Can someone give me some tips on what matchups I want to side Batterskull in?
I'm tempted to maindeck it, since I only have 1 Thundermaw Hellkite and I'm running 3 Lotus Cobras and want more stuff to ramp into
Also, is it common to deal 6 to yourself by turn 2? 2 fetch into shocks untapped means I'm taking 3 each turn. I dislike putting myself down to 14 on turn 2 of my own accord, especially when playing aggro. How do you guys manage the need for dual lands vs life loss?
Are you also running black cleave cliffs? I usually will get one of those in my opening hand and that helps a bit in mitigating the land damage. There are some situations where you want to fetch a basic if you don't feel comfortable taking 3 and only need a basic. Try to feel out when dropping a finks activating shaman would help the most if you are taking a lot of bob or land hits. It can be a tricky tango sometimes.
The only thing that comes to mind is a casual game I played a few months ago. I didn't plan on playing that night and didn't have my cards, so I patched together a janky red deck out of my friend's card box.
I'm playing vs. soliders. I'm at 1 life and he's at 13. It's my turn and he laid a Cathar's Crusade turn 5 and Captain of the Watch turn 6, so I'm staring down some seriously beefed soldiers.
I draw a Brimstone Volley. Tap out to cast Seething song. 2 Snipe Damage. Cast Arc Trail - 2 damage to friend, 1 damage to my Lavamancer. 2 Snipe Damage. Cast Brimstone with Morbid for 5 to the face. 2 Snipe damage for the win!
I would avoid running either Leyline of the Void or Leyline of Sanctity in the mainboard. Why? Because I never want them unless I'm willing to mulligan for them (which would be against Storm, Eggs, Burn, Scapeshift, Reanimator and Dredgevine depending on which Leyline you run). In the mainboard, Faerie Macabre and Jund Charm are more reliable than Leyline of the Void because you don't have to mulligan for them to pull their weight (plus Faerie ruins Affinity's day). Leylines are strictly sideboard cards, but I strongly recommend having 4 of one leyline in the sideboard because they make some of our worst match-ups playable.
Brindle Boar is generally preferred to Kitchen Finks because it gives a greater net lifegain with Living End. Both are viable. Architects of Will is not used because it is too vulnerable and the value of it's library-manipulation is questionable. If anyone runs it, they probably wouldn't splash for it because it's not a great asset to us.
Definitely. Haven't tried running Finks, just seeing if anyone else was having any success with them. I really like Brindle Boar as the art makes me laugh and as you mentioned, the net life gain is great. I've seen a lot of lists with Architects, but I'm not into them myself.
I've only been able to test against a few friends decks - Merfolk, Goblins, Martyr and Burn. Nothing too spectacular. I can say that Burn and Goblins were rough if I did not hit a 3rd land drop on turn 3. There's a GPT on Saturday, but I don't feel comfortable not having tested against any top tier decks.
I have been messing around with the deck a lot though - can't really decide if I want to MB 3 or 2 Faerie Macabre or if I want to MB 2 or 3 or 0 Avalanche Riders
2 questions for y'all:
Anyone actually running Kitchen Finks over Brindle Boar?
Anyone adding blue-making lands to hard cast Architects of Thought? I am currently not running this card at all, but was wondering.
I started really getting into Magic around Odyssey block, but stopped playing for many years. I recently got back into it over the course of 2012. I only have a few friends who play and want to branch out more, and try to play competitively.
I've been meaning to go a draft night or FNM or somethign, but to be honest I'm really bad at meeting people on the spot. So if anyone reading this is in the San Diego area, let me know what store you frequent! Looking to draft, play in standard and modern.
Question for those who what played this deck using Ricochet Trap: What are you typically having to use this spell on against - are you seeing Beast Within's getting countered, living end after cascading into it, Fumlinators?
Are you also running black cleave cliffs? I usually will get one of those in my opening hand and that helps a bit in mitigating the land damage. There are some situations where you want to fetch a basic if you don't feel comfortable taking 3 and only need a basic. Try to feel out when dropping a finks activating shaman would help the most if you are taking a lot of bob or land hits. It can be a tricky tango sometimes.
I'm playing vs. soliders. I'm at 1 life and he's at 13. It's my turn and he laid a Cathar's Crusade turn 5 and Captain of the Watch turn 6, so I'm staring down some seriously beefed soldiers.
I had been chump blocking most of the game and only had a Grim Lavamancer and Guttersnipe with 3 Mountains in play. I have a Seething Song and Arc Trail in hand.
I draw a Brimstone Volley. Tap out to cast Seething song. 2 Snipe Damage. Cast Arc Trail - 2 damage to friend, 1 damage to my Lavamancer. 2 Snipe Damage. Cast Brimstone with Morbid for 5 to the face. 2 Snipe damage for the win!
Definitely. Haven't tried running Finks, just seeing if anyone else was having any success with them. I really like Brindle Boar as the art makes me laugh and as you mentioned, the net life gain is great. I've seen a lot of lists with Architects, but I'm not into them myself.
I have been messing around with the deck a lot though - can't really decide if I want to MB 3 or 2 Faerie Macabre or if I want to MB 2 or 3 or 0 Avalanche Riders
2 questions for y'all:
Anyone actually running Kitchen Finks over Brindle Boar?
Anyone adding blue-making lands to hard cast Architects of Thought? I am currently not running this card at all, but was wondering.
I started really getting into Magic around Odyssey block, but stopped playing for many years. I recently got back into it over the course of 2012. I only have a few friends who play and want to branch out more, and try to play competitively.
I've been meaning to go a draft night or FNM or somethign, but to be honest I'm really bad at meeting people on the spot. So if anyone reading this is in the San Diego area, let me know what store you frequent! Looking to draft, play in standard and modern.
Thanks
Question for those who what played this deck using Ricochet Trap: What are you typically having to use this spell on against - are you seeing Beast Within's getting countered, living end after cascading into it, Fumlinators?