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Thread: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

  1. #921
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    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    I always found people underestimated the power of Apostle's Blessing as a protection spell for the key painter combo pieces, amongst other things. Maybe you could try it for matchups like Grixis Control?

  2. #922
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    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Quote Originally Posted by colo View Post
    I always found people underestimated the power of Apostle's Blessing as a protection spell for the key painter combo pieces, amongst other things. Maybe you could try it for matchups like Grixis Control?
    How often is blessing better than just another blast?
    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Cheese View Post
    I've been taking shitty brews and tier 2 decks to tournaments and losing with them for years now. Welcome to the club. We meet for cocktails after round 6.
    Quote Originally Posted by Stevestamopz View Post
    Top quality german restraint there.

    If I'm at the point where I'm rage quitting, you can bet your kransky that I'm calling everyone involved a cunt.

  3. #923

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Or Mother of Runes.

  4. #924
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    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Quote Originally Posted by Megadeus View Post
    How often is blessing better than just another blast?
    When you're getting your pieces Abrupt Decayed, or when there's a Chalice of the Void on 1, for instance. It's a flexible protection card that is undervalued in the metagame, I think.

  5. #925
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    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    It seems as if Spellskite does pretty much what apostle's blessing does but being recruitable and weldable?

  6. #926
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    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Quote Originally Posted by pettdan View Post
    It seems as if Spellskite does pretty much what apostle's blessing does but being recruitable and weldable?
    And Goblin Engineerable
    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Cheese View Post
    I've been taking shitty brews and tier 2 decks to tournaments and losing with them for years now. Welcome to the club. We meet for cocktails after round 6.
    Quote Originally Posted by Stevestamopz View Post
    Top quality german restraint there.

    If I'm at the point where I'm rage quitting, you can bet your kransky that I'm calling everyone involved a cunt.

  7. #927
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    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Ah yes, Spellskite is probably the better (but less surprising) choice :)

  8. #928
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    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Been tinkering around with my current list in this new meta. A lot more goyfs than I have seen in a long time, obviously buoyed by Wrenn and Six propping up Rug delver again. That, combined with an overall influx of more wastelands has led me to make a few adjustments, now that we've been able to play Karn for 3 months.

    Here is what I am currently on:

    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 City of Traitors
    3 Bloodstained Mire
    2 Wooded Foothills
    4 Mountain
    2 Plateau
    1 Great Furnace

    3 Lotus Petal
    1 Simian Spirit Guide
    1 Lion's Eye Diamond

    4 Imperial Recruiter
    3 Painter's Servant
    3 Goblin Welder
    2 Goblin Engineer
    1 Goblin Cratermaker
    1 Ethersworn Canonist

    3 Grindstone
    1 Ensnaring Bridge
    1 Blood Moon

    4 Pyroblast
    2 Red Elemental Blast

    3 Enlightened Tutor
    3 Smuggler's Copter
    4 Karn, the Great Creator

    ------------

    1 Grindstone
    1 Mycosynth Lattice

    1 Painter's Servant
    1 Ethersworn Canonist

    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Ensnaring Bridge

    2 Tormod's Crypt
    1 Relic of Progenitus
    2 Surgical Extraction

    4 Lightning Bolt


    ---------------------

    Big changes are to add the 4th Karn. He's definitely the best card in the deck, and I wasn't ready to just instajam in the playset initially since it would require a lot of mana changes and I usually like to make small adjustments to see what's good. Wrenn and Six really changes a lot of how I think we need to be built. Wasteland lock is a much bigger threat than it was before modern horizons, where a leaner decklist made more sense. 4 Karns definitely wants more mana, and multiple Lotus Petals have felt bad in this grindy meta. The 4th city is probably a wash speed wise, and double city hands are negated somewhat by the London mull. Karn plus mana wins games by himself, so another city to just power out Karns seems solid right now. I am watching to see when it comes up, because even something like the 5th mountain or 6th fetch could be better. A big part of why shortcake is so strong is that you can switch towards a mono red imperial gameplan when you need to, where you just develop your basic mountain manabase and/or side out white cards to lessen your nonbasic exposure. Also, the lower artifact count (dropping 2nd furnace/4th petal) for welder/engineer has not been an issue, as the furnace is bad against wasteland/abrade/k-command, and Karn can readily supply food.

