MTG Salvation

FRF was supposed to be from the past, wasn't it? If so, that means Surrak hasn't stopped being the Khan for Temur, rather, it means that he has not yet become the leader.

Lol when I got her into it, I was describing the antics that each colour and each colour combination are typically capable of. Her monoblack deck actually reads like the RTR/THS monoblack aggro - except we replaced Pack Rat with Dictate of Erebos. There are a couple of other little tweaks in it, but it is an aggro deck played defensively. And it hurts. Soon as she has a Dictate out, you have to use exile tactics, or lockdowns, (oh how I wished Pacifism was still in Standard the first time I played against that deck), or no creatures (or inconsequential ones).

That said, she was looking originally to play a deck where it centered around stealing her opponent's creatures, and then sacrificing them for various benefits. Standard at the time just didn't have the support for it to be practical. That's when we found a way to abuse Dictate, and so if she can't kill your creatures (indestructible or protection from Black, etc), she will use a kill spell on her own creatures to trigger Dictate - more so if she has multiple Xathrid Necromancers and Dictates out.

Thanks. Had a look at both lists. GW Hatebears does look like fun (and, to be honest, it's the kind of stunts the guys I play with would expect from me, just not the colours I play normally lol). The 8-Rack strikes a balance between her mono black, and the black component of my RTR/THS hand-hate deck (which the only time she ever liked it when we played, was when it remained in it's box lol). From describing how it is supposed to work to her, she seemed to very much enjoy the idea of it.

Looking to move into Modern, and bringing my girlfriend with me. We have differing amounts of experience (I have more than her), and are making the move simply because we don't have the time and money to try and maintain standard decks for local competitive events anymore. The frequency at which we can attend events renders Standard impractical and non-viable for the money spent (either in trades or in buying the cards).

That said, budget-wise, we are intending to find a deck or 2 that we each like, and just slowly build into having the deck instead of just outright getting everything as fast as we can. We're more than happy to take a longer time to build the deck, to make sure we are getting what is needed.

Anyway, onto the information:

Me:
Favorite Playstyle : Anything with hilarious shennanigans (I don't really care if I win, so long as the game is fun for me, and challenging for my opponent)
How Competitive (For Fun, Local Tournament, MTGO, PTQ/GP): Fun and Local.
Favorite Cards/Colors: Consuming Aberration, Ashiok, Traumatize, Medomai the Ageless. Black/Blue, Black/Green, Black/White
Budget: I won't spend stupid amounts on 1 card, but otherwise, I will consider pretty much any deck that looks fun, even if it is expensive.
Staples Owned: Thoughtseize, and about 5 or 6 Shocklands. I don't really know what are staples in Modern.

My girlfriend:
Favorite Playstyle : Hard to place, but she loves her RTR/THS monoblack deck (forces the opponent to sacrifice creatures, generates tokens with Xathrid Necromancer). Would be aggro, if it weren't for the heavy control element in it.
How Competitive (For Fun, Local Tournament, MTGO, PTQ/GP): Mostly for fun, but the occasional local event.
Favorite Cards/Colors: Black
Budget: Again, not stupid amounts for an individual card, but will consider anything.
Staples Owned: No staples for Modern, but again, that's tied in with my lack of knowledge of staples for this format.

I know the info above is probably going to be a bit vague (especially for me, but I am very deck-flexible), and I can provide more detailed answers if I get more detailed questions. Neither of us care if the deck Tier 1, but we don't want to be steamrolled by everyone either. We just want the deck to be fun to play, and hopefully, not commonly used.

So you can recur the Towershell as many times as they kill it, in sense?

I've heard a few people saying it's possible to bring Meandering Towershell (after it's died) back for more than one turn somehow by using the Whip of Erebos. I haven't got any information as to how or why they think it's possible, and I'm not entirely certain it can work. But it's hanging in my mind that if it does, it is tied in to how the stack works.

Assuming it can work, my understanding of the stack means the entire process would work something like this:

1) Meandering Towershell dies.

2) Whip of Erebos it back.

3) Attack with Meandering Towershell.

4) Exile it per it's rules text.

5) Whip of Erebos is unable to permanently exile it, due to it already being in exile.

6) Bring Meandering Towershell on your next combat step.

Am I right in how that works?

Quote from Manbearscientist »

I think splashing white and going four colors is not only reasonable, but probably necessary. Abzan Reanimator is stronger by far than Sultai Reanimator because of Siege Rhino and Ashen Rider, but Sidisi is a much better mill card and delve feeder. The two graveyard decks solve each others problems very well. Abzan gets stuck with uncastable Hornet Queens and Ashen Riders in hand, and can take 2-5 damage to cast their charm and get card advantage. Sultai Charm dumps the fatties you want to reanimate and then gives you the same card draw with no life loss. Sultai needs more relevant bodies and ETB abilies, and some way of dealing with Sarkhan and multi-colored creatures. Abzan Charm hits everything Sultai misses, and splashing white also gives access to Utter End for an extremely versatile removal kit.

Combining the two gives you redundancy, versatility, and raw power. While Siege Rhino and Sidisi are completely different cards, they are both instant impact four drops that cost 1GB and W/U and can also generate value if reanimated with Whip of Erebos. I've already talked about the versatility of removal, which can hit any creature in standard, cycle when not needed, and lets the deck run a small but powerful removal suite while keeping the creature count up. Finally, adding white gives a lower more raw power. A core of Sidisi, Siege Rhino, Necropolis Fiend, Hornet Queen, and Ashen Rider is extremely powerful.

