Thanks.
I'm loving nyxathid and the rack they both won me games. Nyxathid was almost always 7/7 or 6/6 and combined with hypnotic specter they are amazing. The rack really helps when there is a standstill (no the card) and keeps on the pressure where as nyxathid often breaks the standstill. Im very happy with the both of them. and I prefer nyxathid to nantuko shade any day.
Jitte is also incredibly useful and got me out of some tight spots. I think that 2 is the right number for the jittes.
Originally Posted by fearmeordie View Post
"HAI GUISE I PLAYZ T2 AND WANT TO PLAY LEGACY BUT NO HAZ CASHZ"
Originally Posted by Sir Aureus View Post
I don't see why everyone is so confused about the (SoM)expansion symbol. It's clearly a croissant. A metal croissant.
All hail croissant block.
I've been playing The Gate and a mono white deck I called Lockdown that basically butchered the opponent's field. They were fun, but they weren't enough. I decided to throw them together into a mid range Deadguy deck. I'd love some feedback:
I really wanted to take the philosophy from The Gate and bring it to Deadguy. The idea is to have an answer to whatever they play, then eventually win on the back of Percy, Elspeth, or Bitterblossom with a little assistance from The Rack.
This is not a tempo deck. It's not made to explode and apply pressure early on. It's designed to be more reactive and to win over time. It has a very small curve with 75% at 2 or less to minimize the pain from Bob and to maximize consistency. I know 20 land is a no-no for some people, but this deck does not need to hit land drops every turn in order to win. It's built for the long haul and has the ability to impose it's will on an opponent.
The biggest problem I've run into is CounterTop. With so many of my spells at 1 and 2 CMC, I'm really weak to the lock. The only out I have to this maindeck is my discard suite - hence the Pithing Needles in the board. Game 1 is bad without enough discard effects, but landing a Persecutor is still solid - and you still have Therapy's flashback to get through the lock once you've tromped their face. Speaking of Percy, I rarely run into problems getting rid of him with my 16 outs and 4 Bobs to find 'em.
Yeah, Inquisition of Kozilek is a great card in this archetype. Leaving the opponent Force of Will works for the gameplan since there's almost nothing you want to cast that you wouldn't trade for two of the opponent's cards if you had the opportunity.
Extirpate is probably a weaker card than finding room for a couple of Thoughtseize though. I'd rather have a couple of extra shots at taking Counterbalance or Sensei's Divining Top out of their hand on turn 1 before they're setup.
Originally Posted by fearmeordie View Post
"HAI GUISE I PLAYZ T2 AND WANT TO PLAY LEGACY BUT NO HAZ CASHZ"
Originally Posted by Sir Aureus View Post
I don't see why everyone is so confused about the (SoM)expansion symbol. It's clearly a croissant. A metal croissant.
All hail croissant block.
I agree with your points, but just for the sake of discussion, you "win" more by extirpating some important cards from your opponent, rather than just discard.
Discard is very effective in the first 1-3(4) turns, and less effective afterwards. If you discard a card from their hand, and they just top deck the same threat/answer a turn or two after then you didn't really get rid of the problem. You just postponed it. If you removed all the copies of it from the game however, you just permanently dealt with that threat for the rest of the game.
So as far as Counterbalance go, you got rid of it there and then, but if they draw another one (which is very likely that they will during a game), you're still stuck with dealing with that card.
Another thing that can be argumented pro extirpate is that many mana bases in legacy are quite vulnerable to Wasteland, and we're already playing Sinkhole/Vindicate to take out mana bases. Extirpating a Tropical Island, can neutralize an entire deck from playing their Goyfs etc. Which gives you a huge virtual card advantage.
you can perhaps look at it like discard is a safe bet, and extirpate can be worse or a card with little to no impact in a game. But it has the potential to have a huge impact as well given the right circumstances/situations.
