Derm
05-23-2010, 11:43 PM
For a long time I played the Gamekeeper-Auriok Salvagers combo, but I was frustrated with how many pieces there were to the combo and how all-in it was. When the new giant Eldrazi guys came out, I found myself revisiting Gamekeeper as a worthwhile strategy, however. I know he costs 3G and that he's relatively slow, but I think he's viable in conjunction with Emrakul.
The gameplan is to play a strong disruption game with discard and removal in order to slow your opponent down/take away their answers. Then play Gamekeeper and get Emrakul into play. I know that having him in play isn't an automatic win, but there are very few mainstream answers to him in Legacy decks. Oblivion Ring in Stax, maybe Innocent Blood---but our deck packs enough discard to take care of those pretty easily, especially when you consider that in order to go off you're almost always sacrificing Gamekeeper to a Cabal Therapy.
3 Gamekeeper
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Thoughtseize
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Pernicious Deed
4 Innocent Blood
4 Dark Ritual
4 Living Wish
4 Cruel Tutor
4 Crop Rotation
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Bayou
2 Swamp
2 Forest
1 Ancient Tomb
2 Wasteland
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Llanowar Wastes
SB
4 Krosan Grip
4 Leyline of Lifeforce
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Blazing Archon
1 Gamekeeper
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Karakas
1 Yixlid Jailer
The Discard
I know it definitely seems like overkill to have 11 discard spells main, but this is really the most important part of the deck. Thoughtseize is key because you get to disrupt combo, take out annoying cards like Counterbalance and Force of Will, and it's important to be able to see their hand and keep track of what's in it so that you know when it's safe to use your Gamekeeper. Cabal Therapy is part of the combo, so there should be no questions there. Hymn is amazing card advantage and the best discard spell there is. These three spells, in concert, make it so that your opponent pretty much never has an answer when you go off. They make it so that you can slow opponents down and keep them off their plan even if you don't have all your pieces yet.
The Removal
Pulse is just so versatile, and the possibility for a value play is very real because Goyf-based decks will often try to race you/attack you quickly because they don't have much of an answer to Emrakul. Deed is obviously great. It's a great answer to almost anything, and I find that the card advantage it generates is extra important in this deck because with it and Hymn going together, your opponent is often hard pressed to find both threats and answers. Most of the time they don't have more than 3 or 4 cards.
The Crop Rotation Package
This is probably a part of the deck that will confuse people. The idea behind Crop Rotation in here is that it gives you a nice tutor package where you get access to Wasteland if you need to slow your opponent down, Boseiju if you need to force through a Pulse, Ancient Tomb if you need to accelerate into a third turn Gamekeeper, and if you're flooded with land you can go get fetchlands, pop them, and thin your deck. The other important thing about it is that since this is a brew, no one is really going to know what your one-of's are, which makes a huge difference. Crop Rotation is a one-mana instant that is going to surprise the hell out of your opponent. End of their turn go grab an Ancient Tomb, drop Gamekeeper a turn before they were expecting it, or go grab Boseiju and force through a Pulse when they thought they had the proper countermagic to protect their permanents---it can be seriously devastating. Your opponents will know that you could pull such tricks, but only after you're up one win.
Living Wish Targets
Iona - While Emrakul is basically gameover against most decks, it can be more appropriate to Keeper out Iona against certain decks since they are just dead to it. Combo in particular can be a problem because you can get your Emrakul out only to lose on their turn before you can attack.
Blazing Archon - Goblins are basically dead to it, especially when you have discard to take out burn spells. Again, it's just a better option than Emrakul since he gives them a turn to attack you before you annihilate them.
Karakas - Out to Iona against Reanimator. They can counter Living Wish, but they might not know they have to the first time you go for it, and you can always play mind games by sideboarding it in and Crop Rotating for it so that they don't know which spell they need to counter.
Phyrexian Tower - Way to kill Gamekeeper, and again, the first time you go for it your opponent might think it's fine to let Living Wish resolve because they don't think of a land that can let you go off.
Yixlid Jailer - Dredge. It stops your Cabal Therapies, but it doesn't matter when they can't do anything. You can just wait until an Innocent Blood or a Pulse allows you to kill Gamekeeper.
Fleshbag Marauder - Out to Progenitus against decks packing Natural Order, out to various creatures in Reanimator. Also a way to kill Gamekeeper. You could get really lucky and do both at the same time.
Krosan Grip - Gotta have 'em.
Leyline of Lifeforce - Countermagic is a roadblock. Discard takes care of most of it, but this is better. This also stops Counterbalance. If you start the game with it in play, they have to spend their first couple of turns scrambling for an answer and you can have your way with them. They may not even have an answer to it, since Deed is the only other enchantment or artifact you have and if they don't board in Grips, Leyline can be an automatic win.
Cruel Tutor
This seems like the most consistent option. This deck, like most decks, really wants Vampiric Tutor, but alas. I explored a lot of options for the tutor slot, and I really didn't come up with anything better. There's no way for this deck to abuse Entomb, its hand is never empty enough for Infernal Tutor, there are too many four-of's for Tainted Pact. Do people have ideas? What would be better? Spoils of the Vault? Would a simple card-drawing option be better? Night's Whisper? One small pro for Cruel Tutor is that they don't get to see what card you get. Just a thought. I considered Worldly Tutor, but it's not just about getting Gamekeeper and you already have Living Wish as copies number four through seven. You need to be able to get a Pulse or a Deed or a Therapy.
Questions
So people should get the basic idea behind this deck. Are there better card options? Things I didn't think of? I was thinking that there could be some sort of mana acceleration in addition to Dark Ritual, since hands with it are just so explosive and hands without require us to get to four lands. Maybe something as simple as Rampant Growth to ensure that you always get Gamekeeper out a turn early?
