Fyren
07-28-2010, 08:42 AM
I've looked around the forum, but I couldn't find a thread that deals only with this deck, so I figured I'd start one.
The deck I'm talking about is this. This list was originally posted by Steven Birklid in his article (http://strategy.channelfireball.com/featured-articles/sweeping-ice-and-other-important-topics-emrakul-and-the-gang/).
Hypergenesis Combo - how to tentacle-rape your opponents
* 2 Hypergenesis
* 4 Violent Outburst
* 2 Ardent Plea
* 4 Show and Tell
* 4 Force of Will
* 2 Misdirection
* 2 Vendilion Clique
* 2 Angel of Despair
* 3 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
* 4 Progenitus
* 4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
* 4 Simian Spirit Guide
* 4 Elvish Spirit Guide
* 4 City of Traitors
* 4 Misty Rainforest
* 3 Flooded Strand
* 2 Savannah
* 2 Volcanic Island
* 2 City of Brass
* 1 Forest
* 1 Island
A friend of mine was so kind to send me the link, and started to go on about how much potential this deck has. My first thoughts on this deck (and the article in general) where:
Oh god, not that legacy-hating idiot again
wow, this deck really sucks (it looses against a great number of things)
hmm, raping people with Emrakul sounds fun though
I suppose this deck can be good if noone is expecting it
lets try this out
(various testgames)
wow, this deck sucks
Why did I end up at "this deck sucks" again? Simple. In about 30 testgames against the goldfish, the goldfish won at least 5 times. For this purpose, unprotected combo later then turn3 or 4, and protected combo later then turn 6 where considered a loss. The reasons are:
Aggro is able to beat you to death within no more then 4 turns, 3 beeing possible with the right draw
Decks that play counter usually don't generate pressure that fast, but a well placed force will kill you
Still, the idea of the deck got me, so I started trying things out.
The first card that didn't make the cut was Ardent Plea.
It's not instant speed, your opponent gets the chance to cheat enough critters into play to still outrace you with his next attack, and its the only white card in the deck. Enough reasons for me to not like it. Splashing an extra color for the worst card in your deck doesn't sound like a good plan to me, so I got rid of it.
Next up to prove its value where the creatures.
Emrakul and Progenitus are both spot removal proof, and end the game in 1-2 attacks. Also, tentacle raping people without the big tentacle guy is kind of hard to do. So those 2 where auto-included as 4-offs.
The rest didn't perform so well.
Sphinx of the Steelwind is nice, but its not removal proof. It really sucks to force your S&T to resolve, only to see your game-winner loose to a one mana instant. Of course, you can counter that removal, but having only 4 FoW to do that, which you will most likely already have used to make sure your S&T/Hypergeneses resolve, make that a pretty hard task.
For the same reason, Angel of Despair had to go.
Vendilion Clique was allowed to stay though, because you can hardcast it, and with a resolved Hypergenesis, you can use it as a double protection against the few things that can still defeat you.
With 7 cards out of the maindeck, theres the question of what you want to play instead.
First of all, I wanted some kind of tutor in this deck, because way to often you have the lands and the outburst, but no creature. Or you have the creature and the mana, but no outburst/plea/s&t.
There isn't really that much option in the 3+ mana slot for that though. There's the black tutors like Cruel Tutor, but that would require an additional color again. Which really only leaves Intuition as a valid option, because any spell for more then 3 mana will be too slow.
Those 4 Intuitions got some backup in the form of Drift of Phantasms, since a lot of the cards you want to find cost 3 mana, and if you happen to need an Emrakul/Progenitus, you can still search for Intuition first. 2 Drifts should be enough though.
Only one card left to put in this deck then. That slot went to a 3rd genesis pretty fast.
Mainly because I wanna be able to do EoT Outburst > Opponent counters Genesis, mainphase or opponents upkeep Outburst again. With one genesis in your hand, thats impossible to do if you only play 2 of them.
Anyway, heres the final deck. I'm looking forward to you guys ripping it apart :smile:
* 3 Hypergenesis
* 4 Violent Outburst
* 2 Drift of Phantasms
* 4 Show and Tell
* 4 Force of Will
* 2 Misdirection
* 2 Vendilion Clique
* 4 Intuition
* 4 Progenitus
* 4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
* 4 Simian Spirit Guide
* 4 Elvish Spirit Guide
* 4 Tropical Island
* 4 Misty Rainforest
* 4 Scalding Tarn
* 4 Volcanic Island
* 1 Mountain
* 1 Forest
* 1 Island
The deck I'm talking about is this. This list was originally posted by Steven Birklid in his article (http://strategy.channelfireball.com/featured-articles/sweeping-ice-and-other-important-topics-emrakul-and-the-gang/).
