"There is no greater folly than standing against me."
A storm is brewing...
(Disclaimer: This deck is listed as "Competitive" because some casual circles may not respond positively to a combo deck. This list is not optimized, and I intend on appending a section for those of you that have access to dual lands and cards like Vampiric Tutor)
... enjoy casting Dragonstorm. Who doesn't?
... enjoy the thrill of combo decks.
... want to draw many, many cards.
... prefer winning through means other than combat steps.
... love being the center of attention, for better or worse.
This deck isn't for you if you...
... only play clean, honest Magic.
... want to durdle for the sake of durdling.
... hate shuffling.
The Combo
Here's what you do in the ideal situation:
Cast Dragonstorm with a storm count of 6 or greater. Dragonstorm resolves (6 remaining instances on the stack): Find Scourge of Valkas. Shoot an opponent for 1. Dragonstorm resolves (5 remaining instances on the stack): Find Bogardan Hellkite, shooting an opponent for 5. Scourge of Valkas triggers, hitting somebody for 2. Dragonstorm resolves (4 remaining instances on the stack): Find Knollspine Dragon. Scourge of Valkas triggers, hitting somebody for 3. Dragonstorm resolves (3 remaining instances on the stack): Find Bladewing the Risen. Scourge of Valkas triggers, hitting somebody for 4. Dragonstorm resolves (2 remaining instances on the stack): Find Worldgorger Dragon. Scourge of Valkas triggers, hitting somebody for 5. Float remaining mana, then Worldgorger Dragon triggers and you no longer have any permanents. Dragonstorm resolves (1 remaining instances on the stack): Find Voracious Dragon, devouring Worldgorger Dragon. Your permanents return to the Battlefield (untapped!), including the 4 previous dragons. Each triggers Scourge of Valkas, dealing 4x5 damage. Bogardan Hellkite triggers, dealing 5 more damage. Bladewing the Risen triggers, targeting Worldgorger Dragon. Float mana, then Worldgorger Dragon returns to the battlefield, triggering Scourge of Valkas to deal 6 damage before exiling your battlefield again. Dragonstorm resolves: Find Predator Dragon, devouring Worldgorger Dragon. Your permanents return to the battlefield (again), and each returning dragon triggers Scourge of Valkas, dealing 5x6 damage. Bogardan Hellkite deals 5 damage, and Knollspine Dragon finally triggers, allowing you to draw many, many cards. Decline Bladewing the Risen's trigger (fortunately, it is optional). At this point, you have dealt an enormous amount of damage, drawn more cards than you know what to do with, and floated a ton of mana, allowing you to keep "going off" until everybody around you is in ashes.
Note: If your opponent uses an instant speed removal spell while Worldgorger Dragon's exiling trigger is on the stack, you could be left with zero permanents. If you fear that this may be the case, simply skip finding Worldgorger Dragon, and instead find the other six dragons in this order: Dragonstorm 1: Scourge of Valkas (1 damage) Dragonstorm 2: Bogardan Hellkite (2 + 5 additional damage) Dragonstorm 3: Voracious Dragon, devouring Bogardan Hellkite (2 additional damage) Dragonstorm 4: Bladewing the Risen, returning Bogardan Hellkite (3 + 4 + 5 additional damage) Dragonstorm 5: Knollspine Dragon (5 additional damage, then discard your hand and draw cards equal to damage dealt) Dragonstorm 6: Predator Dragon, devouring your board and attacking for 14+
(I have to run off to work. I will update this thread with more detail when I have the chance ^_^)
I liked your article on SCG. Could you describe which changes you would make when taking the deck to the next event?
I'll admit that I'm not great at tuning decks. I can come up with some pretty good ideas, but when it comes down to trying to fix specific numbers or cards, that's not my area of expertise. I might change the Sword of Feast and Famine - it was too clunky and I'd usually just want Batterskull or Jitte. Also, Sylvan Library didn't do much, but I only had a miser's copy so it's hard to say.
Do you think the the regular GW version is on par with yours? Do you think the blank splash gave you a big advantage at this event? So cool to have a maverick in the top 8 of something!
Deathrite Shaman is pretty busted, so that's a pretty good reason to splash black. Also, access to Engineered Plague and Abrupt Decay are nice, but by no means critical. Having Thoughtseize/Duress feels like it improves the combo matchups, though mana is definitely a consideration. It's been a while since I played a straight G/W version, so I can't say for sure, but I think Deathrite pushes the black splash over the top.
