Tested my most recent version of Wild Owl. Deciding to change it up a bit for Regionals. Feel a strong urge to add Spell Snare to the deck. Whenever I went second, I really wished for that 1cc tempo counter for their creatures and signets. I'm giving this a test run this weekend, so I'll know whether Spell Snare is all that and a bag o' chips.
Main reasons why I wanted to change these guys up:
1) Why not just counter those 2cc creatures or signets when you are going second? As blue players, we want to take over tempo immediately and that's why Spell Snare is there.
2) stops enemy remands, mana leaks, sacred grounds, defense grids, naturalizes, castigates, Sakura Tribe Elders, Dark Confidants, you get the picture.
3) Love to tap my opponents creatures and lands before I draw into that lovely Wildfire and the Gigadrowse can act like 2 extra exhaustions.
I've been trying out this deck at FNM. Fun deck, loses to creature swarms if you dont get 2-3x Exhaustion. Just wanted to put out there that Spell Snare will probably be a big card when they sideboard, but don't expect to see 4x Spell Snare maindeck.
Another thought that I would add to this thread is the use of Muddlle the Mixture. While it is useful in a counterspell war, it can also search for almost any card in this deck via transmute. Remembering that Voidslime and Hinder are 3cc spells, we can counter for only 2! So don't abandon ship yet folks, we may still have quite a deck to contend with post Dissention.
Here's a new version that I've been testing. It has Wildfire (stop those pesky creature hordes and let the owl take care of business) and Skyscribing in it (refill thier hand and let the owl go to work). Really enjoying it right now.
So going with the Crazed Mike Builds (Builds running the Indestructables), What do folks think about maindeck Obliterate ? You could lay down a Myojin of Cleansing Fire and Obliterate the following turn. As soon as opponent has started to recover on land, you recover with gifts of estates. However, I doubt opponent will recover from a cleared board and you having an indestructable wrath on the other side!
I'd hate to be the blue player who has just been obliterated. Come to think of it, no one likes to be obliterated.
Maybe RW Control could run 3 Myojin and 3 Obliterate?
Any thoughts on running Story Circle in this deck over Faith's Fetters? After all, this is a control deck. As it is, the deck has a significant amount of creature control. Maybe a mid to late game story circle could be a better draw than a Faith's Fetters or a Genju. Sure it ties up mana, but it can really piss off B/G, even more so than a fetters on their Grave-Shell Scarab or Kagemaro, First to Suffer.
you are running only 3x yosei and 4x hunted dragon. In my BG I run 8 targeted removal spells in the forms of 4x rend flesh and 4x putrefy. One extraction and I wipe away all of your yosei (as they cant be hit with rend flesh) and now for the duration of the game the most feasible way to beat me is with dragon, which now has 8 spells aimed at his face along with being at the top of kagemaro's hit list. thats why I am preaching about diversification in the creature base.
wildfire isnt gigantic against them either, I dont even know that I would necessarily even target that with an extraction. If I get an arena to sit on the board Im going to savagely be outdrawing you and for the most part we run the same amount of acceleration. actually we dont. I just checked your list and you run only the signet and thats slight acceleration at best, no where near the speed of birds or sakura. wildfire is not a problem for BG to deal with, they can get a kokusho to come and play just as easy as you can play a hunted dragon. even if you do resolve a guy, and then wildfire I float 3 putrefy his ass and then proceed to rebuild faster than you can.
Tom, nice pay by play vs. RW Fires. Sure there's the fact that you have 8 targeted removal spells (I assume 4 putrefy and possibly 4 Rend Flesh or 4 Last Gasp). I am well aware of targeted removal, see my decklist. However the creatures that I run either punish you for killing them (Yosei) or swing after you have tapped out or have less than 3 mana open (Hasty Dragons are some good). I applaud your efforts to recover after a Wildfire. I assume you were referring to Sakura and or Sensei's Divining Top, both of which go from Mach 3 to maybe 10 mph with Suppression Field on board. So I hope I get to test against enough rock decks before states so that I can either discover that your predictions are on or that my build may survive a slew of rock decks at states.
