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JAG
12-06-2004, 02:07 AM
I notice that the only thread regarding this deck closed a while ago, so I thought it might be useful to examine the deck a bit more.

Essentially, this deck derived from Tradewind Survival. It, at its core, is a Survival based combo deck designed to abuse Volrath's Shapeshifter.

Here is my current build, which is still in testing at the moment.

Mana Acceleration:
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Wall of Roots

Utility:
3 Eternal Witness
1 Monk Realist
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob

Kill
4 Volrath's Shapeshifter
1 Phage the Untouchable
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Morphling
1 Cephalid Inkshrouder
1 Flowstone Hellion
1 Phyrexian Dreadnought

Searching:
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Brainstorm
3 Impulse

Disruption:
4 Force of Will

Land:
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Taiga
4 Tropical Island
3 Forest
1 Island
4 City of Brass
2 Gemstone Mine

Sideboard:

1 Meddling Mage
1 Gilded Drake
1 Genesis
1 Gigapede
1 Masticore
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Fire/Ice
2 Rack and Ruin
3 Artifact Mutation

Note: this particular sideboard was designed for a Vintage environment, so there is more focus on being able to handle a Workshop-based deck than would normally be required in Legacy.

The strengths of this deck are a quick kill (I've killed on turn 3 with a very strong hand against little disruption, but typical kill is around turn 4 or 5) and the normal strengths of a Survival deck. It's main weaknesses are it's reliance on the graveyard and the high level of rules knowledge required to play it (most players regularly make 1-2 significant mistakes per turn with it).

In case you are not familiar with this deck, the victory condition involves using Shapeshifter to copy a creature with evasion (and sometimes haste as well) and then turning it into Phage for the win. The alternative kill involves turning the Shifter into Flowstone Hellion, attacking, then pumping the Shifter several times in succession, then responding by turning it into a Phyrexian Dreadnought, making it a 12/12 trampling creature that is about to get something like +8/-8.

As I said, the deck is a work in progress, but it has been performing fairly well in testing thus far and it seemed worthy of being subjected to wide-spread criticism.

The main problem I've been finding with the list is that it is very tight. It is very difficult to fit anything new into this particular list. Genesis and Masticore seem to be excellent options to have in the maindeck, but there is no space for them. I've been considering dropping Morphling for a while, but it keeps showing its worth in situations where I cannot find a Shapeshifter. The alternative kill was also on the rocks...then I discovered the strength of Dreadnought when multiple Shapeshifters are in play. It may still be cut for Anger + another slot, but testing needs to be done.

As for the Sideboard cards, Gigapede in particular is very strong against the Blue-based control decks I've been seeing lately. One in particular had no answer short of Orim's Chant on an Isochron Scepter for a Gigapede. I will also probably find room for Ground Seals in the board, although this will severely impact Genesis' power.

Any suggestions, comments, or questions would be welcome. Criticism is also useful, but should be backed with playtesting. Also, more information on how well this deck functions in a variety of metagames would be helpful. Our current meta is very underdeveloped, so we are not currently certain whether or not this deck is competitive in a more competitive meta.

-JM

Carlos El Salvador
12-06-2004, 07:51 AM
You should only run one of the combo kills, your usually not going to cast Phage/Akroma, so they are basiclly useless, especially when you look at the fact that you probibly won't lose them. If you somehow do, you usually can just try to kill again the next turn... Just my two cents.

shadowskyno2
12-06-2004, 08:34 AM
I had played this deck not too long ago, but my list was awful and I did awful, however something in my build that I would think should be in any is Hypnox. Assuming he is in the GY while a shapeshifter is being cast, his CIP will trigger. If they somehow draw removal while being pummeled then change it again and their hand is gone permanently. Thats usually an unrecoverable kick in the nuts.

As I type this it seems like it would be prudent just to drop the combo to a couple slots or altogether, and just play to abuse Hypnox; would this make the deck more versatile by allowing more slots for answers?

CavernNinja
12-06-2004, 11:23 AM
The reason for two combo kills is because if you draw into one early and have to pitch one half of the combo you still want something to fall back on. I think that if you are going to play combo kill you need to play two so that you can reliably use one of the them.

JAG
12-06-2004, 03:52 PM
I actually have had Hypnox in the deck before, but I've found that once we added real disruption to the deck (at the time it was Duress, now it's Force of Will) he was only really useful when he was in your hand before you cast the Shifter. Survivaling for him was usually a waste since you can often just get the kill instead of screwing around with their hand. And of course you can never cast him.

The main reason I wanted the alternate kill is so that if you go for it and they somehow have an answer that buries Phage too deep in your graveyard to kill with, you can still win with a hasty 23/1 Dreadnought. Also, Dreadnought is one of the more threatening creatures you can be beating with in case your combo kill is disabled (Hellion and Phage both deep in the 'yard).

The thing is that beating with Akroma is almost as good as beating with Dreadnought, particularly against a deck where you need some defense as well as beatdown (i.e. Akroma is great against Goblins while Dreadnought may be great but may also get you killed if you get counter-attacked for too much damage). Morphling will probably get the axe, as it is in there almost purely for redundancy, but I'm not sure about the rest of the kill pieces.

