So I entered the sealed league on MTGO, and I'm a bit stuck. I've listed the cards I received, and the deck I've used twice. The first match I got mana screwed and drew seven mana across two games The second match I won, but only because my opponent got mana screwed in the final game. Before I move on I would like some advice on how to tweak my deck.
So what ideas can help make this more streamlined. The games I did win where I didn't get mana screwed, I won pureley from top decking. I tended to run out of steam after 4-5 turns so I don't really consider them true wins. I feel that my control shell is strong. I tried splashing black for a single game, but I only drew swamps and couldn't play anything... Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
Which is 18 cards. Meaning you only need 5 or so cards from any other color to make a deck, and obviously you could play more if it offers a strict upgrade. The worst cards here are probably Eager Construct, Ovalchase Dragster, Thriving Ibex and Ballista Charger (not saying those are bad, just that they are the first on the line to get replaced, I think.) Foundry Inspector could go if you ended up on a build with less than 6+ artifacts or so. Maybe could cut one Impeccable Timing.
Black offers:
1 Dhund Operative
1 Die Young
1 Rush of Vitality
1 Thriving Rats
1 Maufist Squad
1 Ovalchase Daredevil
1 Ambitious Aetherborn
1 Tidy Conclusion
Green offers:
1 Blossoming Defense
1 Durable Handicraft
2 Kujar Seedsculptor
1 Appetite for the Unnatural
1 Thriving Rhino
1 Hunt the Weak
1 Cowl Prowler
And I'm kind of interested here with your three vehicles and that Motorist + the Infiltrators and a Built to Smash. There's probably a more aggressive deck here that might be good.
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Ambush Krotiq makes me laugh so much. I keep rereading the card and it keeps not having Flash. In what sense is this an ambush again? I just have visions of this huge Krotiq poorly concealed in some bushes, feeling slightly sad that his carefully planned ambushes never seem to work.
You left blue out of your evaluation. Is that because you feel it's too weak or because I had already used it?
Red is interesting, and I'll try some of the changes you recommend overall.
No I thought Blue was playable and the deck you made wasn't bad. I just had those few suggestions for the Blue deck that differed from what you were already playing (Companion/Theorist/Land).
What's harder to say is whether it's better than one of the other shells. There are really only three cards that are actual reasons to play Blue in this pool - Dovin, Cloudchaser, Malfunction. Which are all fine to good, but maybe not better than what the other colors have to offer overall. I think it's definitely better than the Green.
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Quote from Bateleur »
Ambush Krotiq makes me laugh so much. I keep rereading the card and it keeps not having Flash. In what sense is this an ambush again? I just have visions of this huge Krotiq poorly concealed in some bushes, feeling slightly sad that his carefully planned ambushes never seem to work.
I agree with Axelrod's evaluation, except that green also includes 2 Narnam Cobra. I consider that a green card because of how much more powerful it is when you have green mana. Still, green is unexciting.
Blue is very shallow. The two multicolor cards are the only reason to consider blue. Otherwise, red and black are deeper and have more to offer. Because there are so many white and artifact playables, you can get away with playing a shallow color like blue. But it may not be the best option.
I don't understand why people do not include Captured by the Consulate. It gets rid of an attacker and nullifies all of opponent's removal and combat tricks. It locks down his ability to interact with the game unless he can chump block with the creature to get rid of it or wastes removal to 2-for-1 himself. It's worse when you are the aggro player attacking all the time, but in UW you can drop it to protect your Planeswalker or just lock down a fat ground guy and fly over in the air.
I might actually play Consulate Skygate over Aether Theorist because you have almost no payoff for energy, a 7th artifact seems good, and your deck would have to be defensive and controlling. Skygate blocks all the common and uncommon flyers and good early attackers like Thriving Grubs and Thriving Rhino. I went with Theorist only because of the low creature count. Its 1-power can crew Copter and helps Trusty Companion to attack more often.
