While I'm not yet done completely refining this deck, I figured I would share it with everyone on these forums so they could see something cool to consider for regionals this weekend. I have a lot of card choices to discuss, but I'll get the deck out of the way first.
At its core, this is simply an agro deck that takes advantage of self mill and the ferocious mechanic. The neatest addition is the card Flamewake Phoenix. The common plan is to cast one of your self mill cards, hopefully flip over a Flamewake Phoenix, and cast a Hooting Mandrills to return it to play the following turn. You can also just play Mandrills for 1 or 2 and hold up mana for Stubborn Denial. However, there are many other lines and variations on this strategy. You can substitute Mandrills for Frost Walker, or just curve into a hard cast Phoenix and/or Savage Knuckleblade. You can also get very agressive with Walker and Heir of the Wilds early, making your self mill cards a longer game strategy that gives your deck a great deal of longevity. You also have four copies of Crater's Claws to close out longer games.
Here's an explanation of some of the more unique cards in the deck.
Hooting Mandrills - this card usually gets cast for 1 or 2 mana if you have one of your mill spells. Even if you don't, you can generally cast Mandrills for 3-4 after trading off with some of your opponent's cards. Its not as good as Tasigur, but its still highly efficient and gives the deck a very cheap way to turn on Ferocious.
Frost Walker - speaking of ways to turn on Ferocious, Walker is another cheap way for you to turn on Phoenix and Claws. Its not always the best card, and you will board out some number in a variety of matches, but its an important card for keeping the deck aggressive.
Flamewake Phoenix - the heart of the deck. This card ties together the self mill + ferocious themes of the deck and is a fairly solid three drop on its own. Many times it will close out games for you while you hold the ground against agro and decimates removal heavy strategies like U/B control.
Crater's Claws - this spot used to be a mix of Lightning Strike and Wild Slash, but Claws is so powerful if you can turn on the ferocious consistently that I think running four before running any other burn spell is correct. Its also a great late game mana sink, since you get so many lands with Wayfinder and the deck overall is cheap and efficient.
Torrent Elemental - I played four of this card in my first build of the deck and, while I like having it in the list somewhere, I think its much better as a one of that you can use to break up a stalled board. The deck uses a lot of mana every turn so playing this card for 5 is often too unreasonable.
I'll update every now and then with some results. So far I've gone through many versions of this deck and this list has performed the best for me so far. Let me know what you think and any changes you make to my deck.
I just wanted to share the decklist that I've been streaming with and have gotten other people to play. Here is a couple of 4-0s in yesterday's standard daily that played lists I built with Thoughtseize/Wingmate Roc.
I'm not failing to realize that you are a new player. I very much understand that. But I would ask, like I would of any new player, that you not take from your opponent his/her time to play the game they came for. That is simply unfair to your opponent, and it is why slow play is enforced at all levels of competition.
I guess we can agree to disagree.
I wouldnt frequent a LGS that was that anal about the rules at a prerelease. I am glad the LGS I attend embraces newer players.
By the way, I am not a new player, been playing the game since its inception.
I am disappointed that you cannot answer why you insist on taking someone else's playtime away from them and expect that to be okay. It sounds honestly like if you can't take most of the time in a match for yourself than you want to take your ball and go home. If your LGS tolerates that, then I feel sorry for many of the players.
I think the problem I am seeing in this thread is that people who play slowly want the tournament to revolve around their needs, rather than a tournament experience that tries to treat everyone fairly.
That ... sounds like a sweepingly broad, and rather odd thing to accuse people (not to mention it sounds like it missed a lot of points raised by people in this threads, doesn't even addresses them, just sweeps them under a broad generalization.)
Prereleases may be low REL, but they are still supposed to at the least be environments where people feel comfortable - especially since you're still learning new cards and any new mechanics in a set. Sure, I agree, if someone is taking a long time each turn that's one thing, but I think there is still a lot of wiggle space both between "playing too slow and not playing too slow," and "being just the right amount of anal about it and being too anal about it" -
How is playing slow and forcing your opponent to go to time making them comfortable? The reason the rules are enforced - should be enforced by a competent judge staff - is there are two players, not one, in each match. How is your bending/breaking the rules of the tournament making them feel comfortable? How is taking a much larger chunk of time out of your shared round good for them? They are just getting to play with the new cards, too. Why should you force them to play with these new cards less?
