Sometime during last semester, I saw a deck posted for Extended on the Mother ship. I can't remember exactly, but the deck list was a Master Transmuter based deck that went something like this:
etc. etc., with cards like Executioner's Capsule, Trinket and Treasure Mages, etc. I thought this deck idea was, quite simply, awesome, and probably a blast to play. Recently, I came across another deck similar to it (with some newer additions like Blightsteel Colossus) posted by one of the MTG Salvation writers (Dan's Deckshop? I think). I would love to be able to build this deck, but I feel like it would be expensive to put together. I still really want to build an Esper deck though, so what would be some good options to go for that won't break my wallet? I was thinking of trying to build something similar to the above, using things like Darksteel Colossus which I already own, and more budget options like Inkwell Leviathan who's still Espery and I personally think is pretty darn sweet. What are some other options I should consider/places I might be able to find these cards without going bankrupt?
Once attackers are declared at the beginning of the Declare Attackers step, it's too late to tap anything to keep it from attacking. It is possible for the Grim-Grin player to untap his Grim-Grin in response to it being tapped down by the Gideon's Lawkeepers, and if Player A wants to use the Bell Ringer before hand, he can do that as well.
Technically, most people will announce that they're entering their combat step, at which point someone with tumble magnets or such cards can tap down things they don't want to attack, however, they can't wait for the Declare Attackers steps. The first thing that happens then is attackers are declared, and then it's too late.
This is a fine demonstration of how the word '*****' is used in a sexist way. You're explicitly contrasting it with manliness; someone is told to "man up", appearing to betray the belief that a move towards the masculine is a positive and away from it a negative.
It's a figure of speech. If we take everything as literals, than Heteronormative pretty much doesn't mean anything. I used the phrase "man up" here because that's what the original poster (who's situation I was basing my point on) had used, to make it more consistent.
I agree that it all depends on context, but I don't think calling someone a ***** is really as bad as using the n-word. Then again, I don't think using the n-word is that bad. Words only have as much power as you let them have. The definition of a word is not defined, different people will have different ideas on the same word, and it will be defined as different meanings. While we try to have a sort of unified definition with words (with things like a dictionary), I personally think that these lines are blurred from time to time, and the meaning of a word becomes obscured, especially when it comes to using words in a slang term. For instance...
It's the perfect storm of heteronormative bigotry.
I have absolutely no idea what this person is trying to say. I have looked up the word "heteronormative" before, and I can't find it in any of my dictionary sources. Breaking apart the word by the commonly used definitions...
Hetero - different
normative - of pertaining to a norm
So it's different normal?
Conversely, you could tell your friend you are going to ride the roller coaster whether or not he is going to be a ***** about it. Just because he doesn't want to doesn't mean you can't. Unless you want him there for moral support or something...?
I don't know if this is kind of a tangent or something, but I think it's probably a good thing to be able to tell people to man up. There are times in life where you can sit around and think about things but there are somethings where you just have to swallow your fear and do it. So telling someone to quit being a ***** (as a wuss) probably has a place in life.
I thought about posting in that thread, but I felt like my deck was more budget since I couldn't get some of the more powerful cards needed (like Snapcasters and Phantasmal Images), as well as dual lands. So I decided it fit more here, but I would like a 2nd opinion on it.
For the sideboard I was thinking of using cards like Ancient Grudge, Flash Freeze, and Nihil Spellbombs, and I was considering using Forbidden Alchemy in this deck, but I was wondering what I should do about the off color flash back costs for some of those cards. I was thinking of using Shimmering Grotto as a sort of poor man's Hinterland Harbor/Rootbound Crag and Dragonskull Summit/Drowned Catacombs, but not sure if it's worth it or not. I can't run Snapcaster Mage (as I don't have the money to afford a play set of him and can't really trade for him), so he's out of the question.
First things first, I think you mean "U/R" counter burn, not Blue/Black.
Second off, I would recommend running more mountains than islands, as your deck uses much more red mana than it seems to use blue (for things like Chandra's Phoenix early game, and things like Flash Backed Devil's Play late game). Second off, with no way to produce green mana, the flash back on Ancient Grudge is really irrelevant. I'm not sure if there's a better replacement for it in standard, but if you have absolutely no way to produce green mana, maybe shimmering grotto could help? I'm not sure how powerful the card is, but other than expensive duals...
Apparently, you can't start a new thread that is even remotely similar to other decks, sigh. Here's my take on a creatureless Past in Flames/Burning Vengeance deck as pure combo:
There have been a number of people saying that Past In Flames could be broken in standard, but it would take another set or more support cards than are in standard right now. I've also seen some attempts to make this deck as a support theme in an aggro deck or control deck.
But this is a combo card and needs it's own deck. Here it is:
The idea is to mill yourself to feed a big Past in Flames once you have 1 or more Burning Vengeance in play.
What is "Flame Volley"? And I wouldn't bother with using Dream Twist to set up Flashback, it just feels like a waste of a turn. I would think about using slagstorm/rolling temblor over Timely Reinforcements, if that card is there to stop aggro, since that keeps you from being lest color restrained, though I do like your use of Shimmering Grotto. Other than that, I might add in Desperate Ravings if I were you, since that will feed your graveyard and draw you cards at the same time.
