So after watching the vintage super league series this week I decided to try to build a deck that's good against storm and shops. I thought about what might be good against both of these decks and realized that they are both using artifact mana which I can exploit by playing Null Rod. Next they are both playing almost entirely non basic lands which I can exploit by playing Magus of the Moon and Blood Moon (I favored the magus because neither is really playing any removal and I need ways to close out games). Finally and most importantly I noticed that the majority of the spells in both decks cost three or less mana, meaning that I can play Eidolon of the Great Revel and Pyrostatic Pillar to deal lots of damage to them. In order for these to be effective however, I need to be able to play them on the first or second turn. Since I'm playing Null Rod I wanted to minimize the amount of artifact mana I'm playing, and I wanted the majority of my acceleration to dodge the sphere effects of the shop deck. So I ended up going with Ancient Tomb, Simian Spirit Guide, Elvish Spirit Guide, and Rite of Flame. I also wanted to be able to answer shops creatures, namely Lodestone Golem, so I added four Lightning Bolt, four Chain Lightning and one Fireblast as I can still direct them to the face against storm. I also wanted to strengthen my mana denial package and decided to go with the four Wasteland and one Strip Mine as they again dodge the sphere effects, then added one Crucible of Worlds to supplement them. Lastly I needed some way to refill my hand as I expended quite a few cards to play my hosers fast, and I also needed a way to close out games. Enter Avaricious Dragon. This card is awesome, it beats for four, flies, and draws me cards. I rarely care about the downside because I'm either dumping my hand fast or I have redundant copies of my hosers in my hand. I haven't had a chance to actually test this deck yet, so it could just be terrible though.
I would run Mox Ruby over 1 Elvish Spirit Guide, the Ruby should give you one use and it will be on color, I know that Null Rod, nullifies it but it seems preferable.
Rakdos Pit Dragon is a thing to consider as a singleton, doesn't quite have the drawpower, but give you a minor mana sink and if the doublestrike is active it can kill a defenseless player fast.
I think I would even cut the Elvish Spirit Guides for something better. Say, maybe, 1 Mox Ruby and 3 Blasts? Or you could even incorporate some other eternal combo...
Yeah, I was already considering playing the ruby. I took out one spirit guide for the ruby. The pit dragon is an interesting card, but I'm not a fan as it is very mana intensive, doesn't naturally fly, dies to bolt, and all it does is beat. I agree that the Elvish spirit guides could definitely be cut, but I'm not sure what else would be worth it. They are really there mostly for being able to pay the tax against shops on the draw, or playing a turn one pillar or null rod. I don't really want to play red/pyroblasts mainboard as I don't want dead cards against shops, and I'm not sure what other eternal combos would be any good here. Vault key is a no go with null rods, and everything else cost too much mana.
I think Goblin rabblemaster should replace Avaricious dragon, its a faster clock, its easier, and cheaper to cast, also avoids the awkward situation of playing all good cards from your hand before casting it.
That's an interesting suggestion, however there are a few problems I have with rabblemaster: 1. It doesn't fly so pretty much all of shops' creatures can block and kill it 2. It can't block and trade with lodestone golem or triskellion 3. It can't block favorably against triskellion, phyrexian revoker, hangarback walkers, arcbound ravager, young pyromancer, snapcaster mage, etc. 4. The only advantage it provides is going wide with damage and if they have blockers it's basically useless as it's going to die 5. It dies to lightning bolt and sword of fire and ice.
Good points, I wasn't looking at it from a defensive point of view, I would suggest Stormbreath dragon, its more mana intensive, but dodges stp, and there is a chance you can activate monstrous. I just don't like Avaricious dragon, but I'd love to know how it works out in testing though.
I really don't have any way of testing outside of fishbowling since I don't have MTGO and nobody plays around me. This deck idea was purely just theorycrafting against shops and storm after the recent weeks of Vintage Super League were heavily biased on those two decks.
As a side note, I'm not really liking the interaction of chain lightning and blood moon/magus of the moon as they can pay to copy it and kill my magus or eidolon. I don't really see any better options for efficient and versatile burn in that spot though, so it may just be a matter of waiting for them to tap out to play it. Also the fireblast can be difficult to cast so I'd like to replace that as well with another burn spell.
