Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[Fate]

err im retarded haste+reach would be silly mechanic wise, but what I meant was flavor wise.

Haste+Trample? NOW WERE TALKING RIGHT? HEHAHA. THEN wed be on the level of Obzedat, Thragtusk and Aurelia lvls of BS.

[kdowns]

Thragtusk isn't really bullshit...
Neither is Aurelia or Obbt, just need to learn how to deal with them.

[Thestatusquo]

Obzedat is ok. Thragtusk is ok. Neither of those cards is insane.

Aurelia isn't really even good.

[Thestatusquo]

Messing around with a deck a little bit. Thinking of taking it for a whirl tomorrow night. Thoughts would be appreciated.

4 cloudfin raptor
4 experiment one
4 shambleshark
4 snapcaster mage
2 wolfir avenger
3 geist of st. traft
2 restoration angel

4 simic charm
3 spell rupture
4 unsummon
4 azorious charm

4 breeding pool
4 temple garden
4 hallowed fountain
2 hinterland harbor
2 glacial fortress
2 sunpetal grove
2 forest
1 island
1 plains

[Debonair Danny DiPietro]

Only parts I'm curious about is the Wolfir Avenger; in terms of three drops I'd probably rather have either Frontline Medic and/or Loxodon Smiter though you might not just have those laying around.

[NabakovNabakov]

I like the idea of using Geist's angel triggers to evolve your weenies, but (like all Simic decks) it really depends on being right on-curve. Some way to pick up mid/late game card advantage might be useful for games against control or where you just stall out. Augur of Bolas has good stats to trigger your evolves and has synergy with Restoration Angel. Zameck Guildmage or Fathom Mage are more straightforward ways to turn counters into cards. Consider subbing out some of the one-drops. They're excellent cards to have in your opening hand but not so great later on and total blanks when you're topdecking.

[chamber]

His deck is entirely focused on hitting his curve, you can't remove 1 drops without making it a completely different deck.

[NabakovNabakov]

I understand that, but 8 slots seems like a little much to devote to 1-drops, especially when you won't be happy to see them later on. I would just experiment with having 6 or 7 instead.

[Debonair Danny DiPietro]

I understand that, but 8 slots seems like a little much to devote to 1-drops, especially when you won't be happy to see them later on. I would just experiment with having 6 or 7 instead.

The odds of not having Cloudfin Raptor or Experiment One in his opening hand on the play is 34% already and 29% on the draw as it stands. Cutting down to six copies raises those odds to 46% and 41% respectively.

[NabakovNabakov]

The relevant probability density function is concave, so removing the 8th card does less to hurt your chances than removing the 7th card, etc. So yes, taking out one-drops reduces your chances of drawing a one-drop, but it's less painful when you're already sitting at 8, and that might be enough to make some other card worthwhile.

Also, consider the fact that a hand w/o one-drops in a deck that has 8 is

worse

than a hand w/o one-drops in a deck that has 6 as you're more likely to draw a shit card later in the game. A hand with multiple one-drops (while not terrible, it's not great if your goal is pure curve) is also more likely. Basically, more one-drops increases the mean hand quality but it also increases the variance of that quality. Whether you're OK with that is a matter of taste.

[AGar]

Are you running a board Shea?

[Thestatusquo]

Re: Wolfir avenger. He's in there because he has flash. That's it. This deck doesn't want to tap out on its turn ever after turn 2 unless its for something as game swinging as geist. Medic and Smiter just aren't impactful enough to overcome the fact that wolfir is instant speed. In a tempo deck like this one, that is really important. There's also the fact that he's ridiculously good against aggro, which is a large part of the format right now. Flash in a blocker, leave up regen. Seems good.

If this deck gets to the late game it has lost. It's a tempo deck through and through. My plan is develop my board and keep them from developing theirs, and win that way relatively quickly. The reason the late game plan isn't great is because the decks late game plan is to tempo them out before it gets to the late game. Any change that dilutes the decks fundamental plan to hedge pretty much can only make the deck worse imo. Auger was a card I considered, but ended up deciding against because I'm pretty sure that turn two I almost never want to tap out, same with guildmage, though I considered it less seriously than auger.

