Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
I admit, i'm from a small out-of-the-way isle called vesuva.
"As ExpiredRascals enters the CDCC, you may choose a player participating in CDCC. If you do, ExpiredRascals enters CDCC with as many votes as that player."
"As ExpiredRascals enters the CDCC, you may choose a player participating in CDCC. If you do, ExpiredRascals enters CDCC with as many votes as that player."
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Score placeholder. Hadn't time to transcribe them between Prerelease, making choclate cakes (including cuverture I used a pound 60% chocolate per cake :D) and other schtuff.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Each reality is but the dream of another, and each sleeper a god unknowing.
We define the boundaries of reality; they don't define us.
Sorry for the delay in advance but as my days off are Monday and Tuesday and we didn't get a top 8 list until Tuesday night I will still need at least Monday to finish up. This round is also going very slow as I am having to spend 1.5h give or take on each deck just to test in 10 times. I'm only half done
Edit: done 7 of 8 decks. One to go. Will be posting within the next few hours
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Sorry trying to do 10 games per deck and this last deck is taking 10-30min/game. Working until the evening. I'm sorry for taking so long but 2/3 of this round are very slow playing janky lock decks
Of course the unique thing about this deck was Web of Inertia and Leyline of the Void which was very effective if you established it early. That was the problem however, as with only 2 copies of each, and only a couple tutors, it wasn't always easy to set up. Thankfully there were enough other control elements with counters and removal of various kinds, which helped with staying alive (well you can tell by the way I use my walk...). This deck was about 50/50 in my games in terms of winning percantage, but the games it did win were always long and drawn out and took forever to put the final nail in the coffin.
I'm sorry to say this to you kiljo as I have enjoyed your other submissions, but I felt this particular deck was basically a weaker mashup of some of the other decks this round. How can I say that in another way... it kinda felt like the Aluren decks trying to go off, without Aluren, making it really slow and hoping to live off exiling key opponent card with Circu, and then beat down with your small creatures. The minimal amount of control/removal didn't help make up for this really, and it ended up being a pretty weak strategy in my opinion. This deck was almost overly reliant on having Circu out, and I don't think anything particularly original was seen here. Intuition is nice for legendary creatures helping you get the one you need and take the others out of your deck, but if the one you kept gets killed.. whoops!
The lantern of insight was kinda cool although I felt as if it was almost more of a gimick than a truly helpful card, compared to how the other decks ran with Circu. Recoil is one of my favorite cards of all time, it's an instant speed vindicate in UB when your opponent's hand is empty, but it wasn't used to its fullest potential here with no discard support-- but I still liked it. Shriekmaw was alright and nevermaker was a fun card that I expected to see a lot more of this round because it works great with Circu, ala temporal spring. Other than all that it felt like more of the same and I don't think there was anything truly special or unique about this deck, more of a middle of the road build to me. Not to say that it was bad, it just wasn't outstanding. Also, I think 20 lands and 8 mana artifacts was not really necessary here, and it would have been nice to have a few more targets for trinket mage, some kind of small toolbox.
Although not normally a fan of infinite combos in casual, I actually like the Aluren/Cavern Harpy/Circu combo, and I can't really explain why. It was the first thing that popped in my head when I saw we were doing Circu this round, and I'm kinda surprised more people didn't go for it, maybe because it was “too obvious", but hey, I don't really mind that. I guess that shows how creative all of our deckbuilders are Anyway, on to the deck itself. I do think this deck would have been slightly better with the aforementioned cavern harpy, when you're not getting Circu it's nice to be able to reuse the harpy and a man-o-war every turn. It also allows you to run dire undercurrents with great effect. That's just a minor complaint and aside from that, I felt the deck was very focused and very effective at going off, even if you maybe sacrificed some creativity/originality to achieve that.
Creativity/Originality: 4
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3
Synergy/Tuning: 3.5
Power/Capacity to win: 2.5
Interaction/Protection: 3
Format/Thematic: +1 for Ravnica Block
Interesting how this deck went more for the straight mill strategy with the glimpse, psychic drain, etc. Limiting yourself to Ravnica Block didn't hurt the deck as much as one might expect from block decks, Last Grasp was probably the worst offender in this regard. Overall, while the mill strategy was decent and the cards worked toward that pretty well, it was weak in other areas and really had trouble with any deck that can put a lot of early pressure, especially with its fairly high mana curve. The four copies of Leyline of the Void is probably my biggest complaint with the deck. I also don't think Circu was really used to his fullest here, and wasn't really a hugely integral part to the deck. Clutch of the Undercity turned out to be a cool pick as its both useful as a spell (the bounce is good although this specific deck didn't care about opponents life) but moreso as a tutor for Circu. Surprised more people didn't use this, what with Circu's legendary status and all.
Creativity/Originality: 5
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
Synergy/Tuning: 4.5
Power/Capacity to win: 4
Interaction/Protection: 4
Dlink didn't dissapoint with another creative deck this week. Head Games is a card I've never played with before and it turned out to be quite fun and definitely on theme with Circu. This will be a short summary as I don't really have any complaints or constructive criticism for this deck, very solid and fun build all around.
The first thing I want to say about this deck, something that really bugged me, was not having enough creatures with ETB abilities to really abuse harpy, peel from reality, and familiar's ruse. In fact these really only benefited venser, and there was potential for a lot more there. Knowledge Pool is definitely a funky card and makes the game, well... interesting. I think you did the best you could with it, I'm just not a fan of the card. My test games were all over the place with this deck, there were some fun ones and some lame ones, so it makes it hard to give a real accurate score for the deck. I feel like I have to give you an 'A' for effort but I just personally wasn't too excited with the way the deck played out.
The other Aluren deck, and quite interesting. As opposed to Flatulence's Aluren deck, I liked that you actually included green for cards other than Aluren. Temporal Spring fit it quite nicely with Circu. Clutch of the Undercity was again a nice addition. I didn't feel there were enough other creatures besides Cavern Harpy to justify running the harpy itself, when you don't have Circu or a man-o-war it just sits in your hand, and the man-o-war by itself is enough to go infinite with Aluren. My other nitpick complaint was the addition of Undermine. For a deck trying to combo off and not worried about damage, it seems a plain old counterspell would have been better. I understand that it double triggers Circu but the mana cost was a problem more than a couple times for me. It was occasionally difficult to get Aluren out, with only 2 copies and 4 tutors (the tutors being clutch of the undercity, which sometimes you needed for Circu himself). Those complaints aside, I did like the deck a lot. Temporal Spring has always been one of my more liked cards and I thought it was put to good use here. Don't you always wish it was an instant though??
Ok so I'm finished but have yet to finish all the write ups. Will post what I have done so far and the rest in the morning. Sorry again everyone. If anyone wants the quick notes I made after each round which will include my thoughts on how the deck played they are welcome to it. Just send me a PM.
Kiljo 14.5
Overview: While I appreciate the attempts made in here to do things differently they ended up just not being effective. I had an almost impossible time setting Circu up to actually do anything often. The few times it was set up things worked decently with Circu.
Creativity/Originality 3.5/5
A number of choices in this deck did have some thought into choosing a unique take on how to do something which I respect. Boggart Birth Rate (more on that later) was a very original choice for a recurring spell. The use of “free” cards in here was also a very fresh idea. The creature and mana base are the only areas that I would say was really lacking that “hmm that’s different” feel to it.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 4/5
Most cards in here were definitely put in here with the intent of them working with Circu. Free spells when Circu were out was a very welcome free exile. The creature base you can get to bounce around nicely at times and build a mini flying army/exiling machine. Boggart Birth Rite was put in here only for interactions with Circu and nothing else. If that isn’t card adherence I don’t know what it. Having said that it was a dead card to me the first five games then I subbed it out for FOW. A little more use of dual coloured spells was needed for a higher score in this.
Synergy/Tuning 2.5/5
The creatures in here had nice synergy amongst themselves. Beyond that there was less thought into cards put in there to specially work better in combination with others cards. Nothing overly wrong with the tuning in here but nothing blew my mind either.
Power/Capacity to win 1.5/5
This was another deck that lost most of the games I put it into. Boggart Birth Rite was a dead card to me to the point where I removed it completely by the 6th game and put in FOW instead. After that the deck survived much better but still had issues winning. Also, unlike some of the other decks on here that still were losing decks this one didn’t even give me the feeling like I had a chance most times.