If you are a slower player, then it is on you to make your plays in a timely manner. That applies to all levels of REL. Its not just for competitive events. Its for all events. And yes, depending on the REL, a judging staff both allots time and penalizes infractions differently. But the rules should always be upheld because that is how the tournament is made fair for everyone.
Slow play is and should be enforced even at low REL events. This is even more important at large tournaments like a pre-release where you have lots of matches and players waiting on the next round to start. You want the tournament experience as a whole to be enjoyable, and if the rounds are taking too long to finish because judges are failing to do their job and keep play at a reasonable pace, then that tournament experience is lessened and made worse as a whole.
It is up to the judge's discretion on how to enforce slow play, as its a rather large grey area, but it is always supposed to be enforced. Honestly, that judge was wrong to scold a player when all they did was ask that the rules of the game be enforced. That judge failed to do their job.
I think the problem I am seeing in this thread is that people who play slowly want the tournament to revolve around their needs, rather than a tournament experience that tries to treat everyone fairly.
This is the stance of a level 2 judge with years of local, SCG, and GP experience.
What you are failing to realize is, this tournament experience is not for the grinder or top level player who plays high level events every weekend. These are for the casual kitchen table players or those new to the game to learn the process. Being anal about slow play in this type of environment is just begging to push those newer players these type events are aimed at, away from the game. Which as a whole is bad for the game and bad for local LGS.
I have no problem with people being a rules guru and trying to enforce those rules at larger events, but not at prereleases.
This is coming from someone who has played in numerous high level events, but really enjoys the break and laid back feel of the prereleases. In short, I feel you are wrong about this instance.
I'm not failing to realize that you are a new player. I very much understand that. But I would ask, like I would of any new player, that you not take from your opponent his/her time to play the game they came for. That is simply unfair to your opponent, and it is why slow play is enforced at all levels of competition.
Slow play is and should be enforced even at low REL events. This is even more important at large tournaments like a pre-release where you have lots of matches and players waiting on the next round to start. You want the tournament experience as a whole to be enjoyable, and if the rounds are taking too long to finish because judges are failing to do their job and keep play at a reasonable pace, then that tournament experience is lessened and made worse as a whole.
It is up to the judge's discretion on how to enforce slow play, as its a rather large grey area, but it is always supposed to be enforced. Honestly, that judge was wrong to scold a player when all they did was ask that the rules of the game be enforced. That judge failed to do their job.
I think the problem I am seeing in this thread is that people who play slowly want the tournament to revolve around their needs, rather than a tournament experience that tries to treat everyone fairly.
This is the stance of a level 2 judge with years of local, SCG, and GP experience.
If you are a new player and have a hard time making decisions, then you should make the choice that feels right to you within the amount of time you are allotted by the rules. If you knowingly take more time because you feel you are new and therefore deserve special treatment, well, guess what? You are wrong. And you are attempting to take away time from you opponent. Think about that. You are STEALING TIME from another player. New players want understanding? The problem sounds like new players want to take advantage of other people and want to throw a fit when others don't allow them to take as many minutes for themselves as possible. If you know that slow plays exists and you play slow anyway because you are new, you should have slow play called on you. You more than deserve it.
Just to add fuel to the fire, but the card checklist has room for the Onslaught fetchlands still in the lands section. The names line up with the slots available and everything.
If Nemesis is a 5/5 for 3 on turn 4, or 3 with an Elf, then it is no better than a 5/5 for 4 like Polukranos. The monstrous ability on the card is not attractive either.
Nemesis of Mortals is not a good card. You'd be better off playing Polukranos, and since I don't want Polukranos there is no way I'm playing Nemesis of Mortals.
