I had considered some sort of discard thing, but I didn't like the idea simply because they could play whatever they drew the turn after their hand is emptied which didn't sit well with me. Reconsidering, aside from rogue decks, my other favorite strategy is using whatever works so if I have to abandon the land destruction idea in favor of a huge gain in winning ability then I will. I was thinking of basically mashing Magnivore with modern's black discard using Ensnaring Bridge as protection but past that I was lost. Smallpox does also fit well with me in the original 'resource denial' plan.
Hello all! I would like to talk about my favorite creature and deck shell in all of Magic; Magnivore. I first saw this deck when I was brand new to magic. Back in 2006, I was browsing a Scrye magazine and a Magnivore build was one of the features decks. While I can't find the exact build anywhere, there are plenty that are close to it on TCGPlayer. I bought the deck and played it where I could. Since I was new, all playing that I did was strictly casual aside from my fiends and I trying to get better all around. With this deck, I won. A lot. I took it to my local small game store and played people who played competitively (which I had no concept of at the time). I remember one match I played where afterward my opponent turned to his friend and said 'he destroyed 21 of my 25 lands.' I fell in love with this deck. My friends refused to play against it because it was so annoying. It has since become my favorite creature and I love it wholeheartedly. If you go to a website that allows usernames, I'm probably the Magnivore that is there. I would like to discuss the basic shell here and talk about my recent ideas about the build in general. {side note: I don't know if this should be a primer or not, so to not inflate my own post unjustly I'll leave it at 'idea' until I'm told otherwise by someone who knows better than I do.}
The basics
The basic idea of any Magnivore deck is to draw through your deck, deny their access to lands by destroying them, and playing a fat Magnivore and swinging in taking their life total below 0 in two to three turns.
Here are some of the card choices for the time (not a strict/limited to list).
This was back around 2006, mind you. Since then, better cards have been printed and modern became a format. Since modern had been created, I decided to make an updated list. I don't have an exact list handy, but I will include some cards that I do remember that were not listed already and have been printed since 2006.
I needed the cheapest draw and land destruction I could get my hands on. In late 2013, I worked out a sideboard with my friends, sleeved it all up, and took it to my local modern event. People got annoyed. They got frustrated. They hated their lands being destroyed and not being able to play much. By the end of the event, I had a perfect record! I went 0-4 Magnivore was not good enough for the modern format. Some draws were poor, sometimes people had answers, but I still played the deck as best that it could do but it wasn't good enough.
I still feel that Magnivore can be viable if done right. I began to look at other options and try to find downsides to the Magnivore shell. I came up with multiple options, including splashing black for Rain of Tears or adding green for cards like Creeping Mold or Mwonvuli Acid-Moss. Things didn't really do well in testing. More recently, I thought of another angle. One of the problems with Magnivore is that (aside from being the only win condition aside from frustration -> quitting) even with a few lands players are able to do something. So, what if I added Trinisphere? I really don't know if that is a good idea, but it really seems like it would work very well to me.
I'll include a few decks that I've brewed and state my thoughts behind each.
This is a basic red-green version of the Magnivore shell freaturing Gitaxian Probe because it's either free or able to be cast with Birds. This was just an idea; one that didn't work well in testing.
This was the first of new, proper builds that is most like the original deck. Its addition of fetch lands helps, though it's not terribly optimized (I feel) because you may still potentially stall out randomly.
The idea here was to include some green for both ramping into more spells being played and more sorceries in the graveyard. I didn't mind if Trinisphere made me pay more in this deck since it would not matter too much because the majority of the disruption costs at least three already. This deck seems to do alright in testing.
This deck is heavily based on the Ownling Mine deck, and for the first time with my builds has a proper alternate win condition! The idea here is to speed myself through my deck with plenty of draw engines to get more spells to cast to better annoy my opponent. Blood Moon is main because if I cast it, it won't hurt me at all. I feel like [Trinisphere] could work well in the main deck here to further help keeping my opponent from doing anything, but I forgot to include it when I was mashing the two decks together. If Magnivore doesn't get a kill, then Ebony Owl Netsuke is there to quickly burn them out, as well as Kami's poking. He tries so hard.
