Atwa
10-23-2010, 04:40 PM
I've been pondering about a W/G list for quite some time now. Most of the time it just ends up being a ramp list inspired by own first decks I build 11 years ago. I guess deep inside I'm still quite the Timmy. When Leonin Arbiter was spoiled I rejoiced thinking I could finally make Anger Stompy competitive again. Silly me off course, no way that deck will be good again in the foreseeable future.
And again I started to feel the need to build another deck. just now I started to tear cards out of my binders to see how they function together and inspiration just struck me. Let me first draw out the list and then I'll explain the reasoning behind the choises:
4 Forest
4 Plains
4 Savannah
4 Wasteland
3 Horizon Canopy
3 Sunpetal Grove
1 Karakas
4 Mother of Runes
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Qasali Pridemage
2 Leonin Arbiter
2 Mirror Entity
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Path to Exile
4 Aether Vail
4 Ankh of Mishra
3 Root Maze
1 Wing Shards
Sideboard:
3 Krosan Grip
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Wing Shards
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Leonin Arbiter
2 Null Rod
1 Oblivion Ring
Please keep in mind I build the list on top of my head as an exercise, I haven't even shuffled the deck yet.
Explanations on odd choices:
Root Maze and Ankh of Mishra: People who know me, know I want to bring up this little combo whenever I can. I once played a Vintage tournament with 8 Land Stompy which incorporated these two cards and I fell in love with them on the spot. I really think it has potential in Legacy, where almost every deck plays at least 4 fetchlands and shacky mana bases. I never really found a shell for it though and I think it might be better in this aggro/controlish shell then the LD themed or Staxs shells I tried it in before.
Path to Exile: No spot gave me more trouble then to decide on Path or Swords. Giving your opponent an extra land in a deck bend on disrupting mana seems counter intuitive, however despite that subtheme this is an aggro deck at heart. And with an Ankh on the table Path also deals 2 damage. In a deck with relatively small creatues, I felt removing a blocking Goyf shouldn't be worth 5 live, I'd rather add insult to injury. You want to win as soon as possible, before they overcome the mana denial. When you have Arbiter on the table you can even nullify it's drawback.
Leonin Arbiter and Gaddock Teeg: The biggest reason you don't see too many (non-survival) G/W decks around is these color's lack of disruption. I decided I wanted to go with a mana disruption sub-theme, but there are enough decks around which can ignore that strategy. I came at a point where I had 6 spots left which I knew I wanted to put at least 4 creatures (to play at least 20 creatures), and the cards couldn't be mindless beaters. I went for Arbiter since his ability helps the mana disruption theme of the deck, as well as annoying lots of other cards and strategies (Survival, Matron, Knight, Tutors, Stoneforger, etc). Instead of a 3th Arbiter, I went for a single Teeg instead. Both can fulfill the same role (not autolosing to combo without a little fight), but has it's other uses as well. I often like to split slots this way maindeck and complement the amount of cards in the sideboard. Consistency is a great thing and all, but I just love to be flexible.
Mirror Entity: Slot 4 and 5. The biggest problem I forsee with this deck is it's lack of an endgame. To solve this I stole a page from my Elf Survival past. Entity can enable a final rush, will steal islandwalk from LoA and when you leave mana open with some blockers on the table, you can be sure your opponent will be very hesitant to attack you. I'm sure there are other finishers for this deck, but I really want to try it out in this first draft.
Wing Shards: The final open spot. I see a lot of people discussing Survival at the moment, fearing hasty Vengevines. I played a little around with that deck and it is pretty strong. I do wonder however why no one suggested Shards as a sollution. If your opponent combos and puts 3/4 Vines into play and attacks, Shards will take out at least 3 of them. Exiling them would be even better, but I think it's a potent ability. Should also be useful against Zoo after they burn a blocker out of the way and Goblins (which casts most creatures before combat since they'll have haste anyway. It can also take care of Emrakul and Progenitus, things Path can't handle. Depending on how testing goes, I might decide to try out a 3/2 Path/Shards configuration.
The mana base: My manabase seems odd, very odd. But please try building a manabase without fetches, without too many lands and still wanting to have both colors available as soon as turn 2. I had to try something :) A full set of Savannah seems obvious, as well as replacing a Plains for Karakas. Playing extra lands seems dangerous and will cost life, so I didn't want to play a full set of Canopies. The 3 Groves should be good, although I wouldn't want a full set since having 2 in your opening hand is very crippling. I might try out those new dual lands from Scars though, they should be good.
Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas? I know the deck isn't that competitive, but I really hope it should at least be able to attack the new surge of Survival decks, although even that might be a little too high aimed. Don't spare the list, I'll defend my logic, but even I know this is an untested pile.
And again I started to feel the need to build another deck. just now I started to tear cards out of my binders to see how they function together and inspiration just struck me. Let me first draw out the list and then I'll explain the reasoning behind the choises:
4 Forest
4 Plains
4 Savannah
4 Wasteland
3 Horizon Canopy
3 Sunpetal Grove
1 Karakas
4 Mother of Runes
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Qasali Pridemage
2 Leonin Arbiter
2 Mirror Entity
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Path to Exile
4 Aether Vail
4 Ankh of Mishra
3 Root Maze
1 Wing Shards
Sideboard:
3 Krosan Grip
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Wing Shards
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Leonin Arbiter
2 Null Rod
1 Oblivion Ring
Please keep in mind I build the list on top of my head as an exercise, I haven't even shuffled the deck yet.
Explanations on odd choices:
Root Maze and Ankh of Mishra: People who know me, know I want to bring up this little combo whenever I can. I once played a Vintage tournament with 8 Land Stompy which incorporated these two cards and I fell in love with them on the spot. I really think it has potential in Legacy, where almost every deck plays at least 4 fetchlands and shacky mana bases. I never really found a shell for it though and I think it might be better in this aggro/controlish shell then the LD themed or Staxs shells I tried it in before.
Path to Exile: No spot gave me more trouble then to decide on Path or Swords. Giving your opponent an extra land in a deck bend on disrupting mana seems counter intuitive, however despite that subtheme this is an aggro deck at heart. And with an Ankh on the table Path also deals 2 damage. In a deck with relatively small creatues, I felt removing a blocking Goyf shouldn't be worth 5 live, I'd rather add insult to injury. You want to win as soon as possible, before they overcome the mana denial. When you have Arbiter on the table you can even nullify it's drawback.
Leonin Arbiter and Gaddock Teeg: The biggest reason you don't see too many (non-survival) G/W decks around is these color's lack of disruption. I decided I wanted to go with a mana disruption sub-theme, but there are enough decks around which can ignore that strategy. I came at a point where I had 6 spots left which I knew I wanted to put at least 4 creatures (to play at least 20 creatures), and the cards couldn't be mindless beaters. I went for Arbiter since his ability helps the mana disruption theme of the deck, as well as annoying lots of other cards and strategies (Survival, Matron, Knight, Tutors, Stoneforger, etc). Instead of a 3th Arbiter, I went for a single Teeg instead. Both can fulfill the same role (not autolosing to combo without a little fight), but has it's other uses as well. I often like to split slots this way maindeck and complement the amount of cards in the sideboard. Consistency is a great thing and all, but I just love to be flexible.
Mirror Entity: Slot 4 and 5. The biggest problem I forsee with this deck is it's lack of an endgame. To solve this I stole a page from my Elf Survival past. Entity can enable a final rush, will steal islandwalk from LoA and when you leave mana open with some blockers on the table, you can be sure your opponent will be very hesitant to attack you. I'm sure there are other finishers for this deck, but I really want to try it out in this first draft.
Wing Shards: The final open spot. I see a lot of people discussing Survival at the moment, fearing hasty Vengevines. I played a little around with that deck and it is pretty strong. I do wonder however why no one suggested Shards as a sollution. If your opponent combos and puts 3/4 Vines into play and attacks, Shards will take out at least 3 of them. Exiling them would be even better, but I think it's a potent ability. Should also be useful against Zoo after they burn a blocker out of the way and Goblins (which casts most creatures before combat since they'll have haste anyway. It can also take care of Emrakul and Progenitus, things Path can't handle. Depending on how testing goes, I might decide to try out a 3/2 Path/Shards configuration.
The mana base: My manabase seems odd, very odd. But please try building a manabase without fetches, without too many lands and still wanting to have both colors available as soon as turn 2. I had to try something :) A full set of Savannah seems obvious, as well as replacing a Plains for Karakas. Playing extra lands seems dangerous and will cost life, so I didn't want to play a full set of Canopies. The 3 Groves should be good, although I wouldn't want a full set since having 2 in your opening hand is very crippling. I might try out those new dual lands from Scars though, they should be good.
Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas? I know the deck isn't that competitive, but I really hope it should at least be able to attack the new surge of Survival decks, although even that might be a little too high aimed. Don't spare the list, I'll defend my logic, but even I know this is an untested pile.