2019 Holiday Exchange!
 
A New and Exciting Beginning
 
The End of an Era
  • CavalryWolfPack's avatar
    Oct 6, 2015
    CavalryWolfPack posted a message on What Deck Should I Play Since I'm on a budget?
    Quote from GrandZob »
    Hi, i would like to get into modern but got a few issues chosing the right deck.

    I'm not really aiming a budget deck at the moment, I'm hesitating between one budget deck : mono U Tron, and a cheap version (understand under 250$, i love the meaning of cheap when it comes to MTG) of Living End.

    So, card I own
    1 thoughtseize
    1 windswep heath
    1 ley line of the void
    and a bunch of cheap cards

    colors I like to play
    Hard to say, I loooovvvee Black, mainly cause i like its mechanics (particulary in legacy and EDH, Griselbrand player here) but afterall it's more like combinaison that i like, and my favorite is Abzan... Too bad I'm on a budget huh ? grixis is also lovely but same problem here.
    So pretty much anything !

    Style I like to play
    Anything dat allows stupid plays or include stupid effects. Like Playing a 15/15 Hentai monster and actually rape the opponent (this one is so fukin roleplay).
    I also love lock games but I don't think there's something like dat in modern, and I don't want to hear the classic "Wanna play ? -Sure what you playin' ? - lock/burn/boringcombo.deck - See ya next time !!!"
    I'd just say that some combos like Ad Nauseam for the soloplays (HATE THIS ONE) and linear gameplay like Stompy are not really enjoyable to me.

    Budget : 250 for a first investment, but I Will probably enhance the deck time to time.

    Level :
    local tournament/FNM ... but since some of the guys in my local shops are playing in PTQ, and one have even made it to a Pro Tour (T2) ... I think my meta is competitive.

    So here is my problem :
    I like U tron, but it seems like the deck is not that powerful, it is a good deck in good hands for sure, but it really has its bad match-up and I see him struggling against top deck/strong opponents a bit too much for me.

    On the other hand Living end is a combo which has made it a few times to top level , not a tier 1 nor 2 but not a rogue deck at all.

    So my question is, should I go Mono U tron, and eventually put money later to evolve it to a gift Tron, just to change from time to time but knowing that except for some blue cards, most of the cores are not usable in anything but other tron (And only some ....)
    Or should I go for LE with a cheaper landing (i don't see how i could play it w/o fulminator so most of the budget will go into it) knowing that the only really expensive cards that I will eventually buy later are useful in a lot of deck (Lands and Fulmi) ?
    Gathering Magic has a Playing On a Budget series on YouTube. Check it out because the newest addituon is Living End for around $200.
    Posted in: Budget (Modern)
  • CavalryWolfPack's avatar
    Oct 5, 2015
    CavalryWolfPack posted a message on "What Deck Should I Play" thread
    Quote from TchillyHo »
    Hey everyone, (this post is in the modern and legacy forums)

    first a little introduction : I'm a Spike player. I've been playing magic for a while and I play every week in local tournaments (40-50 players). I've only been playing UR twin (tempo) in modern and miracles in legacy. However, i've found that playing these decks for 5-6 rounds is really tiring. As I'd like to attempt some bigger tournaments in the future, I'd like to have some advice. Should I switch decks ?
    I'm looking for tier 1 decks which can won a bit faster than tempo UR Twin and miracles but still reward good plays.
    I love control decks but I don't think I will be able to play my A-game in big tournaments with my two decks.
    With the banning of Dig Through Time, I was thinking of switching to RUG delver in legacy (with mongoose or Deathrite Shaman).
    With modern I was thinking of playing RUG Twin which may be a bit faster.

    I'm looking for yout advice. First should I switch decks (which I think I should do) and second which decks to play. I'm not entirely sold on my choises, so any input is appreciated.

