I use Rootborn to get the indestructible clause against verdict decks.
I have a question about Rootborn Defense. Do you regularly get value out of the Populate portion of the spell? I usually find myself getting nothing: I have boarded out the Charms, I haven't yet cast an Advent of the Wurm, and I probably just gave the Voice indestructibility. Not that I never get value; just that it doesn't happen with any sort of regularity. The reason I ask is that, while I only run one copy of a card for granting my team Indestructibility, I have switched that card to be Ready/Willing. Ready makes my team indestructible, just like Rootborn Defense, but the additional utility of Ready/Willing lets me board it in for a lot of other matchups. The untap clause is nice against Rabble Red, the mirror, or really any deck that attacks with creatures, and the fact that we are running Mana Confluence makes the Willing part a fun trick. I have used the Willing half in just about every situation: to get a trampler through for more damage, to gain life out of nowhere, or to ruin a "fight" with a larger creature. It isn't really a card you want to see in multiples, but I am almost never upset when I draw the one copy. I recently took my G/W list to a cash tournament (finishing 10th out of 80+ people), and in the seven rounds I played, I sided in Ready/Willing for six of them. Small sample size, I know, but it resulted in a lot of blow outs.
These are a couple more additions to the Not of This World allstars -Commanders with 7+ power naturally who can kill a player with general damage, not reliant on buffs.
- It is too late to second him, so I will have to third Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer. it can easily be a two-hit kill, and his trample means he can't be chump blocked. He can't protect himself, but green is pretty good at protection, with a variety of spells and enchantments to shroud/hexproof him up.
- I also like Sima Yi, Wei Field Marshal. He is a poor imitation of Nightmare, with no evasion, but his power can still get very high (with the extra value of Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth turning your utitlity lands into Swamps), and he is in a color that can easily remove any obstacle in his way. I wouldn't normally include him, since he has no evasion and no way to protect himself, but like Dakkon Blackblade he makes my list by being a control finisher in a control color(s).
- I also like Commander Greven il-Vec. He has seven power, so he three-hit-kills, and he has built in evasion.
The framework for this question is that the following would be at a PTQ, Competitive REL.
If I attack with a single creature while there is an exalted creature (Noble Hierarch) in play on my side, do I have to announce the Exalted Trigger(s), or is there an acceptable shortcut that I will advance past that unless my opponent has a response? The trigger requires no choices and has no effect on the visual representation of the game. I don't want to make any shady plays, but I also don't want to volunteer any additional information that I am not required to give them.
Not only did Alabama win, but there was Hawaii, Iowa, Kentuky, and Nebraska, have top 8's for Mono Black Infect as well. The problem is that I haven't been able to find the decklists.
Congrats dude. I ran 74/75 of what you had at my states and I just drew awfully and they drew godly. How on earth did you beat mono red 2-0? I would just get double arc trailed then grudged post side all day.
I also had bant pod go artifact destruction, then copy it copy it, wipe your board or my favorite, game 3 rip elesh norn off the top when I had him dead next turn.
I was going to say that you probably didn't have bad matchups that lead to your victory but you definitely did have tough ones. how dd you feel about shrine? I kept drawing it and started to hate it MB.
This is definitely a case of "your mileage may vary", since I was without a doubt running good. It seemed like my Heroes and Tempered Steels were coming when I needed them, in multiples if necessary. I finished the Solar Flare game three with THREE Tempered Steels in play: He was chump blocking my 0-mana drops with his Sun Titan. I was pretty lucky in the mono-red matches: I ripped Heroes when the had artifact removal, and Shrine into Tempered Steel when they didn't. My Celestial Purges also had great targets, hitting Heroes and Koths, if they had had faster or more burn-heavy draws, I would have been in a lot of trouble.
