KrazyCaley's Deckbuilders' Challenge- Menagerie (and results from Interim & Sadism!)

Deck Challenges

KrazyCaley

23 April 2010

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The following image, from the Wizards of the Coast website, has been modified by me in some way (and in a way which constitutes Fair Use for the purpose of parody, Wizards lawyers). SEE IF YOU CAN FIGURE OUT HOW.

Interim Results

Elesdee is not currently on the radar of the internets, so I took over grading his interim challenge. Here are the results. My comments are brief.

10- honeymomo - Another Brick in the Wall

Score- 72

Lots of walls + Rolling Stones = Eventually you win. Good collection of walls for this purpose, too.

9- Blueclay - deck:atog

Score- 74

Blueclay decided that if there were no answers, then the POWER OF ATOGS could surely not be stopped. As well they could not be. Except when Atogatog came out.

8- Siegfried - Like a dragon on a cake?

Score- 77

Lots of both Sarkhans + Lots of Dragons = Lots of hilarious fun.

7- Darkness1835 - Platinum Draw-Out

Score- 77.5

Though perhaps more apropos for the Sadism challenge, Darkness' Platinum Angel + Tons of Howling Mine-style stuff fit the "your opponent has no answers" bill very well.

6- TridenT - Myrtabulous

Score- 80

Lots of mana myr, then Door to Nothingness. El. Oh. El.

5- Tofu - Keeping Up

Score- 81.5

Basically it's tons of crazy upkeep benefits plus Paradox Haze.

4- squire1 - mishra's power barbs

Score- 82.5

The ol' Ankh of Mishra + Power Surge + Manabarbs + Stuff that kills your own land trick.

3- Zanven - Iohno

Score- 84

The only thing better than an Iona, Shield of Emeria is multiple Ionas.

2- TAMA - Dominion of One

Score- 86

Very clever, very simple Barren Glory deck.

1- I_Call_BS - Growth Spurt

I'll let his own deck description speak for itself- "Cradle of Vitality+Illusions of Grandeur+Ageless Entity+Mayael's Aria"

Sadism Results

On to business with my Sadism challenge results. Let's start with a well-deserved Honorable Mention.

Honorable Mention- Zanven - Hnnnnghhh

Zanven took being a pain to play against in a bit of a different direction. Instead of actually accomplishing the infliction of the pain through gameplay, Zanven sought to protract the game by having TONS of effects that require players to shuffle their libraries, search their libraries, etc. etc. It ended up being a Shahrazad substitute. And while it had trouble winning at times, it was ALWAYS extremely annoying to play against. So a tip o' the hat to this very creative and apropos deck. Now for the top 10.

10- jjmacgrinch66 - ""sadism""

Score- 20.5

The fun part about this deck is its win condition. It essentially has normal control pieces for black and white, then adds in the win con of Bitterblossom and Ghost Council of Orzhova. Deathgreeter helped keep him alive. It made me laugh. Laugh with EVIL. And if your deck made me laugh with evil, that was a good sign for your deck in this challenge. jjmacgrinch66 makes his top-10 debut here.

9- Ignus - A Watery Prison

Score- 22

As with many of our entries, this deck was not fun to playtest against. Winter Orb (which appears here, notably, WITHOUT Stasis ) locks down, a bunch of really cheap counterspells keeps your land untapped vs. your opponent's while still keeping their board clear, then when you've built enough of an "untapped land" lead (which takes forever), you drop Guile. Augh. We haven't heard from Ignus since his top-10 appearance in the very first challenge; this marks his second top-10.

8- I_Call_BS - Null and void

Score- 23

Null and void shuts down SO MUCH different stuff. Keeping track of everything that you CAN'T do against this deck is exhausting. During one turn, the person going against this deck had to be reminded that they couldn't do any of the following: 1- Play spells that were black, blue, or red; 2- Attack unless they paid 2 for each attacker, 3- Target the opponent with any spells, 4- Play more than one non-artifact spell in a turn. Oh, also, the following three cards were all on the board- Nullstone Gargoyle, Guile, and Kira, Great Glass-Spinner. So THAT was fun. Or not. AT ALL. I_Call_BS has his fourth top-10.

7- NoWai - Sadly Magic Cards are to thick to cut wrists

Score- 24

TOO, NoWai. Magic cards are TOO thick to cut wrists. Other than that, deck was AWESOME. While this wasn't the only "I win with Razor Boomerang deck," this was the one that did it the best, I think. The hilarious and humiliating combo is Upwelling, then Drain Power, then Razor Boomerang on a Horseshoe Crab. Over and over, a few times each turn. You win.....eventually. It's backed up by plenty of counterspells, making this deck a real pain that few can fight against without losing a finger. NoWai has a well-deserved first top-10 appearance.

6- quiller - I'm Not Dead Yet

Score- 24.5

Transcendence and anything that says "Players can't gain life" is well known. quiller took it in a really sickening direction- he has lots of enchantments, including Transcendence, Everlasting Torment, and Forsaken Wastes to make sure you can't kill him. A Mesa Enchantress sets up draws, and Privileged Position defends his combo. Then, down comes Phyrexian Arena so that he bleeds one life every turn. Then Near-Death Experience. Then you just have to sit there and watch as his life ticks down to one. Good lord, that's mean. quiller, who has often submitted decks that finished 11th, finally cracks the top-10 with his first appearance.

5- Dr. McMeen - Good Grief!