Hypergenesis Combo - how to tentacle-rape your opponents
* 2 Hypergenesis
* 4 Violent Outburst
* 2 Ardent Plea
* 4 Show and Tell
* 4 Force of Will
* 2 Misdirection
* 2 Vendilion Clique
* 2 Angel of Despair
* 3 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
* 4 Progenitus
* 4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
* 4 Simian Spirit Guide
* 4 Elvish Spirit Guide
* 4 City of Traitors
* 4 Misty Rainforest
* 3 Flooded Strand
* 2 Savannah
* 2 Volcanic Island
* 2 City of Brass
* 1 Forest
* 1 Island
A friend of mine was so kind to send me the link, and started to go on about how much potential this deck has. My first thoughts on this deck (and the article in general) where:
Oh god, not that legacy-hating idiot again
wow, this deck really sucks (it looses against a great number of things)
hmm, raping people with Emrakul sounds fun though
I suppose this deck can be good if noone is expecting it
lets try this out
(various testgames)
wow, this deck sucks
Why did I end up at "this deck sucks" again? Simple. In about 30 testgames against the goldfish, the goldfish won at least 5 times. For this purpose, unprotected combo later then turn3 or 4, and protected combo later then turn 6 where considered a loss. The reasons are:
Aggro is able to beat you to death within no more then 4 turns, 3 beeing possible with the right draw
Decks that play counter usually don't generate pressure that fast, but a well placed force will kill you
Still, the idea of the deck got me, so I started trying things out.
The first card that didn't make the cut was Ardent Plea.
It's not instant speed, your opponent gets the chance to cheat enough critters into play to still outrace you with his next attack, and its the only white card in the deck. Enough reasons for me to not like it. Splashing an extra color for the worst card in your deck doesn't sound like a good plan to me, so I got rid of it.
Next up to prove its value where the creatures.
Emrakul and Progenitus are both spot removal proof, and end the game in 1-2 attacks. Also, tentacle raping people without the big tentacle guy is kind of hard to do. So those 2 where auto-included as 4-offs.
The rest didn't perform so well.
Sphinx of the Steelwind is nice, but its not removal proof. It really sucks to force your S&T to resolve, only to see your game-winner loose to a one mana instant. Of course, you can counter that removal, but having only 4 FoW to do that, which you will most likely already have used to make sure your S&T/Hypergeneses resolve, make that a pretty hard task.
For the same reason, Angel of Despair had to go.
Vendilion Clique was allowed to stay though, because you can hardcast it, and with a resolved Hypergenesis, you can use it as a double protection against the few things that can still defeat you.
With 7 cards out of the maindeck, theres the question of what you want to play instead.
First of all, I wanted some kind of tutor in this deck, because way to often you have the lands and the outburst, but no creature. Or you have the creature and the mana, but no outburst/plea/s&t.
There isn't really that much option in the 3+ mana slot for that though. There's the black tutors like Cruel Tutor, but that would require an additional color again. Which really only leaves Intuition as a valid option, because any spell for more then 3 mana will be too slow.
Those 4 Intuitions got some backup in the form of Drift of Phantasms, since a lot of the cards you want to find cost 3 mana, and if you happen to need an Emrakul/Progenitus, you can still search for Intuition first. 2 Drifts should be enough though.
Only one card left to put in this deck then. That slot went to a 3rd genesis pretty fast.
Mainly because I wanna be able to do EoT Outburst > Opponent counters Genesis, mainphase or opponents upkeep Outburst again. With one genesis in your hand, thats impossible to do if you only play 2 of them.
Anyway, heres the final deck. I'm looking forward to you guys ripping it apart :smile:
* 3 Hypergenesis
* 4 Violent Outburst
* 2 Drift of Phantasms
* 4 Show and Tell
* 4 Force of Will
* 2 Misdirection
* 2 Vendilion Clique
* 4 Intuition
* 4 Progenitus
* 4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
* 4 Simian Spirit Guide
* 4 Elvish Spirit Guide
* 4 Tropical Island
* 4 Misty Rainforest
* 4 Scalding Tarn
* 4 Volcanic Island
* 1 Mountain
* 1 Forest
* 1 Island