So I initially wanted to build a UG aggro-control deck for Tarmogoyf, when I realized something amazing. Quirion Dryad is Modern legal! So I put the 2 together, and realized 2 things:
1. I might be on to something.
2. This deck needs to be UGB.
So, after some tinkering, I got a deck ready. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you: Gro-a-Goyf
As it is, this deck heavily focuses on playing some creatures early, then controlling the game afterwards while those creatures grow and grow!
Alright, some cards to consider for this deck: Putrid Leech - Can set down some fairly powerful early beats, and possibly take the game on it's own like tarmogoyf and devoted druid, but probably a bit faster. Main con is that between the fetches, shocklands, probes, and thoughtseizes, this deck is already losing a lot of life. With putrid leech, this might lose the game for us.
Dark Confidant - The king of card advantage creatures. Primary cons are that he's fragile and that the lifeloss from him is very risky. He's terrible vs. aggro, but great against control.
Vendilion Clique - An instant speed 3/1 flyer plus hand disruption? Hell yes. Primary con is it's mana cost - at 3 cmc it's at the top of our curve, and the double blue can hurt.
Sower of Temptation - Control Magic on a (flying) body. Main issue is that it's a 4 cmc creature, which puts it beyond the normal curve of this deck.
Mana Leak - One of the best counterspells available. Primary disadvantage is that it's useless against ramp strategies like 8 and 12 post, and if the game drags on.
Deprive - A hard counter for double blue? It's almost like counterspell. Primary disadvantage is the potential tempo loss if cast early.
Dismember - The only good potentially 1 cmc kill spell available to us. The bad news? Lifeloss if casting for less than
1BB, and it doesn't hit a lot of problematic cards.
Doom Blade - Kills everything that's not black. 2 cmc. One of the premier kill spells of the format.
Go for the Throat - Kills everything but artifacts. 2cmc. The other premier black kill spell.
That said, I've tweaked the list to the following:
I decided that Vendilion Clique is better in the main than Dark Confidant or Putrid Leech. I'm running dismember over blade or GftT - it will kill most of the problematic stuff. I'm also running deprives over mana leak - this deck often doesn't care that much about returning lands to hand, since most of the spells cost 2 mana, and we're not curving into anything beyond 3.
I was initially running Dark Confidants in the sideboard, but I never sided them in against anything except pure control decks, and I didn't need them for those matchups. Decided instead to improve the 8 and 12 post matchups with Sower of Temptation and Geth's Verdict, which gives us a more reasonable sideboard play.
Despite my changes to the deck, I did not change the manabase at all. I've found that getting double blue turn 2/3 is still easy with this manabase, even while getting all my other colors.
Special thanks to: Dukksoup - for naming the deck, suggesting Gitaxian Probe for the main, and initial playtesting.
Thanks diabloknk,
Im going to load up the deck, do some goldfishing and hopefully some more testing tonight. I'll keep you up to date about any changes.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Currently Playing
Modern
:rakdos::selesnya: goblins
:symr::symb::symg: Glass Cannon Griselbrand
Did you consider DarK Confidant in place of Putrid Leech? On average, you'll take 1.65 damage (deckstats ftw!) per "draw" off of him. I think a card like him is very important over a vanilla beater as Confidant will fuel you into more draws to pump your Dryad and your Goyf.
If you too worried about taking damage, you could cut some Thoughtseize and replace them with Duress. I don't know how aggro heavy this format will be, but it seems that would be one way to offset the suicidal nature of your deck.
Other than that, I like it, good work! I'm liking Modern more and more as time goes by.
Did you consider DarK Confidant in place of Putrid Leech? On average, you'll take 1.65 damage (deckstats ftw!) per "draw" off of him. I think a card like him is very important over a vanilla beater as Confidant will fuel you into more draws to pump your Dryad and your Goyf.
If you too worried about taking damage, you could cut some Thoughtseize and replace them with Duress. I don't know how aggro heavy this format will be, but it seems that would be one way to offset the suicidal nature of your deck.
