I'm going to GP Las Vegas. I haven't played Standard seriously since Khans of Tarkir was printed and I'm wondering if I should bring a Standard deck to play in side events. (I've never done a single draft with Khans block, either.)
I'm thinking I either want to play a Collected Company version of Blue Devotion because I rocked Blue Devotion all throughout Ravnica/Theros Standard on Magic Online, or some kind of "20 creatures, 19 burn spells, 21 Mountains" variant, because I've played critters 'n' burn off and on since 2001 and I know how to make little red men kill people. Is Blue Devotion a real deck, or should I go copy a Red Deck Wins list from somewhere and play that?
(I don't have much in the way of paper cards, so I'll end up ordering everything at full retail anyway, but I have the money. But please don't tell me to play Abzan Aggro.)
I'm disappointed that, even with the new Dragons of Tarkir goodies, there were exactly zero Blue Devotion decks played at the Pro Tour. It's an obvious deck to test, so I guess nobody found a version that was any good.
Spectral Lotus0
Artifact
At the beginning of your upkeep, exile Spectral Lotus. If you do, add three mana of any one color to your mana pool.
If Lion's Eye Diamond is breakable, this should be too. You can't recurse it, you have to wait a turn to get the mana, and you're stuck using the mana in your upkeep, but three free mana is three free mana. What would you want to do with this?
I like the idea of stealing my opponent's stuff and sticking them with stupid 1/1s for U. However, a 2/3 that has to tap and then survive to untap is kind of fragile. Are there any good ways to protect it from getting killed immediately by Lightning Strike and Hero's Downfall? Spectra Ward isn't very practical, and there aren't many other "permanent" solutions. There are a few instants that can give it various kinds of protection or just plain counter a removal spell, but leaving mana open can get awkward. What's the least bad way to keep Daring Thief alive?
I used to roll with a rather unusual deck core. Today the important parts are only playable in Legacy. I don't expect to be dominating any tournaments with this, but is there a way to take the deck concept and make something out of it that's not completely embarrassing?
4 Rishadan Port
4 Hoodwink
4 Boomerang
4 Eye of Nowhere
4 Parallax Tide
4 Ankh of Mishra
Add Islands, cantrips, finishers, and creature control to taste.
Each turn, your opponent gets to play one land. On your turn, you bounce it. You do this over and over again, so your opponent never gets to play spells that cost more than one mana (or two, on the draw). Back when Masques block was legal in Standard, I had quite a bit of tournament success doing this, so I want to see if I can do something similar in Legacy for nostalgia's sake.
Cards I'm thinking about:
1) Chalice of the Void
If your opponent is only going to be playing one-drops, might as well counter all of them.
2) Stifle
Counter a fetchland!
3) Gemstone Caverns
Because letting the opponent get to two mana because you're on the draw sucks.
4) Delver of Secrets
Because 3/2 flying for one mana is good?
5) Snapcaster Mage
Because casting a spell twice is twice as good?
I could also use a finisher of some kind other than Ankh of Mishra. I think Morphling is obsolete these days, but is there anything else that can run away with a game the way Morphling used to be able to do? Whatever it is, it has to be able to beat an opponent's early game all by itself. (Jace the Mind Sculptor?)
This card has basically the same rules text as Mana Drain. It's been Standard legal for almost two years now, and there hasn't been one successful deck that used it. What gives?
I know that U/G seems to be a rather poor color combination these days. There doesn't seem to be much of a reason to add green to the Sphinx's Revelation/Supreme Verdict decks and no other deck seems to want maindeck countermagic, but is that really all there is to it? Is Thoughtseize the problem? Is there a lack of game-winning cards to ramp into (because everything just dies to black removal)? Is UUGG really that prohibitive a mana cost? I used to fantasize about "Plasm Capture your four-drop, untap and play Angel of Serenity" but, apparently, Angel of Serenity has gone from game-winning power card to "just dies to Doom Blade".
I really want to play this card in SOMETHING before it rotates out of Standard. Any suggestions?
How many W sources do you actually need for the W splash (depending on how many cards you're splashing)? I'm not going down to less than 21 U sources. Are 4 Hallowed Fountain and 4 Temple of Enlightenment enough for a few Detention Sphere?
