Anyways... what do you think of this idea? (Not my idea, just something silly.)
Primal Surge V2 7GGG
Sorcery
Exile the top card of your library. If it's a permanent card, you may put it onto the battlefield. If you do, repeat this process. Spell mastery - If there are two or more instant and/or sorcery cards in your graveyard, creatures you control get +3/+3 and gain trample and haste until end of turn.
Don't these fight against each other? One part wants you to play only permanents, while Spell Mastery wants you to play instants and/or sorceries?
I just hope that they ban Prophet. Sylvan Primordial and Primeval Titan made me grief less than this card.
I don't play Prophet right now, but it really doesn't bother me too much. Though playing mono black Sheoldred, opponent's creatures usually don't last a full turn.
I like this idea, I would guess that you'd get a lot of young kids and a few older guys that were interested in playing that didn't just want to jump into the fire. Hopefully this would foster some friendships around Magic, which is usually what I find make people stick to the game.
That said, my first organized play, I was roflstomped all night and no one offered me any help... and that was 12 years ago, lol. For whatever reason, it didn't really affect my Magic "career." Now I know that not everyone would stick around this long after a first night like that, and I certainly would have a appreciated the help way back when.
2 allstars in my Chainer deck have been Sangromancer and Whip,
simply because of the inevitable selfdestruction which is core to suicide-black.
I see that a lot of life is lost, so in order to regain a bit of this resource we'd have to optimize the usage,
and maybe turn into bloodsuckers (= accountants, lawyers and politicians) to stay in charge of the game.
My input:
Sangromancer
Whip of Erebos
Cuts:
Pox - Potentially strong, but it will be a "Kill me now"-sign for opponents
Animate Dead - With all of the other reanimation effects this one could be left out.
Thoughts?
Hey, thanks for stopping by and giving your input! I like Sangromancer at the right time in the game (though drawing her after a board wipe was somewhat disappointing ), and you are right that Pox is a "kill me now" card. That said, I've been testing out Whip and really haven't been pleased. The lifelink portion is okay, with it mattering now and then, but the exile on recursion is what really kills it for me. I think I'd rather have a one shot like Animate Dead that allows me to put the creature back in the yard after it dies again.
1. Do not kingmake
2. Do not expect people to take it easy on you just because you're "hug," many people hate this archetype.
3. Play plenty of clone effects, they'll abuse Braids, so you should abuse their abuse.
4. Have outs, Cyclonic Rift + Windfall comes to mind (ah the memories...)
5. Be willing to abandon Mono Blue, this is not the best at Hug, it can't capitalize like others and does not have the best outs. That said, I love Braids and enjoyed building her.
6. Have fun. Seriously. Show people how much fun you're having, politics are your best friend here and visibly enjoying others having fun can be very helpful.
Still not too sure what to do with those cards yet...
I'm thinking of removing the Primal Surge idea from my Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund deck, and moving that to the Horde of Notions deck, to keep all the "infinite combo"-style stuff in one deck rather than having two separate decks that each could win with a single card (because people usually don't like that kind of deck). The Karrthus deck would then pick up some new tricks with some non-permanent cards from Dragons of Tarkir. This also causes some complications because a lot of non-permanent cards would have to be taken out of the Horde of Notions deck as well.
I like the idea of having all that "stuff" in one deck, that generally makes for less feel-bads. Plus now you can do some rebuilding (my favorite part of magic)!
Mono red is already kind of bad. Maybe just a flavory deck.
On a side note, I was recently asked what my favorite colors and creature type were. The type was easy, dragons, but I couldn't decide the color. So what do I build? Scion of the Ur-Dragon. Not a comboey one. Just like... Dragons. With all the colors. Yeah.
LOL! Why pick one color when you can pick five!?
Sounds like fun to me, just remember that some people will always see Scion combo when you sit down to play. You may have to accept being the target for the first round or two.
I would never bother approaching him personally. There is literally zero chance that this accomplished anything positive. I mean literally. In a million times, he will not stop cheating here, or even slow down, once.
I would just anonymously report him to the person(s) that judge these events.
Honestly, behavior like this is becoming so common in Magic that WOTC should probably consider forcing people to pile shuffle their opponents decks(also counting the cards) in Competitive level REL.
Agreed, I can't see you approaching him about it resolving in any positive situation. Report what you saw the the judge, tell him how conflicted you were because he is your friend and apologize for not having done so sooner.
Best of luck, this is a crappy situation to have to be in.
It really depends on the type of cards you're buying (are you looking at Standard, Modern or Eternal?). If you're looking for cards that are currently Standard, try to stay around rotation if they're going to rotate, otherwise I like to pick up standard-only cards in Modern season, generally a little cheaper when people aren't focused on them. Modern cards will fluctuate a bit, but don't rotate, so you wont get the huge shift. Also, keep an eye on TCG Player, sometimes you can snag deals from newer sellers that can save you a few bucks.
Why would we need a great card like Dismiss when we can get terrible cards like Bone to Ash? LOL
A little sad that there are plenty of older cards that could use a reprint (Rewind is in there too for me) but they continue to print this... "fodder." Oh well, partially my fault for continuing to buy/play the product I guess.
