I. Introduction
II. Advantages and Disadvantages
III. Cards to Play
IV. Cards to Pitch
V. Deck List
VI. Match-ups
I. Introduction
How often have you found yourself constantly fine-tuning the manabase of your deck because you fail to draw that one critical land needed in your match to finish off your opponent? Or, conversely, how often have you found yourself flooded with mana? Entire internet articles have been written on the mathematical formulas needed to determine just how many lands to play and in what quantities to ensure an optimal manabase. And of course, due to the shuffling and randomization of your deck, even the best pro player in the world can't guarantee they'll draw the needed land and mana to win. This has always been a dilemma since the very beginning of Magic. Wouldn't it be great if you had the ability to play any of your spells at any time without worrying about drawing the needed mana to cast them? To be able to play anything on your first turn no matter what you drew in your hand? A lot of people have thought about this, myself included, and a radical solution has come up.
Eliminate mana altogether.
Yes, you read that correctly. Construct a deck with no mana sources whatsoever. Obviously, your first two questions are, "So then how do you play spells? How do you win?" Well, regarding a "no mana" deck there have been two schools of thought. One is to use a version of Affinity that plays as many zero casting cost artifacts as possible combining with Mycosynth Golem to bring out big artifact creatures like Darksteel Colossus (you can view one such version by clicking here). Unfortunately, that deck is not the most viable to play because everything tends to flow through just one card (Mycosynth Golem), and with no counterspells or disruption in your hand you are at the mercy of your opponent as they paint a large target on your Golem. Instead, we're going to concentrate on the other (and much more viable) school of thought: play spells that have alternate casting costs. I feel confident in saying that nearly 99% of you reading this are familiar with at least one such spell (Force of Will), but what most of you might not realize is that there are quite a few spells like Force of Will that can be cast by exiling a particular color card from your hand (what we'll call "pitching" from here on out, hence the "pitch" part of the deck name), thus eliminating the need to pay their mana cost. How do you determine which cards to pitch? Well, if we're looking for the most optimal spells to play, we shouldn't have to worry about what color they are. So logically, the best cards to pitch would be cards that have all five colors on them so we have the ability to immediately play any of our spells at any time. This means we'll be constructing a five-color deck (hence the "rainbow" part of the deck name) utilizing the best alternate casting cost spells to play and the best five-color cards to pitch. Before we delve into the cards, let's go into this eyes wide open and look at the advantages and disadvantages to playing Rainbow Pitch.
II. Advantages and Disadvantages
- Advantages -
By not needing mana to play your spells, you retain the ability to play anything in your hand at any time. You don't need to wait until you draw enough land or get that needed Dark Ritual; you simply play the spell while pitching one of your other cards. And by not using mana, your deck will never be manascrewed or manaflooded. Furthermore, spells your opponents play to disrupt your manabase are dead in their hand and deck, netting you some virtual card advantage. Many of the spells you will play have a high converted mana cost eliminating the fear of cards like Counterbalance and Chalice of the Void which are fairly common in the format. This deck also has the ability to win very quickly; with the right cards in hand, a T1 or T2 win is very realistic. Finally, because you are not playing any mana sources and are playing a five-color deck, your opponent will be unable to figure out what your next move will (or could possibly) be, causing them to play more cautiously. Never underestimate a psychological advantage.
-Disadvantages-
Obviously by playing only alternate casting cost spells you're cutting yourself off from the vast majority of spell possibilities; there are only so many spells that have an alternate casting cost. You do also lose some card advantage since your opponent only needs to play one card from their hand to cast a spell (the spell itself) while you must cast two cards (the spell and the card you pitch). Finally, there are some cards that can hurt us. Most are not played heavily, if at all, in the format, and shouldn't keep you up at night. A few of them, however, are played enough that you should take notice. I will include all possible cards here so you are fully aware of anything out there that can harm you:
Big Threats - Trinisphere (seen mostly in Stax decks) can almost shut us completely down, while Ghostly Prison and Propaganda (seen mostly in Enchantress decks) can make life very difficult for our creatures.
Lesser Threats - Gaddock Teeg (seen mostly in Zoo or Aggro-style decks) can stop some parts of our deck, but not all. Thorn of Amethyst, Glowrider, and Sphere of Resistance can slow you down, but they also slow your opponent down which is why they are not played very much. Magus of the Tabernacle and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale are, for us, lesser versions of Ghostly Prison and Propaganda.
Still with me? Good. Just remember than there is no such thing as a 100% fool-proof deck. All decks in all formats have weaknesses, and it's up to us to deal with them. With that, let's get to card selection. I will break this part of the primer up into two different sections: Cards to Play, and Cards to Pitch.
III. Cards to Play
Here I will list the most relevant alternate cost spells (good or bad) along with its strengths and weaknesses in regards to a Rainbow Pitch deck. Bear in mind that because no combo exists that can automatically win you the game without involving mana, Rainbow Pitch's way to win is through creatures and direct damage. We will also have to utilize creatures that can actually do damage on their own to maximize our efforts, so zero-cost artifact creatures like Ornithopter and Phyrexian Walker are out. However, knowing what we know about this deck's potential weaknesses, we will also have to use some control and disruption elements to push ourselves to victory.
-Creatures- Vine Dryad - a 1/3 flash creature with Forestwalk. Its flash ability helps to negate the card disadvantage by pitching a green card to play him while also giving you a surprise blocker. And remember that most aggro decks you face play Tarmogoyf, meaning your opponent will have a Forest in play. Dryad Arbor - the only man-land playable in this type of deck. For this deck, counts as a creature not a land. Having an uncounterable 1/1 creature that costs zero is something to think about. Susceptible not only to creature removal but land removal as well, such as Wasteland. Skyshroud Cutter - a 2/2 creature only playable when comboed with Dryad Arbor. Since it gives your opponent 5 life when casted, this creature only becomes effective after its third attack. Allosaurus Rider - With its power and toughness determined by the number of lands you play (which we don't), coupled with the fact you must pitch two cards to cast him (not just one), this is only playable in a Rainbow Pitch build based around green and with many lands used for non-mana purposes. Nether Spirit - a 2/2 creature. The only way to play him is by discarding him into our graveyard (or if he is milled into the graveyard and is still the only creature in it.) You must also make sure that, if he is destroyed, he is the only creature in the graveyard so you can use his ability for card advantage; this means if you have more than one creature out you will probably be attacking with Nether Spirit alone. If you play with Nether Spirit, you will be always want to draw first instead of play first because with eight cards in your hand you have about a 46% chance of holding Nether Spirit (http://www.tollie.org/files/cardcount.php), increasing to 50% on turn 2. Basking Rootwalla - a 1/1 creature playable for zero through its madness cost. Like Nether Spirit, it must be discarded to play; therefore when playing this card, draw first at the start of the game.
-Instants- Blazing Shoal - a card that can provide enough damage (along with your attacking creature) to finish off your opponent’s large creature or even your opponent. Disrupting Shoal - a counterspell that can only work if you pitch a card with the exact same converted mana cost as the spell you are attempting to counter. Difficult to pull off. Nourishing Shoal - the life gain you net may let you hold out longer, but by itself this card does not directly contribute to you winning. Shining Shoal - best played when your opponent attacks with a large damage source, such as Progentius or Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (Shining Shoal does not target the source of the damage). Sickening Shoal - creature removal that, when used with a large enough pitched card, can remove nearly any creature your opponent plays. Archive Trap - Enough Legacy players search their libraries (Fetchlands, for example) to warrant a look at this card. By playing this, you gamble that one (or more) of the 13 milled cards will be essential to your opponent’s combo. Mindbreak Trap - a necessary sideboard card against Storm-type decks. Summoning Trap - a sneaky card playable against decks with counterspells. It could allow you to actually play one of your high-casting cost five-color pitch card creatures (which we will get into later). Soul Spike - in essence, a 4 point Drain Life that costs two black pitched cards. A high price to pay, but could be used as a finisher. Bounty of the Hunt - an instant that can either give a temporary boost to your attacking or blocking creature, as well as help save it from any direct damage. Pyrokinesis - useful against decks with small creatures, though unlike Sunscour - in essence, a Wrath of God that costs two white pitch cards. Expensive to play, but can reset the field when all else fails. Force of Will - a no-brainer counterspell you must have in this deck. Misdirection - while not a counterspell per say, using your opponent’s spell against them does have many uses. Commandeer - Works somewhat similarly to Misdirection although if played in response to an artifact, enchantment, or planeswalker you get to keep them for the price of two pitched blue cards which helps the card advantage (play three cards and gain one). Expensive but worth considering. Snapback - It can bounce a blocker out of your creature’s way but at the cost of a blue pitch card, it may be too expensive of an ability. Faerie Macabre/Ravenous Trap - both essentially have the same mechanic and are sideboard only cards. Faerie Macabre is uncounterable but only removes two graveyard cards, Ravenous Trap only works in certain situations, can be countered, but eliminates the entire graveyard. Scars of the Veteran - a damage preventer for you or one your creatures, with the added bonus of adding to the toughness of your creature for every point of damage you prevented.
-Sorceries- Cave-In - in essence, a Pyroclasm. The 2 damage to your opponent (and their creatures) can help contribute to your victory, but remember it hits you and your creatures also. As a sorcery, this is slower than Pyrokinesis for creature removal. Unmask - in essence, a Thoughseize that doesn’t cost 2 life but does cost a black pitch card. Can help you stop troublesome cards (Big Threats and Lesser Threats) before they are played.
-Artifacts- Tormod’s Crypt - like Faerie Macabre and Ravenous Trap a sideboard card, but is not situational, eliminates the entire graveyard, and can be countered. Chalice of the Void - a zero-point Chalice can stop Storm decks in their tracks. Usable only as a sideboard card.
-Lands-
(Dryad Arbor is considered a creature for this deck) Maze of Ith - while it can stop an attacking creature, it also gives your opponent a blocker which isn’t the most desirable when we are using creatures to win. Vulnernable to land destruction. God's Eye, Gate to the Reikai - a land that can net you a 1/1 token if you can get it into your graveyard. Since your opponent will not destroy it for you (because it would net you a creature), you will need to either discard it or play another when one is already in play (activating the ‘legendary rule’ sending both to your graveyard). Wasteland - Obviously only used to destroy non-basic lands. Can be useful to slow your opponent down.
IV. Cards to Pitch
As I stated before, since we’re looking at all five colors for cards to play it only makes sense that the cards we choose to put in our deck to pitch contain all five colors, ensuring you will always have the correct card to pitch in your hand. You’ll also want each pitch card to have a high converted mana cost for spells like Blazing Shoal and Sickening Shoal. Finally, keep in mind on the rare occasion your opponent plays something like Dream Halls, Hypergenesis, Show and Tell, or Eureka, you’ll be able to actually play your five-color pitch cards and probably win the game right then and there.
Progenitus - with a converted mana cost of ten, this is one of the two best possible pitch cards. Reaper King - the other best pitch card since it also has a converted mana cost of ten. Conflux - with a converted mana cost of eight, the next best pitch card. Coalition Victory - also an eight converted mana cost, this one cannot help you on the rare chance you can play your pitch cards. Karona, False God - the only other five-color pitch card with a converted mana cost higher than five (six). Maelstrom Archangel - on the rare chance you can play it, it allows you to play another pitch card when you deal damage.
If for some reason you cannot get a hold of enough of the above five-color cards, you can always consider the three-color legend dragons from Legends, Chronicles, and/or Masters Edition III. All have a converted mana cost of eight:
Arcades Sabboth - good for green, white, and blue spells Chromium - good for white, blue, and black spells Nicol Bolas - good for blue, black, and red spells Palladia-Mors - good for red, green, and white spells Vaevictis Asmadi - good for red, green, and black spells
V. Deck List
So with everything we’ve learned, here’s our basic deck list:
You’ll be using your creatures to win. Use Force of Will and Misdirection to stop anything nasty from your opponent. Use Unmask to get rid of anything nasty in your opponent’s hand. Play Pyrokinesis and Sickening Shoal to sweep away your opponent’s creatures. Pump your creatures with Blazing Shoal for big damage. Use Shining Shoal as a surprise for even more damage.
