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[Angry Grimace]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";130339142]Nah man the Rams rule.


4x Soldier of the Pantheon
4x Ajani's Pridemate
4x Nyx-Fleece Ram
4x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x High Sentinels
4x Wingmate Roc

4x Ajani Steadfast

4x Banishing Light
4x Devouring Light

4x Radiant Fountain
20x Plains

Sideboard:
4x Mass Calcify
8x Swamp
3x Thoughtseize[/QUOTE]


Deck: Esper Troll Control

//Lands
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
2 Mana Confluence
4 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Temple of Deceit
4 Temple of Enlightenment

//Spells
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
3 Dig Through Time
3 Dissolve
4 Glimpse the Sun God
2 Hero's Downfall
4 Icy Blast
4 Thoughtseize
3 Ætherspouts

//Creatures
3 Battlefield Thaumaturge
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Nyx-Fleece Ram
1 Pearl Lake Ancient

Display deck statistics

...yeah I don't know either lol

 

["God's Beard!"]

The real Esper ConTroll runs a playset of Clever Impersonator as its only win condition.

 

[kirblar]

PPTQ invites are transferable, btw. You win one, and you get to go to any regional PTQ.

edit: You know, I've been avoiding buying any fetches, but I'm starting to have a suspicion that the price on Mire might rise if Mardu's as good as it looks.

 

["God's Beard!"]

PPTQ invites are transferable, btw. You win one, and you get to go to any regional PTQ.

Are you mentioning this because our recent decklists have convinced you we're going to win some PTQs?

 

[kirblar]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";130349123]Are you mentioning this because our recent decklists have convinced you we're going to win some PTQs?[/QUOTE]
Nah, they did a Gchat with Gerry, Reid, BenS, Nosy Goblin, and Helene Bergeot earlier tonight about OP changes. (It's hilarious how 2/3ds of WotC is actually making all the right decisions while MTGO...just rots.)

 

[bigkrev]

Nah, they did a Gchat with Gerry, Reid, BenS, Nosy Goblin, and Helene Bergeot earlier tonight about OP changes. (It's hilarious how 2/3ds of WotC is actually making all the right decisions while MTGO...just rots.)

Hilarious isn't the right word. Is "tragic" what you are looking for?

 

["God's Beard!"]

Trying my hand at an actual control deck.

Ub Control


4x Thoughtseize
4x Despise
4x Void Snare
2x Quiet Contemplation
3x Treasure Cruise
4x Crippling Chill
3x Murderous Cut
3x Divination

4x Clever Impersonator
4x Illusory Angel

3x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver

4x Polluted Delta
4x Temple of Deceit
7x Island
7x Swamp

Sideboard:
4x Dark Betrayal
4x Negate
3x Disdainful Stroke
4x Drown in Sorrow

 

[ElyrionX]

Thoughts on splashing green for Kiora and maybe Courser?

 

[Jarate]

so since ya'll are so knowledgeable

thoughts on the new set?

 

[shrapnelmagnet]

Yo Magic Gaf: I'm working on a commander deck inspired by Pacific Rim's Kaiju.
It'll likely be Temur or Simic colors, because they've got the most sea monsters/big stompy creatures in general.

Does anyone have any flavorful cards they recommend?

Dandan is hilarious and flavorful, but you gotta give your opponents islands... not a huge deal, though.

Stormtide Leviathan is an obvious choice and can lock some games down. Inkwell Leviathan and Colossal Whale are great, too. The Whale, in particular, can do real work for you.

Brine Elemental for some MP groans.

This is a long shot, but man, it might be worth it, haha: Taniwha

High Tide / Drain Power (in MP games) to cast the big blue guys early helps, too, obvs

Could also rock the mysterious islands from Mirrodin Besieged:

Overall, these might not be on-theme enough, but anyway, thought I'd throw some out. Emperor Crocodile might work.

As an aside, I never really noticed that Inkwell Leviathan was an artifact creature. Shroud saves him from most removal anyway, though, I suppose.

 

["God's Beard!"]

so since ya'll are so knowledgeable

thoughts on the new set?

Limited is awesome, Constructed impact is moderate. Standard is more affected by cards leaving than coming in. Stormbreath Dragon, Elspeth, Thoughtseize, Nissa and Courser of Kruphix are the five most powerful cards in the format and none of them come from Khans. The biggest new card is probably Savage Knuckleblade.

