Happy Gilmore
08-06-2007, 12:53 AM
In Paskins article you will find mostly a review of GR for standard, but at the bottom I found this:
I'll finish up with something completely different.
This deck is not, in fact, legal for any Constructed format at the moment, but is prompted by Christopher Coppola's article about how Land Tax (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Land+Tax) ought to be unbanned because card advantage is less important in Legacy than tempo, and any Land Tax (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Land+Tax) deck would not be as good as the current big three Goblins/Threshold/Belcher. He supported this with a write-up of matchups between a hypothetical mono-White Land Tax (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Land+Tax) deck and the top decks.
I thought this was a pretty dubious rationale (and for the sake of Legacy players, Land Tax should be banned because it is not worth the risk of the crushing tedium involved in playing against it).
Christopher offered an “open challenge” to deckbuilders to come up with a Land Tax deck that is good. I'd have thought that rather than a mono-White deck, the place to start would be with some kind of Blue/White deck, as per the following:
4 Enlightened Tutor (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Enlightened+Tutor)
4 Force of Will (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Force+of+Will)
4 Daze (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Daze)
4 Thirst for Knowledge (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Thirst+for+Knowledge)
4 Swords to Plowshares (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Swords+to+Plowshares)
3 Land Tax
3 Scroll Rack (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Scroll+Rack)
3 Masticore (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Masticore)
1 Engineered Explosives (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Engineered+Explosives)
1 Sphere of Law (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Sphere+of+Law)
1 Phyrexian Furnace (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Phyrexian+Furnace)
1 Pithing Needle (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Pithing+Needle)
1 Porphyry Nodes (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Porphyry+Nodes)
2 Gaea's Blessing (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Gaea%27s+Blessing)
2 Chrome Mox (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Chrome+Mox)
2 Mox Diamond (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Mox+Diamond)
4 Flooded Strand (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Flooded+Strand)
4 Tundra (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Tundra)
5 Island (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Island)
5 Plains (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Plains)
2 Forest (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Forest)
This is just version 1.0, and I'm not claiming it is unfair or anything. But if you look at Christopher's examples of how games between a Tax deck and the top decks play out, compared to how this deck would operate, the difference is striking (basically, in his scenario, the Tax deck does nothing except use Land Tax or play Orim's Chant (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Orim%27s+Chant) before turn 3. It certainly doesn't use Force of Will (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Force+of+Will) or Daze (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Daze) or tutor for a Sphere of Law (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Sphere+of+Law) or Phyrexian Furnace (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Phyrexian+Furnace)). If you can imagine how tedious a mirror match between two tuned versions of the deck above would be, I think you'll agree that Land Tax should be left well alone.
What do you guys think about this deck?
I'll finish up with something completely different.
This deck is not, in fact, legal for any Constructed format at the moment, but is prompted by Christopher Coppola's article about how Land Tax (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Land+Tax) ought to be unbanned because card advantage is less important in Legacy than tempo, and any Land Tax (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Land+Tax) deck would not be as good as the current big three Goblins/Threshold/Belcher. He supported this with a write-up of matchups between a hypothetical mono-White Land Tax (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Land+Tax) deck and the top decks.
I thought this was a pretty dubious rationale (and for the sake of Legacy players, Land Tax should be banned because it is not worth the risk of the crushing tedium involved in playing against it).
Christopher offered an “open challenge” to deckbuilders to come up with a Land Tax deck that is good. I'd have thought that rather than a mono-White deck, the place to start would be with some kind of Blue/White deck, as per the following:
4 Enlightened Tutor (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Enlightened+Tutor)
4 Force of Will (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Force+of+Will)
4 Daze (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Daze)
4 Thirst for Knowledge (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Thirst+for+Knowledge)
4 Swords to Plowshares (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Swords+to+Plowshares)
3 Land Tax
3 Scroll Rack (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Scroll+Rack)
3 Masticore (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Masticore)
1 Engineered Explosives (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Engineered+Explosives)
1 Sphere of Law (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Sphere+of+Law)
1 Phyrexian Furnace (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Phyrexian+Furnace)
1 Pithing Needle (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Pithing+Needle)
1 Porphyry Nodes (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Porphyry+Nodes)
2 Gaea's Blessing (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Gaea%27s+Blessing)
2 Chrome Mox (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Chrome+Mox)
2 Mox Diamond (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Mox+Diamond)
4 Flooded Strand (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Flooded+Strand)
4 Tundra (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Tundra)
5 Island (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Island)
5 Plains (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Plains)
2 Forest (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Forest)
This is just version 1.0, and I'm not claiming it is unfair or anything. But if you look at Christopher's examples of how games between a Tax deck and the top decks play out, compared to how this deck would operate, the difference is striking (basically, in his scenario, the Tax deck does nothing except use Land Tax or play Orim's Chant (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Orim%27s+Chant) before turn 3. It certainly doesn't use Force of Will (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Force+of+Will) or Daze (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Daze) or tutor for a Sphere of Law (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Sphere+of+Law) or Phyrexian Furnace (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Phyrexian+Furnace)). If you can imagine how tedious a mirror match between two tuned versions of the deck above would be, I think you'll agree that Land Tax should be left well alone.
What do you guys think about this deck?