    PS : budget is not a concern as I have access to all duals, fecths, tarmo, jace, snapcaster, ...
    In Modern, you can get faster with Twin if you decide to with an all-in variant. However, I imagine your kind of sick of combo decks. Affinity is something I would look into. It's faster, resiliant and, quite frankly, a lot of fun to play.
    Posted in: Modern
  • CavalryWolfPack's avatar
    Oct 5, 2015
    CavalryWolfPack posted a message on Maralen Combo: NEED HELP
    Quote from Serj »
    I run multiplayer tables with a Sidisi-Adnasuem deck (complete with Imperial Seal and Grim Tutor), and while the deck takes quite a hit from the banning of the good fast mana and Vamp Tutor/Imperial Seal, I feel you can literally just throw in basic lands in their slot and do just fine. The goal for the deck should be resolving AdNas ASAP and then find enough cheap mana sources to Tendrils your opponent out or find another accelerator that gives you more than enough mana to finish comboing out (in a 4 man pod exsanguinate ends up being the easiest option).

    In that regard I would run all the legal fast mana artifacts (I believe Lotus Petal, Mox Opal, Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, and LED are all legal), Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Culling the Weak (with supporting 0 CMC artifact creatures), and then a good strong other 0 CMC package can lead to explosive starts and easy storm. From there I have Krak-Clan Iron Works, Skirge Familiar, and Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth to generate infinite/unbounded mana along with some kind of filter (Astral Cornucopia, to win however you see fit. After that you add in every decent legal tutor (Demonic Tutor, Grim Tutor, Dark Petition, Infernal Tutor etc...) And then I'd add in a lot of discard into the deck to play against disruption (IoK, Duress, Thoughtseize) so that you can confidentially tutor and combo off. I'd imagine the deck with the French banned list to be able to combo off turn 3-5 instead of the turn 1-3 in multiplayer commander due to the loss of good fast mana and a slight hit in consistency due to 2 of the best 3 tutors are banned. Also if control decks start to see play in your meta cards like defense grid can pull their weight to prevent them from interacting. I would also throw in an elixir of immortality and Yawg-will for redundancy or incase something goes wrong mid combo. Elixir also allows you to go for infinite storm as well by letting you tendrils for less than lethal make a bunch of mana, shuffle your library tutor for ad-naseum again and repeat the process.
    Sweet! However, aggro decks are omnipresent in my meta, where I do believe we have 2 Goblins players, a very strong Rafiq voltron strategy, and several fast paced (and to be honest, completely broken) combo decks. (My meta is small. We get maybe 10-16 players on average.) I have to be able to go off with very little life on the table. (At least less than 15) This begs the question of what I should run. Tendrils, Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual make 7 cmc in total, so I can definitely afford to go higher. I'll probably try and pack a Thoughtsieze and a Duress to hit counterspells (Using both in case my opponent has two counterspells.) Elixir is a great idea, and the Ironworks combines to a form nice safety measure. That makes 14 cmc without Ad Nauseum, which shouldn't matter because it won't be in our deck when we try to go off. Is this good enough? What mana acceleration should I use so I can make this faster? (Yes I know your post mentions mana acceleration, but I don't want to take too much damage off of Ad Nauseum.) Let's not forget that Thoughtsieze deals 2 damage to me when I cast it, which will be relevant against Goblins.
    Posted in: Commander (EDH)
  • CavalryWolfPack's avatar
    Oct 4, 2015
    CavalryWolfPack posted a message on What Deck Should I Play Since I'm on a budget?
    Quote from TheAmazingKamahl »
    Could you send me a decklist or primer for that? I only know the really expensive ones.
    I just sent you a series of PMs with resources and more spelling errors than I would like to admit.
    Posted in: Budget (Modern)
  • CavalryWolfPack's avatar
    Oct 4, 2015
    CavalryWolfPack posted a message on "What Deck Should I Play" thread
    Quote from CmdrSlayer »
    Hey i'm looking for a second modern deck to play. As you can see I'm on Abzan, but I'd like another deck that play differently or at least plays WAY different cards. Only rules are 0 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and 0 Snapcaster Mage.

