Thanks all for all the input, all! It's all greatly appreciated and helps me with my (lack of) understanding of the format, really. Ultimately, I went with a deck similar to what FTW1987 suggested.
Only real changes were
- Ondu Champion
- Mountain
+ Sheer Drop
+ Plains
It played very well today during our lunch "league" haha. Beat my coworker 2-0, and then in a third mercy game he got the better of me (his Nettle Drone got me for 13 damage). MVPs were definitely Dragonmaster Outcast and Greenwarden of Murasa (mythics as bombs in limited? WHO KNEW?!), but also Snapping Gnarlid, Turn Against, Sheer Drop and Seek the Wilds (managed to cast Seek three times in one game thanks to Greenwarden).
Duds definitely were Blisterpod, Barage Tyrant and Akoum Stonewaker. Tyrant because he's a 5cmc 5/3 with an ability that doesn't shine in the deck, and the other two thanks to their 1 toughness. The third "for fun" game ended on an Awakened Boiling Earth that hit the Stonewaker, Nettle Drone and Dragonmaster Outcast. Yeesh.
Looking to replace the Blisterpod and Stonewaker, so will give a few cards a whirl. I also think I could get away with 17 lands with my fetching/fixing. Top-decking lands is such a downer in this format when you don't have much Landfall or gigantic monsters to cast.
Ok, I put together a GUrw "do nothings" list. As I suspected, very mana happy, even going down to 17 lands hasn't hurt my goldfishing. Anyway, the list
Is there any glaring omission? A card I shouldn't be running? I kinda wanted to run the Reclaiming Vines main as I know my "league" opponent has Molten Nursery main and a ton of Devoid spells. He almost certainly also has Awaken stuff but the games we payed didn't last long. I'm also pretty sure 17 lands is right, as I didn't crack any of the big Eldrazi, and Scour can be cast off the back of Scion tokens (or Sylvan Scrying, or Seek the Wilds, or Swell of Growth, or Coastal Discovery, etc.). Thoughts, comments? Thanks.
Thanks for the reply. I think you hit the nail on the head, i.e. my next try would have been RG, but similar to the WU deck, I would have had essentially no removal. The set looks like it's LOADED with removal, but it's entirely mediocre, and I didn't even get the mediocre kill spells haha.
I've gotten the impression the format is pretty slow, but also kinda mana happy, similar to the original Zendikar environment. Do you think 4-color could work? It seems like a stretch, but with my W fixing, it's practically free if I keep it to a Sheer Drop. Something like GUrw, the R splash being Dragonmaster Outcast, W splash Sheer Drop.
Is GU just "cast your fatties and smash in"? My friend's deck was a UBR devoid theme with Nettledrone and that enchantment that pings whenever he casts a colorless spell. My X/1s in the WU deck got wrecked. Looked like a fun deck, for sure, but my pool didn't seem like it could stop any amount of shenanigans (my only enchantment removal was Scour From Existence! Green has Reclaiming Vines though).
Agreed to play in a "sealed league" with a friend at work, and not being thrilled with the bfz spoilers I haven't done any homework on the set at all. No clue what's good or unplayable. If it's anything like RoE limited, I probably won't like it anyway haha. Regardless, the pool.
So yeah, I got an expedition and the WU dual, so my first try was a WU fliers deck. I got stomped. Just not fun at all and the experience played into my hangups with the format (how are Kitesail Scout and Shadow Glider not Allies?). I'm perfectly willing to believe I don't know anything about the format, but also that my pool is garbo. My removal seems very mediocre. Everything is sorcery speed or tons of mana or severely narrow.
My blue looked pretty good, I thought. Skyspawners seem like a good common. My black has a sacrifice theme, but my green doesn't look like it's on board with that strat. Some green landfall, I guess. Very few Allies overall. Doesn't look like I have an Ingest/Process plan (4 ingesters, 3 processors, is that enough?). No gold cards, which seems strange to me, but oh well.
I turn to you, teeming millions, what's the plan with a pool like this? Any insight would be appreciated, thanks!
Super quick question before Eternal Weekend, but wanted some clarity:
My opponent is on Dredge, I'm on Mentor or whatever, and I have a sneaky Containment Priest in hand. During oppo's upkeep, his two Ichorid triggers go on the stack, and in response he does the whole Dredge gymnastics by activating his Bazaar of Baghdad. He Dredges away, no other triggers happen, so all that's left are the Ichorids. Is there a point where I can flash in my Containment Priest to "gotcha" him and eat his Ichorids? I'm pretty sure I can't, but I don't know how the priority-passing works. So I have no fast-effects, he moves to pay the cost of the Ichorid... and it's too late?
Same with Landfall and Bloodghasts: triggers go on the stack, and they either come into play or I respond by flashing in the Priest, and then he chooses not to have them ETB because it's a "may" ability? Thanks!
