Yeah I like the idea of Soul Foundry, it could almost be more consistent than Gift of Immortality. I'm not sold on clones, and splashing green yet, but I'll think on it for a few days. Splashing green reminds me of when I tried to pair Gift of Immortality with Bristle Boar.
Well, whoops, I didn't think about pulling him out of the graveyard either. Unearth seems awesome, and I love the cycling.
So a while back I played a deck in Standard that made a few splashes at my card shop. I by no means was doing super well, but I played some tricks on people and had a blast doing it. I combined the use of the Festering Newt and Bubbling Cauldron with the Enchantment Gift of Immortality, able to continually drain 4 life from each player with a chump blocker, often killing an enemy creature if I had Bogbrew Witch in play. Mean, when all the pieces came into play, but that often is the flaw with combo decks.
So what I'd like to do is recreate the deck, but without the limitations of the Standard format. The backbone of the deck is as follows:
I love Angelic Accord, because it gives you one more bonus from the combo. The Sin Collector and the High Priest of Penance are both other fun targets for the Gift of Immortality. Wall of Omens was Angelic Wall while the deck was limited by standard, but I like the card better than flying. I'm sure that now there are better ways to make the deck more consistent without any real limitations.
Controlly Cards:
I play 4 Magma Jet in it for clean up (the scry doesn't hurt). As well as that, I side board anger of the gods, which I know kills most cows, but can be a more effective sweep than Bile Blight. Midrange is all about knowing when to give, and when to take.
I will probably be replacing the Dreadbores with Hero's Downfalls soon enough, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
Common side in and outs:
Siding cards out usually begins by shaving off some of my higher costing 3 ofs. Dark Betrayal will usually replace Dreadbore for the instant speed. Anger of the goods, usually makes me take out a Read the Bones or two, because I try not to get rid of the creatures it will be killing.
I started with 4 Heroes' Reunion but it is slowly working its way out. I guess part of me really likes the Voracious Wurm combo. Without Heroes' I feel like I might not keep the Wurm either. Lots to think about there.
Against removal, I play the lion who gets hexproof late, and gift of immortality can stop it after. Not saying I will discount other hexproofers entirely, once again just something to think on.
I guess I hadn't though of Archangel yet. Definitely a good idea, I'll have to try and get a few to play around with it. With her in the deck it would be smart to have Nyx Fleece, but 1 life per turn didn't seem good enough before.
If I have a chance to make some changes for FNM I'll post to let everyone know how it goes.
So I have been playing a fun deck recently and I haven't seen anyone playing anything quite like it. I was hoping some of you guys would enjoy it or have some suggestions. Here is the list as it currently stands:
Gift of Immortality+Eidolon of Blossoms= Cards each time the enchanted creature dies, because Gift will trigger a constellation trigger. Best on the boar because of how easily dies, or the eidolon himself because he gets an extra card.
Brindle Boar or Trading Post+Angelic Accord= Makes for a good win con, getting a 4/4 angel each time you can get that 4 life (not to mention throwing in a Heroes' Reunion now and again).
Heroes' Reunion+Voracious Wurm= Big scary creature for 4 mana. He still dies to removal pretty easily, but a 9/9 none the less.
Other card choices: Ajani, Mentor of Heroes= He digs for Boars and Gift. He makes mean swinging angels even meaner... with a little luck you could technically have a 102/102 Voracious Wurm.
Fleecemane Lion & Loxodon Smiter= These guys are big. These guys are tough. If I need more support for the deck this might be the room to drop stuff, but they are hard to pass up.
Banishing Light= Darn good. Triggers Eidolon's Constellation.
Unflinching Courage= Makes that 102/102 Voracious Worm kind even scarier sounding, huh? But I digress, This is just one more way that you can swing in for wins, or gain life.
I love combo decks. I just like to see the way that things work together when you build the machine. I haven't constantly beaten any of the big decks like mono black, or esper control, but I occasionally make a nice big upset and I beat a lot of other home-brews. I'd like to make this a winner, but I don't know what other changes to make.
So there it is. I have been finding that it might be a little bit spread thin, but sometimes that is the way that combo decks go. Any other ideas? Suggestions? Comments?
Hey guys. My local card shop has been talking about running a Two Headed Giant tournament using standard legal sets for the guidelines. What we have been talking about, is that there might be a need for additional bans.
So far the rules would be standard detailed on wizards.com
But we feel there may be trouble with cards like Gray Merchant of Asphodel. With as powerful as "each opponent" effects can be, and the mono black in particular being a dominating deck in the standard format.
So to my understanding the new Bestow mechanic brings a "enchantment creature" into play not actually as a creature. I figure this from the statement, "It becomes a creature again..." and maybe from the statement, "...it's an Aura..."
