Flame-Kin Zealot ramps up the deck a lot. You want to win that much quicker. The original point of this deck was to win quickly and consistently. You only need one mana to play this deck, in classic you don't even use mana. The deck is made to aggressively mulligain for a good/great opening hand. All you need is a Putrid Imp, a land, dredge card, and Breakthrough or Careful Study (preferrably Breakthrough). You discard the dredge card at opponents EOT and dredge it on your draw step. Then you play Breakthrough on your main, continuously dredging until your library is near empty (Hopefully you hit a lot of Trolls). Playing Dread Return to sac your Narcs and bringing back Zealot to attack for the win. I haven't really updated my main list in about 2 months, maybe 3 but! here it is.
This to me, should stay a true graveyard deck. You want everything in your graveyard. You don't want to pay 5 mana to play a one creature, 4 mana to play another. You want to play everything for 'free'. Tolarian Winds? Too slow for this deck and yes, I know it's 2 mana. Great card but, just not needed for this deck. Take from this what you want. Just thought I'd add my 2 cents to my favorite deck.
I really liked your changes you made . I liked the way you explianed the way certain cards in your deck work. The best tip also on expanding the graveyard view window ,I have been playing a dredge type deck and the cards are almost impossible to read when you get them stacked up. Thanks
Maybe its just me, but every time i have cast return on a grave troll, it has just died upon coming into play (and yes, there were other creatures in the 'yard) Have they fixed this bug???
Wonderful article! You've gotten me so interested in the deck that I think I'll throw it together and give it a few runs online. I hope to be able to read more articles like this in the future.
I liked your article. The two creatures you mention with champion seems to me to be pimped out versions of Faceless Butchers, for the same costs,I mean yes you have to remove your own creature but how many times have you used the Butcher just to have your opponent Wrath or Damnation and they have a creature. I think they will be fun to play.
Why would you play a playset of Crib Swap and Neck Snap over Oblivion Ring? Oblivion Ring is nuts, Crib Swap is good, and Neck Snap is terrible. Four Thoughtweft Trio is too many. You don't want an opening hand with 2 or 3 of them and no other Kithkin. Also, where is Meadowgrain Knight?
My biggest 'huh?' moment is that they duplicated the mistake they admitted to about Threshhold. They've said that if they could go back and do it again they'd make it say "Threshhold 7" so that there could be other Threshhold triggers like threshhold 30, or whatnot. But then they make another keyword that has a number built into it instead of Hideway 4.
If they put the number in there they could play around more with balance, like the make the 7 damage card dig deeper since that's a pretty hefty requirement.
is it just me or does hideaway remind anyone of "sweep". a keyword they said was a mistake cause its only on a couple cards and shouldnt have been keyworded? changelings seem cool for Lorwyn block, but between them and the creature type makeover tribal loses alot of its fun IMO.
Article was good but I think your assessment of Changling was off. It will see play in may casual tribal decks that are looking to make some of the under represented tribes a little more consistant.
Since Changeling is available in every color, and in non-creature Tribal cards as well, you should expect to see in in quite a few classic based tribes.
Yeah, that is my take on WotC, they just have spurts of idea drought that make for really strange mechanics at times. My opinion is, keywords should encompass a broad generalization of an ability that any creature could have, and fills a game niche. But we know what opinions are like... heh
Thanks for writing this article. As I never really had time to draft with Ravnice block, this has helped me figure out which cards are worth investing in and which ones can be ignored, so to speak. I'm not even sure I knew Mistral Charger existed...
Thanks for writing this article. As I never really had time to draft with Ravnice block, this has helped me figure out which cards are worth investing in and which ones can be ignored, so to speak. I'm not even sure I knew Mistral Charger existed...
Thanks for writing this article. As I never really had time to draft with Ravnice block, this has helped me figure out which cards are worth investing in and which ones can be ignored, so to speak. I'm not even sure I knew Mistral Charger existed...
Good article. On Champion, however, the closest parallel is not Offering but Wormfang Drake, of the Judgement line of red and blue Nightmares that gave you a cheap creature for the cost of losing a resource. Wormfang Darke could read Champion a Creature, Flying as its sole rules text.
Thanks Heath! (Both for providing the raw stats and for the feedback)!
I've always wondered what happened to prices and why suddenly some cards creep up. Comparing these price moves against Swimming with Sharks on WotC's homepage seems to show the cause/effect for many of them. I'm still confused about a couple cards that went up, but that's just some food for thought I guess. :)
Great article! I love your deck and the ideas around it. I thought you did an excellent job by looking into other options for the deck and presenting ways to adjust it to fit different formats.
I like the idea of putting in Kiki-Jiki and Doubling Season. I think I'll throw something together and give it a spin. I'll let you know how things pan out!
Flame-Kin Zealot ramps up the deck a lot. You want to win that much quicker. The original point of this deck was to win quickly and consistently. You only need one mana to play this deck, in classic you don't even use mana. The deck is made to aggressively mulligain for a good/great opening hand. All you need is a Putrid Imp, a land, dredge card, and Breakthrough or Careful Study (preferrably Breakthrough). You discard the dredge card at opponents EOT and dredge it on your draw step. Then you play Breakthrough on your main, continuously dredging until your library is near empty (Hopefully you hit a lot of Trolls). Playing Dread Return to sac your Narcs and bringing back Zealot to attack for the win. I haven't really updated my main list in about 2 months, maybe 3 but! here it is.
4 Polluted Delta
4 Watery Grave
1 Cephalid Coliseum
4 Ichorid
4 Putrid Imp
4 Street Wraith
4 Narcomoeba
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
2 Golgari Thug
2 Flame-Kin Zealot
2 Wonder
2 Cephalid Sage
2 Hapless Researcher
4 Careful Study
4 Breakthrough
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Dread Return
4 Bridge from Below
This to me, should stay a true graveyard deck. You want everything in your graveyard. You don't want to pay 5 mana to play a one creature, 4 mana to play another. You want to play everything for 'free'. Tolarian Winds? Too slow for this deck and yes, I know it's 2 mana. Great card but, just not needed for this deck. Take from this what you want. Just thought I'd add my 2 cents to my favorite deck.
yes they have fixed that bug. For a couple of weeks now if I remember correctly.
I really liked your changes you made . I liked the way you explianed the way certain cards in your deck work. The best tip also on expanding the graveyard view window ,I have been playing a dredge type deck and the cards are almost impossible to read when you get them stacked up. Thanks
I've got to ask, when was the last time Vampiric Tutor sold for 32? Shouldn't it and Flash be leading the price drops?
I really enjoyed reading the changes you made to the zealot version. It makes much more sense, and is more consistent to return the troll.
thank you regeneration and cabal therapy. I will be looking forward to your next constructed article. You got style!
Maybe its just me, but every time i have cast return on a grave troll, it has just died upon coming into play (and yes, there were other creatures in the 'yard) Have they fixed this bug???
Wonderful article! You've gotten me so interested in the deck that I think I'll throw it together and give it a few runs online. I hope to be able to read more articles like this in the future.
I liked your article. The two creatures you mention with champion seems to me to be pimped out versions of Faceless Butchers, for the same costs,I mean yes you have to remove your own creature but how many times have you used the Butcher just to have your opponent Wrath or Damnation and they have a creature. I think they will be fun to play.
Why would you play a playset of Crib Swap and Neck Snap over Oblivion Ring? Oblivion Ring is nuts, Crib Swap is good, and Neck Snap is terrible. Four Thoughtweft Trio is too many. You don't want an opening hand with 2 or 3 of them and no other Kithkin. Also, where is Meadowgrain Knight?
CHANGILING!!!
My biggest 'huh?' moment is that they duplicated the mistake they admitted to about Threshhold. They've said that if they could go back and do it again they'd make it say "Threshhold 7" so that there could be other Threshhold triggers like threshhold 30, or whatnot. But then they make another keyword that has a number built into it instead of Hideway 4.
If they put the number in there they could play around more with balance, like the make the 7 damage card dig deeper since that's a pretty hefty requirement.
Good article though! Keep up the good work! :)
~Erik
Not really because Sweep is possibly the weakest mechanic ever on the weakest cards. Hideaway is kinda meh but seems much more playable.
Also we miught see more in Morning Tide etc.
is it just me or does hideaway remind anyone of "sweep". a keyword they said was a mistake cause its only on a couple cards and shouldnt have been keyworded? changelings seem cool for Lorwyn block, but between them and the creature type makeover tribal loses alot of its fun IMO.
Article was good but I think your assessment of Changling was off. It will see play in may casual tribal decks that are looking to make some of the under represented tribes a little more consistant.
Since Changeling is available in every color, and in non-creature Tribal cards as well, you should expect to see in in quite a few classic based tribes.
Yeah, that is my take on WotC, they just have spurts of idea drought that make for really strange mechanics at times. My opinion is, keywords should encompass a broad generalization of an ability that any creature could have, and fills a game niche. But we know what opinions are like... heh
In any case, nice article, well worth the read.
Thanks for writing this article. As I never really had time to draft with Ravnice block, this has helped me figure out which cards are worth investing in and which ones can be ignored, so to speak. I'm not even sure I knew Mistral Charger existed...
Thanks for writing this article. As I never really had time to draft with Ravnice block, this has helped me figure out which cards are worth investing in and which ones can be ignored, so to speak. I'm not even sure I knew Mistral Charger existed...
Thanks for writing this article. As I never really had time to draft with Ravnice block, this has helped me figure out which cards are worth investing in and which ones can be ignored, so to speak. I'm not even sure I knew Mistral Charger existed...
Great Job (again) Hammy. It's nice to stay up to date on issues when you can't get to the boards. Tis much appreciated.
I just added the price per rare chart for the past few months. Some interesting data, for sure.
~Erik
Good article. On Champion, however, the closest parallel is not Offering but Wormfang Drake, of the Judgement line of red and blue Nightmares that gave you a cheap creature for the cost of losing a resource. Wormfang Darke could read Champion a Creature, Flying as its sole rules text.
Alos, another Worlds QT Tourney got hosed last night. That marks two of them so far, and we're not even to the weekend yet...
Things aren't looking good. :(
Hey hammy
Great work as always.
Thanks Heath! (Both for providing the raw stats and for the feedback)!
I've always wondered what happened to prices and why suddenly some cards creep up. Comparing these price moves against Swimming with Sharks on WotC's homepage seems to show the cause/effect for many of them. I'm still confused about a couple cards that went up, but that's just some food for thought I guess. :)
~Erik
Great article! I love your deck and the ideas around it. I thought you did an excellent job by looking into other options for the deck and presenting ways to adjust it to fit different formats.
I like the idea of putting in Kiki-Jiki and Doubling Season. I think I'll throw something together and give it a spin. I'll let you know how things pan out!