Ghost Dad's Circus Stampede
Standard*
SCORE: 71 | 64 COMMENTS | 19523 VIEWS | IN 35 FOLDERS Top 8: 05/10
5000+ Views! —March 10, 2013
Huge milestone! Thanks for all the comments and support guys!
Made quite a few changes to the board to smooth out the curve:
I love Sorin but I don't have too many ways to generate tokens cheaply and reliably to abuse his emblem, using only 2 Lingering Souls. If I had 3 or 4 then I might consider throwing him in. He also crowds up the very important 4-cmc slot. Cut one Ghost Dad since I really only need to see one every game and everytime I see him and not Thragtusk, I wish it was the tusk instead. I also can't both abuse Obzedat, Ghost Council's ability and make a blocker at the same time. Added the 2 charms to give me more cheap spells to cast and possible late game answers. Maybe Ultimate Price instead of the charms..just maybe.
-2 Thragtusk
+1 Armada Wurm
I don't think I need 4 Thragtusks given all other options I have of big creatures and spells so I gave big Garruk a second spot because he is quite the bomb in the control matchup and is just a great planeswalker in general, being able to protect himself and generating ridiculous card advantage. The other spot went to Armada Wurm to get a curve-topper that can give and take a bit more punishing than Thragtusk while still remaining an attractive flicker and Serenity target.
-2 Arbor Elf
+2 Tragic Slip
I went back to being against mana dorks since I can't have more than 2 of them without risking the list falling apart and losing synergy. Added Tragic Slip back in for early removal and synergy with other kill spells and Disciple of Bolas (the spell wasn't as good until this guy came in).
Subbed out Trostani, Selesnya's Voice for a Glaring Spotlight to combat the possibility of running into Geist of Saint Traft or Sigarda, Host of Herons, both of which are very very troublesome if left unchecked.
I still believe that Blind Obedience works better in a pure aggro or pure control list and it doesn't really stop aggro decks that effectively in the long run (although it makes Restoration Angel less of a surprise). Still iffy over the Curse pick against aggro due to its high mana cost. I might put Blind Obedience back in or use Rhox Faithmender instead. Thoughts?
Also thinking of somehow putting Sever the Bloodline in the mainboard but the list is very tight right now and I have no idea what to take out.
Man, my curve looks so curvy now.
GureiSeion says... #2
Oooh, my favorite shard coloring. I'm digging this deck a lot!
How are the Disciple of Bolas working out for you? He really feels like a "hold him back and wait" rather than something to curve out. Also, I'm in full support of four mana dorks (Avacyn's Pilgrim, with Ghost Dad in mind). Earlier turn Planeswalkers and beefy-things are nothing to scoff at.
March 9, 2013 8:29 p.m.
mrbloo1848 says... #3
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice and Rhox Faithmender used to be my 4-drops of choice when this deck was more focused on lifegain, but it turned out that the lifegain was excessive and they didn't do a very good job stabilizing (plus Trostani's mana cost was hard to pull off consistently). Disciple of Bolas turned out to do a lot more work than people give him credit for. Swinging in with Thragtusk and then throwing him in for 5 cards and 5 life with a 3/3 token left behind is pretty devastating to control and aggro decks especially when they see you with 0-2 cards in hand and are starting to feel comfortable with board control. Those draws usually just gets me more removals and more Thragtusk to replenish the board. Whenever I resolved him on a Thragtusk, I usually won all but maybe one of those games. He's pretty huge. He also helps take the weight off of Garruk, Primal Hunter's back and allowing him to pump out more tokens. He also interacts very well with Restoration Angel even if that means you are targeting a beast token. That's draw 3 cards, gain 3 life and a 2/1 body for 4 mana so using him to "curve out" pretty much lets you curve back in with all the draws you get (I once played him turn 5 targeting Thragtusk after attacking and drew into Angel of Serenity and just casted it next turn to seal the game). He also let me cut Underworld Connections (phenomenal card) from SB and opened up more flexibility.
I definitely am leaning towards moving the dorks up to 4 (2 Arbor Elf and 2 Avacyn's Pilgrim? or 4 of the latter?) and cutting the land back to 24 (I think I can afford to do that with 4 mana dorks on board). After some testing, turn 2 Loxodon Smiter or turn 3 Thragtusk is pretty damn huge.
mrbloo1848 says... #1
I try to stay away from creature-based ramp due to prevalence of removal and board wipes in standard right now, especially at my LGS. However, I am seriously considering using maybe two of them in the deck because there are moments where I wish I had that extra mana to stabilize. I'm definitely keeping it in mind. Maybe 2 Arbor Elf mainboard in place of something.
March 9, 2013 2:54 a.m.