Why even rely on creatures to close out the game ?
Besides Ram which can attack and defend (and Colossus which can be useful) creatures are probably not the best option for the deck.
Because they can come down earlier, finish the game earlier, and most of them dont really die to most removal out there. Plus you don't even need to play them early, you can just play like a control deck, exhaust your opponents resources and then drop several win-conditions in one turn and just win...
On one of the matches from the last tournament I played, I dropped double Colossus + 1 Ram + Multani on the same turn... it was just game over at once.
They all die to all removal...Rams die to everything ... Colossus dies to settle wreckage, vraska, seal away, essentially anything with exile (and there is a lot of that). Not to mention they all get counterspelled. And once you have no more creatures, you have nothing.
Banefire is the way to win with this deck...the only good way to win. There is just too many turbofog and strong spells in dimir that completely stop you. The only way to win in BO1 is to have counterspells and protection. (If youre running creatures, at least play with blink for bounce).
Kaya's Wrath and other board wipes should clean up big board drops like your colossus ram and multani. I mean, if people don't have answers to your win condition, you'll win. But most times, its not that hard to survive 3 big threats, at least as I've found it.
I ran chamber sentry...could never get it to work though. Can't use it early game because the format is so incredibly destroy heavy that youll never get to tap it, and you'll fall behind in lands because it slows you down. and late game, you are drawing so much cards that you will undoubtedly just get a deafening clarion or a gates ablaze.
The one card I do like though is wayward swordtooth. You can ramp up to 10 cards easily. Haven't really made it work, but I know it has a use.
Between gatebreaker, hydroid, and colossus, gate colossus is really the only creature card that sticks. Hydroid gets you a small amount of health...I'd rather use sanguine sacrament. Essentially its an instant archway angel...which is also pretty nice for this deck.
My own take on guildgates. I was playing a lot of the common gate themes, with gatebreaker rams and gate colossus. I noticed real quick that without a way to mitigate early game aggro, you lose instantly. So I threw some counters in there, and quickly realize, that with the amount of card draw from guild summit you really have a great set up for control.
Wilderness Reclamation and Teferi are there for the same purpose. Get some lands uptapped for counters. Teferi doubles as enchantment removal.
gates ablaze functions as a replacement for [[kaya's wrath]] or any other board wipe, though something like that might actually work in this deck.
clear the mind I have included because With guild summit and explosion you can easily deck yourself, and I've done it multiple times.
Your main win condition is going to be the banefire's combined with the explosion, so you are cycling through the deck to get these cards and as many lands as you can.
So far, the main drawback has been lack of good starting hand (no growth spirals/guild summits/circuitous), and off colors (red/white and no blue/green combo).
So far, this is the best version of gates that i've tried yet. Gates has a lot of weaknesses. And if youre doing well with the normal deck, its 100% because you are getting lucky draws with growth spiral turn 2, and guild summit turn 3. Maybe im just unlucky, but i get that maybe 1/10 games.
1. If you bring out hungering hydra, would you need to sac something for 0 or 1 mana?
2. When it comes out, are you allowed to pay X? or does it come out as a 0/0?
what about bounce instead of essence shatter? which lets you build up more explores in the event that you run into someone without creatures. Also, more protect for herald.
I've been playing mono-blue tempo a lot in arena. It works great, and I love that you need to be smart about moves to win, but if you are, you win often.
I came across an interesting card though when I was doing dailies, and I really wanted to build off it. herald of secret streams
Mono blue tempo works mainly because you get to whittle down your opponent with unblockables or flyers. However, if you can't get your djinn out, its a struggle, since you're doing hardly any damage.
Merfolks are a great deck as well, but I hardly see herald of secret streams utilized.
I started a deck that might be able to take the best of all worlds. Using mono-blue tempo protect + card draw ( curious obsession + unblockable, and add in some explore mechanics for heavier hitters and faster mana ramp.
(edit *I think i was drunk when writing this - actually, just a wife talking to me with baby crying..let me try again)
This is just the beginning, I just wanted to get some feedback while building it out. Main problems I see is that even though I get some extra lands with enter the unknown and explore, there isn't much to spend it on. I could use a few more merfolk related counter makers, and step back from some of the counterspells and go a bit more aggro. Could lower the manabase as well (23 lands is a lot) because of all the explore and put in a few more merfolks creatures. Manabase itself needs to be refined a bit as well.
Thanks for checking this out. Would love some feedback!
I like tendershoot dryad, and I like tokens. excluding manabase, does something like this look good? Maybe need some more removal. Ideally with Song of Freyalise I can do a bit less mana wise.
I packed on some strong convokes/creatures so that removal needs to steer towards them, rather than druid.
