Ricochet

Modern* Twosocks42

SCORE: 85 | 128 COMMENTS | 17513 VIEWS | IN 18 FOLDERS


Does This Ever Stop Changing? —March 14, 2012

No. Evolution is what leads to improvement. :)

Anyway, more changes, and the play testing has been absolutely fantastic. Win con pops up very quickly, and the board gets nailed down much earlier.

Changes from before:

Took out Oblivion Ring. Going to focus on bouncing, not exiling.

Took out Fiend Hunter. Same reason, less focus on exiling.

Moved Dissipate to sideboard. Went with cheaper creature counter, and put less emphasis on exile. In sideboard to deal with nasty decks with flashback or planeswalkers, yuck.

Moved Disperse to sideboard. Have 7 one mana drop creature removers, don't need this in the primary set up. However, sided for those decks whose focus is not aggro.

Took out Grand Abolishers. Did not do much for me, made casting spells on my turn unplayable, and went with Curse of Exhaustion, but it never made all that much difference. Need space for other functionary creatures.

Took out Stonehorn Dignitary. He took until turn four to get out, and AT LEAST turn 5 to make use of with Venser, if he even made it to that- and while preventing attacks, became a lightning rod for creature hate. For four mana, I could have just wiped the field. Things are running more smoothly without him.

Returned AEther Adept. Putting the focus back on creature bounce, and she does it well. Combined with Venser, she can make you want to rip your hair out.

Added Unsummon. Another 1 mana creature bouncer, to support Vapor Snag.

Added Treasure Mage. It retrieves my one copy of knowledge pool, and is a creature on the field to help with blocking or attacking. Makes it like I have more knowledge pools, without having to put more of a 6 mana cost card in my deck. Less likely to get a dead card in my hand.

Added Sphere of the Suns. This is really making a huge difference. I see one by turn two about... 50% of the time? And even if not turn two, usually not long thereafter. Often, if I don't one, I get a good land flush anyhow. This helps speed up curse output and lessens the likelihood that I get totally boned for lands. I have seen an incredible improvement from this card.

Added Knowledge Pool. This with Curse of Exhaustion is a total lockdown, and it gets more cards on the field. I get a some choice in what to cast, even if it is a bit of a pain to work around. It just works great.

Added Buried Ruins. Having one artifact is fragile. It could get discarded from my hand, or milled out. Using the lands to retrieve it helps, I actually had to do this once during a play test. It should rarely be necessary, but acts as a just in case solution.

Moved Day of Judgment to mainboard. I am finding that with bouncing around until a field and/or curse can be laid, a DOJ really helps clean situations up. It also wipes the board clean post lockdown, which enables assured victory.

The sideboard:

Negate- swaps with Psychic Barrier typically, acts a non-creature spell counter, for decks with bad enchantments/curses, artifacts like Shrine of Burning Rage control, or planewalkers.

Celestial Purge- Mainly here for the problem planeswalker, though I might switch a couple in to deal with decks utilizing Geralf's Messenger, to get around the ETB effect (repeated Vapor Snag is a bad idea 0_o). Typically switched with Vapor Snag.

Disperse- Exchangeable with Unsummon, this is for decks with less creature focus, and more planeswalkers or hard to handle artifacts.