    With 4 Karn, it also probably doesn't make sense to not run a Painter in the board. This flip flops my initial thoughts, as my only hesitancy was that naturally topdecking extra copies of Painter is usually game winning, but from an overall deckbuilding theory standpoint having another 4 ways to get a Painter in a nonblue deck is too good. The other side is a single Karn can find both halves over two turns while still living, which is insane. I figure 4 recruiters (and 2 engineers if your desperate to find one) are still a ridiculous amount of ways to find a painter. If the meta transitions back towards faster decks I could see these numbers changing again.

    Ballista has been pretty lackluster with the change in the meta, and I haven't really found myself tutoring it up with Karn. I think the combination of Bridge into Lattice is fine, or going for a three card crypt/relic combo is a good enough 'alt-win' compared to the additional overlap of ballista. That extra slot from the painter lets you keep all 6 blasts in as well as all the welders. While welder is worse now because W6 houses him, i think its easy enough to side out two copies against those decks, and 3 is still so good in all the other matchups.

    Lastly, I didn't test it at all, but I did entertain the though of 4 Leyline+Helm. I think the issue is more about space because you still would want a single crypt for Karn, and then you have to ask if cutting surgical, relic, and the 2nd crypt are worth the leylines. The other question then is is the helm even worth it. You would end up with a 4 mana grindstone line, a 5 mana helm line, and a 6 mana lattice line, which is a lot of space. Then on top of that I'm not sure you really want leyline against stuff like Miracles or show and tell, whereas Surgical is still solid. If Hogaak, reanimator, and dredge gain meta shares then maybe the leylines should be revisited. As it stands now, I think the current yard hate suite is adequate and offers a lot of cross-matchup hate.


    Some other thoughts are related to the discussions I've seen popping up. People have been hype about Astrolabe, and while I can see its appeal as welder food, draw, and fixing, some of the rationale behind card choices like extra blood moons don't make sense to me. If moon is to be a stronger focal point, what happens when you jam a turn 1 moon or a turn two off a t1 fetch-plateau-tutor sol land opener? Now you are reliant on drawing a basic before you can deploy astrolabe, essentially leaving you with even more dead cards on top of e-tutor. Sure astrolabe can provide white under a moon, but is etutor lock still that big of a deal in this meta where moon should be game winning? I don't think moon is that good right now even with 4 color piles popping up, as W6 lets them be super greedy with their mana allowing basics. Not to mention still the depths-moon nerf, it just seems like a weird line to walk with this style of build. Overall it seems like it adds a lot of variance, although maybe I am not seeing all the potential upsides.


    Either way I think I'll be jamming this for the next month or so as I try to figure out if I'll go to Atlanta. Stunting on a GP would be pretty fresh, so we shall see. Any other Shortcakers definitely going?
    Strawberry Shortcake

    http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...erry-Shortcake

    What a brainstorm do? Draw card and activate on draw effects fix hand, removing woods
    #FreeNedleeds

  9. #929
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    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Yeah the Astrolabe has been somewhat awkward in testing. I do like that it gives you the ability to go like turn 1 Astrolabe into a 2 mana colored threat off of tomb while holding blast up off of basic. I think it's got some potential still. And yes it helps fix under a moon. I do think I agree with the 4 Karn builds wanting painter in the board.

    I will be in Atlanta since hometown and such. Still unsure if shortcake or imperial though
    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Cheese View Post
    I've been taking shitty brews and tier 2 decks to tournaments and losing with them for years now. Welcome to the club. We meet for cocktails after round 6.
    Quote Originally Posted by Stevestamopz View Post
    Top quality german restraint there.

    If I'm at the point where I'm rage quitting, you can bet your kransky that I'm calling everyone involved a cunt.

  10. #930

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    @Kap'n Cook: Thank you for the great write-up, it is very informative. It is great to see you have gone down on Lotus Petals. I found myself boarding out two to three way too often and was just thinking about dropping one. Also going up to 4 Karns makes perfect sense as it really is the best card in our deck. I am not yet brave enough to move a Painter to the sideboard, but it may be time to try that out.