Unfortunately UW is low on creatures, especially 3-drops. This means you absolutely cannot play an aggro game and you might have some difficulty crewing vehicles. Your best shot at winning is playing a controlling game and then winning with your planeswalker and/or flyers.
As for other colors, both red and black have good tools to offer. The decision comes down to synergy. Your white-artifact pool is a slightly better fit for WR Vehicles than for WB Servos. Also, red offers synergistic 3-drops to fill in the curve, so I like WR better.
I really like this curve and all the tools you have to play an aggro game. I would be very happy playing this deck and ignoring the Planeswalker completely.
I agree with Axelrod's evaluation, except that green also includes 2 Narnam Cobra. I consider that a green card because of how much more powerful it is when you have green mana. Still, green is unexciting.
Blue is very shallow. The two multicolor cards are the only reason to consider blue. Otherwise, red and black are deeper and have more to offer. Because there are so many white and artifact playables, you can get away with playing a shallow color like blue. But it may not be the best option.
I don't understand why people do not include Captured by the Consulate. It gets rid of an attacker and nullifies all of opponent's removal and combat tricks. It locks down his ability to interact with the game unless he can chump block with the creature to get rid of it or wastes removal to 2-for-1 himself. It's worse when you are the aggro player attacking all the time, but in UW you can drop it to protect your Planeswalker or just lock down a fat ground guy and fly over in the air.
I might actually play Consulate Skygate over Aether Theorist because you have almost no payoff for energy, a 7th artifact seems good, and your deck would have to be defensive and controlling. Skygate blocks all the common and uncommon flyers and good early attackers like Thriving Grubs and Thriving Rhino. I went with Theorist only because of the low creature count. Its 1-power can crew Copter and helps Trusty Companion to attack more often.
Unfortunately UW is low on creatures, especially 3-drops. This means you absolutely cannot play an aggro game and you might have some difficulty crewing vehicles. Your best shot at winning is playing a controlling game and then winning with your planeswalker and/or flyers.
As for other colors, both red and black have good tools to offer. The decision comes down to synergy. Your white-artifact pool is a slightly better fit for WR Vehicles than for WB Servos. Also, red offers synergistic 3-drops to fill in the curve, so I like WR better.
I really like this curve and all the tools you have to play an aggro game. I would be very happy playing this deck and ignoring the Planeswalker completely.
I like the list, but would cut an Impeccable Timing for a Fumigate. Even though Fumigate doesn't exactly fit the plan, the power level is generally too high to cut, especially in a deck with three vehicles. The timing is a bit narrow, and I like having the sweeper as a contingency plan and as a way to randomly mise wins.
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1x Fragmentize
1x Tasseled Dromedary
1x Aviary Mechanic
1x Gearshift Ace
2x Impeccable Timing
2x Ninth Bridge Patrol
1x Trusty Companion
1x Fairgrounds Warden
2x Revoke Privilege
1x Captured by the Consulate
1x Consulate Surveillance
1x Thriving Ibex
1x Fumigate
Blue
1x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Minister of Inquiries
1x Select for Inspection
1x Aether Theorist
1x Aether Tradewinds
1x Disappearing Act
1x Malfunction
2x Wieldfast Wingsmith
1x Metallurgic Summonings
Black
1x Dhund Operative
1x Die Young
1x Rush of Vitality
1x Thriving Rats
2x Live Fast
1x Maufist Squad
1x Ovalchase Daredevil
1x Ambitious Aetherborn
1x Tidy Conclusion
1x Dukhara Scavenger
1x Built to Smash
1x Renegade Tactics
1x Ruinous Gremlin
1x Cathartic Reunion
1x Chandra's Pyrohelix
2x Giant Spectacle
1x Thriving Grubs
1x Salivating Gremlins
2x Spireside Infiltrator
1x Terror of the Fairgrounds
1x Fateful Showdown
1x Wayward Giant
Green
1x Blossoming Defense
2x Commencement
1x Durable Handicraft
2x Kujar Seedsculptor
1x Sage of Shaila's Claim
1x Appetite for the Unnatural
1x Thriving Rhino
1x Hunt the Weak
1x Cowl Prowler
Multicolor
1x Contraband Kingpin
1x Veteran Motorist
1x Unlicensed Disintegration
1x Dovin Baan
1x Hazardous Conditions
1x Cloudblazer
1x Inventor's Goggles
2x Consulate Skygate
1x Eager Construct
1x Glassblowers Puzzleknot
1x Metalspinner's Puzzleknot
2x Narnam Cobra
1x Smuggler's Copter
1x Torch Gauntlet
1x Foundry Inspector
1x Ovalchase Dragster
1x Snare Thopter
2x Ballista Charger
1x Bastion Mastodon
With all these I have a decent control shell with Revoked Privileges and Malfunction. I also have Dovin Baan. I was happy to open Metallurgic Summonings, but I have relative crud in terms of sorceries and instants.
