greenmage
03-22-2008, 02:10 PM
History:
About one and a half years ago I started out legacy. I was playing a mono green deck with cards like greater good, pattern of rebirth and deranged hermit, but constantly lost. People were telling me to copy a deck.
But one day, I had an idea. What if I were to cut the matrix and splash black for cards like nantuko husk? That should work well with the patterns. Next time I went to the shop I looked for fatties that might fit. One fattie immediately caught my attention, ignoring people that showed me symbiotic wurm. The card was protean hulk.
Soon enough the tide turned, and this new deck seemed to function much better than the old one. Other cards came to my attention: natural order and phyrexian ghoul. And thus the core of this deck was born.
My next discovery was that academy rector was capable of fetching patterns, and that through this pattern I could get another hulk. And if I chained enough cards I could bring a lot of bear tokens with caller of the claw, enough that I could attack for deadly next turn.
The time afterwards was spent with tweaking the deck, and getting cards like original duals and fetchland to smoothen the mana base. Placing better and better at weekly tournaments.
Until hulk/flash came along. The first time I got news of the kiki/karmic guide kill that deck used it struck me. I only needed to include these two cards to kill instantly. Suddenly I was a constant contender for the top spot, if I didn't get paired too much against U control decks. Savannah's entered the deck.
The time reveillark was leaked I knew immediately that I could abuse it somehow. The card was too obvious synergistic to ignore. After lots of deliberations I came up with a kill (yes it was me over at mtgsalvation who invented it first, I swear). A kill that would be fairly resistant against removal and that doesn't need the attack phase.
And that is pretty much were I stand now.
Decklist:
Mana Creatures(12)
4 birds of paradise
2 elves of deep shadow
3 llanowar elves
3 wall of roots
Sac' Creatures(8)
2 carrion feeder
3 nantuko husk
3 phyrexian ghoul
Combo Packet(6)
1 bile urchin
1 karmic guide
1 body snatcher
1 reveillark
2 protean hulk
"Tutors"(9)
4 pattern of rebirth
4 natural order
1 academy rector
Removal(3)
3 pernicious deed
secondary win condition(1)
1 Simic sky swallower
Lands(21)
4 windswept heath
2 wooded foothills
2 ancient tomb
2 gaea's cradle
1 phyrexian tower
4 bayou
2 savannah
4 forest
Sideboard(15)
4 leyline of the void
4 extirpate
2 eyes of the wisent
4 hidden gibbons
1 pernicious deed
You may view it here too, there is a sample hand generator that should help to get an impression of the draws:
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=12809
Results:
Place four at the Austrian Legacy Championships
Place 14 at the legacy sideevent of GP vienna (5:2), barely missing top 8.
That may not seem very impressive at first glance, but these were the only "bigger" events I attended too (and I was the only one piloting this deck as well).
At my local meta I made about 10 times first place in tournaments that lastet 4-5 rounds, and still placed well when I didn't (except when experimenting :wink: ).
Strategy:
This deck can be best described as a combo-midrange hybrid.
Kill mechanism: cast a pattern/natural order on a creature while you have a sac' engine in play. Seek a protean hulk. Sac' the protean hulk. Seek a karmic guide and a carrion feeder. Return protean hulk into play through karmic guide's trigger. Sac' the hulk. Seek reveillark and bile urchin. Sac' the urchin to let your opponent lose one life. Sac' the guide. Sac' the reveillark and return the guide and the urchin back to play. Use the guide to return reveillark. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Alternatively the thing can be kickstarted by hardcasting protean hulk, body snatcher with protean hulk in hand, or with academy rector>pattern.
Goldfishing turn: usually turn 3, sometimes turn 4
Consistency: extreme
I could even increase the number of combo pieces if I wanted, but I chose not to do so because it would hurt my curve.
What to do when comboing is prohibited?
When comboing is prohibited the plan is usually to fetch a simic sky swallower and deliver some beats, attack with some bloated nantuko husk (which can be nicely pumped if you have a pattern in play) or simply fetch a deed and destroy whatever hinders you.
Card choices
birds of paradise:
Makes every kind of mana and also serves as natural order/pattern target or husk fodder (like all the other mana critters).
elves of deep shadow:
Is an additional black mana source, which is sometimes needed. On the flipside he burns you and can't produce G. I found 2 to be the best number. Also fodder.
llanowar elves:
I have found 9 to be the best number of one-drop excelleration. Llanowar elves were the best way to fill the remaining slots.
wall of roots:
Excellent against anything playing red. This thing sticks, and is a safer target for pattern if your opponent plays bolts than a llanowar elves. The other use for it is as a blocker against mongooses, lackeys, whatever. Only 3 because it's slower and I don't need multiples.
carrion feeder:
Obviously serves as repeatable sac' engine.