Interaction/Protection 3/5
The initial deck protection was underwealming. The few times I got Circu out it didn’t last very long. Creature removal is sketchy at best as it is not-targeted. Shame to make an opponent sac a llanowar elves in the place of a 13/13 primalcrux. Once swaps from the sideboard were made the protection was much better. The only problem is these protection swaps took the spotlight away from Circu (not like I could do very much with him though).
DLink123 18
Overview: This deck gave me a great “you’re going to get it*cackle*” feel. The idea of filling their hand with unuseable junk was awesome. Unfortunately by the 5th game I couldn’t get it to work once. Despite a few games being cursed with terrible hands the hands that had not issue still couldn’t establish. Needed greater answers to aggro as every single aggro game was completely one sided. I must have read through the deck explanation you provided 4 or 5 times just trying to find some way to make this deck work but could not. Aside from the decks power everything else in here has a very nice feel in it.
Creativity/Originality 4.5/5
This deck looks like nothing I have seen before. It is also extremely different from the rest of this round’s builds which is even more impressive given how restrictive Circu is. The use of Head Games to fill their hand with uncastable junk is creative brilliance. While I’m sure other possibilies exist for this same function it seems the ideal card was found.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 4/5
Although all cards in here had their place and felt right there could have been more focus on multi-cast/dual-coloured cards to increase the exile amount. It’s actually a bit hard to tell the full potential of how well everything would work with Circu as I died every time before I could set up all the pieces. I didn’t really like Panoptic Mirror as it was such a late game card it never made a difference really.
Synergy/Tuning 4/5
Having lower numbers of cards rather than playets help this deck feel unique and fun yet ended up hurting how it would play in the long run. I would frequently find myself in a position where if I had a tutor I would have to use it to grab a circu or head games. As such since I only drew into the wish once and was killed the following turn I didn’t even get to see the sideboard in use. Other than that everything seemed to flow well.
Power/Capacity to Win 2/5
Against aggro and burn this deck just plain loses. It had no answer really to pure burn and could not accelerate fast enough into its removal to stop aggro. Other than that every other game I played was very close and I was able to come just that close to setting up the control fully. Unfortunately that is where it stopped. In the end I only won once so despite being able to battle it out I have to give this low scores as it rarely even felt like I had a chance. This deck seems like it has a much better hope in multiplayer than 1v1.
Interaction/Protection 3.5/5
Consuming Vapors was an excellent card against the slower combo creature decks. It even helped me out a lot in mid-range. Agony Warp and Mishra’s Factory tried their best to save me from aggro but just came up short. Vendilion Clique helped save my Circu from certain death as well. Still the lack of a proper answer to aggro as well as little staying power against large creatures effected this score.
Wingedkagouti 19.5
Overview: This deck was a winning deck which for this round seemed rare. The only problem is it did so without the help of Circu at all really. Circu was almost secondary thought to how this deck really worked. The few times I tried to focus on Circu at the risk on leaving myself open it ended up costing me. The MVP was the Web/Leyline combo and won me two games. Two copies of each made it hard to keep in play though.
Creativity/Originality 3/5
Some of the counters were interesting choices to work better with Circu. The land was thought out as well and not as cookie cutter as was possible. The removal was pretty standard and nothing inspirational. The idea of hiding behind the web/void combo worked very well to stay alive.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 4/5
The removal options while useful didn’t have any special focus on Circu. The counters were all geared towards Circu which was nice as well. The creatures also worked very well with Circu. I had some nice games using Gravelgill Duo and Cavern Harpy to get Circu really going with Circu.
Synergy/Tuning 4/5
Everything here had a great feel to it. All cards seemed to be put here to work with something else in here with the exception of the removal. All in all no real complaints about how things worked together in here but wasn’t blown away by anything either.
Power/Capacity to Win 4/5
This score in relation to other rounds probably will be slightly inflated but within this round this was the only deck to feel like it was a winner. I actually felt often like I was going to win which was something that just didn’t seem to be the case with this round. The Web/Void combo won me 2 games by themselves. I won another game attacking with massive pumped Gravelgill Duo’s thanks to Cavern Harpy. Also won once by exiled so many cards through Circu the opponent could do nothing until I killed him. Never drew the Damnation that would have saved me the 1 game 1 put it in vs aggro.
Interaction/ Protection 4.5/5
This deck had SOOO much protection and that is what made it shine. I was able to win many games thanks to the huge levels of removal/counters in here. The Web/Void combo won me the game twice. The creature removal as well kept me in almost every other game. Nothing to really complain about the protection here at all.
Expired Rascals 18
Overview: The balance in the mana base seemed to work nicely. I did end up having some troubles in a few games hitting all 3 however. The first ¾ of the games I played though the balance felt perfect. Temporal Spring for some reason was my MVP here. It kept me in the game by stalling key CIPT lands as well as the regular bounce targets. The various other protection was nice but a little to mana intensive to deal with aggro. Never got Aluren to work as intended once which was a bummer. Not sure if I just had bad luck but it was a dead card to me 100% of the time. Almost got jace 2.0's ultimate to go off twice but alas no dice. Still it helped greatly in many games.
Creativity/Originality 3.5/5
While Krosan Tusker is a very unique choice for the draw and the Aluren combo’s were nice as well in this deck nothing else in it really blew my mind. The Tusker/Tutor combo was neat though. The mana base while effective was pretty cookie cutter. Cards like the man-o-war,venser, and cavern harpy are also very status quo as well.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 3.5/5
Every card in here had it’s place it seemed. There was a good balance between single coloured and dual coloured cards for Circu. There was a good attempt at a balance between protection for Circu and defense against the opponent. I didn’t give a higher score as I didn’t really get Circu going all that much. The counters and tutor’s were chosen to work nicely with Circu.
Synergy/Tuning 4.5/5
This deck had many nice small little combos and synergy in here. Jace 2.0 works wonders with Circu. The Aluren combo (while I never got it to go off) allows a lovely instant win if you had the setup. The tutor/tusker cycle combo is nice as well.
Power/Capacity to Win 3/5
All games were very close and I did win with this deck. The only exceptions were against aggro decks where I had no hope. There wasn’t enough low CC answers to aggro to survive against a deck that is killing by the 4th or 5th turn. Still I was never really left with a helpless feeling in the vast majority of the games I played. It still didn’t win much though so the score reflects that.
Interaction/Protection 3.5/5
The bounce in here was the difference maker. Being able to bounce lands with Temporal Spring won me the game once and came close to winning a second one for me. The counters were nice but a little mana intensive as they needed multiple of two colours in a three colour deck. Lack of answers for aggro and not enough direct protection for Circu hurts this score however.
Maserati 13
Overview: By my 5th game I had yet to get a circu in play. In the 5th game I had one in my hand through a transmute by the 4th turn. Played it, and it was instantly bolted(had to press the issue as they had two smaller creature out already). I enjoyed the interesting take on removal and counter spells in this deck to utilize both black and blue. The deck NEEEEDS more Circu and protection for Circu. I can’t stress this enough that his deck needed more than 20 lands. I always had the right colours just not enough of it. You had 4 dimir signet and I would have loved for two of those two be more artifact lands.
Creativity/Originality: 2.5/5
I enjoyed the interesting use of removal choices to try and get both the blue and black spell cast each time. Lantern of Insight was interesting the 2 games I had it even though I never got to use it with Circu. I mostly liked to have that extra little bit of knowledge about what my opponent had to best make use of the removal & counters.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3/5
If I ever had Circu most of the time I either held it in my hand waiting for mana or it was removed very quickly. Twice I actually had it working and was able to exile some cards with it. Again the use of almost completely dual coloured creatures and spells was nice with this. Unfortunately both times the opponent was able to remove it in some other form before I really could do much with it. With having so many singles it really made it hard to get what you needed.
Synergy/Tuning: 3.5
Again the use of many dual coloured spells meant that when a Circu was around it was very nicely tuned. Nothing blew my mind though.
Power/Capacity to win: 1
I played 10 games with this build against a number of deck styles. After the 10th straight loss I decided to call this one. The lack of enough mana and circu was a death sentence every time. I came really close once and had my opponent at 7 life with 6 cards exiled. Unfortunately he was able to sweep the board and ended up winning. Not much I can say. Maybe a weaker meta?
