This is something that I just started and I know that their is no commentary, but I just started doing this on Thursday and have been trying to work out everything and run multiple events.
Today we did live stream a SCG Super IQ event. I expect that as things go on I will get this more refined. Let me know what your thoughts are.
Yasooka modestly praised the deck. "To be honest, it's not too great a deck, I've been getting pulled through by my teammates. It's been 3-5 in games where it counted. To be honest, it looks a lot worse in comparison to [Kamiel Cornielssen's] Wrath of God deck with Firemane Angel, but I wanted to play something simple this weekend. It's a lot of fun, though."
I personally think that you are wasting you time if you commit this to your team and that there are better decks you could play.
If you think heartbeat is going to the man plan I would go -1 isamaru -3 pontiff +4 shoal, if you think they will stay in combo then -4 isamaru -3 pontiff +4 shaol +3 cranial. I think pithing needle is a good side option vs heartbeat as it is not really dead if they transformed because of muddle and jitte and is a beast in combo mode naming drift.
I disagree with your choices over all, but I agree with the Pithing needle. With the current SB I would SB like so
-3 Teysa
-1 Plauged Rulsalka
-1 Ghost Council
-1 Isamaru
+3 Extraction
+3 Shining Shoal
Although if the Needles were in I would suggest them. A few notes on this sideboarding plan. Extraction may only get 1 of the kill get the Maga 1st in hopes that you can get them low enough to use a shoal to redirect some of the damage from the Invoke. If you get the Needles in the SB I would suggest putting in no less than 3 over the Extractions. They will buy you enough time to win. Put in the shoals still for any possible Twister action.
Congrats MojoJojo for your great finish and reassuring everyone else the deck is good.
Keep this deck in mind when you need something for your local Extended tournaments. The deck might pick up some cards over the next year before the next season.
Top 8 - Nate Poupard Main Deck 2 Kodama of the North Tree 3 Scrabbling Claws 2 Sword of Fire and Ice 2 Umezawa’s Jitte 4 Troll Ascetic 3 Chalice of the Void 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Birds of Paradise 2 Chrome Mox 2 Elephant Guide 3 Iwamori of the Open Fist 4 Call of the Herd 4 Phantom Centaur 15 Forest 4 Blinkmoth Nexus 2 Blinkmoth Well Sideboard: 2 Sword of Light and Shadow 2 Seedtime 3 Naturalize 1 Elephant Guide 1 Chalice of the Void 3 Pithing Needle 1 Scrabbling Claws 2 Arashi, the Sky Asunder
Can you image the look on the Ichorid players face seeing compost!
In the Boros match up you should be able to beat them fairly easily. The chalice would cancel most of there deck and should allow you to win. The Worship will help you though since they can not remove the Troll.
I have not played the Affinity match up and my comments should be taken with that in mind. Affinity also has so many variations I am going to dismiss a few cards since they may not be in every version.
Affinity can explode with the opening draws but as the game draws out you should beat them since you have bigger guys. If they have somber Hovergaurds you need to get a Sword on a bird to shoot down the hovergaurd. Jitte can help you there too. With the Plating that most decks will have you have to keep the fat on the ground so you can win the war. You have more creatures but they will be faster on the deployment. Overall you should win the matchup pretty easily. Equipment will be key to either side winning. If you go with the current build you would SB out 3 S.Claws, 2 Elephant Guide bringing in 3 naturalize 1 Witness and the sword. This should help out a lot and should be enough to either take out the Enforcers or Platings. Depending on what is in there deck the 2nd witness and needles could also help out. A needle naming Plating or Ravanger could wreck their day also. Depending on what they have you may want to take out the CotV also.
You don't have to stretch far to get an answer to slide. Get some Stabilizers and put them in the board. I will agree that Slide will work over the deck without to much work. They almost never have a noncycle card in hand, and with a Witness can set up a Wrath lock as needed.
I would suggest avoiding the Watchwolf also. for the same reason LJustice said. If you chose to splash white I would do the following:
-8 Forest
+4 Temple Garden
+4 Windswept Heath
-2 Elephant Guide
+2 Enforcer
Using this as reference the matchup is very good for the MGA player. Things of note. 1 this is not a roll your opponent up match. 2. You will play a lot longer than the normal matchups will run. 3. You don't play everything into the Deed and you can win. 4. a CotV set @2 gets 3 potential blockers and set @3 stops Deed and putrify.
The matchup can go to the Rock player if 1. they get very lucky with the draw. 2. You go Suicide and play out all your cards. 3. You fail to draw any creatures.
