Atwa
06-11-2007, 07:10 PM
Introduction:
This deck has been lurking for a while on our team (IcBE) boards. It started out as some attempt to make a succesfull Zoo deck with black added. For a while it existed as a 4c Zoo list, when some members started to think about dropping green.
When toying with the WBR list (which was decent, but not really amazing), Anti~American suggested dropping white for blue. At first I thought he had lost his mind, but after playing a couple of games with his list for the hell of it, I saw some potential. I started to play it more and more and started to like it more everytime I played it.
We haven't done any refinement to the deck, since lack of time and other deck with more priority can cause a lot of damage to deckdesign. When I wanted to take the time again hulkflash became known, and since noone of us knew what was going to happen to Legacy, interest in the format started to slip. Some of us who were going to the GP canceled their trip, so there was no real need to develop it further.
Now the format has been restored and we havee regained interest in the format, we deceided to share the list with the public. It's hasn't been really refined yet, but it is sure a blast to play. We have other priorities at the moment, so let's everyone have some fun with the list.
Here is the list I use at the moment, which is pretty much the same list A~A posted:
Mana: (21)
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
1 Wooded Foothills
4 Badlands
3 Undergound Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
Creatures: (22)
4 Dark Confidant
4 Rotting Giant
4 Serendib Efreet
4 Sea Drake
4 Sarcomancy
2 Carnophage
Other: (18)
4 Aether Vial
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Night's Wisper
3 Chain Lightning
3 Umezuma's Jitte
Current changes I'm testing:
-4 Night's Wisper
+4 Brainstorm
It looks like a pile of crap (it is in fact, but it simply works for some reason). There are some nice sinergies in to though, and although it plays pretty straightforward, with some experience you can beat most opponents.
Explanations:
- First the mana base:
This deck really want acces to all colours. Playing lot's of duals is the solution to that, but it also opens you up to get beaten by some well timed wasteland. I included all 3 basics to avoid this, but playing more than 3 really fucks up your colour management. 9 Fetches seems over the top, but we really need to be able to get the colour mana we want and it is nessisairy to be able to attack with an early Rotting Giant.
- Creatures:
- Sarcomancy and Carnophage, are the most used 1 drops. You want to play as agressive as possible, and they are excilent blockers against goblins.
- Rotting Giant is a 3/3 for 2, which isn't bad. I know Watchwolf is the same without the drawback, but we cut both the colours (and multicoloured cards are a drawback all by themselves). It's also a zombie, so it helps against damage from Sarcomancy.
- Dark Confidant: Main draw engine of the deck. The cards most expensive in the deck cost 3, and we only play 8 of them. The damage isn't that much most of the time and it is the main target for blockers and removal.
- 3-mana fliers. These are the reason to play blue. In fact I think these are some of the best 3 drops we have in the game. Burning Tree Shaman and Troll Asctec are also very good, but they require too much of a colout comitment. they are also big fliers, which most decks lack.
- Others:
- Aether Vial. On of the strongest cards in the deck. Most beginhands have either a Vial, Bolt or Zombie in them, I almost always go for the Vial. Ever played 4 faerie stompy creaures in 2 turns (starting turn 4)? That kind of things win games.
- Bolts. they are mostly used to clear the board for your attackers, but other uses can always be found for them (Mages, Shade, Hyppie).
- Night's Wisper. The card I dislike the most in the deck. This will most likely be replaced with brainstorm (read below why this might be a bad idea)
- Jitte. We play fast creatures and we lose a lot of life, ideal card.
How to play the deck?
The idea of the deck is pretty forward. Play enough small creatures to overwhelm your opponent. Blast away any creatures which stands in the way and be willing to sacrifice 19 life when that's needed to win.
Note that the deck was first designed before the rise of combo decks (TES, CRET Belcher) and lacks a good game against combo. This deck will preform best in a european meta, in which almost no (good) combo is present.
The most important colours in the early game are black and red. Black since all your ground critters are black, and red te be able to deal with early blockers (or potentional treats). The dual you will be fetching the most for in the beginning is Badlands (obviously). This is also a reason why brainstorm won't work. You don't need the blue mana in the beginning. Getting you first blue land on turn 4 is no exception. If you expect to face a lot if wastelands, get the Swamp first.
On turn 3 your opponent is most likely are 14-16 life (depends on the route you took). After that try to cast a flyer or a Jitte to seal the game.
If you play a vial, try to get it at 3 as soon as possible. In turn 3 (vial at 2) you will most likely have some 2 drop and you'd really want play a non creature spell at that time (wisper or Jitte). Don't let it sit at 2, since you want to able te get some fliers in play for free. Cast the other 2 drops you might have and keep the vial at 3. A viled in Sea Drake saves land from destruction, and a Serendib is an excilent suprise blocker. Keeping the vial at 2 and draw a flier after that really sucks.
Don't be afraid to bolt an opponent in response of a Wasteland (using the targetted land). The damage does count, it gives you 2 cards to activate the Giant (which you really want) and with Wisper and Bob you'll draw a second soon enough.
Don't be afraid to lose life. There a lot of cards in the deck which deal damage to you, but most of the time they are more dangerous to your opponent then they are to you. Jitte is also a very good way to get some life back. Remember: Life is a recourse, just like your hand and library. As long as you have still one life when you beat your opponent, you still win.
Sideboard options:
First let's start with the sideboard A~A posted with the deck:
2 Pyroclasm
4 Rough // Tumble
4 Dystopia
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Sphere of Resistance
This sideboard was designed with a aggro, aggro/control, little combo meta in mind, before any testing was done.
Golbins is a very good matchup. 6 anti-goblins cards are too much ( wrote a piece of text abou the goblin machtup, I'll post it on the bottom of this post). I'd cut the 2 Pyroclasms and keep the splitcards. You don't cast Tumble that much, but it's nice to have the option to blow a Mystic Enforcer out of the sky.
Dystopia is a very nice card. Basicly I'd play this in any deck which plays black and no green or white. It hoses Threshold, Fish, Enchantress, Terrageddon, Zoo, Stompy, etc.
Chalice and Sphere were in the deck for the combo matchup, but I feel only 5 cards (in a deck of 76) is too little. I'd add the 4th Chalice and add maybe some Stifles, which are decent overall.
For my meta I'd suggest:
4 Dystopia
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Stifle
4 Rough // Tumble
For combo I'd side:
-4 Night's Wisper (against combo, you want direct results from your cards, not more dig)
-3 Chain Lightning
+4 Chalice
+3 Stifle
For Threshold:
-2 Carnophage
-3 Chain Lightning
-1 Umezuma's Jitte
-2 Rotting Giant
+4 Dystopia
+4 Chalice of the Void
For Goblins (and other pure aggro, like zoo):
-4 Night's Wisper
+4 Rough // Tumble
I hope you like the deck, proxy it up or type it into MWS and try it for a few games. I have a lot of fun with it, and I think you can have too. Please let me know how you feel.
PS: the post I made on our teamboards:
The maindeck is strong enough to hold the early race, and finish the job with some fliers. Game 2 (believe me, there won't be a game 3 that often), you can play with your feet, while rolling some sigarets, watching the game next to you more consentrated than your own match (scouting is important after all) and pleasuring your girlfriend (ok, I do play a lot MWS, getting this done at a GP will propably cause some weird looks) all at the same time.
It might not be that funny, but I felt it was when I posted it (if you think it isn't funny, sue me! It's my thread after all, I see none-funny jokes in almost every article I read)
This deck has been lurking for a while on our team (IcBE) boards. It started out as some attempt to make a succesfull Zoo deck with black added. For a while it existed as a 4c Zoo list, when some members started to think about dropping green.
When toying with the WBR list (which was decent, but not really amazing), Anti~American suggested dropping white for blue. At first I thought he had lost his mind, but after playing a couple of games with his list for the hell of it, I saw some potential. I started to play it more and more and started to like it more everytime I played it.
We haven't done any refinement to the deck, since lack of time and other deck with more priority can cause a lot of damage to deckdesign. When I wanted to take the time again hulkflash became known, and since noone of us knew what was going to happen to Legacy, interest in the format started to slip. Some of us who were going to the GP canceled their trip, so there was no real need to develop it further.
Now the format has been restored and we havee regained interest in the format, we deceided to share the list with the public. It's hasn't been really refined yet, but it is sure a blast to play. We have other priorities at the moment, so let's everyone have some fun with the list.
Here is the list I use at the moment, which is pretty much the same list A~A posted:
Mana: (21)
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
1 Wooded Foothills
4 Badlands
3 Undergound Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
Creatures: (22)
4 Dark Confidant
4 Rotting Giant
4 Serendib Efreet
4 Sea Drake
4 Sarcomancy
2 Carnophage
Other: (18)
4 Aether Vial
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Night's Wisper
3 Chain Lightning
3 Umezuma's Jitte
Current changes I'm testing:
-4 Night's Wisper
+4 Brainstorm
It looks like a pile of crap (it is in fact, but it simply works for some reason). There are some nice sinergies in to though, and although it plays pretty straightforward, with some experience you can beat most opponents.
Explanations:
- First the mana base:
This deck really want acces to all colours. Playing lot's of duals is the solution to that, but it also opens you up to get beaten by some well timed wasteland. I included all 3 basics to avoid this, but playing more than 3 really fucks up your colour management. 9 Fetches seems over the top, but we really need to be able to get the colour mana we want and it is nessisairy to be able to attack with an early Rotting Giant.
- Creatures:
- Sarcomancy and Carnophage, are the most used 1 drops. You want to play as agressive as possible, and they are excilent blockers against goblins.
- Rotting Giant is a 3/3 for 2, which isn't bad. I know Watchwolf is the same without the drawback, but we cut both the colours (and multicoloured cards are a drawback all by themselves). It's also a zombie, so it helps against damage from Sarcomancy.
- Dark Confidant: Main draw engine of the deck. The cards most expensive in the deck cost 3, and we only play 8 of them. The damage isn't that much most of the time and it is the main target for blockers and removal.
- 3-mana fliers. These are the reason to play blue. In fact I think these are some of the best 3 drops we have in the game. Burning Tree Shaman and Troll Asctec are also very good, but they require too much of a colout comitment. they are also big fliers, which most decks lack.
- Others:
- Aether Vial. On of the strongest cards in the deck. Most beginhands have either a Vial, Bolt or Zombie in them, I almost always go for the Vial. Ever played 4 faerie stompy creaures in 2 turns (starting turn 4)? That kind of things win games.
- Bolts. they are mostly used to clear the board for your attackers, but other uses can always be found for them (Mages, Shade, Hyppie).
- Night's Wisper. The card I dislike the most in the deck. This will most likely be replaced with brainstorm (read below why this might be a bad idea)
- Jitte. We play fast creatures and we lose a lot of life, ideal card.
How to play the deck?
The idea of the deck is pretty forward. Play enough small creatures to overwhelm your opponent. Blast away any creatures which stands in the way and be willing to sacrifice 19 life when that's needed to win.
Note that the deck was first designed before the rise of combo decks (TES, CRET Belcher) and lacks a good game against combo. This deck will preform best in a european meta, in which almost no (good) combo is present.
The most important colours in the early game are black and red. Black since all your ground critters are black, and red te be able to deal with early blockers (or potentional treats). The dual you will be fetching the most for in the beginning is Badlands (obviously). This is also a reason why brainstorm won't work. You don't need the blue mana in the beginning. Getting you first blue land on turn 4 is no exception. If you expect to face a lot if wastelands, get the Swamp first.
On turn 3 your opponent is most likely are 14-16 life (depends on the route you took). After that try to cast a flyer or a Jitte to seal the game.
If you play a vial, try to get it at 3 as soon as possible. In turn 3 (vial at 2) you will most likely have some 2 drop and you'd really want play a non creature spell at that time (wisper or Jitte). Don't let it sit at 2, since you want to able te get some fliers in play for free. Cast the other 2 drops you might have and keep the vial at 3. A viled in Sea Drake saves land from destruction, and a Serendib is an excilent suprise blocker. Keeping the vial at 2 and draw a flier after that really sucks.
Don't be afraid to bolt an opponent in response of a Wasteland (using the targetted land). The damage does count, it gives you 2 cards to activate the Giant (which you really want) and with Wisper and Bob you'll draw a second soon enough.
Don't be afraid to lose life. There a lot of cards in the deck which deal damage to you, but most of the time they are more dangerous to your opponent then they are to you. Jitte is also a very good way to get some life back. Remember: Life is a recourse, just like your hand and library. As long as you have still one life when you beat your opponent, you still win.
Sideboard options:
First let's start with the sideboard A~A posted with the deck:
2 Pyroclasm
4 Rough // Tumble
4 Dystopia
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Sphere of Resistance
This sideboard was designed with a aggro, aggro/control, little combo meta in mind, before any testing was done.
Golbins is a very good matchup. 6 anti-goblins cards are too much ( wrote a piece of text abou the goblin machtup, I'll post it on the bottom of this post). I'd cut the 2 Pyroclasms and keep the splitcards. You don't cast Tumble that much, but it's nice to have the option to blow a Mystic Enforcer out of the sky.
Dystopia is a very nice card. Basicly I'd play this in any deck which plays black and no green or white. It hoses Threshold, Fish, Enchantress, Terrageddon, Zoo, Stompy, etc.
Chalice and Sphere were in the deck for the combo matchup, but I feel only 5 cards (in a deck of 76) is too little. I'd add the 4th Chalice and add maybe some Stifles, which are decent overall.
For my meta I'd suggest:
4 Dystopia
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Stifle
4 Rough // Tumble
For combo I'd side:
-4 Night's Wisper (against combo, you want direct results from your cards, not more dig)
-3 Chain Lightning
+4 Chalice
+3 Stifle
For Threshold:
-2 Carnophage
-3 Chain Lightning
-1 Umezuma's Jitte
-2 Rotting Giant
+4 Dystopia
+4 Chalice of the Void
For Goblins (and other pure aggro, like zoo):
-4 Night's Wisper
+4 Rough // Tumble
I hope you like the deck, proxy it up or type it into MWS and try it for a few games. I have a lot of fun with it, and I think you can have too. Please let me know how you feel.
PS: the post I made on our teamboards:
The maindeck is strong enough to hold the early race, and finish the job with some fliers. Game 2 (believe me, there won't be a game 3 that often), you can play with your feet, while rolling some sigarets, watching the game next to you more consentrated than your own match (scouting is important after all) and pleasuring your girlfriend (ok, I do play a lot MWS, getting this done at a GP will propably cause some weird looks) all at the same time.
It might not be that funny, but I felt it was when I posted it (if you think it isn't funny, sue me! It's my thread after all, I see none-funny jokes in almost every article I read)