As with any change of ownership (me being the new OP and all ), the rules have been modified a little. I refer you to the following, so that confusion can be avoided:
The grand scheme:
Each round, a card is chosen; anyone who wishes, can enter the contest and post a deck that focuses on or tries to use the selected card in the best way it can.
Contestants can post their decks during an entry period, after that, the best decks submitted are subjected to a judging period. Points are awarded based on a variety of factors like originality, efficiency, etc. A winner is then declared and congratulations are given; bragging rights are not the only reward, the winner also gets to pick the card for the next round and the process starts anew.
1) Main rules - Any member of MTGsalvation forums can submit a deck for the contest, this includes the judges as well (more on that later). - A submitted deck has to contain the card of the current round and has to be built around the card in some way. When you submit a deck, explain your choices. While not explaining them won't penalize you, giving judges insight on why you picked certain cards over others should improve their understanding of your deck. - Contestants can only submit one deck each but as long as judging has not started, you can modify your deck, change it altogether or withdraw it. - This is "casual", so all sets that are legal in Vintage are fair game; there is no banned and restricted list besides Un-sets. It should be noted though, that some of the judges might not be too keen on seeing a lot of B&R cards thrown into a deck. For example, if you want to use a powerful card such as Yawgmoth's Will as a four-of :o, you need a reason and proof as to why your deck needs it and is not completely broken.
2) Timespan – 14 days - Contestants have 7 days to build and post their decks for each round.
- There is a preselection period of 1 day; judges consult to select the top 8 decks that will be judged for that round. - Judging takes 5 days, during which time judges will award points to the top 8 contestants based on standard fixed criteria (see judging). - A ranking of the contestants’ scores will be posted and the winner will be announced. - The card for the next round is chosen by the winner; he or she has 1 day (24 hours) to PM me his or her suggestion. If I don’t hear from the winner during that time, I will pick the card. All cards from all expansions except un-sets can be a valid choice, however, please note that as head judge, I retain the right to veto a choice if I deem it unwise (unplayable, narrow, boring, etc). If this happens, I will get in touch with the winner and ask him for a 2nd card choice, while explaining my reasons. If the 2nd choice is also unsuitable, then I shall also pick the card.
3) Judging Last season, judging was done by 3 people; 2 head judges (Blutsau and Parabola01) and the winner of the last round. Judges could not post decks themselves and each judge used their own separate criteria to award points. As I wasn’t too keen on the "not-posting a deck" rule and others wanted more uniform judging criteria, a new system had to be devised.
- Fixed Judges (2): The head judge and the winner of the last round. - Floating Judges (2): Any member of the forums can also post judgement on the decks presented; even contestants in the current round. When a person posts a deck, he or she must also mention if they are available for “jury duty”. You can also volunteer for judging if you have not entered a deck in the round. When judging starts, I will announce who the 2 floating judges are; I will install some kind of rotation if more than 2 are available each round. And I will harass people to no end if none are!... just kidding ;).
- From the time the entry period ends in a given round, the other 3 judges have 24 hours to PM me what they think the top 8 decklists are in that round. I will then announce what decklists have been elected to be rated and judging will proceed normaly. This was set up after round 1 because of the volume of decks being submitted (15+ decks was just too much work; 8 is a much healthier number and reflects a kind of pro-tour feeling) - A judge cannot score his or her own entry; so If a judge's deck has also made the top 8 in a round, he or she will refrain from scoring that particular deck and only score other players. - The scores will then be averaged out instead of added up; again this is because judges that have entered the contest will be scored by one less person.
Judges award up to 25 points to each contestant based on the following system:
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points How creative and original is your deck. Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points How well does it use the selected card? Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection. Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points Can the deck deliver the goods? Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25) 1 point for any format adherence other than Vintage/Legacy; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
- This is by no means a very rigid system; each judge decides how to allocate points (from 0 to 5) in each category based on their own evaluation of the decks... For example, judge #1 may doubt a certain card choice and give -0.5, but judge #2 REALLY hates it and gives a -1. This is all good and fine. If scores vary wildly though, it is possible that the head judge may ask a judge to revise his score, but only if the justification for it is shaky. - Judges are therefore encouraged to add some comments as to why they gave a certain score to a certain deck. Tis’ only fair IMO.
4) Championship rules - All the scores for the top 8 decks in the rounds are tallied and averaged. A season ranking is always updated and posted before the start of the next round. - As with the 1st season, 10 rounds will be played. - To be included in the final ranking, a player has to make the top 8 in at least 4 of the 10 rounds. This is so that players who don’t have as much time to participate are not overly penalized. - At the end of the season, the Champion is the player who has maintained the highest score average.
Following is a list of past winners and standings. When submitting a card, you should look there to see if it has been used before. Also, if you want to see the fantastic decks that were made with past cards, clicking on the card links in the spoiler below will send you to the appropriate pages on the corresponding thread. Clicking on the player's name will get you to the winning deck (thanks to No Name Maddox for input and help).
In orange are the players that do not have enough top 8's to qualify in the final standings as the race is right now; I put them where they would be if they had.
In Red; the winning score for a given round.
- Final ranking by averages (minimum: 4 top 8 out of 10 rounds) 1) Znowstorm ............. 19.82 ... Season 2 Champion 2) Fdtori ...................... 19.77 3) Blutsau .................... 19.64 4) Jeff Derek ................ 19.61 5) Hammer ................... 19.52
6) Anansi ..................... 18.78 7) Morphadite2 ............. 18.55 8) Post Affinity ............. 18.27 9) Flatulence Incarnate ...17.82
Individual deck rankings: 1) 22.38 ............... fdtori in round 10: Skill Borrower
2) 21.61 ............... fdtori in round 4: Decree of Silence
3) 21.25 ............... Anansi in round 1: Thornling
4) 21.00 ............... Znowstorm in round 7: Un-round Special
5) 20.88 ............... Blutsau in round 4: Decree of Silence 20.88 .............. Znowstorm in round 9: Manaplasm
A resounding thanks to Blutsau and Parabola01 who resurrected the original idea of Djosh’s deck contest and made it a huge success.
Now for round 1 of Season 2:
Without further delay, I want to announce that Hammer’s chosen card for the first round is :Thornling.
You have until next sunday evening (march 15) to submit decks.
Good luck to all !!
PS: Note to participants of season 1 round 10: simply copying/pasting your Child of Alara list for this round will earn you no points for originality.
PPS: A note to all participants who have links to season 1 in their SIG, as Anansi suggested before, you'll have to change them to point to this thread. Thank you.
_____________________________________________________________
Credits for the contest banner go to spiderboy4 from High~Light Studios
Primary and only casual rule: "any rule that is fine for the most part of the playgroup, is a fine rule". So any further thread with: "if somebody uses/does .... in a casual game, is it ethical/ok?", read the answer above.
- Being a "Johnny/Spike" means you like self-torture. You win often in casual, so everybody hates you; you loose often in competitive, so you hate yourself.
I was just cackling about putting all the lings and fling in a deck together when I scrolled down past your deck. good thinking. Now i gotta come up with something else.
Here is thornling, called by eladamri. The elders of the sakura tribe and their ingots of darksteel have hastened him on his journey. the steelshaper has gifted him with a sword that will end the world, for he is the chosen one, the only one who can steal under the bridge that protects his master, swing the sword mightly (and tramply) and survive the ruin that it will bring.
Here is thornling, called by eladamri. The elders of the sakura tribe and their ingots of darksteel have hastened him on his journey. the steelshaper has gifted him with a sword that will end the world, for he is the chosen one, the only one who can steal under the bridge that protects his master, swing the sword mightly (and tramply) and survive the ruin that it will bring.
Primary and only casual rule: "any rule that is fine for the most part of the playgroup, is a fine rule". So any further thread with: "if somebody uses/does .... in a casual game, is it ethical/ok?", read the answer above.
- Being a "Johnny/Spike" means you like self-torture. You win often in casual, so everybody hates you; you loose often in competitive, so you hate yourself.
