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Magic: the Gathering - Shadows over Innistrad |OT| Blue's Clues

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K

KingErich

Banned
I just started playing Magic about 2 months ago. I am now and addict. I have been a board gamer for years and always dismissed Magic. I gave it a try and now I have spent way too much money. :)

I have played in quite a few drafts at my LGS. I hit 3-4 place usually. In the Innistrad Pre-release this past weekend I placed SECOND! out of 20 people. I won 5 packs.

I have been staying away from Standard but been drawn to Pauper and Commander due to cost. I recently picked up the Commander 2015 decks. I have yet to try them out. I want to get a feel for them and hopefully they have enough decent cards for me to customize them.

I have been obsessed with making a solid Pauper deck. I am looking for feedback on what could make this deck better or if it is garbage. Here it is:

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/05-04-16-monored-aggro/

4x Brute Strength
4x Bull Rush
2x Claws of Valakut
4x Expedite
4x Foundry Street Denizen
4x Kiln Fiend
4x Lightning Bolt
18x Mountain
4x Satyr Hoplite
4x Spark Elemental
4x Temur Battle Rage
4x Titan's Strength
 
W

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Giant Panda said:
The deck works with all of those 3 drops? And what about Diregraf Colossus, another 3 drop? And you can reliably play both Messenger and the Captain?

I'm really interested in the zombie deck, so any feedback you can give is very helpful!
Click to expand...

Not only can the deck work with multiple lords, it demands them! Now, I can't speak on Diregraf Colossus because I haven't played with it. I have played with the Diregraf Captain and Reaper pretty extensively. Like, a hell of a lot. Check the receipts, this deck has been my pet project for years. Now, I'm under illusions that it's a Tier 1 deck, but it has and can beat Tier 1 decks. I really believe it's T2.

So, back to the business at hand. You're only splashing blue, so you really only want 1 island (and only that for Path/Spreading Seas). Otherwise, go heavy on basic swamps and the good UB duals. You will never want for BBB for Messenger. Nor is it hard to get to the 1 blue source for Captain.

The idea of this deck is a swarm strategy that is semi-resistant to board wipes. Your Messengers come back, your Gravecrawlers come back. Your lord causes board wipes to be super painful for the opponent, while your other 1 drops are just 1 drops. If they spend 4 mana to remove two 1-drops, awesome. If they do so when a Captain is on board, bad luck for you, but not painless for them. That's also where hand disruption comes in.

The deck is weak against what all aggro strategies are weak against. No matter how fast a start you get off to, you're still trying to win with 2 power dudes. You need some angle of attack post that. Mortarpod and reverting to a semi-monoblack "kill all of their things" shell with spot removal and edicts (Geth's Verdict) helps. I usually run 2 Grey Merchants, but I'm not 100 percent on those.

Uh. So, I have a lot to say about this deck. I don't want to write any more of a novel than need be. But I'm always stoked to talk about my baby.
 
A

Attleborotaco

Member
WanderingWind said:
Not only can the deck work with multiple lords, it demands them! Now, I can't speak on Diregraf Colossus because I haven't played with it. I have played with the Diregraf Captain and Reaper pretty extensively. Like, a hell of a lot. Check the receipts, this deck has been my pet project for years. Now, I'm under illusions that it's a Tier 1 deck, but it has and can beat Tier 1 decks. I really believe it's T2.

So, back to the business at hand. You're only splashing blue, so you really only want 1 island (and only that for Path/Spreading Seas). Otherwise, go heavy on basic swamps and the good UB duals. You will never want for BBB for Messenger. Nor is it hard to get to the 1 blue source for Captain.

The idea of this deck is a swarm strategy that is semi-resistant to board wipes. Your Messengers come back, your Gravecrawlers come back. Your lord causes board wipes to be super painful for the opponent, while your other 1 drops are just 1 drops. If they spend 4 mana to remove two 1-drops, awesome. If they do so when a Captain is on board, bad luck for you, but not painless for them. That's also where hand disruption comes in.

The deck is weak against what all aggro strategies are weak against. No matter how fast a start you get off to, you're still trying to win with 2 power dudes. You need some angle of attack post that. Mortarpod and reverting to a semi-monoblack "kill all of their things" shell with spot removal and edicts (Geth's Verdict) helps. I usually run 2 Grey Merchants, but I'm not 100 percent on those.