But why only two? After all he's much cheaper than nantuko husk, right?
There's a big downside to him: he sucks in combat. He can't even block and most of the time he's a meager 1/1 dork! The tempo increase he grants is also pretty minimal. Therefore husk/phyrexian ghoul are actually better cards than him, because they are awesome combat tools.
Two is a good number to run of him because of this scenario:
I play natural order, seek hulk. I play my only feeder. I sac' hulk, my opponent bolts feeder in response...
nantuko husk & phyrexian ghoul:
Repeatable sac' engines, dangerous beatsticks. My deck runs 28! creatures, so they almost always have fodder. These critters can even stand up to an aktive jitte for a few turns, and that's usually all that I need.
bile urchin:
Why this and not mogg fanatic?
Because I can hardcast it!
karmic guide:
Why this and not body double?
Same as above.
body snatcher:
Main purpose is to be able to still go off smoothly if I draw a reveillark or karmic guide. Just fetch this instead of the creature you'd normally fetch, discard that creature and then use the second ability to bring it into play.
Secondary purpose: Well, if I have a simic sky swallower in hand it is nice to cheat it into play.
Third purpose: I found an additional "fetch from GY" effect very useful when karmic guide was taken through a certain black goblin.
reveillark:
Combo toy. I never used the evoke effect, but its stats, manacost and ability can be very useful aside from the normal combo.
protean hulk:
Combo toy and nice beatdown critter. I won lots of games through plain hulk beatdown. Not advicable if your opponent plays stp though.
pattern of rebirth:
Aside from seeking a creature of choice it can also be used as defense line.
Careful, there's a danger to be 2 for 1ed with this card.
natural order:
It is more restrictive than pattern, but also less vulnerable to removal or stifles. Careful against opponents playing counterspells.
academy rector:
Serves mostly as a pattern or deed seeker. If you board leylines or eyes he can also be used for that.
pernicious deed:
The only removal in this deck can serve as surgeon knife or to blast the board. The obvious synergy with pattern is most of the time irrelevant.
simic sky swallower:
He's green, has shroud, has flying and impressive stats. That makes him perfectly against decks where you'd rather not use the obvious winning route.
ancient tomb:
This deck is mana hungry and tomb helps there. But I don't want multiples because it's colourless mana and painful. Therefore 2.
forest:
Having basics is a good idea when opponents play non basic hate. Birds and the like can still provide the other colours.
gaea's cradle:
I play lots of creatures, and cradle helps when planning things like hardcasting protean hulk.
Drawback: legendary
phyrexian tower:
This land is an awesome fit. It sac's creatures and makes mana out of it. But it is legendary as well and produces colourless mana.
Matchups
Unfavorable
UGR threshold without counterbalance:
This is really tough. The first problem is that he attacks my critter base which is also an attack against my mana. Second problem are his counterspells and stifles. Even with boarding I usually can't turn the match. I'm currently desperatly seeking answers.
UGW threshold without counterbalance:
The problems here are similar, but at least he leaves more of my critters in peace. Meddling mage is very hurtful though. It's possible to turn the match with gibbons and the like, but not easy.
Belcher:
He's faster than me and I don't run maindeck disruption. A solution in belcher heavy metas would be to pack sideboard duress and chalice of the void.
U/W Landstill:
Oh, so tough. This deck seems almost designed to beat me. Still more favourable than UGR thresh though since gibbons are really good here.
Cephalid breakfast:
Ugh. A combo deck that kills faster than me with counter-backup.
Slightly unfavorable:
TES:
Faster than me. But can become favorable with SB duress & chalice.
UGR thresh with counterbalance:
The more counterbalance is played, the more favorable the matchup. Patterns/Order are hard to counter with counterbalance. It's still important to have some critters stick.
Even:
UGW thresh with counterbalance:
Meddling mage and stp is still a problem but with some trixy counterbating and deeding it is quite possible to win this match.
UGB thresh without counterbalance:
His removal is inefficient. That's a problem because as soon as I collect tons of mana I can make all kinds of stupid stuff. Confident should better be removed early though.
Aluren:
It really depends on his draw. If he has hand disruption+fast combo it's not too good. If he doesn't you can often race.
Sometimes it's even a good plan to collect mana for a deed for four.
And if aluren is heavily played a SB ronom unicorn is a wonderful thing.
GBW pikula:
Sure he has discard, but that doesn't hurt very much. What hurts more are the stps to counteract the patterns. On my side there are the deeds to reset the board if necessary. This is a tough battle to fight for both parties, and simic sky swallower is excellent here.
