It has been so long I forgot about bottle gnomes. I had dismiss in the main deck before I realized that counterspell was in Tempest. That sideboard looks pretty good Lord Erman. The legacy's allure looks interesting as well.
I may try and build the deck depending on its price. I actually just purchased 4 baneslayers and 3 Ajani's so it may not happen.
For some reason the firewall at work allows puremtgo, but not mtgotraders so I have to price it when I get home.
Bottle Gnomes would buy time against fast Aggro decks, Chill would fight red decks, Wasteland would mainly target opposing Stalking Stones, Legacy's Allure could be useful against various decks and Dismiss would come in against other Control decks.
I can't believe I forgot how much the Tolarian Academy helped this deck. I am not sure if it would be fast enough without it to work, but if anyone has the cards it wouldn't hurt to try.
It also ran 4 Mox Diamond which allowed turn one sapphire and turn two propaganda. This slowed down the aggro decks fairly well.
By turn three or four you could start buying back whisper or capsize against non counter decks if you were able to draw at least two sapphires. Early on you should not worry about burning a whisper or a Dream cache searching for more sapphires. Once you can buyback Whisper the game is pretty much yours.
I do not think I would add the mox dianonds as they were only really there to fuel the academies.
Here is a deck that we use to play during the tempest, Urza's era adapted to tempest block. It is weakened quite a bit without the four Tolarian Academys we were able to use before it was banned, but it still might work out.
4 Sapphire Medallion
4 Capsize
4 Whispers of the muse
3 Forbid
4 Propaganda
4 Mana Leak
4 Counter Spell
2 Evacuation
2 Ephemeron
4 Dream Cache
1 Timewarp
3 Wasteland
21 Island
The idea is very simple get out the medallions, propagandas, counter threats, repeat, Whisper with buyback, and then start capsizing lands. Beat with the ephemeron. In case anyone is curious the medallions do reduce the buyback cost on both capsize and Whisper.
I do not remember the sideboard we used, but it would definately have 4 Chill in it. I'm not even sure the wastelands are worth it as at the time they were only in for Tolarian Academy.
Okay, no one has brought it up, so I guess I will. First, I will cover my own rear end in not having to defend any of my claims, since it appears this will be run on weekends. On weekends I am out of town either visiting my girlfriend or at work. Same reason I haven't been able to join any of the other weekend events which I really want to play in. lol
Anyway, as a long time player of Dakkon,I'd like to share a story with you. My friends and I all got Dakkons when they first came out and played "Dakkon Format." Granted we played it as regular deck build, without lands obviously, but all 4x's. One big problem came up and killed the format. BLUE. A well made burn deck could easily beat it, but it would have to be a dedicated burn deck. Aggro could fight it a little, too. But realistically, it all came down to one word: Moonfolk. A whole tribe of creatures that let you put lands back into your hand. It gets rid of the decision making process. It didn't really matter what you played as a land, because you could always get it back with Moonfolk. And moonfolk run the spectrum. There are 14 moonfolk that allow you to put lands back into your hand, and they can be in play as soon as turn 2. The biggest threat of which goes by the name Meloku. Pay 1, return a bomb card to your hand: Put a creature into play. Pretty nice.
That's not even including cards like Cloudstone Curio, Gush, Daze, Fathom Seer, Living Tsunami, Flooded Shoreline, and Waterspout Djinn. Force of Will and Commandeer just became a lot better. So did sanity grinding. I don't mean to sound negative, but I can see this format quickly descending into what we saw. Either you play Blue (or Blue/X) or you build against Blue.
I'd like to be wrong on this, so please please please build a deck that proves me wrong. I hate blue so much!
I actually ended up qualifying with counter pheonix AFTER all of randys gp performances,and I remember him running fylamarid[?] as an anti-soltari priest card.I switched these to thalakos mist walkers {whoever the 3/3 discard a card to give shadow] and found these were much better as they gave u an aggro sb plan against other shard dex,and they could block and kill everything that mattered
Thank you very much for the Wrath, it's very pretty and I don't normally enjoy foils but this one is great. I hope that deck list serves you well. I had to go back and search to remember what it was. I missed your fellow writer's voices but it was a different experience to listen to just you. You seemed very quiet which is dramatically different from when the 3 of you are chatting and having a good time.
The news about Legacy doesn't seem to affect me though if it changes Tribal Wars it may have a larger impact than I realized. I wonder if the intro packs are realy worth $13.00...unless the cards in it have lasting power it seems so pricy for a few rares and 'playable' uncommons. The added booster seems like a throw in to sweeten the deal but it still seems higher than I'd want to pay as a newcomer (if I was) considering how little you can pay for cards online.
Not too surprising to see Zen and M10 prices going down again in the wake of the number of drafts firing. (Or so it seems to my uneducated eye.)
Brings back a ton of memories to a happy time in Magic for me. Thanks LE, and thanks for the heads up. Sadly I don't think I own enough of the right cards to participate but its always nice to know whats going on.
