Page 54 of 55 FirstFirst ... 444505152535455 LastLast
Results 1,061 to 1,080 of 1098

Thread: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

  1. #1061

    [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Alrighty. So having moved recently and having mo friends who play legacy (or magic at all) close by, this is all just theory-crafting. So I need some real-life fact-checking please!

    Preparing for the Swedish nationals in the coming weekend, and I’m trying to figure out what 75 is the most effective build; partly for how I tend to play, and partly for how the general meta looks. I guess there will be a good number of people bringing pet decks, and others bringing lands, ur delver and dnt as the premiere hot stuff of the online meta.

    Shortcake - you can outsmart me, but you can’t outsmart silver bullets!

    18 creatures
    3 Goblin Welder
    1 Ethersworn Canonist
    4 Goblin Engineer
    4 Painter's Servant
    4 Imperial Recruiter
    2 Simian Spirit Guide

    2 PW
    2 Karn, the Great Creator

    7 Spells
    2 Enlightened Tutor
    3 Pyroblast
    2 Red Elemental Blast

    1 Enchantments
    1 Blood Moon

    10 Artifacts
    1 Lion's Eye Diamond
    4 Lotus Petal
    3 Grindstone
    1 Smuggler's Copter
    1 Ensnaring Bridge

    22 Lands
    2 Great Furnace
    4 Mountain
    2 Plateau
    4 Ancient Tomb
    1 Arid Mesa
    1 Bloodstained Mire
    2 City of Traitors
    2 Scalding Tarn
    3 Urza's Saga
    1 Wooded Foothills

    Sideboard
    1 Ethersworn Canonist
    1 Goblin Cratermaker
    1 Karn, the Great Creator
    4 Lightning Bolt
    1 Pyroblast
    1 Red Elemental Blast
    1 Tormod's Crypt
    1 Portable Hole
    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Ensnaring Bridge
    1 Tangle Wire
    1 Engineered Explosives

    Ideaboard
    1 Sundering Titan
    1 Crucible of Worlds
    1 spellskite
    1 hex parasite
    1 bolas citadel
    1 torpor orb

    So far my real issues are:
    1. Is explosives worth it? It hits me bad, can’t really be welded, but it’s a easy way to kill chalices, and 1cmc-tribal decks.
    2. 5 blast main, 2 side. Yea, blue is still a thing, but is it really that powerful? And in a meta where I might meet stuff like Spanish Inquisition or trainwreck (assuming it’s the pet-deck meta), is it worth it?
    3. Tangle wire; sure it can lock down delver decks (read: delay), but so can a bridge and bolts and blasts and copters. And if I can cycle tangle wire in and out, aren’t I already winning as is?
    4. Karn side. My thinking is that some decks are slow enough, and I’ll need all the grind I can muster. But the meta in general feels a lot faster than a year ago. Maybe it’s better off as something else.
    5. Hex parasite/crucible. Yea, so infinite karnstructs seem like a great idea in theory. And so does killing off opposing PWs, and so on. But this is probably not what shortcake wants to do.
    6. Sundering Titan. The look on peoples faces when I land this guy is always priceless. Sure nationals are somewhat important, but I figured the probability of me taking down the whole event isn’t high, but the impact/statement I can make with Titan seems good.
    6.1. And if Titans impact is big, bolas citadel casting etutor off the top into the second of the combo piece to win with citadel blast seems even better!
    7. Torpor orb vs dnt and Oracle. Sure it’s bad with recruiters and engineers, but I’m not sure they have easy ways to deal with it. And that should give me enough time to win. I think. Or not?

    Then, some more serious issues:
    Mana - 22 lands of which 5 are non permanent (2 city, 3 saga), plus 4 petal and 2 SSG. The extra SSG is just cuz daze seems so prevalent, and the 3 saga allows me to moon people without feeling too horrid about blanking cards in hand.
    Copter - I really liked copter. But it feels so hard to find space for it, and I’m wondering if it’s even good enough anymore. It kills delver, DRC, monkey, and can delay murktide/lage given enough welder effects, but it just needs so much setup to get it to work. Not sure if it’s better as something else.
    4/3 engineer/welder - yea, welder is better in a vacuum, but finding silver bullets is sorta my play style. I’m not sure there are enough artifacts here to make all of this functional, and I’m not sure being more gy based is good considering how many decks these days use the yard.

    Currently, I’m tempted to remove a karn and a tangle wire from the board, and putting in a spellskite and Titan into the board. Skite being bolt-proof and protect welders and really make removal a bit awkward for the opponents, and I just have a hard time saying no to a beefy Titan.

    Any tips and advice would be appreciated.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Last edited by schweinefettmann; 10-31-2021 at 10:04 AM.
    Legacy decks: mono U painter, strawberry shortcake, imperial painter, solidarity, burn
    EDH decks: zedruu voltron, rakdos the defiler, persistent petitioners, blind seer

  2. #1062
    Member
    Airwave's Avatar
    Join Date

    Oct 2013
    Location

    Netherlands
    Posts

    213

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Quote Originally Posted by schweinefettmann View Post
    Alrighty. So having moved recently and having mo friends who play legacy (or magic at all) close by, this is all just theory-crafting. So I need some real-life fact-checking please!

    Preparing for the Swedish nationals in the coming weekend, and I’m trying to figure out what 75 is the most effective build

    So how did it go? Painted a lot?

  3. #1063

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    I came 32nd, the lower end of the 5-3 players.

    Wrote up a tournament report here http://<br /> https://r.tapatalk.co...ink_source=app

    Basically, started by getting turn 1d by rb reanimator, then game two got got by serenity.

    Managed to get some wins where I probably shouldn’t in winning twice vs burn (both winning games 1 and 3), so that’s gotta count for something.

    In the end, I feel like my mana was most definitely off. Too much fast mana (2 SSG, 4 petal, 1 led) in addition to too much permanent mana (22 lands, of which 4 saga and 1 city).

    I think I regretted dropping down to 2 etutors, and I def think I should have gone down to 3 recruiters and 4 welders instead of the 4th engineer. The metas so much faster, with more random turn 1 decks.

    But yea, learned a lot, gonna get better.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Legacy decks: mono U painter, strawberry shortcake, imperial painter, solidarity, burn
    EDH decks: zedruu voltron, rakdos the defiler, persistent petitioners, blind seer

  4. #1064
    Bob Ross
    Kap'n Cook's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2012
    Location

    Baltimore
    Posts

    598

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    List I used for eternal weekend:

    https://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/...erry-Shortcake

    Strawberry Shortcake

    4 Ancient Tomb
    2 City of Traitors
    2 Bloodstained Mire
    2 Wooded Foothills
    4 Mountain
    2 Plateau
    1 Great Furnace

    4 Urza’s Saga
    4 Lotus Petal
    1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
    1 Simian Spirit Guide


    4 Imperial Recruiter
    4 Painter’s Servant
    3 Goblin Engineer
    3 Goblin Welder
    1 Goblin Cratermaker
    1 Ethersworn Canonist

    4 Pyroblast
    4 Lightning Bolt

    3 Grindstone
    1 Smuggler’s Copter
    1 Ensnaring Bridge
    1 Blood Moon

    1 Enlightened Tutor
    2 Karn, the Great Creator

    Sideboard:

    1 Grindstone
    1 Tormod’s Crypt
    3 Surgical Extraction
    1 Engineered Explosives
    1 Pyrite Spellbomb
    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Ensnaring Bridge
    2 Red Elemental Blast
    1 Magus of the Moon
    1 Portable Hole
    1 Ethersworn Canonist
    1 Karn, the Great Creator
    Strawberry Shortcake

    http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...erry-Shortcake

    What a brainstorm do? Draw card and activate on draw effects fix hand, removing woods
    #FreeNedleeds

  5. #1065
    Member
    Airwave's Avatar
    Join Date

    Oct 2013
    Location

    Netherlands
    Posts

    213

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Thank you both for your reports

  6. #1066

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    I was playing WB humans in MTGO leagues and got wrecked by an imperial painter flickering twinshot sniper back and forth. It puts itself in the graveyard with its channel ability so it seems just as good with enlightened tutor as imperial recruiter. It felt like it gives painter a punishing fire and other pilots should consider it.

