I'm sorry I know it can be repetitive at time but it is important to keep up with small changes that occur in the deck and meta. I have tried to limit my articles on cawblade but people have asked that I not ignore it for too long.
The Viridian Corrupter was added in tuning the deck rather than during deck construction so I never even considered adding a tutoring suite for it. Although minor GSZ also would have some impact on the budget of the deck (and at the time I constructed it the impact would have been worse as GSZ wasn't much cheaper than Inkmoth Nexus at the time).
Obviously I haven't tested it but based on my experience of how games play out I suspect it wouldn't be that good. While fetching Viridian Corrupter would be nice at times the deck has very few targets for it (a V. Corrupter and a mixture of Rotwolf and Cystbearer) with most of the decks creatures being artifacts. Further worsening it the 3 drop creatures it can fetch would be the logical cards to cut to make room for it. Also paying 4 mana for a 3 drop doesn't sound great because you usually want to be alpha swinging by the time you hit your 4th land drop not playing another creature. On the bright side it would make my non-commital mixture of 3 drops look a little less wierd.
The list I used this week was the same list I used at the GP so it is a tad old. I do think mortarpod is a fine inclusion in the deck. Firewalker is also a fine inclusion, I still like sylvok lifestaff as well though so I wouldn't cut it.
Into the roil is just a catch-all style card I'm not stuck on it, I was simply running it because it complimented this last list.
Reins has been good and bad, certainly have won games off of stealing a walker with it, and I have lost games getting it pierced or my opponents threats being too small and diverse for reins to matter. And yeah I boarded in two in the control matchups.
Sanctifiers is pretty expensive, I wont write it off, but its not my style.
What's the reasoning behind not running Green Sun's Zenith? Having access to Viridian Corrupter more reliably game 1 seems like it would improve the Cawblade matchup. Also rot wolf seems like a nightmare card early against cawblade, making chump blocking a losing prospect.
I've tried to aim my column more at beginning & intermediate drafters. If you're a strong drafter already, I'd recommend a writer on here like Godot. Or some of the pros who do draft write-ups on other sites, I usually read a lot of those myself to learn each new format.
I have always figured on playing more 8-4s someday. My new job as Director of Game Design at a Facebook game company in theory means money matters less to me (in case I win less packs) and time matters more to me (and 8-4s should tend to go the quickest). Until I catch up with moving expenses though, money's still a little tight. Of course time being tight means I haven't read up on MBS drafting like I usually do with each new format, and I've hardly been drafting in paper at all, so my skills are a little behind where I like to be.
As for big tournaments, I generally only do day long events in paper. Don't have the free time on MTGO for anything longer than a draft, except occassionally my clan's Sunday Commander PRE.
Hey if you do try it out, please let me know how it works for you. My own testing and especially observations haven't made me very optimistic about the guy.
Olaw - I ran the deck exclusively in the 2 man ques where I was able to keep my win percentage above 50% and made a slow profit. Costing so much money Caw-Blade doesn't seem to be predominant in the 2 man ques and I only faced it a few times so I can't say too much about the match but it wasn't unwinable (at least if they didn't get Gideon out). Contagion Clasps entering play effect and Tumble Magnet do a reasonable job of getting you past hawks and the sideboard Pistus Strikes and Viridian Corrupters help out a lot too. I wrote the article a few weeks back and Caw-Blade hadn't adapted Mortar Pod yet, that probably does make things worse. Also RUG seemed to be a really good match up so that at least should help a little if some one were looking to take it to more competative waters in the near future.
I would say it's good for a budget option while not as viable as Caw-Blade, RUG, Boros or Valakut it still can compete against most of the field and costs a lot less.
Lauginman - Well I wrote this. :P Actually I'm a currently unemployed welder but I've always enjoyed creative hobbies like writting and drawing.
Nin + Consecrated Sphinx - if you can keep them in play, the sphinx really abuses her removal ability. Also, Grixis Dredge may like Nin + Belltower sphinx to draw and dump into the GY at the same time. Thousand-year Elixir, if she's your CC, will mean cast and kill/draw same turn.
I can see Archangel of Strife playing in decks where Power or Toughness matters. Arena type decks that deal damage equal to creatures power, Wall of Reverence combo decks for more life. Also, it helps everyone at the table accentuate their deck's flavor - aggression or turtling. In the CCC, this would be rated Flavor 10, even if it isn't the strongest card. Angel tribal commander decks may like the attack boost with all that vigilance, nearly negating the bonus other players choose.