-JM

Slay
12-06-2004, 05:26 PM
You could also run Psychatog. If your Phage is way down in the yard, and you put the Tog on top, you can zap your graveyard until its got a Phage on top, then win.
-Slay

scrumdogg
12-06-2004, 05:36 PM
Psychatog has the added advantage of being able to discard for free, if you have further win conditions in hand but no mana to activate either SotF or Shapeshifter. Psychatog can dig into some very nasty utility critters, sadly, as well as just swing for a ton if unblocked.... Kevyn, an old school unregged player here in Woosta who does well, runs Full Irish Breakfast (full of Guinness - dark critters & Cheese - see greazy combo stuff....) with a bunch of survivable options, some of which are hardcastable. His deck is U/W/G to take advantage of STP and hardcasting Akroma or the Iridescent Angel he runs. Iridescent also has the ability to be STP proof & unblockable by colored critters (if Akroma is unavailable or STP is feared. His Psychatog ate cards from the yard in response to my STP until it became Iridescent. D'oh! I lost that game.....

hellfire1134
12-06-2004, 07:03 PM
I personnaly would like to see a Rofellos. He gets you a crap load of mana to help fuel your win condition. If you can find room run one or two.

FyndhornBrownie
12-06-2004, 07:14 PM
I personally would like to see a Rofellos. He gets you a crap load of mana to help fuel your win condition. If you can find room, run one or two.
This deck doesn't have anger in it, so what would be the point of Rofellos? He is good because of anger. With anger, your opponent can kill him right away and you'd still get to tap him for mana.

troopatroop
12-06-2004, 07:31 PM
The builds I've seen have also run show and tell as a secondary win condition. It would make your many survival bombs playable and quite good. I think the show and tell varient that diablos used a while back (stomp on your face i think it was called) ran survival and show n tell. I lost to a second turn akroma while playing control against that deck. I force the show and he forces back. It seems like a viable strategy to me.

Any thoughts

JAG
12-06-2004, 11:59 PM
ok a couple responses here:

First off, I hadn't considered using Psychatog or Show and Tell before. If i were to run one, I'd probably go with Psychatog, who is a decent alternate win all by himself and can help set up the graveyard. More importantly, he can be tutored for and entails little to no risk (Show and Tell could be very very bad in the mirror, for example).

As for Rofellos, i've rarely found myself so short on green mana that I would have needed a huge boost like what Rofellos gives me. Personally, I'd like to find space for another Wall of Roots, which provides more permenant and reliable mana that opponents are less likely to waste a kill spell on (which would you rather Swords: Akroma or Wall?).

The lack of Anger in the deck may soon be rectified. the interesting thing about adding Anger is that it would almost remove the necessity for Akroma, since Unblockable + Untargetable > Flying and Trampling.

-JM

Slay
12-07-2004, 03:36 PM
You should definitely try to get as many walls of roots as possible. If one dies(tough because of its ass) it goes to yard and your Shapeshifter can use its abilit to generate one extra green mana, which may win you the game that turn.
-Slay

JAG
12-09-2004, 12:26 AM
agreed, slay. the only issue i've had occasionally is that putting -0/-1 counters on a creature that is naturally a 0/1 makes him unusually fragile, although equally game-ending.

-JM

frogboy
12-09-2004, 12:39 AM
Is it me, or does this just scoop to Wasteland, any sort of removal, and anything else that knocks a card into your graveyard at instant speed? How do you deal with that?

GRAH
12-09-2004, 12:46 AM
Is it me, or does this just scoop to Wasteland, any sort of removal, and anything else that knocks a card into your graveyard at instant speed? How do you deal with that?
That's why I used to play (don't laugh) Scrabbling Claws MDed in my version. Of course, I also faced a lot of Survival, but that's another story.

AngryTroll
12-09-2004, 01:32 AM
The Tog lets you deal with Wasteland.

I would be tempted to run a black splash to make Tog better. It can win the game all by itself. THe problem is that shapeshifter has UU in the cost. Tog counts for FoW though, or you can go the black route and run Duress and Cabal Therapy (mana birds can be sacked easily after tapping for mana to ensure the win that turn).

4 Wall of Roots really should find a way in there. They have become one of my favorite SotF/anti-aggro cards.
Hypnox can let you completely take control of the game on turn 3 or 4.
Turn 1 birds, 2 survival, survival for hypnox, turn three, survival hypnox for Shapeshifter, cast shapeshifter. At this point you have pretty much won the game. You combo next turn, and they will have have one card in hand to deal with it. And if SotF does not resolve, topdecking Tog, Witness, or another Survival lets you try to cast another game winner.

Slay
12-09-2004, 04:45 PM
See, I think Tog is so damned powerful in this version, but making black a big part of this deck is too hard to do. If oyu look at most of the tog decks, the black is for either a deed or for duress. I think that splashing black for duress is fine, but it's gotta remain a very small part of this deck. I'd go with three togs and three duresses, with 3 Seas and 3 Bayous. This would allow you to go to Tog-beatdown if need be.

And since both Tog and Shapeshifter cost 3, what about Aether Vial?
-Slay

mahdogg
12-12-2004, 08:11 PM
Being the mildly infamous, and wholly goofy player named Kevyn in the Woosta metagame, I feel compelled to post my current decklist, though my own discussion of it will be relatively brief in interest of time.

