Bizarre Shahrazad Deck

[MadWombat]

Hi folks! We recently had a small type 1 tournament here in Calgary, and a particular deck stands out as being interesting. I make no claim that it's good, but it did perform well (in a rather scrubby meta). I don't especially want to encourage the use of shahrazad in type 1, but I think the deck is worth sharing in the interest of diversity, and maybe a good chuckle!

I had no part in the creation of this deck (though since he didn't give me a name, I made one up), which was built by Erik Chan in collaboration with some other people. Here it is!

Shahrazad Silliness - Erik Chan - 16-05-04

2 Dust to Dust
4 Savannah Lions
4 Shahrazad
4 Silver Knight
4 Soltari Priest
2 Swords to Plowshares
4 Incinerate
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Plateau
3 City of Brass
5 Plains  
2 Mishras Factory
Sideboard:
3 Abeyance
2 Aura of Silence
3 Cursed Scroll
2 Disenchant
3 Honorable Passage
2 Swords to Plowshares

As you can see, the basis is some white/red beatdown and burn. The trick of course is in the shahrazads. The idea is to try to remove as many key spells from the opponent's deck as possible. To that end, you can enter a shahrazad subgame, and lose it perfectly happily, as long as you crypt away his important spells, so they won't be available in the main game. The deck does poorly against highly redundant decks with lots of win conditions, since such decks really aren't hurt by losing a chunk of their library. However, against such decks as keeper and slaver, which tend not to have many ways to win, it does surprisingly well.

Anyway, try it out, and see if you like it. It's fun to play, and amusing to watch, and is definitely very rogue!

Cheers,

Paul

[bomholmm]

The problem with that strategy is that your opponent can just concede the subgame right away.

[Machinus]

That is still a significant loss of life for just WW. The opponent will be gauging their new life total as if it were halved already, and cards RFG will still be accessible by wishing for them. It is in the Shahrazad player's favor to receive a concession, because it will quicken the game and it is efficient life loss.

[Eastman]

They can concede in response to the tormods crypt as well.

A good player shouldn't have a problem with the shaharazads.

[MadWombat]

That depends... it's a whole lot easier to burn someone out when they're at 10 than at 20.

[The Atog Lord]

Wombat,

Shahrazad is certainly one of the coolest card anyone can play in Type One today. My question is actually one of time. Were you playing with timed rounds? And if so, did time become an issue for you?

I would imagine that all those subgames -- and their subsequent shuffling -- would devour the clock.

Either way, very cool design.

[airwalk]

Heh, Random-Miser came up with a deck quite some time ago, just for reference this is his..

4 Shahrazad
4 Phyrexian Negator
4 Hippie
4 Shade
4 Hymn
4 Duress
4 swords to plowshares
4 Ritual
3 Tormonds Crypt
1 balance
1 demonic tutor
1 Yawgmoths will
1 Lotus petal
1 Black lotus
1 Mox pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 strip mine
3 wasteland
3 Mishra's factory
4 swamp
3 Polluted Delta
4 Scrubland
2 Caves of Koilos

[rvs]

Heh, Random-Miser came up with a deck quite some time ago, just for reference this is his..

Small piece of advice: This is really not a good way to start a post. Just posting a decklist isn't too great either.

[MarkPharaoh]

People who play Shahrazads need to be shot in the face.

[wuaffiliate]

$10 says BeBe posts his Shaharizad deck

[Moridar]

I once played a Shahrazad deck.  It did ok...  I didn't use the tormod's Crypt as the rules on main game and sub game hadn't been changed quite yet.

Burning wish would be great in the deck if it wasn't for it being restrited.

Wayne

[BreathWeapon]

Dude, Shahrazad on Panoptic Mirror, LOL.

[dmessiah]

Dude, Shahrazad on Panoptic Mirror, LOL.

At the last double lotus tourney in NJ, I saw someone cast Shahrazad and Fork it.  That was tight.

I didn't see the decklist, but it was a sort of iso-burn thing with Orim's Chants.  That deck must have been built just to tick people off.  

