Keep Mobilization. Tokens are good in Ertai. The cost to produce each token is a little much, sure, but it's a mana sink -- for when you didn't have anything to counter in a round about the table. It's there to ensure your mana is always getting you value.
Crawlspace is a little less necessary. You've got plenty of attack-deterrents already; I don't think another will help. If someone is intent on hitting you with creautres, **** his **** up. Ruin his board. Combo him out. Whatever strikes your fancy. Keep in mind, you have a lot of control over the creatures on the board thanks to Grave Pact and Martyr's Bond. If no one has creatures to attack with, why bother trying to protect yourself from attacks, y'know?
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Mar 14, 2015madhatter00o posted a message on EDH: Ertai the CorruptedKeep Mobilization. Tokens are good in Ertai. The cost to produce each token is a little much, sure, but it's a mana sink -- for when you didn't have anything to counter in a round about the table. It's there to ensure your mana is always getting you value.Posted in: Bur
Crawlspace is a little less necessary. You've got plenty of attack-deterrents already; I don't think another will help. If someone is intent on hitting you with creautres, **** his **** up. Ruin his board. Combo him out. Whatever strikes your fancy. Keep in mind, you have a lot of control over the creatures on the board thanks to Grave Pact and Martyr's Bond. If no one has creatures to attack with, why bother trying to protect yourself from attacks, y'know? -
Mar 14, 2015madhatter00o posted a message on EDH: Ertai the CorruptedYou've got plenty of counters/removal. Actually, I'd take out Mindbreak Trap. Yes, it exiles spells, which is nice for removing things you don't ever want hitting the field, but don't discount the effecacy of tempo-counters (counters that aren't necessarily permanent, but hinder an opponent's major plays... like Remand or Memory Lapse). Your opponent has lost the element of surprise, and other opponents might be more willing to gang up on him before he tries to cast the same thing again. Besides, 4 for Mindbreak Trap is a little steep for my tastes.Posted in: Bur
15 Stick-able instants are more than enough.
You don't need O-Ring; you've got instant removal, which is always better. If you felt the need for exile-removal in enchantment form, go with Detention Sphere, since it at least has the possibility of also taking out swarms. Like O-ring, D-sphere costs 3 and can be recurred with Sun Titan. -
Mar 14, 2015madhatter00o posted a message on EDH: Ertai the CorruptedY u no Martial Coup?!Posted in: Bur
Also, the new Secure the Wastes is perfect here.
I don't know what you should take out, though. Maybe Sphere of Safety? You already have Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, AND Moat... of the 4, Sphere is the weakest. -
Feb 7, 2015madhatter00o posted a message on EDH: Ertai the CorruptedCut:Posted in: Bur
Fog Bank: You've got plenty of better pillowfort in there already. You don't really need Fog Bank.
Utter End: You've already got Vindicate, and Utter End is on the expensive side for spot removal. Rather than use 4 to exile it, I'd rather use a bounce spell to throw off their tempo for using the problem-permanent.
Containment Priest: Too specific of a hoser, unless there's a serious problem of cheating creatures into play in your meta. I never saw the appeal of it.
Night of Souls Betrayal: It costs 4... and it could kill your token army... I'm not too sure about this one, but if you're using it in a clever way that I'm just not seeing, then you should keep it. If it's just there to hose, you should take it out for better things.
Counters:
Besides Memory Lapse and Remand, there aren't a lot of good 2-shop counters. Sure, these aren't hars counters, exactly, but they do set your opponents really far behind if they'e trying to drop fatties or make major plays. Trust me, a well-timed soft counter can screw up a combo or ruin someone's battlecruiser plans. Plus they can totally be imprinted on Isochron, so they effectively become hard counters at that point.
One you get into 3-drop territory, it can become difficult on the colour requirements. Still, Render Silent and Undermine have always had a little place in my heart. -
Feb 6, 2015madhatter00o posted a message on EDH: Ertai the CorruptedTo Add:Posted in: Bur
Swords to Plowshares: I saw PtE, but not its older brother.
Claws of Gix: Free sac outlet. Lets you hit any permanent, which combos well with Martyr's Bond.
Skullclamp: Don't know why you have swords in over this. Doing tokens? Use the Clamp.
Academy Rector: Even without Omniscience, there are enough necessary enchantments to warrant it.
Replenish: Because someone's gonna kill your shiny enchantments eventually.
Gate to Phyrexia: Artifact kill on a stick that doubles as a sac outlet. Such a handy card.
High Market: Sac outlets with Grave Pact/Martyr's Bond let you make people sac things on your time.
Vampiric Tutor: If you can afford one, it's worth having. Search for *anything*...
Mystical Tutor: Lets you search for your main answers, like board wipes and counterspells/spot removal. Also, you can set up the pseudo-miracle with Terminus, to handle their creatures on the cheap.
Low-CMC mana rocks. Not the crazy 0-drops or anything, but Sol Ring and maybe some of the Talismans.
More counterspells. I would at least include Memory Lapse and Remand because they're annoying. They're also stupid-cheap (CMC), so there's even more reason for you to add Isochron Scepter. (If you do, can you imagine Vampiric Tutor on the Stick? ^_^)
Consider Taking Out:
Frozen Aether/Kismet: 4 is a lot for what they do. If you *must* include this effect, though, just use one of them. If you start the second one while you already have one (in play or in hand) it's a total dead draw, since their abilities don't stack.