For these five slots I would suggest three black vise to help close out the game, it seems there is some strong synergy in this deck for it. If they're soft to blood moon they won't be playing too many cards, and if they're holding cards to play around pillars they're walking into vise damage. As far as the last two slots I would go with mental misstep, and a red blast. You have plenty of hate for Shop, these two would help against storm, and other silliness. If you want more removal you could always go with flameslash or something like that.
I have Cockatrice already. It's what I use to build decks and do fishbowl testing, but the online matches aren't really that useful in testing especially in a format nobody plays. Black vise is an interesting choice that I had not considered, however I don't want to dilute my removal as killing lodestone and other blockers is critical to winning the shops match. I also want to keep my removal cheap to play through spheres, and able to point at the face so as to not be dead against storm so flame slash is a no go. I'm not sure how effective black vise would be at dealing damage, it's something I'll have to test out.
maybe you can change the magus/blood moon ratio and still run some number of chains/black vise, this way reducing the chances of awkward interactions, but still keep the removal/clock going. 2 magus/ 3 blood moon/ 3 chains/ 2 vise(flex slot).
I was working on a very similar deck, and I just mainboarded maniac vandals over chain lightning since they're the same cmc as bloodmoon, and kill relevant things. this is a total meta call though.
Well I'm already on five moon effects in the list above, and I have since updated it and swapped out one pillar for another blood moon so I have six copies of each hoser. Also the creature versions are better imo because they add a clock and the two decks I'm gaming against don't play removal. I did however take out the fireblast for a black vise, we'll see how it works out.
Also screw modern, simian spirit guides spiked at $20 after PT OGW and now they are at $10 and foils are $100.
yeah, I saw the spikes for guides, I had 8 copies and sold them all to my shop for $10 a pop the first day of the spike. Magic is getting stupid right now, even though I'm making alot of money, its feels really messed up. I'm very tempted to sell out...again.
I saw your explanations earlier, on magus vs blood moon, and I agree, I was just suggesting a different approach since chain does make things awkward. I don't usually play chains in this kind of deck for that reason, but there really isn't anything better.
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Avaricious Dragon
3 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Null Rod
1 Blood Moon
1 Crucible of Worlds
4 Chain Lightning
1 Fireblast
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Rite of Flame
1 Black Lotus
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
9 Mountain
Here's the sideboard, it's mainly stuff to help with dredge and mentor decks.
In search of a foil french Dromar, the Banisher, pm me if you have one you want to part with, also foil Stratadon's.
Rakdos Pit Dragon is a thing to consider as a singleton, doesn't quite have the drawpower, but give you a minor mana sink and if the doublestrike is active it can kill a defenseless player fast.
In search of a foil french Dromar, the Banisher, pm me if you have one you want to part with, also foil Stratadon's.
RIP Karn EDH
In search of a foil french Dromar, the Banisher, pm me if you have one you want to part with, also foil Stratadon's.
RIP Karn EDH
As a side note, I'm not really liking the interaction of chain lightning and blood moon/magus of the moon as they can pay to copy it and kill my magus or eidolon. I don't really see any better options for efficient and versatile burn in that spot though, so it may just be a matter of waiting for them to tap out to play it. Also the fireblast can be difficult to cast so I'd like to replace that as well with another burn spell.
In search of a foil french Dromar, the Banisher, pm me if you have one you want to part with, also foil Stratadon's.
You can always download Cockatrice to test with.
RIP Karn EDH
In search of a foil french Dromar, the Banisher, pm me if you have one you want to part with, also foil Stratadon's.
I was working on a very similar deck, and I just mainboarded maniac vandals over chain lightning since they're the same cmc as bloodmoon, and kill relevant things. this is a total meta call though.
RIP Karn EDH
Also screw modern, simian spirit guides spiked at $20 after PT OGW and now they are at $10 and foils are $100.
In search of a foil french Dromar, the Banisher, pm me if you have one you want to part with, also foil Stratadon's.
I saw your explanations earlier, on magus vs blood moon, and I agree, I was just suggesting a different approach since chain does make things awkward. I don't usually play chains in this kind of deck for that reason, but there really isn't anything better.
RIP Karn EDH