Skittles

[Philatio]

You know what?  I always assumed Regrowth was rare.  Wow, this should be in every deck, IMO.

[Jacob Orlove]

You know what?  I always assumed Regrowth was rare.  Wow, this should be in every deck, IMO.

It's banned, though, for being on the Restricted List. Like Sol Ring or Fact or Fiction. Otherwise, yes, auto-include.

I've slacked off on updating my skittles decks with the past few sets, but here's where I'm at right now. The lists are designed to be fun in random casual play, and to play well against each other in case someone wants to play but needs to borrow a deck. I cut Skullclamp because it was too good and made games completely unfun. Suggestions are welcome, especially new cards that I should take a look at.

First Decklist. This is based around creature recursion, and having powerful answers to whatever my opponent plays. Key colors are G, U, B:

Eternal Witness
Yavimaya Elder
Harrow
Thornscape Battlemage

Dreamscape Artist
Traumatic Visions
Mulldrifter
Negate

Haunted Crossroads
Phyrexian Reclamation
Gravedigger
Shriekmaw
Nightmare Void

Swords to Plowshares
Radiant's Dragoons
Stonecloaker
Seed Spark

Avalanche Riders
Flametongue Kavu
Thunderscape Battlemage
Ingot Chewer
Fireball

Perplex (UB)
Moroii (UB)
Selesnya Guildmage (GW)
Kitchen Finks (GW)
Spitemare (RW)
Firespout (RG)
Trygon Predator (UG)
Mistmeadow Witch (UW)

Fellwar Stone
Prismatic Lens
Aether Vial
Crystal Shard
Etched Oracle
Infused Arrows

Gemstone Mine
Vivid Grove
Vivid Creek
Vivid Marsh

Simic Growth Chamber
Golgari Rot Farm
Selesnya Sanctuary
Gruul Turf
Dimir Aqueduct
Azorius Chancery

Mishra's Factory
Wasteland

Pendelhaven

4 Forest
Snow-Covered Forest
Island
Snow-Covered Island
Swamp
Snow-Covered Swamp
Plains
Mountain


Second Decklist. This one is based on more aggressive creatures.It was also an excuse to use a lot of neat hybrid/multicolor spells, especially Slave of Bolas, with guildmages/witches to take advantage of all the extra lands you get from your mana fixing:

Sakura-Tribe Elder
Explosive Vegetation
Kodama's Reach
Harrow
Shard Convergence

Dreamscape Artist
Traumatic Visions
Phantom Monster

Phyrexian Reclamation
Shriekmaw

Radiant's Dragoons
Orim's Thunder
Seed Spark

Avalanche Riders
Flametongue Kavu
Fireball
Fire Bolt

Slave of Bolas (UBR)
Crosis's Charm (UBR)
Grixis Soujourners (UBR)
Moroii (UB)
Dimir Guildmage (UB)
Inkfathom Witch (UB)
Azorius Guildmage (UW)
Seedcradle Witch (WG)
Desecrator Hag (BG)
Kulrath Knight (BR)
Spitemare (RW)
Harvest Gwyllion (BW)

Fellwar Stone
Prismatic Lens
Gruul Signet
Dimir Signet
Phyrexian Totem
Aether Vial

Gemstone Mine
Vivid Creek

Simic Growth Chamber
Izzet Boilerworks
Orzhov Basilica
Golgari Rot Farm

Wasteland
Mishra's Factory

3 Forest
3 Island
3 Swamp
3 Plains
3 Mountain

[The Chosen One]

Ive been playing Lorescale Coatl in my list and if he is protected he is a monster. Also, the tri-tap and vivid lands are really amazing.. here is my list(which I have to say Ive taken several "choice cards" from lists on here, some of the ideas are definitely solid....





