So i'm never ever ever playing the accepted best deck in the format, i'm always trying to come up with something new and original. Anyway, my creation for block is as follows
General Concept:
Destroy 2-3 lands, and cast enough arcane spells to flip the Jushi, from there you simply win because they can't play anything and you get to beat face.
Card By Card Analysis:
Callow Jushi - If you destroy even a few lands this becomes just a house as every spell they cast you can likely counter.
Cunning Bandit - Useful flip mechanic extremely helpful against aggro decks as he buys you a lot of time via stealing and blocking, much like a really weak vedalken shackles
The Unspeakable - A "win more" kind of card by the time this guy hits play you should be well on your way to victory, but this will insure that victory. He reccurs bounce, LD, Direct Damage, You name it.
Crack The Earth - Likely one of the more controversial picks but it fits extremely well in the deck as it is a cheap arcane spell to trigger jushi and bandit; additionally, early game its a neutral card as both decks are likely going to lose a land, and late game it's still effective as it gives a ki counter and likely takes out a land or important creatue(due to being low on lands and under jushi pressure... hopefully) either of which makes this deck happy.
Sunder From Within - Deals with Jitte, LD, Arcane, basically except for costing 4 mana it's the ideal spell for this deck
Stone rain - Land destruction, slows some decks, really hurts some decks(gifts), and as you pile it on it locks out everything
Peer Through the Depths - Cheap Arcane Spell that is basically a free ki counter. Has good synergy with glacial ray, jushi, bandit, unspeakable...
Reach through mists - see Peer through depths
Sift Through Sands - Only really in there for the unspeakable, debating cutting although it is arcane card draw which is nice.
Eye of Nowhere - Boomerang, always a fan of this card, once you have jushi lockdown you can always bounce a threat back to their hand, or you can bounce a land for tempo, just a money card, and the fact that it's now arcane? gravy.
Glacial Ray - Probably the only "good" spell in the whole deck. There are tons of arcane spells in the deck which means its just gonna be money money bling money!
Miren the moaning Well - Can be used to sac used up jushis and bandits(flipped of course) and scrape up some needed life, also a money card with the bandit... take your creature, sac woo.
Tendo Ice Bridge - A lot of the important early game spells require two colors of mana, but in the late game things tend to smooththemselves out, so the bridge seems to be a natural fit
Cards i considered but failed to find room for:
Long Forgotten Gohei - Would be nice to reduce arcane costs and increase the silliness factor, but it again seems like a win more card
Thoughts of Ruin - the LD would be nice, but the deck seems too slow to utilize it, again a win more card
Disrupting Shoal - Next!
more Creatures - At first i was thinking that i might want to make it more aggro but finally realized that its more of a combo-control deck Any thoughts would be nice, i have no play results as of yet because MWS is a wang bar, but i fully expect it to have a losing record against all the top tier decks. However, that's why i've turned to you fine folks to help me out!
Please learn to use the [/deck] tags while posting your decks.
You mentioned that your deck's objective is LD then counter with Jushi. If your opponent can't play anything (from the description of your deck), I see no point in playing Cunning Bandit.
Another (minor) problem would be what happens if your Jaraku runs out of counters. I'd prefer Consuming Vortex over Eye of Nowhere as it's an instant and is splicable (ie. Bouncing Jaraku in case if you run out of counters.)
Miren seems to be rather pointless, the only time you would use the ability is when you steal creatures over with Azamuki, but since you're planning on LD + disruption anyway, there's not much chances you could.
Thanks for the input! new to the site, sorry about the deck tags thing, fixed.
- The "IDEA" is to use LD to slow up the opponent then use Jaraku to counter things; however, i could easily not draw into LD early, or i could run into somethign such as WW where they will no doubt have 2-3 creatures out by the time i blow up a land. Because of this tendency for erratic happenings, i like to have ways to deal with what is on the board, and Azamuki Seemed to fit well.
