In general, it's not bad as is. Though, new cards can make it better. Lobotomy, if it's not a pet card, could be anything else.. even Surgical Extraction. If it is a pet card, I can share with you a deck of mine built around it so that you may be introduced to some newer cards.
Otherwise, this color combination is now refered to as 'Esper'. One of the shards color identity from the Alara block. Knowing that alone, giving you some crumbs to follow, should be enough for you to see newer cards.
Edit, here is my take on lobotomy using recent cards.
Rorix was the first single I ever bought! You're right in thinking that many newer creatures are much more powerful than older ones. Not really too terrible of a thing though. Thunderbreak Regent could be something you'll want to pick up. Sarkhan the Unbroken could be an interesting inclusion. With all the ramp, a copy or two of Dragonspeaker Shaman could be awesome, along with Dragon Tempest. Just some thoughts to help you out.
Honestly, I'd say you're pretty good as is. Remember, his are minimum suggestions. You can make yours better if you're able to. Aether Vials definitely make a difference.
Frank is excellent for these types of things and is usually who I turn to when I can't figure it out on my own(aside from looking what other similar decks do and adjust from there).
Extort seems a bit of a trap to build around. It would make you want to spend all your addition mana on the extort effect instead of saving some for possible removal on your opponents turn.
Aside from that, I guess I don't understand your game plan in this deck. How do you want games today out?
Another entry into the Hurricane Harvey Dump threads. This time it's a bit different. I've designed 4 decks I would like to buy when the funds become available and when 1 of them rotate out. I'll put each one in their own Spoiler block to save room.
This is your pretty basic Snek Delerium deck, but with a couple of changes by me. It's arguably the most expensive of the 4 since the cards are still standard legal. As such, I will not purchase it until after rotation at the earliest. It has a pretty decent mix of spells, though I don't know if I need Vessel with the Demon. Grapple with the Past may be better along with a restructuring of spells to have more Instants/Sorceries.
Anybody have a delirium deck? Or any advise for one?
Casual Format anything goes.
This is a deck I used to run back when I was playing standard and it was legal(sans Brainstorm) on MTGO. I always had such great fun with it! Well, I just came across the list and decided I wanted to make it in the real world to add to my collection.
It was very well tuned for standard at the time. Is there anything that can be done to it in order to make it better tuned for casual?
I've wanted a manifest deck ever since the skeleton was spoiled. Unfortunately, I didn't jump on the train and it made its way to being one of the best decks. Now, it's days are past and it's after rotation. That means it's my time to shine! It likely needs 1-2 more lands but it's a good starting point.
This deck was brought to life while trying to help another poster with his deck in this very forum! This is what I came up with when I really went to theory crafting.
The general idea is to lock the opponent out of the game with Orb and Tabernackle and allow me to beat face for the win with Gideon.
The taxing counters serve to protect the Magus through the game.
Cards like Daze, Gush and the Borderpost allow me to return tapped lands to my hand to play them untapped.
Borderpost, Keyrune and Ring all serve as mana sources outside of Orbs reach. With the added bonus of Keyrune being another win-condition.
Are there any glaring weaknesses?
Would you run this deck differently?
I didn't want to do UG Infect like my friends or everyone else, so I found a shell for a mono-b version and ran with it. It looks promising, but I'm still open for suggestions.
Any deck you want to comment on, whether to critique, suggest changes or even give a nod of approval, please list the deck archetype at the beginning of the message. Hopefully, if anything else, seeing these decks will inspire you to brew your own in the archetype. If so, feel free to post it!
Thank you all for being patient with me with these HHDs. Though it's far from over on my end, I will try my best to stop flooding the forum with a bunch of my decks.
If you're going to be running Manifest, might I suggest some number of Temur Sabertooth? It's a decent enough beater on its own while being, practically, immune to spot removal that can get you cards that were manifested that you may need.
The idea is just to grow something large enough to fling at your opponent for a win. Key to the City is another way to make use of an arbitrarily large creature. The infinite combo is with Construct + Fumarole or Shuko(if you have another creature to bounce it between) to build an X/X Construct you can fling away or attack with.
The expensive cards are Master and Fumarole, it should still be in your budget though.
