so, i Decided to make a pioneer deck. Everyone I've talked to says you need to be able to win on turn 4. That basically leaves agro and really fast combo as the only viable options. So, i decided to do a favorite of mine. Ral, Storm conduit-->Repeated reverberation-->Skewer the critics/Lightnin strike/Skulllcrack, to deal 22 damage to my opponents face.
the rest of the deck is just draw and control.
Is this decent? or am i just a fool playing an unusable combo?
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(boombox_smk):
Put your deck list in the post. Use the deck tags and then put each card inside in the format '# card'. For example: 2 Shock
Interesting. Seems kinda glass cannon. I'm not sure this is a turn 4 format as you say. I'd say turn 5 or 6 with a few decks getting enough through by turn 4. There are a lot of decks running counter, there are a lot of decks that can deal with planeswalkers. Midrange seems to be down right now but I'd be willing to bet that will change.
Good luck and let us know how it runs.
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Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
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I'm not sure how crazy I am about the mana rocks here. Technically they enable the all-in combo plan to go off a bit earlier, but they're very passive plays. I'm not sure you can get away with tapping out on turn 2 or 3 on your own turn, since it clashes with all of the interaction you run. What you really want is to leave mana up for a counter or removal or card draw. Those slots would be better served being, well, more of those three things. I'm also surprised that you're running Repeated Reverberation over more efficient copy effects like Doublecast or Narset's Reversal. The latter is particularly flexible.
yeah, having too many mana rocks was something i ran into while playtesting. much less of them now. The copy spells that you are suggesting though, just don't fit my combo. Their perfectly good cards, but this deck wants to hit you for 20 in the face, not 6 or 9. Repeated gives he enough copies to one-shot my opponent. The spells you suggest have to have multiple copies in order to take effect.
playtested it and found some success. I also discovered a combo that actually might be more effective than my main combo. If you cast Explosion for 0, and you copy it with ral, the CMC of the spell is 4. Copy that with the copy, then do that as many times as you want. And because of ral's passive, you can just ping them to death. needs some more fine-tunning, but then again, don't all decks?
I'm not seeing where the infinite combo works here, walk me through it a little better.
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
1. You activate Ral's -2 without killing him
2. You play Explosion with x=0.
3. you choose Expasnion for the copied Spell.
4. You copy explosion with the new copy.
5. you once again choose expansion.
doing this oever and over creates an infinite ammount of "whenever you copy a spell" triggers. Because ral's passive is to ping your opponent whenever you cast or copy a spell, this creates infinite damage. you then kill the opponent
yeah, having too many mana rocks was something i ran into while playtesting. much less of them now. The copy spells that you are suggesting though, just don't fit my combo. Their perfectly good cards, but this deck wants to hit you for 20 in the face, not 6 or 9. Repeated gives he enough copies to one-shot my opponent. The spells you suggest have to have multiple copies in order to take effect.
Frankly, I don't even know what running two Chromatic Lantern even does for you. You're in two colors and neither splashing nor running anything particularly color-heavy (although Niv-Mizzet, Parun would be a nice backup win condition here), and you aren't in a particular rush to hit 5 mana. If you were serious about ramping into a huge Explosion, then you might want to go Temur for Wilderness Reclamation and green ramp. Otherwise, you're just spending 3 mana on something that isn't Narset.
Dig Through Time belongs in the mainboard. It's a massively powerful draw spell, and you fill your graveyard fairly easily without using it.
1. You activate Ral's -2 without killing him
2. You play Explosion with x=0.
3. you choose Expasnion for the copied Spell.
4. You copy explosion with the new copy.
5. you once again choose expansion.
doing this oever and over creates an infinite ammount of "whenever you copy a spell" triggers. Because ral's passive is to ping your opponent whenever you cast or copy a spell, this creates infinite damage. you then kill the opponent
Thanks. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think that combo works. You are playing Explosion, the copies would be of Explosion not Expansion. Not sure the rules let you pick the other half of the card as that spell was not cast. Have you verified that this works on Magic Online or Arena? Maybe I'm missing something.
I think it does work if you just keep chaining Expansion and Ral pings away. I may be missing something.
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
ah, sorry. My mistake. Misread the gatherer rulings. Yeah, you'd have to cast expansion targeting a spell, then go infinite, but that wouldn't work because then the first spell would be copied by ral. so the combo dosn't work.
I think the combo does work if you copy and chain Expansion, then Ral will ping away with each trigger from each copy of a copy of a copy... Let me see if I can find the link that I am remembering from several months ago.
Maybe you have seen it but it may explain what I am trying to a bit better.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
(note: Does anyone know how to add tags to the cards. Example: sideboard?)
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Spells
4 Repeated Reverberation
4 Lightning Strike
4 Opt
4 Quench
3 Negate
2 Dig Through Time
3 Expansion // Explosion
2 Ionize
4 Skewer the Critics
4 Ral, Storm Conduit
1 Narset, Parter of Veils
1 Tibalt, Rakish Instigator
Lands
9 Island
10 Mountain
3 Sulfur Falls
1 Leyline of the void
2 Eidolon of the great revel
4 ceremonious rejection
2 fry
2 by force
2 treasure cruise
3 izzet staticaster
so, i Decided to make a pioneer deck. Everyone I've talked to says you need to be able to win on turn 4. That basically leaves agro and really fast combo as the only viable options. So, i decided to do a favorite of mine. Ral, Storm conduit-->Repeated reverberation-->Skewer the critics/Lightnin strike/Skulllcrack, to deal 22 damage to my opponents face.
the rest of the deck is just draw and control.
Is this decent? or am i just a fool playing an unusable combo?
Good luck and let us know how it runs.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
1. You activate Ral's -2 without killing him
2. You play Explosion with x=0.
3. you choose Expasnion for the copied Spell.
4. You copy explosion with the new copy.
5. you once again choose expansion.
doing this oever and over creates an infinite ammount of "whenever you copy a spell" triggers. Because ral's passive is to ping your opponent whenever you cast or copy a spell, this creates infinite damage. you then kill the opponent
Frankly, I don't even know what running two Chromatic Lantern even does for you. You're in two colors and neither splashing nor running anything particularly color-heavy (although Niv-Mizzet, Parun would be a nice backup win condition here), and you aren't in a particular rush to hit 5 mana. If you were serious about ramping into a huge Explosion, then you might want to go Temur for Wilderness Reclamation and green ramp. Otherwise, you're just spending 3 mana on something that isn't Narset.
Dig Through Time belongs in the mainboard. It's a massively powerful draw spell, and you fill your graveyard fairly easily without using it.
Thanks. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think that combo works. You are playing Explosion, the copies would be of Explosion not Expansion. Not sure the rules let you pick the other half of the card as that spell was not cast. Have you verified that this works on Magic Online or Arena? Maybe I'm missing something.
I think it does work if you just keep chaining Expansion and Ral pings away. I may be missing something.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
From about a year ago...
https://www.dailyesports.gg/war-of-the-spark-planeswalker-spoiler-ral-zarek-infinite-combos/
Maybe you have seen it but it may explain what I am trying to a bit better.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."