Other than that, I like it, good work! I'm liking Modern more and more as time goes by.
Dark confidant is something I've been considering, but I'm really not sure about him. I'm not sure the deck is fast enough to be able to win before dark confidant kills us. If I run him, I'll have to replace dismember with something, which may be worth it. I side that card out a lot of games.
I've played Dark Confidant a LOT. If you are constantly losing to Dark Confidant damage, you're doing it wrong. I've played him in decks that pack full sets of Force of Will and Platinum Angel, sure, sometimes you take 7 and die, but most times, he's just going to be the most efficient creature possible and is going to get you there. Against aggro, he can block and kill their early guys, thus offsetting any potential drawbacks in those matchups.
EDIT:
I contradicted myself a bit. Let me clarify: Unless you are playing something really gutsy with DC, like Platinum Angel and Force as four ofs, you probably shouldn't die to the damage from him. If you are playing those types of cards, you probably have a deck built to negate the damage anyway.
I've played Dark Confidant a LOT. If you are constantly losing to Dark Confidant damage, you're doing it wrong. I've played him in decks that pack full sets of Force of Will and Platinum Angel, sure, sometimes you take 7 and die, but most times, he's just going to be the most efficient creature possible and is going to get you there. Against aggro, he can block and kill their early guys, thus offsetting any potential drawbacks in those matchups.
EDIT:
I contradicted myself a bit. Let me clarify: Unless you are playing something really gutsy with DC, like Platinum Angel and Force as four ofs, you probably shouldn't die to the damage from him. If you are playing those types of cards, you probably have a deck built to negate the damage anyway.
I thought about dark confidant last night and this was my issue when I replaced it with leech:
usually in the game your starting off at 17 from fetchland into dual land untapped to play..well... anything. now you have another problem if you lead off turn one with a thoughtsieze so know your down too 15 and you haven't even played a creature or your opponent played a land.
not to mention more times than not i've played dismembers for there phyrexian mana more than I have for its regular cost, most of the time im paying 1(b)+2 life depending on my hand usually if i have a ponder or preordain in hand, Im paying 1 +4life.
furthermore having 8 cards in the deck that'll hit us for 3 each.
am I against DC ? not entirely, but when I do the risk assesment it's just not worth it. the most I would do is put it in the sideboard vs. control. this deck has a massive edge vs. control and only gets better after SB. but against the zoo variances and Mono red, FUGGETABOUTIT.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Currently Playing
Modern
:rakdos::selesnya: goblins
:symr::symb::symg: Glass Cannon Griselbrand
1. I might be on to something.
2. This deck needs to be UGB.
So, after some tinkering, I got a deck ready. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you: Gro-a-Goyf
4x Breeding Pool
3x Watery Grave
3x Overgrown Tomb
4x Misty Rainforest
3x Island
2x Forest
1x Swamp
Creatures:
4x Quirion Dryad
4x Putrid Leech
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Maelstrom Pulse
4x Thoughtseize
4x Ponder
4x Preordain
Instants:
4x Dismember
4x Mana Leak
4x Spell Pierce
4x Duress
4x Extirpate
3x Beast Within
As it is, this deck heavily focuses on playing some creatures early, then controlling the game afterwards while those creatures grow and grow!
Alright, some cards to consider for this deck:
Putrid Leech - Can set down some fairly powerful early beats, and possibly take the game on it's own like tarmogoyf and devoted druid, but probably a bit faster. Main con is that between the fetches, shocklands, probes, and thoughtseizes, this deck is already losing a lot of life. With putrid leech, this might lose the game for us.
Dark Confidant - The king of card advantage creatures. Primary cons are that he's fragile and that the lifeloss from him is very risky. He's terrible vs. aggro, but great against control.
Vendilion Clique - An instant speed 3/1 flyer plus hand disruption? Hell yes. Primary con is it's mana cost - at 3 cmc it's at the top of our curve, and the double blue can hurt.
Sower of Temptation - Control Magic on a (flying) body. Main issue is that it's a 4 cmc creature, which puts it beyond the normal curve of this deck.
