It would be fine to have overlap between the white and blue 'Lings' as in allowing both to have flying. Shadow would make him a complete house. It could also be replaced by Pro: colour as you suggested. It could also be Pro: card type which looks stronger vs control and weaker vs aggro where he's already very strong.

Giving the black Ling fear is fine. Deathtouch isn't that bad on the D (Make your dude a 1/5 with Deathtouch) but has a very narrow application on attack. The third ability seems so tough to come up with. Random discard would be too strong though whereas straight discard would still be very strong. It could also be a mini Tendrils Of Corruption B: Deal 2 damage to target creature, you gain 2 life.

I hope this gives you some inspiration.

It wasn't advertised two weeks in advance in the tournament announcement forum so no.

Wow, great job at getting this together. It's good to see that TMDers are interested in playing each other online.

I assume that's also part of the reason you prefer 3 Null Rods. It does seem a lot hawter with the three predators in the main and the three and four mana sideboard cards too. Out of curiosity, what would you replace the Plague with if you were inclined to?

I'm a bit confused as you mention cutting Pearl and it isn't in your list. Regardless, thanks for the advice. I don't think the Engineered Plagues are that bad. It's a solution to problem matchups and it may have some splash value against Ichorid (not much though, granted).

ThaGunslinga R.E your list, could you talk me through your sideboarding strategy against various decks?

I think running both Null Rod and CoTV is too much so i'd suggest cutting CoTV. When smennen suggested both i'm pretty sure it was a for a deck with no p9.  That being said, i think the green splash for Goyf is great as Goyf is di better than Negator. I would say that you probably want to go down to 2 or 3 basics for more sac lands (unless you have a meta with heavy BUG and the like which can Stifle).

Life From The Loam could be ridiculous for infi strips and could make Wild Mongrel a quicker threat than Bitterblossom.

I'd probably have the BG list with

-2 Swamp
-1 Bloodstained Mire
-4 CoTV
-1 Tendrils
-1 Bitterblossom

+3 Polluted Delta
+4 Wild Mongrel
+2 Life From the Loam

You could try taking a leaf out of the BUG book and cut an ESG for an off colour mox. That runs Null Rods too.

That's always been a problem with the deck. That's why the - Vamp + Trygon predator in the main was fine. Regarding Cursecatcher, i feel it's still strong with the deck's great mana denial strategy and you should have a creature or two in your starting hand and most hands with say one Cursecatcher in will usually have some method of tutoring or drawing into another creature.

I think you need to reduce the number of Ghost Quarters. Having four situational strips in additional to the five "hard" strips is too much. You should try and look into Trinket Mage plus some equipment to speed up your clock. Plus Trinket Mage can help you get Mindlock into play.

I would also get rid of Workshop and Juggernaut in favour of something like Ancient Tomb and Etherium Sculptor as part of your ramp. Master Of Etherium is also a good clock. Check this out http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=36684.0

Orim's Chant is a great option in place of Trickbind/Stifle.

He is probably too mana intensive to grow bigger than a 2/2 and you can just cast Grunt for two who is a 4/4 with a good ability. If you did go this route, you could just run +4 mountains. i don't think you would need the basic Plains.


I looked at this when i popped home this afternoon and he just seemed like he kept you off STP which is obv really key against a lot of threats people are running.

After goldfishing with a few builds based on the list Dan posted, i made the following changes:

-4 Countryside Crusher
-1 Jotun Grunt
+4 Goblin Legionnaire
+1 Mountain

I felt that the removal and the added speed to the clock justified the Legionnaire but it required cutting a spell for an extra coloured land. I may even have to cut a Mishra's for another coloured land depending on how the manabase feels.

As i said, i've only goldfished this but i'll hopefuly be able to get in some games within the next week or so. I'll get more thoughts in then.