Thank you Mr. Gills for the info and Tarmo for the link. It seems that my guess for the sideboard was close but apparently the sideboard didn't have Torture Chamber but Thalakos Drifters to deal with pro red creatures. And Shattering Pulse over Shatter makes a lot of sense too.
Is holding the marsh flats in hand in game 1 on the off chance that you draw a bloodghast and need it to activate the landfall twice really worth not thinning out your lands so you (hopefully) won't get flooded? I thought the whole point of auto-including 8 fetchlands is to thin out your lands in situations like that so you draw more business.
Great article! And you are correct that Tempest Block Constructed will be the next Specialty format supported (official announcement will go out today).
The 2 and 8 player constructed queues and the weekend challenge for this format will start after tomorrow's (1/6) downtime so get your decks ready!
Michael Gills
Digital Games Program Manager
Wizards of the Coast
That time unfortunately leaves me out. Too late for me :(. Can you not make it at least 5PM EST? 5PM would be 00:00 for me but I think I can endure the wish to sleep and play.
Okay, I just came accross two really silly cards. Abundance and Recross the Paths. Basically you reveal cards from the top of your library with both cards until you find a land card. Then you take that land into your hand (or put into play) and put the rest of the cards on the bottom of your library in ANY ORDER!
Now, imagine a deck without any lands please... You basically reveal all the cards in your library and then re-order it the way you want. Like, this turn I get me my Akroma, the next turn my other silly fatty and then I get me my Flickerwisp.
Neither Abundance nor Recross the Paths will win you the game on their own, but as I sad, they're just silly cards. Oh and with Abundance you can do that every turn and with Recross the Paths you can do that also more than once assuming you win the clash each time.
This sounds like a really promising format, could be a lot of fun. Saturday would probably work best for me, monday night would be the one night I definitely couldn't make. Sunday at 3 would conflict with Chaos, another player run event I like to go to.
It has been so long I forgot about bottle gnomes. I had dismiss in the main deck before I realized that counterspell was in Tempest. That sideboard looks pretty good Lord Erman. The legacy's allure looks interesting as well.
I may try and build the deck depending on its price. I actually just purchased 4 baneslayers and 3 Ajani's so it may not happen.
For some reason the firewall at work allows puremtgo, but not mtgotraders so I have to price it when I get home.
i dont know i used to love picking up 2ea. of the pre-con decks and combining them into slightly better casual fun decks.
Instead of Wastelands, you may try Stalking Stones. Your sideboard could be something like this:
4x Bottle Gnomes
4x Chill
3x Dismiss
2x Legacy's Allure
2x Wasteland
Bottle Gnomes would buy time against fast Aggro decks, Chill would fight red decks, Wasteland would mainly target opposing Stalking Stones, Legacy's Allure could be useful against various decks and Dismiss would come in against other Control decks.
Just some thoughts.
LE
I can't believe I forgot how much the Tolarian Academy helped this deck. I am not sure if it would be fast enough without it to work, but if anyone has the cards it wouldn't hurt to try.
It also ran 4 Mox Diamond which allowed turn one sapphire and turn two propaganda. This slowed down the aggro decks fairly well.
By turn three or four you could start buying back whisper or capsize against non counter decks if you were able to draw at least two sapphires. Early on you should not worry about burning a whisper or a Dream cache searching for more sapphires. Once you can buyback Whisper the game is pretty much yours.
I do not think I would add the mox dianonds as they were only really there to fuel the academies.
Yep I remember that deck.
Here is a deck that we use to play during the tempest, Urza's era adapted to tempest block. It is weakened quite a bit without the four Tolarian Academys we were able to use before it was banned, but it still might work out.
4 Sapphire Medallion
4 Capsize
4 Whispers of the muse
3 Forbid
4 Propaganda
4 Mana Leak
4 Counter Spell
2 Evacuation
2 Ephemeron
4 Dream Cache
1 Timewarp
3 Wasteland
21 Island
The idea is very simple get out the medallions, propagandas, counter threats, repeat, Whisper with buyback, and then start capsizing lands. Beat with the ephemeron. In case anyone is curious the medallions do reduce the buyback cost on both capsize and Whisper.
I do not remember the sideboard we used, but it would definately have 4 Chill in it. I'm not even sure the wastelands are worth it as at the time they were only in for Tolarian Academy.
already built counter phoenix, thx for the heads up about the format, had no idea
It's 2010 man, get with the times! Sounds really fun though.
Okay, no one has brought it up, so I guess I will. First, I will cover my own rear end in not having to defend any of my claims, since it appears this will be run on weekends. On weekends I am out of town either visiting my girlfriend or at work. Same reason I haven't been able to join any of the other weekend events which I really want to play in. lol
Anyway, as a long time player of Dakkon,I'd like to share a story with you. My friends and I all got Dakkons when they first came out and played "Dakkon Format." Granted we played it as regular deck build, without lands obviously, but all 4x's. One big problem came up and killed the format. BLUE. A well made burn deck could easily beat it, but it would have to be a dedicated burn deck. Aggro could fight it a little, too. But realistically, it all came down to one word: Moonfolk. A whole tribe of creatures that let you put lands back into your hand. It gets rid of the decision making process. It didn't really matter what you played as a land, because you could always get it back with Moonfolk. And moonfolk run the spectrum. There are 14 moonfolk that allow you to put lands back into your hand, and they can be in play as soon as turn 2. The biggest threat of which goes by the name Meloku. Pay 1, return a bomb card to your hand: Put a creature into play. Pretty nice.