I played a test game and discovered something: I'm having mana issues supporting Geist of Saint Traft. In order to cast my gold spells, I need W and R on different lands, W and G on different lands, and W and U on different lands. So in order to have the whole Domain in three lands and be able to cast anything, I need my first three lands to be Stomping Ground, Hallowed Fountain, and either Godless Shrine or Watery Grave. The problem with that is that these three lands only include one Stomping Ground as my only source of green or red, so I can only cast one burn spell or one green creature a turn - I can't cast Wild Nacatl and Tarmogoyf, or Lightning Bolt and Tribal Flames, or any similar combination. I can mitigate this a bit by switching from Kird Ape to Loam Lion, but not being to go "Tribal Flames you, Bolt you, take 8" off of three lands is still a problem. There are a few things I can do:
Option 1: Do nothing other than -4 Kird Ape +4 Loam Lion
Doing nothing is always a possibility.
Option 2: Add Blood Crypt
For almost anything other than casting Geist of Saint Traft (or Snapcaster Mage on Path to Exile), I'd rather my third land be a Blood Crypt rather than a Godless Shrine or Watery Grave. I can cut another land for a Blood Crypt, letting me choose whether I want the second red mana or the second blue/white mana as my third land.
Option 3: Cut Geist (and maybe Snapcaster)
Geist is sweet, but there are other options. Knight of the Reliquary and Doran the Siege Tower are both powerful 3-drops. Doran has the quirk that it gives Kird Ape, Loam Lion, and Tarmogoyf +1/+0 while giving a bunch of popular cards in other decks (Kitchen Finks, Dark Confidant, Snapcaster Mage, Vendilion Clique) a drop in power. Knight of the Reliquary is better with a toolbox of useful lands to fetch, but it can still be useful just as a Big Creature. Loxodon Smiter is another possibility; it's only 4/4 rather than 5/5 or bigger, but it's uncounterable and makes at Liliana of the Veil's +1 awkward.
This build is about as "small" as things get, lacking even Snapcaster Mage.
Option 3: Add more mana
If I have four mana sources instead of three, I don't have to worry as much about not having the right kinds of mana. I can jam a Knight of the Reliquary toolbox and increase my land count, cutting one-drops to do it, or I could try Noble Hierarch to cast Knight or Geist on turn 2. I could easily end up more like a Bant Midrange deck splashing red than a Zoo deck, though...
Okay. So, prior to Wild Nacatl's ban, I used to rock with Domain Zoo in Old Extended and then Modern. This is an example of the kind of thing I used to play, long ago:
Now, this list is obviously obsolete; for one, it predates Innistrad and doesn't include Snapcaster Mage or Geist of Saint Traft, or even Knight of the Reliquary.
I've also never been sure whether I want Dark Confidant or not. Another card on the "try this out" list is Bant Charm, which Brian Kibler used to great effect in the first Modern Pro Tour - it "kills" three different card types. Fleecemane Lion looks pretty sweet too, as does Ghor-Clan Rampager, and there are lots of random hate bears that can screw with various decks. Chained to the Rocks looks like it might be better than Path to Exile; is being sorcery speed and vulnerable to enchantment removal better than giving my opponent a free land? Jund was always my worst matchup, but with no Deathrite Shaman and no Bloodbraid Elf, maybe I'll have a chance again?
I'm thinking of starting with this and seeing where it goes from here:
I've always liked being able to bring in countermagic from the sideboard; I don't need to buy many turns against most combo decks, and one counterspell can slow them down enough to finish them off. The other slots are for dealing with things that counterspells don't work well against: Shatterstorm for Etched Champion, and the other cards let me go bigger against midrange decks. It's been a long time since I got to play a Zoo deck that didn't suck, though, so I could definitely use some advice on what approach to go with. Otherwise I just have to use trial and error, and mostly error at that...
ITs 3cmc instead of 1cmc 0 - 1
Its sorcery speed instead of instant. 0 - 1
Its 2 devotion instead of 0. 1 - 0
Permanently deals with problem creatures: No. 0 - 1
This deck is about tempo, and something that is slow and only has one mode doesnt seem like a good idea.
With that said, im sure if you know people arent playing answers to enchantments, then claustrophobia might be a good card.
Personally, I can't remember the last time someone killed Claustrophobia without also killing the creature it was put on; the only enchantment removal anyone plays maindeck these days is Abrupt Decay, and B/G isn't played that often. (Cyclonic Rift can't bounce its owner's permanents.) In general, it's been permanent enough for me.
What I would love to take its place, is a way to deal with creatures, gods and planeswalkers. It doesnt seem like there is a card in our colors that does that.
Unfortunately, I think the best you can do for that kind of versatility in mono-blue in Standard are bounce spells and counterspells.
(In theory, Conjured Currency can steal any non-land permanent, but six mana and waiting until your next upkeep makes it a very slow way to do so.)
You just explained why Judges familiar is good.
Instead of turn 1 island do nothing. Do; T1: Island judges familiar, turn T2 Frostburn weird now with counter backup.
