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  • posted a message on [Official Thread] Slide
    Quote from Spaced
    I'm having major problems in my meta at the moment with B/x control decks. Turn 2 Persecute followed by Extirpate is killing me.

    I'm even considering Ground Seals in the board to lessen the blow of losing all my Astral Slides before I even get a chance to play them.

    Don't use Living Wish myself so could only suggest the sided creatures I used to use - all pretty dodgy anti-aggro cards - Wall of Roots, Carven Caryatid & Cartographer


    you could always play Gilded Light and avoid persecute, especially if you're on the play. If you're that affraid of persecute on turn 2 while being on the draw, consider running some moxen yourself. But, as Jedit said, turn 2 persecute shouldn't be that common anyway.
    Posted in: Decks for Critique
  • posted a message on [10th] product art showing 5 legends
    Quote from Death2All
    Just my thoughts...

    I think it's Cho-Manno (the guy really needs new art), but I don't see any reason why it couldn't potentially be Lin-Sivvi. I think if they ever do reprint her - Core Set would be the place to do it. She was only ridiculously broken in MM Block Constructed. By being a Core Set card, all she would do is make Rebels a viable Standard arch-type.

    Personally, I am hoping it's Cho-Manno. My area does a lot of Core/Core/Core drafts, and I'd much rather rip a Cho-Manno than a Lin-Sivvi without the Rebels to back her up in the Core Set.


    actually, Lin-Sivvi was broken in block at a time when the old legend rule was still going, and whoever got to 3 mana and resolved her would just win the game. Nowadays we have the new legend rule and split second spells, all of which stop Lin-Sivvi dead in her tracks. So I guess it's quite possible, but the artwork really suggests otherwise. Atalya is a splashy rare, so I think that's the one we're getting
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on Discussion - can Fish come back?
    while reading the thread and all suggestions written here, I built a UBW version that relies on Vedalken Aethermage. Since nearly all of the cards that I wanted to run were wizards (save for Jotun Grunt), I thought that was the way to go. Here's my current list. I need further suggestions to improve it, and sideboard advice.

    Posted in: Standard Archives
  • posted a message on Pact of the Titan Combo (FS Spoilers)
    Quote from LTG
    That's debateable... with red you get seething song, which allows you to play the djinn faster (&, with teferi in play) at instant speed. Also, you'll get board sweepers such as pyroclasm that can hinder the opponent while keeping your creatures alive (what wrath variants will not do).
    with white you can play gift of estates & angel's grace for more mana faster and without worrying if the surge of zeal/emblem of the warmind will get countered, with an added bonus of being able to ressurect. Although, I don't know why you have an Urza's factory in there... you have a pretty hefty set of instants to not be using Mystical Teachings.

    mostly I think this is a metagame choice. The more aggro decks, I'd use a U/R mana "Sudden DjinnPact," while a W/U mana DjinnPact would, potentially, fare better against combo/control.



    My idea was to make a more traditional UW control that catches people off guard, and when they finally see what you're up to, it's usually too late. Urza's factory is there as alternate win (sometimes you just won't be able to put the combo out, and I think you can get away with two colorless lands that can win you the game), But yes, I suppose U/R would fare much better should you expect no counterspells to foil your plans (it's a lot faster), and U/W probably would be better against control. as for mystical teachings, it really is a good idea, It may be possible to include a minor black splash (for flashback) and run singletons of pact and djinn, opening up space for more control options, great find!

    Quote from Gardevior

    Yeah, no advantage. Except, you know, allowing your tokens to attack. With your current build, you just pump them out, then die or use Angel's Grace to little effect.


    Last time I checked, not losing the game was no "little effect", and can be useful in many other situations, unlike the one mana instants that grant haste. One could make a case saying that you can replace ressurrections and telling times in my build for condemns/wraths and actually have a deck that doesn't outright die to say, dragonstorm (and I would love to see anyone topdeck surge of zeal against dralnu for example, after having djinns and pacts all countered and hoping for something good from the top, and getting the "fantastic" card that allow the now non-existent tokens to attack.)