  7. #1067
    Bob Ross
    Kap'n Cook's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2012
    Location

    Baltimore
    Posts

    598

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Quote Originally Posted by Reeplcheep View Post
    I was playing WB humans in MTGO leagues and got wrecked by an imperial painter flickering twinshot sniper back and forth. It puts itself in the graveyard with its channel ability so it seems just as good with enlightened tutor as imperial recruiter. It felt like it gives painter a punishing fire and other pilots should consider it.

    3R
    Artifact Creature - Goblin Archer

    Reach

    When Twinshot Sniper enters the battlefield, it deals 2 damage to any target.

    Channel - 1R, Discard Twinshot Sniper: It deals 2 damage to any target.

    "Pierce the heart and pierce the head, even the mightiest fall down dead."




    Definitely going to test this guy out, he checks every box only downside is 4 mana so no engineering. I was running this list for a while, plan to test him as follows:


    4 Ancient Tomb
    2 City of Traitors
    2 Bloodstained Mire
    2 Wooded Foothills
    4 Mountain
    2 Plateau
    1 Great Furnace

    4 Urza’s Saga
    3 Lotus Petal
    1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
    2 Simian Spirit Guide

    4 Imperial Recruiter
    4 Painter’s Servant
    3 Goblin Engineer
    3 Goblin Welder
    1 Goblin Cratermaker
    1 Ethersworn Canonist

    4 Pyroblast
    1 Red Elemental Blast
    3 Lightning Bolt

    3 Grindstone
    1 Smuggler’s Copter
    1 Ensnaring Bridge
    1 Blood Moon

    1 Enlightened Tutor
    2 Karn, the Great Creator

    Sideboard:

    3 Surgical Extraction
    1 Tormod’s Crypt
    1 Lotus Petal
    1 Grindstone
    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Portable Hole
    1 Ethersworn Canonist
    1 Ensnaring Bridge
    1 Twinshot Sniper (has been Pyrokinesis)
    1 Lightning Bolt
    1 Red Elemental Blast
    1 Magus of the Moon
    1 Karn, the Great Creator
    Strawberry Shortcake

    http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...erry-Shortcake

    What a brainstorm do? Draw card and activate on draw effects fix hand, removing woods
    #FreeNedleeds

  8. #1068
    Member
    k_omega's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2015
    Location

    North Carolina, US
    Posts

    119

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    I made top 8 at a local tournament this past Saturday with:

    4 Mountain, Fetches
    2 Plateau
    1 Great Furnace
    4 Ancient Tomb
    2 City of Traitors
    4 Urza's Saga
    2 Lotus Petal
    1 LED, SSG, Mox Opal

    4 Painter
    3 Grindstone, Welder, Engineer, Recruiter
    2 Enlightened Tutor, Karn TGC
    1 Cratermaker, Copter, Canonist, Blood Moon, Bridge, Soul-Guide Lantern

    4 Pyroblast
    3 Bolt
    1 REB

    SB:
    1 REB, Bolt, Pyrokinesis
    2 Surgical
    1 Faerie Macabre
    1 Karn TGC
    1 Tormod's Crypt, Needle, Grindstone, Portable Hole, Canonist, Liquimetal Coating, Breya's Apprentice, Bridge

    For some time on MTGO I have experimented with merging the 8-goblin mono-red lists with my preferred ET + Canonist lists, usually at the cost of some of the fast mana or Cratermaker. Though these chimeras were functional enough, none seemed to perform particularly better and it proved difficult to consistently win in combo matchups. With this list I am trying to reconcile my preferences for conservative plays and access to a toolbox with my desire to have better game against combo. I'm not convinced it's 100% optimal, but after scything my way to 5-0 (D&T, Merfolk, 8-cast, 4c control feat. Omnath, BUG Hogaak) at FNM the night before I decided to register it as is for the Saturday tournament.

    Card choices

    • 1 Mox Opal - I doubt I would play Opal in a non-Saga build, but because Saga produces only colorless and eventually self-destructs, mana is tighter than ever. While one could fetch Petals with Saga, the Petals will eventually go away too so they don't really solve the problem. Metalcraft is usually trivial to achieve, often by the two constructs created by the Saga. I have been *extremely* happy with this card. With it I have been comfortable going to 21 lands from my usual 22 which gives me an extra maindeck slot. Having a non-Wastelandable white source has also made ET and Canonist less awkward in Wasteland matchups.
    • 2 Lotus Petal - The only cards that I ever want to turbo out on turn 1 are Blood Moon and Canonist. Both of these are usually also fine if played on turn 2, and there are only ever 2-3 of them in the deck anyway. So I don't like devoting many slots to being able to drop a T1 lock piece.
    • 2 Enlightened Tutor - When playing only one copy, I find that I don't draw it often enough to make up for the awkwardness of getting Plateaus Wastelanded. With three, I draw multiples too often and the card disadvantage becomes noticeable. So I play two.
    • Soul-Guide Lantern - In a deck with many tutor effects I like to have at least one piece of graveyard hate and this one gets the nod because it can draw a card. My local meta includes several Sneak and Show and Cloudpost players, so I wanted to be able to assemble the 3-card combo in game 1 without having to lucksack into Karn. But even ignoring that, I think it is worth playing simply because of all the UGx decks playing Uro and Loam, the fact that it addresses Endurance, being able to mess with delirium for DRC or delay Murktide, and the possibility of cheesing out G1 wins against Dredge/Hogaak/Oops/Reanimator players. This and Mox Opal are the artifacts I get with Saga when I don't want to offer up a Grindstone to a Prismatic Ending
    • 3 Recruiter - Many (most?) mono-red lists have completely done away with Recruiter and still do well, and I kept finding that casting Recruiter would come at the cost of a) having to play into a Daze; b) taking 2 off an Ancient Tomb; or c) taking down red mana for Bolt/Blast. Something had to be cut to fit all the other cards I wanted to play, so I cut the card that tends to be awkward against Delver. This is probably the first card I would add back to the list if I were to cut something else.
    • Faerie Macabre - In most lists this would be a third Surgical. Against decks that don't inherently rely on the graveyard (blue soup control, Loam/Depths, the mirror), I don't bring in more than 2 Surgicals anyway due to space constraints and not wanting to draw too many copies of that effect. So the third slot only really needs to be something that is good against Dredge/Hogaak/Oops/Reanimator. Faerie Macabre gets around Chancellor of the Annex and countermagic and, most importantly, can be Recruited. Thus Recruiter goes from being too slow to usually matter (if you're getting Painter or a goblin) in those matchups to being a very relevant card.


    Matches:

    Round 1: 1-1-1 vs. 4c Loamnath
    Game 1: This is a 4c control deck with Loam/Wasteland, Boseiju, Uro, and Omnath. I keep a hand with a red source, a Saga, and a Blood Moon that is obviously great in the Matchup but which I can't deploy without losing Saga and it's ability to bleed out StP/PE before Painters arrive. I draw a second Saga and the constructs meet their demise by StP/PE/Teferi until we are both at 3 cards in hand and no threats on board. My opponent plays a Sylvan Library and I take the opportunity to finally slam Blood Moon. It gets forced sending him to 1 card in hand. I have a Grindstone on board from one of the Sagas plus 2 red lands and a Petal, so the game is to stick Painter and combo before getting buried by Library while having only 3 mana plus whatever I draw. He has an Uro in the graveyard, so after a Welder gets Swordsed the follow-up Engineer can either get Bridge to prevent death by Uro or a second Painter so that any 1-mana source wins the game. I go for the Painter and am rewarded by the opponent escaping the Uro, cantripping into nothing and passing with only Tundra up. I decide I can't beat StP and go for the combo which works.