    Just a few thoughts on some of the other points you mentioned:

    I have been playing a version with 4 Astrolabes for the past two weeks (basically replacing the Copter) and it has been very good to me. I went +1 basic to make sure I can cast the Astrolabes reliably and am currently on 20 lands (5 Snow-Covered Mountains, 2 Plateaus, 4 Ancient Tombs, 3 City of Traitors and 6 fetchlands). We are not abusing the Astrolabe like some other decks to enable "greed piles" - I find its beauty in other points:

    - It makes our manabase more robust by decreasing our reliance on Plateau and Great Furnace. An Astrolabe on the opening hand essentially means there is no need to fetch for Plateau for the rest of the game.
    - It works great in Welder-heavy builds. I am currently on 3 Welders and 3 Engineers and having two Astrolabes is fantastic with any number of active Welders. I have engineered for Astrolabe a surprising number of times to get card draw going.
    - It works fine with Blood Moon and while 3 may be too many, I feel 1 Blood Moon is too little in the W6 meta.
    - As Megadeus mentioned, the Astrolabe lets us use Sol Lands as colored mana to cast the Engineer and Canonist. It is nice to play Astrolabe off a Snow-Covered Mountain on turn 1, and then cast Engineer off Ancient Tomb while holding open a blast.
    - While the mana cost makes this by no means free, I think we should not underestimate the fact that the Astrolabes essentially make us a 56-card deck, increasing the chances to draw haymakers.

    Surprisingly, I have not been missing the Copter so far. I will keep playing this version some more to see.

    Also I have been happy with the 4 Leylines + Helm. Beside the obvious suspects, I like Leylines against W6 decks (W6 but also Tarmogoyf), Show and Tell decks (I feel a Leyline sitting there makes this bad matchup a little more manageable), Miracles (beside turning off AK, stripping them off 4 additional STP/Disenchants feels very relevant in a Welder-heavy build) and Grixis control. The Helm has won me quite a few games against control decks - they spend resources on preventing the combo from happening by constantly going after Painters, Welders and Grindstones, and I like the ability to win by resolving just one card once they are low on resources. Most of these decks have a lot of artifact interaction but very few tools to interact with enchantments which helps. Also while it does not come up that often, the Leylines are certainly castable in an Astrolabe build. I do miss Surgical in combo matchups, but will stay on Leylines for now.
    Last edited by peko; 08-02-2019 at 01:57 AM.

  11. #931

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    @Jack would love to go to Atlanta to play but Australia is a little far, one day though.

    I hit the local weekly with this list last night and went 3-1. I wore the same t-shirt as I am wearing in my Altered Goblin Engineer.

    This was my list.

    Looking like this.

    My strategy is game one combo, as quickly as possible and then worry about my opponent post board or just get Karn to stick and grind one out. Just explode and let them worry about game 2.

    Report:
    Round 1, 2-1 Doomsday
    Game 1, on the play hold a grip with 2x petal, ssg, sol land and combo for a turn 2 grind. All I see is an Underground Sea into a Ponder. No idea what to board… so bolts go in because Bolts make everything better. Right?

    Game 2, I lose to tendrils turn three he gets his storm count up and tendrils me. Bolts? Nope, no good. But now I know what to do and London Mulligan is going to get me there.

    Game 3, I mull to five with a turn 2 trinisphere, me the engineer slows the game done enough for me to combo and most importantly think. I see lines of play that I had forgotten about after 3 years of not playing and it feels great!

    Round 2, Miracles 2-0
    Game 1, on the play, I know what he is playing as I jammed some games with him as a warm up and slot a hand with turn 1 set up to turn 2 grind.

    Game 2, I have a hand full of pressure and use it to empty his of “no” while I try to find combo pieces, I keep the pressure up with a merde of red weenies that no one ever sees as a threat and go into the red zone while he controls my combo, smelling blood I knowingly over extend into a Terminus which never comes, why? Because he boarded them out… Imperial Recruiter gets him to zero.

    Haven't played Miracles since SDT and am amazed at how ugly it is all those cantrips and counters, looks like a cheap but frustrating EDH deck!

    Round 3, RUG Delver 2-0
    Game 1, I stick a copter and go for the loot beats, then holding his Delver off. I see a W6 but my combo gets me there.

    Game 2, I mull to a bridge and stick it, then a welder, next Karn, which I use to get a crypt that protects the bridge that he destroys with some enchantment thing but I simply weld out the crypt and bring bridge back. I don’t really have the game yet but he scoops up his cards and says, “next game?” Huh?

    Round 4, Hogaak Depths 1-2
    Game 1, Turn 2 grind, not sure what he is playing.

    Game 2, He makes a 20/20 token and I have nothing. I miss time a stack interaction. Probably not game changing but Sloppy!