Dissipate- A hard counter to get rid of cards for good. Can go in for Psychic Barrier, or if the deck is nearly a pure planeswalker mess, go in for Day of Judgment.

~~~~

All together, much better functioning, more consistent, and faster. Knowledge pool is not required to win, but it makes a hell of a lot of difference. I have one in play testing by keep a clear field (dissipation field and Curse of E) and chipping away at the life. All in all, I feel really good about this.

Thoughts? Comments? Love it, give it a +1. Even if you don't love it, you should hit the +1 button anyhow. :D~

Nephilim says... #1

"He seems like he could be a brutal card if the field is clear for him to swing, but that also relies on someone not having kept a card to get rid of it tucked away in their hand."

Isn't that the point of this deck? lol I mean I was talking about having him out once the lockdown was somewhat set up. But I get that people hate him because of the CMC, I just think it's an incredibly underrated card.

February 8, 2012 8:52 a.m.

Have you looked into Fiend HunterMTG Card: Fiend Hunter? Since you're running bounce spells and ETB effects, you should look into the Fiend HunterMTG Card: Fiend Hunter + Saving GraspMTG Card: Saving Grasp combo. The ability to exile 3 creatures (2 of them permanently) with two cards is just awesomely fun.

Saving GraspMTG Card: Saving Grasp also combos well with your Stonehorn DignitaryMTG Card: Stonehorn Dignitary, Snapcaster MageMTG Card: Snapcaster Mage, AEther AdeptMTG Card: AEther Adept, and even Sun TitanMTG Card: Sun Titan if you have the mana open.

February 8, 2012 11:18 a.m.

Twosocks42 says... #3

Fiend hunter does the same thing as oblivion ring, only to creatures. I chose to leave him out, so I could make room for other creatures who provide abilities other than exile.

I also chose not to use saving grasp, because of Venser's ability to bounce my cards. He temporarily exiles them, which triggers their ETB abilities. This allows me to use the other nab cards on the other player's creatures.

Thank you though. :)

I am going to do a test run with the Reaver in place of the Niblis, just to see how it goes.

February 8, 2012 11:10 p.m.

Lilwolf says... #4

phantasmal image. It deals with geist and thrun, both of which are very real threats that,given your current deck, you cant touch. Phantasmal image also works incredibly well with what you are goin for because it has synergy with all your own creatures.copying your snapcasters and aether adepts is VERY powerful for a measly two mana, and the icing on the cake is being able to recur multiple images with a single sun titan trigger because each phantasmal image can etb as a sun titan, thus gettin you the sun titan etb, which gets another image,copies it,etc, until you finish off the chain with an adept. All around a very worthwhile card for you to play with. I personally recommend trying at least 2, possibly even 3, or at least 1 in the sideboard. being able to deal with geist and thrun is a very powerful tool.

February 9, 2012 12:15 a.m.

Twosocks42 says... #5

With the limited room I have to work with, while keeping control cards viable, I don't think I could squeeze that one into the main deck. HOWEVER, I think phantasmal image would be an exceptional choice specifically for dealing with Geist of St Traft, Thrun the Last Troll, or Planeswalkers that I do not have a dissipation available for. Given that it is a great answer to those decks, I will definitely put Phantasmal image into consideration as a sideboard card.

Thanks for the feedback. :)

February 9, 2012 2:35 a.m.

Twosocks42 says... #6

After testing literally dozens of times against at least 8 different decks, I found that on a consistent basis, Drogskol ReaverMTG Card: Drogskol Reaver was actually a great asset to the deck, any time I got it into play. The card is a later game card, but with all the control aspects going on, I am able to hold off well enough to get him out. If I am low on life, I don't stay that way for long. Getting 2 draws every attack also helps rush the finish, getting more cards into my hand to keep their defenses quashed.

February 9, 2012 7:09 a.m.

Hey man, I really like your deck so a quick +1 In fact I had actually planned on making this deck since I have a majority of the cards already listed. The combos in the deck are insane and once you get to late game it is going to wreck. But, in your opinion, how are you going to deal with fast decks such as Humans, Tokens, Vampires etc.

