But the deck doesn't run a "bulk" of 3-4 cmc spells. Since I'm running what is the traditional sligh curve (16 one drops, 12 two drops, 8 three drops, and 4 free spells OR 4 drops (and this card would be the free spells)), it pretty much means I'd be getting at max +3/+0 for 2 cards, and that would be if I had one of the three-drops in hand. Nope, this card is just plain bad in this. Though I may want to pick a few up for my 1.5 sligh where I can ditch a fireblast for a +6/+0 bonus.
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Akki aren't that bad. Sure, a vanilla 1/1 for R would be bad (or worse, something like crazed goblin). But this has the ability to turn extra lands into damage, and in a sligh deck that is ALWAYS a good thing. That's one of the reasons fireblast is so good, same with barbarian ring. If a good 2/1 for R comes out, or something along the lines of Cursed Scroll/Grim Lavamancer, then they're topping the list to be removed, but as is they're staying.
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Ritual is not a good card, seething song is good, because it gives a HUGE tempo advantage to the person that plays it. When you use a ritual to get a turn 2 LD you get tempo, but your opponent will catch back up. Sure you can argue that they will always be one land behind, but only really until you miss your first land drop. But if you drop an arc-slogger on turn three, sure they can kill it, but if they dont, they are pretty much dead. The huge swing that an unanswered third turn arc-slogger can give you is much bigger than that of the advantage killing a land on turn 2 will give you.
And i believe that the akki are VERY good crearures, being able to sac a land and deal three every turn with it, and maybe on other creature dealing just one more damage puts your opponent on a 5 turn clock, and add to that the burn that will go to their dome and you can win on turn 4-5. Ganted that is an ideal situation for having one avalancher, and one other one power creature. Overall the avalancher is a good creature as he and a land trade with far bigger creature, which makes him effiecient for his mana (and a sligh deck wont miss ONE land that much) And he can also get the beatdown on pretty early as well as turning mana heavy draws into less of a disadvantage. He is currently my favorite one drop.
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Let's see.. Red's very strong but I think White and green and Black are getting big boosts too.
I like that Red Shoal though. An unblocked creature gets Myojined. Since you can use Desperate Ritual to accelerate a little... very little.... but woot Go Double Striking Myojin Pumped Red Shoal unblocked Battlemad Ronin... I don't know how yet! but it'll do!
I admit that list may have too few creatures to support the Shoal... this is an inherent problem with the card: as a creature enhancer it wants plenty of creatures, but it also wants expensive cards, which doesn't work in weenie decks.
Sorry to drag this topic up from the depths but the new "Flames of The Blood Hand" is an awesome card for this. 2R for an unpreventable 4 to the face that also prevents them from gaining life for the remainder of the turn. Pretty hott in a sligh-type deck such as this, enough so to replace the yamabushi's flame. My biggest concern for this deck at this point is how little it can do against a white shrine. Though i suppose they can't lay it till turn 4, and at that point you should be able to finish them off before they get a chance to gain a significant ammount of life with any luck. Or just cast flames of the blood hand in response to the lifegain trigger on their turn to buy yourself another turn. I guess the ideal situation would be something like this:
Turn one: Akki Avalanchers
Turn two: Akki Raiders, swing for 1.
Turn three: Swing for 6 (saccing a land to the avalanchers, which also gives the raiders a bonus), Flames of the blood hand them for 4 (they're at 9)
Turn Four: Lava spike with spliced glacial ray for 5, swing for 6.
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Wow, block sligh is looking better every day. It seems to have 8 good 1 drops, 8 good 2 drops, and plenty of good 3 drops to choose from, as well, as cheap efficient burn that only gets stronger when drawn in conjunction with other burn spells ((im talking about splice of course))
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I don't know why people are thinking of useing Myojin with the shoal. The only choice should be obliterate. It's a reset and a damage spike for the shoal.
This could (rarely) allow you to turn some big games around, I'm sure.
God's Eye is a definite inclusion in here. Crack the Earth (which could warrant inclusion, maybe over Frostling) and Akki Avalanchers both have very nice synergy with it. And the mana costs aren't too intensive in the deck so God's eye fits in just fine. Crack the earth also has very nice synergy with Akki Raiders, potentially giving him +2/+0 while stripping your opponent of resources (and giving you a 1/1 spirit). Crack the earth is also arcane, meaning you can splice glacial ray onto it (it also brings the arcane count up to 12, which is a good reason for leaving the ray in.)
