- Keenwa1
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Member for 10 years and 16 days
Last active Tue, Mar, 31 2020 20:50:53
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Mar 19, 2014Keenwa1 posted a message on Casual Castle: Nemesis of MortalsIt almost always gives me a fatty. If there is not a fatty, chances are there it grabs a Rancor or a spell that digs for a fatty. I have not played with more than one because I fear that the ETB tapped could be clunky in multiples. That being said, it feels like the one copy has never really slowed me down.Posted in: Articles
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Mar 17, 2014Keenwa1 posted a message on Casual Castle: Nemesis of MortalsWow! I just made a Modern deck like this. My enablers are more centered around providing mana along with putting a creature in the graveyard (think Sakura-Tribe Elder and Wild Cantor). I just play the deck casually, but it is pretty fast. I almost always have one or two fatties in play by turn 3.Posted in: Articles
I am mono green for budget reasons fyi.
DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards Creatures (34)
4x Splinterfright
4x Boneyard Wurm
4x Nemesis of Mortals
2x Ghoultree
4x Wild Cantor
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Satyr Wayfinder
4x Street WraithSpells (8)
4x Commune with the Gods
2x Rancor
1x Life from the Loam
1x Tracker’s Instincts
Lands (18)
16x Forest
1x Island
1x Mosswort Bridge
I also have a budget Legacy deck that does the same thing. I will post it soon in the Budget Legacy forum - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Emry, Lurker of the Loch is a cool card (I totally just lost to it on turn 2 in a Jeskai Ascendancy deck), but I am not sure it's what we want to be doing with our deck. Seems kinda slow, and there's not always going to be artifacts to cast from the graveyard or ones in play to make him cheap. I guess we can loot stuff away with Copter and then cast it. That's pretty cool.
I've played Trinket Mage and Trophy Mage (but never Treasure Mage, lol), and appreciate the flexibility those cards offer. However, they aren't artifacts themselves and are hard to cast when Lodestone Golem is in play. We all know that we can't play too many of this type of card. I am really excited to try it out though! The fact that there are already so many CMC 2 artifacts in this deck suggests that it could be really useful, even more useful than the two mages (well, only Trinket Mage gets any love). He can literally search up whatever we need: Win-cons (Throne/Myr/Copter), draw/filtering (Copter), ramp (Sculptor, albeit an unlikely target), and hate(lots of options post-board). I disliked Myr Superion in this deck but I'd try it again as a 1-2 of with this Tribute Mage to grab it. It's also great for those of us who wanted to play more copies of Throne of the God-Pharaoh but didn't want to get legendary ruled outta the game
Yeah, flying definitely is a sub-theme of this deck so the more the merrier. I think I'd play Judge's Familiar over the Siren though just because it's effect is free.
I would 100% run Engineered Explosives if it weren't so expensive. Just checked, they're still like 40 tickets online (and way more IRL). The fact that it's a Trinket Mage target means that it could come in against all sorts of decks as a niche catch all, as well be used a board wipe like you mentioned. I don't think we'd want to wrath all that often (since it's just as likely to hurt us badly) but it'd be nice to have the option. Seems super good against Boggles too.
I think big Tron is always a scary match up because they can ramp faster than us and have better things to ramp into. Eldrazi Tron has fewer huge scary threats, so it's not nearly as bad IMO (Basilisk Collar + Balista wrecks them, as does Path). Anything with a ton of removal can be brutal too, but that's where the tax effects come in. They allow us to play a grindy, tempoish sort of game. It tougher to execute that game plan against creature heavy decks because Thorn/Thalia are fairly useless and Vial/Hierarch kind of get around Golem's Tax. Thankfully, Balista really shines in those match ups, as does Wurmcoil Engine.
I would actually advocate for playing mono blue over splashing white unless you already own the u/w mana base. A big incentive to playing this deck is that it is very competitive for how cheap it is to build. Playing mono blue is the only way to keep it cheap. I, however, already own the cards, so I figure why not splash? Path to Exile has felt amazing to me, and I can't see Dismember or any of our other options being nearly as good. I used to play Thorn of Amethyst, and yes, that card is fairly comparable to Thalia. But since I am splashing white, Thalia seems like a perfectly reasonable upgrade.
