[Deck] Bridge Aggro (former Peacemaker)

[Moczoc]

This is a very different deck that evolved from Peacemaker http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9644&highlight=peacemaker

Once, I didn't want to include creatures at all, but when I testet Bitterblossom I was so impressed by the fast kills and noticed that it could be good to play even more 1/x beater with evasion. Furthermore 80% of Peacemakers strength came from only one card: Ensnaring Bridge. Its a colorless Moat for 1 mana less that even stops your opponents Tombstalker!
I went on to cut most cards of the deck for creatures and only left a control core. Now the deck is more fun to play and not anymore so reliant on Bridge, if often wins without it.

"Brigde Aggro" by Moczoc

Creatures
4 Beckon Apparition
2 Soltari Foot Soldier
4 Beloved Chaplain
4 Bitterblossom
4 Soltari Trooper
4 Spectral Procession
3 Stinkweed Imp

Spells
4 Duress
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Ensnaring Bridge

Lands
4 Scrubland
1 Polluted Delta
4 Windswept Heath
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Swamp
7 Plains
3 Blinkmoth Nexus


Sideboard, untested (I let my opponents play theirs, but I haven't used mine yet)

4 Pteron Ghost
4 Seal of Cleansing
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Meekstone



some choices explained:

-Beckon Apparition: in 1 of 10 games I can't cast it because of no cards to remove, all the other time it was superorior to Suntail Hawk because it comes at instant speed and removes LftL etc.
-six shadow beaters: Can still ping the opp. if he controls some big flyers.
- Beloved Chaplain: Unblockable, blocks every non-evasion beater like a wall and immune to Mogg Fanatic
- Stinkweed Imp: recursive blocker "on the ground" with deathtouch


considered cards:

- Squall Drifter: stands in a row with Putrid Imp. More aggro, but slower in defense and easier to kill
- Blightspeaker: versatile and fits good in overall but not a good Jitte-carrier
- Suture spirit: combos with Putrid Imp
- Magus of the Moat: possibly good for game 2 and 3 when the opponent boarded in massive artifact hate


:smile:

[Isamaru]

I love the interaction of Soltari Trooper (or Jitte) and Ensnaring Bridge!

What do you think of including a creature with Exalted? (probably the 1/1) Unfortunately it doesn't have evasion.

I really like Stinkweed Imp recursion vs. Counterbalance and a Tarmogoyf, and I have a special place in my heart for Beloved Chaplain.

Change your sideboard to this:
4 Augur of Skulls
4 Hymn to Tourach

(8x Double Discard will help you beat the two things you currently dont: Combo and Control/Landstill. Unlike with Discard-1s, you just have to resolve one of these to start to do what you want, and two to cripple them.)

4 Oblivion Ring (so you dont lose to Chalice at 1 and Trinisphere)
3 Meekstone (or ?)

[Dark_Cynic87]

-3 Meekstone (???)
-1 ???

+4 Needle

Deed/EE wrecks this...

[Mantis]

Nightsky Mimic could be decent here. You can cast your instants after you have attacked and swing in for 4 flying damage. This can also take out some blockers by surprise.

I was suggesting this as it seems to me you really need more clock. You are very likely to lose to a resolved Deed or Wrath, as you try to empty your hand (otherwise Bridge sucks) and thus you are forced to overextend. Given this strategy, you will have to kill your opponent before he can find and resolve his sweeper. Thus, you need more clock.

Furthermore I'd play some Wastelands or Rishadan Ports as really only need like 2 mana anyway (save from Bridge which you can't cast that early anyway). These cards buy you some tempo and that's good.

I don't see a reason why Thoughtseize shouldn't replace Duress here.

[Dark_Cynic87]

Second Sunrise could even be a decent option against Wrath/Damn, but definitely not Deed...IDK. Against UW and UWX Landstill SS would be good. Not so much against 4-c. I think Needles would be your best bet, though, as Wrath/Damn are much less prevelant than Deed in the current overall meta.

Just my thoughts. You could squeeze both in I guess...

Pce,

--DC

[MTG Guru]

I love this deck idea. I'm considering building it IRL. I have some questions though.


4 Duress


Why do you run this over Thoughtseize?

I also think that Volrath's Stronghold should maybe be run as a 1'of. Getting back creatures after Stinkweed recursion seems pretty nice.

The deck looks solid though, I love it.

EDIT: I think that Mother of Runes might be better than Beckon Apparition. It probably deserves testing. Aura of Silence is also probably better than Seal of Cleansing since it usually gets around Counterbalance.

[Moczoc]

I love the interaction of Soltari Trooper (or Jitte) and Ensnaring Bridge!

What do you think of including a creature with Exalted? (probably the 1/1) Unfortunately it doesn't have evasion.

Change your sideboard to this:
4 Augur of Skulls
4 Hymn to Tourach

4 Oblivion Ring (so you dont lose to Chalice at 1 and Trinisphere)
3 Meekstone (or ?)

No evasion = not playable

Double Discard is a great idea, but Hymn wil be hard to cast. I'll try Gerrards Verdict.
Does Oblivion Ring have advantages over Vindicate?