I think Shrine is a necessary evil. It is too important against the control decks to not run. It did get sided out a lot against faster decks though, especially on the draw. I wanted them in the main deck because I assumed control decks with sweepers would be at the top tables, and I needed a solid plan for beating them game 1 when I was on the draw, and I didn't think that the Idol and Inkmoth were enough. You are right though, there are few cards in the deck that make worse topdecks or duplicates (Mox is about it).
This was essentially the Angelic Destiny tourney for me, as I played against a deck with that particular Aura five times in my 10 rounds. Here is the round by round breakdown of what I faced:
Round 1: Bant Pod (won 2-1)
Round 2: Red Deck Wins (won 2-1)
Round 3: Red Deck Wins (won 2-0)
Round 4: Moorland Aggro (lost 2-1)
Round 5: G/W Hexproof Deck (won 2-1)
Round 6: Bant Hexproof Deck (won 2-0)
Round 7: Wolf Run Ramp (Intentional Draw into top 8)
Quarterfinals: Mono-white Human Aggro (won 2-1)
Semifinals: Solar Flare (won 2-1)
Finals: Moorland Aggro (won 2-1)
All in all I liked how the deck played out. The weakest card in the maindeck was probably the Spined Thopter, but they pulled their weight by keeping most of my attacking force in the air. I beat numerous Timely Reinforcements throughout the day, when they would gain 6 life and make 3 guys that couldn't block, and I would swing back for 10+ with a Tempered Steel'd army of fliers. I used every card in the board. I definitely benefited from everyone in the room thinking that Tempered Steel was dead. I was facing little to no direct hate out of sideboards.
I have started brainstorming for a Skullbriar deck myself. His ability to make every counter permanent is interesting. I have looked at a couple of different buffs.
The second type of buff is the one for the Timmy in me. I am talking about Auras. Yes, I know, they open you up for two-for-one, and they probably aren't the right play. However, they are fun, and I am going to play them anyway: Predatory Hunger, Quest for the Gemblades, Sadistic Glee, and Shape of the Wiitigo.
If you head to the Wizards Store & Event Locator, and search for places to Play, select Premier Events below the date range, then pick National Qualifiers, you can see the map. That was the first place that I found them, since my "local" store won't probably put up an announcement on their webpage until the week of (I keep telling them that I can't see their dry erase board of "Events" from my house 200 miles away, but they must not believe me).
Edit: Apparently there is also a handy shortcut to the Event Locator from the Wizards National Qualifers page:
I have been playing a Karrthus deck for a long time, and he is one of my favorite generals. I like how you can strand other people's generals on the sideline, and cards in people's hands, just with the threat of stealing them with Karrthus. Along these lines, one of my favorite cards (although it costs 9 mana to make this play) is Blades of Velis Vel. You turn the two best guys on the field into dragons, cast your general, and you permanently gain control of them. It doesn't matter that they turn back into their regular types at the end of the turn.
I have been play testing this deck a lot on MODO, and I liked the spells, but I was never really happy with the creature mix. I have tried all sorts of combinations. I tried a list with Plated Geopede, I tried a list with Kargan Dragonlord, and they all felt too slow, especially in the 1/3 of the hands that didn't feature a one-drop. I wasn't putting enough pressure on the control decks; my turn 2 plays were running into mana leaks, and I didn't have enough 1-drops to reliably cast one on turn one. Finally, the build I settled on is one that was used earlier in the season, with 12 one-drops, and Hell's Thunder. Twelve one-drops give me roughly an 80% chance of having one in my opening hand (up from 66%). I like the Hell's Thunder; it is only weak against Faeries, and I side it out in that matchup. However, it is better than Ball Lightning or Ram-Gang against everyone with Mountains, which I was expecting to see a decent amount of. I went 5-2 at the PTQ this weekend with this build:
Overall the day didn't go too badly. I only won one of my seven die rolls, which hurt my matchups a little bit (against both of the Valakut decks I believe that I would have won if I had been on the play, since both times they killed me I was holding more than lethal damage in my hand). However, I was lucky that two of the guys I played against struggled with their mana, so I guess my luck evened out for the day. My rounds went like this:
U/B Poison – Won 2-0
W/R/b Midrange – Won 2-0
R/G Valakut – Lost 1-2
Naya – Won 2-1
Faeries – Won 2-1
R/G Valakut – Lost 1-2 (I stayed in at this point since top 16 got ½ a box)
Faeries – Won 2-0
One thing to remember is that "one of each card" includes one of each picture of each basic land (if the set has basic land). Just to be sure, you can go to your collection, and set the filters to show foils or non-foils (whichever set you are trying to redeem), and have it show you cards where # owned = 0. If nothing shows up, you have the whole set. After you purchase the redemption request from the store, it will sit in your account until the next downtime, when it will go away, and the cards will be removed from your collection.
