The only way this deck can win is with "DoT" or Damage Over Time.
Examples:
Every time their enchanted land becomes tapped, they take 2 damage. Every time their enchanted creatures become tapped, they take 3 damage unless they pay 3 in which case they could take 4 damage. Their creatures are either paralyzed or can't attack unless they pay 2 for each attacking creature. Spells are countered unless they pay 2, 3 or X. And if they don't pay X for Power Sink, their lands are still tapped and they can take between 2 and 6 damage. Manashort can tap all lands during their upkeep and essentially make them waste an entire turn while also dealing somewhere between 2-8 damage. Mana Web can tap all of or half of their lands every time they tap one for mana. In mid to late game this can mean 4-8 damage every turn.
1. Relies on enchantments so any deck that maindecks or sideboards enchantment hate is going to be tough.
2. No draw engine and limited cantrips. I initially was using Hatching Plans + Abjure to counter spell and draw 3 cards. But then that made it hard to cast Abjure without a creature or Hatching Plans in play, so I figured Spell Pierce and Brainstorm could be more useful.
3. No lifegain so it could be hard to race decks like Burn unless you counter enough spells and manage to paralyze their board to slow down their gameplan.
4. Only 4 creatures in the entire deck. Paralyze, Seizures and Propaganda might be able to slow some decks down but very aggro decks will be able to get a couple of attacks through. Noggle Hedge-Mage can be used to chump block but I think something like Wall of Junk" target="blank">Wall of Junk, Giant Oyster or Trip Noose would be better for defense.
This actually looks very interesing and yet very very cheap.
I'll be giving it a shot on Cockatrice a bit. Can you give any advice on matchups or how it fares against Tier 1 decks? Have you played vs Deathblade, Shardless BUG, Reanimator, Delver variants, Storm, Sneak and Show, etc.?
This actually looks very interesing and yet very very cheap.
I'll be giving it a shot on Cockatrice a bit. Can you give any advice on matchups or how it fares against Tier 1 decks? Have you played vs Deathblade, Shardless BUG, Reanimator, Delver variants, Storm, Sneak and Show, etc.?
tbh I have never tried this deck in any tournaments so I can't really say much MU wise. I know it can give people headhaches and greatly annoy people who aren't prepared to deal with enchantments but I don't know how viable this strategy is vs tier 1 decks.
I think it's fair to say this deck would lose badly to Pox, since they can just sacrifice their enchanted lands and creatures and leave you with no win condition at all.
Also I forgot about this guy but definitely sideboard Sleeper Agent in case they don't have any creatures. This will give you something to enchant with Seizures and speed up the DoT.
I replaced Noggle Hedge-Mage with Drift of Phantasms. This guy is really good for this deck. First, he's a 0/5 flying wall and that means 4/4 creatures are no real threat. Second, he can be used as a tutor for Propaganda, Mana Web, Mana Short, Phyrexian Arena" target="blank">Phyrexian Arena or whatever 3-drop you decide to maindeck or sideboard. He just makes the deck better and a little more consistent.
Having 4x Drift of Phantasms also means we can run less copies of 3cc cards and that opens up new free slots for things like Trip Noose and/or Icy Manipulator which can also be used defensively or to inflict damage.
You don't have shuffle effects so I think Preordain would be better than Brainstorm.
Have you considered Rhystic Study? It seems a great tax effect that generates lots of CA for you. I'd also run something like Fog Bank to hold fast creature decks.
You don't have shuffle effects so I think Preordain would be better than Brainstorm.
Have you considered Rhystic Study? It seems a great tax effect that generates lots of CA for you. I'd also run something like Fog Bank to hold fast creature decks.
I'm not sure if Æther Barrier is such a good card in this deck. Your opponents can sac their enchanted lands and that makes it a big loss for a deck that relies on Pooling Venom and Psychic Venom. Sunken Field, on the other hand, could work out very well.
You don't have shuffle effects so I think Preordain would be better than Brainstorm.
