MTG Salvation

I think I need to start using Volt Charge instead of Brimstone Volley. Still on the fence about it, but seeing two top 8 decks running them, with one winner? I'm starting to be convinced.

My true problem with this is that you are upping the mana curve if you are running both Brimstone Volley and Volt Charge at 3 CMC and removing Incinerate at 2 CMC. If you replace 1 to 1, you have 13 2's and 10 3's, which might slow you down a bit against another aggro deck like tokens.

I've never had much luck with Volt Charge, personally, and I like having the option to have a lot of smaller cost burn later in a game to direct damage for a good amount or board clear to attack. Having both Volley and Charge doesn't leave you a lot of room to play other cards if you need to use them, esp only running 20 land.

Honestly I'm against the replacement choice, and would consider swapping Volley instead of Incinerate.

I honestly like having both MB (2 Arc 3 Incin) for the versatility when I don't know what I'm playing. I never play burn to the face unless jumping Shrine with extras, so it's mostly a judgement call for game two whether or not I SB in more Arc or the extra Incin. My meta is quite dynamic, but if you know who you are going to face, I'd lean more towards Incinerate just for the 3 vs. 2 damage. I run Shocks though, so mileage may vary.

Four Rounds.

Match 1: Vs. Mono-Black Infect. (1-2)

Game One: Misplayed. He had Skithryx on the field at 5 life. I had a Brimstone Volley. Burned Skith for 5, forgetting regenerate.
SB: -3 Brimstone Volley. +2 Arc Trail +1 Incinerate.
Game Two: I controlled his 1/1's and he never drew Skith.
SB: No change.
Game Three: Mulligan to 5. He gets Skith before I have a chance to build up Shrine.

He's a friend of mine and just built this deck after dismantling his Tempered Steel Deck (which hated him for 2 weeks). He played well, but I know I could have beat him. He got second place ahead of me going 3-1.

Match 2: Vs. Werewolf RG. (2-1)
Game One: I outpaced him while Arc Trailing Mayor/Waif.
SB: -2 Arc Trail. +1 Brimstone Volley +1 Incinerate.
Game Two: Got outpaced by Terror of Kruin Pass.
SB: -2 Volley -2 Incinerate. +4 Arc Trail.
Game Three: This was close. I managed to out burn his drops to the point where his Mayor could not flip and killed him with 2 Stromkirk Noble.

This kid was very full of himself, and very sore when I beat him. He played correctly, but kept ribbing his buddy when he did something to get ahead of me. I was glad to beat him.

Match 3: Vs. Mono-White Humans. (2-1)
Game One: I was expecting tokens. I was mistaken. I still beat him by not letting Champion build up. He did get a Hero out though.
SB: -3 Volley -1 Incinerate. +2 Arc Trail +2 Combust.
Game Two: Quick Hero killed me.
SB: No Change.
Game Three: He didn't get Hero out and I swarmed him with Spikeshot, 2 Berserker, and a Noble.

He was a new player, just getting into Magic. I gave him a few tips and explained everything that went on. He was older than me, but only by a year or two. I wasn't surprised I won, but at the same time this was a great match.

Match 4: Vs. RBW Planeswalkers. (2-0)
Game One: I wanted to beat him. I hadn't beat him yet in 2 months. He runs 4 creatures. I killed his Chandra quickly and attacked into 2 Solemn Simulacrum to Morbid Volley for win.
SB: -2 Arc Trail -1 Incinerate. +2 Devil's Play +1 Brimstone Volley.
Game Two: He drew no Planeswalkers. I quickly bum rushed him for the win.

He's the Judge. I don't know why he plays this deck. He's really good, and I suspect if he want to he could be 4-0 every week if he wanted too, but handicaps himself with the deck. Still, it felt really good to beat him finally, esp. after losing the week before (I don't know why I SB'd Geistflame).

Hey all. I've been running this deck for three weeks now. First week: 2-2. Second Week: 2-2 with a top 8. Last week: 3-1 Third. I apologize now for the Wall of Text that follows.



My Current Meta (from what I know and have played, changed a lot within two weeks):

1 RBW Planeswalker deck. I've played this deck enough to know how he plays it. I beat him for the first time last week 2-0. Judge of our FNM. SB out Arc Trail and Shocks for Devil's Play, Volley, Slagstorm and Incinerate.

3 Illusions. 1 happens to be a friend of mine (who I test with extensively, and I feel bad that I beat him easily after he's made changes to his deck) and he's mono-blue with white for Moorland Haunt (decklist is posted on the worst matchup thread). 1 is UW now with Haunt and O Ring. The last I haven't played. SB Incinerate and Volley for Arc Trail and Slagstorm.