Slightly favorable:
UGB thresh with counterbalance:
Less efficient counterspells mean better chances fo me.
Enchantress:
He has ground seals and solitary confinement, but I have deeds. It's sort of a hick-hack who has the better hate. But as chain hulk can attack as well as comboing, which enchantress can't do, the matchup is on the favourable side.
Favorable:
UG threshold
He can't attack my mana base, and he can't have counters for everything. One deed, pattern or natural order will resolve, and then it's downhill.
UG madness
Similar to UG thresh, but even more favourable. The beatdown madness puts on the table is usually not enough. The counterdensity too thin. You stall a little, then you combo.
Goblins
R/B version will use earwig squad to remove the combo, but that's still no game loss. It's usually not too hard to fetch a deed and lay a fattie on the table. Sure, I usually go down to 6 or so before that happens but then he's put into defense and that's not a role goblins are good at.
R/W version will use stp's, which actually hurt more than the squad. It depends on board position and hand if you first seek a deed or try to go off.
Angel-Stax
Here you try to race to a pattern or natural order. Everytime you can drop a mana critter you should do it. Consider your non-basics one shots. Deeds are very useful here.
If he drops a chalice on the play that's bad. Magus of the tabernacle is the other card to be weary off.
Mono red burn:
The burn player is faced with a precarious situation. If he doesn't shoot the mana creatures he is dead. If he does his clock suffers. When you are aware of possible flamebreaks and price of progress you should usually win this match.
Dredge:
The sac' engines can take away his bridges, the deeds his tokens. And there's also 8 cards SB hate.
IGGY pop:
Combine a decent clock with 8 hate cards and it is pretty easy to win game 2 and 3.
Very favourable
Dragon-Stompy
Like with stax, a single pattern means usually GG for the opponent. Fetch basics and use your mana critters for the other colours. Use deed as emergency tool.
Affinity
My clock is as fast as Affinity, but I can also slow him through blocking. Add to this the 3 MD deeds and you can expect a slaughter.
MBA
His clock isn't the fastest. Sure he'll destroy your hand, but the deck has amazing topdecks. Stalling a little and then comboing or fetching Simic sky swallower is enough.
GoyfSligh
He runs less burn than mono red burn. His clock isn't really scary and there are always the blockers.
Please tell me if I forgot some matchup here.:wink:
About one and a half years ago I started out legacy. I was playing a mono green deck with cards like greater good, pattern of rebirth and deranged hermit, but constantly lost. People were telling me to copy a deck.
But one day, I had an idea. What if I were to cut the matrix and splash black for cards like nantuko husk? That should work well with the patterns. Next time I went to the shop I looked for fatties that might fit. One fattie immediately caught my attention, ignoring people that showed me symbiotic wurm. The card was protean hulk.
Soon enough the tide turned, and this new deck seemed to function much better than the old one. Other cards came to my attention: natural order and phyrexian ghoul. And thus the core of this deck was born.
My next discovery was that academy rector was capable of fetching patterns, and that through this pattern I could get another hulk. And if I chained enough cards I could bring a lot of bear tokens with caller of the claw, enough that I could attack for deadly next turn.
The time afterwards was spent with tweaking the deck, and getting cards like original duals and fetchland to smoothen the mana base. Placing better and better at weekly tournaments.
Until hulk/flash came along. The first time I got news of the kiki/karmic guide kill that deck used it struck me. I only needed to include these two cards to kill instantly. Suddenly I was a constant contender for the top spot, if I didn't get paired too much against U control decks. Savannah's entered the deck.
The time reveillark was leaked I knew immediately that I could abuse it somehow. The card was too obvious synergistic to ignore. After lots of deliberations I came up with a kill (yes it was me over at mtgsalvation who invented it first, I swear). A kill that would be fairly resistant against removal and that doesn't need the attack phase.
And that is pretty much were I stand now.
Decklist:
Mana Creatures(12)
4 birds of paradise
2 elves of deep shadow
3 llanowar elves
3 wall of roots
Sac' Creatures(8)
2 carrion feeder
3 nantuko husk
3 phyrexian ghoul
Combo Packet(6)
1 bile urchin
1 karmic guide
1 body snatcher
1 reveillark
2 protean hulk
"Tutors"(9)
4 pattern of rebirth
4 natural order
1 academy rector
Removal(3)
3 pernicious deed
secondary win condition(1)
1 Simic sky swallower
Lands(21)
4 windswept heath
2 wooded foothills
2 ancient tomb
2 gaea's cradle
1 phyrexian tower
4 bayou
2 savannah
4 forest
Sideboard(15)
4 leyline of the void
4 extirpate
2 eyes of the wisent
4 hidden gibbons
1 pernicious deed
You may view it here too, there is a sample hand generator that should help to get an impression of the draws:
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=12809
Results:
Place four at the Austrian Legacy Championships
Place 14 at the legacy sideevent of GP vienna (5:2), barely missing top 8.
