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Thread: Krak Addict - U/W Venser, Game Shaper Savant

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  1. #1

    Krak Addict - U/W Venser, Game Shaper Savant

    I've been completley captivated by Karakas ever since I ran (a really suboptimal) Death & Taxes at my first Legacy event. Since then I've attempted many many different builds that utilize Karakas to vary degrees of mediocrity. I think I've hit upon some interesting interactions at last:

    Krak Addict
    --------------
    (18)
    4 Mother of Runes
    4 Ethersworn Cannonist
    3 Vendillion Clique
    3 Spellsutter Sprite
    2 Stoneforge Mystic
    2 Venser, Shaper Savant

    (22)
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Force of Will
    2 Daze
    3 Swords to Plowshares
    3 Standstill
    3 Aethervial
    2 Jitte
    1 Sword of Fire and Ice

    (20)
    4 Wasteland
    3 Karakas
    4 Flooded Strand
    4 Tundra
    1 Plains
    3 Island
    1 Academy Ruins/Riptide Lab

    SB
    ------
    1 Sword of Light and Shadow
    2 Tormod's Crypt
    1 Relic of Progenitus
    3 Jotun Grunt
    2 Sower Of Temptation
    2 Llawan, Cephalid Empress - Wrecks Merfolk (which are a tough match) and bounces Progenitus if need be.
    3 Spell Snare

    What does the deck do?
    It plays a very defensive early game hoping to land a Mother of Runes and an Ethersworn Cannonist. Those two in concert create a soft-lock which clogs the board and slows the game to 'normal' Magic physics. To back this plan up, 3 Standstills create their own 1 card soft-lock. Vendillion Clique helps to sculpt the opponent's hand into uselessness via Karakas. The ideal board is: Mother, Cannonist, Karkas and a Venser in hand. This is nearly a hard-lock.

    How does it win? It wins by swinging with little evasive dudes, hopefully equipped with a Jitte or Sword. Or by slowly bouncing your board into oblivion and then swinging in with 2/2s - classic Legacy!

    How does it not die? Well, that's why I'm posting the list. Blue offers a lot in the way of protection for my unique little snowflakes but this deck does have a hard time against aggressive strategies. Sower out of the board helps a lot but I'm also sorely tempted to put in an Elspeth or a Jace, Mind Sculptor to help with board control. I haven't played too many matches against CounterBalance decks or against dedicated control decks in general. My plan with them is to lean on the Aether Vials and my own counters to get some sort of board presence out. It's funny to think that this deck could be capable of ''The Beat Down.' Obviously I'm pretty soft to Engineered Explosives.

    Like so many decks here, this is my little home-brew and I'm looking for constructive feedback on it. I will say that I'm willing to compromise on almost anything EXCEPT for Venser and Karakas since that is the heart of the deck for me.

  2. #2
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    Re: Krak Addict - U/W Venser, Game Shaper Savant

    I'm tired like hell, so a short reply from me:
    If you are on the defencive mode, SoLS is way better then SOFI .. ;) So I would suggest to switch them, and run SoLS main.
    He provides you with some life, protecting your small creatures from the most played removalspell in legacy and returns your mother when she is killed (yes she will die like 80% from the games, or wont even reach the board ;) ) and ofcourse all other small chumpblokking creatures.

  3. #3

    Re: Krak Addict - U/W Venser, Game Shaper Savant

    That's a good idea. I sided in quite a bit, whether I was playing aggro or control and for similar reasons. Reccuring/protected Sowers of Temptation are pretty nuts.

    What's people's opinion on running Academy Ruins or Riptide Laboratory?

    The Ruins slows me down but keeps me in Equipment and Ethersworn Cannonist. It's nice to have excursion as back-up if everything goes to shit...but I'm not really going to be digging into my deck for answers at that point am I....

    The Laboratory seems more powerful overall I think. Bouncing Sprites is nice, especially on defense. Since I know I'm soft to sweepers more bounce is probably good insurance.

  4. #4

    Re: Krak Addict - U/W Venser, Game Shaper Savant

    You're running white and Karakas. Put in Mangara.

    ----

    EDIT:

    After a little testing and such, as well as throwing in a couple of my own ideas, this seems fairly good.

    4x Flooded Strand
    4x Tundra
    3x Plains
    3x Island
    3x Karakas
    2x Riptide Laboratory

    4x Meddling Mage
    4x Ethersworn Canonist
    4x Spellstutter Sprite
    4x Mother of Runes
    2x Venser, Shaper Savant
    2x Mangara of Corondor
    2x Vendilion Clique

    4x Force of Will
    4x Daze
    4x Swords to Plowshares
    4x Brainstorm
    2x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
    1x Umezawa's Jitte

    Several notes...
    1) It can be somewhat difficult to keep creatures on the board without Mother of Runes. This, plus the fact that she doubles as a win-condition without any creatures to pump and is more difficult to remove, makes Elspeth the better choice.
    2) Aether Vial was really good when I tested it, but I'm not sure what to cut at the moment to fit it in. It's the one thing about this list that made me really unhappy.
    3) Ethersworn Canonist is probably the best card in the deck, especially with Aether Vial and Clique/Sprite/Venser. Don't go down past four.
    4) Mangara can be really slow, but he also does things like eliminate Counterbalance and such, which can be really important during the first game.
    5) Meddling Mage is good, especially when you can bounce and replay him. You can also check cards with Clique to make him easily twice as good.
    6) Considering that all the legends in the deck are wizards, Riptide Laboratory is, while not as good as Karakas, essentially a necessity in the deck.
    7) Sower of Temptation and Relic of Progenitus are the only cards I have finalized in the sideboard. A lot more testing will be necessary to figure out what else should be in there.
    Last edited by HPB_Eggo; 02-21-2010 at 11:49 AM. Reason: Added the list.

  5. #5
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    Re: Krak Addict - U/W Venser, Game Shaper Savant

    maybe put another jitte so that you will be able to beat merfolk better

  6. #6

    Re: Krak Addict - U/W Venser, Game Shaper Savant

    This deck interests me very much. Could you explain your sideboard choices please? You did say you have trouble with the aggressive decks. I assume you mean fish and goblins. Why no ghostly prisons s/b? I will try this deck out and post.
    Quote Originally Posted by thefringthing View Post
    baghdadbob, you're Team Scrubbad's spirit animal.

  7. #7

    Re: Krak Addict - U/W Venser, Game Shaper Savant

    http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showp...postcount=1865

    I've Pm'd Morningstar about this thread. Perhaps you could shoot him a PM. I believe he has been doing a little testing himself.

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