Messages

1

Deck Reviews / Re: Infinite Dead Ooze Mana Deck (Cheeky Wins) - Comments

« on: December 27, 2016, 01:29:10 pm »

instead of collected company, have you considered unburial rites? t1 mana dork into t2 grisly salvage, even just putting stinkweed imp into a yard, can lead to t3 rites flashbacked. and you can use it to bring back a gitrog monster who can then cycle through half your deck and set up a rites with all the pieces in the yard for sure.
tl:dr ubburial rites can set up insane G combos like this one

2

Deck Comments / Re: Mono B Tron - Comments

« on: December 27, 2016, 12:56:50 pm »

perhaps you could cut the 2 diabolic tutors for a third diabolic revelation and an elixir of immortality? that way you can fire of the first rev for value, and the second can get the last rev and the elixir, thus giving you a form of inevitability and allowing you to reuse the best spells in any matchup...

3

Deck Reviews / Modern Bant control

« on: July 29, 2015, 03:54:54 am »

Looking for constructive criticism on this deck, if you guys would kindly give it a look and tell me how you would have gone about it and whether or not it seems solid. I am also specifically looking for advice on the tron/merfolk/combo matchups as sideboarding needs work. aside from 2 sphinx's rev and 3 Supreme Verdict I have the rest of the main and side, but I only have half of the manabase, so if anyone could suggest a mana base without fetches and shocks, perhaps more temples and the tri lands from tarkir?
Also, is the black splash necessary or can it be cut to make the deck leaner? what would you think the deck needs colour wise? I am aware it needs card draw. kiora or Jace AoT would fit. The black splash and sources can also be removed. Trying to keep it budget friendly so no fetches, snappies or cryptics.

What do you guys think?

http://deckstats.net/decks/1956/290287-bant-big-mana-control?saved=1&lng=en

4

Deck Comments / Re: MonoBlack Modern Death - Comments

« on: April 22, 2015, 12:40:38 am »

some planes walkers could also help with a bit of reach. liliana of the veil costs an arm and a leg but it is almost an automatic 4-of in monoblack or tribal vampires. liliana vess does a good job too on a budget.

tribal vampires may be a good way to go, there's the 3 mana vampire in black and red, which buffs your other vampires, not to mention stromkirk noble is the best vampire 1 drop. tribal vampires aggro with red for burn and black for control or hand disruption can be a very competitive deck.

5

Deck Comments / Re: MonoBlack Modern Death - Comments

« on: April 22, 2015, 12:38:30 am »

Death cloud could fit in nicely as a way to either end the game or hit a soft reset button.

Also, the mana looks pretty terrible at splashing red. blood crypt is expensive but it would be worth it. There's also dragonskull summit, rakdos guildgate or akoum refuge.

6

Deck Comments / Re: Mill 2.0 - Comments

« on: April 22, 2015, 12:29:39 am »

Hi, I think mill is definitely a playable deck (I've played it a lot when it was in ravnica standard and then in modern).

I find that just mill, or mill and creatures is actually a weak strategy due to the fact that you don't interact much with the opponents board. for example, if you cast a mill spell or hit with mirko every turn unblocked (assuming he doesn't die to removal) Then you still only affect what your opponent would have drawn. So he could still draw lots of big spells and kill you even if you mill away most of his library. I think you also want to play more lands. generally, 22 lands is reserved for aggro decks (like mono red or affinity), which play between 17-22 lands because their cards are cheap and they can finish a game with just 2-3 lands.

 for a deck like yours which has cards which cost more than 3 (even 5 and 6 You want to be playing at least 24 lands. Yes, at least. A better number would be 25, because if you have no mana you can't play your better spells. you could probably get away with 23-24 if you had more card draw because only staff of nin won't help that much. especially if you never have enough mana to cast them.

If you go the control mill route you would be playing 26-27 lands, and have a metric ton more card draw, because that's what control would need. but with a lot of mana cards like sands of delirium become much better.

Here is the list I played a while back, I haven't updated it in a while and would probably change a lot up if I had to build and tinker with it again but it should still give you a good idea of where to start with a control type mill deck =. for mill-gro, max out of jace's phantasm and the mind funeral, some black removal maybe and lots of cheap creatures like wight of precinct six. a good mill-gro strategy is also invisible stalker and other hexproof or unblockable creatures equipped with trepanation blade.

If you want to discuss more of have more questions feel free to ask, I'm sure there's lots more to mention about milling as a strategy.
Happy Milling!

The best way to win via milling is not to think of it as your primary strategy , or even the most important. To me there are two ways of doing this, either playing mill aggro or playing control with a small part on milling.

mill aggro (or mill-gro)  is when you rely on combat damage to win, but milling fuels this. cards like jace's phantasm and wight of precinct six become your early creatures which can get really big, while cards like mirko, lazav and even consuming abberation become very powerful creatures. milling is a good theme for this deck, but ultimately it relies on combat to win. a deck like this has a hard time against control which can counter your mill and kill your creatures though. it also has a hard time against combo decks and decks that can simply go bigger in terms of creatures.

