Mean Squad

Noble Crivaro

SCORE: 12 | 32 COMMENTS | 3152 VIEWS | IN 3 FOLDERS


Changes —Oct. 19, 2012

Added in some Duress since the format got storm heavy, also: Banned Corrupt, never got to 6 mana :D

mandroid says... #1

Nice, MB-rogues was my fav morningtide archetype. Never even crossed my mind to use Macabre or Guul Draz though, Nice!!! This deck is sick, super-hating on the opponent is nice. Potentially consider the 1/1 flying rogue for B instead of the tunneler. What you want is to hit the opponent every turn. Tunneler slows you down and doesn't damage the opponent. Also instead of volcanic strenght maybe Duress or something similar to round out the massive hate? that way you can pluck their best stuff and then go nuts with morsel theft or the other prowl discard spell. Also maybe consider chain lightning over Inversion - you're not going Haakon on their ass so you may as well play as much reach as possible. NI isn't going to kill an opponent, but it will kill the same x/3 creatures as chain lightning.

April 12, 2012 10:48 a.m.

Crivaro says... #3

Nice ideas, thanks! I'll edit some things. My thought was: Hey, some will also play creature typed decks, and since the Frogtosser BanneretMTG Card: Frogtosser Banneret]] is reducing the cost of Morsel TheftMTG Card: Morsel Theft, Cloak and DaggerMTG Card: Cloak and Dagger AND Nameless InversionMTG Card: Nameless Inversion (YEAH!) AND all my creatures I thought I'll give it a try :D

April 12, 2012 11:05 a.m.

Crivaro says... #4

Ah, maybe + the 4th Bolt and instead of 3 Inversions I could play 3 TerminateMTG Card: Terminate... still thinking.

April 12, 2012 11:15 a.m.

mandroid says... #5

Honestly, in this format with all the combo and storm, LB is probably better than Nameless Inversion because you can kill your opponent with it and stop them from comboing you out. It already costs 1 without the buff from the Banneret (who is an all-star in this deck btw) and will kill your opponent as well as a creature. I'd say go with the NI if your Noble was Wort, but as it is I'd strongly argue for Bolt/Chain Lightning in NI's place. Terminate is a strong option if you expect to see a lot of >= 4 toughness, but I'd argue that LB/NI is better than it for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that it's hard to get RB when you need it in this format without a Chromatic Star/Sphere, in pauper there aren't as many >= 4 toughness creatures, and in this deck you need to use your removal NOW in order to clear out blockers and enable Prowl in order to actually win the race. If you're not prowling, you're not getting the efficiency you want and are essentially playing a worse version of Mono Red Burn.

April 12, 2012 11:32 a.m.

Crivaro says... #6

Hrm. You are right... thinking I'll go with 4 LB and 3 Doom BladeMTG Card: Doom Blade for now.

April 12, 2012 11:40 a.m.

KorApprentice says... #7

Why do you have 1x Volcanic StrengthMTG Card: Volcanic Strength...

April 12, 2012 2:41 p.m.

Crivaro says... #9

Getting the last points of damage and some above the Bolt-Range. But that is more like an excuse, because I honestly don't know what I should put in as a 1of... suggestions? Maybe 1of BonesplitterMTG Card: Bonesplitter?

April 12, 2012 2:47 p.m.

KorApprentice says... #10

How about... * suspense *... nothing? It is never a good idea to have a 1 of in your deck unless there is a very specific purpose for it (Mirror-Mad PhantasmMTG Card: Mirror-Mad Phantasm) or you intend to search it up with 6+ search spells. Just toss in a 4th Doom BladeMTG Card: Doom Blade.

April 12, 2012 2:48 p.m.

Crivaro says... #11

I did. Well, then I'll cut the 4 LB for 2 Geth's VerdictMTG Card: Geth's Verdict and 2 CorruptMTG Card: Corrupt. Icluding red just for LB isn't worth it imo. Make it Mono-B!

