|
Loci
|
 |
« on: July 01, 2004, 09:57:19 am » |
|
The list hasn’t seen the testing it should, before posting. Now I know this is about the closest thing to actually saying the list is crap, without using the same words and it is against the rules. Bear with me though, I simply haven’t got the resources to test it extensively (It is not like is completely untested either) and my private life just doesn’t allow me to spend entire days at tournaments to show some reliable results. Still I would really like some feedback, just to know if what I am doing is worth the trouble. I am very serious about this and after much deliberation I decided to post anyway. I hope this is alright. If not, it will get locked, and I will apologize for the trouble I caused right now.
The list
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
2 Cunning Wish
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Mystical Tutor
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Balance
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Decree of Justice
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Mind Twist
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Island
3 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
4 Wasteland
1 Stripmine
SB
1 Blue Elemental
1 Stifle
1 Accumulated Knowledge
2 Damping Matrix
2 Coffin Purge
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Vampiric Tutor
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Berserk
1 Orim’s Chant
1 Disenchant
Background
The list is a bit unconventional. After the decent of Morphling I needed a solid kill. Roaming the boards led me to different approaches and I tested most of them, but I wasn’t satisfied. Decree of Justice came around but since I only owned one, it wasn’t enough. At first, I started of with Darksteel Colossus for fun, but discovered that it didn’t suck as much as people claimed. So I started to bend the deck a bit to fit it more properly and come up with this, trying to comply with the further rise of hybrid strategies.
Game plan
Darksteel Colossus has only one real job (since any kill would suffice once you have established control) and that is to be able to put pressure early on non-control decks.
Well actually, to completely destroy them.
Basically the idea is to just play control when you need your draws to compete and play Darksteel Colossus if you are up against little disruption.
Setting up with Cunning Wish for Berserk isn’t as hard as it seems. Even the direct kill with Time Walk is a lot easier then I initial thought it would be against non control decks. Off course, you must be very careful settings this up since it requires fetching Tinker, Time Walk or Cunning Wish over Ancestral Recall and screwing up is game almost al the time.
Most people have mentioned how pointless indestructible is in Type 1. However not many decks run the right spot removal, to deal with The Big Guy. And if they do, it most likely is a deck you do not want to play The Big Guy against before having control any way.
There are small merits often overlooked though. It is a great blocker that simply doesn’t go away. In the rare situations where it has to compete with Tog himself it absorbs 11 points of damage which is still a lot to deal with for a Tog player. And after that it doesn’t go away either.
It also helps for when you overextend with a Berserk or your opponent has a small surprise since The Big Guy doesn’t die afterwards and you will still have your threat on the table.
The biggest problem with The Big Guy isn’t spot removal. Sometimes you have to gamble, but in general you only put him in play when needed or when it’s all clear anyway.(Read no counters or spot removal) Ditching him or putting him back in other situations. The problem is loosing Tinker. With the humongous casting cost of eleven, hard casting is virtually impossible. So without Tinker you loose a win condition, which means bad times and relying solely on the one Decree of Justice and Gorilla Shaman.
The cards
It is obviously a control core with some added odds and ends. I did not just smack it together though.
Since the biggest problem of the deck is the draw, (You need to at least be able to stand a change against Tog) I tried almost anything that at least made some sense and allows you to draw cards. Eventually I turned to Thirst for Knowledge.
To be able to use these to some effect I had to up the artifact count without compromising the core of the deck. I stepped over the line in one build and the deck became complete shit. Thirst for Knowledge is the best fit since it interacts well with Darksteel Colossus in the sense that you do not want The Big Guy in your hand and dropping him allows you to shuffle him back anyway.
Also other artifacts become dead cards against certain decks and dropping them for Thirst for Knowledge doesn’t hurt, adds the benefit of not having to drop another card and gaining some card quality in the process as well. You might consider this moot, since if I didn’t put in the suboptimal artifact in the first place you would not need to drop it. But the key is redundancy here. Cards dead against some decks are gold against others. This is a way to justify them without compromising the overall quality of the deck.
Adding Mox Emerald for instance adds another green source to the deck, is fodder for Thirst for Knowledge, can be a target for Tinker after tapping it for Berserk mana, or just adds that extra bit of speed.
The Thirst for Knowledge are not as solid as with Slaver. Lacking the option to recur with Goblin Welder means your artifacts are lost. (Adding Goblin Welder leads to Drain Slaver) For this reason the deck looses some overall synergy compared to decks like Drain Slaver.
Three is the optimal count, in this deck as far as I’m concerned. Add just two and the card shows up too random. Four it shows up too often to be able to ditch an artifact to it.
Crucible of Worlds is the most recent addition. Cutting a Gorilla Shaman earlier compromised the mana disruption ability of the deck. Tinkering out Crucible of Worlds solves some of that problem. (Or hard casting it if you have drawn it and the game allows it. Plus I wanted to test it as a mana fixer. I am not sure yet since I have not been able to test it much.
I switched the Tundra for a Volcanic Island and added a Tropical Island in the mana base. Obviously I want to be able to fetch green in some situations. The Tundra switch might proof not so smart, but I really want to have red early. Especially after boarding Red Elemental Blast. If I would have to play in a Blood Moon –less meta, I would switch the basic Island for a Tundra right away.
The Sideboard
The sideboard is pretty general. Most of it is obvious as well. I will have to put more thought into it once I do have time to go to a tournament.
The Accumulated Knowledge is there only for the Tog Match up.
Isochron Scepter is an obvious slot for Damping Matrix when sideboarding.
Orim’s Chant is there not only for a possible soft lock combined with Isochron Scepter, but also a means of forcing through the Darksteel Colossus as well. (With Tinker off course)
Since the deck still has a solid control core the addition of a 2 turn clock that can be played as early as turn two (Turn one is possible but only if you’re lucky) that, adds to some of the deck match-ups without compromising others.
The disruption of Force of Will and Mana Drain is not compromised. Adding Crucible of Worlds provides extra synergy with Thirst for Knowledge, helps fixing your mana and has synergy with Stripmine and Wasteland.
As I mentioned before my goal is not to prove I build a tier one deck. I would really like some feedback on this and perhaps some pointers for the future. Just to see if I am on the right track with my approach.
And please, at least try not to go like ‘WTF??? What kind of n00b are you?’. Not for my fragile ego but it’s not like anyone is going to benefit from that.
Again, if I am out of line I apologize
|