So just to be clear, I think the mono blue version is great, and it even has some advantages over my build. I do, however, want to be let everyone know that there is not as much risk to splashing as you might think. In my experience, the damage from the mana base has been fairly negligible. I rarely have to pay 2 life to shock because I just fetch for island if I need the immediate mana, and I can usually find a place to play Hallowed Fountain tapped if I draw it naturally. Burn is the one match up where it's obvious the damage hurts, but with careful, mindful play the damage can be mitigated. And yes, shuffling after scrying seems counterproductive, the there are a zillion other multicolored decks that play Serum Visions and/or Opt, so scrying with fetchlands is nothing new. I just do my best to minimize this interaction by being mindful of how and when I crack a fetch land.
I also wanted to point out that I finally played against the Ponza deck. On paper, my mana base looks terrible against Blood Moon. However, I was able to beat an earlyBlood Moon and multiple Stone Rains because the most of my powerful spells are (colorless) artifacts. The key to that match up is getting an Engineer or Architect to stick around because then you can still cast big artifacts after they decimate your mana base. Maybe I got lucky in that match though, who knows? I am definitely going to replace one Seachrome Coast with another island. That will help vs Field of Ruin (which literally everyone plays) and give me another out to Blood Moon (which I admit I am still terrified of).
EDIT (to avoid double posting): Have gone 2-3, 3-2, and 4-1 in the Friendly League since posting my list the other day. Today's 4-1 list is nearly identical to what I went 4-1 with the other day; it is just -1 Sage of Epityr for +1 Artificer's Assistant, for a 2-4 split between those cards in the main. I also went -1 Pithing Needle for +1 Damping Sphere in the sideboard. I brought in Sphere vs Tron and it preformed well. I'll definitely be keeping that one around, hoping to up it to 2 copies after I round out my SB a little more. Path to Exile also preformed really well in these last few leagues. Ramping them from path rarely impacted my game plan either; it's all in the timing as I mentioned before. FWIW, I rarely bring Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Path in together. That could be awkward. Generally, they're good against different types of decks, so the situation rarely comes up.
EDIT EDIT: another 3-2 and 4-1. Three 4-1's in the space of 6 leagues feels fairly amazing to me. These are the types of runs I go on with my b/r Hollow One deck, which is a well established, tiered, Pro Tour top 8ing deck. I am not saying that Blue Steel is as good as Hollow One (it's likely not), but this is still exciting to me. The only thing that has really changed in my build is Artificer's Assistant. IDK if the bird can be given full credit for this run I am having, but he definitely rocks! I give him my 100% seal of approval as a staple of the archetype, and all that good stuff. We're getting down to our last few flex spots, aren't we? Seems like around 56 of the main 60 card are pretty well established now
P.S. Sorry Ace1 for quoting you and then adding two edits that have nothing to do with my initial comment. I am trying to avoid double posting, but really don't have any clue about how forum etiquette is supposed to work.
Thanks for the feedback, HonozCZ!I agree with many of your points about the mana base and splash. Up until now, I have been mostly viewing it as a free white splash since I already wanted fetches to shuffle away stuff with Sage of Epityr. Thalia and Path both have their merits though. Thalia can attack/block, help with Chief's Convoke, and crew Smuggler's Copter;all things that Thorn/Sphere can't do. Path is better than it looks too since Ballista is there for the early game removal. Path really shines in removing large threats in the late game when ramping the opponent hurts a little less. It's all in the timing. The life loss from the mana base as well as the vulnerability to Blood Moon etc are potential issues too, as you said, but I don't think I have lost too many matches because of those. Just lucky I guess; it's all in the match ups.
Overall, I agree that mono blue should be the standard, go-to build. I am slowly collecting the cards to build it in real life. It is much cheaper not having to buy fetches too! Too bad Ballista is so expensive. I may continue to splash online since I own the cards. IDK, I just like to brew, so I'll probably keep tweaking the last of my flex spots though and trying new things.
P.S It's was a typo saying that there was two Wurmcoil Engines in the sideboard. It is one Wurm and Pithing Needle, so I only play 3 Wurmcoil Engines overall. Seems like about the right amount for the grindier matches. I agree that 4 is too many. Needle is meh though, I may replace it. Fixed my deck list though, so thanks for pointing that out.