As for torrent of stone and cunning bandit, I'm really tenative on them. Torrent of stone does not hit players, which is highly key in the deck. It is useful in that it can get rid of excess lands (and pump Akki Raider), but only mountains so it does not have synergy with the God's eye. It also costs four, and while I could use a four-cost card in the deck, i'd like for it more to be something along the lines of blistering firecat that swings a large ammount into the face rather than a measly four at a creature. Cunning bandit runs into the problem of not having enough cards to trigger it. Whether I run crack the earth or frostling, there is still only 16 spirit/arcanes in the deck (crack/ling, ray, lava spike, hearth kami). And while this could be enough to warrant his inclusion, if I am going to be running a 2/2 for 3, i'd like for it to be able to deal direct face smashings (zo-zu). Frankly, there is neither the room nor the need for either of these cards.
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Non-Creature Spells (16):
4 Crack the Earth
4 Glacial Ray
4 Stone Rain
4 Yamabushi's Flame
Land (24):
2 God's Eye Gate to the Renkai
1 Shinka the Bloodsoaked Keep
21 Mountain
Kumano Master Yamabushi probably goes in, but he's expensive for a deck that eats its own land at least a couple times a game.
24 land is "too much" for a deck with this curve, but you'll often be sacrificing your own land. The land count will need careful tweaking.
I'd use more Genjus, but the deck is land-hungry, and you have to spend 3 land (2 to activate, plus the Enchanted Mountain itself) to use it on a given turn, so it will not be coming online until mid-game.
On the bright side, the light LD theme should help keep opposing Genjus offline; most opponents will be wary of activating and blocking even with the white 2/5 Genju for fear of post-combat burn setting them back another land. Additionally, if the opponent kills the 6/1 before damage goes to the stack, it'll pump your Akki Raider.
I'd use more God's Eyes, but drawing two in your opening hand seems like an automatic mulligan.
I think this is a solid starting point. I don't know yet what the exact numbers should be, and there's a good possibility that BoK contains more cards for the deck, as I think the theme is getting pushed hard. Since there doesn't seem to be a precon centered around it, I also suspect the theme will get something significant, along with a precon, in SoK.
I'd say there's also a very playable non-land-Akki red deck with Avalanchers, Frostlings, and Genjus as one-drops, Raiders and Hearths as two-drops, a selection of CoK's aggressive three-drops, Kumano, and burn. This deck probably won't use the secondary LD theme, and will more closely resemble classical Sligh.
That's my early take on it, but I won't be sleeving up a card until March or so as I'm stuck studying for the February bar exam.
This is my Jackal Pup. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My Jackal Pup is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My Jackal Pup without me is useless. Without my Jackal Pup, I am useless. I must tap my Jackal Pup true. I must tap faster than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must beat him down before he beats me down. I will.
18 Mountain
4 God's Eye, Gate to Reikai
4 Akki Avalanchers
4 Crack the Earth
4 Lava Spike
3 Genju of the Spires
4 Glacial Ray
4 Hearth Kami
4 Akki Raider
3 Zo-Zu the Punisher
4 Yamabushi's Flame
4 Flames of the Blood Hand
1 Genju and 1 Zo-Zu have been cut for lands, as it has been said that you will get a mite landscrewed when you're blowing your own stuff up. The curve is pretty good in the deck (15-12-11) and this will probably be how I'm planning on making it. The only change I'd make is if another good player/creature+player burn spell comes in at the four drop, in which case i'd probably lose the Yamabushi's flame for it. It'd probably have to be arcane though and deal good damage to at least players. Still I'm liking this deck how it is now, especially since it is very bargain (only 3 rares). It should be able to make quick work of any block-based control deck, with the exception maybe of shrines. SB would probably be something like Sideswipe, 2-3 Kumano, maybe stone rain. If the shrine matchup becomes so bad, then the SB could run 5-6 plains and some Kami of the Ancient law, though that seems like a bit of a waste. Hopefully against shrines you can get them low enough before they drop a hondon of cleansing fire that a flames of the blood hand can keep them in the red zone and another swing should do the trick.