I wholeheartedly agree with using Angelic Overseer. I run 3 right now, but that might go down to 2 to make room for Skinshifter. But I would absolutely run at least 2-of. A Hexproof, Indestructable Flier swinging for 5 is big news, especially since this deck has literally NO other flying, save a bird Skinshifter.
Also, can anybody shed some light on Gitaxian Probe? I'm really not sold on it. I keep Nevermore in my SB, and I feel like combining that with the Probe in main deck just takes up way too many slots that could host much better spells.
The idea is that you can use the probe to see if you need to Nevermore that turn, or if you see 2-3 copies of a card you can name that card and make them essentially worthless.
If Sutured Ghoul is your main wincon, I think running one of him is too risky, as you risk accidentally milling him out of your library and screwing yourself over. I think that Unbreathing Horde might be somewhat decent in this regard, at least, since most of your creatures are zombies. I guess I just feel having 3 easily removed ways to get your wincon out (especially with Mirror-Mad Phantasm) is risky.
It depends on your style but I've gone for a more aggro-centric focus with lords and aggressive creatures and have found that because of my lords Mentor of the Meek rarely netted me any CA. I then tried Lead the Stampede which has been outstanding so far. I also have a G/W/U Token deck in which Mentor is crazy good so I guess it depends on the style of deck you want to play really.
I was thinking of using the Mayor of Avabrucks, and the white deck already comes with the global, and I can't think of anything I'd rather pull than creatures anyways (Oblivion Rings? I guess Fiend Hunter works nicely for that purpose, then).
I think I can see the idea of Mentor not being as good as Lead the Stampede, though, since it doesn't really matter when you get Stampede, but drawing into a Mentor of the Meek after you've already played down all of your creatures would probably just feel pretty lame.
Thoughts on Accorder Paladin or a sideboarded Alabaster Mage?
If you're playing Green, I think Hamlet Captain generally works better than Accorder Paladin because it boosts toughness as well as power when it attacks, and it's not as easy to 2-for-1 with cards like Arc Trail. If you're running Mono-white though, I think Accorder Paladin would be fine. I wouldn't bother with Alabaster Mage, if you want life link I'd do it in cards like Butcher's Cleaver, since those at least give you something out of it. In this type of deck, however, I don't think Lifelink would quite be worth running the Cleaver or Alabaster Mage.
That being said thinking of where Nevermore is in my list popping in a Gideon Jura and a Hero of Bladehold. Or perhaps dropping a couple Pilgrims as well to add in a pair of Mirran Crusaders?
I'm surprised Mirran Crusader isn't a 3/4 of naturally. He's one of the better humans right? I'd say 3 for a double striking pro black pro green is worth a slot, for one of the less effective humans. You could probably also drop an Oblivion Ring, but I'm not sure how useful they've been for you.
I used to run a fairly fun table top Mono Blue Control deck, but a large chunk of the deck (Calcite Snapper, Deprive, Lorthos, Preordain, Into The Roil, Light House Chronologist, Coralhelm Commander, Redirect, etc.) rotated out. I'm not sure where I where to take the deck now, although I know I want it to be more competitive than last time (I took it too FNM and did alright, but I could not stop one guy's Manlands and got stomped). What are some good cards that rotated that I should look at (other than Ponder)? Should I add a secondary color (most likely W or R?) to the deck? Currently, I have a playset or so of Mana Leaks left, some Frost Titans, and some commons, so I have a long ways to go to make this deck work like it did before. What should I look for?
I am thinking about making this type of deck as well, based on what I have (which isn't much...). I'm probably going to get the Event Deck that comes out November 4th (giving me plenty of time to gather the other cards), and am wondering what I should run? I'm thinking Mono White, W/G with Mentor, or W/G with Lead the Stampede. Has it been decided that Mentor of the Meek is too mana intensive compared to Lead the Stampede (this would be nice since Lead the Stampede is much cheaper than Mentor)?
I think the problem with that idea is that we know that the Mythic (and presumably legendary) werewolf had to be removed from Innistrad because there wasn't enough room for two DFCs on Innistrads sheets.
There's also the commander issue. Legendary creatures, nowdays, have to have an eye toward commander and the werewolf mechanic is far too random. That thing could flip over multiple times in one turn cycle. How unfun would it be to play multiplayer and count how many spells every player at the table casts, every single turn? Even assuming they did make a flip legend, it should be something like the other flip cards that are optional and don't have to (or can't) transform back. "All the other tribes got a legend" is no excuse for the cluster**** that legendary werewolf brings to the table.
What. Is it really that hard? It can't be that hard to count up to two for crying out loud, can it? A legendary werewolf isn't that big of a deal. Especially compared to the idea of flipping cards in general. I don't see any reason why they can't include one.
