birdshit [deck]

[wethepeople]

this is my build on "birdshit" which for those of you who dont know is a 3 Color (U/W/G) Aggro control deck, that from my experience is not widely played. i made a few modifications to the Maindeck as well as the SB which will of course be explained below.

Creature Explanations:

4 Meddling Mages- these perform best on game two (obviously) but even game one they seem to make a difference. i rarely drop them early game so before theyre cast i should have an idea on what my opponent is playing.

3 Katakis- Kataki helps me greatly in several situations. I almost never have more artifacts than my opponent since i only run four (on-color moxen, lotus). he also works well as something to pitch for Ninja, which i will get to next.

3 Ninja of the Deep Hours- proably my favorite creature, the ninjutsu ability ensures me that i will get it onto the board. i always have something to return, but occasionally i only have a Dryad with a few counters out, so i need to wait (or hardcast it). He is a great creature but i wouldnt like to run more than three, because i hate needing to hardcast.

3 Werebear- Bear is really just random, he usually gets to a 4/4 with threshold early game, and a couple times i have had to use him to hook me up with some .

4 Dryads- Dryads always get to around a 5/5 in the course of a game due to the fact that i run almost all blue spells, giving them one or two counters a turn.


Random Explanations:

3 Stifles- I find uses for these all the time, Daze never rarely helps me out because so many decks have such a great amount of mana acceleration, thus why i cut them.

1 Regrowth- works well to retrieve many things that i need, sometimes i need to get Swords back, Bounce, or Ancestral Recall, whatever it is, Regrowth comes in handy.

Echoing Truth over CoV- Chain of Vapor always screws me over, its never worth playing if i am just going to bounce something of theirs and they will copy it and bounce my Dryad, losing all of its counters. I understand the Chalice is usually at two (especially versus my deck with average CC two) but i find luck in Truth much more often. i often times bounce a few copies of a card at a time, so it works rather well.

1 Serenity over Disenchant- this may be stupid, i dont know. Serenity gets rid of quite a bit, but Disenchant can be played whenever. I like the idea of being able to Disenchant to resp to certain things like Declaring blockers, because it allows me to pump up Dryad for 1, which many times has helped greatly. i think i should go back to Disenchant. opinions plz.


but anyway, here is my current decklist:

Creatures:
3 Ninja
3 Kataki
4 Mages
4 Dryads
3 Bears

Mana Base
3 Moxen
1 Lotus
4 Tundra
2 Strands
4 Deltas
3 Tropical Islands
1 Basic Island
3 Wastes
1 Strip

Disruption:
4 FoW
3 Stifle

Removal:
2 StP
1 Oxidize
1 E-Truth
1 Rushing River
1 Serenity/Disenchant (not sure yet)

Retrieval/ Draw Power:
4 Brainstorm
1 Gush
1 Ancestral
1 Regrowth
1 Mystical Tutor

Other:
1 Time Walk

for some reason i have 61 cards in my maindeck, i usually have it at 60. one card i am thinking about adding is Lotus Petal, it isnt effected by Kataki, it gives me whatever color i need, and i have one in my binder, is it worth adding?

Sideboard (14):

3 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Balance
3 Null Rod
1 Disenchant
2 StP
2 Sword of Fire/Ice (good versus aggro)
1 Stifle
1 Bounce (e-truth or river?)

i have one slot open, i may add another Disenchant or Oxidize. my sideboard isnt so great at the moment, which is something i need to work on.


i have relatively good matchups with almost all current decks, combo is a bit of a pain, but besides that i think its good. Control decks arent terribly hard since my deck has its aggro side, i just make sure to let my creatures resolve and not care too much about what exactly they are doing. I seem to have crazy luck versus Long, i either get a first turn Mage or a hand couple of Stifles, but i am not going to complain. i have one against Stax and Uba Stax just once when testing. Game two versus UbaStax i managed to get him down to 1 life, yet he got me into the Welder/Tangle Wire combo along with a Bazaar and Uba. I had very little chance on that one :/

Well i hope you guys can help, thanks for taking the time to check out my deck. 

//wtp.

[Everrid1234]

Hello wethepeople,

your deck has a strong creature base. It is optimized to a faster kill then the "normal" Birdshit which needs Threshold desperately to hit hard.
I think the Dryads are quite good.