Interaction/Protection: 4
The protection was actually really nice. My only issues was it needed more protection for Circu. I was able to stave off an eldrazi ramp deck nicely with the amount of counters,bounce and removal. This was then only part of the deck that really seemed to not have any issues with me. That could perhaps been part of the deck’s problem as it had so much protection from creatures and spells but if you traded any two of these for some more lands or more lightning greaves I would have been happier. Regardless, if not for the protection I would have lost 3-4 turns fasters in most cases.
Flatulence Incarnate 15
Overall: I liked the feel of this deck yet kinda wished it was focused more towards the only way I won with it which was with the Aluren/ Shrieking Drake infinity exile thanks to a circu in play. Instant (pretty much) win is good in my books. Overly reliant of the combo previously mentioned. I always wished for a bit more protection somehow as I only ever needed to survive one or two more turns to win. I felt cards like the Man-o-war could have been better if it was a removal spell or even a 2cc bounce. My only other major issue was that I had to much mana most games. Especially true was that there are too many fetch lands and shock lands to make a fast enough mana base. I always had mana but was reluctant to use it as most games I would end up taking 3-5dmg from my own lands or play very slow.
Creativity/Originality 3/5
While the Aluren infinity combos aren’t groundbreaking they were interesting enough. Nothing in the build really blew my mind either in terms of originality.
Effectiveness/ Card Adherance 3/5
Rather than going with a dual colored route for adherence you choose a route that would either activate it once or infinity. Again, while not groundbreaking it was effective enough and getting circu going. Even without Aluren I was able to bounce around Shrieking Drake a few times before a big storm of Brain Freeze mill which resulted in some nice Circu activation.
Synergy/ Tuning 4/5
Both with and without a Circu this deck was able to combo off itself nicely. The multi-function of most cards in here was apparent time and time again. More use of dual coloured spells would have been nice though.
Power/ Capacity to win 3/5
While I lost more games than I won with this build it was able to win. All my wins came via Aluren/infinity bounce + infinity exile from Circu. I would have enjoyed a massive mill from brainfreeze but never had the chance sadly. It still lacked tempo at most stages of each game I played it in. The deck seemed either instant win or had no hope basically.
Interaction/ Protection 2.5/5
While it had some answer for creatures I never really had any answers for anything else. A major overhaul of the protection in here is needed for this deck to function better.
Gaea's Regent 15.5
Overview: I really thought for a deck with as many power restrictions as a block constructed this deck did quite well. I didn’t exactly go though powering my way to a win with it but was a factor in every game I played. The mill wasn’t really enough to do what was necessary fast enough but that is a factor of block constructed you must deal with.
Creativity/Originality 3.5/5
I find this deck very hard to score in this category. None of the mechanics are groundbreaking and you didn’t try to do anthing super unique involving circu. Now trying to build a block constructed deck does limit your options and should be considered creative in its own right.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 3/5
Out of necessity this deck really is Mill first Circu second. There were some cards that were chosen to work specifically to make Circu better but not many. It’s hard to say much here and it was good clean mill which combined with Circu just makes things even better.
Synergy/Tuning 3/5
This deck had some cards that worked quite well once Circu was in play. The only reason I’m not scoring this one higher is that each card basically works by itself. Sure they can all activate Circu and some do it in a very effective way. I still am left with a feeling that if you took any piece out of this deck it really wouldn’t effect how the rest of the deck plays.
Power/Capacity to win 2.5/5
This deck tried it’s hardest to be a good mill deck. I also tried my best to find ravinica block opponents to little success. I did find some other block constructed decks to try it against as well as some near ravinica decks. Even against those decks though I just did not seem to have enough to successfully mill the opponent down all the way. The highlight of this deck was definitely out milling a mill deck. That was all thanks to Circu preventing the key cards from being cast. Lack of good answers for aggro as well as janky removal prevents this score from going any higher.
Interaction/Protection 2.5/5
The removal in this deck was weak against many things. Remand is a fun cantrip but really doesn’t prevent your death. Last grasp was handy but once they got out of its range I effectively had no removal. I would like to give this a higher score as I understand again that this is block constructed and you don’t have many options but facts are facts and I just didn’t survive well enough playing against creature decks.
1 Point for Block Constructed
Fdtori 15.5
Overview: This deck was very innovative in design. It is trying to break a card that I just think sucks and it’s to uncontrollable to use properly. I did get knowledge pool onto the battlefield more than once. Each time the game took an interesting turn (once they called me an idiot for using this card and quit on me). I ended up proving very hard to manipulate it properly. A few times though I was able to get some nice stuff my opponent put in there.
Creativity/Originality 4.5/5
Just about everything in here had a really fresh feel in it. A few cards in here were common to this round but not many. The overall deck idea is also completely unique in its own right. The land base while janky a few times was really fun to play with and at least for me not something I see often. I really liked the use of wizard abilities in here.
Effectiveness/ Card Adherence 3.5/5
A good portion of the deck was not build with Circu in mind first but rather knowledge pool. This was kind of necessary and I understand that but in terms of card adherence to Circu a few cards had little. The good news is the parts of the deck that were geared towards Circu were done so beautifully. The multiple abilities put in especially for wizards (Circu & co.) were very effective. A good number of dual/hybrid creatures were in here to activate Circu as well.
Synergy/Tuning 3.5/5
I was really torn on how to score this part. A lot of the deck works wonders with each other but almost in two separate ways it feels at times. The mana base worked very well as long as you had the right ones for the right colours. Twice I found myself in a situation of only being able to produce colourless and blue with a Circu in hand. Still it provided nice acceleration for knowledge pool’s 6CC. Familiar’s Ruse ended up being a dead card to me on more than one occasion. Once all I had was a pair of cavern harpy and two ruse in hand. Needless to say I lost that one.
Power/Capacity to win 2/5
This deck really had little answers to aggro and burn. I lost quickly to both and found that with the combo only nature really of this deck it took me until the 3th turn before I was really viable in a game. The times I did get Circu out I was able to exile a few things but in each instance he was removed. Knowledge Pool didn’t exactly make my life a breeze to win either despite how interesting the games became. JTMS won me a game. I also was able to put a really good lock on somebody thanks to Circu and won that one convincingly.
Interaction/Protection 2/5
This deck needed a better solution to protection across the board. I was able to use its counters more than once. It had a janky form of creature removal that wasn’t really effective. I was able to defend myself with my creatures once but I don’t really want to be saccing my combo creatures to stop a pair 2/2 that keeps swinging at me.
The first thing I want to say about this deck, something that really bugged me, was not having enough creatures with ETB abilities to really abuse harpy, peel from reality, and familiar's ruse. In fact these really only benefited venser, and there was potential for a lot more there. Knowledge Pool is definitely a funky card and makes the game, well... interesting. I think you did the best you could with it, I'm just not a fan of the card. My test games were all over the place with this deck, there were some fun ones and some lame ones, so it makes it hard to give a real accurate score for the deck. I feel like I have to give you an 'A' for effort but I just personally wasn't too excited with the way the deck played out.
Thanks for your score Bustin.
Yeah, this deck was not so easy to put together...
Basically, Cavern Harpy was only there to abuse it's own ETB trigger and allow funky stuff; not only is she awesome with Circu, but she fits the pool perfectly as well, i.e. opponents can't play her from that zone unless they already have a U or B creature on their side, otherwise she comes back to my hand .
I agree that there was the potential for more abuse but I couldn't include all that many creatures with powerful ETB abilities because of Knowledge Pool. If I had, then opponents could haved used them as well and screw up my plans too much. For example, I tried to put Aether Adept (a wizard -fetchable in this deck- and very abusable with the wizard land as well), but it's a creature with no drawbacks for the opponent if played from the Pool zone.
So In my mind, I had to think about each card and how it interacted with the big artifact, because I really wanted to cast it ASAP and not hold back because of a less favorable hand.
(but in hindsight maybe I could have secured a spot for something like Shriekmaw, since a lot of my creatures are black + the evoke cost means it's cheap to cast if I know it's going to be exiled anyway ... oh well... something to think about when I try the deck with friends)
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.