VI. Match-ups
The idea for this deck is relatively new, which means there is not a lot of data concerning potential match-ups. However, there is enough that can help you should you encounter the decks below. If anyone chooses to play Rainbow Pitch, please let me know what your build was and how you matched up. I'll be glad to give credit and constantly update this section.
-ANT-
Sickening Shoal, Shining Shoal, and Pyrokinesis are dead in your deck; nothing is dead in theirs. Take out all your Sickening Shoals and Pyrokinesis, and two of your Shining Shoal. Sideboard in your Mindbreak Traps, Cave-Ins, and Commandeer. Try as much you can by using your Wasteland, Unmask, Force of Will, Commandeer (when sideboarded) and Misdirection to halt their storm. Watch out for Duress, Orim's Chant, and Silence.
-Zoo-
Nothing dead in your deck or theirs. Sideboard out your Unmasks and sideboard in your Cave-Ins. This is a race to see who's creatures will win first. Watch out - on occasion Zoo will play Gaddock Teeg.
-Stax-
Shining Shoal is dead for you; Stax's dead cards include Chalice of the Void and Armageddon. Sideboard out your Shining Shoals and sideboard in your Commandeer and 1 Faerie Macabre. This deck can be nasty against us; they play Trinisphere, Magus of the Tabernacle, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, and Ghostly Prison. If your opponent plays Smokestack, try to make sure you only have Nether Spirit out so it will continually return to play. Use Commandeer to steal their Crucible of Worlds, Ghostly Prison, or Elspeth, Knight-Errant.
-Merfolk-
Nothing is dead in our deck; Stifle is dead in theirs, and to an extent Standstill since we play so many instants. Sideboard in Cave-In; sideboard out Unmask. You can use your Dryad Arbor as well as your Wasteland to neutralize their Daze. Watch out for Standstill - wait to use your instants.
I hope you enjoyed my Rainbow Pitch primer. If you tweak the deck to suit your metagame, you have a deck that can hold its own against any other deck in Legacy. Enjoy!
where's the Reaper King?
seems much better than Garza zol or Karona.
i like this deck's ability to win on 1 if you're on the draw or 2 on the play, and I think the look on you're opponents face would be entirely worth at least giving it a shot.
maybe the maze of ith should be serum powder to push a bit more towards that early win?
>>Yeah, I thought this deck was hilarious the first time I saw it. Menendian has a list in this article with a sideboard (Deck #51).<<
Not bad, in fact pretty similar. Didn't think about Reaper King as a pitch-card; I might put him in and take someone out. Looked at his sideboard - he's got Sunscour which I've thought of putting in, but he doesn't have Shining Shoal which I've also been toying with putting in (could be very nasty IMO, but I've not playtested it). Obviously my deck is in flux because I have no sideboard, so I'm open to any ideas. Thanks for letting me know about the other deck!
Do you realize you have no way of getting Nether Spirit in your graveyard? All your pitch spells say "exile" rather than "discard".
Can't See is correct: the way you play Nether Spirit is the DDD method (and for those of you who don't know what that means, DDD stands for "Discard, Damage, Decking"). The main way you bring him out is by discarding him; then of course when he is damaged he returns to the field during your upkeep since all your pitched creature cards are exiled, not discarded into the graveyard.
Hey, I freely admit it's not the absolute BEST way to play a creature and of course there could be problems: a milled creature pitch-card in the graveyard definitely sucks the big one, and of course you have to hold onto cards once you get the Nether Spirit so you can discard him. If someone can think of a better card to play, believe me I'm all ears.
I will repeat here some thing from an article in german if you can read german (or want google to translate it for you here the link: Pitchdeck
So first the pitch cards:
I would play s cards to pitch: Reaper King since he is all 5 colours and cost 10 mana. Progenitus since he is all 5 colours and and cost 10 mana AND additional if the opponent plays show and tell, which is played more at the moment you have a really good card to put into play with it. Conflux Since it costs 8 mana is all 5 colours and if the opponent plays dream halls (which migth happen) this card can win you the game (by searching 5 good cards, of which 1 is conflux and so on) Maelstrom Archangel all 5 colours, but only 5 mana, but also a really good card to put into play with show and tell and lets you then play your cards, like conflux and helps you win.
I think 16 cards to pitch are enough since you can also pitch the pitch cards.
Maze of Ith Isn't that good in your deck, since you want to win with your small creatures attacking, so having your opponent has an untaped creature is quite bad. Also one really good point of your deck is, that you don't have any targets for wastelands since you don't need mana, making wasteland a dead card for your opponent, so giving them a target, which is suboptimal might not be the best idea.
Soul Spike Costing 2 Black cards is just TO much for this small effect, you don't want to pitch 2 cards for just killing a small creature and gaining 4 life, of course it isn't dead against decks with no creatures but still 2 cards to lose is too much you can't afford this.
Cave-In / pyrokinesis I am not sure if you need all 8 cards in the main they can all be dead cards and only kill small creatures. maybe put 4 to the sideboard.
So what could you intead:
I found sickening shoal to be a card which is needed, because it is the only way to kill big creatures (like tarmogoyf or even worse creatures), without paying mana.
Shining shoal can be a card being almost dead at some times, but being really good if the opponent plays burn, since then this card will trade 2 for 2 and make NO card disadvantage. Also Against decks with really big creatures (like progenitus or emrakul (this works since the shoald doesn't target) or goblin charbelcher, it is really good since deling 8-10 damage to your opponent instead of you is quite good.
Also it can together with some of your creatures and cave-In cause some serious damage to your opponent (so it is a meta dependent card, but it is most of the time maindeck worthy ESPECIALLY in versions with more creatures and cave-In, since you can redirect every damage cave-in does to you and your creatures to your opponent)
Wasteland helps to slow down opponents AND can be used to pay 1 for cards like squere of resistance or daze, also it can handle some ugly lands like maze or manlands and such stuff, and since it won't stayin play a long time it isn't a good target for opposing wastelands most of the time. Is especially good (like other lands like maze of ith) because you will have a turn 1 play with it, when you don't have a nether spirit.
Ghost Quarter Is wasteland 5-8 against some decks, but it can't slow the opponent down as good as the other of course.
But if you think a lot of daze and or non basics will be played, you could play them together with the wasteland, also they are great in a meta with a lot of daze, since you will neven need to tap out, and so you can if you draw 1 of your lands easily play around daze. I think when I look at some decks at the moment it could be quite worth to play them.
Dryad Arbor Is a creature itself doesn't cost you any additional card, BUT is a wasteland target. But of course can also help you to play the 1 for daze (just play spells before attacking). Also is a forest, so it can be searched with fetchlands AND it allow you to play cards like: Skyshroud Cutter(creature without card disadvantage) (or if you want) Reverent Silence in the sideboard.
Also in a version with more lands (in that version even maze of ith would be good since you have more creatures and can use it to safe your creatures when you attack with more then one, and only 1 is blocked) Allosaurus Rider AND you could play Summoning Trap in the sideboard against blue decks.
Other possible Sideboard cards: Mindbreak Trap against combo no card disadvantage counter Todmod's Crypt Against stuff using the graveyard Commandeer Against combo and ugly non creature cards (like planeswalker, or smokestack crucible of worls if you are running wastelands and so on), also against decks using Natural order, since you can search for your progenitus instead. Nourishing Shoal Against burn or really fast aggro decks, or some combodecks (like storm they often deal only about 20 damge, or even charbelcher) Archive Trap Against combo/decks which are light on non fetchlands decks with tutors (was better when ystical tutor was banned, but can still "counter" enligthened tutor) If you are playing wastelands AND ghostquarter it can help to destroy some manabases, especially against bant, but also against zoo sometimes or 4 colour counterbalance.
(sunscour is only needed if you are awaiting a lot of aggrodecks with big creatures(especially zoo), but costs to much most of the time (2 white cards..)
Important with the deck is, that you choose the cards acording to your meta, this can make a HUGE diference (a lot of aggro? or a lot of daze/nonbasics?, a lot of wastelands? and so on)
about the other cards in your deck:
Nether spirit is good since you allways want your opponent to start, and you don't like taking mulligans at all, so you have an chance of about 45% thaat you can discard him in your first turn. Also there are some decks which are playing discard, and this creature is helping a lot against them, most people will not play mill anyway, and when they are playing discard look, that you always pitch the angel and the reaper king first, and that you have you can play your vine dryad as an instant. I would allways play him since a 45% chance to have a recurring creature isn't that bad and agains discard (like smallpox pox raven's crime and so on) he shines, also agaist stax a recuring creature to sacrifice can be good.
Also you will with this deck, allways wait to play your cards until you can't wait any longer, so you will often be at a big total number of cards in your hands, and you will have some chances later to still play him.
And when you have unmask (and sickening shoal) you can use later ones to pitch, so he will not often be really dead. (also you can unmask yourself to let you dicard the nether spirit)
Unmask is needed since it is never dead and you really need it against controll and especially combo. But will be boarded out a lot of the time since it is allways card disadvantage and has no board influence.
Misdirection , really good against decks with creatures and removal (play your creatures if possible not before they hve played one) verry good against burn, and good against counter.
Force of Will is needed else you will just lose against combo, also is never a dead card, and unlike unmask is played only when you know hte opponent has something and it has costed the opponent mana.
Vine Dryad can often pe played in a way, that it will not grant you card disadvantage (when the opponent is attacing with a 1/1 or a 2/1 for example or a 2/3 if you also have a nether spirit)
and is good with blazing shoal since it will be unbloacked against a lot of decks.
Blazing shoal is needed so that your opponent has at least a little bit fear of your explosive starts, can be boarded out sometimes, but only if the opponent knows that you are playing it.
(1 forest in the deck could also be possible to have something to search when they are playing something like path to exile, and in the version with more green and more creatures, it is a wasteland secure way to allways play your forest needing cards (and pay 1 for daze)
ah and about serum powder this is only good when you are going for the early kill, which has a really low chance EVEN with the serum powder, and serum powder itself is EVER a dead card, so granting you additional card disadvantage, which is bad.
And I think the Main advantage of this deck is, that it doesn't have that many points to attack, you can't attack it's mana base (which a lot of decks are doing) and it isn't affected by a lot of cards, Here some examples: Wasteland, Stiffle, Counterbalance, Spellsnare, Artifact destruction Engineered Explosives, (If you are playing the rigth version (if this is needed in your meta) even daze), often pernicious deed
If you expect more combo then -1 commandeer +1 mindbreak trap (or -1 cave in if there aren't that many aggro in your meta). And if you are afraid by dredge you can exchange the Archive Trap with Tormod's Crypt.
The Archive Trap can be boarded in (instead of the Blazing Shoal, if the opponent has see it) against decks with removal and which have weaky manabases like Bant, Zoo, or other 3-4 Colour decks, can also be sided in against combo decks with a high amount of searching spells, which are low on win conditions, or which may need some cards in library left (like charbelcher)
Also if you are thinking, that you will see more combo and more tribal then zoo swap the cave-in with the pyrokinesis. And if you think there will be a lot of tribal decks, swap unmask with Cave-In.
(As an explanation why Archive trap against whacky mana bases: Some mana bases are playing almost No basic lands, but a lot of fetch lands, if you can play 1 or 2 archive traps against some decks, chances will be quite big, that they don't have basics left in the library, especially when they search for basic lands, since they know that you are playing wasteland and you can activate wasteland on turn one with no regrets, since you don't need any mana) or not the rigth dual land. so you can more easier mana/colour screw them with wasteland and ghostquarter, also if the opponent plays a fetchland and you play 4 archive traps you win the next turn^^)
Edit Massacre and Rushwood legate are in some builds ok sideboard cards.