This deck, along with OwlingVore, are my favorite versions. This one takes the idea that Owling has and implements draw engines to help me get through my deck faster. Since I have no longer have access to Boomerang or Eye of nowhere I need to increase my little guy protection, which is why I finally re-include Pyroclasm and add in Anger of the Gods. Trinisphere is here to help keep me safe from small things once I get well established and the opponent gets well pissed off. Spiteful Visions and Underworld Dreams are here to help burn the opponent out slowly (or really quickly, depending on how I'm doing). I feel this deck could do well if things go according to plan.
The only thing I till worry about are early counter spells, which the only way I can thing of preventing that is Boseiju, Who Shelters All, however I may not need to worry about every angle and just focus on my gameplan. I would love to hear from all of you about this subject. Tell me what you think, help me optimize one of these builds, provide your own builds and thoughts on the subject. I would love to resurrect Magnivore into the modern format to, in a way, get back to my roots.
This remains one of my favorite decks. I played a version in standard years ago where I won on turn 4. What made it great was the game adjacent to me hadn't even started yet when we finished game 1!
This is true. However, he can just add Ulamog or Kozilek to replace it.
I was wondering what you do about getting creatures you draw back into your library so that you can Mass Polymorph into them. Is that a problem? Credit Voucher is certainly interesting. There's also Winds of Change, which is a little clunkier but can get the job done.
What problems does the deck have?
Oh. Yeah an eldrazi is just for graveyard recovery.
Credit Voucher and See Beyond (and Emrakul) are for getting creatures back. Winds could work but I don't like helping people.
The problem(s) the deck has is that I feel it's not fast enough, despite its deck thinning capabilities. At best I could win turn five (I believe; it's either five or six) but that's with the perfect hand. I feel like there's not enough draw in general, since EDH is suppose to have it to be able to have cards change zones more. The more I draw, the better it's suppose to be, right?
Demonic Tutor is in there. Mystic I don't have but could be gotten, although I'd rather have a fully optimized deck before I go buying all of it. Gisela would work in a long run, but Goldknight gives me all the power I need and more when Poly goes off. I don't want House Guard because if a creature isn't going to help me when Poly goes off then I don't want to hit it.
I fear that your over-reliance on a single card will become the deck's downfall. Unfortunately for you, there are few cards which do anything similar. It may take people by surprise the first few times, but once everyone gets wise to your shinnanigans you'll be sunk.
Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore.'
So what would you do if someone named "Mass Polymorph" with a Nevermore? And before you say "I'd counter that." I'm asking about after it resolves. Permission in multiplayer is not generally viable strategy except in automated examples like Dovescape or Erayo's Essence.
For the sake of argument, let's say there was a Vexing Shusher involved that prevented you from countering it.
I don't fully rely on that card to win. I could win with board wipes and getting 4x the tokens with Doubling Season and Parallel Lives and then any token generator. Plus having a Goldknight out at that point, or slapping down a Craterhoof at some point, could also win it for me. I can always prevent Poly from being countered with Boseiju or my slew of counters. If something prevents me from playing Poly then I'd get rid of it with either a counter spell or a targeted removal for it. I'd think I have plenty of board wipes to deal with creatures multiple times over, especially in a multiplayer game where others are running them too.
This deck is something that I find very fun and amusing. I like rogue-y fun strategies that also work. Mass Polymorph-ing into winning seems good to me.
The original deck list can be found here: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1054605 I have made a few changes to it (which I will describe) but I still feel it's not that great. I feel like it should be going off early, but it just doesn't.