// Lands
    1  Vivid Creek
    1  Vivid Grove
    1  Vivid Marsh
    1  Crumbling Necropolis
    1  Arcane Sanctum
    1  Mirrodin's Core
    1  Seaside Citadel
    1  Terramorphic Expanse
    1  Jungle Shrine
    1  Savage Lands
    2  Swamp
    1  Mountain
    1  Plains
    2  Forest
    2  Island
    1  Treetop Village
    1  Mishra's Factory (1)
    1  Wasteland
    1  Gemstone Mine
    1  Pendelhaven
    1  Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree

// Creatures
    1  Flametongue Kavu
    1  Eternal Witness
    1  Yavimaya Elder
    1  Etched Oracle
    1 [ARB] Lorescale Coatl
    1 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
    1  Avalanche Riders
    1  Drift of Phantasms
    1  Trygon Predator
    1  Selesnya Guildmage
    1  Stonecloaker
    1  Trinket Mage
    1 [REL] Azorius Guildmage
    1  Azorius Herald
    1  Fire Imp
    1  Gravedigger
    1  Civic Wayfinder
    1 [ARB] Anathemancer

// Spells
    1  Fellwar Stone
    1  Skullclamp
    1  AEther Vial
    1  Firespout
    1  Savage Twister
    1  Haunted Crossroads
    1  Clutch of the Undercity
    1  Perplex
    1  Seed Spark
    1  Phyrexian Reclamation
    1  Swords to Plowshares
    1  Crystal Shard
    1  Spontaneous Combustion
    1  Firebolt
    1  Psionic Blast
    1  Ordered Migration
    1  Darksteel Ingot
    1  Nightmare Void

[Jacob Orlove]

Lots of nice cards in that list! A few specific card questions, then I want to talk about lands.

1) Psionic Blast - is this worth it? I just think you could have a counterspell or a mana fixer here. Or both, Traumatic Visions is amazing. It's a transmute target, though.

2) Ordered Migration - better than Mistmeadow Witch? The Witch is a house with CIP creatures, and you can still pull some great tricks even without putting damage on the stack.

3) triple Transmute spells. I was running that many, but now I'm down to just Perplex. Your spells feel a little more situational, though, so the extra tutoring may work out.

4) no Shriekmaw? That card is a house.

Okay, now lands. I notice that you have all five tri-tap lands, where my decks have 6 and 4 Rav bounce lands. Here's a quick rundown of the pros and cons:

tri-tap pros
Taps for 3 colors of mana (huge)
You can lead with them early to play cards in a specific color
no tempo black hole if they're destroyed
no forced mulligans--you can keep a hand of all tri-taps

tri-tap cons
comes into play tapped
can't tap for more than one color at once
no card advantage

bounceland pros
Gives you an extra land (huge)
taps for both colors every time
you can keep a hand with 2-3 lands and have enough mana
can reset Gemstone Mine

bounceland cons
comes into play tapped
tempo black hole if they're destroyed
hard to get them into play early
occasional forced mulligan from hands like double bounceland, fellwar stone, harrow, spells

I really really like the card advantage from the bouncelands, but I haven't tried the tri-lands. Have they worked out well for you?

[The Chosen One]

About lands: The tri-taps seem to work pretty well for me. I think the fact that they provide 3 colors is a huge bonus, although they dont "net" us more lands as the game goes on, but having mana of certain colors when I need it usually isnt a problem with the tri-taps.

Cards:

I did just score myself a Traumatic visions, witnessing this back late game is pretty hot, and anything that fetches land is ballin'.. Psionic blast deals with pesky creatures for a cheap color requirement, I may replace it, but like you said, I can trasmute for this one... I will probably -1 Drift of phantasms, +1 Traumatic Visions

Ordered migration vs Mistmeadow: There are just so many cards available for this format, I just dont know them all, witch is very promising in this deck combined with Dragoons(which I also intend on running) I also may run witch, I will just need to rebalance my colors.

Transmute Spells: The tutoring for witness/gravedigger/nightmare void/haunted crossroads is pretty hot. Void can be a game breaker if you play a board wiper (my playgroup runs alot of aggro builds) which is why I run, firespout, twister, combustion... Which are also good tutor targets(aside from twister which is a 2CC)

Shriekmaw was in my build for awhile, and I wanted to put it in there again, but ran anathemancer(unfair!) and spontaneous combuction instead of shriekmaw and fireball....

