Thanks for the feed back, I'm going to be working on the deck layout for my next article. I've been hella busy this week (midtermsa, final projects, getting ready for a conference, and general grad-schooliness).
Erman- I would write more about PDC standard, exceptI don't get to play it ever, and I don't feel comfortable talking about it. However, there is a clan site, Princes of Pauper, that do fantastic Standard PDC analysis.
Jinx- I think TSP Block would be a fantastic event, but currently no one runs an event. =(
I was actually unaware of the format. Your articles have left me well informed. I would now like to try out some PDC TSP Block play. See if I can come up with anything crazy in what is the most restricted format that people actually play at the moment :D.
Although I'm not a dedicated PDC player such as you, I like playing it from time to time. And when I now need some information about the meta-game, deck ideas or such, I know where to look thanks to you! By the way I couldn't disagree with the others; please make your decklists more reader-friendly by separeting lands and creatures and other spells, so we can read it easier. And finally I would also like to read some stuff about Standard PDC. Thanks...
I really enjoy reading your articles, and I really like to see an almost monogreen deck win again.
I still have that one monogreen-combodeck.. ah, fond memories.
The only downside, I really would like to see your decklists in tables, they are a bit hard to read at the moment.
Hey Alex, I've fixed the problem why the borders on your cards aernt working well. Please edit your article and relink them, thanks! Sorry for the inconvieniance!
After 3 1/2 years of PDC existence - I am happy to see excellent articles on PDC tech and the meta game. Thank you and kudos to SpikeBoyM on writing/posting this article.
I like control decks. Call me nuts but I actually play nothing else than control decks(exception-Tribal Wars). And thus, your deck is just my type of deck. As I always do, I will express respectfully my humble opinions. You say that you conceded a few games after countless mulligans. May it be because your avarage mana cost is 3.63(yes I calculated it!) and 22 lands for such an avarage cost is a little bit less? I humbly suggest that you let go of some of the 2 of's in your deck and add at least 1 or 2 lands more. One final thing I see is that (as you also say) you have to have Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in front of you to start the carnage. Even though you have enough mana fetching green cards in deck, I would have added a second copy to the deck if I were you, just in case(Ghost Quarter might be one). These are all I can say about the deck. The general layout of the article is nice, it was wise that you divided the article into sections and thus I don't get lost in the article and I can find my way easily from the beginning to the end. The only comment I have is to be more careful with the auto-cardings; some in your article didn't work. As I said, a deck of my taste and keep it up.
Exactly man! I am suffering because of your strange decks for 10 years man. 10 years.
Every time I built a new deck which I thought was a killer he had something to block it up and beat it. I do not test my decks with him anymore. Because even I build the killer, he always has some strange things to overcome the combos I cast. For me MTGO means you buddy, for I can find no stronger rivals around. Take care. See you around.
I'm a huge fan of mono-black, and try to this day to find ways to make it viable even in extended. It's very true that mono-black can wreck house in casual settings but in serious settings I continue to see them falter. I'd love to see something like mono-black aggro running off of bad moon or something take off, but it hasn't happened yet as far as I can tell. When I first saw the card Damnation I had hoped that this might bring hope to the monoblack necromancer but until I acquire it myself I will need to watch for its potential from the sidelines.
P.S. I loved the vanguard deck you listed. (while you didn't make the deck initially yourself as you stated,) It gives me a reason to consider getting that avatar for a few rounds of fun.
I too consider myself a johnny-spike. I lean a bit more to the spike but in that I think that the innovative nature of the johnny within me and the advantage given from playing decks off the beaten path do indeed feed the spike-ish lust for the win. By taking advantage of the known metagame and coming in with something fresh and unexpected, you may in turn create the next power deck yourself that all the hard-line spikes follow. To me, that is a wonderful satisfaction.
Lord erman always has the right approach - its a game, folks...treat it that way! A fun deck doesn't need to win when you realize that fun can be defined in so many different ways! Challange me any time, dear friend!
A very entertaining article as well as informative. I especially enjoyed the personal insights into your thought processes as you build decks. Also, I was familiar with the Timmy/Johnny/Spike terms in general ,but I hadn't seen wizards definitions. So, I learned a little something there too.
