That said, why not more targeted discard in place of the Mind Shatters? Duress and Inquisition of Kozilek are great, especially since they can leech away counterspells for the Hellcarver Demon.

@Fifthman:

You don't get a flip if the Hellcarver gets chumped.

I guess it is.

/me goes to read the card

Right, combat damage. Thought it was an ETB. That changes things - I'd say more removal is in order. More Go for the throat, or Grasp of Darkness, perhaps? I recommended pulling out the It That Betrays earlier, that should free up some slots and smooth out your curve a bit.

edited 4th May '11 5:56:44 PM by Fifthman

L-D's vault. I knew there was a decent card to set up what you wanted.

might as well splash blue for the other ways to clear a path.

edited 4th May '11 11:49:32 PM by blueharp

So, I've had this deck for awhile (well, since MBS came out) and I'm looking for input on it. It's casual and based around Tezz 2.0 (my favorite PW at this point)

Lands: 4x Seat of the Synod, 4x Vault of Whispers, 4x Darksteel Citadel, 5x Swamp, 6x Island

Creatures: 2x Pentavus, 3x Precursor Golem, 3x Master of Etherium, 3x Vedalken Engineer, 2x Thopter Assembly, 3x Pierce Strider, 3x Silver Myr, 3x Leaden Myr, 3x Myr Battlesphere

Other Spells: 3x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, 4x Prophetic Prsim, 3x Ichor Wellspring, 3x Executioner's Capsule

So, thoughts? Basically focused on getting out as many artifacts as possible and then drinking my opponent's lifeshake with Tezz. Failing that, threats like Battlesphere and Master of Etherium can push through for the win.

edited 5th May '11 8:57:48 AM by Kooriken

TV Tropes: my anti-drug. ....it's still an anti-drug if it's just as addictive, right?

Okay, so here's my Lighthouse Chronologist deck. The goal is basically to get out the Chronologist (or multiple chronolgists hopefully), then use the extra turns to speed up Chronozoa production and hit them for a ton of damage. Aside from those two cards, the rest of the deck is there to protect the chronologist or for mana ramp. Garruk can both untap lands and give a boost to the Chronoza for a big attack.

Creatures:
Lighthouse Chronologist x4
Birds of Paradise x4
Chronozoa x4
Kira, Great Glass Spinner x4
Walking Atlas x3

Other Spells:
Doubling Season x4
Clout of The Dominus x4
Paradox Haze x2
Cancel x3
Garruk Wildspeaker x3

Land:
Flooded Grove x4
Breeding Pool x4
Island x 13
Forest x 4

edited 7th May '11 12:33:50 PM by LolipodDistortion

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

Might want a bounce spell or something to clear the path for your attackers, just in case they have a flyer.

Green/Black Aggro (Pauper)

11 Forest
7 Swamp
4 Golgari Rot Farm

4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Putrid Leech
4 Hungry Spriggan
3 Blastoderm

4 Duress
4 Rancor
4 Vines of Vastwood
3 Doom Blade

Sideboard:
2 Disfigure
4 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Doom Blade
4 Naturalize
4 Faerie Macabre

Edit: I wonder if Psychotic Episode would be worth it. I do have the Mongrels, after all.

edited 7th May '11 7:40:22 PM by Nyktos

I guess it is.

Artifact white aggro-control. I'm assured NPH will be legal for FNM tomorrow night. Since it's the store owner assuring me of this, I should be fine.

