The ramp package seems a little strange in my mind. Birds are fine, but the rest seems lackluster, mox 2 for 1's yourself, Elves shoots yourself in the foot, the petal and ritual are 1 shots that are pretty small. Rampant Growth would serve better.
Why do you say that? This deck isn't intended to grind out advantage, or even to maintain card parity. It's solely interested in exploiting the early lull in tempo from "building up" and turning that into a quick win. If I win a turn earlier, what do I care that I'm down a card or my mana was one shot? Likewise, something like Rampant Growth is very slow.
Removal and Dig packages seem solid. Tutor seems kinda meh as well, reanimator is ok, but you seem to have too much there, it's cutting into your business creatures.
That whole package IS the business creatures? It allows me to circumvent the inherent variance in a singleton format.
What would I be hitting with any of those that I'm afraid of? I can't think of any creatures I'm terribly afraid of in this format, and Hymn doesn't garuntee I hit what would stop my kill, it might, but I'd rather pick out something that can beat me than gamble. Additional reactive protection may be better than Therapy anyway, I'll have to look for a cheaper option though, every mana sets the clock back and makes disruption more likely.
Expensive and slow, why would I play those when I get the same value out of an entomb or a GSZ? Phyresis/Oil is tempting if I find I need an extra berserk effect, because they do that fairly well though.
Lands are meh, too many fetches and land count is a bit low, though at a second glance, you only have 4+1 commander at 3. 5 fetches and only 8 cards to hit seems bad, lower the fetch or raise the basics.
Hitting all my colors is much more important than having something to grab with my fetches all the time. If I'm at the point where my fetches can't get something, I'm far too flooded already.
Overall it's pretty solid, looks similar to my old Varolz Infect EDH.
I would think that to play competitively, Crucible of Worlds, Wasteland and Inkmoth Nexus all want to be part of this team. I really feel that in a dual-based format, you'd be more competitive making something more similar to Tom Ross's Legacy or Modern builds. YMMV, but I would want to give myself the chance for T3 wins out of no where.
Inkmoth Nexus is already included, however Wasteland Crucible seems pretty slow in my experience with the format. I haven't been getting the opportunity to attempt to grind advantage much at all, and it certainly doesn't help the combo kill, why do you suggest it?
Responses in bold. I like some of the ideas, but a number of them are confusing to me, I'd like to hear why you think a lot of those suggestions are what I should be doing?
This deck intends to use Varolz to scavenge a Dreadnought or Death's Shadow onto himself and Berserk for the win or to scavenge onto an infect creature and finish it in one turn. Dig and tutors are abundant and you've got a small collection of removal for any hate you could see. The biggest lose from Glenn Jones list, which this is based off of, is Ad Nauseum, but your deck is half the size, so you can manage fine. Sideboard is in progress and may do well as a Death Wish package.
Please tear it apart, I'd like it to be as lean as it can be. Sometimes you just wanna be a little ruthless.
Thanks for the responses! I love a lot of that. If I were to attempt to distill it down, a treasure decks seems like the perfect way to capture the feel of a dungeon crawl, and with treasure you'd obviously have something to spend back in town, so those seem like great pieces of tech to combine. Story drops and random treasure really get the dungeon feel, more than just a monster wave that I had before, so I'll definitely try that out. If they like the first run, then it would seem like introducing important villains would definitely help the immersion as well, so that's another in. As far as permanence in board state or life totals or anything like that, while I adore the idea, I feel like is a bit too clunky. Since there's so many physical things to track in Magic, I feel a rest mechanic isn't quite as easy to implement as in an RPG.
So there we have it! The beginnings of my spiffy Dungeon Crawl, here's a reservation in case we go deep, which I hope we do! I look forward to input, I'll be crafting stacks in the mean time.
Hello! I've decided that I would like to craft a series of Horde decks to create a semi-narrative dungeon crawl style experience to play out with my friends. We all love roleplaying games and I'm the only one with a considerable magic collection, but I thought this would be a great way for them to play and get our RPG fix. I'd love input on the staging, the plot, progression mechanics, and of course the decks themselves!