Originally Posted by fearmeordie View Post
"HAI GUISE I PLAYZ T2 AND WANT TO PLAY LEGACY BUT NO HAZ CASHZ"
Originally Posted by Sir Aureus View Post
I don't see why everyone is so confused about the (SoM)expansion symbol. It's clearly a croissant. A metal croissant.
All hail croissant block.
Extirpate is a classic sideboard option. I don't leave the house without it, because in some matchups, it's just backbreakingly awesome. Running it mainboard, however, isn't warranted in my opinion. Sure, you'll just stomp some decks if you're lucky enough to draw it under the right circumstances, but remember that you have to get their stuff into the yard before the extirpating action can start. That's what your discard is good for, so replacing, e. g., Thoughtseize by Extirpate won't do your deck any good.
Extirpate really isn't good in a hand disruption deck like this, and it keeps coming up. The only times it would be good would be either
A.) When your opponent has a copy of the card in hand to 1-for-1
B.) When your opponent's deck isn't redundant enough to function correctly without one card, and you have happened to get one in the graveyard.
Now, point A is uncommon at best. Generally trying to use extirpate in this way will be a 0-for-1 trade giving your opponent card advantage and tempo, both of which are unacceptable in a deck that thrives on the few cards it has access to like this one.
Point B is the relevant one. Against 43lands, extirpate is sick because they pretty much NEED loam to work. But now look at the best decks in the format:
Merfolk: Extirpate sucks because they have so much redundancy
Zoo: Even worse
Landstill: What are you going to extirpate, FOW? A planeswalker? Redundant kills and a lot of draw... Terrible here.
Combo: Unless you're hitting burning wishes, or you're playing against a bad build that has only one way to kill, it's mediocre at best.
New Horizons: Super redundant. Even hitting a threat wont win it for you since they're all bigger than yours and they have draw.
Goblins: lolbad
Really, the only decks extirpate is good against in deadguy are decks like tempo thresh if you can hit a dual (and aren't already losing), ichorid, vengevine survival, and lands. These decks might show up, but is it really worth the SB slots? Whenever I play this deck, I make the decision that it isn't.
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rsaunder has beautiful eyes. Think of a sunset, sunrise, and cool breeze at the beach rolled into one moment. Now make that moment blue...because those are his eyes
Extirpate is a classic sideboard option. I don't leave the house without it, because in some matchups, it's just backbreakingly awesome. Running it mainboard, however, isn't warranted in my opinion. Sure, you'll just stomp some decks if you're lucky enough to draw it under the right circumstances, but remember that you have to get their stuff into the yard before the extirpating action can start. That's what your discard is good for, so replacing, e. g., Thoughtseize by Extirpate won't do your deck any good.
The other thing about Extirpate is that it is much more effective when the opponent has one or two cards they really want to get into the graveyard themselves. Having Extirpate in your hand and needing to use wasteland or a discard spell to make it worth something is much weaker than having it there sitting on the opponent's Life from the Loam or Bridge from Below.
Went 2-1-1 yesterday, beating UG Jank Aggro and RGW Planeswalker Control 2-0, drawing against a weird, yet undoubtly strong homebrew GB Hulk combo deck, and losing 0-2 to GU Vengevine Survival, mostly due to drawing nothing relevant (except for some survival hate, so it was convenient for him to finish my threatless self by going the aggro route).
Postboard, I extirpated a turn 1 Wasteland once and managed to snatch two others from my opponent's hand in addition
Agreed on smother or the edicts. Without Bob, you lose a lot of your life loss (and with it a lot of your reach, I wouldn't cut him for tombstalker. I'd splash another color for fat instead), but the 4 life for smother is still tough. Since you're not as capable of taking advantage of the tempo without more fatties, I'd definitely go with the safer smother. It hits everything relevant and lets your play a control role.
I'd also consider Jitte. It really helps to make your little guys hit harder, and you have a lot of little guys.
I'd go...
