underboob
09-21-2006, 07:00 PM
This is a recent creation of mine, and so far my testing has been pretty limited. I've only played against generic control.dec (counterspells + swords) and goblins, but its performed relatively well.
GrimGro.dec
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Quirion Dryad
3 Gaea's Skyfolk
2 Voidmage Prodigy
4 Brainstorm
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Predict
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
2 Daze
2 Misdirection
2 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Flooded Strand
1 Wooded Foothills
4 Tropical Island
4 Volcanic Island
4 Island
This deck is based off the Gro decks of yore with an updated card set. I chose not to rely heavily on graveyard effects to avoid the large amounts of graveyard hate present in the current metagame.
Card Choices
Grim Lavamancer – He performs three specific tasks in the deck. 1) He controls creature swarms, often picking off one target each turn. 2) He takes the fight to the face by pinging for 2 each turn. 3) He is always able to pick up Jitte and run with it, naturally.
Quirion Dryad – More often than not if one sticks early and you have the counters to back it up, it will carry the game. Once it gets past 6/6, there’s often not much the opponent can do if you have the counters to protect it.
Gaea’s Skyfolk – Because they fly, they will eat away at the opponent’s life total and are the best option to carry Jitte in the deck. I don’t run the full set because multiples in play tend to be redundant and a bit weak overall.
Voidmage Prodigy – These are either the strongest or the weakest member of your team depending on what deck your opponent happens to be playing. Against control and other aggro control he shines, providing an uncounterable counter. Against aggro and combo, he’s either too slow or too weak, and will get pulled in sideboarding.
Force of Will – Obvious
Counterspell – Hard counters are important in this deck, providing the primary source of answers. This is the cheapest hard counter available, so it gets played.
Daze – A cheap early game counter which, if seen Game One, can inspire The Fear. Often this will get sided out Game Two, but your opponent will still attempt to play around it, increasing your tempo advantage.
Misdirection – With so many Swords to Plowshares about these made a lot of sense. These also wreck Deadguy Ale type decks, redirecting their targeted removal, hand destruction, and discard back at the owner.
Draw Package – Pretty standard Gro draw package with Predicts providing some hard card advantage to make up for the FoWs and MisDs.
Jitte – It does the same broken things here that it does everywhere else. There are only two because this deck is very effective at digging. When I ran three I would often see two per game, and I often wished the second was something else.
Manabase – The manabase is very stable, although well placed Wastelands can make life difficult at times. I may need to revamp it soon to include basic Forests and Mountains, but for now it has suited me fine.
Summary
At heart, this deck is a tempo deck. As such, in almost any situation, the one that preserves the most tempo is the most often the correct one. If you need to make that third land drop, go ahead and dig like a madman second turn hopefully finding something else useful along the way. Against Goblins, its important to find a Grim Lavamancer early and ride him to victory, pinging Warchiefs and Piledrivers. Apart from that, you can counter anything that might gain them card advantage or provide any significant boost in tempo ie Siege Gang Commanders and Goblin Ringleaders. Dryads will have a bit of trouble making it through the sheer numbers of bodies, so Gaea’s Skyfolk will often go the distance for you.
Against control, it’s the classic control vs aggro control. Play aggressively and get threats down early, but with the countermagic to back them up. Odds are you have more free countermagic than they do, so if you manage to exhaust their supply in an early battle, try to dig quickly for more. Because of all the spells flying around, Dryads can get ridiculous quickly. If you protect them they will carry the game for you. Lavamancers can also provide a good source of damage, and sometimes you can win simply from repeated pinging from them.
The reason I have posted this in the new and developmental forum is because of my following concerns. The first is against midrange aggro, such as Zilla Stompy. Creatures featured in that deck are in general larger than my own and require unfavorable trades in my part. I know I could counter a fair amount of their threats, but the fact remains that multiple resolved x/4 creatures can cause big problems without a Jitte or large Dryad down on my side. Another concern comes from combo, although I feel that problem may be addressed through sideboarding, especially from the presence of Pyroblasts.
As for proposed sideboards, my options include Pyroblast, Flametongue Kavu, Oxidize, Pyroclasm, additional Jittes or Moldervine Cloaks, Tormond’s Crypt, and additional Misdirections. Tentatively, a sideboard for a generic metagame might look like:
4 Pyroblast
3 Moldervine Cloak
3 Pyroclasm
3 Tormond’s Crypt
1 Misdirection
Any and all suggestions or comments are apprectiated.
