I have played around with the naya ziggaraut, and i just don't see how it has placed at all... I mean it looks and seems like it is fast. But if you get bad luck and don't draw 1 color of lands it seems like your pretty much screwed. Unless im just having the worst luck on MTGO cause i have played and played and like 2 out of every 4 games i don't draw one color land i need and i just loose.
Can't a similar SotF-type deck be made with Tourtured Existence instead? Sure you cannot tutor for the cards, but you can dump 3 creatures in the GY (Buried Alive) and cycle them as needed...Cephalid Inkshrouder; Nether Shadow; Phage, the Untouchable.
Might seems lacklustre when compared to Sigil Blessing which is already on colour, better in "stalls" and you dont have to bend over backwards with your mana base.
Ive been running versions similar to the bloodhall ooze deck you list above and the Blessing has been really good in the various naya mirrors.
Call to heel is pretty interesting for the control matchups, allowing you to fully extend without having to worry too much about a coup blowing you out. However ranger is the only interesting target for it currently (the new hasty elf coming in reborn could be another).
It's not the most competitive deck, but it is as advertised quite fun. Basically the deck was part of exploring Ancient Ziggurat -- how good is the land really? Turns out almost any hand with Ziggurat is going to be able to play just about whatever it wants. The ability to use Knight of the Reliquary to fetch the land simply regulates your mana so that you can play the best threats in the environment.
This article is mostly my voyage in testing the aggressive boundaries of the format. Ranger of Eos and Ancient Ziggurat both seemed insane in decks looking to brawl and so I set out to find if either could be exploited more than they currently were. Certainly Ranger of Eos has found a home in the format, but Ancient Ziggurat still seems to be sitting on the sidelines. Deep down I feel there has to be a way to take advantage of the mana fixing power of the ole Babylonian temple.
I thourouly enjoyed this. It reminded me of my Ptq days back in that rediculos ext format with cereal. My personal favorite was Fruity Peppels but Trix got me more wins.
Hey I like the deck and started play testing, this weekend.
My concern is running up against fast aggro, namely Kithkin, Mono-red and fast elves.
Has anyone run up against them and what were the results, what was your side boarding strategy?
Was thinking Finks could be a speed bump and life gain until the big stuff comes online.
Thoughts?
yes sure, but also the hellion's pump needs a big creature to be a 1 turn kill because of the +1/-1 ... so with an hellkite,you could only take 7 pump instead of 11 with a dreadnought, that is why i thought you could make 15/1 trample for free, to which you could add the hellite pump with red as well to be leathal.
But my reasonning is also bad, because i forgot that Hellion is giving Haste too : the Hellkite haste ability is totaly useless if i dont have mistaken. So hellkite is flying and this would be its only advantage to be played instead of dreadnought we already can play... and it is probably not enough.
Btw, Volrath shapeshifter could be UU1 Sharuum wich could be pretty relevant in order to be played with the futher Time Sieve, isnt it ? :)
Wow, what is the manabase like on that last one? 9 green sources in a 60 card deck for first-turn Wild Nacatl/Noble Hierarch seems low. And Turn 3/4 Rafiq looks pretty unlikely. Does it play better than it looks?
Love this series, I've seen your boros dec in action and its fun to watch.
One thing I've noticed playing around in k-scope, until a viable control deck is put together a lot of people are paying way too much for their manabases. The deck I'm playing with right now is BR Blightning aggro and I love it whenever somebody pays 2 life for their mana! Do my work for me thanx! With a paucity of 1 drops, I think the shocklands and the painlands are being way overused.
There is nothing written in stone that every article needs to be geared towards competitive magic. This article shines in that it gives a bit of the history of magic (i never knew about the cereal decks) and ut shows a viable combo. Just thinking about how the combo can make a player better. It shows that that its not the person who thinks linearly that is going to be the most successful. It is the person who can think outside the box.
Honestly, i didnt know at all decks you described, for a simple reason : i did a loooong break with competitve mtg world between mirage set to last september ... So i am playing classic as well, but i need to learn a lot and your article helps a lot for that. I love the concept you explained and i have to admit that i am really impatient to try oath & survival with the futher exodus release. I played with these powerful enchantment, but in a casual environment which it totaly different.
Maybe to complete your article it would be interesting to focus on possibilities to abuse of survival/shapeshifter combo nowadays.
My first though was about progenitus, but it is pretty impossible because progenitus cant be in a graveyard in any way. Something with Hellkite Overlord sounds great : firstly you could use the hellion effect as well, the creature has already haste and could be pumped with mana (a LED could be useful for that). Maybe with some berserck to be sure ^^
Another application could be with Maelstrom Angel : to put it in the gy @ opponent's EoT, then attck with it in order to play a powerfull card you got in hand with survival ... Blaze Archon should be nice also in a prison deck.
