The "echo" of the comment system is funny! In case you don't understand the first time you read a comment, pay the echo cost and read the "echo comment" so you got it :). Anyway... 3 comments of mine got deleted(6 actually with the "echoes") but all I was saying was that this is a good article, solid deck and I want to see/read more from you.
After a quick count, we find that the deck has 17 cards that can produce white mana, 17 for black, 14 for red and 2 colorless. The deck has 21 cards that need white mana, 13 that need black, and 16 that need red. Aside from perhaps droping a Plains for a third Battlefied Forge, I think it hold up.
Thanks for reading my article first of all. And secondly, I strongly encourage you to register with Puremtgo, it hides your IP address, and makes your comments have a face ^^.
Now addressing the question at hand. You simply state that Groundbreaker is "awesome" but provide no warrant. Sure it's a 6 damage creature that does wonders post turn 4 wog, but what advantages does it pose other wise? I never say it's a BAD card, but rather that in this specific deck, I find that Timbermare to be 100% better due to its ability to STAY on the table, and resist removal easier. You say I've switched the deck to aggro/control, but that's completely wrong! Scryb Force is aggro control with its counters and its ability to protect its creatures, this deck is purely aggro. Boros is a fine example. Just because it runs chars and lightning helixes does that make it aggro/control? The answer is quite simply a resounding no. In response to the CoTH (Call of the herd for those who aren't fimilar with the phrase), I agree it's an AMAZING card. In fact, my deck ran 3-4 of them through most of my testing. However, although it doesn't roll to Wrath of God, it doesn't do anything special enough to warrant it. Timbermare, Giant Solifuge, those cards can actually deal damage the turn after a wrath, but CoTH just puts a 3/3 threat on the table, which in this current enviroment of Lightning helixes, Faith's fetters, even Sudden Death, isn't all that great (Case in point, Teferi is a 3/4, it survives an attack from a Herd token, while it rolls to Giant Solifuge). So what I'm trying to say is that this deck's choices reflect the metagame at hand, as is the result of testing, but I sincerely appreciate your feedback!
that just changed the deck completely from being aggro to aggro/control.
Groundbreaker is awesome and so is coth Coth doesnt roll to wog its a 4 of in sb.
I've been wanting to play this online for awhile now, just haven't been lucky enough to pick up the main cards in draft yet...maybe I'll invest in a few of the cards after my next pay check. Great article though and keep it up with the graphics!
The irony of what you recommended that I originally did start with +1 Birds, and +3 Call of the Herds (I have to emphasize the fact I truly believe that Groundbreaker is a very overrated card... I'll take Timbermare of it anyday). However, because of the sheer number of mana accelerators, combined with the low curve (the most expensive thing is Spectral force at 5 mana, and the average curve is only 2.70) 20 lands, 1/3 of the deck is quite perfect for this deck. In terms of your reducing of Spectral Force, Stonewood Invocation, Harmonize, and Might of Old Krosa, the only one that I've been considering lately is the Spectral Force (maybe for another Harmonize?). Harmonzie is essential for surviving the mass removal and coming back with full force, and the bull effects are part of the deck ^^
The visual part of the article is very nicely done, first of all let me tell you that. About the deck; I'm not the expert when it comes to aggro decks, I like playing control most of the time but I have a few suggestions. How about: -1 Spectral Force, -1 S. Invocation, -1 Harmonize, -1 Might of Old Krosa (-4 in total) and +1 land, +1 Birds, +2 Groundbreaker or Call of the Herd(+4 in total). It's just a suggestion, you probably know it better than me :). I really do enjoy your articles by the way.
My comment is pretty much for your opening. Your right, necromancy is one of the (in my opinion) hardest options in MTG. Because everyone knows the power that a necromancer can bring to a table is absolutely devastating, sometimes nearly unbeatable in classic, people truely do want you gone asap. The necromancer is therfore forced to play fast, hit hard, and most importantly decieve his enemy.
I'm sure many of you who've read my previous articles or met me know that I'm a a tournament veteran of over 10 years, every one of those years clear on to this day I've run reanimation decks of various objectives. Reanimator has never been harder to play than it is today what with all the reanimator hate that easily attainable right now and the fact that it fits in almost any deck.
