I like your list but I am curious how you deal with troublesome enchantments. A couple sweepers hit them but I could imagine some enchantments and artifacts causing trouble that won't be fixed by a Wrath.
I play in a fairly casual group, mostly multiplayer, and for quite a while I've wanted to build a deck that's all about sweeping the board. My group tends to play the same way each time: Set up an engine (Roon of the Hidden Realm, Norin the Wary, Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, etc.) or flood the board with gigantic creatures or hordes of tokens and smash them against one another. Everyone tends to over commit and build their strategy around having key permanents in play (mostly creatures) and primarily protects their commander with equipment or hexproof, so my plan is to counter that by blowing them up. Over and over again.
My plan is to use Zurgo Helmsmasher aggressively while wiping out threats and combo pieces. Every other creature is either indestructible or does something useful. I have a few tricks and a little bit of reanimation to take back the good stuff after I clear the board.
I would love some feedback on removal choices or alternate board sweepers, preferably things that don't cost an arm and a leg. I considered cards like Wildfire but my threats are all expensive so it seems like it would hurt me as much as everyone else. Since I can't generate card advantage with my hand I am relying on knocking off a lot of permanents with each removal spell without losing any of my own.
Heliod, God of the Sun seems solid because he generates blockers to protect me (and gives my commander vigilance) but I'm not sure if the Gods are a good idea since they will rarely turn into creatures. Transcendent Master is also questionable.
I'm also wondering if I should cut down on the nonbasic land count, especially since all my ramp digs for basics.
Any feedback or advice would be welcome, especially if you could suggest any alternate card choices, ways to balance the mana base, or flaws in my plan. Thanks in advance!
I'm a hobbyist when it comes to Magic; I don't follow the professional circuit but I do play in a draft every week, and I also perform in the warmer months as a magician. I'm not a card expert but I get by on the street and in restaurants. I spend time both studying methods of card control and hanging around other card magicians, so I know a few things about technique. I've also experimented with Magic cards, not for nefarious purposes, just to see what techniques do or don't work with that kind of card stock.
Most traditional card cheating techniques don't work with Magic cards and heavy sleeves make it nearly impossible to perform the kind of sleights you can perform with a deck of poker cards. That being said, there are still plenty of ways to manipulate a deck, even in sleeves. It's clear he is culling from the bottom with his thumb while retaining the top stock above the break, and that the deck is angled in a classic, albeit obvious and sloppy, position for a bottom glimpse while performing an overhand shuffle. I haven't slowed the video down enough to study his eyes and how the glimpses line up with his culling, but it's classic misdirection to banter through a false shuffle and sneak the glimpse in while the mark's guard is down. It's also common practice to continue the overhand shuffle for an unnaturally long time, until all the cards you wanted to glimpse (and cull) have come up.
What his intentions were, how well he controlled the top stock, and exactly which cards he culled, are unclear. But as a guy who knows more than the average person about cheating at cards, it's obvious this was not a standard shuffle. If I were trying to deal someone a stacked hand out of a borrowed deck, and the classic methods of card control were unavailable, the glimpse and cull would be a perfectly reasonable way to do so. The best way to stop such shenanigans is to finish with a complete cut and never allow the other party to be the last one to touch the cards. Unless you meet me on the street dealing 3-card Monte, then just relax and trust that everything is fair.
My plan is to use Zurgo Helmsmasher aggressively while wiping out threats and combo pieces. Every other creature is either indestructible or does something useful. I have a few tricks and a little bit of reanimation to take back the good stuff after I clear the board.
I would love some feedback on removal choices or alternate board sweepers, preferably things that don't cost an arm and a leg. I considered cards like Wildfire but my threats are all expensive so it seems like it would hurt me as much as everyone else. Since I can't generate card advantage with my hand I am relying on knocking off a lot of permanents with each removal spell without losing any of my own.
Heliod, God of the Sun seems solid because he generates blockers to protect me (and gives my commander vigilance) but I'm not sure if the Gods are a good idea since they will rarely turn into creatures. Transcendent Master is also questionable.
I'm also wondering if I should cut down on the nonbasic land count, especially since all my ramp digs for basics.
Any feedback or advice would be welcome, especially if you could suggest any alternate card choices, ways to balance the mana base, or flaws in my plan. Thanks in advance!
1 Zurgo Helmsmasher
Creatures (13)
1 Creepy Doll
1 Stuffy Doll
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Konda, Lord of Eiganjo
1 Bearer of the Heavens
1 Burnished Hart
1 Transcendent Master
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Eternal Dragon
Removal (26)
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Vandalblast
1 Shatterstorm
1 Day of Judgment
1 Merciless Eviction
1 Volcanic Offering
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 End Hostilities
1 Fated Retribution
1 Jokulhaups
1 Necromantic Selection
1 Obliterate
1 Phyrexian Rebirth
1 Planar Cleansing
1 Purify
1 Catastrophe
1 Decree of Pain
1 Crackling Doom
1 Brightflame
1 Utter End
1 Return to Dust
1 Wear / Tear
1 Aftershock
1 Mortify
1 Hero’s Downfall
1 Orim’s Thunder
1 Wild Ricochet
1 Exsanguinate
1 Rise of the Dark Realms
1 Ashen Powder
1 Fated Return
1 Increasing Ambition
1 Read the Bones
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Comeuppance
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Night's Whisper
1 Diabolic Revelation
Artifacts (11)
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Worldslayer
1 Darksteel Pendant
1 Expedition Map
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Mycosynth Wellspring
1 Traveler’s Amulet
1 Wanderer's Twig
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Surveyor's Scope
Land (37)
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Command Tower
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1 Scoured Barrens
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Nomad Outpost
1 Rakdos Guildgate
1 Orzhov Guildgate
1 Boros Guildgate
1 Temple of Silence
1 Bloodfell Caves
1 Wind-scarred Crag
1 Akoum Refuge
1 Rupture Spire
1 Transguild Promenade
1 Opal Palace
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Marsh
1 Vivid Meadow
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Urborg Volcano
6x Plains
4x Mountain
4x Swamp
Most traditional card cheating techniques don't work with Magic cards and heavy sleeves make it nearly impossible to perform the kind of sleights you can perform with a deck of poker cards. That being said, there are still plenty of ways to manipulate a deck, even in sleeves. It's clear he is culling from the bottom with his thumb while retaining the top stock above the break, and that the deck is angled in a classic, albeit obvious and sloppy, position for a bottom glimpse while performing an overhand shuffle. I haven't slowed the video down enough to study his eyes and how the glimpses line up with his culling, but it's classic misdirection to banter through a false shuffle and sneak the glimpse in while the mark's guard is down. It's also common practice to continue the overhand shuffle for an unnaturally long time, until all the cards you wanted to glimpse (and cull) have come up.
What his intentions were, how well he controlled the top stock, and exactly which cards he culled, are unclear. But as a guy who knows more than the average person about cheating at cards, it's obvious this was not a standard shuffle. If I were trying to deal someone a stacked hand out of a borrowed deck, and the classic methods of card control were unavailable, the glimpse and cull would be a perfectly reasonable way to do so. The best way to stop such shenanigans is to finish with a complete cut and never allow the other party to be the last one to touch the cards. Unless you meet me on the street dealing 3-card Monte, then just relax and trust that everything is fair.