Sometimes you don't draw your 1-drop even if you're running them.
Anyway, my opponent had the extra R to pay for the Familiar, but in the scenario where I had both Familiar and Weird I would have double blocked, hoping to trade the Familiar for the Cackler. If he doesn't have a burn spell, I trade the Familiar for his Cackler. If he does, he can burn the Familiar to save his Cackler (fine with me), burn the Weird and 2-for-1 himself (fine with me), or, worst case, trade the Cackler with the Familiar and then kill the Weird with Lightning Strike (disappointing, but not too horrible).
Claustrophobia might be a suitable replacement for Rapid Hybridization. It does cost three mana, but it gives you two points of devotion and doesn't give your opponent a 3/3. (On the other hand, you can't use it to give yourself a 3/3, either.)
On a side note, against that new 17 Land Red build making the rounds that's full of one toughness creatures, I'd definitely want to be running Judge's Familiar, because it can actually trade with something.
I'm thinking I either want to play a Collected Company version of Blue Devotion because I rocked Blue Devotion all throughout Ravnica/Theros Standard on Magic Online, or some kind of "20 creatures, 19 burn spells, 21 Mountains" variant, because I've played critters 'n' burn off and on since 2001 and I know how to make little red men kill people. Is Blue Devotion a real deck, or should I go copy a Red Deck Wins list from somewhere and play that?
(I don't have much in the way of paper cards, so I'll end up ordering everything at full retail anyway, but I have the money. But please don't tell me to play Abzan Aggro.)
Artifact
At the beginning of your upkeep, exile Spectral Lotus. If you do, add three mana of any one color to your mana pool.
If Lion's Eye Diamond is breakable, this should be too. You can't recurse it, you have to wait a turn to get the mana, and you're stuck using the mana in your upkeep, but three free mana is three free mana. What would you want to do with this?
4 Rishadan Port
4 Hoodwink
4 Boomerang
4 Eye of Nowhere
4 Parallax Tide
4 Ankh of Mishra
Add Islands, cantrips, finishers, and creature control to taste.
Each turn, your opponent gets to play one land. On your turn, you bounce it. You do this over and over again, so your opponent never gets to play spells that cost more than one mana (or two, on the draw). Back when Masques block was legal in Standard, I had quite a bit of tournament success doing this, so I want to see if I can do something similar in Legacy for nostalgia's sake.
Cards I'm thinking about:
1) Chalice of the Void
If your opponent is only going to be playing one-drops, might as well counter all of them.
2) Stifle
Counter a fetchland!
3) Gemstone Caverns
Because letting the opponent get to two mana because you're on the draw sucks.
4) Delver of Secrets
Because 3/2 flying for one mana is good?
5) Snapcaster Mage
Because casting a spell twice is twice as good?
I could also use a finisher of some kind other than Ankh of Mishra. I think Morphling is obsolete these days, but is there anything else that can run away with a game the way Morphling used to be able to do? Whatever it is, it has to be able to beat an opponent's early game all by itself. (Jace the Mind Sculptor?)
This card has basically the same rules text as Mana Drain. It's been Standard legal for almost two years now, and there hasn't been one successful deck that used it. What gives?
I know that U/G seems to be a rather poor color combination these days. There doesn't seem to be much of a reason to add green to the Sphinx's Revelation/Supreme Verdict decks and no other deck seems to want maindeck countermagic, but is that really all there is to it? Is Thoughtseize the problem? Is there a lack of game-winning cards to ramp into (because everything just dies to black removal)? Is UUGG really that prohibitive a mana cost? I used to fantasize about "Plasm Capture your four-drop, untap and play Angel of Serenity" but, apparently, Angel of Serenity has gone from game-winning power card to "just dies to Doom Blade".
I really want to play this card in SOMETHING before it rotates out of Standard. Any suggestions?
Option 1: Do nothing other than -4 Kird Ape +4 Loam Lion
Doing nothing is always a possibility.
Option 2: Add Blood Crypt
For almost anything other than casting Geist of Saint Traft (or Snapcaster Mage on Path to Exile), I'd rather my third land be a Blood Crypt rather than a Godless Shrine or Watery Grave. I can cut another land for a Blood Crypt, letting me choose whether I want the second red mana or the second blue/white mana as my third land.
