That looks very nice, actually.

For Welders, there's always Engineered in the SB or perhaps more Darkblasts. I'm getting to hate Negators.

Yeah it does, what would you advocate switching out for it?

I've been playtesting this in MWS and feeling a distinct lack of Beat. I think Casbal Therapy could leave.

I just read much of that thread, not all of it, and it seems too me that Chains, Vial, discard, and then the beat mentioned in the latter pages of that thread is the way to go.

Here's the very, very revised decklist:

Creatures/Enhancers-18
4 Mesmeric Fiend
4 Withered Wretch
4 Phyrexian Negator
3 Skittering Skirge
3 Jitte

Disruption/Draw-15
4 Chalice
3 Chains of Mephistopheles
4 Duress
4 Cabal Therapy

Mana Base/Enhancers-26
4 AEther Vial
4 Ritual
13 Swamp
4 Waste
1 Strip

It seems too me that Winter Orb would be a very strong addition with AEther Vial. perhaps if the deck were even more Vial dependent, things like the Skitterings and Winter Orbs would do excellently. Chains + Orb + AEther + Waste/Strip + Crucible would be a fierce lockdown.

So, here’s the decklist for my monoblack attempt

Creature Base-14
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Withered Wretch
2 Phyrexian Negator

Disruption/Discard/Removal-13
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Powder Keg
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Sinkhole

Draw/Tutor Engine-6
1 Necropotence
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Night’s Whisper
1 Yawgmoth’s Will

Mana Base-23
4 Dark Ritual
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
15 Swamp

Sideboard
3 AEther Vial
2 Engineered Plague
2 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Crucible of Worlds
3 Null Rod

I’m very unsure of both Sinkhole’s and Negator’s efficacy in the deck, as having them has often compromised my deck as much as it has enhanced it.

In terms of Creatures I’ve chosen, I think Nantuko, Wretch, and Specter speak for themselves. Just in case they don’t, I’ve found that most T1 decks use the graveyard fro something, whether it be for pinging using Fish, Weldering, Yawgmothing, Reanimating, or even abusing Intuition/AK. Wretch helps to control that. Once a Specter or two is out, the effect on an opponents hand is quite amazing. Shades use excess mana to pound out extra damage. The Negator’s downside is fearsome, but luckily there isn’t too much burn and the like in T1. They’ve won the game but they are quite a liability.

As in any non-Moxen, non-Lotus deck, disrupting these mana sources is critical. Hence Powder Keg and Chalice. Also, Keg serves as my only means of removing artifacts and creatures already in play. Keg has hurt me a few times, but it’s won the game far more times.

The Tourach’s and Duresses are great, great cards. Especially first turn, they can disrupt things like TPS and Oath (assuming no FOW). Ritual + Duress followed by Tourach is a favorite of mine, especially if the Duress is countered with FOW, leaving whatever they hoped to protect more vulnerable. One of the most stable ways to screw with decks is mana removal, especially with things like Keg and Chalice in play, so I chose to include Sinkholes, at first playing 4. However, I found that I had too few creatures to seal the deal with that number of sinkholes, opting instead to include Negators.

The draw/tutor engine is a little low for my taste, being used to playing with blue, the draw color, but having too much draw actually slows down the deck for me, especially when the draw is at sorcery as opposed to instant speed. Necropotence and Yawgmoth’s are absolutely wonderful cards, as is Vampiric Tutor. However, I have my doubts about Night’s Whisper and Demonic Tutor. They eat up mana I could be using to pump Shades are remove graveyard cards. I feel the way my deck SHOULD work is too basically keep them from getting anything on the table using discard and successively higher Chalices as the mana becomes available to me, destroy what lands on the table, and win using the Shades for massive damage. Will + 3-4 Rituals is so fun.

I’ve found that many of the cards in my deck, namely Sinkhole, Wretch, Shade, Specter, Hymn, and Necro require BB or BB+ to play, so running Mishra’s and more Wastelands actually slowed me down, I wasn’t able to cast second turn what I wanted to or was forced to Mulligan a nice hand due to lack of swamps. I’m also feeling like 19 lands and 4 enhancers is a little small a base for what I need, or that I keep drawing mana sources without any use for them when I need other cards.

Earlier, when I ran 4 Fetches, I also ran 1 less land and 1 more Wasteland, so perhaps with the addition of effectively 2 Swamps, fetches might be once again worth a spot in my deck.

