Seriously, every time I kill one, I have the urge to give the damn thing the finger as its owner sadly moves him to the graveyard. And every time I lose to one (happens more often than the former) I have the urge to rip the card up on the spot.
I'm running a few Khalini Heart Expedition, and I like them. The best part, imo, is that I can ramp with the "mana dorks" like Birds and Cobra to play something, then pop the Expedition to get some landfall triggers. Saved my Ob from a bolt when my opponent wasn't paying attention to the board (also because I purposely waited to pop it until it was a response to the bolt).
Idk, it seems to me that all my wins are either Ob's landfall or Avenger's tokens (which need landfall to become a threat). So getting that landfall feels like the key to the deck.
My deck's really not complete yet. No one seems willing to part with their titans and i have the worst luck when it comes to cracking packs. Aside from those three matches, my deck has been smashing face as well. I've been playing with it since Zendikar release when it was a Warp World deck and I loved the Warp World version so much that I couldn't part with it even when the card rotated.
I don't consider Cultivate overall superior. Ignoring the meta (which I didn't even consider a factor, because for the two months since I moved, I hadn't seen anything remotely like a control deck here until saturday), harrow is just awesome. Two lands? Untapped? How is that not amazing? Cultivate is only two landfall triggers if you haven't yet played a land in the turn and one of them is tapped regardless. I'm not saying that cultivate isn't good. It's straight up two lands without having to lose one, I just feel like harrow works better considering landfall and overall tempo. Plus it provides for turn three Titan, and who doesn't want that?
But then again, I'm not a godly magic player by any stretch and I'm not gonna pretend I know everything, so i can give cultivate a try.
Ran something similar to this at two local tournaments over the weekend. Lost to an incredibly fast White Artifact deck that played two or three creatures turn one and won with Tempered Steel and Glint Hawk. Beat him one game, and the loses weren't upsets, simply him drawing better than I did.
Lost to a U/W control. Countered anything that remotely threatened him, including Harrows, which was a huge hit. Still nearly won the first game because he let me hit Garruk's ult with an Avenger out. Another landfall or two on the Avenger woulda done it.
Lost to another deck that I can't remember what it did, but I only lost because I kept an amazingly rampy hand that had two lands and then failed to draw a land for three turns, still woulda won had I drawn a fetch my last turn.
I don't have Titans, so I have Rampaging Baloth in the spot right now (not horrible, but I'll replace him with the Titan when I get one). Except for being counterspelled, I prefer Harrow over cultivate by a lot. Having a cobra out, it pays for itself plus one. And I think it's better than Explore because it's a guaranteed landfall late game as opposed to "i hope i draw a land for landfall." But it does have that "you're royally screwed if they counter this" drawback.
U/W Control seems like a really rough match though. I'm really afraid of that deck and it doesn't seem like there's a great answer for it. The trap seems okay, but if they counter a Wave or (lol) harrow, then it doesn't mean a thing. I'm gonna try some Autumn's Veil in sideboard, so I hope that'll go the distance. Dunno what else to do about that deck though...
I've run the deck at three small (8 person) tournaments so far and placed 1st, 2nd and 1st (losing to a Phylactery Lich deck due to mana screw one game and him top decking an answer before I could top deck mine).
The one-of creatures are due to not knowing what else to throw in the slots.
Anyway, controls the board with a Collar on Sparkmage and typically swings with Baneslayer or Duelist (with a sword) for the damage. Probably gonna ditch the Sanctifiers for the "exile an artifact" from Scars once I have 'em. And I think I'll drop the Outcast for another Student if I can get my hands on one.
So yeah, I'm open to suggestions. I feel like the deck could be made better, and I think my wins are mostly due to a newish community and not mine or the deck's skill. People at the shop nicknamed it Basilisk SparkCheese.
Meh, I went through this last night and it just didn't seem like it would quite get there (at least not the way I was building it). It would certainly be fun for casual but for any competitive T2, I don't think it'll go the distance.
this sounds like a fun deck. i'm gonna play around with it when i get home tonight and try it out at FNM this weekend (assuming i can get the cards i need cuz i know i've only got one omnath). definitely running some cobras cuz i have a playset and probably birds as well. not sure about that landfall enchantment that gets two lands, but i might. probably gonna go with the anti-removal route with vines and canopy. maybe a couple of bear umbras. i dunno, i'll mess with it once i can concentrate on it
what about garruk? great if you go with wolfbriar, somewhat helpful for untapping a few extra lands each turn even without the wolfbriar
edit: fauna shaman definitely seems like a must. maybe just two though.