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Stomping Ground
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
1 Plains
Creatures:
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Kird Ape
4 Loam Lion
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Lightning Helix
4 Tribal Flames
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Countersquall
3 Unified Will
4 Loxodon Smiter
2 Shatterstorm
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Option 3: Cut Geist (and maybe Snapcaster)
Geist is sweet, but there are other options. Knight of the Reliquary and Doran the Siege Tower are both powerful 3-drops. Doran has the quirk that it gives Kird Ape, Loam Lion, and Tarmogoyf +1/+0 while giving a bunch of popular cards in other decks (Kitchen Finks, Dark Confidant, Snapcaster Mage, Vendilion Clique) a drop in power. Knight of the Reliquary is better with a toolbox of useful lands to fetch, but it can still be useful just as a Big Creature. Loxodon Smiter is another possibility; it's only 4/4 rather than 5/5 or bigger, but it's uncounterable and makes at Liliana of the Veil's +1 awkward.
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Stomping Ground
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
1 Plains
Creatures:
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Kird Ape
4 Loam Lion
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Doran, the Siege Tower
4 Lightning Helix
4 Tribal Flames
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Countersquall
3 Unified Will
4 Loxodon Smiter
2 Shatterstorm
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
This build is about as "small" as things get, lacking even Snapcaster Mage.
Option 3: Add more mana
If I have four mana sources instead of three, I don't have to worry as much about not having the right kinds of mana. I can jam a Knight of the Reliquary toolbox and increase my land count, cutting one-drops to do it, or I could try Noble Hierarch to cast Knight or Geist on turn 2. I could easily end up more like a Bant Midrange deck splashing red than a Zoo deck, though...
4 Arid Mesa
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Stomping Ground
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
1 Forest
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Kessig Wolf Run
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
4 Tribal Flames
I sort of don't know what to do any more...
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Stomping Ground
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Blood Crypt
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Forest
1 Plains
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Kird Ape
4 Loam Lion
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Doran, the Siege Tower
4 Lightning Helix
4 Tribal Flames
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
Now, this list is obviously obsolete; for one, it predates Innistrad and doesn't include Snapcaster Mage or Geist of Saint Traft, or even Knight of the Reliquary.
I've also never been sure whether I want Dark Confidant or not. Another card on the "try this out" list is Bant Charm, which Brian Kibler used to great effect in the first Modern Pro Tour - it "kills" three different card types. Fleecemane Lion looks pretty sweet too, as does Ghor-Clan Rampager, and there are lots of random hate bears that can screw with various decks. Chained to the Rocks looks like it might be better than Path to Exile; is being sorcery speed and vulnerable to enchantment removal better than giving my opponent a free land? Jund was always my worst matchup, but with no Deathrite Shaman and no Bloodbraid Elf, maybe I'll have a chance again?
I'm thinking of starting with this and seeing where it goes from here:
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Stomping Ground
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
1 Forest
1 Plains
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Kird Ape
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Geist of Saint Traft
Spells:
4 Lightning Helix
4 Tribal Flames
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Negate
3 Unified Will
4 Loxodon Smiter
2 Shatterstorm
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
I've always liked being able to bring in countermagic from the sideboard; I don't need to buy many turns against most combo decks, and one counterspell can slow them down enough to finish them off. The other slots are for dealing with things that counterspells don't work well against: Shatterstorm for Etched Champion, and the other cards let me go bigger against midrange decks. It's been a long time since I got to play a Zoo deck that didn't suck, though, so I could definitely use some advice on what approach to go with. Otherwise I just have to use trial and error, and mostly error at that...
Personally, I can't remember the last time someone killed Claustrophobia without also killing the creature it was put on; the only enchantment removal anyone plays maindeck these days is Abrupt Decay, and B/G isn't played that often. (Cyclonic Rift can't bounce its owner's permanents.) In general, it's been permanent enough for me.
Unfortunately, I think the best you can do for that kind of versatility in mono-blue in Standard are bounce spells and counterspells.
(In theory, Conjured Currency can steal any non-land permanent, but six mana and waiting until your next upkeep makes it a very slow way to do so.)
Sometimes you don't draw your 1-drop even if you're running them.
Anyway, my opponent had the extra R to pay for the Familiar, but in the scenario where I had both Familiar and Weird I would have double blocked, hoping to trade the Familiar for the Cackler. If he doesn't have a burn spell, I trade the Familiar for his Cackler. If he does, he can burn the Familiar to save his Cackler (fine with me), burn the Weird and 2-for-1 himself (fine with me), or, worst case, trade the Cackler with the Familiar and then kill the Weird with Lightning Strike (disappointing, but not too horrible).
Claustrophobia might be a suitable replacement for Rapid Hybridization. It does cost three mana, but it gives you two points of devotion and doesn't give your opponent a 3/3. (On the other hand, you can't use it to give yourself a 3/3, either.)
On a side note, against that new 17 Land Red build making the rounds that's full of one toughness creatures, I'd definitely want to be running Judge's Familiar, because it can actually trade with something.