Viability of Mask?

[pox_reborn]

Since Dragon has been hated out of the metagame for now, I figured its time to start working on a new deck and leave my gorger deck in the shoebox for now.

I was thinking about a masknought deck but the question is: Can it stand up to the metagame decks and have decent matchups?
 
Also: I always wondered on what the general consensus on mask  is. Is Venguer Masque with the Survivals a better build or is Spoils mask with all of its tutors the stronger deck?

[JACO]

Since Dragon has been hated out of the metagame for now, I figured its time to start working on a new deck and leave my gorger deck in the shoebox for now.

I was thinking about a masknought deck but the question is: Can it stand up to the metagame decks and have decent matchups?
 
Also: I always wondered on what the general consensus on mask  is. Is Venguer Masque with the Survivals a better build or is Spoils mask with all of its tutors the stronger deck?

I think Vengeur is definitely a strong choice in the current metagame. It's ability to beat down with something as large as a Dreadnought or to essentially combo the other player out (with Phage) provides lots of ways to win. It has 8 disruption cards (Duress and Force of Will if you are playing black blue green version) and tons of must counter cards (Masks, Survivals), so it is a threat to pretty much any deck, especially if you build a good sideboard for your metagame. I would definitely not play the Spoils version with Slavery running around, because it is so easy for them to make you just kill yourself.

[Dead-Pool]

Aslong as there is no Draw7.dec or dragon in your meta, i think playing veguer is an excellent choice. I played the deck for a while and it is extremely versitile. Agianst other aggro you have quick 12/12's and Akroma/Phage, and agianst control there are so many must counter's in your deck they cant possible keep you from resolving atleast 1 or 2. Which usually results in you winning. Spoils Mask usually beats control, and you have just about as many must counters as they have disruption.
Prison and Combo are the only match-up's to possibly fear. And with SB and Survival you should be able to handle prison :/ chalices can come in agianst combo or B2B agianst dragon to keep them slowed down long enough for you to turn guys sideways.

[mtgmooner]

Vengeur is a good deck, and I have piloted it to several decent finshes in recent tourneys.  However, I dont think that a fair enough weighting of the viability and success rating of Spoils mask is being considered here.

In terms of sheer power, and ability to drive an opponent onto the defensive MUST find an answer position, Spoils is a superior deck.  The base of disruption that is included in the spoils build is also very unique.  Having the ability to disrupt an opponents hand for a NONLAND with unmask on turn 1 before you play a single card out of your hand is pretty strong.  This enables you to play a very skilled game with what might otherwise be a straight forward aggro deck.  Also, the card Spoils of the Vault itself is very highly UNDERrated as to its usefullness.  A lot of the discussion i have observed and taken part in immediately focus on Spoils being used to only grab pieces of the combo.  The card is so versatile for finding you an answer in almost any situation, and statistically speaking is a pretty low risk compared to the benefits that it can offer.  On the same token however, I have to admit that the potential for disaster with Spoils is substantially higher than that in Vengeur, purely based on the black card selections.  It becomes a balancing act of risk/security vs. tempo matching/game control.

I personally feel that Spoils is the better of the two decks at present, given that it can be so explosive, that there isnt a single matchup that would be considered poor or an autolose.  in my playtesting, the hardest matchup is BR fish, although even then its approx. 60/40 in favor the curious critters...

hope this helps you a bit in your analysis of deck choice...

[Dead-Pool]

@ mtgmooner: I wasn't trying to discredit Spoiling Mask, it is extremely good, and it has SO much disruption so fast i know exactly what you mean about being able to win any given match-up. However if there is no combo in your meta, I think you play Vangeur, its got more MUST counters and more stuff in the Aggro mirror. ( Of course if there is combo you deffinately play Spoils.)

[cssamerican]

Ninja Mask is the better build.
Spoils Mask is good, but it is strictly an all or nothing deck. This thing has no staying power and can be wrecked fairly easy. Null Rod completely shuts it down. Maze of Ith is a nightmare. Rack and Ruin is devastating. The deck is great if you like to play all or nothing, and it will win you a lot of games, but it isn't as reliable as Ninja Mask. I think durability is much more important in a diverse meta than than speed when your deck can't win with regularity by turn 2.

[firebird365]

I don't exactly have two decklists to compare between them, so can someone tell me the difference between Ninja and Vengeur?

[cssamerican]

Ninja is Vengeur just with the black splash.
You can look here to see some different builds.

[pox_reborn]

In my testing of Spoils Mask it seems like it plays very much like a suicide black deck. The base deck is mostly the same. But should I play Spoils in an agressive nature and getting it out as fast as possible or in a combo nature where i make sure I have sufficent protection for the mask and dreadnaught before attempting to win.

   I have tendacy to play it like a combo since that is the deck type I am most experienced with. And because there are lots of cards that can shut dreadnaught down.

[Eastman]

I've tested extensively with spoils and ninja mask and consider them serious threats and serious contenders in the right environment.

[Moridar]

Over the weekend I played a UBr mask deck and finished 2nd in Ontario Vintage Championship with it.  Dragon finished first...  then on Sunday I took Full English Breakfast to a 3-0-1 record in a local tournament.

A full report with a deck list of the mask deck will be included.  Hopefully i'll beable to do up a deck analysis with it too.

Wayne

[pox_reborn]

Another question on spoils mask, should another color be added for protection or should it remain straight black and go for speed?

 It just seems like their are too many things that could shut it down very quickly. I'm thinking about adding mass removal in form of nev disk or some varient of it. This is  so I wouldn't have to worry as much about null rodsand other forms of hate.

[Jeikki]

I think the deck wants to be fast, which Nevinyrral's isn't. Of course you may be able to play it via Ritual. Besides, if you worry about Null Rod, Disk isn't going to do anything.