I'm headed to dcon from Colorado and I'm just trying to find out what magic artists will be there so I can get some cards signed. Is there a list anywhere? Is it secret? Anybody know?
Mono red seems to be very strong. My final matchup was against red/affinity. He managed to get pardic dragon out and swinging turn 3 by removing counters before I could play a spell.
I played G/B/W junk. Had the good green draw creatures, some kithkin and wurm retracing, and mix in the good old fun of Death Cloud and Rude Awakening and it was awesome. Masked admirers and the woodreaders are stupid good. I also had 4 kodama's reach which made both my bomb rares insane.
Went undefeated in 4 rounds facing rebels, giants, W/G Thallid, and Red/Affinity.
Green is extremely powerful in this set. Rebels are grindy and annoying and have a lot of trouble dealing with 3 power dudes.
Hi there, I am currently assembling a Sek'Kuar Deck for a competitive EDH tournament. May I recommend the following:
Falkenrath Noble
Blood Artist
Furystroke Giant
The first two work with pretty much any other combo and work as alternate win conditions if you can't attack for some reason or other wierd interaction. I got around a worship during play testing using this guy. Plus they are more fuel for Survival of the Fittest.
The Furystroke Giant has won me a surprising number of games too. Killed a player with an Ensnaring bridge out by zapping him with Sek'Kuar tokens. Killed another player with Anger in the graveyard by just zapping with the giant each time he came back from the sac so he acts like a murderous redcap.
Check em out and see what you think and thanks for some additional ideas!
As far as infect is concerned, I can remember at my last FNM owning people with Melira's Keepers. I drafted two of them and when they dropped on Infect players they just kind of stare at it and go "ugh...." I know that Keepers is more limited due to Unc, but an uncommon froze people in place. Many people who are running infect don't pick choice removal due to needing to take the top infect dude (phyrexian juggernaut > go for the throat) I had two blightwidows in my sideboard as well that stopped them up really fast.
As for the current state of the format, I will say that not having an immediate answer for certain things is pretty much GG. I am just coming back in to magic, but it seems like popping a good mythic generally spells doom for a player if they can not respond within 1 turn. At the same draft I just mentioned I nuked a R/W token guy with Massacre Wurm. He literally just died to it twice in a row before it even swung in. Most of the infect creatures are right at the X/2 mark as well so I just creamed them with the wurm as well.
There are some rares that are neither mythic nor infect that are super bombs though. I haven't seen a White Sun's Zenith resolve that hasn't won the game. There are only a few cards that can respond to it with any real effect like its converse Black Sun's Zenith or said Massacre Wurm.
There was a time when I had about 16 decks (1 Vintage, 3 Legacy, 3 Extended, 2 T2, and 7 Casual) and many more in the works.
It was fun putting them together and working out the kinks which is what I like the most, but after they were constructed I rarely had time for them all. After some deliberation I decided I was going to whittle down the collection.
I kept the most competitive deck in each format, 1 Casual combo deck, 1 casual beat-down deck, and 1 casual lock down deck. 17 decks ---> 7
I realized that some of my decks did the exact same thing as others. My Legacy elves were pretty much the same thing as my G/W beatdown, but I kept the G/W since it would be more fun to play and to play against.
Some of the other "carbon copies" I just mixed together and some cases actually came out with a better deck.
Now that I'm getting back in to magic, I'm doing EDH because its a blast. I was going nutbars at first, but now I've focused in to 3 decks. One is combo, one is control, one is straight beats.
Give yourself one of each flavor and you should become bored too easily, especially since even at 99 cards, a deck can still make a lot of changes.
@phokus: I'm trying to not be too much of a ☺☺☺☺ with the nightmare. Although the temptation is strong to use kokopuff, I'm pretty certain that is about the point where the games would stop being fun and just be annoying. Its the same reason I'm not running some godawful infinite mana or lock down combo. lololol, eternal witness, angel of despair, early harvest, recurring nightmare. Its just not fun :/ Good suggestion though.
@Donald: Man, I was thinking about Dosan for this exact same thing. I loved CoS back in the day. FoW now *****! I think I will fit Dosan in somewhere because my ability to recur creatures is much stronger than recurring enchantments. Luckily our shop does not favor blue (thank God) but having him in there to prevent other shenanigans is a good choice anyway. Thanks!