My new houserules:
1. Every player saing exiled or battlefield will be kicked out.
2. Not using you mana deals 2 points of manaburn.
3. Combat damage goes over the Stack and you can freely assign it.
4. Lifelinks does stack and doesn't safe you from dying.
5. Tokens are owned bye the one who has made them.
Everyone thinking M10 will not affect a lot of cards or Limited a lot, either has no clue about magic or has never played limited or is getting paid by wizards to do propaganda.
There are better choice for creature removal than Contagion IMO. Contagion can only work against small creatures; if you're going to have creature removal, you might as well have removal that can get rid of any creature like Sickening Shoal.
Thanks for the great feedback! I'm sorry this got moved to Casual (I'm not building this deck for casual play), but I'm working on integrating your ideas into the opening post so it's a bit more comprehensive.
If you don't mind I will write a primer and post it here so that you can include it in your oppening post I just want to be credited^^
MORE WILL FOLLOW
Primer Gedankenexperiment
Introduction:
A lot of games are won or lost because of Manascrew or Manaflood so wouldn't it be nice to have a Deck, which can't lose because of either of this? So in order to have such an Deck we need a lot of cards which can be played without Mana or which do have an effect without Mana.
Disadvantages:
There are only a limited number of cards which you can play in such a Deck, so you can only choose from among them. Also most cards which can be played “for free” will grant you some card disadvantage or are just kind of week.
Advantages:
You don't need Mana so as mentioned above, there is no Manascrew and no Manaflood.
Additional you can't be slowed down by cards disrupting or destroying your Manabase, so you have one thing less, opponents can attack.
Additional most cards which can be played for free have a high converted Manacost, so you are kind of safe from Cards like Counterbalance or Spellsnare
Cardselection:
As mentioned we can only use a limited number of cards and we should take care of the fact, that most cards will make card disadvantage so we need cards which don't or even cards which can grant card advantage.
Creatures:
You need a way to win and the most standard way to do so is by attacking with creatures, so what kind of creatures can be run without needing any mana?
Dryad Arbor is a forest this has some advantages as we see later. Also only costs you the card itself but is only a 1/1 creature which is kind of week and it will be outclassed often.
Vine Dryad Is a 1/3 creature which is a LOT better since it can block 2/2 for ever and can kill 1/1 and 2/1 creatures all day. It costs you one additional green card, but the fact that you can play it as an instant let you sometime negate the card disadvantage from playing it, when you kill an attacking creature with it (without the vine dryad dying of course)
Allosaurus RiderCosting two (green) cards is a lot worse then costing only one also the fact, that you will play almost landless will keep him small so he won't be that good.
Skyshroud Cutter If you have a forest (like Dryad Arbor) you can play it without card disadvantage, but you need at least 3 attacks before he has done something.
Nether Traitor A recurring 2/2 creature is something really good, the problem is to put it into the graveyard. Fortunately we don't want/need to play lands, so you can always choose to draw and then you have a 45% chance to have one of him in the opening 8 cards and you can discard him at the end of turn. Also some opponents play discard, and then he will be even better. In the worst case he is a black card to pitch to other cards.
Rushwood LegateIf you are a version with forests you can play them in the sideboard against a good number of decks (since blue is played a lot) this card can be a free 2/1 without card disadvantage.
God's Eye, Gate to the Reikaiwill become a creature when you can sacrifice it or the opponent destroys it, also when you play the second one you have 2 1/1s before this happens it at least grant you mana (for daze and that kinds of things) and it isn't a creature in the graveyard (Nether spirit) and although it is a land, wasteland on it is a bad idea.
Fetchlands/ Land Grant:can be used to search for Dryad Arbor and so they are Pseudo creatures itself. If you need more ways to get your Forests (Dryad Arbor) orSwamps.
Summoning Trap Sideboard card for Creature heavy decks against blue decks, you should have enough big Targets in your Library (in the form of Pitch cards).
More Damage
The small creatures might not be enough to win, so you need some ways to make them bigger or to deal additional damage.
Blazing Shoal needs an attacking creature itself and an additional (expensive) red card, but can deal up to 10 additional damage. It is just needed to be somehow a Thread (or pretending to are one) without them the opponent has to much time.
Shining Shoalneeds an (opposing) big source of damage and an additional white (expensive) card.
But when redirecting a burn to an opposing creature it can Trade 2:2 (so it will sometimes not grant any card disadvantage) Also works with mass burn spells like Cave-In and Firespout dealing a lot of damage to the opponent instead of your creatures. And it can redirect damage from an Emrakul or Progenitus since it doesn't target.
Soul SpikeGrants too much card disadvantage costing 2 additional cards but you can't trade better then 3:1 (killing a creature ) and 4 life isn't that much.
Pendelhavenis a Land (so wasteland and stuff can harm it) but can make your 1/1 creatures into something the opponent has to care about, since 2/3 creatures are much better then just 1/1s. This is only worth running as a 1 or 2 of and only if you have 8+ ways to get to 1/1 creatures)
Removal
Pyrokinesis Cost 6 Mana (good for Blazing shoal) and can often trade 2:2 or sometimes even 2:3 or 2:4 so it is a good card when you want to handle small creatures.
Cave-In Can Trade even better against small hordes of creatures and deals damage to the opponent (and you too). Works with shining shoal when you have a lot of creatures but can be dangerous since it kills your creatures too. Is not complete dead against combo but only really good against really small creatures (so not against zoo)
Sickening Shoal Can kill every creature if you have a big enough card to Pitch, so it is kind of needed, else Tarmogoyfs and other stuff will run over you.
Maze of IthCan handle non shroud non protection from Lands creatures, as long as your opponent has no wasteland or something. Also gives your opponent a blocker, is better when you have enough creatures so that you can attack with multiple ones and Safe blocked ones.
Sunscour2 white cards are a lot also all your creatures will die without any way to safe them. Is only needed and good against decks with a lot of big creatures.
Spinning Darkness If you are running a heavy black build this card can help you to kill small creatures without card disadvantage and granting life against aggro isn't that bad too. But you need a lot of black cards in the deck in order to make it worth.
Snuff Out If you have a way to get to a swamp this can help to kill big creatures. Granting no card disadvantage (if you don't count the swamp which you need). The 4 Life can also be quite harsh against some aggrodecks.
Horobi's WhisperIf you are playing swamps this card can help to kill creatures with your arcane spells (the shoals) also the card helps the nether spirit to be active again when there are to many creatures in your graveyard.
Contagion Almost always worse then Pyrokinesis, only better if you need a black card and you have some creatures to block so that this will be a combat trick. Also helps against regenerating stuff like River Boa and so on, and helps against creatures with protection from red.
Disruption
Since you aren't the fastest Deck in the world you will need some kind of Disruption in order to have enough time to win.
Force of Will: There is not much to say, this is one of the best cards in the format it helps you have a chance against combo, but also against other decks it is never a dead card.
UnmaskThis will unlike Force of will not grant you any tempo advantage since your opponent hasn't used mana for the card you get rid of with this. Also you can't be sure if there is a card worth discarding with it. Also it grants always card disadvantage but is almost never a dead card.
Misdirection: Force of Will against Counters, better against burn or removal (if the opponent has also a creature) but dead against almost everything else.
Commandeer You need 2 Cards, against a lot of stuff it is only a Misdirection, but ig can also get you a Planeswalker or a Natural Order or something like this. Against some decks it is almost dead this is why it is better in the sideboard.
Wasteland Can slow down the opponent and the only way to get rid of manlands or Maze of Ith
Ghost Quarter Against some decks it is wasteland 5-8 against some other decks it is a weaker version of wasteland. If you need more Wastelands this will help.
Petrified FieldIf you have a huge amount of other lands this can help. Wasting a Land drop isn't that bad with this deck, but most of the time it isn't worth
Mindbreak TrapFree counter without card disadvantage against combo decks, against a lot of other decks it is a dead card, so this is sideboard fodder.
Tormod's Crypt, Fearie Macabre, Ravenous TrapSideboard cards good against some Decks worthless against others. I prefer Tormod's Crypt since it helps against everything and you can play it at any time you draw it and can play it before you need it.
Reverent SilenceSideboard Card in a Deck with forests, when you await some Enchantress decks or other bad Enchantments like Propaganda (which can kill you..)
Archive Trap Can help against combo or can together with wasteland and ghostquarter help to Manascrew decks with wacky Manabases completely (some decks run a lot more fetchlands then actual lands especially basics hitting them with Archive Trap can be really deadly since then you then have just 8 Wastelands, which might be more then actual Lands left in their deck.
Lifegain
You might need some lifegain in your meta, if this is the case there are also some options:
Nourishing ShoalAgainst burn or some combo decks this can really safe you sincve gaining 10 life for free can ruin their plan completely.
Sheltered Valley As a one of it can be good, granting you every turn one life can help in the long run against burn or other decks, but you can't really play more then one, also a target for wasteland..
Pitchcards
So you need also some cards to Pitch for your spells they should have all colours and cost a lot of mana so what is there?
ProgenitusCosting 10 Mana having all colours and can be searched with Natural Order (stolen from opponents) or put into play with opponents Show and Tell and if you discard it it returns to the Library so it won't be a problem with nether spirit.
Reaper King Creature costing 10 mana and having all colours, the best you can get when you already have progenitus.
Conflux Only 8 Mana but also all colours, if you can somehow play it (Dream halls from opponent or maelstrom Angel) it grant a big card advantage, and help you to win.
Maelstrom Angel Costs only 5 mana but it is a good creature (better then Reaper king) to put into play and has at least all 5 colours.
Coalition VictoryNo effect when played but still 8 mana and 5 colours.
(if you don't want to go the manascrew route I would suggest God's Eye, Gate to the reikai instead of the Ghostquarter, so you will still be secure against Daze, but don't have that many cards which can be dead /grant card disadvantage, the wasteland might still be ok, but you could also play something instead of the wastelands if you want to ignore the manabase)
Here a version for a blue meta with more reatures:
My new houserules:
1. Every player saing exiled or battlefield will be kicked out.
2. Not using you mana deals 2 points of manaburn.
3. Combat damage goes over the Stack and you can freely assign it.
4. Lifelinks does stack and doesn't safe you from dying.
5. Tokens are owned bye the one who has made them.
Everyone thinking M10 will not affect a lot of cards or Limited a lot, either has no clue about magic or has never played limited or is getting paid by wizards to do propaganda.
Alrighty, made my opening post much more comprehensive. I think everyone will be able to see the merits of this deck now. As always, feedback is appreciated.
Wow good primer and all, can you send a mail a message or something to an admin so that he moves it out of the casual? there will see it more people and more people will discuss it.
Edit: Scars of mirrodin has with the 1/1 for 0 mana a potential new card for this deck, maybe instead/additional to Dryad Arbor. Pros are that it isn't a land (wasteland secure) Cons are that it can be countered, that it can't produce mana, that it cost 0 mana and is no land (engineered explosives and counterbalance)
My new houserules:
1. Every player saing exiled or battlefield will be kicked out.
2. Not using you mana deals 2 points of manaburn.
3. Combat damage goes over the Stack and you can freely assign it.
4. Lifelinks does stack and doesn't safe you from dying.
5. Tokens are owned bye the one who has made them.
Everyone thinking M10 will not affect a lot of cards or Limited a lot, either has no clue about magic or has never played limited or is getting paid by wizards to do propaganda.
Sadly, no. I've had many the discussion with the mods, and they feel that the deck isn't good enough to be considered for "developing competitive". I feel otherwise, so what I'll have to do it take it to tournaments and tweak it on my own. Thanks for the heads up on the card from Scars!
