepers and are usually only for creatures.
On the same topic, do you prefer magus or the original Blood Moon. I would guess that enchantments are harder to remove because magus dies to sweepers and are usually only for creatures.
The same answer: I hope its reprinted. I'd obviously prefer Blood Moon
Oh cool, I plan to make a deck similar to this, but I'm scared of how my LGS will react to all the land destruction. How do people handle it in your meta?
Oh cool, I plan to make a deck similar to this, but I'm scared of how my LGS will react to all the land destruction. How do people handle it in your meta?
Depends on the group, I only try to bust it out against the more seasoned players who can deal with a challenge.
@Gromgrom : If you have spare time, care to check the list on my sig? I am torn between going to a staxier way or to a more explosive start with an Early Daretti. I think I have too many creatures in the deck. Your input will be very valuable
Obvious addition to help recur my own lands that I destroy. It can also be tapped by Clock of Omens, and since we operate 99% at sorcery speed, Unwinding Clock wasnt cutting it.
We need more mana ramp early and late when we're blowing up lands and cycling artifacts. Chalice has been on the maybeboard for months and it finally comes in. Defense Grid, and to an extent, Mindslaver were very narrow cards, and good only in particular matchups or when an opponent was ahead. They'll go to the maybeboard for now I guess. I dont see putting Mindslaver back in, but Defense Grid is a definite possibility.
I also realize the decklist is under 100 cards, I need to go back through my deck and update the thread. Thanks
Lens allows us to convert our colorless sources to red mana worse case. Vessel will make a comeback, especially with Alhammarret's Archive being so good!
I also fixed up the OP a bit, and the decklist is current.
Sandstone gives me early and late draw, which is desperately needed with this deck, as we stall quickly in the face of retaliation. Portal has been very...win more, as we tend to MLD, then want to drop it, but end up having very few permanents. In my current playgroups, typically they will have more than I, or as many, still, due to their reliance on mana rocks and dorks. In other groups, it works better, as they have less early plays, allowing me to capitalize. Winmore needs to be cut for the time being.
Epicenter for Thoughts, as Threshold is very difficult to hit early, whie Thoughts may not hit every land, especially early, it will at least not be a dead card, and is easily castable.
Two things were a bit confusing too read:
- You explained "MLD" like only one time while using the term all the time.
- You first introduced your decklist and THEN your strategy. I think it would be way easier to read if this was reversed.
thanks sir, it's a huge WIP, as I tend to spend more time on my Meren and Brago topics. I appreciate the suggestions and will hopefully get that improved in the near future!
Portcullis is included to hopefully deal with creatures, especially small ones, in a better way. Rolling Earthquake almost never came up, and I usually just pitched it. Plus, we need more artifacts. I am finding I have WAY too few in my games. I'll test this one out and see!
Per another competitive Daretti player, throwing Wildfire in to help against creatures since we removed Rolling Earthquake, which basically did the same thing. Still just adjusting slots and to the new mulligan rules!
Testing Sea Gate Wreckage as a mana dump and for more gas over a mountain as I think we have enough Red sources.
Ogre has been... not great. It's tough for me to land him, have him survive a turn, then be able to ramp into MLD. Usually it's play him, he gets removed, and that's that. I'll revisit him in the future, but for now, Vessel enters as a way to play a similar game to Ogre, while avoiding most of the usual removal spells.
Changing my strategy less on all in MLD to more of a reactive MLD, and as such, portal comes back in for Cloister, which was good, but since we wont be pitching our hands and dumping it each turn, we are more safe without it. Ogre comes back as well, hoping he doesnt get Path'd repeatedly this time, for Crack the Earth, which was only great post MLD, but only if they had one other mana source/creature that could stop me. More often than not... they'd be moving as fast as me. So it goes to the maybe.
Seriously looking to add back in, or in for the first time:
Need more ways to deal with creatures and token decks. They are our worst enemies as they can keep Daretti off the board. Test hands are incredibly promising otherwise, so I think cutting a land, given we run things like Mycosynth Wellspring, isn't a terrible choice. Portcullis I havent tested, but dont think is what we want, as it will most definitely draw even more hate. Well yeah, we are drawing hate, we dont run enough creatures to abuse it. Mindslaver is back as another wincon.
