Results 1 to 20 of 572

Thread: [Deck] GW Survival

Hybrid View

  1. #1
    Taobotmox

    Join Date

    Sep 2005
    Location

    Germany
    Posts

    781

    [Deck] GW Survival

    This deck is supposed to be a mixture between GW Haterator, Aggro Fish and a Survival deck. I have had the idea in mind for quite a while now and I think this list is very competitive.

    First of all the list.

    // Mana
    4 [U] Savannah
    4 [ON] Windswept Heath
    1 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
    1 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
    1 [ON] Wooded Foothills
    4 [7E] Forest
    1 [MI] Plains
    3 [TE] Wasteland
    2 [FUT] Horizon Canopy

    // Creatures
    4 [CFX] Noble Hierarch
    4 [FNM] Mother of Runes
    4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
    3 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
    3 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
    4 [CFX] Knight of the Reliquary
    1 [SHM] Kitchen Finks
    1 [FD] Eternal Witness

    1 [MM] Squee, Goblin Nabob
    1 [ZEN] Iona, Shield of Emeria
    1 [P3] Loyal Retainers

    Removal and Engine
    4 [U] Swords to Plowshares
    4 [EX] Survival of the Fittest
    2 [ARE] Enlightened Tutor
    1 [ALA] Oblivion Ring
    1 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte

    // Sideboard
    SB: 3 [TSP] Krosan Grip
    SB: 2 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt
    SB: 2 [ALA] Elspeth, Knight-Errant
    SB: 2 [SHM] Kitchen Finks
    SB: 1 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
    SB: 1 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
    SB: 1 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
    SB: 1 [SHM] Faerie Macabre
    SB: 1 [10E] Rule of Law
    SB: 1 [SHM] Runed Halo

    Game plan
    The deck tries to play aggressive while disrupting the opponent.
    With Noble Hierarch, Goyf, Pridemage and KotR you can curve out aggressively and deal a lot of damage in short time.

    It also plays a good amount of disruption: Pridemage is a Disenchant effect and Gaddock is really awesome in a Meta full of Explosives, Forces and Natural Orders etc. and helps at least a bit against Tendrils and Dream Halls.
    Wastelands in combination with KotR can slow the opponent down a lot. The Iona-Combo often wins the game for you nearly by itself and Mother of Runes helps both plans by protecting all those creatures.
    Furthermore you also have some games that are just won by Survivals card advantage.
    The deck has a very nice curve and I am rarely dissppointed with its starting hands.

    Synergies
    - the obvious synergies are Enlightened Tutor plus Enchantments/Artifacts, the usual Survival stuff and KotR + Wastelands. These may be obvious but they make the deck very consistent so I mention them nevertheless.
    - Loyal Retainers / Iona Combo. This Combo is especially strong in this deck because of Mother of Runes. Usually you have to put Iona on the color of their Removal so that Iona not dies. But with Mother of Runes in play you can name the most important color and not the splash removal color. For example against Zoo you can name Red so they can't burn you out and protect Iona from PtE with Mother. Against Tempo Thresh you can do the same thing with naming Red and not blue for their Bounce spells (which they usually find if they want). In both cases Iona will also protect you from their creature army so that you very likely won't lose the game.
    - Mother of Runes / Gaddock Teeg: Against many decks having these two in play is worth more than anything else. It locks out many control decks that operate with Explosives, Moat or Wrath and it also gives you a fighting chance against Combo. Get a lucky draw with Turn 1 Mom and turn 2 Gaddock and you will beat ANT.


    Card Choices

    Lands:
    3 Wasteland: Can't fit in a 4th, because Gaddock, Pridemage and Survival have high color requirements.
    2 Horizon Canopy: Fits the Mana base, synergy with KotR


    Creatures:

    Mother of Runes: SO awesome. Protects your Goyfs, Gaddocks, KotRs and also your Iona and makes the deck curve really good.

    Noble Hierarch, Tarmogoyf: Not much explaing needed I guess.

    Qasali Pridemage, Gaddock Teeg: Would play 4 of both if it wasn't for Tarmogoyf. Teeg is a bit better but Legendary so a 3/3 split feels right.

    KotR: The big beater. Usually gets at least 6/6 and often even bigger. Usually tutors Wastelands but can also find Canopies if you need gas.

    Kitchen Finks/Witness: Survival targets. More Kitchen Finks miss the maindeck very close but KotR is just better.

    Iona/Retainers: Incredibly powerful Combo for a pure G/W deck and also very cheap. Usually one of the first things to be done as soon as you have enough Mana.

    Spells
    4 Swords to Plowshares, 4 Survival of the Fittest: Not much to say.

    2 Enlightened Tutor, 1 Jitte, 1 O-Ring: If I want to do fancy stuff I get Survival to make Iona, so every Tutor target is also a good card when drawn.
    Tutor makes the deck much more consistent. It usually acts as Survival 5+6 but against Zoo or Dredge it can find Jitte and if your opponent Moats you or something similar you get rid of it with O Ring.