Uh. So, I have a lot to say about this deck. I don't want to write any more of a novel than need be. But I'm always stoked to talk about my baby.
Click to expand...

What about a more midrange strategy with top end being Grey Merchants or Grave titan.
 
W

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Attleborotaco said:
What about a more midrange strategy with top end being Grey Merchants or Grave titan.
Click to expand...

Grave Titan is a trap. It seems all sexy, but really isn't feasible. You have no way of protecting it, so the positions where you drop it have to be those where you're okay tapping six mana to get two 2/2s. IE, very few positions. And unlike your other threats, it does hurt if it gets instantly removed. I'd rather go for broke with Undead Warchief, personally.

Grey Merchants...like I said, I have 2 in my current iteration. I don't love them though. They're fine. No specific complaints.
 
F

Familienoberhauptvogel

Banned
Still can't win a single round in Ravnica drafts and this time the deck wasn't even that janky.

First game I got majorly colour screwed after a mull to 5, 2nd game my opponent just never stopped drawing gas. Like I drew both rakdos signet and the mountain the 2 red sources in the deck but not a single blue source.

KSQwSGW.png
Click to expand...

Also figures my opponent's creatures were black almost exclusively against seal of doom. Ravnica and I just don't work, good thing it's over tomorrow so I won't waste any more money on it.
 
F

Firemind

Member
kirblar said:
Twin should have been banned eons ago and wasn't (because they didn't see the problem for forever) and Pod was absolutely bannable when it happened- B/Gx midrange merging with Pod was a very bad thing when Siege Rhino got printed.

They don't want the format becoming something close to Legacy/Vintage with the reduced # of playable archetypes.
Click to expand...
Bullshit. Legacy is the most diverse format in the game. They don't want Modern to become a stale format so they bring up any excuse to shake up the format. It's not going to take long before they ban Become Immense and Goryo's Vengeance simply because they break their turn four rule.
 
O

OnPoint

Member
WanderingWind said:
Grave Titan is a trap. It seems all sexy, but really isn't feasible. You have no way of protecting it, so the positions where you drop it have to be those where you're okay tapping six mana to get two 2/2s. IE, very few positions. And unlike your other threats, it does hurt if it gets instantly removed. I'd rather go for broke with Undead Warchief, personally.

Grey Merchants...like I said, I have 2 in my current iteration. I don't love them though. They're fine. No specific complaints.
Click to expand...
Are we talking in Modern? How many six-drops are relevant cards in the format outside of Tron/Grishoalbrand strats? I would imagine losing Grave Titan to Path hurts quite a lot.
 
E

El Topo

Member
kirblar said:
It's a 4 CMC PW that doesn't do anything for a turn. Xenagos, Huntmaster, Garruk Relelentless, they could all significantly affect the board state or create pressure immediately.
Click to expand...

I know, which is why I wrote back then (when little of the set was spoiled) that the card is good (but that they are "playing it safe"). I did not say she was as good or better than Xenagos/Garruk Relentless/Huntmaster.
 
F

Firemind

Member
Familienoberhauptvogel said:
Still can't win a single round in Ravnica drafts and this time the deck wasn't even that janky.

First game I got majorly colour screwed after a mull to 5, 2nd game my opponent just never stopped drawing gas. Like I drew both rakdos signet and the mountain the 2 red sources in the deck but not a single blue source.



Also figures my opponent's creatures were black almost exclusively against seal of doom. Ravnica and I just don't work, good thing it's over tomorrow so I won't waste any more money on it.
Click to expand...
Counterspells are pretty bad in this format. Castigate is a much better card to maindeck.

Junktroller is actually pretty decent in this format since there are a few 5 power creatures and the ability is relevant if you have cards with Transmute (like Glimpse the Unthinkable). If you want to go the milling route, you really need a Vedalken Entrancer or two. It's also a combo with Tidewater Minion. There are a lot of unplayables in your deck, so it's unfortunate but not surprising this draft didn't work out for you.
 
F

Familienoberhauptvogel

Banned
Firemind said:
Counterspells are pretty bad in this format. Castigate is a much better card to maindeck.