Anyone planning on building around the new legendaries? I'd love to hear some of your sweet deck ideas!
I was looking at Kotbophed, but while waiting for his release, I started playing with Sheoldred and kind of fell in love. Now I've played Mono Black Reanimator for about a week and am really enjoying it.
Completely meta-dependant. If you're up against decks like Momir Vig, Derevi, Teeg, Krenko, or any other creature-based deck, probably good. If you're up against storm, artifacts, etc., probably not good.
Yeah, it's always kind of a mix. I don't think they'd ever be dead though, and we do have plenty of Voltron (which they're obviously useful against). I would like to start fleshing out this deck idea, probably starting with the artifact ramp base. Do we need to adjust our land base to compensate for the large number of incoming artifacts?
Any others that should be in? Don't really want to play bad ramp either, lol...
Some suggestions for ramping:
Basalt Monolith - works fine for me, stores 3 mana and allows T4 7-drops, which quite often swing position on the field in your favor.
Voltaic Key - pretty often does something, like it very much when playing both monoliths&vault; untaps opponents' Helm of Possession/Vedalken Shackles when they don't want to. Draws a card each turn for {3} with Sensei's Divining Top.
Everflowing Chalice - T2 untapped mana stone, which becomes much bigger late game.
Rings of Brighthearth - I know I already have suggested it, but if you go for previous ones, it allows a lot of nice plays. Fetches, Burnished Hart, drawing cards from mana stones listed later, using life & mana more efficiently with Chainer/Geth, easily goes infinite with either Basalt Monolith or Voltaic Key and 4 mana generator (e.g., Everflowing Chalice).
Gilded Lotus - basically a Charcoal Diamond that you can't play T2 as it returns 3 mana back, and much better next turn.
Thran Dynamo - same as above, but 1 cheaper and produces colorless, I usually play it in non-colored-mana-hungry decks.
Mox Opal - serves me unexpectedly well in decks with 15+ artifacts, and I always play it in decks without green so far. Doesn't always work from T1, but often you play a T1 Top/Voltaic Key followed by mana stone T2 and mox is serves like another free T2-T4 land drop.
Commander's Sphere - produces colored mana and can be sacrificed any time to draw a card, making it resilient to artifact wipes and allowing you to find a card on topdeck and immediately draw it if required.
Mind Stone - save as above, but you need some mana open to make it work and produces colorless.
Even when got Vandalblasted, tempo you acquired before it was played is already enough to be ahead, and some stones can replace themselves with cards.
I got a few games in last night with this build (used Sheoldred as the commander for now, she was REALLY good FYI... might consider it in the future) and I used Mox Diamond, Thran Dynamo + the current suite of acceleration with great results. Sure, they can be dead late, but they at least work well with Smokestack.
I'm going to take some time away from theorycrafting and just play as many games as I can. I did build a recursion engine with Sheoldred and that was a lot of fun to play with, but if like to play stax lite, MBC, etc.
Thanks for all the help guys/gals, I'll update when I have a solid idea of direction and the deck list updated.
Completely meta-dependant. If you're up against decks like Momir Vig, Derevi, Teeg, Krenko, or any other creature-based deck, probably good. If you're up against storm, artifacts, etc., probably not good.
Yeah, it's always kind of a mix. I don't think they'd ever be dead though, and we do have plenty of Voltron (which they're obviously useful against). I would like to start fleshing out this deck idea, probably starting with the artifact ramp base. Do we need to adjust our land base to compensate for the large number of incoming artifacts?
Yeah, this deck sounds hella fun to play. I suspect the final build will be a little creature-light, maybe with stuff like Reassembling Skeleton for Skullclamp reasons. There are a couple of effects you'll want to make sure to include, especially lifegain. How competitive are we trying to make this deck, and what does your meta look like? Any ideas for win-cons?
I'd like this deck to be able to win at casual tables, but have a fair shot at competitive ones too. I play in a meta where you might hit either or both in every game (we have the kids that just started all the way to the guys who have thousands into each of their builds). The win con is pretty wide-open right now, but we aren't short of options (Kokusho is popular here). We have a lot of excellent mono black primers, but I don't think any winconcs directly fit yet. Thoughts?
I'd build the deck to out-resource opponents. This means both in card- and mana-advantage. Our commander is a terribly powerful resource for the first, as long as we've got enough of the second to reliably table him. Therefore I'd start by figuring out the best ways to get Kothophed in play by, say, turn four. Obviously the vintage rocks (Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault) are good starts, alongside maybe ten 2-rocks (Charcoal Diamond, Mind Stone, Felwar Stone, etc). Not only do these ramp, they also increase my permanents in play, which will help to things like Smokestack. I'd test to see if rituals (Dark Ritual et al) would help.
