The Magic Deckbuilding/Criticism/Advice thread.

oh nvm, misread. Yeah, there are several good options.

edited 20th Apr '11 9:13:59 AM by blueharp

@Fifthman: Priest of Urabrask seems tailor-made to do it. (Although it obviously wasn't actually designed with that in mind, being a colourshifted version of an old card.)

edited 20th Apr '11 11:09:59 AM by Nyktos

I guess it is.

...uh... did you guys just intentionally ignore the extremely obvious card?

edited 20th Apr '11 2:30:58 PM by Blackmoon

月を見るたび思い出せ

Yes, partially because it's extremely obvious and partially because a 5/6 on turn 4 is a lot less impressive than one on turn 2 or 3.

I guess it is.

Actually, you could get it on turn 3.

Turn 1: land, 2 Memnites, Mox Opal.
Turn 2: land, tap all three for Palladium Myr
Turn 3: Profit!

And it's time for I Suck At Deckbuilding, part the Scran.

This time, a Standard-legal green ramp/landfall deck. I don't have Green Sun's Zenith, but if I can find one I will put it in since I hate that situation where you have Eleventy Zillion mana and nothing to spend it on.

Creatures

• 2x Llanowar Elves
• 2x Arbor Elf
• 2x Ezuri's Archers
• 2x Garruk's Companion
• 2x Viridian Emissary
• Frontier Guide
• Greenweaver Druid
• Sacred Wolf
• Ondu Giant
• Mold Shambler
• 3x Garruk's Packleader
• Bellowing Tanglewurm
• Mitotic Slime
• Baloth Woodcrasher
• Rampaging Baloths
• Engulfing Slagwurm
• Quilled Slagwurm (as an aside: I love that this is so frowned upon on Gatherer, it's an 8/8 for 7 and people are whining that it's not good enough!)
• Pelakka Wurm

Noncreature Spells

• Explorer's Scope
• Strata Scythe
• Snake Umbra
• Khalni Heart Expedition
• Naturalize
• 2x Harrow
• Fog
• Asceticism
• Plummet
• Bladed Pinions
• Infiltration Lens

Lands

• 23x Forest

edited 24th Apr '11 12:49:08 AM by CountDorku

Alright, time for my casual shitty, Hellcarver/Eldrazi deck. Thoughts?

Creatures:
Hellcarver Demon x4
Ulamog, The Infinite Gyre x4
It That Betrays x3
Emrakul, The Aeons Torn x4

Other Spells:
Liliana Vess x3
Sorin Markov x1
Dark Ritual x3
Doom Blade x4
Thoughtseize x4
Mind Shatter x2

Lands: Swamp x25

edited 4th May '11 4:26:09 PM by LolipodDistortion

Underneath the bridge The tarp has sprung a leak And the animals I've trapped have all become my pets

Why no Emrakul?

I guess it is.

Oh, I forgot to copy that down. Editing.

Underneath the bridge The tarp has sprung a leak And the animals I've trapped have all become my pets

Take out a Swamp or two for Cabal Coffers.

月を見るたび思い出せ

Mindshatter doesn't work too well with Hellcarver, since it would just make them discard 0 cards.

Productivity is for people without internet connections. -Count Dorku

^ Why? The demon makes you discard your hand, not them.

edited 4th May '11 4:34:34 PM by LolipodDistortion

Underneath the bridge The tarp has sprung a leak And the animals I've trapped have all become my pets

Right, but if you're not paying the cost, X is 0.

Eleven Eldrazi seems excessive. If you flip up one Emrakul, you basically win right there

I guess it is.

Don't play 4x of Legendaries.

Also try All is Dust.

Might as well make sure you do flip up that Emrakul.

月を見るたび思い出せ

eh, I'd rather use some deck filtering to thin it out.

@blueharp: Is there actually any reason not to be playing 4 Emrakul here, or are you just parroting that without examining the deck at all? There are a lot of situations where playing four copies of a legendary nonland card is the right move, and this is certainly one of them.

I guess it is.

Nyktos: The idea of having eleven eldrazi was that with over, I'm probably going to get at least one in 6, but with only four Emrakul, the chance is only 1 in 15 (well, more than that, but I prefer 1 in 6).

Underneath the bridge The tarp has sprung a leak And the animals I've trapped have all become my pets

The problem is you're going to be drawing a lot of them early and they aren't going to do much.

I guess it is.

Maybe 3-ofs instead of 4, and fill the empty slots with some draw/discard mechanics?

月を見るたび思い出せ

Making room for All is Dust is why I'd do less legendaries. I'd also look for a way to thin some cards out of your deck. Some fetchlands would work well.

Filtering the top of your deck would also be a good idea. I'll think on suggestions for that.

edited 4th May '11 5:04:04 PM by blueharp

I just realized while playing Haven that flyers will shut this down, since Hellcarver doesn't have trample. That's a problem.

Underneath the bridge The tarp has sprung a leak And the animals I've trapped have all become my pets

This deck really wants four Dark Rituals.

What's Sorin going to do? He doesn't seem like he's going to do much in a deck that seeks to win by flipping Eldrazi off Hellcarver Demon. Drop him for the fourth ritual.

I second Blackmoon's recommendation for Cabal Coffers. I'd go so far as to make it a three-of.

Nyktos and Haven are right on the Mind Shatters - they won't do anything when they get flipped off Hellcarver. Mind Sludge is a great alternative, although I now begin to question why you have that card at all*

Perhaps toss in Duress or Inquisition of Kozilek instead?

Also, flyers shut this deck down? You're hoping for an Eldrazi flip off of a Hellcarver, they shouldn't be shutting the deck down.

The earliest you will be able to play Hellcarver demon is turn 4, with a Dark Ritual. By then you will have drawn 11 cards, leaving 49 cards in your deck. 1/6th of that is 8.1 cards, rounding to 9 for consistency: you don't need 11 Eldrazi, especially since Hellcarver into Hellcarver is a very likely situation. I'd drop the It That Betrays for Sign in Blood.

edited 4th May '11 5:38:17 PM by Fifthman

Three of Cabal Coffers might be a good idea, but when I run that many, I tend to hit the problem of too many Coffers, not enough Swamps in the early game. Maybe I shuffle poorly.

Come to think of it, I'm gonna side with Fifthman on Sorin, but I'll have to disagree on Mind Sludge— if he flips into it, it's still worthless, he'll have sacrificed all his Swamps by then. There's gotta be something creative to fit into that slot. Haunting Echoes?

And if he gets really lucky, he can get a turn one Hellcarver... but it'll take... *thinks* three Dark Rituals and a Swamp.

月を見るたび思い出せ

Thoughts on the Hellcarver Demon deck:

See Beyond is useful to draw cards and put Eldrazi back in your deck, as are other blue card filtering spells like Preordain. It's probably worth adding some blue to the deck to better snag your Hellcarvers.

Tumble Magnet, Contagion Clasp, and Everflowing Chalice have been used together in Standard to stall opponents' attackers, and the Chalice helps speed up your Hellcarver. Also, they let you tap down your opponent's creatures when it's time for your Hellcarver to swing.

Might not be a bad idea to swap out the Mind Shatters for Mind Rots, since they are more effective when flipped up by Hellcarver Demon.

Each night, he abandons the trappings of civilization. Each morning, he repairs the front door.