SilverGreen
11-20-2009, 05:27 PM
About two years ago, during the reign of Landstill decks in my local metagame, I built a deck that (I guessed, at least) could beat it consistently and doesn't seem like a complete pile of poop against the rest of the meta. The goal was partially reached at the time, I was really capable of win Landstill and other random matches with it, but just when I didn't lose to my own deck. The major reason for it was its ackward manabase, filled with Wastelands, unbecoming fetchlands and fragile Scrublands. I ended losing more games than I won with the deck, but having the conviction I could have won much more games if my land draws were smoother. But now, things look a little better for the deck: Marsh Flats makes the manabase flow very easier now, and the recent adition of Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to the list has also helping a lot.
The list's actually demolishing control builds (except for Counterbalance), and have an at least decent game against other general strategies. It's weak against Dredge and against loads of cheap burn yet, so I'm working to try to minimize it. The list I'm current running is:
6 Swamp
1 Plains
4 Scrubland
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Marsh Flats
1 Polluted Delta
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
22 Lands
4 Dark Confidant
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Spectral Lynx
14 Creatures
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
4 Gerrard's Verdict
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
4 Vindicate
24 Other Spells
SB: 2 Descendant of Kyomaro
SB: 4 Oblivion Ring
SB: 3 Engineered Plague
SB: 2 Relic of Progenitus / Jötun Grunt
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
15 Sideboard Cards
I dubbed the deck "Moonwalker", less because of the lunatic toolbox vampire than because the will to make an homage to that BW artist. I'm having a hard time at categorizing the deck as control or aggro-control, because even packing a number of cheap utility creatures, these creatures are played more like spells than as what they actually are. We simply can't just cast a Vampire Nighthawk and ride it until the end of days, as we're used to do with backed-up Tarmogoyfs. Creatures here are a resource that must be carefully manageable, and mustn't be played without a reason. So, I think the better aproach in categorizing this deck is that it's a "Confidant attrition deck". Its main plain is to attack the opponent's mana development, while you supress his/her best creatures and hold down a hand full of discard (no, discard and LD are not incompatible, like some insist to argue). When your opponent stabilizes with a low, manageble enough amount of board resources, it's the right time to attack his/her hand and lay out your creatures.
Some cards I think are worth of note are:
Vampire Nighthawk: Together with its good friend Bob, it's the heart and soul of the deck. Try to avoid the foolish habbit of look at it as a 2/3 for :1: :b: :b:, or as a bad Tombstalker - it's actually much more than that. Try to see it as a source of resources and versatility, that eventually hits for 2. The humble Nighthawk is capable of trade with the aforementioned Tombstalker and its angry :1: :g: giant partner as few other creatures in the format are; it changes the math of your Thoughtseizes, fetchlands and Confidants entirely (Bob - Stalker + Jecko = Good); it hits above all of Elpeth's tokens; and more importantly, it eats that ackward Bolt, Plowshare or Path that would aim to your Bobs.
Gatekeeper of Malakir: This and Nighthawk, together with the new fetches, are the main reasons to revisit the BW disruption theme, I think. Yet in the spell-creature category, Gatekeeper provides one more flexible tool of board control, complementing your spare StPs and economizing your Vindicates, at the same time it joins the "2-4 a turn beatdown". And like the other vampire in the deck, it too doesn't care about size and shape of opposing creatures. It's also a two for Bob and a three for Counterbalance, which makes it few painful, and more valuable at removing annoying Counterbalance-sheltered Goyf/Mongeese in Canadian.
Spectral Lynx: It's half a Moat that ocasionally hits for 2 in a metagame full of Nacatls and Pridemages and some other random creature with :g: in its manacost, survives all non-Path removal in Zoo, and blocks time and again 6/6 Wake Thrashers and 7/2 Piledrivers. It's a cheap way to help maintain control of the board, in a deck that seeks to keep a light and manageable board position.
About the spells, I really think there isn't much to say without taking the risk of looking like a replicating moron. The pack of discard and land destruction is the same good'ol we're used to since the time of Pikula's homebrew. Thoughtseize is just Duress with caffeine (and your Plowshares and Gatekeepers are very grateful of it), and some may argue about the right number of Verdicts, but the debate space here isn't the greater in the matter. I didn't consider Path to Exile as an option here for obvious reasons, although I can see a number of them as a possible sideboard choice.