This is one of my Hurricane Harvey Dump decks. It's quite impossible to do anything else when everything around you is flooded. May as well use this time to improve on some decks that are lacking. With that being said, on to the fun!
My 4th entry into the dump isn't exactly one that's lacking in power. I've gotten t4-t5 kills with it even with the basic manabase. It is, however, an old block deck that might be able to benefit from some upgrades. If anything else, if anybody is good at designing budget manabases that would be great.
Alright, so this deck is built to utilize Knight of New Alara and Gloryscale Viashino. In otherwords nothing but Gold. It does this by making use of the Cascade mechanic and mana fixing cards available in its time.
Deck Requirements
-Must be built around the same 2 cards
-Budget is open, don't get too crazy
-Format is casual, anything goes
Ooh, I didn't even think about the Gearhulk..Thanks! That might require some thought. I wouldn't want to lose a spell because that would make my Goggles less effective. That leaves creatures; Membranes utility is probably too great in the early game to remove, Devils utility is probably too great in the late game to remove. Maybe a fun-of in place of 1 Dragon?
As far as the ramp, I'm pretty sure the Rings+Post+Lotus should be enough without having to lower avg CMC and take up important slots for additional ramp. It was enough before, even without the Myr.
This is one of my Hurricane Harvey Dump decks. It's quite impossible to do anything else when everything around you is flooded. May as well use this time to improve on some decks that are lacking. With that being said, on to the fun!
The 3rd Harvey Dump deck is Mountains Matter. It was originally built around Koth of the Hammer; he has since been moved and utilized in a different deck. I will likely have to pick up a couple more copies of him though for his utility in this deck. With that being said, on to the fun!
Deck Requirements:
-Keep the theme of Mountains Matter
-Budget is open, nothing too crazy
-Format is casual, anything goes
Now, this deck was decent with Koth, it held its own quite well. Without him, it's just okay. It still executes the game plan of getting a lot of Mountains out while thinning the deck, but it feels more underpowered now.
I already see a few additions that could be made.
1)Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle + Expedition Map. Though without the Scapeshift combo it seems too underpowered and generally expensive since it's a tiered modern deck.
2) Dragonmaster Outcast ramp with Koth added back in. This one seems more like a shoe-in as the deck would make extreme use of both cards. Though Dragonmaster and Lithophage are at odds with each other.
Does anyone have any experience with this type of Archetype?
This is, more or less, a direction I'm leaning. I liked all of your suggestions. While I couldn't incorporate them all, I did get a good mix.
Reason // Believe has replaced Index and Crystal Ball. While I can't get the continuous scry of the Ball, the overall higher CMC or cards should mitigate that.
There are a lot of 2-ofs, Riddle and Blast both, probably, being the shocking ones. Each has its advantages in the deck though. One with Scry to set up follow up Explosions and the other to dig me deeper into the deck and provide fuel for Pyromancy or the Dragon.
The Javelin and Rough // Tumble are insurance against problematic creatures/swarms while also having High CMCs.
With the addition of many more spells, Charmbreakers have solidified their usefulness. Goggles were also included for added use of spells.
I'm probably shooting myself in the foot by leaving Pyromancy in the deck. However, it's a pet card the deck was built around in the first place so I don't want to remove all copies of it. I did drop it down to two though.
With this proposed build I still have the same number of stacking and pyromancy effects, except with the added usefulness of Goggles. I do think I'll miss the fun-of Chemister, that draw power was nice.
Your argument for Punishment is something I've thought as well. Perhaps spell based with Goggles would be a more effective deck overall. Plus, the Goggles would allow me to remove Curse as they both serve to end the game more quickly. It would take a major overhaul to make it happen though. Hmm, I'll do some thinking and throw up a list in a minute.
I do like your list, Membrane is some tech I had never thought of before which is weird because it looks like a perfect home for it.
Rezzahan- I was thinking about Rogues Passage or Key to the City the second I types that their weakness was lack of evasion. While activation is expensive, Rogue's Passage is likely a better choice as utility lands with X effect is generally better than a spell with the same effect. Though, the filtering from Key does make me question. As far as the numbers for Deacon and One; as far as I can tell, my reasoning was probably that on an empty board Deacon is stronger, even though One plays a defensive role better.