    -1 LED, -2 Petal, -1 SSG, -2 Bolt
    +1 Blast, +2 Surgical, +1 Apprentice, +1 Karn, +1 Canonist

    Game 2: An early Teferi bounces my Saga before it can make a construct, which prevents me from getting Lantern to deal with the Uro dredged over by Loam. That Uro escapes and starts attacking, while the Teferi prevents me from being able to use blasts defensively. I don't draw anything relevant and die after blast on Uro eats Force of Negation.

    Game 3: With 5 minutes left in the round I keep a hand that has T1 ET -> Blood Moon with a backup Urza's Saga. Unfortunately the sol land is a City and the Moon does not resolve, which leaves me needing to play Saga on extra turn 1 in order to get the Grindstone to go with the Painter in hand, but doing so costs me the City I will probably need to activate it. I try it and hope for the bust, but Teferi bounces the Saga again and I'm not nearly close enough to lethal combat damage.

    Round 2: 2-1 vs. Cloudpost
    Game 1: I know what this person is playing because I glimpsed some cards in his deck during the previous round, so I excitedly keep a hand with T2 Blood Moon. I play the Moon, opponent plays Ancient Stirrings -> Map, I Recruit an Engineer that gets an Ensnaring Bridge since I'm still vulnerable to basically any threat in his deck. Opponent maps for Boseiju to kill the Blood Moon, which works out well for me since that enables a Saga to find Lantern while I have the Painter already and ET for Grindstone. Opponent plays Ugin to remove my Recruiter and Engineer, which swaps a Great Furnace for the Bridge. I set up the 3-card combo two turns later which wins.

    -1 Blood Moon, -1 Canonist, -1 LED, -1 Copter
    +1 Needle, +1 Hole, +1 Karn, +1 Surgical
    Having seen Expedition Map, Ancient Stirrings, and OuaT that can find Boseiju I decide Blood Moon is just not worth risking Marit Lage or messing up the Sagas and ETs I will need to set up the 3-card combo so I cut it. What a world we live in.

    Game 2: I keep a hand with Engineer and Saga, Painter, and a blast which seems like it will be good enough since the opponent fails to find green mana for a while and I'm able to blast a Force of Vigor, but he has Ulamog for Painter and a Needle and Zenith -> Reclamation Sage for the Bridge, and I don't draw an artifact to exchange for the Bridge to prevent myself from dying to Ulamog.

    Game 3: I have a Bolt for his Reclaimer plus Karn for Liquimetal Coating, which kills a Cloudpost before Boseiju kills it. This means that Boseiju does not kill the on-board Grindstone, so the coast is clear to ET -> Painter, Karn -> Tormod's Crypt, and combo after Bolting a Collector Ouphe.

    Round 3: 2-0 vs. UR Delver
    Game 1: I am on the draw against T1 DRC but Ancient Tomb -> Copter meets neither Daze nor Wasteland, so on my next turn I can play Grindstone and Engineer -> Bridge after he plays a Delver and I draw a Painter. His Delver flips and he attacks with it, not realizing I can crew the Copter with Engineer. I trade with the Delver, discarding the Painter to threaten the combo which he is unable to deal with.

    -1 Canonist, -2 ET, -1 LED, -1 Karn
    +1 Bolt, +1 Blast, +1 Needle, +1 Bridge, +1 Apprentice
    Needle is for Wasteland, which may not be necessary but can be helpful since Saga often needs to find Grindstone or Mox Opal to play through Daze, or make constructs to block or beat down. I think it is better not to rely on Karn for Bridge, so I give myself more opportunities to find Bridge naturally by bringing in the sideboard copy. I can see arguments for bringing in the Portable Hole or taking out the other Karn, but I like never needing white mana and not being completely cold to Surgical on a combo piece.

    Game 2: I have a hand of red land, Saga, Opal, Apprentice, Engineer, Painter, blast so I immediately keep. After mulligans he eventually deploys a DRC and two Delvers, which fail to flip for the next 4 turns. With him casting no cantrips I assume he has Surgical, countermagic, or creature removal so I cast Engineer which resolves(!), and since I have a Saga I take a chance that he will not Wasteland it by Engineering for Bridge instead of Grindstone. Engineer survives, and at this point all I care about is not dying to a sudden air force before Saga becomes Grindstone so I play the Apprentice to start making thopters and/or digging for the lands I need. Eventually I can play Painter with blast backup and combo on my next turn.

    Round 4: 2-1 vs. Oops All Spells
    Game 1: This person is local and I know what he plays. Based on experience this is a good matchup in that I almost always lose game 1 but almost always win both postboard games, but it never feels like a good matchup because they can sometimes just have the Pact of Negation or the Thoughtseize or the Force of Vigor or whatever. I am on the draw and bottom a Bridge and a Bolt to keep Saga, Petal, LED, Painter, and Recruiter. The plan is to draw fast mana and use LED with the Recruiter trigger on the stack to search for and cast Canonist. Naturally the opponent plays an Undercity Informer and passes, meaning that if I had kept the Bolt I probably would have won. I don't draw what I want and lose on the next turn.

    -2 Karn, -1 Moon, -1 Bolt, -1 Cratermaker, -1 Copter, -1 Bridge
    +2 Surgical, +1 Crypt, +1 Faerie Macabre, +1 REB, +1 Needle, +1 Canonist

    Game 2: I keep six with Ancient Tomb, Petal, Recruiter, red land, Painter, Grindstone. This is the textbook case for sideboard Faerie Macabre, which I immediately go for. He does not immediately have the discard, and I eventually draw the land to combo.

    Game 3: He keeps seven while I keep a five-card hand whose only positive quality is having a Surgical. He goes for the turn 1 but boarded out Pact of Negation due to fear of the Faerie, so Surgical wins it for me.

    Round 5: 2-0 vs. GW Depths
    Game 1: Having sat near this person earlier I have some idea what he is playing, so I am reluctant to keep my hand whose only mana sources are Saga, Great Furnace, and Mox Opal all of which are vulnerable to Wasteland (if the lands are killed I can't play the artifacts I need to turn on the Opal). But it does have Recruiter, Grindstone, Copter, and Bolt as well which are all good in the matchup so I decide to chance it. I lead on the play with Saga -> Grindstone. He has a Reclaimer which I can Bolt after playing Furnace and active Opal, after which I play the Copter. He plays a Sylvan Library, after which I make a construct and draw another Saga. When he takes an extry card with Library then passes with untapped Forest, Plains, Stage I suspect something involving double Crop Rotation into Yavimaya and Depths, so I Recruit Painter and attack with a construct while leaving Copter to block possible Marit Lage. Having seen the Painter and with Grindstone on board I guess he decides not to StP the 5/5 construct, so he falls to 6 facing two kinds of lethal. He does not have the double Crop Rotation and finds no help with the Library.

    -1 Canonist, -1 Moon, -1 LED
    +1 Needle, +1 Hole, +1 Apprentice
    Apprentice makes blockers for Marit Lage, and I want more removal for Reclaimers and the Collector Ouphes that I'm sure he will bring. Hole is strong against Marit Lage. Since I may need to cast Hole or ET and he can certainly remove a Blood Moon, I decide that card is more a liability than I want to risk especially since I have other ways to deal with Depths.

    Game 2: I keep Painter, Grindstone, fetch, Petal, Bolt, Blast, Needle and Bolt his T1 Reclaimer. He has a second, then I draw the land to be able to play Painter with Petal + Blast backup, which stops an StP. He has no further action so when a topdecked City gives the mana to cast and activate Grindstone that's the game.

    Round 6: ID into the first seed for Top 8

    Top 8: 1-2 vs UR Delver
    Game 1: I mulligan some zero-mana and all-mana hands until keeping a three containing Fetch, Saga, Engineer. Engineer finds Bridge but dies before I can find an artifact to swap with it, but I do draw a land to start making constructs which is preferable to the only available alternative of walking my Bolt into a Daze revealed by Delver. This plan goes well but not well enough to make up for a 4-card deficit.

    -1 Canonist, -2 ET, -1 LED, -1 Karn
    +1 Bolt, +1 Blast, +1 Needle, +1 Bridge, +1 Apprentice

    Game 2: I keep a one-land hand with Painter, Grindstone, fetch, 2 Bolts, Blast. I Bolt his DRC after drawing a timely land to play around Daze, then on the following turn draw another land to play Painter with blast backup after he plays no threat. I draw another Blast which lets me stop an Abrade on Painter through Force of Negation. Unfortunately I don't find Grindstone before he finds Bolt for the Painter, but I do have an Ensnaring Bridge. Shortly afterward I do draw the Grindstone and start milling him manually hoping to hit whatever he has to remove the Bridge. Murktide arrives, then a DRC, then a second Grindstone for me. I can activate both thanks to Mox Opal and a City, so that's what I do. He scoops after I mill his Brazen Borrower.

    Game 3: I keep a hand with Karn, Bridge, Tomb, Saga, Grindstone, Grindstone, Fetch. This is not the sort of hand I want to see in the matchup, but it has the potential to make large constructs or hide behind bridge and does have the mana to cast everything, including red mana so I decide to keep it. He has T1 DRC and no Wasteland for my T1 Saga, but my attempt to block it with a Construct runs afoul of a Bolt that also gives him delirium. I make a second Construct and, having drawn a Bolt earlier, get Mox Opal instead of Lantern. This allows me to play a Grindstone which turns on the Opal, so in response to a Surgical on Saga I Bolt his DRC which prompts a double Brainstorm into Force of Negation, for which I have the Blast. All is looking well until he drops a Murktide, obligating me to play the Bridge. He has a Hurkyl's Recall though, plus enough mana and cards to play a second Murktide that pumps the first enough to be lethal.

    Observations:
    • Mox Opal was spectacular
    • I never added mana with LED and boarded it out almost every round. I never considered this card particularly necessary before and still don't.
    • I've been very happy with the one Smuggler's Copter
    • Cratermaker was never relevant. In recent weeks I haven't found it particularly necessary on MTGO either because Karn, Chalice, and Null Rod have all fallen off in popularity.


    Changes
    -1 LED and probably +1 Recruiter
    a.k.a. Eddy Viscosity

  9. #1069

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Is there an up to date Primer for this deck? A Discord? Or some other part of the internet / social media I should be looking?

    I’ve just picked it up in paper and I’m interested in understanding some of the card choices, how to side board and some general top tips.

    Any and all advice is welcome.

    Thank you.

  10. #1070

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Here is a link to the painter discord server: https://discord.gg/T9bb2ztBUT

  11. #1071
    Bob Ross
    Kap'n Cook's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2012
    Location

    Baltimore
    Posts

    598

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Quote Originally Posted by VivaSkegVegas View Post
    Is there an up to date Primer for this deck? A Discord? Or some other part of the internet / social media I should be looking?

    I’ve just picked it up in paper and I’m interested in understanding some of the card choices, how to side board and some general top tips.

    Any and all advice is welcome.

    Thank you.

    It's been on my list for a while to update the front page, I just keep putting it off. Ideally I'll have it refreshed in the next few months, otherwise most people chat on discord.

    It is also a longer term plan of mine to more periodically post here with longer ideas to better capture the deck changes over the years. The Source is a lot better for historical viewing than other places
    Strawberry Shortcake

    http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...erry-Shortcake

    What a brainstorm do? Draw card and activate on draw effects fix hand, removing woods
    #FreeNedleeds

  12. #1072
    Member
    k_omega's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2015
    Location

    North Carolina, US
    Posts

    119

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    I made 2nd place for a Tundra at a local event this past Saturday with:

    4 Mountain, Fetches
    2 Plateau
    1 Great Furnace
    4 Ancient Tomb
    2 City of Traitors
    4 Urza's Saga
    2 Lotus Petal
    1 SSG, Mox Opal

    4 Painter, Recruiter
    3 Grindstone, Welder, Engineer, Karn TGC
    2 Enlightened Tutor
    1 Cratermaker, Ichor Wellspring, Canonist, Bridge, Soul-Guide Lantern

    4 Pyroblast
    2 REB
    2 Bolt

    SB:
    1 REB, Bolt, Abrade
    2 Surgical
    1 Faerie Macabre
    1 Tormod's Crypt, Needle, Grindstone, Portable Hole, Canonist, Liquimetal Coating, Breya's Apprentice, Bridge, Torpor Orb

    Card Choices:

    This is pretty much the same list I've used for a while now, with one real exception:

    • Torpor Orb - This used to be a Magus of the Moon but I found that card to be a bit too awkward with Saga/Plateau and a bit too low-impact now that 8-Mulch has practically disappeared. I expected some known local D&T experts to show and wanted some more action for that matchup. Orb is also reasonable against Elves and 12 Post which are the other two matchups where I would have been interested in a Magus. Splash damage against Doomsday is a plus.


    Matches:
    Round 1: 2-1 vs. UWR Mentor
    Game 1: I'm stuck on the two lands from my opening hand for far longer than I like, but I am able to Bolt a Mentor and deploy Engineer -> Wellspring which helps. I decide to blast a Narset to prevent him finding more exiling removal and out of fear of Days' Undoing, which means I have no protection for a Grindstone to go with my two Painters. But disciplined use of the combat step has left him at 8, so I go for 1/x aggro which eventually gets the job done.

    +1 REB, +2 Surgical, +1 Apprentice, +1 Bolt, +1 Canonist
    -1 Lantern, -1 Petal, -1 SSG, -2 ET
    Experience has shown that these decks struggle to win without an active Mentor, so I bring in an additional Bolt to deal with that card.

    Game 2: I play an early Cratermaker to push damage and avoid tapping Ancient Tomb for it later but it gets Swordsed leaving me with no answer to the Mentor except for Painter + Blasting it, which I opt not to do since I can combo next turn. However he has two pieces of removal for the Painter and I get run over by monks.

    Game 3: My T1 Painter gets Swordsed but T2 Karn resolves and gets it back. He seems to be struggling to get all three colors of mana so I Karn for Liquimetal Coating which immediately becomes useless thanks to Stony Silence. I turn it into a 2/2 to recharge Karn so I can fetch Portable Hole to exile the enchantment. I'm forced to use Engineer to swap Hole for entombed Wellspring in response to Prismatic Ending on the Hole, returning the Stony. A Meltdown clears out all the artifacts but I'm able to Karn -> Grindstone to restart the Engineer/Wellspring engine and threaten to remove Stony by getting back the Portable Hole. Welder shows up to assist, and a final Karn -> exiled Wellspring lets me fight through a second Meltdown to combo in extra turns.

    Round 2: 0-2 vs. Sneak & Show
    Game 1: I am on the draw and deploy T1 Recruiter -> Engineer so that I can put it in off S&T to find Bridge, having the Great Furnace already to return it. However I have no defense against Sneak Attack which eventually puts in Progenitus and Emrakul.

    +1 REB, +1 Needle, +1 Bridge, +2 Surgical, +1 Canonist
    -2 Grindstone, -2 Bolt, -1 Recruiter, -1 Petal
    I like to be able to Blast S&T and then extract it, so I sideboard to make that happen.

    Game 2: I T1 Needle Sneak Attack and have the Blast + Surgical for his S&T, which shows a hand of Griselbrand, Emrakul, Meltdown, and Sneak Attack. Fortunately he has only one red source so he cannot Meltdown away the Needle and Sneak in the same turn. I have the Grindstone on board, Painter in hand, and Saga about to fetch Lantern but after seeing the Meltdown decline to play out the Painter. I play an Engineer to fetch Bridge, mostly to thin out the deck because I really need a blast for either of the two red cards. Opponent draws a fetch for Volcanic but apparently misses the line to Meltdown for x >= 3 (he has two Ancient Tombs). I decide not to trust him to keep missing it and combo hoping that he drew the Progenitus, which he did not, so I lose.

    This is the only matchup where I might prefer the pre-Saga builds with multiple Smuggler's Copter, simply because the mana investment is smaller and it helps to find blasts.

    Round 3: 2-0 vs. Synthesizer Shortcake
    This person was encouraged to play Painter by his friend, my previous opponent, who was impressed by how I played it against him a couple months ago. We all three talked some before the event so I know this is a mirror match.
    Game 1: I have a Bolt for his Welder and my Saga fetches Lantern to exile a Portable Hole that would have gotten very troublesome thanks to his Goblin Engineer and second Welder. I have the all-important Grindstone and basically wait to draw lands so that I don't have to use my Lotus Petal to combo. I'm able to combo after he taps out and I have no artifact in the graveyard.

    -1 Painter, -1 Canonist, -2 REB, -1 Pyroblast
    +1 Bolt, +1 Abrade, +2 Surgical, +1 Needle
    I don't mind keeping in some blasts because it is sometimes necessary to kill a non-boltable permanent, chiefly Karn.

    Game 2: I go for an early combo while his Welder is tapped, mine is not, and he has one mana open. Unfortunately he has Swords for the Painter, so the game devolves into his Goblins + 2x Experimental Synthesizer competing against my Goblins + Ichor Wellspring, neither of which really does much for either of us until I draw a Karn, which shuts off an LED, Grindstone, Opal, Shadowspear, and Petal and recurs the exiled Painter. I have a Pyroblast and am able to wait to combo again with blast backup against his one card in hand, which turns out not to matter.

    Round 4: 2-1 vs. Non-Fable Red Prison
    Game 1: I expected this person to play D&T so I keep Tomb, City, Saga, 2x Painter, Karn which is better for that matchup than mulliganing to five would be. I am on the draw so get to be surprised by his T1 Mountain. Since the hand doesn't do much else I play Tomb -> Painter on Blue expecting a Bolt on it. Instead he plays a Shatterskull land tapped, so I play Karn -> Grindstone. He has a third land and Trinisphere, but I previously drew a second Tomb to be able to cast Grindstone and combo him out.

    -1 Soul-Guide Lantern, -1 Canonist, -1 REB, -1 Wellspring, -1 Recruiter
    +1 Abrade, +1 Bolt, +1 Needle, +1 Apprentice, +1 Bridge
    I figure this is the Fable/Hearse version that has done well recently, so I want the Needle to mitigate those two cards. Apprentice is a reasonable counterplay to Rabblemaster/Warboss, and on the draw Karn -> Bridge is probably too slow so the second Bridge moves to the main. Since it could easily become necessary to lock out a bunch of 1-power goblin tokens I don't want the liability of Wellspring or Recruiter putting more cards in my hand so I shave on those.

    Game 2: I keep Great Furnace, Plateau, 2 Petal, Opal, Grindstone, Engineer. Opponent has Ancient Tomb, Chrome Mox, SSG for a T1 Karn -> Coating which completely shuts me out. I play the Furnace rather than discard to hand size and scoop to a Trinisphere.

    -1 Apprentice, +1 REB
    Since this seems to be the old-style version with planeswalkers I want more answers to those.

    Game 3: I have another explosive hand of Opal, Petal, Fetch, Grindstone, Welder, Painter, Abrade. I dump everything but Painter and Abrade which runs into another T1 Karn that kills the Mox. I draw an Ancient Tomb which lets me cast Painter, but both creatures die to Fury. Karn fetches Liquimetal Coating which I Abrade before it can destroy anything. I topdeck a Pyroblast,then a Painter to take out the Karn and he finds no answer to the Painter before I combo the following turn.

    Round 5: 2-0 vs. Doomsday
    Game 1: I know what this person plays so I keep a hand on the play that has T2 Canonist with a REB for any T1 cantrip, in this case a random Ponder. Canonist resolves and I eventually draw Painter + Pyroblast for the first Doomsday, then the second puts him to 5 against my Painter, Welder, Canonist, and Bolt in hand. Canonist stops him from drawing into the pile or countering the Bolt, so I win by combat damage.

    -1 Lantern, -1 Bridge, -2 Bolt, -1 Cratermaker, -1 Wellspring
    +1 REB, +1 Canonist, +2 Surgical, +1 Grindstone, +1 Torpor Orb
    With T1 Grindstone being so strong, and Karn usually too slow, I bring in the 4th Grindstone. Despite the way game 1 played out, Surgical is usually much better than Bolt.

    Game 2: I keep a hand with Torpor Orb, Grindstone, Canonist, Saga, Painter, Mountain, Engineer. Orb gets Thoughtseized but T1 Grindstone off Saga resolves and he cantrips a while. I play Mountain -> Engineer which gets countered, then Petal off Saga to cast Canonist which is also countered. But this leaves him with few resources, and after he Personal Tutors for Doomsday I draw the third mana to Grindstone it away, then play the Painter and later combo for the win.

    Round 6: ID into top 8 as the 4th seed

    Quarterfinals: 2-1 vs. Bant Control
    This is a StP/PE Bant deck with Endurance, Ice-Fang, Narset + Days' Undoing, Teferi, and Karn/Lattice.
    Game 1: I keep a hand with 2 lands, a couple of goblins, and most importantly a Bridge and a Karn. However I draw no only one Saga as lands for the rest of the game and effectively lose to Narset + Days' Undoing.

    +1 REB, +2 Surgical, +1 Apprentice, +1 Canonist
    -1 Petal, -1 Opal, -1 SSG, -1 Bridge, -1 Enlightened Tutor

    Game 2: I keep Plateau, Saga, City, Karn, Grindstone, Canonist, Painter and he mulligans to 5, which is probably the only reason the Canonist survived. However after I draw a Welder and fetch Lantern off the Saga I have enough insurance against StP that I go for the combo. He has it, so I sacrifice the Lantern and then swap it for the Painter. He is unable to remove the Welder or the Grindstone on the following turn so from that point on if he casts a spell I can weld in the Painter in response to Grindstone activation. This leads to draw-go while I attack with Canonist and wait to draw something that lets me proactively win. It comes in the form of a second Welder which is enough.

    Game 3: We both mulligan to 6 and I keep a hand with a Saga, City, Ancient Tomb, and 2x Painter which I decide is good enough. I draw a third Painter and lead with Saga to get Grindstone as early as possible. I run out a Painter off the Ancient Tomb next turn, which merely gets bounced by Teferi. I replay it, it resolves, and I play City to combo off. He has no Endurance so I win.

    Semifinals: 2-0 vs. Doomsday (same player from Round 5)
    Game 1: I am on the play and T1 Saga -> Grindstone, T2 Tomb -> Painter is too fast for him.

    -1 Lantern, -1 Bridge, -2 Bolt, -1 Cratermaker, -1 Wellspring
    +1 REB, +1 Canonist, +2 Surgical, +1 Grindstone, +1 Torpor Orb

    Game 2: I keep City, Painter, Grindstone, Mox Opal, Torpor Orb, Saga, SSG threatening a Turn 2 if everything necessary resolves. He Duresses the Orb, I go Mox -> City -> Stone -> Painter but the Painter is countered. Unfortunately I now don't even have the mana for a Grindstone activation and if I play another land I will lose the City and be even further away from an activation, unless I can also turn on the Opal. I draw a Pyroblast and decide that's enough to exchange the City for a Mountain, which appears also to entice the opponent to go for Doomsday. He has no cards in hand after making the pile, and from the exiled cards I deduce his top card is Ideas Unbound. I get the best possible draw in Lotus Petal which, with the Saga from the opening hand and the Opal, gives 4 mana to hold up Blast and Grindstone. He does draw Ideas Unbound and casts it, in response I Grindstone him for the win.

    Finals: 0-2 vs. #?@! UR Delver
    Game 1: I am on the draw and keep a hand with Saga, Fetch, Painter, Grindstone, Plateau, ET, Bridge. I run out the Grindstone, then Saga + Welder while the opponent cantrips a lot but without playing a DRC or a Delver. I assume this means he is setting up a Murktide, so I preemptively play the Bridge which gets countered, and a Welder which gets Bolted. Eventually I draw an Ancient Tomb, a City, and a Karn so I have the option to attempt to combo or Karn -> Bridge and I decide to go with the former, thinking that he will probably Bolt it and I will need to ET for a second Painter, whereas I can probably Karn -> Bridge later if necessary. He does have the Bolt, and cantrips into a second Bolt for the tutored Painter, and a Murktide, and a Bolt + Mystic Sanctuary on Bolt to kill me after I go to 5 for Karn -> Bridge.

    -3 Karn, -2 ET, -1 Canonist
    +1 REB, +1 Bolt, +1 Abrade, +1 Portable Hole, +1 Bridge, +1 Apprentice
    Portable Hole comes in because I think it's better than Karn, of which I used to keep in one copy. I have not been Surgicaled by a Delver player in a very long time and 1 mana removal > 4 mana situational card.

    Game 2: I mulligan a Hand of 2 Mountain, 3 Blast, Grindstone, Recruiter because it can't deal with DRC and is extremely reliant on drawing mana (never a safe bet) for Recruiter to find Painter. The 6-card hand has no lands so I keep a 5 of Hole, Fetch, Engineer, Saga, Mountain. I fetch Plateau to Hole a T1 DRC and resolve Saga -> Engineer -> Grindstone having drawn a Painter. Unfortunately the opponent has Wastelands for both nonbasics and I draw no more mana for the rest of the game.

    At the moment I wouldn't change anything about the list. I continue to be very pleased with Ichor Wellspring.
    a.k.a. Eddy Viscosity

  13. #1073
    Bob Ross
    Kap'n Cook's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2012
    Location

    Baltimore
    Posts

    598

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Top 4 in the Starcity Baltimore 5k today with the following, report to come:

    4 Ancient Tomb
    2 City of Traitors
    2 Bloodstained Mire
    2 Wooded Foothills
    4 Mountain
    2 Plateau
    1 Great Furnace

    4 Urza's Saga
    1 Lion's Eye Diamond
    3 Lotus Petal
    2 Simian Spirit Guide

    4 Painter's Servant
    3 Grindstone

    4 Pyroblast
    1 Red Elemental Blast
    4 Lightning Bolt

    2 Imperial Recruiter
    3 Goblin Engineer
    3 Goblin Welder
    1 Goblin Cratermaker

    1 Brainstone
    1 Enlightened Tutor
    1 Ethersworn Canonist
    1 Ensnaring Bridge
    1 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker

    3 Karn, the Great Creator


    side:

    1 Grindstone
    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Portable Hole
    1 Ethersworn Canonist
    1 Ensnaring Bridge
    1 Tormod's Crypt
    1 Soul-Guide Lantern
    2 Surgical Extraction
    1 Twinshot Sniper
    2 Red Elemental Blast
    2 Fury
    1 Magus of the Moon
    Strawberry Shortcake

    http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...erry-Shortcake

    What a brainstorm do? Draw card and activate on draw effects fix hand, removing woods
    #FreeNedleeds

  14. #1074
    Member
    k_omega's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2015
    Location

    North Carolina, US
    Posts

    119

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    I won a local tournament for a Tropical Island on Saturday with:

    4 Mountain, Fetches
    2 Plateau
    1 Great Furnace
    4 Urza's Saga
    4 Ancient Tomb
    2 City of Traitors
    2 Lotus Petal
    1 SSG, Mox Opal

    4 Painter
    3 Grindstone, Welder, Engineer, Recruiter, Karn TGC
    2 Enlightened Tutor
    1 Cratermaker, Apprentice, Canonist, Ichor Wellspring, Bridge, Soul-Guide Lantern

    4 Pyroblast
    2 REB
    2 Bolt

    SB:
    1 REB, Abrade, Blood Moon
    2 Surgical
    2 Bolt
    1 Faerie Macabre
    1 Tormod's Crypt, Needle, Grindstone, Portable Hole, Canonist, Liquimetal Coating, Bridge, Torpor Orb

    Card Choices:

    • 0 Fable - I've been playing one for a while, replacing a Recruiter. Usually it's lackluster. I've found that:
      1. The token often can't reasonably attack, at which point it's just as much a chump blocker as Recruiter.
      2. I often don't have many cards I'm willing to discard.
      3. I often don't have anything good to copy with the Reflection.


      I think the deck isn't built to make great use of Fable, and since I wanted to play 2 ET and did not want to buy more Fables (or Furies) and redesign the deck accordingly, I cut it to make space for...
    • Maindeck Breya's Apprentice - I was boarding this card in in almost every matchup. Maindecking this slightly improves the Delver matchup and I wasn't Karning for it much anyway. Taking it out of the sideboard allows for the...
    • 4th sideboard Bolt - Delver, but also somewhat the Jeskai Mentor/planeswalker decks.
    • Blood Moon - I had been having trouble with 3c/4c control piles and people in my area seem not to respect this card anymore. If landed early, it does work against Delver and that's good enough for me.



    Matches:


    Round 1: 2-0 vs. D&T

    Game 1: After we both mulligan I have Plateau, Petal, ET, Painter, Welder, Bridge on the play. Not great, but better than mulliganing to 5. I play the Plateau and after he plays Plains and no 1-drop I ET for Saga to get a second land and deploy Painter, since he probably has SFM -> Kaldra or maybe Thalia. It's SFM -> Jitte, so after drawing a Tomb I play Welder and Bridge with an empty hand. His turn is land + Jitte, and I assume that he must have StP/Solitude because otherwise his draw is just too weak to be real otherwise. I draw Karn and Saga goes to find Grindstone. I decide to wait to combo since I can draw a blast to stop one piece of interaction, and Karn gives a huge safety cushion in any case. He goes to Skyclave the Painter, I combo, and he has Solitude going to one card in hand. Because of Skyclave he does not have mana to equip Jitte, so I can untap and play Karn to shut off that problem (still with one card and Brige vs. SFM, Skyclave). Karn eventually gets the exiled Painter and I combo out.

    -1 Canonist, -1 Lantern, -2 ET, -1 REB
    +1 Needle, +1 Hole, +2 Bolt, +1 Abrade

    Game 2: He has T1 Saga, I have T1 Grindstone + Opal, then he plays Plains + Serenity. I play Ichor Wellspring off a second Mountain, then cast Welder using the Opal. Serenity kills his Saga and my artifacts, I draw a card from Wellspring, and he follows up with Wasteland + Thalia. I play out a Saga and have a Bolt but decide to play Painter instead of Bolting the Thalia because a) SFM, b) he will probably Wasteland the Saga, so his Thalia will make it harder for him to StP the Painter, and c) Painter blocks Thalia. He does Wasteland the Saga, then attacks with Thalia(!). I block, earning a Solitude on Painter. I draw an Ancient Tomb which lets me play Karn and get back the Painter, but Thalia knocks Karn down to 1. Painter + Recruiter for Engineer stabilizes the board and Karn eventually gets Grindstone for the win.

    Round 2: 1-1-1 vs. UR Delver
    Game 1: I am on the play with T1 Welder, followed up by Petal + Tomb + Apprentice. He Bolts the Welder and Wastelands the Tomb, and I am left on one land with 2x Recruiter and a Karn in hand, but some timely Bolts and Blasts let me fend off DRCs and Delvers while attacking with Apprentice and the thopter, also finding a second Welder. I draw a Canonist and then a fetch, and I decide to walk into the on-board Wasteland by fetching Plateau to deploy Canonist. At this point the board is 1/1 DRC vs. Apprentice, Thopter, Canonist, Welder with the opponent at 6, myself at 7. Naturally this is when a 6/6 Murktide shows up. I chump it and cash in the Thopter for a card revealing Bolt. He has a second Murktide producing a 4/4 and making the first dragon now lethal, and unfortunately I can get through for only 2 damage, so I have to use the timely Saga to Recruit Engineer, play Welder tricks to get another thopter to chump Murktide, then Engineer for Bridge and Weld it in. Canonist works overtime here stopping cantrip chains from finding countermagic so this all resolves. Saga finds Grindstone, I Recruit Painter, and eventually draw mana for Grindstone before he finds 2 bolts.

    -2 ET, -3 Karn
    +2 Bolt, +1 Bridge, +1 Moon, +1 REB

    Game 2: I have a hand with mana, removal, and Bridge and manage to stick the Bridge. Once he gets a Murktide down, though, Brazen Borrower bounces the Bridge and I don't have enough mana to play it and an Engineer for backup, so when Force of Negation counters the replayed Bridge I end up facing lethal.

    Game 3: We have 6 minutes left in the round now (game 1 took 34). I mulligan to Fetch, Tomb, Bridge, Engineer, Petal, Bolt. Bridge resolves, then Engineer resolves and I decide to get Apprentice with it instead of guessing which combo piece I won't draw. With the Engineer active, Apprentice gives me counterplay against removal on Bridge, even if it's Petty Theft, and might possibly draw me into combo pieces if I can lock out the combat step. I'm consciously playing for the draw at this point, and almost lose it when a Delver flips revealing a Meltdown, but the opponent only has three lands and doesn't find a fourth before extra turns are over.

    Round 3: 2-0 vs. Oops All Spells
    Game 1: I know what this person is playing and mulligan to a 5 with Saga, Painter, Furnace, Lantern, Grindstone. Lantern stops him from milling himself, but I eventually mill him anyway.

    -3 Karn, -2 Bolt, -1 Cratermaker, -1 Wellspring, -1 Bridge
    +2 Surgical, +1 Faerie Macabre, +1 Crypt, +1 REB, +1 Canonist, +1 Needle, +1 Grindstone
    Wellspring has the advantage of being cheaper and not needing red mana, but Apprentice is better at dealing with a sudden zombie attack force if he goes for Memory's Journey after a mill. I keep Apprentice for that and because there's nothing else worth bringing in for it.

    Game 2: He mulligans to 4, I mulligan to 5 with Lantern, ET, Engineer, Grindstone, Plateau. He does not T1 me, so I play Plateau -> Lantern which again buys the time I need to set up the combo.

    Round 4: 2-0 vs. Mono-B Helm
    Game 1: This is a local brewer with a Leyline/Voidwalker/Helm/Opposition Agent type deck. I run out a T1 Grindstone and he shreds my hand with 2x Thoughtseize. I play a second Grindstone, then topdeck a Painter to win.

    -1 Canonist, -1 Lantern, -1 ET, -1 REB
    +1 Abrade, +1 Bolt, +1 Needle, +1 Abrade
    I make myself less vulnerable to Helm and Opposition Agent.

    Game 2: He has no T1 play so I risk Wasteland by playing Tomb + Petal + Painter + Grindstone. He has a Sudden Edict for the Painter and a Chalice on 1. Seeing a Wasteland for the Tomb, I Recruit for Goblin Engineer anticipating a need to get Wellspring to claw back into the game. He plays an Opposition Agent, making Engineer much less valuable, but still good enough to exchange an Apprentice for the dead Painter for the win.

    Round 5: ID into top 8 as the second seed.

    Top 8: 2-1 vs. Reanimator
    Game 1: I know what he's playing and mulligan to Fetch, Saga, ET, Pyroblast, Grindstone, Engineer. Since I'm on the play and can ET for Lantern in response to discard, I decide I'm not mulliganning any further. Unfortunately he has a Chancellor. Since I might need the Grindstone either to combo or exchange for Engineered Bridge, and will need to cast ET, I decide to play the fetch and pass hoping for no discard. Apparently he kept a hand that needed one fast mana to go off and did not draw it, so I Pyroblast a land on his end step to eat the Chancellor trigger, upkeep ET -> Lantern and win from there.

    -3 Karn, -2 Bolt, -1 Cratermaker, -1 Canonist
    +2 Surgical, +1 Faerie Macabre, +1 Crypt, +1 Grindstone, +1 Needle, +1 Bridge

    Game 2: I mulligan a 6 with Lantern but no other real action and luck into a 5 of Surgical, Crypt, Saga, Saga, Bridge. He has an Unmask for the Surgical, then reanimates Archon. I discard Crypt so that I can draw fast mana or a sol land and drop Bridge before Archon kills me, but I don't draw any.

    Game 3: I keep 7 with Faerie Macabre, Petal, Fetch, ET, REB, Saga, Engineer, playing out Petal + Fetch. He has double Dark Ritual off a fetched Bayou into Grief, taking Engineer, but no follow-up so I ET for Painter then play Saga + Painter with REB up via Petal. I take a couple hits from Grief but he has no other play after a Lotus Petal, so I immediately suspect Abrupt Decay. I draw and play Welder, taking the risk of having to use Petal for REB and then having to find mana to activate Grindstone. Instead he cashes in the Petal to Decay my Welder, but finds no mana to use his second Decay so I win on my turn.

    Top 4: 2-1 vs. UR Delver
    Game 1: I am on the play and run out Mountain + Grindstone, which eats a Force of Will pitching Murktide. So I suspect the opponent is not very familiar with the matchup, and after an Engineer resolves (fetching Painter), a Canonist resolves, and he Chain Lightnings the Canonist while the Engineer is active I'm sure of it. I exchange the Canonist for the Painter then combo on my turn.

    Same sideboarding as round 2

    Game 2: I keep a hand with removal, lands, and an Engineer but this time the Engineer dies. My removal stops his 1-drop threats so I play out a Painter to add to the Apprentice beatdown, but the Painter gets Bolted, then Surgicaled and once Murktide arrives I don't have a way to win quickly or lock out the game.

    Game 3: I mulligan to Mountain, Tomb, Cratermaker, Bolt, Apprentice, Lantern. This hand is poor because it requires Tomb to survive and to be repeatedly tapped, and does not have a clear path to combo. But it's better than mulliganing to 5 so I roll with it. He does not have a Daze for the T2 Apprentice, but does have a Null Rod which shuts off everything I want to do with the hand. But Cratermaker resolves and shines and I'm back to Apprentice beatdown. Apprentice gets Bolted but there is no countermagic for a topdecked Blood Moon which leaves him with one blue source and buys me a ton of time. I draw into the combo, while he drops an Unlicensed Hearse and flips a Delver. With Moon I have 5 mana, so when I draw a Pyroblast I decide to run out the Painter, name blue, and hope for the best. He Forces the Painter, but has no response to the Pyroblast except to Petty Theft the Blood Moon and Brainstorm, which evidently found nothing since Grindstone got there on the next turn.

    Finals: 2-0 vs. UR Delver
    Game 1: I keep a hand with 2x Saga, 2x Tomb, SSG, Welder, Engineer. In game 1 a fast Saga plan can beat Delver if they don't have an early Wasteland or take too long to deploy threats, so I like to keep those hands rather than mulligan for just the right mixture of mana + threats + removal that always seems to come up just a bit short. I'm on the draw now, though fortunately he does not have a T1 threat. I draw a Recruiter and run out the Saga, which unfortunately gets Wastelanded. I draw Grindstone and play it off the second Saga. He Dazes, I pay with SSG and now he has no lands and no threat on board. This Saga survives, makes two constructs, and finds Mox Opal to let me finally start casting the red cards in my hand. He manages to flip 2 Delvers though so I'm only slightly ahead in the damage race, then fall way behind to a 8/8 Murktide. I untap at 7 life with three Ancient Tombs and the Opal as mana sources, with two constructs, Welder, Grindstone in play and draw Arid Mesa (naturally). I would like to Engineer for Bridge and Weld it in, but one of the Delvers showed FoW and he has three cards in hand. I go to 5 to cast the Engineer, which does get Forced, then go to 3 to Grindstone myself hitting Mountain ... and Bridge! I swap a construct for it, and since I don't immediately die I know his last card is not Bolt. Two turn cycles pass without either of us doing much of anything, then I draw City which lets me Recruit Painter and go to 1 to cast it, threatening to win the next turn. He does not find burn or Borrower so I win.

    Sideboarding: same as round 2

    Game 2: He leads on DRC, and I decline to Bolt it until next turn when I can use Saga to pay for Daze. He has a Wasteland and no play, so I figure he has burn or countermagic in hand. I draw a second Bolt, play the Saga, and pass. On his turn he Wastelands the Saga, I respond with Bolt which gets Forced. Seeing that he missed his land drop, on my turn I play out a Petal and Bolt the DRC again, which resolves. After a turn cycle of scant action I have a Bridge in hand that I'd like to deploy but my only Mana sources are Mountain, Saga, and 2 Petals. I decide not to play the Bridge so that I can exchange the Petals for constructs, fetching Lantern to delay the Murktide I suspect he has (since he has done very little and hasn't gotten to two blue mana + 5 cards in graveyard yet). I'm left with two 2/2 constructs, but draw into Ancient Tomb so that I can make them 3/3s by casting Bridge, after which I'll have exactly three cards in hand. I put him to 9 with the constructs that are just small enough to be able to attack, then he Surgicals my Pyroblasts to clear the way for a Murktide, which isn't worth much because of the Bridge. This smells like Borrower to me, so I run a construct into Murktide so that the other one puts him in Bolt range, then cast a second Bridge and settle in to wait for fortuitous draws. I'm able to get empty-handed by casting the Grindstone and Welder that I had been keeping in hand before, so when I draw Engineer I cast it for Painter. The opponent digs a bit, uses a desperation Mishra's Bauble, and on my turn I exchange a construct for Painter and Grindstone him in response to the Bauble trigger.

    Observations:
    1. Never, at any point, did I wish that I had a Fable.
    2. Maindeck Lantern is great. Don't leave home without it.
    3. Maindeck Apprentice works well. I was always happy to see this card.
    4. I definitely noticed having the fourth Bolt postboard against Delver.
    5. Blood Moon was fine. I think it helped me win a game.


    Depending on the meta, I might ditch the Wellspring to maindeck another Bolt or drop the Blood Moon for some other card. I might try putting a second Apprentice somewhere, possibly in place of Wellspring.
    a.k.a. Eddy Viscosity

  15. #1075
    Bob Ross
    Kap'n Cook's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2012
    Location

    Baltimore
    Posts

    598

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Good work :) love seeing painter reports on the source

    adding my Baltimore one too:

    https://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/...36#post1101636
    Strawberry Shortcake

    http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...erry-Shortcake

    What a brainstorm do? Draw card and activate on draw effects fix hand, removing woods
    #FreeNedleeds

  16. #1076
    Member

    Join Date

    Sep 2011
    Posts

    4,776

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Nice reports!

    Deck seems well-positioned. Master of maindeck Pyroblast. Abuses Saga better than other Saga decks.

  17. #1077
    Member
    Airwave's Avatar
    Join Date

    Oct 2013
    Location

    Netherlands
    Posts

    213

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Quote Originally Posted by FTW View Post
    Nice reports!

    Deck seems well-positioned. Master of maindeck Pyroblast. Abuses Saga better than other Saga decks.
    Initiative stompy is shaking up the meta

    Do you think Painter is well positioned? The matchup seems favorable? But I'm not sure how others will adapt

    I see some painters put Torpor Orb in the sideboard, but that hurts our plan as well, what do you think?

  18. #1078
    Bob Ross
    Kap'n Cook's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2012
    Location

    Baltimore
    Posts

    598

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Quote Originally Posted by Airwave View Post
    Initiative stompy is shaking up the meta

    Do you think Painter is well positioned? The matchup seems favorable? But I'm not sure how others will adapt

    I see some painters put Torpor Orb in the sideboard, but that hurts our plan as well, what do you think?

    We line up relatively well, having a fast combo clock backed up with ways to prevent combat and even steal the initiative. Played against it a couple times in recent challenges, the red version is basically just red prison, that didn't feel too different. The white one is a bit tougher playing into Solitude and March of Otherworldy Light but its still death and taxes esque. I lost to a hybrid red white version where i had buffed my welder to a 3/3 about to snowball with initiative vs a Simian spirit guide and hellbent but died to topdeck March on Welder. Overall its just the latest flavor of the month bullshit Legacy gets to deal with before Delver changes 1 sideboard slot to address it

    Here's what I've been on recently to decent results:

    4 Ancient Tomb
    2 City of Traitors
    2 Bloodstained Mire
    2 Wooded Foothills
    4 Mountain
    2 Plateau
    1 Great Furnace

    4 Urza’s Saga
    3 Lotus Petal
    1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
    1 Soul-Guide Lantern
    3 Grindstone

    2 Imperial Recruiter
    4 Painter’s Servant
    3 Goblin Welder
    3 Goblin Engineer
    1 Goblin Cratermaker
    2 Simian Spirit Guide

    4 Pyroblast
    1 Red Elemental Blast
    4 Lightning Bolt

    1 Enlightened Tutor
    1 Ethersworn Canonist
    1 Ensnaring Bridge
    2 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
    2 Karn, the Great Creator

    Sideboard:

    1 Grindstone
    1 Tormod’s Crypt
    2 Surgical Extraction
    1 Portable Hole
    1 Ethersworn Canonist
    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Ensnaring Bridge
    2 Red Elemental Blast
    2 Fury
    1 Magus of the Moon
    1 Twinshot Sniper
    1 Karn, the Great Creator
    Strawberry Shortcake

    http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...erry-Shortcake

    What a brainstorm do? Draw card and activate on draw effects fix hand, removing woods
    #FreeNedleeds

  19. #1079
    Member
    Airwave's Avatar
    Join Date

    Oct 2013
    Location

    Netherlands
    Posts

    213

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Thanks for your reply. I'm sure UR delver will manage, and we will probably too

    I'm not so sure about some of the fair decks. They seem to be quite trampled at the moment.

  20. #1080

    Re: [Deck] Strawberry Shortcake

    Quote Originally Posted by Kap'n Cook View Post
    We line up relatively well, having a fast combo clock backed up with ways to prevent combat and even steal the initiative. Played against it a couple times in recent challenges, the red version is basically just red prison, that didn't feel too different. The white one is a bit tougher playing into Solitude and March of Otherworldy Light but its still death and taxes esque. I lost to a hybrid red white version where i had buffed my welder to a 3/3 about to snowball with initiative vs a Simian spirit guide and hellbent but died to topdeck March on Welder. Overall its just the latest flavor of the month bullshit Legacy gets to deal with before Delver changes 1 sideboard slot to address it

    Here's what I've been on recently to decent results:

    4 Ancient Tomb
    2 City of Traitors
    2 Bloodstained Mire
    2 Wooded Foothills
    4 Mountain
    2 Plateau
    1 Great Furnace

    4 Urza’s Saga
    3 Lotus Petal
    1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
    1 Soul-Guide Lantern
    3 Grindstone

    2 Imperial Recruiter
    4 Painter’s Servant
    3 Goblin Welder
    3 Goblin Engineer
    1 Goblin Cratermaker
    2 Simian Spirit Guide

    4 Pyroblast
    1 Red Elemental Blast
    4 Lightning Bolt

    1 Enlightened Tutor
    1 Ethersworn Canonist
    1 Ensnaring Bridge
    2 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
    2 Karn, the Great Creator

    Sideboard:

    1 Grindstone
    1 Tormod’s Crypt
    2 Surgical Extraction
    1 Portable Hole
    1 Ethersworn Canonist
    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Ensnaring Bridge
    2 Red Elemental Blast
    2 Fury
    1 Magus of the Moon
    1 Twinshot Sniper
    1 Karn, the Great Creator
    Needs more Anarchy ;)

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)