I enjoyed the article. Not sure how competitve this deck is, particularly as I don't think the deck has a good matchup against CawBlade. I think a lot of decks are running Mortarpod over Sylvok Lifestaff now, which I imagine is pretty rough on this deck. Also, just chumping with Squadron Hawks buys them a lot of time to do other things, like find Gideon Jura. Interesting deck though.
Thanks for a well thought out article that made for a good read.
If you like budget decks at 5$ and under you should try Heirloom since it's right in that range, some lower some slightly higher but not by much, and its a fun competitive environment where you don't have to shell out to play the "best deck" as selected by you and whatever you want to play with that's legal.
The deck plays a lot of seemingly terrible cards that normally I wouldn't advocate in a constructed deck. I wouldn't say Piston Sledge is the weak link in a deck based around Giant Growth variants and 1/1's for 2 mana.
Most of the reasons I like Piston Sledge are explained in the article already. Re-equipping at for no mana cost is a huge benefit when you need to be able to Giant Growth or Vines of Vastwood later in the turn or in response to you equiping the creature. The deck has a lot of artifacts it's willing to get rid of especially if it means the opponent is going to die on your attack phase so sacrficing a burnt out Tumble Magnet, a Contagion Clasp or best of all Necropede is worth it to equip a Piston Sledge especially since you often want to be equiping Inkmoth Nexus which uses up 2 of your lands activating and attacking.
I did try Livewire Lash because I love it in Infect draft decks but it's way too mana intensive for this deck and working with Giant Growth, Groundswell and Vines of Vastwood the additional bonus for targeting your creature isn't worth as much as when your using Untamed Might, Unnatural Predation, Tainted Strike and non-metalcrafted Mirran Mettles.
I like a mixture of Rot Wolves and Cystbearers and the exact numbers keep changing. The Sylvok Lifestaff was also moved to the sideboard to make room for another 3 mana creature. I mostly played in the 2 man que's so Cystbearer being able to live through combat with creatures such Goblin Guide and every vampire is relevant.
In all the matches I board in Obstinate Baloth in for the life gain his usefulness as a defensive wall is also very important as he survives combat with almost every aggro creature and unlike Leyline you don't need him in your opening hand for him to be good and the second one you draw isn't useless.
The lack of Virridian Corrupters in the board is (like I said in my above comment) a mistake in copy and pasting and unfamiliarity with the deck editor. The sideboard should also have included 3 Corrupters and 3 Pistus Strikes.
Just wanted to comment on the deck itself, why no Mortapod? I've been increasingly happy with it, and I actually cut Sylvok Lifestaff because I was losing to mono red every time I searched it up. I've also become a huge fan of Kor Firewalker - not just due to monored, but because to many decks are relying on red removal and Inferno Titan (Boros, Mono red, RUG, Valakut, to some extent Vampires) and Firewalker answers those, as well as being excellent vs Koth, and compatible with sword.
I'm also curious because your list is the first I have seen with multiple into the roil. It is a card I like, but I was much happier with it in UB because it allowed you to use late game discard to greater effect.
How have you liked two volition reigns? It's not a card I've ever enjoyed playing with personally, but have you ever found yourself boarding in two? I've also been very happy with a misers Kor Sanctifiers, since it carries a sword, can be returned via Sun Titan, hits enchantments and can be Jace-Bounced if need be. I switched to one over a divine offering because I found if I drew them vs a deck like Boros and they had an equipment light draw, I was in serious trouble.
I personally consider anything less than 3 drafts worth of tickets budget, although if you aren't willing to go out and get the constructed playables lands from new sets, you probably don't want to play constructed.
I'm curious, why a card like Piston Sledge, which, forgive me, seems terrible, over a card like Livewire Lash, which, don't get me wrong, is still terrible, but has huge upside in this type of deck.
With the amount of hawk chump blocking going on in standard, I'm also surprised you didn't max out on Rot Wolf, you are going to need to draw as many cards as possible since your deck will get two-for-one'd plenty. Cystbearer seems like it would be great out of the board vs Red decks to play around pyroclasm or arc trail. Similarly, what about Leyline of Vitality instead of Obstinate Baloth, since both gain you life, but Baloth doesn't do anything for your infect creatures.
I realize you aren't trying to grind out decks and want to win via pump spells, but given the popularity of a certain sword, I think some number of Viridian Corrupters in the board would be appropriate.