The other debate I'm having is Powder vs. Rod in the main deck. I'm really stuck on that one as well.

My Sideboard I’m having a ton of difficulty with. To date, I haven’t SBed in Crucible and have made extensive use of Crypt, Vial, and Plague. I’m wondering if Vial deserves a spot in the maindeck, and if so in what card’s place? The immediate place that comes to mind is in the spot of Negator and perhaps Sinkhole. With Vial, I could also run 4 Wastes, because hardcasting Creatures becomes less of a problem. Edict has been working very well, it's my most appreciated SB card to date.


It's also occured to me that Nether Void and AEther Vial with a blue splash of Standstill, Brainstorm, Recall, and FOW would be absolutely awesome. I could cast through my own void probably Nantuko's and/or Negators.

Anyhow, I’m of to an old friend’s house, I hope this qualifies for content.

--Raph

Updated significantly and added too largely.

Well, thanks anyhow. I have edited to make things easier. Got any U/W suggestions?

My gobblins don't really have trouble with Stax BECAUSE of the cards you mentioned.

I've had not a lot of play with T1 and I've run across a number of absolutely vicious Stax and Ubastax decks that pretty much lock me down completely.

Are there any effective SBs for Stax fighting? Hehe, I feel like quite the newbie posting this, but then again, I am one. I'd hope this is the right forum.

Things I've implemented against them:
Crucible
Disenchant
Aura of Silence
Energy Flux

But I'm not getting these fast enough. Is this bad luck or a lack of effective balance in my Replenish?



Edit: Seems I'm having just as much trouble with proper spelling

Orim's, Attunement, Bazaar, and Circular logic have let me power through replenish after replenish.


This deck is doing very nicely =)

Edit: I haven't lost since I posted this =)

Gotcha. Could you look at my main and tell me what needs to go? I really am not sure what I can drop for it.


Edit: I love your sig.

Hahaha. I get it now. Think 3 is good?

What does Sqee do for the deck?

His Leviat deck could buy my condo.

Anyhow, here's a revised decklist:

Combo - 12
4 Replenish
2 Pandemonium
4 Opalescence
2 In the Web of War

Draw/Discard Engine - 14
2 Bazaar
4 Attunement
4 Careful Study
1 Frantic Search
1 Mystic Tutor
2 Brainstorm

Control- 16
2 Wrath of God
4 Force of Will
3 Seal of Removal
2 Seal of Cleansing
4 Parallax Wave
1 Balance

Mana base- 18
4 Tundra
1 Lotus Petal
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mana Crypt
4 Island
3 Plains
4 Flooded Strand

Sideboard
3 Miscalculation
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Tanglewire
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Wrath of God
2 Disenchant

Form of the dragon also seems like a nice addition.

Revised Decklist[/u]
Playing in a 10 or less proxy environment.


Combo - 11
4 Replenish
4 Opalescence
3 Squee, Goblin Babob

Draw/Discard Engine - 9
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Attunement
1 Frantic Search

Control- 19
4 Circular Logic
3 Orim's Chant
3 Aura of Silence
4 Parallax Wave
4 Parallax Tide

Mana base- 22
4 Tundra
1 Mana Crypt
5 Island
5 Plains
4 Flooded Strand
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire

Sideboard
3 Tormod's Crypt
4 Stifle
3 Null Rod
2 Energy Flux
3 Cursed Totem

I've been doing very well against most decks in MWS, my current play testing zone. I realize that MWS and the amount of time I've had with this deck is really indicative of nothing. I've probably only played about 60 games with it. Anyhow, here's what I've got so far. Matchups have gone roughly like this so far:

TPS- 50/50 win ratio. If they don't kill me first turn, Circular Logic, Aura of Silence, and Null Rod/Tormod's (2nd game) will seal the win. I counter their Yawmoth's Will, because I find that it's the most opputune time to deal with the threat the deck presents. By the time Tendrils is out, discarded counterspells of all kinds get in my way. Then again, I'm rather vulnerable first and secnd turn, which is probably the single largest problem with this deck.

Stax- 40/60 win ratio. Against good stax I'm pretty much stuck on countering goblins and dropping totems, then protecting the totems. It's fairly reliable, but the first game is almost always a loss. I've found that IF, and the if is very large here, I can drop a grinning totem and counter a few welders, or even remove their graveyard with Tormod's, I can do decently, but that's still not a favorable ratio. I'm having less trouble now that I've got Tormod's and Totem in my SB.