Well, I couldn't find anything interesting to do with thornling itself (really, worldslayer+thornling is unbeatable)
So i just made something i really wanted to do quite some time ago, a mono green control deck, as thornling looks like the perfect finisher:
My initial thought for this deck was that Thornling has such a great synergy with Drop of Honey in that you can modify it's power and toughness at will.
- First, you can boost him as a reaction to the Honey trigger, so you can choose to clear blockers with Honey.
- Second, you can lower the power in case you need to save a weenie of yours, choose Thornling and make him indestructible.
- Third, when Thornling is the only Creature on the board, you won't lose Honey so you can keep a kind of control-lock going on.
So then what does the deck need besides that... Well Honey triggers during your upkeep so it would be cool to use Paradox Haze.
A cool enchantment with the Haze and Thornling is Followed Footsteps because there is less risk of being 2-for1'd if you put it on Thornling. Then Simic Guildmage is to move the Steps to any utility creature like Eternal Witness, Stomphowler or Coiling Oracle and then move it back on Thornling to protect it again.
Hollow Trees is also nifty with Haze and Thornling.
Primary and only casual rule: "any rule that is fine for the most part of the playgroup, is a fine rule". So any further thread with: "if somebody uses/does .... in a casual game, is it ethical/ok?", read the answer above.
- Being a "Johnny/Spike" means you like self-torture. You win often in casual, so everybody hates you; you loose often in competitive, so you hate yourself.
has anyone else noticed that it looks almost like noel decorvoda from the magicthegathering web site has entered our contest? do you think he's availible for judging?
Doran, The Siege Tower makes Thornling's damage potential be limited solely by the colorless mana you have available. Castle buffs your small guys for blocking or for a decent combat trick when coupled with to arms!
I guess I'm available to judge, but I tend to like just about anything so my results would be a bit homogeneous.
Ow yes, 1 side remark. I have heard many side remarks on the use of Duals /Fetch in decks. It makes the deck hardly playable as casual. Im sorry, I think I mightve been the one to start with it, however, can't we punish people for using duals/fetch since there are so many other lands that we can use and keep the deck playable?
Well, I don't really mind people using powerful lands, what I don't like is people just throwing lands in and just thinking about colors... Play lots of colors?... Hey let's put in all the duals we can think of and call it a manabase ok?
There are lots of lands that provide a wide variety of abilities that could be useful in complementing any strategy; I might be tempted to take off a point or so in the originality section if I feel that the player didn't explore that space, but not much more than that.
But another judge might take off a bit more or take off points in other sections, it's up to each judge in my mind; but I wouldn't go so far as saying we need to "punish". If a person always loses a point for unoriginal manabase; they'll eventually (I hope) get the point. (wow another pun, they just keep comin' today I tell ya :B:...)
Primary and only casual rule: "any rule that is fine for the most part of the playgroup, is a fine rule". So any further thread with: "if somebody uses/does .... in a casual game, is it ethical/ok?", read the answer above.
- Being a "Johnny/Spike" means you like self-torture. You win often in casual, so everybody hates you; you loose often in competitive, so you hate yourself.
Here it is, an indestructible Thornling with a Berserk on it is fun. Then theres the Crop Rotation tool box I am seemingly fond of at the moment. Then add in the persist dudes wtih Diamond Valley and Volrath's Stronghold and things get really interesting. The deck at times is rather mana intensive, and the Ring + C. mox help out. I was going to do an elemental themed deck, but since someone else did, i went with this instead.
Ow yes, 1 side remark. I have heard many side remarks on the use of Duals /Fetch in decks. It makes the deck hardly playable as casual. Im sorry, I think I mightve been the one to start with it, however, can't we punish people for using duals/fetch since there are so many other lands that we can use and keep the deck playable?
Ive been playing this game for over 15 years, duals were the norm back then, and to this day in my casual play group they still are. Why should I be penalized for something thats the norm for me?
Ive been playing this game for over 15 years, duals were the norm back then, and to this day in my casual play group they still are. Why should I be penalized for something thats the norm for me?
Indeed, I'm the same way. I was using underground seas back in my lord of the pit deck (When revised packs were still for sale ;))
In my mind, casual has never meant bad, nor has it ever strictly meant cheap.
Of course, casual means different things to different people.
I believe it takes a certain level of common sense and restraint if you choose to play with the big guns. For example, I won't pull out my power nine enabled slivers deck against someone playing a timesifter deck; I'll play something more on par if I can. However, I enjoy pulling out the big guns against other big gun decks.
As for these decks, created in a void: I see no reason to restrict a players imagination beyond the normal restrictions of the game. Nor do I think it's valuable to punish a person for simply using good cards.
I do not ask specifically for a ban or restriction on Duals, but what I would ask for is not judging the use of basic/nonbasic lands inferior to the use of using duals. I do however not ask to ignore the mana base or lands at all. There are lands that sync well with cards we play and that is good, however we need to take into consideration that not everyone has Duals from his/her revised-days or has such income to be able to afford duals.
You need not be concerned at all, I will almost never judge the use of basic lands to be "inferior", in fact in most 2 color decks and a few 3 color decks, basics pose no problem at all.
But of course if you post a domain deck with nothing but basics, no land searching, etc, I'm gonna scratch my head in wonder and probably end up making you lose some points, it's only logical.
And what's this about affordability?? Like Shaharazad said, this is a virtual contest, you think I have 4 Drop of Honey? let alone one? It's just for fun, so I am going to use any and all of the existing cards to build the best deck I can; that it remains in my head is beside the point (for me at least). And if I ever want to actually make the deck with real cards, then of course I'll probably have to budgetize my land base (I'm looking at you Terramorphic Expanse and Shards triples :rolleyes:).
Maybe I should put in the 1st post that you don't actually have to own any of the cards you build your decks with. Otherwise this is not fair for more recent players who don't have older cards.
So don't be shy yourself, come now feel the power !
If you feel bad for doing it, then post a budgetized version of your manabase as well. I don't see how it could affect a judge's scoring; after all, I'm pretty sure a lot of casual games are multiplayer games, where tempo is not as crucial and a budget manabase does not make enough of a difference to matter (scoring wise).
Primary and only casual rule: "any rule that is fine for the most part of the playgroup, is a fine rule". So any further thread with: "if somebody uses/does .... in a casual game, is it ethical/ok?", read the answer above.
- Being a "Johnny/Spike" means you like self-torture. You win often in casual, so everybody hates you; you loose often in competitive, so you hate yourself.
The lands are pretty self explanatory. As far as creatures go:
Birds of Paradise-Pretty self explanatory. Helps play big creatures faster, and makes Ivy Elemental that much bigger.
Putrid Imp-Discard outlet #1, and has threshold so that he'll be useless in the lategame.
Nimble Mongoose-Even though he has nothing to do with the theme of the deck, he gets a nice boost from all the cards being in the grave yard. Just a good beater.
Thornling-The (obviously) main man of this deck. Discard him, use Vigor Mortis to get him into play faster with the counter. Use the +1/-1 ability to make him worth of a sacrifice via Rite of Consumption after an attack.
Wild Mongrel-Discard outlet #2. You can also empty your hand and then use Rite of Consumption with him as the target.
Ivy Elemental-With all the mana supplying spells/creatures, I think he'll be a superstar here (Probably should've added more...But eh). Use your lands and maybe even Dark Ritual to make him a target for Rite of Consumption.
Rite of Consumption-The card that makes this deck work. Just get rid of creatures for some serious damage.
Vigor Mortis-This card helps get discarded creatures into play, and pumps them a little bit to make Rite of Consumption better.
Dark Ritual-Turn 2 Thornling? Yes please! This card speeds the deck up a whole lot.
Loxodon Warhammer-Out of place, but (hopefully) usefull. Will make Birds of Paradise more usefull if drawn in the late game, among other things.
Edge of Autumn-Either a way to get land, or some card draw. I put this here because with all of the acceleration, getting rid of a land to draw a card seems like one hell of a good trade off.
My conclusions on this issue, (but this is only a suggestion for other judges):
1) Don't punish people for wanting to play power lands.