Im still going to make the deck because it is just awesome but after some play testing the only thing you can really do is on turn three and that is to ob ring something. you really have to get to turn four and by that time my opponent already had a sizable amount of tokens built up plus a Hero of BladeholdMTG Card: Hero of Bladehold The Dissipation FieldMTG Card: Dissipation Field Did deal with his tokens quite nicely but you take the damage and they your just left to get destroyed. Anyways I really like the deck but if there is any way to make it faster I would suggest it.

February 9, 2012 9:14 a.m.

Nephilim says... #8

Thanks Twosocks42 for giving my suggestion a shot, and it seems like you liked it after all lol

February 9, 2012 9:52 a.m.

Twosocks42 says... #9

I have a private marked deck that is my current deck for FNM that is a fast paced human/wolf/werewolf deck. I ran it against this one and this one handled it fairly well.

I also find that Tokens say "Play Me". Okay (Standard). is a great token deck- it picks up fast and can be a hard one to deal with, great for testing for these kinds of decks.

What I found to work well in ensuring I get the win out of it is:

Pull Vapor SnagMTG Card: Vapor Snags for Day of JudgmentMTG Card: Day of Judgment.

Pull PonderMTG Card: Ponder for Ratchet BombMTG Card: Ratchet Bombs.

Here's what you got to do: Do not let yourself get overwhelmed, and do not worry about little damage. They drop a doomed traveler, let it nail you a couple of times. Get a Grand AbolisherMTG Card: Grand Abolisher or AEther AdeptMTG Card: AEther Adept out around turn three, and you can kill it eventually. You want it dead before trying to pull anything like a disperse or a Day of Judgement, otherwise it will just come back to haunt you (pardon the pun). A lot of it will be block one at a time, use your control cards and Dissipate to cancel and exile real problem cards (I hate that increasing devotion).

Just remember, day of judgement is a great tool, and sacing one or two of your own guys is acceptable, if it gets rid of a boatload of token guys. Essentially, keep at it, get your mana base up, try to work toward Venser or Sun Titan. As I said, don't worry too much about a few dead creatures- you can Sun Titan most of the creature base back. You can also use ratchet bomb anytime to get rid of a token swarm, as a tap with no counters kills tokens. Use Sun Titan to recycle them. :D

Typically, I end up in single digits, and then win through one or more of the following:

Stock spell cards, drop Venser's -8, then disperse tokens (put in hand, they die) and exile problem cards. If they don't have much 'real' problem cards left, I like to go after lands. Take out the land base, and they are screwed.

Drogskol ReaverMTG Card: Drogskol Reaver: Play testing with this guy, I found that if you get him out, you can block spirits, drop attacks, and quickly rush your life back up, while getting cards in your hand to do battlefield cleanup.

Establish the defenses: If you can hold on until you get Curse of ExhaustionMTG Card: Curse of Exhaustion and Dissipation FieldMTG Card: Dissipation Field up, do some minor damage control thereafter, the set up will cream token guys pretty fast. They won't come back, and getting limited to one spell a turn hurts.

Venser and Stonehorn: Great combo pair, bounce the Stonehorn until you have a strong creature base, then use Venser to make them unblockable and get a gg in one swing.

The key with these pesky token decks is to take hits while not letting them get too much of an edge, don't sweat the small stuff, and watch out for boosts.

DisperseMTG Card: Disperse and DissipateMTG Card: Dissipate make for a great combo in dealing with Hero of Bladehold, Planeswalkers, or other nasties. Use your Snapcaster to help facilitate this.

February 9, 2012 11:03 a.m.

keneke01 says... #10

I really like your deck list, great use of commons and uncommons to get the job done. Sometimes I feel like control decks are based solely on the use of rares and it gets expensive just to own. +1

February 9, 2012 11:24 a.m.

Thanks for the Comment back. I cant wait untill I finally complete this deck and I can actually play it. It is alot of fun to keep on blinking that stonehorn and then exiling all of their things. I had a previous venser deck but this one is much better and I cant wait to make it. Thanks again for the detailed response

February 9, 2012 2:16 p.m.

parasitian says... #12

take out one Drogskol ReaverMTG Card: Drogskol Reaver so you have a 60 card deck

February 10, 2012 1:18 a.m.

Nephilim says... #13