Here's the deck I've been running:
1x Minister of Inquiries
1x Aviary Mechanic
1x Gearshift Ace
1x Consulate Skygate
1x Eager Construct
1x Farigrounds Warden
1x Foundry Inspector
1x Thriving Ibex
1x Wieldfast Wingsmith
1x Snare Thopter
1x Cloudblazer
1x Bastion Mastodon
1x Fragmentize
1x Fumigate
Instants
2x Impeccable Timing
Enchantments
2x Revoke Privilege
1x Malfunction
Artifacts
1x Glassblower's Puzzleknot
1x Smuggler's Copter
1x Ovalchase Dragster
1x Ballista Charger
1x Dovin Baan
Lands
6x Island
10x Plains
So what ideas can help make this more streamlined. The games I did win where I didn't get mana screwed, I won pureley from top decking. I tended to run out of steam after 4-5 turns so I don't really consider them true wins. I feel that my control shell is strong. I tried splashing black for a single game, but I only drew swamps and couldn't play anything... Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
1: CS
2: CCCCVSSS
3: CCSS
4: CCCVSS
5: CCVS
With 16 lands.
I probably wouldn't be playing 16 lands with this deck and I would definitely be running the Trusty Companion and the Aether Theorist. I would try hard not to play Minister of Inquiries and Consulate Skygate. I also think Glassblower's Puzzleknot is just bad unless you have a very specific energy focused deck.
So you could take out those three cards and put in the two I mentioned and a land and I think it's improved.
Alternatively, there are W/B, W/G, and W/R shells you could try.
I think this is your W/Artifact base:
1 Fragmentize
1 Aviary Mechanic
1 Eager Construct
1 Gearshift Ace
2 Impeccable Timing
1 Smuggler's Copter
1 Trusty Companion
1 Fairgrounds Warden
1 Foundry Inspector
2 Revoke Privilege
1 Ovalchase Dragster
1 Snare Thopter
1 Thriving Ibex
1 Ballista Charger
1 Bastion Mastodon
1 Fumigate
Which is 18 cards. Meaning you only need 5 or so cards from any other color to make a deck, and obviously you could play more if it offers a strict upgrade. The worst cards here are probably Eager Construct, Ovalchase Dragster, Thriving Ibex and Ballista Charger (not saying those are bad, just that they are the first on the line to get replaced, I think.) Foundry Inspector could go if you ended up on a build with less than 6+ artifacts or so. Maybe could cut one Impeccable Timing.
Black offers:
1 Dhund Operative
1 Die Young
1 Rush of Vitality
1 Thriving Rats
1 Maufist Squad
1 Ovalchase Daredevil
1 Ambitious Aetherborn
1 Tidy Conclusion
Green offers:
1 Blossoming Defense
1 Durable Handicraft
2 Kujar Seedsculptor
1 Appetite for the Unnatural
1 Thriving Rhino
1 Hunt the Weak
1 Cowl Prowler
(I think this is probably the least exciting)
Red offers:
1 Built to Smash
1 Chandra's Pyrohelix
1 Thriving Grubs
1 Veteran Motorist
1 Salivating Gremlins
2 Spireside Infiltrator
1 Wayward Giant
And I'm kind of interested here with your three vehicles and that Motorist + the Infiltrators and a Built to Smash. There's probably a more aggressive deck here that might be good.