QUESTION: If I play an enchantment creature for it's bestow cost, do I count it as a creature to check for evolve?
SCENARIO: If I have a Shambleshark with no counters on it and a grizzly bears. I play a a Boon Satyr for his bestow cost on grizzly bears. Do I check shambleshark's evolve ability or does he become an aura too early to get the check?
SIDE NOTE 1: If you do not get to check when you cast for the bestow cost, do you get to check when the bestowed creature dies, and the enchantment creature "becomes a creature again..."
SIDE NOTE 2: Assuming I do get a check when casting the enchantment creature, if I target the evolving creature with the bestowing enchantment creature, do I get the check, or does the check fail when it sees the power and toughness are the target creatures p/t + the bestowed creatures p/t?
The other creatures in the deck are all OK, but not too many are staples. Running the Newt combo, you should have at least a Bogbrew Witch in the deck. I put 4 in after a few games of never drawing her at 2. She turns you newt into a kill spell and helps you get two of the main components of the deck. Then there is Angelic Wall, & Basilica Screecher. Both are early game and help avoid evasion. Remember, worst case scenario, any creature can be sacrificed to the cauldron for 4 life.
Another heavliy concentrated support card in the deck is Angelic Accord. I originally made this deck after most of the cards from my wife's standard deck were cued to go out with innistrad. She was playing Trading Post, to gain the life, Scroll of Avacyn as a cheap instant life/ card filter, and Seraph Sanctuary. The more I looked at it, the Trading post didn't fit any longer, because most often the Bubbling Cauldron was just a better way to gain 4 life. But Angelic Accord can be used to turn extra creatures and chump blockers into 4/4 fliers.
I think I originally included Sanguine Bond, but found that it just never capitalized.
I decided to go with Basilica Screecher and Blind Obedience as the Extort makers in my deck instead of Tithe Drinker because I play the deck more defensively barely ever attacking.
I am considereing Read the Bones but haven't had the time to try it out.
So I played in a couple of Theros pre-releases and I got a good feel for a couple of the themes. One of the small themes that I personally saw a lot of was the wide use of the flash mechanic. I wanted to build a deck arround it, so the more I looked into the cards the more that I saw it would be more than possible to play an entire deck of instant speed cards. Here is my first list with very limited test playing.
So far the idea is to counter or control what they play and slip in a creature when you can. When you have a creature you can make it bigger with the Boon Saytr or Feral Invocation. Even if you attack with a creature you can still be able to rely on it blocking because of the Breaching Hippocamp or the Savage Surge.
As for the land situation. I will work out if I need more or less of some Islands or Forests as I play, but the dual lands I am rather unconcerned with which ones go in. I will put them in if I can get my hands on them. I like the Temple of Mystery being able to filter, but I don't know if tapped lands is good for the deck. I would be an optimal turn one play.
I will obviously try to test it more and more in the weeks to come, but I just wanted to see if I coiuld get some feedback on what you guys think. Thanks
Thanks for all the good advice everyone. The deck looks like, because of the low early damage output that it might need to be more mid range geared.
I like the Dragonshift idea. It does seem gimmicky but doable in more casual standard settings.
U might be a better idea than W as a second color. The Warden of Evos Isle seems too good to pass up. Depending on what type of dual lands we get in Theros this might change, but with the enemy dual lands from Innistrad a RWU deck is not completely out of the question either.
If the goal is to use "Deal X damage where X is the number of creatures you control", then theres more reliable strategies than Scourge. I'm not too crazy about Legion's Initiative since it will destroy all your dragon Tokens in the process.
Burn at the Stake and Hellrider are great at pushing damage through with little tokens, even if they are set to rotate soon.
If you do intend to stick to dragon tribal, you'll likely need every dragon available to you, especially since there are few 3 and 4 CMC dragons. Archwing Dragon, atleast while Scourge of Valkas is out, will turn into a repeatable burn.
I realize there are probably better ways to make x damage happen than scourge but the point was that I would like to make scourge work.
So thanks for the suggestions but that's not quite what we were looking for.
Well, whoops, I didn't think about pulling him out of the graveyard either. Unearth seems awesome, and I love the cycling.
So changes so far:
4 Festering Newt
3 Bogbrew Witch
4 Wall of Omens
2 Sin Collector
2 High Priest of Penance
4 Bubbling Cauldron
4 Gift of Immortality
3 Angelic Accord
2 Doom Blade
3 Read the Bones
2 Solemn Offering
4 Unearth
1 Soul Foundry
4 Isolated Chapel
2 Marsh Flats
9 Swamps
7 Plains
It'll will probably change a lot more, but I like these two.
So what I'd like to do is recreate the deck, but without the limitations of the Standard format. The backbone of the deck is as follows:
4 Festering Newt
3 Bogbrew Witch
4 Bubbling Cauldron
4 Gift of Immortality
Beyond that I am completely open to suggestions but I have a breakdown of something similar to my standard deck as well.
