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serracollector
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« on: April 02, 2005, 07:16:43 pm » |
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For the last 2 weeks I have been working on trying to make an optimal grow list, to contend with, in my opinion, the mass amounts of combo and control that I think will emerge due to the restriction of 3sphere.
Now after playing for these last 2 weeks everyday for hours on end there are 2 things I majorly noticed about grow, that may seem obvious to some, but perhaps a surprise to others:
1.) You will more than likely never have more than 3-4 cards in hand at any given time. You are, beleive it or not a very aggro agrrow-control deck. This means play spells and play them now.
2.) You will almost never have mana open, which means your surprises, if you have them have to be cheap but still dramatic to your game.
3.) This deck is not an advantage deck, it's a tempo deck. You win not by numbers, but by actual pwer of the cards in play/hand.
Now considering these three things in mind it made me reconsider the usefulness of white in grow. Could it be replaced, with possibly a better color? I thought about this, and of course my first conclusion was to test out red. Red=good instants. Not as good as blue obviously, but could be better than white?
Now lets look at what white offers Grow:
Swords to Plowshares-Instant, 1 cc, not only kills almost every creature in magic but stops all hopes of getting it back, aka Welder/Animate. Even stops Dragon Combo and puts a counter on you Dryad. A++
Meddling Mage-stops combo. Until the bounce or burn it. With as little creatures are used in t1 atm, 2/2 body for beats is not bad. 2 colors, but ahem, dual lands. Only problem is its doesn't get any bigger, and is still easily killable. Also, wasteland could cause instil casting problems. Also, no an instant, even thouhg it does add a counter to Dryad. B+
Balance-With the low hand and mana count you will usually have, not a bad armegeddon/Mind Twist, but with Welders/Crucibles running every where, will it win you the game? Rnadomly yes, but sometimes it will just end up sitting in your hand, doing nothing, since it just randomly kills your own creatures, and against combo is useless. Even if used its normally a SB card than a Maindeck. Great card, but in Gro: C-
Disenchant/Seal/Dust to Dust-Great for the meta. The argument between seal/disenchant, one is an instant, the other can be dropped early with a mox to try and stop Oath. Both get counters on Dryad obviously. Disenchant can also be wished for if you go that route. Dust to Dust, great sideboard card for Stax. 2 for 1's are nice, especailly with permanet removal. B++
Abeyance/Orim's Chant-Great in the combo matchup, one is a cantrip, which are nice in grow, one just stops the game for a single mana, both nice. Porblem is once again, not great for all matchups, and the choice between each one depends also on the deck you play. Definielty a SB card, unllessyou have a heavy agrro or combo meta. C+
Now, let us look at red cards:
Lightning Bolt/Fire-Ice: Good for creature kill, damage to the face, and instants. Ice is alos another cantrip, in light of being able to tap off big creatures in the 5/3, 7/10 and even Tog decks. Takes out welders, mages, early Dryads, and even Juggernauts. Can it remove stuff like swords, no, but it has dual utility, and can take out some of the more pressing creatures in t1.
Red Elemental Blast-1 cc, Instant, stops 75%+ of the cards used in t1 no matter what deck your playing, practically. Also, you can cast it targeting a non-blue spell just to grow Dryad. Kills Mages, Back to Basics, Phids, and the occasional blue spells thats uber restircted or does something dumb like win the game. I honeslty beleive, meta dependant of course, that it should be played maindeck. Like I said, at worst it grows the Dryad.
A+
Rack and Ruin/Artifact Mutation: In this format, these 2 cards here cover almost everthing that Swords to Plowshares/Disenchant/Seal/Dust to Dust do, only faster, cheaper and usually with better results. B++
Grim Lavamancer/Gorilla Shaman: Both great 1 drop utility creatures, one to stop all decks that use moxes, and one that takes out all the pertinent creatures currently used in t1 that you don;t want to artifact mutation or rack and ruin. B+
Now as you can see, all the cards that take care of things in t1 that are white, there a better version, in less amounts, in Red, sans of course, meddling mage. Due to this, I reconstructed my decklist adding red.
Mind you, I have only been testing this for 3 days, but thus far, it has been doing much better at Goldfishing than UGW Grow, and has also done better vs. Tog/Slaver/Oath and BBS. Those are what I have tested it against. Here is my current decklist:
Draw (9)
1 x Ancestral Recal
4 x Brainstorm
2 x Slieght of Hand
2 x Serums Vision (still testing both)
Critter Control (11)
4 x Lightning Bolt
4 x Fire/Ice
3 x Grim Lavamancer
Kill (4)
4 x Quirion Dryad
Counters (12)
4 x Force of Will
3 x Daze
2 x Annul
2 x Red Elemental Blast
1 x Misdirection
Other (3)
1 x Timewalk
2 x Cunning Wish
Mana (21)
1 x Black Lotus
1 x Mox Ruby
1 x Mox Emerald
1 x Mox Sapphire
4 x Volcanic Island
4 x Tropical Island
1 x Island
1 x Forest
1 x Mountain
6 x Fetchlands
Side Board (15)
2 x Artifact Mutation
3 x Energy Flux
1 x Blue Elemental Blast
2 x Red Elemental Blast
2 x Annul
3 x Ground Seal
2 x Options????
I really want to run more anti combo peices, but Arcane Laboratory and Pyrostatic Pillar don't exactly run well in the deck. Maybe Root Maze? And if so should it be maindecked? Ideas? Comments. Thanx all for reading and I hope it make sense to you. IMHO it has been running nicely. Thanx.
SC
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