But i see problems in some places:

-your decks creatures are strong, but strong creatures means that they bring less utility with them. You hit with Bear, Dryad and the other creatures but you could need something like Waterfront Bouncer, Rootwater Thief or Icatian Javeliniiers, it depends on which decks you are seeing where you live

-You counterbase is weak. Where are the Dazes? Dazes aren't this good without Null Rod so:

-Why not play Null Rod Main? It's killing a lot of decks and it can't be replaced by Kataki. Leaving Null Rod out makes Stifle often a bit worthless because Stifle and Wasteland and Null Rod can bring a nice mana screw for the enemy, if one of these part is leaved out this plan gets much weaker. Null Rod+Kataki kills Stax (where you have problems against)

-I think this Oxidize is just random, same for the Serenity. If you play Mystical Tutor you should play Disenchant. But I dont think Disenchant Main is so good.....it's often useless.

-same for the bounce. What do you want to bounce? Think about examples which aren't to uncommon.  Swords is almost always better. And 2 Swords aren't enough. You need answers to early Welders, Confidants or DS Colossus


SB:

-I think BEB are wasted slots, you should have good creatures out vs. Gobbos etc. i would deinitely playing Jitte in these slots (better then Sword of Fire and Ice because its faster)

-The Balance is also a wasted slot, better bring another Kataki, Jitte or add Jotun Grunts (help vs. grave and Aggro)

[wethepeople]

i entirely forgot about using Grunt, i am cutting Bear for that fo sho. i cut serenity for Disenchant already, i figured its best with Mystical Tutor. MD Null Rod has already been tested, it wasnt so good. Balance is good in my meta for the few Aggro decks that consist of more creatures than mine like Goblins. i have one more slot anyway though, so i think i will put another Kataki in that slot. Oxidize is not random, it is artifact hate, which is necessary for t1 decks. i am going to remove 1 bounce spell for another swords however, because i forgot that i had that option.

[Imsomniac101]

You cut Mongoose for Dryads!!!??? biggest mistake ever....

That's not even Birdshit by the looks of it. You took out many of the cards that made the deck strong.

Although the entire deck (Birdshit) needs to be revised with Jotun Grunt now in the format.

[thebastard2]

I've been playing this deck for the past three tourneys in our local and I find that 3 Null Rods main is good. Also I suggest increasing your maindeck Stp,3 would be my minimum. I haven't tested my deck against Grunt yet, but I feel that it will really be a problem. Does anyone here know how to handle the Grunts besides the Stps?

[Everrid1234]

Sorry but the Oxidize is so bad because yo only can kill artifacts AND have it only once in the deck. How often will you get the option to use this card vs. a sphere of resistance for example the first game? What if you hold your Oxidize and the enemy casts Oath? Better play 2 Disenchant, its much more flexible.
You don't have the tutors and draw to get 1ofs early enough. And you dont always draw into Mystical tutor (wich is used best for StP or Ancestral imo).

I thought over playing Grunts in this deck and I think that its not a good option, especially if you consider using Nimble Mongoose for the Dryad. Grunt won't let you get Threshold or die early, so its only good against grave-dependant decks and even vs. those I don't know if Grunt is such good because only being focused on your opponents graveyard lets him die early.

I think with the invention of Grunt BirdShit is much weaker now.
You can go now with U/W Fish AND have a really strong creature available which the Birdshit player can't really use this well. So I would suggest to think about playing U/W Fish.

But that's my opinion, if you like Birdshit I would recommend to either go the Threshold way and try out the older Birdshit builds or go with the Dryad and maybe add some more StP and disruption. When you are totally independant on Threshold (no Bear, no Mongoose) and so play Dryad and Grunt you have a Aggro-Control Deck with good creatures, its not too disruptive but should hit good.
But don't rely too much on Grunt! In my opinion he will live no longer then 2-3 upkeeps. So packing 4 in the maindeck is not such a good idea.

What I don't get an imagination about is which metagame you are confronted? You pack BEB, which are mostly vs. Gobbo but you say that you lose to combo and have big issues with Stax. Is your metagame MWS?

If you are facing a lot of non-aggro decks i would really recommend the 3 Null Rod Maindeck.
I think you have no real chance in most non-aggro matches without it.