Very nice read. Some players may read this and even learn a thing or two about themselves. I myself am also a Johnny/Spike though I like to lean more towards Spike when it comes to constructed tourney time. Other than that, most of my .dec files are rogue decks like the one you posted here. I'd like to challenge you with my Flicker Mage deck in standard sometime :D.
Thanks you all for your kind words guys. I still didn't finish my "learning curve" in this and all I can promise is that my articles will get better each time. And about the deck; I have chosen an old one with a purpose. I wanted to focus everyone to the deck building process rather than the deck itself. If I have posted a newer deck, comments would have been like "add this or drop that". This time, I wanted to avoid it.
I like the article. Even though a few sets have comeout. A few cards come to mind when I see this deck. Vampiric link, body double, and prolly a strong card...retether. People are saying retether will never be its older cousin Replenish, but I think retether has some good chances. Im interested in seeing someone break it since Replenish was probably my favorote type 2 deck ever.
As far as what I am..I would have to say Johnny/Timmy with a splach of Spike for flavor. But more emphisis on Johnny. Kind of like a MTG mixed drink.
Great article dude, love the use of graphics, and great job on general layout, its clean and nice to look at. I'm a rogue deck builder too, lol, and I've been making soo much rogue decks, i've got liek 300+ decks on MTGO alone, maybe only 20 good ones, and you should put in that article somewhere, that a rogue deck builder usually fails, but with some perseverance you can make some insanely good decks, that catch people outta no where and be liek WHAM, over. hehe.
a good read. i'm curious as to what everyones type is now. by those definitions i guess i'd be a johnny/timmy building decks is what i enjoy most trying to make one for each format and being able to play with more of my cards. however more of those decks are themed and for fun not to impress people with how smart or clever it is. thats not to say i dont play to win or run std decks for the fab prizes just that thats where i have the most fun. and i have a bunch of articles coming your way along those lines... if i ever get out of here. closing 21 yuk. a week in the field and 2 in hebron. but lots of time guarding means lots of time to think so when I do get out i have some fun ones for you. (reading articles/writing comments on a cell phone equals carpotunnel)
Ok yeah I know you're tired of hearing this about Groundbreaker but I think it is a good choice whether in small numbers or a full set. The thing about it is the usefulness versus decks like Dralnu and UW control and Tron, it deals massive amounts of damage quicker than most anything else in the deck. Im not saying it is indeed better that Timbermare, infact I think have both in the deck would be amazing. I played my version on MWS for quite a bit now and its kewl when you have Scryb force on the table, drop a timbermare tap everything, use scryb to untap force then drop a Groundbreaker... its sick. And although it seems pretty far fetched to have that kind of set-up it really isn't, infact that set up was made after two WoG drops..
I like it, especially since you plainly stated that you chose not to use Rav. duals because of their price although I think they are sorely needed. I'm skeptical about the life loss from them being a concern in a deck with so much life gain. Weird that one Expanse makes the dual lands "bad".
Over the course of 50+ games you must have a matchup analysis and sideboard strategy. That kind of information would be great to hear before I built this deck. What is CoP Black for? Very sad that you did not include Sunforger, its a pet card of mine. Sunforger + Keep is great fun.
"but not a lot of the truly great decks these days (or in years past) are combo decks. "
I have a bit of trouble with that statement. Wasn't there a period of magic called "Combo Winter"? isn't Dragonstorm enough of a meta contender to warrant sideboard cards? Solidarity and Grimlong are staples in Legacy. Heartbeat did well last season in both STD and EXT, and TEPS isn't that bad in Extended. Combo is one of the 3 pillars of the magic meta. Without combo, the magic experience wouldn't be as interesting or diverse.
It does seem to really mimic the Firemane Control decks from when TSP was FIRST released... only difference to me seems to be in the focus of a searing meditation combo over straight Firemane Beats..
Extirpate from PC. I would recommend this over Hide/ Seek. It still allows you to pull Dralnu and Teferi, but allows you to find and remove 4 counters as well. I currently play UR, and this surprised me in how devastating the card can be used properly.
Thanks for the feed back, I'm going to be working on the deck layout for my next article. I've been hella busy this week (midtermsa, final projects, getting ready for a conference, and general grad-schooliness).
