Without preamble, the deck:
Team DD presents: Living Hell.dec:
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Volcanic Island
3 Tropical Island
4 Grim Lavamancer
3 Gorilla Shaman
2 Root Maze
4 Brainstorm
2 Arcane Laboratory
4 Fire / Ice
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
3 Hidden Gibbons
2 Hidden Guerrillas
3 Hidden Herd
Sideboard:
4 Artifact Mutation
3 Stifle
2 Hidden Guerrillas or Viashino Heretics (personal choice)
2 Blue Elemental Blast
4 Red Elemental Blast
Individual card choices are fairly self explanatory, so I’ve prepared a brief Q/A on what the deck is and what it does. If you guys would like, I can prepare a more expansive post and edit in card explanations for everything.
1. Whats the basic strategy?The basic idea was to build a decently optimal deck that could take down Tog and Workshop decks (which tend to dominate in the Midwest), while still being able to go up against the rest of the field. In other words, metagamed just enough to take all comers.
The way the deck works is simple. It’s R/Gbeatz with a full complement of counters. While it tends to rely on the sheer surprise factor to put opponents off balance, it performs admirably enough. If I had to compare it to anything it would be Fish.
2. How does the deck beat other decks?As with anything else Aggro-Controlish, it plays both angles to the detriment of the opposing player. Exclusive to this build is the stumbling-block strategy. With the Hidden guys, your opponent usually tries to play around them, which at very least slows them down and makes life difficult. When you add in the full complement of hard counters, it presents a nearly impossible situation where time actually works against them. They might hold back some mana to keep your Hidden Herd or Guerillas away, but when their lands start getting Wasted and their Moxes become Monkey fodder, they try to bust out of it, running right into a Drain or Force.
As the name suggests, the deck tries to make life a living hell for opponents. Arcane Lab and Root Maze slow them down, while Fire/Ice and Lavamancer take out Welders and such. Gorilla Shamans eat those yummy, yummy Moxen, and Strip-effects keep their land low. All the while the good old Hidden fellows wait for them to make one wrong move, and then BAM. Cheap beatdown fat. All the while they have to contend with a full complement of counters.
Against ‘Tog, the deck goes into aggro mode. Hidden guys are like a minefield, and inevitably something will be triggered, leading to beatdown. Matching counter for counter, resolving Arcane Lab and/or Root Maze throw another wrench in their plans. Post-sideboard, having 12 hard counters just is just miserable on them and having instant-speed Tog removal is just devastating.
Against Workshop, the deck plays a controlling game, keeping Welder down with the burn, and using the Labs and especially the Root Mazes to hold them back, while the Gorilla Shamans are absolutely devastating. Wastelands on the Workshops are especially vital. Post-sideboard, the Artifact Mutations are just devastating, and the extra Guerillas or Heretics are pure gold. Relentless countering and a good beatdown are just what the doctor ordered. 4 Artifact Mutation versus Stax is both obscene and amusing. At the same time.
Against Madness, it’s a race and a survival game. The deck just doesn’t have a lot that can take out rapidfire Arrogant Wurms and Wurm tokens. Getting the Hidden Guys down early is the key. Save the counters for the madness outlets and get keep their mana below 4 with Wastelands and Gorilla Shaman. Arcane Lab is great for holding them back, but if they’ve got an outlet they can play them on your turn, too. This is a hard one, and you don’t have a lot of sideboard stuff you can use.
Against 4cControl, it’s pivotal you attack their mana base. If they can get an un-Morphed Angel out, you’re dead. Keep the double white down and go after them with all your little threats. Cunning Wish and StP can only go so far. Save your counters for their big stuff, and remember that they’ve got them too. Post-sideboard you’ve got the ever-sexy REBs, and I even use the BEBs if they’ve got Flametongue Kavu, since it butchers your Hidden guys. If you can keep the pressure up and get an active Lavamancer, they’re going to have a hell of a time digging you out. Watch out for Fire/Ice, though. Those suck.
Against Draw-7 and Belcher, go for counters and bullets. That means Forces of Will and Root Maze. You’ve got a 70% chance of getting one of those in your opening hand, so don’t be afraid to mulligan more aggressively than you might normally. Make sure you have some sort of threat for later, though. Gorrilla Shaman and Hidden Guerillas are great. Post-board you’ve got some extra counters against Draw-7, and Mutations against Belcher. Stifles are also golden against either of them, so try to keep their permanent mana sources down. Things like Mana Vault and ESG are going to burn out on them, so just keeping down their land and Moxen means that they will not win.
Against Dragon, you’ve got a fairly hard matchup in that you don’t seem to have a ton of hate. Mulliganing into a nice Root Maze or Stifle/BEB is great, but a nice Fire/Ice for those pesky Xantids is also key. Post-board you’ve got a ton more hate, but watch for a simple reanimation strategy. If they can get a Plated Slagwurm or such out then all you can do is chump, so save your counters for the reanimation spells. And watch out for Pernicious Deed. That card just owns you.
Against Fish, it’s a toss-up. You’re often trying to accomplish the same thing through similar means. Getting your beefier Hidden dudes out quickly is your path to victory. Watch your mana and don’t let them get an active Lavamancer ever. Post-board go for full countering power. Watch out for Sword of F/I, though. That one’s a real bitch.
3. Why play this over other decks?Is this broken yet? We don’t know. But the test results have been disturbing. Anything that can sweep Slaver and hold its own against Tog deserves a second glance. As opposed to Fish, I like having the hard counters and not having to depend on Dazes and Hatchlings. I’m trying to get out to a decent type 1 tourney, but I’m out of town during the next one, so I’m still waiting. If anything, this deck is
really hard to play against.
4. How can the mana base support R/Gbeatz and the blue counters?With a full complement of fetches and blue duals, getting double blue is almost never a problem. With the on-color Moxen and the Birds, I only rarely have problems colorwise. Since the mana curve is so low, keeping 1 land hands is a lot easier.
5. Is the deck viable outside of the artifact heavy metagame?It would definitely need a small bit of tweaking, but simply adjusting the Hidden guys for your local deck types is workable. We haven’t tested against obsolete stuff like Suicide black and Sligh, but I would not bring this to a metagame full of aggro. Things like Fish and U/G Madness are probably the worst matchup, so it’s possible that an adjusted version could be viable against those, too.
6. What can I do to help?As always, we want your input. With Salvagers.dec on ice pending a decent T1 tourney, we dug this baby up and finished it. What do you guys think in terms of competitiveness and card choices? We’ve gotten a bunch of testing in and mind the deck simply enjoyable to play. At very least it’s an amusing Fish alternative.
As always, thanks for all your input on our decks.
-Dan, Team DD lead tester
