I feel your pain. Deeply. For 16+ years I've played this game and for 16+ years Ive dealt with the frustration of bad shuffles, horrendous cuts, amazing opponent top decks and just general where the heck did that come from? draws. On the other hand, now that modo shuffles for me I don't have to worry whether I am sufficiently randomized or if my opponent is a sleight of hand artist. (I've faced no less than 3 such individuals in tourney in the past offline.) On a more serious note, as one of your suggestions mentions, dramatically changing the structure of the game to remove mana flood/screw would make it an entirely different game. So not enthusiastic about the ideas except maybe in a Friday Night Kitchen (tm pending) game.
I am fairly certain, mana woes are 70% building issues 30% luck issues. My luck is almost always negative or at 0 so if I build the deck even a little wrong I can be sure to see problems. Hence, the question of how good your fixing is, really is very important. You mentioned Simian Spirit Guides and that is a perfect fixer (If you are in solid red.) It is paramount to dedicate enough of the deck to making sure you can cast ALL your important spells (and why are there unimportant ones in the deck? I may ask.) Some deck designs make this easier than others. 4 color combo is tougher to pull together than mono green elves for example. Play, adjust, play, adjust, play, adjust. Do that 1,000x and call the doctor in the morning.
Sunday evening and I can’t stay up late enough to play the Pez Player Run Event, so I took the Idol deck to the Casual room again.
Same list as my previous reply.
The first game was against an Ally deck with at least green and white. He fixed some land and got an Ally in play as I set up with Idol and Skeleton. He paused a moment when I started with the Idol and then scooped. Premature I think.
The second game was one of those WOTC_ names with the cool Wizards flag icon next to their name. I wish I could post a video of this one as it was both fun and interesting. He ramped into a green Titan in a hurry. I had poked away with a Seer for a few turns as he hit me with a man land. When he played Titan, I had Act of Treason and the Idol in hand (along with a Specter and Mountain). I played the Idol, stole the Titan, used to it beat face and dig up some Tectonic Edges, and then sacked it to the Idol. He followed up with Destructive Force and Birds of Paradise. I only got to keep two lands in play, and chose two swamps. He used the BoP to send the Idol back to me. He was down to five life while I was around 14, until he popped a fetch land to go to 4. I played my Specter, which put him to zero cards. Specter put him to 2. He had noting on his turn, so my Specter put him to 2. He could still activate his Raging Ravine, so I couldn’t end it with Idol. Again, nothing on is turn, and when it came back to my turn he said something about not getting priority. I don’t know what he had up his sleeve, and my Specter finished the job.
Game three was against a fun looking GW token deck. I won the roll and hit lots of black mana early, allowing a Ritualist to ruin some upcoming bombs. Act of Treason with a Seer in play set my opponent back while Skeleton and Seer dug up whatever I wanted to play with. An Idol soon joined the party and my opponent scooped.
Game four had me fightning 4 Colour Greedo, right from Bill Stark’s coverage of the SCG event in Denver. There is too much power in that serious deck to expect the Idol deck to compete, but I gave it go. Sadly, the Idol deck did not come up too well, and I lost in about 12 turns. I drew Act of Treason with no sac outlet, and suffered to some Grixis style Specters while I had no removal.
Can’t win them all, but had lots of fun trying
3-1 this evening, and that’s enough for me.
I had lots of fun with this deck RCeuvo. Thanks for the inspiration!
what adrian also fails to consider or doesnt care about is that no one really cares about his little crusade he seems to be on anyways. Adrian, You know they always say if you dont like youre welcome to leave.
Adrian's complaint is about the lack of proof reading. What Adrian fails to consider or doesn't care about is that English is not Rene's first language, and I guess he has started being nasty to people who fail his criteria for a "good" article on here. I have mentioned this problem to Rene myself but I guess if people read and enjoy it anyway then who cares?
I took RCuevo’s article to be about a casual deck using the Idol. Yes his title is about beating UW control, but that can still be considered casual, as losing to UW control in casual becomes less than fun in a hurry.
I know this brings up the age old debate about Magic always being about winning regardless of the setting (casual or competitive). As a former “Pro Tour Wannabe” who has downgraded his seriousness to “Magic Enthusiast”, I am a believer that there is a lot of fun to be had with decks that have not (and will not) show up in any important Top 8 lists.
Yes, ChardOne’s BR aggro list is a better competitive deck than the BR Idol lists RCuevo inspired me to try. ChardOne’s list is NOT an “econo” Jinxed Idol deck, though. It’s that sort of deck I wamted to try. Casually.
I enjoyed RCuevo’s deck idea enough to try it out myself, as reported in my earlier reply. I felt I had some tough luck when I tried it, so I came back to the drawing board today. Admittedly, my list needed work, so I tweaked it with some new ideas and took it to the casual room again.
I believe I have made the list without any M10 or Alara block cards. That’s just a nod towards the fall rotation, not that rotation matters for a casual deck in August. I’ve also continued to ignore money cards. Obviously a better deck can be made with “better” cards. I often prefer to play deck with no rares or Mythics in the casual room, but Jinxed Idol being a rare keeps me from doing that in this case.