By the way, you Kagemaro will need 5 to 6 cards in hand to work on my dragons, by which time I may have already reduced you lands to graveyard bulk. . . . . . . .. Don't we just love this speculative play by play.
I'm testing heavily this week and I will focus my play vs. rock and U/B control. Results to be coming soon.
Haven't posted my most recent version (many pages ago) and this sure is getting to be a long thread, maybe not as long as that "Power 9 poster" thread. My bad, here's what I have working with.
Addressing what you said about Extraction, I feel that this build has a couple of decent win conditions. 1) Hunted Dragon with Ghostly Prisons on board, 2) Hunted Dragon followed by Wildfire, 3) Yosei followed by Wildfire, 4) No dragons but Wildfire after Prisons are on board followed by burn (not my favorite but it has worked in late game). So my opponent could theoretically Extract my Wildfire but a dragon smacking them around followed by burn is still GG. Thoughts, Rants, Flames (not really, there's mods out there) to follow.
Nice deck Navy Joe and nice results online. I just hope I get to play against a deck like yours at states. I hear Suppression Field and Ghostly Prison are some good! Doesn't look like you played against any Wildfire varients.
I actually got to use Salva at the prerelease. She's some good. Do you think that 4 of her and 4 gravepact are a little overkill? I mean the black investment in teh enchantment in a 2 color deck may slow you down a bit. Of course, I haven't tested against a deck such as yours but I would assume that sometimes you just don't get to play your Pact on turn 3 or 4 quick enough to stop little men from killin' you.
[QUOTE=boseiju and boiling seas are tech against U/x control, Ive been running them for a while and I love blowin up them islands even if it is on my main pahse :(.
well your half right really. We'll stomp any deck running hordes of men but I personally am horrified of putrefy and extraction when piloting this deck.
[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the reminder of the "I can play any spell against permission for only 2 life" land. Haven't used that one since Tooth was good.
As far as fears of Cranial Extraction, I remember when R&D were trying to kill Tooth and Nail with multiple hosers including Extraction. Tooth still did well in the field. So even though there is the possibility of getting Extracted, a smart deck builder will not rely on just one win condition. Its almost like R&D build Extraction to force us to build better decks.
SB
3 Pithing needle
4 stone rain
4 suppression field
3 zo-zu
1 hunted dragon
this isn't a WW its more of a sligh and personally right now I think the sligh build looks more impressive than the WW's. Tell me what you think. If you want to know the results msg me. I still need to proxy up the deck though.
I've been testing with Hunted Dragon for a while. From what I've seen, he's a great finisher if 1) you have some ghostly prisons on board or 2) you have some back up plan if your opponent decides to spot removal your dragon. Maybe you could play with Hunted Lamassu and run Hand of Honor and/or Paladin en-Vec so that you can handle thier 4/4 Horror?
Not a bad start. Just don't forget that people still have access to the "I can cast anything I want for 2 life" land. Just as long as your prepared for it.
Is any R/W player out there concerned that we may be putting way to much stock into Ivory Mask vs. Mill. If I were a mill player, I owuld be running bounce like Boomerang or Clutch of the Undercity. At the end of oyur turn, I will bounce your enchantment. During my main phase, I'll 1) cranial extract you, 2) persecute your hand, 3) or I'll just Glimpse something Unthinkable! What can R/W do about it? Well it just so happens that Red used to spank black discard with Guerrella Tactics. That's right you dirty discard players, if you want me to discard, take 4 to the dome.
I'm not wishing to dismiss folks who want to build a deck that tries to control the board with enchantments. I have been on the safe end of 2-3 Ghostly Prisons while a WW player gets all steamed up. But I would hope that R/W players do not walk away from this forum with the perception that we are still in the Astral Slide days. We cannot cycle and improve our hand. Therefore we must not depend on top decking into a solution. If R/W wants to try to win, it has got to have an aggressive method of winning. As I have stated earlier in this forum, I believe that R/W Wildfire decks are viable solutions to both aggro decks and Rock decks. With the right build contaning mana excel, we can put down some stall (Ghostly Prison), lay out an evasion beater (Hunted Lammassu, Hunted Dragon, Yoseii), and set the world fire.