I've always loved BGW decks and before EDH was a legit format I built a BGW "singleton" deck. It was always a blast and it committed a lot of tom foolery so of course I adapted it for EDH considering Teneb was already in my deck to begin with. Anyway, here is the deck:
My playgroup is pretty spikey so we don't really mind certain cards like Recurring Nightmare, so my playgroup is fine with all cards that are "banned"
I have to say that I really love the synergy of certain creatures coming in and out of play on a constant basis. I ran a 60 card Recurring Nightmare deck for a while in legacy and it wasn't as much fun as this thing. I have generally achieved some pretty lolsy situations as well.
Opponent chains out a combo for infinite* saprolings and infinite* life. (*8,000,000 in this case) I rip eternal witness, play it to grab victimize, sac eternal witness and get back massacre wurm and AoD for something else. You lose 16M life, lol.
I can't even describe how good puppeteer clique and woodfall primus with either of the sac based recursion methods I run. Sac anything get back clique. Steal something. Sac clique, get back primus and clique. Steal something and spot removal. Sac primus and get back primus and anything. Spot removal again along with any other CIP effects at my disposal.
- Steal 2 creatures from any graveyard
- Spot removal two noncreature things
- Any other choice from my menu
all for 9 mana which is easy to get in EDH. I have thought a couple of times about putting in a Xantid Swarm in the deck, if for no other reason than to stop the blue player in our group that loves to hold a counter for nightmare or Survival of the Fittest.
I used to have Jitte, SoLS, and SoFI in the deck, but I almost never attack in this deck. I usually either endure and soft lock people's ☺☺☺☺ up, or die before I get there. I have even thought of taking Akroma out for another CIP or leaves play effect like Masked Admirers.
If anybody can think of some more powerful CIP or LP effects creatures I would love to hear about them. I am also wondering about a good sacrificial outlet in case I need to put something in the yard quick.
PS - nothing gets people more riled up than when you recur Terrastadon 3 times killing 9 permanents and then sac pernicious deed for 0 and kill all their brand new elephants. Try it some time.
Went 4:1 with Phyrexian. Just returned to the game after 2 year hiatus and have to say I am pleased with the result. Guess its like riding a bike after all.
Multi: 1x Glissa, the Traitor (wahoo I got a Glissa in my packs to go with my foil one. Half way to a playset already)
I didn't take notes on the games like I usually do but I do remember certain instances during games:
Me vs. Mirran R/W
Opponent turn 1: land
Me turn 1: land
Opp 2: 3/1 dude
EoT: Virulent Wound
Me 2: Leaden Myr
Opp 3:3/1 Spin Engine
Me 3: Viridian Corrupter enters play kills Spin Engine
Opp 4: Nothing
Me 4: Putrefax
Opp ----> 7 Poison
Opp 5: Red Suns Zenith my Corrupter
Me 5: Morbid Plunder Putrefax and Viridian Corrupter
Opp: ...scoop
Oppenent plays Mimic Vat and starts reanimating a Rot Wolf over and over again. I thankfully have a Creature with First Strike, but it started getting REALLY annoying. Ripped Viridan Corrupter and put a stop to these shenanigans. She also killed a Phyrexian Juggernaut, Sword of Feast and Famine, and a Knowledge Pool as well as others I don't quite remember. Very good day for her. There wera couple of times where I could not play her right away or I'd axe my own artifacts, but it was just a matter of time before I saw an opponent play something that was better off dead.
There were a number of times when I found myself winning games with Mr. Infector Inspector Spider. Having 4 toughness usually found an opponent using 2 cards on him. I was surprised how useful he was, especially with bladed pinions.
I had an Engulfing Slagwurm in my pool but he didn't have a place in my infect deck as if he actually came in to play, I had likely already lost.
I did successfully kill a Mirran player with actual damage though. I sideboarded in 2 Dross Rippers, 1 Strandwalker, and a couple of other large bodies against 1 Mirran player who had the Mirran Crusader (gross) and the Sword of Feast and Famine (grosser) but relied on them way too heavily and was so concerned with being poisoned that by the time he realized he was at 7 life it was already too late. He blocked and killed all of my poison dudes, but 3/3 artifact creatures still win games when they can pump.
Glissa showed up one time. Just once. In one game. All. Day. When she did show though, it was great. It was a great blocker for a time and helped me kill that one Mirran player I referenced above. Pro Green and Black nullified her pretty bad though so the artifact creatures had to pull out the win for me. She still killed a couple creatures though which is really why she was in the deck to begin with.
All in all it was a fun event and finding out I still possess some talent at this game was nice. Opened a Massacre Wurm in my first prize pack. Cursed at him for a bit for not being in my original pool, then his charming smile won me over and I was happy to pull 2 Rare(rs) from 7 packs. Keeping my other packs for a draft.
To sum up: Phyrexians beat ass before, and they beat ass now.