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Non-Creature Spells (10):
4 Glacial Ray
4 Yamabushi's Flame
2 Blind with Anger -OR- Hanabi Blast
Land (24):
1 Shinka the Bloodsoaked Keep
23 Mountain
I'm personally leaning toward the Akki/LD version simply because it looks more enjoyable to play, exploits one of the block's themes, and has light disruption.
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This is my Jackal Pup. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My Jackal Pup is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My Jackal Pup without me is useless. Without my Jackal Pup, I am useless. I must tap my Jackal Pup true. I must tap faster than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must beat him down before he beats me down. I will.
Ishi-Ishi, Akki Crackshot
1R
Legendary Creature - Goblin ???Shaman???
Whenever an opponent plays a Spirit or an arcane spell, <this> deals 2 damage to target player.
1/1
Rare
Should this go in in place of hearth Kami? Even a non-spiritcraft deck will be using spirits and arcane spells, making this effective. It's going to be a target for removal, just like Zo-zu, so 3 main?
And if you're going the arcane route, (Lava spike,glacial ray and Crack the earth), how about:
Ire of Kaminari - 3R
Instant - Arcane
Ire of Kaminari deals 1 damage to target creature or player for each Arcane card in your graveyard.
I don't know why people are thinking of useing Myojin with the shoal. The only choice should be obliterate.
The reason people are using Myojin with the shoal instead of Obliterate or Furnace Dragon is that this is a thread on sligh in Block Constructed not Standard.
If i was going to make a sligh build it'd be something like:
BoK_Sligh v1.0
critters:(26)
4x akki avalancher R
4x frostling R
2x goblin cohort R(the new mogg conscripts)
4x hearth kami 1R
4x akki raider 1R
2x ishi-ishi, akki crackshot 1R
4x shinka gatekeeper 2R(the 3/2 with jackal pup drawback)
2x zo-zu the punisher 1RR
spells:(16)
4x lava spike R
4x crack the earth R(the new arcane raze)
4x glacial ray 1R
4x stone rain 2R
lands:(18)
1x shinka the bloodsoaked keep
17x mountain
sideboard:(15)
3x genju of the spires(extra beats)
3x sideswipe 1R(against arcane decks)
2x honden of infinite rage 2R(against weenie decks)
3x aura barbs 2R(against shrine decks)
2x blind with anger 3R(extra removal/trick)
2x kumano, master yamabushi 3RR(finisher if needed)
This is a traditional sligh build with a tight curve, alot of direct damage and some land D for disruption.
Ishi-Ishi seems like a sideboard card to me. Without 2 power it really doesn't make an impact main, but if you see your opponent running a bunch of spirit/arcanes, it'll hit the maindeck and wreak havoc. Remember, this is a block deck, so I'm likely to see low spirit/arcane decks like snakes, samurai, etc, especially now that there are decent ammounts of those cards. As for the Ire, my version runs only 12 arcane spells, so it really would not do me all that good. Goblin cohort seems quite meh, there's no way to guarantee you play a creature spell each turn, especially since the deck runs 23 non-creature spells and only 15 creatures (currently). The 3/2 Jackal pup seems weak, as it costs 3. At 3 I have Zo-Zu, who has the potential to deal 6+ damage with his ability alone and swings as well, plus two solid burn spells which are pretty well vital for the deck (flames of blood hand and yamabushi's flame). I'm thinking my sideboard would look thusly:
SB:
3 Sideswipe (spirit/arcane)
3 Ishi-Ishi (spirit/arcane)
3 Aura Barbs (Shrines)
3 Torrent of Stone (samurai/snakes/other heavy creature decks)
3 Frostling (samurai/snakes/other creature heavy decks)
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i've actually been thinking of a deck like this for block. it's a block deck, so it doesn't need hearth kami
i'm not sure about the cohort, really. it might be good, i guess. before seeing lot of new cards, i had a decklist something like this:
4 frostling
4 akki avalanchers
4 cunning bandit (not sure about this, really. could change to cohort. or something else.)