3 RG. 2 Wolf Run Ramp, I think 1 is Dungrove and the other is just ramp. If I remember I beat the ramp deck with a RW deck, but have not played him with this one. 1 Werewolves. I beat the Werewolf deck easily. Haven't played the other two yet. Against Werewolf SB Arc Trail for Incinerate and Volley (Instant speed).

2 GW. 1 Kemba (Newish player), 1 Tokens (Started 3 weeks ago). Two weeks ago the Kemba deck handed me my butt. Last week I stomped the token deck (though it did go to game three on a bad draw). Token SB Volley and 1 Fireslinger for Slagstorm and Arc Trail.

1 GU. He had the GW Tokens deck above. I have not played this deck yet.

1 Mono Black Infect. Friend of mine. I could have beat him, but I misplayed twice and he came in second ahead of me last week. Misplay: Forgot Skithryx had Regenerate. SB Volley for Arc Trail and Incinerate (It would have worked).

2 UW Control. 1 is Geistblade, and I have a hard time with him because he honestly is a better player than I, but haven't faced him with this deck. Other I haven't faced.

1 Tempered Steel. Really good player. Used to be 2, but my friend went Mono Black Infect. I haven't played the last TS, but I want to see how I would fare.

1 GBU Graveyard Deck. This is a weird deck. It doesn't run Ooze, but any other card that has graveyard dependent P/T he has. I beat him two weeks ago. Didn't see him last week.

1 RW. New guy. I haven't played him, but I don't think his deck is a threat to me at all, as my Illusions friend beat him easily, and it normally is a bad matchup.

1 Mono-White Humans. This, too, was an odd deck, but not as odd as GUB. Newer player, gave him a few tips and a taste of what speed really is. SB... don't remember.

1 Mono-Black Zombies. Hasn't been around for a few weeks since she kept going 0-4. I feel bad, but at the same time, it was a weak deck.

There are 2 others. One I have no clue what he's playing. The other is a kid who came in with an illegal deck who played a spare mono-red that someone had built (was not optimal).

Yeah, it exploded this past week after only having 8 four weeks ago. I honestly don't know why.

Sideboard Thoughts: I'd board in Koth and Devil's Play against much slower decks, but my meta right now is quite fast.

So anyway, my questions are:

I am getting 4 Gut Shot in two weeks. Should I replace Shock for them, or something else?

Dismember is too expensive for me. Is Combust a good sub against Hero of Bladehold?

Should I replace the 2 of Fireslingers for some burn from my SB, and what should go into my SB?

Should I find another Phoenix? Spikeshot? Lavamancer?

Trade Ghost Quarter with Wolf Run? I don't like the idea myself, but maybe 1 for 1.

Thank you all, and again, I apologize for the wall of text. I just feel like if I gave you my meta (to the best of my ability) it would help show you my thought process for the cards I run better.

I only ever had trouble with Tempered Steel when my friend pulled out a Bladehold. Otherwise I never let him have his important creatures (Pest, Skirge, Champ) or Metalcraft for too long. Heck, before he dismantled it I had 4 Grudges in SB, now I have 3 for sword decks, and I have Rootbound Crag MD with a single Wolf Run. I mull if I have no Mountains, which doesn't happen often.

1. I didn't worry too much about TS itself.
2. Dispatch is a pain with Metalcraft, but if he doesn't get it, what will he do?
3. Turn 1 Burn. Strategically remove unwanted guests. Shock/GBlast/Gut Shot. Follow up with Berserker.

TS is not hard to deal with if you splash Green for flashing Grudge. Just pray he doesn't pull a 5 creature turn 1.

@Raygun

Don't forget Hero of Bladehold if you don't run dismembers.

Quite honestly, I believe our worst matchup is anything involving tokens. A friend of mine is running both U/W Humans and G/W Tokens, and even without the deck being 100% complete they wipe the floor with me because either he resolves Hero and I don't have a shrine/devil's play/dismember or he Timely's into a Ratchet bomb as soon as I have built up. It's quite annoying.

Also, it's not that Illusions are difficult to beat. We are their worst matchup, and my friend's deck has not been kind to him lately. However, it appears that most Illusions players forget that it is a control deck. When Illusions does beat me, it's on turn 4 and 5 when he drops both a Lord and Image'd Lord on 4, then a Dragon on 5 as a 7/7 Flying Hexproof, or with 2-4 Hexproof 5/5 Bears, and the point of the deck is to pull this off. The matchup forces you to be careful with your mana after turn three and play slower than normal.