I really really like this deck. It's a very interesting concept, I posted a thread in here about a week ago when i was going through my cards and found a few alternative costers and thought it'd be fun to have a no land deck. That's what i get for thinking I'm a visionary. LOL. great primer man, also i didn't see it in your list but contagion also has an alternative pitch cost. keep up the good work.
Private Mod Note
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Currently Running:
Legacy
:symb::symg:Eva Cheap:symg::symb:
:symg::symg:Elves:symg::symg:
Extended
:symr::symu:Ascension:symu::symr:
Standard
:symb::symg:B/G Land Destruction:symg::symb:
EDH
:symw::symu::symb::symr::symg: The Sliver Legionaires:symw::symu::symb::symr::symg:
:symw::symb:Infinite Life Clerics:symb::symw:
-If I was that Mike Long, my DCI rating would be higher.-
-I'd spend more money on cards if I didn't have a beautiful woman to spend it for me.-
The Scars of Mirrodin card Memnite (http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/attachments/81/393/635032492493881065.jpg), once released, will be added to this deck. A 1/1 for 0 is too good to pass up. We could remove Nether Spirit so we don't have to worry about discarding him or having him alone in the graveyard. I'll be playtesting with him to see where to put him and what to take out; if anyone else has ideas, please put them here. Once SoM is released, I will update the primer and, probably, the decklist.
So here some thoughts (especially on nether spirit)
I really like the nether spirit, since it is a really good source of card advantage, or to just block an tarmagoyf until you draw an answer for the goif, of course he sometimes won't come back anymore because of an other creature this is why I don't really like the Dryad Arbor, and also don't like the memnites. (with him of course versions without him are possible but I just love this card)
One problem is, what other cards do you run which could be possible turn 1 plays? Because it is important to have something to play on turn 1 because just play nothing and discarding a card is really bad.
One possibility is the lands for the manascrew route, they are great since you will then still have 7 cards in hand (if you draw the nether spirit the next turn)
But what can you play when you don't want to go the manascrew route?
One one drop would of course be Unmask (which is a good card of course) but you will go down to 6 cards and you also don't have any board influence (but of course you can play it turn 1)
You can also play vine dryad but playing it not as a suprise blocker is also not the greatest thing, also just having a target for their removal is not that good.
Some Card Discussion
LEYLINES
So what cards can other then that be played turn 1 (or 0)
The Leylines, so now the question is which Leyline can you play in this deck.
The bad thing about the leyline is, that you need to have them in the opening hand else they are quite useless. This means you need other cards which can get use of them (liek cards for which you can pitch them)
The good thing is you won't have one on the start hand sine else you would have put it into play. Also you give your opponents targets for their enchantement removal spells.
here the Leylines:
Leyline of Anticipation Not the greatest thing since you allready have a lot of instant cards and it isn't important for the other cards to be instant also this isn't really worth a card. Leyline of Lifeforce hm not the best idea even against counters since the Summoning Trap is better Leyline of Lightning In the version with lands, this isn't the worst thing. You can shoot some extra damages sometimes, this can help to kill the opponent. Leyline of Punishment Only worth if you are awaiting lifegain or damage prevention, redirection still works (Shining shoal) but you CAN'T pay the cost of cards like Skyshroud Cutter Leyline of Sanctity Good against Burn targeted discard and storm combo, or Goblin Charbelcher, it can detroy entire deckplans. It is the strongest one. Leyline of Singularity It isn't as useless as you may think, since it hoses all kinds of tokens like the Tokens from dredge or from Empty the warrens it can also slow some aggro decks down when they draw some cards in multiples. And if you say "the blue leyline" some players will maybe be stupid enough to kill their own permanents by playing more then one of the same kind. Leyline of Vitality In a creature heavy version this can be quite good, it gain you some life and your kreatures won't die as fast as else. Leyline of the Meek The deck needs tokens else this will only help some opponents instead of you. Leyline of the Void Hoses some Deckstrategies completely (like reanimator or dredge) And it will help a little bit against others like tarmogoyf and survival of the fittest and against Knight of the Relinquary
So which ones are real otpions?
In a creature heavy environment if you want to play go the mana screw route Leyline of Lightning is an option together with 4 Cave-In and 4 Pyrokinesis main then you will have 8-12 cards for which you can pitch them and you can sometimes deal some extra damage with the leyline
In a blue heavy environement if you want to play the creature heavy version you could run Leyline of Vitality could be worth a try.
But what could we run in the landless "normal" deck wich ignores the lands of the opponents.
We have 3 options
Leyline of Singularity It is blue and you allready run 8 cards in the deck to which you can pith it and they don't care that the leyline only costs 4 mana. On the starting hand it can slow down some decks and can hose some others, the problem is that dredge still has the ichorids and you will still need some graveyard hate in the board but it will at least give you more time against them.
Leyline of the Void It hoses dredge (but needs to be on the starting hand) you have 8 cards in the deck to which you can pitch it (unmask and sickening shoal) and 4 mana is enouh for the sickening shoal to kill most creatures. (at least as a combat trick)
Leyline of Sanctity It hoses some decks comepletely and against a lot of decks it shuts down several cards. I think it is the strongest from this 3 leylines but you only run 4 cards which need a white card to pitch and you want to have higher mana cost in the cards you pitch then 4.
To help you could run Scars of the Veteran (which isn't the best thing most of the time since it only sometimes safes a creature from damage and makes it a little bit bigger, but this isn't realy worth a card) or Sunscour (which isn't bad but costing two cards is just to much most of the time).. Or Reverent Mantra which can safe your creature from every removal AND it can help your creatures to be unblockable and such tricks, I would propably run Reverent Mantra although it isn't the best card.
So now to something different:
CONVOKE
You can play convoke stuff also without mana if you have enough creatures out there, but the deck would have to be a lot different.
Here maybe a first idea, I don't think that this is exactly the same and also I don't think that this deck is really strong just as something to think about.
Oh and it is a shame, that there is no way to put white or blue creatures into play without paying mana since Sky Hussar would be a really nice card, if one knows any way to put white creatures into play please tell me.
My new houserules:
1. Every player saing exiled or battlefield will be kicked out.
2. Not using you mana deals 2 points of manaburn.
3. Combat damage goes over the Stack and you can freely assign it.
4. Lifelinks does stack and doesn't safe you from dying.
5. Tokens are owned bye the one who has made them.
Everyone thinking M10 will not affect a lot of cards or Limited a lot, either has no clue about magic or has never played limited or is getting paid by wizards to do propaganda.
Any ideas to work this without Fow/wasteland? Mainly for budget reasons, and obviously not expecting to be effective as the original version ^^
And i have noticed that the deck doesn't have any draw engine, and this can be quickly lead us to just hope for topdecking something useful, adding that our hand is supposed to empty quite fats, since we use 2 cards at time; i'm right?
I think you don't come around FoW but you can use it in a huge amount of decks so this wouldn't be the worst thing to get since about 50% of the legacy decks use it anyway so if you want to play legacy this initial investement wouldn't be wrong.
The wastelands can be cut out, this isn't that bad you could just ignore their lands (also don't play ghostquarter then).
And instead of progenitus (which isn't that cheap either) just use some of the other mentioned cards, like reaper king conflux coalition victory and so on.
The only thing you should look at is that you have enough stuff to play turn 1 or 0 so that you don't have to discard (discarding nether spirit of course is a good idea) so if you don't run wasteland you should run at least 12 cards you could and want to play turn 0 or 1,
This cards are: Unmask leylines nether spirit.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My new houserules:
1. Every player saing exiled or battlefield will be kicked out.
2. Not using you mana deals 2 points of manaburn.
3. Combat damage goes over the Stack and you can freely assign it.
4. Lifelinks does stack and doesn't safe you from dying.
5. Tokens are owned bye the one who has made them.
Everyone thinking M10 will not affect a lot of cards or Limited a lot, either has no clue about magic or has never played limited or is getting paid by wizards to do propaganda.
So I have a little bit more tested and I found it frustrating, that you had to play cards, which where sometimes Dead in the Mainboard, when you are NOT going the Manascrew route. (Because You had to still play wasteland, or One of the Leylines or some verry weak creatures..)
Why I then don't go the manascrew route? Because against some Decks it doesn't work (To much basic Lands and so on). Also sometimes even if you could partially screw them if the game was going long (which can happen quite often) They will draw lands again, and then they don't really had the card disadvantage because of playing lands anymore (because you also needed cards to kill their lands..). Don't understand me wrong it can be good, and against some Decks you want to have Landdestruction (or lands to pay for daze), but it isn't good against all kind of decks.
So what are I playing instead, when I don't want to have dead cards?
Mishra's Bauble (he better one, since you will see more different cards, when playing more then one of them) Urza's Bauble
They help you to go through your deck and have higher chances to draw your good spells (the spells which can make card advantage)
Also they can be played turn 1 and help to stay on 7 cards (so that you can discard a later drawn nether spirit), and they have a little bonus.
Of course there are disadvantages, but the main disadvantage (making mulligans harder) isn't that hard in this deck, since you don't want to take a mulligan anyways most of the time. But they make Tarmogoyfs bigger, which is a negative point.
Also you don't have any lands left, so Daze can hurt you, what can you do about that? Not too much, but what helps is when you draw misdirections, since most of your spells are instants, you can play them as response to spells the opponent is playing, so you can use your misdirection so that they counter their own spell, also in such "counterwars" you can board Mind Break Trap in, since you want to have blue cards to pitch AND in such situations, when the opponent has a second Daze or a Force of Will, it will be the 3rd card played in the turn so Mind Break Trap becomes active.
So how could a Deck look like when you are playing some of the baubles?
(If your Meta has a lot of Natural Order I would leave at least 1 Maelstrom Angel in the Deck and cut a Reaper King or a Conflux instead, and maybe play more Commandeer instead of Mindbreak Trap in the Main)
And if a lot of Show and Tell are played I would cut Reaper King instead of the Maelstrom Angel. I would cut Reaper King over Conflux (I would leave at least 3 Conflux in the Deck) because the 2 Mana more aren't that much a difference, but if you can cast a Conflux of a Maelstrom Angel, it is waaaay better then a Reaper King.
This because a Maelstrom Angel in the Game (especially when you can cast Conflux then or Progenitus) is almost allways Game and often better then a Progenitus, and you can bring him also into play with Commandeer when you steal a Natural Order.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My new houserules:
1. Every player saing exiled or battlefield will be kicked out.
2. Not using you mana deals 2 points of manaburn.
3. Combat damage goes over the Stack and you can freely assign it.
4. Lifelinks does stack and doesn't safe you from dying.
5. Tokens are owned bye the one who has made them.
Everyone thinking M10 will not affect a lot of cards or Limited a lot, either has no clue about magic or has never played limited or is getting paid by wizards to do propaganda.
Is this still an open thread?
I am new to the deck, and i seems really cool, so i bought most of the cards from Tigris decklist above.
If anyone is keen on sharing newer experience, i am all ears!
I. Introduction
II. Advantages and Disadvantages
III. Cards to Play
IV. Cards to Pitch
V. Deck List
VI. Match-ups
I. Introduction
How often have you found yourself constantly fine-tuning the manabase of your deck because you fail to draw that one critical land needed in your match to finish off your opponent? Or, conversely, how often have you found yourself flooded with mana? Entire internet articles have been written on the mathematical formulas needed to determine just how many lands to play and in what quantities to ensure an optimal manabase. And of course, due to the shuffling and randomization of your deck, even the best pro player in the world can't guarantee they'll draw the needed land and mana to win. This has always been a dilemma since the very beginning of Magic. Wouldn't it be great if you had the ability to play any of your spells at any time without worrying about drawing the needed mana to cast them? To be able to play anything on your first turn no matter what you drew in your hand? A lot of people have thought about this, myself included, and a radical solution has come up.