White aggro - 60+/40-  win ratio. Not as fast as goblins and easy to counter and slow down, these decks aren't REALLY a problem.

Goblin aggro (not sligh) - 60+/40- win ratio. Parallaxes and an early Replenish or even hardcasted Parallaxes with Orim's to back me up mean these decks don't do that well either.

Sligh - 40/60 win ratio. A well crafted Sligh is quite a threat, becase the threats come out early on and there is no one big thing to counter nor a way to prevent the direct damage. I was thinking about Chalices or Spheres of Resistance against them, but I haven't tested them yet.

Fish - 20/80 win ratio. This is hell for my deck, I don't know how to combat Fish at all...it's really embarassing actually. I've only beaten Fish when the players I was facing drew terribly and mulliganed at least once while I drew excellently. I really need some help in this department.

Oath and variants - 50/50 win ratio. All of the Oath decks I've seen are good and fast, but are very susceptible to Circular Logic and Aura of Silence with Orim's slowing them down. Those three together are not uncommon in my main deck. It seems like against Oath it's entirely hand dependent. If I replenish before them, I win. If I parallax their Forbidden Orchards, I win. If they can drop a threat, they win.

Reanimator - 65/35 win ratio. This plays very similar to Oath in terms of the race to win cards, but generally they're a little slower and a little weaker, meaning my % of wins goes up considerably.

Dragon- 70 - 30 win ratio. Aura of Silence on Animate dead is one dead dragon deck. 'Nuff said.

Fast artifact deck (whose name I'm unsure of) - 70-30 win ratio. Aura of silence comes out, they lose.

In terms of my deck's weaknesses, I'd say that being so easily exploited by Tormod's and Meddling Mage is my single largest problem. Anyhow, any help you could offer I'd appreciate.

Thanks for all the feedback, I've been reading this avidly.

I'done major online play testing with both FCG and a modified R/W sligh and I've found the R/W Sligh is just tons faster due to the Matrons and Ringleaders being so expensive. The burn has also won me tons of games.

I just read up on FCG, it seems pretty powerful. I might proxy the Taigas (4 of them I assume) in favor of completeing all other areas of the deck first. I was thinking about using the build listed here: http://www.themanadrain.com/primers/fcg.htm

C&Ped herer:
//Mana
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Lotus Petal
2 ESG
1 Chrome Mox
1 Sol Ring�
1 Mana Crypt
4 Taiga
4 Wooded Foothills
6 Mountain

// Combo Card
4 Food Chain

// Creatures
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
2 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Goblin Matron
3 Gempalm Incinerator
3 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Goblin Recruiter
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Skirk Prospector
4 Goblin Lackey


I'm wonderinf a few things.
1: how do I get the FChain?
2: what is ESG?
3: Additions/subtractions to this deck?

I don't know about me being destroyed by combo decks. I beat fairly handily a nice Reanimator this afternoon. Which combos might I be losing too?

O_O


You're sure of that? WOuld I sub in the white as main deck at that point?

Matron in T1? Doesn't recruiter destroy Matron?

Also, Goblin Lackey brings in the other Gobbies, and I run 4.

The only thing worth Kiki-ing is a Piledriver. Is it really neccessary?

So, I'm new here, new to Type 1, and have never been in a tournament.  :shock:

Anyhow, here's my Goblin Sligh. I'm not a rich player at all. I have no power, and I have a very limited budget. Gogo sky-high tuition and rent. I'm not really interested in scrapping the entire deck for some other one, so bear with me on this. I'm wondering if this would be competitive on a local scale:

Creatures -- 23
4 Skirk Prospector
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Warchief
3 Siege Gang Commander
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Goblin Piledriver

Spells -- 19
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Goblin Grenade
4 Incinerate
3 Fireblast

Lands -- 18
4 City of Brass
3 Battlefield Forge
11 Mountain

Sideboard
4 Disenchant
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Sulfuric Vortex

Eventually Cities of Brass will be replaced with Plateaus. In other aspects I'm failrly happy with this deck. Anyone and everyone is free to AIM me at elp0g0 for Apprentice or AIM play to help me perfect my deck, and deepest apologies if I dropped this in the wrong forum.