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Thread: GB Mastermind's Curse

  1. #1

    GB Mastermind's Curse

    Thoughts:

    1.
    - Cruel Reality is a really powerful card that can easily win games by itself (is sometimes used in Rector builds in legacy even)
    - You can play Curse of Misfortunes to effectively get a 2 mana discount on it
    - One of the easiest ways to play around Cruel Reality is to have lots of small cheap creatures or tokens to sacrifice to it, or an aggro draw that can race it, so Curse of Death's Hold is a really good complement to Cruel Reality that can also be found from Curse of Misfortune

    2.
    - In order to cast a 5 mana spell (or 7, if you draw Cruel Reality) l the deck probably needs some acceleration
    - Overgrowth is one of the most efficient mana-producers in modern and it curves nicely from 3 to 5 to cast curse of Misfortune. I don't think there's anything else that provides 2 permanent mana sources for only 3 mana. The things that compare to it need synergy like Nykthos or Elvish Archdruid, and the #1 ramp deck (Valakut) can't play Overgrowth because it doesn't give you lands

    3.
    - Now that we're already some kind of GB ramp deck it would be good to have some other payoff for this strategy
    - Modern is known as the format of weird decks that can get shut down by sideboard cards
    - Mastermind's Acquisition gives a way to find Silver-Bullet answers and ways to leverage excess mana in grindy games

    List:

    4 Curse of Misfortunes
    2 Cruel Reality
    1 Curse of Death's Hold
    (It seems weird that there are only 2 other different curses in the x4 Curse of Misfortune deck, but the next best one is probably Torment of Scarabs, which typically isn't a very good card to draw, and as long as you have Cruel Reality + Death's Hold you are probably already winning)

    4 Overgrowth
    1 Splendid Reclamation / Life from the Loam

    3 Mastermind's Acquisition
    4 Read the Bones/Cultivate/Nissa's Pilgrimage type of card (Night's whisper also possibly ok for curve reasons)

    1 Thragtusk / Obstinate Baloth
    1 Hornet Queen

    3 Inquisition of Kozilek
    3 Thoughtseize
    1 Fatal Push
    2 Abrupt Decay
    1 Cast Down (Mix of removal is weird, can't play too many Smothers because Hollow One / Angler everywhere)
    1 Dismember
    1 Maelstrom Pulse
    1 Damnation

    1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
    1 Nissa Vital Force

    4 Field of Ruin
    3 Overgrown Tomb
    4 Verdant Catacombs
    4 Hissing Quagmire (Too many?)
    4 Forest
    5 Swamp

    SB ideas:
    1 Creeping Corrosion
    1 Barter in Blood
    1 Death Cloud (too greedy?)
    1 Seasons Past
    1 Surgical Extraction
    1 Cranial Extraction / Lost Legacy
    1 Some big uncounterable unkillable thing like a Worm Harvest or Carnage Tyrant
    1 Scavenging Ooze? (Could be maindeck)
    1 Languish (not more Damnation because it plays around Umbras / Meddling mage)

    etc

    TL:DR Curse of Misfortunes costs the same amount of mana as Deathcloud for 2 and the payoff is far greater a lot of the time (or at least it requires much less setup for it to work out well for you)

    This is a very untuned list though, I like the Curse + Overgrowth part but I'm not sure that the Tutor is worth it

  2. #2
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    Re: GB Mastermind's Curse

    Quote Originally Posted by kombatkiwi View Post
    Thoughts:

    1.
    - Cruel Reality is a really powerful card that can easily win games by itself (is sometimes used in Rector builds in legacy even)
    - You can play Curse of Misfortunes to effectively get a 2 mana discount on it
    - One of the easiest ways to play around Cruel Reality is to have lots of small cheap creatures or tokens to sacrifice to it, or an aggro draw that can race it, so Curse of Death's Hold is a really good complement to Cruel Reality that can also be found from Curse of Misfortune

    2.
    - In order to cast a 5 mana spell (or 7, if you draw Cruel Reality) l the deck probably needs some acceleration
    - Overgrowth is one of the most efficient mana-producers in modern and it curves nicely from 3 to 5 to cast curse of Misfortune. I don't think there's anything else that provides 2 permanent mana sources for only 3 mana. The things that compare to it need synergy like Nykthos or Elvish Archdruid, and the #1 ramp deck (Valakut) can't play Overgrowth because it doesn't give you lands