I have tested very little against U/x decks, but I feel that permission will always have an upper hand on us game 1 unless we are willing to alter our deck styles toward more aggro or burn. After that, it's a matter of us trying to control vs. control and that may lead to many a draw at states or possibly a win for those who have awesome tech vs. permission. I don't know about you folks, but I hate draws in states.
For all you folks out there who haven't been testing with or against Suppression Field, you may have to start taking this card very seriously. This card is a pain for the Rock(slows STE and SDT way down), all agro decks with equipment (kicks jitte to the curb), all searing meditation decks (no angel recursion or gaining peace of mind), and B/U decks (Meluko is no longer the bomb, Kagemaro slows down).
I suggest that you either 1) design your deck with little to no activated abilities, 2) play lots of enchantment hate, or 3) bite the bullet and play this awesome enchantment! For all you wildfire folks out there, playing S. Field and Ghostly Prison along with Wildfire can lock up the board in your favor!
Tested my most recent version of Wild Owl. Deciding to change it up a bit for Regionals. Feel a strong urge to add Spell Snare to the deck. Whenever I went second, I really wished for that 1cc tempo counter for their creatures and signets. I'm giving this a test run this weekend, so I'll know whether Spell Snare is all that and a bag o' chips.
- 3 Pyroclasm
- 2 Skyscribing
+ 3 Spell Snare
+ 2 Gigadrowse
Main reasons why I wanted to change these guys up:
1) Why not just counter those 2cc creatures or signets when you are going second? As blue players, we want to take over tempo immediately and that's why Spell Snare is there.
2) stops enemy remands, mana leaks, sacred grounds, defense grids, naturalizes, castigates, Sakura Tribe Elders, Dark Confidants, you get the picture.
3) Love to tap my opponents creatures and lands before I draw into that lovely Wildfire and the Gigadrowse can act like 2 extra exhaustions.
This version now has a sideboard:
3 Shattering Spree
3 Pyroclasm
3 Blood Moon
1 Wildfire
3 Pithing Needle
1 Spell Snare
1 Gigadrowse
Really enjoy plopping a Blood Moon on a Mana Screwed player.
Sometimes Blood Moon and an Owl is all you need.
I'll post my play test findings this weekend.
Another thought that I would add to this thread is the use of Muddlle the Mixture. While it is useful in a counterspell war, it can also search for almost any card in this deck via transmute. Remembering that Voidslime and Hinder are 3cc spells, we can counter for only 2! So don't abandon ship yet folks, we may still have quite a deck to contend with post Dissention.
Here's a new version that I've been testing. It has Wildfire (stop those pesky creature hordes and let the owl take care of business) and Skyscribing in it (refill thier hand and let the owl go to work). Really enjoying it right now.
Wild Owl Version 1.0
4 Boomerang
4 Eye of Nowhere
4 Remand
3 Sudden Impact
3 Kami of the Crescent Moon
4 Exhaustion
3 Wildfire
3 Pyroclasm
2 Skyscribing
4 Ebony Owl Netsuke
4 Howling Mine
2 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
4 Shivan Reef
4 Steam Vents
1 Mountain
11 Island
It just gives my Sunforger deck more and more options!
Can't wait for block constructed.
I'd hate to be the blue player who has just been obliterated. Come to think of it, no one likes to be obliterated.
Maybe RW Control could run 3 Myojin and 3 Obliterate?
Just adding to the mix.
Tom, nice pay by play vs. RW Fires. Sure there's the fact that you have 8 targeted removal spells (I assume 4 putrefy and possibly 4 Rend Flesh or 4 Last Gasp). I am well aware of targeted removal, see my decklist. However the creatures that I run either punish you for killing them (Yosei) or swing after you have tapped out or have less than 3 mana open (Hasty Dragons are some good). I applaud your efforts to recover after a Wildfire. I assume you were referring to Sakura and or Sensei's Divining Top, both of which go from Mach 3 to maybe 10 mph with Suppression Field on board. So I hope I get to test against enough rock decks before states so that I can either discover that your predictions are on or that my build may survive a slew of rock decks at states.
By the way, you Kagemaro will need 5 to 6 cards in hand to work on my dragons, by which time I may have already reduced you lands to graveyard bulk. . . . . . . .. Don't we just love this speculative play by play.
I'm testing heavily this week and I will focus my play vs. rock and U/B control. Results to be coming soon.
3 Yosei, the Morning Star
4 Hunted Dragon
4 Wildfire
4 Lightning Helix
3 Char
3 Devouring Light
4 Wrath of God
4 Ghostly Prison
3 Suppression Field
4 Boros Signet
4 Sacred Foundary
4 Battlefield Forge
10 Plains
6 Mountains
3 Ivory Mask
3 Terashi's Grasp
3 Sacred Ground
3 Boseju, Who Shelters All
2 Pyroclasm
1 Devouring Light
Board is still up in the air.
Addressing what you said about Extraction, I feel that this build has a couple of decent win conditions. 1) Hunted Dragon with Ghostly Prisons on board, 2) Hunted Dragon followed by Wildfire, 3) Yosei followed by Wildfire, 4) No dragons but Wildfire after Prisons are on board followed by burn (not my favorite but it has worked in late game). So my opponent could theoretically Extract my Wildfire but a dragon smacking them around followed by burn is still GG. Thoughts, Rants, Flames (not really, there's mods out there) to follow.
I actually got to use Salva at the prerelease. She's some good. Do you think that 4 of her and 4 gravepact are a little overkill? I mean the black investment in teh enchantment in a 2 color deck may slow you down a bit. Of course, I haven't tested against a deck such as yours but I would assume that sometimes you just don't get to play your Pact on turn 3 or 4 quick enough to stop little men from killin' you.
well your half right really. We'll stomp any deck running hordes of men but I personally am horrified of putrefy and extraction when piloting this deck.
[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the reminder of the "I can play any spell against permission for only 2 life" land. Haven't used that one since Tooth was good.
As far as fears of Cranial Extraction, I remember when R&D were trying to kill Tooth and Nail with multiple hosers including Extraction. Tooth still did well in the field. So even though there is the possibility of getting Extracted, a smart deck builder will not rely on just one win condition. Its almost like R&D build Extraction to force us to build better decks.
I've been testing with Hunted Dragon for a while. From what I've seen, he's a great finisher if 1) you have some ghostly prisons on board or 2) you have some back up plan if your opponent decides to spot removal your dragon. Maybe you could play with Hunted Lamassu and run Hand of Honor and/or Paladin en-Vec so that you can handle thier 4/4 Horror?
I'm not wishing to dismiss folks who want to build a deck that tries to control the board with enchantments. I have been on the safe end of 2-3 Ghostly Prisons while a WW player gets all steamed up. But I would hope that R/W players do not walk away from this forum with the perception that we are still in the Astral Slide days. We cannot cycle and improve our hand. Therefore we must not depend on top decking into a solution. If R/W wants to try to win, it has got to have an aggressive method of winning. As I have stated earlier in this forum, I believe that R/W Wildfire decks are viable solutions to both aggro decks and Rock decks. With the right build contaning mana excel, we can put down some stall (Ghostly Prison), lay out an evasion beater (Hunted Lammassu, Hunted Dragon, Yoseii), and set the world fire.
I have tested very little against U/x decks, but I feel that permission will always have an upper hand on us game 1 unless we are willing to alter our deck styles toward more aggro or burn. After that, it's a matter of us trying to control vs. control and that may lead to many a draw at states or possibly a win for those who have awesome tech vs. permission. I don't know about you folks, but I hate draws in states.
I suggest that you either 1) design your deck with little to no activated abilities, 2) play lots of enchantment hate, or 3) bite the bullet and play this awesome enchantment! For all you wildfire folks out there, playing S. Field and Ghostly Prison along with Wildfire can lock up the board in your favor!