Beastmaster Ascension's kobolds

[fgsl13]

I fell in love Marc Angel's deck (There's a deck tech article about the deck written by Bill Stark here (http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/legacy/20468_Deck_Tech_Cherri0s_with_Marc_Agel.html).
I've been trying to improve the decklist, making it a fun, unexpected and reliable deck to play.
The deck is about abusing the sinergy between Gaea's Cradle (http://magiccards.info/us/en/321.html), Glimpse of Nature (http://magiccards.info/chk/en/210.html) and Beastmaster Ascension (http://magiccards.info/zen/en/159.html) and 0cc creatures.
Still pending a lot of testing, this is the decklist I've got so far:

//Mana Source (18):
1x Khalni Garden
1x Tranquil Thicket
8x Forest
4x Gaea's Cradle
4x Elvish Spirit Guide
//Creatures (28):
4x Memnite
4x Ornithopter
4x Phyrexian Walker
4x Crimson Kobolds
4x Crookshank Kobolds
4x Kobolds of Kher Keep
4x Skyshroud Cutter
//Spells (14):
2x Concordant Crossroads
4x Glimpse of Nature
4x Beastmaster Ascension
4x Crop Rotation

Crop Rotation is Gaea's Cradle 5-8th. No need to comment.
There's an option of using the "free" cycling Gitaxian Probe and Street Wraith, but I had the feeling they made mulligan decisions a LOT harder, making me keep hands I shouldn't.
Khalni Garden and Tranquil Thicket should be watched closely as there's a possibility of a turn delay. I Think running 4x is too slow, not to mention you need forests to cast Skyshroud Cutter.
Collective Unconscious (http://magiccards.info/mm/en/236.html) is an interesting option, but the cc seems a lil' too much.
I consider a few other spells that are other win conditions, but win more, but interesting nevertheless.
Mycoloth
Saproling Symbiosis

I'd apreciate some help.

[Lemnear]

I can't even belive I respond here ...


Pal, have you tested this deck? 28 creatures that do nothing, and 8 buisness-spells (4 even counterable by mental misstep). You realize that cradle does only make mana AFTER you cast your creatures and Ascension (2G!!) does only get counter if you cast creatures AFTER it resolved? Can you see the flaw in logic here?

This deck scoops to Pridemage, Maverick, Team America, any form of control and anykind of combo deck in Legacy.

This is a very, very bad version of Spanish Inquisition's tactic. Seriously, even Elves Combo does better in abusing Glimpse and Ascension being more consistant and struggles hard atm. May you consider reading the spanish inquisition and Elves Combo thread to gain deeper insight in the problems of those kind of decks.

[4eak]

I've actually played against this deck (and shuffled it up myself). It is pretty fun. It generally has to resolve two spells to win, both a glimpse (to go off early enough to be competitive) and Beastmaster Ascension. Protecting both spells (and Ascension while it is in play) is very difficult. If they made Glimpse 5-8 and Beastermaster 5-6, this could be a real deck.

I'm not sure what else to do. Cradle is the only thing that keeps this in the running. Find a way to abuse it further.


peace,
4eak

[kusumoto]

I can't even belive I respond here ...


Pal, have you tested this deck? 28 creatures that do nothing, and 8 buisness-spells (4 even counterable by mental misstep). You realize that cradle does only make mana AFTER you cast your creatures and Ascension (2G!!) does only get counter if you cast creatures AFTER it resolved? Can you see the flaw in logic here?

This deck scoops to Pridemage, Maverick, Team America, any form of control and anykind of combo deck in Legacy.

This is a very, very bad version of Spanish Inquisition's tactic. Seriously, even Elves Combo does better in abusing Glimpse and Ascension being more consistant and struggles hard atm. May you consider reading the spanish inquisition and Elves Combo thread to gain deeper insight in the problems of those kind of decks.

Part of your first paragraph doesn't make much sense here. There isn't any reason you have to have ascension out before you cast guys. You just have to have it out before you attack. So that part of your argument seems irrelevant.

Anyway, it obviously isn't a tier deck of any kind. It's just supposed to be fun, and it manages that well enough.

[Mr. Safety]

Wasn't this deck called Cheerios? Is there still a thread on the forums here somewhere?

The deck is explosive and fun, but fragile. Glass Cannon written all over it. The best version I saw used Garruk Wildspeaker.

Game 1

Turn 1 Forest, Glimpse, 6 dudes, ESG > Crop Rotation > Gaea's Cradle > Garruk Wildspeaker > suspended-Overrun

Turn 2 Garruk ultimate, attack for 21 damage, game.

The goldfish is impressive...but this was before Mental Misstep...and the deck just FOLDS without Glimpse resolving.

[Kich867]

He may be trying to awkwardly say that, if the deck is intended to be fun and not genuinely competitive, it probably belongs in the casual forums.

The major problem this deck runs into is that Glimpse is very easy to counter and Beastmaster's is very easy to counter/stop. Elf-Combo runs into similar problems, but the backup aggro plan is much stronger than a lot of 0/1's hehe. Sure they won't always have a counter every game, but your deck needs to be good enough to win assuming that your opponent has a perfect hand.

[rufus]

This is a very, very bad version of Spanish Inquisition's tactic.
QFT...
Other things you could consider for the deck:
Ad Nauseam - you're not playing black, and high CC, but you're hurting for cards, and the deck's curve is low.
Thoughtcast + Tree of Tales? Possbly Frogmite as well.
Symbiotic Deployment - not as good as Stroke of Genius, but you don't have to splash for it.

Mirror Entity also requires a splash but seems like a plausible supplement for Beastmaster Ascension...Rites of Initiation and Song of Blood are also blanket pump effects.

Chord of Calling can take advantage of your inexpensive creatures, though you'd need to find some :g::g::g: and some creature bomb to make it work. Wierd Harvest is also a strong card if you can find a way to combo out on creatures.

If you white splash, Windbrisk Heights as a 1-of might be a good card.

Does Concordant Crossroads really make sense in a deck where most of what the creatures do is run for the end zone?

[Lemnear]

I have to apology about my first paragraph; my memory of beastmasters ascension was casting creatures not attacking, so please ignore that Lack of research.

What about Oran-rief, the vastwood?

[bfeingersh]

Re: Oran-Rief. "on each green creature".


I think you should cut the Khalni Garden. If you've reached a point where you have Ascension or Garruk in play ready to go off, the plant token is most likely not relevant.

[dahcmai]

You could always try Lead the Stampede to keep Misstep from ruining the day. It's not easy to cast, but it's a thought. I've seen this deck play out and it's most definitely the Glass Cannon approach, but man it's hilarious to see it crush people.

[4eak]

So, it might look like this so far:

// Mana Engine - 20
8 Forest
4 Gaea's Cradle
4 Crop Rotation
4 Elvish Spirit Guide

// Creatures - 28
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Phyrexian Walker
4 Crimson Kobolds
4 Crookshank Kobolds
4 Kobolds of Kher Keep
4 Skyshroud Cutter

// Spells that Win - 12
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Beastmaster Ascension
4 Garruk Wildspeaker


peace,
4eak

[DarthVicious]

Rites of Initiation
Scapegoat
Shared Discovery


Just some ideas I've seen tossed around. There's a thread for this deck already, by the way. Cheerios, I think.

[morgan_coke]

Maybe I'm missing the point or something, but doesn't a deck like this just scream out for Contested War Zone?