The Magic Deckbuilding/Criticism/Advice thread.

Oops. I forgot to add the decklist to that post. Here it is.

Get Hardened Scales.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/casual-greenred-pump/

Deck I'm in the process of getting, want a second opinion before I finish it up. I'm thinking of replacing Prey's Vengeance and Colossal Might, if anyone has a good low-mana cost alternative.

Get Mutagenic Growth, the Phyrexian mana means you can opt to pay 2 life if you don't have enough green. Other suggested cards are Rouse the Mob, Assault Strobe, and Temur Battle Rage. Your deck is actually a bit similar to my RB Pauper infect deck, Kiln Fiend being the most important creature in it.

What would you replace for Mutagenic Growth/Assault Strobe? I'm assuming Colossal Might is one of them (because it's a higher mana cost for little added benefit), but I'm not sure what to replace for the other.

Colossal Might could be replaced by Assault Strobe, then either of the +3/+3's will be replaced by Mutagenic Growth. Besides, at the early turns you're much more likely to lack the mana rather than needing the additional +1/+1 (and besides, if you don't have enough lands to tap, being able to make your Kiln Fiend get an additional +5/+2 is better than "I could have made it +6/+3 but I was short of one land"). And then if the game took a bit longer your own creatures have grown big enough that having a 12/6 Kiln Fiend with double-strike rather than a 13/7 Kiln Fiend with double-strike is not really "worse".

Sideboard something to protect them from destruction though. lol

edited 13th Jun '15 12:22:45 AM by entropy13

Ranger's Guile was my first choice for that, I'll look for an enchantment that does that though. Most of the groups around my area don't actually run decks that have any creature destruction, other then the one red burn deck that's being played.

Asceticism will protect your creatures.

Long story short, I've got a couple weeks in a row where I'm actually going to be able to be at FNM and thinking I might actually try putting together a standard-legal deck to use for one of them. I'm currently leaning towards a mono-red haste/Impact tremors thing that I think may have been subconsciously inspired by a deck the mothership had recently where, as much as I'd rather have a deck that's all my own, I'll probably be using for a building guide/starting off point all the same.

The main thing, however, is finding pieces to replace the really expensive stuff with, since I'm not shelling out the nose for even one Goblin Rabblemaster at $11 a pop when I don't expect to get much other use out of them. I'm also thinking of fitting in a couple Purphoros (which I already own) and possibly a couple Descent of Dragons (which I also already own).

The question is a matter of what do I shift around to deal with the really expensive pieces yet still have hope of it being competitive. Anyone got any ideas for potential alternate card pieces to consider looking at?

I already have a similar deck for months, but still more on the burn/aggro (rather than having Impact Tremors).

• 4 Wild Slash
• 4 Lightning Strike
• 4 Stoke the Flames
• 4 Magma Jet
• 4 Dragon Fodder
• 4 Hordeling Outburst
• 4 Foundry Street Denizen
• 4 Monastery Swiftspear
• 3 Mardu Scout
• 2 Goblin Heelcutter
• 2 Lightning Berserker
• 21 Mountain

Sideboard

• 1 Goblin Rabblemaster
• 1 Mardu Scout
• 2 Goblin Heelcutter
• 2 Arc Lightning
• 2 Hammer of Purphoros
• 2 Roast
• 2 Searing Blood
• 3 Temur Battle Rage

edited 14th Jun '15 7:30:29 PM by entropy13

Here's what I'm looking at as a potential maindeck; I'm not ignoring the sideboard, but I'll look at fixing that up once I've got the mainboard more or less figured out:

Mad Dash for Victory

• 4 Monastery Swiftspear
• 4 Foundry Street Denizen
• 4 Lightning Berserker
• 4 Mardu Scout
• 1 Goblin Heelcutter
• 2 Purphoros

• 3 Impact Tremors
• 2 Outpost Siege

• 4 Hordeling Outburst
• 4 Dragon Fodder
• 2 Descent of the Dragons
• 1 Craters Claw
• 2 Lightning Strike
• 2 Magma Jet

• 21 Mountains

So, I had an idea for a deck.

It uses cards like Blue Sun's Zenith and mana ramp to draw the maximum amount of cards.

Is this viable at all?

Depends on your format, and if it's casual or competitive.

This is intended for just playing with my friends, so there's not really a set format.

Would like to know specifically your win conditions with your deck then.

Hmm.

There's really three possibilities for that.

1. I draw something good and just beat face.

2. I use Niv-Mizzet to deal loads of damage using his ability.

3. I mill him to death.

Instead of Blue Sun's Zenith, I'd recommend Fascination. Then have Laboratory Maniac. Blue and Black is actually the more appropriate deck if you want to draw AND mill. Especially with cards like Consuming Aberration.

And since you have blue anyway, you counter their counter spells. Belltower Sphinx and Vampire Nighthawk are creature-based defenses. Since you also love drawing, have Jace's Erasure too. Memory Erosion also makes the opponent think twice.

If you want to make the game much more quicker have Dictate of Kruphix and Howling Mine too. lol

And if you want to go the "draw something good and beat face" route and are willing to go into green, my Kruphix Commander deck basically does just that. You might find some ideas from it.

In addition to big green fatties and card draw, it's got a few creatures that grow with your hand size, and Kruphix himself allows you to keep all the cards you draw at the end of your turn and lets you save up mana for later turns to help cast the fatties.

edited 5th Jul '15 9:27:59 AM by Lightblade

If you're going mono or heavy blue, you could use Chasm Skulker. It's relatively cheap, but if you have max card draw it'll get really big really fast, and even if they kill it you'll get a lot of squids in exchange.

If you go Blue-Green mix, there's also Lorescale Coatl. It works much the same way except you don't get anything when it dies.

Rosvo1: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/legacy-type-1-5/budget-legacy/561115-budget-high-tide

Hi, i want to build a Melek edh but somehow simply burning my opponet with a big and copied fireball (or something similiar) seem boring in the long run. Would you have any suggestions for another way to finish? My playgroup is more casual than competiv and the price isn´t that great of a hindrance but cheaper options are appreciated. (right now my only other idea is copy traumatise or general mill but i already have a mill edh [Phenax] and all my edh should be diffrent^^)

Incorporate the new cards coming out in Origins, especially those which brings some thopters with them. Have this too. Somehow bring your number of artifacts to twenty...win. LOL

Thanks for the suggestion, but the cards wich bring thopters are creatures and wouldn´t have enough synergy with melek. And hellkite tyrant is a risky card^^ He cant block himself completly when the enemy clones him and if you have many artefacts a single bribery can more or less kill you. (For the same reasons i don´t play a blightsteel collossus in my daretti edh, even tough i have one^^)

Well Melek himself is quite limiting in options, especially as you don't want to mill anymore and you find fire and lightning boring...The only alternative for the UR pair is the one I presented to you, because that's what Chandra's home plane is (you can borrow some of the blue from Vryn/Ravnica i.e. Jace too).

edited 6th Jul '15 6:23:25 AM by entropy13

Damn, i hoped there would be some cards wich just say "you win if..." that would be compatible with Melek or combos (like with kiki-jiki) wich use sorcerys or instants with cards i just dont know. Guess back to square one. Are there other cards like dragshift to turn tokens into somthing dreadfull?^^