They rock player will more than likely never flash back Therapy except after casting Duress and seeing somthing Amazing there for need of the blocker. Cards in Hand will not be very many on either side of the board and everything will revolve around the Red zone. MGA has the Advantage here and barring timely deeds that you are not prepared for, you should win. They will have probably put most of there cards in play in order to stop the bleeding and will be on the topdeck also. Your Nexus help here and will help out. There creatures are pointless to worry about except the troll since everything you have is twice as big or better. A good Rock player will make fewer mistakes, but the matchup is still tipped very much in the favor of the MGA player.
I call this matchup - 3 MGA - 1 Rock even after SB.
As for the Chant matchup they only have 3 wraths in most builds and 9-11 Counters. The blinkmoth well keeps the Scepter under control and even if he has Helix only going on his turn that is mana that is tapped and unavailable during your turn. In this matchup you want to cast a Chalice after they Wrath. They will most likly do that ASAP or lose to the Early CotH and/or Troll. Play it smart and wait for them to make the first move. If they wait to long they kill themselves and early on they need to stabilize. If they happen to cycle the Decree (they may not be playing this) then you have enough pressure to force it or it is too late for you to win. They will not just use it without reason. You are not required to lay out your whole hand here and doing so plays into the Wrath. 2 creature or 1 with any equipment will force a wrath soon enough. Hold the rest.
Any other matchups that you want an evaluation on?
I actually liked having the Seedtime. The reason for having it is that since you are casting everything during your turn your opponent (chant/Tog) will not see it coming. (who else playes this card?) I used it in the following situations to outright win:
1. Opponent has 4 mana open. I cast nothing attacking with a troll. Opponent Fact at EOT and I seedtime. I give him 3 2 mana spells vs 1 land and tog. He took the spells. Untap CotV for 2. I now only have to worry about Logic.
2. Opponent has 3 mana open. I attack with a CotH token and Troll. He goes to 8 and cast Thirst 4 Knowledge. Seedtime. Untap -> Sword -> Win.
In the early game it works like your opponent is casting stuff on their own turn and you are free of counters, forcing a spell into play. In the game that I seedtimed to win I had lost the 1st game. When we were on the 3rd game I kept leaving 2 mana open when casting spells, I had draw a lot of mana, and he was worried about countering due to untapping and slamming huge amounts of damage to the table. I will admit it is not a pretty card in the SB but your opponent will wonder about casting spells on your turn after casting it the 1st time. Since you are not thinking as much as the tog/chant player you are making their decisions harder and worse for them.
@shotokanmagic: How many people did Rob build this deck for?
I got the decklist off TML. It was not given to me. (lol netdecked)
Quote from <<RagingAscetic>> »
So, saying it rolls over to 'Tog is just not correct... Anyway, GJ on your performance...
I am not sure where I said this deck rolls over to Tog. It should be rolls over Tog. Also, Thank you! I am glad to have qualified once again.
Quote from NavyJoe »
Would
-7 Forests
+4 Windswept Heath
+3 Temple Garden
-3 ???
+3 Armadillo Cloak
This would help in the aggro/bdw/burn matchups, while giving you alittle bit better of a s/b option...like Morningtide, Aura Shards, Sacred Ground.
This is just a thought.
I never saw the game get to a point where I could not run my opponent over. That being said there is a lot you could do by adding white. If you want to try it, I say go for it. The only card I could see coming out of the main deck is Elephant Guide for Sword of F&I. It was the 2nd most sided out card (behind Claws) and needed to resolve on a creature to be effective. My opponents killed the target most of the time and I feel the sword would be more effective. Cloaks would fall into the same area in my book. If you are really worried about gaining life use the Sword of Light and shadow.
Morining Tide is a 2 mana spell and would be sided in against the decks that your CotV is most needed to be set at 2. Also it is a sorcery and with a knowledgeable opponent they could abuse the Graveyard with out you being able to do anything about it.
Aura Shards will help you in the Affinity matchup if you have a lot of problems with it. This would be something to fit in the sideboard to lop-side the matchup.
Not sure what deck Sacred Ground would help you against, but BDW will most likely be using the Pillages on your artifact, and the Molten Rains become a nonfactor.
Playing the deck it often would play only about 3-4 lands. Getting more into play was crucial against Chant but no other match did it matter.
I haven't tested it, but it seems sorta bad against CAL where they can just hide behind the Confinement. How does it beat CAL? Cast Chalice for 3 and hope they can't kill it?
1. Chalice for 2 stops LotL.
2. After Sideboard you use Needle and Natualize to remove them from the board or shut them down.
Claws would stay in to keep the graveyard clean but the Chalice stopping the LotL is the most important thing. They also have now way of getting it off the board.
This is something that I just started and I know that their is no commentary, but I just started doing this on Thursday and have been trying to work out everything and run multiple events.