So, Spine is an incredibly expensive single target removal piece, that like many other cards we used to run, are very "great while I'm ahead". While I am experimenting with more mana rocks and card draw to supplement the new mulligan rules, Thoughts of Ruin, etc, Spine will be to the Maybeboard for now for Squee, who at least allows us to not suffer as badly with our card disadvantage.
0 Chrome Mox
0 Everflowing Chalice
0 Mana Crypt
0 Mox Diamond
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Opal
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Voltaic Key
2 Fellwar Stone
2 Fire Diamond
2 Grim Monolith
2 Mind Stone
2 Mycosynth Wellspring
2 Prismatic Lens
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Defense Grid
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Static Orb
3 Tangle Wire
3 Trinisphere
3 Winter Orb
3 Worn Powerstone
4 Hedron Archive
4 Null Brooch
4 Thran Dynamo
4 Smokestack
4 Unwinding Clock
5 Alhammarret's Archive
5 Blinkmoth Urn
5 Gilded Lotus
5 Memory Jar
6 Contagion Engine
6 Mindslaver
6 Mycosynth Lattice
6 Ward of Bones
8 Possessed Portal
9 Darksteel Forge
1x Blasphemous Act
1x Boom/Bust
1x Crack the Earth
1x Decree of Annihilation
1x Devastation
1x Faithless Looting
1x Gamble
1x Reforge the Soul
1x Ruination
1x Scrap Mastery
1x Tectonic Break
1x Thoughts of Ruin
1x Tormenting Voice
1x Vandalblast
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Wild Guess
1x Wildfire
Land (31)
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Buried Ruin
1x Command Beacon
1x Crystal Vein
1x Darksteel Citadel
1x Dwarven Ruins
1x Gemstone Caverns
1x Great Furnace
19x Mountain
1x Phyrexia's Core
1x Sandstone Needle
1x Sea Gate Wreckage
1x Strip Mine
2 Impending Disaster
Planeswalker (2)
7 Karn Liberated
8 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Creature (10)
1 Goblin Welder
3 Goblin Matron
3 Junk Diver
3 Metalworker
3 Squee, Goblin Nabob
5 Kuldotha Forgemaster
6 Steel Hellkite
7 Sandstone Oracle
9 Nullstone Gargoyle
Instant (2)
3 Chaos Warp
3 Seething Song
Artifacts
Strategy
Early Game
Midgame
Endgame
7/26/2016
Removed:
Vessel of Volatility
Added:
Seething Song
Oops, forgot this is strictly better. in any case, being two mana up isnt bad by any means, and can help us hit MLD/Daretti early.
7/23/2016
Removed:
Added:
Due to the mulligan rule change, we need to move back to more of a reactive/Midrange Daretti. As a result, fast mana is less useful since we cant reliably mull into it and our stax/MLD pieces at the same time, leaving us stranded most games.
To replace it, Blinkmoth Urn to keep us afloat. Other players may also be able to benefit from it, but its a price we pay.
Goblin Matron to fetch Welder out of our deck. One I've been wanting to add in even besides the rules change
Junk Diver to be a solid blocker and to remove the 1:1 we get from Daretti's -2, commonly nabbing back things like Mana Vault if we for some reason cant untap it.
Contagion Engine, a personal favorite of mine, comes back to help us accelerate Daretti and foil the plans of pesky combo players.
Unwinding Clock replaces Clock of Omens (which will probably return) since both are incredibly good in different scenarios.
Lattice is a combo piece with Vandalblast and it shouldnt need explaining.
7/20/2016
Removed:
Treasonous Ogre
Added:
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
After contemplating the deck post mulligan change, as well as my test games with it, conversations on reddit, etc, I'll be keeping with the theme, but moving away from the fast mana back into the midrange shell I used to use. It makes me sad to do, but there is absolutely no way to consistently hit our stax pieces, mana rocks, and protection anymore. Ogre is a part of that problem, and while he has uses, he's too narrow anymore. Ugin, whove I've been after for like a year, I finally broke down and bought. He helps us remove problem tokens/creatures/permanents better than any other card.
7/14/2016
Removed:
Spine of Ish Sah
Added:
Squee, Goblin Nabob
So, Spine is an incredibly expensive single target removal piece, that like many other cards we used to run, are very "great while I'm ahead". While I am experimenting with more mana rocks and card draw to supplement the new mulligan rules, Thoughts of Ruin, etc, Spine will be to the Maybeboard for now for Squee, who at least allows us to not suffer as badly with our card disadvantage.
