[Deck] Spore Frog.dec

[waSP]

It's been 5 long years since I played Magic, but I'm back and itching to add new technology to the format. This deck is sort of ripped off a guy I saw playing the other weekend. All I saw him do was play Shriekmaw, Tortured Existence and Golgari Brownscale. He was recurring these, praying to get ahead of his goblin opponent. I was really confused about where his Squees were (not in hand or in his graveyard), but the basic idea stuck in my mind. I finally figured out how to build it this morning. You just run lots of silly enchantments.

But, really, I only got my decklist finalized going today, so I don't have a sideboard or a really strong idea of what some of the random the matchups are like.

Decklist:
Mana (22)
8 Forest
5 Swamp
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Bayou
1 Mountain
1 Taiga
1 Badlands

Accel (8)
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Sakura Tribe Elder

Utility (11)
4 Spore Frog
2 Golgari Brownscale
1 Plague Spitter
1 Shriekmaw
1 Eternal Witness
1 Viridian Zealot
1 Gigapede

Recursion (7)
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
2 Genesis
1 Krovikan Horror

Enchantments (12)
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Tortured Existence
2 Stormbind
2 Zombie Infestation


Matchups:

(I will edit this section as I test against more matchups)

Threshhold: They are the aggro and they won't be able to play enough threats fast enough to win.

Landstill: Same as threshhold.

Solidarity: Autoloss.

Cephalid Breakfast: Spore Frog is my hero.

Goblins: 40/60

Random aggressive decks: at least 70/30.

This deck will lose to combo, Goblins, and oppresive graveyard hate game 1. It tends to beat things that don't possess characteristics of combo/goblins/gy hate game 1. Game 2, I have no idea what this deck does. It probably runs 8-12 fat efficiently costed creatures in the board and some combo hate and switches to an aggro plan.

Strengths of this deck:
Very resillient game 1. You have about 4 different engines that are all significant threats to your opponents' ability to win the game. They can probably shut down 2 of your engines max.
Lots of basics.

Weaknesses:
Reliant on the graveyard.
Plays about as fast as Parfait.


Cards missing from this deck:
Uhh..

Yavimaya Elder: Too slow
Birds of Paradise: Doesn't chump Goblin Lackey turn 1.
Recurring Nightmare/Deranged Hermit: Too many slots, too few results.
Other kill conditions: I haven't considered too much aside from Gigapede. Tips here would be nice.

[Jak]

Wait, wait, wait! Thresh and Ladnstill are the aggro? Sure Thresh is bigger but they still run 8 free counters and will set up counter top. Thresh can switchbetween aggro and control like no other deck. Landstill will never go aggro against this deck. They will once they take control and drop Humility or something but they will be the control deck.

[Isamaru]

Wouldn't you rather just run a Survival combo that wins the game?

[raharu]

Wouldn't you rather just run a Survival combo that wins the game?
Apparently he doesn't want to Survive . You will survive though, lol :tongue:

Back to being relevant (or something like that): How does this deck loose against goblins, considering the amount of recuring agro hate packed in here? 4 Fog Frogs that recur and somehow you're going 40/60? What? Also, why don't you try to find more room for Golgari Brownscale? It's wonderful in here. I'd take the Krovikan Horror slot for it, most definately.

As for the win conditions, I'd sugest Grave-Shell Scarab, as it's pretty much invoulnerable to removal and recurs itself, in addition to being another Golgari Brownscale-like engine piece. Actually, put in in that Krovikan Horror instead of a Brownscale.

As for other thoughts, what do you think about running some Krosan Tuskers in here? With the recursion they're a strong draw engine, they're a late game threat (althouh not as strong as the Scarab or 'Pede), and you run 13 basics already, so that's not much of a concern.

Also, I really don't see any room in here for Tarmogoyf, so I'm glad :]

[waSP]

@ raharu

Re cutting Krovikan Horror: Would you run a 5th Squee or a third Golgari Brownscale? I prefer the 5th Squee. I could see how you could like that.

I don't see why you should need more than 2 Golgari. They're there to be a mini-combo that keeps you alive against burn and give you board position against aggro (make them overcommit resources).

I agree, Goyf would be turrible in here (not an aggro deck).

I could see the Beetle working, although it wants you to invest all your mana in it every turn. Gigapede is happy to sit and wait until you can clear the board.

@ Isamaru

Just using a Survival kill is fragile. This is trying to be consistent.

@ Jak.

My threats recur indefinitely, their's do not.


I'm really the most confused about the sideboard.

No one has mocked Stormbind yet, I'm impressed/surprised.

[Watcher487]

No one has mocked Stormbind yet, I'm impressed/surprised.

Probably most people are actually confused over PLAGUE SPITTER in this deck. Just to let you know, he reads 'during my upkeep I destroy all of the creatures I control of any actual importance like mana accelleration, beatdown or general usefulness then I deal 1 damage to everything else'

You LOSE to Humility. There really isn't any reason to go 'I'm ok cause I have recursion' because your recursion has no back up to Extirpate, Tormod's Crypt, Pithing Needle or Leyline of the Void.

Ohh and I wouldn't trust that positive aggro matchup with a grain of salt. Most aggro decks run some type of removal. And funny enough that removal is used on your turn to kill that Spore Frog to swing in with no problems.

[waSP]

re: shouty guy who likes to think about sideboards:
All those cards stop one of my cards. None of them shuts me down. Anyway, most of them come in post-board. And post board, I bring in beaters in exchange for Survival and Tortured Existence (OR DO I!?!?). There's a good chance that those are all dead cards game 2.

Plague Spitter turns into quite the beater, especially against goblins. I've cut him for a Goblin Sharpshooter, which can kill himself in a tight spot.

Against aggro, you try to remove their threats, not let them sit on the board. Spore Frog is a stall tactic. Except against decks that don't have any removal. He's a lock against them.

New thoughts:
I'm thinking of upping the Krovikan count. He's just tooooo good.

I cut the Llanowars, they just weren't cutting it.

Anger, on the other hand, is. He transforms Sakura's from Rampant Growths into something marginally better and makes Zombie Infestation tokens much more relevant.

I'm tempted to run Goblin Bombardment so I don't have to ever hardcast Krovikan Horror. I'm wary of running more red and messing up my mana even more. Being Swords proof and being better able to off my Witness would be nice, though. This would be a one-of.

[Rood]

You're my hero for posting this deck, it needs more Bloated Toad, lol.

[Kove]

I have a similar deck that I play in multiplayer games, although it's only Black and Red so I rely on Buried Alive to fetch me whatever I need in the graveyard. Red is pretty much only there for Gamble, being able to hardcast Squee, Goblin Nabob and Spitebellows (protection from black is annoying ;)).

Posting the list won't really do much good though since it's in no way tuned for competitive Legacy one-on-one, but I thought I'd share my thoughts and ideas anyway.

Big Game Hunter. He's an allstar player in my deck. It feels so good to "exchange" BGH for Golgari Brownscale using Tortured Existence, kill one creature, chump block another AND get two life - for two black mana. :)
Legacy might have fewer big creatures around than the typical MP game but I still think you could give him a try.

A thing I'm itching to try out (I haven't got him yet) is Korlash, Heir to Blackblade. He's big, he regenerates and he has nice synergy with Tortured Existence (or anything else that lets you reuse Grandeur). The mana base might have to be retuned to all-swamps, although I can imagine that being hard to do when playing three colors and needing fetchlands.

Yet another thing I think the deck might benefit from could be Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Filth. You can overrun your opponent with swamp walking Zombie tokens while your Frog stalls, so you don't need to use mana on removing blockers.