I'm not sure if fetchlands just for your tombstalkers are going to be worth it. Running into stifle could be badnews since you're not really running too many lands.
I just saw burried ruins in the m12 spoiler and I'm wondering if it's better than academy ruins. It's not legendary and the card goes directly to hand. It can't be used as a last resort wincon like academy ruins and can only be used once so no awesome tangle wire tricks.
I've switched to master of etherium as my wincon. He pitches to force and comes back with ruins. And he only costs 3. Also I like saying Moe.
I've also gone back to relic barrier. Yeah, it's total crap beyond tapping static orb but blinkmoth well was real bad. It also makes MOE bigger.
Also ratchet bomb.
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I'll post a new list after a bit more testing.
Specifically ETruth can bounce Jace which is pretty hard for my deck to deal with preboard. It can also get rid of Meddling Mage although it rarely sees play. It's just a sort of catch all that can buy me some time when I need it.
I think that deck is radically different from what I'm doing here. Maybe goblin welder and tangle wire? I don't know.
I own 3 tabernacles. I've been playing them since '05 so they were more reasonable then.
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Anyways. The list in OP is 61 cards so I got rid of paradox haze and added tangle wire 4. Paradox haze just didn't do enough on it's own.
I'd say right now the weakest card is echoing truth but I can't really think of something to put in its place. Pendrell Mist? Impulse? Mana Leak? I'd like it to be blue so I could use it as FOW fodder.
For years I use to play a deck that tapped winter orb with relic barrier to create an asymmetrical prison. Unfortunately some guy thought it would be a good idea to remove the errata from Winter Orb so it doesn't shut off when it gets tapped. So that deck went to the trash.
I tried to make the same idea with static orb. So far it is actually performing much better than my winter orb version. Here is my list at the moment:
Island: I run 12. I don't actually need to draw more than one in a game. If one gets destroyed than obviously it's nice. I actually don't need one in my opening hand either depending on other factors. Island usually doesn't get destroyed since my nonbasic lands tend to have targets on them.
Academy Ruins: I run 2. Most decks that run this card only run 1 but its so good here I'll risk drawing more than one. I don't necessarily need it to win but it very often slams the door on my opponent. It recurs Lodestone Golem and brings back static orbs that are destroyed/countered. Most of all it has ultra good synergy with tangle wire. Sometimes its a win more but thats alright. Also a backdoor win condition if my golems get extirpated since I can just prevent myself from decking before my opponent.
Rishadan Port: Tightens the lock under static orb. Slows down the opponent early too.
Tabernacle: Just a total beating under static orb/propaganda. I run 3 because I really like to see it.
Petrified Field: Screw you wasteland!
Blinkmoth Well: Taps orb. It's not a totally dead card if I draw more than one since its a land (unlike relic barrier).
Lodestone Golem is my primary wincondition. Ive tried a bunch of different things but I like him the best. He's sort of a lockpiece on his own which gives him some protection against removal. He recurs with academy ruins. He costs four which is actually pretty cheap. 5 power gets there pretty quickly. In fact lodestone is good enough on his own I find myself just playing him without a lock in place and just beatdown for the win.
Echoing Truth: Just a catch all bounce that can also deal with ETW for 12. I can bounce my own tangle wire and replay it, but in practice this is a play I rarely make.
Propaganda: Just a great card for this deck. Slows down my opponents strikeforce down to a crawl. Basically a moat with orb and tabernacle in play.
Tangle Wire: Taps them down! Just straight brutal with static orb on the field. Sometimes I need to buy time with them early on in the game. Make sure you stack it correctly with tabernacle for maximum benefit.
Preordain: I like it because it costs just U. As far as other options at that price its just going to be better here. Brainstorm is just not too good when you aren't running fetchlands.
Force/Misstep: My permission package. Countering Aether Vial on the draw is key. Its important to only force things that are going to be backbreaking. I tend to let alot of things slide when I'm playing this deck that I would counter if I was playing....landstill.
Paradox Haze: Too cute to run?! Probably. Synergizes amazingly with tangle wire and tabernacle. Unfortunatley I don't think it does enough on its own and I'll probably end up playing something practical instead. It's been backbreaking a couple of times. Opponent getting out a confidant while locked down is awesome. Greatness at ANY cost? Probably should be dream tides but that double U makes it kind of unappealing.
Relic of progenitus: Keeps goyf/kotr small, sometimes even fogging those guys. A huge goyf can be bad news early (is that obvious?) because opponent can usually pay for one goyf to keep beating through propaganda. Obviously relic is real good against dredge too. Loam decks have traditionally given me trouble so it does work there too. If its totally dead I can just cantrip it which is ok.
