Charlotte is one I advise. I fell in love with the city and almost moved down there. The clean the streets and sidewalks nightly in the city and there is an under 18 curfew at 9 or 10pm, which was a boon.Originally Posted by Arianrhod
Anyways, someone elsewhere has sworn that in a storm heavy meta, that they run a single Ichneumon Druid . While combo is bad, this card personally looks very very bad. Its 3 mana for a 1/1 that is a strictly worse Ruric Thar. If you need storm hate, Ruric would be better imho.
*hipster glasses*
I tried Ichneumon Druid like 1.5-2 years ago, and despite REALLY wanting that card to be good, it's basically just sat and rotted in my binder ever since. Like, every time that I want to run Ichneumon, I'm just like, man, I really wish there was an actual green hate bear*....and then I usually look to like Trinisphere or Nether Void or Cranial or any other proven option.
*Teeg exists. I know Teeg exists. The problem with Teeg existing, I maintain, is that he shuts down all of the more powerful combo hate that we can run and nobody else can because mana costs. I dearly wish I could GSZ Teeg up while still being able to slam Nether Void and Cranial/Slaughter Games....but unfortunately that's not how cards work.
As for Charlotte, I've been down there once before, for a GP.....last year, I think it was? It was definitely really nice. The issue therein is that Charlotte is another 8-10 hour drive (as is Indy), which is what Central PA has generally agreed is our absolute limit. Columbus and Somerset are both "comfortable" trips for us....Charlotte and Indy are doable, but they're at that threshold where people start getting uneasy. I'm certainly not dismissing the possibility ahead of time, though.
that far to charlotte? I live in D.C. and it takes me 2 hours to Willamsport and 5 to Charlotte. Then again, I also dont stop unless I really need to....
I've never been to Somerset nor Columbus, but probably would try. I know im at least attending D.C this year, but playing is a stretch as I may be working. I know I will end up there however.
@Druid: I only brought it up because someone else did elsewhere and I really thought it was decent until the "unless its the first" clause. Teeg and Ruric are both better however.
Well when I qualify for another this weekend I'm going to try and fly out to one.
Wish you'd mentioned the standard deck earlier haha. The problem is I very rarely play standard and I'd have to borrow the cards from my buddies. As is, I'm on a Junk list similar to what BBD and JVL played at the PT. *Fingers crossed* hope it's good.
I mean, BBD audibling to mono-black devotion for the GP probably tells you all you need to know.
You'll probably be "okay," if only because Junk is similar in theory to Nic Fit, so it's in your comfort zone...much better than if you played, like, RDW or some shit like that. I'll PM you my list anyway -- maybe you'll get lucky and people will have what you need. It shares a fair bit of its core with Junk, so you would have some pieces on-hand anyway.
Played against Merfolk with the new TNN card using Scapewish. I upped the deeds to 4 and removed a huntmaster. I was able to take the match 2-1 on the back of deed, but he was playing with TNN AND standstills, which I feel is wrong. I think a more aggro version would have beaten me. Also I lost the 1 game specifically because of TNN.
I didn't get a chance to test Toxic Deluge in the wishboard, because I was testing for a GPT this weekend--before it comes out.
I think if this deck is going to survive after TNN comes out we'll need the 4 deeds at least in the 75.
If merfolk starts popping up a lot more, yes 4th deed. Otherwise, I think one or two golgari charms in the board will be decent.
Testing against the thing that we don't get from this set while avoiding the thing that we do seems counterproductive. I'd test with the Deluge (and possibly 1-2 Fromt he Ashes somewhere in the 76) before stressing the inclusion of the 4th Deed -- I mean, it may well be possible that will end up being correct anyway, but Deluge in particular is a MASSIVE upgrade for us, and one that directly impacts TNN.
It's very counterproductive. I was testing for this weekend, and he was testing for Next weekend and I didn't realize it!
I assume we are just talking scapewish as well.
I was talking about non-scapewish. Although, Deluge wouldn't be bad as 1-2 somewhere in non-scapewish.
I've got an idea buzzing in my mind but I really suck at deckbuilding so I'd like to know is someone already tested this idea or have some suggestion.
