Embracing the Planeshift - Shadows Over Innistrad
Meta Opinion
zandl
3 April 2016
2665 views
3 April 2016
2665 views
Embracing the Planeshift
Seven New Decks from zandl to Get You Hyped for Rotation
My dearest TappedOutians! zandl has crawled back out from relative obscurity in order to bring you a veritable menagerie of post-rotation decks. Feast your eyes and brewing minds upon:
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G/W Weenies Creatures: 23 4 Citadel Castellan 4 Consul's Lieutenant 4 Hanweir Militia Captain Flip 4 Thalia's Lieutenant 4 Town Gossipmonger Flip 3 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit Planeswalkers: 4 4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar Instants: 8 4 Collected Company 4 Dromoka's Command Enchantments: 2 2 Always Watching Lands: 23 4 Canopy Vista 4 Fortified Village 1 Blighted Steppe 1 Westvale Abbey Flip 10 Plains 3 Forest Sideboard 4 Knight of the White Orchid 3 Hermit of the Natterknolls Flip 3 Lantern Scout 2 Eerie Interlude 2 Felidar Cub 1 Hidden Dragonslayer |
For all you fans of Ye Olde Magick from the days of White Knight, Banding, and Horsemanship (-shudder-), here’s a White[ish] Weenie deck. Harkening back to the original Innistrad block’s G/W Human tribal decks (utilizing Mayor of Avabruck
Flip, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, and the sorely-missed Gavony Township), our goal is to flood the board quickly with a variety of diverse yet powerful creatures. Our dream draw in this deck is to begin with a Gossipmonger and transform it with our 2-drop, then untap and go to town with Renown or Dromoka's Command. From there, we can drop Gideon, Ally of Zendikar to exponentially increase the pressure on an opponent, or search for more diversity through a Collected Company. One of our new cards, Thalia's Lieutenant, grants us a lot of reach and a reasonable bit of protection against Radiant Flames (though I feel obligated to note that Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit isn’t a Human). Hanweir Militia Captain Flip feels like the card that Thraben Doomsayer always wanted to be, granting us tokens as early as the fourth turn of the game. Always Watching buffs up all our creatures except for Gideon’s Ally tokens and Westvale Cult Leader Flip’s Clerics. It makes our Consul's Lieutenant a 4/3 first strike and Citadel Castellan a 5/6(!) after Renown. Additionally, it alleviates a lot of the pressure put on Gideon to make an emblem right away, allowing him to act more as a finisher in lieu of a utility ’Walker. I think the correct way to play this deck is to be fairly aggressive in terms of letting your guys trade and chump-block. Lacking methods in Green and White to deal with opposing creatures (without throwing off our numbers for Collected Company), our creatures are our biggest resource. Dromoka's Command gives us a ton of versatility, whether it be fighting off a blocker, hard-countering a Radiant Flames (the mode everyone forgets but is secretly the best one), or freeing up our creature from a Silkwrap. With the obvious weaknesses of this deck being board-wipes like Languish and Radiant Flames, our sideboard gives us Eerie Interlude to save our guys. While this would unfortunately "reset" our Renowned creatures and the transformed Gossipmonger, we would score some sweet synergies with Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit Bolstering for each other creature coming back in with it, and also Thalia's Lieutenant triggering off the chain. Knight of the White Orchid gives us a huge edge when going second against RDW or similar low-to-the-ground creature strategies. Hermit of the Natterknolls Flip extends our reach against control, with Hidden Dragonslayer getting the jump on Dragonlord Ojutai, among others, before it can connect. I wanted to note that I had planned to include Kytheon, Hero of Akros Flip in this deck; I really did. But Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is simply the stronger card and you don’t really want both. That being said, if you don’t have Ally of Zendikar, Kytheon actually makes a lot of sense in the deck as a 3-of. He helps us make turn-1 plays, counts as a Human, and Gideon, Battle-Forged Flip is still pretty strong so long as you’ve got a creature or two for support. |