The biggest problem that I've found with people running reanimator now is the lack of diversity, they rely solely on 1 creature/combo and are screwed if it gets destroyed. Anti-blockers like Thorn elemental and anti bounce like Plated Slagwurm are not even thought of even though they can save your backside against blue and white. Eternal Witness is even overlooked despite of the fack that it can virtualy give you a second chance in mid/late game against critter killer decks. People even forget the use of dual lands, not even imagining that they might draw a reanimation intended creature and get screwed on topdecking a reanimation card.
Since this comment is getting long, and i'm about to start ranting (yes about to start lol), I'll end with this, Reanimator decks are not yet gone from tournament play in classic, in fact, they can easily own the format against nearly any deck with the right mind behind them. It's simply a matter of building your deck with diversity, speed, strength, and failsafe in mind.
For anyone that is interested in powerful reanimator decks feel free to contact me on MTGO on the account Rob_Zombie2002 if i'm not there simply leave a message, i'll get back to ya.
Thanks guys for all the comments and to jinx: I really don't know how I missed that card. Thanks for reminding me. I put 2x in each deck after your comment. Thanks!
I've always been a huge fan of black magic >:D Might I suggest placing one or two Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoths in any/all of the mentioned decks? That card has changed my life...well not my life, but most of my opponents! Great job overall.
Ironically, my next article is on mono-black... if I could get off my lazy butt and do all the HTML'ing for the game listing. >.< Great article! The 39 creatures was insane ^^ Totally facebeating!
I still keep my Disks, Tourachs and Racks and play that deck against my wife from time to time!! And what you say is true, Armageddon to WW... ehem... Boom/Bust to Boros Deck Wins is a huge boost it is obvious. I haven't played much standard games in the tourney room recently so I really cannot tell the exact impact of this "boost" but I guess that every Boros Deck Wins player is now experimenting with the new Armageddon.
I like the article about the state of Mono-Black. Back in the Dark Ages of MTG (insert pun here), mono-black/discard was all the rage: Rack, Blacknight, Hymn to Tourach, Nevinyrral's Disk, etc. I get the sneaky suspision that white/red could now be that deck w/ Soltari Priest/Icatian Javelineers/ Savanah Lion, Magus of the Disk, Boom/Bust, etc. Basicly, a Boros Wins build with some mass destruction. Thoughts?
I would gladly sacrifice 3D graphics for even a trivial amount of performance. MTGO is a turn based, strategy game; in my opinion these do not benefit from graphical enhancements beyond what is necessary (although the cards themselves have great art and should be recognized as such). I would much rather the game progressed smoothly and had lightning fast response times. Timing out because your game ran slow is definately not fun.
Thanks for all the comments guys. I see that some of you liked the deck (at least the idea), while some of you don't. What Runeliger said is true; this is a rogue deck and it needs perfection of course. But let me tell you this much; I playtested this deck before writing this article and now after one week, I am still optimistic about the deck although I have had very hard times against Teferi Control, I must admit that. That deck is still number 1. I also experienced "Extirpate Wars" and it was really funny! Whomever used it first, lost the game(because then his Extirpate gets Extirpated and the other player then has 3 more Extirpates in deck for further use). Oh and by the way thejitte, no it is absolutely not an auto-loss against BlinkRiders. LD in TSP Block is not as fast as it is in STD. No Eye of Nowhere on turn 2 here or Stone Rain on turn 3. Best they can come up with is an Avalanche Riders on turn 4(mostly. in some cases before). Yes Boom part of Boom/Bust hurts but if you can Extirpate it or more importantly if you can Extirpate their Momentary Blink, than you'll be fine(not safe but fine). And the one thing that BlinkRiders hates is that the opponent is coming up with more Wall of Roots or Evolution Charms over and over. And I certainly do not agree with you on the Charm. It is very versatile and it does help the deck a lot. Anyway, I guess I should end this "half comment - half article" thing here. Thanks for reading and thanks for your comments, especially when they are constructive.
Land destruction is going to mess you up. I'd imagine that the matchup vs. Blink Riders is almost a auto-loss. Most of your spells have double color requirements and Evolution Charm, although versatile, is not exactly a great mana fixer because it doesn't accelerate.