Creatures

• 4x Memnite
• 2x Flayer Husk
• 2x Glint Hawk
• Hovermyr
• 3x Perilous Myr
• Steel Overseer
• Runed Servitor
• 2x Auriok Sunchaser
• 2x Auriok Edgewright
• Mirran Crusader
• Blinding Souleater
• Bonehoard
• Golem Artisan
• Sunblast Angel

Noncreature Artifacts (Kinda)

• Rusted Relic
• Silverskin Armour
• 2x Tumble Magnet
• Bladed Pinions
• Infiltration Lens
• Mox Opal
• Strata Scythe

Enchantments

• Tempered Steel
• Journey to Nowhere
• Pacifism

Sorceries

• Phyrexian Rebirth

Instants

• 2x Master's Call

Lands

• 23x Plains

Sideboard

• Golem Artisan
• Liquimetal Coating
• Piston Sledge
• Angelic Arbiter
• Kor Sanctifiers
• Revoke Existence
• Divine Offering
• Smite
• Marrow Shards
• Choking Fumes
• Dispense Justice
• Glimmerpoint Stag (sideboard because I don't have very many ETB effects, mainly there for removing auras and charge counters)
• 2x Myr Galvaniser
• Contagion Clasp

Thoughts? (Soon would be good.)

edited 12th May '11 12:39:15 AM by CountDorku

You are dazzled by my array of very legal documents.

There seems to be a problem with the deck to criticism ratio in this thread.

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

I have noticed that, yes.

You are dazzled by my array of very legal documents.

Ditch the Runed Servitor. There's too many things that can profitably kill a 2/2 (Porcelain Legionnaire, Mystic or Hawk+Sword, Vampire Nighthawk, among others), and you're giving your opponent more cards. Sure, if it gets bolted, its okay purely in terms of card advantage, but you don't want to give cards away against decks that have more potent threats than yours.

Push up to 24 lands. 23 lands is okay when you're playing low cost cards, but the Golem Artisan and the Sunblast Angel will warrant a push to 24 lands.

I'm very, very iffy on the Sunchasers. You may have enough to consistently achieve metalcraft, but maintaining metalcraft is a whole other story altogether - many of your artifacts die to Bolt, Galvanic Blast, Contagion Clasp, Pyroclasm, Slagstorm, and Jace knows how many other low-power removal spells.

As much as I like Hovermyr, it suffers from the same problems as the Sunchasers.

Blinding Souleater? Why not just toss in another Journey to Nowhere or Pacifism? It's harder to break an enchantment than it is to kill an artifact creature.

Thanks for the advice, but I have to ask: how does Hovermyr have the same problem as the Sunchasers? Hovermyr is always a 1/2 vigilant flyer, it doesn't need metalcraft.

I've cut one of the Sunchasers in favour of a Porcelain Legionnaire, and replaced a Flayer Husk with a Hex Parasite. I'll go and replace the Souleater with a Pacifism and the Runed Servitor with another Plains.

You are dazzled by my array of very legal documents.

It's not a problem of maintaining metalcraft for the hovermyr, it's a problem of "I hit the field and die to many common threats without doing much." Vampire Nighthawk and Goblin Guide (among others) kill it very easily, and it doesn't profitably trade with anything important, replace itself, or deal any amount of respectable damage.

Thanks for the explanation. I'll switch it with another Porcelain Legionnaire when I get another Porcelain Legionnaire.

You are dazzled by my array of very legal documents.

So I built this deck (almost, missing the two Vensers) using mostly cheap 10c bin cards and cards that I had lying around. Why? Because I'm broke, that's why.

Planeswalkers

• 2x Venser, the Sojourner

Creatures

• 4x Squadron Hawk
• 1x Mnemonic Wall
• 2x Æther Adept
• 1x Azorius Guildmage
• 3x Meadowboon
• 1x Sunblast Angel
• 1x Emeria Angel

Instants

• 2x Momentary Blink
• 2x Negate
• 2x Steel Sabotage
• 1x Turn Aside
• 3x Mana Leak
• 3x Deprive

Enchantments

• 2x Oblivion Ring

Artifacts

• 1x Prophetic Prism
• 2x Amulet of Vigor
• 1x Sphere of the Suns
• 1x Locket of Yesterdays
• 1x Contagion Engine
• 3x Tumble Magnet