    3.
    - Now that we're already some kind of GB ramp deck it would be good to have some other payoff for this strategy
    - Modern is known as the format of weird decks that can get shut down by sideboard cards
    - Mastermind's Acquisition gives a way to find Silver-Bullet answers and ways to leverage excess mana in grindy games

    List:

    4 Curse of Misfortunes
    2 Cruel Reality
    1 Curse of Death's Hold
    (It seems weird that there are only 2 other different curses in the x4 Curse of Misfortune deck, but the next best one is probably Torment of Scarabs, which typically isn't a very good card to draw, and as long as you have Cruel Reality + Death's Hold you are probably already winning)

    4 Overgrowth
    1 Splendid Reclamation / Life from the Loam

    3 Mastermind's Acquisition
    4 Read the Bones/Cultivate/Nissa's Pilgrimage type of card (Night's whisper also possibly ok for curve reasons)

    1 Thragtusk / Obstinate Baloth
    1 Hornet Queen

    3 Inquisition of Kozilek
    3 Thoughtseize
    1 Fatal Push
    2 Abrupt Decay
    1 Cast Down (Mix of removal is weird, can't play too many Smothers because Hollow One / Angler everywhere)
    1 Dismember
    1 Maelstrom Pulse
    1 Damnation

    1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
    1 Nissa Vital Force

    4 Field of Ruin
    3 Overgrown Tomb
    4 Verdant Catacombs
    4 Hissing Quagmire (Too many?)
    4 Forest
    5 Swamp

    SB ideas:
    1 Creeping Corrosion
    1 Barter in Blood
    1 Death Cloud (too greedy?)
    1 Seasons Past
    1 Surgical Extraction
    1 Cranial Extraction / Lost Legacy
    1 Some big uncounterable unkillable thing like a Worm Harvest or Carnage Tyrant
    1 Scavenging Ooze? (Could be maindeck)
    1 Languish (not more Damnation because it plays around Umbras / Meddling mage)

    etc

    TL:DR Curse of Misfortunes costs the same amount of mana as Deathcloud for 2 and the payoff is far greater a lot of the time (or at least it requires much less setup for it to work out well for you)

    This is a very untuned list though, I like the Curse + Overgrowth part but I'm not sure that the Tutor is worth it
    1. Gotta include card tags with stuff no one uses in competitive decks

    2. I can't get behind Overgrowth. Being a long-time Death Cloud player, I can't recommend low-cost mana accelerators enough. Hitting 3 mana before you do any ramping whatsoever isn't a good strategy in Modern, even with some hand hate. Turn 1 you're likely to play a hand hate card, turn 2 right now you're hoping that the opponent plays something that you can kill. I really like Sakura-Tribe Elder, Explore, and Mind stone for things you can put mana into on turn 2 that still give payouts. Right now the fastest you can ramp out Curse of Misfortunes is turn 4 (Overgrowth turn 3, play it turn 4) and with any of the ones I mentioned the fastest you'd ramp it out is also turn 4.

    3. Some very good cards for this type of deck are Primal Command to do whatever you need while stalling, and I'd have a Massacre Wurm in the 75 to search for even if you don't have Primal.

    4. I'm not sure Cruel Reality on turn 5 (at the fastest here) is really game-breaking enough for Modern. Ramping into Death Cloud could be too slow even if you curved ramp into it, and that is way more powerful than getting out a Cruel Reality. Curse of Death's Hold is a fantastic card, but it could be thrown in any b/x control style deck.

  3. #3

    Re: GB Mastermind's Curse

    I realise overwhelming splendour is not on colour..but I think it's too good not to include. I'd cut inquisition for two collective brutality (in case you draw it) plus splendor.

  4. #4
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    Re: GB Mastermind's Curse

    Overwhelming Splendor is a great card and I'm surprised it isn't auto-included here. It wouldn't be too hard to add a couple white duals or something if you really wanted to cast it, too.