no way, power of prime all the way! plus, if you're wanting the Drogskol ReaverMTG Card: Drogskol Reaver as an alternate win con, you need more than one.

February 10, 2012 8:53 a.m.

arahdial says... #14

Can you abuse Sudden Disappearance and Sundial somehow? Or is that just a "win more" scenario?

February 10, 2012 4:39 p.m.

Brenzig says... #15

drogskol is just so good.

my issue is the dial honestly. so many hoops to jump through to final get the combo we're looking for. knowledge pool and a treasure mage would be perfect. exhaustion pool.

February 10, 2012 5 p.m.

Brenzig says... #16

holy shit @arahdial. that's awesome

February 10, 2012 5:06 p.m.

Twosocks42 says... #17

"Can you abuse Sudden Disappearance and Sundial somehow? Or is that just a "win more" scenario?"

Yes you can/ The second half of Sudden DisappearanceMTG Card: Sudden Disappearance is a delayed trigger. You have to specifically state that you activate Sundial at the beginning of your end step, in response to that trigger. By acknowledging the trigger and activating Sun Dial, you send everything on the stack, including that trigger, into exile.

"Or is that just a "win more" scenario? "

I might find a way to fit it in, but I am going to see how this plays out at FNM as is right now. There are so many different combos in this deck, I'm not sure how to get another one in without losing something else important.

I don't care for Knowledge PoolMTG Card: Knowledge Pool myself. Sundial is not the win con for this deck, just one of many things that can help you get there, so if it doesn't show during the game, its not a problem. :)

February 10, 2012 5:27 p.m.

If you want to stop a Thrun, the Last Troll MTG Card: Thrun, the Last Troll or a Geist of Saint TraftMTG Card: Geist of Saint Traft, put it some PacifismMTG Card: Pacifism

If you bounce pacifism with venser's +2, it doesn't actually target anything when it comes back into play. You can just set it on Thrun or Geisty.

February 10, 2012 5:29 p.m.

Twosocks42 says... #19

Well, that is what the Phantasmal Image was going to be for. But considering that everyone in town is sold out and no one has any they are willing to trade, it looks like pacifism will play that role in my sideboard tonight. >_>

February 10, 2012 8:21 p.m.

Twosocks42 says... #20

New update, need new suggestions based on that. Please and thank you. :(

February 11, 2012 2:21 a.m.

pctech214 says... #21

Hello i just want to say pacifism can not work on either thrun or geist because of their hexproofing only way to get rid of them are by targeting the player that has or a complete field wipe i should this by now because of the many on many matches that i have had. I do want to say this you have became my new best friend because of how you are using Venser and Drogskol Reaver. Myself is a bigger user of the Blue/White cards. Right now I am in the process of making a Haunted Humans Deck for my FNM and for the SCG Open Series on the 18 of this month. From my Haunted Human Deck I am also working on a White/Blue Spirit Deck which i am having a block on finishing.

February 11, 2012 3:31 a.m.

Wretched says... #22

Nice decklist. It's similar to mine. slowly but surely I ran the venser/stonehorn combo before and i wanted to try something a little different. Check out my deck in the link please. +1!

February 11, 2012 5:02 a.m.

Shrodinger says... #23

Playtesting against your deck was surely interesting. Nice job, +1 from me! Please, take a look at my deck Team Pavlov

February 11, 2012 5:41 a.m.

Twosocks42 says... #25

I have to edit the update... grr. >__>;

@ pctech214

303.4f If an Aura is entering the battlefield under a player's control by any means other than by resolving as an Aura spell, and the effect putting it onto the battlefield doesn't specify the object or player the Aura will enchant, that player chooses what it will enchant as the Aura enters the battlefield. The player must choose a legal object or player according to the Aura's enchant ability and any other applicable effects.

Auras only target a spell while they are on the stack. When an aura is bounced out and then later returns, it can be attached to ANYTHING, including those with hexproof or shroud. It's a really silly loophole that can be exploited in a deck like this.

@ Wretched: Thanks, I will give it a gander when I have a chance, I barely have time for this response. :)

@ Shrodinger: Same as above, thanks for the +1, and I will be sure to give yours a look as soon as I have the chance to give it a thorough look and some play-testing, so I can give some good suggestions, if I have any. :)

February 11, 2012 9:38 a.m.