That may not seem very impressive at first glance, but these were the only "bigger" events I attended too (and I was the only one piloting this deck as well).
At my local meta I made about 10 times first place in tournaments that lastet 4-5 rounds, and still placed well when I didn't (except when experimenting :wink: ).
Strategy:
This deck can be best described as a combo-midrange hybrid.
Kill mechanism: cast a pattern/natural order on a creature while you have a sac' engine in play. Seek a protean hulk. Sac' the protean hulk. Seek a karmic guide and a carrion feeder. Return protean hulk into play through karmic guide's trigger. Sac' the hulk. Seek reveillark and bile urchin. Sac' the urchin to let your opponent lose one life. Sac' the guide. Sac' the reveillark and return the guide and the urchin back to play. Use the guide to return reveillark. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Alternatively the thing can be kickstarted by hardcasting protean hulk, body snatcher with protean hulk in hand, or with academy rector>pattern.
Goldfishing turn: usually turn 3, sometimes turn 4
Consistency: extreme
I could even increase the number of combo pieces if I wanted, but I chose not to do so because it would hurt my curve.
What to do when comboing is prohibited?
When comboing is prohibited the plan is usually to fetch a simic sky swallower and deliver some beats, attack with some bloated nantuko husk (which can be nicely pumped if you have a pattern in play) or simply fetch a deed and destroy whatever hinders you.
Card choices
birds of paradise:
Makes every kind of mana and also serves as natural order/pattern target or husk fodder (like all the other mana critters).
elves of deep shadow:
Is an additional black mana source, which is sometimes needed. On the flipside he burns you and can't produce G. I found 2 to be the best number. Also fodder.
llanowar elves:
I have found 9 to be the best number of one-drop excelleration. Llanowar elves were the best way to fill the remaining slots.
wall of roots:
Excellent against anything playing red. This thing sticks, and is a safer target for pattern if your opponent plays bolts than a llanowar elves. The other use for it is as a blocker against mongooses, lackeys, whatever. Only 3 because it's slower and I don't need multiples.
carrion feeder:
Obviously serves as repeatable sac' engine.
But why only two? After all he's much cheaper than nantuko husk, right?
There's a big downside to him: he sucks in combat. He can't even block and most of the time he's a meager 1/1 dork! The tempo increase he grants is also pretty minimal. Therefore husk/phyrexian ghoul are actually better cards than him, because they are awesome combat tools.
Two is a good number to run of him because of this scenario:
I play natural order, seek hulk. I play my only feeder. I sac' hulk, my opponent bolts feeder in response...
nantuko husk & phyrexian ghoul:
Repeatable sac' engines, dangerous beatsticks. My deck runs 28! creatures, so they almost always have fodder. These critters can even stand up to an aktive jitte for a few turns, and that's usually all that I need.
bile urchin:
Why this and not mogg fanatic?
Because I can hardcast it!
karmic guide:
Why this and not body double?
Same as above.
body snatcher:
Main purpose is to be able to still go off smoothly if I draw a reveillark or karmic guide. Just fetch this instead of the creature you'd normally fetch, discard that creature and then use the second ability to bring it into play.
Secondary purpose: Well, if I have a simic sky swallower in hand it is nice to cheat it into play.
Third purpose: I found an additional "fetch from GY" effect very useful when karmic guide was taken through a certain black goblin.
reveillark:
Combo toy. I never used the evoke effect, but its stats, manacost and ability can be very useful aside from the normal combo.
protean hulk:
Combo toy and nice beatdown critter. I won lots of games through plain hulk beatdown. Not advicable if your opponent plays stp though.
pattern of rebirth:
Aside from seeking a creature of choice it can also be used as defense line.
Careful, there's a danger to be 2 for 1ed with this card.
natural order:
It is more restrictive than pattern, but also less vulnerable to removal or stifles. Careful against opponents playing counterspells.
academy rector:
Serves mostly as a pattern or deed seeker. If you board leylines or eyes he can also be used for that.
pernicious deed:
The only removal in this deck can serve as surgeon knife or to blast the board. The obvious synergy with pattern is most of the time irrelevant.
simic sky swallower:
He's green, has shroud, has flying and impressive stats. That makes him perfectly against decks where you'd rather not use the obvious winning route.
ancient tomb:
This deck is mana hungry and tomb helps there. But I don't want multiples because it's colourless mana and painful. Therefore 2.
forest:
Having basics is a good idea when opponents play non basic hate. Birds and the like can still provide the other colours.
gaea's cradle:
I play lots of creatures, and cradle helps when planning things like hardcasting protean hulk.
