Help beating the s**t out of my friend
Deck Help forum
Posted on Aug. 25, 2019, 9:23 a.m. by jaime_97_zgz
Hi, I have a friend that always plays an illusion based mono blue deck. His strategy is based on this 4 cards: Lord of the Unreal , Phantasmal Image , Chronozoa and Krovikan Mist .
He completes his deck with some more illusions and some spells such as Ponder .
How would you beat him? Is there any deck or strategy I can use to give him a dose of his own medicine?
I am going to disagree with SynergyBuild's suggestion of building an anti-tribal deck. In kitchen table, it is generally considered poor form to build a deck that is specifically designed to beat another's pet deck. That's a good way to create a toxic play environment resultant in your group falling apart.
TypicalTimmy's burn with wrath effects is a pretty solid option. It has a good matchup against Lord of the Unreal decks, while also being fairly fun and strong against most creature-based decks (which is what a lot of kitchen table decks tend to gravitate toward). One trick that has not been mentioned, things like Lightning Bolt work extra well against Lord of the Unreal. What you want to do is make sure they only have one Lord of the Unreal on the field. They'll likely cast a Phantasmal Image--while the Image is on the stack, you kill their Lord. Phantasmal Image doesn't have a creature to copy when it ETBs, so it will die also--you get two kills for the price of one.
For a different take, you could go Blue/x control, focusing on countering creatures before they hit the field. For a win condition Thing in the Ice Flip is great, and can remove all your opponents' creatures and allow you to swing for the win. For your second color, I would go Black or White. Black could give you access to forced discard cards, removing the threats before they are cast. White gives you access to Council's Judgment , which does not target, so you can use it to exile a Phantasmal Image.
August 25, 2019 noon
SynergyBuild says... #5
Caerwyn Based upon the name of the post, I don't believe this was intended for friendly play. I answered the post with a deck that I believed would beat the s**t out of an illusion tribal build.
Additionally, we still do not know the format being played.
August 25, 2019 1:22 p.m.
WizardOfTheNorthernCoast says... #6
I agree with Caerwyn: from past experiences, building a deck that aims only at destroying you r friend's deck will result in saltiness from his side, short-term satisfaction on yours and overall frustration for both of you.
The best solution to me is to even the odds by building yourself a tribal deck too. Merfolk, Goblins, Elves, Allies or Zombies are all viable options. Make sure you put in some targeted and mass removals to mess up with his illusions and you're good to go.
August 25, 2019 1:45 p.m.
Suns_Champion says... #7
Easy to slot into a red burn deck would be Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast . They counter lord of the unreal and counter and destroy the other 3.
August 25, 2019 2 p.m.
Megalomania says... #9
Try reanimator. Entomb Iona, Shield of Emeria then Reanimate . Voila! Friendship over!
August 25, 2019 6:53 p.m.
A soul sister deck would give your friend a bit of trouble. If he's using Krovikan Mist , he's got a pretty heavy creature list. Could use more info on his playstyle. I wager he's going straight up aggro using dudes like Phantasmal Bear , Vapor Snag and Phantasmal Dragon but I could also see him doing something more control-like with Riftwing Cloudskate , Draining Whelk , meloku the cloud mirror and Counterspell since it sounds like he's pretty annoying.
A mid-range life gaining deck sounds like it will consistently give you more turns to play bigger threats and overall be winning more games. Blue has a lot of problem solving cards so I wouldn't rely on a single card to win you a game, especially if it can get countered. I'd lean more to redundancy and playing relevant cards.
Strategies that use creatures like Soul Warden , Thragtusk or making a deck around that new card Bishop of Wings since angels can block flyers or Suture Priest or Gray Merchant of Asphodel
August 26, 2019 3:49 a.m.
There's also the option of just playing the better illusion deck, which is the spirit deck.
August 26, 2019 3:52 a.m.
LordBlackblade says... #14
I'm going to throw out Soltari Guerrillas as some seriously random, anti-illusion tech. The oracle text makes it a free, targeting, activated ability. It is traditionally combined with Horobi, Death's Wail or Cowardice to great effect. Play your cards right and it could easily be a one-sided board wipe.
August 26, 2019 4:41 a.m.
jaime_97_zgz says... #15
Whoa! thanks you all! I didn't expected this much help! SynergyBuild, TypicalTimmy, Funkydiscogod, Caerwyn, WizardOfTheNorthernCoast, Suns_Champion, Matt_The_OGRE, Megalomania, smackjack, dahhahm, LordBlackblade
SynergyBuild says... #2
Cool, play monoblack with 4x Plague Engineer and 4x Engineered Plague and 4x Extinction and even 4x Outbreak , then use some dumb big beatsticks like some demons and cards like Doom Blade .
Want me to make this a decklist? Also do you play a specific format or have a specific budget?
August 25, 2019 9:32 a.m. Edited.