    Game 3, I have boarded in tangle wire, and needle. I make a massive, snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, misplay. He has the means to make a 20/20 token and passes to me with a tangle wire in hand and enough to win the following turn. So, I could have timewalked him with tangle wire and gone off on the pass back but instead… I rip a moon off the top and my brain just ignores my plan and slams the moon instead. You know? Moon > Lands? Right? He makes his 20/20 token in response and I am a jibbering chimp on the other side of the table. I die a just death.

    All good, I love a misplay I can see and learn from but I could’a, would’a, should’a 4-0’d.

    On my list, I think the extra moon was not optimal. Two moons is that in between number that makes it frustratingly random, London Mulligan helps but it isn’t the auto win that begs to be mulliganed to. One on a etutor seems reasonable. I will replace it with an SSG to bolster my game one combo off strategy, SSG is such a poker card, it's a bluff that works and who doesn't love "Monkey Blasts"?.

    Liquimetal Coating is kind of weirdly slow, not an immediate Karn threat and if I am casting something like that the turn after Karn, it may as well be a lattice, which is similar and more winningy. I will be flexing that for the next event, not sure to what though? Maybe a Phyrexian Revoker, there were plenty of nonland activated abilities and it will force me to learn the meta and read about opposing decks, it makes for good preparation and therefore play, needle is similar...

    Tangle wire was my Ballista and while I misplayed it, I think it deserves more time to see if it can stay. And the art is awesome.

    Trinisphere was great, as it is in the games it is great in. I will be keeping it.

    Engineered Explosives did not see play but it will….
    Last edited by Jungian Thing; 08-02-2019 at 04:05 AM.

  12. #932
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    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Quote Originally Posted by Jungian Thing View Post
    Game 3, I have boarded in tangle wire, and needle. I make a massive, snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, misplay. He has the means to make a 20/20 token and passes to me with a tangle wire in hand and enough to win the following turn. So, I could have timewalked him with tangle wire and gone off on the pass back but instead… I rip a moon off the top and my brain just ignores my plan and slams the moon instead. You know? Moon > Lands? Right? He makes his 20/20 token in response and I am a jibbering chimp on the other side of the table. I die a just death.
    definitely did this once. I knew my depths opponent had crop rotation in hand. I had moon and Ensnaring bridge in hand and can cast 1. In my head I'm like, bridge just locks him out and I win. Cast the blood moon, he rotates and makes Lage in response, I'm sitting there like, wait why the fuck did I do that
    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Cheese View Post
    I've been taking shitty brews and tier 2 decks to tournaments and losing with them for years now. Welcome to the club. We meet for cocktails after round 6.
    Quote Originally Posted by Stevestamopz View Post
    Top quality german restraint there.

    If I'm at the point where I'm rage quitting, you can bet your kransky that I'm calling everyone involved a cunt.

  13. #933

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    You feel my pain....

  14. #934
    Victory Dance ftw?
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    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Not sure if I should be happy or sad that better players make the same misplays as I do...
    Quote Originally Posted by Tacosnape
    <Dallieza> your mom uses the stack
    <System> Player Lost
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    Every time someone drops a Chalice against me I think of the Family Guy episode where the guy in jail stabs himself with the knife to see how it feels and then he says, "My God! Is this what I've been doing to people? I belong in here!"
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  15. #935

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Quote Originally Posted by Mirrislegend View Post
    Not sure if I should be happy or sad that better players make the same misplays as I do...
    What makes you a better player is learning from those mistakes... especially other’s, now where are our fabulous video producers? Jack? Drude?

  16. #936

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    I placed third yesterday at our local win-a-dual legacy tournament with Shortcake. I played Arcum's Astrolabes (no Smuggler's Copter), two copies of Blood Moon and had 4 x Leyline of the Void in the sideboard as my only graveyard hate.

    Round 1 (Jund Nic Fit) - 2:1
    G1: I keep a hand of 2 Enlightened Tutors and 2 Pyroblasts, Ancient Tomb and two other lands. I am on the play, play a fetchland and pass. Opponent starts with Veteran Explorer, I cast Enlightened Tutor off a Plateau for Painter, then play Painter off Ancient Tomb, and quickly assemble the combo over the next two turns with double Pyroblast backup.

    G2: I quickly die to a flurry of Thoughtseizes and Cabal Therapies followed by Scavenging Ooze.