3 Kumano
2 Zo-zu
4 Blazing shoal (could change to 3)
4 Lava Spike (Instead of stone rain because it's arcane, so you can splice glacial ray and Torrent of Stone)
4 Glacial Ray
4 Crack the Earth
4 Torrent of stone
1 Myojin of Infinite Rage (:D)
4 Genju of the Spires
3 God's Eye, Gate to the Rekai (great with crack the earth)
15 mountain
The torrent of Stone could be moved to SB, i guess, and Lava Spike could be stone rain, if there's a more controllish metagame. More myojins could be in the SB, too, because they're so cool anyway, it'd be good to fit akki raider in, probably instead of Cunning bandit, unless we run goblin cohort, in which case it could be in instead of torrent of stone.
People want to play the red Genju because it is a potential 6 points of damage for a 3 mana investment, assuming you can hit with it once and never hit with it again. In an aggressive red deck, you only need to hit with it once for it to pay its way.
I do believe there's too much emphasis on playing it early and swinging on turn 3. In an environment filled with Elders and Samurai, that's not going to happen that often. That's why I think 4 are too many.
However, if you have 4 mana open and a card in hand, your opponent must be wary of going all in while racing, as at any time you can drop the Genju on a Mountain -- which won't have summoning sickness if it's been around a turn -- and go in for 6. Even if they leave a blocker back, they have to consider the possibility that you'll EOT Ray or Flame out their blocker and go in for 6.
Any time you have mana open at the end of their turn, or the potential for 3 mana and a card in hand the next turn, the opponent has to play around it.
Outside of Block, Genju works well with cards like Flamebreak and Pyroclasm in more controllish red decks. If you have 5 mana, which is a regular occurrence in a deck centered around casting Arc-Slogger, you can Clasm away blockers and then activate Genju.
I personally don't think it's a 4-of in an aggressive red deck but I wouldn't call it "just bad." It's not Ball Lightning, but we're not going to get Ball Lightning again.
EDIT: Nice nick. I'm a big Thomas Covenant fan ... actually planning on rereading both series in the spring, haven't read them in years.
This is my Jackal Pup. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My Jackal Pup is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My Jackal Pup without me is useless. Without my Jackal Pup, I am useless. I must tap my Jackal Pup true. I must tap faster than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must beat him down before he beats me down. I will.
Let's go over this one last time: Cohort=Bad. Thats final. In a burn based deck like this, there are more non-creature cards by far than there are creatures. With no way to ensure a creature drop every turn, the cohort is just plain junk. Especially in a format where the other creature deck (samurai) will regulararly drop 3/3's (2/2's with bushido) on the second turn and just own Cohort. The Genju also does something the cohort does not: it finishes games. After swinging for small ammounts with goblins and whittling away at their life total with burn, the deck needs something to come down out of nowhere and deal the winning ammount. It also provides a great card against Shrines, as they can't get rid of it with the hondon of infinite rape. (I call it that because it owns creature decks like this in the butt). And if they only have one or two shrines they can't escape it forever with lifegain.
I also want to pick it up for my casual ball lightning deck, featuring Ball Lightning, Blistering Firecat, Spark elemental, Skizzix, Firecat Blitz, Lightning Coils, etc.
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It also provides a great card against Shrines, as they can't get rid of it with the hondon of infinite rape. (I call it that because it owns creature decks like this in the butt).
I would consider siding one red Honden against the Honden deck.
I would also consider siding one Hall of the Bandit Lord. Haste will be very good against the Honden deck, against which your life total won't matter until it's too late.
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This is my Jackal Pup. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My Jackal Pup is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My Jackal Pup without me is useless. Without my Jackal Pup, I am useless. I must tap my Jackal Pup true. I must tap faster than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must beat him down before he beats me down. I will.
Why do people want to keep playing the red genju it is just bad. Goblin cohort should be a 4 of surely in block and type 2.
How many times have you wished you could trade a land for an opponent's creature or 6 to the dome?
That's why people want to play with this card. That's why people played Ball Lightning. Add the fact that the red genju comes back if your land is put into the graveyard. This makes it a rather strong card.
Exactly. Unless they have something with first strike (kitsune blademaster springs to mind), Genju of the Spires becomes this:
Genju of the Spires 2RR
Sorcery
An opponent chooses one: You sacrifice a mountain and that player sacrifices a creature, or that player takes 6 damage.
