Today is a double feature. I haven't posted for a while, so I'll cover two decks.
1) Like an Eagle.
What is this?
I was looking at decks I have seen played in tournaments, based on color.
W: Lifegain / White Weenie
U: Nothing (Though I do have Wheel of Fish)
R: RDW
G: Eldrazi Green
B: Vampires
WU: Control
WR: Boros
WG: Tokens
WB: Nothing, really
UR: Pyromancer's Ascension / Runeflare Trap
UG: Nothing
UB: Crypt
And that is where my list stopped. That is where I decided that Crypt was lame, and I wanted to make something different; I wanted UB Aggro. When looking through the colors for creatures, I found Vampire Nighthawk and a few good flyers in Blue. So, I decided that UB Flyers made a lot of sense.
It was a simple matter to add in red so I could have Sedraxis Specter, one of the best flyers for 3 or less I could find. So, now it is Grixis Aggro, aka Grixis Flyers, aka Like an Eagle.
1) Tidehollow Strix: Probably the most underwhelming card in the deck. Considering dropping it for 2 more removal (that's what a small deathtouch guy turns into) and 2 Dragonmaster Outcast, but since this is an aggro deck, I don't believe in turn 6 and 7.
2) Esper Stormblade: The most unorthodox choice for the deck. Still, a 3/2 flyer for 2? Nice. Works well with an unearthed Sedraxis Specter.
3) Sedraxis Specter: Speak of the devil. We like the card discard, but coupled with a 3/2 flyer makes him really nice. Plus, unearth for more beats.
4) Parasitic Strix: Kinda like Hell's Thunder if you have a black permanent, which is all your other creatures. Also, 2 life gain and repeated beats make him better.
5) Vampire Nighthawk: Obviously, the best 3-cost flyer in standard right now.
6) Wind Zendikon: Been considering dropping it down a few, but it is nice. You never play it turn 1, but on 3 or 4, it becomes a 2/2 flyer for 1.
7) Earthquake: The best red sweeper, plus, it never hits your guys.
8) Agony Warp: Similar to Urge to Feed, but better for this deck since we have some deathtouch guys. They swing with 2 guys, you -0/-3 one to kill it, -3/-0 the other so it does no damage, and block it with deathtouch, or anything big enough.
9) Soul Manipulation: Counterspells? In my aggro deck? It's more likely than you think. Mid-to-late game, it stops Jund's bomb, control's bomb, or Junk's Baneslayer. Plus, it gets back a creature they removal-ed.
10) Bituminous Blast: Sure, we don't hit as much goodness as Jund does, but cascade is always good.
Time For Questions!
But, why aren't you using...
1) Lightning Bolt?
Honestly, it hasn't worked out so well. Considered losing some Zendikons for Bolts, but I aggro better than I remove.
2) Blightning?
It's not a mid-range deck, and Blightning is a mid-range card.
3) Abyssal Persecutor?
I don't have enough removal (that is, I have no removal that can kill it), and it would require a complete change in the deck's structure.
Should I play this deck at a tournament?
Sure, why not? It plays really well, and has promise, though it's not Tier 1. It's just that, since no one expects flyers, it gets some good wins.
OK, on to deck 2.
2) Ed Deck Wins
What is This?
OK, this is just a silly name for Vampires. It is so named since I have a foil Sorin Markov, which is the closest thing to Edward Cullen I could find. He was in the deck for a while, but now he's not. Either way, I didn't want to call it Vampires, or Twilight.dec, or anything normal. So, I went with Ed Deck Wins.
1) Bloodghast: Being debated in the main Vampire board as to it's usefulness, since we now have Calcite Snapper to block him all day. Still, repeating damage is pretty cool. Also, he is a great thing to discard when you get Blightning'd.
2) Vampire Hexmage: I like him. Still, when I get a hold of Kalastria Highborn, I'll try those out. Though, whenever I've played, I don't usually have extra mana for Highborn.
3) Gatekeeper of Malakir: Removal and a creature. 2-for-1 city.
4) Vampire Nighthawk: I saw a Vampire build without this guy, and I cried a little inside. It's the best stand-alone Vampire available.
5) Vampire Nocturnus: The reason Vampires beats so much. You need 4, or else.
6) Malakir Bloodwitch: Not exactly necessary, but it's nice when you lose your Nocturnus.
7) Urge to Feed: This spot used to be Disfigure, but this guy is so totally awesome.
