Hello everyone and welcome to Zendikar Decks Part III! Today's deck is W/B/R Control. Here's the decklist I chose to run:
Lands (26)
4 Arid Mesa
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Marsh Flats
4 Mountain
5 Plains
5 Swamp
Creatures (4)
4 Baneslayer Angel
Spells (30)
3 Ajani Vengeant
3 Chandra Nalaar
4 Day of Judgement
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Martial Coup
3 Path to Exile
4 Sign in Blood
3 Terminate
4 Volcanic Fallout
Sideboard:
3 Blightning
4 Celestial Purge
4 Deathmark
1 Martial Coup
2 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
1 Path to Exile
I hopped on MWS to do battle.
Round 1 vs. Naya
Unfortunately I lost the notes for this match. I lost, but it went to 3 games. It was his bombs vs. my removal, and in Games 1 and 3 he drew better, and in Game 2 I drew better.
0-1
Round 2 vs. Jund Landfall Ramp
He plays a Turn 2 Lotus Cobra, which I Terminate. I lay a Chandra, and he gets a Harrow / Khalni Heart combo to put loads of land in play. I bolt an Ob Nixilis, and lay Ajani. I then have a fully charged Chandra. The game is over quickly as my planeswalkers burn him out.
Game 2 we play land-go for a while until I drop Ajani. He drops Ob Nixilis. I bolt it and start building up Ajani. He plays Broodmate Dragon. I Day of Judgement and get to 7 counters on Ajani. He Earthquakes for 7. Must be nice...
I drop Chandra and start building THAT up. He plays Baloths and Harrow for 14 power of dudes. I Day of Judgement again and build up to 8 counters on Chandra. I win next turn.
1-1
Round 3 vs. Mill.dec
He plays Birds of Paradise, I play Sign in Blood. He plays Grazing Gladehart. I'm confused. When in doubt, kill it. So I Volcanic Fallout. I drop Ajani, he drops Lotus Cobra and a fetch. Damn it. He plays a Khalni Gem. It could be worse. He kills Ajani next turn. I drop another one to kill Lotus Cobra. He Traumatizes me. Ow. I start building up Ajani, but he Archive Traps me, and then Trapmaker's Snares for Archive Trap #2. I lose.
Game 2 I manage to get stuck on 2 land and he gets a Lotus Cobra. He Mind Funerals me, and plays Grazing Gladehart before I draw into red and manage to bolt the Cobra. He Traumatizes me. I Blightning him but he's gaining lots of life off Gladehart. He Traumatizes me again, and then searches for an Archive Trap a few turns later, still sittin' pretty at over 15 life.
1-2
Round 4 vs. Valakut Burn
He starts out with a Goblin Guide, revealing no lands several times. I Sign In Blood to find more land, but my life's plummeting. I manage to Path the Guide and play a Baneslayer, and he Lightning Bolts + Fallouts it. He lays Valakut and Bolts me to single-digits. This is NOT good. I fail to draw any stabilising cards, and die quickly.
This game made me want to kill myself painfully. He starts out with double Quest for Pure Flame and starts dropping burn creatures like Hellspark and Ball Lightning. I Path, Purge or Terminate each one of them. This continues for a LONG time but I can't draw a finisher, despite siding more in. Eventually he drops a Valakut and burns me to death. I didn't have any way of dealing with burn besides attacking with Baneslayer. Number of finishers in the deck: 8. Number of cards I drew in that game: 20ish.
1-3
Salivanth's Rating: 1.5/5
Matches Won x2: 2/8
Score: 3.5
This deck is terrible. I don't give it a one because when it did get the mana right, against a creature deck, it was hard to beat. All control decks should be though. The deck has several flaws:
Lack of ability to close the game. I should have added Luminarch Ascension.
Bad mana. This is a 2-color or shard based format. Even 4 colors are better than 3 enemy colors. Seriously. Don't play with an arc deck. It WILL FAIL.
Total inability to deal with non-permanents. This is not good in a deck that needs to be able to answer everything the opponent plays.
Do not play this deck, for the love of god. If you're desperate for a control deck I'll make another one, but don't play this one!
See you tomorrow with Warp World!
Showing posts with label fetchlands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fetchlands. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Zendikar Spoilers + Bonus Extended Decklist
Hello, readers! Let's cut to the chase, shall we? We have plenty more Zendikar cards to analyse, so let's get analysing! For those who just showed up for the decklist, it's at the end of the post. Okay, for the 3% still with me, let's go!