So my LGS has been having a casual tournament after their FMNs called "Block Party". Basic idea is you bring a block constructed deck from any format (as long as it uses cards that are legal for the block, so no Lingering Souls if your deck is Innistrad block, or no artifact lands if your deck is Miroden block, etc.)
Has anyone done something like this? It intrigues me, even though I only have cards from RTR through Khans of Tarkir (no FRF cards haha). What would you bring to a format like this? I'll probably build a troll-y BUGw control list out of my RTR cards, but there have to be some favorites out there. Thanks!
My win con is running people out of cards. I played Turbo Stasis like crazy back in the day, but my mono-U version was non-lock. Once the opponent understood that, it gave them a glimmer of hope... until the Feldon's Cane landed. Then they looked at the clock and usually scooped. Super important to win game 1. Serra Angel is definitely going to be considered, but will probably start in the sb though (after oppo sides out all their removal haha).
Still, I don't know if the deck has enough juice to win without Zuran Orb or some cheap, reliable life gain. Ivory Tower might not cut it. I think I would rather play 93/94 than this magic redux thing with it's weird banned/restricted rules. But what I'm ultimately hoping is that this leads to the LGS running proxy Vintage (and if there is interest/participants, sanctioned Vintage). Gotta get my Ichorid on! haha
Love the artwork for this card. (Very sad/touching detail: the reflection of Feldon in the window...) I'm curious if Don Felice (the original "Feldon") could possibly have been the model for the painting. I know wotc doesn't do vanity cards anymore, but that would have been a pretty nice touch.
That is a pretty cool looking deck! I'm an absolute sucker for The Dark cards, and appreciate the use of Mind Bomb and Electric Eel (also cube all-star Fellwar Stone).
When I first heard about the LGS putting this together, I immediately thought: how do I make a Turbo Stasis deck for this thing? haha Without FoW and Arcane Denial, I'm not certain the deck can rack up wins. This is what I have so far, an Esper-ish list haha
Without better tutoring, the deck might not work. When I used to run Turbo Stasis back in the day, I ran it mono-U and just loaded it with free counters. Zuran Orb helped a lot haha.
If this deck doesn't work, I can see mono-W weenies and mono-B discard/rack/ritual/ramp being things. Also RG land destruction. But... I'd almost certainly burgle your RU Eel-etric list haha.
One of my LGSs has started to run something called Magic Redux (www.magicredux.com). It's a 12-proxy constructed format that throws it back to the early days of Magic: the only allowed sets are ABU core sets and the first five expansions, Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, The Dark and Fallen Empires.
To spice it up (and to keep it a bit more fair) it has a banned & restricted list that also allows out-of-rotation replacements (e.g. Ancestral Recall is banned, but Brainstorm is legal as a 4-of) and RAV shocks are used instead of ABUR duals for affordability reasons. Check out the link, specifically the Deck Construction tab, for the specifics. I think it sounds pretty cool and have a few brews in the hopper, but wanted to pick the brains of the teeming millions to mine for some inspiration. What would you like to run in a format like this? As MaRo often says, "restrictions breed creativity" haha.
A friend of mine built a terrible Gr Life's Legacy deck where the wombo-combo was LL with a Phytotitan. You get a new hand and the plant (or elemental or whatever it is) comes back next turn. The secondary key seemed to be stuff that had "die" triggers, like Scuttling Doom Engine. That new mythic red phoenix would probably work too.
Almost every aggro matchup instantly folds to Anger of the Gods, mono-U no exception. It's why the original, post-rotation (Innistrad) list ran it as a 4-of. I mean, the Yanyuk list was basically designed to KO mono-U, mono-B, and have some game against UW control. Things have changed a bit since then, but I haven't really seen any dangerous evolution of the mono-U lists. (Mono-B splashing G for Golgari Charm and Abrupt Decay I think is what forced this archetype to the benches.)
But the core of the deck, I believe, is its removal package of Chained to the Rocks, Selesnya Charm, Mizzium Mortars and Anger of the Gods, all usually as 4-ofs. It makes the deck a handful, as it's just loaded with answers and a critical mass of planeswalkers. That's been my experience anyway.
I like the idea of Boros Charm in the SB, as it helps keep the deck's assets safe, and in a pinch can take a bite out of opposing planeswalkers, if not destroy them. Also, added reach if games get close.