There's a great article about this very thing on quietspeculation.com. I don't have time to dig the exact URL up for it right now, but there's not a whole ton of articles on there to dig through yet as its a fairly new site, but it should be easy to find.
I have a question about Rootborn Defense. Do you regularly get value out of the Populate portion of the spell? I usually find myself getting nothing: I have boarded out the Charms, I haven't yet cast an Advent of the Wurm, and I probably just gave the Voice indestructibility. Not that I never get value; just that it doesn't happen with any sort of regularity. The reason I ask is that, while I only run one copy of a card for granting my team Indestructibility, I have switched that card to be Ready/Willing. Ready makes my team indestructible, just like Rootborn Defense, but the additional utility of Ready/Willing lets me board it in for a lot of other matchups. The untap clause is nice against Rabble Red, the mirror, or really any deck that attacks with creatures, and the fact that we are running Mana Confluence makes the Willing part a fun trick. I have used the Willing half in just about every situation: to get a trampler through for more damage, to gain life out of nowhere, or to ruin a "fight" with a larger creature. It isn't really a card you want to see in multiples, but I am almost never upset when I draw the one copy. I recently took my G/W list to a cash tournament (finishing 10th out of 80+ people), and in the seven rounds I played, I sided in Ready/Willing for six of them. Small sample size, I know, but it resulted in a lot of blow outs.
- It is too late to second him, so I will have to third Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer. it can easily be a two-hit kill, and his trample means he can't be chump blocked. He can't protect himself, but green is pretty good at protection, with a variety of spells and enchantments to shroud/hexproof him up.
- I also like Sima Yi, Wei Field Marshal. He is a poor imitation of Nightmare, with no evasion, but his power can still get very high (with the extra value of Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth turning your utitlity lands into Swamps), and he is in a color that can easily remove any obstacle in his way. I wouldn't normally include him, since he has no evasion and no way to protect himself, but like Dakkon Blackblade he makes my list by being a control finisher in a control color(s).
- I also like Commander Greven il-Vec. He has seven power, so he three-hit-kills, and he has built in evasion.
Artifacts: Illusionary Mask, Lifeline, Nova Pentacle, Tawnos's Coffin
Black: Corpse Dance, Gate to Phyrexia, Koskun Falls, Spoils of Evil
Blue: Gilded Drake, Treachery
Green: City of Solitude, Hall of Gemstone, Multani, Maro-Sorcerer, Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary (as a non-general of course), Survival of the Fittest, Willow Satyr
Red: Wheel of Fortune
White: Academy Rector, Debt of Loyalty, Preacher
Lands: City of Shadows, Diamond Valley, the Dual Lands, Gaea's Cradle, Thawing Glaciers, Volrath's Stronghold, Winding Canyons
Multi-Color: Adun Oakenshield, Angus MacKenzie, Hazezon Tamar, Phelddagrif, Rasputin Dreamweaver, Reflect Damage, Sliver Queen
If I attack with a single creature while there is an exalted creature (Noble Hierarch) in play on my side, do I have to announce the Exalted Trigger(s), or is there an acceptable shortcut that I will advance past that unless my opponent has a response? The trigger requires no choices and has no effect on the visual representation of the game. I don't want to make any shady plays, but I also don't want to volunteer any additional information that I am not required to give them.