The idea behind the deck is:
-A Nic Fit with Pod
-A Nic Fit with red but without scapeshift because I don't really like the combo, I mean is too taxing for the mana base and I don't think it's worth it.
-I like punishing fire
So the idea is Purphoros, God of the Forge, I think it's a pretty good to have even if it's not incarnated for a pod deck, but to add some synergy I think that add pieces like Siege-Gang Commander or Deranged Hermit it's better, moreso Grave Titan that most of Nic Fit already play as main threat benefit a lot from the new god. Between Hermit and SGC the first do 2 more damage ETB and is zenithable but it's a dead end which means that if I don't pay its cost for the echo I cannot go further in the pod chain; on the other side SGC is not zenithable and do 2 less damage etb but you can shoot lil' goblin to your opponent face of kill some creature, and help the god incarnate on the battlefield.
So the core is
4 Veteran Explorer
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Birthing Pod
The Idea:
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Siege-Gang Commander / Deranged Hermit
1 Grave Titan
Some removal
4 Punishing Fire
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Pernicious Deed
Abrupt Decay may be Maelstrom Pulse, P. Fire useally can take care of most of creature and planeswalker, decay is there for other nasty thing like counterbalance or an overgrown goyf.
Utility creature:
2 Deathrite Shaman
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Wood Elves
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Thragtusk
1 Acidic Slime
1 Shriekmaw / Bone Shredder
1 Recurring Nightmare
3 Burning Wish
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
Garruk is a pet card so it can go out pretty easily, kiki-jiki, is another pet card but it have 2 positive effect, first it's so easy to abuse with all etb effect second it help build the devotion for the god, I like the flexibility of burning wish and with the acceleration provided by explorer it never felt too slow.
I feel recurring nightmare is a little risky with all DRS and RIP around but as a 1 of is acceptable.
I'd like some suggestion for the curve because as it is is too high, expecially @2 and 4 because ooze has better use then pod food, redcap is nice but if the opponent remove from the gy or exile it I'm in trouble because I don't like the idea to sacrifice the god, spike weaver and Huntmaster of the Fells may be an idea.
The Sideboard will be something like
3 Carpet of Flowers
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Slaughter Games
1 Pyroclasm
1 Massacre
1 Innocent Blood
1 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Mindbreak Trap
In my meta there are a lots of tempo deck with few jund, D&T and some random combo and burn, so any suggestion is more than welcome.
I've been mulling it over and I feel like lands is a good match-up and a not so good one. I feel like I really like Grave Titan here as it comes in with 3 bodies, and they'll have to use a lot of lands just to try and keep it down (2 castings of punishing fire, recur at least once with grove and maze of ith). Where it feels like its not-so-good is Depth's Stage. It feels like once they get it, our outs are usually slim (barring a liliana)
What is everyone's thoughts on Lands? Am I thinking about things the wrong way?
So I just got back from playing in the legacy championship side event of grand prix Antwerp, where I decided to play ScapeWish (Arianrhod's list, with a few modifications). The event managed to attract 137 players, so we had to play 8 rounds of swiss followed by top 8.
I went undefeated for five rounds winning against Shardless BUG (2-0), UWb Miracles (2-1), Zoo (2-0), ANT (2-0) and Death and Taxes (2-1). Then, after playing at the top table, my luck ran out and I went 0-2 the following three rounds against Big Red Sneak Attack, UW miracles (game one he managed to kill me after having slaughtered away his Jaces and Entreats with snap/clique beats!) and Grixis Delver, meaning no prizes. Unfortunate, but I had a great time playing the deck.
Feel good moment of the day was against ANT, where game one he turn one goes underground sea into preordain and on my turn I therapy naming LED, hitting three. Booyah.
Bug pod nic fit top 16'd another event.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=60221
Lol @ cascade deck title as well.
Its been a while since I posted here... mostly because its been a while since I rocked Nic Fit :P
Anyway got 3rd yesterday in a small local tournament with GBR Punishing Fire Nic Fit.
R1 vs Restore Balance Cascade. 2-1
Loose g1 when enemy chains too many Restore Balance which makes me loose too much land. G2 I start t1 Veteran, t2 Veteran. At one point enemy is forced to cascade into Balance which nets me 4 lands while loosing 2 to balance. I surgical his balance and ride Veteran+Ooze to victory with Kessig Wolf Run. G3 see G2.