-4 Snuff out
+3 Smother (you have a TON of removal)
+1 Land
-2 Nighthawk
+1 Tombstalker (if you're cutting bob for this guy, you want 4)
+1 Jitte
With 1 more in the SB. You'd also be hard pressed to get me to play a deadguy list with less than 22 land, but with the more agressive build the lower land count might work. Still think 20 is suicide though.
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rsaunder has beautiful eyes. Think of a sunset, sunrise, and cool breeze at the beach rolled into one moment. Now make that moment blue...because those are his eyes
Thanks for suggestions. Smothers actually fit nicely but are still much weaker than Snuff Outs in the nonblack MU at the exception of anything running burn (which happens to be very popular). I will run smothers over snuffs for consistency's sake. Smother over Edicts because I already have Gatekeepers for forced sacrifices. As for Paths, they are the opposite of what you want to accomplish by running Vindicate to complement Sinkhole, Wasteland and Tourach. Jitte is the perfect addition to my weak creatures and due to my low creature count, 1 seems to be the right number. Aside from that, I re-included the 21st land. The only thing i am indecisive about is the number of nighthawks/shades and tombstalkers. Running 4 Tombstalkers has caused me to topdeck them when I needed them but also to get a few hands where I wish i had less. Especially now that I dropped the Snuff Outs he's going to be even harder to cast. shade is somewhat similar. Basically you don't want to see 2 stalkers in your hand or 2 shades in play. As for cutting back on nighthawks: why? I'm always satisfied to cast a hawk and don't frown upon them eating removal for my shades or stalkers. The only reason I found to cut my nighthawks to 3 was that I only own 3 foil ones...
This is what I ended up changing: -4 Snuff Outs, +2 Smothers, +1 Jitte, +1 Swamp
Ive been playing a Monoblack build for a while now and have been strongly considering splashing white for a stoneforge mystic package. I havent playtested the list below at all yet, I wanted some feedback first. First of all I havent seen any lists running Aether Vial, but since almost every card worth running is 2CC I was curious why (Dark Confidant, Stoneforge Mystic, Jotun Grunt, Tidehollow Sculler, Serra Avenger). It seems like you could just set it to 2 and follow it up with land destruction (Wasteland, Vindicate, Sinkhole, Smallpox).
Just got a couple wastelands and was wondering how many you all play. I would be a bit worried about running four because of the fact that the only add colorless mana but is it worth it?
Originally Posted by fearmeordie View Post
"HAI GUISE I PLAYZ T2 AND WANT TO PLAY LEGACY BUT NO HAZ CASHZ"
Originally Posted by Sir Aureus View Post
I don't see why everyone is so confused about the (SoM)expansion symbol. It's clearly a croissant. A metal croissant.
All hail croissant block.
Just got a couple wastelands and was wondering how many you all play. I would be a bit worried about running four because of the fact that the only add colorless mana but is it worth it?
Just consider Wasteland to be a spell and not a land and you'll be fine. It's not like we're still in the days of all-land or no-land as the mulligan rule and drawing a hand with a Wasteland and no other land will kill you. Put in enough colored mana to run your list and then add in Wastelands on top of that.
Went 2-2 yesterday, beating NOProg-Bant 2-1 and White Weenie 2-1 whilst losing to Madness-Vengevine-Survival 2-1 (sucks to board in 4 Extirpate and not seeing them in two rather long games, despite drawing 6 or so extra cards in one off of Confidant... sometimes, your deck seems to really hate you.) and to Show and Tell-Emrakul-Mind over Matter-Temple Bell 2-0. First game he just steamrolled me with a turn 2 Progenitus off of SnT, second game I could not seal the deal until round 7, when he went off with Show and Tell off of 5 basic Islands and a surprise Lotus Petal. Nasty, but what can you do?
I had a very bad day with my deck today. Lost 2-1 to Merfolk, 2-0 to mono red burn and 2-0, Thopter combo.
I feel I have a good shot to win the merfolk MU, but I played against a very skilled player who out-smarted me game 3 with sideboard tech.