First off, I seem to have accidently ommited 6 cards from the sideboard. Oops, sorry about that. While I've tinkered with the deck a bit since this was written (my Lifestaff is now in the board in place of one of the Canopy Covers) the missing sideboard cards are definately 3 Pistus Strike and 3 Viridian Corrupter (to have 4 in the 75).
I got the 'stupid noob' comment less often than a shocked comment as my opponent died on turn 3 or 4 after failing to block a 1/1. The deck is budget and uses some admitably unimpressive cards but the synergy between pump effects and infect creatures allows it to play a real game of Magic against much more expensive and better known decks.
I built the deck when Inkmoth Nexus were a little cheaper and picked up my playset for 22 tickets but even now at closer to $40 I still consider the deck to be a great budget option. I'm currently unemployed and this deck allowed me to play constructed and not feel like I was making a sacrifice in power by avoiding purchasing a card that clearly would make my deck strictly better. To me that's a budget deck, a $5 deck that's clearly missing the best card because I can't afford it isn't something I would feel comfortable running (and Inkmoth Nexus does make the deck far more potent, a creature most ground based aggro decks can't block and can't be targeted at sorcery speed is a huge benefit to the deck).
Seriously, under $5 is what you consider a budget build? That's the cost of just about one gallon of gas. I suggest you either bump up your budget or start playing pauper.
I think budget builds around the 30-50 range are much more reasonable.
even at $40 this deck would count as budget considering most decks are running full playsets of Jace, Titans or other pricey mythics. Just because its not 'your' definition of budget doesnt mean it isnt budget. I mean if you combined all your under five dollar decks then you could play this still budget deck...
With the going price for the nexus alone this deck pushes over fourty dollars. I often build on budget but to me budget means under five dollars for the whole deck. although I would love to add nexus to my infect deck as a staple I cannot because one card alone already breaks my wallet. It's possible to beat net deckers with real budget decks that cost no more then five dollars to build.
Yep that's my plan for next week :D
after GP Dallas and all i would love to see a RUG deck tech...pretty please?
I'm sorry I know it can be repetitive at time but it is important to keep up with small changes that occur in the deck and meta. I have tried to limit my articles on cawblade but people have asked that I not ignore it for too long.
Sorry
My god I've seen soooo many stoneforge mystic squadron hawk decks! WE KNOW HOW THEY WORK!
The Viridian Corrupter was added in tuning the deck rather than during deck construction so I never even considered adding a tutoring suite for it. Although minor GSZ also would have some impact on the budget of the deck (and at the time I constructed it the impact would have been worse as GSZ wasn't much cheaper than Inkmoth Nexus at the time).
Obviously I haven't tested it but based on my experience of how games play out I suspect it wouldn't be that good. While fetching Viridian Corrupter would be nice at times the deck has very few targets for it (a V. Corrupter and a mixture of Rotwolf and Cystbearer) with most of the decks creatures being artifacts. Further worsening it the 3 drop creatures it can fetch would be the logical cards to cut to make room for it. Also paying 4 mana for a 3 drop doesn't sound great because you usually want to be alpha swinging by the time you hit your 4th land drop not playing another creature. On the bright side it would make my non-commital mixture of 3 drops look a little less wierd.
The list I used this week was the same list I used at the GP so it is a tad old. I do think mortarpod is a fine inclusion in the deck. Firewalker is also a fine inclusion, I still like sylvok lifestaff as well though so I wouldn't cut it.
Into the roil is just a catch-all style card I'm not stuck on it, I was simply running it because it complimented this last list.
Reins has been good and bad, certainly have won games off of stealing a walker with it, and I have lost games getting it pierced or my opponents threats being too small and diverse for reins to matter. And yeah I boarded in two in the control matchups.
Sanctifiers is pretty expensive, I wont write it off, but its not my style.
Thanks
What's the reasoning behind not running Green Sun's Zenith? Having access to Viridian Corrupter more reliably game 1 seems like it would improve the Cawblade matchup. Also rot wolf seems like a nightmare card early against cawblade, making chump blocking a losing prospect.
Back in the day, I remember RM being a pretty good dude for the 23...
I've tried to aim my column more at beginning & intermediate drafters. If you're a strong drafter already, I'd recommend a writer on here like Godot. Or some of the pros who do draft write-ups on other sites, I usually read a lot of those myself to learn each new format.
I have always figured on playing more 8-4s someday. My new job as Director of Game Design at a Facebook game company in theory means money matters less to me (in case I win less packs) and time matters more to me (and 8-4s should tend to go the quickest). Until I catch up with moving expenses though, money's still a little tight. Of course time being tight means I haven't read up on MBS drafting like I usually do with each new format, and I've hardly been drafting in paper at all, so my skills are a little behind where I like to be.