It's worth noting that a Bant deck also top 8'd the event, which has a number of similarities to Maverick. Definitely happy to see Knight of the Reliquary back and performing well
I see you swapped out the Dark Confidants, despite doing well with them in the past. Can you speak to that a little?
I'm also wondering your thoughts on Thoughtseize. You had duress before, did they make a significant difference? Tubanator (just above) shared that seize wasn't the fit for him.
Dark Confidant can be a bit of a liability against aggro decks and he's harder to cast than Stoneforge Mystic. Additionally, the deck has a legitimate mana curve so you end up taking a nontrivial amount of damage from Bob. I think the most important thing is that Bob makes it so that you want to get a black source early, putting you more vulnerable to Wasteland because you are stretching your mana base. I'm not 100% sure that Stoneforge is better, but I've been liking it more.
Honestly, Duress is probably better than Thoughtseize. The damage is sometimes relevant, and for the most part you don't care about creatures if your opponent is playing fair. However, I've had situations (when playing with other decks) against S+T where I need Thoughtseize instead of either Duress or Inquisition. Another note: if you're playing Toughtseize, you probably want to play Stoneforge Mystic over Dark Confidant.
That, and the fact that I don't own Thoughtseizes but had the opportunity to borrow them for the weekend
Sensei's Divining Top is probably the best card draw/filter your going to be able to get with out paying tons of life. I run two in my list and they work quite well with all the fetches and green sun's zeniths.
So… I dunno if you guys play legacy much but Knight of the Reliquary was a tier 1 card about a year ago but isn't seeing play now because of Deathrite Shaman. I haven't played in an event since about August (before RTR) so I don't have experience with the recent state of the format, but I really hope that this deck is capable of actually winning. With Jund doing so well, I figure Mother of Runes is staged for a comeback, and the black splash will hopefully help with my combo matchups.
I went 7-0-1 at the tournament, including going 14-0 in games. Ended up here looking for tech before this month's tourney on Sunday. Current planned changes are Godless Shrine -> Scrubland and Sylvan Library -> Mirri's Guile. Hopefully my list is helpful in this discussion.
edit: my matchups in the tournament were TES, Esper Stoneblade, TES, BUG planeswalkers, Burn, BUG (same guy), and Walking Dead
I added some information to what DonStamos said about the guildleaders and made one correction (the new names are copied from MaRo's twitter, so they should be spelled correctly).
EDIT: Removed the part that says that the Ghost Coulcil is now called Obzedat. It turns out that was always their name. Thanks for the correction, Prince Tristan.
Pretty sure that Savra was the guildleader after she killed half of the Sisters of Stone Death w/ Svogthir. She's certainly responsible for the Golgari's involvement with the Selesnya quietmen.
3 Given your deck's game plan, do you ever wish you had more blade splicers?
4 What matchups do you want the oblivion rings against?
5 Who is elixir of immortality against? Burn and control?
1) Tempered Steel is a really bad matchup, and any deck with Trinket Mage -> Grafdigger's cage after sideboarding is really tough. Wolf Run can be a tough matchup, but if you draw your clones it's not so bad. Also, Frites is just a really bad matchup because you can't stop them from landing Titan after Titan.
2) Yes, I go down to 2 5-drops. Often times after sideboarding I would have 3 between another Acidic Slime or a Precursor Golem. Sometimes only having the two targets is an issue, sometimes it's not. If you plan ahead with your play sequences, it shouldn't be too bad.
3) Blade Splicers are really really good. It's just hard to fit more in the deck... maybe take out a Garruk?
4) Oblivion Rings go in against almost everything, actually... It's not what you want against UB Control, but that's all I can think of. Maybe it should be in the main, I can't think of a matchup where I left them out.
5) Elixir Package is for any deck with burn spells or Geralf's Messenger. There are a lot of times where the board is stabilized but you can't actually gain life to get out of burn range, and that's what the Elixir is there for.
A storm is brewing...