Mono Red Burn, is maybe one of my least favorable MU bacause I didn't bring any good sideboard against this type of deck. I got owned pretty fast game one with burn directed to the dome, and I nearly won game 2, but he had top deck force with him. (I won game 3, which we played just for fun).
Thopter combo, I started pretty nice with turn 1 Hyppie, and turn 2 Hymn, then mana flood the rest of the game and drawing irrelevant discard spells. Game 2, I kept a one land hand, but could ritual for t1 Hyppie and had 2x Inquisition of Kozilek in hand. Never drew another land before it was too late. I almost won this game though, but he got counter top combo out and found pithing needle against my Elspeth right away.
I was mostly disappointed not because I lost, but I felt that I didn't really got full potential of the deck due to "unlucky" draws. But I can mostly blame myself also because I could have mulled better.
I got a tip from a guy whom I have much respect for when it comes to magic, and he suggested to take out Dark Rits, and some cards to make room for Jitte, Gatekeeper of Malakir and Jotun Grunts. This would hopefully improve the merfolk, zoo, aggro match-up. He also suggested changing swords to plow with path to exile, because of the life-setback you get from plow when you only got 2/2 critters to beat down with. But this might change with Grunts AND Tarmogoyfs in the same deck.
@ D3@D
Sorry about your poor performance, but don't worry luck can sometimes really work against you. 3 weeks ago I lost all my games at a tournament with the same deck list that I came 1st and 2nd with in the 2 weeks after that. So give it another go before you try changing your list. About removing dark rit, I think the explosive starts it can give really make it worth running. I have sometimes thought about taking it out but in the end I always decide to keep it, it is that good. I think that path isnt better in this deck because it defeats the LD strategy we have going, which can lock people out of games very easily.
Originally Posted by fearmeordie View Post
"HAI GUISE I PLAYZ T2 AND WANT TO PLAY LEGACY BUT NO HAZ CASHZ"
Originally Posted by Sir Aureus View Post
I don't see why everyone is so confused about the (SoM)expansion symbol. It's clearly a croissant. A metal croissant.
All hail croissant block.
Grunt and goyf really don't play well together in this (or any) deck. I'd stay away from running both.
Pikula lost in the finals of Philly with a one-lander that let him drit=> e. plague against goblins, then never saw anything to back it up. One land means mull in this deck, as a rule*.
* turn 1 land, rit, bob, duress is pretty okay as far as 1-landers go. That's keepable.
I wouldn't run either STP or P2E in a deck like this, at least MB. The life gain is too great, and giving your opponent lands in a resource denial deck is absolutely stupid. I mean stupid with an exclamation point. I'd run smother or diabolic edict over path any day of the week.
I don't think the deck can afford to cut its acceloration. Change it to chrome mox or mox diamond in a 3-color build, but cutting it outright takes out the explosive starts which are really our best shot in a lot of matchups. No disrespect to your friend, D3@d, but I think he's steering this deck in a direction it shouldn't go. (gatekeeper and jitte are good ideas though, I still run 3 and 2 in that old traditional list)
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rsaunder has beautiful eyes. Think of a sunset, sunrise, and cool breeze at the beach rolled into one moment. Now make that moment blue...because those are his eyes
Grunt and goyf really don't play well together in this (or any) deck. I'd stay away from running both.
Pikula lost in the finals of Philly with a one-lander that let him drit=> e. plague against goblins, then never saw anything to back it up. One land means mull in this deck, as a rule*.
* turn 1 land, rit, bob, duress is pretty okay as far as 1-landers go. That's keepable.
I wouldn't run either STP or P2E in a deck like this, at least MB. The life gain is too great, and giving your opponent lands in a resource denial deck is absolutely stupid. I mean stupid with an exclamation point. I'd run smother or diabolic edict over path any day of the week.
