Here is a spin on the idea of attempting to make multicolor non-hybrid cards one mana drops.
Random Goblin :symr::symb:
Creature- Goblin Barbarian
Haste
~ costs less to play if you control a Mountain.
2/1
It's pretty basic, but the idea is to reward players for playing basic lands. So yes, it's a 2/1 haster for :symr:. Compared to other critters out there, that's not that bad. Make it an uncommon even if your crying about comparisons to Raging Goblin.
More fun tricks with that idea.
Rhox Avenger:symg::symw::symu:
Creature- Rhino Knight
First Strike
~ costs less to play if an opponent controls a Swamp.
~ costs less to play if an opponent controls a Mountain.
3/3
Now we have a 1 drop that punishes an opponent for playing a Red Black deck.
It's a tight playlist with a semi-Faerie Theme. Cheap, effective creatures coupled with cheap effective control. I assume that you are going to race an opponent down to 0 asap? Maybe throw in Beacon of Unrest or Puppeteer Clique into the 5 slot to add more versatility to your recursion.
For that same 3G, you should've been playing Chameleon Colossus.
Questionable. I would rather prefer Raking Canopy for what the card does. It basically scares away anything named Broodmate Dragon, Mistbind Clique, and Demigod of Revenge. I think the purpose was to explain a very specific card choice. Colossus fits an entirely different function for the same mana.
This looks like a great idea. They took the mutlicolor theme and ran with it. Unlike a whole creature set a la Legions theme, multicolor could be feasible. Already the environment is situated to be multicolor anyway with the availability of all the filter, pain, trilands, ect... so why no go to the logical extreme where Magic rarely ever went.
ah...the rise of never playing a monocolor deck in standard for a whole year.
Isn't this deck kind of dead? I mean, compare it to bant. It has the same colors but it adds blue and doesn't have any trouble with the mana base, but they are playing cards like Rhox War Mink while you are playing Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers in the same slot.
You may be right, but people still post here and offer critique/criticisms against what they play. I would argue instead to remove the sticky for the thread if it loses further interest.
(Also your argument would be similar to Blighting Aggro vs. Red Deck Wins. Why play RDW when BA splashes black?)
Anyway-
dmoney0194- Does your deck do consistently well in white mana to allow Figure of Destiny to be included? Make sure he can consistenly be upgraded.
I would also look into the thread a bit more and take alook at what others are playing. One mana slots are sometimes consisting of Noble Hierarch and include Shield of the Oversoul/Loxodon Warhammer ect. to keep critters on board.
Other than that, most of your card choices are pretty much standard GW.
1. Black Knight- A little bit outside of the standard environment, but with M10 featuring it, I would suggest getting a playset. White's resurgence in removal will only be hurt by the few things that avoid it; shroud, bounce, and protection (aside from traditional counter). With mana fixing as easy as it's been, paying the 2 black shouldn't be a problem. The only major thing keeping Black Knight from being a more prominent card is the lack of decks that could be built with it (Fae don't need it).
2. Thornling- It's right now a good card without a solid deck arch-type to support it, but if mana ramping gets boosted, imagine a turn 3/4 Thorning swinging out of the gate with mana to spare for Indestructible or haste (Imagine if you include it into an Exalted Deck! ).
3. Knight of the White Orchid- A 2/2 body with FS and land fetching. It's solid and when Kithkin rotates out, will probably be a good card for white weenie decks to keep mana short hands.
4. Garruk Wildspeaker- Garruk is going to stay in standard for another year with the inclusion of Llorwyn planeswalkers for M10, and most ramp decks will probably revolve around it for that same time span. Too versatile to be ignored.
5. Punish Ignorance- Why this card? Because Cryptic Command will rotate out and Blue will have few other options for a moderately decent 4 mana hard counter. The only other reasonable hard counter not named Cancel will be Countersquall until more are revealed in future sets. If Esper gains prominence, Punish Ignorance will be in the crux of the deck's future.
The deck runs a few singletron and tweaks to make it a harder matchup to deal with. Mosswort Bridge is definately an inclusion when the deck features alot of outlets to produce large creatures to meet the land's condition (nothing says oh crap more than a hidden Violent Ultimatum). I added Liliana Vess for tutoring into responses and a few more tricks like Dramatic Entrance to place blockers at instant speed out.