I played G/B/W junk. Had the good green draw creatures, some kithkin and wurm retracing, and mix in the good old fun of Death Cloud and Rude Awakening and it was awesome. Masked admirers and the woodreaders are stupid good. I also had 4 kodama's reach which made both my bomb rares insane.
Went undefeated in 4 rounds facing rebels, giants, W/G Thallid, and Red/Affinity.
Green is extremely powerful in this set. Rebels are grindy and annoying and have a lot of trouble dealing with 3 power dudes.
Falkenrath Noble
Blood Artist
Furystroke Giant
The first two work with pretty much any other combo and work as alternate win conditions if you can't attack for some reason or other wierd interaction. I got around a worship during play testing using this guy. Plus they are more fuel for Survival of the Fittest.
The Furystroke Giant has won me a surprising number of games too. Killed a player with an Ensnaring bridge out by zapping him with Sek'Kuar tokens. Killed another player with Anger in the graveyard by just zapping with the giant each time he came back from the sac so he acts like a murderous redcap.
Check em out and see what you think and thanks for some additional ideas!
As for the current state of the format, I will say that not having an immediate answer for certain things is pretty much GG. I am just coming back in to magic, but it seems like popping a good mythic generally spells doom for a player if they can not respond within 1 turn. At the same draft I just mentioned I nuked a R/W token guy with Massacre Wurm. He literally just died to it twice in a row before it even swung in. Most of the infect creatures are right at the X/2 mark as well so I just creamed them with the wurm as well.
There are some rares that are neither mythic nor infect that are super bombs though. I haven't seen a White Sun's Zenith resolve that hasn't won the game. There are only a few cards that can respond to it with any real effect like its converse Black Sun's Zenith or said Massacre Wurm.
It was fun putting them together and working out the kinks which is what I like the most, but after they were constructed I rarely had time for them all. After some deliberation I decided I was going to whittle down the collection.
I kept the most competitive deck in each format, 1 Casual combo deck, 1 casual beat-down deck, and 1 casual lock down deck. 17 decks ---> 7
I realized that some of my decks did the exact same thing as others. My Legacy elves were pretty much the same thing as my G/W beatdown, but I kept the G/W since it would be more fun to play and to play against.
Some of the other "carbon copies" I just mixed together and some cases actually came out with a better deck.
Now that I'm getting back in to magic, I'm doing EDH because its a blast. I was going nutbars at first, but now I've focused in to 3 decks. One is combo, one is control, one is straight beats.
Give yourself one of each flavor and you should become bored too easily, especially since even at 99 cards, a deck can still make a lot of changes.
@Donald: Man, I was thinking about Dosan for this exact same thing. I loved CoS back in the day. FoW now *****! I think I will fit Dosan in somewhere because my ability to recur creatures is much stronger than recurring enchantments. Luckily our shop does not favor blue (thank God) but having him in there to prevent other shenanigans is a good choice anyway. Thanks!
1 Teneb, the Harvester
Creatures
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Genesis
1 Visara the Dreadful
1 Loaming Shaman
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Stonecloaker
1 Terrastadon
1 Carven Caryatid
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Sakura Tribe Elder
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Orhan Viper
1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Abyssal Gatekeeper
1 Shriekmaw
1 Eternal Witness
1 Viridian Emissary
1 Reya Dawnbringer
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Duplicant
1 Angel of Despair
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Acidic Slime
1 Academy Rector
1 Archon of Justice
1 Damnation
1 Wrath of God
1 Austere Command
1 Cataclysm
1 Profane Command
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Yagmoth's Will
1 Living Death
1 Regrowth
1 Victimize
1 Vindicate
1 Crime / Punishment
1 Beacon of Unrest
Enchantments
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Oversold Cemetery
1 Debtor's Knell
1 Grave Pact
1 Worship
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Haunted Crossroads
1 Recurring Nightmare
1 Privileged Position
1 Sterling Grove
1 Nevinyral's Disk
1 Memory Jar
1 Sol Ring
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
My playgroup is pretty spikey so we don't really mind certain cards like Recurring Nightmare, so my playgroup is fine with all cards that are "banned"
I have to say that I really love the synergy of certain creatures coming in and out of play on a constant basis. I ran a 60 card Recurring Nightmare deck for a while in legacy and it wasn't as much fun as this thing. I have generally achieved some pretty lolsy situations as well.
Opponent chains out a combo for infinite* saprolings and infinite* life. (*8,000,000 in this case) I rip eternal witness, play it to grab victimize, sac eternal witness and get back massacre wurm and AoD for something else. You lose 16M life, lol.
