|
On January 19 2016 05:28 RoieTRS wrote:
What makes colorless decks fun?
Managing a 3rd/4th color splash is one of the more complex and interesting things in limited deckbuilding. In addition to the usual synergy/power tradeoffs, you have the additional component of considering how each additional card can help/hurt your mana consistency, which further complicates pick value questions. As such, 3-color limited formats have tended to be successful the few times they pop up (see how successful Khans x3 was).
"Colorless matters" is a fresh and interesting take on what's essentially a 3-color limited format (the payoff on the colorless cards tends to be pretty high so a lot of decks will be 2 color + a colorless splash). While many of the common sources of splash mana are still there (manadorks, mana rocks, nonbasic lands), it does a few notable things to shake up the basic formula. Being unable to get basics from the land station and instead getting one-time colorless mana from Eldrazi scions offer forces you to manage the splash from a different angle.
|
I was expecting OGW to perform worse because of how BFZ went, but thus far it has been more popular. I didn't have a prerelease as large as BFZ's midnight one, but the numbers after the initial midnight were higher. Anyone else experiencing this in their area?
|
On January 19 2016 05:28 RoieTRS wrote:Show nested quote +On January 17 2016 21:39 Draconicfire wrote:
Just got back from my prerelease. Went with a friend for 2HG and he opened up Kozilek as his promo and then opens up a Crush of Tentacles.
I, on the other hand, end up with Captain's Claws.as my promo and then open up a second Captain's Claws in my first pack. Needless to say I was kinda bummed out. We didn't do that well overall though. Barring the fact that half of my rares were unplayable, we probably could've made a better combination with our pool. Colourless decks are fun though. What makes colorless decks fun?
I can agree with what TheYango posted above.
Colourlessness feels different than a regular colour because of the fact that you have to manage your resources very well. You don't have unlimited colourless sources so balancing your mana sources is pretty key and interesting in its own right. The colourless cards are fairly strong and I think finding the synergy between them is pretty fun. I personally think Nettle Drones are pretty awesome to play with when pretty much your entire deck is devoid.
|
I'm sitting here, still trying to somehow fit Kalastria Healer and March from the Tomb in a (non-tier 1, obviously) Standard deck, and still not willing to shell the money for a playset of Gideon or Liliana anyway, so I already know it can't be strong.
After a few considerations, I came up with this list, although there are still a bunch of things to fix.
I now think it should be about combo-ing, rather than draining passively. Which means:
- card draw to get as many Kalastria Healers in hand/the graveyard as possible by the time I reach March from the Tomb
- ways to ping / incidental lifedrain to kill more consistently (can't always achieve the 16 HP lifedrain dream)
- ways to survive until then/a sac outlet to fill my graveyard before casting (or just to finish things off if I have a Zulaport in play)
Here's how I see my list handling it:
+ Show Spoiler +- Vampiric Rites protects from removal and provides card draw, albeit at a cost (Retreat to Emeria helps by providing tokens). It can also be used on chump blockers to reduce the cost.
- Retreat to Hagara, tokens, Emissary's ability and flyers provide additional damage. I'm not sure if the retreat is worth it? It probably won't drain for more than 3-4 in a game and can't chump like a creature.
- Cliffhaven Vampire practically doubles the damage since the drain is done by multiple triggers of 1, however by himself he's way overcosted.
- Counterspells hose me, since it means I have to dig another March before they get another counter (or they fail to remove the flyers/triggers and don't kill me fast enough, but I doubt it).
- It's hard to account for single strong creatures and aggro going wide (I got crushed by the Atarka dude who hit his 2 and 3 goblins producers on curve every game) at the same time. Languish can also be useful as a setup if I can clear both boards while Cutthroat is out, and a March in hand, but turn 4 is slow, Stasis Snare is slow compared to Reave Soul (though this one's not instant)... how the weak stats of my creatures make combat stalling rather than trading.
- Because my creatures react to each other (usually need Healer or Cutthroat out before other creatures/tokens do something), people playing on curve or a lot of removals and killing my stuff as I play it hurt my efficiency a lot too.
- No token source before turn 5 is so slow, bad hands are hosed. The deck in general is slow.
Now GB aristocrats does a lot of similar things, but without the drain aspect, and without these cards. So while the more I looked at it, the clearer it was that for "serious" play that deck is clearly superior, I'm still doing this for flavour and kicks.
Here are a few things I considered while staying the in "BW allies lifedrain" theme:
+ Show Spoiler +- Oath of Gideon is a cheaper token maker, and since my core cares more about multiple triggers at once than the usual Rally cards, having the tokens on the same turn isn't bad. Allies reinforcements is slower but sticks to the board better if I end up needing that in most match-ups.
- Another option for tokens would be Stone Haven Outfitter + Captain's Claws. It draws me cards, creates tokens, and pumps my creatures. It could take the place of Serene Steward: same stats/cost, similar ability in context, but it draws and the claws are stickier than Steward-generated tokens if I eat removal. My deck could get better at fighting back this way.
Then for the claws remove a mix of retreats.
