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Deck Reviews / Re: [Modern] Afiinity /Robots

« on: August 25, 2015, 11:02:44 am »

I'm not sure, after all I'm not an affinity player. For what it's worth, Frank Karsten says of Welding Jar that it often does nothing but that it can be occasionally good against Abrupt Decay on Cranial Plating. Again, this is meta dependent, but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

His article is out of date, but reasonably informative nonetheless: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/deck-guide-modern-affinity/

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Deck Reviews / Re: [Modern] White Weenies

« on: August 25, 2015, 10:52:28 am »

Guardians' Pledge does its best work with lots of creatures on board, so any cards that produces creature tokens should be a consideration. I would recommend Precinct Captain for this role. It also works well with Mentor of the Meek. I would take out Sungrace Pegasus because it's not very aggressive at just a 1/2 for 2 mana.

I would also consider Spectral Procession as its an amazing card that fits in with the theme of your deck.

For early drops, consider cards like Boros Elite, Doomed Traveler, Dragon Hunter, Elite Vanguard, and/or Figure of Destiny. Champion of the Parish is also incredible, but only if virtually all the other creatures in your deck are humans.

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Deck Reviews / Re: [Modern] Mono-Black Zombies

« on: August 25, 2015, 10:41:30 am »

I like where this deck is going.

I would play the full set of Geralf's Messenger. It's an amazing card.

Between Murder, Doom Blade, and Ultimate Price I would actually just play Victim of Night since very few people play Zombies, Werewolves, or Vampires. If you still want 6 removal spells then for the last 2 I would recommend Doom Blade since few people play exclusively black creatures as well.

I would take out Corpse Blockade because defender sucks and replace it with something like Ghoulraiser which gives you value.

I would consider putting Nameless Inversion in the deck because you can return it to your hand with Ghoulcaller's Chant (and Ghoulraiser, should you choose to play it).

I would consider replacing some stuff for Liliana's Reaver, Quest for the Gravelord, and/or Cemetery Reaper.

Finally, I would consider putting in more lands because with only 20 it will be hard to cast cards costing 5 or 6 mana.

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Deck Reviews / Re: [Modern] Island Walkers

« on: August 25, 2015, 10:30:27 am »

I like the interaction of Chasm Skulker and Pongify. I would recommend considering cards like Compulsive Research over Divination. Often you can just discard a land you don't need. Fathom Seer and See Beyond could also be considerations.

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Deck Reviews / Re: [Modern] Run O' Tha Mill

« on: August 25, 2015, 10:23:41 am »

I'm not trying to be negative, just realistic. I can't comment much on multiplayer as I don't play it. However, here are a couple of suggestions:

1. Cut 2 cards from the deck to make it 60 cards. 60 card decks are best because they are trying to play the very best 60 cards possible, any more than that is almost always worse.

2. Try Duskmantle Seer and Mindcrank. The latter card does cost $10 for a set, but the combo is instant win.

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Deck Reviews / Re: [Modern] Burn and Churn - Slivers

« on: August 25, 2015, 10:13:51 am »

The problem with cards like Seismic Shudder is that is does little to nothing without the Fungus Sliver on the battlefield, and there will be plenty of games where you don't get that interaction. You could just as easily play Travel Preparations and then you don't need both cards to pump your creatures.

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Deck Reviews / Re: [Modern] Humanimator

« on: August 25, 2015, 10:10:19 am »

There is potential here though. Look for ways to get the kill the turn you cast Unburial Rites, or make it more interactive so you can stop your opponent from realising their gameplan.

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Deck Reviews / Re: [Modern] Mono-White Board Control

« on: August 24, 2015, 11:39:39 am »

Good at dealing with creatures, although a little slow at it. Silkwrap and Journey to Nowhere are better than Arrest, Pacifism, and Defang I think.

The deck is not good, however, at dealing with Burn. 4 Elixir of Immortality won't solve your problems there. At best one of them will deal with 1.5 burn spells, but since you won't have your opponent on a fast clock, you give them plenty of time to draw enough burn to kill you.

The deck is also poor at dealing with combo. Blind Obedience helps, but the deck could use a card like Runed Halo.

The deck will also have trouble with any kind of quick swarm strategy since 5 mana is a lot to cast Sphere of Safety. It could really use Ghostly Prison (Windborn Muse is cheaper and has the same effect but costs 4 mana and is easier to kill).

Finally, it seems to me a quicker, easier and cheaper way to kill your opponent would be to use Sigil of the Empty Throne rather than wait 11 turns with a Gideon out, or attacking with him a bunch beforehand and risking him getting Path to Exiled or Dismembered. Staff of Nin is also a pretty slow way to kill your opponent, but the extra card draw is nice. In fact, if you really want a slow kill, forget Gideon altogether and just rely on Staff.