4 Festering Newt
3 Bogbrew Witch
4 Wall of Omens
2 Basilica Screecher
2 Sin Collector
2 High Priest of Penance
4 Bubbling Cauldron
4 Gift of Immortality
3 Angelic Accord
3 Doom Blade
3 Read the Bones
2 Blind Obedience
2 Solemn Offering
6 Dual Lands
9 Swamps
7 Plains
I love Angelic Accord, because it gives you one more bonus from the combo. The Sin Collector and the High Priest of Penance are both other fun targets for the Gift of Immortality. Wall of Omens was Angelic Wall while the deck was limited by standard, but I like the card better than flying. I'm sure that now there are better ways to make the deck more consistent without any real limitations.
What do you guys think? Thanks for any help.
Controlly Cards:
I play 4 Magma Jet in it for clean up (the scry doesn't hurt). As well as that, I side board anger of the gods, which I know kills most cows, but can be a more effective sweep than Bile Blight. Midrange is all about knowing when to give, and when to take.
Cows:
Personally I'm not a fan of Felhide Brawler. I would drop him fast, especially for at least another Rageblood Shaman.
My list:
3 Gnarled Scarhide
3 Deathbellow Raider
2 Minotaur Skullcleaver
4 Rageblood Shaman
3 Ragemonger
3 Fanatic of Mogis
3 Felhide Spiritbinder
1 Mogis, God of Slaughter
2 Kragma Warcaller
4 Magma Jet
4 Dreadbore
4 Read the Bones
Lands:
4 Blood Crypt
4 Temple of Malice
9 Mountain
7 Swamp
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Dark Betrayal
2 Felhide Petrifier
2 Flurry of Horns
2 Skullcrack
1 Ultimate Price
2 Lightning Strike
I will probably be replacing the Dreadbores with Hero's Downfalls soon enough, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
Common side in and outs:
Siding cards out usually begins by shaving off some of my higher costing 3 ofs. Dark Betrayal will usually replace Dreadbore for the instant speed. Anger of the goods, usually makes me take out a Read the Bones or two, because I try not to get rid of the creatures it will be killing.
Against removal, I play the lion who gets hexproof late, and gift of immortality can stop it after. Not saying I will discount other hexproofers entirely, once again just something to think on.
I guess I hadn't though of Archangel yet. Definitely a good idea, I'll have to try and get a few to play around with it. With her in the deck it would be smart to have Nyx Fleece, but 1 life per turn didn't seem good enough before.
If I have a chance to make some changes for FNM I'll post to let everyone know how it goes.
4 Brindle Boar
2 Eidolon of Blossoms
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Loxodon Smiter
4 Voracious Wurm
4 Gift of Immortailiy
4 Banishing Light
3 Angelic Accord
2 Unflinching Courage
2 Heroes' Reunion
2 Trading Post
2 Ajani, Mentor to Heroes
4 Temple of Plenty
2 Temple Garden
8 Forest
9 Plains
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some of the combos:
Brindle Boar+Gift of Immortality= Gain 4 life each turn and have a chump blocker each turn.
Gift of Immortality+Eidolon of Blossoms= Cards each time the enchanted creature dies, because Gift will trigger a constellation trigger. Best on the boar because of how easily dies, or the eidolon himself because he gets an extra card.
Brindle Boar or Trading Post+Angelic Accord= Makes for a good win con, getting a 4/4 angel each time you can get that 4 life (not to mention throwing in a Heroes' Reunion now and again).
Heroes' Reunion+Voracious Wurm= Big scary creature for 4 mana. He still dies to removal pretty easily, but a 9/9 none the less.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other card choices:
Ajani, Mentor of Heroes= He digs for Boars and Gift. He makes mean swinging angels even meaner... with a little luck you could technically have a 102/102 Voracious Wurm.
Fleecemane Lion & Loxodon Smiter= These guys are big. These guys are tough. If I need more support for the deck this might be the room to drop stuff, but they are hard to pass up.
Banishing Light= Darn good. Triggers Eidolon's Constellation.
Unflinching Courage= Makes that 102/102 Voracious Worm kind even scarier sounding, huh? But I digress, This is just one more way that you can swing in for wins, or gain life.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I love combo decks. I just like to see the way that things work together when you build the machine. I haven't constantly beaten any of the big decks like mono black, or esper control, but I occasionally make a nice big upset and I beat a lot of other home-brews. I'd like to make this a winner, but I don't know what other changes to make.
So there it is. I have been finding that it might be a little bit spread thin, but sometimes that is the way that combo decks go. Any other ideas? Suggestions? Comments?