Return Genju of the Spires to your hand. If your opponent chose the second option, Genju of the spires only costs 2R to play durring your next turn.
I'd run it.
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i'd throw in some stone rains into the mix instead of any of those akki
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And i believe that the akki are VERY good crearures, being able to sac a land and deal three every turn with it, and maybe on other creature dealing just one more damage puts your opponent on a 5 turn clock, and add to that the burn that will go to their dome and you can win on turn 4-5. Ganted that is an ideal situation for having one avalancher, and one other one power creature. Overall the avalancher is a good creature as he and a land trade with far bigger creature, which makes him effiecient for his mana (and a sligh deck wont miss ONE land that much) And he can also get the beatdown on pretty early as well as turning mana heavy draws into less of a disadvantage. He is currently my favorite one drop.
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I like that Red Shoal though. An unblocked creature gets Myojined. Since you can use Desperate Ritual to accelerate a little... very little.... but woot Go Double Striking Myojin Pumped Red Shoal unblocked Battlemad Ronin... I don't know how yet! but it'll do!
4 Akki Avalanchers
4 Akki Raider
4 Hearth Kami
3 Zo-Zu the Punisher
4 Genju of the Spires
2 Ronin Houndmaster
4 Glacial Ray
4 Yamabushi's Flame
2 Hanabi Blast
20 Mountain
Another playable 2-drop from BoK would of course be great here to replace some of the 3-drops; cheaper burn would help too.
We could possibly also have a "big", more controlish, version, with the new Shoal:
2 Ryosei, the Falling Star
2 Zo-Zu the Punisher
2 Myojin of Infinite Rage
4 Genju of the Spires
4 Lava Spike
4 Yamabushi's Flame
4 Hanabi Blast
2 Mindblaze
4 Blazing Shoal
23 Mountain
I admit that list may have too few creatures to support the Shoal... this is an inherent problem with the card: as a creature enhancer it wants plenty of creatures, but it also wants expensive cards, which doesn't work in weenie decks.
Think Hisoka, Wizard guy.
RDW sounds great though. The Genju is fantastic--I'm nabbing as many copies as I can at the prerelease.
*Hiddenrains on Apprentice*
Standard
mono:symu:
UG:symu::symg:
WW:symw:
Turn one: Akki Avalanchers
Turn two: Akki Raiders, swing for 1.
Turn three: Swing for 6 (saccing a land to the avalanchers, which also gives the raiders a bonus), Flames of the blood hand them for 4 (they're at 9)
Turn Four: Lava spike with spliced glacial ray for 5, swing for 6.
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On Planar Chaos:
This could (rarely) allow you to turn some big games around, I'm sure.
As for torrent of stone and cunning bandit, I'm really tenative on them. Torrent of stone does not hit players, which is highly key in the deck. It is useful in that it can get rid of excess lands (and pump Akki Raider), but only mountains so it does not have synergy with the God's eye. It also costs four, and while I could use a four-cost card in the deck, i'd like for it more to be something along the lines of blistering firecat that swings a large ammount into the face rather than a measly four at a creature. Cunning bandit runs into the problem of not having enough cards to trigger it. Whether I run crack the earth or frostling, there is still only 16 spirit/arcanes in the deck (crack/ling, ray, lava spike, hearth kami). And while this could be enough to warrant his inclusion, if I am going to be running a 2/2 for 3, i'd like for it to be able to deal direct face smashings (zo-zu). Frankly, there is neither the room nor the need for either of these cards.
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True Creatures (18):
4 Akki Avalanchers
4 Frostling
4 Akki Raider
4 Hearth Kami
2 Zo-Zu the Punisher
Pseudo-Creatures (2):
2 Genju of the Spires
Non-Creature Spells (16):
4 Crack the Earth
4 Glacial Ray
4 Stone Rain
4 Yamabushi's Flame
Land (24):
2 God's Eye Gate to the Renkai
1 Shinka the Bloodsoaked Keep
21 Mountain
Kumano Master Yamabushi probably goes in, but he's expensive for a deck that eats its own land at least a couple times a game.
24 land is "too much" for a deck with this curve, but you'll often be sacrificing your own land. The land count will need careful tweaking.
I'd use more Genjus, but the deck is land-hungry, and you have to spend 3 land (2 to activate, plus the Enchanted Mountain itself) to use it on a given turn, so it will not be coming online until mid-game.
On the bright side, the light LD theme should help keep opposing Genjus offline; most opponents will be wary of activating and blocking even with the white 2/5 Genju for fear of post-combat burn setting them back another land. Additionally, if the opponent kills the 6/1 before damage goes to the stack, it'll pump your Akki Raider.
I'd use more God's Eyes, but drawing two in your opening hand seems like an automatic mulligan.
I think this is a solid starting point. I don't know yet what the exact numbers should be, and there's a good possibility that BoK contains more cards for the deck, as I think the theme is getting pushed hard. Since there doesn't seem to be a precon centered around it, I also suspect the theme will get something significant, along with a precon, in SoK.
I'd say there's also a very playable non-land-Akki red deck with Avalanchers, Frostlings, and Genjus as one-drops, Raiders and Hearths as two-drops, a selection of CoK's aggressive three-drops, Kumano, and burn. This deck probably won't use the secondary LD theme, and will more closely resemble classical Sligh.
That's my early take on it, but I won't be sleeving up a card until March or so as I'm stuck studying for the February bar exam.
EDITED: Spelling not so good.
18 Mountain
4 God's Eye, Gate to Reikai
4 Akki Avalanchers
4 Crack the Earth
4 Lava Spike
3 Genju of the Spires
4 Glacial Ray
4 Hearth Kami
4 Akki Raider
3 Zo-Zu the Punisher
4 Yamabushi's Flame
4 Flames of the Blood Hand
1 Genju and 1 Zo-Zu have been cut for lands, as it has been said that you will get a mite landscrewed when you're blowing your own stuff up. The curve is pretty good in the deck (15-12-11) and this will probably be how I'm planning on making it. The only change I'd make is if another good player/creature+player burn spell comes in at the four drop, in which case i'd probably lose the Yamabushi's flame for it. It'd probably have to be arcane though and deal good damage to at least players. Still I'm liking this deck how it is now, especially since it is very bargain (only 3 rares). It should be able to make quick work of any block-based control deck, with the exception maybe of shrines. SB would probably be something like Sideswipe, 2-3 Kumano, maybe stone rain. If the shrine matchup becomes so bad, then the SB could run 5-6 plains and some Kami of the Ancient law, though that seems like a bit of a waste. Hopefully against shrines you can get them low enough before they drop a hondon of cleansing fire that a flames of the blood hand can keep them in the red zone and another swing should do the trick.
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True Creatures (23):
4 Akki Avalanchers
4 Frostling
4 Akki Raider
4 Hearth Kami
4 Ronin Houndmaster
3 Kumano Master Yamabushi
Pseudo-Creatures (3):
3 Genju of the Spires
Non-Creature Spells (10):
4 Glacial Ray
4 Yamabushi's Flame
2 Blind with Anger -OR- Hanabi Blast
Land (24):
1 Shinka the Bloodsoaked Keep
23 Mountain
I'm personally leaning toward the Akki/LD version simply because it looks more enjoyable to play, exploits one of the block's themes, and has light disruption.
1R
Legendary Creature - Goblin ???Shaman???
Whenever an opponent plays a Spirit or an arcane spell, <this> deals 2 damage to target player.
1/1
Rare
Should this go in in place of hearth Kami? Even a non-spiritcraft deck will be using spirits and arcane spells, making this effective. It's going to be a target for removal, just like Zo-zu, so 3 main?
And if you're going the arcane route, (Lava spike,glacial ray and Crack the earth), how about:
Ire of Kaminari - 3R
Instant - Arcane
Ire of Kaminari deals 1 damage to target creature or player for each Arcane card in your graveyard.
On Planar Chaos:
The reason people are using Myojin with the shoal instead of Obliterate or Furnace Dragon is that this is a thread on sligh in Block Constructed not Standard.