2) Try to encourage diversity and creativity in landbase design. This can be done in the originality/creativity section of the standard scoring; adjusting the score downward some for frankly unoriginal landbase; and upward some for landbase which is well thought-out and fresh (this should only be a very mild adjustment mind you, as this is not a contest about building landbases).
... Though to be fair, someone ought to suggest a funky land for the round's card at some point :rolleyes:.
Speaking of odd suggestions, I agree that Arc's deck is hillarious, but I don't want to open up un-sets, some might be put off and not all people know these cards much.
But how about having and Un-round, say the 7th round for example (7th inning stretch anyone?); the chosen card wouldn't have to be from Unworld, but you could for example have up to 30% of your deck be cards from Unglued or Unhinged.
Primary and only casual rule: "any rule that is fine for the most part of the playgroup, is a fine rule". So any further thread with: "if somebody uses/does .... in a casual game, is it ethical/ok?", read the answer above.
- Being a "Johnny/Spike" means you like self-torture. You win often in casual, so everybody hates you; you loose often in competitive, so you hate yourself.
To throw my two cents unnecessarily into the ring, allow me to again support the use of original dual lands. I own one (Savannah) and it makes me happy every time I draw it. I play mostly casual, and if I could justify buying more, I'd run more of 'em. The one I have was actually a Christmas preset. As it is, I deal.
I think the important part is that the land be considered as much as the rest of the deck. For example, I made a 5 color changeling deck for the Heartstone contest, and spent a significant amount of time doing all the math on how many of each land I would need. The fact that I used the easiest dual lands out there doesn't mean I just threw in magical land, I still put effort into it.
On the other hand, my Child of Alara deck used a bunch of those lands and was entirely
EDIT: Also, I'm TOTALLY down with an Un-Round. Since most people don't play un- sets regularly, I think it would inspire much more creativity than normal, since we wouldn't regress to the same cards we always use and like a lot.
My primary thought is that Thornling just gets better the more lands you have available, and it would be nice to have enough lands to support more than one Thornling. As long as your getting lands, why not destroy your opponent's in the process? The rest of the cards are an attempt to survive the early game and clear the path for the Thornlings, if necessary.
The Damage Delay section would be swapped out in favor of sideboard cards, pending the deck being played.
ok, first this is a GW control deck.
Things to mention are: The Magus-Hollow lock that I 'improved' with indestructible creatures (even without Hollow it's a hard punch). The artifacts that also work nicely with either Sapling or Thornling. That all destroy effects allow regeneration so Hollow can save any creature. I also added a Wish-board that should be able to deal with pretty much anything that doesn't allready totaly outspeed the deck.
As the deck is rather slow I'd only play it in a combo-free multiplayer meta.
Edit: to cut the budget (the list now is worth $243 and what I would play if I had the landbase) take out the multicolour lands fill up with basics, ~3 Forests more than Plains and replace the accel creatures with Sakura-Tribe Elders and Kodama's Reaches. (-> ~ $75; the way I would play it atm)
I would not use citpt lands and Lawnmower-like accel, because it won't survive a wrath-effect.
Edit2: name given. it's an album by Cradle of Filth; has nothing to do with the deck but sounds cewl
Now that I posted my deck, I looked at the others and have to say 'wow, :o' seeing the amount of LD paired with Thornling.
I won't be judging but le'me say that while he fits a Ponza strategy I would not call it 'built around Thornling'. Of course you all put other stuff that has synergy with it into your decks ^^ and use it pro'ly better than me.
Doran is a really good idea, as is Worldslayer but I thought that it was to obvious - and I was right, so I build something around one of my fav. locks.
ach, and Anansi, the last two cards are in and will be sent towards you the comming monday.
Lands: Produce mana in all of my colors Fire//Ice is just a techy card that can draw me a card, tap something, or burn something depending on the situation. Mana Leak counters most things that could be a threat Garruk Wildspeaker helps me ramp into my lings and use more abilities. He also is a strong rock card when he makes beasts. Birds of paradise, Sakura Tribe Elder, Fertile ground, and Wood elves help me ramp into my lings. Thornling, Morphling, Torchling are flavorful win conditions and strong beaters
Just a reminder that you have until sunday evening to post decks if you haven't already or to make changes to existing lists or add comments (strongly recommended).
That would be midnight my time, in Montreal which is Eastern daylight savings time, North America.
I will be selecting the floating judges at that time.
Wow, 15 decks already, I'm glad I raised the judging time to 5 days ;).
Primary and only casual rule: "any rule that is fine for the most part of the playgroup, is a fine rule". So any further thread with: "if somebody uses/does .... in a casual game, is it ethical/ok?", read the answer above.
- Being a "Johnny/Spike" means you like self-torture. You win often in casual, so everybody hates you; you loose often in competitive, so you hate yourself.
I looked for different ways to abuse Thornling, and finally decided that the best way to use him was the obvious way: Beatdown. I'm planning on using lots of mana to do lots of things, most of which involve sending big creatures at my opponents. In playing this deck, you would almost always attack first, then play anything else you had in hand during your second main phase, leaving as much mana as possible open for during the attack phase.
The two main cards in the deck are Thornling, obviously, and Ceaseless Searblades. The idea is to throw as much mana into activated abilities of Elementals to make them huge, eventually killing the opponent.
Creatures
Thornling - I expect to use his Indestructibility and +1/-1 most often. Trample may occasionally come into play, but since he's indestructible I doubt he'll be blocked often. He'll work one of two ways. Either my opponent will focus on blocking my other creatures and let him through since they can't kill him, or I'll Lure him and make him indestructible, then get everyone else through.
Ceaseless Searblades - With Elemental Activated abilities on every other elemental except the Flamekin Harbinger, I expect this guy will see a lot of pump. He can survive a lightning bolt without any pump, and if he ever gets through he'll be pretty big.
Flamekin Harbinger and Smokebraider - These two set up the rest of the deck. My ideal opening hand has a Harbinger and either a Smokebraider or a Thornling. I play the Harbinger, and tutor for whichever of the other two I didn't start with, and you're looking at a turn 3 Thornling. Plus, any time I use the Smokebraider for mana, it triggers the Ceaseless Searblades
Pyre Charger and Flamekin Brawler - Essentially the same concept with slightly different P/T and Haste. Work will with my massive amounts of mana and Ceaseless Searblades concept
Incandescent Soulstoke - Almost didn't make the cut, but I do like making my Smokebraider and Harbinger 2/2 instead of 1/1. I don't plan to use his activated ability for anything except a final charge to win the game, but if I do it will still trigger Ceaseless Searblades.
Enchantments/Spells
Braid of Fire - The creatures in this deck are designed such that I'll never have to worry about Mana Burn. I should be able to pump stuff regularly with no problem.
Naturalize - I don't know about everyone else, but my Meta includes a lot of Oblivion Rings. Naturalize is the best way to get my cards back. Also handy for other devastating Enchantments like Grave Pact.
Lure - Probably the most fun way to win with the deck. An indestructible Lured Thornling can kill a lot of creatures. More importantly though, a Lured Flamekin Harbinger can let a lot of other creatures through to deal damage to a player. I considered including Alluring Scent or Taunting Challenge, but just didn't have the space in the deck for them.
Desert Twister - I expect to have no trouble generating 6 mana if I need to destroy a creature or land or can't draw Naturalize, and this is one of the most comprehensive destroy spells out there.
Land
I chose to go with 22 land even though I'm running Braid of Fire and Smokebraider. So far I haven't been unhappy to draw extra land, and there's plenty to do with all that extra mana. Between Primal Beyond, Taiga, Forest, and Smokebraider I'm not having any trouble generating green mana to trigger the Thornling, which was my primary fear when I realized how dominant Red was going to be in this deck.
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So that's the deck. I can handle a lot of different decks, and I think it might actually win some games. This build, however, focuses most on having fun. Seriously, there's nothing tricky or slow or contrived about this, you're just beating people over the face with huge creatures over and over
I wish I could be available for judging, but I just can't judge 15 decks in the next 5 days well. Many apologies. I'll definitely be available in the future.