    G3: Opponent has no graveyard hate and I manage to find the combo through Goblin Engineer, with a Goblin Welder in play as well. Opponent has an Abrupt Decay but two welders are too much for a single piece of interaction.

    Round 2 (UW Omnitell) - 2:0
    G1: I know what opponent is on and as I have no tutorable graveyard hate, I figure my best chance is to try to assemble the Lattice lock. I manage to stick a fast Blood Moon which does not shut opponent off colored mana, but gives me a lot of time as it results is two Brainstorm locks. I get opponent to 10 life with Goblin Welder beats and manage to force a Karn through with Pyroblast protection. As I am still away from Lattice mana, I wish for Ethersworn Canonist and plan to get Lattice the following turn if I draw a land. Unfortunately opponent plays Back to Basics leaving me with 2 lands for the rest of the game. I am now in full beatdown mode - I play the Canonist off an Arcum's Astrolabe and beat with it and random animated artifacts while keeping the Welder up to protect Canonist. The last turn before dying opponent finally resolves Show and Tell and puts Omniscience into play, but Canonist does not allow him to do anything further. I put an Ensnaring Bridge into play that I had been holding for some time, and attack with it for the win next turn. This was the only time I missed Smuggler's Copter, however the Astrolabe did great work as well, allowing me to play a Canonist that would otherwise have stayed stranded in my hand.

    G2: I board in Leylines of the Void and start with one in play. I assemble the combo on turn 3 with Pyroblast backup.

    Round 3 (Death&Taxes) - 2:1
    G1: I have a good start with an unanswered Welder and Grindstone in play. I mill myself for several turns while also drawing extra cards with the Astrolabe trying to find a Painter, but fail to do so and eventually die to small Thalia, big Thalia and Flickerwisp beats.

    G2: The most insane game in the tournament and one of the craziest I have ever played. Opponent plays a quick Rest in Peace which I blast after playing Painter, however a second one comes the following turn and my Painter eats Swords to Plowshares. Opponent then assembles Thalia, Rishadan Port and Chalice of the Void for maximum disruption while beating me down. At this point my board is Lion's Eye Diamond, Arcum's Astrolabe, a Goblin Engineer and a few lands, while my hand is full of one-mana spells. I draw a Karn but cannot play it for several turns through the Rishadan Port and Thalia, until there is finally an opening. I play Karn and plus it animating the Astrolabe for double chump block so that I can have one more Ancient Tomb activation the following turn. Next turn I activate Lion's Eye Diamond, wish for Helm of Obedience, play it through Thalia and activate using all my mana and going to 1 life.

    G3: I play Goblin Welder on my turn 1 before opponent gets Chalice of the Void down on turn 2. I play Goblin Engineer finding Grindstone, and play Painter from my hand. Two turns later I assemble the combo and opponent dies with Swords to Plowshares in hand.

    Round 4 (UR Delver) - ID
    Round 5 (UW Stoneblade) - ID


    Quarterfinals (Urza Painter) - 2:1
    G1: Opponent is on a blue artifact deck based on Urza and Sai, Master Thopterist and also packing Painter/Grindstone as another win condition. The matchup has a nice dynamic between Karn on my side who shuts down opponent's artifacts and Urza on the other side who makes them into Mox Sapphires. I manage to stick a turn 3 Karn and opponent has to play Painter to blast it. Thankfully I have another Karn and wish for Grindstone, allowing me to win off opponent's Painter the following turn.

    G2: Opponent opens with Chill turning off my hand of Imperial Recruiters and Goblin Engineers. They set up Painter/Grindstone on the following turn, threatening the kill if they untap. I almost steal the win with a surprise end of turn Enlightened Tutor for Grindstone, but a Force of Will seals the deal.

    G3: I stick a quick Goblin Welder and slow down opponent by welding their artifacts. I blast an Antiquities War and play Karn, allowing me to wish for both combo pieces over two turns and win.

    Semifinals (Grixis Arcanist) - 0:2
    G1: Opponent starts with Thoughtseize into Dreadhorde Arcanist, repeating the Thoughtseize and cycling a few countrips over the next turns. I have a Grindstone and manage to find a Painter the turn before I die with enough mana to activate, however a Force of Will seals the deal for opponent.