Creativity/Originality: 3.5
Gravegill was a nice original approach to synergy for this build (adding a card powered up by the same things as circu)
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
good use of circu
Synergy/Tuning: 4
well tuned, good synergy. That being said though, the deck primer was wrong at parts, and web of inertia felt weird, especially with only two copies of leyline. I also didn't like having to transmute into demonic tutor just to be able to find circu
Power/Capacity to win: 3.5
gravegill was a very fast win which made circu only need to keep them locked down a couple turns.
still often coudn't survive the early turns
Interaction/Protection: 4
reasonably well protected
Format/Thematic: 0
Creativity/Originality: 3
Clearly a unique homebrew with influences from other decks.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
It was clearly circu-focused, potentially a little to the deck's detriment
Synergy/Tuning: 2
Okay, I just had no idea what i was doing with this deck. Parts of it felt combo-y, parts felt controlly… I just needed some more guidance on how this deck was intended to play.
Diabolic Edict was a clearly poor choice when you consider the goblin-recurring spells. Warren Weirding would have been MUCH better.
Deck needed draw, not just filtering like frantic search.
Power/Capacity to win: 1.5
Wildly Inconsistent. Relied on landing an early circu and lucking on the circu triggers hitting key spells. Worked a couple times where it completely locked out the opponent, but most of the time… just not good.
I will say that this deck was the only one to have the luck of facing a guy playing relentless rats. Best. match-up. ever.
Interaction/Protection: 1.5
diabolic edict, some tempo (i love snap), snuff out,
Format/Thematic: 0
Creativity/Originality: 4
I liked the hardcore control concept here. Felt very different from the other decks despite many similar elements
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 2
Worked well with circu in play, but did not do well at getting him there. Very rarely was I able to find or play the core card.
Synergy/Tuning: 2
Great synergy all over the place, horrible tuning. There were no sources of card advantage here, i was 1-for-1ing things all day long, and then i ran out of answers. with no way to refill my hand, I could never keep up with opponents. the 2 points here come solely from the synergy. the tuning was too bad to even garner half a point.
Power/Capacity to win: 2
Shriekmaw sometimes just could go all the way.
Circu was nice if found early (extreme rarity)
Interaction/Protection: 4
It had all the interaction and protection in the world, but needed a way to ensure it was found (read: draw)
Format/Thematic: 0
Creativity/Originality: 2
I just didn't see anything that wowed me. the fact that it absolutely didn't need or want circu just made it worse.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 1
Circu was not worth it in here. Brainstorm was a better win, and circu was just felt like very poor protection shoehorned in.
Synergy/Tuning: 3
A little high of mana reqs for a deck with no accel. That being said, i always had the combo ready by t5.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
sadly, the fact that it could reliably combo off on t5 every game was often enough.
Interaction/Protection: 2
Tempo from the MoWs and Adepts, and kinda circu too, but it was really never worth playing in any of the games.
Format/Thematic: 0
Creativity/Originality: 2
Our playgroup ran something very close to this back in RAV/TSP T2. I'm not convinced of the originality here
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
Very strong use of circu. Dimir Machinations was a sweet innovation for choosing circu targets
Synergy/Tuning: 4
What can I say? There is a reason that Gaea's Regent is known for good deck-building. I found what i needed very easily. I found myself wishing remands were memory lapses, but given the format restaints, that couldn't be helped.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
I won a good amount of games with this deck
Interaction/Protection: 4
Mainboard leyline is evil. pure evil.
had trouble against fast aggro and one game a rock deck sided in c. extraction to hit my leylines, but even so, this deck proved remarkably resilient.
i typically found an answer to almost any problem.
Format/Thematic: 1
Rav block! Woot! That is all.
Creativity/Originality: 5
This list was unlike all others. Beautiful. Definitely my favourite deck to playtest this round. This deck is moving to my non-CDCC-specific cockatrice deck folder. definite keeper.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4.5
I found what i needed with ease, circu got insane once you mana drained into mirror. circu's support in this deck was just unparalleled elsewhere
Synergy/Tuning: 5
I'm not entirely sure how this deck did it, but it was very consistent and just would win. sweet synergies all over the place, my personal favourite was a headgames on the mirror with a circu in play. Just cruel
Power/Capacity to win: 4.5
I actually ended up using vendillion clique and mishra's factory as early game answers to aggro. I would not of expected those to fulfill those roles, but hey, it worked. once you got rolling, this deck was a juggernaut. nothing could stop it.
Interaction/Protection: 4.5
Drain, wishboard, headgames, clique, command, yeah… I had answers
Format/Thematic: 0
Creativity/Originality: 5
Knowledge Pool was very unique and had great synergy. the aethermage tutor was sweet and unique.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 5
very clear focus
Synergy/Tuning: 3.5
It could be a little slow, but quickly became insane. Jace had excellent synergy both with pool AND circu. The bounce had very bad potential interactions with circu. getting into instant wars over who would get to snag the bounce from the pool was very dangerous.
Power/Capacity to win: 3.5
Knowledge Pool got broken with circu very quickly, but there is a window where it can backfire. Big-time.
Interaction/Protection: 3.5
I really don't know how to rate this category for this deck… Knowledge Pool just changes so much…
None the less, i did seem to have less problems than expected.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Creativity/Originality: 3
Straigt forward Mill was expected. A block's pool doesn't give much room for innovation.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3.5
Medicore, lots of multi coloured spells, but he's not the most important card.
Synergy/Tuning: 3
Can't blame you for the pool's restrcitions, but the deck needs more creature control.
Power/Capacity to win: 3
Medicore.
Interaction/Protection: 2.5
Leyline & Machinations sucked and should've been removal.
Format/Thematic: 1
RAV block.
Dlink123: 16.5
Creativity/Originality: 4.5
Mirror Head Games is evil. But overkill.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 1
Circu isn't needed in the deck. Not at all.
Synergy/Tuning: 3
As I said, Circu isn't really needed. Once the Mirror Games is set up, he's super superfluous. Two Wishes are too few for such a wishboard, sadly.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
Mirror off a Drain goes a long way to force victories. Same for Clique shenanigans.
Strangely for once Drain and the land base feels excessive - not going to substarct points for it, but wanted to mention it nonetheless.
Flatulence Incarnate: 10
Creativity/Originality: 2.5
Alluren.dec is known and you present a really boring version.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3
Well, Alluren could win in many ways and besides Brain Freeze ol'd Circu looks pale.
Synergy/Tuning: 1
28 lands. The curve tops at 4cmc ... Twenty-eight lands? Redundance, ok, but you took it two steps too far here. The only plus I see is the built-in bounce of the cmc 3 critteres.
Power/Capacity to win: 3
You can win earliest by t5, and have enough tutors to pull it off. but heck, this is boring...
Interaction/Protection: 0.5
the above mentioned bounce, else: zilch.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
kiljo: 12.5
Creativity/Originality: 3.5
Medicore, you get a bonus for Birth Rite.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4.5
Without Circu the deck makes but a lot of noise. With him it's like digging through stone with a nail.
Synergy/Tuning: 1
Land counts these days are strange. 17 was not enough for me. This influenced the deck's performance quite a bit. Further the deck lacks the crucial infiniteness of the mill loop, because with these few lands, milling cards with 1 per card, gets nowhere.
Power/Capacity to win: 2
Mana screw is not your friend if you want to win a game (Karn bless Manaless Ichorid). the deck plays like Magicarp... "Use splash!"
Interaction/Protection: 1.5
Seven slots of control... that don't help its performance.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
Sorry for being so negative, but playing lists like this makes me a sad panda.
Wingedkagouti: 18.5
Creativity/Originality: 2.5
Nope. But I like the deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
yes. Gravegill Duo doesn't change that.
Creativity/Originality: 3
As the other Alluren deck, it's nothing new, but atleast yours is better.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
The deck can win with beating face, but it's quite out there (and awesome to do).
Synergy/Tuning: 4
I'd pro'ly try to stream-line the deck (mill vs sub-par beaters??), but it's quite solid.
Power/Capacity to win: 3.5
Taking the wrong path can be lethal.
Interaction/Protection: 3
This is not so much for protection, but for interaction.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
maserati: 19
Creativity/Originality: 3
Medicore. Plus for Lantern & Borderpost. The Clash card's also cute.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3
The deck isn't really built to win with Circu, but uses him while winning - atleast that's how I played it. It's a nice twist to the other lists, but the deck doesn't suffer if you don't get him.
Synergy/Tuning: 4
Borderposts were already mentioned. I would've maybe cut an Infiltrator and a Signet for more Harpies. Else solid.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
Yup.
Interaction/Protection: 5
recurrsion & answers to all types of cards.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
Fdtori: 16.5
Creativity/Originality: 4.5
Knowledge Pool !?