SB:
Pithing needle names Jace/Vial/Wasteland etc etc. Washout names green against Elves. It can bounce progenitus which is totally sick! Also name blue against merfolks and red against goblins. Null Rod comes in against storm combo, but of course its ridiculous against belcher, affinity, MUD and some builds of painter. Submerge is the difference between winning and losing in some matchups. I usually bring them in for force against zoo.
How this deck plays:
The main plan is to just play all the various lock pieces, lock them the ☺☺☺☺ out and then beat for the win. It doesn't always work out like that. I usually mulligan sensibly, but not overly aggressively. Each prison piece helps lock down my opponent a little bit more. This buys me time to find more pieces. I don't ever panic. I've very often stabilized with less than five life. This is why I can't play something like...ancient tomb. Of course there are times when I can't lock them down completely so I just need to protect lodestone with counters/academy ruins. Overall the deck is pretty flexible and most opponents don't know quite how to react.
WHY PLAY THIS OVER STAXX???!?
Because I like it. I'm not sure it's better than stax but I'm not sure its worse either. At the very least opponents will be less prepared for this deck than stax.
I was wondering what would be the best way to mail a whole bunch of cards? I'm talking about at least ten thousand cards that are all of value (so not bulk rares or anything like that).
In a more controllish build you probably want big pox. Its probably not really possible to do if you're splashing white and running a bunch of lands that only produce clear mana.
Everytime I read someone suggesting Thoughtseize in this thread, I just tend to ignore all his other posts.
Ok no.
Thoughtseize brings you down to 18. After pox you go down to 12. You lose ONE life. ONE. O-N-E. A single whack from a festering goblin. A single activation from a fetchland.
Thoughtseize can take Jace. This is actually a really big deal! Its very hard for pox to deal with a resolved Jace. Not to mention the lifeloss from thoughtseize won't even matter since theyre just going to mill the ☺☺☺☺ out of you.
The ONLY matchup where it can be bad is against something like zoo. And you know what? It's still not bad since you usually get to take away a really big creature that could potentially do more than 2 damage. And really you still net life when you take a burn spell.
Also Ad Naseum is a card.
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So while I can understand if someone would not want to play thoughtseize I can't even come close to fathoming the notion that someone playing thoughtseize is a useless human.
Also that "Trisomy" list looks like a total pile. It literally can't beat combo at all under any circumstance. Jace.dec has to be unfavorable. And I think it could go like 45/55 against goblins. Two wincons is unadvisable for nonprison decks and the deck folds like a lawn chair against yard hate.
I'm losing my hair and I don't know what to do about it! My dad is 51 and he basically has all of his hair. I'm not exactly a healthy eater but its not like I just eat crap all the time. It'd be a lot better if I was going grey instead.
What do you guys do against merfolk? I am main boarding two infest and boarding in the other two and Im still getting my teeth kicked in. I think it's an important matchup and I'm not really sure what to do about it. Here's my list:
Urborg seems....random
I've switched to master of etherium as my wincon. He pitches to force and comes back with ruins. And he only costs 3. Also I like saying Moe.
I've also gone back to relic barrier. Yeah, it's total crap beyond tapping static orb but blinkmoth well was real bad. It also makes MOE bigger.
Also ratchet bomb.
--------------------------
I'll post a new list after a bit more testing.
I own 3 tabernacles. I've been playing them since '05 so they were more reasonable then.
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Anyways. The list in OP is 61 cards so I got rid of paradox haze and added tangle wire 4. Paradox haze just didn't do enough on it's own.
I'd say right now the weakest card is echoing truth but I can't really think of something to put in its place. Pendrell Mist? Impulse? Mana Leak? I'd like it to be blue so I could use it as FOW fodder.
I tried to make the same idea with static orb. So far it is actually performing much better than my winter orb version. Here is my list at the moment:
2 Academy Ruins
4 Rishadan Port
3 Petrified Field
3 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 Blinkmoth Well
4 Lodestone Golem
2 Echoing Truth
4 Propaganda
3 Tangle Wire
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
4 Static Orb
4 Preordain
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Paradox Haze
4 Pithing Needle
4 Washout
4 Null Rod
3 Submerge
Card by card analysis
Island: I run 12. I don't actually need to draw more than one in a game. If one gets destroyed than obviously it's nice. I actually don't need one in my opening hand either depending on other factors. Island usually doesn't get destroyed since my nonbasic lands tend to have targets on them.
Academy Ruins: I run 2. Most decks that run this card only run 1 but its so good here I'll risk drawing more than one. I don't necessarily need it to win but it very often slams the door on my opponent. It recurs Lodestone Golem and brings back static orbs that are destroyed/countered. Most of all it has ultra good synergy with tangle wire. Sometimes its a win more but thats alright. Also a backdoor win condition if my golems get extirpated since I can just prevent myself from decking before my opponent.
Rishadan Port: Tightens the lock under static orb. Slows down the opponent early too.
