The Magic Deckbuilding/Criticism/Advice thread.

Double whee, a pauper monowhite metalcraft deck!

Creatures

• 2x Ardent Recruit
• 2x Glint Hawk
• 4x Flayer Husk
• 4x Auriok Sunchaser
• 4x Myr Sire
• Perilous Myr
• 2x Gold Myr
• Ghalma's Warden
• Razorfield Rhino

Noncreature Spells

• Frantic Salvage
• 2x Accorder's Shield
• 2x Bladed Pinions
• 2x Tumble Magnet
• 3x Origin Spellbomb
• 2x Arrest
• 3x Master's Call

Lands

• 24x Plains

Sideboard

• 2x Revoke Existence
• 2x Perilous Myr
• Golem Foundry
• Smite
• Kor Cartographer
• Divine Offering
• Leonin Skyhunter
• Bladed Pinions
• 2x Glint Hawk Idol
• 2x Chrome Steed
• Razorfield Rhino

Any suggestions? My FLGS is holding a standard pauper tournament in a week, so I'd like to get this maximised by then.

Yakusoku's budget guide to Standard. Take a look at the decks in the all-common section, as those are the decks you can expect to fight.

Arrest over Pacifism or Journey to Nowhere? Both of those are really easy to get.

Pauper decks are likely going to be built for speed. Llanowar Elves and Lightning bolts are very popular cards for this, what's your plan for fast aggro?

To be honest, I didn't remember that Journey to Nowhere was standard-legal. My only copy at present is from Elspeth vs Tezzeret, so I couldn't remember what set it was from. So now you've pointed it out, I know it's from Zendikar, and it's in, as is my one Pacifism.

As for fast aggro, I'll be honest with you: I have no idea. I was contemplating Boros-ing it, but I've decided against it - not enough Bolts, and I'd prefer mono-white aggro anyway. Do you have any suggestions for providing bolt resistance at common?

Double edit: I suppose on reflection my plan against aggro is "if you can't out-speed them, stall them". Myr Sire, for example, can chump block without sacrificing metalcraft, and Perilous Myr can punch a fair bit above its weight. I'm going to move one of the Master's Calls to the sideboard in favour of the second Perilous Myr. Fresh list tomorrow.

edited 18th Mar '11 3:41:59 AM by CountDorku

OK, so I made a few changes - cut one of each token-creating noncreature spell, replaced the Arrests with one Pacifism and one Journey, and shunted in a couple of Perilous Myr and another Glint Hawk.

Thanks for the guide to Standard link.

Current list:

• Ardent Recruit
• 4x Flayer Husk
• 3x Glint Hawk
• 2x Gold Myr
• 4x Auriok Sunchaser
• 4x Myr Sire
• 3x Perilous Myr
• Ghalma's Warden
• Razorfield Rhino

• Frantic Salvage
• 2x Bladed Pinions
• Pacifism
• 2x Master's Call
• 2x Tumble Magnet
• 2x Accorder's Shield
• 2x Origin Spellbomb
• Journey to Nowhere

• 24x Plains

Sideboard:

• 2x Chrome Steed
• Razorfield Rhino
• 2x Revoke Existence
• Divine Offering
• Golem Foundry
• Smite
• Kor Cartographer
• Leonin Skyhunter
• Bladed Pinions
• 2x Glint Hawk Idol
• Master's Call
• Origin Spellbomb

As mentioned in the other MTG thread, I have created a new deck. I call her Edie.

Gentlemen, I have lost my mind.

Phallic Imagery

Lands:
8x Island
4x Urza's Mine
4x Urza's Power Plant
4x Urza's Tower
4x Cloudpost
24 lands

Creatures:
3x Vedalken Engineer
1x Memnarch
2x Ornithopter
3x Memnite
2x Phyrexian Hulk
1x Lodestone Golem
2x Treasure Mage
13 creatures

Artifacts:
2x Aladdin's Ring
3x Rod of Ruin
1x Tower of Calamities
1x Tower of Eons
1x Tower of Murmurs
3x Voltaic Key
2x Clock of Omens
1x Mirrorworks
2x Everflowing Chalice
16 artifacts

Enchantments:
2x March of the Machines
4x Training Grounds
6 enchantments

60 cards

Sideboard:
1x Sift Through Sands
4x Condescend
4x Power Sink
1x Braids, Conjurer Adept
2x Bottle Gnomes
2x Tidewater Minion
1x Rod of Ruin

I will admit that the name has me...somewhat concerned.

Three rods, seven towers? It's pretty damn phallic.

Nevermind

edited 2nd Apr '11 1:29:34 PM by GuyInWhite

I've tried to put together some Kuldotha Red action. It's not quite as fast as the usual one, since I don't have any Ornithopters or Goblin Bushwhackers.

Creatures

• 4x Memnite
• 4x Signal Pest
• 2x Goblin Wardriver
• 1x Goblin Chieftain
• 3x Perilous Myr
• Runed Servitor
• 3x Myr Sire
• Bonehoard
• Hellkite Charger

Other Spells

• 4x Kuldotha Rebirth (natch)
• Mox Opal
• 4x Accorder's Shield
• 2x Rally the Forces
• Ichor Wellspring
• Raid Bombardment
• Shatter
• Lightning Bolt
• Searing Blaze
• Seismic Shudder (in case I get out-aggro'd)

Lands

• 23x Mountain

I'm still working on the sideboard, but it has a lot of Into the Core-type artifact hate.

Ornithopter and Goblin Bushwhacker are not exactly hard to get...

I'll have a look at the singles tomorrow.

Besides that issue, how does it look?

I'd love it if you guys would let me know what you think of my Infect EDH deck.

And now it's time for another chapter of How's My Infect Deck?