Junktroller is actually pretty decent in this format since there are a few 5 power creatures and the ability is relevant if you have cards with Transmute (like Glimpse the Unthinkable). If you want to go the milling route, you really need a Vedalken Entrancer or two. It's also a combo with Tidewater Minion. There are a lot of unplayables in your deck, so it's unfortunate the draft didn't work out for you.
Click to expand...

I said not that janky, not not janky at all. Mill was plan B, it was supposed to be controllish with Storm Herd or Glimpse + the X draw spell as finishers. Not saying I should have 3-0d but that's my third 0-1 in Rav drafts and I didn't win a single game even. Somethin about that format just doesn't work for me and it's not against I lost against particularly great decks, 1 was just straight up 4 or 5 colour anything the other 4 colour creatures. I never felt that lost drafting other sets.

You're of course right on the Junktroller and I should also have mainboarded the 3/4 lifelinker. Not sure what else is unplayable, should have picked up more Karoos in the draft but I didn't think Storm herd would wheel so I didn't prioritize them that much.
 
K

kirblar

Member
Firemind said:
Bullshit. Legacy is the most diverse format in the game. They don't want Modern to become a stale format so they bring up any excuse to shake up the format. It's not going to take long before they ban Become Immense and Goryo's Vengeance simply because they break their turn four rule.
Click to expand...
lol@ that statement.

I love Legacy, but diversity is a result of people simply not having cards. It's also Brainstorm/FoW decks v Combo v decks that prey on brainstorm decks.
 
W

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
OnPoint said:
Are we talking in Modern? How many six-drops are relevant cards in the format outside of Tron/Grishoalbrand strats? I would imagine losing Grave Titan to Path hurts quite a lot.
Click to expand...

Yeah, exactly. Also, this discussion got me thinking about Silumgar's Command and how crap it is that every great cycle has it's garbage card. Atarka, Kolaghan and Dromoka's Commands are all so good they're modern playable. Ojutai is fringe playable, even. Meanwhile, Silumgar's dumb little command does nothing for 5 CMC.
 
I

ironmang

Member
kirblar said:
lol@ that statement.

I love Legacy, but diversity is a result of people simply not having cards. It's also Brainstorm/FoW decks v Combo v decks that prey on brainstorm decks.
Click to expand...

Ya and it's really hard for people to justify buying into legacy since none of the major TOs want anything to do with it.
 
O

OnPoint

Member
WanderingWind said:
Yeah, exactly. Also, this discussion got me thinking about Silumgar's Command and how crap it is that every great cycle has it's garbage card. Atarka, Kolaghan and Dromoka's Commands are all so good they're modern playable. Ojutai is fringe playable, even. Meanwhile, Silumgar's dumb little command does nothing for 5 CMC.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's a shame. Come to think of it... Are there any UB viable decks in Modern at all?
 
F

Firemind

Member
Familienoberhauptvogel said:
I said not that janky, not not janky at all. Mill was plan B, it was supposed to be controllish with Storm Herd or Glimpse + the X draw spell as finishers. Not saying I should have 3-0d but that's my third 0-1 in Rav drafts and I didn't win a single game even. Somethin about that format just doesn't work for me and it's not against I lost against particularly great decks, 1 was just straight up 4 or 5 colour anything the other 4 colour creatures. I never felt that lost drafting other sets.

You're of course right on the Junktroller and I should also have mainboarded the 3/4 lifelinker. Not sure what else is unplayable, should have picked up more Karoos in the draft but I didn't think Storm herd would wheel so I didn't prioritize them that much.
Click to expand...
Skyscribing, Overrule, Storm Herd, Induce Paranoia, Blue Eidolon are close to unplayable. Teysa and Ghost Warden are also unplayable with just 8 creatures. Repeal is a bad card if you're not playing the tempo game as it doesn't answer threats. Signets fix mana but they're not actual cards, so in reality you're playing 20 lands, which makes you flood more than a typical deck.
 
C

ClayKavalier

Banned
This set looks really cool. I haven't played Magic in close to a decade but I'm tempted to get back in. Probably shouldn't though, every time I get drawn back in I end up spending a ton of money.
 
F

Familienoberhauptvogel

Banned
Firemind said:
Skyscribing, Overrule, Storm Herd, Induce Paranoia, Blue Eidolon are close to unplayable. Teysa and Ghost Warden are also unplayable with just 8 creatures. Repeal is a bad card if you're not playing the tempo game as it doesn't answer threats. Signets fix mana but they're not actual cards, so in reality you're playing 20 lands, which makes you flood more than a typical deck.
Click to expand...

