I've been playing Multiplayer Magic on/off for the last 5 years. I started back in 2013 when a few friends turned me on to their bi-weekly multiplayer games. At the time I was the whipping boy because I didn't have the institutional knowledge they possessed regarding strengths, weaknesses, synergies, play styles etc. I came on here back then and a few of you (one in particular) were instrumental in helping me piece together some (about 13 )decent decks that have kept me competitive over the intervening years.
Fast forward to today, and the Multiplayer games are starting to ramp up again. Thing is, I haven't kept up with all of the set releases in the years since. This is where I'm hoping you can come in. Even with 13 decks, my more proficient friends have gotten very good at recognizing my threats. I'm hoping you could help me revisit some of these decks and see if there's been anything that make them stronger. My meta is mostly tribal, mill, lifegain/drain. My first deck is a Lurking PredatorsBeast based deck:
Cut 4x Forest for 4x Myriad Landscape and get in habit of always fielding 4 in your monocolored ramp decks. Even the Landfall is relevant in this shell. Blighted Woodland could also work but Myriad is vastly superior.
I recommend swapping Copperhoof Vorrac for Thragtusk if possible. It's more resilient, adds lifegain, offers more triggers for Savage/Packleader, etc.
I recommend trying a couple of Rishkar's Expertises and/or Traverse the Outlands. They're both fantastic in these types of shells in my experience. You can't go too deep since this is a LP deck but 2 copies can go a long way. You can always cut a Stomphowler and a Behemoth if needed.
Have you considered a light red splash for things like kessig wolf run and contested cliffs? I'm also a fan of gruul ragebeast in tribal beast decks but it is a little higher on the curve (and a mandatory trigger). I've also had some luck with paleoloth to keep the beasts flowing if you face removal.
How has ursapine been working for you. I've always thought it was a cool card but never actually played it.
How has ursapine been working for you. I've always thought it was a cool card but never actually played it.
Ursapine is a great card. It's been able to get me out of plenty of scrapes, either buffing an attacker, or a defender... it's a very useful card. I only run two so obviously they don't come out often. That being said, almost as often as it's gotten me out of scrapes, I've found myself wondering if I should be running something else instead...
Beast tribal isn't a particular strong archetype and the deck would be significantly more competitive if you played with better creatures. So now it's a question of "do you want to keep the theme?" or "do you want to make the deck better?" which is ultimately up to you. It wouldn't be hard to make this deck significantly more powerful if you were willing to ditch the theme.
Truthfully, Beasts is one of my weaker decks, which is why it led off my help requests. Would combing both into one be prudent? Would the end result be stronger than the sum of its parts, per se?
Truthfully, Beasts is one of my weaker decks, which is why it led off my help requests. Would combing both into one be prudent? Would the end result be stronger than the sum of its parts, per se?
Yes, and by a significant margin. I would strongly recommend looking at something closer to:
There's nothing special or tricky; it's a low-opportunity cost draw engine. Your deck is going to have mana to spare so it's free value in the lategame. I add one to most of my ramp decks.
It's a catch-all. Your opponents are going to do things, some of those things will matter, and BW is a cheap + instant-speed answer to anything. Is someone comboing? Kill their combo piece. Is someone cheating a fatty into play? Neutralize it. Is someone going to draw their deck with Enchantress's Presence or do busted things with Survival of the Fittest? Remove it. It's my favorite multiplayer removal spell and I play 4 in most of my Green decks. I know that I always hate on spot removal in multiplayer (which I stand by) but BW is powerful enough and flexible enough to break the mold because it deals with everything at instant-speed for only 3 mana.
I've run Beast-tribal with LP too - I run the same cards as above with Wirewood Savage for additional draw.
Otherwise it's the beasts for MP like Copperhoof, Thragtusk etc.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
previously known as *slave*
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I've been playing Multiplayer Magic on/off for the last 5 years. I started back in 2013 when a few friends turned me on to their bi-weekly multiplayer games. At the time I was the whipping boy because I didn't have the institutional knowledge they possessed regarding strengths, weaknesses, synergies, play styles etc. I came on here back then and a few of you (one in particular) were instrumental in helping me piece together some (about 13
Fast forward to today, and the Multiplayer games are starting to ramp up again. Thing is, I haven't kept up with all of the set releases in the years since. This is where I'm hoping you can come in. Even with 13 decks, my more proficient friends have gotten very good at recognizing my threats. I'm hoping you could help me revisit some of these decks and see if there's been anything that make them stronger. My meta is mostly tribal, mill, lifegain/drain. My first deck is a Lurking PredatorsBeast based deck:
22 Forest
2 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Yavimaya Hollow
Spells (8):
3 Lurking Predators
1 Primeval Bounty
4 Skyshroud Claim
4 Krosan Warchief
3 Rampaging Baloths
3 Indrik Stomphowler
2 Spearbreaker Behemoth
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Wirewood Savage
2 Garruk's Packleader
2 Ravenous Baloth
3 Copperhoof Vorrac
2 Ursapine
1 Molder Slug
Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'll probably be posting a deck or two a week for your review if you guys don't mind.