Decks with similar mana requirements like the old Gifts deck or Solar Flare had good fixers like Kodama's Reach and guild duals and signets to do this. Expanse and Charm are pretty slow.
I think Pure Beatdown in the vein of Cloak Stompy or Frosted Cheerios (the WW Fortify deck) actually are marvelous agains thte blink builds simply because they are so fast. Applying constant pressure to this INCREDIBLY SLOW decks forces them to play from the back foot, which is something they never want to do. In the next two weeks, I predict a large number of fast and resilinat decks such as those mentioned above, and the old machine head of Affinty rearing it's shiny head.
A good idea, but there's one thing I'd like to go over a few points about the deck that could use some updating
(Disclaimer!: by no means am I an expert in this format, and yes I do understand it's a rogue deck)
In the current enviroment, where Teferi control has been called the #1 deck in the format (without much debate in some cases), and decks like UB floating around, I see two issues.
First is the idea of resolving the dragon. I understand that this deck is quite rogue, and as such you have the advantage of knowing a lot more about what your deck can produce than your opponent, however, that said, resolving the dragon will still prove difficult at times (and its an essential card to your win game strategy).
Secondly, it's your only win game strategy. Preboard, unless you beatdown with voidstone 7 times (and even that being the only possible way for you to win), you need to have your dragon online at all times. So if a deck were to run extirpate....... I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. What I would recommend is some threat variation, or at least another win condition (Scryb and Force has a good one in Spectral Force... *hint hint*)
One last comment I would like to make is in regards to Gaea's blessing. Having tried running this deck, I've found that Gaea's Blessing isn't really the answer to Land destruction of discard that you say it is... Like seriously... I've tried playing it, and woopie I got my cards back in my library.... cept my library is still some 45 cards >.> So maybe toss something random in?
However, that said, all in all I enjoyed your article quite a bit... Keep it up!
Looks good, I have something similar. But why are you using Snow lands if you're not using the Scrying Sheets engine or Skred?
The "echo" of the comment system is funny! In case you don't understand the first time you read a comment, pay the echo cost and read the "echo comment" so you got it :). Anyway... 3 comments of mine got deleted(6 actually with the "echoes") but all I was saying was that this is a good article, solid deck and I want to see/read more from you.
After a quick count, we find that the deck has 17 cards that can produce white mana, 17 for black, 14 for red and 2 colorless. The deck has 21 cards that need white mana, 13 that need black, and 16 that need red. Aside from perhaps droping a Plains for a third Battlefied Forge, I think it hold up.
I think it's broken. I'll try to get Mitch to fix it asap. Sorry everyone who's comments got deleted i'm very sorry about that.
Thanks for reading my article first of all. And secondly, I strongly encourage you to register with Puremtgo, it hides your IP address, and makes your comments have a face ^^.
Now addressing the question at hand. You simply state that Groundbreaker is "awesome" but provide no warrant. Sure it's a 6 damage creature that does wonders post turn 4 wog, but what advantages does it pose other wise? I never say it's a BAD card, but rather that in this specific deck, I find that Timbermare to be 100% better due to its ability to STAY on the table, and resist removal easier. You say I've switched the deck to aggro/control, but that's completely wrong! Scryb Force is aggro control with its counters and its ability to protect its creatures, this deck is purely aggro. Boros is a fine example. Just because it runs chars and lightning helixes does that make it aggro/control? The answer is quite simply a resounding no. In response to the CoTH (Call of the herd for those who aren't fimilar with the phrase), I agree it's an AMAZING card. In fact, my deck ran 3-4 of them through most of my testing. However, although it doesn't roll to Wrath of God, it doesn't do anything special enough to warrant it. Timbermare, Giant Solifuge, those cards can actually deal damage the turn after a wrath, but CoTH just puts a 3/3 threat on the table, which in this current enviroment of Lightning helixes, Faith's fetters, even Sudden Death, isn't all that great (Case in point, Teferi is a 3/4, it survives an attack from a Herd token, while it rolls to Giant Solifuge). So what I'm trying to say is that this deck's choices reflect the metagame at hand, as is the result of testing, but I sincerely appreciate your feedback!
that just changed the deck completely from being aggro to aggro/control.