- However your observation is duly noted and i will test without it
- When i was making the deck i definately didn't notice that eye of nowhere was a sorcery. I too was thinking about consuming vortex but ultimately went with the eye because i thought it was an instant and fit well, but now that i know it is a sorcery i will seriously consider switching to the vortex.
- Good call!
- Miren is in the deck for more than just Azamuki(granted not too much) it is there to sacrafice used up Jaraku's and Azamuki's to enable the flipping/casting of a fresh one with counters. However, i agree that if The Bandit was removed it would make sense to remove Miren. From my point of view i don't see miren really hurting the deck at all consistency wise in the mana base; however, it's also true that i haven't actually played any games with the deck and everythign i am saying is pure speculation.
Thanks again, i'd also like to hear general opinions as to whether the deck has any potential(i'm just looking to top 4 at FNM not sweep the PTQ circuit)
In my opinion, the idea behind a 'fail-safe strategy' is not to have one at all Too many solutions would probably leave one's deck unfocused.
As for disruption, I mean..... you're playing blue/red for crying out loud! For red you have burn, and bounce for unburnables. Though I'd agree your deck has no acceleration and would have some trouble facing early swarms, I'd suggest you still playtest it a bit before making any changes.
so played in a block tournament tonight, result... 2-2 better than expected! woo hoo i also managed to take out a father son tandem, w00t!
analysis time
- Matchup 1: Ed with snakes
Game one i get owned up pretty hard by sachi sosuke's summons and seshiro, i find out that sakura tribe elder+kodamas reach + orochi sustainer = bad times for LD. Positive notes include Cunning bandit flipped being an absolute house.
SB: -3 Crack the Earth
-4 Stone rain
-1 ?
+2 Ryusei
+3 First Volley
+3 hinder
Game 2: i cast a turn 3 bandit, then proceed to cast a lot of first volleys, consuming vortexs, glacial rays etc. I flip with 4 counters on him. Ryusei makes an appearance, a turn later miren the moaning well + azamuki take it home
Game 3: I'm holding 2 hinders, which he knows i have due to reach through mists. I foolishly tap out to cast a jushi and a bandit. He untaps pays 9 mana and drops myojin of infinite rage blows up all lands and proceeds to win... sad face
Round 2: Ron Playing Black Green thing
Game One: He has 3 lands all game... one for the first 4 turns... i'm playing land destruction nuff' said
SB: None
Game 2: i go third turn stone rain, fourth turn sunder from within, fifth turn stone rain, 6th turn jushi crack+ reach through depths(mists? the one mana one) and flip he hasn't missed a land drop though so he still has three lands, no matter i counter his GG tree(kodama north tree) and he finally finds lands... in a big pocket.
Round 3: Noah playing U/G control
Game One: Just hopeless he has tribe elder+kodama reach+counters = game over.... as i only have 9 threats in the whole deck, he has 12 counters... and i can never get him low enough on lands as he accelerated right through them. That's how both games went(game one note he played sakura tribe scout and proceeded to drop turn 4 keiga turn 5 equip with jitte turn 6 win...)
Round 4: Robert Playing sub-Par WW
Game One: A true triumph for this deck he drops first turn isamaru second turn 81/2 tails i ray the tails and suffer beats from a few random creatures(isamaru, kondas hatamoto?, kami of ancient law, mothrider samurai?) burning one or two and bouncing a few times, he stops at 4 lands and i manage to get in 2 LD spells while under fire. Eventually i stabilize at 3 life and jaraku + Azamuki+lots of countesr +miren the moaning well + opponent with 2 lands left = best day ever
Game 2: ALmost identical to the last but he only gets me to 6 this time.
so I finished 2-2 my thoughts on the deck? well i didn't play a single "accepted" deck throughout the tournament; however, my last round against weirdo WW showed me that my deck is goign to be too slow against WW as i almost got owned by random creature.dec. I also learned that trieb elder + Kodama reach basically renders the LD plan useless. Basically, the deck is screwed game one against every deck in the format and LD is sub optimal so i will be scrapping the deck i think. Oh well it was a fun ride while it lasted!