What I still want to test: 4 Gut Shot MD instead of Shock. Coming in two weeks.
Reasons:
Singleton Kessig Wolf Run: Something to do with Rootbound Crag if I happen to pull one. I've won games with it so I don't want to change it.
Ghost Quarter: Meta has a lot of Inkmoth, and I don't feel like wasting SB slots on another Grudge. Also good against Moorland Haunt, which is prevalent.
Combust: Hero of Bladehold. Pure card hate.
Goblin Fireslinger: It's another way to get turn 2 Berserker.
Singleton Incinerate and Brimstone Volley: If I'm not playing against tokens or small drops.
Rootbound Crag vs. Copperline Gorge: Money, I have none.

This may be only because of my local meta, but even before he started making changes, my friend and I were going 50/50 when I was running Goblins. He runs Mono-Blue Illusions.



I cannot remember how my deck was, but it ran well otherwise.

If any of you have been following the Illusions primer, you know that there are a lot of changes being made. Specifically, adding 4 Snapcaster Mages and removing 1 of each counter in response, adding Gitaxian Probe and Gut Shot main deck for draw and removal, and removing the automatons. My friend specifically is adding 2 Redirect to the sideboard for RDW and Hexproof w/ removal decks. There's also discussion of splashing white for Moorland Haunt to help with blockers, bringing in Delver of Secrets as a second turn threat.

His original deck kept up with, and sometimes outpaced, my goblins deck. He outpaces TS, other RDW, and WRR. My local meta calls is Blue Deck Wins for how fast it builds, and I know the Primer group is looking to make the deck tournament worthy. I think it's close.

This will definitely be a deck to look out for.

Example New Illusions Deck:



Edited for clarity in changes and deck for reflection.

Gideon is a beast for removal and fast attack that can avoid sweepers.

But anyways.

1) 3 MB Temblors? With all of the others? This could be alone why you're losing. I'd cut for an Elspeth and 2 Gideon. Good for SB vs. Temp Steel though.

2) 3 Roc Egg? That's unnecessary. Definitely take it at least one out for maybe an Oblivion Ring, because

3) 3 Oblivion Ring just doesn't work. Play 4.

4) Destiny, destiny, destiny. No one else should cut it. I just got bored and wanted to test. Play 3.

5) Problems with aggro? PROBLEMS WITH AGGRO!? Good joke! Why would I have a problem with aggro. Shut down their early game. Period.

6) I have a problem with you not running Sylvok Lifestaff. That card is really amazing on a Perilous Myr or especially on a Doomed Traveler as not only do you gain 6 life, but the flying token just got its power doubled.

I hope this helps.

Ok, taking the suggestions into consideration, this is what I will be running tonight:



Only running 1 Gideon cause I only have 1, and I'm going to try to obtain another OB before FNM starts. Thoughts?

Hello all. I started actually playing Magic on the release of Core 2012, but I've known about the game, it's rules, and the ridiculousness of it all since 1994 when my friends started playing. I was too busy at the time exploring video games and being a kid to really get into it. Fast forward to today, at 22 years old, in college, I'm starting to (gasp) get bored of just playing video games. I tried doing computer science to get into game design, but I'm not a good programmer. I like playing board games and have a modest collection, but rarely have time or people to play with. I'm exploring every different type of game out there, and I've finally come around (or back around if you consider the few times I played with my Pokemon cards when I was young) to card games. Magic always looked fun, so the night my friend asked me to join him in a draft for the M12 release, I said sure. I've been hooked ever since (which is normal for me, honestly. Happened with video games, WoW, Eve, and my current girlfriend, as well as a ton of bands I like).

Anyway, currently I'm playing FNM at my local shop near school, and got a few of my friends into it. I'm running a RW control deck (linked in sig), I was playing RDW before Innistrad (and want to rebuild it after I figure out this latest deck), and have generally had my butt handed to me every week. I'm still trying though (and that last win most weeks tells me I'm at least doing something right).

So. Yeah. That's me. Hello.

I don't know if this is just my friend killing me or my deck just not being optimized properly or me just not playing properly, but the whole time I've been playing this deck, I either have not won but come close, or been completely wiped off the board.

Note: Friends of mine are guys from my college whose decks I've played many many times.

Decks I've played against:

Mono-Blue Aggro (Illusions and Counters) - Friend of mine. Not that big of a threat unless he gets out Lord of Unreal and all of his bears quickly, or a large Phantasmal Dragon at the end. A timely Day or Elspeth works wonders.