Lands

• 1x Rupture Spire
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 4x Halimar Depths
• 1x Seat of the Synod
• 6x Island
• 1x Kabira Crossroads
• 2x Sejiri Steppe
• 5x Plains

The basic idea was to use counterspells in order to stall (and once Venser's ultimate goes off, exile permanents) while using Venser's blink ability to trigger various enters-the-battlefield effects depending on the current board situation. Haven't had a chance to really test it out yet (mostly because I haven't been able to track down a pair of Vensers) but it seems fairly effective. Any suggestions for improvement?

edited 19th May '11 1:09:35 PM by moberemk

deviantArt | Twitter

Man-o'-War is an easier to cast Æther Adept for a multicolour deck.

Counterspell is strictly better than Deprive, though I guess they're more like $2 than 10¢. Rune Snag is a card I personally quite like for that slot, though you need the full four for proper effect. Steel Sabotage is too situational unless your friends play a lot of artifact decks.

Locket of Yesterdays seems kinda bad given how many one- or two-ofs are in your deck. Amulet of Vigor isn't worth it here; if you find yourself having too many lands coming into play tapped, you're better off cutting some of them for basics instead. Prophetic Prism also seems bad; this isn't a five-colour deck that needs the fixing. Ditto Sphere of the Suns; it's going to be much worse than Azorius Signet or Talisman of Progress here.

You don't have anything with affinity or metalcraft or whatever, so Seat of the Synod is going to be worse than an Island.

Overall, it seems pretty decent for what it is.

I guess it is.

There's actually a pretty similar Pauper deck that's fairly successful.

Some cards you might want to try:

Mulldrifter is nuts. Momentary Blinking an evoked Mulldrifter draws 4 cards for 5 mana and lets you keep the Drifter in play.
Whitemane Lion can emergency save creatures and also put them back in your hand for another ETB trigger.
Aven Riftwatcher is decent lifegain and also a pretty good attacker, especially if you can reset it.
Ninja of the Deep Hours also lets you bounce your creatures and is more card advantage.
Kor Skyfisher is a beefy flyer for its cost and also lets you reset any permanent you control.

EDIT: You might also want to try out Wall of Omens; it gives you the card-advantage engine of blinking Prophetic Prism while also being a pretty decent blocker.

edited 19th May '11 1:56:31 PM by Glidergun

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

Good points; Locket was sort of an artifact from an earlier iteration that used a lot more 4-ofs. I think I'll keep Deprive and the Amulets though; they're useful for allowing multiple uses of Halimar's effect as well as repeating Emeria's landfall ability. Man 'o War and Wall of Omens are definitely going to find a place too.

Also, I didn't think you could blink an Evoked card; good to know, thanks!

edited 19th May '11 2:19:31 PM by moberemk

deviantArt | Twitter

As long as you're not using a sorcery-speed effect (the original flicker or Venser's +2), that is. (Since you have to do so in response to its sacrifice trigger.)

Productivity is for people without internet connections. -Count Dorku

Improved and amended white metalcraft.

Creatures

• 4x Memnite
• 2x Glint Hawk
• Hex Parasite
• Suture Priest
• 3x Perilous Myr
• Auriok Edgewright (there used to be two in here, but I put one down somewhere and can't remember where!)
• Steel Overseer
• Auriok Sunchaser (I know, I know...just one won't be too bad, and I need a few decent flyers)
• 2x Porcelain Legionnaire
• Mirran Crusader
• Kor Hookmaster
• Golem Artisan
• Bonehoard
• Sunblast Angel

Instants

• 2x Master's Call

Artifacts

• Infiltration Lens
• Rusted Relic
• Silverskin Armour
• Bladed Pinions
• Mox Opal
• Strata Scythe
• 2x Tumble Magnet

Sorceries

• Phyrexian Rebirth

Enchantments

• 2x Pacifism
• Journey to Nowhere
• Tempered Steel

Lands

• 24x Plains

Sideboard is unchanged at present. I'm going to replace one of the Pacifisms with Dispatch as soon as I can get a copy. Fortuitously, that should be this afternoon, unless someone's shelled out $2 for it already.