7/10/2016
Removed:
Mountain
Added:
Blasphemous Act
Need more ways to deal with creatures and token decks. They are our worst enemies as they can keep Daretti off the board. Test hands are incredibly promising otherwise, so I think cutting a land, given we run things like Mycosynth Wellspring, isn't a terrible choice.
7/8/2016
Removed:
Added:
Changing my strategy less on all in MLD to more of a reactive MLD, and as such, portal comes back in for Cloister, which was good, but since we wont be pitching our hands and dumping it each turn, we are more safe without it. Ogre comes back as well, hoping he doesnt get Path'd repeatedly this time, for Crack the Earth, which was only great post MLD, but only if they had one other mana source/creature that could stop me. More often than not... they'd be moving as fast as me. So it goes to the maybe.
Seriously looking to add back in, or in for the first time:
7/1/2016
Removed:
Added:
Testing Sea Gate Wreckage as a mana dump and for more gas over a mountain as I think we have enough Red sources.
Ogre has been... not great. It's tough for me to land him, have him survive a turn, then be able to ramp into MLD. Usually it's play him, he gets removed, and that's that. I'll revisit him in the future, but for now, Vessel enters as a way to play a similar game to Ogre, while avoiding most of the usual removal spells.
6/26/2016
Removed:
Obliterate
Added:
Wildfire
Per another competitive Daretti player, throwing Wildfire in to help against creatures since we removed Rolling Earthquake, which basically did the same thing. Still just adjusting slots and to the new mulligan rules!
6/25/2016
Removed:
Rolling Earthquake
Added:
Portcullis
Portcullis is included to hopefully deal with creatures, especially small ones, in a better way. Rolling Earthquake almost never came up, and I usually just pitched it. Plus, we need more artifacts. I am finding I have WAY too few in my games. I'll test this one out and see!
6/24/2016
Removed:
Added:
Sandstone gives me early and late draw, which is desperately needed with this deck, as we stall quickly in the face of retaliation. Portal has been very...win more, as we tend to MLD, then want to drop it, but end up having very few permanents. In my current playgroups, typically they will have more than I, or as many, still, due to their reliance on mana rocks and dorks. In other groups, it works better, as they have less early plays, allowing me to capitalize. Winmore needs to be cut for the time being.
Epicenter for Thoughts, as Threshold is very difficult to hit early, whie Thoughts may not hit every land, especially early, it will at least not be a dead card, and is easily castable.
6/20/2016
Removed:
Thought Vessel
Added:
Prismatic Lens
Lens allows us to convert our colorless sources to red mana worse case. Vessel will make a comeback, especially with Alhammarret's Archive being so good!
6/16/2016
Removed:
Added:
We need more mana ramp early and late when we're blowing up lands and cycling artifacts. Chalice has been on the maybeboard for months and it finally comes in. Defense Grid, and to an extent, Mindslaver were very narrow cards, and good only in particular matchups or when an opponent was ahead. They'll go to the maybeboard for now I guess. I dont see putting Mindslaver back in, but Defense Grid is a definite possibility.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
EDIT: Drownyard Temple seems like a good card to add.
EDIT, EDIT: What about Crucicble of Worlds?
I've considered all of these but the problem is replacing a card. what gets replaced? I definitely like Crucible here. Lodestone provides me another beater, which is always nice. I need to do a few more games of testing. The reason they are conspicously missing at the moment, despite owning them, is mostly due to room. Getting the early lock is key, otherwise it all falls apart. Those cards dont help me hit the lock and maintain it, but just are mostly useful after the fact.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Hoping for a reprint in Eternal Masters/Conspiracy 2 It would probably replace Ruination easily.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
The same answer: I hope its reprinted. I'd obviously prefer Blood Moon
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Depends on the group, I only try to bust it out against the more seasoned players who can deal with a challenge.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
CommanderEDH Decks:CommanderEDH DecksWULavinia of the Blinking TenthUW RGURiku the Epic Experimenter’s StormUGR UBRThrax and his Super FriendsRBU RWUZedruu the Hard HeartedUWR
WBU Zur the UnstoppableUBW
Trying to pick one up. Had to make some changes due to Partial Paris going away in most of my groups, so some stax elements are missing
Trying to pick up a Thoughts right now I havent had a chance to test it yet!