    Cards you already own: Abzan Midrange.dek, all KTK fetches, 4 Verdant Catacombs, All Jund/Abzan shocklands, 2 Marsh Flats.
    Colors you like to play: White and Green, I also like drawing cards
    Style you like to play: Preferably not midrange, looking for more of a tempo or control deck.
    Level you want to play at, or aim to build up to: Casual/PTQ
    You have a long list of options. If you want the exact opposite of midrange, hit up something a little rogue, like Skred Red, which isn't even that costly except for Blood Moon. Any Delver variant will do nicely. Heck, you could even enjoy Merfolk. I can't give you a specific deck because there are so many decks that are very different than Abzan. If I had to rank them, however, it would look something like this
    1. Skred Red
    2. Merfolk
    3. Affinity
    4. BW Tokens (It's a little bit of everything, you might like it.)
    5. Delver Variant
    Look into these. They all play very differently from each other and appeal to a large variety of players. I know this is a VERY broad list, but if you want to be different from Abzan, you can't get much better than these. You probably noticed I put a rather rogue list in front of Tier 1 lists. This is because the deck will punish anything not mono colored because typical list play three Blood Moon MAINBOARD and it's a very strong deck to boot. Heck, it even has game against Twin. If I had to pick one of these decks, I couldn't feel more confident than with Skred Red.
    Posted in: Modern
  • CavalryWolfPack's avatar
    Oct 4, 2015
    CavalryWolfPack posted a message on Maralen Combo: NEED HELP
    Quote from cryogen »
    Didn't the French ban most of the broken mana rocks that you need to blitz out a storm combo early on?
    I've done the math, I would really only need three: Chrome Mox, Mox Opal, and Lotus Petal. From there I can cast a bunch of zero cost artifact to storm up and turn on Opal, and cast maybe a Dark Ritual to win with Tendrils. I completely forgot about Sidisi; she should be better. The French did ban a lot of the broken combo cards, but this deck would go off via fairly innocuous cards, like Accorder's Shield. Either way, it seems incredibly fun to play, even though it dies to a single counterspell. This deck will probably end up being the most glazed of the glass cannons. Plus, I don't think there are any dedicated control decks in my meta.
    EDIT: For whatever reason, I though Tendrils was 2 mana, not 4. This doesn't throw a dent in the deck's strategy, however. I'll just have to be more reliant on rituals. Again, I know this idea sounds shaky, but I think it could work. This idea has potential.
    Posted in: Commander (EDH)
  • CavalryWolfPack's avatar
    Oct 4, 2015
    CavalryWolfPack posted a message on Maralen Combo: NEED HELP
    My LGS offers French Commander, and since the only other constructed format they offer is Standard, I guess if I want to play longterm I should play Commander. After some thought, I had the idea of a Maralen of the Mornsong Storm deck that goes off of Ad Nauseum and a bunch of 0-1 cmc cards and kills with Tendrils of Agony. However, I am having some trouble thinking of how to successfully play the deck. If I don't leave mana up, I won't be able to cast rituals to give me mana ramp. If I wait to long, however, I will have suffered to much life loss from my opponent and Maralen, and than I die to the combined cmc of my deck. Similarly, I should probably cast Maralen on turn four to get Ad Nauseum turn five and go for the kill, but again I probably want to have six lands to insure that I can cast my rituals to give me mana. I know that Chrome Mox, Mox Opal, and Lotus Petal are going to be incredibly helpful, but where do I go from here? I am on a budget, so this is the most effective deck I could think of. I know that competitive EDH is far from cheap, but this will at least go somewhere, scrape up some wins, and maybe even place. FYI I really hope I put this in the right spot. If I didn't, could somebody please redirect me?
    Posted in: Commander (EDH)
  • CavalryWolfPack's avatar
    Oct 4, 2015
    CavalryWolfPack posted a message on BW Midrange/ "Deadguy Ale"
    Quote from deaddrift »
    Brimaz, King of Oreskos and Liliana of the Veil are doing two different things. You can't just swap one in for the other because they are both 3 CMC.

    The deck ain't cheap. If you want to move from the MED into Dead Guy I would start with the mana base and get the fetches and shocks. Caves of Koilos is very bad with Thoughtseize and Dark Confidant. Isolated Chapel is very bad with colorless lands and this deck needs Mutavault to make Pack Rat strong enough to be a player. After that, get some Thoughtseizes and two more IoKs and make sure you have four Paths. All of this stuff dual-purposes to strengthen the Tokens build.

    Then, to get the rest of the way there, you will need to throw down for Bob and Lili. I don't know any competitive versions of this deck that don't feature those two cards as major players. I built into Dead Guy from the Modern Event Deck in just this way.