You are dazzled by my array of very legal documents.

I figured I should post this absurd things-that-use-counters deck I'm always working on (without ever improving it) to get some criticism on it.

Lands

15 Island
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Tree of Tales

Total: 23

Creatures

2 Phyrexian Metaporph
3 Gilder Bairn
4 Coretapper
4 Ornithopter

Total: 13

Artifacts

1 Darksteel Reactor
2 Lux Cannon
2 Energy Chamber
2 Pentad Prism
2 Power Conduit
2 Paradise Mantle

Total:11

Enchantments

2 Doubling Season

Total: 2

Non-permanent Spells

Instants

3 Stoic Rebuttal
2 Negate

Sorceries

3 Tezzeret's Gambit

Total: 8

Planeswalkers

3 Tezzeret the Seeker

Total: 3

Things I thought it would be nice to explain:

Ornithopters are cheap blockers that can turn into beasts under the right circumstances.
Coretappers power things up.
Gilder Bairns can get ridiculous with some help from the Paradise Mantle.
Phyrexian Metamorph because fuck yeah.
Pentad Prisms are useful as rechargeable mana boosts or just a place where I can store charge counters until I get something to move them into with the Power Conduits.
Power Conduits can move and transform counters around.
Doubling Season is just crazy, and does cool things with Power Conduits (remove 1 counter, put 2) or Gilder Bairns
Tezzeret is mostly a tutor, but can also help the 'tappers do their job and/or give legs to things. The synergy with [ArtiLands] is nice too.
Artifact Lands because they can be tutored or given legs in case of need.
Stoic Rebuttal and Negate instead of any other counterspell because this comes from an actual cardboard deck I had and I don't have many counterspells to choose around (it's either Stoic Rebuttal or Cancel). I'll change them to anything else for the virtual deck, maybe outright Counterspells.

The main problem I've had with this deck (in its latest version, I just tweaked it a bit after playing against Zudak) was fighting faster decks and managing early menaces. I don't mind taking a few hits to the face, but when things start getting dangerous and I need some fast response I don't seem to be able to do anything at all. I either got mana screwed with all the interesting things on my hand or mana flooded with a coretapper on the field and nothing else. I put the Prisms and Power Conduits back in to see if I can deal with some of these problems (prisms for the mana issues, power conduit so coretappers can do something else besides standing there charging things around).

And that's mostly everything I can come up with now. Any advice is appreciated (that's what this thread is for, duh).

edited 30th May '11 2:21:11 PM by Zakdos

I ain't saying no showy crap like "later buddies" or something lame like that. I'll be back soon, you bozos!

I'd switch out the Pentad Prisms for Contagion Clasps. Repeatable proliferate isn't to be underestimated. It's not quite redundant with your Coretappers or Gilder Bairns, since it gets counters on everything that needs it. Plus, it'll kill or weaken an early aggressor.

edited 30th May '11 3:03:27 PM by Haven

Productivity is for people without internet connections. -Count Dorku

Yeah, Contagion Clasp is actually quite nice. I had tried it before, but I only played it against decks that were throwing +1/+1 counters around, so it was... lame.

I'm now looking for creature bouncing. I was thinking of plain Unsummons or Vapor Snags, but... Razorfin Abolisher sounds about right. It's repeatable, but it costs one mana more. Yet I don't really have to worry a lot about counters. Also he's a 2/2, that's actually 1 more power than any creature on the deck, and some more creatures won't hurt.

edited 31st May '11 3:23:25 PM by Zakdos

I ain't saying no showy crap like "later buddies" or something lame like that. I'll be back soon, you bozos!

Would you prefer to bounce your things or theirs? Because Vedalken Mastermind is useful if it's the former.

You are dazzled by my array of very legal documents.