One of the ideas of this deck is to get Mass Polymorph off with at least eight creature tokens. From there, you win. Here's how it work. Emrakul, Avacyn, Goldnight, and Abolisher do nothing when they touch the field. Emrakul is there for eventual recycling. Avacyn makes my guys indestructible. Abolisher makes my turn sacred so I can make sure I win. Goldnight starts giving my guys a lot of power. All creatures at this stage get +7/+7 due to Goldnight. For the remaining creatures, you stack them in this order: Flame-Kin <--> Craterhoof, Cahncellor, Avenger. When Avenger comes out, you get 1 plant per land. Taking the minimum, you get six plants. All creatures at this stage AND BELOW get +6/+6. Chancellor triggers. I now have at least 14 creatures. All creatures at this stage AND BELOW get +14/+14. Now Craterhoof or Flame-Kin can come next. We'll have Craterhoof trigger first. All creatures at this stage AND BELOW get +28/+28 and Trample. Now Flame-Kin triggers. All creatures at this stage AND BELOW get +1/+1 and Haste. Combat?
The other way to win, which is strictly less amusing, is to amass a lot of tokens and swing.
The cards in the sideboard are cards I have taken out from the original build in favor of more lands, one or two extra ramp, and some draw. I felt I wasn't going through the deck well enough to get the stuff I needed when I needed it. You can compare from the original list if you would like, but my lasted (proxied for testing) changes are these: tidings, harmonize, mystic speculation, careful consideration, compulsive research, dismiss, blue sun's zenith, mindbreak trap, mind's eye, rhystic study, concentrate, ambition's cost. I also considered having Arcane Denial in here.
I would like to help in streamlining this deck. I've considered dropping colors, but after realizing that I need three colors for creatures, blue for Poly, and black for tutor, I couldn't bring myself to it. In a perfect world, I could just combo out really quickly and not have to even think about winning any other way.Again, any and all help I could get would be appreciated. If you have any questions as to why I picked this card over that card, or what is this good for, feel free to ask.
Maybe I'm not that good of an EDH player, but wouldn't you want a Zur deck that has more enchantments than almost anything else? I understand the good that can come from having a ton of counters, but having ~8 enchantment, few of which actually buff Zur, doesn't seem like the best idea to me. Looking at them, I guess if you were able to get off a Necro, Solitary, and Godhand then it could end, but it just seems low. I have founda few other Zur liststhat have more enchantments that seem, to me, like what Zur should do. What do you guys think of them?
Hello all! I would like to talk about my favorite creature and deck shell in all of Magic; Magnivore. I first saw this deck when I was brand new to magic. Back in 2006, I was browsing a Scrye magazine and a Magnivore build was one of the features decks. While I can't find the exact build anywhere, there are plenty that are close to it on TCGPlayer. I bought the deck and played it where I could. Since I was new, all playing that I did was strictly casual aside from my fiends and I trying to get better all around. With this deck, I won. A lot. I took it to my local small game store and played people who played competitively (which I had no concept of at the time). I remember one match I played where afterward my opponent turned to his friend and said 'he destroyed 21 of my 25 lands.' I fell in love with this deck. My friends refused to play against it because it was so annoying. It has since become my favorite creature and I love it wholeheartedly. If you go to a website that allows usernames, I'm probably the Magnivore that is there. I would like to discuss the basic shell here and talk about my recent ideas about the build in general. {side note: I don't know if this should be a primer or not, so to not inflate my own post unjustly I'll leave it at 'idea' until I'm told otherwise by someone who knows better than I do.}
The basics
The basic idea of any Magnivore deck is to draw through your deck, deny their access to lands by destroying them, and playing a fat Magnivore and swinging in taking their life total below 0 in two to three turns.
Here are some of the card choices for the time (not a strict/limited to list).
Draw
Land Denial
Other Utility
This was back around 2006, mind you. Since then, better cards have been printed and modern became a format. Since modern had been created, I decided to make an updated list. I don't have an exact list handy, but I will include some cards that I do remember that were not listed already and have been printed since 2006.