You don't want Herald or Satyr because the deck is not much of an agro deck. Its a mid-range deck, which is why Courser is also good. Sylvan Caryatid for the same reason.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/standard-daily-2015-02-07
4 Heir of the Wilds
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Flamewake Phoenix
4 Savage Knuckleblade
1x Torrent Elemental
4x Hooting Mandrills
3 Stubborn Denial
1 Wild Slash
4 Crater's Claws
4 Commune with the Gods
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Yavimaya Coast
3 Shivan Reef
2 Temple of Abandon
1 Temple of Mystery
3 Forest
3 Mountain
1 Stubborn Denial
4 Disdainful Stroke
2 Lightning Strike
2 Arc Lightning
2 Reclamation Sage
2 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Torrent Elemental
1 Treasure Cruise
At its core, this is simply an agro deck that takes advantage of self mill and the ferocious mechanic. The neatest addition is the card Flamewake Phoenix. The common plan is to cast one of your self mill cards, hopefully flip over a Flamewake Phoenix, and cast a Hooting Mandrills to return it to play the following turn. You can also just play Mandrills for 1 or 2 and hold up mana for Stubborn Denial. However, there are many other lines and variations on this strategy. You can substitute Mandrills for Frost Walker, or just curve into a hard cast Phoenix and/or Savage Knuckleblade. You can also get very agressive with Walker and Heir of the Wilds early, making your self mill cards a longer game strategy that gives your deck a great deal of longevity. You also have four copies of Crater's Claws to close out longer games.
Here's an explanation of some of the more unique cards in the deck.
Hooting Mandrills - this card usually gets cast for 1 or 2 mana if you have one of your mill spells. Even if you don't, you can generally cast Mandrills for 3-4 after trading off with some of your opponent's cards. Its not as good as Tasigur, but its still highly efficient and gives the deck a very cheap way to turn on Ferocious.
Frost Walker - speaking of ways to turn on Ferocious, Walker is another cheap way for you to turn on Phoenix and Claws. Its not always the best card, and you will board out some number in a variety of matches, but its an important card for keeping the deck aggressive.
Flamewake Phoenix - the heart of the deck. This card ties together the self mill + ferocious themes of the deck and is a fairly solid three drop on its own. Many times it will close out games for you while you hold the ground against agro and decimates removal heavy strategies like U/B control.
Crater's Claws - this spot used to be a mix of Lightning Strike and Wild Slash, but Claws is so powerful if you can turn on the ferocious consistently that I think running four before running any other burn spell is correct. Its also a great late game mana sink, since you get so many lands with Wayfinder and the deck overall is cheap and efficient.
Torrent Elemental - I played four of this card in my first build of the deck and, while I like having it in the list somewhere, I think its much better as a one of that you can use to break up a stalled board. The deck uses a lot of mana every turn so playing this card for 5 is often too unreasonable.
I'll update every now and then with some results. So far I've gone through many versions of this deck and this list has performed the best for me so far. Let me know what you think and any changes you make to my deck.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/standard-daily-2014-11-21
I am disappointed that you cannot answer why you insist on taking someone else's playtime away from them and expect that to be okay. It sounds honestly like if you can't take most of the time in a match for yourself than you want to take your ball and go home. If your LGS tolerates that, then I feel sorry for many of the players.
How is playing slow and forcing your opponent to go to time making them comfortable? The reason the rules are enforced - should be enforced by a competent judge staff - is there are two players, not one, in each match. How is your bending/breaking the rules of the tournament making them feel comfortable? How is taking a much larger chunk of time out of your shared round good for them? They are just getting to play with the new cards, too. Why should you force them to play with these new cards less?
If you are a slower player, then it is on you to make your plays in a timely manner. That applies to all levels of REL. Its not just for competitive events. Its for all events. And yes, depending on the REL, a judging staff both allots time and penalizes infractions differently. But the rules should always be upheld because that is how the tournament is made fair for everyone.
I'm not failing to realize that you are a new player. I very much understand that. But I would ask, like I would of any new player, that you not take from your opponent his/her time to play the game they came for. That is simply unfair to your opponent, and it is why slow play is enforced at all levels of competition.
You are wrong.
Slow play is and should be enforced even at low REL events. This is even more important at large tournaments like a pre-release where you have lots of matches and players waiting on the next round to start. You want the tournament experience as a whole to be enjoyable, and if the rounds are taking too long to finish because judges are failing to do their job and keep play at a reasonable pace, then that tournament experience is lessened and made worse as a whole.
It is up to the judge's discretion on how to enforce slow play, as its a rather large grey area, but it is always supposed to be enforced. Honestly, that judge was wrong to scold a player when all they did was ask that the rules of the game be enforced. That judge failed to do their job.
I think the problem I am seeing in this thread is that people who play slowly want the tournament to revolve around their needs, rather than a tournament experience that tries to treat everyone fairly.
This is the stance of a level 2 judge with years of local, SCG, and GP experience.
http://www.wizards.com/magic/digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/7190338