Tempered Steel (Hero, Inkmoth, Spellskite) - Friend of mine. He's been killing me the past few days, even with Divine Offering and Rolling Tremblor. Turn three deaths are common, and now he's running spot removal with Galvanic Blast as well, which wouldn't be a problem until he waits for the bird to come. Thinking about Urgent Exorcisms for TS removal, but not sure how the SB would look.

Geist-Blade - 0-2. This was before I had Divine Offerings in the SB. Came close every first turn, but second turn decimated me.

Mono-Blue Control (Illusions) - Went 1-2, with the win coming from and overpowered Wurmcoil + Batterskull + Angelic. Otherwise he milled me or out-countered me.

Mono-Black Reanimator Zombies (Geth, Cemetery Reaper) - 2-1, Perfect final game. The game I lost was because of mulling down to 4 just to get Mountain, Clifftop, Plains, Slag, and didn't draw anything else.

Other Decks in the meta-game that I know of:

BWR Planeswalkers Control - Karn, Sorin, Chandra. No Creatures that I've seen, but all of my friends (Mono-Blue Aggro and Galvanic Steel) have died to this guy. What I'm worried about is dealing with the Walkers quickly enough and not having enough removal for them.

Tempered Steel (Traditional + Infect SB) - Not as worried, since I've been playing against my friend, but again I'm slightly worried about removal.

I think there's a self-mill deck and an invisiblade too, but I haven't played them.

Next two were just my buddy back home playing his decks he's been crafting. He doesn't actually play in my meta, but he scared me enough to post them here.

Mono-Green Dungrove Ramp - 0-5. Turn 1 Land and Elves, Turn 2 Land Elves, Turn Three Land Solemn Land, Turn Four Dungrove. I never got a Ring. He killed me with Carnage Wurms twice (hit me, bloodthirst a second). He'd have at least 6 forests by turn 5 consistently.

Blue Bringback Infect - 1-4. You would think unblockable would be fine. Unblighted Agent, Inkmoth, Phyrexian Juggernaut. I beat him only when he could not get his agents back out through a Surgical Extraction. I also wasn't using Divine Offerings here, but I think if I had them I still would lose 2-3 because he played so quickly.

Here is my deck currently:



Bonds of Faith are temporary as I was testing them (against the Galvanic Steel). They didn't really work against this deck but I think they could against others (that aren't hexproof). I'm thinking about trying to find more Batterskulls and Elspeths, as well as another OB and DoJ, getting rid of the Wurmcoils and Doomed Travelers, but I still need creatures. I also think Timely Reinforcements would be quite useful.

Honestly, when outside of FNM, I've been killing every other deck. RDW, Spirits, Zombies, Werewolves, Illusions, Control, Combo. I know this deck is killer. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Any thoughts?

Also questions for the Maker (all questions are serious inquiry for learning):
Why have you put Gideon in the deck?
How does having only 4 drawable creatures affect your early game, and do you ever run into trouble with much faster decks?
How do you deal with large creatures besides praying for DoJ or OB with all your opponent's mana tapped?
Why did you take out Destiny after first lauding it as the win condition?

P.S. I've only been playing since this past summer (when M12 came out). It just may be that I'm inexperienced.

Add-On:

Azure Mage + Silver Myr + Psychosis Crawler.

Set up combo turns 1-3.

Turn 4: Azure Mage, Silver Myr, Infinite Mana Combo for Blue, Draw until you get Psychosis Crawler, play Psychosis Crawler, draw rest of deck (playing each Psychosis Crawler immediately to up damage output), deal 20 (or so) direct damage. Win.

New Add-on: Azure Mage + Laboratory Maniac + Silver Myr.
Turn 1: Forest, Birds of Paradise
Turn 2: Land, Palladium Myr
Turn 3: Land, Myr Galvanizer x 2
Turn 4: Azure Mage, Silver Myr, Infinite Mana Combo for Blue Mana, Draw Entire Deck with Azure Mage, Laboratory Maniac. Win.

The only reason I'm not playing Gideon is no one is trading him and I can't really buy cards.

I like playing with Wurmcoil Engines, however I'm thinking about sideboarding them in favor of another Elspeth and Batterskull.

Also, I'm running Tremblor vs. Whipflare in the main deck because there is a lot of Tempered Steel in my meta still, so that's more of a local thing I guess.

Also, using Wurmcoil Engines instead of Rage Throwers at the moment, and I like the Engines better, but still play with RT's in sideboard.

I'll edit with current deck when I have it in front of me.