If i was going to make a sligh build it'd be something like:
BoK_Sligh v1.0
critters:(26)
4x akki avalancher R
4x frostling R
2x goblin cohort R(the new mogg conscripts)
4x hearth kami 1R
4x akki raider 1R
2x ishi-ishi, akki crackshot 1R
4x shinka gatekeeper 2R(the 3/2 with jackal pup drawback)
2x zo-zu the punisher 1RR
spells:(16)
4x lava spike R
4x crack the earth R(the new arcane raze)
4x glacial ray 1R
4x stone rain 2R
lands:(18)
1x shinka the bloodsoaked keep
17x mountain
sideboard:(15)
3x genju of the spires(extra beats)
3x sideswipe 1R(against arcane decks)
2x honden of infinite rage 2R(against weenie decks)
3x aura barbs 2R(against shrine decks)
2x blind with anger 3R(extra removal/trick)
2x kumano, master yamabushi 3RR(finisher if needed)
This is a traditional sligh build with a tight curve, alot of direct damage and some land D for disruption.
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SB:
3 Sideswipe (spirit/arcane)
3 Ishi-Ishi (spirit/arcane)
3 Aura Barbs (Shrines)
3 Torrent of Stone (samurai/snakes/other heavy creature decks)
3 Frostling (samurai/snakes/other creature heavy decks)
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i'm not sure about the cohort, really. it might be good, i guess. before seeing lot of new cards, i had a decklist something like this:
4 frostling
4 akki avalanchers
4 cunning bandit (not sure about this, really. could change to cohort. or something else.)
3 Kumano
2 Zo-zu
4 Blazing shoal (could change to 3)
4 Lava Spike (Instead of stone rain because it's arcane, so you can splice glacial ray and Torrent of Stone)
4 Glacial Ray
4 Crack the Earth
4 Torrent of stone
1 Myojin of Infinite Rage (:D)
4 Genju of the Spires
3 God's Eye, Gate to the Rekai (great with crack the earth)
15 mountain
The torrent of Stone could be moved to SB, i guess, and Lava Spike could be stone rain, if there's a more controllish metagame. More myojins could be in the SB, too, because they're so cool anyway, it'd be good to fit akki raider in, probably instead of Cunning bandit, unless we run goblin cohort, in which case it could be in instead of torrent of stone.
I do believe there's too much emphasis on playing it early and swinging on turn 3. In an environment filled with Elders and Samurai, that's not going to happen that often. That's why I think 4 are too many.
However, if you have 4 mana open and a card in hand, your opponent must be wary of going all in while racing, as at any time you can drop the Genju on a Mountain -- which won't have summoning sickness if it's been around a turn -- and go in for 6. Even if they leave a blocker back, they have to consider the possibility that you'll EOT Ray or Flame out their blocker and go in for 6.
Any time you have mana open at the end of their turn, or the potential for 3 mana and a card in hand the next turn, the opponent has to play around it.
Outside of Block, Genju works well with cards like Flamebreak and Pyroclasm in more controllish red decks. If you have 5 mana, which is a regular occurrence in a deck centered around casting Arc-Slogger, you can Clasm away blockers and then activate Genju.
I personally don't think it's a 4-of in an aggressive red deck but I wouldn't call it "just bad." It's not Ball Lightning, but we're not going to get Ball Lightning again.
EDIT: Nice nick. I'm a big Thomas Covenant fan ... actually planning on rereading both series in the spring, haven't read them in years.
I also want to pick it up for my casual ball lightning deck, featuring Ball Lightning, Blistering Firecat, Spark elemental, Skizzix, Firecat Blitz, Lightning Coils, etc.
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I would consider siding one red Honden against the Honden deck.
I would also consider siding one Hall of the Bandit Lord. Haste will be very good against the Honden deck, against which your life total won't matter until it's too late.
How many times have you wished you could trade a land for an opponent's creature or 6 to the dome?
That's why people want to play with this card. That's why people played Ball Lightning. Add the fact that the red genju comes back if your land is put into the graveyard. This makes it a rather strong card.
Genju of the Spires 2RR
Sorcery
An opponent chooses one: You sacrifice a mountain and that player sacrifices a creature, or that player takes 6 damage.
Return Genju of the Spires to your hand. If your opponent chose the second option, Genju of the spires only costs 2R to play durring your next turn.
I'd run it.
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