Have you considered Rhystic Study? It seems a great tax effect that generates lots of CA for you. I'd also run something like Fog Bank to hold fast creature decks.
I'm not sure if Æther Barrier is such a good card in this deck. Your opponents can sac their enchanted lands and that makes it a big loss for a deck that relies on Pooling Venom and Psychic Venom. Sunken Field, on the other hand, could work out very well.
Old thread, but realistically, any of those cards that allow them the choice to just sac or destroy the target are not great choices. I do, however, like Mana Chains due to it's low cost. It could help keep you alive in the early came until you have your board more established. I play a Propaganda deck and I also use Mind Whip and Lim-Dûl's Hex to tie up their mana or deal damage. Combined with late-game Capsize, those are actually my finishers.
You don't have shuffle effects so I think Preordain would be better than Brainstorm.
Have you considered Rhystic Study? It seems a great tax effect that generates lots of CA for you. I'd also run something like Fog Bank to hold fast creature decks.
I'm not sure if Æther Barrier is such a good card in this deck. Your opponents can sac their enchanted lands and that makes it a big loss for a deck that relies on Pooling Venom and Psychic Venom[/card]. Sunken Field, on the other hand, could work out very well.
Old thread, but realistically, any of those cards that allow them the choice to just sac or destroy the target are not great choices. I do, however, like Mana Chains due to it's low cost. It could help keep you alive in the early came until you have your board more established. I play a Propaganda deck and I also use Mind Whip and Lim-Dûl's Hex to tie up their mana or deal damage. Combined with late-game Capsize, those are actually my finishers.
I've been busy making my own deck, around the venom enchant land cards. Searching for similar decks, I stumbled across this one, which seems pretty good.
I really like Propaganda, it's such a frustrating card for your opponent :P. The only problem with decks like these: they rely on enchantments. Cards like Leave No Trace will do the job, when your opponents play them.
Examples:
Every time their enchanted land becomes tapped, they take 2 damage. Every time their enchanted creatures become tapped, they take 3 damage unless they pay 3 in which case they could take 4 damage. Their creatures are either paralyzed or can't attack unless they pay 2 for each attacking creature. Spells are countered unless they pay 2, 3 or X. And if they don't pay X for Power Sink, their lands are still tapped and they can take between 2 and 6 damage. Manashort can tap all lands during their upkeep and essentially make them waste an entire turn while also dealing somewhere between 2-8 damage. Mana Web can tap all of or half of their lands every time they tap one for mana. In mid to late game this can mean 4-8 damage every turn.
4 Drift of Phantasms
Spells (35):
4 Psychic Venom
4 Pooling Venom
3 Paralyze
3 Seizures
3 Gigadrowse
2 Propaganda
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Mana Web
4 Power Sink
4 Spell Pierce
4 Brainstorm
1 Trip Noose
1 Icy Manipulator
7 Islands
3 Halimar Depths
9 Swamps
2 Wintermoon Mesa
4 Sleeper Agent
4 Trinisphere
1 Seizures
2 Bojuka Bog
2 Pithing Needle
2 Meekstone
4 Noggle Hedge-Mage
Spells (35):
4 Psychic Venom
4 Pooling Venom
3 Paralyze
3 Seizures
3 Propaganda
3 Gigadrowse
3 Mana Web
4 Power Sink
4 Spell Pierce
4 Brainstorm
10 Islands
9 Swamps
2 Wintermoon Mesa
4 Sleeper Agent
4 Trinisphere
1 Seizures
3 Trip Noose
3 Pithing Needle
Rishadan Port" target="blank">Rishadan Port would be great if you can afford it. Otherwise Wintermoon Mesa does the job just fine.
Weaknesses:
1. Relies on enchantments so any deck that maindecks or sideboards enchantment hate is going to be tough.
2. No draw engine and limited cantrips. I initially was using Hatching Plans + Abjure to counter spell and draw 3 cards. But then that made it hard to cast Abjure without a creature or Hatching Plans in play, so I figured Spell Pierce and Brainstorm could be more useful.