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Marath, Will of the Wild
Friendly Kess Twin Combo
Tatyova - Sir Bounce A Lot
Gonti's Luxury Pie
Prime (Eldrazi) Speaker Zegana (Retired)
Modern
UWGB 4c Snow Control BGWU
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Unwinding Clock
Added:
Crucible of Worlds
Obvious addition to help recur my own lands that I destroy. It can also be tapped by Clock of Omens, and since we operate 99% at sorcery speed, Unwinding Clock wasnt cutting it.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Added:
We need more mana ramp early and late when we're blowing up lands and cycling artifacts. Chalice has been on the maybeboard for months and it finally comes in. Defense Grid, and to an extent, Mindslaver were very narrow cards, and good only in particular matchups or when an opponent was ahead. They'll go to the maybeboard for now I guess. I dont see putting Mindslaver back in, but Defense Grid is a definite possibility.
I also realize the decklist is under 100 cards, I need to go back through my deck and update the thread. Thanks
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Thought Vessel
Added:
Prismatic Lens
Lens allows us to convert our colorless sources to red mana worse case. Vessel will make a comeback, especially with Alhammarret's Archive being so good!
I also fixed up the OP a bit, and the decklist is current.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Added:
Sandstone gives me early and late draw, which is desperately needed with this deck, as we stall quickly in the face of retaliation. Portal has been very...win more, as we tend to MLD, then want to drop it, but end up having very few permanents. In my current playgroups, typically they will have more than I, or as many, still, due to their reliance on mana rocks and dorks. In other groups, it works better, as they have less early plays, allowing me to capitalize. Winmore needs to be cut for the time being.
Epicenter for Thoughts, as Threshold is very difficult to hit early, whie Thoughts may not hit every land, especially early, it will at least not be a dead card, and is easily castable.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
thanks sir, it's a huge WIP, as I tend to spend more time on my Meren and Brago topics. I appreciate the suggestions and will hopefully get that improved in the near future!
Removed:
Rolling Earthquake
Added:
Portcullis
Portcullis is included to hopefully deal with creatures, especially small ones, in a better way. Rolling Earthquake almost never came up, and I usually just pitched it. Plus, we need more artifacts. I am finding I have WAY too few in my games. I'll test this one out and see!
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Obliterate
Added:
Wildfire
Per another competitive Daretti player, throwing Wildfire in to help against creatures since we removed Rolling Earthquake, which basically did the same thing. Still just adjusting slots and to the new mulligan rules!
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Added:
Testing Sea Gate Wreckage as a mana dump and for more gas over a mountain as I think we have enough Red sources.
Ogre has been... not great. It's tough for me to land him, have him survive a turn, then be able to ramp into MLD. Usually it's play him, he gets removed, and that's that. I'll revisit him in the future, but for now, Vessel enters as a way to play a similar game to Ogre, while avoiding most of the usual removal spells.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Added:
Changing my strategy less on all in MLD to more of a reactive MLD, and as such, portal comes back in for Cloister, which was good, but since we wont be pitching our hands and dumping it each turn, we are more safe without it. Ogre comes back as well, hoping he doesnt get Path'd repeatedly this time, for Crack the Earth, which was only great post MLD, but only if they had one other mana source/creature that could stop me. More often than not... they'd be moving as fast as me. So it goes to the maybe.
Seriously looking to add back in, or in for the first time:
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Mountain
Portcullis
Added:
Blasphemous Act
Mindslaver
Need more ways to deal with creatures and token decks. They are our worst enemies as they can keep Daretti off the board. Test hands are incredibly promising otherwise, so I think cutting a land, given we run things like Mycosynth Wellspring, isn't a terrible choice. Portcullis I havent tested, but dont think is what we want, as it will most definitely draw even more hate. Well yeah, we are drawing hate, we dont run enough creatures to abuse it. Mindslaver is back as another wincon.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Spine of Ish Sah
Added:
Squee, Goblin Nabob
So, Spine is an incredibly expensive single target removal piece, that like many other cards we used to run, are very "great while I'm ahead". While I am experimenting with more mana rocks and card draw to supplement the new mulligan rules, Thoughts of Ruin, etc, Spine will be to the Maybeboard for now for Squee, who at least allows us to not suffer as badly with our card disadvantage.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown