I stumbled upon this loop in Standard, and already tried my hands a bit to make use of it. But my deck so far is really clunky and I was wondering, if I missed something more lethal?
Anyway, the loop is Junji, the Midnight Sky plus Glasspool Mimic/Mirrorhall Mimic, where you copy Junji, put the copy into the graveyard due to the legend rule, and reanimate it with its own dies trigger. One iteration costs 2 life, but an ever entering/dying creature can be made to give you life. Which was my approach so far. Plus some life loss for the opponent when I gain life, or a creature of mine dies. It's cumbersome to click through on Arena, though, and quite slow.
So, does anyone have any idea to make this loop more potent in some other way? I'm not yet that familiar with the newest cards, and might have missed something.
My list is getting more stable now (and hopefully better, too). I am getting some wins with this, at least. Here's my current list, still changing by the minute, but not as much as before.
Probably the biggest problem right now is, that Junji dies or gets exiled as soon as he shows up. Since he is by far the biggest threat the deck is throwing out there right now. I tried to use Teleportation Circle with a clone on the field to start the loop in my end step, but that, while working, is just meh. The Circle simply doesn't have that many good targets to blink. Also tried Mirrorshell Crab for a bit of countermagic and a juicy target to return with a dying Junji, but that too, is not really working for the deck concept. I'm trying Relic Vial in that spot now, and it seems to at least enhance the loop well enough (being a life drain and a life gain in one card, I just need any of my many clerics to also be around).
Another big problem, and the reason why there aren't many of the usual suspects for a life gain deck in there, like Cleric Class, is the amount of clicking on Arena when going through the loop. I simply cannot and don't want to select targets or replacement effects or make other choices when executing the loop. It takes enough time and attention just to go through the basic loop (I have to change the trigger order, because Junji's triger is always near the top and not on the bottom where it needs to be, I have to select my own graveyard and then the clone in there, because the default always shows me the opponent's graveyard first, etc.)
And then thee is the land base. It feels like a mess, and probably is. But with the deck list changing frequently, adjusting it is kind of moot until the list gets more established.
The lesson board is mostly just thrown together for now, since the Professor is also a quite recent addition.
Having played the deck some more, I think, the fundamental issue lies in Junji being the only real threat in the deck. Focussing on just that combo weakens it to the point of almost never happening. So I've changed focus and decided to go with a life gain cleric shell, where the Junji loop simply is an option. Righteous Valkyrie and Voice of the Blessed are cards the opponent isn't going to ignore, and any removal aimed at them is one less removal available, when Junji shows up. They are also cards I don't mind copying.
Finding a working shell for this, however, has so far been quite fruitless. I tried for only a few hours in the new Standard so far, though, so it is too early to give up. I modified my prerotation version a bit, but I may have to start from scratch to find new paths. What do you think would be a good addition?
So I've got a version, that at least can pull off the combo now and then (and even win some games where I cannot pull the combo together). Todays banning of The Meathook Massacre feels like a blow against the combo, but may actually be beneficial as the card was also a major tool for twarting the combo. I have to use a different sweeper now, though.
This is what the list looks right now, but many pieces are experimental. And it's 61 cards, because I suck at staying at 60 when tweaking. No big deal, it will get down to 60 eventually.
Still, the deck loses way too often, mostly to being overrun by an early rush, or not getting through counterspells. Maybe Phyrexian Missionary could get a home here? Junji getting exiled is also a recurring problem. Lots of other lesser problems, too. Any input is welcome as I try to get this deck into shape. Maybe the next few sets will offer more fitting tools.
After some more days of tweaking and testing, the deck appears to be shaping up. The disappearance of The Meathook Massacre from the format seems to have been an overall positive for me, or maybe my little changes have actually borne fruit, or both. Anyway, I am getting the combo together more frequently, and even if I don't, I can hold my ground and simply win with creatures (attacking and/or draining with the Sadistic Pilgrim). Aggro decks, especially of the red varieties, are still rather hard to deal with, though. The Extraction Specialist with its reanimation and lifelink is a huge factor in holding off the rush, so I probably want a fourth one in there. I tried Shore Up as a cheap means to protect Junji (mostly from The Wandering Emperor and other spot removal), and it worked to a degree. But I'm short on card slots, and right now I want to try a few copies of The Cruelty of Gix as it would be a good enabler for the combo, I think. Or fill the slots with Phyrexian Missionaries to aid me against aggro. I also had to shift the mana base slightly more towards white and blue, what with one less Celestus and double white nessessary for Depopulate. Void Rend went up to four copies as it is now my only spot removal and universal answer. Not sure about that one yet.
There are a bunch of other cards, that I may want to add, and that I got some experience with through copying. Those cards are Toxrill, the Corrosive, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Serra Paragon, Liesa, Forgotten Archangel, and a few others. Copying Titan of Industry was also quite often the nail in my opponent's coffin, if I didn't outright steal it from their graveyard (heh). Stealing stuff from graveyards seems to be quite fruitful currently. My last opponent definitely wasn't happy, when I took his freshly discarded Gin-Gitaxias before he could animate it. In fact, that whole game was a nasty copy and/or steal extravaganca. Toxrill, Ginny, Ertai, may opponent literally had to fight through his own stuff while being short on mana (effectively no card draw spells due to Ginny).
Well, while The Cruelty of Gix is a good card, it is also too slow. I need that slot filled with something more immidiately impactful. I tried Archangel of Wrath to some success, but overall Sheoldred, the Apocalypse won out for me. I probably even want to include a third copy somehow. But right now, the questionable role of 61st card is occupied by the fourth copy of Extraction Specialist.
After much more tweaking, I finally arrived at a list, that I would consider working. At the very least, it got me all the way from silver to platin on the constructed ladder. Had to cut back a little on the effort to get the combo going in order to even have a shot at the combo going off. Meaning, I removed a copy of the Mirrorhall Mimic, since it was too often a dead card in my hand. Three copies seems fine, though. I also removed the Void Rends in favor of Rite of Oblivion as my catch all removal. I don't have tokens to sac, but the good boy is available often enough to serve here as well. I also finally cut out The Celestus. The ramp was originally there to get Junji out a turn earlier, but I cannot afford my third turn for that anymore. And while the card filtering and lifegain was welcome, I needed the slot to address a more severe issue: graveyard hate. I just need a way to get rid of stuff in the graveyard. So I managed to squeeze in three copies of Graveyard Trespasser for that. With hardly any blue cards left in the deck, I adjusted the land base with more basics to get my 2-drops out more reliably on turn 2. So here is the list as of now (61 cards, because I felt I needed that fourth Rite of Oblivion):
I stumbled upon this loop in Standard, and already tried my hands a bit to make use of it. But my deck so far is really clunky and I was wondering, if I missed something more lethal?
Anyway, the loop is Junji, the Midnight Sky plus Glasspool Mimic/Mirrorhall Mimic, where you copy Junji, put the copy into the graveyard due to the legend rule, and reanimate it with its own dies trigger. One iteration costs 2 life, but an ever entering/dying creature can be made to give you life. Which was my approach so far. Plus some life loss for the opponent when I gain life, or a creature of mine dies. It's cumbersome to click through on Arena, though, and quite slow.
So, does anyone have any idea to make this loop more potent in some other way? I'm not yet that familiar with the newest cards, and might have missed something.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
1 Plains
1 Island
2 Swamp
1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
2 Deserted Beach
4 Shattered Sanctum
2 Shipwreck Marsh
3 Brightclimb Pathway
3 Clearwater Pathway
3 Hengegate Pathway
4 Glasspool Mimic
4 Lunarch Veteran
4 Professor of Symbology
4 Kor Celebrant
4 Marauding Blight-Priest
4 Glasspool Mimic
3 Mirrorhall Mimic
4 Junji, Midnight Sky
Others (11)
4 Vanishing Verse
3 Relic Vial
4 The Meathook Massacre
1 Environmental Sciences
1 Reduce to Memory
1 Pest Summoning
1 Necrotic Fumes
2 Teachings of the Archaics
1 Mascot Exhibition
Probably the biggest problem right now is, that Junji dies or gets exiled as soon as he shows up. Since he is by far the biggest threat the deck is throwing out there right now. I tried to use Teleportation Circle with a clone on the field to start the loop in my end step, but that, while working, is just meh. The Circle simply doesn't have that many good targets to blink. Also tried Mirrorshell Crab for a bit of countermagic and a juicy target to return with a dying Junji, but that too, is not really working for the deck concept. I'm trying Relic Vial in that spot now, and it seems to at least enhance the loop well enough (being a life drain and a life gain in one card, I just need any of my many clerics to also be around).
Another big problem, and the reason why there aren't many of the usual suspects for a life gain deck in there, like Cleric Class, is the amount of clicking on Arena when going through the loop. I simply cannot and don't want to select targets or replacement effects or make other choices when executing the loop. It takes enough time and attention just to go through the basic loop (I have to change the trigger order, because Junji's triger is always near the top and not on the bottom where it needs to be, I have to select my own graveyard and then the clone in there, because the default always shows me the opponent's graveyard first, etc.)
And then thee is the land base. It feels like a mess, and probably is. But with the deck list changing frequently, adjusting it is kind of moot until the list gets more established.
The lesson board is mostly just thrown together for now, since the Professor is also a quite recent addition.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
Junji, Midnight Sky + Mirrorhall Mimic/Undercover Operative + the new Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
Finding a working shell for this, however, has so far been quite fruitless. I tried for only a few hours in the new Standard so far, though, so it is too early to give up. I modified my prerotation version a bit, but I may have to start from scratch to find new paths. What do you think would be a good addition?
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
This is what the list looks right now, but many pieces are experimental. And it's 61 cards, because I suck at staying at 60 when tweaking. No big deal, it will get down to 60 eventually.
4 Plains
2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
1 Island
1 Otawara, Soaring City
4 Swamp
2 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
4 Raffine's Tower
4 Shipwreck Marsh
4 Shattered Sanctum
4 Spirited Companion
4 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
3 Extraction Specialist
3 Fell Stinger
4 Mirrorhall Mimic
4 Junji, Midnight Sky
3 Valorous Stance
3 Void Rend
3 The Celestus
4 Depopulate
Still, the deck loses way too often, mostly to being overrun by an early rush, or not getting through counterspells. Maybe Phyrexian Missionary could get a home here? Junji getting exiled is also a recurring problem. Lots of other lesser problems, too. Any input is welcome as I try to get this deck into shape. Maybe the next few sets will offer more fitting tools.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
4 Plains
2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
1 Island
1 Otawara, Soaring City
3 Swamp
2 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
4 Raffine's Tower
4 Shipwreck Marsh
4 Shattered Sanctum
1 Deserted Beach
4 Spirited Companion
4 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
3 Extraction Specialist
3 Fell Stinger
4 Mirrorhall Mimic
4 Junji, Midnight Sky
4 Void Rend
2 The Celestus
4 Depopulate
2 The Cruelty of Gix
There are a bunch of other cards, that I may want to add, and that I got some experience with through copying. Those cards are Toxrill, the Corrosive, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Serra Paragon, Liesa, Forgotten Archangel, and a few others. Copying Titan of Industry was also quite often the nail in my opponent's coffin, if I didn't outright steal it from their graveyard (heh). Stealing stuff from graveyards seems to be quite fruitful currently. My last opponent definitely wasn't happy, when I took his freshly discarded Gin-Gitaxias before he could animate it. In fact, that whole game was a nasty copy and/or steal extravaganca. Toxrill, Ginny, Ertai, may opponent literally had to fight through his own stuff while being short on mana (effectively no card draw spells due to Ginny).
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
5 Plains
2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
1 Island
1 Otawara, Soaring City
3 Swamp
2 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
4 Raffine's Tower
3 Shipwreck Marsh
4 Shattered Sanctum
4 Spirited Companion
4 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
4 Extraction Specialist
3 Fell Stinger
3 Graveyard Trespasser
3 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
3 Mirrorhall Mimic
4 Junji, Midnight Sky
4 Rite of Oblivion
4 Depopulate
The deck is "finished" just in time for the next batch of cards to drop into Standard. We'll see what new cards may make it into the deck.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)