There is not a really good option to handle the Grunt. Waterfront Bouncer sucks in this case, activating him each turn means you will lose in the long run.

[Harlequin]

I wouldn't run Ninja in a deck with no 1 drops.  Mongooses seem like a good fit for Ninja becuase in the early game they help you power down a turn 2 ninja, and in the late game they are win conditions. 

[wethepeople]

wait, you can ninjutsu geese with ninja?!

 i didnt think you could because it cant be targeted. that gives me a much better reason to run it.

my metagame is from what i know at my local store, i have only played in it twice with one of my older decks (outdated suiblack) and i got wrecked by goblins. the man who played Stax won it that week, so i look to pack some power for him.

i do play a lot of MWS, that is where i get almost every bit of testing in. this also causes me to switch back and forth on deck constantly, and right now i am playing EBA. i plan to go to Myriad Games' tournament on September 30th, that is probably going to be the only actual tournament i will go to for a while, because the ones at my shop kind of suck. so i am assuming there will be the usual top decks there (Gifts, Stax, even Long)

Everrid- i think i played you on MWS a few days ago, we were talking about tmd for a bit, but i dont recall what you were playing. :/

but anyway, i will take those suggestions, but i really think Dryad works better, i pump him up quite a bit every game. i have tried the original birdshit decklist, i didnt find as much luck as this.

i replaced Oxidize with a second Disenchant, i plan to take out a Stifle (i want to add Daze real badly, i am playing it in my other deck and i love it) and i want to find a place for Mongoose or Grunt, i cant do both because the threshold thing. i think i am going to go with Geese over bears, if i can Ninjutsu them turn two that is much better.

edit: two paragraphs made little to no sense.

[Harlequin]

Unless they changed ninjitsu, it reads:  "Return an unblocked attacking creature to your hand ..."

It does not use the word "Target" so it does not target.  (it sounds simple, but it actually is a common mistake so don't feel bad).

[wethepeople]

i have one other deck i am playing right now, it is the usual EBA build. it runs Factories and Negators, no Angels. i really like how it plays and it uses a full set of my favorite card, Dark Confidant. i might take the time to post an individual thread but i feel like i have posted too many decklists on here, so people are getting annoyed. i still play BS a bit, but EBA has proven much better to me. however that is exactly what i say about all of my new decks 

thanks for the help everyone.

//wtp.

[LSD/Cruise]

I love this deck so much!!!!!!!!!


// Mana 19
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
2 Flooded Strand
3 Windswept Heath
3 Tundra
3 Tropical Island


// Creatures 10
4 Meddling Mage
3 Nimble Mongoose
3 Werebear


// Spells 32
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Gush
1 Fact or Fiction
4 Brainstorm
2 Predict
2 Misdirection
3 Mana Leak
3 Stifle
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Null Rod


// Sideboard 15
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Mana Leak
3 Disenchant
3 Pithing Needle
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Crucible of Worlds
2 Ground Seal

[wethepeople]

i personally like a wider creature base, i think it is a little harder to stop. it also allows me to use some things like Ninja. i am still testing with queer dryad and he does well. i am glad that there is someone else on tmd who feels the same about birdshit. i still like playing aggro, birdshit is one of the few that still is able to succeed.

//wtp.

[Duncan]

There is already a birdshit topic on TMD:

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=28685.0

But it was already on second page since I seemed to be almost the only one that wanted to discuss the deck.

About your deck: Mongooses can indeed be ninjutsu'd, that makes him real good. 3 Ninja seems like the right choice. After lots of testing i felt like playing three of them too. I just can't decide whether kataki should be MB, SB or not in the deck at all. Extra beats are always welcome, but you need the counterbackup and cantrips as well.

I haven't played the deck in a tournament since the release of Jotun Grunt, but the guy is a serious problem. But, you should be able to deal with him if you play 3-4 Swords and some counters. UW fish hasn't many other cards you MUST counter. His ability doesn't target right? Otherwise playing ground seal could be considered.

