[Deck] Quinn The Eskimo- Aka, The Mighty Quinn

[MikeyFlowers]

Hello, I'm still getting used to this deck but as a general comment the only problem it has is that it needs time to set up and stabilize. The scrying sheets / top draw engine can use up three mana a turn so in the early stages of the game you can't use it to full effect. If you are the type of player who can sit back and stabilize and think several turns ahead this could be a very fun deck. It has a lot of things going on simultaneously and they all require some degree of thought to pull them off.

The other decks I have that I've been playing it against are Eva Green, Dragon Stompy, Canadian Thresh, Dreadstill, and Progenitus Elves. Quinn doesn't do well against Eva Green for example because it doesn't get the time it needs to stabilize. Against Dreadstill it is much stronger as that deck plays out more slowly. I still need to get used to the deck and then I can report back much more completely on how it performs. I will say that it is quite fun and with a price tag of "only" two or three hundred bucks or so it is a cool deck to try out. If you are the type of player who can sit back and work everything the deck has going it will be very fun. If you are aiming to comeout of the gates firing its not for you. I imagine it would do well against Landstill as well. Really any deck that gives it time to work will get swallowed up in the impressive combos this deck can unleash.

Still, I'm just getting used to the deck and I have a feeling it will turn out to be better than I'm playing it now. For me though I would rather unleash a swarm of creatures and win that way. This deck tends to draw into a ton of lands and stall out. If you know how to work this play style and you know how to place your Orimm's Chants and Abeyances you will have a lot of fun with this deck. Also, since nobody plays this deck you can catch people off guard and White has always been a color I've wanted to play but never really have been able to. This deck plays out unique and fun and with the right amount of practice and familiarty you could have a lot of fun with it.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

I had a lot of success testing against Eva Green and Team America, primarily due to the fact that they run such a low threat count. Maelstrom Pulse, however, probably does make the matchup more difficult. If these decks are in your metagame, you might consider fitting in one or two Condemn or Path to Exile as a backup to StP.

I don't think most speedy decks are an issue. I've done well against Ichorid, for instance, because of cards like Chant and Moat. For decks like TES you have maindeck Chant and Abeyance. Midrange decks that pack really annoying disruption, Counterbalance-Top with Goyf or Chalice with big fat creatures and Equipment, are more threatening, in my experience. Enchantress is usually a kick in the nuts and Solidarity is devastating, but less so than with past builds of MWC.

Burn is problematic, g1, and Zoo is the most threatening form of aggro due to the heavy burn suite. Although at least PoP is dead. Merfolk is another relatively difficult aggro matchup, although if you get some early game removal you should have lasting power. Don't be stingy in Chant and Abeyance to force through removal in this matchup.

As for draws... that's really what Sheets and Top are for. Top is honestly probably my single most common Tutor target, even above Moat. Your land base, with Top in play, basically gives your draw step kicker of 3: Draw a land card and a spell.

[NERER0CKET]

I really like this deck. I'm currently building it though very slowly because of my budget. Would it be possible for someone to share a modern list looks like, everyone posts different versions and I'm looking for the most competitive. I'm currently running a list that looks like this on mws

// Lands
16 [CS] Snow-Covered Plains
4 [CS] Scrying Sheets

// Creatures
3 [SC] Eternal Dragon
2 [SHM] Painter's Servant

// Spells
1 [LG] Moat
3 [PT] Wrath of God
1 [8E] Story Circle
4 [SHM] Runed Halo
2 [WL] Abeyance
2 [TE] Grindstone
4 [LRW] Oblivion Ring
4 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
2 [MR] Isochron Scepter
4 [PS] Orim's Chant
3 [MI] Enlightened Tutor
4 [R] Swords to Plowshares
1 [TSB] Sacred Mesa

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [8E] Story Circle
SB: 3 [OD] Ray of Distortion
SB: 1 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
SB: 2 [CH] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 [MR] Rule of Law
SB: 2 [FNM] Aura of Silence
SB: 2 [8E] Sacred Ground
SB: 2 [SC] Decree of Justice
SB: 1 [UD] Replenish

I put 1x replenish in the deck because I've had times where I've rolled over and died to a serenity.