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Mardu Super-Friends Control Creatures: 4 2 Goblin Dark-Dwellers 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet Planeswalkers: 8 3 Nahiri, the Harbinger 2 Chandra, Flamecaller 2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis 1 Ob Nixilis Reignited Sorceries: 10 3 Radiant Flames 3 Read the Bones 2 Languish 1 Descend upon the Sinful 1 Ruinous Path Instants: 10 4 Fiery Impulse 3 Ultimate Price 2 Commune with Lava 1 Anguished Unmaking Enchantments: 2 2 Oath of Gideon Lands: 26 4 Shambling Vent 4 Smoldering Marsh 3 Battlefield Forge 3 Caves of Koilos 2 Needle Spires 5 Mountain 5 Swamp Sideboard 4 Surge of Righteousness 4 Transgress the Mind 2 Hallowed Moonlight 2 Infinite Obliteration 2 Rending Volley 1 Profound Journey |
For those of us degenerates (myself included) who were rocking Mardu Green up to the very end of the previous Standard format, I present to you what will likely become your favorite deck of the article. Once you realize that all of our Planeswalkers in this deck (a) draw cards and (b) destroy creatures, it’s no secret that we’re playing a control deck capable of sustaining its presence throughout a game of any length. In my testing, Sorin, Grim Nemesis coming off the top of the deck was always a back-breaker for my opponents. He draws cards while killing them, shoots anything for up to 6 damage (+6 life) upon entering the battlefield, and forces a scoop on ultimate. Nahiri, the Harbinger is a tough card to see the usefulness in, but she has no problem dumping those extra lands from your hand for spells. She is also a mainboard answer to artifacts and, more importantly, enchantments. Her ultimate isn’t too outstandingly powerful, but we hopefully wouldn’t need it between cycling cards and exiling threats. The pair of Oath of Gideon provides us with a couple of chumps and gives our Planeswalkers more oomph, particularly to those with -X abilities. The fact that Chandra can enter and deal 4 damage to everything and live is fantastic. Other forms of Planeswalker support come as Radiant Flames, Languish, and Descend upon the Sinful. And, yes; I think this many board wipes is correct when you consider that new formats always start with aggressive, creature-based strategies. The last thing you want is to die on turn-5 to a slew of Humans or Zombies when all you have are Nahiri and Nixilis. You could easily plug in Planar Outburst where Descend upon the Sinful sits, but I personally like where Descend is on the curve with relation to our other spells. There’s also the benefit of straight-up exiling all your opponent’s creatures, too, in what will surely be a format with many graveyard-based strategies. The rest of our Sorceries and our Instants are largely your run-of-the-mill control cards: spot removal and card-draw. My first choice for a 3-mana draw-spell was Painful Truths. I respect and admire the potential power of the card, but it hurts, especially after Ob Nixilis Reignited, Anguished Unmaking, and pain-lands are factored into the equation. Read the Bones is the obvious backup and, at the cost of drawing one less card, we lose less life and can actually dig deeper into the deck than Truths does. In a control deck with fairly specific answers to threats, selectively drawing is almost always better than blindly drawing. See: Dig Through Time vs. Treasure Cruise in control this past year. Speaking of card advantage, while searching for spells that let us potentially refill our hand Our man-lands give us a lot of reach in the late-game when we’re using our Planeswalkers more than casting new spells. Shambling Vent heals us after Read the Bones and pain-land activations while Needle Spires can put a lot of pressure on both attackers and blockers. Goblin Dark-Dwellers offers up a lot of value and can pave the way for one of our 6-drops, while Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet grants us some much-needed life-gain and board presence before the game runs too late. Our sideboard greatly boosts our chances against aggressive Red decks as well as slower, bigger midrange decks. Hallowed Moonlight hits the inevitable Collected Company deck (as well as completely hosing Eerie Interlude, which will likely be found in a lot of the same places). Profound Journey is a kind of fun-of-one-of card, but it makes a lot of sense on paper against slower decks. It lets you be more reckless with your Planeswalkers and creatures, squeezing maximum value out of them before you simply bring two of them back on your seventh and eighth turns. |
