So my friends have decided that they wouldn't play anymore 1v1s and stick with just 2v2, 2v2v2, 3v3, and basic multiplayer free for all. I for one don't like this way of play since your intentions are unfocused and people tend to gang up on the biggest threat. But as this is my play group, I have no choice but to participate. Being the 1v1 enthusiast that I am, I run a deck that's basically a mono white mix of war of attrition and caw blade with a playset of mirran crusaders and all 3 SoM swords as my win condition. This makes me an instant threat from turn one, even without anything, I'm still first out. Now I wanna start enjoying these games or I'll eventually just straight up leave the game because of my favourite aspect getting ruined (1v1), so if anyone has any suggestions on good decks for multiplayer, that would be rly rly appreciated!! If you could provide a sample list too if you're able to but just a few key cards in the deck would be nice. Thanks for your time and thanks in advance for the help!
So let's say I had xenograft out and called zombie, and had rooftop storm out. Does this mean that all my creatures are free since they're all zombies?
Alright, will do. Just got rid of my invisible stalkers in exchange for some 3 revoke existences and 1 buried ruin. Gonna playtest with my friends in an hour or so. I'll get back to you guys on how it works.
Woah now, don't get hasty, no-one said you ought to cut the Crusaders. Crusader with a Sword is way, way scarier than Stalker with Sword. Look at it this way: with SoWoP equipped Crusader has protection from every colour except blue. When he connects he'll do 8 combat damage, plus damage equal to twice the number of cards in hand, and you'll gain a bunch of life. Double Strike is insane. Honestly if anything cut the Stalkers. Hawks, Crusaders and Mystics are all way better.
As for the counterspells and other control cards, I suppose it depends what kind of decks you tend to play against. Counterspell really does get everything, which is great. Spell Pierce is very strong early game, but begins to lose effectiveness if games go long (like Mana Leak). It is decent at forcing your way through opponents countermagic, or punishing people for tapping out for Plainswalkers. Spell Snare is very popular in Legacy control decks, because so many absurd cards cost two (Goyf, SFM, Dark Confidant, the list be long). You'd probably get lots of disagreement from others on this forum but I like Memory Lapse. The 1B cost is mana-base friendly like Leak, and forcing them to draw the same card can be cruel if you have more counters for the second attempt. In that way I suppose it's similar to Remand which people generally prefer. Cryptic Command is incredible, but so is it's price-tag. Power Sink is very interesting because the opponent has to tap mana to pay for it, even if they don't have enough. This can be useful to prevent tricks during your turn.
You don't need to run just counters for control either. The O-Rings are great, I just wouldn't play four, especially in a deck with filtering (Ponder, Brainstorm etc.). More Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile would be nice, they are sooo efficient. If you play against lots of creature-rush decks a couple Wrath of God or Day of Judgment would probably be a good call.
To be honest, I've never played a Caw-Blade deck, Standard or otherwise, so I'm making these suggestions based on what I've seen of others' and what I know of control decks in general. Caw-Blade doesnt actually play like a regular control deck though, so there are probably things I'm missing.
Hmm, never rly thought of that. I guess since none of my friends run blue, I guess the crusader's pro 4 color is A LOT better than stalker's hexproof and unblockability. I'll have to playtest that though. So here's the revised deck list:
To explain myself,Gitaxian Probe is a threat detection and a draw for 1 mana or 2 life which drives my Timely Reinforcements. Surgical Extraction is there for those pesky 4-of's of the things that piss me off like fog or naturalize. My sideboard has stuff to deal with resolved creatures since I play against creature-based annoyances, Invisible Stalker just to have that option of switching him with Mirran Crusader, and the Elixir of Immortality so I can recur my lost swords if I don't manage to salvage them.
I'm inexperienced with counter spells so what are some good cheap counter spells that would be solid. I'm probably gonna run a sword of feast and famine if I can get my buddy to trade it to me which I'll probably get. If the sword of feast and famine makes a difference, what other counter spells can I run other than mana leak and counterspell?
Corrupted Conscience. My friends are always like "Why do you run that? Why not just run Control Magic? It's cheaper and is essentially the same thing?" Well I love Corrupted Conscience 'cause it gives me an alternative win condition against life-gainers and a clutch against people with unblockable clocks I can "corrupt".