Eliminate mana altogether.
Yes, you read that correctly. Construct a deck with no mana sources whatsoever. Obviously, your first two questions are, "So then how do you play spells? How do you win?" Well, regarding a "no mana" deck there have been two schools of thought. One is to use a version of Affinity that plays as many zero casting cost artifacts as possible combining with Mycosynth Golem to bring out big artifact creatures like Darksteel Colossus (you can view one such version by clicking here). Unfortunately, that deck is not the most viable to play because everything tends to flow through just one card (Mycosynth Golem), and with no counterspells or disruption in your hand you are at the mercy of your opponent as they paint a large target on your Golem. Instead, we're going to concentrate on the other (and much more viable) school of thought: play spells that have alternate casting costs. I feel confident in saying that nearly 99% of you reading this are familiar with at least one such spell (Force of Will), but what most of you might not realize is that there are quite a few spells like Force of Will that can be cast by exiling a particular color card from your hand (what we'll call "pitching" from here on out, hence the "pitch" part of the deck name), thus eliminating the need to pay their mana cost. How do you determine which cards to pitch? Well, if we're looking for the most optimal spells to play, we shouldn't have to worry about what color they are. So logically, the best cards to pitch would be cards that have all five colors on them so we have the ability to immediately play any of our spells at any time. This means we'll be constructing a five-color deck (hence the "rainbow" part of the deck name) utilizing the best alternate casting cost spells to play and the best five-color cards to pitch. Before we delve into the cards, let's go into this eyes wide open and look at the advantages and disadvantages to playing Rainbow Pitch.
II. Advantages and Disadvantages
- Advantages -
By not needing mana to play your spells, you retain the ability to play anything in your hand at any time. You don't need to wait until you draw enough land or get that needed Dark Ritual; you simply play the spell while pitching one of your other cards. And by not using mana, your deck will never be manascrewed or manaflooded. Furthermore, spells your opponents play to disrupt your manabase are dead in their hand and deck, netting you some virtual card advantage. Many of the spells you will play have a high converted mana cost eliminating the fear of cards like Counterbalance and Chalice of the Void which are fairly common in the format. This deck also has the ability to win very quickly; with the right cards in hand, a T1 or T2 win is very realistic. Finally, because you are not playing any mana sources and are playing a five-color deck, your opponent will be unable to figure out what your next move will (or could possibly) be, causing them to play more cautiously. Never underestimate a psychological advantage.
-Disadvantages-
Obviously by playing only alternate casting cost spells you're cutting yourself off from the vast majority of spell possibilities; there are only so many spells that have an alternate casting cost. You do also lose some card advantage since your opponent only needs to play one card from their hand to cast a spell (the spell itself) while you must cast two cards (the spell and the card you pitch). Finally, there are some cards that can hurt us. Most are not played heavily, if at all, in the format, and shouldn't keep you up at night. A few of them, however, are played enough that you should take notice. I will include all possible cards here so you are fully aware of anything out there that can harm you:
Big Threats - Trinisphere (seen mostly in Stax decks) can almost shut us completely down, while Ghostly Prison and Propaganda (seen mostly in Enchantress decks) can make life very difficult for our creatures.
Lesser Threats - Gaddock Teeg (seen mostly in Zoo or Aggro-style decks) can stop some parts of our deck, but not all. Thorn of Amethyst, Glowrider, and Sphere of Resistance can slow you down, but they also slow your opponent down which is why they are not played very much. Magus of the Tabernacle and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale are, for us, lesser versions of Ghostly Prison and Propaganda.
Still with me? Good. Just remember than there is no such thing as a 100% fool-proof deck. All decks in all formats have weaknesses, and it's up to us to deal with them. With that, let's get to card selection. I will break this part of the primer up into two different sections: Cards to Play, and Cards to Pitch.
III. Cards to Play
Here I will list the most relevant alternate cost spells (good or bad) along with its strengths and weaknesses in regards to a Rainbow Pitch deck. Bear in mind that because no combo exists that can automatically win you the game without involving mana, Rainbow Pitch's way to win is through creatures and direct damage. We will also have to utilize creatures that can actually do damage on their own to maximize our efforts, so zero-cost artifact creatures like Ornithopter and Phyrexian Walker are out. However, knowing what we know about this deck's potential weaknesses, we will also have to use some control and disruption elements to push ourselves to victory.
-Creatures-
Vine Dryad - a 1/3 flash creature with Forestwalk. Its flash ability helps to negate the card disadvantage by pitching a green card to play him while also giving you a surprise blocker. And remember that most aggro decks you face play Tarmogoyf, meaning your opponent will have a Forest in play.
Dryad Arbor - the only man-land playable in this type of deck. For this deck, counts as a creature not a land. Having an uncounterable 1/1 creature that costs zero is something to think about. Susceptible not only to creature removal but land removal as well, such as Wasteland.
Skyshroud Cutter - a 2/2 creature only playable when comboed with Dryad Arbor. Since it gives your opponent 5 life when casted, this creature only becomes effective after its third attack.
Allosaurus Rider - With its power and toughness determined by the number of lands you play (which we don't), coupled with the fact you must pitch two cards to cast him (not just one), this is only playable in a Rainbow Pitch build based around green and with many lands used for non-mana purposes.
Nether Spirit - a 2/2 creature. The only way to play him is by discarding him into our graveyard (or if he is milled into the graveyard and is still the only creature in it.) You must also make sure that, if he is destroyed, he is the only creature in the graveyard so you can use his ability for card advantage; this means if you have more than one creature out you will probably be attacking with Nether Spirit alone. If you play with Nether Spirit, you will be always want to draw first instead of play first because with eight cards in your hand you have about a 46% chance of holding Nether Spirit (http://www.tollie.org/files/cardcount.php), increasing to 50% on turn 2.
Basking Rootwalla - a 1/1 creature playable for zero through its madness cost. Like Nether Spirit, it must be discarded to play; therefore when playing this card, draw first at the start of the game.
-Instants-
Blazing Shoal - a card that can provide enough damage (along with your attacking creature) to finish off your opponent’s large creature or even your opponent.
Disrupting Shoal - a counterspell that can only work if you pitch a card with the exact same converted mana cost as the spell you are attempting to counter. Difficult to pull off.
Nourishing Shoal - the life gain you net may let you hold out longer, but by itself this card does not directly contribute to you winning.
Shining Shoal - best played when your opponent attacks with a large damage source, such as Progentius or Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (Shining Shoal does not target the source of the damage).
Sickening Shoal - creature removal that, when used with a large enough pitched card, can remove nearly any creature your opponent plays.
Archive Trap - Enough Legacy players search their libraries (Fetchlands, for example) to warrant a look at this card. By playing this, you gamble that one (or more) of the 13 milled cards will be essential to your opponent’s combo.
Mindbreak Trap - a necessary sideboard card against Storm-type decks.
Summoning Trap - a sneaky card playable against decks with counterspells. It could allow you to actually play one of your high-casting cost five-color pitch card creatures (which we will get into later).
Soul Spike - in essence, a 4 point Drain Life that costs two black pitched cards. A high price to pay, but could be used as a finisher.
Bounty of the Hunt - an instant that can either give a temporary boost to your attacking or blocking creature, as well as help save it from any direct damage.
Pyrokinesis - useful against decks with small creatures, though unlike
Sunscour - in essence, a Wrath of God that costs two white pitch cards. Expensive to play, but can reset the field when all else fails.
Force of Will - a no-brainer counterspell you must have in this deck.
Misdirection - while not a counterspell per say, using your opponent’s spell against them does have many uses.
Commandeer - Works somewhat similarly to Misdirection although if played in response to an artifact, enchantment, or planeswalker you get to keep them for the price of two pitched blue cards which helps the card advantage (play three cards and gain one). Expensive but worth considering.
Snapback - It can bounce a blocker out of your creature’s way but at the cost of a blue pitch card, it may be too expensive of an ability.
Faerie Macabre/Ravenous Trap - both essentially have the same mechanic and are sideboard only cards. Faerie Macabre is uncounterable but only removes two graveyard cards, Ravenous Trap only works in certain situations, can be countered, but eliminates the entire graveyard.
Scars of the Veteran - a damage preventer for you or one your creatures, with the added bonus of adding to the toughness of your creature for every point of damage you prevented.
-Sorceries-
Cave-In - in essence, a Pyroclasm. The 2 damage to your opponent (and their creatures) can help contribute to your victory, but remember it hits you and your creatures also. As a sorcery, this is slower than Pyrokinesis for creature removal.
Unmask - in essence, a Thoughseize that doesn’t cost 2 life but does cost a black pitch card. Can help you stop troublesome cards (Big Threats and Lesser Threats) before they are played.
-Artifacts-
Tormod’s Crypt - like Faerie Macabre and Ravenous Trap a sideboard card, but is not situational, eliminates the entire graveyard, and can be countered.
Chalice of the Void - a zero-point Chalice can stop Storm decks in their tracks. Usable only as a sideboard card.
-Lands-
(Dryad Arbor is considered a creature for this deck)
Maze of Ith - while it can stop an attacking creature, it also gives your opponent a blocker which isn’t the most desirable when we are using creatures to win. Vulnernable to land destruction.
God's Eye, Gate to the Reikai - a land that can net you a 1/1 token if you can get it into your graveyard. Since your opponent will not destroy it for you (because it would net you a creature), you will need to either discard it or play another when one is already in play (activating the ‘legendary rule’ sending both to your graveyard).
Wasteland - Obviously only used to destroy non-basic lands. Can be useful to slow your opponent down.
IV. Cards to Pitch
As I stated before, since we’re looking at all five colors for cards to play it only makes sense that the cards we choose to put in our deck to pitch contain all five colors, ensuring you will always have the correct card to pitch in your hand. You’ll also want each pitch card to have a high converted mana cost for spells like Blazing Shoal and Sickening Shoal. Finally, keep in mind on the rare occasion your opponent plays something like Dream Halls, Hypergenesis, Show and Tell, or Eureka, you’ll be able to actually play your five-color pitch cards and probably win the game right then and there.
Progenitus - with a converted mana cost of ten, this is one of the two best possible pitch cards.
Reaper King - the other best pitch card since it also has a converted mana cost of ten.
Conflux - with a converted mana cost of eight, the next best pitch card.
Coalition Victory - also an eight converted mana cost, this one cannot help you on the rare chance you can play your pitch cards.
Karona, False God - the only other five-color pitch card with a converted mana cost higher than five (six).
Maelstrom Archangel - on the rare chance you can play it, it allows you to play another pitch card when you deal damage.
If for some reason you cannot get a hold of enough of the above five-color cards, you can always consider the three-color legend dragons from Legends, Chronicles, and/or Masters Edition III. All have a converted mana cost of eight:
Arcades Sabboth - good for green, white, and blue spells
Chromium - good for white, blue, and black spells
Nicol Bolas - good for blue, black, and red spells
Palladia-Mors - good for red, green, and white spells
Vaevictis Asmadi - good for red, green, and black spells
V. Deck List
So with everything we’ve learned, here’s our basic deck list:
4 Progenitus
4 Reaper King
4 Conflux
4 Coalition Victory
Creatures: 12
4 Vine Dryad
4 Dryad Arbor
4 Nether Spirit
4 Unmask
Instants: 24
4 Force of Will
4 Misdirection
4 Pyrokinesis
4 Sickening Shoal
4 Blazing Shoal
4 Shining Shoal
4 Wasteland
4 Cave-In
4 Mindbreak Trap
4 Faerie Macabre
3 Commandeer
You’ll be using your creatures to win. Use Force of Will and Misdirection to stop anything nasty from your opponent. Use Unmask to get rid of anything nasty in your opponent’s hand. Play Pyrokinesis and Sickening Shoal to sweep away your opponent’s creatures. Pump your creatures with Blazing Shoal for big damage. Use Shining Shoal as a surprise for even more damage.