Erman- I would write more about PDC standard, exceptI don't get to play it ever, and I don't feel comfortable talking about it. However, there is a clan site, Princes of Pauper, that do fantastic Standard PDC analysis.
Jinx- I think TSP Block would be a fantastic event, but currently no one runs an event. =(
I was actually unaware of the format. Your articles have left me well informed. I would now like to try out some PDC TSP Block play. See if I can come up with anything crazy in what is the most restricted format that people actually play at the moment :D.
Although I'm not a dedicated PDC player such as you, I like playing it from time to time. And when I now need some information about the meta-game, deck ideas or such, I know where to look thanks to you! By the way I couldn't disagree with the others; please make your decklists more reader-friendly by separeting lands and creatures and other spells, so we can read it easier. And finally I would also like to read some stuff about Standard PDC. Thanks...
When you go to the next line by hitting enter make sure to hold shift that way it won't double space... Great article though, very fun read.
I really enjoy reading your articles, and I really like to see an almost monogreen deck win again.
I still have that one monogreen-combodeck.. ah, fond memories.
The only downside, I really would like to see your decklists in tables, they are a bit hard to read at the moment.
Nice article! You should try compressing your decklists by using tables to spread them out horizontally.
Hey Alex, I've fixed the problem why the borders on your cards aernt working well. Please edit your article and relink them, thanks! Sorry for the inconvieniance!
After 3 1/2 years of PDC existence - I am happy to see excellent articles on PDC tech and the meta game. Thank you and kudos to SpikeBoyM on writing/posting this article.
Regards
Tharionwind of MTGO
"The Commoner"
I like control decks. Call me nuts but I actually play nothing else than control decks(exception-Tribal Wars). And thus, your deck is just my type of deck. As I always do, I will express respectfully my humble opinions. You say that you conceded a few games after countless mulligans. May it be because your avarage mana cost is 3.63(yes I calculated it!) and 22 lands for such an avarage cost is a little bit less? I humbly suggest that you let go of some of the 2 of's in your deck and add at least 1 or 2 lands more. One final thing I see is that (as you also say) you have to have Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in front of you to start the carnage. Even though you have enough mana fetching green cards in deck, I would have added a second copy to the deck if I were you, just in case(Ghost Quarter might be one). These are all I can say about the deck. The general layout of the article is nice, it was wise that you divided the article into sections and thus I don't get lost in the article and I can find my way easily from the beginning to the end. The only comment I have is to be more careful with the auto-cardings; some in your article didn't work. As I said, a deck of my taste and keep it up.
Exactly man! I am suffering because of your strange decks for 10 years man. 10 years.
Every time I built a new deck which I thought was a killer he had something to block it up and beat it. I do not test my decks with him anymore. Because even I build the killer, he always has some strange things to overcome the combos I cast. For me MTGO means you buddy, for I can find no stronger rivals around. Take care. See you around.
I'm a huge fan of mono-black, and try to this day to find ways to make it viable even in extended. It's very true that mono-black can wreck house in casual settings but in serious settings I continue to see them falter. I'd love to see something like mono-black aggro running off of bad moon or something take off, but it hasn't happened yet as far as I can tell. When I first saw the card Damnation I had hoped that this might bring hope to the monoblack necromancer but until I acquire it myself I will need to watch for its potential from the sidelines.
P.S. I loved the vanguard deck you listed. (while you didn't make the deck initially yourself as you stated,) It gives me a reason to consider getting that avatar for a few rounds of fun.
I too consider myself a johnny-spike. I lean a bit more to the spike but in that I think that the innovative nature of the johnny within me and the advantage given from playing decks off the beaten path do indeed feed the spike-ish lust for the win. By taking advantage of the known metagame and coming in with something fresh and unexpected, you may in turn create the next power deck yourself that all the hard-line spikes follow. To me, that is a wonderful satisfaction.
Lord erman always has the right approach - its a game, folks...treat it that way! A fun deck doesn't need to win when you realize that fun can be defined in so many different ways! Challange me any time, dear friend!
Snow lands are required to use the activated ability of Mouth of Ronom
A very entertaining article as well as informative. I especially enjoyed the personal insights into your thought processes as you build decks. Also, I was familiar with the Timmy/Johnny/Spike terms in general ,but I hadn't seen wizards definitions. So, I learned a little something there too.