This could prove quite useful in MBC, obviously. I don't know if it'll be enough to bring it to Tier 1, but I know one friend of mine who will be very, VERY happy with this card.
Another one to watch out for. Could an R/G midrange Ally deck be possible when Worldwake comes out? Food for thought...
Also, this will kill you in Limited in any deck that plays 2 allies after it plays this.
Another ULTIMATE UBER AURA, this card will see play in EDH for certain. Zur decks and away! Similar to Elder Mastery, this card will get played for the sheer awesome factor. Best played on an evasive dude though. If it connects a couple of times, you'll find it near impossible to lose. Sealed will find this guy on a flier or a trampler to be a game-winner.
This is the kind of card people try to break, and never will. Especially with M10 rules. NEXT!
Hmm. How to describe this guy. In Sealed, he's obviously a beating, with a 4/6 vigilance lifelink just winning games even without his 'you win the game' text. In EDH he'd see play if there was ANY chance he'd survive a turn. Maybe with Teferi.
Naturally, he'll be featured as a win condition in a casual Beacon of Immortality deck. But I don't see this guy played competitively.
The U/R fetchland is officially named Scalding Tarn. What the hell is a tarn? Google defines Tarn as:
a mountain lake (especially one formed by glaciers)
Moving on. Nothing to see here. Yep, it's great. Yep, it'll cost 15-20 bucks. NEXT!
A Limited fixer, but how good? This has to reach 5 land before it can be used, assuming a Turn 2 play. Otherwise, it's basically dead. I don't think this'll see much play except in a dedicated Landfall deck: but they should be able to pick up 2-3 of these in a draft.
Lorthos, the Tidemaker
Lorthos, Winner of Sealed Games
Lorthos, First Pick of Drafts
Lorthos, The Should We Reanimate This Guy? Probably Not.
Lorthos, the NEXT!
Oh. That's it. Okay. I present to you, the deck I would play in Extended if I played Extended. Although I do intend to dabble in it online some more. I present:
Dark Zoo
Lands (20)
4 Arid Mesa
1 Forest
2 Marsh Flats
1 Mountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
2 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Marsh
Creatures ()
2 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Dark Confidant
3 Kird Ape
3 Plated Geopede
2 Scute Mob
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Woolly Thoctar
Spells ()
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
3 Path to Exile
2 Quest for the Gravelord
2 Umezawa's Jitte
Sideboard:
1 Ancient Grudge
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Krosan Grip
2 Ranger of Eos
1 Sulfuric Vortex
3 Volcanic Fallout
Features: The deck runs 10 fetchlands. This is to allow it to abuse Plated Geopede more often. The deck also runs some new cards. Let's go through each.
Bloodbraid Elf: This is just incredible. The ability to have a 3/2 haste and cascade into any of Zoo's devastating spells is amazing. 2 is just a trial: I would like more.
Plated Geopede: a 5/5 as often as not, and if not, it's generally a 3/3 in the first 4-5 turns: and by then, the opponent should be dead.
Scute Mob: A rare LATE-GAME plan for Zoo, Scute Mob can become a 5/5 for one in the lategame: a super Wild Nacatl. It gets bigger and bigger, too. And all for one mana.
Quest for the Gravelord: With lots of creatures dying, how better to bust the game back open after Blue gains control than with an uncounterable 5/5 creature?
I think this deck is something to watch out for come Extended season: although it will probably be tuned by better hands than mine. Enjoy the decklist!
Until next time, may you not be shy to embrace new tech.
*Mind Sludge |   |
| Sorcery |  |
| Target player discards a card for each Swamp you control. | |
This could prove quite useful in MBC, obviously. I don't know if it'll be enough to bring it to Tier 1, but I know one friend of mine who will be very, VERY happy with this card.
Turntimber Ranger |   |
| Creature - Elf Druid Ally |  |
| Whenever Turntimber Ranger or another Ally enters the battlefield, you may put a 2/2 green Wolf creature token onto the battlefield. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on Turntimber Ranger. | |
| Illus. Wayne Reynolds | 2/2 |
Another one to watch out for. Could an R/G midrange Ally deck be possible when Worldwake comes out? Food for thought...
Also, this will kill you in Limited in any deck that plays 2 allies after it plays this.