I needed the cheapest draw and land destruction I could get my hands on. In late 2013, I worked out a sideboard with my friends, sleeved it all up, and took it to my local modern event. People got annoyed. They got frustrated. They hated their lands being destroyed and not being able to play much. By the end of the event, I had a perfect record! I went 0-4 Magnivore was not good enough for the modern format. Some draws were poor, sometimes people had answers, but I still played the deck as best that it could do but it wasn't good enough.
I still feel that Magnivore can be viable if done right. I began to look at other options and try to find downsides to the Magnivore shell. I came up with multiple options, including splashing black for Rain of Tears or adding green for cards like Creeping Mold or Mwonvuli Acid-Moss. Things didn't really do well in testing. More recently, I thought of another angle. One of the problems with Magnivore is that (aside from being the only win condition aside from frustration -> quitting) even with a few lands players are able to do something. So, what if I added Trinisphere? I really don't know if that is a good idea, but it really seems like it would work very well to me.
I'll include a few decks that I've brewed and state my thoughts behind each.
4x Creeping Mold
3x Faithless Looting
4x Firespout
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Molten Rain
4x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
4x Stone Rain
4x Copperline Gorge
6x Forest
4x Karplusan Forest
4x Rootbound Crag
4x Stomping Ground
Creature (11)
4x Avalanche Riders
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Magnivore
3x Ancient Grudge
2x Combust
1x Firespout
2x Hornet Sting
3x Tormod's Crypt
4x Trinisphere
This is a basic red-green version of the Magnivore shell freaturing Gitaxian Probe because it's either free or able to be cast with Birds. This was just an idea; one that didn't work well in testing.
3x Creeping Mold
2x Faithless Looting
4x Firespout
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Molten Rain
3x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
3x Serum Visions
3x Sleight of Hand
4x Stone Rain
1x Wildfire
3x Breeding Pool
1x Forest
1x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Mountain
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Steam Vents
4x Stomping Ground
4x Avalanche Riders
3x Magnivore
This is a slightly more fleshed-out version of the last build with blue for draw. In testing, it still didn't do too well.
3x Anger of the Gods
3x Demolish
4x Eye of Nowhere
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Molten Rain
3x Roiling Terrain
4x Serum Visions
4x Stone Rain
2x Wildfire
4x Arid Mesa
1x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
3x Mountain
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Steam Vents
4x Boomerang
Artifact (2)
2x Trinisphere
Creature (3)
3x Magnivore
This was the first of new, proper builds that is most like the original deck. Its addition of fetch lands helps, though it's not terribly optimized (I feel) because you may still potentially stall out randomly.
4x Eye of Nowhere
3x Farseek
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Molten Rain
3x Rampant Growth
4x Roiling Terrain
4x Serum Visions
4x Stone Rain
2x Wildfire
2x Breeding Pool
2x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Mountain
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Steam Vents
2x Stomping Ground
4x Boomerang
Artifact (2)
2x Trinisphere
Creature (2)
2x Magnivore
The idea here was to include some green for both ramping into more spells being played and more sorceries in the graveyard. I didn't mind if Trinisphere made me pay more in this deck since it would not matter too much because the majority of the disruption costs at least three already. This deck seems to do alright in testing.
4x Eye of Nowhere
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Molten Rain
4x Roiling Terrain
4x Stone Rain
2x Blood Moon
Land (20)
8x Island
4x Mountain
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Steam Vents
4x Boomerang
Artifact (10)
2x Ebony Owl Netsuke
4x Howling Mine
4x Temple Bell
Creature (4)
2x Kami of the Crescent Moon
2x Magnivore
This deck is heavily based on the Ownling Mine deck, and for the first time with my builds has a proper alternate win condition! The idea here is to speed myself through my deck with plenty of draw engines to get more spells to cast to better annoy my opponent. Blood Moon is main because if I cast it, it won't hurt me at all. I feel like [Trinisphere] could work well in the main deck here to further help keeping my opponent from doing anything, but I forgot to include it when I was mashing the two decks together. If Magnivore doesn't get a kill, then Ebony Owl Netsuke is there to quickly burn them out, as well as Kami's poking. He tries so hard.