Cheap, hard removal is few and far between, which means midrange gets safer since 4-5 mana threats aren't answered for 2 mana anymore. Most midrange will be forced into three colors due to the new card pool, and aggro gets stronger because of the weaker mana for midrange decks. Control is effectively dead, but some people will try to force it.

Non-Green Devotion strategies are also nearly dead, again due to the new card pool. Might change in set 2/3 since they aren't wedge sets.

Fetchlands reprints mean Modern gets new decks and Legacy becomes almost affordable kinda.

 

[phazedplasma]

Ran this a lot tonight:

4 Mantis Rider
2 Stormbreath Dragon

3 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

4 Deflecting Palm
3 Jeskai Charm
4 Lightning Strike
4 Mindswipe
4 Searing Blood
3 Swan Song

3 Stoke the Flames
2 Dig Through Time

4 Battlefield Forge
2 Island
2 Mountain
4 Mystic Monastery
4 Shivan Reef
2 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Temple of Epiphany
2 Temple of Triumph

SB: 4 Anger of the Gods
SB: 4 Banishing Light
SB: 2 Chandra, Pyromaster
SB: 1 Keranos, God of Storms
SB: 4 Satyr Firedancer

Did some work against Temur, GWB super friends and some weird green devo deck.

Dig through time is awesome. Especially since when I cast it its usually only costing me 2-4 mana. 7 cards means you get exactly what you need almost everytime.

 

[ThLunarian]

Ran this a lot tonight:

4 Mantis Rider
2 Stormbreath Dragon

3 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

4 Deflecting Palm
3 Jeskai Charm
4 Lightning Strike
4 Mindswipe
4 Searing Blood
3 Swan Song

3 Stoke the Flames
2 Dig Through Time

4 Battlefield Forge
2 Island
2 Mountain
4 Mystic Monastery
4 Shivan Reef
2 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Temple of Epiphany
2 Temple of Triumph

SB: 4 Anger of the Gods
SB: 4 Banishing Light
SB: 2 Chandra, Pyromaster
SB: 1 Keranos, God of Storms
SB: 4 Satyr Firedancer

Did some work against Temur, GWB super friends and some weird green devo deck.

Dig through time is awesome. Especially since when I cast it its usually only costing me 2-4 mana. 7 cards means you get exactly what you need almost everytime.

I love this deck. Only thing I see is that it could possibly use some Flooded Strands, to help with Dig. Maybe -2 U/W Temple, -2 W/R Temple, -1 Battlefield Forge, +4 Flooded Strand and +1 Plains? That would put you at 17 red sources, 18 blue, and still 12 white.

Also I've decided lately that constructed deckbuilding is my biggest weakness in MtG. I think I'm just going to own up to it and not try to design anymore decks. I'm cool with tweaking them, but I have just never come up with something decent on my own.

 

["God's Beard!"]

I was saving this for the Pro Tour but I love you guys too much.

The Black Seas of Infinity

4x Elvish Mystic
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Satyr Wayfinder
2x Rattleclaw Mystic

1x Reclamation Sage
1x Hornet Nest
1x Savage Knuckleblade
1x Clever Impersonator
1x Prognostic Sphinx
1x Sliver Hivelord
1x Hoarding Dragon
1x Soul of Ravnica

4x Chord of Calling
4x Commune with the Gods
4x Endless Obedience

2x Whip of Erebos

3x Mana Confluence
2x Battlefield Forge
4x Caves of Koilos
4x Llanowar Wastes
1x Yavimaya Coast
1x Shivan Reef
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
7x Forest

Sideboard:
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Scuttling Doom Engine
4x Thoughtseize
4x End Hostilities
4x Nyx-Fleece Ram

 

[ElyrionX]

Hmm tutoring for Clever Impersonator using Chord is an interesting interaction.

 

[Firemind]

What kind of shell are you using? Base red? Does your deck top out into something like Sorin or Butcher of the Horde?

I think a Mardu shell is mostly red-based, yes, splashing white and black for Ascendancy, Charm and Butcher. Without BTE, you can't go all-in as much as you liked before. You need a plan for the Caryatid/Courser decks. I like Butcher of the Horde more than Sorin, as the butcher presents a better threat on an empty board and, also not unimportant, can surprise opponents and fly over any ground defense. I'd build something like this:

4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Satyr Firedrinker
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel/Akroan Hoplite/War-Name Aspirant/Mogis's Warhound
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel/Akroan Hoplite/War-Name Aspirant/Mogis's Warhound
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Butcher of the Horde

3 Ride Down/Lightning Strike/Searing Blood
4 Mardu Ascendancy
3 Mardu Charm/Hordeling Outburst
4 Stoke the Flames

23 lands

I like Ride Down as a replacement for Rubblebelt Maaka. It costs one mana more, but the trample damage can swing the game even more in your favour. The two drop depends on the metagame and your deck. Searing Blood deals bonus damage, but can't hit things like Fleecemane.

