Quote Originally Posted by FTW View Post
Both Scab-Clan Berserker and Zo-Zu the Punisher seem too slow for this format.

Consider resolving one of these turn 3 on the draw, not affecting opponent until his 4th turn. How many decks can just ignore that? Unfair decks will win first. Fair decks will have removal or a blocker online by then. Even if it isn't removed, how threatening is a conditional 2-4 damage per turn starting turn 4? Is it better than Sulfuric Vortex?

Punisher pieces need to be consistently down on turn 1 or turn 2 to be relevant. Cards with 2 or 2R mana costs can be played turn 1 with a Sol Land manabase + SSG/Mox. 1RR costs are much harder to get in play quickly. Maybe turn 2 with a SSG, only to get 2-for-1'd by Lightning Bolt?

Also I like going creatureless and blanking removal.
I agree about Punisher being a bit late arriving on turn 3, by then the opponent probably made 3 land drops and may not need many more lands. This may work for a stax version but it seems like a weak effect, it even was back in 1994 (edit: considering Ankh) and CMC's have been creeping down since then. I don't want to stop the brewing but I'm not tempted to play this guy myself. Edit: Ankh seems like it needs a Mana breach or some similar messing with lands to be relevant. Edit2: Mana breach is actually a very exciting card, I could see this wrecking control decks..

While for Berserker, his relevance is measured by the amount of non-creature spells the opponent needs to play during the rest of the game. Supposing you did something meaningful on turn 1 and 2, maybe bolt a creature and play Eidolon t2, the game may go on for quite a while so I think the Berserker is useful, more so than Punisher. I think it was my gut reaction that Eidolon is by far the best card in the deck for what it's trying to do and hence building on the best strategy the deck can deploy seems like a good start. (Edit: but your criticism may be relevant, if a fair deck has a blocker with large toughness it is shut off) It shuts down Storm decks from winning and is a thorn in the eye for any cantrip based deck. You always need to consider how your deck can interact with some of the most impactful strategies in the format. It also results in a trigger when answered so it's rarely a 1 for 1 for your opponent, you are effectively bolting them every time they answer it. So I think Eidolon is a good addition to any of these decks, by shutting off one of the toughest matchups and still having good synergy with the deck's strategy. And the best way to mitigate having creatures is to add 4 more copies of Eidolon.

Edit: imagine adding 4 Cindervines to this, I think I have to start brewing the 12 Eidolon deck now. It's just a shame that the deck really wants 4 Mox Diamond and 4 W6... The card we set out with the good intention of beating. ;)

Sorry for not having 30 minutes to rephrase and structure this, most points stand out hopefully. :)

Anyway.. By all means try other options.