Celestial Mantle |  |
| Enchantment - Aura | |
| Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets +3/+3. Whenever enchanted creature deals combat damage to a player, double its controller's life total. | |
| Illus. Steve Argyle | |
Another ULTIMATE UBER AURA, this card will see play in EDH for certain. Zur decks and away! Similar to Elder Mastery, this card will get played for the sheer awesome factor. Best played on an evasive dude though. If it connects a couple of times, you'll find it near impossible to lose. Sealed will find this guy on a flier or a trampler to be a game-winner.
Carnage Altar |  |
| Artifact | |
| 3, Sacrifice a creature: Draw a card. | |
| Illus. James Paick | |
This is the kind of card people try to break, and never will. Especially with M10 rules. NEXT!
Felidar Sovereign | |
| Creature - Cat Beast |  |
| Vigilance, lifelink At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have 40 or more life, you win the game. | |
| 4/6 | |
Hmm. How to describe this guy. In Sealed, he's obviously a beating, with a 4/6 vigilance lifelink just winning games even without his 'you win the game' text. In EDH he'd see play if there was ANY chance he'd survive a turn. Maybe with Teferi.
Naturally, he'll be featured as a win condition in a casual Beacon of Immortality deck. But I don't see this guy played competitively.
Scalding Tarn | |
| Land | |
 , Pay 1 Life, Sacrifice Scalding Tarn: Search your library for a Island or Mountain card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library. | |
The U/R fetchland is officially named Scalding Tarn. What the hell is a tarn? Google defines Tarn as:
a mountain lake (especially one formed by glaciers)
Well, that makes sense then. So we have a scalding mountain lake. Makes perfect sense. Good name.
Oh! The card! Yeah. U/R Storm got a bit better. Yeah... Grixis Control too...let's move on to some interesting cards. Powerful does not equal interesting all the time.
Marsh Flats | |
| Land | |
| , Pay 1 Life, Sacrifice Marsh Flats: Search your library for a Plains or Swamp card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library. | |
| Illus. Izzy | |
Moving on. Nothing to see here. Yep, it's great. Yep, it'll cost 15-20 bucks. NEXT!
Khalni Heart Expedition |  |
| Enchantment |  |
| Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a quest counter on Khalni Heart Expedition. Remove three quest counters from Khalni Heart Expedition and sacrifice it: Search your library for up to two basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library. | |
| Illus. Jason Chan | |
A Limited fixer, but how good? This has to reach 5 land before it can be used, assuming a Turn 2 play. Otherwise, it's basically dead. I don't think this'll see much play except in a dedicated Landfall deck: but they should be able to pick up 2-3 of these in a draft.
Lorthos, the Tidemaker |   | |
| Legendary Creature - Octopus | | |
Whenever Lorthos, the Tidemaker attacks, you may pay  . If you do, tap up to eight permanents. Those permanents don't untap during their controllers' next untap steps. | ||
| When Lorthos emerges from his deepwater realm, the tide bows to his will and the coastline cowers in his presence. | ||
| Illus. Kekai Kotaki #53/249 | 8/8 | |
Lorthos, the Tidemaker
Lorthos, Winner of Sealed Games
Lorthos, First Pick of Drafts
Lorthos, The Should We Reanimate This Guy? Probably Not.
Lorthos, the NEXT!
Oh. That's it. Okay. I present to you, the deck I would play in Extended if I played Extended. Although I do intend to dabble in it online some more. I present:
Dark Zoo
Lands (20)
4 Arid Mesa
1 Forest
2 Marsh Flats
1 Mountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
2 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Marsh
Creatures ()
2 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Dark Confidant
3 Kird Ape
3 Plated Geopede
2 Scute Mob
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Woolly Thoctar
Spells ()
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
3 Path to Exile
2 Quest for the Gravelord
2 Umezawa's Jitte
Sideboard:
1 Ancient Grudge
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Krosan Grip
2 Ranger of Eos
1 Sulfuric Vortex
3 Volcanic Fallout
Features: The deck runs 10 fetchlands. This is to allow it to abuse Plated Geopede more often. The deck also runs some new cards. Let's go through each.
Bloodbraid Elf: This is just incredible. The ability to have a 3/2 haste and cascade into any of Zoo's devastating spells is amazing. 2 is just a trial: I would like more.
Plated Geopede: a 5/5 as often as not, and if not, it's generally a 3/3 in the first 4-5 turns: and by then, the opponent should be dead.
Scute Mob: A rare LATE-GAME plan for Zoo, Scute Mob can become a 5/5 for one in the lategame: a super Wild Nacatl. It gets bigger and bigger, too. And all for one mana.