I like Mardu Charm more than Outburst, since the charm is much more versatile. It's an additional answer to Courser, Brimaz as well as to newcomers Knuckleblade, Butcher and Anafenza. Outburst has its pros as it's mono red, meaning you can build a mono red or two colour shell. Chained to the Rocks becomes much better in a two-colour deck. Outburst also combos better with Foundry Street Denizen.

 

[ultron87]

I might be entirely imagining this, but after looking over the spoiler again one thing I like is that it feels like there are a pretty low number of cards in the set that are straight unplayable in limited. Definitely some stuff that should start in the sideboard but not many things that I'd just be embarrassed to have in my deck. I guess Theros (the set, not the block) was like this as well since even the crappiest Aura could work in the Heroic deck.

 

[Lucario]

After a bit of testing, I think Kirblar was right about mardu charm. It really isn't that great.

It doesn't kill Stormbreath, Prognostic Sphinx, Siege Rhino, Xenagos, Nissa, or any of the format's other 4+ mana threats. Also, while you can use it to ambush a rabblemaster, you probably shouldn't. If the opponent has instant speed removal in their hand (or a titan's strength), they're just going to blow you out and continue to get value off their rabblemaster.

Been testing with crackling doom instead, and it's proving to be much better for this format. Kills pretty much everything I want it to, and damages planeswalkers in the process.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Hmm tutoring for Clever Impersonator using Chord is an interesting interaction.

Since it's a bit of a troll, I originally put Hoarding Dragon in there so I could grab it with Chord then grab Ugin's Nexus with the dragon, let it die then rec sage my own nexus for value lol

Decided that the deck was almost playable and decided to stick with tutoring for Whip of Erebos with Hoarding Dragon in order to feign respectability.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Affinity

4x Ornithopter
4x Phyrexian Revoker
4x Chief Engineer
4x Scuttling Doom Engine
4x Soul of New Phyrexia

2x Briber's Purse
4x Springleaf Drum
4x Shrapnel Blast
4x Ensoul Artifact
4x Magma Jet

4x Darksteel Citadel
4x Shivan Reef
4x Temple of Epiphany
4x Island
6x Mountain

Sideboard:
4x Will-Forged Golem
3x Grindclock
4x Negate
4x Stoke the Flames

 

[Firemind]

I would play more one-drops and rabblemaster in the affinity list to synergize with springleaf drum and convoke. Possibly master of waves and bident of thassa or military intelligence too depending on the metagame.

 

[phazedplasma]

Gods Beard do you just brew all day, or are you just throwing stuff at the wall.

 

[Firemind]

God's Beard is secretly Conley Woods.

 

[bigkrev]

God's Beard is secretly Conley Woods.

Not enough Genesis Waves

 

[Angry Grimace]

The God's Beard deck:

4 Elvish Mystic
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Genesis Hydra
4 Ashen Rider

4 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
4 Sorin Markov
4 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

4 Sorin's Thirst
4 Sorin's Vengeance

 

["God's Beard!"]

Gods Beard do you just brew all day, or are you just throwing stuff at the wall.

I literally sit here with a pile of cards and proxies when I'm not working throwing decks against each other trying to figure out fun stuff.

I have a big rectangular box that's just a row of sleeved up proxy decks for different formats. Everything from brews to staple decks.


I maintain that my 5-color bogles brew is stronger than the regular-ass bogles deck.

 

[Angry Grimace]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";130427822]
I maintain that my 5-color bogles brew is stronger than the regular-ass bogles deck.[/QUOTE]

I preferr the ass-bogles deck, myself.

 

[Firemind]

Hold on. So Battlefield Thaumaturge makes Lightning Strike into Lightning Bolt, Arc Lightning into Bolt you can divide and Stoke the Flames into Lightning Blast for two mana or less. Isn't that ridiculously insane with Howl of the Horde? I feel a brew coming...

 

[SigmasonicX]

The story of Surrak and the bear. It turns out Surrak didn't kill the bear when he fought it, so the bear came to his aid when they were fighting some Sultai. It was injured and poisoned in the battle, so Surrak killed it, and wears its fur in its memory now.