As of midnight, the submission period is over, as is the time to make corrections or add comments.
The 4 Judges for this round will be: Hammer and myself plus, No Name Maddox and Post Affinity (randomly selected among volunteers).
Judges have until next friday evening (march 20th) to post judgement on all the decks, minus their own of course.
Here's a template I made to make it somewhat easier, it's similar to the one Blutsau made; you can use it if you wish (just use the quote button to copy it) or make your own... So long as you all use the same scoring system, as stated in the original post.
Primary and only casual rule: "any rule that is fine for the most part of the playgroup, is a fine rule". So any further thread with: "if somebody uses/does .... in a casual game, is it ethical/ok?", read the answer above.
- Being a "Johnny/Spike" means you like self-torture. You win often in casual, so everybody hates you; you loose often in competitive, so you hate yourself.
So, I realize this may be a little late to point out, but in rereading my deck description, I just noticed that I completely forgot to mention that it is a Tribal Elemental deck. I remember reading somewhere that it was my responsibility to point that out, not the judge's responsibility to notice it.
Hope y'all can still incorporate that into your scoring.
Sure no problem, I had already noticed. Tribal is easy to spot, I guess it's more for people who have an extended list, Make Your Own Standard, Rainbow stairwell or some similar funky thing going on. Like if Anansi hadn't provided that flavourful background story, I don't think I would have necessarily spotted that.
...
Oh and Judging is coming along nicely if you all want to know, 15 decks (-1) is some work as you might imagine, but I'm having fun.
Problem is my girlfriend has been hogging the computer because of job searching (she's out of work at the end of this month :-/). I even printed out my template and have been using the old pen and paper; that's why it's taking so long, I should have my scoring later tonight though, tomorrow morning at the latest.
Primary and only casual rule: "any rule that is fine for the most part of the playgroup, is a fine rule". So any further thread with: "if somebody uses/does .... in a casual game, is it ethical/ok?", read the answer above.
- Being a "Johnny/Spike" means you like self-torture. You win often in casual, so everybody hates you; you loose often in competitive, so you hate yourself.
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Hello folks and welcome to this, the 2nd edition of the now famous and unrivaled Casual Deck Construction Contest!!
For those few who may not have heard about it, the 1st season can be found here:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=136528
As with any change of ownership (me being the new OP and all ), the rules have been modified a little. I refer you to the following, so that confusion can be avoided:
The grand scheme:
Each round, a card is chosen; anyone who wishes, can enter the contest and post a deck that focuses on or tries to use the selected card in the best way it can.
Contestants can post their decks during an entry period, after that, the best decks submitted are subjected to a judging period. Points are awarded based on a variety of factors like originality, efficiency, etc. A winner is then declared and congratulations are given; bragging rights are not the only reward, the winner also gets to pick the card for the next round and the process starts anew.
1) Main rules
- Any member of MTGsalvation forums can submit a deck for the contest, this includes the judges as well (more on that later).
- A submitted deck has to contain the card of the current round and has to be built around the card in some way. When you submit a deck, explain your choices. While not explaining them won't penalize you, giving judges insight on why you picked certain cards over others should improve their understanding of your deck.
- Contestants can only submit one deck each but as long as judging has not started, you can modify your deck, change it altogether or withdraw it.
- This is "casual", so all sets that are legal in Vintage are fair game; there is no banned and restricted list besides Un-sets. It should be noted though, that some of the judges might not be too keen on seeing a lot of B&R cards thrown into a deck. For example, if you want to use a powerful card such as Yawgmoth's Will as a four-of :o, you need a reason and proof as to why your deck needs it and is not completely broken.
2) Timespan – 14 days
- Contestants have 7 days to build and post their decks for each round.
- There is a preselection period of 1 day; judges consult to select the top 8 decks that will be judged for that round.
- Judging takes 5 days, during which time judges will award points to the top 8 contestants based on standard fixed criteria (see judging).
- A ranking of the contestants’ scores will be posted and the winner will be announced.
- The card for the next round is chosen by the winner; he or she has 1 day (24 hours) to PM me his or her suggestion. If I don’t hear from the winner during that time, I will pick the card. All cards from all expansions except un-sets can be a valid choice, however, please note that as head judge, I retain the right to veto a choice if I deem it unwise (unplayable, narrow, boring, etc). If this happens, I will get in touch with the winner and ask him for a 2nd card choice, while explaining my reasons. If the 2nd choice is also unsuitable, then I shall also pick the card.
3) Judging
Last season, judging was done by 3 people; 2 head judges (Blutsau and Parabola01) and the winner of the last round. Judges could not post decks themselves and each judge used their own separate criteria to award points. As I wasn’t too keen on the "not-posting a deck" rule and others wanted more uniform judging criteria, a new system had to be devised.
- Fixed Judges (2): The head judge and the winner of the last round.
- Floating Judges (2): Any member of the forums can also post judgement on the decks presented; even contestants in the current round. When a person posts a deck, he or she must also mention if they are available for “jury duty”. You can also volunteer for judging if you have not entered a deck in the round. When judging starts, I will announce who the 2 floating judges are; I will install some kind of rotation if more than 2 are available each round. And I will harass people to no end if none are!... just kidding ;).
- From the time the entry period ends in a given round, the other 3 judges have 24 hours to PM me what they think the top 8 decklists are in that round. I will then announce what decklists have been elected to be rated and judging will proceed normaly. This was set up after round 1 because of the volume of decks being submitted (15+ decks was just too much work; 8 is a much healthier number and reflects a kind of pro-tour feeling)
- A judge cannot score his or her own entry; so If a judge's deck has also made the top 8 in a round, he or she will refrain from scoring that particular deck and only score other players.
- The scores will then be averaged out instead of added up; again this is because judges that have entered the contest will be scored by one less person.
Judges award up to 25 points to each contestant based on the following system:
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence other than Vintage/Legacy; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
- This is by no means a very rigid system; each judge decides how to allocate points (from 0 to 5) in each category based on their own evaluation of the decks... For example, judge #1 may doubt a certain card choice and give -0.5, but judge #2 REALLY hates it and gives a -1. This is all good and fine. If scores vary wildly though, it is possible that the head judge may ask a judge to revise his score, but only if the justification for it is shaky.
- Judges are therefore encouraged to add some comments as to why they gave a certain score to a certain deck. Tis’ only fair IMO.
- All the scores for the top 8 decks in the rounds are tallied and averaged. A season ranking is always updated and posted before the start of the next round.
- As with the 1st season, 10 rounds will be played.
- To be included in the final ranking, a player has to make the top 8 in at least 4 of the 10 rounds. This is so that players who don’t have as much time to participate are not overly penalized.
- At the end of the season, the Champion is the player who has maintained the highest score average.
Following is a list of past winners and standings. When submitting a card, you should look there to see if it has been used before. Also, if you want to see the fantastic decks that were made with past cards, clicking on the card links in the spoiler below will send you to the appropriate pages on the corresponding thread. Clicking on the player's name will get you to the winning deck (thanks to No Name Maddox for input and help).