GrimGro.dec
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Quirion Dryad
3 Gaea's Skyfolk
2 Voidmage Prodigy
4 Brainstorm
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Predict
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
2 Daze
2 Misdirection
2 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Flooded Strand
1 Wooded Foothills
4 Tropical Island
4 Volcanic Island
4 Island
This deck is based off the Gro decks of yore with an updated card set. I chose not to rely heavily on graveyard effects to avoid the large amounts of graveyard hate present in the current metagame.
Card Choices
Grim Lavamancer – He performs three specific tasks in the deck. 1) He controls creature swarms, often picking off one target each turn. 2) He takes the fight to the face by pinging for 2 each turn. 3) He is always able to pick up Jitte and run with it, naturally.
Quirion Dryad – More often than not if one sticks early and you have the counters to back it up, it will carry the game. Once it gets past 6/6, there’s often not much the opponent can do if you have the counters to protect it.
Gaea’s Skyfolk – Because they fly, they will eat away at the opponent’s life total and are the best option to carry Jitte in the deck. I don’t run the full set because multiples in play tend to be redundant and a bit weak overall.
Voidmage Prodigy – These are either the strongest or the weakest member of your team depending on what deck your opponent happens to be playing. Against control and other aggro control he shines, providing an uncounterable counter. Against aggro and combo, he’s either too slow or too weak, and will get pulled in sideboarding.
Force of Will – Obvious
Counterspell – Hard counters are important in this deck, providing the primary source of answers. This is the cheapest hard counter available, so it gets played.
Daze – A cheap early game counter which, if seen Game One, can inspire The Fear. Often this will get sided out Game Two, but your opponent will still attempt to play around it, increasing your tempo advantage.
Misdirection – With so many Swords to Plowshares about these made a lot of sense. These also wreck Deadguy Ale type decks, redirecting their targeted removal, hand destruction, and discard back at the owner.
Draw Package – Pretty standard Gro draw package with Predicts providing some hard card advantage to make up for the FoWs and MisDs.
Jitte – It does the same broken things here that it does everywhere else. There are only two because this deck is very effective at digging. When I ran three I would often see two per game, and I often wished the second was something else.
Manabase – The manabase is very stable, although well placed Wastelands can make life difficult at times. I may need to revamp it soon to include basic Forests and Mountains, but for now it has suited me fine.
Summary
At heart, this deck is a tempo deck. As such, in almost any situation, the one that preserves the most tempo is the most often the correct one. If you need to make that third land drop, go ahead and dig like a madman second turn hopefully finding something else useful along the way. Against Goblins, its important to find a Grim Lavamancer early and ride him to victory, pinging Warchiefs and Piledrivers. Apart from that, you can counter anything that might gain them card advantage or provide any significant boost in tempo ie Siege Gang Commanders and Goblin Ringleaders. Dryads will have a bit of trouble making it through the sheer numbers of bodies, so Gaea’s Skyfolk will often go the distance for you.
Against control, it’s the classic control vs aggro control. Play aggressively and get threats down early, but with the countermagic to back them up. Odds are you have more free countermagic than they do, so if you manage to exhaust their supply in an early battle, try to dig quickly for more. Because of all the spells flying around, Dryads can get ridiculous quickly. If you protect them they will carry the game for you. Lavamancers can also provide a good source of damage, and sometimes you can win simply from repeated pinging from them.
The reason I have posted this in the new and developmental forum is because of my following concerns. The first is against midrange aggro, such as Zilla Stompy. Creatures featured in that deck are in general larger than my own and require unfavorable trades in my part. I know I could counter a fair amount of their threats, but the fact remains that multiple resolved x/4 creatures can cause big problems without a Jitte or large Dryad down on my side. Another concern comes from combo, although I feel that problem may be addressed through sideboarding, especially from the presence of Pyroblasts.
As for proposed sideboards, my options include Pyroblast, Flametongue Kavu, Oxidize, Pyroclasm, additional Jittes or Moldervine Cloaks, Tormond’s Crypt, and additional Misdirections. Tentatively, a sideboard for a generic metagame might look like:
4 Pyroblast
3 Moldervine Cloak
3 Pyroclasm
3 Tormond’s Crypt
1 Misdirection
Any and all suggestions or comments are apprectiated.