[Deck] Imperial Painter

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gamegeek2

With Basilisk Collar in Worldwake, Trinket Mage looks even more appealing.

This is my build of the deck, updated for WWK:

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Volcanic Island
2 Arid Mesa
2 Mountain
1 Island
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
1 Academy Ruins

4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Painter's Servant
4 Trinket Mage
3 Figure of Destiny
1 Vexing Shusher

4 Grindstone
3 Pyroblast
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Chrome Mox
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Engineered Explosives

--- Sideboard ---
3 Blood Moon
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Hydroblast
3 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast

Collar and Explosives, along with Blast+Painter, serve as the deck's removal. The sideboard's designed so you can swap out red blasts for blue blasts against Zoo, Aggro Loam, and the like - so you start naming red with your blasts.

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Just won a 16 man here in Vancouver with this one, with -1 Recruiter + 1 Jaya (don't have 4 recruiter).

Beat LifeDot (About Face/Kor/Diamond Valley), Solidarity and Zoo, and drew with Zoo in round 4.

Edit before i sleep:

Some Thoughts:

-Basilisk Collar is decent. Helped keep me alive, by having Recruiters staring down goyf.
-Sometimes I wished Trinket Mage was Cruel Tutor/Grim Tutor or something. I wonder if I can a manabase that works...
-Jaya was removal bait
-Zoo is horrible pre-board, winnable post board.
-Needs something better against storm combo. Pyrostatic Pillar? Might be a shot in the foot. Was thinking of Cerbral Vortex, lol.

play a 32 man tour

ended up in a sad 3-2 (ended 9th) after starting 3-0 !
with this list

10 Mountain
4 AT
4 COT
3 Mox
4 SSG
4 Magus
4 Recruiter
4 Servant
2 Jaya
3 Figure
1 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Hearth kami
5 Blast
2 trap
4 Grindstone
3 lightning bolt
1 Basilik collar
1 Jitte

SB
2 faerie macabre
2 tormod's Crypt
2 Shattering Spree
1 shusher
2 Blood Moon
1 Stingscourger
1 goblin welder
2 Needle
1 Blast

G1 2-0 Bant (opponent will end 3rd of the tour)
g1 combo turn 3
g2 combo turn 4 Cunning Sparkmage on Noble hierarch is awesome

G2 2-1 Painter Ur (stiflenought+painter combo)
g1 i win aggro mode
g2 eventually on turn 50 he goes combo (funny mirror game !)
g3 i combo turn 2

G3 2-0 Ant
g1 he goes off with 11 life and die
g2 i combo turn 4, blocking him with magus and pithing on SDT

G4 0-2 crappy shitty discard deck (she ll end 2nd of the tour)
g1 mulligan to 6, awful game, she discards all the thing i need then double rack
g2 here we go the exact same

G5 1-2 Cthresh (he ll end 4th of the tour)
g1 long game, i eventually win aggro mode
g2 he is kinda lucky and top deck answer to all my threat and win
g3 long game but in the end he tarmogoyfed me, then again answering most of my threat ...

to sum it up, it wasn't that bad, considering i played against the 2nd 3rd and 4th of the tour.
Cunning Sparkmage is imo way better than shapshooter, haste is not to under estimate at all.

i am currently happy with this list to be honnest, and discard is a TERRIBLE MU ... And i really have to find a place for Ee.
As it has been said above, anyone have tried black with 2 or 3 Cruel Tutor?
should be smth like this : (grim tutor is really bad due to BB)

2 Badlands
4 Mountain
4 Fetch
4 AT
4 COT
3 Mox
4 SSG
4 Magus
4 Recruiter
4 Servant
2 Jaya
3 Figure
1 Cunning Sparkmage
5 Blast
1 trap
1 Top
2 Grindstone
3 Cruel Tutor
3 lightning bolt
1 Basilik collar
1 Jitte

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ryO!

G3 2-0 Ant
g1 he goes off with 11 life and die
g2 i combo turn 4, blocking him with magus and pithing on LED

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Pithing needle on LED does nothing...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mchainmail

Pithing needle on LED does nothing...

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on SDT not led sorry

hi guys, coming back from gp madris. dropped after 7th round, wih a 4-3 record due to being unable to make day 2.

win 2-0 1s round (he didint show)

win 2-1 against meathooks

lost 0-2 against TES

win 2-1 against GW berserk stompy

lost 1-2 aainst UR faeriestill featuring lavamancers and lots of bluered blasts in sb

win 2-0 against the rock

lost 1-2 to merfolks...my god a very favourable matchup but shit happens...


will post my list and a report tomorrow, im very tired now. this deck is awesome for me, i love it

cheers, imperial painters.

-Thorin-

well now i have a little spare time so i will tell you a little more from the GP:

first of all my list:

// Lands
3 [EX] City of Traitors
10 [ZEN] Mountain (2)
4 [TE] Ancient Tomb
1 [ON] Bloodstained Mire

// Creatures
1 [SHM] Vexing Shusher
2 [TSP] Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
4 [PLC] Simian Spirit Guide
4 [SHM] Painter's Servant
4 [P3] Imperial Recruiter
4 [FUT] Magus of the Moon
2 [EVE] Figure of Destiny
1 [ON] Goblin Sharpshooter

// Spells
1 [WWK] Basilisk Collar
4 [TE] Grindstone
3 [MR] Chrome Mox
3 [4E] Red Elemental Blast
3 [IA] Pyroblast
2 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
4 [BD] Lightning Bolt

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [DK] Blood Moon
SB: 3 [DS] Trinisphere
SB: 3 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
SB: 2 [FD] Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 [GP] Shattering Spree
SB: 2 [PLC] Sulfur Elemental

Round 1 vs. Miguel (he didn't show up) 2-0

Round 2 vs. Javier playing Meathooks 2-1

Game 1: He wins the die roll and starts with mutavault. i play mountain go (blast open thinking im playing merfolk), he plays tundra sinew sliver so i try to resolve magus second turn wich gets dazed, next turn recruiter for magus while bolting a sliver, i play magus turn 4 floats white and plows my magus. when i had 7 mana and his only open mana was tundra and 2 cards in hand i go off, blasting a bstorm in response to playing painter.

Game 2: I tried to resolve a 1st turn blood moon which is a mistake, should have waited for 2nd turn to have blast protection or paying daze with ssg. his board grows too fast before i can combo.

Game 3: Go all-in SSG+Tomb=Magus. It resolves and 3 turns after i combo.

Round 3 vs. Jeroén playing T.E.S 0-2

Game 1: I win the die roll and i lead with mountain go. he plays gemstone and i think he plays dredge until he taps for ponder. i let it resolve and play a second turn magus of a chrome mox (removing sharpshooter) leaving me with open mana to blast something and a painter in hand.

on his turn he made city of brass, rite of flame x2, petal x2 , brainstorm, dark ritual, empty the warrens (at this moment i look at my sharpshooter behind my mox and blame myself :). couln't topdeck a grindstone and i lose.

Game 2: I board in trinispheres, explosives, and sulfurs (in case i can play him along painter and kill all tokens).

i play mountain ssg painter go, he plays ponder go, and i play trinisphere of a second mountain and a second ssg. on his turn he made mana, mana, ssg, burning wish for shattering spree but he didint have the 3 mana to play it next turn, nor do i to play blasts on his lands. he finds his 3rd land before me and blows out painter and trini. at this point i left him with 5 life due to painter attack, city of brass damage and spirit tokens of forbidden orchard he gave me. i had an explosives for 0 also. on his turn he made petal, ritual, rite, LED, infernal tutot for ill-gotten gains, cast it , ritual, led, tutor for tendrils, tendrils for 20 . :(

Round 4 vs. Jordi playing GW Berserk Stompy. 2-1

Game 1 i win the die roll and lead of mountain go, he plays hierarch of a forest so EOT i try to bolt him and he invigorates in response, so now i realize he's playing some kind of berserk deck. i drop a grindstone a collar and a recruiter to search for painter and stall the game agaianst his troll ascetic and slippery boggle and another hierarch. i manage to resolve painter with mana to grind him but he casted swords on him. that gave me the option to play magus, and leave him with only one green mana and one white mana, beacuse hierarch was gone with sharpshooter. i trade the equipped sharpshooter with bogle briar-shielded and recruiter with troll. on my turn i swing for 4 with figure and gain 4 life, on his turn he tries to win via invigorate berserk, but he had to give me the 3 life cause he hadn't two green mana to play invigoarte + berserk on the same turn. magus was crucial. he concedes after that cause figure was an 8/8 monster flier with deathtouch and lifelink.

Game 2: i made a misteke here stacking my top 3 cards with top so when i try to resolve a second turn moon i draw my city of taritos of the top instead of ssg. that leaves me with no option to do it until turn 3 so he can plays troll and then qasali pridemage, i don't recall exactly but i lost soon after of a big kavu i think.

game 3: 1st turn magus of a chrome mox and a tomb. second turn painter and grindstone. 3 turn win. he only had fetches in hand.

Round 5 vs. Oloff playing UR Faestill 1-2

Game 1: these games were so long and involving a lot of tricks with flashing faeries and such that i don't recall everything in a correct way. At this moment i didnt take more notes, i was starting to be tired. 1st game i was able to fight against counters and manlands and at one moment i can resolve painter stone activation in the same turn.

Game 2: plays fetch go i think, i play mountain go. he fecthes volcanic, plays mutavalt, cloud of faeries and jitte. now my magus is going to be killed if i play him turn 2. i cant recover when he landed stanstill and then when i try to resolve painter he spellstuttered him.

Game 3: i try to kill his lavamancer and sepellstutter eqquipped with jitte, but blue blasts and red blasts from his own side counters my spells and destoy my painter. im unable to win and he played very very well.

Round 6 vs. Sabrina playing The Rock (with Elspeths) 2-0

Game 1: won the die roll 1st turn magus for the win.

game 2: she mulligans and fetch bayou to duress me from a GW fetch and take grindstone. i then topdeck blood moon and play it via mox tomb and she only plays a senseis wich gaves her no basic lands.

At this moment i was 4-2-0, i needed to win my 3 remaining rounds to make day 2.

Round 7 vs. Jaime playing Merfolk.

Game 1: he starts with vial i think, i don't see a lot of blasts and he manage to get two islands to play around magus. i only find a way to blast an anormous trasher and die next turn...

game 2: play mountain go he plays island go. i play magus he plays mutavault standstill ???. i win after he breaks his own standstill due to this mistake.

Game 3: we fight back and forth a long time. at one moment he had cursecatcher and silvergill in play and try to resolve standstill. i flashed in sulfur elemental in response and let it resolve. on my turn i topped to search for a blast (nothing here) and played painter's servant from ancient tomb (had two ssg in hand). he draws 3 and plays daze, i remove one ssg. he is touching another island so im happy that im gonna pay the second daze and resolve painter naming white killing his board and swinging for the win. unfortunately it was force of will what he draws from his standstill and i die shortly after.

So, that was it, 4-3 and drop. this was my second tournament with the deck and i like it very much, i dont know if splashing blue would be an option to make explsoives worthwhile and trinket mage. ill edit this post after with some conclusions.

EDIT:
- I didn't cast jaya all day, nor searched for her. I don't know if I'm going to reduce it as a 1 of
- I wish i could had played explosives for 2 a lot of times but i was unable to mox a figure or any card with painter in play to do so. that's why i'm thinking about splashing. blue is an option as I said before giving us trinket mages for sure, and maybe blue blasts and fire/ices?. the other option is to splash white to play tutors...I dont know if the manabase will support it along with magus. I love the way magus wins games alone, but if we splash we weken our moon strategy or weaken our deck when being unable to cast the non red spells...
- Would it be a crazy idea to make this deck a WR tempo deck??
i would share a crazy list i made before going to the gp in order you can blame me for imagining those things.... :)

// Lands
4 [R] Plateau
1 [ZEN] Plains (4)
2 [ZEN] Mountain (2)
3 [TE] Wasteland
3 [TE] Ancient Tomb
3 [ON] Bloodstained Mire
4 [ZEN] Arid Mesa

// Creatures
3 [TO] Grim Lavamancer
4 [P3] Imperial Recruiter
4 [SHM] Painter's Servant
4 [UL] Mother of Runes
4 [ON] Weathered Wayfarer

// Spells
1 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
3 [RAV] Lightning Helix
3 [DS] AEther Vial
4 [4E] Swords to Plowshares
3 [IA] Pyroblast
3 [4E] Red Elemental Blast
3 [TE] Grindstone
1 [WWK] Basilisk Collar

well, imperial players, that's all for today.

thanks for reading.

Thorin

I know I have said this in about every single post, but I love to play the aggro builds, with a combo "killswitch." When I saw the printings of basilisk collar and stoneforge mystic, I began tweaking a R/W list. The following is a preliminary list in which I am pretty happy with.

4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Imperial Recruiter
3 Magus of the Moon
4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Jaya Ballard
2 Goblin Sharpshooter
2 Painter's Servant
3 Figure of Destiny

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
2 Basilisk Collar
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Grindstone
3 Chrome mox

4 Plateau
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
4 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Arid Mesa

I cut the numbers of servants, grindstones and blasts to make room for Mystics and the equipment. Questions and comments are much appreciated.

-Chris- *

I don't want to be the bringer of more bad news but with 10/10 Gaea's Blessing Mythics running around the meta, and now a 12/12 Mythic Feldon's Cane has just been spoiled from Eldrazi, do you guys feel threatened about this possible meta shift?

From my point of view, a previously 2-card combo deck may have just been possibly demoted to a 3-card combo deck given that players tend to incorporate these unintentional hosers into the current tier decks.

There shouldn't be much worry about "blessing" type cards, because of cards we play like Relic and Macabre. If you mill your opponent and they have Progenitus, it just goes to the top of their library, and they draw it next turn and proceed to lose the following turn. All in all, triggers go on the stack, then graveyards gets RFG'd.:tongue:

-Chris-

Exactly my point. Against a fast aggro deck, a single Progenitus main can act as a time walk for them against mill and they can still possibly win the turn they draw Progenitus.

Against Dream Halls which run a full set of Progenitus, if they are able to Show and Tell one and 3 copies remain in the library, that's usually game over for you.

Has anyone felt the need to dedicate 4 sb slots for GY removal (LotV or Ravenous trap) and replace Crypt, Relic or Faerie yet? The Faerie is tutorable but I find it weak for this purpose.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fatestitcher

Exactly my point. Against a fast aggro deck, a single Progenitus main can act as a time walk for them against mill and they can still possibly win the turn they draw Progenitus.

Against Dream Halls which run a full set of Progenitus, if they are able to Show and Tell one and 3 copies remain in the library, that's usually game over for you.

Has anyone felt the need to dedicate 4 sb slots for GY removal (LotV or Ravenous trap) and replace Crypt, Relic or Faerie yet? The Faerie is tutorable but I find it weak for this purpose.

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Everyone has always played at least 3 of those in SB FMacabre/RTrap/TCrypt/RoProgenitus/LotV, so i don't really get your point.

Moreover, i don't think progenitus is a problem at all, unless you combo on turn 40, the last turn it ll buy them prolly won't change a single thing.
I am really thinking about adding black for Cruel tutor, and about the a more aggro version, i ve always played 3 equipement MD anyway (Jitte/Collar/SolS) and it has proven to be more than useful/efficient.

My R/W list from a few posts back has done exceedingly well in recent testing. Jitte has been great, Collar was always great, and having a creature that can get them turn one is amazing. So far I have blown out Dredge, done fairly against Bant Survival, and not faired well against Aggro-Loam (never did anyway). In theory this list will play better against zoo than the traditional list did, further testing in the coming week will confirm that. Sideboard is still in the works, the only thing I am sure of now is playing Hanna's Custody, which I have always wanted to play.:tongue: I will post more results and analysis in the next few days.

-Chris-

don't you miss blasts in the deck? i mean, one of our strenghts it's that we do well against blue based decks. i'm sure you improve the zoo matchup like this, but aren't the others weakened by cutting blasts?

cheers

thorin

EDIT: i realized that you are running path to exile instead of swords to plowshares. if we run magus of the moon, wouldn't stp be better than pte? that will give them life instead of a basic land to come back from our lock.

I don't miss the blasts as much as you would think, because I am not playing the real "combo" as much now. As far as I have tested, my other matches aren't any weaker without the blasts. As I have stated numerous times, I like playing aggro with this deck and my R/W list is the best aggro list I have piloted thus far. At first, PtE was a good idea in my head, because I didn't want my opponent gaining to much life, but StP has better synergy with Magus of the Moon. I am working on a real primer for a R/W list, and I may just start a new thread for it, I will keep everyone updated.

-Chris-

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cwt1220

I don't miss the blasts as much as you would think, because I am not playing the real "combo" as much now. As far as I have tested, my other matches aren't any weaker without the blasts. As I have stated numerous times, I like playing aggro with this deck and my R/W list is the best aggro list I have piloted thus far. At first, PtE was a good idea in my head, because I didn't want my opponent gaining to much life, but StP has better synergy with Magus of the Moon. I am working on a real primer for a R/W list, and I may just start a new thread for it, I will keep everyone updated.

-Chris-

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I will be waiting for it!! It's true that now the deck needs to keep up with an aggro meta, will start playing your list ant tell you how it's doing for me also. But it will be nicely to hear from the creator of this new list his thoughts/matchups/sb plans etc. Recently I started thinking about selling the recruiters to buy some other stuff for another decks, but then I remember how much i had to save for them and that makes me regret it :). Hope we will find a new list that can deal well with this new meta.

cheers.

thorin

I really think eliminating Blasts from the deck begins to dematerialize and underutilize the power of Painter's Servant. It's important to realize that while you don't want the deck to solely revolve around a single creature, the effect of his presence on the board completely changes the concept of how you proceed in the game. I'm not saying run eight Blast effects like the original version used to, but consider the potency of what they are capable of accomplishing once Painter resolves.

I am very skeptical about removing those cards from the main build. It would (probably) work, but the deck would resemble more of a R/w Dragon Stompy after the fact. It might be a variation that is effective enough to work.

@Hollywood: have you been playing the deck recently? If so, would you share up with us your latest list?

I still prefer to run the mono-red version with Figure and the general creature assortment that we've been seeing. I've tinkered around with the blue splash and time and time again I just keep wanting to go back to the mono-red version.

The funny thing is that my list hasn't changed all that much in the last year or so since I've put the deck down. I've recently begun testing Jitte and it has been obviously effective. Aside from that, nothing all that new:

[4x] Painter's Servant
[4x] Simian Spirit Guide
[4x] Magus of the Moon
[4x] Imperial Recruiter
[4x] Figure of Destiny
[4x] Red Elemental Blast
[4x] Lightning Bolt
[4x] Grindstone
[3x] Umezawa's Jitte
[3x] Chrome Mox
[2x] Pyroblast
[2x] Jaya Ballard, Task Mage

//Land
[10x] Mountain
[4x] Ancient Tomb
[4x] City of Traitors

I'm rather new to this deck and I really like it (as with many of you I assume) yet I feel that there HAS to be a way to advance this deck because of the power of these cards.

I see that a few of you have tried the aggro version of the deck, with ok results; but have any of you tried to go a more combo oriented route?

I am not exactly sure what that would entail... maybe gamble(etc.) or some other way to get through the deck or a way to find grindstone quicker?

Finally got around to making a new list and primer for what I call Imperial Aggro. Check it out.

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...Aggro&p=437571

I know I haven't posted much lately, but this past weekend I got top 8 at a 32 man event, the same one Hollywood got top 4 with his new deck. My list hasn't changed much but I figured I would post it along with some changes I would make as the meta has shifted some in the past few months. Thanks to gamegeek2 and Hollywood in advance.

Dudes
4 Imperial Recruiters
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Painter's Servent
3 SSG
4 Trinket Mage
3 Figure of Destiny
1 Viashino heretic

Spells
4 REB
2 Pyroblast
3 Grindstone
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Chrome Mox
1 SDT
1 EE

Lands
5 Mountains
2 Volcanic Island
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors

Side
2 Pyroblast
4 Chain Lightning
4 Blood Moon
2 EE
1 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Faerie Macabre

I went 4-1-1 in the first six rounds and losing to reanimator in the top eight to two first turn Iona if memory serves me right(I had been up drinking most of the night before so I am a little fuzzy here). My other lose was to a traditional white stacks list. I beat two merfolk decks, mono green chalice, and new horizons. Obviously for the merfolk match up nothing has changed, unless they splash white we have no problem beating them. I was surprised to have beaten mono green chalice as I imagined that to be a bad match up, and while I didn't need it, have the trinket mages along with EE help out there. New horizons was a blow out due to moon effects that destroy the deck, sorry Dave. I wish i had taken some better notes but i was sort of a shit show and very unprepared for the day.

About the deck:
I know people are going in a few different directions now which is great, and I like where your new primer is going Chris, but I think this is close to about as tight and optimal the blue splash can be. I dropped the Jaya Ballard more as an oversight, but it has been a long time since I searched for her and the added lightning bolt was always great game one and easy to board out games two and three if it wasn't needed. Having the ability to hit EE at 1 or 2 or 0 was really helpful on the day. I do feel that if you aren't using SDT in some number you are missing an amazing card. I can't stress enough that the card needs to be played, especially if you have shuffle effects. I am running one extra land in place of a SSG and that was just to make the mana a little smoother and less vulnerable to Wastleland. The heretic could be cut for whatever your meta calls for or a fourth figure to help in the aggro plan. The deck i took to the event was really not prepared for the 3 reanimator and 2 stacks decks there. Along with that and the rise in solitaire decks the sideboard i would run now is as follows:

4 Blood Moon
4 Faerie Macabre
1 Meekstone
1 EE
3 Anarchy
2 Pyroblast

At least now the deck as board answers to the cards that matter in the solitaire and white stacks match up. Hollywood was using the faeries all day and I really think they are the best beat against the faster reanimator decks right now. Willie(Gamegeek2) suggested Meekstone in the blue splash and I have to say that I love the idea as it is useful against a bunch of decks while buying lots of time against reanimator. I'm going to test dropping down the trinket mages main deck to 3 to open up basically 2 flex spots in the deck. I plan on testing things like Goblin Sharpshooter and Basilisk Collar. I would love to hear what everyone thinks. Sorry I can't really give a play by play, but I'll try to come up with a something today after class.

Seth

I think both splashes are correct, white giving us a more aggro option with stps and stoneforges, and blue giving us a more combo oriented version with trinket mages.

I do not know if this is an option, but has anyone tested isochron scepter on this deck? we play around ten spells that could be imprinted on it, and i think it could act as a replacement for jaya, wich i find too slow for today's metagame. blasting or bolting every turn can be amazing.

another question for those who play the blue splash it's if it's worth playing fire/ice over bolt. if our 1st turn option is a moon efect (which is nearly always the best play), i founded myself with my trinket mages in my hand until i had a chrome mox to give me blue (removing another trinket or any other card with painter in play) when i tested the blue splash. playing F/I would be another out to have acces to blue mana.

by the way, congrats for your finish sroncor! hope you can share your thoughts abut this last point with us.

cheers,

Thorin

Here are some SB questions :

Pyrostatic pillar : just a thought but against enchanteress/ant/some other MU i guess/ would it be a good option? or does trini remain strictly better ? or anything else ?

Goblin Welder : I really like having 1 to cope with all the artifacts/creatures hate and also in some cases with the opponent own artifacts

Rolling Equake : In order to deal with tokens or clean the board againt aggressive aggro decks anyone tested it?

Moon effects : i currently play 2 Blood Moon SB (+4 MotM MD), and often side them in but i feel like more would be too much. But, as i see some of you playing 4 of them SB, i d like to know if, even after siding 4 more effect in, those doesn't end up as dead cards to often.

Sharpshooter+collar : damn i ve found it so damn slooooow ... yet the collar is highly efficient.

grave hate : currently playing 2 macabre / 2 Rprogenitus so i can have both an answer to iona before it got caster and a final answer to dredge/loam etc but i feel like 4 is sometime not even enough ... any thoughts ?

Needle : use..ful? or ...less? i am not sure, it helps but ... i am not so sure it's really mandatory.

Ee or Pkeg : As i find Pkeg too slow, Ee seems, playing mono red and even with painter+figures (to get 2 colors), more or less only usefull to remove 0CC to 1CC only when 2CC is the one that you really want to get rid of most of the time.

thanks for your help!

@ Thorin: Yes sometimes the Trinket Mages are a dead draw but to be honest, if you have someone locked out you are already winning so it is sort of a moot point. Against most decks Magus and other moon effects either destroy them and the virtual card advantage is huge and you can absorb the dead draw and against those that can handle them, the Trinket Mage just serves as more CA for you. I have considered going down to 3 but only so a Jaya could be main deck. Otherwise I really like having them in there and I can't think of a time when my moon effects caused me to lose with a Trinket in hand. I don't think Fire/Ice has a place in the deck. Lightning Bolt would have to go and that doesn't seem like a good trade. Yes it serves as a better imprint target, but otherwise it fails at what you need from your burn. It is a 1 drop which is huge and can stop fast Bobs and various mana creatures. That only one casting cost is huge against Bant decks and the like in stopping them fast and early on thir mana fixing. Also Fire?Ice is all but dead against zoo, except for the builds running Steppe Lynz, but even there you are still losing tempo. I did test it and other than being a perfect imprint target, it was unimpressive. Magma Jet could possibly fill the role, but that is due to the scry ability. I know Drew has had success with the card but I have not in my testing. I hope that helps. Sceptor I think falls into the grouping of too cool things. It is 2 cards and 4 mana just to off a dude or counter your first spell. I could see it working in a long game possibly, but as I mentioned earlier the cards you would want to imprint on it just can't wait that ong to be cast, and they are so good because they generate tempo for us. Imprinting on sceptor does neither of these. If you test it I would love to see your results, but my gut tells me it will not help our bad match ups and then it just seems win more.

@Ryo!: I don't think Relic is good graveyard hate right now especially vs reanimator. Good players can play around the graveyard hate that they know is there, not to mention it does nothing vs a first turn on the play Iona. The Macabre does and this is important. Reanimator will have to adapt once the meta learns how to effectively handle it. Until that time the Macabre is just stronger due to the fact that they can go all in now without fear. Relic is probably stronger vs goyf, but I have always found him to be a big dumb creature, and we can get bigger, smarter creatures with activated Figures. Pillar is a nice idea, but I haven't tested it. I will, but I think Hollywood's old tech of anarchy is surprising effective even without Painter as it kills the shit we want gone and actually causes us problems. Like against Solitaire I don't give a fuck how many cards they draw and useless enchantments they play as long as my Grindstone can target them. anarchy lets us do that. Same with stacks along with giving us back what was stolen with O ring. But I will try the Pillar as I think it may have merit. I hope this answers some of your questions. I sort of feel the same about Goblin Sharpshooter, but I wanted to try it before I dismissed it. I would recommend 8 moon effects though. In the games you want them, you really can't get enough and you want them early, playing 8 is the only way to ensure this. Welder was a card I used before the splash and it might be worth looking into again, but it does make the deck more combo heavy but trading shit in and out to get back EE seems sweet.

http://www.magiccards.info/an/en/50.html
What are your thoughts on this card? It might be a clincher vs. Merfolk pre-Painter, or everything post-painter.

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Originally Posted by Pastorofmuppets

http://www.magiccards.info/an/en/50.html
What are your thoughts on this card? It might be a clincher vs. Merfolk pre-Painter, or everything post-painter.

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merfolk mu is already fine i think, so it would be nothing but an overkill. Else in other MU, that would be just one more dead card w/o painter in play. So i am not sure it s that relvant.

I didn't see anybody post the video links from the 5k Feature match. I am watching it now, it is such a bummer you guys got the feature match when you played each other. Does anyone have a video of anyone playing a non mirror match? This is just one of those decks where you can't really get a chance to see someone else play it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szT8niUN8-M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5O_rjwd0kY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwYOcCajpS0 Erik Mynatt Doing Good Decks Live

I have to agree that while it would be totally awesome to cast magnetic Mountain, we already crush Merfolk so there really isn't room or a point. I've been working on a mini primer for the blue version along with some match up notes and sideboarding ideas that i want to post in the next couple days as I'm finally on spring break from Med School. I guess if people are interested, I will post it as soon as I get done.

This is an open question, who here is going to the Gp, and if so can we start talking about the tweaks they are planning for the event.

I am 100% in for Columbus Legacy the non Flash Hulk version. Although I am not 100% sure I am playing Imperial Painter. I plan on making my decision after playing @ the Star City Philadelphia Open 5k. I am leaning towards playing it but if I fail miserably @ Philly then its on to Supreme Blue or Geddon Staxx.

I am in the exact position as Vesper, but my fall back deck is non-led dredge. I will know after SCG Philly.

-Chris-

you might want to MD some mini-Ichorid hate, maybe like 1-2 Fanatic or something stupid like that. Also you'll need to keep an eye out for Zoo. I don't know if this deck can hold out for long enough but Kazuul might be tech. How does this deck beat Zoo, anyway?

Played a blue splash today and I really liked it. My record didn't impress me but the blue splash did. I am open for suggestions and I will explain my choices and what I was thinking.

3 Figure of Destiny
4 Imperial Recruiter
2 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress (Anti Progenitus and agro reset almost worked on goblins today but he sided in blasts and blasted painter)
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Painter's Servant
4 Trinket Mage

3 Pyroblast
3 Red Elemental Blast

3 Chrome Mox
1 Engineered Explosives (with the added colors possible it can be a real advantage, can feasibly play for up to 5)
3 Grindstone (With the Trinket Mage I cut one)
3 Mox Diamond (this makes the splash so much easier, explosives better, and turn 1 city of traitors a decent play)
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
1 Island
7 Mountain
3 Volcanic Island

Board
1 Vexing Shusher
3 Blood Moon
1 Chalice of the Void (seemed good but I didn't use it once)
1 Meekstone (anti big dude)
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Trinisphere
1 Academy Ruins (I figured it was worth it)
3 Karakas (anti Iona also didn't use it or side it once and I played both U/B Animator and Dredge today)

@Pastorofmuppets- I really do not think the deck needs dredge hate maindeck. we run moon effects a fast combo along with an efficient removal set. Adding a couple Mogg Fanatics really will not change our game one anyway. and i think the macabre and Blood Moons are more than enough for the deck. To be fair I can't remember the last time I lost a match to dredge. With the current configuration I am running the only match up that is really not winable is belcher, but since that deck sucks so is rough but moon effects really fuck up their day. You really have to board out the blast effects as they can bring them in and that is a scary thought. It is difficult to combo against them, but Figure kicks ass. I will not lie the match up is tough, but EE does help a lot. I think it is the only deck you may see at the top tables that is really a bad match up, although depending on the build reanimator is rough sometimes also.

@Vesper Ghoul- You may be running too many mana sources in your deck, even though you basically just switched the SSG with Mox Diamonds. How did those work for you. I would feel that 19 lands may be to low to reliably run them, but I have never tested so it is just theory. You should play some fetches. The shuffle effects are great then you can drop the Island and possible have a more solid mana base, that gives you the color you need. But maybe the Diamonds are doing that for you. I have thought about Chalice, and without extra one drops in your board it may be an awesome choice. The more artifacts that you throw at zoo the better. I would love to here about your matches. Lastly why the 3 Tormod's Crypt? Seems odd especially with 2 more in the board.

@sroncor1 - The Crypts were actually 1 main 2 board I copied pasted wrong on that one. The fetches may have been a big help but I own 0 Scalding Tarns and I decided to go splash late last night. I wouldn't actually drop the island as to get around my own moons and still be able to trinket mage. The Mox diamonds worked amazingly for me it color fixed and like I said made explosives effects and city of traitors so much better.

Reanimator - Game one he reanimated Inkwell Leviathan he got in 1 swing before I combo-ed out with blast protection stopping the force. I boarded in my 2 other Crypts, Meekstone, and 3 blood moons I locked him out from blue with moon effects early Tormod's Crypt silently waited for something to be targeted in poof it was gone. One side ride to agro victory.

Landstill- I made a few play errors as I beat this same deck at my last tourney against the same guy. The biggest killer for me was he ran 4 main deck EE and academy ruins. I hit away his first 2 with my crypt but I just didn't hink he was running 4 copies main deck between that and swords I kept losing my painter and stones. He was playing quite slowly as most Landstill players do and once he had the third EE online and returnable with 20 mins in the round I scooped up and went to game 2. Game 2 I had enough pieces I went for it too early and got blown out. My biggest mistake was not grabbing Vexing Shusher on my first Recruiter if I did I would have won; but I didn't, lesson learned we went to turns on game two. I don't think I would lose this match up again as I will play it much differently the next time. But that is why we play local tournaments.

Mono Red Goblins- I got paired up to the Goblin which took the day 5-0. We was on the play, turn 1 lackey made turn 2 siege gang which about as good as sealed it up with gempalm and co clearing the way for lackey to continue to kill me. Game 2 I grabbed my academy ruins and Trinisphere I know people are really into the trini here but I figured on the play would have been great turn 1. No such luck but I had figures and mana enough to make them work got in 4 damage before he had a goblin blocker but a vialed in lackey at EOT was killer and he had a huge board. I fought my way back into it he sided in blasts which was key in killing my painter when I was tryin to LLanawan which would have been game over. I still fought back and stabilized EEed his lackeys and vial away blocked the piledriver with my recruiters and stayed into it until he top decked a sting scourger to bounce my lone non blue blocker swung for lethal my G. stone was on the top I would have comboed next turn.

Dredge- I slaughtered dredge the main deck hate was perfect pulled it in on the mage comboed off pretty quick victory. Game 2 I turn 1 tormod's crypt and painter go he played pithing needle on Crypt. Next turn he got his engine going and hit bridges and Iona I got priority blasted the needle crypted and he was pretty much done. Swung my way home on 2 Servants and a later magus of the moon.

Opponent no show- boo my opponent must have decided he didn't want any.

I feel with the added Mages and Moxes works well I was never mana short except lacking blue the last game against dredge but I was fine with that. Iin my opinion it is just as aggro but it does miss the SSG bluff but I think it may be worth not having it although quite a few time I said I would really like to have a SSG to keep people on their toes.

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I didn't see anybody post the video links from the 5k Feature match. I am watching it now, it is such a bummer you guys got the feature match when you played each other. Does anyone have a video of anyone playing a non mirror match? This is just one of those decks where you can't really get a chance to see someone else play it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szT8niUN8-M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5O_rjwd0kY

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I guess they didn't take video of my top 8 or top 4 matches against Merfolk and Zoo. The mirror isn't exactly something you need to prepare for.

I recently picked the deck up again after playing other stuff for a while, and I think it's a good option if the meta is going to be more Bant / Merfolk / Lands than Zoo or Reanimator. For Zoo, make sure you can play a full 4 Blood Moons out of the board. Your best bet to beat Zoo is a turn 1 Moon.

My list hasn't changed that much:

9 Mountain
1 Foothills
1 Mire
4 Tomb
3 City
3 Mox

4 SSG
4 Recruiter
4 Servant
3 Magus
3 Figure
2 Jaya
1 Shusher

1 Blood Moon

4 Grindstone
3 Top

6 Blast
2 Jet
2 Bolt

SB
3 Trinisphere
3 Blood Moon
2 Bolt
2 Spree
2 EE
2 Relic
1 Faerie Macabre

To me, this deck was always a good bet before Iona showed up. Her ability hits the mono-coloreds pretty hard, and she's in 2 good decks you would expect to see at the GP. Still, Imperial Painter has the potential early plays to win against her. I still don't understand why more people don't play Tops in mono-red builds, but Iona makes them even more necessary because they're colorless and the only way to win through a resolved Iona is to assemble the combo quickly without playing the Servant first.

@ vesper ghoul-I agree that I would never want to drop the SSG from the maindeck because they really can just swing the game. I use to run a basic Island in my build and it did help but I found in match ups where i wanted Blood Moon it didn't matter if I had a dead Trinket Mage. If goblins is big in your meta try Lightning Bolt or Magma Jet, although the Lightning Bolt is really what you need to stop the first turn Lackey. I still think Tormod's Crypt is too slow for Dredge and Reanimator but if the Crypt is working for you that is great, it just never tested well for me. Blood Moons will also help that Landstill match up, Academy Ruins is a great basic mountain with it in play. Try them out in your next event, I know I have never not loved having them. And since they are the strongest when they are in your opening hand, I can't stress enough how important it is to have 8 available. In an unrelated note I saw under your name that you live in Whitehal, do you play at The Portal, because I use to play there when I lived in Jersey.

@ Drew- Why are you running one main decked Blood Moon? I spent a lot of time playing against reanimator this weekend and I think the Meekstone, Macabre, and Moon effect plan really can push the match up in our favor. Now I didn't really test the dark ritual builds, but i really don't think that will be the version we see this summer. I think it will be like Flash where it was the slower, more resilient versions where the ones to beat. Zoo on the other han d, I guess the best I can do is land an early Blood Moon and pray. Even when I was running extra burn in the board I couldn't make it favorable. What have you been trying lately to fight zoo, if anything? I know EE has helped a little, but it is still tough.

I recently switched to the 1 Blood Moon maindeck over a Magus, just so you have a moon effect game one that can't be burned/pathed/swords. It has been great so far in testing, and I am currently working on a new sideboard. There is an extreme lack of combo in my meta, so I am working on moving out 3Sphere and moving in some more graveyard hate. Also, in regards to the zoo match, I have been having decent success with Basilisk Collar. It gives them something to have to deal with while you assemble the combo, and protection in your hand.

-Chris-

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@ Drew- Why are you running one main decked Blood Moon? I spent a lot of time playing against reanimator this weekend and I think the Meekstone, Macabre, and Moon effect plan really can push the match up in our favor. Now I didn't really test the dark ritual builds, but i really don't think that will be the version we see this summer. I think it will be like Flash where it was the slower, more resilient versions where the ones to beat. Zoo on the other hand, I guess the best I can do is land an early Blood Moon and pray. Even when I was running extra burn in the board I couldn't make it favorable. What have you been trying lately to fight zoo, if anything? I know EE has helped a little, but it is still tough.

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I run 1 MD Moon because I want the ability to run 4 Moons, and I don't want to give up any other slots.

Regarding Zoo and Reanimator - to a certain extent, you have to accept some unfavorable matchups. Imperial Painter's basic strategy is awesome because (aside from 1st turn Magus / Moon) it abuses Painter's Servant more than any other deck. The downside is that we're vulnerable to any deck with a bunch of creature/artifact removal,especially if it has red removal that can be played through Magus/Moon, so Zoo will always be an issue.

Against Reanimator, Meekstone is a good choice. Another option would be Noetic Scales, because it breaks the Iona lock, but it costs more. I board in Trinispheres, Moons, Relics, and Macabre (-3 Figure, -2 Jaya, -2 Jet, -2 Bolt) and I use Blasts aggressively (I counter any early blue spell I am given the opportunity to counter). Reanimator is just a combo deck, but instead of going for the win outright, it can consistently "combo out" a fattie that blanks most our deck. Kinda sucks, but still beatable.

Against Zoo, I board in Moons, Bolts, Relics and EE's (-3 Magus, -3 Blast, -2 Jaya, -1 Shusher) and I hope for a turn 1 Moon. If I don't get Moon, then I try to match them threat-for-answer until I can play Servant and combo out on the same turn, either when they're tapped out, or with Blast protection. In this situation, I really want Top to keep my cards relevant and dig for the combo.

@sroncor1 - Yup I play at the Portal, that is where I have played my last 2 events with painter. I've played there since 2005, I wonder if we have played each other before.