    Sideboard:

    Most of the cards can be tutored for so that explains the many 1 and 2 offs. Elspeth is to fight control decks and Grip against Counterbalances and Moats. Runed Halo is in there because Progenitus is so popular by now. The 4th Gaddock comes in against Combo and Control, Finks and Jitte against Tribal and Zoo. Also make sure to side out the Iona Combo if you don't get enough out of it in a certain matchup (like when they counter your Survivals) or if the opponent hates the graveyard too much. Also side out E. Tutors against decks with counterspells.

    I can't speak for every matchp in detail but generally I side like this:

    Matchups:

    I have played a lot of games, but not tested matchups with real statistics yet so I make it short to not say something wrong.
    Landstill, Aggro and Aggro Control feel solid, Dredge and Staxx too, Combo is not so good.

  2. #2

    Re: GW Survival

    just a brainfart...adding a nice life combo: Saffi Eriksdotter + Retainers + soul warden...
    huh maybe overkill :-)

    Well your deck sounds strong. I'll test it, but i don't like not having black with Survival.

  3. #3

    Re: GW Survival

    I had a very similar GW survival deck a bit ago that did well enough vs a lot of things but I kept getting my Dreams Devastated , and dropped it. But here's some food for thought:

    I used Sylvan Safekeeper over Mother of Runes, I like the mini-synergy with Knight and the lack of relevant summoning sickness, and the ability to activate multiple times to chain removal.

    Iona wasn't out yet so I used Oriss, Samite Guardian + Genisis for a close to hard lock with Safekeeper.

    I also had 1 Kor Haven my Knight could fetch which was really handy, unlike Maze of Ith it taps mana, and only the attacking creatures damage is prevented, so you could gang block with small creatures to kill a big attacker and not lose any small creatures.

  4. #4
    Ur tears of nerdrage taste so sweet to me.
    Wargoos's Avatar
    Join Date

    Feb 2008
    Location

    Do not care.
    Posts

    319

    Re: GW Survival

    Hey Tao, I know you aren't "some random" guy but a very expierenced survival player but I still have some issues and maybe tweaks for your awesome looking gw decksketch.

    1. One Kitchen Fink
    I think that we can agree, that this one is an awesome card to have and a necessity in an aggro packed meta.
    While KotR is a better thread, finks can handle zoo so much better and should get the nod over a 4th Knight.

    2. Tutor Engine
    In a deck without any (or very limited) carddraw possibilities this seems less viable since it still is carddisadvantage, even if it gets you a survival/ORing.
    I think I would drop them altogether and put in 2 Sylvan Libraries, which are plain awesome in aggro decks. Also Libraries synergize a bit with finks.

    3. One Oblivion Ring - silverbullet.
    Well you are playing 4 Survivals and just 2 Tutors, why not playing a mangara of korondor main. I understand that mangara is a creature and can't get rid of stuff ASAP, but won't get carddisadvantage if you survival for it and you can defend it with a mother.

    4. Just 2 Canopies.
    You are playing a two colored deck and don't have big mana problems - but library manipulation is rare. Why not running a 3rd Canopy over a duel?

    That's all I can think off as right now.
    I would probably play the deck like this (I'll definitaley test this :D ):

    3 Savannah
    4 Windswepth Heath
    2 Verdant Catacombs
    1 Misty Rainforest
    4 Forest
    1 Plains
    3 Wasteland
    3 Horizon Canopy

    4 Noble Hierarch
    3 Mother of Runes
    4 Tarmogoyf
    3 Gaddock Teeg
    3 Knight of the Reliquary
    3 Qasali Pridemage
    2 Kitchen Finks
    1 Eternal Witness
    1 Mangara of Corondor

    1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
    1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
    1 Loyal Retainers

    4 Swords to Plowshares
    4 Survival of the Fittest
    2 Sylvan Library
    2 Umezawa's Jitte

    Sideboard:

    3 Krosan Grip
    2 Tormod's Crypt
    2 Kitchen Finks
    1 Gaddock Teeg
    2 Ethersworn Canonist
    3 Natural Order
    1 Progenitus
    1 Empyrial Archangel

    Tell me what you think!
    Team Legal Actions.

  5. #5
    Hella fuckin' balls to the wall awesome
    beastman's Avatar
    Join Date

    Mar 2008
    Location

    Maryland
    Posts

    877

    Re: GW Survival

    I like the idea, but I would up the finks count to help against zoo.
    Team Unicorn: We're horny...get it?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ewokslayer View Post
    You might want to go to a hospital. It appears you cracked your head open.

    You are leaking stupid all over the internet.
    Quote Originally Posted by Nihil Credo View Post
    I masturbated on that picture of your cat.

  6. #6
    Ur tears of nerdrage taste so sweet to me.
    Wargoos's Avatar
    Join Date

    Feb 2008
    Location

    Do not care.
    Posts

    319

    Re: GW Survival

    Quote Originally Posted by beastman View Post
    I like the idea, but I would up the finks count to help against zoo.
    2 finks and 2 jitte md is enough.
    Also postboard you get more outs - zoo gets nothing.
    Team Legal Actions.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)