Control makes the best type of deck to play mill with. When you play control mill, you essentially play control with mill being a slow and grindy way to win rather than a fast and big one. you would generally play lots of ways to draw cards, as well as counter spells and kill spells, and only play a few mill spells, but your mill spells would be cards that you can use over and over e.g. jace memory adept and millstone.

I found that the control way worked more for me, but I also played mill-gro when it was in standard in innistrad/return to ravnica.

7

Deck Comments / Re: Phenax Deck - Comments

« on: February 09, 2014, 02:48:42 pm »

Okay, I've been doing mill for a while now, And I find that the best way to do it is to focus on one way of milling, with everything else supporting or protecting that win condition, with counter spells and fewer creatures (control) or a few counter spells and mostly creatures (aggro). It's very important that whichever way you take the deck, that you hit land drops every turn so I would play 24 lands...maybe 23.

I would cut the breaking, the claustraphobia, the gild, the hidden strings, the mind grind, the traumatize and the triton tactics in favour of control spells like a set of far//away, some dissolve, some syncopate and maybe even psychic strike. I would also add in 3 or 4 underworld connections instead of the pilfered plans, to help with devotion for phenax and card draw. maybe also look for 1 or 2 cyclonic rift. I would also cut one or two consuming abberation, the duskmantle guildmage, 1 hover barrier, both lazav, the nighthowler and the thassa for more of those counter spells above, and add in the fourth nightveil spectre.

8

Deck Comments / Re: Isocranial Blast - Comments

« on: December 15, 2013, 11:51:43 am »

I don't know if you want this as a casual deck or not, but for modern tournaments all of the artifact lands except for darksteel citadel are banned, so seat of the synod and great furnace will have to go...
paradise mantle should be replaced with springleaf drum, because it has a casting cost of 1 but no equip cost which saves mana in the long run.
I think fabricate, welding jar and magma jet can also be replaced with cards like darksteel relic, etched champion and cranial plating mainboard. all of these together will turn on metalcraft for both etched champion, essentially making him unblockable most of the time, and for spells like galvanic blast which you can use as removal or direct burn.
since you are playing blue you might also consider blue spells like mana leak or negate you can use the scepter on to protect your stuff.

9

Deck Comments / Re: G/R stompy death/ ALL THE MANA DORKS!!! - Comments

« on: December 07, 2013, 09:39:19 pm »

http://deckstats.net/decks/1956/45165-gruul-land-destruction/en

Here is my deck list, the things that worked for me in here are the frenzied tilling and demolish, which are commons and uncmmons so getting sets shouldn't be hard. I would even take out the frenzied tilling and flames of the firebrand for a set of bramblecrush as soon as I pick it up, that way you deny your opponent resources they could use to respond to your threats.

10

Deck Comments / Re: G/R stompy death/ ALL THE MANA DORKS!!! - Comments

« on: December 07, 2013, 09:36:52 pm »

I think this deck has too many 1-ofs to be consistent...I also built a RG stompy, and trust me when I say that between getting your mana dorks out, and getting your big things out, there is a pretty good gap for an opponent to kill you, especially because of how good spot removal is right now. most decks run between 4 and 8 kill spells.

on the subject of mana dorks, burnished heart shouldn't count, because the turn you use it's ability it costs you 3 mana, you lose a body you could chump block with and the lands it fetches come in tapped. if you really want to ramp you should try sylvan caryatid as a 4-of, elvish mystic as a 4-of and zhur-taa druid as a 2-of. plus bow of nylea to put a counter on the caryatid puts it our of range of anger of the gods which is the worst thing to worry about in the mirror match, which you could easily lose because gruul right now has xenagos out by turn 3.
sylvan primordial and bramblecrush are pretty good because they kill planeswalkers or lands.

I think the ordeal of nylea is too slow here because it takes too long to get those counters, you cant rely on the bow of nylea as it is a single copy. the fire shriekers and armed and dangerous also seem weak as they become useless if an opponent has removal in hand, which most decks do. 

11

Deck Comments / Re: B/G Rock - Comments

« on: December 07, 2013, 09:21:49 pm »

it looks very nice, I think it's very solid and could have a good matchup against control, I am wondering about the nykthos though? A deck like this doesn't really need to generate lots of mana, just hitting land drops is enough.

I am also wondering about the shaman and ooze as 4-of for both. you need to ask yourself what your meta game is like? how often is your deck up against another graveyard strategy? Ideally, that is the role of golgari colours, to use a big graveyard. all other decks don't really use theirs like that so both of these cards are less powerful. I still say take the ooze to 3 of, and the shaman to 2 of, so you can fit in reaper of the wilds. the hexproof on that thing has won me games all by itself just because it can't be removed.