By the same token, this deck needs to mulligan almost every hand that doesn't contain a one drop. You can't win without one. I actually wish I could add 2 more, if I could find some that had a good enough power level.

I haven't gotten that far yet, agar.

Things I've thought about for the board are: Ground Seal, Centaur Healer (swaps 1 for 1 with geist in the aggro match), more counters for the control match-up. (flashing in dudes eot and leaving counters up seems like a good way to beat esper et al.) havent thought so much about it yet.

[Shanba]

Is the fact that tormod's crypt allows you to leave mana up a relevant consideration when comparing it to ground seal as a graveyard hate card? I honestly dont have enough experience deckbuilding to know. It also allows you to not turn off your own snapcaster mages.

[Thestatusquo]

Thats a fair point about snapcaster. But its worthwhile to note that tapping out is less of a big deal against the decks you'd want seal against. Though I think you're right crypt is just better.

[Voodoo Lady]

Have you considered Kraken Hatchling? Most of the aggro decks I've played against don't have a good way of dealing with a creature with four toughness (Searing Spear, Boros Reckoner, and Hellrider all do just three), and it'll probably evolve some of your creatures in the late game.

[Thestatusquo]

...

[Voodoo Lady]

I'm being completely serious here.

[Shanba]

His deck's gameplan is to kill people as fast as possible. He is an aggro deck. His counters and tempo cards are there to clear dudes out of the way. An 0/4 is in no way helpful for advancing this gameplan. Even as a sideboard plan it's very bad, since he still actually needs to kill his opponent, so he needs more proactive cards.

[bv310]

So in today's episode of "I wish I was a judge", had a guy at FNM "accidentally" return all his enchantment to his hand when I Merciless Eviction'd. When I asked him what he ws doing, he shuffled the cards around in his hand, then said he couldn't remember what was in play and wht wasn't. I told as much as I remembered, but I didn't think to write down the game state prior to wiping. Coincidentally, on his turn he was able to hit two enchantment-based removal spells to swing for game.

Same guy has had a few people complain about shady plays before, but the store owner doesn't want to call him out unnecessarily. We're watching him, but you can't really do much without picking a fight that might be frivolous.

[Thestatusquo]

DQ. Cheating.

It's really that simple.

Also, what the hell format were you playing?

[Thestatusquo]

Also, I knew the players of MS were not a very competitive bunch in general, but I didn't expect that I would make a post asking for suggestions on a tempo-aggro deck, and those suggestions would be "cut your fast starts" and "add an 0/4 do nothing card so you can block hellriders and let them continually trigger against you."

I think MS has reached new magic lows.

[Fate]

it seems like a brutal deck when it works shea, but with all those damn spells, how are you getting good hands?

Like I can see hands being:

2 land, charm cahrm chamr, unsummon, snapcaster, spell rupture.

Or

Ex. 1, cloudfin raptor, land, land, unsummon, charm,


well you get my point.


What I would do is cut down on some spells, add strangelroot geist (evolves your stuff twice usually, aggro staple if you can cast it) and maybe some http://tappedout.net/mtg-card/Yeva-Natures-Herald/ as a curve topper? Has flash, evolves all your shit, is better at killing things than azorius charm and simic charm

[hitogoroshi]

By the same token, this deck needs to mulligan almost every hand that doesn't contain a one drop. You can't win without one. I actually wish I could add 2 more, if I could find some that had a good enough power level.

Wasteland Viper maybe? It doesn't have flash/evolve, but it's a 1 drop, it's got a 2 on it to evolve stuff, and Bloodrush makes it a cool guy outside of it's place as a 1-drop.

[bv310]

DQ. Cheating.

It's really that simple.

Also, what the hell format were you playing?

Format: Standard. He's running a T2 version of Boggles, I'm running a pseudo-version of Omnidoor.

Also, no judge around last night. We've only got the one, and it was his birthday.

[chamber]

This could actually be a deck for wolfbitten captive.


I'm no expert on floor rulings, but there is no way that gets a DQ for cheating unless there is clear evidence it was intentional or he has a pattern of doing it. At regular REL I'm not even sure that's more than a warning the first time it happens unless they suspect its intentional.