Season 1
Rounds:
1) All Hallow's Eve .......... FoggManatic
2) Brion Stoutarm ........... Night Child
3) Second Sunrise .......... No Name Maddox
4) Death Match .............. dragoonbot
5) Evolution Vat ............. Morphadite2
6) Nucklavee ................. Post Affinity
7) Upwelling ................... Anansi
8) Surprise Deployment .... kiwoli
9) Heartstone ................ fdtori
10) Child of Alara ............ Hammer
- Ranking by total points:
1) Anansi: .................490.25 (9 rounds)... Season 1 Champion
2) Post Affinity: ...........466.75 (9 rounds)
3) Arc-logger: .............345.25 (6 rounds)
4) No Name Maddox: ....337.5 (6 rounds)
5) dragoonbot: ............328.25 (6 rounds)
6) Hammer: .................312.5 (6 rounds)
7) Morphadite2: ...........310.75 (5 rounds)
8) JeffDerek: ...............295.25 (6 rounds)
9) CF105: ...................253 (5 rounds)
10) AEIOUsometimesY: ..201.5 (4 rounds)
11) urweak: .................195.75 (4 rounds)
12) Night Child: ............179.75 (3 rounds)
14) FoggManatic: .........174.75 (3 rounds)
15) Thunder Road: ........160.5 (3 rounds)
16) fdtori: ...................117.75 (2 rounds)
17) Twilight_Eyes: .........82 (2 rounds)
19) kiwoli: ....................60 (1 round)
20) Lateralus: ...............55 (1 round)
21) Neon-Chan: .............48 (1 round)
22) MagicProfessor28: ....47 (1 round)
23) kruemel: .................44 (1 round)
24) distant watcher: ......42 (1 round)
- Other results:
Ranking by averages (5 rounds minimum)
1) Morphadite2: ...........20.72
2) Arc-Logger: ..............19.18
3) No Name Maddox: ......18.75
4) dragoonbot: ..............18.23
5) Anansi: ....................18.15
6) Hammer: ...................17.36
7) Post Affinity: .............17.29
8) CF105: .....................16.87
9) JeffDerek: .................16.40
Highest score average for a deck in a round: 22.67 (by 2 players)
- Dragoonbot in round 4: Death Match
- Morphadite2 in round 5: Evolution Vat
Rounds:
1) Thornling ................... Anansi
2) Fist of Suns ............... No Name Maddox
3) Remembrance ............. Jeff Derek
4) Decree of Silence ........ fdtori
5) Minion Reflector .......... Hammer
6) Deathbringer Thoctar ... Hammer
7) *Unround special* ....... Znowstorm
8) Upheaval ................... Flatulence Incarnate
9) Manaplasm ................. Znowstorm
10) Skill Borrower ............ fdtori
...............................Round #: .........1....... 2....... 3 .......4........ 5.........6......... 7......... 8 .........9.........10......... Avg
Fifth (1 round) ...................................................................................................................20.50................ 20.50
Mini Me (1 round) ............................................................................20.33................................................... 20.33
Jacko (1 round) ....................................................................20.00.............................................................. 20.00
1) Znowstorm (5 rounds) ............................................19.25........................21.00.....18.63...20.88....19.33..... 19.82
2) fdtori (8 rounds) ......................15.80..18.33..19.33...21.66...20.33.........................20.33...20.00....22.38..... 19.77
Numotflame96 (1 round) .........................................................................................19.75............................ 19.75
3) Blutsau (7 rounds) ...................19.50............17.13...20.88........................20.00....20.13...20.50....19.33..... 19.64
4) Jeff Derek (4 rounds) ...............18.25..18.50..20.17...21.50........................................................................ 19.61
5) Hammer (4 rounds) .....................................17.25..............20.83...20.50.....................................18.38..... 19.52
Kotoso (1 round) ...........................................................................................................................19.25..... 19.25
Kruemel (1 round) ...........................................................................18.88................................................... 18.88
6) Anansi (5 rounds) ....................21.25............18.88...19.00.............17.63...............17.13............................ 18.78
MellowMight (2 rounds) ....................................17.13.........................20.38................................................... 18.76
Uthkara (1 round) ..........................................................................................................................18.67..... 18.67
No Name Maddox (2 rounds) ...................19.88..............17.38....................................................................... 18.63
Thunder Road (2 rounds) .......................17.75...19.50.................................................................................. 18.63
Raijinnfury (1 round) ........................................................................18.63................................................... 18.63
7) Morphadite2 (4 rounds) ............17.50..18.83...17.25..............20.63............................................................ 18.55
8) Post Affinity (6 rounds) .............18.00..16.75.........................20.25............18.00....18.33...20.83................. 18.27
Magicprofessor28 (1 round) ......................................................................................18.13........................... 18.13
Parabola01 (1 round) ........................................................................18.12.................................................. 18.12
TheCounterGuy (2 rounds) ......................................................17.25...18.75.........................16.13................. 18.00
9) Flatulence Incarnate (5 rounds) .18.50...................................17.33........................20.50...17.50....15.25..... 17.82
Urweak (2 rounds) .......................16.13.......................19.00........................................................................ 17.57
King T (2 rounds) .......................................................15.88....18.38............................................................ 17.13
Arc-Logger (1 round) .............................16.75.............................................................................................. 16.75
Spongy Pengwin (1 round) ..............................................................................................................16.67..... 16.67
Vickek (1 round) ...................................14.50............................................................................................. 14.50
In orange are the players that do not have enough top 8's to qualify in the final standings as the race is right now; I put them where they would be if they had.
In Red; the winning score for a given round.
- Final ranking by averages (minimum: 4 top 8 out of 10 rounds)
1) Znowstorm ............. 19.82 ... Season 2 Champion
2) Fdtori ...................... 19.77
3) Blutsau .................... 19.64
4) Jeff Derek ................ 19.61
5) Hammer ................... 19.52
6) Anansi ..................... 18.78
7) Morphadite2 ............. 18.55
8) Post Affinity ............. 18.27
9) Flatulence Incarnate ...17.82
- Other results:
Ranking by total points (4 top 8 rounds minimum)
1) fdtori (8 rounds)...................... 158.16
2) Blutsau (7 rounds) .................. 137.47
3) Post Affinity (6 rounds) ............. 112.16
4) Znowstorm (5 rounds) ............... 99.09
5) Anansi (5 rounds) ..................... 93.89
6) Flatulence Incarnate (5 rounds) ...89.08
7) Jeff Derek (4 rounds) .................78.42
8) Hammer (4 rounds) ....................76.96
9) Morphadite2 (4 rounds) ..............74.21
Individual deck rankings:
1) 22.38 ............... fdtori in round 10: Skill Borrower
2) 21.61 ............... fdtori in round 4: Decree of Silence
3) 21.25 ............... Anansi in round 1: Thornling
4) 21.00 ............... Znowstorm in round 7: Un-round Special
5) 20.88 ............... Blutsau in round 4: Decree of Silence
20.88 .............. Znowstorm in round 9: Manaplasm
Now for round 1 of Season 2:
Without further delay, I want to announce that Hammer’s chosen card for the first round is : Thornling.
You have until next sunday evening (march 15) to submit decks.
Good luck to all !!
PS: Note to participants of season 1 round 10: simply copying/pasting your Child of Alara list for this round will earn you no points for originality.
PPS: A note to all participants who have links to season 1 in their SIG, as Anansi suggested before, you'll have to change them to point to this thread. Thank you.
Credits for the contest banner go to spiderboy4 from High~Light Studios
8 Forest
8x Mountain
4x Karplusan Forest
3x Nova Chaser
4x Thornling
1x Stigma Lasher
2x Flamekin Harbinger
3x Torchling
2x Incandescent Soulstoke
2x Timbermare
2x Groundbreaker
2x Fertilid
4x Brighthearth Banneret
2x Barishi
4x Smokebraider
4x Flamekin Bladewhirl
2x Upwelling
2x Manamorphose
Tribal-Elemental Aggro with Some Nifty Fun!
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
4x Priest of Titania
4x Deranged Hermit
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Plow Under
4x Ice storm
4x Creeping Mold
4x Rishadan Port
16x Forests
RWVengeant LarkRW
RGWarriorsRG
BWTokensBW
Extended
GRWProzakGRW
4 flagstones of trokair
4 plains
15 forest
creatures
4 thornling
4 sakura tribe elder
4 kitchen finks
2 faiths fetters
artifacts
4 ensnaring bridge
4 world slayer
4 dark steel ingot
4 steel shaper's gift
4 eladamri's call
4 naturalize
Here is thornling, called by eladamri. The elders of the sakura tribe and their ingots of darksteel have hastened him on his journey. the steelshaper has gifted him with a sword that will end the world, for he is the chosen one, the only one who can steal under the bridge that protects his master, swing the sword mightly (and tramply) and survive the ruin that it will bring.
availible for judging
casual deck construction contest season 3:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=189597
my trade thread:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=239539
Gotta love that !!!