I like this devotion to golgari deck, it looks much better though, just keep tuning it to the decks in your meta and it should do great 

12

Deck Comments / Re: B/G Rock - Comments

« on: December 05, 2013, 11:47:51 am »

This deck looks pretty solid, I think it could look a lot like devotion to golgari...The read the bones should go in favour of underworld connections, because a stable and repeatable type of card advantage will help against control and midrange decks, while the 2 damage from this and the overgrown tombs will add up against aggro decks.

I would also consider cutting 1 pack rat, 1 desecration demon and 1 deathrite shaman, so you can add 1 reaper of the wilds and mainboard 2 golgari charm. I mainboard a full set in my B/G devotion deck as it tends to be a board wipe against weenie decks, or beats both supreme verdict and detention sphere against control and just helps your creatures survive against removal or combat.

also, I would find space in the sideboard for pithing needle, because in control matchups they never cast their finisher e.g. elspeth or aetherling without leaving mana open for counter spells or to blink, so hero's downfall isn't as great as it looks against control. mistcutter hydra and lotleth troll would also help, as the troll has regen against supreme verdict and the hydra cant be countered and has proc blue.

13

Deck Comments / Re: R/G Ramping Deck - Comments

« on: November 25, 2013, 05:02:06 pm »

Hi, after building a deck similar to this I think I see some of the things you should work on. I made a R/G land destruction deck that can really get it's ramp on. 4 elvish mystic, 4 sylvan caryatid and 2 zhur-taa druid. also, fetching lands from cards like 4 sylvan primordial and 4 frenzied tilling. I then also have 4 ember swallower and 4 demolish to slow my opponent down. every game I see my single colossus of akros I can have him monstrous and attacking by turn 7 and that's 10 mana right there. I think If you stick to the same formula, You could get ember swallower or stormbreath dragon monstrous and attacking as early as turn 5. I dont have any nykthos or Xenagos, but they would help too. burning tree emmisary doesn't really help in a ramp deck without nykthos or xenagos as she only works the turn she comes in, and doesnt add mana but only replaces what you used on her.

I'm looking at your early game and I don't think it will be enough to ramp. the hedonist is not good as a ramper in your deck because you only get to use him once. if you only want to ramp into one thing that's fine, but to summon and monstrous you need permanent ramp, especially if you sac 3 lands to your ember swallower, that strategy only works if you have more mana dorks on the field afterwards. and 8 mana dorks is usually enough, but for consistency 10 is the number.

also, your anger of the gods would kill your ramp guys too. I run 3 bow of nylea to gain life against aggro, take care of fliers and also recycle cards in my grave. in the mirror and in general it works well because adding a +1+1 counter to a sylvan caryatid or elvish mystic every turn takes it out of anger of the gods range and allows you to build up a mana dork which could work well as a blocker, you should consider the same. I think you should also find space in the main or side for fade into antiquity. this deck looks like it might struggle against turned-on gods. Maybe also rangers guile, as the last thing you want is to summon your dragon, monstrous it, attack and walk right into a hero's downfall.

also, I think the 4 magma jet are a bit much. they miss fliers like desecration demon and nightveil specter, and the scry 2 is useful but dealing only 2 damage isn't where you want to be. the 4 lightning strike are okay, but instead of drawing a damage spell, a deck like this wants to rather draw a creature an opponent cant handle or a threat on it's own e.g. bow of nylea. maybe splash black for dreadbore or consider an X damage spell if you still want that many spells. I'm also not sold on the gruul charms, as you already have the anger of the gods which hits everything, and the blocking ability is not relevant as you should be dropping creatures big enough that if blocked, they shouldn't be in trouble, Nylea main board could be better for pushing though damage anyway.

if you have anything else you want help with feel free to ask, or Take a look here and you can see what I am trying and maybe take some ideas from it.
http://deckstats.net/decks/1956/45165-rg-land-destruction/en

14

Deck Comments / Re: Red Simic Explosion!!!! - Comments

« on: November 10, 2013, 08:06:01 pm »

I think fathom mage could be replaced with thassa or her bident, which would also help with card draw but with something like thassa at least you can ensure that without master of waves, whatever you do have on the field can be a beater without getting blocked, and frostburn weird as an unblocked pump for 3, that's a fast clock.

15

Deck Comments / Re: Red Simic Explosion!!!! - Comments

« on: November 10, 2013, 08:03:35 pm »

So I tested this thing a little bit...and it seems like a 3rd colour most of the time came up pointless? with master of waves and purphoros as 4-ofs there were so many times I just didnt want a prophet of kruphix, and the master biomancer seems cool but he actually competes with master of waves in an already crowded 4 drop slot. have you considered making this a straight izzet deck? I think cutting out the green in here could give you more room for early plays like the nivix cyclops, and more cards that can put a devotion count together that will just kill an opponent out right when master of waves hits the board with purphoros on, or even hammer of purphoros to make a hasty army out of nowhere.
master of waves belongs in a control shell, trying to fit him into something meant to be aggro will hurt your devotion count and consistency.