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Deck Reviews / Re: [Modern] Jolly Green Giant

« on: August 24, 2015, 11:28:15 am »

Your deck seems to have a few mixed themes... at first it seems like an Elf deck, and if that's what you want then I would go and make every creature an Elf, except maybe one or two utility creatures (eg Acidic Slime, Thragtusk, Cloudthresher, something like that).

If it's more of a ramp deck, then forget the Elf lords (except Elvish Archdruid, the best and cheapest one... where is it??) and concentrate on trying to ramp into something backbreaking. Also take out the Overruns if you're trying to play a few big creatures rather than a swarm of little ones.

You should be able to do better at the 6-slot, even on a budget. The aforementioned Cloudthresher is great because it has flash and can be paid for its evoke costs if needed to take out small flyers. Essence of the Wild could be good because it turns all other mana dorks you might play afterwards into 6/6s. Soul of the Harvest can also make your mana dorks good in the late game because each time you play one you then draw a card. It works whether or not you have cast the creature, so token makers would go really well with it (eg. Sprout Swarm). Steel Hellkite could blow up their stuff.

Not at 6 mana but still mana intensive, Polukranos could do good work because you can use it to kill your opponent's creatures. Wolfbriar Elemental is also great because you can cast it for 4, 5, 6, etc mana and it just gets better and better. It's also way harder to deal with a bunch of little creatures than one single big one unless the big one has some kind of evasion (usually Trample with green).

If you can splash red Ruric Thar could be great as it would shut down any non-creature spell heavy deck.

Hopefully these are helpful ideas. 

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Deck Reviews / Re: [Modern] boss sligh modern

« on: August 24, 2015, 11:09:10 am »

It might be possible to make a decently fast, cheap, red aggro deck, and I think you're on the right track. I would not play Madcap Skills or Titan's Strength, however, because they will likely lead to you being 2 for 1ed by having your opponent kill the creature in response. More burn would probably be good, like Searing Blaze and Incinerate. 

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Deck Reviews / Re: [Modern] Run O' Tha Mill

« on: August 24, 2015, 11:06:04 am »

In order to do well at deck building, you need to understand the concept of tempo. If your deck is trying to win on turn 10 and your opponents have decks that win on turn 4, it's just not gonna work. Playing a card that mills your opponent's deck one at a time is really bad. Consider that a card that deals one damage a turn to your opponent is unplayable (eg Curse of the Pierced Heart) so a card that mills one card a turn is even more so because that's like doing the same thing except your opponent has 50 life.

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Deck Reviews / Re: [Modern] $9 Deck to Beat EVERYONE (Revised)

« on: August 24, 2015, 11:02:49 am »

No offense, but this deck and the original version both look like they were made by someone who has not ever played Modern. They also look like they haven't been tested ever. You couldn't beat any decent deck with this one. In fact, good Standard decks would destroy it as well. Heck, even Standard Pauper decks would probably beat it.

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Deck Reviews / Re: [Modern] Afiinity /Robots

« on: August 24, 2015, 10:59:18 am »

Affinity is a terrific Tier 1 Modern deck. It does so many good things aggro decks want, like playing 8 cheap flying manlands, a better Lightning Bolt, and dumping its hand in 1-2 turns.

The list looks good but I would make the following comments.

1. Master of Etherium is surprisingly slow in the deck. One seems like the most you should play.

2. Etched Champion is actually really sweet as it's unblockable, can block anything and can't be removed. With a Cranial Plating it ends the game quickly. I would add one more.

3. Most Affinity decks don't play Ensoul Artifact, probably because short of having a Darksteel Citadel to put it on, it leads to getting 2 for 1ed when you cast it and your opponent removes the target. Many decks now are playing Hangerback Walker as a 3-of. Having more flyers is always good. Part of the strength of Affinity is that the creatures are hard to block and will kill you fast with Cranial Plating.

4. Most lists play a mountain instead of an island as their basic since they don't play blue maindeck.

5. Most Affinity sideboards are a bit more diverse. This is obviously quite meta dependent.

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Deck Reviews / Re: [Modern] Humanimator

« on: August 24, 2015, 10:51:05 am »

Probably a bit too slow for Modern, which is a turn 4 format. The main issue is that you don't win the turn you cast Unburial Rites.

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Deck Reviews / Re: [Modern] U/W Unblockable Control

« on: August 24, 2015, 10:48:13 am »

Some decks in Modern don't rely much on creatures (burn) or not at all (Storm Combo, Ad Nauseam combo). You would not be able to kill them faster than they would kill you. Also tapping creatures is fine, but Hidden Strings will only cipher when you deal combat damage, which means you can tap their creatures but they will just untap on their own turn. Many of these cards would only be good if they also said "and doesn't untap during their next untap step". Removal heavy decks will also fairly easily deal with the creatures, since they aren't 2 for 1s or have any kind of protection.