R2 vs Rg Ball Lightning.dec 2-0
G1 He cant find shit and I beat down with a flipped huntmaster. G2 he hits me to 8 on t3 (exile SSG make Ball lightning, exile ESG, beserk the Ball) Afther that the punishing fires take over.
R3 vs Shardless Bug 1-2
G1 I just get better shit than he does. G2 I flood lands and get killed by a Baleful Strix. I messed up this game by playing Thrun with 4 lands in play with a Deed in play (he had 2 DRS) Should have popped the deed for 1 and hope for better shit. G3 I flood again and there is nothing I can do about it.
R4 vs budget mono B Reanimate 2-1
G1 he starts and instantly passes... huh? I therapy for Brainstorm (had no clue) I see reanimate and 2 Grisselbrand and 2 Dark Ritual + land. So he want to naturally discard his Grissel. he rips Putrid Imp and makes a Grisselbrand on turn 2. Scoop.
G2 and G3 I find enough Surgical Extractions and Scavening Ooze for an easy victory.
R5 vs Death Garden (a GBW version of Eternal Garden with lots of nasty shit)
G1 he loops Eternal Witness with Smallpox and Volraths Stronghold. frown... G2 He gets nothing and I beat him with a flipped Huntmaster. g3 I get him to 4 with Huntmaster and burn him out over the next couple of turns with Punishing Fire.
Top4 splits the prizes netting my a Wasteland and a german FBB Lightning Bolt.
Deck felt rock solid! Didnt face any hardcore blue decks so the Carpets and REB were rotting in the SB all day. The Surgicals were absolutely insane!
List was a list that has been posted here before (by HoneyT??) with 1 difference. I cut a fetch for a 2nd mountain which was a great change.
I can't make it to GP DC unfortunately but someone should really play this deck there. After playing it in the invitational and open this weekend, I'm pretty sure it's a legitimately good deck.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=60221
I replaced Bone Shredder with Sower of Temptation, cut the Phyrexian Tower for another fetchland, and cut an abrupt decay for a 4th Deathrite Shaman. I was pretty happy with all these changes, with the 4th deathrite being the one I'm least sure about.
The real key is the SB though. As you can see I loaded up on combo hate with Riptide Pilferers, Force of Wills, Envelops and a Thoughtseize. It worked out pretty well, as I beat 3 combo decks on the day. I ended up losing to Jund and RUG delver due to some key misplays and some mulligans. The only thing I might suggest is one or two surgical extractions to deal with punishing fire (doubling as hate against dredge and reanimator, where riptide pilferer isn't great). Also I recommend cutting Notion Thief, the card is a win-more and the matchup against shardless BUG is already good anyway. A phyrexian revoker could be pretty good, except it doesn't work well with deed. Basically Jace and Punishing Fire are the key cards to figure out how to deal with. Everything else is handled by Deed + Pod and fatties.
I also thought it was funny that they called the deck "cascade" initially.
How was it running without Phyrexian Tower? Did you notice the lack of a sacrifice outlet?
Also, why Envelop over Swan Song?
I really liked your deck when I saw it, especially the Sideboard. Pilferers are a great way to increase the blue count for FoW and I love the second Archmage. Sower sounds like a good idea, too. At first I thought Sower was bad with Pod but then I realized that you can just sac the stolen creature.
What I don't like:
- Wood Elves. I think Sea Gate Oracle would be better. Can find a land as well (doesn't put it on the battlefield but if you are that desperate for land you probably missed a land drop anyway so that is no real benefit), pitches to FoW and is infinitely better when you search for gas and not for mana.
- the Jitte. Or maybe I don't understand for which matchup it is.
- The 3 Forests. Better than Caleb's 4 Forests but I think a 2/2/2 split between Basics would be better and make it easier to cast Baleful Strix. The only deep green card is Ooze.
For Envelop vs. Swan Song, I think that depends on if you plan to side the card in against BUG or not.