[johnstown713]

MarkPharoh wrote:

People who play Shahrazads need to be shot in the face

I couldn't agree more.  At a Gamemaster tourny a couple months back I saw a kid play this and it looks so sweet.  I noticed that the only problem was the time limit, to bad though.  Oh and there has been a kid at the NE tournies searching for Shahrazads, will someone please get him these cards so he will stop asking everyone 100 times a day. :lol:

Johnstown713

[airwalk]

Heh, Random-Miser came up with a deck quite some time ago, just for reference this is his..

Small piece of advice: This is really not a good way to start a post. Just posting a decklist isn't too great either.

Well i didn't have anything else to add, no offense but it's not like anyone else added much contructive critisism to this thread so i don't think you need to just be scolding me.

[combo_dude]

Heh, Random-Miser came up with a deck quite some time ago, just for reference this is his..

Small piece of advice: This is really not a good way to start a post. Just posting a decklist isn't too great either.

Well i didn't have anything else to add, no offense but it's not like anyone else added much contructive critisism to this thread so i don't think you need to just be scolding me.

It's more the Random-Miser thing. Unless it's patently obvious that it is there purely to have the shit flamed out of it, don't say that it was his list. Random-Miser is not a popular character here.

[airwalk]

Roy isn't really a popular character anywhere, i was just trying to point out that his list appeared to be more solid than that posted previously.

[MarkPharaoh]

MarkPharoh wrote:

People who play Shahrazads need to be shot in the face

I couldn't agree more.  At a Gamemaster tourny a couple months back I saw a kid play this and it looks so sweet.  I noticed that the only problem was the time limit, to bad though.  Oh and there has been a kid at the NE tournies searching for Shahrazads, will someone please get him these cards so he will stop asking everyone 100 times a day. :lol:

Johnstown713

lol, I must not of been there then, you would of heard me a mile away if I saw that played at a tourney.  The next time I come up there and I get paired to him and he's still playing the deck, i'm kicking him in the nuts underneath the table

[Colossus]

the joy of Time limits:  Win the first game, then stall.  If you don't finish game II you win the match.  If he concedes to try to get through the game when you start subgames, you have life advantage, making the win so much easier!

I suggest using a stsis/lockdown deck for the build- possibly just running the shaharazad's in sideboard for after you've won game I.  I dunno, I like the idea of using Zur's Weirding after they've conceded or lost a subgame and just not letting them draw cards with the life advantage you gain.

[bebe]

$10 says BeBe posts his Shaharizad deck

Wu - you owe me ten bucks. I played this deck against Wu awhile ago. My version is not too different from the posted version with a few exceptions ...

I run Ication Javelineers over moggs ( style points )
I run two Exalted Angels - often needed
I run no Dustbowls

Now about your match ups - FCG, 4c control and fat aggro are all bad.

The deck attacks the opponents mana base with Disenchants and Strips while laying down some threats. I built my version with three StPs and two Disenchants main decked along with some pro creatures and Lions and Javelineers. against a fast aggro deck you need a bit of luck as Zads are not always good. Against 4c they will concede the sub-games so you need multiples to win and finish them with burn. Angels were added to help agaimnst opposing ones but 4c lays them quickly if they are smart and just Drain into them before you get a chance to Zad. What can you do against this strategy? FCG is just too damn fast. Even with burn and Javelineers and StPs, Wu outran me.

Now as to why i play the deck ... c'mon I'm the BeBe ... it is expected.

[walkingdude]

the joy of Time limits: Win the first game, then stall. If you don't finish game II you win the match. If he concedes to try to get through the game when you start subgames, you have life advantage, making the win so much easier!

The problem is you don’t even need to stall. Even if you play at a quick pace you still probably won’t be able to finish game two. I remember back when I used to play stasis if I won game one I would side out my win conditions for extra counters game 2 and then make sure to play faster than my opponent so there was absolutely no question that I was not slow playing and the game still would never finish. Things like that are terrible. Decks like shaharizad or stasis where even quick play won’t let you finish two games shouldn’t be allowed.