4 Sphinx Summoner
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Sharuum the Hegemon
1 Thousand Year Elixir
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
etc. etc., with cards like Executioner's Capsule, Trinket and Treasure Mages, etc. I thought this deck idea was, quite simply, awesome, and probably a blast to play. Recently, I came across another deck similar to it (with some newer additions like Blightsteel Colossus) posted by one of the MTG Salvation writers (Dan's Deckshop? I think). I would love to be able to build this deck, but I feel like it would be expensive to put together. I still really want to build an Esper deck though, so what would be some good options to go for that won't break my wallet? I was thinking of trying to build something similar to the above, using things like Darksteel Colossus which I already own, and more budget options like Inkwell Leviathan who's still Espery and I personally think is pretty darn sweet. What are some other options I should consider/places I might be able to find these cards without going bankrupt?
Technically, most people will announce that they're entering their combat step, at which point someone with tumble magnets or such cards can tap down things they don't want to attack, however, they can't wait for the Declare Attackers steps. The first thing that happens then is attackers are declared, and then it's too late.
It's a figure of speech. If we take everything as literals, than Heteronormative pretty much doesn't mean anything. I used the phrase "man up" here because that's what the original poster (who's situation I was basing my point on) had used, to make it more consistent.
I have absolutely no idea what this person is trying to say. I have looked up the word "heteronormative" before, and I can't find it in any of my dictionary sources. Breaking apart the word by the commonly used definitions...
Hetero - different
normative - of pertaining to a norm
So it's different normal?
I don't know if this is kind of a tangent or something, but I think it's probably a good thing to be able to tell people to man up. There are times in life where you can sit around and think about things but there are somethings where you just have to swallow your fear and do it. So telling someone to quit being a ***** (as a wuss) probably has a place in life.
I thought about posting in that thread, but I felt like my deck was more budget since I couldn't get some of the more powerful cards needed (like Snapcasters and Phantasmal Images), as well as dual lands. So I decided it fit more here, but I would like a 2nd opinion on it.
11 Mountains
10 Islands
1 Sulfur Falls
Creatures
3 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Frost Titan
4 Burning Vengeance
Instants
4 Desperate Ravings
4 Think Twice
4 Shock
4 Incinerate
4 Mana Leak
3 Dissipate
2 Geist Flame
2 Devil's Play
1 Red Sun's Zenith
1 Rolling Temblor
For the sideboard I was thinking of using cards like Ancient Grudge, Flash Freeze, and Nihil Spellbombs, and I was considering using Forbidden Alchemy in this deck, but I was wondering what I should do about the off color flash back costs for some of those cards. I was thinking of using Shimmering Grotto as a sort of poor man's Hinterland Harbor/Rootbound Crag and Dragonskull Summit/Drowned Catacombs, but not sure if it's worth it or not. I can't run Snapcaster Mage (as I don't have the money to afford a play set of him and can't really trade for him), so he's out of the question.
Second off, I would recommend running more mountains than islands, as your deck uses much more red mana than it seems to use blue (for things like Chandra's Phoenix early game, and things like Flash Backed Devil's Play late game). Second off, with no way to produce green mana, the flash back on Ancient Grudge is really irrelevant. I'm not sure if there's a better replacement for it in standard, but if you have absolutely no way to produce green mana, maybe shimmering grotto could help? I'm not sure how powerful the card is, but other than expensive duals...
What is "Flame Volley"? And I wouldn't bother with using Dream Twist to set up Flashback, it just feels like a waste of a turn. I would think about using slagstorm/rolling temblor over Timely Reinforcements, if that card is there to stop aggro, since that keeps you from being lest color restrained, though I do like your use of Shimmering Grotto. Other than that, I might add in Desperate Ravings if I were you, since that will feed your graveyard and draw you cards at the same time.
The idea is that you can use the probe to see if you need to Nevermore that turn, or if you see 2-3 copies of a card you can name that card and make them essentially worthless.
I was thinking of using the Mayor of Avabrucks, and the white deck already comes with the global, and I can't think of anything I'd rather pull than creatures anyways (Oblivion Rings? I guess Fiend Hunter works nicely for that purpose, then).
I think I can see the idea of Mentor not being as good as Lead the Stampede, though, since it doesn't really matter when you get Stampede, but drawing into a Mentor of the Meek after you've already played down all of your creatures would probably just feel pretty lame.
If you're playing Green, I think Hamlet Captain generally works better than Accorder Paladin because it boosts toughness as well as power when it attacks, and it's not as easy to 2-for-1 with cards like Arc Trail. If you're running Mono-white though, I think Accorder Paladin would be fine. I wouldn't bother with Alabaster Mage, if you want life link I'd do it in cards like Butcher's Cleaver, since those at least give you something out of it. In this type of deck, however, I don't think Lifelink would quite be worth running the Cleaver or Alabaster Mage.
I'm surprised Mirran Crusader isn't a 3/4 of naturally. He's one of the better humans right? I'd say 3 for a double striking pro black pro green is worth a slot, for one of the less effective humans. You could probably also drop an Oblivion Ring, but I'm not sure how useful they've been for you.
Budget discussion is not allowed. Warned.
What. Is it really that hard? It can't be that hard to count up to two for crying out loud, can it? A legendary werewolf isn't that big of a deal. Especially compared to the idea of flipping cards in general. I don't see any reason why they can't include one.