    FYI, all pacts are instants, so playing them EOT and following that by angel's grace on upkeep has the same effect as playing them on your own turn + surge of zeal, with the added effect that angel's grace can't be countered, meaning that you actually know for sure that you're going to win (because you just untapped with some counterspells and one million 4/4 smashers that can attack, since they're not summoning sick or whatever)
    Posted in: Standard Archives
  • posted a message on [Official Thread] Rakdos Aggro


    there's no problem with this list, the only thing I see wrong here is Dark Confidant. Bob will kill this deck faster than you can say "Boros" with that many costs of mana 4+. Take out those bobs, put some scorched rusalkas or even better, magus of the scroll (gives the deck a much needed 1-drop) and you'll have a fine deck, capable of dealing with many archetypes of current standard.
    Posted in: Standard Archives
  • posted a message on Pact of the Titan Combo (FS Spoilers)
    I personally would play UW, as there's no big advantage to go UR IMHO. I'll test this list very soon:

    Posted in: Standard Archives
  • posted a message on Venser, Shaper Savant
    now that the spoiler is out, a friend of mine proxied up a venser deck that I found really annoying, the list is something like this:



    it may be different (more creatures, more Comes-into-play effects and so on), I just remember the triple "mess around with you" of Venser/Remand/Delay. I'll try to get a full list ASAP.
    Posted in: Standard Archives
  • posted a message on Street Wraith
    Quote from MajoraX
    It's 'Brooklyn' bridge. And he's right. They're the same thing, except Bauble doesn't cost you life.


    But having more cards gives you more threats/solutions, and less chance of decking. So yes.


    Bauble doesn't give you a card when you need it, it gives you a card one upkeep later. This is what makes street wraith superior to it IMHO, but 2 life is a little too much for a card. I could easily play 4-of in each and every deck if the cost were 1 life, 2 life can make this card kinda dangerous to play as a 4-of in every deck
    Posted in: New Card Discussion
  • posted a message on Quagnoth
    Quote from Ochimusha
    Quagnoth was described as unsolvable. Unsolvable against black can't really be considered unsolvable, especially in a block where almost every color has creature kill.

    One card must have shroud in FS and the list of possible candidates is now very small. I think it's down to Quagnoth, Nihilith (B), or Epochrasite (A). So we have a card described as an "unsolvable green fatty" vs 2 unknowns who are both off color to shroud.


    See my example of a possible Quagnoth above. Now tell me exactly how "easy" is for black to get rid of it for good (in t2, at least, because in extended you could just play Cranial Extraction FTW, of course). You could change pro-black from my example for shroud, but then it wouldn't be so good, as it would die blocking any big black guy (say, Plague Sliver or the new Korlash, Heir to Blackblade)
    Posted in: Speculation
  • posted a message on Quagnoth
    Quote from harmless player

    It has no Shroud. And it's only unsolvable to black


    Well I thought I had made it clear that being unsolvable to black (and black only, as Scragnoth is unsolvable against blue only) was the point the entire time.

    Also, is there confirmation that Quagnoth comes with Shroud?
    Posted in: Speculation
  • posted a message on Quagnoth
    If you want to have a creature that is unsolvable to black as much as scragnoth is unsolvable to blue, it should be like this:

    4G
    Creature - whatever
    Protection from black
    Dodecapod's ability (anti-discard clause, without putting +1/+1 counters obviously)
    Weatherseed Treefolk ability (anti-creature kill clause) but with "instead" replacing the triggered ability so it never really goes to the grave (where black can remove it from the game)
    3/4


    now THAT'S unsolvability against the creature killing color!
    Posted in: Speculation
  • posted a message on Newest Threats to magic: PACTS in Storm based decks
    Personally, I'll try UW with Djinn Illuminatus, the red pact (it puts a 4/4 guy, pay 4R on upkeep) and angel's grace. play djiin, EOT play pact a bazillion times (works even if you're tapped out, no matter the amount of permission on their hand, save for trickbind), my upkeep play angel's grace, swing ftw. I know, I know, 3-card combos and all, at least it will be fun when I actually pull this off. Grin
    Posted in: New Card Discussion
  • posted a message on [FS] Gibbering Descent (Rumored)
    Quote from foukas
    How can you have 4 mana by T4's upkeep?