As for big tournaments, I generally only do day long events in paper. Don't have the free time on MTGO for anything longer than a draft, except occassionally my clan's Sunday Commander PRE.
Hey if you do try it out, please let me know how it works for you. My own testing and especially observations haven't made me very optimistic about the guy.
Olaw - I ran the deck exclusively in the 2 man ques where I was able to keep my win percentage above 50% and made a slow profit. Costing so much money Caw-Blade doesn't seem to be predominant in the 2 man ques and I only faced it a few times so I can't say too much about the match but it wasn't unwinable (at least if they didn't get Gideon out). Contagion Clasps entering play effect and Tumble Magnet do a reasonable job of getting you past hawks and the sideboard Pistus Strikes and Viridian Corrupters help out a lot too. I wrote the article a few weeks back and Caw-Blade hadn't adapted Mortar Pod yet, that probably does make things worse. Also RUG seemed to be a really good match up so that at least should help a little if some one were looking to take it to more competative waters in the near future.
I would say it's good for a budget option while not as viable as Caw-Blade, RUG, Boros or Valakut it still can compete against most of the field and costs a lot less.
Lauginman - Well I wrote this. :P Actually I'm a currently unemployed welder but I've always enjoyed creative hobbies like writting and drawing.
Nin + Consecrated Sphinx - if you can keep them in play, the sphinx really abuses her removal ability. Also, Grixis Dredge may like Nin + Belltower sphinx to draw and dump into the GY at the same time. Thousand-year Elixir, if she's your CC, will mean cast and kill/draw same turn.
I can see Archangel of Strife playing in decks where Power or Toughness matters. Arena type decks that deal damage equal to creatures power, Wall of Reverence combo decks for more life. Also, it helps everyone at the table accentuate their deck's flavor - aggression or turtling. In the CCC, this would be rated Flavor 10, even if it isn't the strongest card. Angel tribal commander decks may like the attack boost with all that vigilance, nearly negating the bonus other players choose.
Great Summary, as usual.
HK
poison.dec and the definition of budget, this article is very good. Well written and informative, especially for a first time. Are you a writer?
I enjoyed the article. Not sure how competitve this deck is, particularly as I don't think the deck has a good matchup against CawBlade. I think a lot of decks are running Mortarpod over Sylvok Lifestaff now, which I imagine is pretty rough on this deck. Also, just chumping with Squadron Hawks buys them a lot of time to do other things, like find Gideon Jura. Interesting deck though.
Thanks for a well thought out article that made for a good read.
If you like budget decks at 5$ and under you should try Heirloom since it's right in that range, some lower some slightly higher but not by much, and its a fun competitive environment where you don't have to shell out to play the "best deck" as selected by you and whatever you want to play with that's legal.
The deck plays a lot of seemingly terrible cards that normally I wouldn't advocate in a constructed deck. I wouldn't say Piston Sledge is the weak link in a deck based around Giant Growth variants and 1/1's for 2 mana.
Most of the reasons I like Piston Sledge are explained in the article already. Re-equipping at for no mana cost is a huge benefit when you need to be able to Giant Growth or Vines of Vastwood later in the turn or in response to you equiping the creature. The deck has a lot of artifacts it's willing to get rid of especially if it means the opponent is going to die on your attack phase so sacrficing a burnt out Tumble Magnet, a Contagion Clasp or best of all Necropede is worth it to equip a Piston Sledge especially since you often want to be equiping Inkmoth Nexus which uses up 2 of your lands activating and attacking.
I did try Livewire Lash because I love it in Infect draft decks but it's way too mana intensive for this deck and working with Giant Growth, Groundswell and Vines of Vastwood the additional bonus for targeting your creature isn't worth as much as when your using Untamed Might, Unnatural Predation, Tainted Strike and non-metalcrafted Mirran Mettles.
I like a mixture of Rot Wolves and Cystbearers and the exact numbers keep changing. The Sylvok Lifestaff was also moved to the sideboard to make room for another 3 mana creature. I mostly played in the 2 man que's so Cystbearer being able to live through combat with creatures such Goblin Guide and every vampire is relevant.
In all the matches I board in Obstinate Baloth in for the life gain his usefulness as a defensive wall is also very important as he survives combat with almost every aggro creature and unlike Leyline you don't need him in your opening hand for him to be good and the second one you draw isn't useless.
The lack of Virridian Corrupters in the board is (like I said in my above comment) a mistake in copy and pasting and unfamiliarity with the deck editor. The sideboard should also have included 3 Corrupters and 3 Pistus Strikes.
Hope that answers all your questions.
Just wanted to comment on the deck itself, why no Mortapod? I've been increasingly happy with it, and I actually cut Sylvok Lifestaff because I was losing to mono red every time I searched it up. I've also become a huge fan of Kor Firewalker - not just due to monored, but because to many decks are relying on red removal and Inferno Titan (Boros, Mono red, RUG, Valakut, to some extent Vampires) and Firewalker answers those, as well as being excellent vs Koth, and compatible with sword.
I'm also curious because your list is the first I have seen with multiple into the roil. It is a card I like, but I was much happier with it in UB because it allowed you to use late game discard to greater effect.
How have you liked two volition reigns? It's not a card I've ever enjoyed playing with personally, but have you ever found yourself boarding in two? I've also been very happy with a misers Kor Sanctifiers, since it carries a sword, can be returned via Sun Titan, hits enchantments and can be Jace-Bounced if need be. I switched to one over a divine offering because I found if I drew them vs a deck like Boros and they had an equipment light draw, I was in serious trouble.
I personally consider anything less than 3 drafts worth of tickets budget, although if you aren't willing to go out and get the constructed playables lands from new sets, you probably don't want to play constructed.
I'm curious, why a card like Piston Sledge, which, forgive me, seems terrible, over a card like Livewire Lash, which, don't get me wrong, is still terrible, but has huge upside in this type of deck.
With the amount of hawk chump blocking going on in standard, I'm also surprised you didn't max out on Rot Wolf, you are going to need to draw as many cards as possible since your deck will get two-for-one'd plenty. Cystbearer seems like it would be great out of the board vs Red decks to play around pyroclasm or arc trail. Similarly, what about Leyline of Vitality instead of Obstinate Baloth, since both gain you life, but Baloth doesn't do anything for your infect creatures.
I realize you aren't trying to grind out decks and want to win via pump spells, but given the popularity of a certain sword, I think some number of Viridian Corrupters in the board would be appropriate.
Nice article and yes 40$ is still budget some pauper decks cost more then this deck :p
First off, I seem to have accidently ommited 6 cards from the sideboard. Oops, sorry about that. While I've tinkered with the deck a bit since this was written (my Lifestaff is now in the board in place of one of the Canopy Covers) the missing sideboard cards are definately 3 Pistus Strike and 3 Viridian Corrupter (to have 4 in the 75).
I got the 'stupid noob' comment less often than a shocked comment as my opponent died on turn 3 or 4 after failing to block a 1/1. The deck is budget and uses some admitably unimpressive cards but the synergy between pump effects and infect creatures allows it to play a real game of Magic against much more expensive and better known decks.
I built the deck when Inkmoth Nexus were a little cheaper and picked up my playset for 22 tickets but even now at closer to $40 I still consider the deck to be a great budget option. I'm currently unemployed and this deck allowed me to play constructed and not feel like I was making a sacrifice in power by avoiding purchasing a card that clearly would make my deck strictly better. To me that's a budget deck, a $5 deck that's clearly missing the best card because I can't afford it isn't something I would feel comfortable running (and Inkmoth Nexus does make the deck far more potent, a creature most ground based aggro decks can't block and can't be targeted at sorcery speed is a huge benefit to the deck).
Seriously, under $5 is what you consider a budget build? That's the cost of just about one gallon of gas. I suggest you either bump up your budget or start playing pauper.
I think budget builds around the 30-50 range are much more reasonable.
even at $40 this deck would count as budget considering most decks are running full playsets of Jace, Titans or other pricey mythics. Just because its not 'your' definition of budget doesnt mean it isnt budget. I mean if you combined all your under five dollar decks then you could play this still budget deck...
With the going price for the nexus alone this deck pushes over fourty dollars. I often build on budget but to me budget means under five dollars for the whole deck. although I would love to add nexus to my infect deck as a staple I cannot because one card alone already breaks my wallet. It's possible to beat net deckers with real budget decks that cost no more then five dollars to build.
I saw that the Dallas top 8 had 32x big Jace, and the top 16 had something like 60. Looks like the most boring tournament in the world.
Standard has Cawblade and UGR, and is dead to any other archetype until Zendikar rotates.
Still, great article as normal, so 5 fireballs.
How many times have you gotten the "stupid noob deck" comment? :) Back in my budget days I got that some. I always laughed.