As for an explanation for BoPs...it's definately there to help fix mana and turn 2 Blightning or Thrinax. It makes the opponent think twice about what I am really playing and forces them into an early hole. Yes I know there is a Cloudthresher in there with Bops, but by the time I evoke him or hardcast, the birds will either of died or chump blocked to serve their purpose well (A Garruk easily replaces their usefulness). And yes, if I am desperate I will T2 Blightning myself to Mannequin into play a critter I dropped to gy.
Have you considered Knight of the Which Orchid or Mind Stone to accelerate into an Ajani or a Scepter? The faster you can start locking down an opponent the better.
The good news is that your deck does not really need many critters, as you have man lands and a planeswalker to generate critters when needed.
Any time of mana fixing is good. There is also a modest chance that you don't see a one drop in the opening hand, so vivid lands are okay to play in here.
Have you considered hard burn in this deck, Banefire as a finisher, or a Loxodon Warhammer for life gain when racing to 0?
Playtest? I watch what others play, talk with the local players, get a feel for what the meta is, and then adjust my decks based on what it looks like it is out there. It also doesn't hurt when other people pilot similar decks and you can look at their FNM and PT results to gauge what a deck's relative strengths and weaknesses are.
I think the point is that KotR must be used smartly. If it's what a deck is built around, you will be disappointed by the results. If it is one of several threats that makes your deck better by having it use it's ability and no real loss if it dies, then by all means use it in your deck.
Looks like a solid list. Maybe a singletron Cenn's Enlistment when your drawing dead land cards and Elspeth for her ability to make tokens. How about Path to Exile for spot removal?
1. When Mindshatter and Head Games leave standard (along with the rest of Llorwyn), the choices for discarding with be limited. Scepter of Fugue could make it into a control deck revolving around black. Along with Tidehollow Sculler they provide two juicy targets for removal when bigger threats are looming ahead (and if the opponent ignores the Scepter, it hurts them in the long run).
2. Being able to force an opponent to discard a card in hand during your turn is fairly priceless. If they have 2 cards in hand, plays one as an instant, you could then in response force him/her to discard their last card. Fugue when played correctly can make an opponent think twice before responding to your threats or make them pay for their choices.
Yeah I'm not sure why mono-blue control couldn't work. I've been thinking about throwing one together that runs just about every counter spell printed and Guile but I know it'd get laughed at and people would tell me it's a dumb idea. As it stands now my personal favorite is a UW creatureless control deck, why do you think they have to run 3 colors? I tried and it just made it rougher and less dependable.
Mono blue is possible, but the problem is that why limit your choices to one color when theoretically you can play any card in standard with the mana base as diverse as it is now? Blue by itself cannot answer every threat, and if you look at Sanity Grind decks, the closest thing we have to U control it is still losing to aggro decks like Kithkin and RDW, depending on the meta and card list. It's not to say that it is bad, but not as competitive or versatile as the 5 color control decks running around at the moment.
Random Goblin :symr::symb:
Creature- Goblin Barbarian
Haste
~ costs less to play if you control a Mountain.
2/1
It's pretty basic, but the idea is to reward players for playing basic lands. So yes, it's a 2/1 haster for :symr:. Compared to other critters out there, that's not that bad. Make it an uncommon even if your crying about comparisons to Raging Goblin.
More fun tricks with that idea.
Rhox Avenger:symg::symw::symu:
Creature- Rhino Knight
First Strike
~ costs less to play if an opponent controls a Swamp.
~ costs less to play if an opponent controls a Mountain.
3/3
Now we have a 1 drop that punishes an opponent for playing a Red Black deck.
Questionable. I would rather prefer Raking Canopy for what the card does. It basically scares away anything named Broodmate Dragon, Mistbind Clique, and Demigod of Revenge. I think the purpose was to explain a very specific card choice. Colossus fits an entirely different function for the same mana.
This looks like a great idea. They took the mutlicolor theme and ran with it. Unlike a whole creature set a la Legions theme, multicolor could be feasible. Already the environment is situated to be multicolor anyway with the availability of all the filter, pain, trilands, ect... so why no go to the logical extreme where Magic rarely ever went.
ah...the rise of never playing a monocolor deck in standard for a whole year.
You may be right, but people still post here and offer critique/criticisms against what they play. I would argue instead to remove the sticky for the thread if it loses further interest.