8) Grim Discovery: Used to be Sign in Blood, but Grim Discovery basically guarantees you a land and a creature, and you don't lose 2 life.
9) Tendrils of Corruption: Damage and lifegain? Total awesome.
10) Mind Sludge: The reason Vampires wins. You drop one on turn 5/6, and anyone holding control elements will be in trouble.
Time For Questions!
Why did you pick this top-tier deck?
Because Jund can go home to Mama, and Control is too expensive.
Should I play this at a tournament?
Heck yeah. It's that good.
I have just one more question...
Stop. Why haven't you built this deck yet?
OK, I'm all done for today. Next time, it will be a shell for Epic Beatz.
OK, the link doesn't really help. You turn your Merfolk (aka Fish), and then they get nothing. YOU SO STUPID!!!!!
Ahem. Sorry about that.
So, when I'm watching spoilers, I look at just about every new card, and see a deck. I saw Perimeter Captain, and I made a wall deck. Mind you, the wall deck fails pretty hard-core, since a wall deck doesn't attack, and I might as well make Jacerator.
The reason I bring this up is that, when M10 hit, I saw a few nice cards that might have fit in to my Legacy Merfolk Mill deck. That deck was also subpar and in need of work. I saw some nice guys like Merfolk Sovereign, capable of pumping my guys if they ever had to block. I saw Cosi's Trickster, who, in a meta full of fetches and searching, could get huge fast.
And then I saw Lullmage Mentor. I knew, right then and there, that I needed to make a Standard deck with this guy. I mean, he makes guys, and he counters stuff. It's Doublestuff Oreos.
So, here's what I'm at. The deck probably won't change at all with Worldwake, due to all the terrible blue cards for this deck. I might put a few of the Thada Adel, Acquisitor in the SB, but that is it.
Still considering Traumatic Visions for early-game land get, and late game COUNTERSPELL!!!!!!!1!!!!!
OK, card breakdown.
WHAT ZAT DO? WHAT ZAT DO?
1) Cosi's Trickster - Not in here for it pumping itself, though it probably will with the fetches that are running around right now. No, this guy is in here as something to do on turn 1.
2) Merfolk Looter - This guy is one of the stars of the deck. He filters your deck, getting you that one card you need a little faster. Just, make sure you don't need all the cards in your hand already.
3) Lullmage Mentor - Makes the deck go. If you ever get 7 or more of him out (I've done it twice, though if you hit 4 of him, you're good), then you counter everything. It's a little weird.
4) Merfolk Sovereign - Once relegated to the sideboard, he has become indispensable. Not only is he full of pump, he allows you to aggro for a few turns and keep your opponent on their toes, or just win that way if they are getting screwed.
5) Clone - Better than Rite of Replication since it can copy shroud guys, like, say, Sphinx of Jwar Isle. Usually makes a copy of Lullmage Mentor, though I've copied a Baneslayer Angel to great effect.
6) Sphinx of Jwar Isle - If you are stalled out, this guy is how I win. 'Nuff said, natch.
7) Ponder - A supercharged, one-time-use, Merfolk Looter.
8) Into the Roil - Sometimes, you can't counter everything the first time, or a planeswalker is giving you trouble. Buh-bye.
9) Essence Scatter - Still iffy on which counterspell gets the MD spot. This guy is good vs all the creatures, but Negate will stop most of the stuff that wants to hit my guys. Even [CARD]Flashfreeze might be a good idea.
10) Cancel - Counters everything. A necessity.
11) Rite of Replication - Better than Clone because, late-game, I get 5 more guys. 5 more Lullmage Mentors, 5 more Malakir Bloodwitch, 5 more of any ally, it gets silly.
TIME FOR QUESTIONS!
If you want to build this deck,
1) and you want to play in a tourney...prepare to get beat. This is a casual deck, and one of the most annoying anyone will run into. It counters EVERTHING lategame. I mean EVERYTHING. If you play multiplayer and ally yourself with someone, feel free to counter their stuff, just to get more Merfolk tokens. However, the good decks will maul you.
2) and you want to spend more money...build UWr Control. It's better, but not as silly.
3) and want to spend less money...This deck is already pretty cheap. If you really want to be cheap, drop the Sphinx of Jwar Isle and put in more counterspell. I have won just as many times with Sphinx as I have with swinging 25 Merfolk tokens.