Any other lands that could help us abuse Crop Rotation?
Better/other wish targets?
Better/other tutors or card draw?
Thanks everybody!
The gameplan is to play a strong disruption game with discard and removal in order to slow your opponent down/take away their answers. Then play Gamekeeper and get Emrakul into play. I know that having him in play isn't an automatic win, but there are very few mainstream answers to him in Legacy decks. Oblivion Ring in Stax, maybe Innocent Blood---but our deck packs enough discard to take care of those pretty easily, especially when you consider that in order to go off you're almost always sacrificing Gamekeeper to a Cabal Therapy.
3 Gamekeeper
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Thoughtseize
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Pernicious Deed
4 Innocent Blood
4 Dark Ritual
4 Living Wish
4 Cruel Tutor
4 Crop Rotation
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Bayou
2 Swamp
2 Forest
1 Ancient Tomb
2 Wasteland
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Llanowar Wastes
SB
4 Krosan Grip
4 Leyline of Lifeforce
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Blazing Archon
1 Gamekeeper
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Karakas
1 Yixlid Jailer
The Discard
I know it definitely seems like overkill to have 11 discard spells main, but this is really the most important part of the deck. Thoughtseize is key because you get to disrupt combo, take out annoying cards like Counterbalance and Force of Will, and it's important to be able to see their hand and keep track of what's in it so that you know when it's safe to use your Gamekeeper. Cabal Therapy is part of the combo, so there should be no questions there. Hymn is amazing card advantage and the best discard spell there is. These three spells, in concert, make it so that your opponent pretty much never has an answer when you go off. They make it so that you can slow opponents down and keep them off their plan even if you don't have all your pieces yet.
The Removal
Pulse is just so versatile, and the possibility for a value play is very real because Goyf-based decks will often try to race you/attack you quickly because they don't have much of an answer to Emrakul. Deed is obviously great. It's a great answer to almost anything, and I find that the card advantage it generates is extra important in this deck because with it and Hymn going together, your opponent is often hard pressed to find both threats and answers. Most of the time they don't have more than 3 or 4 cards.
The Crop Rotation Package
This is probably a part of the deck that will confuse people. The idea behind Crop Rotation in here is that it gives you a nice tutor package where you get access to Wasteland if you need to slow your opponent down, Boseiju if you need to force through a Pulse, Ancient Tomb if you need to accelerate into a third turn Gamekeeper, and if you're flooded with land you can go get fetchlands, pop them, and thin your deck. The other important thing about it is that since this is a brew, no one is really going to know what your one-of's are, which makes a huge difference. Crop Rotation is a one-mana instant that is going to surprise the hell out of your opponent. End of their turn go grab an Ancient Tomb, drop Gamekeeper a turn before they were expecting it, or go grab Boseiju and force through a Pulse when they thought they had the proper countermagic to protect their permanents---it can be seriously devastating. Your opponents will know that you could pull such tricks, but only after you're up one win.
Living Wish Targets
Iona - While Emrakul is basically gameover against most decks, it can be more appropriate to Keeper out Iona against certain decks since they are just dead to it. Combo in particular can be a problem because you can get your Emrakul out only to lose on their turn before you can attack.
Blazing Archon - Goblins are basically dead to it, especially when you have discard to take out burn spells. Again, it's just a better option than Emrakul since he gives them a turn to attack you before you annihilate them.
Karakas - Out to Iona against Reanimator. They can counter Living Wish, but they might not know they have to the first time you go for it, and you can always play mind games by sideboarding it in and Crop Rotating for it so that they don't know which spell they need to counter.
Phyrexian Tower - Way to kill Gamekeeper, and again, the first time you go for it your opponent might think it's fine to let Living Wish resolve because they don't think of a land that can let you go off.
Yixlid Jailer - Dredge. It stops your Cabal Therapies, but it doesn't matter when they can't do anything. You can just wait until an Innocent Blood or a Pulse allows you to kill Gamekeeper.
Fleshbag Marauder - Out to Progenitus against decks packing Natural Order, out to various creatures in Reanimator. Also a way to kill Gamekeeper. You could get really lucky and do both at the same time.
Krosan Grip - Gotta have 'em.
Leyline of Lifeforce - Countermagic is a roadblock. Discard takes care of most of it, but this is better. This also stops Counterbalance. If you start the game with it in play, they have to spend their first couple of turns scrambling for an answer and you can have your way with them. They may not even have an answer to it, since Deed is the only other enchantment or artifact you have and if they don't board in Grips, Leyline can be an automatic win.
Cruel Tutor
This seems like the most consistent option. This deck, like most decks, really wants Vampiric Tutor, but alas. I explored a lot of options for the tutor slot, and I really didn't come up with anything better. There's no way for this deck to abuse Entomb, its hand is never empty enough for Infernal Tutor, there are too many four-of's for Tainted Pact. Do people have ideas? What would be better? Spoils of the Vault? Would a simple card-drawing option be better? Night's Whisper? One small pro for Cruel Tutor is that they don't get to see what card you get. Just a thought. I considered Worldly Tutor, but it's not just about getting Gamekeeper and you already have Living Wish as copies number four through seven. You need to be able to get a Pulse or a Deed or a Therapy.
Questions
So people should get the basic idea behind this deck. Are there better card options? Things I didn't think of? I was thinking that there could be some sort of mana acceleration in addition to Dark Ritual, since hands with it are just so explosive and hands without require us to get to four lands. Maybe something as simple as Rampant Growth to ensure that you always get Gamekeeper out a turn early?
Any other lands that could help us abuse Crop Rotation?
Better/other wish targets?
Better/other tutors or card draw?
Thanks everybody!