Totally agree on that, nonetheless I wish I flooded, that way I could have played Storm Herd that was stuck in my hand.
 
S

SigmasonicX

Member
ClayKavalier said:
This set looks really cool. I haven't played Magic in close to a decade but I'm tempted to get back in. Probably shouldn't though, every time I get drawn back in I end up spending a ton of money.
Click to expand...

If you want to experience the cards but don't want to spend money, you can download Magic Duels. It's F2P, but you can legitimately get all the cards in a set without spending money with only a moderate time investment.
 
R

red13th

Member
I loved this article about valuable tokens.
It was so hard to find a place that sold Wurmcoil Engine tokens for my cube. I bought two of each from ABUgames (which for some reaosn seem to always have a large stock of obscure stuff), but a couple days after that a copy of each of them showed up on the store I usually buy from (Coolstuffinc), so now I have 3 of each Wurm, with a Goat back which makes them even more endearing.
I also have two Voice of Resurgence tokens but I cut it from my cube, they're kind of just sitting there. I'm missing Hornet Queen's Insect tokens, I can't find them anywhere and when I do the store usually has only one or two (I need probably around 8). Another relatively rare token in my experience is Sorin Lord of Innistrad +1/+0 emblem, I only have one.
 
W

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Ha. In my last order I went to add some red elemental tokens and some blue elemental (Master of Waves) tokens. I got the blue ones for like, 10 cents each. I noped out of the red ones. Fuck off with that crap. Paying more than couch change money for tokens is dummmmmb.
 
B

Bandini

Member
With the new set coming out I'm looking at possible cards for my Commander decks. Today's deck is Meren!

Mindwrack Demon: gets stuff into the graveyard, and a 4/5 flyer with trample for 2BB isn't the worst thing in the world

Behold the Beyond: the cost is a bit high for my liking but it has some nice utility

The Gitrog Monster: really like this dude, I run Life from the Loam and several cycle lands and fetches, who doesn't like drawing a bunch of cards?

Anything I might be overlooking here?
 
R

red13th

Member
I kind of wanted to try some of the cool token kickstarters (like the Classic Art tokens or this one) but by now I already spent over $50 in booster pack tokens I want them all to look the same. :p

The most annoying thing IMO is that there are no Black 1/1 deathtouch Snakes for Ophiomancer! I want a reprint only because then they'll make the token!
 
A

Attleborotaco

Member
WanderingWind said:
Grave Titan is a trap. It seems all sexy, but really isn't feasible. You have no way of protecting it, so the positions where you drop it have to be those where you're okay tapping six mana to get two 2/2s. IE, very few positions. And unlike your other threats, it does hurt if it gets instantly removed. I'd rather go for broke with Undead Warchief, personally.

Grey Merchants...like I said, I have 2 in my current iteration. I don't love them though. They're fine. No specific complaints.
Click to expand...

I dont go to FNM's or anything since i have extreme social anxiety, but i have been going to my friends every Friday Night since last summer. We play most what i would call, Budgety(no one really buys decks that has more than $150 worth in value) Modern Multiplayer games with 4+ people. It gets fun and hectic, and im always looking for new decks to try out. Grey Merchant has always seemed like a fun card to use there because you gain life equal to the life lost, so it gets better the more people are still around.
 
W

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Attleborotaco said:
I dont go to FNM's or anything since i have extreme social anxiety, but i have been going to my friends every Friday Night since last summer. We play most what i would call, Budgety(no one really buys decks that has more than $150 worth in value) Modern Multiplayer games with 4+ people. It gets fun and hectic, and im always looking for new decks to try out. Grey Merchant has always seemed like a fun card to use there because you gain life equal to the life lost, so it gets better the more people are still around.
Click to expand...

Oh, yeah, if you're just messing around with friends, then ignore everything I said and just build what seems sweet to you. Army of the Damned may be the best card for that type of deck. Fun, exciting and just does some ridiculous stuff.
 