Groundbreaker is awesome and so is coth Coth doesnt roll to wog its a 4 of in sb.
I've been wanting to play this online for awhile now, just haven't been lucky enough to pick up the main cards in draft yet...maybe I'll invest in a few of the cards after my next pay check. Great article though and keep it up with the graphics!
The irony of what you recommended that I originally did start with +1 Birds, and +3 Call of the Herds (I have to emphasize the fact I truly believe that Groundbreaker is a very overrated card... I'll take Timbermare of it anyday). However, because of the sheer number of mana accelerators, combined with the low curve (the most expensive thing is Spectral force at 5 mana, and the average curve is only 2.70) 20 lands, 1/3 of the deck is quite perfect for this deck. In terms of your reducing of Spectral Force, Stonewood Invocation, Harmonize, and Might of Old Krosa, the only one that I've been considering lately is the Spectral Force (maybe for another Harmonize?). Harmonzie is essential for surviving the mass removal and coming back with full force, and the bull effects are part of the deck ^^
Those tables towards the bottom are super narrow.
Looks like someone learned how to use Photoshop :)
Anyways good article. I think I will be trying this out at FNM
The visual part of the article is very nicely done, first of all let me tell you that. About the deck; I'm not the expert when it comes to aggro decks, I like playing control most of the time but I have a few suggestions. How about: -1 Spectral Force, -1 S. Invocation, -1 Harmonize, -1 Might of Old Krosa (-4 in total) and +1 land, +1 Birds, +2 Groundbreaker or Call of the Herd(+4 in total). It's just a suggestion, you probably know it better than me :). I really do enjoy your articles by the way.
My comment is pretty much for your opening. Your right, necromancy is one of the (in my opinion) hardest options in MTG. Because everyone knows the power that a necromancer can bring to a table is absolutely devastating, sometimes nearly unbeatable in classic, people truely do want you gone asap. The necromancer is therfore forced to play fast, hit hard, and most importantly decieve his enemy.
I'm sure many of you who've read my previous articles or met me know that I'm a a tournament veteran of over 10 years, every one of those years clear on to this day I've run reanimation decks of various objectives. Reanimator has never been harder to play than it is today what with all the reanimator hate that easily attainable right now and the fact that it fits in almost any deck.
The biggest problem that I've found with people running reanimator now is the lack of diversity, they rely solely on 1 creature/combo and are screwed if it gets destroyed. Anti-blockers like Thorn elemental and anti bounce like Plated Slagwurm are not even thought of even though they can save your backside against blue and white. Eternal Witness is even overlooked despite of the fack that it can virtualy give you a second chance in mid/late game against critter killer decks. People even forget the use of dual lands, not even imagining that they might draw a reanimation intended creature and get screwed on topdecking a reanimation card.
Since this comment is getting long, and i'm about to start ranting (yes about to start lol), I'll end with this, Reanimator decks are not yet gone from tournament play in classic, in fact, they can easily own the format against nearly any deck with the right mind behind them. It's simply a matter of building your deck with diversity, speed, strength, and failsafe in mind.
For anyone that is interested in powerful reanimator decks feel free to contact me on MTGO on the account Rob_Zombie2002 if i'm not there simply leave a message, i'll get back to ya.
Thanks guys for all the comments and to jinx: I really don't know how I missed that card. Thanks for reminding me. I put 2x in each deck after your comment. Thanks!
I've always been a huge fan of black magic >:D Might I suggest placing one or two Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoths in any/all of the mentioned decks? That card has changed my life...well not my life, but most of my opponents! Great job overall.
Ironically, my next article is on mono-black... if I could get off my lazy butt and do all the HTML'ing for the game listing. >.< Great article! The 39 creatures was insane ^^ Totally facebeating!
I still keep my Disks, Tourachs and Racks and play that deck against my wife from time to time!! And what you say is true, Armageddon to WW... ehem... Boom/Bust to Boros Deck Wins is a huge boost it is obvious. I haven't played much standard games in the tourney room recently so I really cannot tell the exact impact of this "boost" but I guess that every Boros Deck Wins player is now experimenting with the new Armageddon.