So i just made something i really wanted to do quite some time ago, a mono green control deck, as thornling looks like the perfect finisher:
2 Molder
3 Extraplanar Lens
3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
3 Plow Under
2 Primal Command
3 Harmonize
3 Thornling
3 Hail Storm
1 Ritual of Subdual
3 Stunted Growth
1 Planar Portal
4 Nature's Lore
3 Skyshroud's Claim
2 Tangle Wire
20 Forest
Also, I'm available to judge too.
04 Noble Hierarch
03 Devoted Druid
04 Thornling
04 Desert Twister
04 Harmonize
03 Plow Under
03 Wickerbough Elder
03 Avoid Fate
03 Eternal Witness
03 Natural Order
03 Stonewood Invocation
Mono-green deck, the hierarch is there since I will mostly be attacking with Thornling alone, so the pump is nice.
I am not available to judge.
4 Thornling
2 Indrik Stomphowler
2 Eternal Witness
2 Chronozoa
2 Braids, Conjurer Adept
3 Coiling Oracle
3 Simic Guildmage
Spells (16)
4 Drop of Honey
2 Worldly Tutor
4 Paradox Haze
3 Followed Footsteps
3 Energy Chamber
3 Llanowar Reborn
3 Hollow Trees
4 Tropical Island
2 Breeding Pool
2 Flooded Grove
4 Forest
5 Islands
My initial thought for this deck was that Thornling has such a great synergy with Drop of Honey in that you can modify it's power and toughness at will.
- First, you can boost him as a reaction to the Honey trigger, so you can choose to clear blockers with Honey.
- Second, you can lower the power in case you need to save a weenie of yours, choose Thornling and make him indestructible.
- Third, when Thornling is the only Creature on the board, you won't lose Honey so you can keep a kind of control-lock going on.
So then what does the deck need besides that... Well Honey triggers during your upkeep so it would be cool to use Paradox Haze.
A cool enchantment with the Haze and Thornling is Followed Footsteps because there is less risk of being 2-for1'd if you put it on Thornling. Then Simic Guildmage is to move the Steps to any utility creature like Eternal Witness, Stomphowler or Coiling Oracle and then move it back on Thornling to protect it again.
Hollow Trees is also nifty with Haze and Thornling.
Energy Chamber is cool with Haze and Drop of Honey.
Epochrasite, Chronozoa, and Braids, Conjurer Adept are for the added oommph with the haze.
...
8 decks posted already ! Nice to see you swarmed to the new thread like bees to Honey... pun intended ...
...
PS: @Post Affinity: You should fix that decktag, just a suggestion :).
http://www.wizards.com/magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ftl/29
I thought it was kind of amusing.
casual deck construction contest season 3:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=189597
my trade thread:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=239539
Creatures (15)
3 Doran, The Siege Tower
4 Thornling
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Treefolk Harbinger
Instants (12)
4 To Arms!
4 Nameless Inversion
4 Path to exile
4 Infest
Enchantments (4)
4 Castle
Lands (23)
4 Murmuring Bosk
4 teramorphic expanse
7 Forest
4 Plains
4 swamp
Doran, The Siege Tower makes Thornling's damage potential be limited solely by the colorless mana you have available. Castle buffs your small guys for blocking or for a decent combat trick when coupled with to arms!
I guess I'm available to judge, but I tend to like just about anything so my results would be a bit homogeneous.
Well, I don't really mind people using powerful lands, what I don't like is people just throwing lands in and just thinking about colors... Play lots of colors?... Hey let's put in all the duals we can think of and call it a manabase ok?
There are lots of lands that provide a wide variety of abilities that could be useful in complementing any strategy; I might be tempted to take off a point or so in the originality section if I feel that the player didn't explore that space, but not much more than that.
But another judge might take off a bit more or take off points in other sections, it's up to each judge in my mind; but I wouldn't go so far as saying we need to "punish". If a person always loses a point for unoriginal manabase; they'll eventually (I hope) get the point. (wow another pun, they just keep comin' today I tell ya :B:...)
5x Forest
4x Bayou
4x Wooded Foothills
3x Bloodstained Mire
3x Swamp
2x Volrath's Stronghold
2x Maze of Ith
1x Diamond Valley
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Thornling
4x Kitcken Finks
2x Eternal Witness
Spells:
4x Berserk
4x Worldly Tutor
4x Damnation
4x Crop Rotation
2x Krosan Grip
2x Night's Whisper
1x Demonic Tutor
4x Chrome Mox
1x Sol Ring
Here it is, an indestructible Thornling with a Berserk on it is fun. Then theres the Crop Rotation tool box I am seemingly fond of at the moment. Then add in the persist dudes wtih Diamond Valley and Volrath's Stronghold and things get really interesting. The deck at times is rather mana intensive, and the Ring + C. mox help out. I was going to do an elemental themed deck, but since someone else did, i went with this instead.
Ive been playing this game for over 15 years, duals were the norm back then, and to this day in my casual play group they still are. Why should I be penalized for something thats the norm for me?
BUWGRChilds PlayGRWUB
BUWGR Highlander GRWUB
UBSquee's Shapeshifting PetBU
BW Multiplayer Control WB
RG Changeling GR
UR Mana FlareRU
UMerfolkU
B MBMC B
Indeed, I'm the same way. I was using underground seas back in my lord of the pit deck (When revised packs were still for sale ;))
In my mind, casual has never meant bad, nor has it ever strictly meant cheap.
Of course, casual means different things to different people.
I believe it takes a certain level of common sense and restraint if you choose to play with the big guns. For example, I won't pull out my power nine enabled slivers deck against someone playing a timesifter deck; I'll play something more on par if I can. However, I enjoy pulling out the big guns against other big gun decks.
As for these decks, created in a void: I see no reason to restrict a players imagination beyond the normal restrictions of the game. Nor do I think it's valuable to punish a person for simply using good cards.
Just giving the voice of an outside perspective.
You need not be concerned at all, I will almost never judge the use of basic lands to be "inferior", in fact in most 2 color decks and a few 3 color decks, basics pose no problem at all.
But of course if you post a domain deck with nothing but basics, no land searching, etc, I'm gonna scratch my head in wonder and probably end up making you lose some points, it's only logical.
And what's this about affordability?? Like Shaharazad said, this is a virtual contest, you think I have 4 Drop of Honey? let alone one? It's just for fun, so I am going to use any and all of the existing cards to build the best deck I can; that it remains in my head is beside the point (for me at least). And if I ever want to actually make the deck with real cards, then of course I'll probably have to budgetize my land base (I'm looking at you Terramorphic Expanse and Shards triples :rolleyes:).
Maybe I should put in the 1st post that you don't actually have to own any of the cards you build your decks with. Otherwise this is not fair for more recent players who don't have older cards.
So don't be shy yourself, come now feel the power !
If you feel bad for doing it, then post a budgetized version of your manabase as well. I don't see how it could affect a judge's scoring; after all, I'm pretty sure a lot of casual games are multiplayer games, where tempo is not as crucial and a budget manabase does not make enough of a difference to matter (scoring wise).
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
7 Forest
10 Swamp
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Putrid Imp
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Thornling
3 Wild Mongrel
2 Ivy Elemental
4 Vigor Mortis
4 Dark Ritual
1 Loxodon Warhammer
4 Edge of Autumn
Birds of Paradise-Pretty self explanatory. Helps play big creatures faster, and makes Ivy Elemental that much bigger.
Putrid Imp-Discard outlet #1, and has threshold so that he'll be useless in the lategame.
Nimble Mongoose-Even though he has nothing to do with the theme of the deck, he gets a nice boost from all the cards being in the grave yard. Just a good beater.
Thornling-The (obviously) main man of this deck. Discard him, use Vigor Mortis to get him into play faster with the counter. Use the +1/-1 ability to make him worth of a sacrifice via Rite of Consumption after an attack.
Wild Mongrel-Discard outlet #2. You can also empty your hand and then use Rite of Consumption with him as the target.
Ivy Elemental-With all the mana supplying spells/creatures, I think he'll be a superstar here (Probably should've added more...But eh). Use your lands and maybe even Dark Ritual to make him a target for Rite of Consumption.
Rite of Consumption-The card that makes this deck work. Just get rid of creatures for some serious damage.
Vigor Mortis-This card helps get discarded creatures into play, and pumps them a little bit to make Rite of Consumption better.
Dark Ritual-Turn 2 Thornling? Yes please! This card speeds the deck up a whole lot.
Loxodon Warhammer-Out of place, but (hopefully) usefull. Will make Birds of Paradise more usefull if drawn in the late game, among other things.
Edge of Autumn-Either a way to get land, or some card draw. I put this here because with all of the acceleration, getting rid of a land to draw a card seems like one hell of a good trade off.
My conclusions on this issue, (but this is only a suggestion for other judges):
1) Don't punish people for wanting to play power lands.
2) Try to encourage diversity and creativity in landbase design. This can be done in the originality/creativity section of the standard scoring; adjusting the score downward some for frankly unoriginal landbase; and upward some for landbase which is well thought-out and fresh (this should only be a very mild adjustment mind you, as this is not a contest about building landbases).
... Though to be fair, someone ought to suggest a funky land for the round's card at some point :rolleyes:.
Speaking of odd suggestions, I agree that Arc's deck is hillarious, but I don't want to open up un-sets, some might be put off and not all people know these cards much.
But how about having and Un-round, say the 7th round for example (7th inning stretch anyone?); the chosen card wouldn't have to be from Unworld, but you could for example have up to 30% of your deck be cards from Unglued or Unhinged.
I think the important part is that the land be considered as much as the rest of the deck. For example, I made a 5 color changeling deck for the Heartstone contest, and spent a significant amount of time doing all the math on how many of each land I would need. The fact that I used the easiest dual lands out there doesn't mean I just threw in magical land, I still put effort into it.
On the other hand, my Child of Alara deck used a bunch of those lands and was entirely
EDIT: Also, I'm TOTALLY down with an Un-Round. Since most people don't play un- sets regularly, I think it would inspire much more creativity than normal, since we wouldn't regress to the same cards we always use and like a lot.
J
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
8 Plains
14 Forest
Sweepers
3 Wrath of God
2 Martial Coup
2 Austere Command
Damage Delay
3 Ghostly Prison
3 Moments Peace
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder (chump blocker)
3 Search for Tomorrow
4 Reap and Sow
4 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
4 Ice Storm
Card Draw
2 Soul's Majesty
Win Condition
4 Thornling
4 Circle of Protection: Red
4 Circle of Protection: Black
3 Eternal Witness
4 Harmonize
The Damage Delay section would be swapped out in favor of sideboard cards, pending the deck being played.
4x Wood Elves
4x Yavimaya Dryad
1x Mirari's Wake
Ind.
3x Sapling of Colfenor
3x Thornling
Control
3x Magus of the Disk
4x Austere Command
3x Crooked Scales
3x Dead-Iron Sledge
4x Harmonize
4x Living Wish
Land
4x Savannah
3x Temple Garden
4x Windswept Heath
3x Yavimaya Hollow
4x Flagstones of Trokair
5x Forest
1x Plains
1x Temple Garden
1x Yavimaya Hollow
1x Sapling of Colfenor
1x Thornling
1x Indrik Stomphowler
1x Woodfall Primus
1x Genesis
2x Eternal Witness
1x Magus of the Disk
3x Swords to Plowshares
2x Wall of Reverence
ok, first this is a GW control deck.
Things to mention are: The Magus-Hollow lock that I 'improved' with indestructible creatures (even without Hollow it's a hard punch). The artifacts that also work nicely with either Sapling or Thornling. That all destroy effects allow regeneration so Hollow can save any creature. I also added a Wish-board that should be able to deal with pretty much anything that doesn't allready totaly outspeed the deck.
As the deck is rather slow I'd only play it in a combo-free multiplayer meta.
Edit: to cut the budget (the list now is worth $243 and what I would play if I had the landbase) take out the multicolour lands fill up with basics, ~3 Forests more than Plains and replace the accel creatures with Sakura-Tribe Elders and Kodama's Reaches. (-> ~ $75; the way I would play it atm)
I would not use citpt lands and Lawnmower-like accel, because it won't survive a wrath-effect.
Edit2: name given. it's an album by Cradle of Filth; has nothing to do with the deck but sounds cewl
Now that I posted my deck, I looked at the others and have to say 'wow, :o' seeing the amount of LD paired with Thornling.
I won't be judging but le'me say that while he fits a Ponza strategy I would not call it 'built around Thornling'. Of course you all put other stuff that has synergy with it into your decks ^^ and use it pro'ly better than me.
Doran is a really good idea, as is Worldslayer but I thought that it was to obvious - and I was right, so I build something around one of my fav. locks.
ach, and Anansi, the last two cards are in and will be sent towards you the comming monday.
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Thornling
4 Morphling
4 Torchling
4 Sakura Tribe Elder
4 Wood Elves
4 Fertile Ground
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Mana Leak
1 Fire//Ice
Land:
4 Breeding Pool
3 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
4 Forest
2 Mountain
2 Island
1 Cascade Bluffs
2 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Flooded Grove
Reasons:
Fire//Ice is just a techy card that can draw me a card, tap something, or burn something depending on the situation.
Mana Leak counters most things that could be a threat
Garruk Wildspeaker helps me ramp into my lings and use more abilities. He also is a strong rock card when he makes beasts.
Birds of paradise, Sakura Tribe Elder, Fertile ground, and Wood elves help me ramp into my lings.
Thornling, Morphling, Torchling are flavorful win conditions and strong beaters
That would be midnight my time, in Montreal which is Eastern daylight savings time, North America.
I will be selecting the floating judges at that time.
Wow, 15 decks already, I'm glad I raised the judging time to 5 days ;).
Nice to see you posting a deck Blutsau !
Fun times ahead I can tell :dance:.
4x Thornling
4x Ceaseless Searblades
4x Flamekin Harbinger
4x Smokebraider
3x Flamekin Brawler
3x Pyre Charger
2x Incandescent Soulstoke
4x Braid of Fire
4x Naturalize
4x Lure
2x Desert Twister
Land (22)
10x Mountain
4x Forest
4x Taiga
4x Primal Beyond
The two main cards in the deck are Thornling, obviously, and Ceaseless Searblades. The idea is to throw as much mana into activated abilities of Elementals to make them huge, eventually killing the opponent.
Creatures
Thornling - I expect to use his Indestructibility and +1/-1 most often. Trample may occasionally come into play, but since he's indestructible I doubt he'll be blocked often. He'll work one of two ways. Either my opponent will focus on blocking my other creatures and let him through since they can't kill him, or I'll Lure him and make him indestructible, then get everyone else through.
Ceaseless Searblades - With Elemental Activated abilities on every other elemental except the Flamekin Harbinger, I expect this guy will see a lot of pump. He can survive a lightning bolt without any pump, and if he ever gets through he'll be pretty big.
Flamekin Harbinger and Smokebraider - These two set up the rest of the deck. My ideal opening hand has a Harbinger and either a Smokebraider or a Thornling. I play the Harbinger, and tutor for whichever of the other two I didn't start with, and you're looking at a turn 3 Thornling. Plus, any time I use the Smokebraider for mana, it triggers the Ceaseless Searblades
Pyre Charger and Flamekin Brawler - Essentially the same concept with slightly different P/T and Haste. Work will with my massive amounts of mana and Ceaseless Searblades concept
Incandescent Soulstoke - Almost didn't make the cut, but I do like making my Smokebraider and Harbinger 2/2 instead of 1/1. I don't plan to use his activated ability for anything except a final charge to win the game, but if I do it will still trigger Ceaseless Searblades.
Enchantments/Spells
Braid of Fire - The creatures in this deck are designed such that I'll never have to worry about Mana Burn. I should be able to pump stuff regularly with no problem.
Naturalize - I don't know about everyone else, but my Meta includes a lot of Oblivion Rings. Naturalize is the best way to get my cards back. Also handy for other devastating Enchantments like Grave Pact.