VI. Match-ups
The idea for this deck is relatively new, which means there is not a lot of data concerning potential match-ups. However, there is enough that can help you should you encounter the decks below. If anyone chooses to play Rainbow Pitch, please let me know what your build was and how you matched up. I'll be glad to give credit and constantly update this section.
-ANT-
Sickening Shoal, Shining Shoal, and Pyrokinesis are dead in your deck; nothing is dead in theirs. Take out all your Sickening Shoals and Pyrokinesis, and two of your Shining Shoal. Sideboard in your Mindbreak Traps, Cave-Ins, and Commandeer. Try as much you can by using your Wasteland, Unmask, Force of Will, Commandeer (when sideboarded) and Misdirection to halt their storm. Watch out for Duress, Orim's Chant, and Silence.
-Zoo-
Nothing dead in your deck or theirs. Sideboard out your Unmasks and sideboard in your Cave-Ins. This is a race to see who's creatures will win first. Watch out - on occasion Zoo will play Gaddock Teeg.
-Stax-
Shining Shoal is dead for you; Stax's dead cards include Chalice of the Void and Armageddon. Sideboard out your Shining Shoals and sideboard in your Commandeer and 1 Faerie Macabre. This deck can be nasty against us; they play Trinisphere, Magus of the Tabernacle, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, and Ghostly Prison. If your opponent plays Smokestack, try to make sure you only have Nether Spirit out so it will continually return to play. Use Commandeer to steal their Crucible of Worlds, Ghostly Prison, or Elspeth, Knight-Errant.
-Goblins-
Misdirection is dead for us; they have no dead cards. Sideboard in Cave-In, take out Misdirection. It's another race. Watch out for their Goblin Ringleader, Goblin Lackey, Goblin Piledriver, and/or Warren Investigator.
-Merfolk-
Nothing is dead in our deck; Stifle is dead in theirs, and to an extent Standstill since we play so many instants. Sideboard in Cave-In; sideboard out Unmask. You can use your Dryad Arbor as well as your Wasteland to neutralize their Daze. Watch out for Standstill - wait to use your instants.
I hope you enjoyed my Rainbow Pitch primer. If you tweak the deck to suit your metagame, you have a deck that can hold its own against any other deck in Legacy. Enjoy!
seems much better than Garza zol or Karona.
i like this deck's ability to win on 1 if you're on the draw or 2 on the play, and I think the look on you're opponents face would be entirely worth at least giving it a shot.
maybe the maze of ith should be serum powder to push a bit more towards that early win?
Edit: oh yeah, and progenitus.
I'm almost completely sure that they just go the DDD route with the last D being return instead of dredge.
Not bad, in fact pretty similar. Didn't think about Reaper King as a pitch-card; I might put him in and take someone out. Looked at his sideboard - he's got Sunscour which I've thought of putting in, but he doesn't have Shining Shoal which I've also been toying with putting in (could be very nasty IMO, but I've not playtested it). Obviously my deck is in flux because I have no sideboard, so I'm open to any ideas. Thanks for letting me know about the other deck!
Can't See is correct: the way you play Nether Spirit is the DDD method (and for those of you who don't know what that means, DDD stands for "Discard, Damage, Decking"). The main way you bring him out is by discarding him; then of course when he is damaged he returns to the field during your upkeep since all your pitched creature cards are exiled, not discarded into the graveyard.
Hey, I freely admit it's not the absolute BEST way to play a creature and of course there could be problems: a milled creature pitch-card in the graveyard definitely sucks the big one, and of course you have to hold onto cards once you get the Nether Spirit so you can discard him. If someone can think of a better card to play, believe me I'm all ears.
So first the pitch cards:
I would play s cards to pitch:
Reaper King since he is all 5 colours and cost 10 mana.
Progenitus since he is all 5 colours and and cost 10 mana AND additional if the opponent plays show and tell, which is played more at the moment you have a really good card to put into play with it.
Conflux Since it costs 8 mana is all 5 colours and if the opponent plays dream halls (which migth happen) this card can win you the game (by searching 5 good cards, of which 1 is conflux and so on)
Maelstrom Archangel all 5 colours, but only 5 mana, but also a really good card to put into play with show and tell and lets you then play your cards, like conflux and helps you win.
I think 16 cards to pitch are enough since you can also pitch the pitch cards.
Maze of Ith Isn't that good in your deck, since you want to win with your small creatures attacking, so having your opponent has an untaped creature is quite bad. Also one really good point of your deck is, that you don't have any targets for wastelands since you don't need mana, making wasteland a dead card for your opponent, so giving them a target, which is suboptimal might not be the best idea.
Soul Spike Costing 2 Black cards is just TO much for this small effect, you don't want to pitch 2 cards for just killing a small creature and gaining 4 life, of course it isn't dead against decks with no creatures but still 2 cards to lose is too much you can't afford this.
Cave-In / pyrokinesis I am not sure if you need all 8 cards in the main they can all be dead cards and only kill small creatures. maybe put 4 to the sideboard.
So what could you intead:
I found sickening shoal to be a card which is needed, because it is the only way to kill big creatures (like tarmogoyf or even worse creatures), without paying mana.
Shining shoal can be a card being almost dead at some times, but being really good if the opponent plays burn, since then this card will trade 2 for 2 and make NO card disadvantage. Also Against decks with really big creatures (like progenitus or emrakul (this works since the shoald doesn't target) or goblin charbelcher, it is really good since deling 8-10 damage to your opponent instead of you is quite good.
Also it can together with some of your creatures and cave-In cause some serious damage to your opponent (so it is a meta dependent card, but it is most of the time maindeck worthy ESPECIALLY in versions with more creatures and cave-In, since you can redirect every damage cave-in does to you and your creatures to your opponent)
Wasteland helps to slow down opponents AND can be used to pay 1 for cards like squere of resistance or daze, also it can handle some ugly lands like maze or manlands and such stuff, and since it won't stayin play a long time it isn't a good target for opposing wastelands most of the time. Is especially good (like other lands like maze of ith) because you will have a turn 1 play with it, when you don't have a nether spirit.
Ghost Quarter Is wasteland 5-8 against some decks, but it can't slow the opponent down as good as the other of course.
But if you think a lot of daze and or non basics will be played, you could play them together with the wasteland, also they are great in a meta with a lot of daze, since you will neven need to tap out, and so you can if you draw 1 of your lands easily play around daze. I think when I look at some decks at the moment it could be quite worth to play them.
Dryad Arbor Is a creature itself doesn't cost you any additional card, BUT is a wasteland target. But of course can also help you to play the 1 for daze (just play spells before attacking). Also is a forest, so it can be searched with fetchlands AND it allow you to play cards like:
Skyshroud Cutter(creature without card disadvantage) (or if you want) Reverent Silence in the sideboard.
Also in a version with more lands (in that version even maze of ith would be good since you have more creatures and can use it to safe your creatures when you attack with more then one, and only 1 is blocked) Allosaurus Rider AND you could play Summoning Trap in the sideboard against blue decks.
Other possible Sideboard cards:
Mindbreak Trap against combo no card disadvantage counter
Todmod's Crypt Against stuff using the graveyard
Commandeer Against combo and ugly non creature cards (like planeswalker, or smokestack crucible of worls if you are running wastelands and so on), also against decks using Natural order, since you can search for your progenitus instead.
Nourishing Shoal Against burn or really fast aggro decks, or some combodecks (like storm they often deal only about 20 damge, or even charbelcher)
Archive Trap Against combo/decks which are light on non fetchlands decks with tutors (was better when ystical tutor was banned, but can still "counter" enligthened tutor) If you are playing wastelands AND ghostquarter it can help to destroy some manabases, especially against bant, but also against zoo sometimes or 4 colour counterbalance.
(sunscour is only needed if you are awaiting a lot of aggrodecks with big creatures(especially zoo), but costs to much most of the time (2 white cards..)
Important with the deck is, that you choose the cards acording to your meta, this can make a HUGE diference (a lot of aggro? or a lot of daze/nonbasics?, a lot of wastelands? and so on)
about the other cards in your deck:
Nether spirit is good since you allways want your opponent to start, and you don't like taking mulligans at all, so you have an chance of about 45% thaat you can discard him in your first turn. Also there are some decks which are playing discard, and this creature is helping a lot against them, most people will not play mill anyway, and when they are playing discard look, that you always pitch the angel and the reaper king first, and that you have you can play your vine dryad as an instant. I would allways play him since a 45% chance to have a recurring creature isn't that bad and agains discard (like smallpox pox raven's crime and so on) he shines, also agaist stax a recuring creature to sacrifice can be good.
Also you will with this deck, allways wait to play your cards until you can't wait any longer, so you will often be at a big total number of cards in your hands, and you will have some chances later to still play him.
And when you have unmask (and sickening shoal) you can use later ones to pitch, so he will not often be really dead. (also you can unmask yourself to let you dicard the nether spirit)
Unmask is needed since it is never dead and you really need it against controll and especially combo. But will be boarded out a lot of the time since it is allways card disadvantage and has no board influence.
Misdirection , really good against decks with creatures and removal (play your creatures if possible not before they hve played one) verry good against burn, and good against counter.
Force of Will is needed else you will just lose against combo, also is never a dead card, and unlike unmask is played only when you know hte opponent has something and it has costed the opponent mana.
Vine Dryad can often pe played in a way, that it will not grant you card disadvantage (when the opponent is attacing with a 1/1 or a 2/1 for example or a 2/3 if you also have a nether spirit)
and is good with blazing shoal since it will be unbloacked against a lot of decks.
Blazing shoal is needed so that your opponent has at least a little bit fear of your explosive starts, can be boarded out sometimes, but only if the opponent knows that you are playing it.
(1 forest in the deck could also be possible to have something to search when they are playing something like path to exile, and in the version with more green and more creatures, it is a wasteland secure way to allways play your forest needing cards (and pay 1 for daze)
ah and about serum powder this is only good when you are going for the early kill, which has a really low chance EVEN with the serum powder, and serum powder itself is EVER a dead card, so granting you additional card disadvantage, which is bad.
And I think the Main advantage of this deck is, that it doesn't have that many points to attack, you can't attack it's mana base (which a lot of decks are doing) and it isn't affected by a lot of cards, Here some examples: Wasteland, Stiffle, Counterbalance, Spellsnare, Artifact destruction Engineered Explosives, (If you are playing the rigth version (if this is needed in your meta) even daze), often pernicious deed
I would play something like this at the moment:
4 Progenitus
4 Reaper King
4 Maelstrom Archangel
4 Conflux
Creatures: 8
4 Vine Dryad
4 Nether Spirit
Disruption:20
4 Force of Will
4 Misdirection
4 Unmask
4 Wasteland
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Pyrokinesis
4 Sickening Shoal
Big Spells:8
4 Blazing Shoal
4 Shining Shoal
4 Cave-In
4 Commandeer
4 Archive Trap
3 Mindbreak Trap
If you expect more combo then -1 commandeer +1 mindbreak trap (or -1 cave in if there aren't that many aggro in your meta). And if you are afraid by dredge you can exchange the Archive Trap with Tormod's Crypt.
The Archive Trap can be boarded in (instead of the Blazing Shoal, if the opponent has see it) against decks with removal and which have weaky manabases like Bant, Zoo, or other 3-4 Colour decks, can also be sided in against combo decks with a high amount of searching spells, which are low on win conditions, or which may need some cards in library left (like charbelcher)
Also if you are thinking, that you will see more combo and more tribal then zoo swap the cave-in with the pyrokinesis. And if you think there will be a lot of tribal decks, swap unmask with Cave-In.
