Niv-Mizzet and Kozilek are my most powerful. The other decks are all relatively equal in power level, and below those two, with Vorel being the weakest of the lot. Griselbrand is my only 1v1 Banlist deck, so it's automatically the strongest one I have.
What are the purposes of each deck?
Griselbrand is basically a control deck with an absurdly powerful win condition that refills my hand and buries my opponent in card advantage.
Niv-Mizzet is my combo deck that uses various tutors and draw spells to assemble the various two card combos with Niv-Mizzet (Curiosity, etc) or various infinite mana combos (Rings of Brighthearth + Basalt Monolith, etc).
Kozilek is based off of Juwdah's primer on here. Basically, you use a bunch of mana rocks to get Kozilek out quick, refill your hand, and beat face.
My Animar deck is all permanents, except for one card: Primal Surge. If I draw the Surge, I flip my deck on the table and win with Laboratory Maniac and a draw trigger, or a whole bunch of hasty creatures. Otherwise, it runs a bunch of clones and awesome value creatures, so winning with just plain old attacking is not uncommon.
Hanna is a control deck that uses awesome enchantments and artifacts to play control until the win condition (Dovescape and Guile) is dropped.
Vorel is based on counters and doubling them with Vorel. The main win condition is Darksteel Reactor, but it's not uncommon to win with hundreds of snakes from Orochi Hatchery or Triskelavites from Triskelavus.
Teneb is a reanimator deck, basically. I just reanimate awesome creatures from all graveyards.
Vaevictus is a dragon tribal deck that wins with an army of dragons or the general and lots of mana to firebreathe with.
I've decided to rebuild this deck after taking a break from it for a while. Judging from the primer, the all-in strategy is the one I'm the most fan of, personally, so it's the one I'm going for.
I've noticed it's running Boomerang. Is that for bouncing Spellskite? How often would you bounce a land with it?
I put together Bax's list from the last page and have been testing this deck. It's awesome. While I don't have the turn 3 Karn Liberated that I'm used to in GR Tron, I love having Through the Breach as an alternative way of getting Eldrazi into play. Being able to cast Through the Breach and then Gifts Ungiven in response to get an Eldrazi for guaranteed annihilator is so silly, but awesome.
Here's the list. I ended up cutting one Repeal for the last Pyroclasm. It's more of a meta choice, but even with Repeal's cantrip, I don't care much for it whereas I love Pyroclasm.
I'm not sure of the sideboard, honestly. I don't really know my LGS's metagame, so I decided to make a sideboard with a little bit of answers for various decks:
I really like Izzet Charm a lot. That fact that it's a counterspell has saved me numerous times, whether it's for protecting the combo or countering something like an early Karn Liberated from Tron. Adding on the fact that's it's also an enabler is just gravy. It kills Deathrite Shaman like a champ, too.
It would be like if Entomb also had the ability to Spell Pierce something or kill a dude.
It's the best reason to run blue, IMO. Blue also gives you Serum Visions, if you so choose. The deck still has its consistency issues, and it folds to multiple discard spells in a row, but those are intrinsic weaknesses of the deck.
You get a much better manabase with solid BR, that's for sure.
Lightning Axe is sweet, as it kills a lot of things, but its versatility when compared to Izzet Charm is sorely lacking.
I could see myself playing Peer Through Depths over Spoils of the Vault in a PTQ, just because of the chance of dying, however slim it may be. Nevertheless, Spoils has done some work. It actually won me a game at the local Modern tournament this Monday. I'll test out the Peer anyway.
Anyone got any tips on playing the Jund (with white) matchup? It just seems like they have infinite hate against us:
So I'm taking this deck to my first FNM (Or Standard tournament in general, for that matter) in years. I built it because I love Griselbrand and want to use him in every format. Plus I loved Mono Black Control from back in the Odyssey-Onslaught Block Standard days so I had to try it again.
My list is pretty similar to Conley's, but with some minor changes.
I was thinking of replacing the Negate, and reducing some of the other pieces' numbers for 4 Leyline of Sanctity to help against discard. My metagame is more discard based with less blue decks. Sometimes a well placed Thoughtseize can really slow you down. Any ideas?
@DigitalOI: Can you post your list? I'm interested to see what you cut for the Telling Times.
I like him a lot in Chainer. He's a sac outlet, efficiently costed beater, and removal spell all in one. He's better than Bone Shredder IMO, which is what I replaced with him.
Massive bump, but I was pretty sure that I made a thread on here for my Animar deck. I've made a few changes, such as adding clones and Birthing Pod, as recommended.