Today we did live stream a SCG Super IQ event. I expect that as things go on I will get this more refined. Let me know what your thoughts are.
Stream channel -> http://www.twitch.tv/cutulus
Not sure if this costs money, but suspect it does, making this post advertising. So, I'm snipping it, but not infracting. Please don't advertise.
1x Reito Lantern
3x Compulsive Reasearch
4x Telling Time
4x Wrath
4x Condemn
2x Life of the Loam
2x Seed Spark
3x Repeal
4x Remand
3x Mana Leak
3x Hinder
3x Voidslime
4x Spell Snare
3x Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
4x Breeding Pool
4x Hallowed Fountain
3x Temple Garden
4x Island
1x Forest
1x Plains
4x Ghost Quarter
3 Vessle of the Muse
2 Seed Spark
3 Windreaver
Note I know I am over by 4 cards but I am not sure what to cut out just yet. Finkle's List was -->
2 Kjeldoran Outpost
4 Adarkar Wastes
8 Island
4 Plains
4 Thawing Glaciers
Spells
1 Soldevi Digger
4 Brainstorm
3 Browse
4 Counterspell
2 Dissipate
2 Force of Will
4 Impluse
1 Political Trickery
4 Abeyance
1 Circle of Protection: Black
3 Disenchant
1 Gerrard's Wisdom
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Wrath of God
2 Disrupting Scepter
2 Serrated Arrows
1 Circle of Protection: Black
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Disenchant
2 Dust to Dust
1 Gerrard's Wisdom
2 Karma
1 Sleight of Mind
2 Political Trickery
Before I defend any of my suggestions, I want to hear what you all have to say.
2 Pithing Needle
3 Parallectric Feedback
4 Giant Solifuge
4 Faith's Fetters
The Deck list is found here --> http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/gphama06/top4decks
To Quote the guy that played it:
I personally think that you are wasting you time if you commit this to your team and that there are better decks you could play.
I disagree with your choices over all, but I agree with the Pithing needle. With the current SB I would SB like so
-3 Teysa
-1 Plauged Rulsalka
-1 Ghost Council
-1 Isamaru
+3 Extraction
+3 Shining Shoal
Although if the Needles were in I would suggest them. A few notes on this sideboarding plan. Extraction may only get 1 of the kill get the Maga 1st in hopes that you can get them low enough to use a shoal to redirect some of the damage from the Invoke. If you get the Needles in the SB I would suggest putting in no less than 3 over the Extractions. They will buy you enough time to win. Put in the shoals still for any possible Twister action.
Cah Tol us
or
Cut ol us
which ever sounds better to you.
Keep this deck in mind when you need something for your local Extended tournaments. The deck might pick up some cards over the next year before the next season.
Edit: Check out this link--> http://www.professional-events.com/decks/WotC/PTQ%20Honolulu05/PTQHonolulu05121705.htm
Top 8 - Nate Poupard
Main Deck
2 Kodama of the North Tree
3 Scrabbling Claws
2 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
4 Troll Ascetic
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Chrome Mox
2 Elephant Guide
3 Iwamori of the Open Fist
4 Call of the Herd
4 Phantom Centaur
15 Forest
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
2 Blinkmoth Well
Sideboard:
2 Sword of Light and Shadow
2 Seedtime
3 Naturalize
1 Elephant Guide
1 Chalice of the Void
3 Pithing Needle
1 Scrabbling Claws
2 Arashi, the Sky Asunder
In the Boros match up you should be able to beat them fairly easily. The chalice would cancel most of there deck and should allow you to win. The Worship will help you though since they can not remove the Troll.
I have not played the Affinity match up and my comments should be taken with that in mind. Affinity also has so many variations I am going to dismiss a few cards since they may not be in every version.
Affinity can explode with the opening draws but as the game draws out you should beat them since you have bigger guys. If they have somber Hovergaurds you need to get a Sword on a bird to shoot down the hovergaurd. Jitte can help you there too. With the Plating that most decks will have you have to keep the fat on the ground so you can win the war. You have more creatures but they will be faster on the deployment. Overall you should win the matchup pretty easily. Equipment will be key to either side winning. If you go with the current build you would SB out 3 S.Claws, 2 Elephant Guide bringing in 3 naturalize 1 Witness and the sword. This should help out a lot and should be enough to either take out the Enforcers or Platings. Depending on what is in there deck the 2nd witness and needles could also help out. A needle naming Plating or Ravanger could wreck their day also. Depending on what they have you may want to take out the CotV also.