Red is interesting, and I'll try some of the changes you recommend overall.
Thanks for the feedback!
What's harder to say is whether it's better than one of the other shells. There are really only three cards that are actual reasons to play Blue in this pool - Dovin, Cloudchaser, Malfunction. Which are all fine to good, but maybe not better than what the other colors have to offer overall. I think it's definitely better than the Green.
Blue is very shallow. The two multicolor cards are the only reason to consider blue. Otherwise, red and black are deeper and have more to offer. Because there are so many white and artifact playables, you can get away with playing a shallow color like blue. But it may not be the best option.
I don't understand why people do not include Captured by the Consulate. It gets rid of an attacker and nullifies all of opponent's removal and combat tricks. It locks down his ability to interact with the game unless he can chump block with the creature to get rid of it or wastes removal to 2-for-1 himself. It's worse when you are the aggro player attacking all the time, but in UW you can drop it to protect your Planeswalker or just lock down a fat ground guy and fly over in the air.
Here's a tuned UW list:
1 Aviary Mechanic
1 Gearshift Ace
1 Trusty Companion
1 Eager Construct
1 Aether Theorist
1 Fairgrounds Warden
1 Foundry Inspector
1 Thriving Ibex
1 Weldfast Wingsmith
1 Snare Thopter
1 Cloudblazer
1 Bastion Mastodon
1 Smuggler's Copter
1 Ballista Charger
//Spells: 8
1 Fragmentize
2 Impeccable Timing
2 Revoke Privilege
1 Captured by the Consulate
1 Malfunction
1 Fumigate
1 Dovin Baan
//Lands: 17
10 Plains
7 Island
I might actually play Consulate Skygate over Aether Theorist because you have almost no payoff for energy, a 7th artifact seems good, and your deck would have to be defensive and controlling. Skygate blocks all the common and uncommon flyers and good early attackers like Thriving Grubs and Thriving Rhino. I went with Theorist only because of the low creature count. Its 1-power can crew Copter and helps Trusty Companion to attack more often.
Curve:
1 - s
2 - cccccvss
3 - ccss
4 - cccssp
5 - ccvs
Unfortunately UW is low on creatures, especially 3-drops. This means you absolutely cannot play an aggro game and you might have some difficulty crewing vehicles. Your best shot at winning is playing a controlling game and then winning with your planeswalker and/or flyers.
As for other colors, both red and black have good tools to offer. The decision comes down to synergy. Your white-artifact pool is a slightly better fit for WR Vehicles than for WB Servos. Also, red offers synergistic 3-drops to fill in the curve, so I like WR better.
1 Aviary Mechanic
1 Gearshift Ace
1 Trusty Companion
1 Eager Construct
1 Thriving Grubs
1 Veteran Motorist
2 Spireside Infiltrator
1 Salivating Gremlins
1 Fairgrounds Warden
1 Foundry Inspector
1 Snare Thopter
1 Bastion Mastodon
1 Wayward Giant
1 Smuggler's Copter
1 Ovalchase Dragster
1 Ballista Charger
//Spells: 7
1 Fragmentize
1 Built to Smash
1 Chandra's Pyrohelix
2 Impeccable Timing
2 Revoke Privilege
//Lands: 16
8 Mountain
8 Plains
1 Fumigate
1 Torch Gauntlet
1 Thriving Ibex
Curve:
1 - ss
2 - ccccccvsss
3 - cccccss
4 - cv
5 - ccv
I really like this curve and all the tools you have to play an aggro game. I would be very happy playing this deck and ignoring the Planeswalker completely.
I like the list, but would cut an Impeccable Timing for a Fumigate. Even though Fumigate doesn't exactly fit the plan, the power level is generally too high to cut, especially in a deck with three vehicles. The timing is a bit narrow, and I like having the sweeper as a contingency plan and as a way to randomly mise wins.