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3.5
Yep, allthough it's more of a Pool deck.
Synergy/Tuning: 3
See below.
Power/Capacity to win: 3
Too many loops to jump through, until you get there, you're mostlikely dead/losing.
Interaction/Protection: 2.5
bounce and counters, that need you to have a creature out. creature control?
Or is he a doppelganger!?
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
I admit, i'm from a small out-of-the-way isle called vesuva.
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
"As ExpiredRascals enters the CDCC, you may choose a player participating in CDCC. If you do, ExpiredRascals enters CDCC with as many votes as that player."
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
Sigged.
And now to hide before blut's bogardan ban-hammer starts swinging.
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
Ach! Rascals, Run!.
Circu circu circu.
I'll stop now, I promise - that one was too easy to pass though.
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
I lol'd. Congrats to everybody else!
The candles burn out for you; I am free.
Did you use 61 cards on purpose? Loving the Krosan Tusker + Worldly Tutor tech btw.
R: Copypasta Sauce {Browbeat}
UR: Mana Cache , One Spell to Bind them All {Magnetic Theft}
UG: Epic Struggle , All-In-Poison {Metamorphosis}
UW: Planar Overlay , Decree of the Bailiff {Saprazzan Bailiff}
BG: Thought Gorger , Dark Chroma {Umbra Stalker}
UBR: Dwarven Shrine
WUBRG: Dissipation Field , Maelstrom Nexus
Yeah, I guess it is superstition regarding luck or something, but i've been running 61 cards in my decks for years.
And tyvm on seeing my tusker trick
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
Tutor for a creature, cycle Tusker to draw the creature and search for a basic land? Or is there more to it?
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
cycle, resolve the land search trigger, play tutor, draw the tutored card with the cycle draw
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
I was more impressed by the way it set up a Turn 5 land drop + creature without losing any tempo.
R: Copypasta Sauce {Browbeat}
UR: Mana Cache , One Spell to Bind them All {Magnetic Theft}
UG: Epic Struggle , All-In-Poison {Metamorphosis}
UW: Planar Overlay , Decree of the Bailiff {Saprazzan Bailiff}
BG: Thought Gorger , Dark Chroma {Umbra Stalker}
UBR: Dwarven Shrine
WUBRG: Dissipation Field , Maelstrom Nexus
Edit: done 7 of 8 decks. One to go. Will be posting within the next few hours
The Mimeoplasm
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Rhys the Redeemed
Merieke Ri Berit
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Cromat Wurm Tribal
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Looking for Green friendly EDH players/groups in the Toronto area. PM me if this is you.
tuesday at the latest.EDIT: gonna be a little longer than expected
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
x2
BUWGRChilds PlayGRWUB
BUWGR Highlander GRWUB
UBSquee's Shapeshifting PetBU
BW Multiplayer Control WB
RG Changeling GR
UR Mana FlareRU
UMerfolkU
B MBMC B
My YouTube Channel
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
The Mimeoplasm
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Rhys the Redeemed
Merieke Ri Berit
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Cromat Wurm Tribal
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Looking for Green friendly EDH players/groups in the Toronto area. PM me if this is you.
Creativity/Originality: 4
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3
Synergy/Tuning: 3.5
Power/Capacity to win: 3
Interaction/Protection: 4
Of course the unique thing about this deck was Web of Inertia and Leyline of the Void which was very effective if you established it early. That was the problem however, as with only 2 copies of each, and only a couple tutors, it wasn't always easy to set up. Thankfully there were enough other control elements with counters and removal of various kinds, which helped with staying alive (well you can tell by the way I use my walk...). This deck was about 50/50 in my games in terms of winning percantage, but the games it did win were always long and drawn out and took forever to put the final nail in the coffin.
Creativity/Originality: 3
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3
Synergy/Tuning: 3
Power/Capacity to win: 2
Interaction/Protection: 3
I'm sorry to say this to you kiljo as I have enjoyed your other submissions, but I felt this particular deck was basically a weaker mashup of some of the other decks this round. How can I say that in another way... it kinda felt like the Aluren decks trying to go off, without Aluren, making it really slow and hoping to live off exiling key opponent card with Circu, and then beat down with your small creatures. The minimal amount of control/removal didn't help make up for this really, and it ended up being a pretty weak strategy in my opinion. This deck was almost overly reliant on having Circu out, and I don't think anything particularly original was seen here. Intuition is nice for legendary creatures helping you get the one you need and take the others out of your deck, but if the one you kept gets killed.. whoops!
Creativity/Originality: 3.5
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
Synergy/Tuning: 3
Power/Capacity to win: 3
Interaction/Protection: 4
The lantern of insight was kinda cool although I felt as if it was almost more of a gimick than a truly helpful card, compared to how the other decks ran with Circu. Recoil is one of my favorite cards of all time, it's an instant speed vindicate in UB when your opponent's hand is empty, but it wasn't used to its fullest potential here with no discard support-- but I still liked it. Shriekmaw was alright and nevermaker was a fun card that I expected to see a lot more of this round because it works great with Circu, ala temporal spring. Other than all that it felt like more of the same and I don't think there was anything truly special or unique about this deck, more of a middle of the road build to me. Not to say that it was bad, it just wasn't outstanding. Also, I think 20 lands and 8 mana artifacts was not really necessary here, and it would have been nice to have a few more targets for trinket mage, some kind of small toolbox.
Creativity/Originality: 3
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
Synergy/Tuning: 4
Power/Capacity to win: 5
Interaction/Protection: 4
Although not normally a fan of infinite combos in casual, I actually like the Aluren/Cavern Harpy/Circu combo, and I can't really explain why. It was the first thing that popped in my head when I saw we were doing Circu this round, and I'm kinda surprised more people didn't go for it, maybe because it was “too obvious", but hey, I don't really mind that. I guess that shows how creative all of our deckbuilders are Anyway, on to the deck itself. I do think this deck would have been slightly better with the aforementioned cavern harpy, when you're not getting Circu it's nice to be able to reuse the harpy and a man-o-war every turn. It also allows you to run dire undercurrents with great effect. That's just a minor complaint and aside from that, I felt the deck was very focused and very effective at going off, even if you maybe sacrificed some creativity/originality to achieve that.
Creativity/Originality: 4
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3
Synergy/Tuning: 3.5
Power/Capacity to win: 2.5
Interaction/Protection: 3
Format/Thematic: +1 for Ravnica Block
Interesting how this deck went more for the straight mill strategy with the glimpse, psychic drain, etc. Limiting yourself to Ravnica Block didn't hurt the deck as much as one might expect from block decks, Last Grasp was probably the worst offender in this regard. Overall, while the mill strategy was decent and the cards worked toward that pretty well, it was weak in other areas and really had trouble with any deck that can put a lot of early pressure, especially with its fairly high mana curve. The four copies of Leyline of the Void is probably my biggest complaint with the deck. I also don't think Circu was really used to his fullest here, and wasn't really a hugely integral part to the deck. Clutch of the Undercity turned out to be a cool pick as its both useful as a spell (the bounce is good although this specific deck didn't care about opponents life) but moreso as a tutor for Circu. Surprised more people didn't use this, what with Circu's legendary status and all.
Creativity/Originality: 5
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
Synergy/Tuning: 4.5
Power/Capacity to win: 4
Interaction/Protection: 4
Dlink didn't dissapoint with another creative deck this week. Head Games is a card I've never played with before and it turned out to be quite fun and definitely on theme with Circu. This will be a short summary as I don't really have any complaints or constructive criticism for this deck, very solid and fun build all around.
Creativity/Originality: 4
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3.5
Synergy/Tuning: 4
Power/Capacity to win: 2.5
Interaction/Protection: 4
The first thing I want to say about this deck, something that really bugged me, was not having enough creatures with ETB abilities to really abuse harpy, peel from reality, and familiar's ruse. In fact these really only benefited venser, and there was potential for a lot more there. Knowledge Pool is definitely a funky card and makes the game, well... interesting. I think you did the best you could with it, I'm just not a fan of the card. My test games were all over the place with this deck, there were some fun ones and some lame ones, so it makes it hard to give a real accurate score for the deck. I feel like I have to give you an 'A' for effort but I just personally wasn't too excited with the way the deck played out.
