MTG Salvation

if i did that this would be the second deck I took sleeper agents out of =P I disagree about removal though... spirit links and wall of shadows work just as effectively against my opponent's creatures (obviously not as well as doom blades, etc.), but the deck is supposed to try and achieve some kind of lock by turn 5 by poisoning and destroying lands. soul spike also counts as instant speed removal =P

besides, if i took the sleepers out, this deck would lose its inevitability and win condition. even if i were to poison all my opponent's lands, they could just as easily sit there and wait me out and not tap anything... are there any black cards that force my opponent to tap their lands (and therefore trigger the damage)?

thats actually a great idea. I was trying to break phyrexian etchings before by using some kind of card that would throw all my graveyarded cards straight into exile (and thus phyrexian etchings's shortcoming would never trigger) but it was too complicated/hard, but definitely including two leylines instead of tutors!

Hi everyone, here is another casual legacy deck I threw together today based around some weird ideas. I started with Sleeper Agent, one of my favourite cards of all time, and made a deck that revolved around the theme of letting my opponent's cards do the killing.



Key points about the deck:

1. I don't throw the Sleeper Agent down before I have a way to "neutralize" it, either with a Vampiric Link (which lets me gain 2 life a turn btw) or a Wall of Shadows). Once I have a couple of them going, I can throw the rest of the cards involved away to free Soul Spikes.

2. Pooling Venom + Contaminated Ground are relatively early plays, and ideally, I poison each of their lands before speeding into a Worms of the Earth with a Dark Ritual, forcing them to either take 5 life, sacrifice lands, or take damage from using their lands. Despoil helps me control any lands that aren't poisoned yet.

3. Soul Spike throws in the finishing touch.

4. I know Phyrexian Arena is strictly better than Gravestorm, but I threw it in cuz i'm monoblack, its cool to turn 1 dark rit into a Gravestorm (almost like a turn one Necropotence...), and its more flavourful. I considered Phyrexian Etchings before, but it seems to be a bit suicidal after a while.

5. I'm looking to take out the Rhystic Tutors, since I don't really have much to tutor in this deck. Plus I get lots of draw from Gravestorm so I usually find what I need eventually.


Please let me know what you guys think!

Alright, so I have more or less bought the deck and am waiting for it to arrive (it cost around $14, excluding trades for the shocklands). When I playtest it I'll let you guys know how things work out.

Here is one of the more or less final iterations of the decklist:

Have any other grow decks considered using Forgotten Ancient before? Also, I feel like Pyromancer's Ascension might work well in the deck, but with the additions of that, mystic remora, etc., I feel like I'd be diluting the deck a little.

Also, I never really understood how I could use circular logic's madness. If my opponent casts a spell, can I activate merfolk looter in response to discard logic to counter the spell?

What would you suggest for mana acceleration? Rampant growth, etc.? I didn't know people would be so ready to target merfolk looter... (i've really only been goldfishing this deck). The accumulated knowledge and kindle are there for similar reasons. They give me something to discard to the looter, while benefiting me later. I'll look into spell pierce but the reason I'm running dispel is because I'm really only looking to disrupt counterspells (which are insant) or removal (which are also usually instant). Thanks for the suggestions though. What would you suggest to replace kindle, accumulated knowledge, and/or fiery temper?

And do you think mystic remora of rhysic study have any place in this deck?

Alright, so I finally feel like I've arrived at a really optimal build for this deck, which I'm now naming Miracle AgGrow!

Here is the decklist. It maintains a URG build with focus on two growers, Quirion Dryad and Lorescale Coatl. There are many different grow methods, in addition to a significant amount of burn to help take down the opponent quickly (as well as their creatures).



The goal is to throw down a Lorescale Coatl or Quirion Dryad, and drop as many cantrips and burns as possible, with counters to protect against other counterspells and removal. The mana base has more or less been fixed as well - the land grants let me take advantage of the free ability because of the lower land count, while searching for the lands that I need as I need them (unfortunately they don't grow anything). Optimally I'd replace the duals with real duals, or at least shocklands...

Please let me know what you guys think!!

Winterlocke

I don't see much in the way of aggro... you could consider using hypnotic specters to work with both aggro and discard

In terms of mana-fixing lands, how would you rank painlands, shocklands, bouncelands, and fetchlands? I'm considering going out to get some of the ravnican shocklands... are they worth it?

What about lands like the Ravnican bounce lands (Izzet Boilerworks, etc.) Would those help smooth out the mana curve at all or are their drawbacks too hefty?

so... is the inclusion of 4x Shivan Reefs a good thing or bad thing (are painlands a good option ever?) I've also started looking into including Rumbling Slums, Lorescale Coatls, Zur's Weirding (for lock) while taking out the Werebears.

Does anyone have any other suggestions/comments of my current build?




Thanks!

My original build had lorescale coatl, brainstorm, and ponder in it. However, I didn't find brainstorm particularly useful (i'd draw 3, put 2 junk on top of the library, then go through 2 turns of junk before picking up a fresh card), though I can see how the fetchlands would help shuffle away the garbage.

What do you think of the viability of the Chandra's Spitfire?

Hi everyone

I've been looking around for a while for a cheap legacy deck I could make and play and have fun with, and I've come up with Miracle Grow. I've tweaked it a little to add in some alternate win conditions (i felt the Dryad might be a little slow). Please let me know what you think.



The idea of this deck is to get down early creatures. Quirion Dryad will grow quickly as the game progresses, Werebear becomes a 4/4 once you hit threshold, Razorfin Hunter transitions well into Chandra's Spitfire, and the Merfolk Looter offers excellent card quality support. Chandra's Spitfire tends to be the main win condition, using either Lightning Bolts or Razorfin Hunters to trigger its ability to charge. Zur's Weirding provides me a lock once I have obtained favourable field position (usually when I have Chandra's Spitfire and a few Razorfin Hunters in play, and counters in my hand).

In accordance with the original Miracle Grows, my land base is extremely small, but this deck usually needs nothing more than 3 to lay down all of its threats, and Impulse and Serum Visions help to sift for any necessary lands.

I'm trying to go for a more economical build (my current decklist costs me about $11.32 to make), hence no Force of Wills, Daze, or Misdirections, and I know dual lands will help out ridiculously (especially with Land Grant). What do you guys think? I've also considered adding Gelectrode, and the traditional Mystic Enforcer.

What do you guys think of running Gaea's Touch instead of Exploration? I don't have that much money to put into the deck, so its a cheaper alternative. Also, is there another way to run a win condition? I've heard of using a high tide style to untap lands for more mana, using something like Demonfire or Brainfreeze to take advantage of the quantity of spells played per turn/mana.

I'm also wondering how Enchantress does in the high tide matchup. Short of Runed Halo, how else can enchantress pawnz high tide?

Thanks for all of your advice. Just wondering, what would constitute a "good" event? I have a feeling the place I'm going to is a bit shady... from what I've heard we don't get to keep the rest of the commons/uncommons, etc., and we redraft rares (though this might be different for this event because there are going to be prizes). What kind of prizes should I expect out of these kinds of events? 3 boosters for 1st? I'm trying to justify why I would pay $12 for a draft when I could pay the same for 3 boosters and at least keep the cards.


Also, the general vibe I'm getting from the discussion is that efficient aggro with removal is the best way to go... is that right? Combo seems too hard to pull off in draft, while control doesn't seem to be that viable. So I should just go for the most common, most efficient creature build i can go for and grab money rares that'll justify my fee?
Thanks!

PS... are any of you guys excited/planning to attend release draft tomorrow?