Planar Cleansing: I reckon it's not going to be too hard to have a good board position with this build, so having too many board wipes isn't good. I'd give for quality/versatility over quantity. Austere Command is better in the 6-drop wipe slot for the main reason that you can choose what stays on the board.
Wrath of God or Damnation: Again, you probably don't need both. Plus, you're trying to make creature tokens, so killing off your army/sac fodder won't do you any good.
Okay, that's all I can think of for now. If I recall anything else that I remember about the deck, I'll let you know. -
Mar 6, 2014madhatter00o posted a message on EDH: Toshiro UmezawaBUUUUUUUUUUR! Nice deck. I haven't looked at ISB's list or anything, but it looks like you have a good handle on how to build Toshiro. Just a few things I'd like to get your opinion on.Posted in: Bur
Why no...?:
- Animate Dead
- Damnation
- Grave Pact
- Dark Ritual
- Caged Sun
- Gauntlet of Power
- Jet Medallion
- Boseiju, Who Shelters All
Animate Dead is the main piece to use with Entomb. Plus, it's cheap recursion
Damnation is kind of a staple... I'm just surprised it's not in here. Is there a reason for this?
Grave Pact is some serious Black stax, and it contributes a LOT to devotion, which seems to be somewhat important based on your spells and Nykthos. In any case, it pretty much guarantees the board stays clear when used properly (i.e., with High Market, or any other sac engine).
Dark Ritual is an instant (and can thus be regained with Toshiro) as well as early ramp. Not always stunning in mid- to late-game, but it can boost you to right mana level really cheaply, so you can hang onto some instant-speed removal or drop a bomb.
Caged Sun, Gauntlet of Power, and Jet Medallion are mana doublers and reducers, which is sooo necessary for mono-coloured decks. They can all be recurred with Beacon of Unrest, too. As long as you don't over-extend, which would be unlikely given the nature of the control deck, these are EDH mono-coloured gold. Plus, the Sun and Gauntlet power up your creatures.
Boseiju, I think, is a must for any deck that can't protect itself from counters... I guess it depends on the meta, though. I'm just used to playing against at least 2 other Blue decks at any time O_O;
Cards I'm not so sure about:
Argentum Armor, though excellent removal, costs too much (12, including equip) and you don't have a lot of ways to cheat it out (mostly just Beacon of Unrest.
Burnished Hart is fine ramp if you didn't have access to mana reducers (Jet Medallion, which NEEDS to be in any mono-Black deck) and mana doublers.
Stinkweed Imp is a little weak in comparison to your other creatures. It only really functions as a blocker (which is fine, since it's got flying), and I'm not sure how much you plan to abuse Dredge... I would expect a few more dredge cards at least if you were.
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Overall, though, I really like the deck. It looks fun, interesting, and challenging to play and to play against. Keep us updated with testing results. - Animate Dead
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Apr 1, 2012madhatter00o posted a message on Trades: My Haves and (Perpetual) WantsYeah... that's actually the point. I don't really want it to be seen. It's just something to which I can refer people should they inquire.Posted in: madhatter00o Blog
Thanks, though. - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Thanks!
That makes sense... Maybe I'm still too used to The Judge (and feel the need to lock down the board until win-time XP)
I'm also curious about what card you find yourself getting rid of most often, one way or another.
I have just a fun question/ conversation starter for everyone: What is the card (or type of card) you always counter or otherwise remove? And, of course, why?
For me, when I play WU, I'll try to Hinder or Spell Crumple a general. However, since I'm starting to play a UR Nivvy Combo-Control deck, I'm running a far fewer counters (all hard-counters) and removal. (The aforementioned "tuck" counters are in the Nivvy, too. Just to be clear.) So, I guess I need help brainstorming what to make sure doesn't hit the board.
I guess an example of the "inelegant" nanners is when someone plays a really powerful card simply for the sake of playing it. (Usually the card doesn't have anything to do with the deck; they just put it in to have it.) Such nanners is really subjective, but cards like Overwhelming Stampede, Story Circle/ Iona (conditionally: when used against mono-colored decks), and Blightsteel Colossus kinda fit the bill. I mean, yeah, you can use these cards and they are really powerful, it's just they're really, really obnoxious. Plus, they don't demonstrate the player's skill; anyone can play them and proceed to smash face. It's cool to use powerful cards in combination with other powerful cards, but playing them alone as a crutch to support an otherwise weak deck is just annoying.
For an example of overdoing a playstyle, one person we played with would bring his friends and do this all the time: drop Artisan of Kozilek (which was easy with green in his deck); Clone it; Crackling Counterpart it; Flashback Crackling Counterpart; etc. etc. At one point, he had 4 Artisans on the field. Then all his buddies would do the Exact. Same. Thing. Seriously. It was really, really annoying. I'm all for copying and such, but this was way too much nanners going on.
So, as an unofficial rule in my play group, if anyone starts getting "nanners"-y, all other players get rid of him first and then punish him in subsequent games until he stops his nanners. We like to encourage skilled play, not just access to powerful cards ;3
I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with my group's discouragement of (what we consider) nanners, but I guess that's just our quirk.
Also, no one in my group plays with Infect. It's just a courtesy thing, since it's already quick enough to off someone by dealing just 21 general damage.
I'd definitely like to join, if possible. Again, I don't have very much experience with entering a clan, but please let me know the process or if I've been inducted... or something.
Thanks! I'm looking forward to participating in the Tolarian Academy in the future!