Tabernacle: Just a total beating under static orb/propaganda. I run 3 because I really like to see it.
Petrified Field: Screw you wasteland!
Blinkmoth Well: Taps orb. It's not a totally dead card if I draw more than one since its a land (unlike relic barrier).
Lodestone Golem is my primary wincondition. Ive tried a bunch of different things but I like him the best. He's sort of a lockpiece on his own which gives him some protection against removal. He recurs with academy ruins. He costs four which is actually pretty cheap. 5 power gets there pretty quickly. In fact lodestone is good enough on his own I find myself just playing him without a lock in place and just beatdown for the win.
Echoing Truth: Just a catch all bounce that can also deal with ETW for 12. I can bounce my own tangle wire and replay it, but in practice this is a play I rarely make.
Propaganda: Just a great card for this deck. Slows down my opponents strikeforce down to a crawl. Basically a moat with orb and tabernacle in play.
Tangle Wire: Taps them down! Just straight brutal with static orb on the field. Sometimes I need to buy time with them early on in the game. Make sure you stack it correctly with tabernacle for maximum benefit.
Preordain: I like it because it costs just U. As far as other options at that price its just going to be better here. Brainstorm is just not too good when you aren't running fetchlands.
Force/Misstep: My permission package. Countering Aether Vial on the draw is key. Its important to only force things that are going to be backbreaking. I tend to let alot of things slide when I'm playing this deck that I would counter if I was playing....landstill.
Paradox Haze: Too cute to run?! Probably. Synergizes amazingly with tangle wire and tabernacle. Unfortunatley I don't think it does enough on its own and I'll probably end up playing something practical instead. It's been backbreaking a couple of times. Opponent getting out a confidant while locked down is awesome. Greatness at ANY cost? Probably should be dream tides but that double U makes it kind of unappealing.
Relic of progenitus: Keeps goyf/kotr small, sometimes even fogging those guys. A huge goyf can be bad news early (is that obvious?) because opponent can usually pay for one goyf to keep beating through propaganda. Obviously relic is real good against dredge too. Loam decks have traditionally given me trouble so it does work there too. If its totally dead I can just cantrip it which is ok.
SB:
Pithing needle names Jace/Vial/Wasteland etc etc. Washout names green against Elves. It can bounce progenitus which is totally sick! Also name blue against merfolks and red against goblins. Null Rod comes in against storm combo, but of course its ridiculous against belcher, affinity, MUD and some builds of painter. Submerge is the difference between winning and losing in some matchups. I usually bring them in for force against zoo.
How this deck plays:
The main plan is to just play all the various lock pieces, lock them the ☺☺☺☺ out and then beat for the win. It doesn't always work out like that. I usually mulligan sensibly, but not overly aggressively. Each prison piece helps lock down my opponent a little bit more. This buys me time to find more pieces. I don't ever panic. I've very often stabilized with less than five life. This is why I can't play something like...ancient tomb. Of course there are times when I can't lock them down completely so I just need to protect lodestone with counters/academy ruins. Overall the deck is pretty flexible and most opponents don't know quite how to react.
WHY PLAY THIS OVER STAXX???!?
Because I like it. I'm not sure it's better than stax but I'm not sure its worse either. At the very least opponents will be less prepared for this deck than stax.
In a more controllish build you probably want big pox. Its probably not really possible to do if you're splashing white and running a bunch of lands that only produce clear mana.
Ok no.
Thoughtseize brings you down to 18. After pox you go down to 12. You lose ONE life. ONE. O-N-E. A single whack from a festering goblin. A single activation from a fetchland.
Thoughtseize can take Jace. This is actually a really big deal! Its very hard for pox to deal with a resolved Jace. Not to mention the lifeloss from thoughtseize won't even matter since theyre just going to mill the ☺☺☺☺ out of you.
The ONLY matchup where it can be bad is against something like zoo. And you know what? It's still not bad since you usually get to take away a really big creature that could potentially do more than 2 damage. And really you still net life when you take a burn spell.
Also Ad Naseum is a card.
---
So while I can understand if someone would not want to play thoughtseize I can't even come close to fathoming the notion that someone playing thoughtseize is a useless human.
What do you guys do against merfolk? I am main boarding two infest and boarding in the other two and Im still getting my teeth kicked in. I think it's an important matchup and I'm not really sure what to do about it. Here's my list:
4 Mishra's Factory
12 Swamp
4 Urborg Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Wasteland
3 Tombstalker
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 The Rack
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Infest
4 Wretched Banquet
4 Thoughtseize
4 Pox
4 Smallpox
3 Pithing Needle
3 Ratchet Bomb
3 Dystopia
4 Extirpate
2 Infest
Also I don't want to weaken the combo matchup too much.
At the price of 2B