Has anyone tried whispers of the muse? Late game instant repeatbale card advantage!

[Jacob Orlove]

Yeah, I can tell your group plays a lot of aggro; that's more dedicated mass removal than I'd be comfortable running (although I have several of them in my SB!). The first list I posted is super greedy and can have problems with aggro, but then you stabilize and get to have some fun. Then again, I've had games where I cast Dragoons 5-6 times and ended in the single digits, so it can be tricky. The second list is a little more robust, but less unfair.

I can't imagine playing Whispers over Mulldrifter. You can even cash it in early if you need a few cards!

How is Terramorphic Expanse? I have a few, but I never made room to try them out.

[The Chosen One]

Savage twister seemed pretty weak since I cant tutor for it when I needed to.... Made some changes and ended up with this:



// Lands
    1  Vivid Creek
    1  Vivid Grove
    1  Vivid Marsh
    1  Crumbling Necropolis
    1  Arcane Sanctum
    1  Mirrodin's Core
    1  Seaside Citadel
    1  Jungle Shrine
    1  Savage Lands
    2  Swamp
    1  Mountain
    1  Plains
    2  Forest
    2  Island
    1  Mishra's Factory (1)
    1  Wasteland
    1  Gemstone Mine
    1  Pendelhaven
    1  Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
    1  Treetop Village
    1  Snow-Covered Forest
    1  Snow-Covered Island
    1  Snow-Covered Swamp

// Creatures
    1 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
    1  Selesnya Guildmage
    1  Mistmeadow Witch
    1  Mulldrifter
    1  Gravedigger
    1  Avalanche Riders
    1  Flametongue Kavu
    1  Eternal Witness
    1  Yavimaya Elder
    1  Radiant's Dragoons
    1  Drift of Phantasms
    1  Stonecloaker
    1  Etched Oracle
    1  Thunderscape Battlemage
    1  Thornscape Battlemage
    1  Shriekmaw
    1  Jund Battlemage
    1  Moroii
    1  Dreamscape Artist
    1  Golgari Guildmage
    1  Kitchen Finks
    1  Trinket Mage

// Spells
    1  Perplex
    1  Ordered Migration
    1  Haunted Crossroads
    1  Phyrexian Reclamation
    1  Spontaneous Combustion
    1  Firespout
    1  Fireball
    1  Seed Spark
    1  AEther Vial
    1  Darksteel Ingot
    1  Fellwar Stone
    1  Skullclamp
    1  Crystal Shard
    1  Aura Shards

Golgari guildmage is pretty snazzy, with some token generators in here, he can be really solid late game

[Jacob Orlove]

I stopped by one of the local stores and picked up a few miscellaneous cards. Oddities that I added to the decks to try out include:
Soul Manipulation
Evolving Wilds
Rupture Spire
Illusory Demon

I'm not sure how good they'll be, but I can always cut them if they're not working well.

I find that many of the Guildmages/Witches tend to be quite solid later on. One-card engines are excellent in this format.

[The Chosen One]

I had soul manipulation in my list at one point, it is pretty good in certain situations, rupture spire is a pretty solid land although it technically costs you 2 tapped lands the turn it hits play.... Illusory demon seems interesting if you can just play it, and sit back and win..... Evovling wilds: nice... terramorophic expanse x2!

[PhilipJFry]

Do the From the Vault sets affect Skittles legality?  The last one printed a couple of goodies at what is technically Mythic rarity.  Does this disqualify Skullclamp, Top, and any others, or is it excluded for consideration on account of the fact that it is a promotional release?

[Philatio]

You know what?  I always assumed Regrowth was rare.  Wow, this should be in every deck, IMO.

It's banned, though, for being on the Restricted List. Like Sol Ring or Fact or Fiction. Otherwise, yes, auto-include.

I've slacked off on updating my skittles decks with the past few sets, but here's where I'm at right now. The lists are designed to be fun in random casual play, and to play well against each other in case someone wants to play but needs to borrow a deck. I cut Skullclamp because it was too good and made games completely unfun. Suggestions are welcome, especially new cards that I should take a look at.