How does the mana look for a 4C deck? Surprisingly, not that bad. Running 26 lands lets you play something like:

DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
4 Mana Confluence 4 Opulent Palace 4 Sandsteppe Citadel 3 Windswept Heath 2 Polluted Delta 2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 3 Forest 2 Plains 2 Swamp 1 Island

That gives 18 black, 17 green, 13 white, and 11 blue mana sources. The deck actually takes less damage from painlands than a normal wedge-deck, and doesn't run an excessive number of ETB tapped lands. Urborg turns every basic non-swamp basic land into a dual land, and every fetchland and mana confluence into a source of no-damage mana. In general it has what it needs to cast Sidisi or Seige Rhino on turn 4, as well as a turn 3 Necropolis Fiend. The only meaningful card that would be difficult to hit would be an early Dig Through Time.

Reading your post got me thinking, and I threw this rough pile together as a result. It needs work, there's no question there, but I think it would be a fun starting point to build the kind of deck you mentioned. You also had 27 lands, not 26.

While that does look like it could be fun, I would like to get something under way that I could play while I try to get the money up for that deck. It's sitting on about $950 total at the moment, and I am missing $820 worth of the cards needed. It's part of the reason I posted this thread. The other reason is I also enjoy trying to brew a deck (I don't aim to win at tournaments since I don't go. I just play at my LGS). I also love oddball decks that synergise well, without necessarily guaranteeing a win. I play for fun, and most of my entertainment comes from watching my opponent squirm, even if I lose every time.

I'm looking to move into Modern after getting bored of Standard, and I would like to try and make a Modern version of my favourite Standard deck - B/U hand hate/removal. I have no real knowledge of Modern, aside from you get to use cards that go back as far as 8th Edition. So, without any clue on cards that are good in Modern to further the goals I have in mind for the deck, I am on the prowl for suggestions and ideas. I would really prefer that the discard, exile, and -X/-X components be the primary means of limiting what my opponent can do, but I won't object to any worthwhile addition that is outside of those 3 methods.

This is the Standard form of the deck, though I am expecting there will be more efficient cards in Modern than what are in there.

Reading his -8 made me go 'WTF?!? Opponent gets the emblem?' but then I read all of the text and realised what happened in it.

The reason I went with Pain Seer instead of Scrivener is because Pain Seer is an optional thing (don't attack, don't have to worry about it's trigger), where as Scrivener's one is not an option. As for the Dictates, they have actually been the cause of a few games being won, that should have been lost. The choice of creatures so far have been built around synergy with Xathrid Necromancer. Gnarled Scarhide doesn't provide any T1 benefit over Tormented Hero, nor does it provide any kind of synergy with Xathrid Necromancer. The only benefit I can see it providing would be to bestowing it on something.

I'm not against replacing the creatures, only looking for the most efficiency given the way the deck works - Xathrid provides tokens after a Human dies, also triggering Dictate. The token dies, and Dictate fires again. Multiple Dictates make a 2 for 1 deal happen. We aren't trying to have this as a tournament deck. It is being used in a weekend 'Intermediate' league at the store I play at.

I have been brewing a Mono Black deck for my girlfriend, which she tried after some persuasion. She is enjoying it, but feels it needs 'something extra'. At present, the deck is only that - a deck without sideboard. It plays as an aggro, which is why I am posting here.



Essentially, the goal is to have Xathrid Necromancer and Dictate of Erebos out, preferably 2 or more of each, when your creatures begin dying. Necromancer to give you a little something when they kill a creature, and Dictate to make them a little more cautious about attacking or blocking with strong creatures. Also, with Dictate out, if they have Hexproof or Indestructible creatures, you can kill your own (either with one of the removal spells, chump blocking, or doing a kamikazi run and attacking, knowing they are likely to block with stuff that your creatures won't kill), and they will be forced to sacrifice something.

It has been performing decently enough so far. We are thinking about replacing the Merchant with 2x Elixir of Immortality, and possibly finding a way to slip a couple of Thoughtseize in as well.

What would be recommended for a sideboard?

Quote from Reippailija »

Quote from Shadowborn »

Her posture indicates she is about to hurl a spear or javelin, and is mid-stride in the run-up to when it gets released. Watch a few videos of world-champ level players and you'll recognise it easier. Here is a compilation video I found on youtube as an example.

I would totally understand that pose IF the object in her hands would have been a spear/javelin. One does not simply throw away a staff...

But no matter the pose, still loving her.

What I can see of the object, it does appear to taper down as it gets past her shoulder and towards her hand. I don't think it is a staff, because I have yet to see anyone capable of effectively wielding it for any purpose from that position.

Her posture indicates she is about to hurl a spear or javelin, and is mid-stride in the run-up to when it gets released. Watch a few videos of world-champ level players and you'll recognise it easier. Here is a compilation video I found on youtube as an example.

My mistake on the Flitterstep, I was looking at so many cards as I was putting that list up. I knew which I meant though (which, unfortunately, you guys wouldn't have). I think the RUG way could definitely be it, but I will need ot speak with Josh before going ahead with it. He has been apprehensive about tri colours due to his obvious limitations. If he doesn't take it up, I definitely will, if only for amusement.