Thanks again,
Brick.
I recommend swapping Copperhoof Vorrac for Thragtusk if possible. It's more resilient, adds lifegain, offers more triggers for Savage/Packleader, etc.
I recommend trying a couple of Rishkar's Expertises and/or Traverse the Outlands. They're both fantastic in these types of shells in my experience. You can't go too deep since this is a LP deck but 2 copies can go a long way. You can always cut a Stomphowler and a Behemoth if needed.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
So you're thinking something more like this?
18 Forest
4 Myriad Landscape
2 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Yavimaya Hollow
Spells (10):
3 Lurking Predators
1 Primeval Bounty
4 Skyshroud Claim
2 Rishkar's Expertise
4 Krosan Warchief
3 Rampaging Baloths
2 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Spearbreaker Behemoth
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Wirewood Savage
2 Garruk's Packleader
2 Ravenous Baloth
3 Thragtusk
2 Ursapine
1 Molder Slug
Rest of the deck still seems competitive?
How has ursapine been working for you. I've always thought it was a cool card but never actually played it.
If you keep the Beast theme, I guess you should be playing Contested Cliffs, Woodland Bellower, Caller of the Pack, Ezuri's Predation and a playset of Wirewood Savage. Worth noting that Bellower can get the Savage, Caller + Ravenous Baloth + Savage gets you 2 cards and 8 life per turn you play for free, assuming a 4-FFA game.
Ezuri's Predation in a meta that's heavy on creatures is pretty much game over.
Ursapine is a great card. It's been able to get me out of plenty of scrapes, either buffing an attacker, or a defender... it's a very useful card. I only run two so obviously they don't come out often. That being said, almost as often as it's gotten me out of scrapes, I've found myself wondering if I should be running something else instead...
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
I run a Ruric Thar deck (below) that, based on your comments, has elements that may combine well with this Beast Deck.
4 Elvish Mystic
2 Gatecreeper Vine
4 Zhur-Taa Druid
2 Burning-Tree Shaman
2 Loaming Shaman
3 Flametongue Kavu
2 Indrik Stomphowler
2 Shivan Wurm
2 Cloudthresher
3 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
4 Sylvan Primordial
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
12 Forest
4 Gruul Guildgate
2 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
2 Guardians of Meletis
2 Opaline Unicorn
Truthfully, Beasts is one of my weaker decks, which is why it led off my help requests. Would combing both into one be prudent? Would the end result be stronger than the sum of its parts, per se?
Yes, and by a significant margin. I would strongly recommend looking at something closer to:
12x Forest
4x Rootbound Crag
4x Gruul Turf
2x Kessig Wolf Run
1x Mountain
1x Arch of Orazca
4x Elvish Mystic
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Farhaven Elf
4x Flametongue Kavu
1x Grand Warlord Radha
2x Thragtusk
3x Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1x Bane of Progress
1x Whiptongue Hydra
4x Sylvan Primordial
2x Craterhoof Behemoth
4x Beast Within
4x Lurking Predators
Farhaven Elf is a flex slot and could be any reasonable 3 drop. Ravenous Slime, Yavimaya Elder, Tireless Tracker, Courser of Kruphix, Ramunap Excavator (would require Fetchlands), Runic Armasaur, etc. Beast Within could also be Chaos Warp but it's a significantly riskier card.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Numbers are off somewhere, you show 28 Creatures but I count 30.
2 questions:
How does Arch of Orazca work? It seems like it plays off of Grand Warlord Radha?
How would you play Beast Within
Oh woops. My bad. Just shave a couple creatures and/or 1 land. Doesn't really matter what you choose.
There's nothing special or tricky; it's a low-opportunity cost draw engine. Your deck is going to have mana to spare so it's free value in the lategame. I add one to most of my ramp decks.
It's a catch-all. Your opponents are going to do things, some of those things will matter, and BW is a cheap + instant-speed answer to anything. Is someone comboing? Kill their combo piece. Is someone cheating a fatty into play? Neutralize it. Is someone going to draw their deck with Enchantress's Presence or do busted things with Survival of the Fittest? Remove it. It's my favorite multiplayer removal spell and I play 4 in most of my Green decks. I know that I always hate on spot removal in multiplayer (which I stand by) but BW is powerful enough and flexible enough to break the mold because it deals with everything at instant-speed for only 3 mana.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
For my own edification, this would be considered a what? Ramp deck?
and
how the heck do I title a deck when I add it to a post. They all say Brickhaus263's Deck
Yeah.
[deck=This Will Be Your Title]
[/deck]
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Only issue is it will be taking the place of the primordial, which is a damn hard card to cut.
I favour Myriad Landscape, Sakura-Tribe Elder & Skyshroud Claim to get to 6cmc quickly, in pretty much any build.
For finishers, I like Caller of the Pack, Hydra Omnivore & Sylvan Primordial.
I've run Beast-tribal with LP too - I run the same cards as above with Wirewood Savage for additional draw.
Otherwise it's the beasts for MP like Copperhoof, Thragtusk etc.