[Valtrix]

That seems like a pretty standard list, honestly. Most builds are
-1 halo
-1 Oring
-1 story circle
+2 Snow-covered plains
+1 abeyance

That said I think if you want to run less lands that you'll need to cut one dragon. Mana shuffling is nice, but eh...I think it's more important to have that speed. Also, most builds don't run 4 halos, but I'm more and more convinced that it's better to play 4 halos. It's just way too good to not run 4. It gives us a quick answer to essentially every threat, and is one of the few ways in this deck to earn virtual card advantage--something we desperately need. I would say that story circle main is a little overboard though. I don't feel that it is needed in the main when you have moat. Plus, it's really mana intensive which can really suck.

As for the board...I'm a little less sure of how to run the board. I think that you're is decent, but 1 replenish doesn't seem good to me. You can't tutor for it, and it's not necessarily common for you to draw the one-of. People play decree in the board, but likewise I feel that it's not super-useful. I just don't think decree is a good win condition, especially through moat, and since halo leaves blockers. We have sacred ground, but I question it's usefulness sometimes. I like having it, but at the same time I sometimes wish I had something more useful for more matchups. Also, I would argue that ethersworn canonist is better than rule of law, if you want something against combo. It attacks, is able to be played sooner, and can't be taken from duress. I almost don't think you need it though. Halo + chant effects should be quite enough to answer it already.

So, I got to test out horizons belcher a little bit today. I think I'm convinced that it's better than playing no form of combo win (I was using multiple mesas before, mostly). Being able to combo out is just useful. One thing that I do like is that each piece is more useful by itself than painter-stone. I thought that using belcher to both kill creatures and cycle through unneeded cards with top was really good. The effeciency of painter/stone is just a lot better though. I'm going to keep playing with it and see how I like it though. (I still need one more grindstone anyway...)

I had horizons killed a few times, but really...I didn't feel that it mattered. It let me draw a threat every turn, and belcher could still be found for the win. As such it seems less useful in painter/stone versions, but I still have no indication of its strength there(as a 1 or 2 of is all). I still like it :P

[Roman Candle]

That said I think if you want to run less lands that you'll need to cut one dragon. Mana shuffling is nice, but eh...I think it's more important to have that speed.

This doesn't make any sense to me. With less lands, he shouldn't cut more mana sources.

[Valtrix]

Sorry, that was misphrased. I meant to cut one dragon for a land.

[NERER0CKET]

Thankyou for your feed back, I'm going to take it into consideration and do some testing right now. The Horizons and Belcher combo seems cool, but it seems really slow. On countless occasions grindstone has won me games even without painter.

-1 story circle
-1 O-Ring
+1 Snowcovered plains
+1 Abayence.

SB:
SB: 1 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
SB: 1 [10E] Story Circle
SB: 3 [OD] Ray of Distortion
SB: 2 [CH] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 [7E] Sacred Ground
SB: 3 [SC] Decree of Justice
SB: 2 [FNM] Aura of Silence

[Valtrix]

Yeah, I never said Horizons/belcher was more useful than painter/stone. I was just saying it's better than having no form of combo win, if you're like me and are too cheap to buy grindstones :P (I need to trade for one more.)

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

I played this at the big Jupiter Games tournament yesterday. Started out 3-1, then imploded to finish a disappointing 4-4.

I won twice against Zoo, once against B/G/W aggro/PTFunk/Rock/whatever, and once against U/W Tutor-Landstill. Lost once to Zoo, to Fetchland Tendrils, to Eva Green and to Survival Elves.

Fetchland Tendrils and Survival Elves seem like bad matchups generally, although I made several misplays against Tendrils. I just barely lost to Elves twice, coming within one-two life of killing him, so that doesn't seem unwinnable.

Zoo and Eva Green were part play mistakes, part nuts draws for my opponents. At least one game involved severe mana flood which might've been a result of not shuffling thoroughly- I was trying to finish quickly due to the clock ticking on the round.

One factor was poor energy planning. I was dehydrated most of the day, and I slept on the floor/chair of the motel room rather than a bed, only getting like five hours of sleep curled up in the fetal position. And breakfast was donuts. This may have contributed to more mistakes later in the day.

Also, the deck needs some form of life gain. Story Circle is okay, but six of the eight decks I played against had Krosan Fucking Grip in the board. They still usually have to deal with the fact that they only have three answers (although seven in the case of Zoo. Frown) against a plethora of potential targets, but still. Something that gains life immediately would be useful. Faith's Fetters or Genju of the Fields. Does Genju still stack the lifegain?