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4x Callow Jushi
4x Cunning Bandit
1x The Unspeakable
Spells:
3x Crack the Earth
4x Sunder from Within
4x Stone Rain
4x Peer Through Depths
3x Reach Through Mists
2x Sift Through Sands
4x Eye of Nowhere
4x Glacial Ray
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1x Minamo, School by waters edge
2x Miren moaning Well
1x Shinka, The Bloodsoaked Keep
4x Tendo Ice Bridge
8x Mountain
7x island
General Concept:
Destroy 2-3 lands, and cast enough arcane spells to flip the Jushi, from there you simply win because they can't play anything and you get to beat face.
Card By Card Analysis:
Callow Jushi - If you destroy even a few lands this becomes just a house as every spell they cast you can likely counter.
Cunning Bandit - Useful flip mechanic extremely helpful against aggro decks as he buys you a lot of time via stealing and blocking, much like a really weak vedalken shackles
The Unspeakable - A "win more" kind of card by the time this guy hits play you should be well on your way to victory, but this will insure that victory. He reccurs bounce, LD, Direct Damage, You name it.
Crack The Earth - Likely one of the more controversial picks but it fits extremely well in the deck as it is a cheap arcane spell to trigger jushi and bandit; additionally, early game its a neutral card as both decks are likely going to lose a land, and late game it's still effective as it gives a ki counter and likely takes out a land or important creatue(due to being low on lands and under jushi pressure... hopefully) either of which makes this deck happy.
Sunder From Within - Deals with Jitte, LD, Arcane, basically except for costing 4 mana it's the ideal spell for this deck
Stone rain - Land destruction, slows some decks, really hurts some decks(gifts), and as you pile it on it locks out everything
Peer Through the Depths - Cheap Arcane Spell that is basically a free ki counter. Has good synergy with glacial ray, jushi, bandit, unspeakable...
Reach through mists - see Peer through depths
Sift Through Sands - Only really in there for the unspeakable, debating cutting although it is arcane card draw which is nice.
Eye of Nowhere - Boomerang, always a fan of this card, once you have jushi lockdown you can always bounce a threat back to their hand, or you can bounce a land for tempo, just a money card, and the fact that it's now arcane? gravy.
Glacial Ray - Probably the only "good" spell in the whole deck. There are tons of arcane spells in the deck which means its just gonna be money money bling money!
Miren the moaning Well - Can be used to sac used up jushis and bandits(flipped of course) and scrape up some needed life, also a money card with the bandit... take your creature, sac woo.
Tendo Ice Bridge - A lot of the important early game spells require two colors of mana, but in the late game things tend to smooththemselves out, so the bridge seems to be a natural fit
Cards i considered but failed to find room for:
Long Forgotten Gohei - Would be nice to reduce arcane costs and increase the silliness factor, but it again seems like a win more card
Thoughts of Ruin - the LD would be nice, but the deck seems too slow to utilize it, again a win more card
Disrupting Shoal - Next!
more Creatures - At first i was thinking that i might want to make it more aggro but finally realized that its more of a combo-control deck Any thoughts would be nice, i have no play results as of yet because MWS is a wang bar, but i fully expect it to have a losing record against all the top tier decks. However, that's why i've turned to you fine folks to help me out!
You mentioned that your deck's objective is LD then counter with Jushi. If your opponent can't play anything (from the description of your deck), I see no point in playing Cunning Bandit.
Another (minor) problem would be what happens if your Jaraku runs out of counters. I'd prefer Consuming Vortex over Eye of Nowhere as it's an instant and is splicable (ie. Bouncing Jaraku in case if you run out of counters.)
Miren seems to be rather pointless, the only time you would use the ability is when you steal creatures over with Azamuki, but since you're planning on LD + disruption anyway, there's not much chances you could.
Level 2 Judge
Token and Playmat Store
Beyond the Guildpact
- The "IDEA" is to use LD to slow up the opponent then use Jaraku to counter things; however, i could easily not draw into LD early, or i could run into somethign such as WW where they will no doubt have 2-3 creatures out by the time i blow up a land. Because of this tendency for erratic happenings, i like to have ways to deal with what is on the board, and Azamuki Seemed to fit well.
