I owned full playsets of duel land (xmas '97 gift to myself $150 for all of them ~$200 if I had chose the beta ones which were pretty played)... pure crack
So, you're angry about the state of mana fixing because you're used to playing with a set of the best dual lands ever made?
Man, by that token, I'm upset about playing Noggin Whack because it's not Mind Twist.
Can I retrace the Enlistment and, in response, sacrifice the Relic, and keep my Enlistment in the graveyard after it resolves?
Or, to put it another way, is a card in the graveyard while it's on the stack, or is the stack a completely separate zone?
If he wanted it to be more agonizing, just add in a 1x Feldon's Cane and remove the crappy critters.
I could have sworn that, at some point, I'd read that the CMC of a card was the same in all zones, which is why I was befuddled.
I have 2 Pestermites and a Spellstutter Sprite in play. He plays a Dawnglow Infusion, paying its cost with 7 green mana. I play a Spellstutter Sprite, in order to counter his Infusion.
My understanding was that the X in the Dawnglow Infusion's mana cost is treated as 0 for CMC purposes, making it have a CMC of 1 and, thus, be counterable. He thought that by paying 7 for it, it's CMC is 7.
Checking the rules says the following:
Is he correct in his assessment of the Dawnglow having a CMC of 7 while on the stack (and thus, my counterspell failing)
Yes, it doesn't help when something huge comes down, but in that case, they just made racing it that much easier for you. Besides, black has other ways of dealing with creatures.
I've made a similar deck, since I think RW is the best combination for these.
I'm offended to not see Figure of Destiny, the fourth Scourge of the Nobilis, and Double Cleave, the combination of which tends to be quick murder. I also found Fire at Will to set up some nice surprises along with my Mimics.
For that Skirk Alarmist deck, he really needs Centaur Omenreader and some kind of recursion engine -- there are plenty of good options for that in green. Also need some good way of tapping her -- Fire Whip probably works pretty well for that.
I've tried to put together a toolbox deck for Pauper, but I havn't had very much luck -- the problem is the complete and utter lack of strong tutor effects at common level, so you'd probably need to rely on strong deck manipulation also, like the Parfait deck mentioned earlier (which was a very interesting read, thanks for the link!)
The few cards I've found that stand much of a chance:
There are some good changelings that help shore up the Aethermage and Homing Sliver, like Nameless Inversion and Wings of Velis Vel.
I'm deeply curious if there's a good combo with Foresight. I feel like there should be, but I can't find it.
I did put together a Trinket Mage deck that abuses Momentary Blink, Myr Servitors and wither equipment, which is hilarious against opposing aggro in multiplayer.
I found the AI good. It doesn't (can't?) cheat -- the game is a game of complete information. Both players know the full state of the board at any given moment. I also liked some of the synergistic decks that some enemies in the campaign had... one guy had an energy denial setup, where he put a ton of guys in play that prevent you from gaining energy every turn, hopefully locking you out of the game. Took me a couple tries to figure out the best way to beat him was to play "batteries" like the Monk -- characters who give you back their casting cost in energy when they die.
http://mtgsalvation.com/858-baghdad-bazaar-lets-have-a-funny-time.html
It's worth noting I've never seen a tournament deck (except for rare exceptions) that build this way, but it can be pretty frustrating for opponents who never know what you might be holding in hand.
I tend to like Negate since most creatures are inconsequential -- I can chump block them all day long. The things I'm worried most about are Wrath of God and pinpoint removal at crucial moments. That's not to say there aren't creatures that can, at the right time, completely trash this deck -- Martyr of Ashes, for a crude example -- but it's just that they're uncommon enough that I can justify not paying the extra U for Counterspell.
I'm intrigued at the options, though -- I'll keep looking. This deck is definitely missing targeted removal, so having the hard counters for problems is a desirable thing.
After a little testing, I find that I don't care for the Brainstorms here -- I usually don't want to find the best of the next three cards, I just want all of them that aren't land. I think the spaces are better devoted to directly useful things.
I also agree on replacing the scimitars -- I can't see myself ever tutoring them, given that priority goes to the Myr and then to the Bonesplitters barring the necessity of flight (I could see myself wanting to tutor up a toughness booster, like Slagwurm Armor, but when my men are intentionally expendable, it seems wasteful). Cranial Plating certainly does the trick, as do Ronin Warclubs (though I want to try to stay to commons if I can, just because ). The Cranial Plating seems almost like an auto-include, though. Will have to consider if adding a small amount of black is worth making those equips into combat tricks (the Lenses would certainly help with it, too). My guess is that it is.
Speaking of mana balancing, that's the main reason I took Negate over Counterspell -- I worry about the UU cost. While I bet it wouldn't be bad with just WU in the deck, if I added in a little black splash for the Platings it just scares me a little. Besides, if I ever have WU up, I want to be able to either counter or blink, depending on what my opponents do.
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Here's an updated decklist:
3 Ornithopter
4 Myr Servitor
3 Leonin Squire
4 Trinket Mage
3 Ninja of the Deep Hours
Artifacts (16)
3 Welding Jar
4 Bonesplitter
1 Viridian Longbow
3 Blight Sickle
2 Neurok Hoversail
3 Prismatic Lens
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Momentary Blink
Land (19)
4 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Ancient Den
6 Island
6 Plains
The Terramorphics are definitely up for debate, but I worth trying, I figure.
I put in Blight Sickle over Leonin Scimitar as it seems to better fill this decks gameplan: outlast opposing aggro. Why is it not Cranial Plating? Turns out the plating is banned entirely in pauper, which I find strangely funny.
Any thoughts on Call to Heel? Seems like it's fit the slot of Momentary Blinks. Same card advantage, more expensive in terms of mana, but helps in collapsing the deck to one color for consistency. Feldon's Cane would then take the slot of the Squire and Counterspell for Negate. Not sure if this is even remotely wise, though.
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Edit again: I added a singleton Viridian Longbow, since it's tutorable and plays *really* nice with ninjas and Blight Sickles. Also, replaced those negates with Oblivion Ring. Wraths will still murder me, but if I don't overextend, a Trinket Mage or Leonin Squire is all it takes to get me back up and running, so I guess that it's all about playing properly. The downside is that it makes the deck more-or-less run at sorcery speed.