I don't think the deck can afford to cut its acceloration. Change it to chrome mox or mox diamond in a 3-color build, but cutting it outright takes out the explosive starts which are really our best shot in a lot of matchups. No disrespect to your friend, D3@d, but I think he's steering this deck in a direction it shouldn't go. (gatekeeper and jitte are good ideas though, I still run 3 and 2 in that old traditional list)
At first, this was exactly what I was thinking when I talked to him. But this guy is one of the best and most experienced magic player in my country (especially in eternal formats) and he usually knows what he's talking about. But take into account that he had never played with my deck before so his suggestions was based on what he saw of it and his meta-interpretation.
So, I'm not saying I disagree with you guys on his suggestions, and I'm not saying I completely agree with him either. But I'm curious enough to give some of his suggestions a shot. So I've come up with a build suggestion.
I was happy to see Tidehollow Sculler most of the time, but he does have some MU's where he does very little, e.g. burn decks. So I have him as a slight unsure card choice in numbers.
Now, with all the 2/2's in the deck Umezawa's Jitte will be a key factor for me to end things quickly. It can also serve as a removal for opposing Jitte's which also is a very good weapon against Deadguy.
With Jitte, and all the 2-drops, you don't want to over-exted if you smell Pyroclasm, Engineered Exlposives etc. especially after sideboard. Again, Jitte helps you keep up the pressure without the need to over-extend too many of your creatures.
The sideboard is what got the most changes. And I think it looks better prepared to weaker MU's now. Enlightened Tutor, gives the deck some answers vs. mono colored merfolk, muc, and burn. I'm just unsure if I should up the E-plagues to 3. because they are really good vs. tribal, and usually you want 2 of them in play to "completely" lock them out of their creatures.
RE: Jötun Grunts, I see people play Tombstalker together with Goyfs, and in theory grunts doesn't seem to function too much against Goyf compared to stalkers. And, when playing with grunts in the past, he doesn't usually live long enough to slap face for the 3rd time. If he can deal 8dmg I'm happy with my investment. If he can deal 12 without ruining too much for my goyf, or ruining the day for opposing goyfs thats even better. But I don't think you want to see too many multiples of him in a game, so I put 2 copies. 3 is probably good too, but I had to make room for gatekeepers as well.
I'm loving nyxathid and the rack they both won me games. Nyxathid was almost always 7/7 or 6/6 and combined with hypnotic specter they are amazing. The rack really helps when there is a standstill (no the card) and keeps on the pressure where as nyxathid often breaks the standstill. Im very happy with the both of them. and I prefer nyxathid to nantuko shade any day.
Jitte is also incredibly useful and got me out of some tight spots. I think that 2 is the right number for the jittes.
:symb::symw::symb:Deadguy Ale:symw::symb::symw:
EDH
:symb::symb::symb:Ink-eyes:symb::symb::symb:
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 The Rack
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Path to Exile
4 Vindicate
4 Dark Confidant
4 Abyssal Persecutor
3 Bitterblossom
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Marsh Flats
4 Scrubland
4 Swamp
4 Plains
4 Diabolic Edict
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Pithing Needle
3 Ethersworn Canonist
I really wanted to take the philosophy from The Gate and bring it to Deadguy. The idea is to have an answer to whatever they play, then eventually win on the back of Percy, Elspeth, or Bitterblossom with a little assistance from The Rack.
This is not a tempo deck. It's not made to explode and apply pressure early on. It's designed to be more reactive and to win over time. It has a very small curve with 75% at 2 or less to minimize the pain from Bob and to maximize consistency. I know 20 land is a no-no for some people, but this deck does not need to hit land drops every turn in order to win. It's built for the long haul and has the ability to impose it's will on an opponent.
The biggest problem I've run into is CounterTop. With so many of my spells at 1 and 2 CMC, I'm really weak to the lock. The only out I have to this maindeck is my discard suite - hence the Pithing Needles in the board. Game 1 is bad without enough discard effects, but landing a Persecutor is still solid - and you still have Therapy's flashback to get through the lock once you've tromped their face. Speaking of Percy, I rarely run into problems getting rid of him with my 16 outs and 4 Bobs to find 'em.