Full Irish Breakfast

~Land
2x Flooded Strand
2x Polluted Delta
1x Windswept Heath
4x Tropical Island
3x Bayou
2x Tundra
2x Underground Sea
2x Savannah
1x Volcanic Island

~Digging
4x Survival of the Fittest
4x Living Wish
3x Lim-Dul's Vault
2x Enlightened Tutor

~Acceleration
3x Elvish Spirit Guide
2x Birds of Paradise

~Other Creatures
3x Volrath's Shapeshifter
2x Phage the Untouchable
2x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
2x Morphling
2x Psychatog
2x Squee, Goblin Nabob
1x Anger
1x Iridescent Angel

~Utility
4x Force of Will
4x Swords to Plowshares

~Sideboard
1x Volrath's Shapeshifter
1x Phage the Untouchable
1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1x Iridescent Angel
1x Psychatog
1x Goblin Tinkerer
1x Flooded Strand
3x Tormod's Crypt
3x Naturalize
1x Disenchant
1x Shahrazad

A couple brief explanations:
Shahrazad - That's the kind of person I am.
Low Land Count - I don't know why, but it works. I've thought about changing it many times.
Anger - Just trying it; don't like it too much.

Other than a decklist, you haven't really added anything to the conversation. Since it is your first post, we'll be forgiving, but give us some discussion to work with. Other decklists sans explanation or discussion tips will be deleted.

Peter_Rotten

JAG
12-16-2004, 12:09 AM
I'm not a terribly big fan of Aether Vial in this deck, only because although it gets your kill conditions out through countermagic, it's quite slow to get a 3 drop out, and it's not a creature (and thus does not have synergy with Survival like excess Birds/Walls do).

I haven't been able to test it much lately, but Tog seems like a very nice addition. I will definitely drop Morphling for Tog in my next set of test games.

as for the deck scooping to instant-speed ways to put cards in your graveyard, what ways are you talking about exactly? Swords doesn't do it, and discard is all sorcery speed. Unless they have maindeck Naturalize or an Edict for a Birds or something, there isn't all that much that will put something in my graveyard at instant speed.

As for Wasteland, yes it's a problem. Just as much as it is for other dual-based decks. In fact, wasteland is the primary reason for the basic lands in the deck. Consistent green that can't be locked out by wasteland is crucial to the deck. Besides, with Tog in it, it's not as reliant on the Shifter to win with, despite shifter being usually faster, harder to kill, and cooler to boot.

The black splash is looking more and more appealing. the problem is that the blue is in the deck largely for Brainstorm and Impulse. Force of Will just happened to work. Vampiric and Demonic Tutor are both banned, and I'm not sure Tainted Pact will work very well in this deck. Perhaps Lim-Dul's Vault could replace these cards, with the Cabal Therapy/Duress disruption suite replacing Forces.

to address Mahdogg's decklist, I'll look primarily at Living Wish and the issue of redundancy. I have not liked Living Wish in the deck much, as I find it dilutes the deck and slows it down quite a bit, to say nothing about eating up board space with redundant copies of creatures you Survival for anyway.

As for the redundant creatures in the deck itself, I find that if you play carefully and correctly (difficult with this deck), you will never need Phage #2, or Akroma #2. however, the list does raise an interesting question; that is, should the deck be more focused on its kill, or is the toolbox worth keeping in? I've been very happy with a maindeck Shaman, Realist, and FTK, but is it really worth having those cards in the maindeck in lieu of a more concentrated effort on killing the opponent with the Shifter?

-JM

troopatroop
12-16-2004, 05:11 PM
OK... I'm going to take a serious crack at this deck because I think that it seriously deserves it.

///F.E.B.2k5///

-land- 21
4 trop
4 bayou
2 underground sea
4 poluted delta
5 forest

The deck wanta to run blue AND black and still have survival fuction right... It's not easy. The duals have the ability to all be fetched by delta, wich is useful, and the only thing that hurts is running the sea... My experiance with ATS has proven that you always want to have mana that can be used for survival, but I think the seas are neccesary.

-Utility- 21
4 survival of the fittest
4 duress
3 cabal therapy
3 brainstorm
3 show and tell
4 pernicious deed

The most noted difference is the duress and therapy, two cards that really work for the deck. You strip them of there forces and troublesome cards that will screw you over, wich tend to be pretty plentiful... The Deeds and Brainstorms are just neccesary... You need to be able to find survival and have time to do so. Show and tell is for all of the bombs that you draw and can never cast. You hardly ever feel the drawbeck when you're throwing out an akroma... amiright?

-creatures- 18
4 Birds
2 quirrion ranger (blocks wasteland mid combo, crutial)
4 Volraths shapeshifter
3 psychatog
1 squee
1 reya dawnbringer
1 akroma
1 phage
1 hypnox

Hypnox: if you survival for him and then for shapeshifter you own their hand. plain and simple.

Tog: is used to eat cards from your yard to make shapeshifter whatever you want. its stops wasteland and other things that can screw up your yard. better than scrabbling claws :;): and serves as a secondary win condition.

Akroma, Phage: teh win.

reya: amazing with shapeshifter, definetly worth the slot.



I dont have matchup analysis because...well... I havent tested the deck. The versatility of the deck is the ability to change roles rather quickly. IT can go for the quick win or play defensive, and switch roles really quickly. The black splash is theoretical, but with birds and ranger, duress therapy is strong. Feel free to rip the deck apart and change card slots because I dont know everything about the deck, but I do know alot. feel free to try it. peace

-troopatroop-

Slay
12-16-2004, 05:47 PM
With only three viable targets in the deck, Show and Tell seems like a Godawful choice. I would take these out and put in Sylvan Libraries. I've been testing with them, and they are SO GOOD. Especially in multiples.
-Slay

troopatroop
12-16-2004, 05:54 PM
so like...

-3 show and tell
+1 brainstorm
+2 sylvan library

JAG
12-16-2004, 11:56 PM
i've never felt that Show and Tell would be necessary (that's what Survival is supposed to be for). I'd forgotten completely about Reya, I remember she was in the original version but I cut her for something and never remembered to put her back in. Derf derf.

I like the blue/black version. I like the card choices, overall, and the deck seems pretty potent. I'll test that version and get back to you.

On another note, if anyone can drop some metagame summaries here or somewhere, that'd really help testing, as I have a ton of cards in mind for certain matchups, but they won't help if you never see those matchups. Gigapede for Control, Masticore for Aggro, etc.

-JM

Bargoth
01-08-2005, 05:07 AM
///F.E.B.2k5///

-land- 21
4 trop
4 bayou
2 underground sea
4 poluted delta
5 forest

-Utility- 21
4 survival of the fittest
4 duress
3 cabal therapy
3 brainstorm
3 show and tell
4 pernicious deed

-creatures- 18
4 Birds
2 quirrion ranger (blocks wasteland mid combo, crutial)
4 Volraths shapeshifter
3 psychatog
1 squee
1 reya dawnbringer
1 akroma
1 phage
1 hypnox
A few potential issues I see with this list include the use of 'show and tell' which has already been addressed, the lack of 'wall of roots' and 'lim dul's vault', and the high number of 'pernicious deeds' in the deck.

I feel that as mentioned before 'show and tell' wont have enough targets, it should most definitly be cut if this is the creature base that one is working with. This gives us 3 slots open. The other card I feel is getting too much space devoted to itself is 'pernicious deed' it's an amazing card, dont get me wrong, and it will get you out of tight jams where 'seal of cleansings' have resolved, etc. but in a combo based deck it is a bit too controling in my opinion. I would not suggest running 4 of them, 2 seems adequet, because lets face it you dont really want to be drawing multiples, if you get more than one of these your going to run into trouble cause it means you wont be getting cards you do need ie: 'duress' and 'cabal therapy' and 'suvival of the fittest'. That being said the last card that I would like to cut to give us a bit more room would be 1 of the 'psychotogs' much like 'pernicious deed' great card, deserves some space in the deck, but it really is a support card/ back up plan that can be survivaled for so there is no need to go overboard on them. That being said my suggested list is as follows:



land: 21
6 forest
4 tropical island
4 bayou
4 wooded foothills
3 windswept heath

spells: 20
4 survival of the fittest
4 duress
4 brainstorm
3 cabal therapy
3 lim dul's vault
2 pernicious deed

creatures: 19
4 birds of paradise
4 volrath's shapeshifter
2 wall of roots / elvish spirit guide
2 quirion ranger
2 psychatog
1 squee, goblin nabob
1 reya, dawnbringer
1 akroma, angel of wrath
1 phage, the untouchable
1 cephalid inkshrouder



First I added 2 'windswept heath' your list was short 2 land these seem to me to be the best choice, as they sac to get your green sources which is cool. I already explained the cuts so I'll just go over the additions beifly. 1 brainstorm, that already seemed agreed upon, because it is a great card drawer with sick synergy with 'sac lands' and 'suvivial of the fittest', if you need more of an explaination, well thats all I got. Next was 'lim dul's vault' you guys seemed to be leaning towards, 'sylvan library', but I think adding in this psudo tutor really would give the deck a boost. For the most part in this combo you are not looking to get card avantage so much as quality, the ability to search out 'pernicious deed', 'duress', and 'suvivial' cannot be discredited. If you are going to splash black this card seems like as good a reason to do so as any (ok maybe 'duress' more so, then this card). Last thing I added back into the list was 'wall of roots' or 'elvish spirit guide'. I listed either or, with the idea that if you go against a mostly aggro dominated feild you can add the wall, mostly combo or control where the extra speed needs to be more immediate then you have the elf. Either can be survivialed away in a pinch which obviously makes them all the better. That should cover most of what I was thinking about the deck. Good luck with it's development, hope my comments were helpful.

-Bargoth

Edit: some grammar wanted to save the mod the trouble, my appologies for what I missed.

MattH
01-08-2005, 03:04 PM
With only three viable targets in the deck, Show and Tell seems like a Godawful choice. I would take these out and put in Sylvan Libraries. I've been testing with them, and they are SO GOOD. Especially in multiples.
-Slay
Just a clarification: Sylvans aren't very good in multiples unless you have Survival out too. They aren't cumulative - you don't draw 5 and put one back. Each Sylvan triggers and resolves independently, so you draw for the turn, then draw two, put two back, draw two, put two back. The second one is just going to show you the same cards unless you manage to shuffle in between (this is where Survival comes in). But then you have to ask yourself, if you have two Sylvans AND Survival, shouldn't you have won by now?

Sims
01-08-2005, 04:55 PM
Just a clarification: Sylvans aren't very good in multiples unless you have Survival out too. They aren't cumulative - you don't draw 5 and put one back. Each Sylvan triggers and resolves independently, so you draw for the turn, then draw two, put two back, draw two, put two back. The second one is just going to show you the same cards unless you manage to shuffle in between (this is where Survival comes in).
Unless of course you take the damage to keep all the cards... Not adviseable but in a pinch it works to restock your hand and let you dig for something.

fearphage
08-03-2005, 02:27 PM
This deck has totally been reworked and revamped from other boards and suggestions. There's also a very entertaining tournament report at the end of this post. here is the latest deck list:

// combo/tutor (11)
3 Enlightened Tutor
1 Genesis
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
4 Survival of the Fittest
2 Volrath's Shapeshifter

// control/draw (12)
4 Brainstorm
2 Serum Visions NEW
3 Force of Will
3 Mana Leak

// utility creatures (9)
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath NEW
1 Cephalid Inkshrouder
1 Eternal Witness
1 Gilded Drake
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner NEW
1 Kuro, Pitlord
1 Phage the Untouchable
1 Psychatog
1 Viridian Zealot

// mana acceleration (9)
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Llanowar Elves
4 Wall of Roots

// mana (19)
1 Bayou NEW
2 Forest
2 Island
1 Savannah
4 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard (15):
1 Bone Shredder NEW
1 Furnace Dragon
1 Gaea's Herald NEW
1 Ichneumon Druid NEW
1 Nova Cleric
1 Plated Slagwurm
1 Reiver Demon
2 Reverent Silence
1 Silent Arbiter NEW
1 Spellbane Centaur NEW
1 Spore Frog
1 Tradewind Rider
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Withered Wretch NEW

Normal unhindered games: (includes combo explanation)
Turn 1: sac land -> Savanah; BoP
Turn 2: sac land -> Tropical Island: Wall of Roots; Survival
their EOT Survival something for palincron.
Turn 3: land; 5 mana available (1 BoP, 1 Wall of Roots, 3 land)
Survival palinchron for Volrath's Shapeshifter
Play shapeshifter, lands untap with palinchron on top
survival something for hellion, hellion for inkshrouder, declare attack
before blockers are declared, survival inkshrouder for Phage and discard phage to the inkshrouder's ability. Now you have unblockable, untargetable phage.

Another scenario:
Turn 1: sac land -> Savanah;
their EOT I enlightened tutor for survival.
Turn 2: play survival proceed to setup for 4th turn win.

I rarely combo out this haphazardly unless i KNOW there will be no disruption or I just wanna show off. I normaly survival for eternal witness first or genesis and squee for safety. The 3th turn win above would normally have been a 3rd turn full of survival for squee and genesis in the real world follow by a 4th turn win. This deck is fairly consistent about getting survival into play by 3 turn. And its almost guaranteed on 4th turn with all the tutors and draw assuming they don't meddling mage it or something. Although this deck is largely centered around SotF, it can survive and win without it. Volrath's shapeshifter is more the heart and soul of the deck. I have won about 10% of all of my games without a single activation of SotF. This is normally due to pithing needle and meddling mage. I don't normally have a problem getting around/through counterspells because I can keep recuring my threats.

Card explanations:
I have been tuning this deck for about 2-3 months now. As most decks, it is constantly changing and adapting to the meta.
Akroma, Angel of Wrath: Unlike the thundermare that akroma replaces, it does not get stopped by mystic snake and madness creatures, aether vial'd out creatures or manlands. it can easily plow through the few flyers in the format (spiketail hatchling, faerie conclave, and exalted angel to name a few)
Bone Shredder: this might make main deck. this is just pinpoint creature removal for this deck. meddling mage/tradewind rider/goblin welder. i like that it dies on its own so it can be recurred easily.
Cephalid Inkshrouder: strictly better than morphling in this deck. Did i just say a 10 cent uncommon is better than morphling? yes i did. How much do you have to pay to make morphling unblockable? case closed
Eternal Witness: recursion. if i feel they can naturalize/disenchant my survival, its my first survival target.
Furnace Dragon: better than energy flux against affinity
Gaea's Herald: anti-control. just added to SB. haven't used it yet. thoughts/comments?
Genesis: obvious
Gilded Drake: mostly a defense mechanism. come here mr colossus/welder/bosh/trike/lavamancer. works wonders if i have a tradewind in play
Ichneumon Druid: anti-solidarity tech; with kira in play, this will make them play 1-2 instants a turn and they'll need to wait to get 2 bounce spells in hand just to go off. more than likely game should be over by then. especially with them having no creatures. if solidarity is in your meta, this is a must.
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner: anti-target removal (swords/flametongue kavu/tradewind rider/grim lavamancer/goblin sharpshooter). if they have to use 2 swords for one creature, i've changed their card economy.
Kuro, Pitlord: kill pesky creatures like spore frog, meddling mage, goblin welder, and morphling (rarely used)
Living Wish: NOT in this deck because its too slow. Does negate sworsds to plowshares but hinders the deck by turns at a time.
Llanowar Elves: holds the place of my 5th BoP. Optimally, this deck wants to have 5 mana 3rd turn. the 5th BoP helps.
Phage the Untouchable: obvious
Plated Slagwurm: just an unswordsable fattie to beat with if i have to (rare)
Pyschatog: AKA graveyard cleanup technician. only use for him. i've played him a few times with birds but he is mainly used for graveyard maintenance
Reverent Silence: enchantress, solitaire, opposing survival decks - better than disenchant/naturalize because it gets around sterling grove. phage and i could care less about the opponent gaining life.
Serum Visions: Impulse placeholders
Silent Arbiter: against WW, andgel stompy, goblins, mono-green agro; buys me time so i'm not dead before I get a chance to lock the game or combo
Spellbane Centaur: anti-ATS; in retrospect i think it'd be better to kill tradewind rider with flametongue kavu or some other method instead of just protecting against it perhaps
Spore Frog: spore frog + genesis = infinite fog for 2GG mana. not bad.
Squee, Goblin Nabob: obvious
Viridian Shaman: to shore up fish/landstill matchup [anti-Nevinyrral's Disk and cursed totem]
Viridian Zealot: nice in the mirror, powerhouse against landstill/fish
Volrath's Shapeshifter: heart of the deck. there are only 2 because they are part of the combo and drawing them without survival isn't normally that useful.
Withered Wretch: good against the mirror, ATS, RGsa, reanimator, solitaire/enchantress (squee + solitary confinement lock), landstill's crucible of worlds, UG Madness (flashback cards), pyschatog

[b]Removed from deck:
072005 - Flowstone Hellion: traditional haste creature; could be replaced now since i never use the hellion+dreadnought kill; Replaced by Thundermare
072005 - Palinchron: makes my shapeshifter come into play for free. enough said; Replaced by Thundermare
072205 - Fact or Fiction: will be changed to Impulse as soon as i get them. optimally, I may end up cutting this down to 2 main deck impulses and the other spot will be for another main deck creature; [i]Replaced by Serum Visions
072205 - Thundermare: Has built in haste and an unblockable-like effect; Replaced by Akroma, Angel of Wrath

Possible inclusions: (some of these have been in and out of the sideboard)
Anger: haste for all my creatures sounds like a good ability
Darksteel Gargoyle: anti-wrath of God [landstill/fish]
Flametongue Kavu: alternative to bone shredder
Fountain Watch: protects survival
Kami of Ancient Law: good against landstill and enchantress
Meddling Mage: i'd like to run one of these but i don't own one. Normally i'd name Meddling Mage when i played it or WoG/standstill
Voidmage Prodigy: worth considering. similar to ATS's mystic snake spot

Matchups: (matchup list based on decks of legacy thread (http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=13427) and my meta)
Without disruption this deck wins 3-4th turn about 80% of the time.
Landstill: This decks worse matchup. Not very many people run it here in my meta but I've tested against my UW build and if i don't take control of the situation early on then they will. This game is played very defensively because they run alot more counters than I do and answers to my whole strategy. If i get a viridian zealot in play early enough i have very little to worry about. My walls can block the mishra's factory and to buy me time to combo out.
ATS: Pre-SB: favorable. I have more counters generally and they need until 3-4th turn to get a tradewind into play which is when i'm ready to end the game. I've played ATS and variants about 4 times and I generally win the 1st and 3rd games for some reason. Post-SB: I have 3 major anti-ATS cards sideboard (Spellbane Centaur and Kira and Tradewind Rider). If kira resolves it almost removes their tradewind rider form the game. Its no longer a big deal. Spellbane centaur might be overkill but its more of a backup for kira. This usually ends up being a long, defensive game.
RGsa: Highly favorable. To date i have NEVER lost a game to RGsa. They can't recover from the control and speed of FEB. The major advantage I have is I don't need to get their life total down to 0. I just need one unhindered attack phase and its gg. Also I can easily put them in a sporefrog lock and if i can gilded drake all their sharpshooters or resolve a kira then i prevent them from ever damaging me. This gives me ample time to combo out. A friend of mine plays RGsa so I test this matchup often. My record is like 20-0 against RGsa. Although this game is not like a bye or anything but if i play well and smart with few mistakes then its a guaranteed victory. Maybe this is RGsa's worse matchup?
WeldSur: highly in my favor. i have more control and can easily handle a welder. Sundering titan hurts bad.
Belcher: i really have to rely on countering belcher really. no-one around here plays this. i have tested against my 2-land belcher build and its about 50-50. just depends on who combos first. belcher can easily go 1st or 2nd turn so its up to my hand and luck.
Affinity: this is a good matchup for me. one guy here plays this all the time. he plays a R/B/U build with no answers to spore frog or survival. I think my over confidence has lost this game for me a few times.
WW/Angel Stompy/UG Madness/Goblin Sligh: bad matchup for me. if i setup fast enough with spore frog + genesis (and sometimes kira) i could lock them in and then combo out. That's the whole startegy. Madness espeically has the abilty to deal 20 damage in 4-5 turns so its more important to lock the game. just in case something goes wrong with the combo portion of the game. silent arbiter is there to slow creature rushes. the arbiter makes goblin piledriver (sligh's mvp) a non-issue.
Solitaire: i have only played it and lost to it in 2 matches but it packs humility/island sanctuary which is a dangerous to this deck. that's why i occupy 3 SB slots for it.

I have never played against any of these in my meta and I don't have the cards to build and test them myself but i'll still diagnosis the matchups somewhat:
Solidarity: Never played gainst it. I normally go off 3-4th turn. I heard solidarity can't go off before 4rd turn. I know they can go off with phage damage on the stack. I would just hope to counter their first reset/turnabout
ScepterC: i could only hope to get a Viridian zealot in before they setup. Alternatively i could wait to draw a counterspell or 2 and counter the chant during my upkeep and play a Viridian Shaman to destroy the scepter. after i setup (shapeshifter and survival in play), orim's chant isn't really a factor. i could also survival a tradewind with shapeshifter in play to bounce the scepter.
BBS/WBBS: from reading about and talking about them their, control elements greatly outwiegh my own so i would assume this would almost be an autoloss.
Burning Tog/SD Zoo: i have never seen these decks played. Based solely on the deck list these look like tough matchups. Zoo with lots of redundant creature control and tog with alot of counters.

Feats:
One of my favorite stories about this deck was in a tournament against U/W/r Fish. He had 2 meddling mages out (1 for SotF and 1 for the shapeshifter). I already had survival out though and I was repeatedly using viridian zealot to destroy his standstill and disk. It was a 45 minute game that ended after i survivaled out all 4 BoP and hard cast Phage. With the help of phage and a few of his stolen lavamancers, he eventually ran out of blockers and phage got through for the kill. he conceded the next match because of frustration.

This decks least favorites:
Artifact: Pithing Needle
creature: Meddling Mage naming Volrath's Shapeshifter (much worse than naming SotF suprisingly)
Enchantment: Humility; followed closely by Island Sanctuary
Instant: Swords to Plowshares (i can recur from lightning bolts, shocks, and terrors but this card really hurts my deck with lots of 1-ofs.)

####################
# Tournament Report
####################

Finished 4 of 13 with a record of 2-2 including a bye (counts as a win but is less than a win when it comes to a tie). my match count was 6-5 including the bye.

1st Round vs enchantress + combo deck:
Game 1: he has 2 seal of removal, words of wind, equilibrium, and a few enchantress effects in play. i have kira in play. i take my chances trying to combo out because i know he'll win next turn. he seals twice in response to phage. in the next few turns he taps some lands with multiple wild growths and fertile grounds on them and plays cloud of faeries bounces it with equilibrium netting him mana. between his enchantments, inifinite mana + capsize and words of wind, i eventually had no permanents in play. i sweep.
i side in 3 reverent silence for kuro, gilded drake, and something else.
Game 2: see game 1. i keep a creature heavy hand with very little draw. i never see a silence. in retrospect i probably should have mulliganed down to 5 or 6 to find more draw or a slience in hand. hindsight 20/20. oh well

2nd Round: BYE

3rd round vs The Rock:
Game 1: I force a first turn duress to protect my opening hand SotF. I setup quickly and he deeds away a BoP, Wall of Roots, and a SotF. I witness it back. i fight through a barrage of cabal therapy and diabolic edict. a few turns later he casts HAUNTING ECHOES. wtf!? Haunting echoes in legacy? in the rock? in main deck too? Well I'll be. He takes 3 FoW, 4 Wall of Roots, 4 BoP, 1 Akroma, 1 Kuro, 1 Eternal Witness, 1 Genesis out of the game. Later on he witnesses back diabolic edict and haunting echoes casting them both. I made sure to keep squee, survival and volrath's shapeshifter out of the graveyard. With survival in play I setup to win. I survival something for phage. with like kuro on top of my graveyard i play the shapeshifter and past turn. He plays genesis on his turn and passes the turn. at his eot, i survival cephalid inkshrouder. he sweeps.
Game 2: he starts in early with green manland and mishra's factory. we race. he wins.
Game 3: i take some early beats from the green manland and mishra's factory. He has only 1 black mana source out so i see very few cabal therapy and duress. I forget if he deeds once or not but eventually (about turn 5-6) i swing with akroma which shifts into phage. gg

4th round vs sligh:
this is all from memory but i remember it pretty vividly because how high the odds were stacked against me.
my opening hand consists of a few lands, squee and SotF.
Game 1: the turns go like this:
him-1: mountain, mogg fanatic
me-1: tropical island, BoP
him-2: wasteland targetting my tropical island; pithing needle naming survival of the fittest
me-2: tropical island, wall of roots, BoP #2
him-3: wasteland #2 targetting another tropical island
me-3: sac land -> tropical island. serum visions searching for some answer or out or help or anything. then i brainstorm.
him-4: land, ankh of mishra
me-4: land, eternal witness for serum visions and cast it. i draw kuro and see 2 crap cards that i toss.
him-5: nothing notable
me-5: play the shapeshifter and attack for 2 with the witness (his life = 18)
he casts price of progress at my eot
him-6: flame rift, he cast's grim lavamanacer (me = low, him = 14)
me-6: discard kuro to the shapeshifter. pay 1 life to kill the lavamancer. attack with kuro and the witness (him = 3)
him-7: not a creature
eot i discard squee to the shifter
me-7: squee comes back and all of a sudden i have a 9/9 again. swing for 11. gg
when the game actually ended i had 3 birds and 2 wall of roots in play but i don't know exactly when they came in. this was definitely my decks greatest feat of strength and resilience

he sides in tormod's crypt and red elemental blast
game 2: he wins due to him forcing me to get viridian shaman for his pithing needle and then viridian shaman for his tormod's crypt. i had the shifter and akroma in hand. he uses the extra time that that buys to burn me to death.
game 3: the first 2 games were long so this last one is rushed. he hangs at one land most of the game. he still plays 2-3 lightning bolts and a mogg fanatic. i play an early viridian shaman with no target hoping he'll let me beat with a 2/2 for a little while. he blocks and kills with the fanatic. we both draw go for a while why he sneaks in some burn. judge calls time and we have 5 turns left total before the game draws. he takes turn 1 doing nothing notable but gets a 2nd land. the 2nd to last turn of the game (4th turn, my turn) I am in a position to win with 3 land and a wall in play and with akroma, phage, and a shapeshifter in hand. i attempt to cast the shapeshifter and he responds with REB. i know i can't win now. i'm just counting on him not winning. i'm at 6. at eot he casts price of progress and my tundra and tropical island cause me 4 damage. i'm at 2. he draws fireblast. gg. he takes 2nd place. i take 4th. 3rd place has the same record as me but didn't have a bye. c'est la vie.

rankings go:
1st: fish
2nd: sligh
3rd: vial goblins
4th: phage eats breakfast

Thoughts/comments? Suggestions to help with the bad matchups? i was thinking true believer would be good against sligh with kira in play. My worst matchups are goblins, solidarity, and enchantress. Anything to help strengthen those matchups would be greatly appreciated.