- Sylvan Ranger
- Viashino Heretic
- Squee, Goblin Nabob
- Yavimaya Elder
- Bloodbraid Elf
- Seedguide Ash
- Inferno Titan
- Etherium-Horn Sorcerer
- Sphinx of Uthuun
- Maelstrom Wanderer
- Myojin of Life's Web
- Myojin of Seeing Winds
- Lurking Predators
- Mana Reflection
- Conjurer's Clost
- Garruk Wildspeaker
- 2 Island
- 5 Forest
+ Phantasmal Image
+ Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
+ Yavimaya Granger
+ Clone,
+ Glen Elendra Archmange
+ Phyrexian Metamorph
+ Sakashima the Imposter
+ Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
+ Draining Whelk
+ Deadwood Treefolk
+ Progenitor Mimic
+ Sylvan Primordial
+ Tezzeret the Seeker
+ City of Solitude
+ Alchemist's Refuge
+ Boseiju, Who Shelters All
+ Temple of the False God
+ Thespian's Stage
+ Yavimaya Hollow
+ Zoetic Cavern
The deck plays pretty well. Either you ramp into Primal Surge and win the game that way, or you ramp and play a bunch of awesome creatures and clone them.
Currently 8:
Griselbrand (1v1 Banlist)
Tier 1:
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Tier 2:
Animar, Soul of Elements
Teneb, the Harvester
Tier 3:
Vaevictis Asmadi
Hanna, Ship's Navigator
Vorel of the Hull Clade
Niv-Mizzet and Kozilek are my most powerful. The other decks are all relatively equal in power level, and below those two, with Vorel being the weakest of the lot. Griselbrand is my only 1v1 Banlist deck, so it's automatically the strongest one I have.
Griselbrand is basically a control deck with an absurdly powerful win condition that refills my hand and buries my opponent in card advantage.
Niv-Mizzet is my combo deck that uses various tutors and draw spells to assemble the various two card combos with Niv-Mizzet (Curiosity, etc) or various infinite mana combos (Rings of Brighthearth + Basalt Monolith, etc).
Kozilek is based off of Juwdah's primer on here. Basically, you use a bunch of mana rocks to get Kozilek out quick, refill your hand, and beat face.
My Animar deck is all permanents, except for one card: Primal Surge. If I draw the Surge, I flip my deck on the table and win with Laboratory Maniac and a draw trigger, or a whole bunch of hasty creatures. Otherwise, it runs a bunch of clones and awesome value creatures, so winning with just plain old attacking is not uncommon.
Hanna is a control deck that uses awesome enchantments and artifacts to play control until the win condition (Dovescape and Guile) is dropped.
Vorel is based on counters and doubling them with Vorel. The main win condition is Darksteel Reactor, but it's not uncommon to win with hundreds of snakes from Orochi Hatchery or Triskelavites from Triskelavus.
Teneb is a reanimator deck, basically. I just reanimate awesome creatures from all graveyards.
Vaevictus is a dragon tribal deck that wins with an army of dragons or the general and lots of mana to firebreathe with.
I also want Prophet of Kruphix for my Vorel deck, and Curse of the Swine for all of my blue decks.
I've noticed it's running Boomerang. Is that for bouncing Spellskite? How often would you bounce a land with it?
I managed to get a Forcefield. What would cut in the primer list for it, Juwdah?
I'm not sure about what win condition to use. I don't think I want to have a combo as the winning line.
What kind of win condition do such control/pillowfort decks play?
Here's the list. I ended up cutting one Repeal for the last Pyroclasm. It's more of a meta choice, but even with Repeal's cantrip, I don't care much for it whereas I love Pyroclasm.
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
2 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Through the Breach
4 Remand
4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Compulsive Research
2 Gifts Ungiven
1 Repeal
3 Pyroclasm
4 Expedition Map
4 Izzet Signet
1 Eye of Ugin
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
1 Shivan Reef
1 Breeding Pool
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Island
I'm not sure of the sideboard, honestly. I don't really know my LGS's metagame, so I decided to make a sideboard with a little bit of answers for various decks:
1 Firespout
1 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Torpor Orb
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
3 Blood Moon
2 Vandalblast
Any input would be most appreciated, thanks!
My buddy plays Uril as an enchantress deck as well. Uril can definitely hold his own in a multiplayer game.
It would be like if Entomb also had the ability to Spell Pierce something or kill a dude.
It's the best reason to run blue, IMO. Blue also gives you Serum Visions, if you so choose. The deck still has its consistency issues, and it folds to multiple discard spells in a row, but those are intrinsic weaknesses of the deck.
You get a much better manabase with solid BR, that's for sure.
Lightning Axe is sweet, as it kills a lot of things, but its versatility when compared to Izzet Charm is sorely lacking.
Anyone got any tips on playing the Jund (with white) matchup? It just seems like they have infinite hate against us:
- Deathrite Shaman
- Lingering Souls
- Hand Hate (Thoughtseize, Liliana of the Veil, etc)
- Graveyard hate post board (Faerie Macabre, Surgical Extraction, etc)
- A fast clock (Tarmogoyf)
It seems like getting a fast Through the Breach with Emrakul is the best way to beat them, but it's a pain to assemble with all of the hand hate.
@maccaaus: Jacob Kory recorded himself playing the deck. His list is pretty similar to Todd Anderson's, but with a different land-base and 2 Spoils of the Vault and 2 Sleight of Hands over the Thoughtseizes and See Beyond. The sideboard is also different. Nevertheless, the deck plays the same.
