Preparing for a tournament: Choosing a deck.

[migros]

Hey people I'm looking for a deck with favorable matchups in a meta composed by:

- Lots of Stax, CS and other [card]Goblin Welder[/card] variants
- A few control decks such as Keeper, Mono Blue or 3CControl (oath too)
- A few combo decks like: TPS, FCG or oath
- Some random aggro

I was thinking about playing a R/G Tempo with a lot of hate to all this.
This is my list:

// Lands
    4  Mountain
    4  Forest
    1  Strip Mine
    4  Wasteland
    4  Wooded Foothills
    4  Taiga

// Creatures
    4  River Boa
    3  Gorilla Shaman (2)
    4  Grim Lavamancer
    4  Kird Ape
    4  Wild Mongrel

// Spells
    4  Lightning Bolt
    2  Naturalize
    4  Root Maze
    4  Rancor
    4  Chain Lightning
    1  Artifact Mutation
    1  Hull Breach

// Sideboard
SB: 4  Red Elemental Blast
SB: 4  Pyrostatic Pillar
SB: 4  Null Rod
SB: 3  Artifact Mutation

If you think this deck is the roght choice for this meta then help me tweaking it more to beat all those decks around me or if you think I should play another deck, tell me.

I'm running on a budget so i can't afford cards worth more than 40$

Thanks

[Zherbus]

Moved to Newbie for basically just posting a decklist and posing a overly basic question.

I think that aggro players who run only 4 Root Maze are kidding themselves for their chances game 1. I know Gorilla Shaman is solid against Combo, but only if they pass you turns. I think Gorilla Shaman has overall overlived it's usefulness in those matchups since the printing of Storm, where you generally drop everything in your hand in one turn anyway. Not to mention that it's just plain marginal against Dragon.

Null Rod, Sphere of Resistance, Pillar, and Chalice have long since replaced Shaman, but Chalice is out of the question for you given your mana curve.

Overall, I think the maindeck has a solid enough game against Control Slaver, but I think that evasive (or Swords to Plowshare proof) creatures make for a better game against Multi-colored control. I really don't know how to tell you to increase your game against Oath, though I suspect upping the number of Naturalize may help.

That's my 2 cents, but keep in mind that I usually don't bother with decks that run more than a few creatures so my experience comes soley from playing against R/G aggro on the other side of the table.

Good luck.

[migros]

Thanks.

If i dun run this deck, wat other deck could i run?

What could i do to increase my matchups against combo?

[[supa_t(im)]]

Since you aren't running power, you definitely need elvish spirit guide.  This will help you drop a root maze turn one, and still possibly have mana to do something else.

Now that trinisphere is restricted people have been talking about combo hitting it big.  If this is the case, you may want to MD 3 null rod to help with this matchup.

After looking at your deck and your meta I would do this for changes (this also depends on how much combo you think you are gonna see):
-1 Mountain
-1 Rancor
-1 Artifact Mutation
-1 Hull Breach
-4 Wild Mongrel

+4 ESG
+3 Null Rod
+1 Naturalize

If you leave the last rod in the SB and move the mutation there you are left with 2 spots open.  If you are worried about 3cC you may want to run Blood Moon, which will do bad things to their mana base.  Or you may want to run some aggro answers, its up to you.

You may also want to change chain lightning to a instant speed burn if you are going to play againd FCG.  Instant speed will help you kill their combo pieces during their turn.

I'm biased toward R/G but IMHO its definitely a viable competitive deck, but you have to know it inside and out.  You have to practive extensively, because it doesn't go on autopilot often.  The decks you listed as the ones you see a lot you should have a good matchup against.

A few pointers to playing the deck:
Try to get a maze down as fast as possible in every matchup.

Remember to target Keeper's and 3cC's white mana sources.

Don't try to out control Oath, keep the pressure on as soon as the game starts.  Remember, its not about not letting them oath, its about getting them down far enough to where it doesn't matter if they oath.  Use naturalize when you can, but don't let this be your main strategy.