    Jötun Grunt is conditional for sure, but it works for me. Maindeck graveyard hate is a terrific idea in the current meta (as it plays out at my LGS, anyway). Personally I don't plan to take it out but I also wouldn't run it as more than a two-of. Some people prefer a more disruption-heavy Tidehollow Sculler focus but Sculler is much worse than Grunt in the late game. Others run Gatekeeper of Malakir which I haven't tried.

    Blade Splicer sucked for me.
    Believe me, I knew going into this that this deck wasn't going to be cheap. I've yet to attend a Modern event yet, I've just played against people between rounds at FNM, which is why I'm asking because I have absolutely no idea what to expect. Given that I'm a high school student, this will probably be my little project for a long time. Or I'll have to succumb to budget decks, but not without a fight.
    Posted in: Midrange
  • CavalryWolfPack's avatar
    Oct 3, 2015
    CavalryWolfPack posted a message on BW Midrange/ "Deadguy Ale"
    I have a few questions about this deck before I get a list together and proxy it up.
    1. How heavy black are we? It seems like a lot of the lists recently posted are incredibly heavy in black, and the double white spells in the primer are missing. Since I can't afford Lilis anytime soon, is it possible to play Brimaz?

    2. What do I build for an unknown meta? I think Blade Splicer could be very good, but gets blanked by Bolt and anything with 4 toughness

    3. What's the deal with Jotun Grunt? He doesn't seem very good to me at all. He dies if played early but on paper looks irrelevant in the late game.

    4. And finally, is this a deck that is easily accessible. I'm a 16 year old who is unsatisfied with the event deck. We've already been over how much of it carries over, but is this a deck that can be put together for cheap? I know we hate budget talk, but the question still stands for a lot of players.
    Posted in: Midrange
  • CavalryWolfPack's avatar
    Oct 2, 2015
    CavalryWolfPack posted a message on What Deck Should I Play Since I'm on a budget?
    Quote from TheAmazingKamahl »
    I forgot to mention that I also have:

    1 Remand
    1 Detention Sphere

    Which bring me closer to UW control.

    What would that list look like? I've only ever seen the expensive version, with fetches etc.
    Hmmm looks like you have two cards that throw you into Titan Control, which is allegedly incredibly fun to play.
    Posted in: Budget (Modern)
  • CavalryWolfPack's avatar
    Oct 2, 2015
    CavalryWolfPack posted a message on BW Midrange/ "Deadguy Ale"
    Quote from deaddrift »
    In Tokens your line to victory is pretty much always the same; play tokens, buff with +X/+X and vigilance, and swing for the win. I didn't think it was particularly weak after upgrading from the Event Deck base build, but I didn't find it very engaging either. In Dead Guy you have several possible lines to victory; Abyssal Persecutor, Spirit Tokens, or Pack Rat. Jotun Grunt can swing big when he has the depth in the graveyards to support him. All of the creatures can get much more deadly when they buff up with Grafted Wargear.

    Other than that, Dead Guy (in the current build being played and discussed in this thread) is more removal intensive than Tokens and has card advantage from Dark Confidant and Liliana. It requires more thought and skill to play well.