Which creatures would you play in this combo today ?
i think he was talking about volrath shapeshifter & hellion come back... even if you cannot play the combo right now because of the lack of Survival, but it is not so premature to evoke it now in order to show to some players (as i am) how to abuse of shapeshifter and how a great combo was build around the Hellion which is pretty irrelevant on the first view. All in all, you could play the combo with additional auto-discarding stuff instead of using Survival (LED ?). All that being said, i dont see it really powerful in a comptetitive view, but that remains interesting to me.
Either I did not get it or this seemed a bit (a huge bit) premature. After all, without SotF FEB aint a deck and Trix aint without Donate. Guess that is the reason why we don't even get a decklist ?
So what actually is back ? The smell of combo on the horizon ?
Sorry, this was more confusing than interesting for my liking.
I tried pulling some similar shenanigans with (Skill Borrower). But I paired it with Brainstorm, not SotF, and it didn't work too well. I'm surprised the rules engine handles these cards perfectly. Anyways, thanks for the history of the cereal.
The problem with that is that the MTGO powers that be have acknowledged that this is a bug and it will get fixed, so that noone can see anyone's ratings anywhere in the client.
I've removed some of the squishy formatting of this, since it was annoying me too. Hopefully others will find it easier to read. Thanks for the heads up.
The pridemage will also fit right into slivers imo, pumping an early attacker and then providing some utility later on. Tortured Existence seems a bit over rated. Graveyard focused decks are missing the key win condition that would move them beyond interesting into competitive and being able to fight through hate.
In general, I think the pauper environment will rarely shift very much, unless there is a number of bannings. Affinity and slivers are the most powerful modular mechanic available, and both work well in pauper. Mono Red burn provides a certain benchmark as well that has to be acknowledged. Mono Black and mono blue cover the control end of the spectrum. The storm combo decks have their place too. All decks constructed that hope to be competitive have to take these archtypes into account. This provides a certain amount of deck space to explore, and I just can't see how things will be shaken up drastically without a significant number of bannings.
Now, if pauper is to be seen as a cheap way to break into constructed, and then you are to move onto newer environments that change and shift with regular rotations of sets, then nothing needs to be done. I've enjoyed getting into pauper, and I expect it to remain a fairly healthy, if stable, format.
I love all Pauper articles, but the font and spacing in this article hurt my eyes. It took me at least twice as long to read as it otherwise could have.
Your insight on underused cards is always interesting.
i like the ramp deck it will get a good addition in maelstrom
I have played around with the naya ziggaraut, and i just don't see how it has placed at all... I mean it looks and seems like it is fast. But if you get bad luck and don't draw 1 color of lands it seems like your pretty much screwed. Unless im just having the worst luck on MTGO cause i have played and played and like 2 out of every 4 games i don't draw one color land i need and i just loose.
Can I get a link to / copy of Barclay's tournament report? I remember reading it years ago and it was awesome.
Can't a similar SotF-type deck be made with Tourtured Existence instead? Sure you cannot tutor for the cards, but you can dump 3 creatures in the GY (Buried Alive) and cycle them as needed...Cephalid Inkshrouder; Nether Shadow; Phage, the Untouchable.
Great Article, by the way....
thanx for the F2 tip I never bothered to learn the hotkeys only ones I know is F6 and F7.
Might seems lacklustre when compared to Sigil Blessing which is already on colour, better in "stalls" and you dont have to bend over backwards with your mana base.
Ive been running versions similar to the bloodhall ooze deck you list above and the Blessing has been really good in the various naya mirrors.
Call to heel is pretty interesting for the control matchups, allowing you to fully extend without having to worry too much about a coup blowing you out. However ranger is the only interesting target for it currently (the new hasty elf coming in reborn could be another).
The kill is Cephalid Inkshrouder and Phage The Untouchable
Unblockable, untargetable creatures that say "you lose" are awesome.
You know you can press F2 instead of clicking OK every time? Just kind of frustrating watching that LOL.
It's not the most competitive deck, but it is as advertised quite fun. Basically the deck was part of exploring Ancient Ziggurat -- how good is the land really? Turns out almost any hand with Ziggurat is going to be able to play just about whatever it wants. The ability to use Knight of the Reliquary to fetch the land simply regulates your mana so that you can play the best threats in the environment.
This article is mostly my voyage in testing the aggressive boundaries of the format. Ranger of Eos and Ancient Ziggurat both seemed insane in decks looking to brawl and so I set out to find if either could be exploited more than they currently were. Certainly Ranger of Eos has found a home in the format, but Ancient Ziggurat still seems to be sitting on the sidelines. Deep down I feel there has to be a way to take advantage of the mana fixing power of the ole Babylonian temple.
I thourouly enjoyed this. It reminded me of my Ptq days back in that rediculos ext format with cereal. My personal favorite was Fruity Peppels but Trix got me more wins.
Hey I like the deck and started play testing, this weekend.
My concern is running up against fast aggro, namely Kithkin, Mono-red and fast elves.
Has anyone run up against them and what were the results, what was your side boarding strategy?