Quest for the Gravelord: With lots of creatures dying, how better to bust the game back open after Blue gains control than with an uncounterable 5/5 creature?
I think this deck is something to watch out for come Extended season: although it will probably be tuned by better hands than mine. Enjoy the decklist!
Until next time, may you not be shy to embrace new tech.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Checking Off Maro's Zendikar Checklist.
Last week, Maro posted the following list in his Planechasing Your Dreams article. All of these cards are in Zendikar.
What card is that, you ask? Surely, SURELY I would have seen that.
- A card that is a two-card kill combo with a rare card in Magic 2010.
- A spell capable of making a 14/1 token.
- A creature that can sacrifice itself to make a planeswalker go to the graveyard.
- A legendary octopus
- A spell that can allow you for no mana to put a creature from your library into play.
- A card with the reminder text "The land continues to burn..."
- A card that allows you to pay eight mana for four 4/4 fliers
- A creature whose rules text includes the phrase "you win the game."
- A cycle of cards that players have been begging us to print for years.
So which ones have been seen by now?
A card that is a two-card kill combo with a rare card in Magic 2010. YES.
Can you find it?
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Okay. The combo is:
If your opponent is at an even amount of life (say, 20) play Sanguine Bond, then kick Blood Tribute. They lose 10 life, you gain 10 life, and thanks to Sanguine Bond, they lose another 10, and that's game.
A spell capable of making a 14/1 token. YES.
The card is Elemental Appeal.
Kicked, the card is a 14/1 token.
A creature that can sacrifice itself to make a planeswalker go to the graveyard. NO.
This is pretty obvious to figure out. The only card that sacrifices itself in Zendikar so far is Scythe Tiger if you don't sacrifice a Forest when you play him.
A legendary octopus. NO.
A spell that can allow you for no mana to put a creature from your library into play. YES.
What card is that, you ask? Surely, SURELY I would have seen that.
Well you have. Behold (again)
No cost whatsoever in mana. Clever.
A card with the reminder text "The land continues to burn..." NO.
A card that allows you to pay eight mana for four 4/4 fliers. YES.
Although there's a catch.
Well, it costs 8 mana! Maro, you sneaky so and so...
A creature whose rules text includes the phrase "you win the game." YES.
When this creature deals combat damage to a player, you win the game.
Behold:
...
...
...
...
...
...
Okay, just kidding. That's a NO.
A cycle of cards that players have been begging us to print for years. YES.
Behold the long sought-after cycle:
And companions.
Well, this was an interesting post. So let's see what we've still got.
A creature that can sacrifice itself to make a planeswalker go to the graveyard.
A legendary octopus.
A card with the reminder text "The land continues to burn..."
A creature whose rules text includes the phrase "you win the game."
This is shaping up to be one badass set. Enjoy today's extra-special fudge-coated bonus post!
Zendikar Spoilers: Article 4
Welcome back readers! We've got a bunch of new cards to analyse, so let's delve right in.
Pretty situational for Limited: pretty expensive for Constructed. I don't think this will see much play.
Limited or Sealed bomb. With all the removal in Standard, I don't think this'll be played in Constructed though.
This, I could see being played in the eternal Tier-2 black discard deck alongside Nyxathid. As for Limited: watch out for this guy. Fragile though.
At first glance, worst Planeswalker yet printed. The -7 is good, but by the time you get to it, an Elf deck's already won.
How many Limited bombs must they spoil as a group? Give us some Constructed cards, damnit. I'm starting to sound like a broken record.
EPIC Johnny card here. I could see this being played in EDH as well, as a 'why not?' card, since so much card draw is packed into them anyway. I look forward to seeing someone break it.
There it is. The card I pray to open at the Prerelease. That, or any fetchland I can trade for this with. Sal needs his playset!
I can seriously see W/B control being a viable archetype in Zendikar. Day of Judgement, Quest of the Gravelord, Luminarch's Ascension, various removal, perhaps another Wrath effect...
Combined with this to fix mana, it could be good.
Awesome card, uninteresting to talk about. NEXT!
Sweet. Either awesome for Multiplayer, or the next thing to be broken in Standard. How about Turbo-Fog with this as a win condition? Or the aforementioned B/W Control deck. I love subgames in Magic, and this one has it on both sides of the table: Quest for the Angels vs. Quest to Ping The Opponent Every Turn.