- If only I could more reliably draw into my Cutthroats and Healiers, maybe Drana's Emissaries could be replaced too. Not sure by what, but a 1WB creature that dies to a 2-drop (or even 1-drops) makes me frail.
- I'd take Tendrils if it didn't exile the creatures... not sure what kind of board wipe I can use over Languish if I need something faster. Radiant Flames would hurt the manabase.
I don't know how important it is to have Instant speed removal compared to Reave Soul. It doesn't hit rhinos or a lot of creatures, contrary to Stasis Snare, though. I also own Utter End and since I'm BW maybe getting a playset is worth it. Should I get a mix? But then I'm less likely to draw what I need. Is it a "local meta" call to main some, side some, and switch as needed?
- Not sure what to put in the sideboard, apart from that case. Felidar Cubs, Duress and Transgress the Mind sounded like nice versatile answers depending on what I face (Duress can even help against aggro if I can hit these token generators before they flood the board).
I think overall I need a way to either speed my deck up, or stall the opponent, since it's slow atm.
Speeding up can be through cycling, redundancy amongst my creatures, cheaper token generators...
Stalling can be through stronger creatures or a better balance of removal to try and stall the board (since I'd rather we have 4 creatures each than 0, for my triggers), also some way to deal with counterspells and exile.
I know this is a bit long, so I apologise. Does anyone have thoughts that might help me (and if such things as I'm looking for don't exist in Standard without going the Gideon route, hearing an honest "even as a tier 2-3 the deck you're trying to build doesn't exist" is fine  )?
|
Have you considered running Rally the Ancestors?
I'm building a similar variant to that deck and my deck revolves around rally instead of March. It gives some pretty insane burst potential.
|
On January 20 2016 10:33 Draconicfire wrote:
Have you considered running Rally the Ancestors?
I'm building a similar variant to that deck and my deck revolves around rally instead of March. It gives some pretty insane burst potential.
I'm pretty sure he's only been told that 100 times already by 6ah
|
Cixah told me to play 4-colours Rally in general.
Rally is generally better for burst (unless a Cliffhaven Vampire is involved, since you need 6 mana to Rally him), and of course it's instant.
There are 2-3 cases that I'm worried about, though:
- If I Rally for blocks, I need everything to die or else they'll get exiled. For the same reason, I can't Rally just to build a board (either because I need to build HP against burn, set up a combo next turn with my cards in hand, or to put pressure in a more controle/passive deck).
- I'm less likely to win through non-Healer/Cutthroat means (flyers, Emissary's ability, etc.) since my creatures won't stick on board. Not using Nantuko Husk, both to force them back to the Graveyard before a turn ends/dodge exile removal in general, or to get a burst (but then maybe I need ways to make it unblockable too?) would be a waste at this point. Which leads me to the following...
- How do I fit the Rally in the deck? Do they replace token makers since I have so many ways to bring creatures back now? Do they replace the March and make so all-in the Nantuko Husk plan? Do I just put 2-3 of each and hope I draw the right one for the situation?
|
No Rally decks at #SCGATL top 8. I'm so happy :D
|
Kalitas is a pretty good card.
|
Are there deck lists yet?
Any big power players from the new set yet?
|
|
|
UR Prowess was probably the most popular "new" deck.
Jury's still out on how good it actually is, but it'll probably be a big player at the FNM level simply because of how cheap it is to put together a functional version of the deck compared to anything else.
|
Sideboards are weird. So many 1-off, how can you expect to hit them out of 60 cards in the next deck if you don't run tutors of some kind.
I'm surprised at that CoCo Abzan deck running so many taplands (like the Sandsteppe Citadel), and Ayli, but I assume it's just a budget version of the deck?
And why is the prowess deck called "dragons"? I don't see any cards in there related to dragons. Is it because an earlier version had draconic roar or something, or it appeared during DTK initially?
|
It's not, it's just mislabeled.
|
On January 25 2016 07:17 Belha wrote:
No Rally decks at #SCGATL top 8. I'm so happy :D
4 Rally decks in the top 16 though
|
Looking for some thoughts/comments/advice for the deck I'm bringing to game day.
I've started testing this Displacer deck and it's performing reaaalllly nicely.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/abzan-displacer-real/
The mana still might need tweaking and I might throw in a Hallowed Moonlight or two or something into the sideboard.
(I know more/different fetches are ideal but the one I'm using is the only one I have, and I don't plan on buying more. I also used to run Den Protector as a one-of but found it never did a whole lot for me.)
|
Surprise surprise, top 8 of PT OGW consisted of decks playing shock less ancient tombs. Dear wizards unban Jace, it really won't matter in this environment.
|
Surprise surprise the top 8 of pro tour OGW consists of the most pushed OGW cards in a field carefully prepared for them via bannings
|
|
|
On February 07 2016 12:08 Judicator wrote:
Surprise surprise, top 8 of PT OGW consisted of decks playing shock less ancient tombs. Dear wizards unban Jace, it really won't matter in this environment.
Better than an ancient tomb for eldrazi decks, as it applies to each spell you cast that turn, not just when you tap it. Can easily be worth 4+ mana per turn.
Yeah it's kinda silly :/
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