  5. #5
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    Re: GB Mastermind's Curse

    This seems interesting, but isn't Enduring Ideal a good way to increase your odds of drawing your 'combo'? It's another engine similar to Curse of Death's Hold. Ideal is an old card that died out after Seething Song was banned, but it could be good here x1-2.
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  6. #6

    Re: GB Mastermind's Curse

    Thanks for the feedback everyone

    I could have included "2 mana: add 1 mana" ramp spells such as STE or explore.
    It is true that if you have the 4th land drop available then 1 extra mana from Overgrowth is wasted when casting Misfortune on turn 4 and a card like Explore would have been sufficient. However, sometimes this 4th land will not be available.
    The argument about not having a turn 2 play is unconvincing: I agree that if your opponent doesn't play an early threat then you often won't have a play on turn 2 because your curve is filled with removal at this spot. However, you are a big-mana, lategame focused deck. If your opponent is not pressuring you then you don't care that you don't have a play here because the game is heading somewhere you want to go regardless.
    I also think that getting 2 mana from 1 card is an important aspect of Overgrowth, because there are 2 maindeck Cruel Reality which you want to be able to cast if you draw them, and you don't want to be choked on mana in turns when you are tutoring for things. (Explore does let you curve into tutor on turn 3, so maybe that's important? Not sure)

    I agree that the impact of a good Death Cloud will usually be more game-winning than Cruel Reality (because Death Cloud has an immediate impact on your opponent's ability to play the game), but getting a good Death Cloud requires some amount of setup whereas Curses don't need any.

    Primal Command is a decent idea and could possibly replace Thragtusk in the 75 as the 'lifegain' card. If I were to play PCommand I would probably try to fit 1 Eternal Witness for the mini-loop.

    Massacre Wurm on the other hand just seems too narrow, for a 6 Drop I'm not sure this will be useful enough of the time.

    If you still think Death Cloud is good then maybe a better build plays some Explore / Garruk instead of the Overgrowth / Acquisition and plays like 2 Death Cloud maindeck alongside the Curses.

    Overwhelming Splendor is a powerful card (and is of course really good with Curse of Death's Hold) the problem is that:
    - I didn't want to have uncastable cards (this is an annoying problem with the Enduring Ideal deck when you draw Dovescape etc)
    - I wasn't sure I could fit enough White sources in the deck and still successfully play 4 Field of Ruin, which I think is important vs Tron
    - Even if it is hardcastable (in terms of colour requirements) it's still an 8 mana card which you won't be happy to draw a lot of the time
    - It seems a bit win-more, I think situations where Splendor helps you to win the game but Cruel Reality / Death's Hold aren't enough will be relatively rare

    But playing white does allow the deck to access some pretty good cards so I think I will seriously consider this (even Curse of Exhaustion could be an ok option vs storm and Snapcasters etc)
    I maybe have overestimated the difficulty of playing 3 colors with Field of Ruins (I think Corey Burkhart does it in Grixis so I will have a look at some of his lists)
    In order to avoid the problem of ratcheting up the manacurve too high I could just cut the 2nd Cruel Reality for Splendor

    The Collective Brutality suggestion is probably fine whether I have Splendor or not.

    Enduring Ideal is just a completely different deck:
    - It requires the deck to be built with a much higher density of enchantments so that you can actually be confident in winning the game after resolving the Epic Spell. (On the other hand, after you Curse the opponent you can still cast spells so you aren't just sitting there waiting for Cruel Reality to kill them, you can still play a normal game with Decay, Thoughtseize etc)
    - Always needing 7 mana to 'go off' rather than 5 means that you have to play Lotus Bloom and/or Nykthos otherwise casting Ideal is too hard.
    - If you have Lotus Bloom but not Nykthos (like the old Extended deck) then you're just a worse Ad Nauseam deck.
    - If you do play Nykthos then all of your interaction has to be in the form of permanents that give you devotion, which makes the deck extremely soft to Tron because any of Karn/Ugin/Oblivion Stone basically make you lose on the spot
    - I do think Enduring ideal is an okay deck but it seems best as a metagame call for events where the format is soft to maindeck Leyline / Runed Halo. This is not the case at the moment because the presence of Humans is suppressing Storm too much and other random linear decks are more popular at the moment than Thoughtseize
    Last edited by kombatkiwi; 05-22-2018 at 04:43 AM.

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