Card 3 - Lilting Refrain
Card 6 - Fugue
Set 4:
card 1 - Reclusive Wight
card 2 - Citanul Centaur
card 3 - Hidden Ancients
card 4 - Yawgmoth's Edict
card 5 - Intrepid Hero
card 6 - Scald
card 7 - Phyrexian Juggernaut
card 9 - Pit Trap
Here is the Alabama list that got 1st
21x Swamp
4x Phyrexian Crusader
2x Phyrexian Vatmother
4x Plague Stinger
2x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
2x Whispering Specter
2x Contagion Clasp
4x Lashwrithe
2x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Tumble Magnet
2x Distress
2x Doom Blade
3x Tezzeret's Gambit
3x Virulent Wound
2x Phyrexian Vatmother
2x Spellskite
1x Tribute to Hunger
2x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Doom Blade
2x Whispering Specter
2x Distress
1x Virulent Wound
2x {TCG Player doesn't know the last 2 cards}
Here is the Kentucky list that got 1st
21x Swamp
4x Phyrexian Crusader
4x Plague Stinger
2x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
2x Whispering Specter
2x Contagion Clasp
4x Lashwrithe
3x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Tumble Magnet
2x Distress
2x Victim of the Night
2x Tezzeret's Gambit
2x Virulent Wound
3x Liliana of the Veil
3x Phyrexian Vatmother
2x Black Sun's Zenith
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Victim of the Night
2x Whispering Specter
2x Distress
2x Spellskite
2x Virulent Wound
Here is the Nebraska list that got 4th out of 93 people
21x Swamp
4x Phyrexian Crusader
4x Plague Stinger
2x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
2x Whispering Specter
2x Contagion Clasp
4x Lashwrithe
3x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Distress
2x Doom Blade
1x Go For The Throat
2x Tezzeret's Gambit
2x Virulent Wound
3x Liliana of the Veil
3x Phyrexian Vatmother
2x Black Sun's Zenith
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Doom Blade
2x Whispering Specter
1x Distress
3x Necropede
2x Virulent Wound
Here is the Iowa list that lost in the quarterfinals
21x Swamp
4x Phyrexian Crusader
4x Plague Stinger
2x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
2x Whispering Specter
2x Contagion Clasp
4x Lashwrithe
3x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Tumble Magnet
2x Distress
2x Doom Blade
2x Tezzeret's Gambit
2x Virulent Wound
3x Liliana of the Veil
3x Phyrexian Vatmother
2x Black Sun's Zenith
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Doom Blade
2x Whispering Specter
2x Distress
2x Spellskite
2x Virulent Wound
This is definitely a case of "your mileage may vary", since I was without a doubt running good. It seemed like my Heroes and Tempered Steels were coming when I needed them, in multiples if necessary. I finished the Solar Flare game three with THREE Tempered Steels in play: He was chump blocking my 0-mana drops with his Sun Titan. I was pretty lucky in the mono-red matches: I ripped Heroes when the had artifact removal, and Shrine into Tempered Steel when they didn't. My Celestial Purges also had great targets, hitting Heroes and Koths, if they had had faster or more burn-heavy draws, I would have been in a lot of trouble.
I think Shrine is a necessary evil. It is too important against the control decks to not run. It did get sided out a lot against faster decks though, especially on the draw. I wanted them in the main deck because I assumed control decks with sweepers would be at the top tables, and I needed a solid plan for beating them game 1 when I was on the draw, and I didn't think that the Idol and Inkmoth were enough. You are right though, there are few cards in the deck that make worse topdecks or duplicates (Mox is about it).