I tested different versions of Pod (BUG and Junk to be exact). I thought Notion Thief out of the board was actually quite relevant in several matchups such as SnT, ANT, TES, BUG, Miracles, and even Deathblade. Phyrexian Tower is also very good and I would definitely play more than 1 copy if it wasn't Legendary. Mainly, my critique of BUG Pod is that:
1) Strix isn't strictly superior to Wall of Blossoms, and is arguably worst for a Pod deck. Strix costs GB in a green-centric deck, it makes you more susceptible to land hate. Strix's strengths are in his ability to slow the pace of the game down and cantrip while providing a Pod body (value and CA). However, Pod decks don't necessarily want to trade their bodies with every swinging creature no matter the favorable exchange it may encounter because we need the 2 CMC body to convert it into a 3 CMC one and so on and so forth. What we are after when the time comes to play 2drops is time. Wall of Blossoms is Bolt/Grim-proof, blocks first strikers such as Thalia, and doesn't trade with Lackeys, Snapcasters, Mongoose, etc. Of course it doesn't block Delver, but that is not the purpose of a 2drop cantripping body in a Pod deck. Being GSZ-able is also very important considering every time I had a Pod in play with an empty board and would GSZ a Blossom, draw a card, and pod it out for a Witness or Bone Shredder and completely turn the game around. It is also nice to GSZ for a cantripping body when digging for a Land, Decay, Pod, or anything really.
2) Cutting GSZ, Pods, and Decays for Brainstorm unnecessarily stretches you thin on colors. Compare it to splashing blue in Maverick for Brainstorm. Maverick is entirely capable of splashing another color, and Brainstorm is a good card. However, the costs of splashing into blue for a card you probably want to use on T2 are too great and including Brainstorm forces you to dilute the core of the deck. 4 Moms, and 4 GSZ is much more consistent than 3 Moms, 1 GSZ, and 4 Brainstorm will ever be. When I compare playing BUG to Junk Pod, it feels like Brainstorm is there because I play Strix > Blossoms, and because I find myself digging for colors more often than I should if I didn't have Brainstorm and Strix in the first place. The notion that you need Brainstorm to reshuffle Pod targets is negligible in practice because it is often easier to cast non-green creatures than it is to brainstorm them away to Pod into them;
3) Blue creatures as Pod targets are generally weaker than their white equivalent in terms of power and synergy. There are no equivalents to Qasali Pridemage and Harmonic Sliver in blue, and Acidic Slime is grossly overpriced. There is no equivalent to Academy Rector -> Nightmare/Deed at 4 CMC. Orzhov Pontiff has no equivalent either and he is extremely powerful (will be even more so when Nemesis is out). There is no equivalent to Reveillark and Shriekmaw is atrocious at 5 CMC. Sun Titan is superior to Grave Titan in almost every scenario. Glen Elandra and Swan Song compete with Canonist, Thalia, Teeg, and Sin Collector. Phantasmal Image is good but often competes with Restoration Angel. There are no counterparts to Sower and Gilded Drake but Redcap, Shredder, Fleshbag, are acceptable replacements and more often than not, are better.
I think the main reason to play BUG over Junk is for Swan Song in the SB. Along with Glen-Elandra and specific pod targets like Gilded Drake or Sower of Temptations, BUG has a significantly better SnT matchup than Junk. Against every other fair matchup and combo decks, I would rather pilot a junk version.
Here's the Pod list I have been piloting/refining lately to some impressive results:
Creatures (22)
4 Veteran Explorer
3 Deathrite Shaman
3 Wall of Blossoms
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Eternal Witness
1 Bone Shredder
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Restoration Angel
1 Academy Rector
1 Thragtusk
1 Reveillark
1 Sun Titan
Others (18)
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Birthing Pod
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Recurring Nightmare
Lands (20)
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
3 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
2 Forest
2 Swamp
1 Plains
Sideboard (15)
3 Carpet of Flowers
4 Thoughtseize
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Golgari Charm
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Sin Collector
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Ethersworn Canonist
Last edited by Qweerios; 10-28-2013 at 11:18 PM.
Do you know what assuming does? It makes an ass out of you and me.
Get it...? Ass, u, me?
... ffs I was trying to be funny...
Quick question....... why the solo island? I see no blue in SB or main.
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