SO, part one: The players. It is my intention to create four EDH decks that will start off weak and somewhat small, and grow with each Horde deck the party defeats. It will be a four man party with a "Fighter," "Rogue," "Cleric," and "Wizard." As classic dungeon crawls often are. My preliminary thought was to create those Tiny Leader style decks or perhaps Pauper versions. So that cards could be added and swapped five or ten at a time and "Level Up" as we go through the Hordes. So with the constraints of Pauper Tiny Leader decks, I will catalog the versions here, as well as the "Level Up Packs" as they're made.
Our party:
Fighter McSwordmen
So we approach Fighter McSwordmen relatively straightforward. He needs to be an impressive combatant, takes hits like a champ and dishes 'em out just as well. And the McSwordmen's are a clever clan of warriors, so he's got some tricks up his sleeve as well. To me, this screams RWx Voltron general. Perhaps a MonoRed Arena Athlete or Barbarian General that evolves into a Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer or Godo, Bandit Warlord? A MonoWhite Ajani's Pridemate that becomes Jazal Goldmane?Or maybe something else, Aggro players, help me out.
Rouge the Sneak
Here we have a tricky bugger from the wrong side of the law that sometimes dishes out nasty surprises to pull his pals out of a tight spot. UB Faeries or something similar seems apt, perhaps with a small Trap theme for flavor? Eventually it could become Wydwen, the Biting Gale tempo/control or Sygg, River Cutthroat aggro-control.
Clerical Error
A champion of Divine Justice, our Cleric is clearly MonoWhite. I suppose something could be said for another color added in there, maybe a RW war cleric, or a BW cleric whose gotten a bit too cozy with the undead they're fighting. But MonoWhite strikes me as best. A healthy amount of lifegain and damage reduction, some Protection from Blank effects, and the divine might of god fearing men and women and strong armed angels gives us a Timmy-tastic midrange deck led by, perhaps a Devout Chaplain that grows in Divine Might until they're a healing Master.
Wizardy Herbert
Here we have the quintessential "I can do anything" character because the game designers decided that's what they liked so it'd be the best. In that same vein it will be using Blue! Counterspells, Card Draw, Bounce, any sort of dumb tricks and perhaps some red or black for the high impact Fireball and such. Eventually they will come into their prime as a Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, or a even a Nekusar, the Mindrazer.
NOW part two, the stuff you were probably waiting for when you saw this: The Horde Decks! That's right decks. I'm going to need your help to develop escalating Horde decks that the players can confront at their growing power levels with some continuity between them and a decent narrative to go along with it. I'm thinking up through ten levels to really get a good stretch of time out of the story, and by the end of the "episodes" there should be a fully functioning Horde deck and four passable to good EDH decks that I can gift to my friends for normal play, so that seems like the perfect time to evolve 50 commons into 100 decent cards.
HORDE DECKS:
LEVEL 1
So we start here! A normal deck is designed for 400 vs 100, so this would be, perhaps 200 vs 50, though 60 would maintain the 11:9 token:spell ratio, so that seems better.. That strikes me as sufficiently stacked in the players favor, so that we can give them a good cushion to figure out the rules and their decks, if we make this one easy and just don't give them a level up pack, it's like a tutorial level.
With the constant influx of Zombies, I feel like the weaker threats will still at least pose an issue, and as for special rules:
Infest does not affect the Horde
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 4
LEVEL 5
LEVEL 6
LEVEL 7
LEVEL 8
LEVEL 9
LEVEL 10
The narrative:
I'm not great, especially not if I don't have some prompting, so I'm going to be drawing upon all of you! Let's see what you have to say about these four intrepid heroes and their misadventures against the slowly growing zombie hordes. Can they stop the mass of undead? Can they find the source of it all? Can they save the world from utter destruction? Find out next week on "TALES OF THE HORDE!"
Oblivion Ring targets it self with ETB trigger, exiles, LTB trigger, comes back. Loop indefinitely. Trigger Constellation arbitraly large number of times.
The sands of Raoim. The colossal desert plane, where a drop of water is worth of a drop of blood, nomadic tribes dance on the ruins of lost civilisations and bizarre spirits test intelligent beings for unknown reasons.
Buried by Sands - 1B Sorcery (C)
Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. If that creature dies this turn, exile its controllers graveyard.
Oasis Mirage1U Enchantment - Aura [C]
Enchant land
Enchanted land is an island.
When enchanted land is tapped, its controller puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Hapless Wanderer3W
Creature - Nomad Cleric (C)
Whenever you play a Plains, you may gain 1 life.