I just found a new card glowrider that i plan to include 2-3 of sideboard. this would greatly strenthen all my matchups against combo and control. I am going to take plated slagwurm out because i never side him in.

dsg123456789
08-03-2005, 03:26 PM
I have been playing FEB for several months now, and this is my list:

4 Survival
3 E. Tutor
1 Pithing Needle
1 Seal of Cleansing
4 Brainstorm
4 Mana Leak
4 Force of Will

4 Birds of Paradise
3 Wall of Roots
3 Volrath's Shapeshifter
1 Phage the Unplayable
1 Cephalid Inkshrouder
1 Anger
1 Genesis
1 Squee
1 Viridian Zealot
2 Eternal Witness
1 Psychatog

4 Tropical Island
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Windswept Heath
2 Flooded Strand
2 Forest
2 Island
1 Volcanic Island
1 Tundra
1 Taiga

This is obviously a more controlling build. It seeks to get a turn 2-3 survival and to protect it with its 8 counters. 5-6 mana will win the game.

The genesis/witness engine allows the deck to continue its onslaught for the kill by recurring Survivals, fetches (for a Mountain), pithing needle, seal of cleansing, and Viridian Zealot. Squee lets you assemble a strong turn even if you are cut off from creature-based mana.

Two witnesses are nessecary in case one gets StP'd. Pithing needle is needed to beat various cards with activated abilities that randomly hose you.

Seal of Cleansing allows you to remove enemy pithing needles and other problematic cards.

This build has many outs built into it, and while it does have some dead draws, it has incredible amounts of game against any opposing deck.

3 Shapeshifters is plenty, because you should not let your entire gameplan revolve around a 0/1 with UU in its cost. Hypnox is not a card that will protect your combo, it only hurts your opponent. Their full hand shouldn't matter if you are swinging with Phage.

The manabase is designed to assure access to every color of mana at all times. I have found it much more effective that standard 6 fetch/4-of duals manabases.

Cards not included that may need explaination:
Duress/Cabal Therapy: I find counterspells to be more versatile than discard, and they additionally give you more outs against some combo decks, as well as giving better protection against topdecked removal.

Other alternate kill conditions: This build has the resilency to beat anything that doesn't maindeck lots of graveyard hate. Show and Tell, Akroma, Hypnox, and others are too situationally useful and do not provide outs that my build lacks. Cranial Extraction isn't cool, but I can kill before it even comes online, and its not heavily played either. If it becomes played, treetop village/faerie conclave in some combination could replace the basics or 1 tropical, and some castable u/g beater could become maindecked to combat graveyard hate/extraction.

fearphage
08-04-2005, 11:49 AM
1 Pithing Needle
1 Seal of Cleansing
4 Mana Leak
4 Force of Will

3 Wall of Roots
3 Volrath's Shapeshifter
1 Anger
2 Eternal Witness
I really like the pithing needle and seal of cleansing main deck. whats your sideboard look like? how do you your matchups go against solidarity, white weenie, goblins, and landstill/fish? One problem i find with your deck is no creature control. My deck uses kuro (via the shapeshifter) to get rid of meddling mages, piledrivers, etc. What do you do against these? I'd really like to know how you fare against landstill. i would suggest that you try to make space for the 4th wall. wall of roots is an awesome card for this deck that also slows aggro decks. Although there are times when a 2nd eternal witness could come in handy, i find there are more times where i serval witness to get important combo pieces.


This is obviously a more controlling build. It seeks to get a turn 2-3 survival and to protect it with its 8 counters. 5-6 mana will win the game.
The difference is my build is built for raw speed. My deck plans to win on turn 3 or 4. Thats why i run more mana acceleration than you do. my deck wins easily 4th turn but at times i can squeak out a 3rd turn win with optimal draws and no disruption. I find 6 couters is enough to draw them when i need them most times. This is by no means a control deck so its just for protection more than playing the control role. 3rd turn i normally have 5-6 mana available with survival in play and ready to go.


3 Shapeshifters is plenty, because you should not let your entire gameplan revolve around a 0/1 with UU in its cost. Hypnox is not a card that will protect your combo, it only hurts your opponent. Their full hand shouldn't matter if you are swinging with Phage.
The only problem i find is shapeshifter is relatively useless outside the combo so i'd rather tutor for them than draw them. I run 2 and that gives me space for other utility creatures. This is a combo deck. It is dependent on the 1UU 0/1 creature. thats the decks whole livelihood.


4 Tropical Island
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Windswept Heath
2 Flooded Strand
2 Forest
2 Island
1 Volcanic Island
1 Tundra
1 Taiga

The manabase is designed to assure access to every color of mana at all times. I have found it much more effective that standard 6 fetch/4-of duals manabases.
I personally don't like anger because a wasteland can turn him off. Red doesn't add anything to the deck either. I have considered splasing more black for cards like duress/therapy but i havent yet. Withered wretch is a strong card in the mirror match or reanimator or against any survival deck. He can be used as a morph for the shapeshifter or hardcast. Bone shredder is perfect for killing meddling mage and other none-fun creatures. I would personally replace 1 forest or tundra with 1 savannah. Green mana is very important early game to get out birds and walls of roots as well as later in the game to survival with.