Creativity/Originality: 4
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
Synergy/Tuning: 3.5
Power/Capacity to win: 4
Interaction/Protection: 4
The other Aluren deck, and quite interesting. As opposed to Flatulence's Aluren deck, I liked that you actually included green for cards other than Aluren. Temporal Spring fit it quite nicely with Circu. Clutch of the Undercity was again a nice addition. I didn't feel there were enough other creatures besides Cavern Harpy to justify running the harpy itself, when you don't have Circu or a man-o-war it just sits in your hand, and the man-o-war by itself is enough to go infinite with Aluren. My other nitpick complaint was the addition of Undermine. For a deck trying to combo off and not worried about damage, it seems a plain old counterspell would have been better. I understand that it double triggers Circu but the mana cost was a problem more than a couple times for me. It was occasionally difficult to get Aluren out, with only 2 copies and 4 tutors (the tutors being clutch of the undercity, which sometimes you needed for Circu himself). Those complaints aside, I did like the deck a lot. Temporal Spring has always been one of my more liked cards and I thought it was put to good use here. Don't you always wish it was an instant though??
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Kiljo 14.5
Creativity/Originality 3.5/5
A number of choices in this deck did have some thought into choosing a unique take on how to do something which I respect. Boggart Birth Rate (more on that later) was a very original choice for a recurring spell. The use of “free” cards in here was also a very fresh idea. The creature and mana base are the only areas that I would say was really lacking that “hmm that’s different” feel to it.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 4/5
Most cards in here were definitely put in here with the intent of them working with Circu. Free spells when Circu were out was a very welcome free exile. The creature base you can get to bounce around nicely at times and build a mini flying army/exiling machine. Boggart Birth Rite was put in here only for interactions with Circu and nothing else. If that isn’t card adherence I don’t know what it. Having said that it was a dead card to me the first five games then I subbed it out for FOW. A little more use of dual coloured spells was needed for a higher score in this.
Synergy/Tuning 2.5/5
The creatures in here had nice synergy amongst themselves. Beyond that there was less thought into cards put in there to specially work better in combination with others cards. Nothing overly wrong with the tuning in here but nothing blew my mind either.
Power/Capacity to win 1.5/5
This was another deck that lost most of the games I put it into. Boggart Birth Rite was a dead card to me to the point where I removed it completely by the 6th game and put in FOW instead. After that the deck survived much better but still had issues winning. Also, unlike some of the other decks on here that still were losing decks this one didn’t even give me the feeling like I had a chance most times.
Interaction/Protection 3/5
The initial deck protection was underwealming. The few times I got Circu out it didn’t last very long. Creature removal is sketchy at best as it is not-targeted. Shame to make an opponent sac a llanowar elves in the place of a 13/13 primalcrux. Once swaps from the sideboard were made the protection was much better. The only problem is these protection swaps took the spotlight away from Circu (not like I could do very much with him though).
DLink123 18
Creativity/Originality 4.5/5
This deck looks like nothing I have seen before. It is also extremely different from the rest of this round’s builds which is even more impressive given how restrictive Circu is. The use of Head Games to fill their hand with uncastable junk is creative brilliance. While I’m sure other possibilies exist for this same function it seems the ideal card was found.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 4/5
Although all cards in here had their place and felt right there could have been more focus on multi-cast/dual-coloured cards to increase the exile amount. It’s actually a bit hard to tell the full potential of how well everything would work with Circu as I died every time before I could set up all the pieces. I didn’t really like Panoptic Mirror as it was such a late game card it never made a difference really.
Synergy/Tuning 4/5
Having lower numbers of cards rather than playets help this deck feel unique and fun yet ended up hurting how it would play in the long run. I would frequently find myself in a position where if I had a tutor I would have to use it to grab a circu or head games. As such since I only drew into the wish once and was killed the following turn I didn’t even get to see the sideboard in use. Other than that everything seemed to flow well.
Power/Capacity to Win 2/5
Against aggro and burn this deck just plain loses. It had no answer really to pure burn and could not accelerate fast enough into its removal to stop aggro. Other than that every other game I played was very close and I was able to come just that close to setting up the control fully. Unfortunately that is where it stopped. In the end I only won once so despite being able to battle it out I have to give this low scores as it rarely even felt like I had a chance. This deck seems like it has a much better hope in multiplayer than 1v1.
Interaction/Protection 3.5/5
Consuming Vapors was an excellent card against the slower combo creature decks. It even helped me out a lot in mid-range. Agony Warp and Mishra’s Factory tried their best to save me from aggro but just came up short. Vendilion Clique helped save my Circu from certain death as well. Still the lack of a proper answer to aggro as well as little staying power against large creatures effected this score.
Wingedkagouti 19.5
Creativity/Originality 3/5
Some of the counters were interesting choices to work better with Circu. The land was thought out as well and not as cookie cutter as was possible. The removal was pretty standard and nothing inspirational. The idea of hiding behind the web/void combo worked very well to stay alive.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 4/5
The removal options while useful didn’t have any special focus on Circu. The counters were all geared towards Circu which was nice as well. The creatures also worked very well with Circu. I had some nice games using Gravelgill Duo and Cavern Harpy to get Circu really going with Circu.
Synergy/Tuning 4/5
Everything here had a great feel to it. All cards seemed to be put here to work with something else in here with the exception of the removal. All in all no real complaints about how things worked together in here but wasn’t blown away by anything either.
Power/Capacity to Win 4/5
This score in relation to other rounds probably will be slightly inflated but within this round this was the only deck to feel like it was a winner. I actually felt often like I was going to win which was something that just didn’t seem to be the case with this round. The Web/Void combo won me 2 games by themselves. I won another game attacking with massive pumped Gravelgill Duo’s thanks to Cavern Harpy. Also won once by exiled so many cards through Circu the opponent could do nothing until I killed him. Never drew the Damnation that would have saved me the 1 game 1 put it in vs aggro.
Interaction/ Protection 4.5/5
This deck had SOOO much protection and that is what made it shine. I was able to win many games thanks to the huge levels of removal/counters in here. The Web/Void combo won me the game twice. The creature removal as well kept me in almost every other game. Nothing to really complain about the protection here at all.
Expired Rascals 18
Creativity/Originality 3.5/5
While Krosan Tusker is a very unique choice for the draw and the Aluren combo’s were nice as well in this deck nothing else in it really blew my mind. The Tusker/Tutor combo was neat though. The mana base while effective was pretty cookie cutter. Cards like the man-o-war,venser, and cavern harpy are also very status quo as well.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 3.5/5
Every card in here had it’s place it seemed. There was a good balance between single coloured and dual coloured cards for Circu. There was a good attempt at a balance between protection for Circu and defense against the opponent. I didn’t give a higher score as I didn’t really get Circu going all that much. The counters and tutor’s were chosen to work nicely with Circu.
Synergy/Tuning 4.5/5
This deck had many nice small little combos and synergy in here. Jace 2.0 works wonders with Circu. The Aluren combo (while I never got it to go off) allows a lovely instant win if you had the setup. The tutor/tusker cycle combo is nice as well.
Power/Capacity to Win 3/5
All games were very close and I did win with this deck. The only exceptions were against aggro decks where I had no hope. There wasn’t enough low CC answers to aggro to survive against a deck that is killing by the 4th or 5th turn. Still I was never really left with a helpless feeling in the vast majority of the games I played. It still didn’t win much though so the score reflects that.
Interaction/Protection 3.5/5
The bounce in here was the difference maker. Being able to bounce lands with Temporal Spring won me the game once and came close to winning a second one for me. The counters were nice but a little mana intensive as they needed multiple of two colours in a three colour deck. Lack of answers for aggro and not enough direct protection for Circu hurts this score however.
Maserati 13
Creativity/Originality: 2.5/5
I enjoyed the interesting use of removal choices to try and get both the blue and black spell cast each time. Lantern of Insight was interesting the 2 games I had it even though I never got to use it with Circu. I mostly liked to have that extra little bit of knowledge about what my opponent had to best make use of the removal & counters.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3/5
If I ever had Circu most of the time I either held it in my hand waiting for mana or it was removed very quickly. Twice I actually had it working and was able to exile some cards with it. Again the use of almost completely dual coloured creatures and spells was nice with this. Unfortunately both times the opponent was able to remove it in some other form before I really could do much with it. With having so many singles it really made it hard to get what you needed.
Synergy/Tuning: 3.5
Again the use of many dual coloured spells meant that when a Circu was around it was very nicely tuned. Nothing blew my mind though.