Is Masterpiece template available yet? It looks totally sick and I want to play with it haha
1 Blisterpod
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Snapping Gnarlid
1 Oran-Rief Invoker
1 Akoum Stonewaker
2 Eldrazi Skyspawner
1 Benthic Infiltrator
1 Nettle Drone
1 Vestige of Emrakul
1 Woodland Wanderer
1 Broodhunter Wurm
1 Barrage Tyrant
1 Territorial Baloth
1 Greenwarden of Murasa
1 Clutch of Currents
1 Swell of Growth
1 Seek the Wilds
1 Unnatural Aggression
1 Sheer Drop
1 Turn Against
1 Scour from Existence
Lands
1 Flooded Strand
1 Prairie Stream
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Island
1 Plains
8 Forest
5 Mountain
Only real changes were
- Ondu Champion
- Mountain
+ Sheer Drop
+ Plains
It played very well today during our lunch "league" haha. Beat my coworker 2-0, and then in a third mercy game he got the better of me (his Nettle Drone got me for 13 damage). MVPs were definitely Dragonmaster Outcast and Greenwarden of Murasa (mythics as bombs in limited? WHO KNEW?!), but also Snapping Gnarlid, Turn Against, Sheer Drop and Seek the Wilds (managed to cast Seek three times in one game thanks to Greenwarden).
Duds definitely were Blisterpod, Barage Tyrant and Akoum Stonewaker. Tyrant because he's a 5cmc 5/3 with an ability that doesn't shine in the deck, and the other two thanks to their 1 toughness. The third "for fun" game ended on an Awakened Boiling Earth that hit the Stonewaker, Nettle Drone and Dragonmaster Outcast. Yeesh.
Looking to replace the Blisterpod and Stonewaker, so will give a few cards a whirl. I also think I could get away with 17 lands with my fetching/fixing. Top-decking lands is such a downer in this format when you don't have much Landfall or gigantic monsters to cast.
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Mist Intruder
1 Oran-Rief Invoker
1 Snapping Gnarlid
2 Eldrazi Skyspawner
1 Benthic Infiltrator
1 Murk Strider
1 Woodland Wanderer
1 Cloud manta
1 Giant Mantis
1 Territorial Baloth
1 Greenwarden of Murasa
1 Ulamog's Despoiler
1 Clutch of Currents
1 Sylvan Scrying
1 Seek the Wilds
1 Swell of Growth
1 Sheer Drop
1 Unnatural Aggression
1 Coastal Discovery
1 Scour From Existence
Lands
1 Flooded Strand
1 Prairie Stream
1 Evolving Wilds
7 Forest
5 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
Is there any glaring omission? A card I shouldn't be running? I kinda wanted to run the Reclaiming Vines main as I know my "league" opponent has Molten Nursery main and a ton of Devoid spells. He almost certainly also has Awaken stuff but the games we payed didn't last long. I'm also pretty sure 17 lands is right, as I didn't crack any of the big Eldrazi, and Scour can be cast off the back of Scion tokens (or Sylvan Scrying, or Seek the Wilds, or Swell of Growth, or Coastal Discovery, etc.). Thoughts, comments? Thanks.
I've gotten the impression the format is pretty slow, but also kinda mana happy, similar to the original Zendikar environment. Do you think 4-color could work? It seems like a stretch, but with my W fixing, it's practically free if I keep it to a Sheer Drop. Something like GUrw, the R splash being Dragonmaster Outcast, W splash Sheer Drop.
Is GU just "cast your fatties and smash in"? My friend's deck was a UBR devoid theme with Nettledrone and that enchantment that pings whenever he casts a colorless spell. My X/1s in the WU deck got wrecked. Looked like a fun deck, for sure, but my pool didn't seem like it could stop any amount of shenanigans (my only enchantment removal was Scour From Existence! Green has Reclaiming Vines though).
1 Ghostly Sentinel
1 Lantern Scout
1 Angel of Renewal
1 Expedition Envoy
1 Shadow Glider
1 Kitesail Scout
1 Sheer Drop
3 Angelic Gift
2 Inspired Charge
Blue
1 Benthic Infiltrator
1 Salvage Drone
1 Mist Intruder
1 Murk Strider
2 Cloud Manta
2 Eldrazi Skyspawner
1 Coralhelm Guide
1 Wave-Wing Elemental
1 Clutch of Currents
1 Roilmage's Trick
1 Spell Shrivel
2 Adverse Conditions
1 Coastal Discovery
Black
1 Geyserfield Stalker
1 Voracious Null
1 Skitterskin
1 Mind Raker
1 Dominator Drone
1 Kalastria Nightwatch
1 Kalastria Healer
1 Bloodbond Vampire
2 Carrier Thrall
1 Bone Splinters
1 Dutiful Return
1 Grave Birthing
1 Vampiric Rites
1 Mire's Malice
Red
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Lavastep Raider
1 Akoum Stonewalker
1 Valakut Invoker
1 Vestige of Emrakul
1 Barage Tyrant
1 Nettle Drone
1 Ondu Champion
1 Chasm Guide
1 Reckless Cohort
1 Turn Against
3 Volcanic Upheaval
Green
1 Tajuru Beastmaster
1 Blisterpod
1 Scythe Leopard
1 Snapping Gnarlid
1 Oran-Rief Invoker
1 Woodland Wanderer
1 Broodhunter Wurm
1 Giant Mantis
1 Territorial Baloth
1 Greenwarden of Murasa
1 Sylvan Scrying
1 Seek the Wilds
1 Unnatural Aggression
1 Reclaiming Vines
Colorless
1 Ulamog's Despoiler
2 Scour From Existence
1 Hedron Blade
Lands
1 Flooded Strand
1 Prairie Stream
2 Sandstone Bridge
2 Blighted Fen
1 Evolving Wilds
So yeah, I got an expedition and the WU dual, so my first try was a WU fliers deck. I got stomped. Just not fun at all and the experience played into my hangups with the format (how are Kitesail Scout and Shadow Glider not Allies?). I'm perfectly willing to believe I don't know anything about the format, but also that my pool is garbo. My removal seems very mediocre. Everything is sorcery speed or tons of mana or severely narrow.
