Yesterday I went and threw together a U/B prototype of a deck around Liliana's Contract and Arcane Adaptation in Arena. It works, but obviously isn't that good yet. So now I want to improve it. The format is obviously Standard. And I burned pretty much all my rare wildcards on the center pieces of the deck. Meaning, that I may not be able to follow suggestions for including more rares, unless I already have them. Mythics, on the other hand, are fine, got a lot of wildcards left for those.
There are 62 cards, because Arena seems to think, that 24 lands in 60 cards aren't enough, since I very often get stuck on 3 lands. So I put in first one more and then another. Now it seems to be around right (for Arena play anyway). I tried out a few ideas already, like Gruesome Menagerie and having a 1-drop in there to get 4 different creatures out of one card. But so far there was simply no nessessity to cast it in my games, so I cut it and the 1-drop deathtoucher to make room for other stuff.
How often do you draw Dimir Guildgate early enough to make the ETBT worthwhile? Due to how the Arena hand shaping works, I seem to rarely ever draw any of the vanilla ETBT lands to make it worth the effort. And if I do, I get them in clumps of three or even four which greatly hurts my gameplay.
I hate how Arena does matchups. I put in Emergence Zone and I never seem to play an opponent where I want it. I take it out and I see opponents where I want it. Let me know how this goes for you in that regards.
How often do you draw Dimir Guildgate early enough to make the ETBT worthwhile? Due to how the Arena hand shaping works, I seem to rarely ever draw any of the vanilla ETBT lands to make it worth the effort. And if I do, I get them in clumps of three or even four which greatly hurts my gameplay.
As would I. Alas, I have no wildcards to get the rare lands at the moment, the Gates are in there as placeholders until I can get them. Don't have issues with clumping of Gates, but I removed one anyway and an Emergence Zone for a Swamp and an Island, because taplands and noncolor procucing lands hurt the performance quite a bit.
I hate how Arena does matchups. I put in Emergence Zone and I never seem to play an opponent where I want it. I take it out and I see opponents where I want it. Let me know how this goes for you in that regards.
I can't really complain. Since I need 4 different creatures on the board, flashing in the missing one and/or the Adaptation in the end step lets me dodge a lot of mass removal. This can steal wins and has done so already. It also allows me to replace the fourth creature that was removed in an attempt to stop my win.
I experimented with a few more ideas, and have removed the Deathbloom Thallid entirely to make room for three copies of the planeswalker hate and my lone copy of Hostage Taker, which I could not yet test that much, but both look promising.
After a few more days of testing, I took out the guildgates completely. Entering tapped is too much of a bummer, I have a hard enough time casting my 5-drops on time as it is. For that reason and to get back some fixing, I included a whole set of Sailor of Means. It also provides me with yet another different creature to count towards my demons. I took out the fourth copy of Arcane Adaptation (since it is too often a dead card, yet as a center piece, I don't know if I can justify only 3 copies), and two Orzhov Enforcers as well as a land to get down to 60 cards. Still not overly powerful, and the deck often wins, if it wins, by creature rush rather than creating demons. But it is certainly something to tinker with until the key pieces rotate out in the near future. gotta enjoy it while I still can.
Yesterday I went and threw together a U/B prototype of a deck around Liliana's Contract and Arcane Adaptation in Arena. It works, but obviously isn't that good yet. So now I want to improve it. The format is obviously Standard. And I burned pretty much all my rare wildcards on the center pieces of the deck. Meaning, that I may not be able to follow suggestions for including more rares, unless I already have them. Mythics, on the other hand, are fine, got a lot of wildcards left for those.
So here's the deck as it is now:
7 Island
7 Swamp
4 Dimir Guildgate
2 Drowned Catacomb
2 Watery Grave
4 Emergence Zone
4 Orzhov Enforcer
4 Dire Fleet Poisoner
4 Aven Eternal
4 Deathbloom Thallid
4 Ravenous Chupacabra
4 Nightveil Predator
4 Arcane Adaptation
4 Liliana's Contract
4 Enter the God-Eternals
There are 62 cards, because Arena seems to think, that 24 lands in 60 cards aren't enough, since I very often get stuck on 3 lands. So I put in first one more and then another. Now it seems to be around right (for Arena play anyway). I tried out a few ideas already, like Gruesome Menagerie and having a 1-drop in there to get 4 different creatures out of one card. But so far there was simply no nessessity to cast it in my games, so I cut it and the 1-drop deathtoucher to make room for other stuff.
Other ideas include Ritual of Soot to deal with creature swarms, Narset, Parter of Veils to stop incessant card draw, Finale of Eternity as selective mass removal of sorts, etc. Death Baron or Vizier of the Scorpion could make use of a second copy of Arcane Adaptation set to zombies, maybe.
So, what are your thoughts on this deck and how would you improve it?
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
In other words, I would swap the Gates out in exchange for Drowned Catacombs and Watery Grave.
I hate how Arena does matchups. I put in Emergence Zone and I never seem to play an opponent where I want it. I take it out and I see opponents where I want it. Let me know how this goes for you in that regards.
As would I. Alas, I have no wildcards to get the rare lands at the moment, the Gates are in there as placeholders until I can get them. Don't have issues with clumping of Gates, but I removed one anyway and an Emergence Zone for a Swamp and an Island, because taplands and noncolor procucing lands hurt the performance quite a bit.
I can't really complain. Since I need 4 different creatures on the board, flashing in the missing one and/or the Adaptation in the end step lets me dodge a lot of mass removal. This can steal wins and has done so already. It also allows me to replace the fourth creature that was removed in an attempt to stop my win.
I experimented with a few more ideas, and have removed the Deathbloom Thallid entirely to make room for three copies of the planeswalker hate and my lone copy of Hostage Taker, which I could not yet test that much, but both look promising.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
For reference, here's the updated list:
8 Island
9 Swamp
2 Drowned Catacomb
4 Watery Grave
2 Emergence Zone
2 Orzhov Enforcer
4 Dire Fleet Poisoner
4 Aven Eternal
4 Sailor of Means
2 Hostage Taker
4 Ravenous Chupacabra
4 Nightveil Predator
3 Arcane Adaptation
4 Liliana's Contract
4 Enter the God-Eternals
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)