I've been thinking for the past hour what could be in there and thanks somewhat to the previous posters i've got:

Blood Knight (Good vs Fish. Really average elsewhere. Double red could be hard with nine colourless lands and Shusher)
Magus Of The Moon (A beating with Null Rod. Locks you out of Grunt and STP)
Savannah Lions, Isamaru, Jackal Pup, Goblin Cadets etc mix (Quick cheap beats. Could mean less mulligans with no turn one play. May not do enough.)
Goblin Legionnaire (Increases the clock. More removal. May just be more Fanatic-like slots and has an activation cost)
Aven Mindcensor (Is more brutal with no Brainstorm. Could just end up restricting what land they get though)

Changing this may require cutting 1-2 Grunts assuming the Crushers are why you upped them. Is this true? Were there any additional reasons? Is it for an entirely different reason? What's your meta like?


Is this because it's not very exciting, are there too mnay colourless lands or is it just plain not good enough?
   

Seems like you have too much artifact removal. Is there any reason Pyroblast/REB is not in here? Crucible seem very slow when you have guys that 'Get there' quickly and what seems like a prohibitive mana cost for utility. What else have you tried in the sb?

Thanks in advance

Si Copp

Countryside Crusher and Wheel serve as good filters to find the one ofs that have great potential for abuse md.

Wow.

Flash, Gush, and Scroll i can understand. Brainstorm, whilst you'd lean towards keeping it , isn't necessarily a bad restriction but Ponder? That's just strange. Guess it's down to....

Intuition/AK
Impulse
TFK
Night's Whisper
etc

Which i personally find to be very interesting.

This deck has few ways to disrupt the opponent. Your creature base is also very shabby, like Angel and Viper just seems hugely slow in your deck. Riftstone Portal is interesting with a better card drawing engine like Bazaar but definitely isn't a 4 of and probably not a 3 of. You probably need more mana. Xantid Swarm doesn't really have anything worthwhile to protect.

Off the top of my head i would say

-4 Edge Of Autumn
-4 Seal Of Strength
-4 Xantid Swarm
-3 Skullclamp
-4 Ohran Viper
-1 Flagstones Of Trokair
-2 Riftstone Portal
-1 Sword Of Fire And Ice

+1 Strip Mine
+4 Wasteland
+2 Life From The Loam
+3 Bazaar
+1 Crop Rotation
+4 Wild Mongrel
+3 Wooded Foothills
+1 Mox Diamond
+4 Jotun Grunt

You could very well be right.

It's like
-2 Sacland
-1 Wasteland

or just
-3 Sacland

I'd have to figure out which one is correct though.

I feel like the deck needs more Jittes. It's just way better removal than what you've got. I also felt there wasn't enough plays without a mox/rit so i added some one drops. Consultation is also better than DT for your deck in general. Having no Wastelands when your disruption isn't that hot is pretty terrible. Calciderm just costs way too much and doesn't really circumvent Dryad, Tog and Goyf. Sudden Death seems hard to play when you're already trying to play a lot of expensive spells with Confidant in your deck.

This list is pretty much off the top of my head.

4 Savannah Lions
3 Isamaru, Hound Of Konda
4 Dark Confidant
3 Jotun Grunt
3 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Aven Mindcensor

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Vampiric Tutor
4 Duress
3 Thoughtseize
4 Swords To Plowshares
3 Umezawa's Jitte

1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
4 Scrubland
1 Plains
1 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland

SB:
4 Yixlid Jailer
1 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Seal Of Cleansing
3 Cruel Edict
4 Other slots

I might be interested in coming over to play at some point.

What is the nearest airport to Breda?

I like

-2 Ravager
-1 Staff Of Domination
-4 Smokestack

+3 Sword Of Fire And Ice
+2 Chalice
+2 Thorn

I'm in agreement with the argument that's been made about Stack being too slow or a win more card. The ravagers don't seem that bad but i'm pretty sure you want the slots elsewhere and Staff Of Domination is waaaaaaaaaay too random.

I've heard good things about SoFI, key word: heard so test it! Chalice and Thorn help keep games fair which is what you're trying to do.

I feel these changes would make you more competitive in your metagame (thanks for mentioning that).