Your next suggestion, Tap Clerics, will be placed in competition with Entangler. As best as I can tell, they're pretty evenly matched as far as pros and cons; though the tap clerics are better on an empty board which may give them an advantage.
I'm not much worried about Whiteclay, but sweeper protection is a concern. For that, Selfless Spirit is likely the best choice seeing as it's also a cleric. The only other card I would put it in contention with would be Eerie Interlude. They both have their own unique advantages, but again Selfless will probably get the nod.
Bishop, while awesome is in direct competition with Muse. This is a very muddy Pro/Con for me as both give CA. Though, I'm thinking if I'm Hellbent and topdeck one I'd be much happier with the one-sided Howling Mine effect than a card that relies on others on top of needing mana to activate. In my eyes, that gives Muse the nod. I am open to counter arguments though. However, as long as Muse has a place in the deck, Reanimator cannot. Adding extra Zombies could only serve to kill me.
For enchantment/artifact removal, I think I would much rather devote some spell slots to Oblivion Ring as it can also target Planeswalkers(of which there are quite a few running around in my circle).
FGC - Your deck definitely sounds interesting, though as far as card suggestions, I'm only interested in Mirror Entity. Growing an army seems quite good since Clerics are a generally weak tribe.
Otherwise, this color combination is now refered to as 'Esper'. One of the shards color identity from the Alara block. Knowing that alone, giving you some crumbs to follow, should be enough for you to see newer cards.
Edit, here is my take on lobotomy using recent cards.
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
(10) Creature Spells
4 Thing in the Ice
4 Nightveil Specter
2 Oblivion Sower
(26) Non-Creature Spells
4 Lobotomy
4 Counterspell
3 Lethal Vapors
2 Overburden
4 Vapor Snag
2 Cyclonic Rift
3 Hero's Downfall
4 Consult the Necrosages
3 Sunken Ruins
1 Tainted Isle
4 Choaked Estuary
7 Swamp
7 Island
It focuses on keeping the battlefield clean while using your opponents exiled cards against them. Does a fine job at both too, if I do say so myself.
Frank is excellent for these types of things and is usually who I turn to when I can't figure it out on my own(aside from looking what other similar decks do and adjust from there).
Good luck with your deck..
Aside from that, I guess I don't understand your game plan in this deck. How do you want games today out?
Another entry into the Hurricane Harvey Dump threads. This time it's a bit different. I've designed 4 decks I would like to buy when the funds become available and when 1 of them rotate out. I'll put each one in their own Spoiler block to save room.
4 Grim Flayer
4 Winding Constrictor
3 Obsessive Skinner
4 Mindwrack Demon
3 Verdurous Gearhulk
3 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
4 Vessel of Nascency
3 Traverse the Ulvenwald
3 Key to the City
3 Hero's Downfall
2 To the Slaughter
22 Land
This is your pretty basic Snek Delerium deck, but with a couple of changes by me. It's arguably the most expensive of the 4 since the cards are still standard legal. As such, I will not purchase it until after rotation at the earliest. It has a pretty decent mix of spells, though I don't know if I need Vessel with the Demon. Grapple with the Past may be better along with a restructuring of spells to have more Instants/Sorceries.
Anybody have a delirium deck? Or any advise for one?
Casual Format anything goes.
4 Monastery Mentor
Non-Creature Spells (36)
2 Narset, Transcendent
4 Jeskai Ascendency
4 Brainstorm
4 Lightning Bolt
3 God's Willing
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Dragon Fodder
3 Hordling Outburst
1 Jeskai Charm
3 Stoke the Flames
4 Treasure Cruise
20 Land
This is a deck I used to run back when I was playing standard and it was legal(sans Brainstorm) on MTGO. I always had such great fun with it! Well, I just came across the list and decided I wanted to make it in the real world to add to my collection.
It was very well tuned for standard at the time. Is there anything that can be done to it in order to make it better tuned for casual?
4 Warden of the First Tree
4 Ulvenwald Tracker
4 Den Protector
3 Master of Pearls
4 Deathmist Raptor
3 Temur Sabertooth
4 Whisperwood Elemental
2 Ghostfire Blade
4 Drakoma's Command
3 Mastery of the Unseen
2 Mirari's Wake
21 Land
I've wanted a manifest deck ever since the skeleton was spoiled. Unfortunately, I didn't jump on the train and it made its way to being one of the best decks. Now, it's days are past and it's after rotation. That means it's my time to shine! It likely needs 1-2 more lands but it's a good starting point.