2/3
Scorching Sun5RR
Sorcery (C)
~ deals 6 damage divided as you choose between target creature and its controller.
Common 5/10:
Scour the Dunes1G Sorcery [C]
Search your library for a basic land card or a Desert card and put that card onto the battlefield tapped.
Design a card that lets you see part of a hand or library. I'll rip it out of his head, to put it bluntly.
It is not easy to make me angry servant. But you have made me very angry. When I say "tell me" you... Will... TELL ME!
The centaur forces dark magics into the butlers mind to force the secret to light.
Tear Through Thought1UB Sorcery [R]
Target player reveals his or her hand. You choose a nonland card from it. Exile that card. That player exiles cards from the top of their library until they exile a card with the same name.
Welcome to Primeriad, a prehistoric world of bountiful growth and monstrous creatures. Should be themed on highest power.
Savage Ridgewolf :3mana::symr:
Creature - Wolf (C) Feral - Savage Ridgewolf has first strike as long as it has the highest power of creatures you control.
4/1
Raptor Hunter 1W
Creature - Human Warrior (C) Protection from Lizards
1/2
Bog Scurrier - 2B Creature - Zombie (C)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if Bog Scurrier as the highest power of all creatures in play, target player loses 2 life.
1/1
Responses in bold. I like some of the ideas, but a number of them are confusing to me, I'd like to hear why you think a lot of those suggestions are what I should be doing?
Combo
1 Berserk
1 Death's Shadow
1 Phyrexian Dreadnought
Tutors
1 Entomb
1 Reanimate
1 Unearth
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Regrowth
1 Treasured Find
1 Buried Alive
1 Grim Tutor
Dig
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Night's Whisper
1 Sign in Blood
1 Sylvan Library
1 Dark Confidant
1 Glistener Elf
1 Plague Stinger
1 Inkmoth Nexus
Protection
1 Thoughtseize
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Duress
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Vines of Vastwood
1 Ranger's Guile
Ramp
1 Lotus Petal
1 Chrome Mox
1 Dark Ritual
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Elves of Deep Shadow
Removal
1 Nature's Claim
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Beast Within
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Bayou
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Windswept Heath
1 Marsh Flats
1 Twilight Mire
1 Dryad Arbor
3 Forest
3 Swamp
This deck intends to use Varolz to scavenge a Dreadnought or Death's Shadow onto himself and Berserk for the win or to scavenge onto an infect creature and finish it in one turn. Dig and tutors are abundant and you've got a small collection of removal for any hate you could see. The biggest lose from Glenn Jones list, which this is based off of, is Ad Nauseum, but your deck is half the size, so you can manage fine. Sideboard is in progress and may do well as a Death Wish package.
Please tear it apart, I'd like it to be as lean as it can be. Sometimes you just wanna be a little ruthless.
SO, part one: The players. It is my intention to create four EDH decks that will start off weak and somewhat small, and grow with each Horde deck the party defeats. It will be a four man party with a "Fighter," "Rogue," "Cleric," and "Wizard." As classic dungeon crawls often are. My preliminary thought was to create those Tiny Leader style decks or perhaps Pauper versions. So that cards could be added and swapped five or ten at a time and "Level Up" as we go through the Hordes. So with the constraints of Pauper Tiny Leader decks, I will catalog the versions here, as well as the "Level Up Packs" as they're made.
Our party:
Fighter McSwordmen
So we approach Fighter McSwordmen relatively straightforward. He needs to be an impressive combatant, takes hits like a champ and dishes 'em out just as well. And the McSwordmen's are a clever clan of warriors, so he's got some tricks up his sleeve as well. To me, this screams RWx Voltron general. Perhaps a MonoRed Arena Athlete or Barbarian General that evolves into a Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer or Godo, Bandit Warlord? A MonoWhite Ajani's Pridemate that becomes Jazal Goldmane?Or maybe something else, Aggro players, help me out.
Rouge the Sneak
Here we have a tricky bugger from the wrong side of the law that sometimes dishes out nasty surprises to pull his pals out of a tight spot. UB Faeries or something similar seems apt, perhaps with a small Trap theme for flavor? Eventually it could become Wydwen, the Biting Gale tempo/control or Sygg, River Cutthroat aggro-control.