Modern
WBR Mardu Midrange
UR Storm
Commander
WBR Queen Marchesa Stax
WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic Pillowfort
RRR Krenko, Mob Boss Chaos
I'd swap Duress with Inquisition of Kozilek and a couple of Plains with a couple more Fetch-lands. And maybe take out 2 Path to Exile with 2 Sensei's Divining Top or Umezawa's Jitte or something in order to off-set your life-loss a little from Bob/Bitterblossom. You could probably do well with a couple of main deck Extirpate to take out Counterbalance if you're lucky enough to remove it from your opponents hand early with your discard spells.
Yeah, Inquisition of Kozilek is a great card in this archetype. Leaving the opponent Force of Will works for the gameplan since there's almost nothing you want to cast that you wouldn't trade for two of the opponent's cards if you had the opportunity.
Extirpate is probably a weaker card than finding room for a couple of Thoughtseize though. I'd rather have a couple of extra shots at taking Counterbalance or Sensei's Divining Top out of their hand on turn 1 before they're setup.
:symb::symw::symb:Deadguy Ale:symw::symb::symw:
EDH
:symb::symb::symb:Ink-eyes:symb::symb::symb:
Discard is very effective in the first 1-3(4) turns, and less effective afterwards. If you discard a card from their hand, and they just top deck the same threat/answer a turn or two after then you didn't really get rid of the problem. You just postponed it. If you removed all the copies of it from the game however, you just permanently dealt with that threat for the rest of the game.
So as far as Counterbalance go, you got rid of it there and then, but if they draw another one (which is very likely that they will during a game), you're still stuck with dealing with that card.
Another thing that can be argumented pro extirpate is that many mana bases in legacy are quite vulnerable to Wasteland, and we're already playing Sinkhole/Vindicate to take out mana bases. Extirpating a Tropical Island, can neutralize an entire deck from playing their Goyfs etc. Which gives you a huge virtual card advantage.
you can perhaps look at it like discard is a safe bet, and extirpate can be worse or a card with little to no impact in a game. But it has the potential to have a huge impact as well given the right circumstances/situations.
:symb::symw::symb:Deadguy Ale:symw::symb::symw:
EDH
:symb::symb::symb:Ink-eyes:symb::symb::symb:
A.) When your opponent has a copy of the card in hand to 1-for-1
B.) When your opponent's deck isn't redundant enough to function correctly without one card, and you have happened to get one in the graveyard.
Now, point A is uncommon at best. Generally trying to use extirpate in this way will be a 0-for-1 trade giving your opponent card advantage and tempo, both of which are unacceptable in a deck that thrives on the few cards it has access to like this one.
Point B is the relevant one. Against 43lands, extirpate is sick because they pretty much NEED loam to work. But now look at the best decks in the format:
Merfolk: Extirpate sucks because they have so much redundancy
Zoo: Even worse
Landstill: What are you going to extirpate, FOW? A planeswalker? Redundant kills and a lot of draw... Terrible here.
Combo: Unless you're hitting burning wishes, or you're playing against a bad build that has only one way to kill, it's mediocre at best.
New Horizons: Super redundant. Even hitting a threat wont win it for you since they're all bigger than yours and they have draw.
Goblins: lolbad
Really, the only decks extirpate is good against in deadguy are decks like tempo thresh if you can hit a dual (and aren't already losing), ichorid, vengevine survival, and lands. These decks might show up, but is it really worth the SB slots? Whenever I play this deck, I make the decision that it isn't.
I'm here to kick ass and play card games.
BZK Level 4 Bad Guy
The other thing about Extirpate is that it is much more effective when the opponent has one or two cards they really want to get into the graveyard themselves. Having Extirpate in your hand and needing to use wasteland or a discard spell to make it worth something is much weaker than having it there sitting on the opponent's Life from the Loam or Bridge from Below.
