Casually, I usually play in a group of 4-6 people, and we're taking a break from standard-legal decks to open up our game to anything that is at least legal in one format. For this, we're making proxies, so cost of cards is not an issue. I'd like any and all suggestions of just something off-the-wall fun to do. The deck doesn't have to be consistent, just something that I can have some fun playing around with. Goat deck? Let's do it. Coin flipping? Sure. Any idea's at all would be awesome. I'm coming off of play testing WAY too much for the Max Point series, so I just need some fun, nonsensical MTG for a bit.
Fate Unraveler and Master combo completely went over my head... Good work there. I splashed the smallest amount of white for 2 Athreos. My thought here is that the fear of using Master is them drawing to removal. With Athreos, you don't mind Master (or anything, really) being removed, because then they'll be taking 3 damage. What are your thoughts on this? It's playing well, but I'm open to going back to mono B.
So, as a preface, I hated this deck when I looked at the thread. I'm currently trying to refine a W/B/g Constellation deck, very similar to this, and I felt like you were shooting yourself in the foot with just black.
After playing a few games, however, it's a lot of fun and does pretty well. Some thoughts, since our decks are similar:
You have the benefit of monocolor on your side. 25 lands seemed excessive. I found myself drawing lands in the end, when I needed a finisher. I'd take out 2 swamps.
Also, I had more than enough hand hate and removal on my draws. Between maggot, downfall, despise, thoughtseize, and blights, I found myself casting removal towards the end just because. "Nope, no Elvish Mystic for you!" I'd like a few more creatures in here. I'll post my suggestions in a second, just wanted to give my immediate reaction. Overall, bravo. This is really nice, and I may honestly be switching strategies at this point.
I decided to keep dedicated hand destruction in the SB, because I have only needed it in certain matches that I've play tested against so far. With the huge presence of Abzan Mid, I've found that I don't overly need it. There's 9 sources of removal, and against Abzan Mid/Reanimator, we have options to make it so if they want to cast something scary (namely Hornet Queen), they'll have to hard cast it, taking away their main strategy. Jeskai is an issue, but I think that's a rather common thread for most of our brews, and one that I'm not sure if Thoughtseize and Brain Maggot accurately solves.
By all means though, please, anyone, take apart this deck. As I said in the old thread, I'm heading to a pretty large tournament, and I'd love to represent this deck well.
It's playing brilliantly so far, in my play tests. Jeskai, as expected gives it some trouble, but I feel like just playing very removal heavy in Game 2 evens the field. I would love input on this deck, as well as suggestions for things I had not thought of.
I had no idea this card existed until draft last Tuesday. I like it. Does Tormented Hero's job and is a good blocker. However, this should have been 1B to be playable outside of limited. Nonetheless, I've been testing it. So far, it usually gets stuck in hand more than I like a card to be.
I've come out of complete lurkership to say how interested I am in this deck. From my playtesting, @Happy Shaman's deck is performing more consistently than the Mardu version. I am heading to Indiana towards the end of the month for the TCG Player MAXpoint Championship, and would love to work with you guys to get this deck tournament-viable. Have you all considered any of the following cards as MB or SB options? How do they look to you?
Hey everyone. My name's Jody, and I was going to write up a little introduction for you. I have been 'playing' magic for around nine years, but only competively playing for about two. I've played at a handful of large tournaments in the Atlanta, Georgia area, as well as competed in the 2013 TCGplayer Max Point Championship in Ohio. I plan on (and should be able to with the points that I have) attending the 2014 Max Point Championship as well, but we'll see how the Summer goes. Despite decent tournament standings, the joke about me is that I'm almost always playing some junk deck. Junk, not as in the color combination, but just pure trash. I refuse to play cookie-cutter decks for each season, and therefore there is a lot of tinkering around that I do with deck ideas.
Casually, I usually play in a group of 4-6 people, and we're taking a break from standard-legal decks to open up our game to anything that is at least legal in one format. For this, we're making proxies, so cost of cards is not an issue. I'd like any and all suggestions of just something off-the-wall fun to do. The deck doesn't have to be consistent, just something that I can have some fun playing around with. Goat deck? Let's do it. Coin flipping? Sure. Any idea's at all would be awesome. I'm coming off of play testing WAY too much for the Max Point series, so I just need some fun, nonsensical MTG for a bit.
After playing a few games, however, it's a lot of fun and does pretty well. Some thoughts, since our decks are similar:
You have the benefit of monocolor on your side. 25 lands seemed excessive. I found myself drawing lands in the end, when I needed a finisher. I'd take out 2 swamps.
Also, I had more than enough hand hate and removal on my draws. Between maggot, downfall, despise, thoughtseize, and blights, I found myself casting removal towards the end just because. "Nope, no Elvish Mystic for you!" I'd like a few more creatures in here. I'll post my suggestions in a second, just wanted to give my immediate reaction. Overall, bravo. This is really nice, and I may honestly be switching strategies at this point.
I decided to keep dedicated hand destruction in the SB, because I have only needed it in certain matches that I've play tested against so far. With the huge presence of Abzan Mid, I've found that I don't overly need it. There's 9 sources of removal, and against Abzan Mid/Reanimator, we have options to make it so if they want to cast something scary (namely Hornet Queen), they'll have to hard cast it, taking away their main strategy. Jeskai is an issue, but I think that's a rather common thread for most of our brews, and one that I'm not sure if Thoughtseize and Brain Maggot accurately solves.
By all means though, please, anyone, take apart this deck. As I said in the old thread, I'm heading to a pretty large tournament, and I'd love to represent this deck well.
2x Blossoming Sands
2x Caves of Koilos
1x Forest
2x Llanowar Wastes
3x Plains
3x Sandsteppe Citadel
3x Swamp
2x Temple of Silence
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Windswept Heath
2x Mana Confluence
Creatures
3x Ajani's Pridemate
1x Anafenza, the Foremost
3x Grim Guardian
3x Herald of Torment
4x Siege Rhino
3x Spiteful Returned
3x Underworld Coinsmith
1x Wingmate Roc
1x Pharika, God of Affliction
2x Athreos, God of Passage
Planeswalkers
2x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Instants
2x Abzan Charm
3x Hero's Downfall
1x Utter End
Enchantments
2x Abzan Ascendancy
3x Banishing Light
1x Anafenza, the Foremost
1x Banishing Light
2x Bile Blight
3x Brain Maggot
2x Erase
1x Erebos, God of the Dead
1x Nyx-Fleece Ram
3x Thoughtseize
1x Utter End
It's playing brilliantly so far, in my play tests. Jeskai, as expected gives it some trouble, but I feel like just playing very removal heavy in Game 2 evens the field. I would love input on this deck, as well as suggestions for things I had not thought of.
I've come out of complete lurkership to say how interested I am in this deck. From my playtesting, @Happy Shaman's deck is performing more consistently than the Mardu version. I am heading to Indiana towards the end of the month for the TCG Player MAXpoint Championship, and would love to work with you guys to get this deck tournament-viable. Have you all considered any of the following cards as MB or SB options? How do they look to you?