AlterEgo
01-02-2010, 07:03 AM
It's just a rough idea, but maybe you see some potential in it...
Lands (25)
1 Dark Depths
1 Karakas
4 Scrying Sheets
6 Snow-covered Plains
12 Snow-covered Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Creatures (19)
4 Aven Mindcensor
1 Mangara of Corondor
4 Maralen of the Mornsong
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Vampire Hexmage
4 Vampire Nighthawk
Other (16)
4 Ęther Vial
1 Archive Trap
4 Bloodchief Ascension
4 Path to Exile
2 Raven's Crime
1 Umezawa's Jitte
This deck is nothing but a bunch of synergies. It evolved from four directions:
- Death and Taxes, from which I borrowed Vial, Mangara and Karakas
- The Mighty Quinn, which gave the Snow landbase
- my... obsession for Maralen and
- a "mill deck" from a local FNM, that killed via Bloodchief Ascension and Archive Trap
CHOICES
snow lands: Scrying Sheets have a synergy with Maralen - you don't draw the card and you automatically get your library shuffled every turn. As they're basic lands, you don't need to worry about Wasteland, as you aren't dependant on Sheets.
Maralen of the Mornsong: This is her deck, so I looked for synergies wherever I could. She is the tutor on a stick and just goes nuts with a Vial@3. (Brainstorm, anyone?)
Mangara & Karakas: Karakas makes Maralen a little less dangerous for myself - and very often it's her first tutor target. Mangara is part of Mary's toolbox. An improved Vindicate each turn? Why not?
Depths, Urborg & Hexmage: Another part of the toolbox. And having the option (though VERY unlikely) to kill turn 3 is not THAT bad. And after all, Depths is snow.
Vial, Mindcensor, Nighthawk: They make Maralen's drawback less dangerous to myself and evasion+power 2 makes them trigger Ascension...
Raven's Crime, Sculler: They get rid of threats - before those become cast. And Crime can make mana floods a little less terrible.
Trap, Ascension: the second mini combo. Mary and the 2-power creatures help loading up Ascension and the trap advances from mill-spell to kill-spell - both tutored AND triggered by Mary herself.
Path to Exile: another way to trigger the trap.
Umezawa's Jitte: An all-Star. I have ten creatures with either flying or first strike. Not too much, but enough to justify a 1-off that gives nightmares to aggro.
NOTES
I pondered the blue Leyline, as it would make Sculler even more useful (cast, bounce, resolve triggers, recast = exile two cards, one of them permanently) But I decided against it, because I would have had to splash blue or live with dead cards.
The Dark Hex combo was added last minute, because I wanted to minimize the number of Traps (I should need only one per game) and so won three slots.
SDT might be a perfect fit for the deck... Needs testing
Maybe I should cut one or two lands, 25 seems a little too much, although Crime does a decent job in recycling them.
Despite not having tested the deck yet and even being sure it will never be tier 1, I want to ask you for your opinion.
Lands (25)
1 Dark Depths
1 Karakas
4 Scrying Sheets
6 Snow-covered Plains
12 Snow-covered Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Creatures (19)
4 Aven Mindcensor
1 Mangara of Corondor
4 Maralen of the Mornsong
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Vampire Hexmage
4 Vampire Nighthawk
Other (16)
4 Ęther Vial
1 Archive Trap
4 Bloodchief Ascension
4 Path to Exile
2 Raven's Crime
1 Umezawa's Jitte
This deck is nothing but a bunch of synergies. It evolved from four directions:
- Death and Taxes, from which I borrowed Vial, Mangara and Karakas
- The Mighty Quinn, which gave the Snow landbase
- my... obsession for Maralen and
- a "mill deck" from a local FNM, that killed via Bloodchief Ascension and Archive Trap
CHOICES
snow lands: Scrying Sheets have a synergy with Maralen - you don't draw the card and you automatically get your library shuffled every turn. As they're basic lands, you don't need to worry about Wasteland, as you aren't dependant on Sheets.
Maralen of the Mornsong: This is her deck, so I looked for synergies wherever I could. She is the tutor on a stick and just goes nuts with a Vial@3. (Brainstorm, anyone?)
Mangara & Karakas: Karakas makes Maralen a little less dangerous for myself - and very often it's her first tutor target. Mangara is part of Mary's toolbox. An improved Vindicate each turn? Why not?
Depths, Urborg & Hexmage: Another part of the toolbox. And having the option (though VERY unlikely) to kill turn 3 is not THAT bad. And after all, Depths is snow.
Vial, Mindcensor, Nighthawk: They make Maralen's drawback less dangerous to myself and evasion+power 2 makes them trigger Ascension...
Raven's Crime, Sculler: They get rid of threats - before those become cast. And Crime can make mana floods a little less terrible.
Trap, Ascension: the second mini combo. Mary and the 2-power creatures help loading up Ascension and the trap advances from mill-spell to kill-spell - both tutored AND triggered by Mary herself.
Path to Exile: another way to trigger the trap.
Umezawa's Jitte: An all-Star. I have ten creatures with either flying or first strike. Not too much, but enough to justify a 1-off that gives nightmares to aggro.
NOTES
I pondered the blue Leyline, as it would make Sculler even more useful (cast, bounce, resolve triggers, recast = exile two cards, one of them permanently) But I decided against it, because I would have had to splash blue or live with dead cards.
The Dark Hex combo was added last minute, because I wanted to minimize the number of Traps (I should need only one per game) and so won three slots.
SDT might be a perfect fit for the deck... Needs testing
Maybe I should cut one or two lands, 25 seems a little too much, although Crime does a decent job in recycling them.
Despite not having tested the deck yet and even being sure it will never be tier 1, I want to ask you for your opinion.