[wethepeople]

i havent found grunt much of a problem, i tested against UW fish the other day and Dryad got right by it, he hit me once at the most until evetually it died from lack of graveyard targets. i dont think i need to bother on additional hate for a single creature, maybe another swords to plowshares because ground seal is just going to be a useless cantrip half the time, the most it will do is counter my regrowth.

i put in mongeese, i like them much more. i cut werebear, he didnt help as much besides for his elf-move. besides he only deals one more damage than goose, and is vulnerable to creature removal.

i am going to add daze because it helps very much, and pisses people off. i have always thought daze worked well in this deck until for some reason i cut it. my decklist now has a few random changes, only 2 stifles MD, 3 stp MD, less Katakis MD. the sideboard is completely different, and i still need to decide what i should take out/ add. it currently has like 18 cards, which isnt legal.

one problem is that i never know what hands are good to keep or not. here are some random opening hands i did on MWS in solitaire mode. we will assume that this is game 1 and i have no idea what my opponent is playing, because i am actually a little better at deciding game 2.

1.  kataki, brainstorm, fetch, stripmine, ninja, goose, disenchant.

2.  tropical island, wasteland, 3 meddling mages (wierd), gush, stifle

3.  fetch, two forces, goose, ninja, stp, mage. (not bad besides the fact i only drew 1 land.)

4.  two tundras, 1 fetch, 1 island, 1 emerald, 1 daze, 1 ancestral recall

5.  goose, pearl, 2 fetches, wasteland, stp, time walk.

random mulligan:

2 fetches, mage, goose, stifle, regrowth.

[wethepeople]

this is my most recent decklis (60)t:

Creaturessssss (17):
4 mages
4 geese
3 ninjas
4 dryads
2-3 kataki's (i go back and forth a lot)

Removal and such (4):
1 disenchant
3 swords

Disruption (9):
4 force of will
3 daze
2 stifle

Draw Engine (7):
4 brainstorm
1 ancestral
1 mystical tutor
1 gush

Misc (4):
1 time walk
1 regrowth
2 null rod

Mana Base (23):
3 on-color moxen
1 lotus
2 basic island
3 tropical island
4 tundra
4 polluted delta
2 flooded strand
3 wasteland
1 strip mine

Side (15):
2 Blue Elemental Blast
3 Ground Seal (it does actually serve a purpose in multiple situations)
1 Swords
2 Stifle
3 Ray of Relevation
4 leyline of the void (i will explain in a minute)

Leyline of the Void is black, i know, but i never hardcast it. yes it is a dead draw unless i get it opening hand, but when i do, it helps. I dont know of anyone hardcasting Leyline anyway. when i sideboard in the entire set of them i do actually get it in my opening hand often.

Ground Seal was recommended by Duncan for a solution to Jotun Grunt, it not only works in that area but also as a cantrip, and a solution to Recoup, so it gives Gifts a hard time. it may counter my Regrowth, but from my testing i never get them both in one game, so that of course isnt something i should worry about.

I only run two Null Rods because they are really annoying when i get multiple copies, i still manage to draw one of the two quite often, and i already run 2 Kataki's (sometimes 3). I only run two Katakis for the exact same reason, i dont like getting multiple copies due to the legend rule. so 4 artifact hate slots (not including Disenchant) is enough.

keep the suggestions/critism coming. 

//wtp.

[wuaffiliate]

Your build doesnt really play like BS, your far too creature heavy with creatures that are much less efficient making you run more mana sources than requires by most BS lists.

You have no reliable threshold enabler at all which makes it less efficient because you need to run more creatures to do the same damage lowering your utililty/draw and counters.

Nimble Mongoose is the deck, its efficiency and potency as a 3/3 CBT for 1cc, hes cheap, hits hard and is really hard to kill. I can see why you didnt put him in because you cant reach threshhold as quickly as a more steamlined decklist. ( i see that you did re-add the mongoose, just need to work on the mental note count now )

Misd is money in BS, with such a low mana count Misd makes your life alot easier and helps you resolve what needs to be resolved while not losing tempo. the same reason daze is so nice as a 2-3 of, it allows you to replay that island the same turn and resolve more spells and get threshold faster.

GL with the deck its alot of fun.

[wethepeople]

i dont really play this deck much anymore, i did have a build using just one misdirection but i took it out. i planned to make this more of an aggro build, but i am thinking of resulting to the original list with very minor modification.

i am currently playing a metagame adjusted EBA build, as well as my Arcane Control deck that doesnt do that well against aggro decks, however my EBA list does considerably well.