Very nice read. Some players may read this and even learn a thing or two about themselves. I myself am also a Johnny/Spike though I like to lean more towards Spike when it comes to constructed tourney time. Other than that, most of my .dec files are rogue decks like the one you posted here. I'd like to challenge you with my Flicker Mage deck in standard sometime :D.
Thanks you all for your kind words guys. I still didn't finish my "learning curve" in this and all I can promise is that my articles will get better each time. And about the deck; I have chosen an old one with a purpose. I wanted to focus everyone to the deck building process rather than the deck itself. If I have posted a newer deck, comments would have been like "add this or drop that". This time, I wanted to avoid it.
Ok..as you can see in my post...Hewked en fonix werked fur me!
I like the article. Even though a few sets have comeout. A few cards come to mind when I see this deck. Vampiric link, body double, and prolly a strong card...retether. People are saying retether will never be its older cousin Replenish, but I think retether has some good chances. Im interested in seeing someone break it since Replenish was probably my favorote type 2 deck ever.
As far as what I am..I would have to say Johnny/Timmy with a splach of Spike for flavor. But more emphisis on Johnny. Kind of like a MTG mixed drink.
Great article dude, love the use of graphics, and great job on general layout, its clean and nice to look at. I'm a rogue deck builder too, lol, and I've been making soo much rogue decks, i've got liek 300+ decks on MTGO alone, maybe only 20 good ones, and you should put in that article somewhere, that a rogue deck builder usually fails, but with some perseverance you can make some insanely good decks, that catch people outta no where and be liek WHAM, over. hehe.
a good read. i'm curious as to what everyones type is now. by those definitions i guess i'd be a johnny/timmy building decks is what i enjoy most trying to make one for each format and being able to play with more of my cards. however more of those decks are themed and for fun not to impress people with how smart or clever it is. thats not to say i dont play to win or run std decks for the fab prizes just that thats where i have the most fun. and i have a bunch of articles coming your way along those lines... if i ever get out of here. closing 21 yuk. a week in the field and 2 in hebron. but lots of time guarding means lots of time to think so when I do get out i have some fun ones for you. (reading articles/writing comments on a cell phone equals carpotunnel)
Ok yeah I know you're tired of hearing this about Groundbreaker but I think it is a good choice whether in small numbers or a full set. The thing about it is the usefulness versus decks like Dralnu and UW control and Tron, it deals massive amounts of damage quicker than most anything else in the deck. Im not saying it is indeed better that Timbermare, infact I think have both in the deck would be amazing. I played my version on MWS for quite a bit now and its kewl when you have Scryb force on the table, drop a timbermare tap everything, use scryb to untap force then drop a Groundbreaker... its sick. And although it seems pretty far fetched to have that kind of set-up it really isn't, infact that set up was made after two WoG drops..
I like it, especially since you plainly stated that you chose not to use Rav. duals because of their price although I think they are sorely needed. I'm skeptical about the life loss from them being a concern in a deck with so much life gain. Weird that one Expanse makes the dual lands "bad".
Over the course of 50+ games you must have a matchup analysis and sideboard strategy. That kind of information would be great to hear before I built this deck. What is CoP Black for? Very sad that you did not include Sunforger, its a pet card of mine. Sunforger + Keep is great fun.
"but not a lot of the truly great decks these days (or in years past) are combo decks. "
I have a bit of trouble with that statement. Wasn't there a period of magic called "Combo Winter"? isn't Dragonstorm enough of a meta contender to warrant sideboard cards? Solidarity and Grimlong are staples in Legacy. Heartbeat did well last season in both STD and EXT, and TEPS isn't that bad in Extended. Combo is one of the 3 pillars of the magic meta. Without combo, the magic experience wouldn't be as interesting or diverse.
It does seem to really mimic the Firemane Control decks from when TSP was FIRST released... only difference to me seems to be in the focus of a searing meditation combo over straight Firemane Beats..
Extirpate from PC. I would recommend this over Hide/ Seek. It still allows you to pull Dralnu and Teferi, but allows you to find and remove 4 counters as well. I currently play UR, and this surprised me in how devastating the card can be used properly.