(Also your argument would be similar to Blighting Aggro vs. Red Deck Wins. Why play RDW when BA splashes black?)
Anyway-
dmoney0194- Does your deck do consistently well in white mana to allow Figure of Destiny to be included? Make sure he can consistenly be upgraded.
I would also look into the thread a bit more and take alook at what others are playing. One mana slots are sometimes consisting of Noble Hierarch and include Shield of the Oversoul/Loxodon Warhammer ect. to keep critters on board.
Other than that, most of your card choices are pretty much standard GW.
2. Thornling- It's right now a good card without a solid deck arch-type to support it, but if mana ramping gets boosted, imagine a turn 3/4 Thorning swinging out of the gate with mana to spare for Indestructible or haste (Imagine if you include it into an Exalted Deck! ).
3. Knight of the White Orchid- A 2/2 body with FS and land fetching. It's solid and when Kithkin rotates out, will probably be a good card for white weenie decks to keep mana short hands.
4. Garruk Wildspeaker- Garruk is going to stay in standard for another year with the inclusion of Llorwyn planeswalkers for M10, and most ramp decks will probably revolve around it for that same time span. Too versatile to be ignored.
5. Punish Ignorance- Why this card? Because Cryptic Command will rotate out and Blue will have few other options for a moderately decent 4 mana hard counter. The only other reasonable hard counter not named Cancel will be Countersquall until more are revealed in future sets. If Esper gains prominence, Punish Ignorance will be in the crux of the deck's future.
2 Swamp
3 Mountain
4 Forest
3 Llanowar Wastes
2 Karplusan Forest
1 Twilight Mire
4 Savage Land
2 Vivid Crag
2 Mosswort Bridge
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Sprouting Thrinax
4 Broodmate Dragon
2 Cloudthresher
1 Charnelhoard Wurm
1 Hellkite Overlord
4 Fertile Ground
3 Blightning
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Liliana Vess
1 Mind Shatter
1 Soul's Majesty
2 Violent Ultimatum
2 Dramatic Entrance
2 Primal Command
2 Makeshift Mannequin
3 Guttural Response
3 Naturalize
3 Firespout
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Cloudthresher
1 Mind shatter
3 Shriekmaw
The deck runs a few singletron and tweaks to make it a harder matchup to deal with. Mosswort Bridge is definately an inclusion when the deck features alot of outlets to produce large creatures to meet the land's condition (nothing says oh crap more than a hidden Violent Ultimatum). I added Liliana Vess for tutoring into responses and a few more tricks like Dramatic Entrance to place blockers at instant speed out.
As for an explanation for BoPs...it's definately there to help fix mana and turn 2 Blightning or Thrinax. It makes the opponent think twice about what I am really playing and forces them into an early hole. Yes I know there is a Cloudthresher in there with Bops, but by the time I evoke him or hardcast, the birds will either of died or chump blocked to serve their purpose well (A Garruk easily replaces their usefulness). And yes, if I am desperate I will T2 Blightning myself to Mannequin into play a critter I dropped to gy.
The good news is that your deck does not really need many critters, as you have man lands and a planeswalker to generate critters when needed.
Have you considered hard burn in this deck, Banefire as a finisher, or a Loxodon Warhammer for life gain when racing to 0?
1. When Mindshatter and Head Games leave standard (along with the rest of Llorwyn), the choices for discarding with be limited. Scepter of Fugue could make it into a control deck revolving around black. Along with Tidehollow Sculler they provide two juicy targets for removal when bigger threats are looming ahead (and if the opponent ignores the Scepter, it hurts them in the long run).
2. Being able to force an opponent to discard a card in hand during your turn is fairly priceless. If they have 2 cards in hand, plays one as an instant, you could then in response force him/her to discard their last card. Fugue when played correctly can make an opponent think twice before responding to your threats or make them pay for their choices.
Mono blue is possible, but the problem is that why limit your choices to one color when theoretically you can play any card in standard with the mana base as diverse as it is now? Blue by itself cannot answer every threat, and if you look at Sanity Grind decks, the closest thing we have to U control it is still losing to aggro decks like Kithkin and RDW, depending on the meta and card list. It's not to say that it is bad, but not as competitive or versatile as the 5 color control decks running around at the moment.