Call me cynical, but I highly doubt there's going to be a more powerful Buried Alive in a standard legal set. I also don't think they'll get anywhere close to Life // Death, but maybe there will be something powerful that does something different. The GRN mechanics (mostly surveil and jump start) might net a cool Raven's Crime replacement, though.Originally Posted by Ace/Homebrew
Do you even want to flip Search in this deck? I know you can, but it is a 'may' ability...so you could just leave it on the front half and bin a card every upkeep. That's basically the surveil enchantment you mentioned...even if it is restricted to only one trigger per turn, and only in your upkeep.
You're right on all accounts. I always appreciate your input.
Here's my thinking...
Raven's Crime - Card can be used to get something in my hand into my graveyard, but at that point it's -2 cards. As a discard spell targeting my opponent, it is weak because it let's them choose. The power of the card only comes through when used with Life from the Loam (and usually Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth) and at that point I've got other more interesting things to do.
Life // Death - Life might as well not even be a mode on this card. Death is just Reanimate #2. Exhume and Dread Return are situationally better than Reanimate #2. Mostly I was looking through my list for cards I could cut, and since I really can't cut any for being bad I had to settle for cards I never play. This card suffers from being the worst of the group, not necessarily for being inherently bad.
Buried Alive - I totally agree that they won't print a better Buried Alive! But it's a card I rarely play. At sorcery speed, played before I have access to 8 mana, I'm basically giving my opponents the opportunity to answer whatever I've gotten. I also have to be careful not to paint a target on my forehead depending on the game state, which means purposefully getting weaker groupings of cards (I'll often go for Bloodghast, Golgari Grave-Troll, and Vengeful Pharaoh. This is the least likely to be cut, but I think it still makes the potential-cut-list.
Search for Azcanta -for an enchantment that surveils during my upkeep is ooookay. I think at
) it is hugely playable. For 2 mana it needs to surveil 2, as I cannot see them going higher than that for the mana investment. The true power of the card lies in digging for cards after it's flipped.
We'll see what goodies they print in GRN! I'm excited to see the uncommon and rare Jump-Start cards. Anything that can be played from my graveyard is worth looking at.
----------------------------
Gonna stick the potential GRN-playables here.
Last edited by Ace/Homebrew; 09-14-2018 at 03:43 PM.
- Raven's Crime
- Life // Death
- Search for Azcanta
+ Lotleth Giant
+ Mausoleum Secrets
+ Chemister's Insight
Davran was right, Buried Alive is a really good card. I couldn't bring myself to cut it. Plus Assassin's Trophy is still overpriced in my opinion.
I've had a lot of fun with Nexus of Fate. It has allowed me to win through oppressive graveyard hate. On a related note, I want to cut Snow-Covered Forest, leaving me with 1 of each basic for Hermit Druid. I'm still contemplating options... On the short list:
Volrath's Stronghold
Academy Ruins
Yavimaya Coast
I'm leaning towards the Coast because I have plenty of
At the risk of sounding dumb (just ignore me in that case), is Stronghold actually useful? Mimeoplasm wants the fatties in the graveyard so he can become them, so there's about half of your potential Stronghold targets. The other half are more or less utility dorks, many of which also want to be in your yard (dredgers, filth/wonder/brawn, pharaoh).I want to cut Snow-Covered Forest, leaving me with 1 of each basic for Hermit Druid. I'm still contemplating options... On the short list:
Volrath's Stronghold
Academy Ruins
Yavimaya Coast
I'm leaning towards the Coast because I have plenty of
I suppose it's an emergency way to save one critical creature in response to grave hate or occasionally buy back some utility dude you'd prefer not to have dredged into your yard, but how often is that situation coming up? You've also already got some reanimate effects that serve basically the same purpose.
No doubt, it would mostly be for getting these cards back:
Tarmogoyf
Snapcaster Mage
Grim Flayer
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Hermit Druid
Deathrite Shaman
Walking Ballista
and to a much lesser extent:
Lord of Extinction
Stormsurge Kraken
Carnage Tyrant
Multani, Maro-Sorcerer
It's also a safety-valve if I'm going for the win with Nexus of Fate and an opponent has the ability to make me draw a card (although I would admittedly need 10 mana to keep the loop going).
Ideally, WotC completes the 'CitP tapped, cycles for' dual cycle. That way I can replace Fetid Pools with whatever they'd name the
one. The deciding factors will ultimately come down to - Do I need more colored mana? and - Is there a cost to adding a colorless utility land?
In other news, Assassin's Trophy will likely replace Eyeblight's Ending. Goyf and Flayer don't get hurt that much by dropping the tribal card, and Trophy is miles better than Ending. I'm also not happy with Muldrotha, so she'll get cut for a hexproof monster when the next good one gets printed.
-------------------
Bought a Volrath's Stronghold and Assassin's Trophy.
So...
+ Volrath's Stronghold
+ Assassin's Trophy
- Snow-Covered Forest
- Eyeblight's Ending
Last edited by Ace/Homebrew; 10-26-2018 at 04:13 PM.
Made quite a few changes recently! And none of it was new cards.
- Muldrotha, the Gravetide
- Mausoleum Secrets
- Grim Flayer
- Exhume
- Liliana of the Veil
- Compulsion
+ Necrotic Ooze
+ Devoted Druid
+ Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
+ Emrakul, the Promised End
+ Ramunap Excavator
+ Worm Harvest
This is a return for Skittles. He was in the original build but got cut. He's back because of Necrotic Ooze. Ooze is now my primary Mimeoplasm body. Ooze allows me to keep Trike/Ballista around for later use. It gets haste from Skittles, can reanimate from Grave-Troll, untap from Devoted Druid, and initiate my emergency infinite turns plan by mimicking Hermit Druid.
Emrakul seems good and can be cast for. Combos well with Phyrexian Tower and Volrath's Stronghold.
Worm Harvest is amazing and I'm a bad player for not realizing that sooner. Nutty with Dakmor Salvage. Also good with Dread Return.
Excavator is a GSZ target and lets me further abuse my Bazaar/Loam value engine.
The cut cards were lackluster and won't be missed...
I think Tarmogoyf is finally getting cut...
This was spoiled today. Based on my understanding of Necrotic Ooze, this let's me generate infinite mana with it and Devoted Druid in a graveyard. The adapt ability also let's me put additional counters on Trike (Ballista too, but Ballista could do that with infinite mana anyway).
Tarmogoyf got the axe and for a while I could combo off with Incubation Druid, but that wasn't what I want to be doing...
Updates from the last year:
- Tolaria West
- Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
- Tarmogoyf
- Devoted Druid
- Chemister's Insight
- Kalonian Behemoth
+ Mystic Sanctuary
+ Elvish Reclaimer
+ Craterhoof Behemoth
+ Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
+ Radical Idea
+ Cling to Dust
Tolaria West hasn't been needed and Mystic Sanctuary is a fun new toy.
Skithiryx was unexciting and could be problematic if an opponent ended up controlling him. Craterhoof is a nice Dread Return target if I'm exploiting Worm Harvest.
Radical Idea is more usable for me than Chemister's Insight, and drawing 2 instead of 1 has been a downside repeatedly.
Uro is amazing. Tarmogoyf got swapped for Incubation Druid which got swapped for Uro.
I really like exiling cards from my graveyard to fuel powerful stuff. Escape looked like a fun way to do more of that but only the Titans were really amazing... I'm trying out Cling to Dust, but it hasn't impressed me. Kalonian Behemoth was vanilla redundancy and the spot is better suited for trying out ideas.
Devoted Druid came out along with Incubation Druid when I moved away from Druid combos. I am keeping Necrotic Ooze though. It's my new favorite Mimeoplasm food. Elvish Reclaimer for
Ikoria and Core 2021 updates:
- Tree of Tales
- Sphinx of the Final Word
- Ramunap Excavator
- Cling to Dust
- Lightning Greaves
+ Zagoth Triome
+ Brokkos, Apex of Forever
+ Mythos of Brokkos
+ Fierce Guardianship
+ Teferi, Master of Time
The Triome, Fierce Guardianship, and Teferi are probably the only ones that will last long term. Fierce Guardianship is pretty perfect for what I'd want in a counterspell for this deck. I only want one to protect my general, and usually on the turn I tap out to cast it.
Teferi is bonkers good with a dredger. And the incidental protection is nice. I don't anticipate using the 3rd ability ever. Good card is good.
Brokkos and its Mythos are good, but expensive for what they do...
All the cards I cut, I haven't missed. They were mostly redundant effects that were easier for my opponents to deal with (Hall of the Bandit Lord and Life from the Loam versus Greaves and Excavator. Sphinx is just a low P/T hexproof creature). Cling to Dust never did anything.
I re-organized the OP. It's a little easier to get a feel for how the deck works now.
*Zendikar Rising updates*
Paper Magic in 2020 is... unusual. I finally started playing with a subset of my LGS group over Zoom. They are a little more competitive than the overall LGS playgroup, so I've made some changes to adjust.
- Radical Idea
- Mythos of Brokkos
- Fetid Pools
- Stormsurge Kraken
- Green Sun's Zenith
- Sultai Charm
- Careful Study
- Brokkos, Apex of Forever
+ Murderous Cut
+ Coffin Purge
+ Gaea's Cradle
+ Kaervek, the Spiteful
+ Animate Dead
+ Return to Nature
+ Narset, Parter of Veils
+ Cragplate Baloth
Reasoning:
Murderous Cut, Coffin Purge, Return to Nature, Kaervek, and Narset are all interactive elements I felt were needed to stop or hinder an opponent aggressively going for the win.
Animate Dead was rescued from my collection of Beta cards, which I am determined to sell. The card looks too f-ing cool not to use.
Gaea's Cradle was moved over from my Gishath deck. Gishath couldn't use Cradle the way it needs to be used. I can't really break Cradle in this deck either because it isn't designed to spam dorks, but it does allow me to do fun things with Worm Harvest.
Cragplate Baloth is the only Zendikar Rising card I added. It's just another Gaea's Revenge.
A little eye candy!
- Volrath's Stronghold
- Siege Behemoth
- Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
- Kaervek, the Spiteful
+ Field of the Dead
+ Dawnglade Regent
+ Araumi of the Dead Tide
+ Opposition Agent
Stronghold has never really been utilized as much more than a Wastes... Field of the Dead let's me apply pressure with LftL rather than just card advantage.
Uro's
Kaervek is really good, but limits some of my lines just as much as he limits lines of my opponents. And Opposition Agent is the new hotness.
Very much looking forward to Vorinclex. Also thinking about finding a spot for the modal fungus/land.
Last edited by Ace/Homebrew; 01-03-2021 at 10:37 AM.
Kaldheim
- Opposition Agent
+ Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider
Exciting change due to the inherent power of Vorinclex's interaction with The Mimeoplasm.
Opposition Agent never did anything for me. This deck doesn't lend itself to the playstyle that best utilizes a "gotcha" 3-mana spell.
Turns out Vorinclex doesn't interact with Mimeoplasm the way I thought...
Here's the changes from over the last 3 years:
Lands
- Dryad Arbor
- Field of the Dead
- Mystic Sanctuary
- City of Brass
- Mana Confluence
+ Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
+ Boseiju, Who Endures
+ Otawara, Soaring City
Non-Lands
- Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider
- Dawnglade Regent
- Carnage Tyrant
- Archetype of Endurance
- Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
- Araumi of the Dead Tide
- Teferi, Master of Time
- Liliana, the Last Hope
- Narset, Parter of Veils
- Assassin's Trophy
- Murderous Cut
- Return to Nature
+ Lórien Revealed
+ Troll of Khazad-Dűm
+ Orcish Bowmasters
+ Delighted Halfling
+ Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
+ Tarmogoyf
+ Brazen Borrower
+ Endurance
+ Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner
+ Oko, Thief of Crowns
+ Ashiok, Dream Render
+ Tear Asunder
+ Pair o' Dice Lost
+ Overwhelming Remorse
Last edited by Ace/Homebrew; 02-23-2024 at 11:57 AM.
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