I thought this would never come. So I added them in TO a couple of months ago.
I hope there will be an upload function.
If UAT (testing) is needed, I'ld be honoured to do so.
- Quilt
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Feb 16, 2015Quilt posted a message on My 64 Casual DecksAre these decklists still up-to-date?Posted in: RabidVacin Blog
I have some suggestions for number 2, the 'Aggro Control' deck.
2. Aggro ControMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards Creatures (22)
2x Fyndhorn Elves
4x Llanowar Elves
3x Merfolk Looter
3x Seeker of Skybreak
3x Rootwalla
4x Mtenda Lion
3x Nafs AspSpells (12)
4x Miscalculation
4x Overrun
4x Force Spike
Enchantments (5)
2x Recycle
3x Rhystic StudyLand (21)
7x Island
10x Forest
1x Misty Rainforest
3x City of Brass
- 3 City of Brass
- 1 Misty Rainforest
+ 4 Breeding Pool
- 4 Llanowar Elves
+ 4 Arbor Elf
- 4 Mtenda Lion
+ 4 Dryad Militant
- 3 Nafs Asp
+ 3 Scryb Ranger
Optional:
- 2 Forest
- 2 Island
+ 4 Land Grant
- 4 Overrun
+ 4 Triumph of the Hordes
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Aug 18, 2013Quilt posted a message on Casual mono-red PonzaFulminator Mage a 20$-card?Posted in: Quilt Blog
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Mar 30, 2013Quilt posted a message on Casual B Braids, Cabal MinionReplace Dusk Urchins with Geralf's Messenger when the latter becomes cheap.Posted in: Quilt Blog
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I'ld like to build a Grixis control deck.
In addtion, I want to use the Bolas planeswalkers as finishers.
After checking some tournament-decks from the past year, it became clear that a fully powered build is really, really expensive.
I'm not willing to go for the 1000-1500$ build, hence the 'budget' in the title.
Of course some money will need to be spent. I am under the impression that I should focus on the mana base, as Grixis doesn't have great options for fixing.
However, it looks a lot less 'potent' without the value of Snapcaster & JTMS. Probably every deck looks less potent without Snapcaster & Jace?
Anyway. I made the list with cards that aren't 'budget' and that I would like to avoid:
Creeping Tar Pit
Thoughtseize
Fatal Push
Abrade
Cyclonic Rift
Dire Fleet Daredevil
Dreadbore
Remand
Dismember
Coalition Relic
Kolaghan's Command
Slaughter Pact
Toxic Deluge
Vendilion Clique
Cryptic Command
Hostage Taker
Olivia Voldaren
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Vraska's Contempt
Keranos, God of Storms
Time Warp
The Scarab God
Grave Titan
Kess, Dissident Mage
Torrential Gearhulk
I also think these aren't really budget any more, but I have copies in my binder:
Preordain
Baleful Strix
Shriekmaw
Mulldrifter
Thirst for Knowledge
It's a long list, but there is still a ton of cards that are more reasonably priced and quite strong:
Nephalia Drownyard
Thought Scour
Tragic Slip
Inquisition of Kozilek
Lightning Bolt
Ponder
Anticipate
Devour Flesh
Mana Leak
Ratchet Bomb
Terminate
Think Twice
Fire//Ice
Rise//Fall
Doom Blade
Go for the Throat
Pyroclasm
Roast
Negate
Cast down
Far//Away
Counterflux
Electrolyze
Exclude
Grixis Charm
Hero's Downfall
Crosis's Charm
Manifold Insights
Sea-Gate Oracle
Supreme Will
Repeal
Mimic Vat
Consuming Vapors
Languish
Painful Truths
Profane Command
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Barter in Blood
Dig Through Time
Notion Thief
Fact or Fiction
Dack's Duplicate
Chandra, the Firebrand
Flametongue Kavu
Yahenni's Expertise
Gurmag Angler
Ravenous Chupacabra
Goblin Dark-Dwellers
Jace, Architect of Thought
Lone Revenant
Murderous Cut
Slave of Bolas
Mind Control
Jace, Memory Adept
Treasure Cruise
Bituminous Blast
Dark Intimations
Hour of Devastation
Ob Nixilis Reignited
Rakdos's Return
Black Sun's Zenith
The Scorpion God
Blue Sun's Zenith
Inferno Titan
Cruel Ultimatum
So there are quite some options, on paper.
But taking my self-set limits in account, I don't think there are that many ways I can go.
A Bolas planeswalker costs 7-8 mana, meaning that I have to survive 2-4 turns longer than a deck that can close quicklier.
So the question is whether I should add acceleration (coalition relic looks strong)? It always comes in the spot of more controlly cards, so there is a clear trade-off.
With 25-26 lands, I need to get enough 2-for-1's or I will not survive.
Not playing creatures can help me, as it voids the reactive cards of my opponent.
And I would like to keep/play Dark Intimations for the flavor.
This is what I have in mind - slightly updated:
5 Island
4 Crumbling Necropolis
5 Mountain
1 Steam Vents
5 Swamp
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Polluted Delta
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Smoldering Marsh
4 Baleful Strix
4 Solemn Simulacrum
Instant
4 Negate
4 Terminate
Sorcery
2 Ponder
2 Crux of Fate
1 Black Sun's Zenith
2 Dark Intimations
3 Thoughtseize
1 Languish
1 Jace Beleren
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Ral Zarek
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Any comments?
I would like to keep it a Grixis deck, and keep the playing style of Grixis control (ignore irrelevant spells, and answer relevant threats by destroying them, eventually out-valuing my opponent before I drop a big planeswalker).
All help is welcome.
I was surprised to see this. It is not extremely bad.
Maybe in a deck with Smothering Abomination?
Hypnotic Specter is a classic black creature that puts a lot of pressure on the opponent.
Your deck lacks card advantage. This makes it hard to win 'in the long run'. Stuff like Underworld Connections or Phyrexian Arena will help you gain the upper hand.
I'm not convinced.
These deathtouchers have excellent synergy with planeswalkers, and offer very strong defence. They are not there to deal damage, but to lengthen the game and trade with fat creatures.
If you make it a pure non-interactive race between milling 44-50 cards (depending on the amount of draw) and dealing 18-20 damage (depending on the pain/fetch-lands played), the mill deck might lose against creature-based decks.
For one mana you get a 2-power creature. It eats away a tenth of your life every turn.
There is no recurrent one mana milling that 4,5-5 cards/turn. Hedron Crab mills 3-6/turn. (One does not have a landdrop every turn.) That is slower than an attacking creature.
The fastest mill for at two mana is Glimpse The Unthinkable. It does ten cards. That is a fifth what is needed.
But for two mana you also get Flame Rift, also a fifth of the needed damage. Or Keldon Marauders which does eight damage in three turns.
And from then on it get worse. At three one can face Brimaz, King of Oreskos/Gideon of the Trials, Steel Leaf Champion or Ball Lightning.
Ball Lightning takes almost a third of the life that is needed. There is no 3-mana mill card that mills 15 cards.
Best mill at three is Mind Funeral. Will get you 11-12 cards on average. A quarter of what is needed, thus below the speed at which your life total is attacked when you are without defense.
The real question is which cards give you the best chance at milling your opponent before he does 18-20 to you.
Why wouldn't an Ophiomancer or a Vampire Nighthawk fit then?
4 Brainstorm
4 Baleful Strix
4 Counterspell
4 Ophiomancer
3 Sphinx's Tutelage
3 Jace, Memory Adept
3 Pilfered Plans
4 Vampire Nighthawk
6-8 lands will be fetching something.
Maybe add one or two beefier creatures?
There is also Sword of Body and Mind to make the critters big.
It is instant win against a lot of decks, decent clock and not that hard to pull of for five mana.
There is Biorhythm when you have a lot of mana.
- For years we've been playing kitchen-table magic (mostly non-power 'casual', commander and 2HG) with the same friends.
- After a lot of nagging from my side, we'll (finally) give cube a try.
- Not without any hubris, I announced that I would have a cube ready in two weeks.
- Now that I'm starting with it, I see that it is not a straightforward as initially imagined. I had great ideas about the interactions and the colour pie, but came to realize that it is impossible to implement on such a short notice.
- So I decided to start with what I have. I have a reasonable amount of cards.
- We'll play in two weeks, with four people. My idea is that is an opportunity for me, as it will be easier for me and my friends to come up with something that resembles a deck.
- I find myself having little available mass removal that I can put in the cube. (Earthquake, Breath of Daarigaz, Balance, Nev's Disk and Decree of Pain). Is that a problem? Some articles warned about putting too much removal in the cube.
Anyway. The list is on cubetutor:
http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/56876
And also hear beneath the spoiler tags:
Overall, I'm quite happy with the result, although there are some staples that I could not find in my boxes. Lightning bolt for instance. Might take a copy out of one of my other decks. But what I have now makes me think that we'll at least be able to get a taste of cube magic.
I have also tried to include more 'known' cards so that the drafting process will go smoother. We are not used to drafting and I don't want to slow down the process with too many new cards.
I'm working on making sure that the main colours each have a similar amount of cards.
I have some questions.
- What do you think about my first cube?
- What about 'overpowered cards'? The strongest cards seem Skullclamp, Balance and maybe Pack Rat. Is it too risky?
- What about the mana fixing? Right now it is a mess, mainly because I don't have spare copies of all the land cycles. I put in what I had, but it is unbalanced. My plan is to take a look at the colour combinations and work from there. (For instance Boros will have fast mana fixing, but more controlly combinations will have slower land. That is the way to go, right?
- What about planeswalkers? I still have an Elspeth, Kight-Errant that I can add. Are planeswalkers too strong?
The idea behind control is to make all land drops, 'control' the board by countering dangerous spells and then drop a win condition that the opponent cannot handle. Frost Titan is a good example.
Blue is generally bad at dealing with permanents once they are on the battlefield. Bouncing is an option, but it is inherent card disadvantage.
Hence the need for extra draw. If you splash blue with a different colour, you can usually use that colour to deal with stuff. White has excellent removal. Oblivion Ring, Path To Exile, Wrath of God...
Here is an example decklist for UW-control.
Supreme Verdict is the expensive card. Can be replaced by any of the 'weak' wrath reprints.
StP can be replaced with condemn, oust.
3x Mana Leak
4x Counterspell
3x Dissolve
4x Repeal
4x Fact or Fiction
2x Supreme Verdict
2x Frost Titan
4x Reflector Mage
8x Plains
12x Island
4x Tranquil Cove
If you want to ramp, it is best to set up a ramping chain.
T1 Llanowar Elves into T2 Cultivate gives you 5 mana on turn three.
Sakura-Tribe Elder is a great card, but you don't tap the full potential in mono-green.
You can then follow up with strong 5-mana spells. Acidic Slime, Nissa, Vital Force, Verdurous Gearhulk, Whisperwood Elemental, Wolfir Silverheart, Oversoul of Dusk and Deity of Scars come to mind.
The problem with the seven-mana fatties is that they require another round of acceleration to cast them. That's a lot of rounds of doing nothing.
Decks that ramp have a lot of 'dead draws'. Adding some draw is usually a good idea. Harmonize is a popular option. Skullclamp works too, but the card is banned in some formats. Equipment can also help with dead draws.
Dense Foliage is not that great, imho. I think that Vines of Vastwood is vastly superior.
Your opponent will only have that much targeted removal. And if you need to cast it to protect the fat cards, you lose a lot of tempo. This is costly for archetypes that don't develop a lot of board. It also doesn't protect against mass removal.
Another alternative could be to play additional fatties instead. Blastoderm is cheap and effective.
I would stay away from lands that come into play tapped.
T2: Standstill, with counter backup (Daze, FoW)
T3&...: Win
I think you can get really far with mono-blue good cards.dec.
But for the optimal result, one will have to choose between pure tempo and pure control.
My advice would be to make multiple decks.
As for mono-blue and dealing with threats. Usually it is ignoring the smaller ones and then stabilizing the board.
I like Mishra's Factory as defense in draw-go. It is a 3/3 blocker and you can leave it open for your counterspells/draw.
Whelming Wave vs Wash out an interesting debate. Wash out is so bad when your opponent plays multiple colours.
This means you'll no longer be able to protect your creatures.
In this build you only have eight cards that can win you the game. Imagine playing against a white deck.
It can probably destroy/exile all your win conditions before you can do something about it.
Brainstorm is not that without shuffle effects. You only have Ponder to shuffle.
4x Avaricious Dragon
4x Fulminator Mage
4x Shivan Wumpus
4x Young Pyromancer
3x Fire Diamond
4x Pillage
4x Molten Rain
4x Stone Rain
3x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
I almost never play this deck, usually bring it out when someone played something particularly annoying against me.
Avaricious Dragon is the tech that keeps you going.
Here is my take:
Reprints of Opt and Spell Pierce. Hurray.
Chart a Course
1U Sorcery
Draw two cards. Then discard a card unless you attacked with a creature this turn.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again; I don't like sorceries in the 2 mana slot.
This card is intended for fast flyery decks, like with Ninjas, Fairies and Pirates.. Refill your hand and kill your opponent over the skies.
XUU Entrancing Melody
Sorcery
Gain control of target creature with converted mana cost X.
Dominate became one mana cheaper. I don't think this will see much play, but it is great tech against nasty tokens.
2U Lookout's Dispersal
Instant
Lookout's Dispersal costs 1 less to cast if you control a Pirate.
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 4.
The Mana Leak for pirates. For themed builds. Comboes with Changeling.
4UUU Overflowing Insight
Sorcery
Target player draws seven cards
This card will get abused, but probably not in mono-blue control. To me, it looks more like combo material.
1U Perilous Voyage
Instant
Return target nonland permanent you don't control to its owner's hand. If its converted mana cost was 2 or less, scry 2.
Love this one. You lose the ability to return your own stuff, but you gain the potential of scrying. Not as good as Cyclonic Rift, but a very solid card.
4UU River's Rebuke
Sorcery
Return all nonland permanents target player controls to their owner's hand.
This is a dollar rare. Takes a spot between Wash out, Upheaval and Devastation Tide. To me, this is a pretty valid sweeper. Is six mana two expensive? Would love to hear others opinions on this spell.
3U Run Aground
Instant
Put target artifact or creature on top of it's owner's library
Not really better than Commit/Memory. It is a common so maybe for pauper?
U Siren Stormtamer
Creature - Siren Pirate Wizard
Flying
U, Sacrifice Siren Stormtamer: Counter target spell or ability that targets you or a creature you control.
It is a tempo card, but has relevant creature types and can put pressure on planeswalkers. Might have a spot in Wizard-themed control builds.
3UU Spell Swindle
Instant
Counter target spell. Create X colorless Treasure artifact tokens, where X is that spell's converted mana cost. They have "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool."
We finally know how overpowered Mana Drain was: 3-mana-difference-overpowered. For reference: Ancestral Recall was four-mana-difference overpowered (Jace's Ingenuity).
It is a five mana spell but sets you up for a finisher with counter-backup. Like Pact of Negation. I think I would rather play pact.
1U Search for Azcanta
Legendary Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard. Then if you have seven or more cards in your graveyard, you may transform Search for Azcanta. (into Azcanta, The Sunken Ruin)
This cards seems playable in control builds that seek graveyard synergies. (Accumulated Knowledge, Rune Snag, Deep Analysis...)
4 Primal Amulet
Artifact
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost 1 less to cast.
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, put a charge counter on Primal Amulet. Then if there are four or more charge counters on it, you may remove those counters and transform it. (into Primal Wellspring).
4 mana is a lot, you are basically putting your shields down for a whole turn. But the transformed ability is very strong. Almost like getting an emblem from your planeswalker.
2 Thaumatic Compass
Artifact
3, t: Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
At the beginning of your end step, if you control seven or more lands, transform Thaumatic Compass. (into Spires of Orazca)
I think I would totally play this. Getting land drops is essential in MUC and a nonlegendary Maze of Ith that produces mana: excellent.
1 Treasure Map
Artifact
1, t: Scry1. Put a landmark counter on Treasure Map. Then if there are three or more landmark counters on it, remove those counters, transform Treasure Map and create three colorless Treasure artifact tokens with "t, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool." It transforms into Treasure Cove
I find this a little 'meh'. Cannot image it to be a viable strategy for MUC. There is a potential for card advantage, but the reward comes very late and your strategy is very transparant. I'm not convinced.
It is a good card, but not a control card. Remember: only you can avoid 2-for-one's.
+ 2 Mystic Snake
Too good not to play four off.
- 4 Temporal Spring
+ 4 Bant Charm
It doesn't have the versatility of Temporal Spring, but it is an instant and that goes a really long way.
Take in account that a lot of your other cards are instants too. Better not to force you into the hard choice of tapping out.
- 2 Deep Analysis
+ 3 Fact or Fiction
Deep analysis is a good card, but the real value comes when one can loot it. You don't have any specific graveyard effects. I think that FoF is better in this case. It also allows for playing FoF when you don't snake.
I don't want to set you up with a completely different deck.
But there are some more recent 'Bant' cards that are quite good: Rhox War Monk will keep you alive and eats the smaller stuff.
There is a lot of value in upgrading the mana base with 'better' lands.