I like the article about the state of Mono-Black. Back in the Dark Ages of MTG (insert pun here), mono-black/discard was all the rage: Rack, Blacknight, Hymn to Tourach, Nevinyrral's Disk, etc. I get the sneaky suspision that white/red could now be that deck w/ Soltari Priest/Icatian Javelineers/ Savanah Lion, Magus of the Disk, Boom/Bust, etc. Basicly, a Boros Wins build with some mass destruction. Thoughts?
Nice effort friend. Keep up the good work. Would you please prepare an article for mono red fans like me.
I would gladly sacrifice 3D graphics for even a trivial amount of performance. MTGO is a turn based, strategy game; in my opinion these do not benefit from graphical enhancements beyond what is necessary (although the cards themselves have great art and should be recognized as such). I would much rather the game progressed smoothly and had lightning fast response times. Timing out because your game ran slow is definately not fun.
Keep it up!
Thanks for all the comments guys. I see that some of you liked the deck (at least the idea), while some of you don't. What Runeliger said is true; this is a rogue deck and it needs perfection of course. But let me tell you this much; I playtested this deck before writing this article and now after one week, I am still optimistic about the deck although I have had very hard times against Teferi Control, I must admit that. That deck is still number 1. I also experienced "Extirpate Wars" and it was really funny! Whomever used it first, lost the game(because then his Extirpate gets Extirpated and the other player then has 3 more Extirpates in deck for further use). Oh and by the way thejitte, no it is absolutely not an auto-loss against BlinkRiders. LD in TSP Block is not as fast as it is in STD. No Eye of Nowhere on turn 2 here or Stone Rain on turn 3. Best they can come up with is an Avalanche Riders on turn 4(mostly. in some cases before). Yes Boom part of Boom/Bust hurts but if you can Extirpate it or more importantly if you can Extirpate their Momentary Blink, than you'll be fine(not safe but fine). And the one thing that BlinkRiders hates is that the opponent is coming up with more Wall of Roots or Evolution Charms over and over. And I certainly do not agree with you on the Charm. It is very versatile and it does help the deck a lot. Anyway, I guess I should end this "half comment - half article" thing here. Thanks for reading and thanks for your comments, especially when they are constructive.
Brilliant!
Land destruction is going to mess you up. I'd imagine that the matchup vs. Blink Riders is almost a auto-loss. Most of your spells have double color requirements and Evolution Charm, although versatile, is not exactly a great mana fixer because it doesn't accelerate.
Decks with similar mana requirements like the old Gifts deck or Solar Flare had good fixers like Kodama's Reach and guild duals and signets to do this. Expanse and Charm are pretty slow.
I think Pure Beatdown in the vein of Cloak Stompy or Frosted Cheerios (the WW Fortify deck) actually are marvelous agains thte blink builds simply because they are so fast. Applying constant pressure to this INCREDIBLY SLOW decks forces them to play from the back foot, which is something they never want to do. In the next two weeks, I predict a large number of fast and resilinat decks such as those mentioned above, and the old machine head of Affinty rearing it's shiny head.
A good idea, but there's one thing I'd like to go over a few points about the deck that could use some updating
(Disclaimer!: by no means am I an expert in this format, and yes I do understand it's a rogue deck)
In the current enviroment, where Teferi control has been called the #1 deck in the format (without much debate in some cases), and decks like UB floating around, I see two issues.
First is the idea of resolving the dragon. I understand that this deck is quite rogue, and as such you have the advantage of knowing a lot more about what your deck can produce than your opponent, however, that said, resolving the dragon will still prove difficult at times (and its an essential card to your win game strategy).
Secondly, it's your only win game strategy. Preboard, unless you beatdown with voidstone 7 times (and even that being the only possible way for you to win), you need to have your dragon online at all times. So if a deck were to run extirpate....... I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. What I would recommend is some threat variation, or at least another win condition (Scryb and Force has a good one in Spectral Force... *hint hint*)
One last comment I would like to make is in regards to Gaea's blessing. Having tried running this deck, I've found that Gaea's Blessing isn't really the answer to Land destruction of discard that you say it is... Like seriously... I've tried playing it, and woopie I got my cards back in my library.... cept my library is still some 45 cards >.> So maybe toss something random in?
However, that said, all in all I enjoyed your article quite a bit... Keep it up!