Power/Capacity to win: 1
I played 10 games with this build against a number of deck styles. After the 10th straight loss I decided to call this one. The lack of enough mana and circu was a death sentence every time. I came really close once and had my opponent at 7 life with 6 cards exiled. Unfortunately he was able to sweep the board and ended up winning. Not much I can say. Maybe a weaker meta?
Interaction/Protection: 4
The protection was actually really nice. My only issues was it needed more protection for Circu. I was able to stave off an eldrazi ramp deck nicely with the amount of counters,bounce and removal. This was then only part of the deck that really seemed to not have any issues with me. That could perhaps been part of the deck’s problem as it had so much protection from creatures and spells but if you traded any two of these for some more lands or more lightning greaves I would have been happier. Regardless, if not for the protection I would have lost 3-4 turns fasters in most cases.
Flatulence Incarnate 15
Creativity/Originality 3/5
While the Aluren infinity combos aren’t groundbreaking they were interesting enough. Nothing in the build really blew my mind either in terms of originality.
Effectiveness/ Card Adherance 3/5
Rather than going with a dual colored route for adherence you choose a route that would either activate it once or infinity. Again, while not groundbreaking it was effective enough and getting circu going. Even without Aluren I was able to bounce around Shrieking Drake a few times before a big storm of Brain Freeze mill which resulted in some nice Circu activation.
Synergy/ Tuning 4/5
Both with and without a Circu this deck was able to combo off itself nicely. The multi-function of most cards in here was apparent time and time again. More use of dual coloured spells would have been nice though.
Power/ Capacity to win 3/5
While I lost more games than I won with this build it was able to win. All my wins came via Aluren/infinity bounce + infinity exile from Circu. I would have enjoyed a massive mill from brainfreeze but never had the chance sadly. It still lacked tempo at most stages of each game I played it in. The deck seemed either instant win or had no hope basically.
Interaction/ Protection 2.5/5
While it had some answer for creatures I never really had any answers for anything else. A major overhaul of the protection in here is needed for this deck to function better.
Gaea's Regent 15.5
Creativity/Originality 3.5/5
I find this deck very hard to score in this category. None of the mechanics are groundbreaking and you didn’t try to do anthing super unique involving circu. Now trying to build a block constructed deck does limit your options and should be considered creative in its own right.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 3/5
Out of necessity this deck really is Mill first Circu second. There were some cards that were chosen to work specifically to make Circu better but not many. It’s hard to say much here and it was good clean mill which combined with Circu just makes things even better.
Synergy/Tuning 3/5
This deck had some cards that worked quite well once Circu was in play. The only reason I’m not scoring this one higher is that each card basically works by itself. Sure they can all activate Circu and some do it in a very effective way. I still am left with a feeling that if you took any piece out of this deck it really wouldn’t effect how the rest of the deck plays.
Power/Capacity to win 2.5/5
This deck tried it’s hardest to be a good mill deck. I also tried my best to find ravinica block opponents to little success. I did find some other block constructed decks to try it against as well as some near ravinica decks. Even against those decks though I just did not seem to have enough to successfully mill the opponent down all the way. The highlight of this deck was definitely out milling a mill deck. That was all thanks to Circu preventing the key cards from being cast. Lack of good answers for aggro as well as janky removal prevents this score from going any higher.
Interaction/Protection 2.5/5
The removal in this deck was weak against many things. Remand is a fun cantrip but really doesn’t prevent your death. Last grasp was handy but once they got out of its range I effectively had no removal. I would like to give this a higher score as I understand again that this is block constructed and you don’t have many options but facts are facts and I just didn’t survive well enough playing against creature decks.
1 Point for Block Constructed
Fdtori 15.5
Creativity/Originality 4.5/5
Just about everything in here had a really fresh feel in it. A few cards in here were common to this round but not many. The overall deck idea is also completely unique in its own right. The land base while janky a few times was really fun to play with and at least for me not something I see often. I really liked the use of wizard abilities in here.
Effectiveness/ Card Adherence 3.5/5
A good portion of the deck was not build with Circu in mind first but rather knowledge pool. This was kind of necessary and I understand that but in terms of card adherence to Circu a few cards had little. The good news is the parts of the deck that were geared towards Circu were done so beautifully. The multiple abilities put in especially for wizards (Circu & co.) were very effective. A good number of dual/hybrid creatures were in here to activate Circu as well.
Synergy/Tuning 3.5/5
I was really torn on how to score this part. A lot of the deck works wonders with each other but almost in two separate ways it feels at times. The mana base worked very well as long as you had the right ones for the right colours. Twice I found myself in a situation of only being able to produce colourless and blue with a Circu in hand. Still it provided nice acceleration for knowledge pool’s 6CC. Familiar’s Ruse ended up being a dead card to me on more than one occasion. Once all I had was a pair of cavern harpy and two ruse in hand. Needless to say I lost that one.
Power/Capacity to win 2/5
This deck really had little answers to aggro and burn. I lost quickly to both and found that with the combo only nature really of this deck it took me until the 3th turn before I was really viable in a game. The times I did get Circu out I was able to exile a few things but in each instance he was removed. Knowledge Pool didn’t exactly make my life a breeze to win either despite how interesting the games became. JTMS won me a game. I also was able to put a really good lock on somebody thanks to Circu and won that one convincingly.
Interaction/Protection 2/5
This deck needed a better solution to protection across the board. I was able to use its counters more than once. It had a janky form of creature removal that wasn’t really effective. I was able to defend myself with my creatures once but I don’t really want to be saccing my combo creatures to stop a pair 2/2 that keeps swinging at me.
The Mimeoplasm
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Rhys the Redeemed
Merieke Ri Berit
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Cromat Wurm Tribal
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Looking for Green friendly EDH players/groups in the Toronto area. PM me if this is you.
Thanks for your score Bustin.
Yeah, this deck was not so easy to put together...
Basically, Cavern Harpy was only there to abuse it's own ETB trigger and allow funky stuff; not only is she awesome with Circu, but she fits the pool perfectly as well, i.e. opponents can't play her from that zone unless they already have a U or B creature on their side, otherwise she comes back to my hand .
I agree that there was the potential for more abuse but I couldn't include all that many creatures with powerful ETB abilities because of Knowledge Pool. If I had, then opponents could haved used them as well and screw up my plans too much. For example, I tried to put Aether Adept (a wizard -fetchable in this deck- and very abusable with the wizard land as well), but it's a creature with no drawbacks for the opponent if played from the Pool zone.
So In my mind, I had to think about each card and how it interacted with the big artifact, because I really wanted to cast it ASAP and not hold back because of a less favorable hand.
(but in hindsight maybe I could have secured a spot for something like Shriekmaw, since a lot of my creatures are black + the evoke cost means it's cheap to cast if I know it's going to be exiled anyway ... oh well... something to think about when I try the deck with friends)
Creativity/Originality: 3.5
Gravegill was a nice original approach to synergy for this build (adding a card powered up by the same things as circu)
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
good use of circu
Synergy/Tuning: 4
well tuned, good synergy. That being said though, the deck primer was wrong at parts, and web of inertia felt weird, especially with only two copies of leyline. I also didn't like having to transmute into demonic tutor just to be able to find circu
Power/Capacity to win: 3.5
gravegill was a very fast win which made circu only need to keep them locked down a couple turns.
still often coudn't survive the early turns
Interaction/Protection: 4
reasonably well protected
Format/Thematic: 0
Creativity/Originality: 3
Clearly a unique homebrew with influences from other decks.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
It was clearly circu-focused, potentially a little to the deck's detriment
Synergy/Tuning: 2
Okay, I just had no idea what i was doing with this deck. Parts of it felt combo-y, parts felt controlly… I just needed some more guidance on how this deck was intended to play.
Diabolic Edict was a clearly poor choice when you consider the goblin-recurring spells. Warren Weirding would have been MUCH better.
Deck needed draw, not just filtering like frantic search.
Power/Capacity to win: 1.5
Wildly Inconsistent. Relied on landing an early circu and lucking on the circu triggers hitting key spells. Worked a couple times where it completely locked out the opponent, but most of the time… just not good.
I will say that this deck was the only one to have the luck of facing a guy playing relentless rats. Best. match-up. ever.