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U/G Ramp Creatures: 14 4 Deathcap Cultivator 4 World Breaker 2 Leaf Gilder 2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer Flip 2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger Planeswalkers: 2 2 Kiora, Master of the Depths Sorceries: 16 4 Explosive Vegetation 4 Nissa's Pilgrimage 4 Part the Waterveil 2 Crush of Tentacles 2 Nissa's Renewal Instants: 2 2 Epiphany at the Drownyard Lands: 26 4 Lumbering Falls 4 Sanctum of Ugin 4 Shrine of the Forsaken Gods 1 Blighted Cataract 9 Forest 4 Island Sideboard 4 Jaddi Offshoot 3 Dispel 2 From Beyond 2 Sphinx of the Final Word 1 Altered Ego 1 Kozilek, the Great Distortion 1 Pulse of Murasa 1 Void Winnower |
Though one could surely argue that G/R Ramp is likely to be the leader of all the Ramp variants, I believe there’s plenty of merit in playing the Blue version. Firstly, in a duel between G/R and G/U, the card that wins the match is Part the Waterveil. When you can start creating 6/6 lands each turn to shift sideways and still cast your other threats, it’s tough for any other similar deck to keep up. Secondly, when you consider that Blue gives you Kiora, Master of the Depths, Epiphany at the Drownyard, and Lumbering Falls, you start to see how much longevity and reach the deck receives from the color. The best line this deck can have is a 2-drop dork into Explosive Vegetation or Kiora, Master of the Depths. From there, World Breaker can be cast on turn-4 and Ulamog as soon as turn-5 with the right lands. Where this deck differs from G/R’s ramp strategy is that you obviously don’t have Kozilek's Return to burn away small attackers and, eventually, larger ones later on. This is where Crush of Tentacles comes in. If you’re in trouble, bounce the board and follow up with a bomb the next turn that your opponent likely won’t be able to answer too readily. Crush of Tentacles can also be quite powerful later in the game, making use of those unneeded ramp spells for Surge, giving you an 8/8 to sling around. Also, one nifty synergy between this and Part the Waterveil is that your Awakened lands stay on the board. Part the Waterveil is your game-winner here, letting Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger crush in twice before your opponent gets to untap (assuming he/she survives) or giving you a great chance to find a threat. Don’t underestimate its ramping capabilities, either, as you can just cast it on 6, untap, draw, and play a seventh land Finally, our sideboard patches up a lot of the deck’s weaknesses decently well. Jaddi Offshoot is an obvious (yet oftentimes subtly game-changing) addition that we welcome in against anything that is likely to kill us way before we can normally stabilize. Start with one of these guys and you’ll have a great headstart in the game. Start with two and I can’t see you losing apart from land-screw. Dispel shores up control decks and Collected Company decks for the most part, while Sphinx of the Final Word craps on all those Blue-based midrange decks that try to become the controlling deck of the match post-sideboard (and actual control decks, too, I suppose). The rest of the cards here are mainly just utility for when you deem them useful, with a saucy one-of Altered Ego to copy whatever seems fun without the risk of headbutting a counterspell |
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Avaricious Red Creatures: 19 4 Avaricious Dragon 4 Incorrigible Youths 4 Ravenous Bloodseeker 4 Village Messenger Flip 3 Zurgo Bellstriker Sorceries: 4 4 Exquisite Firecraft Instants: 14 4 Draconic Roar 4 Fiery Temper 3 Lightning Axe 3 Titan's Strength Lands: 23 21 Mountain 2 Foundry of the Consuls Sideboard 4 Thunderbreak Regent 2 Boiling Earth 2 Chandra, Flamecaller 2 Kessig Forgemaster Flip 2 Magmatic Chasm 1 Foundry of the Consuls 1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon 1 Rending Volley |
One of the most hotly hyped cards from Origins is one that never came across a real home: Avaricious Dragon. With the return of Madness to Standard, could it be that we finally have the perfect excuse to mainboard the big guy and maybe not get totally screwed over by him? Well, considering that we still have Draconic Roar acting as a Searing Blaze and a slew of cards that just want to be discarded, I can actually see Avaricious Dragon being a thing. The early-game curve we have is surprisingly strong. Village Messenger Flip is widely regarded as a better Reckless Waif Flip and the benefits of Zurgo Bellstriker are obvious. The new Ravenous Bloodseeker sets up for an explosive third turn with Incorrigible Youths, paving the way for up to 9 damage on turn-3. Lightning Axe solves a lot of our problems for the first several turns of the game while also turning on Madness at instant-speed, letting us drop in Incorrigible Youths if we couldn’t have done it beforehand, or just hitting our opponent’s face with In preparation of our toughest matchups being large midrange decks with access to life-gain, we’re going bigger with a full playset of Thunderbreak Regents and a couple of Chandra, Flamecaller, with 2 extra lands to help us get there. Kessig Forgemaster Flip and Boiling Earth help immensely against low-to-the-ground aggressive decks, garnering some highly efficient ways to deal with blockers and small tokens. |
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B/W Eldrazi Midrange Creatures: 16 4 Matter Reshaper 4 Reality Smasher 4 Thought-Knot Seer 4 Wasteland Strangler Planeswalkers: 3 2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis 1 Ob Nixilis Reignited Sorceries: 11 4 Declaration in Stone 4 Transgress the Mind 3 Read the Bones Instants: 4 3 Ultimate Price 1 Anguished Unmaking Lands: 26 4 Caves of Koilos 4 Crumbling Vestige 4 Shambling Vent 3 Blighted Fen 2 Forsaken Sanctuary 2 Sea Gate Wreckage 1 Battlefield Forge 1 Llanowar Wastes 1 Mirrorpool 4 Swamp Sideboard 3 Surge of Righteousness 2 Duress 2 Hallowed Moonlight 2 Infinite Obliteration 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet 2 To the Slaughter 1 Anguished Unmaking 1 Read the Bones |
To be completely honest, this is the deck I see the most potential in for post-rotation Standard. I’ve been playing a nearly identical list on and off since Oath of the Gatewatch dropped and the power level of the deck is high. With a tapped land on turn-1, your curve here is Transgress/Declaration on turn-2, Strangler/Reshaper/Read the Bones on turn-3, Thought-Knot/control on turn-4, culminating at a Reality Smasher on turn-5 against an already-crippled opponent. Each of the creatures in this deck are automatic 2-for-1 cards, meaning they will either net us an extra card or force the opponent to invest two or more spells into destroying them the majority of the time. When combined with the hand-sculpting strength behind Transgress the Mind (which sneaks right around Madness costs, mind you) and the renewed strength of Ultimate Price at 2-mana, we have no problem containing any type of threat through the early turns of the game. Leading into our later turns, Ob Nixilis Reignited sets the stage for a late-game takedown with Sorin, Grim Nemesis. One of the only differences between this list and the one I was playing (and winning) with throughout January and February was Silkwrap in the place of Declaration in Stone. While Silkwrap did a decent job of negating my opponent’s early play and turning on Wasteland Strangler, Dromoka's Command was never too far away. Declaration has the same cost at Sorcery-speed and can obviously tag multiple threats at once, only at the expense of letting the opponent draw a card or two far later in the game. Playing the deck for so long also taught me that the real power of the deck comes from being able to force our opponent into lines that we can easily punish. With Thought-Knot Seer and Transgress the Mind, our diverse removal package, and finishers in Smasher and Sorin, there isn’t much room for opponents to recover at any point in the game. A fair deal of strength in this deck actually comes from our land-base. Shambling Vent can sneak in for relevant life-gain, Blighted Fen typically catches opponents off-guard as they attempt to gain traction, and Sea Gate Wreckage ensures that late-game topdeck wars always swing in our favor. Mirrorpool is, in addition to these other fine lands, a welcome sight at any point in the late-game. More than a few games I’ve won were due in part to Mirrorpool, copying that Reality Smasher for 5 extra points of damage, or creating a new Thought-Knot Seer at the end of my opponent’s draw step. The sideboard we’re bringing with us provides us with a little more stopping power against aggressive decks while focusing chiefly on beefing up our deck for longer games. Anguished Unmaking and Read the Bones both grant more breadth in terms of how we can approach troublesome situations without overcommitting resources. Infinite Obliteration adds some much-needed tempo against ramp decks or any combo decks that may pop up in the new format. Hallowed Moonlight shuts the door on Collected Company and mass token generators, like Secure the Wastes, which have historically been a pain for this deck to deal with. |