First Decklist. This is based around creature recursion, and having powerful answers to whatever my opponent plays. Key colors are G, U, B:

Eternal Witness
Yavimaya Elder
Harrow
Thornscape Battlemage

Dreamscape Artist
Traumatic Visions
Mulldrifter
Negate

Haunted Crossroads
Phyrexian Reclamation
Gravedigger
Shriekmaw
Nightmare Void

Swords to Plowshares
Radiant's Dragoons
Stonecloaker
Seed Spark

Avalanche Riders
Flametongue Kavu
Thunderscape Battlemage
Ingot Chewer
Fireball

Perplex (UB)
Moroii (UB)
Selesnya Guildmage (GW)
Kitchen Finks (GW)
Spitemare (RW)
Firespout (RG)
Trygon Predator (UG)
Mistmeadow Witch (UW)

Fellwar Stone
Prismatic Lens
Aether Vial
Crystal Shard
Etched Oracle
Infused Arrows

Gemstone Mine
Vivid Grove
Vivid Creek
Vivid Marsh

Simic Growth Chamber
Golgari Rot Farm
Selesnya Sanctuary
Gruul Turf
Dimir Aqueduct
Azorius Chancery

Mishra's Factory
Wasteland

Pendelhaven

4 Forest
Snow-Covered Forest
Island
Snow-Covered Island
Swamp
Snow-Covered Swamp
Plains
Mountain


Second Decklist. This one is based on more aggressive creatures.It was also an excuse to use a lot of neat hybrid/multicolor spells, especially Slave of Bolas, with guildmages/witches to take advantage of all the extra lands you get from your mana fixing:

Sakura-Tribe Elder
Explosive Vegetation
Kodama's Reach
Harrow
Shard Convergence

Dreamscape Artist
Traumatic Visions
Phantom Monster

Phyrexian Reclamation
Shriekmaw

Radiant's Dragoons
Orim's Thunder
Seed Spark

Avalanche Riders
Flametongue Kavu
Fireball
Fire Bolt

Slave of Bolas (UBR)
Crosis's Charm (UBR)
Grixis Soujourners (UBR)
Moroii (UB)
Dimir Guildmage (UB)
Inkfathom Witch (UB)
Azorius Guildmage (UW)
Seedcradle Witch (WG)
Desecrator Hag (BG)
Kulrath Knight (BR)
Spitemare (RW)
Harvest Gwyllion (BW)

Fellwar Stone
Prismatic Lens
Gruul Signet
Dimir Signet
Phyrexian Totem
Aether Vial

Gemstone Mine
Vivid Creek

Simic Growth Chamber
Izzet Boilerworks
Orzhov Basilica
Golgari Rot Farm

Wasteland
Mishra's Factory

3 Forest
3 Island
3 Swamp
3 Plains
3 Mountain

That's what I get for forgetting Vintage existed.

I once contended Kodama's Reach was the best card in the format.  Now in 2011 it gets a functional reprint in Cultivate.  Baller for EDH, too.

[Philatio]

Since Phil and I generally try to talk at least one person at each Waterbury into playing our favourite "Skittles" format, and I'm running a local tournament for it this weekend, I've done a quick webpage with a description of it.  This is a 5 colour highlander style format, with no broken cards.  Except maybe Orim's Thunder.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/swcooper/skittles.html

PM me if you want to come down to Jersey to play on Saturday...I doubt it'll be quite as good as going to Samite Healer's tournament, so go there first.

Hooray for Memnite!  Another Kobold to clamp!  plus most of the things which return clamp from the grave work on this, too.  Go Stormin' Norman!

[jp22102000]

Has anyone tried this format with rares?  I always wanted to play Prismatic but I am unable to get anyone to try it (I assume the deck 250-300 card deck puts people off) and this seems like a good alternative, but the pauper aspect may turn off potential players.

[The Chosen One]

Jacob: I've been playing the bouncelands and I have to say I do like them quite a bit. I also remodeled my list quite a bit. I will post when I have some more time to type. It is still creature based control, but I am running thopter foundry/sword of the meek combo in it as well. Dropping them into play with some mana open is a serious game breaker.