OK, I think that's all the information I can give you this time around. I tried a little different format for this one, and I like it.
Next topic will be the quite silly deck called Christmas Special. As a special treat to everyone who reads this one, I will promise you that the next deck will not be cheap, though it will be fun.
Welcome to my blog. I wouldn't be surprised if no one ends up reading this, but I do so like to be creative and write stuff, so, read on, if you are here!
I feel like I am torn between the worlds of Timmy and Johnny. Part of me really likes swinging with 2 infinite power creatures on the same turn (Omnath, Locus of Mana EDH deck), and part of me really like silly decks that really shouldn't win (Phage the Untouchable + Endless Whispers = silly). So, when I look around Standard, I am torn. There are no huge overkill decks. In fact, Jund, one of the biggest decks in the format, really has no big beatsticks. Sure, it plinks your for 3 or 4 here and there, but no huge sticks. RDW is closer, and Boros can turn on the heat well. But there is no overkill deck. At least, not one to my taste.
Maybe it's the urge to be different than everyone else. I made Vampires while everyone in my meta told me it was terrible, then I started wailing on them with it. Later, Vampires got boring and super-mainstream, so I destroyed it to make other decks.
Maybe it's the thrill of winning with an uncommon deck, a "rogue" deck, I've heard them called. I guess it must be for that reason that I made Metro Transit.
This deck started at the M10 pre-release, where I managed to get a mono-green Sealed deck, featuring a foil Kalonian Behemoth and two Baloth Woodcrasher's. From that day on, I knew that I would have this deck, and I whipped it up pretty quickly, changing very little when Zendikar hit.
This deck has actually changed the least of all my decks. It used to be all aggro, no curve to speak of. Now, it curves fairly nicely, considering the acceleration.
Let's break it down.
1) Scute Mob - Not as good as you would think. You don't really want to get this guy on the first few turns, but later, he gets awesome, though slowly. We need a one-drop that actually does something, though, so he goes in.
2) River Boa - Not only does he destroy against control (Islandwalk is a go!), but he regenerates, giving us an advantage against Putrid Leech, Bloodbraid, and everything that doesn't fly of have trample.
3) Grazing Gladehart - Everyone likes a little bit of lifegain. Still in limbo if I like him or Turntimber Basilisk for the MD.
4) Baloth Woodcrasher - also known as The Bus, he was my first real wincon. Legend tells of the day I dropped 11 land on one turn, plus a Primal Bellow, and my opponent, his no removal in hand, could only watch in horror as I swung in with a 62/62 trample.
5) Rampaging Baloths - also known as the School Bus. This has been my "meh" deck for a while, and I am working on acquiring a few more of these. When I do, the Woodcrashers might get cut entirely.
6) Vines of Vastwood - hang on to these, and when the removal comes, POW! This deck needs a little bit of shroud to it.
7) Primal Bellow - Allows any of my creatures to benefit from the land advantage.
8) Khalni Heart Expedition - Wait, if I play lands, then...I get lands? Where do I sign?
9) Rampant Growth - Not as good for this deck as Harrow, but pretty good anyways.
10) Harrow - oh, you make landfall decks go. 'Nuff said, natch.
11) Overrun - when my Scute Mob really needs to get going, or when Rampaging Baloths or Howl of the Night Pack needs a boost.
12) Howl of the Night Pack - also known as The Fleet of Vans. At the rate I'm dropping Forests, I can be landing 8 or 9 wolves easily.
13) Panoramas, various - OK, I have different ones in here for teh lulz. They are here to make mana before the fetch, and landfall later, something our good friends the pain-fetches cannot do.
14) Forest - Oh, come on! You know why these guys rule!
Notable omissions:
1) More Rampaging Baloths - covered above.
2) Lotus Cobra - Testing has shown that, with my curve where it is at, I can't drop land fast enough to use it early, and I don't need it mid and late-game. Plus, it lowers the cost of the deck to leave it out
3) Pain fetches - covered above.
This deck plays fun, but it is not Tier 1.
"So, why did you make it?"
I'm glad you asked, son. You see, I really like my fun decks. I don't care that my friend has a Jund deck that destroys me on a consistent basis. I more enjoy playing my other friend's Warp World deck, since it forces me to be creative and think outside the box. I like to imagine that forcing other places to do that is the most effective form of mind-games there is.
Tune in next time, when I dissect the subtle nuances of Wheel of Fish!