(Disclaimer: This deck is listed as "Competitive" because some casual circles may not respond positively to a combo deck. This list is not optimized, and I intend on appending a section for those of you that have access to dual lands and cards like Vampiric Tutor)
1 Nicol Bolas
His Dragons
1 Scourge of Valkas
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Knollspine Dragon
1 Bladewing, the Risen
1 Worldgorger Dragon
1 Voracious Dragon
1 Predator Dragon
1 Mind's Desire
1 Epic Experiment
1 Dragonstorm
His Weapons
1 Time Spiral
1 Time Reversal
1 Firemind's Foresight
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Increasing Ambition
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Reforge the Soul
1 Past in Flames
His Tools
1 Lotus Petal
1 Dark Ritual
1 Cabal Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
1 Desperate Ritual
1 Seething Song
1 High Tide
1 Turnabout
1 Frantic Search
1 Arcane Melee
1 Goblin Electromancer
1 Omniscience
1 Increasing Ambition
1 Quicken
1 Sleight of Hand
1 Preordain
1 Ponder
1 Faithless Looting
1 See Beyond
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Compulsive Research
1 Mystic Retrieval
1 Read the Bones
1 Tolarian Winds
1 Brainstorm
1 Predict
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Tidings
1 Serum Visions
His Protection
1 Counterspell
1 Rushing River
1 Negate
1 Pact of Negation
1 Mana Leak
His Trinkets
1 Sol Ring
1 Izzet Signet
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Dimir Signet
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Reanimate
1 Brain Freeze
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Grapeshot
His Realms
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Blood Crypt
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Bad River
1 Rocky Tar Pit
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Command Tower
1 Crumbling Necropolis
3 Swamp
5 Mountain
15 Island
You should consider this deck if you...
... enjoy casting Dragonstorm. Who doesn't?
... enjoy the thrill of combo decks.
... want to draw many, many cards.
... prefer winning through means other than combat steps.
... love being the center of attention, for better or worse.
This deck isn't for you if you...
... only play clean, honest Magic.
... want to durdle for the sake of durdling.
... hate shuffling.
The Combo
Here's what you do in the ideal situation:
Cast Dragonstorm with a storm count of 6 or greater.
Dragonstorm resolves (6 remaining instances on the stack): Find Scourge of Valkas. Shoot an opponent for 1.
Dragonstorm resolves (5 remaining instances on the stack): Find Bogardan Hellkite, shooting an opponent for 5. Scourge of Valkas triggers, hitting somebody for 2.
Dragonstorm resolves (4 remaining instances on the stack): Find Knollspine Dragon. Scourge of Valkas triggers, hitting somebody for 3.
Dragonstorm resolves (3 remaining instances on the stack): Find Bladewing the Risen. Scourge of Valkas triggers, hitting somebody for 4.
Dragonstorm resolves (2 remaining instances on the stack): Find Worldgorger Dragon. Scourge of Valkas triggers, hitting somebody for 5. Float remaining mana, then Worldgorger Dragon triggers and you no longer have any permanents.
Dragonstorm resolves (1 remaining instances on the stack): Find Voracious Dragon, devouring Worldgorger Dragon. Your permanents return to the Battlefield (untapped!), including the 4 previous dragons. Each triggers Scourge of Valkas, dealing 4x5 damage. Bogardan Hellkite triggers, dealing 5 more damage. Bladewing the Risen triggers, targeting Worldgorger Dragon. Float mana, then Worldgorger Dragon returns to the battlefield, triggering Scourge of Valkas to deal 6 damage before exiling your battlefield again.
Dragonstorm resolves: Find Predator Dragon, devouring Worldgorger Dragon. Your permanents return to the battlefield (again), and each returning dragon triggers Scourge of Valkas, dealing 5x6 damage. Bogardan Hellkite deals 5 damage, and Knollspine Dragon finally triggers, allowing you to draw many, many cards. Decline Bladewing the Risen's trigger (fortunately, it is optional). At this point, you have dealt an enormous amount of damage, drawn more cards than you know what to do with, and floated a ton of mana, allowing you to keep "going off" until everybody around you is in ashes.