[Philatio]

Has anyone tried this format with rares?  I always wanted to play Prismatic but I am unable to get anyone to try it (I assume the deck 250-300 card deck puts people off) and this seems like a good alternative, but the pauper aspect may turn off potential players.

Check out Elder Dragon Highlander, which is now called commander.  Nomad has a Scarecrow King deck which adheres to the Skittles color-distribution rules.

I've built some pretty damn good skittles decks in my day, and in my experience, even the best ones shit their pants as soon as a rare hits the table.  You just keep knocking your library, praying for that one StP.  And dying one draw at a time.

[jp22102000]

How are colored artifacts and colorless cards counted now?

My sugestion for colored artifacts is they count as an artifact and half of each color in their cost.

For colorless they should count as no color(imo), or maybe should they be counted as a 7th color?

[Nomad]

So...only around 9 months to reply to that!


Right now there's a mention of Ghostflame as a colourless card on the rules page, saying it doesn't count for nuthin'.

But I hadn't considered the coloured artifacts in the context of the format.  Maybe it's time to go with 5 coloured sets of cards and 1 set of colourless cards in the deck.  That would even allow a deck devoid of artifacts entirely.  Might give a little shake up with nothing too busted.

The other news that's only a few days more recent than your post is that Philatio threw in the towel on his cancer treatment last Memorial day, and to keep the memory alive I'm again going to hold a skittles tournament.  Not sure if Ray has a CT type 1 approaching we could have it as a side to, or if there's any possibility of actually doing this in a physical manner (the alternative, therefore is to run the event on MWS or even (shudder) MODO).  There could be some prizes (mostly from his extensive skittles foil collection) and possible fundraising for something if his mum has something in mind.  We will, however, be playing for the Baby Dave trophy (best not to ask).

Accepting input at this stage. Best to PM me.

Simon

[JustABee]

Hey Simon!

Myself, AJ, Joe, Matt, and Seth will all be packing skittles decks for the trip to Gencon.
I'm playing a pretty fun Eldrazi Reanimator deck, sometimes I just get to 11 with a storage land and windmill slam a guy.

We've come up with a house rule regarding colored artifacts and that is that they do not go toward the number of artifacts in your deck. The original reasoning was that it seemed that thopter foundry would be impossible to play as it would be 1/4 w,b,u,art and the only way to balance would be playing 4 of that combination of spell. This is all before I realized that it might make the phrexian mana creatures too good without needing to balance them as they can "avoid" color costs all together.

Here is my Eldrazi deck

5 Red
Faithless Looting
Desperate Ravings
Fireball
Flametounge Kavu
Ancient Grudge

6 White
Apostle's Blessing
Path to Exile
Lingering Souls
Ancestor's Chosen
Timely Reinforcements
Oblivion Ring

6 Blue
Deep Analysis
Muddle in the Mixture
Quiet Speculation
Careful Study
Aquaomeba
Forbidden Alchemy

5 Green
Roar of the Wurm
Mulch
Moment's Peace
Cultivate
Krosan Tusker

5 Black
Reanimate
Animate Dead
Necromancy
Infest
Unburial Rites

3 Multicolor
Life/Death
Bitumous Blast
Firespout

6 Artifacts
Sensei's Diving Top
Amrillary Sphere
Lightning Grieves
Orzhof Signet
Darksteel Ignot
Etched Oracle

3 Colorless
Artisan of Kozilek
Pathrazer of Ulamog
Ulamog's Crusher

x Lands
I dont have my deck with me so I won't go through it all, but there are very few white sources in my deck. When building I was really hoping to never need white, but timely reinforcements is really key for this deck to get back in the game so I might change that.

[Nomad]

Well, good luck.  I guess you guys should come on over as and when I get my shit together for the Phil memorial tournament.

I agree with your ideas on coloured artifacts, I'll write it up sometime.  I've never bothered since I kinda thought the format was dead...

Glad I turned on email notifications for this thread.