 

[Lucario]

Hold on. So Battlefield Thaumaturge makes Lightning Strike into Lightning Bolt, Arc Lightning into Bolt you can divide and Stoke the Flames into Lightning Blast for two mana or less. Isn't that ridiculously insane with Howl of the Horde? I feel a brew coming...

I've been trying to find a brew that works with Thaumaturge since I spec bought a pile of them. There's definitely an FNM-playable deck to be built around it.

It saw some play in block constructed. I found a list a while back that used it to cast discount copies of Hour of Need, turning your entire team into 4/4 sphinxes at the end of your opponent's turn. Definitely not something that most players will see coming.


Speaking of ridiculous openings --


Turn 1: Monastery Swiftspear, swing 1.
Turn 2: Monastery Swiftspear, Thoughtseize, swing 4.

 

[Cosmo Clock 21]

I think I might give up on trying to go In The Money on prerelease so Jeskai here we go

 

[sgjackson]

hahahaha brian kibler just told the story of how dark confidant exists because of a modo misclick on stream

apparently this is a known thing but that's hilarious

 

[Angry Grimace]

hahahaha brian kibler just told the story of how dark confidant exists because of a modo misclick on stream

apparently this is a known thing but that's hilarious

For those that don't know, its because the card was the result of winning an invitational. Kibler and Bob Maher were playing the tournament on MODO and Kibler was going to win, but misclicked and lost, so Maher's card got through.

The original design Maher sent in for Dark Confidant gave you cards during every upkeep.

 

[kirblar]

hahahaha brian kibler just told the story of how dark confidant exists because of a modo misclick on stream

apparently this is a known thing but that's hilarious

whats the story? edit: late.

lol @ it being due to a misclick.

 

[Angry Grimace]

whats the story? edit: late.

lol @ it being due to a misclick.

Specifically, one of the rounds was 8th Edition draft. Kibler had Seismic Assault (Enchantment, discard a land, it deals 2 damage) and Karma (Enchantment: deals damage equal to number of swamps during upkeep) in play. Maher had lethal on the board in creatures. Brian needed to draw a land to use the Assault and have Karma kill Bob, but if he drew something else he would die. Brian drew a land, but then accidentally misclicked and played the land instead of using it for assault and the win.

 

[ThLunarian]

Hold on. So Battlefield Thaumaturge makes Lightning Strike into Lightning Bolt, Arc Lightning into Bolt you can divide and Stoke the Flames into Lightning Blast for two mana or less. Isn't that ridiculously insane with Howl of the Horde? I feel a brew coming...

Sheesh, it's too bad Goblin Electromancer is rotating out

 

[kirblar]

Bought 4 B. Thaumashabobs, lol. (1.50)

When they eventually finish off the RTR "can't be countered" cycle, I really want the R/G one to be "Deal 3 damage to all critters, this damage can't be prevented."

 

[Firemind]

I've been trying to find a brew that works with Thaumaturge since I spec bought a pile of them. There's definitely an FNM-playable deck to be built around it.

It saw some play in block constructed. I found a list a while back that used it to cast discount copies of Hour of Need, turning your entire team into 4/4 sphinxes at the end of your opponent's turn. Definitely not something that most players will see coming.

Hour of the Need is a bit too magical christmaslandy for my liking. Howl of the Horde, attack, Searing Blood ×3 on Polukranos must feel great tho.

4x Battlefield Thaumaturge
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
3x Sarkhan, Dragonspeaker
1x Keranos, God of Storms

4x Lightning Strike
4x Searing Blood
4x Howl of the Horde
4x Arc Lightning
4x Stoke the Flames
4x Swan's Song
1x Icy Blast

23x lands

#counterburnisalive

 

["God's Beard!"]

I might need to lower the curve of my abzan deck again. I hate getting three lands and a bunch of 4+ mana cards. Maybe a play set of fleecemanes so I have 16 <3 mana cards.

 

[f0rk]

After a bit of testing, I think Kirblar was right about mardu charm. It really isn't that great.

It doesn't kill Stormbreath, Prognostic Sphinx, Siege Rhino, Xenagos, Nissa, or any of the format's other 4+ mana threats. Also, while you can use it to ambush a rabblemaster, you probably shouldn't. If the opponent has instant speed removal in their hand (or a titan's strength), they're just going to blow you out and continue to get value off their rabblemaster.

Been testing with crackling doom instead, and it's proving to be much better for this format. Kills pretty much everything I want it to, and damages planeswalkers in the process.