Interaction/Protection: 1.5
diabolic edict, some tempo (i love snap), snuff out,
Format/Thematic: 0
Creativity/Originality: 4
I liked the hardcore control concept here. Felt very different from the other decks despite many similar elements
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 2
Worked well with circu in play, but did not do well at getting him there. Very rarely was I able to find or play the core card.
Synergy/Tuning: 2
Great synergy all over the place, horrible tuning. There were no sources of card advantage here, i was 1-for-1ing things all day long, and then i ran out of answers. with no way to refill my hand, I could never keep up with opponents. the 2 points here come solely from the synergy. the tuning was too bad to even garner half a point.
Power/Capacity to win: 2
Shriekmaw sometimes just could go all the way.
Circu was nice if found early (extreme rarity)
Interaction/Protection: 4
It had all the interaction and protection in the world, but needed a way to ensure it was found (read: draw)
Format/Thematic: 0
Creativity/Originality: 2
I just didn't see anything that wowed me. the fact that it absolutely didn't need or want circu just made it worse.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 1
Circu was not worth it in here. Brainstorm was a better win, and circu was just felt like very poor protection shoehorned in.
Synergy/Tuning: 3
A little high of mana reqs for a deck with no accel. That being said, i always had the combo ready by t5.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
sadly, the fact that it could reliably combo off on t5 every game was often enough.
Interaction/Protection: 2
Tempo from the MoWs and Adepts, and kinda circu too, but it was really never worth playing in any of the games.
Format/Thematic: 0
Creativity/Originality: 2
Our playgroup ran something very close to this back in RAV/TSP T2. I'm not convinced of the originality here
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
Very strong use of circu. Dimir Machinations was a sweet innovation for choosing circu targets
Synergy/Tuning: 4
What can I say? There is a reason that Gaea's Regent is known for good deck-building. I found what i needed very easily. I found myself wishing remands were memory lapses, but given the format restaints, that couldn't be helped.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
I won a good amount of games with this deck
Interaction/Protection: 4
Mainboard leyline is evil. pure evil.
had trouble against fast aggro and one game a rock deck sided in c. extraction to hit my leylines, but even so, this deck proved remarkably resilient.
i typically found an answer to almost any problem.
Format/Thematic: 1
Rav block! Woot! That is all.
Creativity/Originality: 5
This list was unlike all others. Beautiful. Definitely my favourite deck to playtest this round. This deck is moving to my non-CDCC-specific cockatrice deck folder. definite keeper.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4.5
I found what i needed with ease, circu got insane once you mana drained into mirror. circu's support in this deck was just unparalleled elsewhere
Synergy/Tuning: 5
I'm not entirely sure how this deck did it, but it was very consistent and just would win. sweet synergies all over the place, my personal favourite was a headgames on the mirror with a circu in play. Just cruel
Power/Capacity to win: 4.5
I actually ended up using vendillion clique and mishra's factory as early game answers to aggro. I would not of expected those to fulfill those roles, but hey, it worked. once you got rolling, this deck was a juggernaut. nothing could stop it.
Interaction/Protection: 4.5
Drain, wishboard, headgames, clique, command, yeah… I had answers
Format/Thematic: 0
Creativity/Originality: 5
Knowledge Pool was very unique and had great synergy. the aethermage tutor was sweet and unique.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 5
very clear focus
Synergy/Tuning: 3.5
It could be a little slow, but quickly became insane. Jace had excellent synergy both with pool AND circu. The bounce had very bad potential interactions with circu. getting into instant wars over who would get to snag the bounce from the pool was very dangerous.
Power/Capacity to win: 3.5
Knowledge Pool got broken with circu very quickly, but there is a window where it can backfire. Big-time.
Interaction/Protection: 3.5
I really don't know how to rate this category for this deck… Knowledge Pool just changes so much…
None the less, i did seem to have less problems than expected.
Format/Thematic: 0
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
Gaea's Regent : 16
Straigt forward Mill was expected. A block's pool doesn't give much room for innovation.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3.5
Medicore, lots of multi coloured spells, but he's not the most important card.
Synergy/Tuning: 3
Can't blame you for the pool's restrcitions, but the deck needs more creature control.
Power/Capacity to win: 3
Medicore.
Interaction/Protection: 2.5
Leyline & Machinations sucked and should've been removal.
Format/Thematic: 1
RAV block.
Dlink123 : 16.5
Mirror Head Games is evil. But overkill.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 1
Circu isn't needed in the deck. Not at all.
Synergy/Tuning: 3
As I said, Circu isn't really needed. Once the Mirror Games is set up, he's super superfluous. Two Wishes are too few for such a wishboard, sadly.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
Mirror off a Drain goes a long way to force victories. Same for Clique shenanigans.
Interaction/Protection: 4
Non-creature permanents?
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
Strangely for once Drain and the land base feels excessive - not going to substarct points for it, but wanted to mention it nonetheless.
Flatulence Incarnate: 10
Alluren.dec is known and you present a really boring version.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3
Well, Alluren could win in many ways and besides Brain Freeze ol'd Circu looks pale.
Synergy/Tuning: 1
28 lands. The curve tops at 4cmc ... Twenty-eight lands? Redundance, ok, but you took it two steps too far here. The only plus I see is the built-in bounce of the cmc 3 critteres.
Power/Capacity to win: 3
You can win earliest by t5, and have enough tutors to pull it off. but heck, this is boring...
Interaction/Protection: 0.5
the above mentioned bounce, else: zilch.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
kiljo: 12.5
Medicore, you get a bonus for Birth Rite.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4.5
Without Circu the deck makes but a lot of noise. With him it's like digging through stone with a nail.
Synergy/Tuning: 1
Land counts these days are strange. 17 was not enough for me. This influenced the deck's performance quite a bit. Further the deck lacks the crucial infiniteness of the mill loop, because with these few lands, milling cards with 1 per card, gets nowhere.
Power/Capacity to win: 2
Mana screw is not your friend if you want to win a game (Karn bless Manaless Ichorid). the deck plays like Magicarp... "Use splash!"
Interaction/Protection: 1.5
Seven slots of control... that don't help its performance.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
Sorry for being so negative, but playing lists like this makes me a sad panda.
Wingedkagouti: 18.5
Nope. But I like the deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
yes. Gravegill Duo doesn't change that.
Synergy/Tuning: 4
Nothing bad, nothing outstanding. Solid.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
Maybe unexpected, this is one of the better decks this round.
Interaction/Protection: 4
Non-creature permanents.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
ExpiredRascals: 17.5
As the other Alluren deck, it's nothing new, but atleast yours is better.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
The deck can win with beating face, but it's quite out there (and awesome to do).
Synergy/Tuning: 4
I'd pro'ly try to stream-line the deck (mill vs sub-par beaters??), but it's quite solid.
Power/Capacity to win: 3.5
Taking the wrong path can be lethal.
Interaction/Protection: 3
This is not so much for protection, but for interaction.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
maserati: 19
Medicore. Plus for Lantern & Borderpost. The Clash card's also cute.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3
The deck isn't really built to win with Circu, but uses him while winning - atleast that's how I played it. It's a nice twist to the other lists, but the deck doesn't suffer if you don't get him.
Synergy/Tuning: 4
Borderposts were already mentioned. I would've maybe cut an Infiltrator and a Signet for more Harpies. Else solid.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
Yup.
Interaction/Protection: 5
recurrsion & answers to all types of cards.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
Fdtori: 16.5
Knowledge Pool !?
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3.5
Yep, allthough it's more of a Pool deck.
Synergy/Tuning: 3
See below.
Power/Capacity to win: 3
Too many loops to jump through, until you get there, you're mostlikely dead/losing.
Interaction/Protection: 2.5
bounce and counters, that need you to have a creature out. creature control?
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
Totals:
Wingedkagouti – (17.5 + 19.5 + 19 + 18.5) /4 = 18.63
Kiljo - (14 + 14.5 + 12 + 12.5) /4 = 13.25
Maserati – (17.5 + 13 + 14 + 19) /4 = 15.88
Flatulence Incarnate – (20 + 15 + 12 + 10) /4 = 14.25
Gaea's Regent - (17 + 15.5 + 19 + 16) /4 = 16.88
Dlink123 – (21.5 + 18 + 23.5 + 16.5) /4 = 19.88
Fdtori - (18 + 15.5 + 20.5 + 16.5) /4 = 17.63
ExpiredRascals – (19.5 + 18 + 17.5) /3 = 18.33
DLink123 wins round 4.