Postboard, I extirpated a turn 1 Wasteland once and managed to snatch two others from my opponent's hand in addition
4 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Nantuko Shade
2 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Tombstalker
4 Thoughtseize
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
4 Dark Ritual
4 Snuff Out
4 Vindicate
4 Wasteland
4 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Scrubland
4 Swamp
Don't like confidant with 3+ Tombstalkers.
Can't bring myself to use StP
Looks like a good alternative version of deadguy. Snuff Out is a fine replacement for Swords to Plowshare, but I'd consider Smother in that spot as well, or even Path to Exile / Diabolic Edict (depending on your meta).
I'd also consider Jitte. It really helps to make your little guys hit harder, and you have a lot of little guys.
I'd go...
-4 Snuff out
+3 Smother (you have a TON of removal)
+1 Land
-2 Nighthawk
+1 Tombstalker (if you're cutting bob for this guy, you want 4)
+1 Jitte
With 1 more in the SB. You'd also be hard pressed to get me to play a deadguy list with less than 22 land, but with the more agressive build the lower land count might work. Still think 20 is suicide though.
I'm here to kick ass and play card games.
BZK Level 4 Bad Guy
This is what I ended up changing: -4 Snuff Outs, +2 Smothers, +1 Jitte, +1 Swamp
5 Swamp
4 Marsh Flats
4 Scrubland
3 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Plains
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Artifact: 6
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Dark Confidant
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Stoneforge Mystic
Instant: 4
4 Swords to Plowshares
Sorcery: 12
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Vindicate
4 Engineered Plague
4 Relic of Progenitus
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Path to Exile
1 Sadistic Sacrament
4 Wasteland
4 Marsh Flats
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Arid Mesa
4 Scrub Land
2 Swamp
1 Plain
3 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Confidant
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Jotun Grunt
4 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition Of Kozilek
4 Vindicate
4 Swords to Plowshears
3 Sinkhole
4 Aether Vial
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light And Shadow
:symb::symw::symb:Deadguy Ale:symw::symb::symw:
EDH
:symb::symb::symb:Ink-eyes:symb::symb::symb:
Just consider Wasteland to be a spell and not a land and you'll be fine. It's not like we're still in the days of all-land or no-land as the mulligan rule and drawing a hand with a Wasteland and no other land will kill you. Put in enough colored mana to run your list and then add in Wastelands on top of that.
D3@D
I feel I have a good shot to win the merfolk MU, but I played against a very skilled player who out-smarted me game 3 with sideboard tech.
Mono Red Burn, is maybe one of my least favorable MU bacause I didn't bring any good sideboard against this type of deck. I got owned pretty fast game one with burn directed to the dome, and I nearly won game 2, but he had top deck force with him. (I won game 3, which we played just for fun).
Thopter combo, I started pretty nice with turn 1 Hyppie, and turn 2 Hymn, then mana flood the rest of the game and drawing irrelevant discard spells. Game 2, I kept a one land hand, but could ritual for t1 Hyppie and had 2x Inquisition of Kozilek in hand. Never drew another land before it was too late. I almost won this game though, but he got counter top combo out and found pithing needle against my Elspeth right away.
I was mostly disappointed not because I lost, but I felt that I didn't really got full potential of the deck due to "unlucky" draws. But I can mostly blame myself also because I could have mulled better.
I got a tip from a guy whom I have much respect for when it comes to magic, and he suggested to take out Dark Rits, and some cards to make room for Jitte, Gatekeeper of Malakir and Jotun Grunts. This would hopefully improve the merfolk, zoo, aggro match-up. He also suggested changing swords to plow with path to exile, because of the life-setback you get from plow when you only got 2/2 critters to beat down with. But this might change with Grunts AND Tarmogoyfs in the same deck.