Here was my list;

Main;

19x SC Plains
3x Scrying Sheets

4x Top
3x E Tutor

3x E Dragon
2x Painter's Servant
2x Grindstone
1x Sacred Mesa

4x StP
3x O Ring
3x Runed Halo
3x Wrath of God
1x Moat

4x Orim's Chant
3x Abeyance
2x Isochron Scepter

SB:
3x Ray of Distortion
3x Tormod's Crypt
2x Sacred Mesa
2x Story Circle
2x Sacred Ground
1x Aura of Silence
1x Rule of Law
1x Karmic Justice

Thoughts:

Maindeck was good. Sideboard was somewhat thrown together at the last minute. Karmic Justice turned out to be golden, and Aura was good as a one-of to supplement Ray, since O-Ring can be destroyed.

I never needed or wanted the second sideboard Sacred Ground or Sacred Mesa, so those could probably go out for something else. Maybe the above mentioned Genju.

The tournament itself was prety awesome, except for my last round opponent who acted like a giant asshat. In general though I wish these things lasted longer; half the fun is hanging out with people from the Source, but everyone tends to go home way early in the weekend. On a side note, leaving Saturday night was the worst idea ever.

[Xero]

Yes, lifegain from Genju still stacks. I guess you could try Words of Worship for a life-gaining enchantment also, but I'm not sure how good that would be.

On a side note, wouldn't a SB Humility be good against Zoo/Elves? I know it stops the Painter combo kill, but you could still win with Decree/Dragon/Belcher.

[Roman Candle]

IBA, I haven't played with Quinn in a while, but how bad does the recent jump in popularity of Qasali Pridemage hurt you?

[DeathScythe]

what was the overral meta over there?
is there a reason you played 1 mesa main and 2 copeis in the side or was this just all plan of the ''random pile''?

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

I don't think I said random pile. There were some slots in the board that were kind of thrown together. Sacred Mesa was good to have three of against Fairy Stompy and Landstill, but overall I think the second was all I needed. If anything, a DoJ would've been better in the other slot. Or, again, more likely Genju.

The metagame was holy shit that's a lot of Zoo and Merfolk. And some CB-Top and other stuff.

Candle: The first round I played I hardly noticed it. Every other spell's a goddamn artifact and enchantment, so they have to select their targets pretty carefully. It especially helps if they don't even run Grips in the board because of the maindeck Pridemages. When they're in there with the Grips, it gets significantly more annoying. Especially when you're leaning on Story Circle. Pridemage was one reason Karmic Justice was so good all day.

It's enough to make a man think about Humility over Moat.

Actually, Humility in the board would work out really well with Mesa and Genju...

Although the "just kill them" factor is really good against Zoo as well, so meh.

[Captain_Morgan]

Ajani Goldmane though would take less of a mana commitment after cast versus Genju's consistent upkeep and the ultimate for a large avatar wall thing after a while. Then again, it's also slow as balls but less susceptible to enchantment removal versus burn and critters is more killable.

[Maëlig]

An option to gain life would indeed be good for this deck. I don't think Ajani or genju are particularily good candidates for this role in the MD however, as the first has a poor synergy with halo and story circle, and the second gets hit by swords. And if it's for a SB option you have a better choice imo : pulse of the fields (except if you don't want to devote 3 slots to it, in which case a tutorable genju might be worthwhile). A single tutorable faith's fetters MD seems like the best option to be, either cutting an o.ring (similar role) or a runed halo (I feel like the deck could use some additional o.ring-effects tbh).

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

I think 1x Faith's Fetters and 1x Genju could tag team in the board. Both are doubly good against Zoo, taking out a creature while gaining life for Fetters or blocking with a lifegaining 2/5 for Genju. So an SB something like;

3x Tormod's Crypt
3x Ray of Distortion
2x Story Circle
1x Sacred Mesa
1x Sacred Ground
1x Rule of Law
1x Aura of Silence
1x Karmic Justice
1x Genju of the Fields
1x Faith's Fetters

[MTG-Fan]

Have you guys considered the Procla-martyr combo?

[idraleo]

I thought he'd rather play some threat that he could find with Tutor. Also, the large amount of artifact spell is a bad call to Martyr ability, regardless you drop a Servant on the board...

[4eak]

M10 = No Mana Burn = Pulse of the Fields pwns face.

This deck will definitely improve against Burn/Zoo.

Ironically, I've been testing Pulse for the past couple weeks (and really enjoying it). Now, it will be a staple in this deck. It will perpetually timewalk, forcing opponents to overextend on the board. Wrath of God just got a whole lot better.





peace,
4eak

[DeathScythe]

bah, new rules also crushes our hopes on using genju on giving us life since lifelink doesnt stack anymore :/