This was my first Grand Prix, and this was the pool I was passed. I'm posting here for feedback, and to see if other people would have done the same thing with my pool.
The extra swamp worked out since I had Quag Sickness, though I had a few double blue costs in my deck, and no double black costs.
Air Servant was my only real win condition, but when it didn't eat removal, and I wasn't facing down a ton of green fatties, it was enough to win the game.
I considered going black/green, but Air Servant was too good to pass up, and Domestication worked out pretty good for me.
I could have splashed Pacifism off Darksteel Ingot and two plains but I had a lot of double blue casting cost spells.
I could have played Dark Favor to get more value from Blightcaster but I didn't think it was worth it.
Results:
I went 3-2-2 drop (I played the 7th round for fun since I was already out of contention after the 6th round). I ended up losing that match, to a much better black/blue deck than mine.
I will have more details on the actual matches once I've had time to mull over what happened, and review my notes.
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Focused on limited for now. Occasionally play some standard/modern as well.
Black's your best colour, although it suffers from a general lack of wincons other than accursed spirit. White and red are stone unplayable, Green has some nice cards but is very shallow. Blue has a similar number of good cards to green but is a bit deeper. The lion, witch and cauldron package is worth thinking about (esp with tenatious dead), but I don't think it's good enough to warrant maindeck inclusion. Something like this maybe?
Looks like we came out pretty close. I didn't have trained condor which is basically blank and left out cancel because I think it's often too slow to maindeck (so hard to hold it up in the key turns, it means you can't play out your hand). Instead I had wring flesh, which hits enough or lets you trade in combat that I think it's ok to play, and dark favour was my 23 card, idk, maybe dark favor is bad but the deck doesn't have many wincons and that on a spirit ends the game pretty quickly. I think the deck probably needs to luck out a win to have a chance, it's pretty thin on wincons.
I would have built Bu as well. But I would have biased the manabase much more in favour of black.
You have a Bogbrew Witch engine (both newt and cauldron) that I don't understand why it's not being run. I think I would run Psycho's list, with these changes:
- Island + Swamp
- 1 Altar's Reap
- 1 Dark Favor
- 1 Water Servant
+ Festering Newt
+ Bogbrew Witch
+ Festering Cauldron
Now, I love water servant in a heavy blue deck. But this deck wants to be heavy black, not heavy blue. I think a more consistent manabase is better.
Definitely run Cancel and Bogbrew Witch + Newt + Cauldron. Do not cut Water Servant, the card is still very good with 7 islands. Do not run Dark Favor, Trained Condor, or Warden of Evos Isle.
I considered playing the Bogbrew Witch, Bubbling Cauldron, [CARD]Festering Newt[CARD] combo but was afraid that Cauldron and Newt don't do that much by themselves.
Without Newt, Cauldron seems lackluster, since I have no Act of Treason for Cauldron, though I do have Tenacious Dead for life gain with the Cauldron (3 mana for 4 life). Domestication can combo with the Cauldron to kill any creature.
Likewise, Newt is pretty meh without the Cauldron or Witch. It gets some value as a sacrifice for Altar's Reap though.
If I had two Newts, I would have definitely played the Bogbrew Witch and the Newts, dropping the weaker cards (like the aforementioned Trained Condor).
So is Bogbrew Witch playable with one Cauldron and one Newt?
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Focused on limited for now. Occasionally play some standard/modern as well.
I considered playing the Bogbrew Witch, Bubbling Cauldron, [CARD]Festering Newt[CARD] combo but was afraid that Cauldron and Newt don't do that much by themselves.
Without Newt, Cauldron seems lackluster, since I have no Act of Treason for Cauldron, though I do have Tenacious Dead for life gain with the Cauldron (3 mana for 4 life). Domestication can combo with the Cauldron to kill any creature.
Likewise, Newt is pretty meh without the Cauldron or Witch. It gets some value as a sacrifice for Altar's Reap though.
If I had two Newts, I would have definitely played the Bogbrew Witch and the Newts, dropping the weaker cards (like the aforementioned Trained Condor).
So is Bogbrew Witch playable with one Cauldron and one Newt?
My thought process mirrors you almost exactly. I think I would have included it if you had just a little more synergy, particularly multiple newts which are the best part of it, as it was I just thought that the three cards didn't do enough on their own to warrant their slots. Cauldron + dead is nice, but it doesn't help you win the game which looks like the biggest issue with your pool. Like add an exquisite blood or something and I'm all over this, but not just as random lifegain.
POOL:
1 Festering Newt
1 Tenacious Dead
2 Child of Night
1 Syphon Sliver
1 Undead Minotaur
2 Accursed Spirit
1 Bogbrew Witch
1 Blightcaster
1 Nightwing Shade
1 Artificer's Hex
1 Duress
1 Wring Flesh
1 Altar's Reap
1 Dark Favor
2 Doom Blade
1 Quag Sickness
1 Mark of the Vampire
1 Liturgy of Blood
Blue:
1 Coral Merfolk
1 Seacoast Drake
1 Trained Condor
1 Warden of Evos Isle
1 Nephalia Seakite
1 Water Servant
1 Air Servant
2 Armored Cancrix
1 Sensory Deprivation
1 Essence Scatter
1 Zephyr Charge
1 Cancel
1 Divination
1 Frost Breath
1 Domestication
Green:
1 Gladecover Scout
2 Deadly Recluse
1 Kalonian Tusker
1 Brindle Boar
1 Rootwalla
1 Rumbling Baloth
1 Woodborn Behemoth
1 Vastwood Hydra
1 Fog
2 Giant Growth
1 Lay of the Land
1 Ranger's Guile
1 Enlarge
1 Windstorm
Red:
2 Striking Sliver
1 Academy Raiders
1 Dragon Egg
1 Regathan Firecat
1 Pitchburn Devils
1 Shivan Dragon
1 Pitchburn Devils
1 Seismic Stomp
1 Thunder Strike
1 Chandra's Outrage
1 Lava Axe
White:
1 Suntail Hawk
1 Angelic Wall
1 Capashen Knight
1 Auramancer
1 Charging Griffin
2 Pillarfield Ox
2 Dawnstrike Paladin
1 Divine Favor
1 Celestial Flare
1 Pacifism
1 Solemn Offering
Artifact:
1 Accorder's Shield
1 Elixir of Immortality
2 Bubbling Cauldron
1 Darksteel Ingot
Rares were:
Bogbrew Witch
Syphon Sliver
Domestication
Quicken
Shivan Dragon
Vastwood Hydra
Here's the deck I submitted.
