Card Explanations
Gelectrode- These have been awesome when they stay in play. Over the course of the game I get around seven damage out of them on average and they absolutely dominate aggro decks.
Kumano vs. Meloku- I find that Kumano typically wins games either on the turn you untap with him or the turn after. He dominates weenie strategies even better than Meloku does and can actually deal with creatures that aren't involved in combat (mostly Dark Confidants). I maindeck him because he has even more reach than Meloku and typically wins the game a turn earlier. Meloku is in the board because he deals with larger creatures more effectively allowing me to answer Grave-Shell Scarabs and get around other larger creatures.
I've been playing this since the prerelease and its been doing pretty well so far. Any comments/suggestions?
I'm thinking your mana curve wouldn't be hurt by taking out an island and puttling in another Keiga or something similar. But other than that, the build looks ... pretty solid. It's just fine-tweaking from here.
Oh, and I think Kumano's RFG ability is more than a competent answer for GSS.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
my mouth is full of winsome lies -
and eyes are full of death besides
but luckily the soul is wise -
it sees beyond my blindness and
forced failure makes a better guise,
so as i come again alive,
it feels like life's a decent plan
I must say I'm not a big fan of Gelectrode and Jushi Apprentice in CounterBurn, since most of the things in T2 you want to counter are played turn 2-3, and you need that mana open for Remand or Mana Leak.
This one is a double edged-sword, but I like Cerebral Vortex because it's 2 extra cards for 2 damage which seems like a fair trade to me.
This brings me to my next idea, Thoughts of Ruin. Since you'll drawing so many cards from Electrolyze, Remand, etc., maybe this can give you a big advantage. I dunno, I will be testing this one to see what it can do.
I like Keiga, since it's the one that doesn't die to char. That, and I think this deck will be more worried about big creatures than weenies.
Thoughts or ruin really is anti-synergetic with my win conditions. Kumano requires a lot of lands to work well and I am always better off being able to counter and burn in the same turn.
I've been consdiering running Cerebral Vortex over Jushi but the damage worries me since I'm already dealing quite some damage to myself with the chars and painlands. Jushi has been pretty slow but is working well in control matchups. Since control matchups have been going pretty well anyway I'll try Cerebral Vortex.
With Gelectrode, I simply don't have to play him if I'm worried about a must-counter threat coming down on that turn. I can easily hold him back until I have counter backup. Also I find that often playing him early lets me deal with threats that normally would have been must-counter. It can even neutralize Jittes by wiping out any creatures it could attach to. When used with the burn and counters in this deck I find my opponents having trouble keeping creatures on the board while I have Gelectrode.
4 Gelectrode
4 Jushi Apprentice
3 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
1 Keiga, the Tide Star
Counters
4 Mana Leak
4 Remand
4 Hinder
Burn
4 Electrolyze
4 Char
4 Telling Time
Lands
4 Shivan Reef
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Shinka, The Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Miren, The Moaning Well
10 Island
7 Mountain
4 Pyroclasm
4 Blood Moon
4 Smash
3 Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
Card Explanations
Gelectrode- These have been awesome when they stay in play. Over the course of the game I get around seven damage out of them on average and they absolutely dominate aggro decks.
Kumano vs. Meloku- I find that Kumano typically wins games either on the turn you untap with him or the turn after. He dominates weenie strategies even better than Meloku does and can actually deal with creatures that aren't involved in combat (mostly Dark Confidants). I maindeck him because he has even more reach than Meloku and typically wins the game a turn earlier. Meloku is in the board because he deals with larger creatures more effectively allowing me to answer Grave-Shell Scarabs and get around other larger creatures.
I've been playing this since the prerelease and its been doing pretty well so far. Any comments/suggestions?
3CB and 4CB5CB!Oh, and I think Kumano's RFG ability is more than a competent answer for GSS.
and eyes are full of death besides
but luckily the soul is wise -
it sees beyond my blindness and
forced failure makes a better guise,
so as i come again alive,
it feels like life's a decent plan
This one is a double edged-sword, but I like Cerebral Vortex because it's 2 extra cards for 2 damage which seems like a fair trade to me.
This brings me to my next idea, Thoughts of Ruin. Since you'll drawing so many cards from Electrolyze, Remand, etc., maybe this can give you a big advantage. I dunno, I will be testing this one to see what it can do.
I like Keiga, since it's the one that doesn't die to char. That, and I think this deck will be more worried about big creatures than weenies.
I've been consdiering running Cerebral Vortex over Jushi but the damage worries me since I'm already dealing quite some damage to myself with the chars and painlands. Jushi has been pretty slow but is working well in control matchups. Since control matchups have been going pretty well anyway I'll try Cerebral Vortex.
With Gelectrode, I simply don't have to play him if I'm worried about a must-counter threat coming down on that turn. I can easily hold him back until I have counter backup. Also I find that often playing him early lets me deal with threats that normally would have been must-counter. It can even neutralize Jittes by wiping out any creatures it could attach to. When used with the burn and counters in this deck I find my opponents having trouble keeping creatures on the board while I have Gelectrode.
3CB and 4CB5CB!