Kill all welders with lavamancer, bolt, and the other burn you choose.

TPS is your worst matchup by far.  Try to get out both MD hate cards early.  Pray.

FCG is kinda tough, just concetrate on killing their combo pieces, and being able to chump block if they go off.

Aggro is kinda tough actually, but with 8 burn cards and lavamancer, you can probably handle it.

Hope this helped.

Good Luck!

[Necrologia]

If i dun run this deck, wat other deck could i run?

Nails.On.Chalkboard. Please, for the sake of all that read your posts, follow the forum rules.

The Mongrels look out of place without something to back them up. Either go a little more madness-esque with Arrogant Wurms and possibly Rootwallas, or replace him with a more self sufficent beater. Perhaps fit that last Shamen in, and fill the rest out with Troll Ascetics. They cost 1GG but are solid beaters that get around most removal.

[migros]

Thanks everybody.

I don't expect to see a lot of combo but yes LOTS OF STAX AND WELDER DECKS. (T8 of my zone look like 5 Welder variants, 2 Control, 1 combo)

do i have a good matchup against welder based decks?

what could i board in against oath or TPS?

[Ender]

Given the metagame, I would actually just play a modified version of UR fish (probably because I love that deck  :lol: )

Against stax and welder based decks, you have lavamancer and MD null rods and SB you bring in whatever hate you want, namely energy flux and rack and ruins.

Against combo, just pray, counter their business spells and just bum rush the poor bastard, bring in possibly some arcane labs in the side.

Your bad matchups then would definitely be FCG and oath with stax imo being a coin flip.


Or you can go UW with mages, plows and decrease the spot removal to almost nothing.

[[supa_t(im)]]

R/G has such a better matchup against stax than fish.  If you see a lot of stax artifact mutation alone makes it worth it.

As for the combo matchups, if you MD rod and maze you have some chance (a relatively good chance) to stall them long enough to get enough damage through.  Post board you have pyrostatic pillar, which is about as good as you are gonna get.  With 4 of each you have 12 post SB combo hate, and thats a lot even for TPS to deal with.

Troll ascetic was mentioned.  If you are really worried about STP, yoda is a good candidate to MD.  However, since you emphasize stax and welder I think faster beats are in order.  Even if you play against a swords toting deck, you have enough beats and disruption to where they won't be able to get rid of everything.  My testing against 4cC has shown that the matchup isn't that great for the control player.

[migros]

Thanks everybody here is the list I am actually using:

// Lands
    3  Mountain
    4  Forest
    1  Strip Mine
    4  Wasteland
    4  Wooded Foothills
    4  Taiga

// Creatures
    4  River Boa
    3  Gorilla Shaman (2)
    4  Grim Lavamancer
    4  Kird Ape
    4  Elvish Spirit Guide

// Spells
    4  Lightning Bolt
    3  Naturalize
    4  Root Maze
    3  Rancor
    3  Null Rod
    4  Fire/Ice

// Sideboard
SB: 3  Artifact Mutation
SB: 3  Red Elemental Blast
SB: 4  Pyrostatic Pillar
SB: 2  Blood Moon
SB: 3  Ground Seal

I added ground seal because i noticed i have nothing against graveyards and because is good against welders too.

What could i add to defeat Oath? I'm having a little trouble there...

Blood Moon works incrediblely good against control and TPS isn't a hard matchup at all, especially game 2 and 3 because i board in pillar

[Necrologia]

Oath is a nightmare matchup for aggro, always has been always will be. Outside of dedicating lots of SB space to the matchup, mainly REBs, pyroblasts, and more enchantment removal, there isn't much you can do. Even that probably won't do much. You really just have to accept the bad matchup and pray the matchup gods are kind.