Lastly, the U/G fetchland.
Well, that's all the cards spoiled so far. Let's sneak some strategy articles in before 10 more cards show up!
See you tomorrow!
Blood Tribute | |
| Sorcery | |
| Kicker - Tap an untapped Vampire you control. (You may tap a Vampire you control in addition to any other costs as you cast this spell.) Target player loses half his or her life, rounded up. If Blood Tribute was kicked, you gain life equal to the life lost this way. | |
| Illus. Alex Horley-Orlandelli | |
Pretty situational for Limited: pretty expensive for Constructed. I don't think this will see much play.
Roil Elemental | |
| Creature - Elemental | |
| Flying Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may gain control of target creature for as long as you control Roil Elemental. | |
| Illus. Raymond Swanland | 3/2 |
Limited or Sealed bomb. With all the removal in Standard, I don't think this'll be played in Constructed though.
Guul Draz Specter | |
| Creature - Specter | |
| Flying Gull Draz Specter gets +3/+3 as long as an opponent has no cards in hand. Whenever Gull Draz Specter deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card. | |
| Illus. Mark Tedin | 2/2 |
This, I could see being played in the eternal Tier-2 black discard deck alongside Nyxathid. As for Limited: watch out for this guy. Fragile though.
Nissa Revane | |
| Planeswalker - Nissa | |
| [+1] Search your library for a card named Nissa's Chosen and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library. [+1] You gain 2 life for each Elf you control. [-7] Search your library for any number of Elf creature cards and put them onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library. | |
| Illus. Jaime Jones | 2 |
At first glance, worst Planeswalker yet printed. The -7 is good, but by the time you get to it, an Elf deck's already won.
Ob Nixilis, the Fallen | |
| Legendary Creature - Demon | |
| Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may have target player lose 3 life. If you do, put three +1/+1 counters on Ob Nixilis, the Fallen. | |
| 3/3 | |
How many Limited bombs must they spoil as a group? Give us some Constructed cards, damnit. I'm starting to sound like a broken record.
Archmage Ascension | |
| Enchantment | |
| At the beginning of each end step, if you drew two or more cards this turn, you may put a quest counter on Archmage Ascension. As long as Archmage Ascension has six or more quest counters on it, if you would draw a card, you may instead search your library for a card, put that card into your hand, then shuffle your library. | |
| Illus. Christopher Moeller | |
EPIC Johnny card here. I could see this being played in EDH as well, as a 'why not?' card, since so much card draw is packed into them anyway. I look forward to seeing someone break it.
Verdant Marsh* | |
| Land | |
| , Pay 1 Life, Sacrifice Verdant Marsh: Search your library for a Swamp or Forest card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library. | |
There it is. The card I pray to open at the Prerelease. That, or any fetchland I can trade for this with. Sal needs his playset!
Obsidian Flats* | |
| Land | |
| , Pay 1 Life, Sacrifice Obsidian Flats: Search your library for a Plains or Swamp card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library. | |
I can seriously see W/B control being a viable archetype in Zendikar. Day of Judgement, Quest of the Gravelord, Luminarch's Ascension, various removal, perhaps another Wrath effect...
Combined with this to fix mana, it could be good.
Unstable Geyser* | |
| Land | |
| , Pay 1 Life, Sacrifice Unstable Geyser: Search your library for a Island or Mountain card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library. | |
Awesome card, uninteresting to talk about. NEXT!
Luminarch Ascension | |
| Enchantment | |
| At the beginning of each opponent's end step, if you didn't lose life this turn, you may put a quest counter on Luminarch Ascension. (Damage causes loss of life): Put a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying onto the battlefield. Activate this ability only if Luminarch Ascension has four or more quest counters on it. | |
| Illus. Michael Comarck #25/249 | |
Sweet. Either awesome for Multiplayer, or the next thing to be broken in Standard. How about Turbo-Fog with this as a win condition? Or the aforementioned B/W Control deck. I love subgames in Magic, and this one has it on both sides of the table: Quest for the Angels vs. Quest to Ping The Opponent Every Turn.
Misty Rainforest | |
| Land | |
| , Pay 1 Life, Sacrifice Misty Rainforest: Search your library for a Forest or Island card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library. | |
| Illus. Shelly Wan #220/249 | |
Lastly, the U/G fetchland.
Well, that's all the cards spoiled so far. Let's sneak some strategy articles in before 10 more cards show up!
See you tomorrow!
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