Score- 26

Defenders, defenders, defenders. Then a million ways to make them indestructible. Then Darksteel Reactor, and you sit there for 20 turns. The aptly named Dr. McMeen also includes Elspeth, Knight-Errant to make his defense airtight, and Ivory Mask to make sure you can't sneak through by targeting him with spells. The good doctor also includes Spiritual Asylum to keep his defenders alive. A VERY annoying deck that gets Dr. McMeen his top-10 premiere.

4- yankeedave - Stop That

Score- 26.5

Everyone hates land destruction. yankeedave decided to not just include lots of LD, but also lots of cards that force discard, and lots of cards that punish players severely for USING their lands. Oh, and then there's Braids, Cabal MinionGC. And Mana Leech. And Mana Skimmer. It's just...it's just not very fun to play. It makes you feel tired just contemplating the idea of playing against this deck. Which is great for this challenge! yankeedave nets his first top-10.

3- sporkife - Ain't you looking cheerful today.

Score- 27

You know sporkife is a sick little puppy because of this idea for a combo in the comments- Ashnod's Coupon + R&D's Secret Lair + Academy Ruins. Even when restricted to cards that AREN'T from the un-sets, sporkife delivers the goods with this classic but innovative blue control deck. It'll lock you down with counters and kill until it gets out good old Ertai, Wizard Adept plus Arcane Laboratory. "But what's the win condition," you ask? Oh. Well eventually he'll just cast a Reminisce. And you won't. And then you'll just draw yourself out eventually. So yeah, enjoy that. sporkife is another of the many first-time top-teneers to appear in this challenge.

2- Zanven - Ling Chi

Score- 27.5

Zanven 's plan is simple- he's going to control the board and hold you down. Then he's going to gut your library, big time. Cranial Extraction, Haunting Echoes, Nightmare Incursion; you name it, he's got it. Depression starts to sink in as you realize that you're going to be drawing nothing but land for a very, very long time. Zanven 's evil plot nets him a sixth top-10.

1- Lumini_Lumini_Lumo - Sadomasochism

Score- 28

This very appropriately-named deck will hurt the heads of both its controller and its opponent. The opponent can't attack. But he HAS to, or bad things will happen. But he can't. Also, even if he did attack, bad things would still happen. And Sleeper Agent, and Linvala, Keeper of Silence, and True Believer, and, and.....it just SUCKS to play against. The deck looks like a mishmash, but it all comes together and works very well when you play it. And it comes together horrifyingly. This deliciously unfun entry gets LLL her second top-10 and earns her the title of Master Deckbuilder.

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Well done to everyone! You people delight me with your sickening desire to make others suffer.

Leaderboard

1st Place - squire1 - 9 top-10 finishes, 2 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 6.22 (Stable)

2nd Place - TAMA - 7 top-10 finishes, 1 Master Deckbuilder title, average finish of 4.29 (Stable)

3rd Place - Zanven - 6 top-10 finishes, 1 Master Deckbuilder title, average finish of 6.00 (Stable)

4th Place - Illiad - 5 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 6.20 (Stable)

5th Place - $ªmHεiπ - 4 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 6.25 (Stable)

6th Place - blueclay - 4 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 6.75 (Stable)

7th Place - I_Call_BS - 4 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 6.75 (+2)

Caley's note- In case top-10 finishes, MD titles, and average finish are all tied, the next tiebreaker is highest historical finish. Blueclay's 2nd place finish beats ICB's 4th place high finish

8th Place - luckyfirefox16 - 3 top-10 finishes, 1 Master Deckbuilder title, average finish of 2.67 (-1)

9th Place - Siegfried - 3 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 4.67 (-1)

10th Place - Lumini_Lumini_Lumo - 2 top-10 finishes, 1 Master Deckbuilder title, average finish of 1.50 (New)

11th Place - mwkelley - 2 top-10 finishes, 1 Master Deckbuilder title, average finish of 3.50 (-1)

12th Place - r1ngo - 2 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 2.50 (-1)

13th Place - honeymomo - 2 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 6.00 (-1)

14th Place - Darkness1835 - 2 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 6.50 (-2)

15th Place - Ignus - 2 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 7.00 (new)

16th Place - zimek22 - 2 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 8.50 (-2)

17th Place - Namemattersnot - 2 top-10 finishes, 0 Master Deckbuilder titles, average finish of 9.50 (-2)

Big mover this time is I_Call_BS, who vaults ahead of Siegfried and luckyfirefox16 to claim 7th place. Zanven 's top-10 this week puts him in position to challenge longtime leaders TAMA and squire1 , neither of whom appeared in a top-10 this time around, a first. Squire1 alone had previously appeared in each of the previous top-10s. Also, warm welcomes to Ignus, who premieres today on the leaderboard, and Lumini_Lumini_Lumo, who kicks down the door to the leaderboard in style with a Master Deckbuilder title.

Next challenge: Menagerie

The rules are these-

1- Legacy-legal. Check this page to see what that means- http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=judge/resources/sfrlegacy

2- Cards that do not have the type "land" or "creature" are banned for this challenge.

3- Singleton rules apply. Other than basic lands, you may not have any more than one of any given card in your deck.

4- No two creatures in your deck may share a creature subtype (i.e., "faerie," "bear," "goblin," etc.)

5- Deadline is the end of Wednesday, May 5th, as measured by Pacific Daylight Time.

Good luck, and say goodbye to your precious Mistform Ultimus.