Magic: The Gathering - Page 645

On April 03 2016 00:12 micronesia wrote:
I'm going to a sealed in a few hours... reading through the cards now. Delirium is a weird mechanic, but it seems like there are enough ways in the set to take advantage of it.

On April 03 2016 01:36 micronesia wrote:
Suppose I attack my opponent with a creature, my opponent blocks with a bear (just to pick a creature), but before combat damage I am forced to discard a card. I discard Malevolent Whispers and pay its madness cost. I then choose to take control of the bear. What happens with regards to combat damage? The bear comes over to my side of the battlefield and simply takes no damage, and my original creature deals no damage unless it had trample?

On April 05 2016 19:40 Merany wrote:
Pretty happy about the new Modern banlist!
I'm really tempted to play BUG Control / Midrange, wonder if AV makes it good enough.
Will probably go back to Jund / Temur delver for some time though, those AV are a bit too expensive for now...

On April 11 2016 10:07 micronesia wrote:
I'm trying to improve my deck building and I'm building a deck out of 6 boosters I opened. I've done one sealed event and one draft since SoI was released, and I'm starting to feel like this set is powerful. I put together what I think is a really strong deck and it fares ok but is competing with everyone else's really strong deck...

This pool in particular I feel is really strong but I can't for the life of me decide what deck to build. Take a look:



I'm kind of struggling with what to do, both from a perspective of general sealed deck building strategy and specifically how to deck build in SOI. I think I can eliminate blue because, besides being weak on good creatures, the only bomb is Engulf the Shore, which is going to be weak if I'm in multiple colors (and I can't go heavy blue obviously).

By eliminating blue, I make Spectral Shepherd less abusable, although as a 2/2 flyer for 3 mana it could be worth using in conjunction with Odric. Topplegeist is good if I can put enough ways into the deck to trigger Delirium. There are a few other playable white creatures.

In black, Pale Rider of Trostad is very playable although I have almost no way to trigger madness so the forced discard isn't as appealing (although it still helps for Delirium). Rancid rats I could see putting one in, and it might have good synergy with one or two other noncreature spells. Olivia Bloodsworn could be useful if I go WBR and Odric gives my sick creatures haste each turn for one red mana. Heir of Falkenrath is a generally strong card. A couple of other creatures are playable.

The only red creature that stands out to me is Village Messenger which again, could be useful in conjunction with Odric for giving all creatures Menace, but only if a turn goes by without spells being cast. I guess Pyre hound is a bit unremarkable given the creature-heavy card list, but giving trample to all my creatures via Odric would be very useful. Ember-Eye Wolf could give Haste. Without Odric the red creatures are somewhat weak.

Pretty much all of the green creatures are playable (especially with delirium), although a few stand out: Lambhold Pacifist can be very efficient, Hermit of Natterknolls makes things difficult for many opponents, and Obsessive Skinner is a good threat once Delirium is active.

As for instants, Eerie Interlude is a cool card but probably not useful in this deck. Silverstrike is very playable, as is Puncturing Light. I like Survive the Night, but I suspect it's not as playable as I want it to be.

Skipping over blue, Throttle is expensive but at least can deal with invincibility. In red, Geitblast won't be useful without running blue, Fiery Temper is just about the only card with madness I would seriously consider, and Uncaged Fury can win games. In green, Might Beyond Reason would be worthwhile if I was confident I could get Delirium going every game. Anguished Unmaking goes into the deck if I'm running white and black (which is likely). I don't really care for losing three life though.

Angelic Purge seems good in this set given all the clues just ripe for sacrifice. Vessel of Ephemera works will with Odric and helps me get Delirium, but I'm not sure I would use both of them. Nahiri's Machinations becomes very good if I run red as well. Gryff's Boon also works well with Odric and is a good way to capitalize off of when I'm forced to discard (assuming I don't need the enchantment to remain in the graveyard). Bound my moonsilver seems like a fairly versatile card in this set. Vessel of Malignity is a good way to punish your opponent before he can forcefully discard his madness cards or activate delirium. Triskaidekaphobia is fun, but I'm a bit worried it could backfire on me if I use it. I might be better off just leaving it in the sidebar. I think dead weight would be worth running.

I don't see much benefit to running Vessel of Volatility. Skin invasion is good and would be fun to put on to my Rancid Rats. Crawling Sensation might be a good way to get to Delirium, creates little dudes for blocking or sacrificing, and works well in conjunction with stoic builder. Ulvenwald Mysteries is useful too. Vessel of Nascency is also a good way to trigger delirium as well as grab a land I need. Cryptolith Rite might be necessary if I run a lot of colors. The artifacts are both good for getting to Delirium.

After all of that, I'm really stuck on how to get down to say, three colors. At first glance I wanted to just go WBR using the things I described above in those colors, but there's some solid green as well. The two things I'm asking are, where are the misconceptions in the logic above (I'm sure there are at least a few), and what direction should I be going in with this card pool, and why.