    Some players are running a lifegain variant that uses Restoration Angel and Kitchen Finks that has a different road to victory but I haven't played that deck and can't speak for it.
    Thank you! I'll definitely upgrade the event deck to this. I'm just glad most of the contents carry over.
    Posted in: Midrange
  • CavalryWolfPack's avatar
    Oct 1, 2015
    CavalryWolfPack posted a message on [$30-40] Soul Sisters - getting back to FNM
    The first thing I would do is read up on Soul Sisters and watch gameplay of it. That will give you a very solid starting point. Modern is a faster format, although sometimes its speed is overestimated. I would try to avoid land that enters the field tapped. They put you one turn behind and will hurt you in the long run. Pauper Soul Sisters and Modern Soul Sisters, while having similar traits, are very different in how they close out the game. Pauper swarms with tokens, while Modern wants to take advantage of your massive life total. Never play anything that costs more than 4 mana in this deck. It's too slow. This varies from version to version, however. A lot of decks in Modern can play expensive spells, but Soul Sisters is not one of them. That being said, Felidar Sovereign is at least worth testing if your meta is dominated by slow, grindy decks. Get Path to Exile. It's white's best creature removal in the format and I wouldn't emter an FNM without a full playset. I know they're expensive, but they are a staple in most white decks, so if you ever want to move into another white deck you have some staples. Other than that, cut anything that's expensive. Crovax and Martial Coup should go by that logic. Pauper and Modern are very different formats. While some knowledge will carry over, some things that are absolute powerhouses in Pauper are actually unplayable in Modern.
    Posted in: Budget (Modern)
  • CavalryWolfPack's avatar
    Oct 1, 2015
    CavalryWolfPack posted a message on BW Midrange/ "Deadguy Ale"
    Quote from Kerolz »
    Try to get
    4 dark confidant
    2-3 liliana of the vei
    3-4 thoughtseize
    5-7 fetches
    4 godless shrines
    And you good to go.
    Thanks! Is there anything else I should know? I really want to know how similarly the two decks play. The obvious differnce is that one is swinging with little guys while the other is swinging with one big guy. What other differences are there?
    Posted in: Midrange
  • CavalryWolfPack's avatar
    Oct 1, 2015
    CavalryWolfPack posted a message on Cards you hate the most
    Quote from AvalonAurora »
    Quote from Ayiluss »
    Quote from DrWorm »
    Quote from Ayiluss »

    Actually this means there isn't a deck that plays a card you doesn't hate. I don't know what to say here but maybe you're just unlucky. I understand that all of these cards can be problematic at some point or for some decks but all of them at the same time is a lot. I hope you find a way to deal with most of them and they won't be an (so big) issue any more.

    Was there something from Boggles on the list? I have never paid much attention to that deck, so I couldn't say. I think Soul Sisters, maybe. There is also Lantern Control.

    It wasn't, maybe I exaggerated a bit but it is true for the most popular/best decks in the format which means he will constantly come across to the decks he doesn't like or has problems against due to the certain, even key cards he has problems against. I didn't want to be rude or anything like that but so long list just seems a little bit weird to me. Everyone has his own opinion and so he does and I'm absolutely fine with that.

    I guess my intent was misunderstood. Or perhaps the degree of 'hate'. I listed cards from all the decks I could think of that stood out to me as problematic, especially in terms of enabling a greater diversity of decks if they were gone by allowing more T2 and T3 decks to rise up somewhat. I don't necessarily think they should be banned, there could easily be other solutions, like the right new card designs to counteract them or add redundancy to help handle their presence aimed at lower tier decks with particular weaknesses, or main-deck-worthy efficient removal or other solutions in more colors that can deal with them for overly efficient creatures, like perhaps adding some new easier anti-delve sideboard stuff that also incidentally shrinks goyfs but isn't vulnerable to discard or abrupt decay (like a flash-back instant or sorcery one). It's cards I see as the biggest threats in various more threatening decks, not decks or cards that are 'unbeatable' or something, just ones that are less 'fair' compared to the rest of the format and the kind of stuff we can typically get out of new sets these days without being banned right away.
    I see where you're coming from. Yes, these cards can be annoying in the right deck, but aren't "broken," so to say. There are outs to a lot of these, however. The trick is finding what deck can most effectively beat the decks where these are strongest. Find their weaknesses and find sideboard tech for them.
    Posted in: Modern
  • CavalryWolfPack's avatar
    Oct 1, 2015
    CavalryWolfPack posted a message on What Deck Should I Play Since I'm on a budget?
    Quote from TheAmazingKamahl »
    Good point. What about 100$?

    Also, I have a lot of EDH-obsessed friends, so if there are any cards <20$ that I need for a deck that are also commander staples I can probably pick them up.
    $100 opens you up a little bit, but not by much. Maybe budget Strom, and certainly Titan/Emeria Control, also known as Azorious Titan and Mono-Value Control. $100 will also get you most of Mono Blue Tron, Budget Goblins (No Goblin Guide ) with a lot of money to spare. Look at MTGGoldfish's Budget Magic series in Youtube. You will find a lot of decks under $100 in Modern. Your EDH friends can certainly be able to help you with a lot of these decks. Just be sure to include a sideboard in you budget! I cannot stress this enough. All to often players forget about there sideboard in their budget (I know I've made this mistake before.)
    Posted in: Budget (Modern)
  • To post a comment, please or register a new account.
Back to Top