(As an explanation why Archive trap against whacky mana bases: Some mana bases are playing almost No basic lands, but a lot of fetch lands, if you can play 1 or 2 archive traps against some decks, chances will be quite big, that they don't have basics left in the library, especially when they search for basic lands, since they know that you are playing wasteland and you can activate wasteland on turn one with no regrets, since you don't need any mana) or not the rigth dual land. so you can more easier mana/colour screw them with wasteland and ghostquarter, also if the opponent plays a fetchland and you play 4 archive traps you win the next turn^^)
Edit Massacre and Rushwood legate are in some builds ok sideboard cards.
1. Every player saing exiled or battlefield will be kicked out.
2. Not using you mana deals 2 points of manaburn.
3. Combat damage goes over the Stack and you can freely assign it.
4. Lifelinks does stack and doesn't safe you from dying.
5. Tokens are owned bye the one who has made them.
Everyone thinking M10 will not affect a lot of cards or Limited a lot, either has no clue about magic or has never played limited or is getting paid by wizards to do propaganda.
Thanks for the great feedback! I'm sorry this got moved to Casual (I'm not building this deck for casual play), but I'm working on integrating your ideas into the opening post so it's a bit more comprehensive.
MORE WILL FOLLOW
Primer Gedankenexperiment
Introduction:
A lot of games are won or lost because of Manascrew or Manaflood so wouldn't it be nice to have a Deck, which can't lose because of either of this? So in order to have such an Deck we need a lot of cards which can be played without Mana or which do have an effect without Mana.
Disadvantages:
There are only a limited number of cards which you can play in such a Deck, so you can only choose from among them. Also most cards which can be played “for free” will grant you some card disadvantage or are just kind of week.
Advantages:
You don't need Mana so as mentioned above, there is no Manascrew and no Manaflood.
Additional you can't be slowed down by cards disrupting or destroying your Manabase, so you have one thing less, opponents can attack.
Additional most cards which can be played for free have a high converted Manacost, so you are kind of safe from Cards like Counterbalance or Spellsnare
Cardselection:
As mentioned we can only use a limited number of cards and we should take care of the fact, that most cards will make card disadvantage so we need cards which don't or even cards which can grant card advantage.
Creatures:
You need a way to win and the most standard way to do so is by attacking with creatures, so what kind of creatures can be run without needing any mana?
Dryad Arbor is a forest this has some advantages as we see later. Also only costs you the card itself but is only a 1/1 creature which is kind of week and it will be outclassed often.
Vine Dryad Is a 1/3 creature which is a LOT better since it can block 2/2 for ever and can kill 1/1 and 2/1 creatures all day. It costs you one additional green card, but the fact that you can play it as an instant let you sometime negate the card disadvantage from playing it, when you kill an attacking creature with it (without the vine dryad dying of course)
Allosaurus RiderCosting two (green) cards is a lot worse then costing only one also the fact, that you will play almost landless will keep him small so he won't be that good.
Skyshroud Cutter If you have a forest (like Dryad Arbor) you can play it without card disadvantage, but you need at least 3 attacks before he has done something.
Nether Traitor A recurring 2/2 creature is something really good, the problem is to put it into the graveyard. Fortunately we don't want/need to play lands, so you can always choose to draw and then you have a 45% chance to have one of him in the opening 8 cards and you can discard him at the end of turn. Also some opponents play discard, and then he will be even better. In the worst case he is a black card to pitch to other cards.
Rushwood LegateIf you are a version with forests you can play them in the sideboard against a good number of decks (since blue is played a lot) this card can be a free 2/1 without card disadvantage.
God's Eye, Gate to the Reikaiwill become a creature when you can sacrifice it or the opponent destroys it, also when you play the second one you have 2 1/1s before this happens it at least grant you mana (for daze and that kinds of things) and it isn't a creature in the graveyard (Nether spirit) and although it is a land, wasteland on it is a bad idea.
Fetchlands/ Land Grant:can be used to search for Dryad Arbor and so they are Pseudo creatures itself. If you need more ways to get your Forests (Dryad Arbor) orSwamps.
Summoning Trap Sideboard card for Creature heavy decks against blue decks, you should have enough big Targets in your Library (in the form of Pitch cards).
More Damage
The small creatures might not be enough to win, so you need some ways to make them bigger or to deal additional damage.
Blazing Shoal needs an attacking creature itself and an additional (expensive) red card, but can deal up to 10 additional damage. It is just needed to be somehow a Thread (or pretending to are one) without them the opponent has to much time.
Shining Shoalneeds an (opposing) big source of damage and an additional white (expensive) card.
But when redirecting a burn to an opposing creature it can Trade 2:2 (so it will sometimes not grant any card disadvantage) Also works with mass burn spells like Cave-In and Firespout dealing a lot of damage to the opponent instead of your creatures. And it can redirect damage from an Emrakul or Progenitus since it doesn't target.
Soul SpikeGrants too much card disadvantage costing 2 additional cards but you can't trade better then 3:1 (killing a creature ) and 4 life isn't that much.
Pendelhavenis a Land (so wasteland and stuff can harm it) but can make your 1/1 creatures into something the opponent has to care about, since 2/3 creatures are much better then just 1/1s. This is only worth running as a 1 or 2 of and only if you have 8+ ways to get to 1/1 creatures)
Removal
Pyrokinesis Cost 6 Mana (good for Blazing shoal) and can often trade 2:2 or sometimes even 2:3 or 2:4 so it is a good card when you want to handle small creatures.
Cave-In Can Trade even better against small hordes of creatures and deals damage to the opponent (and you too). Works with shining shoal when you have a lot of creatures but can be dangerous since it kills your creatures too. Is not complete dead against combo but only really good against really small creatures (so not against zoo)
Sickening Shoal Can kill every creature if you have a big enough card to Pitch, so it is kind of needed, else Tarmogoyfs and other stuff will run over you.
Maze of IthCan handle non shroud non protection from Lands creatures, as long as your opponent has no wasteland or something. Also gives your opponent a blocker, is better when you have enough creatures so that you can attack with multiple ones and Safe blocked ones.
Sunscour2 white cards are a lot also all your creatures will die without any way to safe them. Is only needed and good against decks with a lot of big creatures.
Spinning Darkness If you are running a heavy black build this card can help you to kill small creatures without card disadvantage and granting life against aggro isn't that bad too. But you need a lot of black cards in the deck in order to make it worth.
Snuff Out If you have a way to get to a swamp this can help to kill big creatures. Granting no card disadvantage (if you don't count the swamp which you need). The 4 Life can also be quite harsh against some aggrodecks.
Horobi's WhisperIf you are playing swamps this card can help to kill creatures with your arcane spells (the shoals) also the card helps the nether spirit to be active again when there are to many creatures in your graveyard.
Contagion Almost always worse then Pyrokinesis, only better if you need a black card and you have some creatures to block so that this will be a combat trick. Also helps against regenerating stuff like River Boa and so on, and helps against creatures with protection from red.
Disruption
Since you aren't the fastest Deck in the world you will need some kind of Disruption in order to have enough time to win.
Force of Will: There is not much to say, this is one of the best cards in the format it helps you have a chance against combo, but also against other decks it is never a dead card.
UnmaskThis will unlike Force of will not grant you any tempo advantage since your opponent hasn't used mana for the card you get rid of with this. Also you can't be sure if there is a card worth discarding with it. Also it grants always card disadvantage but is almost never a dead card.
Misdirection: Force of Will against Counters, better against burn or removal (if the opponent has also a creature) but dead against almost everything else.
Commandeer You need 2 Cards, against a lot of stuff it is only a Misdirection, but ig can also get you a Planeswalker or a Natural Order or something like this. Against some decks it is almost dead this is why it is better in the sideboard.
Wasteland Can slow down the opponent and the only way to get rid of manlands or Maze of Ith
Ghost Quarter Against some decks it is wasteland 5-8 against some other decks it is a weaker version of wasteland. If you need more Wastelands this will help.
Petrified FieldIf you have a huge amount of other lands this can help. Wasting a Land drop isn't that bad with this deck, but most of the time it isn't worth
Mindbreak TrapFree counter without card disadvantage against combo decks, against a lot of other decks it is a dead card, so this is sideboard fodder.
Tormod's Crypt, Fearie Macabre, Ravenous TrapSideboard cards good against some Decks worthless against others. I prefer Tormod's Crypt since it helps against everything and you can play it at any time you draw it and can play it before you need it.
Reverent SilenceSideboard Card in a Deck with forests, when you await some Enchantress decks or other bad Enchantments like Propaganda (which can kill you..)
Archive Trap Can help against combo or can together with wasteland and ghostquarter help to Manascrew decks with wacky Manabases completely (some decks run a lot more fetchlands then actual lands especially basics hitting them with Archive Trap can be really deadly since then you then have just 8 Wastelands, which might be more then actual Lands left in their deck.
Lifegain
You might need some lifegain in your meta, if this is the case there are also some options:
Nourishing ShoalAgainst burn or some combo decks this can really safe you sincve gaining 10 life for free can ruin their plan completely.
Sheltered Valley As a one of it can be good, granting you every turn one life can help in the long run against burn or other decks, but you can't really play more then one, also a target for wasteland..
Pitchcards
So you need also some cards to Pitch for your spells they should have all colours and cost a lot of mana so what is there?
ProgenitusCosting 10 Mana having all colours and can be searched with Natural Order (stolen from opponents) or put into play with opponents Show and Tell and if you discard it it returns to the Library so it won't be a problem with nether spirit.
Reaper King Creature costing 10 mana and having all colours, the best you can get when you already have progenitus.
Conflux Only 8 Mana but also all colours, if you can somehow play it (Dream halls from opponent or maelstrom Angel) it grant a big card advantage, and help you to win.
Maelstrom Angel Costs only 5 mana but it is a good creature (better then Reaper king) to put into play and has at least all 5 colours.
Coalition VictoryNo effect when played but still 8 mana and 5 colours.
Sample Decklists:
Normal version with goes the manascrew route:
4 Progenitus
4 Reaper King
4 Maelstrom Archangel
4 Conflux
Creatures: 8
4 Vine Dryad
4 Nether Spirit
Disruption:20
4 Force of Will
4 Misdirection
4 Unmask
4 Wasteland
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Pyrokinesis
4 Sickening Shoal
Big Spells:8
4 Blazing Shoal
4 Shining Shoal
4 Cave-In
4 Commandeer
4 Archive Trap
3 Mindbreak Trap
Here a version for a blue meta with more reatures:
4 Progenitus
4 Maelstrom Archangel
4 Conflux
2 Reaper King
Creatures/Lands: 18
4 Vine Dryad
4 Dryad Arbor
4 Skyshroud Cutter
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Forest
4 Force of Will
4 Misdirection
4 Unmask
Creature Removal:8
4 Pyrokinesis
4 Sickening Shoal
Big Spells:8
4 Blazing Shoal
4 Shining Shoal
4 Summoning Trap
4 Rushwood Legate
4 Cave-In
3 Commandeer
1. Every player saing exiled or battlefield will be kicked out.
2. Not using you mana deals 2 points of manaburn.
3. Combat damage goes over the Stack and you can freely assign it.
4. Lifelinks does stack and doesn't safe you from dying.
5. Tokens are owned bye the one who has made them.
Everyone thinking M10 will not affect a lot of cards or Limited a lot, either has no clue about magic or has never played limited or is getting paid by wizards to do propaganda.