Lure - Probably the most fun way to win with the deck. An indestructible Lured Thornling can kill a lot of creatures. More importantly though, a Lured Flamekin Harbinger can let a lot of other creatures through to deal damage to a player. I considered including Alluring Scent or Taunting Challenge, but just didn't have the space in the deck for them.
Desert Twister - I expect to have no trouble generating 6 mana if I need to destroy a creature or land or can't draw Naturalize, and this is one of the most comprehensive destroy spells out there.
Land
I chose to go with 22 land even though I'm running Braid of Fire and Smokebraider. So far I haven't been unhappy to draw extra land, and there's plenty to do with all that extra mana. Between Primal Beyond, Taiga, Forest, and Smokebraider I'm not having any trouble generating green mana to trigger the Thornling, which was my primary fear when I realized how dominant Red was going to be in this deck.
----------
So that's the deck. I can handle a lot of different decks, and I think it might actually win some games. This build, however, focuses most on having fun. Seriously, there's nothing tricky or slow or contrived about this, you're just beating people over the face with huge creatures over and over
I wish I could be available for judging, but I just can't judge 15 decks in the next 5 days well. Many apologies. I'll definitely be available in the future.
J
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
The 4 Judges for this round will be: Hammer and myself plus, No Name Maddox and Post Affinity (randomly selected among volunteers).
Judges have until next friday evening (march 20th) to post judgement on all the decks, minus their own of course.
Here's a template I made to make it somewhat easier, it's similar to the one Blutsau made; you can use it if you wish (just use the quote button to copy it) or make your own... So long as you all use the same scoring system, as stated in the original post.
04 Noble Hierarch
03 Devoted Druid
04 Thornling
04 Desert Twister
04 Harmonize
03 Plow Under
03 Wickerbough Elder
03 Avoid Fate
03 Eternal Witness
03 Natural Order
03 Stonewood Invocation
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
total:
4x Thornling
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
4x Priest of Titania
4x Deranged Hermit
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Fallow Earth
4x Plow Under
4x Ice storm
4x Creeping Mold
2x Gaea's Cradle
4x Rishadan Port
16x Forests
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
total:
3 Doran, The Siege Tower
4 Thornling
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Treefolk Harbinger
Instants (12)
4 To Arms!
4 Nameless Inversion
4 Path to exile
2 Primal Command
4 Infest
Enchantments (4)
4 Castle
Lands (23)
4 Murmuring Bosk
4 teramorphic expanse
7 Forest
4 Plains
4 swamp
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
total:
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Wood Elves
4x Blastoderm
4x Thornling
3x Oversoul of Dusk
3x Garruk Wildspeaker
3x Harmonize
4x Plow Under
4x Mwonvuli Acid Moss
1x Pendelhaven
1x Yavimaya Hollow
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
total:
2 Molder
3 Extraplanar Lens
3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
3 Plow Under
2 Primal Command
3 Harmonize
3 Thornling
3 Hail Storm
1 Ritual of Subdual
3 Stunted Growth
1 Planar Portal
4 Nature's Lore
3 Skyshroud's Claim
2 Tangle Wire
20 Forest
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
total:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Thornling
4 Morphling
4 Torchling
4 Sakura Tribe Elder
4 Wood Elves
4 Fertile Ground
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Mana Leak
1 Fire//Ice
Land:
4 Breeding Pool
3 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
4 Forest
2 Mountain
2 Island
1 Cascade Bluffs
2 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Flooded Grove
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
total:
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
7 Forest
10 Swamp
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Putrid Imp
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Thornling
3 Wild Mongrel
2 Ivy Elemental
4 Rite of Consumption
4 Vigor Mortis
4 Dark Ritual
1 Loxodon Warhammer
4 Edge of Autumn
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
total:
8 Plains
14 Forest
Sweepers
3 Wrath of God
2 Martial Coup
2 Austere Command
Damage Delay
3 Ghostly Prison
3 Moments Peace
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder (chump blocker)
3 Search for Tomorrow
4 Reap and Sow
4 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
4 Ice Storm
Card Draw
2 Soul's Majesty
Win Condition
4 Thornling
4 Circle of Protection: Red
4 Circle of Protection: Black
3 Eternal Witness
4 Harmonize
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
total:
4x Thornling
4x Ceaseless Searblades
4x Flamekin Harbinger
4x Smokebraider
3x Flamekin Brawler
3x Pyre Charger
2x Incandescent Soulstoke
4x Braid of Fire
4x Naturalize
4x Lure
2x Desert Twister
Land (22)
10x Mountain
4x Forest
4x Taiga
4x Primal Beyond
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
total:
1 strip mine
3 wasteland
2 ghost quarte
2 barbarian ring
2 Wooded Foothills
4 tropical island
2 taiga
2 volcanic island
1 forest
1 mountain
1 tranquil thicket
1 lonely sandbar
1 maze of ith
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
Creatures - 6
1 morphling
1 thornling
1 torchling
3 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
4 Crucible of worlds
3 Life from the Loam
4 Exploration
3 Constant Mists
3 Trade Routes
4 Bust (Boom/Bust)
3 Rhystic Study
3 Slow Motion
1 crop rotation
1 worm harvest
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
total:
4 flagstones of trokair
4 plains
15 forest
creatures
4 thornling
4 sakura tribe elder
4 kitchen finks
2 faiths fetters
artifacts
4 ensnaring bridge
4 world slayer
4 dark steel ingot
4 steel shaper's gift
4 eladamri's call
4 naturalize
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
total:
5x Forest
4x Bayou
4x Wooded Foothills
3x Bloodstained Mire
3x Swamp
2x Volrath's Stronghold
2x Maze of Ith
1x Diamond Valley
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Thornling
4x Kitcken Finks
2x Eternal Witness
Spells:
4x Berserk
4x Worldly Tutor
4x Damnation
4x Crop Rotation
2x Krosan Grip
2x Night's Whisper
1x Demonic Tutor
4x Chrome Mox
1x Sol Ring
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
total:
8 Forest
8x Mountain
4x Karplusan Forest
3x Nova Chaser
4x Thornling
1x Stigma Lasher
2x Flamekin Harbinger
3x Torchling
2x Incandescent Soulstoke
2x Timbermare
2x Groundbreaker
2x Fertilid
4x Brighthearth Banneret
2x Barishi
4x Smokebraider
4x Flamekin Bladewhirl
2x Upwelling
2x Manamorphose
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
total:
4 Thornling
2 Indrik Stomphowler
2 Eternal Witness
2 Chronozoa
2 Braids, Conjurer Adept
3 Coiling Oracle
3 Simic Guildmage
Spells (16)
4 Drop of Honey
2 Worldly Tutor
4 Paradox Haze
3 Followed Footsteps
3 Energy Chamber
3 Llanowar Reborn
3 Hollow Trees
4 Tropical Island
2 Breeding Pool
2 Flooded Grove
4 Forest
5 Islands
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
total:
4x Wood Elves
4x Yavimaya Dryad
1x Mirari's Wake
Ind.
3x Sapling of Colfenor
3x Thornling
Control
3x Magus of the Disk
4x Austere Command
3x Crooked Scales
3x Dead-Iron Sledge
4x Harmonize
4x Living Wish
Land
4x Savannah
3x Temple Garden
4x Windswept Heath
3x Yavimaya Hollow
4x Flagstones of Trokair
5x Forest
1x Plains
1x Temple Garden
1x Yavimaya Hollow
1x Sapling of Colfenor
1x Thornling
1x Indrik Stomphowler
1x Woodfall Primus
1x Genesis
2x Eternal Witness
1x Magus of the Disk
3x Swords to Plowshares
2x Wall of Reverence
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour
total:
Hope y'all can still incorporate that into your scoring.
J
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
...
Oh and Judging is coming along nicely if you all want to know, 15 decks (-1) is some work as you might imagine, but I'm having fun.
Problem is my girlfriend has been hogging the computer because of job searching (she's out of work at the end of this month :-/). I even printed out my template and have been using the old pen and paper; that's why it's taking so long, I should have my scoring later tonight though, tomorrow morning at the latest.
Cheers...