Sorry about your poor performance, but don't worry luck can sometimes really work against you. 3 weeks ago I lost all my games at a tournament with the same deck list that I came 1st and 2nd with in the 2 weeks after that. So give it another go before you try changing your list. About removing dark rit, I think the explosive starts it can give really make it worth running. I have sometimes thought about taking it out but in the end I always decide to keep it, it is that good. I think that path isnt better in this deck because it defeats the LD strategy we have going, which can lock people out of games very easily.
:symb::symw::symb:Deadguy Ale:symw::symb::symw:
EDH
:symb::symb::symb:Ink-eyes:symb::symb::symb:
Pikula lost in the finals of Philly with a one-lander that let him drit=> e. plague against goblins, then never saw anything to back it up. One land means mull in this deck, as a rule*.
* turn 1 land, rit, bob, duress is pretty okay as far as 1-landers go. That's keepable.
I wouldn't run either STP or P2E in a deck like this, at least MB. The life gain is too great, and giving your opponent lands in a resource denial deck is absolutely stupid. I mean stupid with an exclamation point. I'd run smother or diabolic edict over path any day of the week.
I don't think the deck can afford to cut its acceloration. Change it to chrome mox or mox diamond in a 3-color build, but cutting it outright takes out the explosive starts which are really our best shot in a lot of matchups. No disrespect to your friend, D3@d, but I think he's steering this deck in a direction it shouldn't go. (gatekeeper and jitte are good ideas though, I still run 3 and 2 in that old traditional list)
I'm here to kick ass and play card games.
BZK Level 4 Bad Guy
At first, this was exactly what I was thinking when I talked to him. But this guy is one of the best and most experienced magic player in my country (especially in eternal formats) and he usually knows what he's talking about. But take into account that he had never played with my deck before so his suggestions was based on what he saw of it and his meta-interpretation.
So, I'm not saying I disagree with you guys on his suggestions, and I'm not saying I completely agree with him either. But I'm curious enough to give some of his suggestions a shot. So I've come up with a build suggestion.
4 Swamp
1 Plains
Non-Basic Land: 17
4 Marsh Flats
4 Scrubland
4 Wasteland
3 Bayou
2 Verdant Catacombs
Creature: 16
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Gatekeeper of Malakir
2 Jötun Grunt
2 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Umezawa's Jitte
Enchantment: 1
1 Pernicious Deed
Instant: 5
4 Swords to Plowshare
1 Enlightened Tutor
Sorcery: 12
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Vindicate
3 Extirpate
3 Perish
2 Engineered Plague
2 Pithing Needle
1 Choke
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Tormod's Crypt
I was happy to see Tidehollow Sculler most of the time, but he does have some MU's where he does very little, e.g. burn decks. So I have him as a slight unsure card choice in numbers.
Now, with all the 2/2's in the deck Umezawa's Jitte will be a key factor for me to end things quickly. It can also serve as a removal for opposing Jitte's which also is a very good weapon against Deadguy.
With Jitte, and all the 2-drops, you don't want to over-exted if you smell Pyroclasm, Engineered Exlposives etc. especially after sideboard. Again, Jitte helps you keep up the pressure without the need to over-extend too many of your creatures.
The sideboard is what got the most changes. And I think it looks better prepared to weaker MU's now. Enlightened Tutor, gives the deck some answers vs. mono colored merfolk, muc, and burn. I'm just unsure if I should up the E-plagues to 3. because they are really good vs. tribal, and usually you want 2 of them in play to "completely" lock them out of their creatures.
RE: Jötun Grunts, I see people play Tombstalker together with Goyfs, and in theory grunts doesn't seem to function too much against Goyf compared to stalkers. And, when playing with grunts in the past, he doesn't usually live long enough to slap face for the 3rd time. If he can deal 8dmg I'm happy with my investment. If he can deal 12 without ruining too much for my goyf, or ruining the day for opposing goyfs thats even better. But I don't think you want to see too many multiples of him in a game, so I put 2 copies. 3 is probably good too, but I had to make room for gatekeepers as well.