-3 Meekstone (???)
-1 ???

+4 Needle

Deed/EE wrecks this...

You're right, the sb must have a slot against Deed


Nightsky Mimic could be decent here. You can cast your instants after you have attacked and swing in for 4 flying damage. This can also take out some blockers by surprise.

I was suggesting this as it seems to me you really need more clock. You are very likely to lose to a resolved Deed or Wrath, as you try to empty your hand (otherwise Bridge sucks) and thus you are forced to overextend. Given this strategy, you will have to kill your opponent before he can find and resolve his sweeper. Thus, you need more clock.

Furthermore I'd play some Wastelands or Rishadan Ports as really only need like 2 mana anyway (save from Bridge which you can't cast that early anyway). These cards buy you some tempo and that's good.


Nightsky Mimic has a nice mechanic, but I definitly cannot play it because it has power=2 and I only play 4 other B/W cards.
Faster clocks would be good indeed, I tried 2 Leonin Sun Standart but then the creature count was too low.
As colorless Lands I'm playing 3 Blinkmoth Nexus and that makes it already hard enough to cast Spectral Procession but they are so great after WoG (especially with Jitte). I don't want to imagine to play against a mono colored deck with 2 Wastes and a Plains in front of me with Procession in Hand.



Second Sunrise could even be a decent option against Wrath/Damn, but definitely not Deed...IDK. Against UW and UWX Landstill SS would be good. Not so much against 4-c. I think Needles would be your best bet, though, as Wrath/Damn are much less prevelant than Deed in the current overall meta.


Interesting, I never considered to play SS in a non-combo deck. For this deck it would be not worth to play it because it doesn't return Tokens!



Why do you run this over Thoughtseize?

I also think that Volrath's Stronghold should maybe be run as a 1'of. Getting back creatures after Stinkweed recursion seems pretty nice.

EDIT: I think that Mother of Runes might be better than Beckon Apparition. It probably deserves testing. Aura of Silence is also probably better than Seal of Cleansing since it usually gets around Counterbalance.

Because Thoughtseize is lifeloss. It's yet a dillemma position to hide behind Brigde for some turns after fetching 2 or 3 lands and with Bitterblossom on the board, but all in all Blossom is too strong not to play. Duress sometimes grabs nothing, thats right, the maximum possible would be a 2/2 split as I never want to draw more than one T.seize.
Aura of silence would make many of my Spells very expensive. Other possibilities could be Whispmare or Shinewend.
I don't think Stronhold is worth it, it makes colorless mana and many of my creatures are actually not real "creature cards".
Mother of Runes is in some way similar to Beloved Chaplain. Maybe I'll test 2 instead of Soltari Foot Soldier because 8 creatures that get around big flyers seem to be enough.


Thank you all for the replies! :wink:

[Mordenkaynen]

Does Oblivion Ring have advantages over Vindicate?
Yes, when it removes something that recures. But usually creatures recures in G decks, which pack grip.

Nice alternative-combat idea, I must say. However, how fast do you reduce your hand to 1?
The deck has potential problems vs Wcontrol (that use decree, humility and many creture removal). But it's not a often-faced deck (sorry about my enlish). Also pyroclasm scares; I don't know how often do you face it in your meta.

[MTG Guru]

Aura of silence would make many of my Spells very expensive.

Aura of Silence only effects the opponent...

[Vacrix]

i think that this COULD be really good. ive taken a more controlish approach to the whole thing though.

just some thoughts..

in order to beat aggro you need bridge to come down before turn 4 because otherwise you are dead or close enough to it to lose to a burn spell. the preferable turn for it to come down is more around turn 1/2 if you can actually get it down that fast, but it wont be active until you get your hand down to about 0 or 1 card(s). that means you need some sort of acceleration. acceleration will also help you to empty your hand faster so that it actually works. some cards that come to mind are chrome mox and lotus petal. if we go in black you get dark ritual and culling the weak (if you run creatures), and in green you have ESG and in red you have SSG.

in order to beat combo you need something more than just, well, nothing MD. 1 duress is hardly going to slow a combo player down long enough for you to kill him with the kind of deck you are playing. they will rebuild faster than you can kill them. right now 'bridge aggro' is built to beat aggro with evasive 1/1's. i dont think that should be the approach. you should build the deck to beat more than just aggro, and the way you combat aggro with the deck is to use bridge. some things that come to mind to beat combo are disruption like discard or countermagic or permanent based hate. some things that come to mind are duress/thoughtseize/cabal therapy/hymn to tourach/etc in black. force/daze/counterspell/spellsnare/etc in blue. and meddling mage and ethersworn cannonist. now one thing that came to mind instantly is this: enlightened tutor can fetch, cannonist, bridge and bitterblossum. hmm...

also, distruption is going to keep your shit on the table. playing out an ensnaring bridge and sitting on your ass isnt the best idea. your opponent could be holding an answer.

another thing is that you want all the spells that you draw to be castable. you dont want anything to clog up your hand and be unplayable or else you will get attacked and die.



this is the approach i think:

4 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Ethersworn Cannonist
3 Bitterblossum
4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Thoughtseize
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Shield Sphere
4 Phyrexian Walker
4 Dark Ritual
3 Sensei's Diving Top
1 Tormod's Crypt

4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Lotus Petal
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scrublands
3 Swamps
2 Plains

SB:
2 Dispeller's Capsule
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Bitterblossum
1 Ethersworn Cannonist
4 Dark Confidant
4 (open slot)

the idea against aggro is to either keep an opening hand that lets you play bridge or search and play bridge. dark ritual or lotus petal will allow you to accelerate into it by turn 2. if you keep an opening hand with ethersworn cannonist and lotus petal, you can play that to slow aggro down until you can find a bridge. or you can distrupt them with your discard and play blockers until you can find either the bridge or a tutor for bridge. i think that SDT + fetches might help to sift for it too. also SDT will be very useful in allow you to keep away cards that you cant cast, like multiple bridges or dark rituals into nothing. or if you fear that your bridge might get removed, look for another one. once you have bridge down, at least in game 1, you shouldnt have any problem winning. get down a bitterblossum and it should be easy from then on. in game 2, you can expect the opponent to be playing with removal. as long as the opponent doesnt have shattering spree, you have plenty of ways of looking for more bridges and playing them down. in this case, the discard is especially useful for getting rid of there removal for bridge.

against combo, you play cannonist. you search for cannonists with enlightened tutor and you distrupt your opponent with discard spells. i figure that this build should have a fair matchup against combo. i think that having essentially 7 cannonists should mean that you draw 1 every 8 cards in a 56 card deck so you should start with one in your opening hand or a tutor for one and play a discard spell to slow them down. cabal therapy + creatures are good here, better than you might think.

against control, you play discard and bitterblossum. BB is amazing against control. they WOG, the creatures come back. against landstill you can play a discard spell and then try to drop BB on the next turn. if you play cannonist they can only counter one spell per turn. against thresh, the matchup should be more difficult i think. bridges will actually be good here to stop goyf's and such. but discard will be important for striping your opponent of counterspells before you drop them. i think that bringing in dark confidants may not be such a good idea, but if anyone has a better idea of how to beat thresh/landstill/dreadstill/etc then please share. crypts will be good. enlightened tutor can search for them, giving you access to emptying their yard more often.


i havent playtested this as i do not have the time. i think that the deck will lack consistency. aggro is the least of the decks problems until game 2 and they bring in shattering spree. combo isnt a problem if they take long to go off like turn 2-4 range. then you can get out something to deal with them or distrupt them but that may not be enough. one answer could be trinisphere? it doesnt interfere with your win con, BB, as you dont play each creature, the enchantment makes them for you. sure you cant pay alot of stuff in your deck, but who cares if you arent dying to combo? if enlightened tutor costs 3 then who gives a dam? you can afford it, and you dont need dark ritual except to cast stuff quickly anyway. after trinisphere is down you can take your time.




i think that a control version of the deck is going to be more consistent against the meta then an aggro version. the aggro version loses to combo too hard.

[MTG Guru]

What does Ethersworn Cannonist do? I can't find it anywhere in any search engine.

[Vacrix]

cannonist in the spoiler, it isnt out yet.

Ethersworn Cannonist 1W
Artifact Creature
Each player who played a non-artifact spell this turn cannot play any more non-artifact spells this turn.
2/2

slows down aggro. stops combo until they find an answer (mystical tutor for wipe away/kill spell/etc.). forces control into one counterspell per turn. it doesnt effect you as much because you play with artifacts. there might be an easier way to abuse this though. like maybe running more artifacts MD that are actually threats to control.

[MTG Guru]

cannonist in the spoiler, it isnt out yet.

Ethersworn Cannonist 1W
Artifact Creature
Each player who played a non-artifact spell this turn cannot play any more non-artifact spells this turn.
2/2

slows down aggro. stops combo until they find an answer (mystical tutor for wipe away/kill spell/etc.). forces control into one counterspell per turn. it doesnt effect you as much because you play with artifacts. there might be an easier way to abuse this though. like maybe running more artifacts MD that are actually threats to control.

So it's basically a weaker version of Rule of Law, on legs? Why do you play Phyrexian Walker/Shield Sphere, they seem horrible. Maybe running Mishra's/Urza's Bauble + Second Sunrise might be a better idea.

Doran also seems like it would be pretty cool with Ensnaring Bridge, as well.

[Vacrix]

i like the second sunrise.. but not the bauble interaction.
i use the tall men (walker/sphere) cause you can sac them to flashback therapy and they are kinda like blockers for whatever small creatures with 1 power the opponent might have. i had a couple other effects that worked with the tall men but i threw them out. so they might be drops. but ya doran does sound good actually. doran + tall men is especially nice. maybe ornithopter instead of shield sphere to make it more offensive? idk. i think that bitterblossum is a good enough wincon as is.

[MTG Guru]

If you're running tall men, why are you not running Diabolic Intent? It seems to be the strongest thing you could probably include. You could also run a toolbox and maybe even throw in the Leyline/Obedience combo in there as well.