Clerical Error
A champion of Divine Justice, our Cleric is clearly MonoWhite. I suppose something could be said for another color added in there, maybe a RW war cleric, or a BW cleric whose gotten a bit too cozy with the undead they're fighting. But MonoWhite strikes me as best. A healthy amount of lifegain and damage reduction, some Protection from Blank effects, and the divine might of god fearing men and women and strong armed angels gives us a Timmy-tastic midrange deck led by, perhaps a Devout Chaplain that grows in Divine Might until they're a healing Master.
Wizardy Herbert
NOW part two, the stuff you were probably waiting for when you saw this: The Horde Decks! That's right decks. I'm going to need your help to develop escalating Horde decks that the players can confront at their growing power levels with some continuity between them and a decent narrative to go along with it. I'm thinking up through ten levels to really get a good stretch of time out of the story, and by the end of the "episodes" there should be a fully functioning Horde deck and four passable to good EDH decks that I can gift to my friends for normal play, so that seems like the perfect time to evolve 50 commons into 100 decent cards.
HORDE DECKS:
LEVEL 1
So we start here! A normal deck is designed for 400 vs 100, so this would be, perhaps 200 vs 50, though 60 would maintain the 11:9 token:spell ratio, so that seems better.. That strikes me as sufficiently stacked in the players favor, so that we can give them a good cushion to figure out the rules and their decks, if we make this one easy and just don't give them a level up pack, it's like a tutorial level.
6 Maggot Carrier
1 Bad Moon
2 Cruel Edict
2 Infest
4 Cackling Fiend
2 Infectious Horror
4 Sightless Ghoul
3 Rotting Fensnake
1 Vengeful Dead
2 Gluttonous Zombie
With the constant influx of Zombies, I feel like the weaker threats will still at least pose an issue, and as for special rules:
Infest does not affect the Horde
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 4
LEVEL 5
LEVEL 6
LEVEL 7
LEVEL 8
LEVEL 9
LEVEL 10
The narrative:
I'm not great, especially not if I don't have some prompting, so I'm going to be drawing upon all of you! Let's see what you have to say about these four intrepid heroes and their misadventures against the slowly growing zombie hordes. Can they stop the mass of undead? Can they find the source of it all? Can they save the world from utter destruction? Find out next week on "TALES OF THE HORDE!"
Creature - Cleric Soldier
W, Sacrifice ~: ~ Deals 3 damage to each attacking or blocking creature.
3/3
Next: I'd like to see prevention of lifegain in something besides red, preferably something that's not a False Cure-type affect as well.
Sorcery (C)
Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. If that creature dies this turn, exile its controllers graveyard.
Oasis Mirage 1U
Enchantment - Aura [C]
Enchant land
Enchanted land is an island.
When enchanted land is tapped, its controller puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Hapless Wanderer 3W
Creature - Nomad Cleric (C)
Whenever you play a Plains, you may gain 1 life.
2/3
Scorching Sun 5RR
Sorcery (C)
~ deals 6 damage divided as you choose between target creature and its controller.
Scour the Dunes 1G
Sorcery [C]
Search your library for a basic land card or a Desert card and put that card onto the battlefield tapped.
It is not easy to make me angry servant. But you have made me very angry. When I say "tell me" you... Will... TELL ME!
The centaur forces dark magics into the butlers mind to force the secret to light.
Tear Through Thought 1UB
Sorcery [R]
Target player reveals his or her hand. You choose a nonland card from it. Exile that card. That player exiles cards from the top of their library until they exile a card with the same name.
Glimpse the Unthinkable+.
Welcome to Primeriad, a prehistoric world of bountiful growth and monstrous creatures. Should be themed on highest power.
Savage Ridgewolf :3mana::symr:
Creature - Wolf (C)
Feral - Savage Ridgewolf has first strike as long as it has the highest power of creatures you control.
4/1
Raptor Hunter 1W
Creature - Human Warrior (C)
Protection from Lizards
1/2
Bog Scurrier - 2B
Creature - Zombie (C)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if Bog Scurrier as the highest power of all creatures in play, target player loses 2 life.
1/1
Primeriadian Adaptation 2G
Enchantment - Aura [C]
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +3/+3.
Common 5/10
Excitable Pteranodon 2UU
Creature - Lizard [C]
Flash
Flying
3/2
Second verse, same as the first. Looking forward to another try.
I'd like to confirm this. Both the win and the great games. Was a blast to play.