Note: If your opponent uses an instant speed removal spell while Worldgorger Dragon's exiling trigger is on the stack, you could be left with zero permanents. If you fear that this may be the case, simply skip finding Worldgorger Dragon, and instead find the other six dragons in this order:
Dragonstorm 1: Scourge of Valkas (1 damage)
Dragonstorm 2: Bogardan Hellkite (2 + 5 additional damage)
Dragonstorm 3: Voracious Dragon, devouring Bogardan Hellkite (2 additional damage)
Dragonstorm 4: Bladewing the Risen, returning Bogardan Hellkite (3 + 4 + 5 additional damage)
Dragonstorm 5: Knollspine Dragon (5 additional damage, then discard your hand and draw cards equal to damage dealt)
Dragonstorm 6: Predator Dragon, devouring your board and attacking for 14+
(I have to run off to work. I will update this thread with more detail when I have the chance ^_^)
I'll admit that I'm not great at tuning decks. I can come up with some pretty good ideas, but when it comes down to trying to fix specific numbers or cards, that's not my area of expertise. I might change the Sword of Feast and Famine - it was too clunky and I'd usually just want Batterskull or Jitte. Also, Sylvan Library didn't do much, but I only had a miser's copy so it's hard to say.
Deathrite Shaman is pretty busted, so that's a pretty good reason to splash black. Also, access to Engineered Plague and Abrupt Decay are nice, but by no means critical. Having Thoughtseize/Duress feels like it improves the combo matchups, though mana is definitely a consideration. It's been a while since I played a straight G/W version, so I can't say for sure, but I think Deathrite pushes the black splash over the top.
It's worth noting that a Bant deck also top 8'd the event, which has a number of similarities to Maverick. Definitely happy to see Knight of the Reliquary back and performing well
Dark Confidant can be a bit of a liability against aggro decks and he's harder to cast than Stoneforge Mystic. Additionally, the deck has a legitimate mana curve so you end up taking a nontrivial amount of damage from Bob. I think the most important thing is that Bob makes it so that you want to get a black source early, putting you more vulnerable to Wasteland because you are stretching your mana base. I'm not 100% sure that Stoneforge is better, but I've been liking it more.
Honestly, Duress is probably better than Thoughtseize. The damage is sometimes relevant, and for the most part you don't care about creatures if your opponent is playing fair. However, I've had situations (when playing with other decks) against S+T where I need Thoughtseize instead of either Duress or Inquisition. Another note: if you're playing Toughtseize, you probably want to play Stoneforge Mystic over Dark Confidant.
That, and the fact that I don't own Thoughtseizes but had the opportunity to borrow them for the weekend
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=55299
Currently writing an article for SCG about it, should go up late this week.
Mirri's Guile Sylvan Library
Whenever an opponent plays Top on me, I feel like I just got a free Stone Rain
Ah, crap, I apologize for bumping an old/dead thread >_<
I went 7-0-1 at the tournament, including going 14-0 in games. Ended up here looking for tech before this month's tourney on Sunday. Current planned changes are Godless Shrine -> Scrubland and Sylvan Library -> Mirri's Guile. Hopefully my list is helpful in this discussion.
edit: my matchups in the tournament were TES, Esper Stoneblade, TES, BUG planeswalkers, Burn, BUG (same guy), and Walking Dead
Turn 5: Mutilate.
gg lol.
Pretty sure that Savra was the guildleader after she killed half of the Sisters of Stone Death w/ Svogthir. She's certainly responsible for the Golgari's involvement with the Selesnya quietmen.
Oh man, I just finished reading the original Ravnica trilogy. They better give Feather a card, most interesting character in the books, imo.
Doesn't look good for her though >_<
1) Tempered Steel is a really bad matchup, and any deck with Trinket Mage -> Grafdigger's cage after sideboarding is really tough. Wolf Run can be a tough matchup, but if you draw your clones it's not so bad. Also, Frites is just a really bad matchup because you can't stop them from landing Titan after Titan.
2) Yes, I go down to 2 5-drops. Often times after sideboarding I would have 3 between another Acidic Slime or a Precursor Golem. Sometimes only having the two targets is an issue, sometimes it's not. If you plan ahead with your play sequences, it shouldn't be too bad.
3) Blade Splicers are really really good. It's just hard to fit more in the deck... maybe take out a Garruk?
4) Oblivion Rings go in against almost everything, actually... It's not what you want against UB Control, but that's all I can think of. Maybe it should be in the main, I can't think of a matchup where I left them out.
5) Elixir Package is for any deck with burn spells or Geralf's Messenger. There are a lot of times where the board is stabilized but you can't actually gain life to get out of burn range, and that's what the Elixir is there for.