1 Tenacious Dead
1 Undead Minotaur
2 Accursed Spirit
1 Blightcaster
1 Nightwing Shade
1 Altar's Reap
2 Doom Blade
1 Quag Sickness
1 Mark of the Vampire
1 Liturgy of Blood
1 Seacoast Drake
1 Trained Condor
1 Warden of Evos Isle
1 Nephalia Seakite
1 Water Servant
1 Air Servant
1 Sensory Deprivation
1 Essence Scatter
1 Cancel
1 Divination
1 Domestication
9 Swamp
8 Island
The extra swamp worked out since I had Quag Sickness, though I had a few double blue costs in my deck, and no double black costs.
Air Servant was my only real win condition, but when it didn't eat removal, and I wasn't facing down a ton of green fatties, it was enough to win the game.
I considered going black/green, but Air Servant was too good to pass up, and Domestication worked out pretty good for me.
I could have splashed Pacifism off Darksteel Ingot and two plains but I had a lot of double blue casting cost spells.
Trained Condor was the worst card in my deck, for sure.
Altar's Reap worked out alright. I usually drew Altar's Reap when I had Tenacious Dead so I could build my own Inspiration. However, I sometimes used it get rid of a pacified creature, or just in response to a targeted removal like Chandra's Outrage or Liturgy of Blood.
I could have played Dark Favor to get more value from Blightcaster but I didn't think it was worth it.
Results:
I went 3-2-2 drop (I played the 7th round for fun since I was already out of contention after the 6th round). I ended up losing that match, to a much better black/blue deck than mine.
I will have more details on the actual matches once I've had time to mull over what happened, and review my notes.
Black's your best colour, although it suffers from a general lack of wincons other than accursed spirit. White and red are stone unplayable, Green has some nice cards but is very shallow. Blue has a similar number of good cards to green but is a bit deeper. The lion, witch and cauldron package is worth thinking about (esp with tenatious dead), but I don't think it's good enough to warrant maindeck inclusion. Something like this maybe?
1 Undead Minotaur
2 Accursed Spirit
1 Blightcaster
1 Nightwing Shade
1 Seacoast Drake
1 Warden of Evos Isle
1 Nephalia Seakite
1 Water Servant
1 Air Servant
1 Altar's Reap
1 Dark Favor
2 Doom Blade
1 Quag Sickness
1 Mark of the Vampire
1 Liturgy of Blood
1 Sensory Deprivation
1 Essence Scatter
1 Divination
1 Domestication
8 island
(looking at your list now)
Looks like we came out pretty close. I didn't have trained condor which is basically blank and left out cancel because I think it's often too slow to maindeck (so hard to hold it up in the key turns, it means you can't play out your hand). Instead I had wring flesh, which hits enough or lets you trade in combat that I think it's ok to play, and dark favour was my 23 card, idk, maybe dark favor is bad but the deck doesn't have many wincons and that on a spirit ends the game pretty quickly. I think the deck probably needs to luck out a win to have a chance, it's pretty thin on wincons.
You have a Bogbrew Witch engine (both newt and cauldron) that I don't understand why it's not being run. I think I would run Psycho's list, with these changes:
- Island + Swamp
- 1 Altar's Reap
- 1 Dark Favor
- 1 Water Servant
+ Festering Newt
+ Bogbrew Witch
+ Festering Cauldron
Now, I love water servant in a heavy blue deck. But this deck wants to be heavy black, not heavy blue. I think a more consistent manabase is better.
I considered playing the Bogbrew Witch, Bubbling Cauldron, [CARD]Festering Newt[CARD] combo but was afraid that Cauldron and Newt don't do that much by themselves.
Without Newt, Cauldron seems lackluster, since I have no Act of Treason for Cauldron, though I do have Tenacious Dead for life gain with the Cauldron (3 mana for 4 life). Domestication can combo with the Cauldron to kill any creature.
Likewise, Newt is pretty meh without the Cauldron or Witch. It gets some value as a sacrifice for Altar's Reap though.
If I had two Newts, I would have definitely played the Bogbrew Witch and the Newts, dropping the weaker cards (like the aforementioned Trained Condor).
So is Bogbrew Witch playable with one Cauldron and one Newt?
My thought process mirrors you almost exactly. I think I would have included it if you had just a little more synergy, particularly multiple newts which are the best part of it, as it was I just thought that the three cards didn't do enough on their own to warrant their slots. Cauldron + dead is nice, but it doesn't help you win the game which looks like the biggest issue with your pool. Like add an exquisite blood or something and I'm all over this, but not just as random lifegain.