- However your observation is duly noted and i will test without it
- When i was making the deck i definately didn't notice that eye of nowhere was a sorcery. I too was thinking about consuming vortex but ultimately went with the eye because i thought it was an instant and fit well, but now that i know it is a sorcery i will seriously consider switching to the vortex.
- Good call!
- Miren is in the deck for more than just Azamuki(granted not too much) it is there to sacrafice used up Jaraku's and Azamuki's to enable the flipping/casting of a fresh one with counters. However, i agree that if The Bandit was removed it would make sense to remove Miren. From my point of view i don't see miren really hurting the deck at all consistency wise in the mana base; however, it's also true that i haven't actually played any games with the deck and everythign i am saying is pure speculation.
Thanks again, i'd also like to hear general opinions as to whether the deck has any potential(i'm just looking to top 4 at FNM not sweep the PTQ circuit)
As for disruption, I mean..... you're playing blue/red for crying out loud! For red you have burn, and bounce for unburnables. Though I'd agree your deck has no acceleration and would have some trouble facing early swarms, I'd suggest you still playtest it a bit before making any changes.
Level 2 Judge
Token and Playmat Store
Beyond the Guildpact
analysis time
- Matchup 1: Ed with snakes
Game one i get owned up pretty hard by sachi sosuke's summons and seshiro, i find out that sakura tribe elder+kodamas reach + orochi sustainer = bad times for LD. Positive notes include Cunning bandit flipped being an absolute house.
SB: -3 Crack the Earth
-4 Stone rain
-1 ?
+2 Ryusei
+3 First Volley
+3 hinder
Game 2: i cast a turn 3 bandit, then proceed to cast a lot of first volleys, consuming vortexs, glacial rays etc. I flip with 4 counters on him. Ryusei makes an appearance, a turn later miren the moaning well + azamuki take it home
Game 3: I'm holding 2 hinders, which he knows i have due to reach through mists. I foolishly tap out to cast a jushi and a bandit. He untaps pays 9 mana and drops myojin of infinite rage blows up all lands and proceeds to win... sad face
Round 2: Ron Playing Black Green thing
Game One: He has 3 lands all game... one for the first 4 turns... i'm playing land destruction nuff' said
SB: None
Game 2: i go third turn stone rain, fourth turn sunder from within, fifth turn stone rain, 6th turn jushi crack+ reach through depths(mists? the one mana one) and flip he hasn't missed a land drop though so he still has three lands, no matter i counter his GG tree(kodama north tree) and he finally finds lands... in a big pocket.
Round 3: Noah playing U/G control
Game One: Just hopeless he has tribe elder+kodama reach+counters = game over.... as i only have 9 threats in the whole deck, he has 12 counters... and i can never get him low enough on lands as he accelerated right through them. That's how both games went(game one note he played sakura tribe scout and proceeded to drop turn 4 keiga turn 5 equip with jitte turn 6 win...)
Round 4: Robert Playing sub-Par WW
Game One: A true triumph for this deck he drops first turn isamaru second turn 81/2 tails i ray the tails and suffer beats from a few random creatures(isamaru, kondas hatamoto?, kami of ancient law, mothrider samurai?) burning one or two and bouncing a few times, he stops at 4 lands and i manage to get in 2 LD spells while under fire. Eventually i stabilize at 3 life and jaraku + Azamuki+lots of countesr +miren the moaning well + opponent with 2 lands left = best day ever
Game 2: ALmost identical to the last but he only gets me to 6 this time.
so I finished 2-2 my thoughts on the deck? well i didn't play a single "accepted" deck throughout the tournament; however, my last round against weirdo WW showed me that my deck is goign to be too slow against WW as i almost got owned by random creature.dec. I also learned that trieb elder + Kodama reach basically renders the LD plan useless. Basically, the deck is screwed game one against every deck in the format and LD is sub optimal so i will be scrapping the deck i think. Oh well it was a fun ride while it lasted!