    G2: I board in Leylines of the Void and Lightning Bolts and hope to see either a Leyline or Blood Moon in my opening hand, however none show up. I keep as it is otherwise a reasonable hand with Lightning Bolt, however I have to use the Lightning Bolt to kill a Young Pyromancer on turn 2. This leaves me with no answer to a Dreadhorde Arcanist coming down next turn. I slow the game down by Ethersworn Canonist off Imperial Recruiter and play Karn getting Grindstone, however the Canonist eventually eats an Abrade and another Young Pyromancer comes down, leaving me two last turns. At this point I have a Grindstone and several lands and Karn and REB in hand. I play Karn and wish for Painter, which I have to play as a blocker with one mana left. Here I make a big mistake - opponent had Abrade in their graveyard and I somehow thought they could flash it back with Arcanist. I figured they would attack and Abrade my Painter and I decided that killing the Arcanist was better than fighting over the Abrade. I blast the Arcanist but opponent shows me Abrade from their hand - game over. It turns out Abrade cannot be flashed back by Arcanist and I could have won had I kept the REB for the Abrade in opponent's hand...

    Overall the deck felt good - I was very happy with the 4 Karns and a copy of each of Painter and Grindstone in the sideboard. Except for one game I never missed Smuggler's Copter. The Leylines (and Helm) worked fine - I am aware they have many downsides compared to traditional sideboard, but I believe that their power against Show and Tell decks and the many flavors of W6 and Dreadhorde Arcanist make them worth it. The number of Blood Moons remains a question but I believe it should be a function of the expected share of Grixis/RUG/4C delver/control decks - in a meta heavy on these I believe three or maybe even four could be the right number.

  17. #937
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    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Nice report. Good finish. Can you link a list?

  18. #938

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Sure, here is the list I was on:

    4 x Ancient Tomb
    3 x City of Traitors
    5 x Snow-Covered Mountain
    2 x Plateau
    2 x Scalding Tarn
    2 x Bloodstaned Mire
    2 x Wooded Foothills
    3 x Lotus Petal
    1 x Lion's Eye Diamond
    4 x Arcum's Astrolabe
    3 x Goblin Welder
    3 x Grindstone
    4 x Pyroblast
    2 x Red Elemental Blast
    3 x Enlightened Tutor
    3 x Painter's Servant
    3 x Goblin Engineer
    1 x Ethersworn Canonist
    3 x Imperial Recruiter
    1 x Ensnaring Bridge
    2 x Blood Moon
    4 x Karn, the Great Creator

    -------------------------------

    4 x Leyline of the Void
    4 x Lightning Bolt
    1 x Helm of Obedience
    1 x Mycosynth Lattice
    1 x Ensnaring Bridge
    1 x Pithing Needle
    1 x Painter's Servant
    1 x Grindstone
    1 x Ethersworn Canonist

  19. #939

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Wait you only run 1 helm? I figured the strategy would have been to go side in at least 1 and keep 1 on the board for karn (you can engineer-tutor the boarded one, then welder it in).

    I’m not sure about the helm leyline configurations. What’s the ‘correct’ configuration?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Legacy decks: mono U painter, strawberry shortcake, imperial painter, solidarity, burn
    EDH decks: zedruu voltron, rakdos the defiler, persistent petitioners, blind seer

  20. #940

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Yeah, I am on one Helm only. Two would certainly be nice, but I do not think a second Helm is better than any other of the current sideboard slots.

    I found Helm at its best as a wish target in long fair matchups where you side Leyline in to deal with graveyard value such as W6, Dreadhorde Arcanist or Snapcaster Mage. Unless you die to a quick Delver draw, these games tend to go long and you will be able to resolve Karn at some point; by then opponent will be fairly low on resources and Helm comes as a surprise win condition. In situations when Karn is not under attack, I like to first fetch for Painter or Grindstone and make opponent think we are going for the standard combo the following turn, and then tutor for Helm next turn. In these matchups I do not think you want to board Helm in as you typically side out one or two Enlightened Tutors.

    For matchups where you side Leyline in to disable the engine of the deck (Reanimator, Oops All Spells, Hogaak), the Leyline is usually strong enough on its own.

    So maybe the only matchups where we may want the Helm mainboard are super fast non-blue decks like Burn. The matchup is a race that we have difficulties winning, so I think it is sometimes (especially when they board in Smash to Smithereens, Searing Blaze and/or Searing Blood) a legitimate approach to put in the Leyline/Helm combo and try to get some combination of Leyline, Sol lands, Petals and Helm/Enlightened Tutor in your opening hand (London Mulligan helps here).
    Last edited by peko; 08-06-2019 at 01:09 AM.

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