The people who are like "OMG PATH IS A BETTER REMOVAL FOR W" need to remember that this card is seemingly printed for LIMITED. Which Wizards has repeated stated should be 3X Rise. No path there, hu? Sure, it's not a bomb. But if your only two options after an opponent drops a 15/15 for 15 somehow are to take it in the face or give it defender and work around it, I'll take the latter. I agree that it'll probably not see play in constructed unless there are some bomb cards that take advantage of defenders.
Regarding the 3 abilities vs. 4 abilities... couldn't one of the abilities just require a lot of text?
I really don't think that's it. Realistically, in my mind, there are two options: they messed up on cutting it out/spacing/whatever, or this guy has 4 abilitys/flavor text/etc. When in the past have they changed the size of the text box simply because there was a lot of text? Never.
Seriously, every time I kill one, I have the urge to give the damn thing the finger as its owner sadly moves him to the graveyard. And every time I lose to one (happens more often than the former) I have the urge to rip the card up on the spot.
Idk, it seems to me that all my wins are either Ob's landfall or Avenger's tokens (which need landfall to become a threat). So getting that landfall feels like the key to the deck.
I don't consider Cultivate overall superior. Ignoring the meta (which I didn't even consider a factor, because for the two months since I moved, I hadn't seen anything remotely like a control deck here until saturday), harrow is just awesome. Two lands? Untapped? How is that not amazing? Cultivate is only two landfall triggers if you haven't yet played a land in the turn and one of them is tapped regardless. I'm not saying that cultivate isn't good. It's straight up two lands without having to lose one, I just feel like harrow works better considering landfall and overall tempo. Plus it provides for turn three Titan, and who doesn't want that?
But then again, I'm not a godly magic player by any stretch and I'm not gonna pretend I know everything, so i can give cultivate a try.
Lost to a U/W control. Countered anything that remotely threatened him, including Harrows, which was a huge hit. Still nearly won the first game because he let me hit Garruk's ult with an Avenger out. Another landfall or two on the Avenger woulda done it.
Lost to another deck that I can't remember what it did, but I only lost because I kept an amazingly rampy hand that had two lands and then failed to draw a land for three turns, still woulda won had I drawn a fetch my last turn.
I don't have Titans, so I have Rampaging Baloth in the spot right now (not horrible, but I'll replace him with the Titan when I get one). Except for being counterspelled, I prefer Harrow over cultivate by a lot. Having a cobra out, it pays for itself plus one. And I think it's better than Explore because it's a guaranteed landfall late game as opposed to "i hope i draw a land for landfall." But it does have that "you're royally screwed if they counter this" drawback.
U/W Control seems like a really rough match though. I'm really afraid of that deck and it doesn't seem like there's a great answer for it. The trap seems okay, but if they counter a Wave or (lol) harrow, then it doesn't mean a thing. I'm gonna try some Autumn's Veil in sideboard, so I hope that'll go the distance. Dunno what else to do about that deck though...
2 Baneslayer Angel
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
4 Kazandu Blademaster
2 Kemba, Kha Regent
4 Kor Duelist
4 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Student of Warfare
1 Darksteel Axe
2 Basilisk Collar
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Sword of Vengeance
2 Burst Lightning
1 Condemn
2 Journey to Nowhere
4 Arid Mesa
12 Plains
8 Mountain
4 Kor Firewalker
4 Kor Sanctifiers
2 White Knight
2 Burst Lightning
2 Day of Judgment
I've run the deck at three small (8 person) tournaments so far and placed 1st, 2nd and 1st (losing to a Phylactery Lich deck due to mana screw one game and him top decking an answer before I could top deck mine).
The one-of creatures are due to not knowing what else to throw in the slots.
Anyway, controls the board with a Collar on Sparkmage and typically swings with Baneslayer or Duelist (with a sword) for the damage. Probably gonna ditch the Sanctifiers for the "exile an artifact" from Scars once I have 'em. And I think I'll drop the Outcast for another Student if I can get my hands on one.
So yeah, I'm open to suggestions. I feel like the deck could be made better, and I think my wins are mostly due to a newish community and not mine or the deck's skill. People at the shop nicknamed it Basilisk SparkCheese.
what about garruk? great if you go with wolfbriar, somewhat helpful for untapping a few extra lands each turn even without the wolfbriar
edit: fauna shaman definitely seems like a must. maybe just two though.
I really don't think that's it. Realistically, in my mind, there are two options: they messed up on cutting it out/spacing/whatever, or this guy has 4 abilitys/flavor text/etc. When in the past have they changed the size of the text box simply because there was a lot of text? Never.