Drawback: legendary
phyrexian tower:
This land is an awesome fit. It sac's creatures and makes mana out of it. But it is legendary as well and produces colourless mana.
Matchups
Unfavorable
UGR threshold without counterbalance:
This is really tough. The first problem is that he attacks my critter base which is also an attack against my mana. Second problem are his counterspells and stifles. Even with boarding I usually can't turn the match. I'm currently desperatly seeking answers.
UGW threshold without counterbalance:
The problems here are similar, but at least he leaves more of my critters in peace. Meddling mage is very hurtful though. It's possible to turn the match with gibbons and the like, but not easy.
Belcher:
He's faster than me and I don't run maindeck disruption. A solution in belcher heavy metas would be to pack sideboard duress and chalice of the void.
U/W Landstill:
Oh, so tough. This deck seems almost designed to beat me. Still more favourable than UGR thresh though since gibbons are really good here.
Cephalid breakfast:
Ugh. A combo deck that kills faster than me with counter-backup.
Slightly unfavorable:
TES:
Faster than me. But can become favorable with SB duress & chalice.
UGR thresh with counterbalance:
The more counterbalance is played, the more favorable the matchup. Patterns/Order are hard to counter with counterbalance. It's still important to have some critters stick.
Even:
UGW thresh with counterbalance:
Meddling mage and stp is still a problem but with some trixy counterbating and deeding it is quite possible to win this match.
UGB thresh without counterbalance:
His removal is inefficient. That's a problem because as soon as I collect tons of mana I can make all kinds of stupid stuff. Confident should better be removed early though.
Aluren:
It really depends on his draw. If he has hand disruption+fast combo it's not too good. If he doesn't you can often race.
Sometimes it's even a good plan to collect mana for a deed for four.
And if aluren is heavily played a SB ronom unicorn is a wonderful thing.
GBW pikula:
Sure he has discard, but that doesn't hurt very much. What hurts more are the stps to counteract the patterns. On my side there are the deeds to reset the board if necessary. This is a tough battle to fight for both parties, and simic sky swallower is excellent here.
Slightly favorable:
UGB thresh with counterbalance:
Less efficient counterspells mean better chances fo me.
Enchantress:
He has ground seals and solitary confinement, but I have deeds. It's sort of a hick-hack who has the better hate. But as chain hulk can attack as well as comboing, which enchantress can't do, the matchup is on the favourable side.
Favorable:
UG threshold
He can't attack my mana base, and he can't have counters for everything. One deed, pattern or natural order will resolve, and then it's downhill.
UG madness
Similar to UG thresh, but even more favourable. The beatdown madness puts on the table is usually not enough. The counterdensity too thin. You stall a little, then you combo.
Goblins
R/B version will use earwig squad to remove the combo, but that's still no game loss. It's usually not too hard to fetch a deed and lay a fattie on the table. Sure, I usually go down to 6 or so before that happens but then he's put into defense and that's not a role goblins are good at.
R/W version will use stp's, which actually hurt more than the squad. It depends on board position and hand if you first seek a deed or try to go off.
Angel-Stax
Here you try to race to a pattern or natural order. Everytime you can drop a mana critter you should do it. Consider your non-basics one shots. Deeds are very useful here.
If he drops a chalice on the play that's bad. Magus of the tabernacle is the other card to be weary off.
Mono red burn:
The burn player is faced with a precarious situation. If he doesn't shoot the mana creatures he is dead. If he does his clock suffers. When you are aware of possible flamebreaks and price of progress you should usually win this match.
Dredge:
The sac' engines can take away his bridges, the deeds his tokens. And there's also 8 cards SB hate.
IGGY pop:
Combine a decent clock with 8 hate cards and it is pretty easy to win game 2 and 3.
Very favourable
Dragon-Stompy
Like with stax, a single pattern means usually GG for the opponent. Fetch basics and use your mana critters for the other colours. Use deed as emergency tool.
Affinity
My clock is as fast as Affinity, but I can also slow him through blocking. Add to this the 3 MD deeds and you can expect a slaughter.
MBA
His clock isn't the fastest. Sure he'll destroy your hand, but the deck has amazing topdecks. Stalling a little and then comboing or fetching Simic sky swallower is enough.
GoyfSligh
He runs less burn than mono red burn. His clock isn't really scary and there are always the blockers.
Please tell me if I forgot some matchup here.:wink: