from past experience using ballista in affinity i'm quite happy casting ballista for x=1 or x=2. it's suprisingly good as a pumpable mogg fanatic. really bizzare, but it will make sense when you play it out in games.
-rob
Given that Dismember is also used to dispatch certain annoying weenie creatures, that makes sense. Especially when it doubles as threat, reach included.Originally Posted by mistercakes
I'll test and refine a list similiar to the one of MD.Ghost when I find the time:
// 8 Artifact
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Talisman of Progress
// 27 Creature
4 Eldrazi Mimic
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Matter Reshaper
3 Eldrazi Skyspawner
3 Wretched Gryff
3 Eldrazi Displacer
2 Walking Ballista
// 25 Land
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Corrupted Crossroads
2 Adarkar Wastes
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Eye of Ugin
2 City of Traitors
2 Karakas
// 15 Sideboard
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Walking Ballista
2 All Is Dust
1 Eldrazi Displacer
1 Karakas
I apologize for the long absence. Work got really busy this week.
I have been testing for Ballista for quite while, and one of the lessons I have learned is that Ballista is a long-term card. Is not the sort of card that one jam on turn 1 or 2, but rather you want to play when it can at least trade with a creature or eat a counterspell. The most common example is playing Ballista at X=1 to trade with an unflipped delver.
Another important lesson, while probably obvious, is that when faced with the option of playing a second ballista, vs. pumping the one in play, almost always the correct move is to play the second ballista. This is because you get more counters by playing a second one. This is true now more than before, since Terminus is nonexistent.
Hey everyone, I recently just got my city of traitors and ancient tombs together so I can finally play this deck and loan it out and stuff. I just wanted some opinions about card choices considering I have never played a game with the deck.
My first impression from just looking at the decklists is that simian spirit guide seems awful in a 25 land deck. I'm just curious if it is really that important to get a onetime source of acceleration. I understand turn 1 chalice is super important but I feel like just having some more action would be better. I've been thinking about running one of the early versions of the deck from last year with 4 thorns instead of the spirit guides. With more 2 cmc lock pieces I was also considering jumping to 3 or 4 city's and more wastelands to take advantage of thorn better.
Anyway I can post a decklist if it helps, these are just my thoughts and i would like it if someone more experienced with the deck can explain the reasoning behind stuff like spirit guide. Like I said I have no experience with this deck so any advice or thoughts are appreciated.
I am not a fan of the card myself, but i really think you should play at least two copies of SSG, as I do.
Unlike traditional aggros, this stompy deck doesn't win games by his ability to produce constant threats. Two or three well placed monsters are usually what it takes to bring the game home if they come down fast enough. Your 25 stock lands are decent at granting you to drop your big threats consistantly on turns 2-3, but they sometimes fail. That's why you need SSG.
There are times in which a delayed TKS can cost you the game, or a T3 Smasher is much much better (thanks to mimic) than a T4 smasher. By playing the deck more you will realize that there are just so many situations (e.g. starting hands with Cavern+SolLand+TKS or Eldrazi Temples+Chalice) where a single burst mana can make the difference between a well started game and a game where you're behind. So trust me, play 2-3 of those apes. You don't care about card disadvantage as long as you win your games; SSGs are also good at cheating daze and, unlike additional lands, you can desperado fling them into play via cavern if you need to.
Just play the deck a bit, they're not as bad as they look on paper.
I found this crazy list playing Phyrexian Dreadnought and want to try it, scroll towards the bottom it's the last decklist on the page, http://legitmtg.com/priemers-primers...eldrazi-style/
This is the changes I made to it,
4 Eldrazi Mimic
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Thought Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
2 Endbringer
4 Endless One
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Lotus Petal
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Eye Of Ugin
4 City of Traitors
4 Cavern Of Souls
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Karakas
Dreadnought has cool synergy with Mimic, but it doesn't seem worth it if you're also playing Chalice of the Void.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last edited by TTX; 05-18-2017 at 03:15 AM.
Its nice that you can play Dreadnought and then sac the 12/12 mimic to keep the 'nought, or attack with a 12/12 mimic, but i think just for the synergy with mimic, Dreadnought is too shaky.....maybe there is another option how to enable Dreadnought in Eldrazi and make it "profitable"? Cant think of one though from the top of my head. Torpor Orb and stifle obviously aren't options...
You have to go pretty deep if you're committing to a Dreadnought plan, but people forget that this card exists:
Maybe play 4 Mimic, 4 Dreadnought, 3 Mask.
But then again... what to cut for that... and dunno if its worth it at all.
I would cut the removal.You have to go pretty deep if you're committing to a Dreadnought plan, but people forget that this card exists:
My store has mask for $85 so maybe sometime I'll get some I didn't realize how "cheap" they were
I have a question about the card ,
Variable Colorless: You may choose a creature card in your hand whose mana cost could be paid by some amount of, or all of, the mana you spent on Variable Colorless. If you do, you may cast that card face down as a 2/2 creature spell without paying its mana cost. If the creature that spell becomes as it resolves has not been turned face up and would assign or deal damage, be dealt damage, or become tapped, instead it's turned face up and assigns or deals damage, is dealt damage, or becomes tapped. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
this is the oracle text for the card, what does it mean when it says, You may choose a creature card in your hand whose mana cost could be paid by some amount of, or all of, the mana you spent on Variable Colorless, if I pay X cost is 0 for Dreadnought does it still come into play? Do I have to pay more mana later or something? It says I may pay some of or all of
what is the reasoning for it saying some of or all of?
It means you are allowed to pay more than you need to.
Some of my friends sell records,
some of my friends sell drugs.
Off topic: Mask was printed only in the early days and never reprinted because of the wacky mechanic and weird interactions it creates, not to forget its text was written in that overcomplicated formula and they couldn't solve the issue by making it easier to understand. Price skyrocketed back in the days when vintage was a thing, when they discovered the Dreadnought combo.
Btw, I would never cut removal for the fancy combo, let alone take out chalice which is one of the main reasons this deck is a thing...
You can find answers to your questions here:
http://magiccards.info/un/en/250.html
Specifically this:
10/1/2009: Both the amount and types of mana you spend on {X} are taken into account while you’re choosing a creature card from your hand. For example, if you spent {U}{U} on {X}, you can choose a creature card with mana cost {U}{U}, {1}{U}, {2}, or {W/U}{W/U}, among other possibilities, but not one that costs {2}{U} or one that costs {G}.
Thats actually a valid point.
Dropping Chalice@1 and then having a bunch of Dreadnought in Hands sounds like dead cards. And chalice is boarded out in so few matchups, that i'd say Dreadnought is not worth the effort.
How are the Eldrazi positioned, I am considering building them, but I have not seen them in many top 8's recently and have read in other threads the deck is on the decline. Any thoughts from frequent players?
The deck is for sure struggling to find a place in the new metagame, mainly because people are trying new things. Here's some food for thought.
1. Two very relevant decks in this new metagame are Grixis Delver and Storm, which both suffer from a well placed early piece of lockdown. Storm is a very favourable matchup, and Grixis Delver, if not favourable, is at least ok-ish (better than bug variants anyway). The other big force emerging in this meta is Sneak and Show, which is indeed hard to meet for our deck. If you build an eldrazi deck, you should really consider those three opposing decks while putting together your list.
2. The statement that "Eldrazi is not well placed in the current metagame" only truly applies to big tournaments. On the contrary, it may or may not (most likely the latter) apply to your local league metagame, which means that if you never (or very rarely) go to big events, then you don't really care about that statement. If your local meta has 4 High Tide players, then run eldrazi and win their money.
3. With all the above being said, Eldrazi deck is still objectively the best stompy deck that you can currently build. Big and smart beasts, terrific clock, huge pressure, less mana problems than the usual MUD/Dstompy/Ustompy list and also less dead draws. It's still really good no matter what its current role in the metagame is.
4. The deck is relatively cheap (except the damn city of traitors) and it's straightforward to play, and -at least to me- a lot of fun. If you like it, go for it.
Played a little last Thursday with the lovecraft.
What i discovered. After going 3-1.
Turn 3, 20x damage is still fun.
Baleful strix & Tarmogoyf is almost always GG's
I think this deck is still good but not tier 1.
Hey, what are the Food Chain and Aluren matchups?
Food chain
Game 1. Race.
Game 2. Race with spacial contortion?
Alluren.
Game 1. Race
Game 2. Race
Baleful strix is a shitty card to fight.
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