4 Magus of the Tabernackle
Non-creature Spells (36)
3 Gideon of the Trials
4 Winter Orb
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
3 Mana Tithe
4 Mana Leak
4 Daze
3 Fieldmist Borderpost
2 Gush
2 Azorius Keyrune
4 Sol Ring
20 Land
This deck was brought to life while trying to help another poster with his deck in this very forum! This is what I came up with when I really went to theory crafting.
The general idea is to lock the opponent out of the game with Orb and Tabernackle and allow me to beat face for the win with Gideon.
The taxing counters serve to protect the Magus through the game.
Cards like Daze, Gush and the Borderpost allow me to return tapped lands to my hand to play them untapped.
Borderpost, Keyrune and Ring all serve as mana sources outside of Orbs reach. With the added bonus of Keyrune being another win-condition.
Are there any glaring weaknesses?
Would you run this deck differently?
4 Plague Stinger
4 Phyrexian Crusader
3 Phyrexian Vatmother
2 Hand of the Praetors
2 Runechanter's Pike
2 Lashwrithe
4 Funeral Charm
4 Sign in Blood
4 Hymn of Tourach
4 Go for the Throat
4 Hero's Downfall
23 Land
I didn't want to do UG Infect like my friends or everyone else, so I found a shell for a mono-b version and ran with it. It looks promising, but I'm still open for suggestions.
Any deck you want to comment on, whether to critique, suggest changes or even give a nod of approval, please list the deck archetype at the beginning of the message. Hopefully, if anything else, seeing these decks will inspire you to brew your own in the archetype. If so, feel free to post it!
Thank you all for being patient with me with these HHDs. Though it's far from over on my end, I will try my best to stop flooding the forum with a bunch of my decks.
Enjoy!
4 Ornithopter
4 Etherium Sculptor
3 Master of Etherium
4 Atog
4 Crackdown Construct
Non-creatures (21)
2 Shuko
2 Cranal Plating
4 Galvanic Blast
2 Shrapnel Blast
4 Ensoul Artifact
4 Fling
3 Thoughtcast
2 Wandering Fumarole
2 Darksteel Ingot
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Great Furnace
4 Mountain
4 Island
The idea is just to grow something large enough to fling at your opponent for a win. Key to the City is another way to make use of an arbitrarily large creature. The infinite combo is with Construct + Fumarole or Shuko(if you have another creature to bounce it between) to build an X/X Construct you can fling away or attack with.
The expensive cards are Master and Fumarole, it should still be in your budget though.
My 4th entry into the dump isn't exactly one that's lacking in power. I've gotten t4-t5 kills with it even with the basic manabase. It is, however, an old block deck that might be able to benefit from some upgrades. If anything else, if anybody is good at designing budget manabases that would be great.
Alright, so this deck is built to utilize Knight of New Alara and Gloryscale Viashino. In otherwords nothing but Gold. It does this by making use of the Cascade mechanic and mana fixing cards available in its time.
Deck Requirements
-Must be built around the same 2 cards
-Budget is open, don't get too crazy
-Format is casual, anything goes
3 Rip-Clan Crusher
3 Cerodon Yearling
4 Knotvine Mystic
4 Woolly Thoctar
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Knight of New Alara
4 Gloryscale Viashino
3 Trace of Abundance
4 Colossal Might
4 Violent Outburst
3 Naya Charm
Lands (20)
4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Jungle Shrine
1 Elfhame Palace
5 Forest
4 Plains
3 Mountain
How would you build around these two cards?
How would you upgrade this deck?
As far as the ramp, I'm pretty sure the Rings+Post+Lotus should be enough without having to lower avg CMC and take up important slots for additional ramp. It was enough before, even without the Myr.
The 3rd Harvey Dump deck is Mountains Matter. It was originally built around Koth of the Hammer; he has since been moved and utilized in a different deck. I will likely have to pick up a couple more copies of him though for his utility in this deck. With that being said, on to the fun!