So I decided to resurrect caw blade. So I kinda need help with the build so please give your advice on what to add, what to remove, what to change, what's good in the deck. Thanks in advance!
So let's say I'm playing a 3 vs 3 team battle where each team shares a 60 life pool. Now let's say I deal 3 damage with my squadron hawk with sword of war and peace equipped. When my sword's ability triggers, does it count each opponent's hand and total all opponents' hands to determine the damage dealt?
So let's say I use a phyrexian rebirth and put out a 5/5 token. My opponent then uses an aether adept to bounce my token into my hand. What happens to my token?
So let's say my friend attacks with his Cudgel Troll (4/3) and regenerates it, and I choose to block with my Priests of Norn (1/4) with Viridian Claw (+1/+0 first strike). Since my Priest deals damage first in form of -1/-1 counters, does that mean that his troll is reduced from a 4/3 to a 2/1? or does the regenerate kick in, negating my -1/-1 counters?
So I decided to help my buddy Mark start off in Magic. He understands how to play the game and how to play it effectively since I've been testing my decks against my decks with him, and he does extremely well, but he's never had a real interest in building decks. So to get him to start building his own decks since most people are now just netdecking, I decided that I would give him all my green cards (minus mythics and prized rares) since green is probably the easiest to start with, and decided to build him 1 deck to start with. I made the deck as simple as I could so it's still competitive but easy to understand. It's a mono-green evasion deck since he really likes the whole idea of evasion and since he asked me a while ago if I could give him my flying deck.
I'm pretty sure he's not into that 100 card singleton format since he's always asking me if I have 4-of's and 3-of's so he can build something consistent. My local game shop only has this duel deck set but I'll probably check if they have graveborn.
Off to the multiplayer forum with you. ~parinoid
Hmm, never rly thought of that. I guess since none of my friends run blue, I guess the crusader's pro 4 color is A LOT better than stalker's hexproof and unblockability. I'll have to playtest that though. So here's the revised deck list:
2 Buried Ruin
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Arcane Sanctuary
5 Island
5 Plains
Creatures
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Mirran Crusader
Spells
1 Surgical Extraction
4 Preordain
4 Arcane Denial
4 Mana Leak
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Timely Reinforcements
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Sword of War and Peace
4 Journey To Nowhere
4 Condemn
4 Invisible Stalker
3 Elixir of Immortality
To explain myself,Gitaxian Probe is a threat detection and a draw for 1 mana or 2 life which drives my Timely Reinforcements. Surgical Extraction is there for those pesky 4-of's of the things that piss me off like fog or naturalize. My sideboard has stuff to deal with resolved creatures since I play against creature-based annoyances, Invisible Stalker just to have that option of switching him with Mirran Crusader, and the Elixir of Immortality so I can recur my lost swords if I don't manage to salvage them.
4 Mountain
5 Forest
4 Rootbound Crag
2 Clifftop Retreat
Creatures
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Kird Ape
4 Loam Lion
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Woolly Thoctar
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate
4 Journey to Nowhere
4 Violent Outburst
Planeswalker
1 Ajani Vengeant
Any suggestions?
For those pesky zoo players with their goyfs and their knight of the reliquarys.
-3 Timely Reinforcements
-1 or 2 Oblivion Ring
-4 Mirran Crusader
+4 Counterspell?
+? More counters ?
I'm inexperienced with counter spells so what are some good cheap counter spells that would be solid. I'm probably gonna run a sword of feast and famine if I can get my buddy to trade it to me which I'll probably get. If the sword of feast and famine makes a difference, what other counter spells can I run other than mana leak and counterspell?
1 Buried Ruin
1 Treva's Ruins
4 Arcane Sanctuary
9 Island
9 Plains
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Mirran Crusader
4 Invisible Stalker
Spells
4 Preordain
4 Mana Leak
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Sword of War and Peace
20 Forest
Creatures
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Garruk's Companion
3 Dryad Sophisticate
4 Cudgel Troll
1 Troll Ascetic
1 Thrun, The Last Troll
1 Duskdale Wurm
4 Fog
4 Respite
4 Giant Growth
2 Muscle Burst
3 Tower Above
4 Treetop Bracers
2 Spider Climb
So any thoughts? Advice? Anything to add? Remove? Change?