Crackling Doom does seem pretty sick. I actually think even the aggressive decks are going to be quite midrangey, the 2/1 1 drops will stall out quite quickly and there is a real lack of legitimately good aggressive 2 drops (can only think of Fleecemane Lion and the new Cat Demon).
Jeff Hoogland posted a Mardu list with Rabblemaster, Butcher, Herald of Torment, Stormbreath Dragon plus Thoughtseize and a bunch of removal which I liked the look of. Also had Bloodsoaked Champion as the only 1 drop.

 

[Angry Grimace]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";130467563]I might need to lower the curve of my abzan deck again. I hate getting three lands and a bunch of 4+ mana cards. Maybe a play set of fleecemanes so I have 16 <3 mana cards.[/QUOTE]

Play Fleecemane. Rakshaka Deathdealer is a trap.

 

[kirblar]

Play Fleecemane. Rakshaka Deathdealer is a trap.

The last good pump critter let you pay life for the pump.

 

[The Technomancer]

Crackling Doom is the kind of card that would automatically make me go Mardu for the THG prerelease event if I knew I was going to get it. Holy shit

 

[Angry Grimace]

The last good pump critter let you pay life for the pump.

You only have to pump mana into Fleecemane once to turn him into a ridiculous bomb on his own (or bait a Downfall). Deathdealer just siphons mana to be relevant.

If Sagu Mauler really becomes a thing in Temur, I guess I'll really have to run Reaper of the Wilds over Polukranos.

 

[kirblar]

You only have to pump mana into Fleecemane once to turn him into a ridiculous bomb on his own (or bait a Downfall). Deathdealer just siphons mana to be relevant.

I was talking about a creature like Putrid Leech or Nantuko Shade, not Lion.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I was talking about a creature like Putrid Leech or Nantuko Shade, not Lion.

Oh, I knew that, I was just kind of mostly explaining the reasoning behind the statement (since I mostly just said Deathdealer sucks in response to GB rather than explaining why).

 

[inthrall]

Standard Storm:

Creature (12)
4 Kiora's Follower
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Sylvan Caryatid

Spells (28)
1 Burning Anger
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
4 Karametra's Favor
3 Nylea's Presence
2 Stratus Walk
2 Dig Through Time
1 Treasure Cruise
4 Commune with the Gods
3 Kruphix's Insight

Land (20)
1 Battlefield Forge
1 Forest
4 Mana Confluence
2 Shivan Reef
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Temple of Plenty
4 Yavimaya Coast

Got this from Reddit, the gist of the deck is to get 1-2 mana dorks out with an ascendancy, then cantrip through 10-15 cards and hit them on the dome with a caryatid + burning anger, with the backup plan of big dudes + messengers speed/stratus walk. Two creatures gives net 0/1 mana off each spell, so helps a lot when trying to combo off

 

[Angry Grimace]

Standard Storm:

Creature (12)
4 Kiora's Follower
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Sylvan Caryatid

Spells (28)
1 Burning Anger
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
4 Karametra's Favor
3 Nylea's Presence
2 Stratus Walk
2 Dig Through Time
1 Ancestral Vision <------ (This is supposed to be Treasure Cruise)
4 Commune with the Gods
3 Kruphix's Insight

Land (20)
1 Battlefield Forge
1 Forest
4 Mana Confluence
2 Shivan Reef
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Temple of Plenty
4 Yavimaya Coast

Got this from Reddit, the gist of the deck is to get 1-2 mana dorks out with an ascendancy, then cantrip through 10-15 cards and hit them on the dome with a caryatid + burning anger, with the backup plan of big dudes + messengers speed/stratus walk. Two creatures gives net 0/1 mana off each spell, so helps a lot when trying to combo off

We discussed this a couple pages back (it might have been one). The deck folds to not having Jeskai Ascendancy and is overly optimistic against its chances against Thoughtseize. It could steal an FNM, but its biggest problem is that the deck is straight up bad without its combo enabler and there's no filtering to get it beyond playing bad cantrips or aggressively mulliganing.

 

[inthrall]

We discussed this a couple pages back (it might have been one). The deck folds to not having Jeskai Ascendancy and is overly optimistic against its chances against Thoughtseize. It could steal an FNM, but its biggest problem is that the deck is straight up bad without its combo enabler and there's no filtering to get it beyond playing bad cantrips or aggressively mulliganing.

Ah my bad, I thought it was the older version of the combo being discussed there.

 

[Firemind]

Commune with the Gods is more like an Impulse, but yeah, the rest of the cantripping is pretty bad.