Deck Requirements:
-Keep the theme of Mountains Matter
-Budget is open, nothing too crazy
-Format is casual, anything goes
4 Skitter of Lizards
4 Plated Geopede
2 Aether Membrane
4 Pilgrim's Eye
3 Hound of Griselbrand
2 Lithophage
2 Bloodfire Colossus
2 Akroma, Angel of Fury
2 Armillary Sphere
2 Journeyer's Kite
4 Seismic Strike
2 Artillerize
2 Jaws of Stone
1 Elbrus, the Binding Blade
3 Red Sun's Zenith
1 Comet Storm
21 Mountain
Now, this deck was decent with Koth, it held its own quite well. Without him, it's just okay. It still executes the game plan of getting a lot of Mountains out while thinning the deck, but it feels more underpowered now.
I already see a few additions that could be made.
1)Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle + Expedition Map. Though without the Scapeshift combo it seems too underpowered and generally expensive since it's a tiered modern deck.
2) Dragonmaster Outcast ramp with Koth added back in. This one seems more like a shoe-in as the deck would make extreme use of both cards. Though Dragonmaster and Lithophage are at odds with each other.
Does anyone have any experience with this type of Archetype?
How would you build this style of deck?
How would you improve this deck?
4 Aether Membrane
4 Spellbound Dragon
2 Charmbreaker Devils
Non-creature Spells (30)
4 Sol Ring
4 Brainstorm
4 Reason // Believe
2 Flame Javelin
2 Rough // Tumble
4 Erratic Explosion
2 Riddle Lightning
2 Blast of Genius
2 Pyromancy
2 Gilded Lotus
2 Pyromancer's Goggles
4 Cloudpost
4 Halimar Depths
3 Izzet Boilerworks
6 Mountain
3 Island
This is, more or less, a direction I'm leaning. I liked all of your suggestions. While I couldn't incorporate them all, I did get a good mix.
Reason // Believe has replaced Index and Crystal Ball. While I can't get the continuous scry of the Ball, the overall higher CMC or cards should mitigate that.
There are a lot of 2-ofs, Riddle and Blast both, probably, being the shocking ones. Each has its advantages in the deck though. One with Scry to set up follow up Explosions and the other to dig me deeper into the deck and provide fuel for Pyromancy or the Dragon.
The Javelin and Rough // Tumble are insurance against problematic creatures/swarms while also having High CMCs.
With the addition of many more spells, Charmbreakers have solidified their usefulness. Goggles were also included for added use of spells.
I'm probably shooting myself in the foot by leaving Pyromancy in the deck. However, it's a pet card the deck was built around in the first place so I don't want to remove all copies of it. I did drop it down to two though.
With this proposed build I still have the same number of stacking and pyromancy effects, except with the added usefulness of Goggles. I do think I'll miss the fun-of Chemister, that draw power was nice.
I do like your list, Membrane is some tech I had never thought of before which is weird because it looks like a perfect home for it.
Your next suggestion, Tap Clerics, will be placed in competition with Entangler. As best as I can tell, they're pretty evenly matched as far as pros and cons; though the tap clerics are better on an empty board which may give them an advantage.
I'm not much worried about Whiteclay, but sweeper protection is a concern. For that, Selfless Spirit is likely the best choice seeing as it's also a cleric. The only other card I would put it in contention with would be Eerie Interlude. They both have their own unique advantages, but again Selfless will probably get the nod.
Bishop, while awesome is in direct competition with Muse. This is a very muddy Pro/Con for me as both give CA. Though, I'm thinking if I'm Hellbent and topdeck one I'd be much happier with the one-sided Howling Mine effect than a card that relies on others on top of needing mana to activate. In my eyes, that gives Muse the nod. I am open to counter arguments though. However, as long as Muse has a place in the deck, Reanimator cannot. Adding extra Zombies could only serve to kill me.
For enchantment/artifact removal, I think I would much rather devote some spell slots to Oblivion Ring as it can also target Planeswalkers(of which there are quite a few running around in my circle).
FGC - Your deck definitely sounds interesting, though as far as card suggestions, I'm only interested in Mirror Entity. Growing an army seems quite good since Clerics are a generally weak tribe.