I would suggest avoiding the Watchwolf also. for the same reason LJustice said. If you chose to splash white I would do the following:
-8 Forest
+4 Temple Garden
+4 Windswept Heath
-2 Elephant Guide
+2 Enforcer
Using this as reference the matchup is very good for the MGA player. Things of note. 1 this is not a roll your opponent up match. 2. You will play a lot longer than the normal matchups will run. 3. You don't play everything into the Deed and you can win. 4. a CotV set @2 gets 3 potential blockers and set @3 stops Deed and putrify.
The matchup can go to the Rock player if 1. they get very lucky with the draw. 2. You go Suicide and play out all your cards. 3. You fail to draw any creatures.
They rock player will more than likely never flash back Therapy except after casting Duress and seeing somthing Amazing there for need of the blocker. Cards in Hand will not be very many on either side of the board and everything will revolve around the Red zone. MGA has the Advantage here and barring timely deeds that you are not prepared for, you should win. They will have probably put most of there cards in play in order to stop the bleeding and will be on the topdeck also. Your Nexus help here and will help out. There creatures are pointless to worry about except the troll since everything you have is twice as big or better. A good Rock player will make fewer mistakes, but the matchup is still tipped very much in the favor of the MGA player.
I call this matchup - 3 MGA - 1 Rock even after SB.
As for the Chant matchup they only have 3 wraths in most builds and 9-11 Counters. The blinkmoth well keeps the Scepter under control and even if he has Helix only going on his turn that is mana that is tapped and unavailable during your turn. In this matchup you want to cast a Chalice after they Wrath. They will most likly do that ASAP or lose to the Early CotH and/or Troll. Play it smart and wait for them to make the first move. If they wait to long they kill themselves and early on they need to stabilize. If they happen to cycle the Decree (they may not be playing this) then you have enough pressure to force it or it is too late for you to win. They will not just use it without reason. You are not required to lay out your whole hand here and doing so plays into the Wrath. 2 creature or 1 with any equipment will force a wrath soon enough. Hold the rest.
Any other matchups that you want an evaluation on?
Edit: My Tournament report can be viewed here --> http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?id=6051
I actually liked having the Seedtime. The reason for having it is that since you are casting everything during your turn your opponent (chant/Tog) will not see it coming. (who else playes this card?) I used it in the following situations to outright win:
1. Opponent has 4 mana open. I cast nothing attacking with a troll. Opponent Fact at EOT and I seedtime. I give him 3 2 mana spells vs 1 land and tog. He took the spells. Untap CotV for 2. I now only have to worry about Logic.
2. Opponent has 3 mana open. I attack with a CotH token and Troll. He goes to 8 and cast Thirst 4 Knowledge. Seedtime. Untap -> Sword -> Win.
In the early game it works like your opponent is casting stuff on their own turn and you are free of counters, forcing a spell into play. In the game that I seedtimed to win I had lost the 1st game. When we were on the 3rd game I kept leaving 2 mana open when casting spells, I had draw a lot of mana, and he was worried about countering due to untapping and slamming huge amounts of damage to the table. I will admit it is not a pretty card in the SB but your opponent will wonder about casting spells on your turn after casting it the 1st time. Since you are not thinking as much as the tog/chant player you are making their decisions harder and worse for them.
I got the decklist off TML. It was not given to me. (lol netdecked)
I am not sure where I said this deck rolls over to Tog. It should be rolls over Tog. Also, Thank you! I am glad to have qualified once again.
I never saw the game get to a point where I could not run my opponent over. That being said there is a lot you could do by adding white. If you want to try it, I say go for it. The only card I could see coming out of the main deck is Elephant Guide for Sword of F&I. It was the 2nd most sided out card (behind Claws) and needed to resolve on a creature to be effective. My opponents killed the target most of the time and I feel the sword would be more effective. Cloaks would fall into the same area in my book. If you are really worried about gaining life use the Sword of Light and shadow.
Morining Tide is a 2 mana spell and would be sided in against the decks that your CotV is most needed to be set at 2. Also it is a sorcery and with a knowledgeable opponent they could abuse the Graveyard with out you being able to do anything about it.
Aura Shards will help you in the Affinity matchup if you have a lot of problems with it. This would be something to fit in the sideboard to lop-side the matchup.
Not sure what deck Sacred Ground would help you against, but BDW will most likely be using the Pillages on your artifact, and the Molten Rains become a nonfactor.
Playing the deck it often would play only about 3-4 lands. Getting more into play was crucial against Chant but no other match did it matter.
1. Chalice for 2 stops LotL.
2. After Sideboard you use Needle and Natualize to remove them from the board or shut them down.
Claws would stay in to keep the graveyard clean but the Chalice stopping the LotL is the most important thing. They also have now way of getting it off the board.