O

OnPoint

Member
I'm gonna take a brief second to shill myself so ignore this if you don't care, and I won't bring it up again in here otherwise: Shutshimi is on PS+ for free as of now in both the US and Europe this month. Since this is pretty much my regular spot on GAF, y'all are pretty much my GAF family. So if you wanna check out what I've done with my team, and at absolutely no cost to you if you're a PS+ member and have a PS4 or Vita, go check it out. I'd love to know what you guys think of it. /shill

WanderingWind said:
Lol. I know better. But zombies is a strong tribe and they keep printing more of them. One day. One day.
Click to expand...

Yeah they eventually gotta get there.
 
G

"God's Beard!"

Member
Mono red ramp

lm4xgw.png


'Cause turn 3 Reality Smashers are sweet.

ironmang said:
BW is going to be very strong and I think Gideon is a reason it'll have game against every deck.

Great by itself or following a secure the wastes.
Click to expand...

I dunno. Gideon has been gradually getting worse. Lots of fliers and 2/3s, and anguished unmaking means there's more hard removal for planeswalkers running around. If anything, Gideon isn't really game against any deck right now. Even the emblem effect gets outclassed by the new whit anthem. I'd be surprised if a deck with more than 2 copies main was running around the top tables.
 
O

OnPoint

Member
kirblar said:
My GDS3 set gimmick is getting done. :( https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/4de75r/a_theory_on_those_doublesided_test_prints_that/

Emrakul is totally going to be a BFM.
Click to expand...

Reading those comments...

I think the fact that the front faces are a land and a Planeswalker might tell us a lot about the way to get Emmy into play. The land could be a legendary version of [[Drownyard Temple]] or some other lore related place to summon Emmy, and the planeswalker could be Nahiri pulling a 180º or some other planeswalker finally completing the ritual he or she has been planning for a long time.
Click to expand...

TIBALT!!!
 
S

SigmasonicX

Member
Using double-faced technology would be a great way to implement the BFM mechanic without the issue of having one half dead in your hand until you get the other, and addressing the weirdness involved in allowing one half to be played on its own. Given that you'd need a new keyword action for this to work out, there probably should be other cards that can combine like this besides just Emrakul, but in a small set, it's hard to imagine that working out well unless you can mix-and-match halves of cards.

EDIT: Perhaps any "bottom half" can combine with any "top half", but the bottom half provides additional bonuses to the proper top half.
 
Y

Yeef

Member
I can't imagine something like that working in limited. It'd be virtually impossible to get both parts of the card unless you get really lucky and open them each in different packs. Since they're double-sided, the rest of the table could see that you got one half and make sure you don't get the other.
 
F

Firemind

Member
kirblar said:
lol@ that statement.

I love Legacy, but diversity is a result of people simply not having cards. It's also Brainstorm/FoW decks v Combo v decks that prey on brainstorm decks.
Click to expand...
What does that make Lands? In the last Legacy GP, the top 8 consisted of 6 different archetypes, including Aluren, remember?

In the last three Modern GPs which all happened in the same weekend, Eldrazi Aggro and Living End made up 18 of the 24 top 8 spots. How's that for diversity?
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
K

kirblar

Member
Firemind said:
What does that make Lands? In the last Legacy GP, the top 8 consisted of 6 different archetypes, including Aluren, remember?

In the last three Modern GPs which all happened in the same weekend, Eldrazi Aggro and Living End made up 18 of the 24 top 8 spots. How's that for diversity?
Click to expand...
You're really comparing it to Eldrazi Winter? Really?
 
W

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Firemind said:
Yes, and before that you were complaining about Twin. And before that, Pod.
Click to expand...

Also Infect and Tron, if we're keeping track. But he's right about Eldrazi. Using this meta as a proof source is just silly though. It's a temporary aberration that was fixed with the quickness. It's not diverse now, but it generally is.
 
O

OnPoint

Member
Is WB Superfriends possibly an archetype? Throw a couple...

4x Gideon Ally
4x Big Daddy Sorin
4x Avengers Assemble (Call the Gatewatch)
3x Oath of Gideon
4x Ob Nixilis the Laughing Chest
4x Declaration in Stone
2x Anguished Unmaking
2x Languish
2x Sidisi, Undead Tutor
2x Transgress the Mind
3x Flaying Tendrils
2x Ayli the Token-eating Lifegiver

... and baby, you got yourself a stew goin!

Terrible deck!!!
 
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