3. No lifegain so it could be hard to race decks like Burn unless you counter enough spells and manage to paralyze their board to slow down their gameplan.
4. Only 4 creatures in the entire deck. Paralyze, Seizures and Propaganda might be able to slow some decks down but very aggro decks will be able to get a couple of attacks through. Noggle Hedge-Mage can be used to chump block but I think something like Wall of Junk" target="blank">Wall of Junk, Giant Oyster or Trip Noose would be better for defense.
Other cards to consider:
Mana Short
Stinging Licid
Wall of Junk
Giant Oyster
Trip Noose
Icy Manipulator
Rishadan Port
I'll be giving it a shot on Cockatrice a bit. Can you give any advice on matchups or how it fares against Tier 1 decks? Have you played vs Deathblade, Shardless BUG, Reanimator, Delver variants, Storm, Sneak and Show, etc.?
Legacy:
GRISELBRAND
tbh I have never tried this deck in any tournaments so I can't really say much MU wise. I know it can give people headhaches and greatly annoy people who aren't prepared to deal with enchantments but I don't know how viable this strategy is vs tier 1 decks.
I think it's fair to say this deck would lose badly to Pox, since they can just sacrifice their enchanted lands and creatures and leave you with no win condition at all.
Also I forgot about this guy but definitely sideboard Sleeper Agent in case they don't have any creatures. This will give you something to enchant with Seizures and speed up the DoT.
I replaced Noggle Hedge-Mage with Drift of Phantasms. This guy is really good for this deck. First, he's a 0/5 flying wall and that means 4/4 creatures are no real threat. Second, he can be used as a tutor for Propaganda, Mana Web, Mana Short, Phyrexian Arena" target="blank">Phyrexian Arena or whatever 3-drop you decide to maindeck or sideboard. He just makes the deck better and a little more consistent.
Having 4x Drift of Phantasms also means we can run less copies of 3cc cards and that opens up new free slots for things like Trip Noose and/or Icy Manipulator which can also be used defensively or to inflict damage.
4 Drift of Phantasms
Spells (35):
4 Psychic Venom
4 Pooling Venom
3 Paralyze
3 Seizures
3 Gigadrowse
2 Propaganda
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Mana Web
4 Power Sink
4 Spell Pierce
4 Brainstorm
1 Trip Noose
1 Icy Manipulator
7 Islands
3 Halimar Depths
9 Swamps
2 Wintermoon Mesa
4 Sleeper Agent
4 Trinisphere
1 Seizures
2 Bojuka Bog
2 Pithing Needle
2 Mana Web
Modern
Have you considered Rhystic Study? It seems a great tax effect that generates lots of CA for you. I'd also run something like Fog Bank to hold fast creature decks.
Other tax effects that could be used:
Æther Barrier, Mana Chains, Mystic Remora, Pendrell Flux, Pendrell Mists, Rhystic Deluge, Slow Motion, Soul Barrier, Sunken Field, War Tax.
I'm not sure if Æther Barrier is such a good card in this deck. Your opponents can sac their enchanted lands and that makes it a big loss for a deck that relies on Pooling Venom and Psychic Venom. Sunken Field, on the other hand, could work out very well.
Old thread, but realistically, any of those cards that allow them the choice to just sac or destroy the target are not great choices. I do, however, like Mana Chains due to it's low cost. It could help keep you alive in the early came until you have your board more established. I play a Propaganda deck and I also use Mind Whip and Lim-Dûl's Hex to tie up their mana or deal damage. Combined with late-game Capsize, those are actually my finishers.
I've been busy making my own deck, around the venom enchant land cards. Searching for similar decks, I stumbled across this one, which seems pretty good.
I really like Propaganda, it's such a frustrating card for your opponent :P. The only problem with decks like these: they rely on enchantments. Cards like Leave No Trace will do the job, when your opponents play them.