That's not even including cards like Cloudstone Curio, Gush, Daze, Fathom Seer, Living Tsunami, Flooded Shoreline, and Waterspout Djinn. Force of Will and Commandeer just became a lot better. So did sanity grinding. I don't mean to sound negative, but I can see this format quickly descending into what we saw. Either you play Blue (or Blue/X) or you build against Blue.
I'd like to be wrong on this, so please please please build a deck that proves me wrong. I hate blue so much!
they r called thalakos drifters
I actually ended up qualifying with counter pheonix AFTER all of randys gp performances,and I remember him running fylamarid[?] as an anti-soltari priest card.I switched these to thalakos mist walkers {whoever the 3/3 discard a card to give shadow] and found these were much better as they gave u an aggro sb plan against other shard dex,and they could block and kill everything that mattered
Thank you very much for the Wrath, it's very pretty and I don't normally enjoy foils but this one is great. I hope that deck list serves you well. I had to go back and search to remember what it was. I missed your fellow writer's voices but it was a different experience to listen to just you. You seemed very quiet which is dramatically different from when the 3 of you are chatting and having a good time.
The news about Legacy doesn't seem to affect me though if it changes Tribal Wars it may have a larger impact than I realized. I wonder if the intro packs are realy worth $13.00...unless the cards in it have lasting power it seems so pricy for a few rares and 'playable' uncommons. The added booster seems like a throw in to sweeten the deal but it still seems higher than I'd want to pay as a newcomer (if I was) considering how little you can pay for cards online.
Not too surprising to see Zen and M10 prices going down again in the wake of the number of drafts firing. (Or so it seems to my uneducated eye.)
Brings back a ton of memories to a happy time in Magic for me. Thanks LE, and thanks for the heads up. Sadly I don't think I own enough of the right cards to participate but its always nice to know whats going on.
Thank you Mr. Gills for the info and Tarmo for the link. It seems that my guess for the sideboard was close but apparently the sideboard didn't have Torture Chamber but Thalakos Drifters to deal with pro red creatures. And Shattering Pulse over Shatter makes a lot of sense too.
Thanks again.
LE
Is holding the marsh flats in hand in game 1 on the off chance that you draw a bloodghast and need it to activate the landfall twice really worth not thinning out your lands so you (hopefully) won't get flooded? I thought the whole point of auto-including 8 fetchlands is to thin out your lands in situations like that so you draw more business.
Here's the counter phoenix decklist in full:
http://www.magicdeckvortex.com/DDB/forbidden_phoenix.htm
=)
Conflicts with the Bengals playoff game this week, but maybe after the Superbowl...
Great article! And you are correct that Tempest Block Constructed will be the next Specialty format supported (official announcement will go out today).
The 2 and 8 player constructed queues and the weekend challenge for this format will start after tomorrow's (1/6) downtime so get your decks ready!
Michael Gills
Digital Games Program Manager
Wizards of the Coast
I was actually debating whether or not to make it 5PM EST or 6PM EST.
Very well, I will change it to 5PM EST Saturday 1/9/09.
That time unfortunately leaves me out. Too late for me :(. Can you not make it at least 5PM EST? 5PM would be 00:00 for me but I think I can endure the wish to sleep and play.
Let me know.
LE
From the feedback I've been given, it looks like Saturday evening is the best fit that doesn't conflict to badly with other PREs.
So the 1st Blackblade Singleton PRE will be Saturday 1/9/09 6PM EST.
I will be taking registrations 1/2 hour beforehand and run the event in a room named "blackblade"
Sounds like an interesting format, I'll have to look at some deck possibilites. I'd rather not do the 3pm on Saturday due to Shard's tribal event.
Okay, I just came accross two really silly cards. Abundance and Recross the Paths. Basically you reveal cards from the top of your library with both cards until you find a land card. Then you take that land into your hand (or put into play) and put the rest of the cards on the bottom of your library in ANY ORDER!
Now, imagine a deck without any lands please... You basically reveal all the cards in your library and then re-order it the way you want. Like, this turn I get me my Akroma, the next turn my other silly fatty and then I get me my Flickerwisp.
Neither Abundance nor Recross the Paths will win you the game on their own, but as I sad, they're just silly cards. Oh and with Abundance you can do that every turn and with Recross the Paths you can do that also more than once assuming you win the clash each time.
LE
This sounds like a really promising format, could be a lot of fun. Saturday would probably work best for me, monday night would be the one night I definitely couldn't make. Sunday at 3 would conflict with Chaos, another player run event I like to go to.
This is a really cool format idea. I hope it takes off.