2x Arid Mesa
4x Blood Crypt
2x Marsh Flats
4x Mountain
2x Scalding Tarn
4x Swamp
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Verdant Catacombs
2x Anger of the Gods
4x Molten Rain
2x Pyroclasm
4x Rain of Tears
4x Roiling Terrain
4x Stone Rain
4x Howling Mine
3x Temple Bell
2x Trinisphere
Enchantment (7)
3x Spiteful Visions
4x Underworld Dreams
Creature (2)
2x Magnivore
This deck, along with OwlingVore, are my favorite versions. This one takes the idea that Owling has and implements draw engines to help me get through my deck faster. Since I have no longer have access to Boomerang or Eye of nowhere I need to increase my little guy protection, which is why I finally re-include Pyroclasm and add in Anger of the Gods. Trinisphere is here to help keep me safe from small things once I get well established and the opponent gets well pissed off. Spiteful Visions and Underworld Dreams are here to help burn the opponent out slowly (or really quickly, depending on how I'm doing). I feel this deck could do well if things go according to plan.
The only thing I till worry about are early counter spells, which the only way I can thing of preventing that is Boseiju, Who Shelters All, however I may not need to worry about every angle and just focus on my gameplan. I would love to hear from all of you about this subject. Tell me what you think, help me optimize one of these builds, provide your own builds and thoughts on the subject. I would love to resurrect Magnivore into the modern format to, in a way, get back to my roots.
Oh. Yeah an eldrazi is just for graveyard recovery.
Credit Voucher and See Beyond (and Emrakul) are for getting creatures back. Winds could work but I don't like helping people.
The problem(s) the deck has is that I feel it's not fast enough, despite its deck thinning capabilities. At best I could win turn five (I believe; it's either five or six) but that's with the perfect hand. I feel like there's not enough draw in general, since EDH is suppose to have it to be able to have cards change zones more. The more I draw, the better it's suppose to be, right?
Demonic Tutor is in there. Mystic I don't have but could be gotten, although I'd rather have a fully optimized deck before I go buying all of it. Gisela would work in a long run, but Goldknight gives me all the power I need and more when Poly goes off. I don't want House Guard because if a creature isn't going to help me when Poly goes off then I don't want to hit it.
I don't fully rely on that card to win. I could win with board wipes and getting 4x the tokens with Doubling Season and Parallel Lives and then any token generator. Plus having a Goldknight out at that point, or slapping down a Craterhoof at some point, could also win it for me. I can always prevent Poly from being countered with Boseiju or my slew of counters. If something prevents me from playing Poly then I'd get rid of it with either a counter spell or a targeted removal for it. I'd think I have plenty of board wipes to deal with creatures multiple times over, especially in a multiplayer game where others are running them too.
Of course, this is all theory currently.