The only other thing to do would be a complete overhaul, to fit in stuff like Mishra's Factory, Viridian Zealot, and other dudes that don't set off the Oath trigger. Again, doing that would hurt your other matchups much more than it's worth. Good luck at the tourney.

[migros]

Thanks  

As you see I've chosen to change [card]Chain lightning[/card] for [card]Fire/ice[/card] which is IMO much versatil against little creatures plus is instant speed.

[AnFgangsta]

A couple things I saw, as Z masta flex stated, Shaman alone does not cut it, I would actually suggest running BOTH Vandals and Shaman if you are expecting a Meta dominated by artifactness. However I dont know though because you are running Root Maze, Null Rod, Shaman, Naturalize all at once which seems like a tad overkill to the point where you are drawing too much of this stuff which is being used to achieve the same outcome. Id suggest you tinker around with each of those cards on MWS to determine the best combination, I must reiterate that Shaman and Vandal together are just delicious.  For an added bonus V slaver I was even thinking Electrostatic Bolt could help you out when it comes to Plat/Trisk, kill her for 1 mana, sounds good to me.

Against the Oath matchup, I would suggest Elvish Lyrist AND Naturalize..she drops first turn when they have a better chance of having 1 mana available thus letting her slip through. I mean running both against Oath is obviously a good idea since you cant rely on one card, but yea shes great.

As for the Boas, how are they treating you? I am more favorable to the Elite ofcourse, Boa I feel is usefull only against BBS, dropping for 2 is too much I feel, by the time you play this it either 1. has been sitting in your hand while you play quicker guys, or 2. is played instead of 2 threats/beatsticks.  Possible maindeck remedies are Jungle Lion, Mogg Fanatic or even Rogue Elephant, as well as Skyshroud Elite ofcourse.  4 Mancers also seems like a lot to me, Id cut it to 2 or 3, always is not fun when you have 2 in play or in your hand for that matter.

Main deck Mutations are fun, gives ya critters and takes out threats, that was good for 2 mana last time I checked.

[migros]

Hey

1) I love boas, they just have given me a very long game because of islandwalk

2) I think I will cut 2 lavamancers and add 2 hidden herd

3) i will cut 2 lands because i often get flooded but to replace them for?

[[supa_t(im)]]

Wait, you are cutting lavamancers is a field full of welder?  That doesn't seem like a good idea to me.  CotH is good, but it really only shines against workshop aggro, and that is dead now.

River boa is insanely good in the Oath matchup.  I keep saying this but nobody seems to get it.  Its not about not letting oath activate, its about beating them enough to where it doesn't matter if oath activates.  I realize that sometimes Oath wins, it does that against any deck, but this deck can consistently beat Oath if you practice enough and really know your deck.

As for vandal, I can definitely see how this could be useful in a meta of stax.

You may want to try out fireblast in a 2 spot.  Its a good finisher and you can easily get them into fireblast range.  Its good for Oath and combo.

[Ender]

Ya, you should never ever cut the lavamancers. If your having mana flood problems, I would test out a 5th fetchie, probably a red one since you run a lot more red 1 drops but it doesn't really matter, to cut down on land and its food for the mancer.

[AnFgangsta]

I dunno guys, Im still feeling 3 mancers but meh whatever works. As for the Boa's matchup V Oath...ya that is true however I dont know about where you play but I dont see enough Oath here to make me maindeck 4 of something.  The question in my head is how does it do against CS? I mean the only threat you would worry about is DSC and Plat..and Plat can be taken care of pretty easily..again Electrostatic Bolt V Slaver/Stax sounds cool to me, Ill test it out in sideboard and let everyone know how it does.

DSC is just a beast I cant think of anything you would have to deal with it except something like Dawnstrider SB or even something like Tangle, that sounds like it would be nifty along with Vandal.  I mean I can sit here hypothising stuff all day and it wont be any good to you. I think we need a better feel of what you have seen in pervious tournaments, maybe what you know others will be playing, how many people, etc thus you can better customize the SB.