4x Chief Engineer
4x Grand Architect
4x Lodestone Golem
4x Walking Ballista
4x Mausoleum Wanderer
3x Artificer's Assistant
3x Sage of Epityr
2x Wurmcoil Engine
2x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
4x Blinkmoth Nexus
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Flooded Strand
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
1x Plains
2x Trinket Mage
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3x Path to Exile
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Basilisk Collar
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Hangarback Walker
1x Pithing Needle
Feels good; it's been a long time since I've gone better than 3-2 in a League (and more 2-3's and 1-4's than I'd like). Anyways, I agree with Ace1, Artificer's Assistant rocks. I am going to try going up to 4 copies and go down to 2 copies of Sage of Epityr. Maybe I'll run 2 Signal Pests in the Sages' spot, seeing how they happen trigger the Assistant. Sage was pretty good tonight though, just not quite as good as the Assistant.
As always, questions and suggestions are always welcome. Mad props to everyone for continuing to keep this forum awesome!
In an attempt to make this aggro version more streamlined, I moved my Wurmcoil Engines to the sideboard. It almost feels like an ultra budget version of Merfolk to me now, with our ability to spam out artifacts providing us tempo similar to Aether Vial. I mean, I am only 9-6 with this version, which isn't great, but not bad for a deck that is potentially hundreds of dollars cheaper than Merfolk. The mana base is the only pricey thing about this deck, and it can easily be scrapped for good old mono blue. I like the versatility that Thalia and Path bring to the sideboard, but Thorn of Amethyst + Dismember are reasonable substitutes.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions, or if you think I am crazy Either way, I look forward to haring your thoughts.
4x Signal Pest
4x Phantasmal Bear
4x Etherium Sculptor
4x Chief Engineer
4x Grand Architect
4x Lodestone Golem
4x Walking Ballista
4x Smuggler's Copter
2x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Flooded Strand
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
1x Plains
2x Trinket Mage
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3x Path to Exile
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Basilisk Collar
3x Wurmcoil Engine
Ken Yukuhiro was the poilet; here's his list:
4 Bloodghast
4 Flameblade Adept
4 Flamewake Phoenix
3 Gurmag Angler
4 Hollow One
4 Street Wraith
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Sorcery
4 Burning Inquiry
2 Collective Brutality
4 Faithless Looting
4 Goblin Lore
4 Lightning Bolt
Land
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Mountain
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Arid Mesa
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Collective Brutality
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Big Game Hunter
2 Blood Moon
3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Leyline of the Void
2 Fatal Push
Goblin Lore is an option that more and more people are trying out. It's already in use in the Vengevine version of this deck. I like that you don't have to discard up front like you do for Cathartic Reunion. Also,Edge of Autumn was in one of the lists I saw too. That is some super sweet free cycling tech to get Hollow One online faster. Might be worth a shot, although I don't know what I'd cut. Overall, I am happy with my build and this deck in general; I can't see my self wanting to play anything else for the time being - well, except for the MTGO Holiday Cube
Speaking of MTGTop8, there is a new list up there. I like that it runs 4x Blackcleave Cliffs. I think I am going to go up to at least 3 myself, and cut a Blood Crypt. I have been losing a lot of games from damaging myself so much. I like my 8 fetches since they help with Gurmag Angler. No one else runs 8 though, so maybe I'm just wrong
Here is that most recent list from MTGTop8 (you've probably already seen it):
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Mountain
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
3 Wooded Foothills
CREATURES
4 Bloodghast
4 Flameblade Adept
2 Flamewake Phoenix
4 Gurmag Angler
4 Hollow One
4 Street Wraith
4 Burning Inquiry
4 Cathartic Reunion
4 Faithless Looting
4 Fiery Temper
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Ancient Grudge
4 Anger of the Gods
3 Dragon's Claw
2 Lightning Axe
4 Thoughtseize
Definitely don't like the 4x Cathartic Reunion, and I'm not sure about the 4x Anger of the Gods either (Bloodghast ). I like do the 4 Thoughtseize though. I think I am going to go up to 4 myself; I just bring them in so often. FYI, since my original list, I went -2 Rakdos Charm, +2Nihil Spellbomb; other than that, my list is the same. I like the graveyard hate, but I may try something more like this list.