They all die to all removal...Rams die to everything ... Colossus dies to settle wreckage, vraska, seal away, essentially anything with exile (and there is a lot of that). Not to mention they all get counterspelled. And once you have no more creatures, you have nothing.
Banefire is the way to win with this deck...the only good way to win. There is just too many turbofog and strong spells in dimir that completely stop you. The only way to win in BO1 is to have counterspells and protection. (If youre running creatures, at least play with blink for bounce).
Kaya's Wrath and other board wipes should clean up big board drops like your colossus ram and multani. I mean, if people don't have answers to your win condition, you'll win. But most times, its not that hard to survive 3 big threats, at least as I've found it.
The one card I do like though is wayward swordtooth. You can ramp up to 10 cards easily. Haven't really made it work, but I know it has a use.
Between gatebreaker, hydroid, and colossus, gate colossus is really the only creature card that sticks. Hydroid gets you a small amount of health...I'd rather use sanguine sacrament. Essentially its an instant archway angel...which is also pretty nice for this deck.
Wilderness Reclamation and Teferi are there for the same purpose. Get some lands uptapped for counters. Teferi doubles as enchantment removal.
gates ablaze functions as a replacement for [[kaya's wrath]] or any other board wipe, though something like that might actually work in this deck.
clear the mind I have included because With guild summit and explosion you can easily deck yourself, and I've done it multiple times.
Your main win condition is going to be the banefire's combined with the explosion, so you are cycling through the deck to get these cards and as many lands as you can.
So far, the main drawback has been lack of good starting hand (no growth spirals/guild summits/circuitous), and off colors (red/white and no blue/green combo).
So far, this is the best version of gates that i've tried yet. Gates has a lot of weaknesses. And if youre doing well with the normal deck, its 100% because you are getting lucky draws with growth spiral turn 2, and guild summit turn 3. Maybe im just unlucky, but i get that maybe 1/10 games.
Would love to hear how you guys do with this.
// 6 Enchantment
4 Guild Summit
2 Wilderness Reclamation
// 13 Instant
2 Spell Pierce
2 Quench
4 Growth Spiral
3 Syncopate
2 Expansion // Explosion
3 Island
2 Forest
4 Izzet Guildgate
2 Azorius Guildgate
4 Gruul Guildgate
1 Boros Guildgate
4 Simic Guildgate
4 Plaza of Harmony
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
// 15 Sorcery
1 Clear the Mind
4 Gates Ablaze
4 Circuitous Route
2 Banefire
2 Entrancing Melody
2 Mass Manipulation
-----
What if you use path of discovery and it explores?
Thanks!
hungering hydra
This is a 2 part question:
1. If you bring out hungering hydra, would you need to sac something for 0 or 1 mana?
2. When it comes out, are you allowed to pay X? or does it come out as a 0/0?
Thanks!
what about bounce instead of essence shatter? which lets you build up more explores in the event that you run into someone without creatures. Also, more protect for herald.
I came across an interesting card though when I was doing dailies, and I really wanted to build off it. herald of secret streams
Mono blue tempo works mainly because you get to whittle down your opponent with unblockables or flyers. However, if you can't get your djinn out, its a struggle, since you're doing hardly any damage.
Merfolks are a great deck as well, but I hardly see herald of secret streams utilized.
I started a deck that might be able to take the best of all worlds. Using mono-blue tempo protect + card draw ( curious obsession + unblockable, and add in some explore mechanics for heavier hitters and faster mana ramp.
// 16 Creature
4 Herald of Secret Streams
4 Siren Stormtamer
4 Jadelight Ranger
4 Wildgrowth Walker
4 Path of Discovery
4 Curious Obsession
// 8 Instant
4 Assure // Assemble
2 Spell Pierce
2 Essence Scatter
9 Forest
8 Island
4 Hinterland Harbor
2 Woodland Stream
4 Enter the Unknown
(edit *I think i was drunk when writing this - actually, just a wife talking to me with baby crying..let me try again)
This is just the beginning, I just wanted to get some feedback while building it out. Main problems I see is that even though I get some extra lands with enter the unknown and explore, there isn't much to spend it on. I could use a few more merfolk related counter makers, and step back from some of the counterspells and go a bit more aggro. Could lower the manabase as well (23 lands is a lot) because of all the explore and put in a few more merfolks creatures. Manabase itself needs to be refined a bit as well.
Thanks for checking this out. Would love some feedback!
I packed on some strong convokes/creatures so that removal needs to steer towards them, rather than druid.
2 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
4 Sporecrown Thallid
2 Verdant Force
4 Tendershoot Dryad
2 Carnage Tyrant
1 Aggressive Mammoth
1 Arboretum Elemental
4 Saproling Migration
4 Song of Freyalise
2 Path of Discovery
4 Radiant Destiny
2 Shapers' Sanctuary
4 Flower // Flourish