4 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Spellskite
2 Spined Thopter
4 Memnite
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
4 Hero of Bladehold
3 Shrine of Loyal Legions
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Tempered Steel
4 Dispatch
3 Mox Opal
3 Spellskite
1 Oblivion Ring
4 Celestial Purge
2 Dismember
1 Gideon Jura
2 Revoke Existence
2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
This was essentially the Angelic Destiny tourney for me, as I played against a deck with that particular Aura five times in my 10 rounds. Here is the round by round breakdown of what I faced:
Round 1: Bant Pod (won 2-1)
Round 2: Red Deck Wins (won 2-1)
Round 3: Red Deck Wins (won 2-0)
Round 4: Moorland Aggro (lost 2-1)
Round 5: G/W Hexproof Deck (won 2-1)
Round 6: Bant Hexproof Deck (won 2-0)
Round 7: Wolf Run Ramp (Intentional Draw into top 8)
Quarterfinals: Mono-white Human Aggro (won 2-1)
Semifinals: Solar Flare (won 2-1)
Finals: Moorland Aggro (won 2-1)
All in all I liked how the deck played out. The weakest card in the maindeck was probably the Spined Thopter, but they pulled their weight by keeping most of my attacking force in the air. I beat numerous Timely Reinforcements throughout the day, when they would gain 6 life and make 3 guys that couldn't block, and I would swing back for 10+ with a Tempered Steel'd army of fliers. I used every card in the board. I definitely benefited from everyone in the room thinking that Tempered Steel was dead. I was facing little to no direct hate out of sideboards.
1st: Tempered Steel
2nd: Moorland Aggro
3rd: Solar Flare
4th: Mono-Black Poison
5th: Mono-White Human Aggro
6th: U/B Poison
7th: U/B Heartless Summoning
8th: Wolf-Run Ramp
Here is a link to the lists:
http://magic.hobbytown.com/States.aspx
First is the reusable effects: Blade of the Bloodchief, Dragon Blood, Forgotten Ancient, Mephidross Vampire, Mighty Emergence, Rite of Passage, Unspeakable Symbol, and Vigor.
The second type of buff is the one for the Timmy in me. I am talking about Auras. Yes, I know, they open you up for two-for-one, and they probably aren't the right play. However, they are fun, and I am going to play them anyway: Predatory Hunger, Quest for the Gemblades, Sadistic Glee, and Shape of the Wiitigo.
Edit: Apparently there is also a handy shortcut to the Event Locator from the Wizards National Qualifers page:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/events.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/events/nationalqualifier/usa
I don't know how long that has been up, I was looking for it a couple of weeks ago and didn't see anything.
4x Figure of Destiny
4x Goblin Guide
4x Hellspark Elemental
4x Hell's Thunder
4x Burst Lightning
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Searing Blaze
4x Flame Javelin
4x Scalding Tarn
12x Mountain
4x Teetering Peeks
4x Devastating Summons
4x Goblin Bushwhacker
4x Magma Spray
3x Volcanic Fallout
Overall the day didn't go too badly. I only won one of my seven die rolls, which hurt my matchups a little bit (against both of the Valakut decks I believe that I would have won if I had been on the play, since both times they killed me I was holding more than lethal damage in my hand). However, I was lucky that two of the guys I played against struggled with their mana, so I guess my luck evened out for the day. My rounds went like this:
U/B Poison – Won 2-0
W/R/b Midrange – Won 2-0
R/G Valakut – Lost 1-2
Naya – Won 2-1
Faeries – Won 2-1
R/G Valakut – Lost 1-2 (I stayed in at this point since top 16 got ½ a box)
Faeries – Won 2-0
http://wizards.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wizards.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=93
One thing to remember is that "one of each card" includes one of each picture of each basic land (if the set has basic land). Just to be sure, you can go to your collection, and set the filters to show foils or non-foils (whichever set you are trying to redeem), and have it show you cards where # owned = 0. If nothing shows up, you have the whole set. After you purchase the redemption request from the store, it will sit in your account until the next downtime, when it will go away, and the cards will be removed from your collection.
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.quietspeculation.com/2010/07/dream-cache-maximizing-ebay-profits/