Was thinking Finks could be a speed bump and life gain until the big stuff comes online.
Thoughts?
yes sure, but also the hellion's pump needs a big creature to be a 1 turn kill because of the +1/-1 ... so with an hellkite,you could only take 7 pump instead of 11 with a dreadnought, that is why i thought you could make 15/1 trample for free, to which you could add the hellite pump with red as well to be leathal.
But my reasonning is also bad, because i forgot that Hellion is giving Haste too : the Hellkite haste ability is totaly useless if i dont have mistaken. So hellkite is flying and this would be its only advantage to be played instead of dreadnought we already can play... and it is probably not enough.
Btw, Volrath shapeshifter could be UU1 Sharuum wich could be pretty relevant in order to be played with the futher Time Sieve, isnt it ? :)
Wow, what is the manabase like on that last one? 9 green sources in a 60 card deck for first-turn Wild Nacatl/Noble Hierarch seems low. And Turn 3/4 Rafiq looks pretty unlikely. Does it play better than it looks?
The reason you would put hellion in over hellkite is that the hellion provides free pump activations, while hellkite requires RED to pump.
Love this series, I've seen your boros dec in action and its fun to watch.
One thing I've noticed playing around in k-scope, until a viable control deck is put together a lot of people are paying way too much for their manabases. The deck I'm playing with right now is BR Blightning aggro and I love it whenever somebody pays 2 life for their mana! Do my work for me thanx! With a paucity of 1 drops, I think the shocklands and the painlands are being way overused.
There is nothing written in stone that every article needs to be geared towards competitive magic. This article shines in that it gives a bit of the history of magic (i never knew about the cereal decks) and ut shows a viable combo. Just thinking about how the combo can make a player better. It shows that that its not the person who thinks linearly that is going to be the most successful. It is the person who can think outside the box.
Honestly, i didnt know at all decks you described, for a simple reason : i did a loooong break with competitve mtg world between mirage set to last september ... So i am playing classic as well, but i need to learn a lot and your article helps a lot for that. I love the concept you explained and i have to admit that i am really impatient to try oath & survival with the futher exodus release. I played with these powerful enchantment, but in a casual environment which it totaly different.
Maybe to complete your article it would be interesting to focus on possibilities to abuse of survival/shapeshifter combo nowadays.
My first though was about progenitus, but it is pretty impossible because progenitus cant be in a graveyard in any way. Something with Hellkite Overlord sounds great : firstly you could use the hellion effect as well, the creature has already haste and could be pumped with mana (a LED could be useful for that). Maybe with some berserck to be sure ^^
Another application could be with Maelstrom Angel : to put it in the gy @ opponent's EoT, then attck with it in order to play a powerfull card you got in hand with survival ... Blaze Archon should be nice also in a prison deck.
Which creatures would you play in this combo today ?
i think he was talking about volrath shapeshifter & hellion come back... even if you cannot play the combo right now because of the lack of Survival, but it is not so premature to evoke it now in order to show to some players (as i am) how to abuse of shapeshifter and how a great combo was build around the Hellion which is pretty irrelevant on the first view. All in all, you could play the combo with additional auto-discarding stuff instead of using Survival (LED ?). All that being said, i dont see it really powerful in a comptetitive view, but that remains interesting to me.
Either I did not get it or this seemed a bit (a huge bit) premature. After all, without SotF FEB aint a deck and Trix aint without Donate. Guess that is the reason why we don't even get a decklist ?
So what actually is back ? The smell of combo on the horizon ?
Sorry, this was more confusing than interesting for my liking.
i like that kind of article, ty for that
I tried pulling some similar shenanigans with (Skill Borrower). But I paired it with Brainstorm, not SotF, and it didn't work too well. I'm surprised the rules engine handles these cards perfectly. Anyways, thanks for the history of the cereal.
Donate for M10! please. You just reminded me.
The pridemage will also fit right into slivers imo, pumping an early attacker and then providing some utility later on. Tortured Existence seems a bit over rated. Graveyard focused decks are missing the key win condition that would move them beyond interesting into competitive and being able to fight through hate.
In general, I think the pauper environment will rarely shift very much, unless there is a number of bannings. Affinity and slivers are the most powerful modular mechanic available, and both work well in pauper. Mono Red burn provides a certain benchmark as well that has to be acknowledged. Mono Black and mono blue cover the control end of the spectrum. The storm combo decks have their place too. All decks constructed that hope to be competitive have to take these archtypes into account. This provides a certain amount of deck space to explore, and I just can't see how things will be shaken up drastically without a significant number of bannings.
Now, if pauper is to be seen as a cheap way to break into constructed, and then you are to move onto newer environments that change and shift with regular rotations of sets, then nothing needs to be done. I've enjoyed getting into pauper, and I expect it to remain a fairly healthy, if stable, format.
I love all Pauper articles, but the font and spacing in this article hurt my eyes. It took me at least twice as long to read as it otherwise could have.
Your insight on underused cards is always interesting.