After that, I'd focus on maximizing his ability. Cards that cause opponents to lose permanents are, of course, all very good. I suspect the best one is Pox, which I suggested in the original thread. Smokestack and other "stax" cards are real good, but I wouldn't really call this deck a stax deck. Stax decks play cards that slow down the game, as well as other cards that do very well when a game is slowed down. This deck just happens to play some of the more powerful disruption spells that are commonly played in stax strats, but doesn't prioritize a slowed-down game the same way. Anyway, lots of efficient spot removal is good too, since it all cantrips - Murderous Cut, Snuff Out, even stuff like Go for the Throat seems good. Sweepers too - Damnation, Languish, Toxic Deluge.
Specifically to Dark Rit - I generally dislike ritual effects since they're card disadvantage, except in wheel-heavy lists or storm builds. However, Kothophed provides such huge card advantage, I wouldn't really worry about it in this deck, as long as you can reliably land and protect 'Phed himself.
I'm drooling reading this...
What you described sounds a LOT like something I would love to pilot, and I see what you mean between this and stax, it's not really the same. I guess the decklist would need to see a major shift, but there's still a good foundation for that type of deck here. Now I've got the building bug, I can't wait to form a v1.0 of this. Thank you for your help!
Don't these fight against each other? One part wants you to play only permanents, while Spell Mastery wants you to play instants and/or sorceries?
I don't play Prophet right now, but it really doesn't bother me too much. Though playing mono black Sheoldred, opponent's creatures usually don't last a full turn.
That said, my first organized play, I was roflstomped all night and no one offered me any help... and that was 12 years ago, lol. For whatever reason, it didn't really affect my Magic "career." Now I know that not everyone would stick around this long after a first night like that, and I certainly would have a appreciated the help way back when.
Hey, thanks for stopping by and giving your input! I like Sangromancer at the right time in the game (though drawing her after a board wipe was somewhat disappointing
2. Do not expect people to take it easy on you just because you're "hug," many people hate this archetype.
3. Play plenty of clone effects, they'll abuse Braids, so you should abuse their abuse.
4. Have outs, Cyclonic Rift + Windfall comes to mind (ah the memories...)
5. Be willing to abandon Mono Blue, this is not the best at Hug, it can't capitalize like others and does not have the best outs. That said, I love Braids and enjoyed building her.
6. Have fun. Seriously. Show people how much fun you're having, politics are your best friend here and visibly enjoying others having fun can be very helpful.
Good luck! : smileup:
I like the idea of having all that "stuff" in one deck, that generally makes for less feel-bads. Plus now you can do some rebuilding (my favorite part of magic)!
LOL! Why pick one color when you can pick five!?
Sounds like fun to me, just remember that some people will always see Scion combo when you sit down to play. You may have to accept being the target for the first round or two.
Agreed, I can't see you approaching him about it resolving in any positive situation. Report what you saw the the judge, tell him how conflicted you were because he is your friend and apologize for not having done so sooner.
Best of luck, this is a crappy situation to have to be in.
Good luck!
Why would we need a great card like Dismiss when we can get terrible cards like Bone to Ash? LOL
A little sad that there are plenty of older cards that could use a reprint (Rewind is in there too for me) but they continue to print this... "fodder." Oh well, partially my fault for continuing to buy/play the product I guess.
I was looking at Kotbophed, but while waiting for his release, I started playing with Sheoldred and kind of fell in love. Now I've played Mono Black Reanimator for about a week and am really enjoying it.
I got a few games in last night with this build (used Sheoldred as the commander for now, she was REALLY good FYI... might consider it in the future) and I used Mox Diamond, Thran Dynamo + the current suite of acceleration with great results. Sure, they can be dead late, but they at least work well with Smokestack.
I'm going to take some time away from theorycrafting and just play as many games as I can. I did build a recursion engine with Sheoldred and that was a lot of fun to play with, but if like to play stax lite, MBC, etc.
Thanks for all the help guys/gals, I'll update when I have a solid idea of direction and the deck list updated.
Yeah, it's always kind of a mix. I don't think they'd ever be dead though, and we do have plenty of Voltron (which they're obviously useful against). I would like to start fleshing out this deck idea, probably starting with the artifact ramp base. Do we need to adjust our land base to compensate for the large number of incoming artifacts?
The artifacts I could think of were...
Any others that should be in? Don't really want to play bad ramp either, lol...
Haha, yeah I made that discovery myself way back when and realized just how bad it can be.
I'd like this deck to be able to win at casual tables, but have a fair shot at competitive ones too. I play in a meta where you might hit either or both in every game (we have the kids that just started all the way to the guys who have thousands into each of their builds). The win con is pretty wide-open right now, but we aren't short of options (Kokusho is popular here). We have a lot of excellent mono black primers, but I don't think any winconcs directly fit yet. Thoughts?
Do you see creatures like Fleshbag Marauder/Merciless Executioner fitting here or are they cut in place of other removal effects?
I'm drooling reading this...
What you described sounds a LOT like something I would love to pilot, and I see what you mean between this and stax, it's not really the same. I guess the decklist would need to see a major shift, but there's still a good foundation for that type of deck here. Now I've got the building bug, I can't wait to form a v1.0 of this. Thank you for your help!