My blue looked pretty good, I thought. Skyspawners seem like a good common. My black has a sacrifice theme, but my green doesn't look like it's on board with that strat. Some green landfall, I guess. Very few Allies overall. Doesn't look like I have an Ingest/Process plan (4 ingesters, 3 processors, is that enough?). No gold cards, which seems strange to me, but oh well.
I turn to you, teeming millions, what's the plan with a pool like this? Any insight would be appreciated, thanks!
My opponent is on Dredge, I'm on Mentor or whatever, and I have a sneaky Containment Priest in hand. During oppo's upkeep, his two Ichorid triggers go on the stack, and in response he does the whole Dredge gymnastics by activating his Bazaar of Baghdad. He Dredges away, no other triggers happen, so all that's left are the Ichorids. Is there a point where I can flash in my Containment Priest to "gotcha" him and eat his Ichorids? I'm pretty sure I can't, but I don't know how the priority-passing works. So I have no fast-effects, he moves to pay the cost of the Ichorid... and it's too late?
Same with Landfall and Bloodghasts: triggers go on the stack, and they either come into play or I respond by flashing in the Priest, and then he chooses not to have them ETB because it's a "may" ability? Thanks!
Has anyone done something like this? It intrigues me, even though I only have cards from RTR through Khans of Tarkir (no FRF cards haha). What would you bring to a format like this? I'll probably build a troll-y BUGw control list out of my RTR cards, but there have to be some favorites out there. Thanks!
Still, I don't know if the deck has enough juice to win without Zuran Orb or some cheap, reliable life gain. Ivory Tower might not cut it. I think I would rather play 93/94 than this magic redux thing with it's weird banned/restricted rules. But what I'm ultimately hoping is that this leads to the LGS running proxy Vintage (and if there is interest/participants, sanctioned Vintage). Gotta get my Ichorid on! haha
When I first heard about the LGS putting this together, I immediately thought: how do I make a Turbo Stasis deck for this thing? haha Without FoW and Arcane Denial, I'm not certain the deck can rack up wins. This is what I have so far, an Esper-ish list haha
4 Stasis
2 Kismet
1 Land Tax
Sorceries
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Recall
Instants
4 Boomerang
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
2 Remove Soul
2 Powersink
1 Mana Drain
4 Howling Mine
1 Black Vise
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Ivory Tower
Lands
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Watery Grave
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 City of Brass
12 Island
3 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Disenchant
2 Swords to Plowshares
3 Mana Short
1 Kismet
4 TBD
Without better tutoring, the deck might not work. When I used to run Turbo Stasis back in the day, I ran it mono-U and just loaded it with free counters. Zuran Orb helped a lot haha.
If this deck doesn't work, I can see mono-W weenies and mono-B discard/rack/ritual/ramp being things. Also RG land destruction. But... I'd almost certainly burgle your RU Eel-etric list haha.
To spice it up (and to keep it a bit more fair) it has a banned & restricted list that also allows out-of-rotation replacements (e.g. Ancestral Recall is banned, but Brainstorm is legal as a 4-of) and RAV shocks are used instead of ABUR duals for affordability reasons. Check out the link, specifically the Deck Construction tab, for the specifics. I think it sounds pretty cool and have a few brews in the hopper, but wanted to pick the brains of the teeming millions to mine for some inspiration. What would you like to run in a format like this? As MaRo often says, "restrictions breed creativity" haha.
But the core of the deck, I believe, is its removal package of Chained to the Rocks, Selesnya Charm, Mizzium Mortars and Anger of the Gods, all usually as 4-ofs. It makes the deck a handful, as it's just loaded with answers and a critical mass of planeswalkers. That's been my experience anyway.
I like the idea of Boros Charm in the SB, as it helps keep the deck's assets safe, and in a pinch can take a bite out of opposing planeswalkers, if not destroy them. Also, added reach if games get close.