Citrus-God
08-23-2007, 04:31 AM
Introduction: It started when Lukatron2 (Luke) built a RG Beatz list using Black along with RG in the era of Werebears and Lackeys. Before we retired from playing RG Beatz, we built some rought lists of RGB Beatz just to improve some trouble match-ups, such as Combo and other Midgame decks like Threshold.
// Little Italy/Siamese Cities
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Bayou
3 Taiga
3 Badlands
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
// The Army
4 Dark Confidant
4 Kird Ape
4 Skyshroud Elite
4 Rotting Giant
2 Eternal Witness
2 Flame Toung Kavu
// The Decisions
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Magma Jet
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Duress
2 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Rancor
// The Hunt
4 Diabolic Edict
2 Duress
2 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Tormad's Crypt
2 Krosan Grip
2 Flame Toung Kavu
The list made Midgame match-ups very strong. I too, have piloted it to some degree of success before switching to Red Death for good.
Some time later, a trend discussing the uses for Goyf was made on The Source. http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6672
Seeing this as a new opportunity to resurrect RGB Beatz, and of course inspired by old lists, I myself, added in Burning Wish. I contacted Luke later via phone, and together, we worked on the lists even more. The list had a strong midgame and late game, but terrible creatures (Skyshroud Elites). I contacted my teammate Alec later, and did some testing. We concluded the deck was very strong, and didnt need very many 1cc Drops. We decided with 7 discard spells, Dark Confidant can resurface.
What is the Difference Between GAGOMY, Zoo, and Beatz?
In my opinion, GAGOMY is a Tempo deck, and Zoo is just a raw Aggro deck which creates card advantage and board dominance. Zoo, however, is a Midgame Aggro deck. Unlike Zoo and GAGOMY, it doesnt concentrate entirely on one of those areas. Yes, all 3 are Aggro-Control, but with different functions.
Unlike Zoo, this deck wants board dominance, but would much rather have card quality over quantity (Dont think about Confidant, but once you understand the deck, you'll know what I mean), and unlike GAGOMY, this deck cant win as fast as possible if the option isnt present to this deck.
This deck is more of a bait deck. When playing this deck, you must understand that everything you're doing, you must always (not always) save the best for last. Reasons for that is Burning Wish, and other assortment of threats and bombs, such as Jittes to copies of Tarmogoyfs.
The Street Beatz list, and of course, how to properly pilot it:
// Lands 20
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Windswept Heath
2 Taiga
2 Bayou
2 Badlands
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
2 Forest
// Creatures 19
-The Beatz-
4 Kird Ape
4 Tarmogoyf
-The Wall-
4 Troll Ascetic
-The Card Advantage-
4 Dark Confidant
3 Eternal Witness
// Spells 21
-The Removal-
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Open Slots
Open slots can be Terminate, Diabolic Edict, Ghastly Demise, Chain Lightning, Seal of Fire, Pernicious Deed, Pyroclasm, or Magma Jet. I went for Terminate.
-The Bombs-
3 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Burning Wish
-The Disruption-
4 Duress
3 Cabal Therapy
// Sideboard 15
-An assortment of any of these depending on meta-
1 Tsunami*
1 Anarchy*
1 Ruination*
1 Flashfires
1 Nature's Ruin*
1 Cave-In*
1 Meltdown
1 Tranquility/Reverent Silence
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Cabal Therapy*
1 Call of the Herd*
1 Pyroclasm*
1 Hull Breach*
1 Damnation
1 Void
1 Dark Banishing or something. If anyone has any recommendations, I'm interested.
1 Shattering Spree*
*Must Haves
Recommended slots for non-Wish cards in the SB are about 6-7 cards, depending on metagame and personal preferences. Some cards for this slot tend to be Pernicious Deed, Extirpate, Engineered Explosives, Pyroclasm, and Engineered Plague.
How do you play this? You play the midgame role. Against Control and Combo, you just play Control. This deck is probably slower than most Aggro-Control decks because you want to wreck them as bad as possible if you cant win. I had games that were drawn in stalemates, and the only ways I would break them is topdeck Wish into Nature's Ruin and regenerate my Trolls, drop a couple guys and take games back. Sometimes, I would rip their hands to pieces, sac my Ape to do more wreckage, just to drop Confidant and win.
Card Choices:
Kird Ape: Strong first turn opener. They usually get sided out against Threshold though, due to weak body. Just amazing when you can get them going.
Tarmogoyf: Just bein' Steve McQueen...
Eternal Witness: She's like... the greatest piece of utility ever, especially against Control. Gets back disruption, board sweepers, and threats. In this deck, I will continue to keep her. Also, getting back good cards is like getting a free blow job from that hot chick. There's a reason Yawgmoth's Will is so good.
Troll Ascetic: Just a good blocker, kills Mongoose too! Keeps things stable until you find a Burning Wish, Jitte, Witness (assuming you played an answer and it's in the grave), or more men until you stabilize. I also love Wishing for Nature's Ruin, just the wipe the board of Goyfs, and watch him bash face.
Dark Confidant: I will be honest. This is probably the card I feel like cutting most. Most games I played tend to seem like trash. I might cut him for Rotting Giants or Call of the Herds. I was really dissapointed in them.
Removal: It's just removal really. I dont really have much to say here.
Jitte: Just amazing. Basically, you just invested a ton of mana... of course, let's see if you're lucky enough to win the game right there. Frankly, I found them quite mediocre. I might try a mix Deeds or EEs instead.
Disruption: You dont need very much. You just need enough to snatch removal from the opponent, and just start drawing. I noticed Confidants were rather weak when resolved. You life total gets chipped away really badly if the opponent plays early Goyfs and bashes you with them. I'd rather snatch removal and counters from them, and just make card advantage via Call of the Herd and have them deal with high quality threats.
Burning Wish: Like... the reason why I am even running this fucking deck now. You'll understand how happy I got when Wishing for Ruination against 43 Land.
Match-Ups:
UGR Hatfield: Not very difficult. The deck is very consistent, and can do a lot of damage against you. Early Therapies should be on Swords, Daze, or Tarmogoyf. I usually call Tarmogoyf. As for Wishing, you can Wish for Tsunami while the position is in a stalemate. The other game states tend to be Call of the Herd (by baiting out their removal, men, and counters), board sweepers, or some targeted (just to kill fliers).
Of course, it is rather hard against the UGW Version with Werebears over Geese (reasoning for this is that Trolls dont kill Bears). Other than that, I dont find it very hard at all. Bolts cant touch me, and my removal is just killer.
Other UGr builds are rather easy. I havent tested against the list with 4 Stifles and 4 Wastelands yet. That may require some testing.
Vial Goblins:
You have lots of outs for Pyroclasms. You can use Wish back to back (first Wish for Cave-In since it's probably earlier in the game, and 2nd for Pyroclasm). In this match up, no need to bait things out. Just go for the board dominance.
Most Wished for cards tend to be Board Sweepers, and Call of the Herd. It's a no-brainer match-up.
CRET Belcher:
I pissed some arrogant kid off on MWS some time a week ago. He went EtW for 12 tokens. I played a land, Ape, go. We swung for 12. I played a land, Burning Wished for Cave-In, pitched Bolt to it, and sweeped the whole board. He proceeded to leave and the game ended. I was soo happy.
But thats just a story: going first is huge here. Duress hits EtW, BWish, and Belcher of course. If you do, just prey they only have 1 threat.
TES:
Mildly tested with suboptimal build (The one with Swarms and Cabal Rits, and yes, it still has SSG). If they EtW early, pull that nasty trick with Burning Wish on them. If they go for the Tendrils plan, it will take some setting up, so try and disrupt them there. Disrupt them ASAP.
This match-up is probably 45/55 in their favor. I might do some more testing and consider other Maindeck options for Combo.
Anyways, tell me what you guys think.
// Little Italy/Siamese Cities
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Bayou
3 Taiga
3 Badlands
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
// The Army
4 Dark Confidant
4 Kird Ape
4 Skyshroud Elite
4 Rotting Giant
2 Eternal Witness
2 Flame Toung Kavu
// The Decisions
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Magma Jet
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Duress
2 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Rancor
// The Hunt
4 Diabolic Edict
2 Duress
2 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Tormad's Crypt
2 Krosan Grip
2 Flame Toung Kavu
The list made Midgame match-ups very strong. I too, have piloted it to some degree of success before switching to Red Death for good.
Some time later, a trend discussing the uses for Goyf was made on The Source. http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6672
Seeing this as a new opportunity to resurrect RGB Beatz, and of course inspired by old lists, I myself, added in Burning Wish. I contacted Luke later via phone, and together, we worked on the lists even more. The list had a strong midgame and late game, but terrible creatures (Skyshroud Elites). I contacted my teammate Alec later, and did some testing. We concluded the deck was very strong, and didnt need very many 1cc Drops. We decided with 7 discard spells, Dark Confidant can resurface.
What is the Difference Between GAGOMY, Zoo, and Beatz?
In my opinion, GAGOMY is a Tempo deck, and Zoo is just a raw Aggro deck which creates card advantage and board dominance. Zoo, however, is a Midgame Aggro deck. Unlike Zoo and GAGOMY, it doesnt concentrate entirely on one of those areas. Yes, all 3 are Aggro-Control, but with different functions.
Unlike Zoo, this deck wants board dominance, but would much rather have card quality over quantity (Dont think about Confidant, but once you understand the deck, you'll know what I mean), and unlike GAGOMY, this deck cant win as fast as possible if the option isnt present to this deck.
This deck is more of a bait deck. When playing this deck, you must understand that everything you're doing, you must always (not always) save the best for last. Reasons for that is Burning Wish, and other assortment of threats and bombs, such as Jittes to copies of Tarmogoyfs.
The Street Beatz list, and of course, how to properly pilot it:
// Lands 20
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Windswept Heath
2 Taiga
2 Bayou
2 Badlands
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
2 Forest
// Creatures 19
-The Beatz-
4 Kird Ape
4 Tarmogoyf
-The Wall-
4 Troll Ascetic
-The Card Advantage-
4 Dark Confidant
3 Eternal Witness
// Spells 21
-The Removal-
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Open Slots
Open slots can be Terminate, Diabolic Edict, Ghastly Demise, Chain Lightning, Seal of Fire, Pernicious Deed, Pyroclasm, or Magma Jet. I went for Terminate.
-The Bombs-
3 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Burning Wish
-The Disruption-
4 Duress
3 Cabal Therapy
// Sideboard 15
-An assortment of any of these depending on meta-
1 Tsunami*
1 Anarchy*
1 Ruination*
1 Flashfires
1 Nature's Ruin*
1 Cave-In*
1 Meltdown
1 Tranquility/Reverent Silence
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Cabal Therapy*
1 Call of the Herd*
1 Pyroclasm*
1 Hull Breach*
1 Damnation
1 Void
1 Dark Banishing or something. If anyone has any recommendations, I'm interested.
1 Shattering Spree*
*Must Haves
Recommended slots for non-Wish cards in the SB are about 6-7 cards, depending on metagame and personal preferences. Some cards for this slot tend to be Pernicious Deed, Extirpate, Engineered Explosives, Pyroclasm, and Engineered Plague.
How do you play this? You play the midgame role. Against Control and Combo, you just play Control. This deck is probably slower than most Aggro-Control decks because you want to wreck them as bad as possible if you cant win. I had games that were drawn in stalemates, and the only ways I would break them is topdeck Wish into Nature's Ruin and regenerate my Trolls, drop a couple guys and take games back. Sometimes, I would rip their hands to pieces, sac my Ape to do more wreckage, just to drop Confidant and win.
Card Choices:
Kird Ape: Strong first turn opener. They usually get sided out against Threshold though, due to weak body. Just amazing when you can get them going.
Tarmogoyf: Just bein' Steve McQueen...
Eternal Witness: She's like... the greatest piece of utility ever, especially against Control. Gets back disruption, board sweepers, and threats. In this deck, I will continue to keep her. Also, getting back good cards is like getting a free blow job from that hot chick. There's a reason Yawgmoth's Will is so good.
Troll Ascetic: Just a good blocker, kills Mongoose too! Keeps things stable until you find a Burning Wish, Jitte, Witness (assuming you played an answer and it's in the grave), or more men until you stabilize. I also love Wishing for Nature's Ruin, just the wipe the board of Goyfs, and watch him bash face.
Dark Confidant: I will be honest. This is probably the card I feel like cutting most. Most games I played tend to seem like trash. I might cut him for Rotting Giants or Call of the Herds. I was really dissapointed in them.
Removal: It's just removal really. I dont really have much to say here.
Jitte: Just amazing. Basically, you just invested a ton of mana... of course, let's see if you're lucky enough to win the game right there. Frankly, I found them quite mediocre. I might try a mix Deeds or EEs instead.
Disruption: You dont need very much. You just need enough to snatch removal from the opponent, and just start drawing. I noticed Confidants were rather weak when resolved. You life total gets chipped away really badly if the opponent plays early Goyfs and bashes you with them. I'd rather snatch removal and counters from them, and just make card advantage via Call of the Herd and have them deal with high quality threats.
Burning Wish: Like... the reason why I am even running this fucking deck now. You'll understand how happy I got when Wishing for Ruination against 43 Land.
Match-Ups:
UGR Hatfield: Not very difficult. The deck is very consistent, and can do a lot of damage against you. Early Therapies should be on Swords, Daze, or Tarmogoyf. I usually call Tarmogoyf. As for Wishing, you can Wish for Tsunami while the position is in a stalemate. The other game states tend to be Call of the Herd (by baiting out their removal, men, and counters), board sweepers, or some targeted (just to kill fliers).
Of course, it is rather hard against the UGW Version with Werebears over Geese (reasoning for this is that Trolls dont kill Bears). Other than that, I dont find it very hard at all. Bolts cant touch me, and my removal is just killer.
Other UGr builds are rather easy. I havent tested against the list with 4 Stifles and 4 Wastelands yet. That may require some testing.
Vial Goblins:
You have lots of outs for Pyroclasms. You can use Wish back to back (first Wish for Cave-In since it's probably earlier in the game, and 2nd for Pyroclasm). In this match up, no need to bait things out. Just go for the board dominance.
Most Wished for cards tend to be Board Sweepers, and Call of the Herd. It's a no-brainer match-up.
CRET Belcher:
I pissed some arrogant kid off on MWS some time a week ago. He went EtW for 12 tokens. I played a land, Ape, go. We swung for 12. I played a land, Burning Wished for Cave-In, pitched Bolt to it, and sweeped the whole board. He proceeded to leave and the game ended. I was soo happy.
But thats just a story: going first is huge here. Duress hits EtW, BWish, and Belcher of course. If you do, just prey they only have 1 threat.
TES:
Mildly tested with suboptimal build (The one with Swarms and Cabal Rits, and yes, it still has SSG). If they EtW early, pull that nasty trick with Burning Wish on them. If they go for the Tendrils plan, it will take some setting up, so try and disrupt them there. Disrupt them ASAP.
This match-up is probably 45/55 in their favor. I might do some more testing and consider other Maindeck options for Combo.
Anyways, tell me what you guys think.