I can't even describe how good puppeteer clique and woodfall primus with either of the sac based recursion methods I run. Sac anything get back clique. Steal something. Sac clique, get back primus and clique. Steal something and spot removal. Sac primus and get back primus and anything. Spot removal again along with any other CIP effects at my disposal.
- Steal 2 creatures from any graveyard
- Spot removal two noncreature things
- Any other choice from my menu
all for 9 mana which is easy to get in EDH. I have thought a couple of times about putting in a Xantid Swarm in the deck, if for no other reason than to stop the blue player in our group that loves to hold a counter for nightmare or Survival of the Fittest.
I used to have Jitte, SoLS, and SoFI in the deck, but I almost never attack in this deck. I usually either endure and soft lock people's ☺☺☺☺ up, or die before I get there. I have even thought of taking Akroma out for another CIP or leaves play effect like Masked Admirers.
If anybody can think of some more powerful CIP or LP effects creatures I would love to hear about them. I am also wondering about a good sacrificial outlet in case I need to put something in the yard quick.
PS - nothing gets people more riled up than when you recur Terrastadon 3 times killing 9 permanents and then sac pernicious deed for 0 and kill all their brand new elephants. Try it some time.
2x Blightwidow (one of the best infect creatures. Just outside of the bolt range and killed a surprising amount of flyers)
1x Rot Wolf
1x Viridian Emissary
1x Viridian Corrupter
1x Putrefax (lol)
Black:
1x Flensermite
1x Phyrexian Digester
1x Scourge Servant
2x Phyrexian Rager
2x Virulent Wound
1x Gasp of Darkness
1x Septic Rats
1x Spread the Sickness
1x Morbid Plunder
1x Trigon of Corruption (worked very well, always killed at least two creatures)
1x Sylvok replica
1x Bladed Pinions (underwhelming in action)
1x Leaden Myr
1x Core Prowler
1x Grafted Exoskeleton
1x Horizon Spellbomb
1x Glissa, the Traitor (wahoo I got a Glissa in my packs to go with my foil one. Half way to a playset already)
I didn't take notes on the games like I usually do but I do remember certain instances during games:
Me vs. Mirran R/W
Opponent turn 1: land
Me turn 1: land
Opp 2: 3/1 dude
EoT: Virulent Wound
Me 2: Leaden Myr
Opp 3:3/1 Spin Engine
Me 3: Viridian Corrupter enters play kills Spin Engine
Opp 4: Nothing
Me 4: Putrefax
Opp ----> 7 Poison
Opp 5: Red Suns Zenith my Corrupter
Me 5: Morbid Plunder Putrefax and Viridian Corrupter
Opp: ...scoop
Oppenent plays Mimic Vat and starts reanimating a Rot Wolf over and over again. I thankfully have a Creature with First Strike, but it started getting REALLY annoying. Ripped Viridan Corrupter and put a stop to these shenanigans. She also killed a Phyrexian Juggernaut, Sword of Feast and Famine, and a Knowledge Pool as well as others I don't quite remember. Very good day for her. There wera couple of times where I could not play her right away or I'd axe my own artifacts, but it was just a matter of time before I saw an opponent play something that was better off dead.
There were a number of times when I found myself winning games with Mr. Infector Inspector Spider. Having 4 toughness usually found an opponent using 2 cards on him. I was surprised how useful he was, especially with bladed pinions.
I had an Engulfing Slagwurm in my pool but he didn't have a place in my infect deck as if he actually came in to play, I had likely already lost.
I did successfully kill a Mirran player with actual damage though. I sideboarded in 2 Dross Rippers, 1 Strandwalker, and a couple of other large bodies against 1 Mirran player who had the Mirran Crusader (gross) and the Sword of Feast and Famine (grosser) but relied on them way too heavily and was so concerned with being poisoned that by the time he realized he was at 7 life it was already too late. He blocked and killed all of my poison dudes, but 3/3 artifact creatures still win games when they can pump.
Glissa showed up one time. Just once. In one game. All. Day. When she did show though, it was great. It was a great blocker for a time and helped me kill that one Mirran player I referenced above. Pro Green and Black nullified her pretty bad though so the artifact creatures had to pull out the win for me. She still killed a couple creatures though which is really why she was in the deck to begin with.
All in all it was a fun event and finding out I still possess some talent at this game was nice. Opened a Massacre Wurm in my first prize pack. Cursed at him for a bit for not being in my original pool, then his charming smile won me over and I was happy to pull 2 Rare(rs) from 7 packs. Keeping my other packs for a draft.
To sum up: Phyrexians beat ass before, and they beat ass now.