Creatures

• 3x Signal Pest
• 3x Necropede
• 2x Flesh-Eater Imp
• 2x Rot Wolf
• 4x Plague Stinger
• 2x Corpse Cur
• 2x Tangle Angler
• Bonehoard (which I seem to stick into every deck given the chance)
• 2x Hand of the Praetors
• Putrefax
• 2x Ichor Rats

Noncreature Spells

• 2x Doom Blade
• 2x Canopy Cover
• Virulent Wound
• Trusty Machete
• Cultivate
• 2x Bladed Pinions
• Infiltration Lens
• 2x Giant Growth
• Vines of Vastwood

Lands

• Terramorphic Expanse
• 11x Swamp
• 11x Forest

Sideboard, aka Magical Land of Artifact Hate

• Viridian Revel
• Tel-Jilad Fallen
• Phyrexian Juggernaut
• 2x Corpse Cur
• 3x Nature's Claim
• Phyrexian Hydra
• 2x Pistus Strike
• Rot Wolf
• Viridian Corrupter
• Phyrexian Vatmother (alternately I could run it maindeck and swap it with a Necropede)
• Virulent Wound

Your deck won't be fast enough to take full advantage of Signal Pest's battlecry bonuses. Drop one pest for your Vatmother (why is that not maindeck?) and drop the others for cards of your choosing (I recommend Vines of Vastwood or more removal, although another Necropede or Rot Wolf won't hurt either. Perhaps a Contagion Clasp?)

Cultivate? You aren't exactly ramping into Titans or Eldrazi, so why bother? Just toss in another land, you'll need 24 anyway.

Virulent Wound? I can see it being ok against Lotus Cobra, mediocre as a combat trick, and downright awful against Squadron Hawks. Viridian Corrupter would be great, as artifacts are running rampant in the current meta.

Thanks.

Changes:

• -3 Signal Pest
• +1 Vatmother
• +1 Viridian Corrupter
• +1 Rot Wolf
• -1 Cultivate
• +1 Go for the Throat
• -1 Virulent Wound
• +1 Terra Expanse

I'll work on the sideboard later.

edited 14th Apr '11 3:00:37 PM by CountDorku

Too lazy to copypaste this here. I haven't managed to play much with this deck since I'm on a shitty computer while my laptop is in for repairs and MWS lags like crazy, but I really like it. If it weren't for the nine dual lands, I'd think about actually acquiring it.

edited 15th Apr '11 5:39:22 PM by Nyktos

Here, looking for some fine-tuning advice/critique.

Hurry Faster!

Lands:
14x Mountain
8x Island
22 lands

Creatures:
3x Viashino Sandscout
2x Viashino Sandstalker
1x Viashino Cutthroat
2x Ball Lightning
8 creatures

Instants:
3x Swerve
3x Reroute
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Trapmaker's Snare
4x Runeflare Trap
17 instants

Sorceries:
2x Pyroclasm
2 sorceries

Enchantments:
4x Impatience
4x Forced Fruition
3x Furious Assault
11 enchantments

What I'm considering is taking out one or two Forced Fruitions in favor of Glitterfangs, and maybe an Impatience for Isochron Scepter to go with my Bolts, Swerves, and Snares.

Basically, here's the idea of the deck:
The ideal endgame is to have Forced Fruition, Furious Assault, and Impatience out. Also ideally, a Viashino Somethingorother is in my hand with a Runeflare Trap. I play the Viashino on my turn and swing, with extra pain from Furious Assault, then bounce him. On their turn, they either play a spell, draw seven cards, and get burned by Runeflare Trap, or they don't play a spell, take two damage, and leave themselves open to further beatings. Burn spells directed at me or my creatures get Swerved, and creatures they play get Bolted or Pyroclasmed.

The early game probably involves building up a little, swinging with the Sandscouts or possibly Glitterfangs, maybe Bolting small threats, and tutoring up Runeflares with the Snare. Midgame will probably see me playing bigger temporary creatures and Impatience/Furious Assault.

What I want to know is, what can I do to make sure this deck is never not doing anything? I don't want it to ever have a "dead hand". What's more, is there a way I can more reliably get out Forced Fruition, or should I cut back on that and the traps as sort of a B-game and make the A-game more about pressuring and aggro-control? Lastly, Isochron Scepter and Glitterfangs, yea or nay?

Three enchantments? And they don't auto-win the game?

I wouldn't consider it aggressive enough to work.

Perhaps. I don't want to win before turn 5, because that's not fun, but I wouldn't mind pummeling them before then. Suggestions?

I dunno, what kind of environment do you have? Do you want to try for random fun cards, or some combo?

Ideally, both.

The environment I run in is Vintage/Legacy, and really, really random. One of our regular players has a deck based around blue artifact affinity that goes off really quickly and usually wins; we also have a guy who plays a deck based around Horseshoe Crab. Wins before turn 6-9 are uncommon but not impossible.

I mostly just want to have fun and do something unusual, with winning as a bonus. I'm the weird guy in the group who runs a monoblue Morph deck with Akroma and Krosan Cloudscraper in it, or a BU Ninja Bounce deck, or Aladdin's Ring/Rod of Ruin combo.

Might I suggest the Magic Deck Vortex's Combo page then?

See if there's something that piques your interest.

Alright, thank you. I'll look into it.

New Phyrexia deck ideas:

Different ways to put Myr Superion on the field:

• Turn 1 Treespeaker, turn 2 level, tap treespeaker for Superion
• Elves
• Grand Architect
• Sun Titan recall
• Genesis Wave
• Prototype Portal
• Semblance Anvil pitching artifact creature
• Lotus Cobra+fetchland
• Eldrazi Spawn
• Turn Inkmoth Nexus into a creature, tap two of them for mana

Any ideas?

edited 20th Apr '11 6:19:08 AM by Fifthman