1x All Is Dust
1x Ambition's Cost
1x Army of the Damned
1x Beseech the Queen
1x Compulsive Research
1x Concentrate
1x Conqueror's Pledge
1x Cultivate
1x Decree of Pain
1x Demonic Collusion
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Diabolic Intent
1x Diabolic Tutor
1x Explosive Vegetation
1x Far Wanderings
1x Harmonize
1x Increasing Ambition
1x Increasing Devotion
1x Kodama's Reach
1x Life's Finale
1x Martial Coup
1x Mass Polymorph
1x Mystic Speculation
1x Primal Growth
1x Search for Tomorrow
1x See Beyond
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Tidings
1x Wrath of God
Land (37)
1x Akoum Refuge
1x Barren Moor
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Clifftop Retreat
1x Command Tower
1x Drowned Catacomb
5x Forest
1x Forgotten Cave
1x Glacial Fortress
1x Hinterland Harbor
3x Island
1x Jungle Shrine
1x Jwar Isle Refuge
1x Kazandu Refuge
1x Lonely Sandbar
2x Mountain
3x Plains
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Rupture Spire
1x Secluded Steppe
5x Swamp
1x Tranquil Thicket
1x Woodland Cemetery
1x Artifact Mutation
1x Aura Mutation
1x Autumn's Veil
1x Bant Charm
1x Blue Sun's Zenith
1x Careful Consideration
1x Counterflux
1x Countersquall
1x Dismiss
1x Fresh Meat
1x Mindbreak Trap
1x Negate
1x Pact of Negation
Creature (8)
1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1x Avenger of Zendikar
1x Chancellor of the Forge
1x Craterhoof Behemoth
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1x Flame-Kin Zealot
1x Goldnight Commander
1x Grand Abolisher
Artifact (3)
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Credit Voucher
1x Mind's Eye
Planeswalker (3)
1x Elspeth Tirel
1x Garruk, Primal Hunter
1x Liliana Vess
Enchantment (5)
1x Doubling Season
1x Mirari's Wake
1x Parallel Lives
1x Prismatic Omen
1x Rhystic Study
1x Flame Fusillade
1x Flurry of Wings
1x Gemstone Array
1x Goblin Offensive
1x Grave Pact
1x Mana Echoes
1x Necrogenesis
1x Nomads' Assembly
1x Opposition
1x Parallel Evolution
1x Perilous Forays
1x Storm Herd
1x Supply/Demand
This deck is something that I find very fun and amusing. I like rogue-y fun strategies that also work. Mass Polymorph-ing into winning seems good to me.
The original deck list can be found here: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1054605 I have made a few changes to it (which I will describe) but I still feel it's not that great. I feel like it should be going off early, but it just doesn't.
One of the ideas of this deck is to get Mass Polymorph off with at least eight creature tokens. From there, you win. Here's how it work. Emrakul, Avacyn, Goldnight, and Abolisher do nothing when they touch the field. Emrakul is there for eventual recycling. Avacyn makes my guys indestructible. Abolisher makes my turn sacred so I can make sure I win. Goldnight starts giving my guys a lot of power. All creatures at this stage get +7/+7 due to Goldnight. For the remaining creatures, you stack them in this order: Flame-Kin <--> Craterhoof, Cahncellor, Avenger. When Avenger comes out, you get 1 plant per land. Taking the minimum, you get six plants. All creatures at this stage AND BELOW get +6/+6. Chancellor triggers. I now have at least 14 creatures. All creatures at this stage AND BELOW get +14/+14. Now Craterhoof or Flame-Kin can come next. We'll have Craterhoof trigger first. All creatures at this stage AND BELOW get +28/+28 and Trample. Now Flame-Kin triggers. All creatures at this stage AND BELOW get +1/+1 and Haste. Combat?
The other way to win, which is strictly less amusing, is to amass a lot of tokens and swing.
The cards in the sideboard are cards I have taken out from the original build in favor of more lands, one or two extra ramp, and some draw. I felt I wasn't going through the deck well enough to get the stuff I needed when I needed it. You can compare from the original list if you would like, but my lasted (proxied for testing) changes are these: tidings, harmonize, mystic speculation, careful consideration, compulsive research, dismiss, blue sun's zenith, mindbreak trap, mind's eye, rhystic study, concentrate, ambition's cost. I also considered having Arcane Denial in here.
I would like to help in streamlining this deck. I've considered dropping colors, but after realizing that I need three colors for creatures, blue for Poly, and black for tutor, I couldn't bring myself to it. In a perfect world, I could just combo out really quickly and not have to even think about winning any other way.Again, any and all help I could get would be appreciated. If you have any questions as to why I picked this card over that card, or what is this good for, feel free to ask.