Mana Leak - One of the best counterspells available. Primary disadvantage is that it's useless against ramp strategies like 8 and 12 post, and if the game drags on.
Deprive - A hard counter for double blue? It's almost like counterspell. Primary disadvantage is the potential tempo loss if cast early.
Dismember - The only good potentially 1 cmc kill spell available to us. The bad news? Lifeloss if casting for less than
1BB, and it doesn't hit a lot of problematic cards.
Doom Blade - Kills everything that's not black. 2 cmc. One of the premier kill spells of the format.
Go for the Throat - Kills everything but artifacts. 2cmc. The other premier black kill spell.
That said, I've tweaked the list to the following:
4x Breeding Pool
3x Watery Grave
3x Overgrown Tomb
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Island
2x Forest
2x Creeping Tar Pit
Creatures:
4x Quirion Dryad
4x Vendilion Clique
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Gitaxian Probe
2x Maelstrom Pulse
2x Beast Within
4x Thoughtseize
4x Ponder
4x Preordain
Instants:
4x Dismember
4x Deprive
3x Sower of Temptation
3x Geth's Verdict
2x Duress
3x Extirpate
2x Beast Within
2x Maelstrom Pulse
I decided that Vendilion Clique is better in the main than Dark Confidant or Putrid Leech. I'm running dismember over blade or GftT - it will kill most of the problematic stuff. I'm also running deprives over mana leak - this deck often doesn't care that much about returning lands to hand, since most of the spells cost 2 mana, and we're not curving into anything beyond 3.
I was initially running Dark Confidants in the sideboard, but I never sided them in against anything except pure control decks, and I didn't need them for those matchups. Decided instead to improve the 8 and 12 post matchups with Sower of Temptation and Geth's Verdict, which gives us a more reasonable sideboard play.
Despite my changes to the deck, I did not change the manabase at all. I've found that getting double blue turn 2/3 is still easy with this manabase, even while getting all my other colors.
Special thanks to:
Dukksoup - for naming the deck, suggesting Gitaxian Probe for the main, and initial playtesting.
Im going to load up the deck, do some goldfishing and hopefully some more testing tonight. I'll keep you up to date about any changes.
Modern
:rakdos::selesnya: goblins
:symr::symb::symg: Glass Cannon Griselbrand
sig made by Hakai Studios (http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=6100225)
If you too worried about taking damage, you could cut some Thoughtseize and replace them with Duress. I don't know how aggro heavy this format will be, but it seems that would be one way to offset the suicidal nature of your deck.
Other than that, I like it, good work! I'm liking Modern more and more as time goes by.
Dark confidant is something I've been considering, but I'm really not sure about him. I'm not sure the deck is fast enough to be able to win before dark confidant kills us. If I run him, I'll have to replace dismember with something, which may be worth it. I side that card out a lot of games.
EDIT:
I contradicted myself a bit. Let me clarify: Unless you are playing something really gutsy with DC, like Platinum Angel and Force as four ofs, you probably shouldn't die to the damage from him. If you are playing those types of cards, you probably have a deck built to negate the damage anyway.
I thought about dark confidant last night and this was my issue when I replaced it with leech:
usually in the game your starting off at 17 from fetchland into dual land untapped to play..well... anything. now you have another problem if you lead off turn one with a thoughtsieze so know your down too 15 and you haven't even played a creature or your opponent played a land.
not to mention more times than not i've played dismembers for there phyrexian mana more than I have for its regular cost, most of the time im paying 1(b)+2 life depending on my hand usually if i have a ponder or preordain in hand, Im paying 1 +4life.
furthermore having 8 cards in the deck that'll hit us for 3 each.
am I against DC ? not entirely, but when I do the risk assesment it's just not worth it. the most I would do is put it in the sideboard vs. control. this deck has a massive edge vs. control and only gets better after SB. but against the zoo variances and Mono red, FUGGETABOUTIT.
Modern
:rakdos::selesnya: goblins
:symr::symb::symg: Glass Cannon Griselbrand
sig made by Hakai Studios (http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=6100225)