April 12, 2012 2:56 p.m.

mandroid says... #12

A good question to ask yourself is this: Does your deck plan to get to six mana? If not, play something, anything else. If you consistently kill before you have mana up for Corrupt, then you'd be better served elsewhere for the card slot.

Also LB is way better at getting the last points of damage in than Volcanic Strength is. Opponents don't always have mountains. Personally I think that I'd play 8 Bolt variants because I always like red burn, but there's arguments both ways. Monocolored is more consistent, but if you're killing an opponent with your creatures when they have <= 6 life then LB could speed up your clock a turn while potentially adding inconsistency in that you're playing 2 colors.

April 12, 2012 4:08 p.m.

KorApprentice says... #13

Nothing says 'this game is over' quite like CorruptMTG Card: Corrupt, it is easily one of the strongest finishers any Mono Black deck has. I kinda like it in this deck, especially since Earwig SquadMTG Card: Earwig Squad is heavily slowing down any combo deck and taking care of threat removal in any other deck.

April 12, 2012 4:11 p.m.

thejadejedi says... #14

I don't know...seems like having to pay 8cmc for your noble is pretty late game for a noble deck. I could be wrong but even with say, two Frogtosser BanneretMTG Card: Frogtosser Banneret on the field you couldn't get it out before turn 6. While I think the deck looks fun, I don't think it'll last too well...Does black have any mana ramps?

April 12, 2012 5:13 p.m.

KorApprentice says... #15

How does his Noble cost 8? It costs 3 mana if a rogue deals damage that turn, so he can cast it on turn 3...

April 12, 2012 5:17 p.m.

Crivaro says... #17

Maybe you thougth Prowl was Kicker? Actually playtesting said: Even turn two with Ritual ;)

April 12, 2012 5:20 p.m.

KorApprentice says... #18

With two Dark RitualMTG Card: Dark Rituals, but that is not very likely.

April 12, 2012 5:21 p.m.

Crivaro says... #19

T1: SwampMTG Card: Swamp > Prickly BoggartMTG Card: Prickly Boggart OR Nightshade StingerMTG Card: Nightshade Stinger OR Guul Draz VampireMTG Card: Guul Draz Vampire

T2: Land (or not...) > Attack > Dark RitualMTG Card: Dark Ritual > Earwig SquadMTG Card: Earwig Squad

This was my start in 4 of 6 games. Why do you think I need two Rituals?

April 12, 2012 5:25 p.m.

KorApprentice says... #20

I was thinking of a different situation in my head, I was not exactly thinking logically. So never mind me, a turn 2 Earwig SquadMTG Card: Earwig Squad it is!

April 12, 2012 5:30 p.m.

Crivaro says... #21

No problem, I have this very often :D Sorry if I sounded a bit snippy.

April 12, 2012 5:33 p.m.

mandroid says... #22

There's also this:

  1. Ritual, Enabler, Banneret, attack, 19
  2. Banneret for 1, attack, 16, Earwig for 1

Hilarious that this guy only gets better when bounced.

Ultimately I think this could go more control or more aggro, and I think it's really strong, maybe teir 1 after testing and tuning. Are you leaning more towards aggro or dedicated hate control? Because if it's hate control the finisher of Cabal Coffers + Drain life is amazing, but if you're going dedicated aggro it's not as applicable because you want to finish the game before that.

April 12, 2012 6:04 p.m.

graft says... #23

Gotta say, this type of deck is exactly what I wanted to see in the format!

April 12, 2012 7:38 p.m.

mandroid says... #24

See here for my take on the squad: Noble Earwig Squad

April 12, 2012 9:14 p.m.

thejadejedi says... #25

Yea, that's my bad, I was thinking prowl was a new version of kicker, guess I need to read more closely :D looks like a pretty mean deck now that the cost is only 3 (after dealing damage). I like it! +1

April 12, 2012 9:27 p.m.