My list is pretty similar to Conley's, but with some minor changes.
4 Crypt Ghast
4 Gloom Surgeon
4 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Lifebane Zombie
2 Dreadbore
4 Mutilate
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Sign in Blood
4 Dragonskull Summit
16 Swamp
The Dreadbores are primarily for Domri Rade, which I couldn't beat when I was testing against my friend's R/G deck.
Should I run Tragic Slip? I think I may have enough removal.
My sideboard is where I'm kind of drawing a blank. I have this so far:
1 Pithing Needle
2 Lifebane Zombie
1 Devour Flesh
2 Sever the Bloodline
2 Rakdos's Return
1 Duress
3 Slaughter Games
2 Victim of Night
Yeah, I honestly have no idea about what the metagame is like at the store I'm going to.
Anyway, do you guys have any general tips about playing the deck against some of the current tier 1 strategies?
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Goryo's Vengeance
4 Through the Breach
4 Fury of the Horde
4 Faithless Looting
4 Izzet Charm
4 Serum Visions
1 Spoils of the Vault
3 Pentad Prism
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Blood Crypt
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Overgrown Tomb
3 Gemstone Mine
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Darkslick Shores
1 Island
1 Mountain
The addition of Serum Visions has definitely helped with consistency. The deck plays pretty well, or maybe I've just been getting luckier.
Here's my current sideboard:
4 Pyroclasm
3 Duress
3 Thoughtseize
1 Negate
I was thinking of replacing the Negate, and reducing some of the other pieces' numbers for 4 Leyline of Sanctity to help against discard. My metagame is more discard based with less blue decks. Sometimes a well placed Thoughtseize can really slow you down. Any ideas?
@DigitalOI: Can you post your list? I'm interested to see what you cut for the Telling Times.
Revised Bayou
Textless Putrefy
Hymn to Tourach
Pile B:
4 Sacred Foundry
3 Stomping Ground
1 Breeding Pool
1 Godless Shrine
(All Gatecrash)
I got the shocks to keep for later, long-term. This was before I knew that Stomping Ground was going to be in the M14 event deck.
I just wanted to see if you guys think I didn't make TOO bad of a trade.
Here's the current list:
1 Spore Frog
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Void Stalker
2 Bloom Tender
2 Fauna Shaman
2 Gyre Sage
2 Lotus Cobra
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Coiling Oracle
2 Spellskite
3 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
3 Laboratory Maniac
3 Caller of the Claw
3 Eternal Witness
3 Farhaven Elf
3 Fertilid
3 Wood Elves
3 Yavimaya Granger
4 Clone
4 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Sakashima the Impostor
4 Venser, Shaper Savant
5 Anger
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Forgotten Ancient
4 Mystic Snake
4 Solemn Simulacrum
5 Mulldrifter
5 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
5 Urabrask the Hidden
5 Zealous Conscripts
5 Acidic Slime
5 Genesis
6 Consecrated Sphinx
6 Deadeye Navigator
6 Draining Whelk
6 Deadwood Treefolk
6 Primordial Sage
6 Soul of the Harvest
6 Prime Speaker Zegana
6 Progenitor Mimic
6 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
6 Steel Hellkite
6 Wurmcoil Engine
7 Palinchron
7 Sylvan Primordial
8 Terastodon
8 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
8 Woodfall Primus
10 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
11 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
2 Survival of the Fittest
3 City of Solitude
5 Asceticism
0 Mana Crypt
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
3 Cloudstone Curio
4 Birthing Pod
5 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Command Tower
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Flooded Grove
4 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Homeward Path
3 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Mountain
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Strip Mine
1 Taiga
1 Temple of the False God
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Zoetic Cavern
Here are the changes between the lists:
- Sylvan Ranger
- Viashino Heretic
- Squee, Goblin Nabob
- Yavimaya Elder
- Bloodbraid Elf
- Seedguide Ash
- Inferno Titan
- Etherium-Horn Sorcerer
- Sphinx of Uthuun
- Maelstrom Wanderer
- Myojin of Life's Web
- Myojin of Seeing Winds
- Lurking Predators
- Mana Reflection
- Conjurer's Clost
- Garruk Wildspeaker
- 2 Island
- 5 Forest
+ Phantasmal Image
+ Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
+ Yavimaya Granger
+ Clone,
+ Glen Elendra Archmange
+ Phyrexian Metamorph
+ Sakashima the Imposter
+ Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
+ Draining Whelk
+ Deadwood Treefolk
+ Progenitor Mimic
+ Sylvan Primordial
+ Tezzeret the Seeker
+ City of Solitude
+ Alchemist's Refuge
+ Boseiju, Who Shelters All
+ Temple of the False God
+ Thespian's Stage
+ Yavimaya Hollow
+ Zoetic Cavern
The deck plays pretty well. Either you ramp into Primal Surge and win the game that way, or you ramp and play a bunch of awesome creatures and clone them.