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Abzan Elves Creatures: 27 4 Dwynen's Elite 4 Elvish Visionary 4 Gnarlroot Trapper 4 Shaman of the Pack 4 Sylvan Advocate 3 Leaf Gilder 2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer Flip 1 Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen 1 Liliana, Heretical Healer Flip Enchantments: 2 2 Evolutionary Leap Instants: 8 4 Collected Company 4 Eerie Interlude Lands: 23 4 Caves of Koilos 4 Hissing Quagmire 4 Llanowar Wastes 2 Canopy Vista 2 Shambling Vent 6 Forest 1 Swamp Sideboard 4 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar 3 Duress 2 Dromoka's Command 2 Eyeblight Massacre 2 Painful Truths 2 Pulse of Murasa |
With this list based largely on a recent deck by Ross Merriam, we look to swarm the board with an army of Elves and win through massive damage on the offensive or by abusing Shaman of the Pack and enter-the-battlefield triggers. Decks like these are typically quite fragile to board-wipes, and Standard certainly has its fair share of playable ones right now; Radiant Flames, Flaying Tendrils, Planar Outburst, Languish, and Chandra, Flamecaller all make the cut. Luckily for us, Eerie Interlude not only completely blanks board-wipes but spams all of our ETB effects from Elvish Visionary, Dwynen's Elite, Shaman of the Pack, and Nissa, Vastwood Seer
Flip. Even a proactive Interlude during our turn can wreak havoc on an opponent or end the game on the spot. Throw in Collected Company so our value per spell stays high, and you’ve got one extremely resilient deck to pilot. Added strength in this build comes from a one-of Liliana, Heretical Healer Flip, giving us a quick 2/2 token and the ability to reanimate any of our creatures right away. Sylvan Advocate kicks into overdrive late-game, as well, beefing up Shambling Vent and Hissing Quagmire to game-winning sizes. Evolutionary Leap extends our reach far into the late-game turns and helps stave off a board-wipe that lands while we don’t have Eerie Interlude. Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen can pump our board (which grows wide quickly) to let us swing for the fences while giving us a spot of reach to help our defensive game. I was on the fence here about Dwynen vs. Tajuru Warcaller, but I think I like Dwynen for the fact that she retains relevance through Eerie Interlude, whereas the Warcaller just comes back in and has no virtual effect on the board. With Collected Company (hitting neither) and Eerie Interlude being our go-to spells, I opted for Dwynen. This sideboard is composed mostly of generic spells that assist us in a broad variety of matches. Nissa, Voice of Zendikar grants us a lot of fuel against midrange and control decks, as does Painful Truths. Pulse of Murasa and Eyeblight Massacre help our aggro matchups while Duress and Dromoka's Command can be plugged in wherever necessary. |
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Esper Control Planeswalkers: 5 3 Sorin, Grim Nemesis 1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets 1 Ob Nixilis Reignited Sorceries: 7 3 Languish 2 Pore Over the Pages 2 Read the Bones Instants: 21 4 Anticipate 4 Scatter to the Winds 3 Clash of Wills 3 Ultimate Price 2 Anguished Unmaking 2 Grasp of Darkness 2 Secure the Wastes 1 Silumgar's Command Lands: 27 4 Caves of Koilos 4 Prairie Stream 4 Shambling Vent 4 Sunken Hollow 2 Blighted Fen 5 Swamp 4 Island Sideboard 4 Surge of Righteousness 2 Duress 2 Infinite Obliteration 2 Trail of Evidence 2 Transgress the Mind 1 Dispel 1 Narset Transcendent 1 Negate |
For all my control homeboys out there, I give you a big, fat, heavy Esper control list. Let’s draw some cards, kill some stuff, sit for awhile, and then end the first game with 23 minutes left on the clock. Because why not? The seemingly biggest hit to blue-based control at rotation is the loss of Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise without receiving any real way to dig for cards or even draw too many at instant speed (and, no; Epiphany at the Drownyard is not the card we want when we’re sweating and digging for that one card we need). After briefly testing with Pore Over the Pages, I’ve found it works [unsurprisingly] well with so many 2-drops in the deck. We can safely tap out on turn-5 for this, draw 3, discard the worst card in our hand, and still be able to react before we have 6 mana and a stacked hand. In a few ways, it even feels like Jace, Architect of Thought, where we get to select the two best cards out of the top 3. I should note that you shouldn’t be too scared to tap out on your own turn if there’s a good opportunity to snag some board presence. Jace, Unraveler of Secrets is somewhat untested but makes