Edit: Scars of mirrodin has with the 1/1 for 0 mana a potential new card for this deck, maybe instead/additional to Dryad Arbor. Pros are that it isn't a land (wasteland secure) Cons are that it can be countered, that it can't produce mana, that it cost 0 mana and is no land (engineered explosives and counterbalance)
1. Every player saing exiled or battlefield will be kicked out.
2. Not using you mana deals 2 points of manaburn.
3. Combat damage goes over the Stack and you can freely assign it.
4. Lifelinks does stack and doesn't safe you from dying.
5. Tokens are owned bye the one who has made them.
Everyone thinking M10 will not affect a lot of cards or Limited a lot, either has no clue about magic or has never played limited or is getting paid by wizards to do propaganda.
Legacy
:symb::symg:Eva Cheap:symg::symb:
:symg::symg:Elves:symg::symg:
Extended
:symr::symu:Ascension:symu::symr:
Standard
:symb::symg:B/G Land Destruction:symg::symb:
EDH
:symw::symu::symb::symr::symg: The Sliver Legionaires:symw::symu::symb::symr::symg:
:symw::symb:Infinite Life Clerics:symb::symw:
-If I was that Mike Long, my DCI rating would be higher.-
-I'd spend more money on cards if I didn't have a beautiful woman to spend it for me.-
I really like the nether spirit, since it is a really good source of card advantage, or to just block an tarmagoyf until you draw an answer for the goif, of course he sometimes won't come back anymore because of an other creature this is why I don't really like the Dryad Arbor, and also don't like the memnites. (with him of course versions without him are possible but I just love this card)
One problem is, what other cards do you run which could be possible turn 1 plays? Because it is important to have something to play on turn 1 because just play nothing and discarding a card is really bad.
One possibility is the lands for the manascrew route, they are great since you will then still have 7 cards in hand (if you draw the nether spirit the next turn)
But what can you play when you don't want to go the manascrew route?
One one drop would of course be Unmask (which is a good card of course) but you will go down to 6 cards and you also don't have any board influence (but of course you can play it turn 1)
You can also play vine dryad but playing it not as a suprise blocker is also not the greatest thing, also just having a target for their removal is not that good.
Some Card Discussion
LEYLINES
So what cards can other then that be played turn 1 (or 0)
The Leylines, so now the question is which Leyline can you play in this deck.
The bad thing about the leyline is, that you need to have them in the opening hand else they are quite useless. This means you need other cards which can get use of them (liek cards for which you can pitch them)
The good thing is you won't have one on the start hand sine else you would have put it into play. Also you give your opponents targets for their enchantement removal spells.
here the Leylines:
Leyline of Anticipation Not the greatest thing since you allready have a lot of instant cards and it isn't important for the other cards to be instant also this isn't really worth a card.
Leyline of Lifeforce hm not the best idea even against counters since the Summoning Trap is better
Leyline of Lightning In the version with lands, this isn't the worst thing. You can shoot some extra damages sometimes, this can help to kill the opponent.
Leyline of Punishment Only worth if you are awaiting lifegain or damage prevention, redirection still works (Shining shoal) but you CAN'T pay the cost of cards like Skyshroud Cutter
Leyline of Sanctity Good against Burn targeted discard and storm combo, or Goblin Charbelcher, it can detroy entire deckplans. It is the strongest one.
Leyline of Singularity It isn't as useless as you may think, since it hoses all kinds of tokens like the Tokens from dredge or from Empty the warrens it can also slow some aggro decks down when they draw some cards in multiples. And if you say "the blue leyline" some players will maybe be stupid enough to kill their own permanents by playing more then one of the same kind.
Leyline of Vitality In a creature heavy version this can be quite good, it gain you some life and your kreatures won't die as fast as else.
Leyline of the Meek The deck needs tokens else this will only help some opponents instead of you.
Leyline of the Void Hoses some Deckstrategies completely (like reanimator or dredge) And it will help a little bit against others like tarmogoyf and survival of the fittest and against Knight of the Relinquary
So which ones are real otpions?
In a creature heavy environment if you want to play go the mana screw route Leyline of Lightning is an option together with 4 Cave-In and 4 Pyrokinesis main then you will have 8-12 cards for which you can pitch them and you can sometimes deal some extra damage with the leyline
In a blue heavy environement if you want to play the creature heavy version you could run Leyline of Vitality could be worth a try.
But what could we run in the landless "normal" deck wich ignores the lands of the opponents.
We have 3 options
Leyline of Singularity It is blue and you allready run 8 cards in the deck to which you can pith it and they don't care that the leyline only costs 4 mana. On the starting hand it can slow down some decks and can hose some others, the problem is that dredge still has the ichorids and you will still need some graveyard hate in the board but it will at least give you more time against them.
Leyline of the Void It hoses dredge (but needs to be on the starting hand) you have 8 cards in the deck to which you can pitch it (unmask and sickening shoal) and 4 mana is enouh for the sickening shoal to kill most creatures. (at least as a combat trick)
Leyline of Sanctity It hoses some decks comepletely and against a lot of decks it shuts down several cards. I think it is the strongest from this 3 leylines but you only run 4 cards which need a white card to pitch and you want to have higher mana cost in the cards you pitch then 4.
To help you could run Scars of the Veteran (which isn't the best thing most of the time since it only sometimes safes a creature from damage and makes it a little bit bigger, but this isn't realy worth a card) or Sunscour (which isn't bad but costing two cards is just to much most of the time).. Or Reverent Mantra which can safe your creature from every removal AND it can help your creatures to be unblockable and such tricks, I would propably run Reverent Mantra although it isn't the best card.
So now to something different:
CONVOKE
You can play convoke stuff also without mana if you have enough creatures out there, but the deck would have to be a lot different.
Here maybe a first idea, I don't think that this is exactly the same and also I don't think that this deck is really strong just as something to think about.
4 Dryad Arbor
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Khalni Garden
4 God's Eye, Gate to the Reikai
Free Creatures: 12
4 Vine Dryad
4 Skyshroud Cutter
4 Memnite
4 Sprout Swarm
4 Kavu Primarch
4 Chord of Calling
4 Scatter the Seeds
2 Root-Kin Ally
4 Nest Invader
1 Zuran Orb
1 Caller of the Claw
Cycling: 4
4 Edge of Autumn
Leylines: 4
4 Leyline of Vitality
IDEA ABOUT FREE WHITE OR BLUE CREATURES?
Oh and it is a shame, that there is no way to put white or blue creatures into play without paying mana since Sky Hussar would be a really nice card, if one knows any way to put white creatures into play please tell me.
1. Every player saing exiled or battlefield will be kicked out.
2. Not using you mana deals 2 points of manaburn.
3. Combat damage goes over the Stack and you can freely assign it.
4. Lifelinks does stack and doesn't safe you from dying.
5. Tokens are owned bye the one who has made them.
Everyone thinking M10 will not affect a lot of cards or Limited a lot, either has no clue about magic or has never played limited or is getting paid by wizards to do propaganda.
I think you don't come around FoW but you can use it in a huge amount of decks so this wouldn't be the worst thing to get since about 50% of the legacy decks use it anyway so if you want to play legacy this initial investement wouldn't be wrong.
The wastelands can be cut out, this isn't that bad you could just ignore their lands (also don't play ghostquarter then).
And instead of progenitus (which isn't that cheap either) just use some of the other mentioned cards, like reaper king conflux coalition victory and so on.
The only thing you should look at is that you have enough stuff to play turn 1 or 0 so that you don't have to discard (discarding nether spirit of course is a good idea) so if you don't run wasteland you should run at least 12 cards you could and want to play turn 0 or 1,
This cards are: Unmask leylines nether spirit.
1. Every player saing exiled or battlefield will be kicked out.
2. Not using you mana deals 2 points of manaburn.
3. Combat damage goes over the Stack and you can freely assign it.
4. Lifelinks does stack and doesn't safe you from dying.
5. Tokens are owned bye the one who has made them.
Everyone thinking M10 will not affect a lot of cards or Limited a lot, either has no clue about magic or has never played limited or is getting paid by wizards to do propaganda.
So I have a little bit more tested and I found it frustrating, that you had to play cards, which where sometimes Dead in the Mainboard, when you are NOT going the Manascrew route. (Because You had to still play wasteland, or One of the Leylines or some verry weak creatures..)
Why I then don't go the manascrew route? Because against some Decks it doesn't work (To much basic Lands and so on). Also sometimes even if you could partially screw them if the game was going long (which can happen quite often) They will draw lands again, and then they don't really had the card disadvantage because of playing lands anymore (because you also needed cards to kill their lands..). Don't understand me wrong it can be good, and against some Decks you want to have Landdestruction (or lands to pay for daze), but it isn't good against all kind of decks.
So what are I playing instead, when I don't want to have dead cards?
Mishra's Bauble (he better one, since you will see more different cards, when playing more then one of them)
Urza's Bauble
They help you to go through your deck and have higher chances to draw your good spells (the spells which can make card advantage)
Also they can be played turn 1 and help to stay on 7 cards (so that you can discard a later drawn nether spirit), and they have a little bonus.
Of course there are disadvantages, but the main disadvantage (making mulligans harder) isn't that hard in this deck, since you don't want to take a mulligan anyways most of the time. But they make Tarmogoyfs bigger, which is a negative point.
Also you don't have any lands left, so Daze can hurt you, what can you do about that? Not too much, but what helps is when you draw misdirections, since most of your spells are instants, you can play them as response to spells the opponent is playing, so you can use your misdirection so that they counter their own spell, also in such "counterwars" you can board Mind Break Trap in, since you want to have blue cards to pitch AND in such situations, when the opponent has a second Daze or a Force of Will, it will be the 3rd card played in the turn so Mind Break Trap becomes active.
So how could a Deck look like when you are playing some of the baubles?
This here is a Deck for an aggro heavy meta:
4 Progenitus
4 Reaper King
4 Conflux
2 Maelstrom Archangel
Creatures: 8
4 Vine Dryad
4 Nether Spirit
Disruption:12
4 Force of Will
4 Misdirection
4 Unmask
4 Pyrokinesis
4 Sickening Shoal
4 Cave-In
Big Spells:8
4 Blazing Shoal
4 Shining Shoal
Draw: 6
4 Mishra's Bauble
2 Urza's Bauble
4 Commandeer
4 Ravenous Trap
4 Mindbreak Trap
3 Nourishing Shoal
If your Metagame isn't that aggro Hevy you could play in the Mainboard:
+2 Urza's Bauble
-4 Cave-In
-2 Maelstrom Angel
+2 Mindbreak Trap
+2 Commandeer
And in the sideboard you would play the Cave-In.
(If your Meta has a lot of Natural Order I would leave at least 1 Maelstrom Angel in the Deck and cut a Reaper King or a Conflux instead, and maybe play more Commandeer instead of Mindbreak Trap in the Main)
And if a lot of Show and Tell are played I would cut Reaper King instead of the Maelstrom Angel. I would cut Reaper King over Conflux (I would leave at least 3 Conflux in the Deck) because the 2 Mana more aren't that much a difference, but if you can cast a Conflux of a Maelstrom Angel, it is waaaay better then a Reaper King.
This because a Maelstrom Angel in the Game (especially when you can cast Conflux then or Progenitus) is almost allways Game and often better then a Progenitus, and you can bring him also into play with Commandeer when you steal a Natural Order.
1. Every player saing exiled or battlefield will be kicked out.
2. Not using you mana deals 2 points of manaburn.
3. Combat damage goes over the Stack and you can freely assign it.
4. Lifelinks does stack and doesn't safe you from dying.
5. Tokens are owned bye the one who has made them.
Everyone thinking M10 will not affect a lot of cards or Limited a lot, either has no clue about magic or has never played limited or is getting paid by wizards to do propaganda.
If wizards would print a green, black and white version of Hydroblast and Blue Elemental Blast Painter could be done in every color.
RRImperial PainterRR
UUUUMonoOmniTellUUUU
BGURWDredgeWRUGB
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
I am new to the deck, and i seems really cool, so i bought most of the cards from Tigris decklist above.
If anyone is keen on sharing newer experience, i am all ears!