Cruel Edict can be misdirected. See here: http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=129514

The top 8 lists are indicative that v. little Vintage is played in the U.K. The lack of Merchant Scrolls is still redonkulous though.

A quick question for Lee, smok and other people who played in it, if it was a 10 proxy tournament how different would your lists have been? Would you have played the same deck?

Here's the list i've made in like 15 minutes. UWG sirs.

Mox Pearl
Mox Emerald
Mox Sapphire
Black Lotus
3 Null Rod

2 Tundra
4 Tropical Island
4 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland

4 Wild Mongrel
4 Meddling Mage
3 Jotun Grunt
3 Kataki, War's Wage

1 Fastbond

3 Life From the Loam

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Mystical Tutor
3 Echoing Truth
4 Brainstorm
4 Force Of Will
4 Daze

Hey there, i'd like y'all to take a look at my Fish list and offer advice.

3 Isamaru
3 Savannah Lions
4 Meddling Mage
3 Jotun Grunt
3 Aven Mindcensor

1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Brainstorm
3 Echoing Truth
4 Force Of Will
3 Daze
3 Stifle
1 Morningtide

1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
3 Null Rod

4 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
4 Tundra
2 Island
1 Plains
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

Sideboard:

4 Kataki
2 Morningtide
4 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Seal Of Cleansing
3 Orim's Chant

The Card Choices

Isamaru, Savannah Lions, Meddling Mage, and Jotun Grunt - The usual suspects provide solid beats and disruption

Aven Mindcensor - I picked this guy because his ability to disrupt tutoring is interesting. He is quite unweildy though. Feedback needed on this guy.

Mystical Tutor - To find that Time Walk to win, Ancestral/Brainstorm to consolidate/recommit from Massacre or Truth/Tide to deal with Ichorid threats.

Ancestral, Time Walk - INSANEO

Brainstorm - Card selection is just too good to pass up.

Echoing Truth - To deal with huge guys and Zombie armies.

Force Of Will, Daze, Stifle - Disruption and protection

Morningtide - To tutor up in event of Ichorid. It can sometimes win a game by preventing an insaneo Will.

Artifact mana and Null Rods - Accelerants and disruption.

I have some questions.

Is Gush playable in this deck? (Question of The Day  )
Are there more viable choices then Mindcensor?
Should the Morningtide be a Swords To Plowshares, Honour The Fallen or something else?

Thank you kindly in advance

Simon Copp

I came up with this list after being suitably inspired (i had some coffee).

Artifacts:2
1 Black Lotus
1 Lion's Eye Diamond

Black:28
4 Ichorid
4 Stinkweed Imp
3 Golgari Thug
4 Putrid Imp
4 Ashen Ghoul
4 Nether Shadow
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Darkblast

Blue:6
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Careful Study
1 Wonder

Green:6
4 Golgari Grave Troll
1 Life from the Loam
1 Crop Rotation

Lands:18
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Underground Sea
2 Bayou
1 Volcanic Island
2 Swamp
1 Island

Sideboard:15
3 Chalice Of The Void
4 Ground Seal
1 Ray Of Revelation
1 Filth
1 Life from the Loam
2 Oxidize
3 Pyroclasm

I would go but if i do, i won't be able to get back into the U.K due to our border control being different from EU directives. 

Robert Vroman
JDizzle
Smennenenenenenen.
Roland Chang
Andy Probasco
His Mother
Ben Kowal
Ugo Rivard
Mat Endress
Jacob Orlove
Randy Buehler
Simon Copp
Rich Shay
Simon Hale
Darksteel Colossus

My name is Simon Copp, i'm 20 and live in Exeter, the U.K.  I study economics at Hull uni and in my spare time i like to play football (soccer to you Yanks), go clubbing and chat up women.

I've been playing since Odyssey but only started playing competitively in Darksteel. There's no proxy scene here in the U.K and i own no power and none of the other staples so i play online. I intend to change that at Gencon U.K by playing in t1 nats.

msn: simon[UNDERSCORE]copphotmail[DOT]com
email: sukunegmail[DOT]com
google talk: as above
IRC nick: SimonCopp