plenty of sense in a deck like this. If your opponent did nothing noteworthy the turn before Jace, you can slam him onto the board, go up to 6 counters, scry/draw, and deal with whatever happens on the following turn. Similarly, Sorin, Grim Nemesis can make short work of most any single target on the battlefield while netting you life, so don’t pass up a chance to drop him out there. The real power behind a deck built this way (similar to the B/W Eldrazi list above) is forcing your opponent to play how you want them to, making your cards hit harder than their own. Assuming you aren’t dying, if your Jace comes out and goes up to 6 straight away, your opponent’s probably going to shift focus to him instead of your face. Any time your Planeswalkers act as Fogs, that’s a tempo swing in your direction. Secure the Wastes as a pseudo-win-condition lets us keep our mana open and cast it when it’s advantageous to do so. Again; don’t be afraid to run it out for 3 or 4, either, if it seems like a decent time for it. Blighted Fen hiding in our land-base can dampen your opponent’s mood while making him/her overcommit to the board to avoid being blown out. Shambling Vent brings some much-needed life-gain to the party while giving us a way to reliably get our wheels spinning toward victory. Ob Nixilis Reignited provides solid backup for our plans, Silumgar's Command can be a downright nasty 2-for-1 in the right spot, and Anguished Unmaking covers what we otherwise couldn’t prevent. Our roughest matchup will undoubtedly be Red-based aggro, so Surge of Righteousness is essential (and a simple swap-out with Anguished Unmaking). Infinite Obliteration, Duress, Negate, and Transgress the Mind seal up whatever weaknesses we had to ramp and more traditional midrange decks. Narset Transcendent, Dispel, and Trail of Evidence join in for good times versus control, Trail giving us a way to constantly squeeze value out of almost every spell we cast (whether or not it resolves). One card that isn’t listed but could earn a spot here is Sphinx of the Final Word for its useful "f*** off" properties against control. While it can certainly be back-breaking, I’d be wary of the inevitable Blighted Fen/To the Slaughter/Foul-Tongue Invocation lurking in opposing control decks. I’m not arguing that it "dies to Doom Blade" per se, but 7 mana is a lot to spend on something that may not be there the following turn. |
Happy tapping, players.
Get out there and support corporate America your local game shop! While I may have left out some of the more exciting cards of the new set (sorry, Arlinn Kord
Flip, you hype-machine, you), I hopefully gave you a taste of the possibilities available to you so you can arm yourself as you see fit. With a newfound enthusiasm for the post-rotation card pool and equipped with a formidable arsenal of strategic weapons, you are sure to fight well and emerge victorious in this weekend’s launch events. So go, my friends, and sink your teeth into the coarse-ground sausage that is our five humble sets smashed together and enveloped in the snappy, salty casing that is Standard!
zandlWell, for whatever reason, the "flip" cards made everything all wonky even though it didn't show up like that in a comment preview.
April 3, 2016 10:12 p.m.
Also, can't you just go into the admin blogs page and view the coding on my post? All in all, my coding knowledge is actually hideously basic... I just do a lot of cursory Google searching and copypasta when I want a very specific piece of HTML code. That, and a ton of trial & error.
April 3, 2016 10:15 p.m.
That's a good point, actually. Brain-lapse haha. I've been taking HTML/CSS courses to learn more so that I can actually create nice-looking pieces like yours here. I'll be sure to take a look at the actual code, thanks.
April 3, 2016 11:08 p.m.
Very well written as usual. I really like your thoughts on Commune with Lava, and you're right, I did forget about it. I may have to give it a shot, seems like a fun card.
I've also been toying around with a G/W humans list, but I built it a tad different and ran Dragon Hunter and Stasis Snare in place of some of your picks. Has Town Gossipmonger Flip proven effective for you? Any thoughts on Lambholt Pacifist Flip as well?
April 4, 2016 1:52 a.m.
miracleHat says... #6
I liked the brief summary of each of the decks that you mentioned: though I wish that you dedicated one slot to a 'quirky/unique/different' deck that most people had not seen before. And please change the font if/when you do this again: it was figuratively killing me.
Great job: does this mean that you are BACK back?
@Spootyone: why do you torture yourself with lessons on website coding (aren't you a freaking botanist?!)
April 4, 2016 2:07 a.m. Edited.
It's funny you should bring up Lambholt Pacifist Flip. It seems quite good on paper, but it needs support. I was knee-deep into a brew for this article trying to use Lambholt Pacifist Flip on turn-2 and Surrak, the Hunt Caller on off an Honored Hierarch, effectively smashing in for 8 damage on turn-3. As cool as that seems, I simply couldn't justify finishing the deck because of a lack of other interactive cards or proper support that low on the curve without getting too deep into multiple colors. I feel there may be something there, but I got frustrated with it all. In a pretty low-to-the-ground aggressive deck, though, I don't see it being too helpful. 4 power is a lot to ask for before turn-5 in a deck stuffed to the brim with 1/1's and 2/2's.
As for Town Gossipmonger Flip, I admittedly haven't tested it. A quick search of 1-drop Humans in Standard, though, yielded that and Dragon Hunter as the best choices. The Hunter's neat and everything, and I do believe Dragons will be far more prevalent until October, but getting to flip for "free" on turn-2 off your 2-drop creature seems not too shabby. He becomes a 2/3 for 1 mana that you can sink your lands into later on if you want to. And I figured between pumping him up, Dromoka's Command, and Thalia's Lieutenant, being forced to attack each turn isn't the end of the world. But you see I did go on to lament over how sweet Kytheon would be in its spot. :/ I think Dragon Hunter would be fine instead of the Gossipmonger as I don't really think there's a discernible difference in power level beyond slipping by some random Dragon for 2 more damage.
April 4, 2016 2:11 a.m.
miracleHat: Nah, I'm no Botanist. I wish I was because I really like plants, but unfortunately I'm not. Hell, at this point I'd take basically any job as I got laid off from my last one months ago and haven't found anyone willing to hire me since (apart from incredibly shitty insurance sales positions). In any case, if I'm going to be acting as an editor and source of aid for content on this site then I need to up my skills.
I also could use the same skills eventually when potentially designing my own stuff, too. But right now, I just need something positive going on for me. In other words, I need something to better myself to keep me from Drowning in Sorrow...
I've been working on my Human list for a bit now, zandl. In it, Lambholt Pacifist Flip has been quite decent given how easily it gets up to being a 4/4 after a single +1 counter from a Dromoka's Command or a Thalia's Lieutenant. I also have both Always Watching and a potential emblem from Gideon, Ally of Zendikar to give it that essential fourth power as well. And none of that even includes OTHER things being at that power level (i.e. Gideon himself, a Tireless Tracker after a clue is popped, Sigarda, Heron's Grace, etc).
April 4, 2016 2:27 a.m.
"... I need something to better myself to keep me from Drowning in Sorrow..."
Ha!
Those are all reasonable points, though. I suppose I vastly underestimate the number of ways that deck can buff power by 1.
April 4, 2016 2:36 a.m.
I'm pretty sure the Takir Block rotates out with Origins when SoI releases. So I think every single deck needs a rework cause they won't be standard legal as of April 8th.
April 4, 2016 9:53 a.m.
libraryjoy says... #13
Nope, due to the new rotation schedule, Dragons of Tarkir & Origins stay for another bit. I believe both will rotate out when the next large set drops - next plane after Innistrad.
April 4, 2016 10:47 a.m.
canterlotguardian says... #14
N1NJ4M0D3 only Khans of Tarkir and Fate Reforged will rotato out. Dragons of Tarkir will still be in.
April 4, 2016 10:49 a.m.
VampireArmy says... #15
In the Avaricious Red list, I think running Lightning Berserker is just nearly strictly better than Village Messenger Flip as berserker can still have haste on turn 1-3 but also deal more damage later in the game.
Spootyone says... #1
Dude you have to help me learn the ways of formatting that you possess. For real. Like...actually PM me or something. Hell, email me. I just need to learn how to code things this well for the benefit of everyone.
[email protected]
April 3, 2016 10:07 p.m.