    that's a good question. In that case, since he mentioned Rise // Fall, put a morphed gathan riders on that turn 3 play, and that solves the question Wink

    and since you drew 7, and made a land and a play every turn, by your fifth turn you'll have 2-3 cards in hand, so you'll discard something, and go from there. Maybe not good enough for constructed, but not too shabby either.

    Quote from rancored_elf »


    * rancored_elf notices they're pushing hellbent in this set for some reason... or maybe it just seems that way *


    maybe because hellbent basically sucked SO hard in RAV block (not necessarily the Rakdos guild, only the hellbent mechanic) that they're trying to make up for it one block later. better than nothing, though.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on [Official Thread] Rakdos Aggro
    Quote from JBar
    Could you explain this a little further? Is it because of the life loss?


    Exactly. You can't really afford to lose 3 life against other aggro decks, as you'll draw an extra card, but so will they (a free Volcanic Hammer against you). Between augermage, sulfur elemental, simian spirit guide and playing so few lands as I do, you'll flip a CC 3 too many times for my personal taste. I don't think bob will ever be useable with so many 3-drops without a way to recoup the loss of life (which, ironically, could be done through a 3-drop, Loxodon Warhammer, for example)

    about mindslicer, I like as long as you have some way to sac it at your leisure (such as a suspended greater gargadon or a nantuko husk) because this way you can get a decent board position, and smash all player's hands while you have the upper edge. Otherwise, the slicer will almost always be killed at the worst time possible.
    Posted in: Standard Archives
  • posted a message on [Official Thread] Rakdos Aggro
    I believe Rakdos can now play as it ever wanted to when DIS came out: the fact that all its drops are slow (2-drops are rare and the best ones are 3-drops that lack the punch to seal a game) was a major hindrance against faster beats like boros and grull. I've thought about it for a while and then realized that the lack of mana acceleration is the key. When you can accel your superior 3-drops, they can make a difference against both aggro and control. Boros can't use accel because most of its drops are white (no SSG or rite of flame to play 2 savannah lions turn 1, right?) and Grull can't use accel because it lacks a card advantage method to keep it going (so it can accel, but it loses since it can't draw more cards and can't disrupt the opponent enough). Since Rakdos can't quite use bob and lots of 3-drops, I've resorted to other options of card advantage, and that quickly led me to discard. So without further ado, I present you my lastest creation

    deck = Rakdos, Quickened

    Lands (22)
    4 blood crypt
    4 sulfurous springs
    2 gemstone mine
    1 rakdos carnarium
    1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
    4 mountain
    6 swamp

    Creatures (22)
    4 Rakdos Augermage
    4 Sulfur Elemental
    4 Ravenous Rats
    3 Scorched Rusalka
    3 Jagged Poppet
    4 Simian Spirit Guide

    Other Spells (16)
    4 Cry of Contrition
    4 Seal of Fire
    4 Rite of Flame
    4 Cruel Edict

    Sideboard (15)
    4 Brute Force
    4 Brain Pry
    4 Ghost Quarter
    4 Fury Charm

    "Jagged Poppet, WTF?". It is strange to see this guy around, but believe me, you'll empty both your's and your opponent's hand quickly, and this little fella likes people to keep themselves empty handed, plus it's an efficient body (3/4 for 3 mana is nothing to sneeze at).

    Before trolling the deck, test it. it is quite good actually. I can volunteer to test with anyone, just PM me. As always, thoughts and suggestions are welcome, as long as they don't just say "Ur deck sux n00b" or some such nonsense.
    Posted in: Standard Archives
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