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Question: What should I do?  (Voting closed: May 30, 2004, 09:55:59 pm)
Go with the transformational sideboard. - 1 (6.7%)
Go with the old sideboard. - 0 (0%)
Use a totally new sideboard. - 1 (6.7%)
Use a different deck. - 13 (86.7%)
Total Voters: 15

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Author Topic: [poll] Sick of the same old stuff.  (Read 1034 times)
AngryPheldagrif
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HunterKiller403
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« on: May 30, 2004, 09:55:59 pm »

At my local T1 tournament, I had played MaskNought for the first 2 (winning the first), but after it crapped out the second time, I decided to go Workshop Slaver. Bear in mind, Milwaukee has an incredibly artifact heavy meta, so I decided to get in on the action. Playing a fully powered, standard Workshop Slaver I went 1-3-1. While this also includes the last round loss against FCG in which I was paying about 5% attention (my most memorable lines were "Oh, uh, so it goes off in one turn? Oops."), it was an abyssmal showing for a Tier 1 deck. My matchups were Fish (win), Control Slaver (game 3 tie), Hulk (loss), Hulk (loss), and FCG (loss).

As my brother happily pointed out, playing what everyone else is playing is not exactly a great way to win. With another tournament coming up in the forseeable future, I've resolved not to play what everyone else is playing.

At this point, I'm really open to advice. I need something that can do well in a 100% powered, competitive metagame full of artifact and 'tog. Being a loyal guy, I've created a somewhat revamped version of my earlier MaskNought deck. After a ton of games played with my useless sideboards gathering dust, I've decided on a transformational sideboard. I figured since I often fall victim to second/third game artifact hate and the even more frustrating first game Null Rod/Damping Matrix, I figured that pulling all my artifacts for an entirely new, but still compatible strategy will leave them with hands full of dead cards and leave me with a lot more 2-0 matches. The deck is:

Combo:
4x Phyrexian Dreadnought
4x Illusionary Mask
4x Berserk

Disruption:
4x Duress
3x Unmask
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
2x Phyrexian Negator

Draw/Search/Yawgmoth's Will:
4x Brainstorm
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Demonic Consultation
1x Vampiric Tutor
2x Tainted Pact
1x Necropotence
1x Yawgmoth's Will

Mana:
4x Dark Ritual
1x Black Lotus
1x Mana Crypt
1x Sol Ring
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Jet
2x Polluted Delta
2x Bloodstained Mire
3x Bayou
4x Underground Sea

Sideboard: (Transformational to Gro)
4x Quirion Dryad
4x Force of Will
3x Stifle
4x Coffin Purge


The basic idea is post-sideboard, not only will their artifact hate be useless, but I will have a ton of disruption, enough to stall and break artifact and 'tog until a Dryad can finish them off. The layout of the board ensures a hefty dose of control through the Forces of Will, additional disruption from the Stifles (in addition, they are Force bait and solve my archnemesis, Pernicious Deed), and the Coffin Purges. Aside from the obvious synergy with Dryad, Coffin Purge helps against a ton of the decks present in the metagame. Against Slaver and 7/10 Split they remove the primary win condition as well as heavily disrupting the Welders, hopefully long enough to prevent them from answering a decent sized Dryad. The 2 shot deal is golden, as many of the decks are played to rely on just a few choices and taking 2 of them can be crippling, especially since it is un(or at least hard to)counterable and un-Duressable. It is less powerful against Tog, but the potential to cut or at least slow down the AK engine is very helpful.

The original sideboard (or at least the one being used before) was:
3x Xantid Swarm
3x Withered Wretch
3x Tempting Wurm
3x Naturalize
3x Gilded Drake

Help wanted, be it in advice, suggestions, or whatever. I'm totally open at this point.
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meatpipeline
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« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2004, 12:58:13 am »

Have you ever considered using a different variant of mask that would be less vulnerable to artifact hate?  Something like Venguer Masque uses shapeshifter as another way to get dreadnoughts into play.

A decklist can be found here:
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=6182#vengeurmasque
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Kowal
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« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2004, 02:22:59 am »

I have mad problems with that list.  Here's the most recent one I was playing.


Ninja Mask

4x Illusionary Mask
4x Volrath's Shapeshifter
4x Survival of the Fittest
4x Phyrexian Dreadnought

1x Psychatog
1x Phage, the Untouchable
1x Squee, Goblin Nabob
1x Gigapede

3x Quirion Ranger
3x Birds of Paradise
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire

4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
4x Duress
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk

4x Bayou
4x Tropical Island
2x Forest
2x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills


I haven't played it competitively in like a month or two (it loses hard to slaver) but what I'd be running in the sideboard is

3x Oxidize
3x Ground Seal
2x Blue Elemental Blast
2x Gilded Drake
1x Withered Wretch
1x Uktabi Orangutan
1x Vampiric Tutor
2x Metagame slot.
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AngryPheldagrif
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HunterKiller403
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« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2004, 10:02:24 am »

Quote from: Kowal
(it loses hard to slaver)


Thats the problem! And for everyone else, please post if you take the survey. I can see that it's overwhelmingly in favor of something else, but I really would like to know what you think that something else is! Thanks to Kowal and meatpipeline, but the whole 'loses to slaver' is something that I just can't have.

-Dan
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Kowal
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« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2004, 10:04:21 pm »

That's why I recommend an absurd amount of Ground Seal and Oxidize love.  It's important you have no maindeck way to remove your ground seal, so they can't use your survival or accidentally topdeck it.  Make them work for it.
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