So far the rules would be standard detailed on wizards.com
But we feel there may be trouble with cards like Gray Merchant of Asphodel. With as powerful as "each opponent" effects can be, and the mono black in particular being a dominating deck in the standard format.
Any advice on help create a ban/restricted list?
QUESTION: If I play an enchantment creature for it's bestow cost, do I count it as a creature to check for evolve?
SCENARIO: If I have a Shambleshark with no counters on it and a grizzly bears. I play a a Boon Satyr for his bestow cost on grizzly bears. Do I check shambleshark's evolve ability or does he become an aura too early to get the check?
SIDE NOTE 1: If you do not get to check when you cast for the bestow cost, do you get to check when the bestowed creature dies, and the enchantment creature "becomes a creature again..."
SIDE NOTE 2: Assuming I do get a check when casting the enchantment creature, if I target the evolving creature with the bestowing enchantment creature, do I get the check, or does the check fail when it sees the power and toughness are the target creatures p/t + the bestowed creatures p/t?
I will give scenarios if needed.
Thanks
I'll go ahead and tell you my list and compare it after. This is more so a skeleton, I haven't had too many chances to playtest it:
4 Festering Newt
4 Basilica Screecher
4 Angelic Wall
4 Bogbrew Witch
4 Doom Blade
2 Blind Obedience
4 Bubbling Cauldron
2 Solemn Offering
4 Gift of Immortality
4 Angelic Accord
4 Dual Lands
10 Swamp
10 Plains
So the main idea was to get out the three card combo: Festering Newt, Bubbling Cauldron, & Gift of Immortality. Once you do that you can gain 4 life and deal 4 damage each turn. And have a blocker.
The other creatures in the deck are all OK, but not too many are staples. Running the Newt combo, you should have at least a Bogbrew Witch in the deck. I put 4 in after a few games of never drawing her at 2. She turns you newt into a kill spell and helps you get two of the main components of the deck. Then there is Angelic Wall, & Basilica Screecher. Both are early game and help avoid evasion. Remember, worst case scenario, any creature can be sacrificed to the cauldron for 4 life.
Another heavliy concentrated support card in the deck is Angelic Accord. I originally made this deck after most of the cards from my wife's standard deck were cued to go out with innistrad. She was playing Trading Post, to gain the life, Scroll of Avacyn as a cheap instant life/ card filter, and Seraph Sanctuary. The more I looked at it, the Trading post didn't fit any longer, because most often the Bubbling Cauldron was just a better way to gain 4 life. But Angelic Accord can be used to turn extra creatures and chump blockers into 4/4 fliers.
Obviously Doom Blade &Solemn Offering are in the deck for coverage and removal.
I think I originally included Sanguine Bond, but found that it just never capitalized.
I decided to go with Basilica Screecher and Blind Obedience as the Extort makers in my deck instead of Tithe Drinker because I play the deck more defensively barely ever attacking.
I am considereing Read the Bones but haven't had the time to try it out.
Whoops... You are very correct and I just wasn't thinking about that. I was posting the deck quickly on my lunch break and it slipped my mind.
4 Boon Satyr
4 Breaching Hippocamp
4 Briarpack Alpha
Spells:
4 Disolve
2 Cancel
2 Negate
4 Disperse
4 Feral Invocation
4 Giant Growth
4 Savage Surge
2 Pit Fight
6 Pool/Gate/Temple
8 Forest
8 Island
So far the idea is to counter or control what they play and slip in a creature when you can. When you have a creature you can make it bigger with the Boon Saytr or Feral Invocation. Even if you attack with a creature you can still be able to rely on it blocking because of the Breaching Hippocamp or the Savage Surge.
As for the land situation. I will work out if I need more or less of some Islands or Forests as I play, but the dual lands I am rather unconcerned with which ones go in. I will put them in if I can get my hands on them. I like the Temple of Mystery being able to filter, but I don't know if tapped lands is good for the deck. I would be an optimal turn one play.
I will obviously try to test it more and more in the weeks to come, but I just wanted to see if I coiuld get some feedback on what you guys think. Thanks
He's already played Portal 2.
Any ideas?
I cannot think of anything, but I figured maybe one of you could. The restrictions are rather limiting, but anything you can think of is cool.
Thanks for any help.
-MP
http://www.nintendo.com/3ds/new/
Does anyone know what this means, as in which games will not be playable.
I like the Dragonshift idea. It does seem gimmicky but doable in more casual standard settings.
U might be a better idea than W as a second color. The Warden of Evos Isle seems too good to pass up. Depending on what type of dual lands we get in Theros this might change, but with the enemy dual lands from Innistrad a RWU deck is not completely out of the question either.
I realize there are probably better ways to make x damage happen than scourge but the point was that I would like to make scourge work.
So thanks for the suggestions but that's not quite what we were looking for.