Graveyard hate clogs the sideboard due to the amount of Dredge that exists in my local metagame, and Dredge may ruin the entire day of a heavy discard strategy like this one, as some of us may know. Kyomaros were MD stuff in the old pre-ZEN versions of the deck, and I think a number of them is still worth the SB slots, as a foil to burn and very aggressive strategies in general. Rings are here to allow a game against Counterbalance and act as additional removal, and Plagues just happened to be good again.
There's some cards that I tried but didn't make the cut, or that I would like so much to run, but simply don't find the space:
-Umezawa's Jitte is the first one coming to mind, if I could open 5 slots to run two more creatures and 3 Jittes, I would be in good shape. It's a bit slow against fast red aggro, but the deck isn't exactly speedy anyways, and a Jitted Nighthawk or Lynx would almost guarantee a shift in the game in our favor. Unfortunely, 5 slots are too much over the space I can find right now.
-Dark Ritual used to be here at the beginning, but was cut off due to the number of hands I had to mulligan because I had too much StP's and Verdicts, and because it doesn't fit so well as it may seem at first glance in this deck's strategy. We don't have the plan to blistering throw 3 cards to take 3 cards from the opponent's hand, neither of playing a first turn flying disruptive specter. The overall gameplan of almost all of your cards that could benefit from a :b::b::b: boost doesn't ask to be done so soon in the game. Gatekeeper could make the best use of the boost from all, but even it can find its better jobs later. Mana>Lackey isn't a so frightening play nowadays as it use to be in the past anymore. An edict effect is more valuable when aimed later to a stand, sole 5/6, an untouchable 3/3 or 10/10, or even against a lone 20/20.
-I think Duress is a must have in such a deck with no reliable 1st-turn play other than pinpoint hand disruption, mainly because this deck sucks against a resolved Counterbalance. It has a reasonable gameplan of prevent an opponent to ever play his/her CB already, but for sure it just isn't enough, so a little diversification, or in this case, more capitalization, could help. But again, I can't find more room for it. Suggestions would be highly, highly appreciated in this subject.
I keep a table of match results and play notes about the deck in MWS, and I'll provide more data about matches as soon as I can get to my laptop with a little more free time, but the general lines can be drawn by the infos I told above. I really wish you give this build a try, and that you rejoice with it so much as I'm doing. It's a lot of fun to play, and can win it's fair amount of games, you can believe me. :wink:
Let's discuss other issues as the thread goes on. Please, let me know your opinions and suggestions, I'll appreciate them very much and will be very glad to discuss. Enjoy!
The list's actually demolishing control builds (except for Counterbalance), and have an at least decent game against other general strategies. It's weak against Dredge and against loads of cheap burn yet, so I'm working to try to minimize it. The list I'm current running is:
6 Swamp
1 Plains
4 Scrubland
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Marsh Flats
1 Polluted Delta
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
22 Lands
4 Dark Confidant
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Spectral Lynx
14 Creatures
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
4 Gerrard's Verdict
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole
4 Vindicate
24 Other Spells
SB: 2 Descendant of Kyomaro
SB: 4 Oblivion Ring
SB: 3 Engineered Plague
SB: 2 Relic of Progenitus / Jötun Grunt
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
15 Sideboard Cards
I dubbed the deck "Moonwalker", less because of the lunatic toolbox vampire than because the will to make an homage to that BW artist. I'm having a hard time at categorizing the deck as control or aggro-control, because even packing a number of cheap utility creatures, these creatures are played more like spells than as what they actually are. We simply can't just cast a Vampire Nighthawk and ride it until the end of days, as we're used to do with backed-up Tarmogoyfs. Creatures here are a resource that must be carefully manageable, and mustn't be played without a reason. So, I think the better aproach in categorizing this deck is that it's a "Confidant attrition deck". Its main plain is to attack the opponent's mana development, while you supress his/her best creatures and hold down a hand full of discard (no, discard and LD are not incompatible, like some insist to argue). When your opponent stabilizes with a low, manageble enough amount of board resources, it's the right time to attack his/her hand and lay out your creatures.
Some cards I think are worth of note are:
Vampire Nighthawk: Together with its good friend Bob, it's the heart and soul of the deck. Try to avoid the foolish habbit of look at it as a 2/3 for :1: :b: :b:, or as a bad Tombstalker - it's actually much more than that. Try to see it as a source of resources and versatility, that eventually hits for 2. The humble Nighthawk is capable of trade with the aforementioned Tombstalker and its angry :1: :g: giant partner as few other creatures in the format are; it changes the math of your Thoughtseizes, fetchlands and Confidants entirely (Bob - Stalker + Jecko = Good); it hits above all of Elpeth's tokens; and more importantly, it eats that ackward Bolt, Plowshare or Path that would aim to your Bobs.
Gatekeeper of Malakir: This and Nighthawk, together with the new fetches, are the main reasons to revisit the BW disruption theme, I think. Yet in the spell-creature category, Gatekeeper provides one more flexible tool of board control, complementing your spare StPs and economizing your Vindicates, at the same time it joins the "2-4 a turn beatdown". And like the other vampire in the deck, it too doesn't care about size and shape of opposing creatures. It's also a two for Bob and a three for Counterbalance, which makes it few painful, and more valuable at removing annoying Counterbalance-sheltered Goyf/Mongeese in Canadian.
Spectral Lynx: It's half a Moat that ocasionally hits for 2 in a metagame full of Nacatls and Pridemages and some other random creature with :g: in its manacost, survives all non-Path removal in Zoo, and blocks time and again 6/6 Wake Thrashers and 7/2 Piledrivers. It's a cheap way to help maintain control of the board, in a deck that seeks to keep a light and manageable board position.
About the spells, I really think there isn't much to say without taking the risk of looking like a replicating moron. The pack of discard and land destruction is the same good'ol we're used to since the time of Pikula's homebrew. Thoughtseize is just Duress with caffeine (and your Plowshares and Gatekeepers are very grateful of it), and some may argue about the right number of Verdicts, but the debate space here isn't the greater in the matter. I didn't consider Path to Exile as an option here for obvious reasons, although I can see a number of them as a possible sideboard choice.
Graveyard hate clogs the sideboard due to the amount of Dredge that exists in my local metagame, and Dredge may ruin the entire day of a heavy discard strategy like this one, as some of us may know. Kyomaros were MD stuff in the old pre-ZEN versions of the deck, and I think a number of them is still worth the SB slots, as a foil to burn and very aggressive strategies in general. Rings are here to allow a game against Counterbalance and act as additional removal, and Plagues just happened to be good again.
There's some cards that I tried but didn't make the cut, or that I would like so much to run, but simply don't find the space:
-Umezawa's Jitte is the first one coming to mind, if I could open 5 slots to run two more creatures and 3 Jittes, I would be in good shape. It's a bit slow against fast red aggro, but the deck isn't exactly speedy anyways, and a Jitted Nighthawk or Lynx would almost guarantee a shift in the game in our favor. Unfortunely, 5 slots are too much over the space I can find right now.
-Dark Ritual used to be here at the beginning, but was cut off due to the number of hands I had to mulligan because I had too much StP's and Verdicts, and because it doesn't fit so well as it may seem at first glance in this deck's strategy. We don't have the plan to blistering throw 3 cards to take 3 cards from the opponent's hand, neither of playing a first turn flying disruptive specter. The overall gameplan of almost all of your cards that could benefit from a :b::b::b: boost doesn't ask to be done so soon in the game. Gatekeeper could make the best use of the boost from all, but even it can find its better jobs later. Mana>Lackey isn't a so frightening play nowadays as it use to be in the past anymore. An edict effect is more valuable when aimed later to a stand, sole 5/6, an untouchable 3/3 or 10/10, or even against a lone 20/20.
-I think Duress is a must have in such a deck with no reliable 1st-turn play other than pinpoint hand disruption, mainly because this deck sucks against a resolved Counterbalance. It has a reasonable gameplan of prevent an opponent to ever play his/her CB already, but for sure it just isn't enough, so a little diversification, or in this case, more capitalization, could help. But again, I can't find more room for it. Suggestions would be highly, highly appreciated in this subject.
I keep a table of match results and play notes about the deck in MWS, and I'll provide more data about matches as soon as I can get to my laptop with a little more free time, but the general lines can be drawn by the infos I told above. I really wish you give this build a try, and that you rejoice with it so much as I'm doing. It's a lot of fun to play, and can win it's fair amount of games, you can believe me. :wink:
Let's discuss other issues as the thread goes on. Please, let me know your opinions and suggestions, I'll appreciate them very much and will be very glad to discuss. Enjoy!