Obvious additions are Viscera Seer and Act of Treason. I felt the Seer added some value to the Skeletons and gave the deck some much needed manipulation. Then, of course, Act of Treason seemed realistic with all the sac outlets available.
The new Bloodhusk Ritualist replaces Blightning, in a way. With the Idol plan, it’s nice to have creatures to do the work of sorceries. This explains my Pilgrims Eyes as well, which help ensure plenty of mana in this mana heavy deck.
In my first game with this new list, I faced an interesting mono green ramp deck. It featured all the expected green Mythic bombs. The Oran-Reif land kept my pinger from dealing with many tokens, and tokens are strong against an Idol strategy. Fortunately for me the ramp strategy is a bit slow, and massive green mythic creatures make good targets for Act of Treason. Act of Treason works both with and against the Idol strategy, with it becoming a pseudo Terminate when your opponent controls the Idol. I squeaked out a win a turn before massive green dudes would have overwhelmed me.
My 2nd game with the new list was against a UG deck I wasn’t able to identify. My opponent mulliganed twice and scooped moments after my first turn Duress. You know; the kind of luck I had the other day.
My next game was against a noobish GW creature deck. It hurt me with main deck Naturalize, but balanced things out with main deck Angel’s Feathers and Holy Strength. Skeletons can hold off lots of green dudes while pingers deal with little fliers. Eventually, resource advantage action pulls me to victory.
My fourth game was against a green deck that seemed to be all about ramping into Garruk’s Packleader and drawing into more beef. I didn’t see much more if it as the Idol deck came up rather sick. First turn Duress stole green’s ramp and saw a couple of Packleaders and some other beef. Next turn I put the Idol out due to what I had in hand: the right amount of land, Act of Treason, Seer, and Skeleton. Green scooped before I could play an Act of Treason.
I started a 5th game but my opponent had to leave before his thirds turn. It appeared to be an Ally deck, but I only saw white in the first two turns. He had a couple Allies out in a hurry, and with no removal in my hand, I was probably in trouble. Call it a draw.
A sixth game saw me up against Warp World in Jund colours. Hellkite, Siege Gang Commander. Pretty much what belongs from what I saw. The Idol deck pulled the right amount of disruption early on and Seer/Skeleton manipulation helped get there later in the game. Never found an Act of Treason or Idol this game.
I’m out of time for this afternoon. Call it 5-0-1 today?
I am to have some matches for you folks next week. I like the tutelage deck and have most of the cards for it so I may try to construct it next week. I will probably add 1 sword of vengeance and 1 crystal ball instead of 2 blades.
I,m going to post a decklist that I can't afford to build and that u seem to have all the cards for. Feel free to try it out and let me know if it's any good or has possibilities.
4 Abyssal Persecutor
4 Basilisk Collar
4 Blade of the Bloodchief
4 Bloodghast
4 Bloodthrone Vampire
4 Consume Spirit
4 Dark Tutelage
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Marsh Flats
4 Phylactery Lich
12 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wretched Banquet
just tried it on paper the baanquets suck use doom blade and it needs a new artifact in place of at least 2 blade of bloodchief. the dark tuteledge rocks
Some tournament report with the deck would be excellent. Keep working on it, you forget pithing needle. But with GW Mana Ramp on the rise there's that to deal with too. Like the article!
One small correction regarding the psychographics. Johnnys tend to be the ones with the infinite combos. Look ma, No hands! Where as the spikes tend to bring the heavy guns in counters, ld, removal, sweepers, and anything else that just flat out wins. Infinite combos are definitely more likely in edh/commander due to the more time you get normally but chances are if it isn't 40 points to the dome it's not a spike play.
Not a bad article. I would of liked to see some matchups. Also I don't think Pyromancer's Ascension has become a top tier deck yet. it has seen some play, but nothing spectacular except for the one French Nationals Posting.
Colorwise they are simular, but the mass polymorph splashes red. there are not Battlements in the deck though. All eldrazi except the Pulakka Wurms and the Acidic Slimes.
Katastrophe: There seems to be one main difference in EDH and Commander. Commander is played online. You have no idea who these people are. They are very much more anti social then in real life. Guaranteed that half of the people who whine and complain about certain cards don't do so as much in real life. I can say from experience that playing EDH is a bit more enjoyable then Commander just for the social aspects alone. Commander online is a little bit more spikier, but I still enjoy playing it. You are not going to have the perfect game or opponents, but that's just life and people online. It goes to what you said yourself. Have a tough skin. If it bothers you, then don't play it. I would however like to see more and more people play and take into consideration they are humans and to treat others with respect. One of the things Sheldon has in his play group is a Merrit system. People get points for doing the right things, and loose points for doing the wrong things. This tones down the shenannigans, but it still isn't the perfect system. Spike players still try to play thier infinit combos, but it is more enjoyable. If MTGO had this same system online, it would be ore enjoyable.
As Paul has stated, Sheldon doesn't want Timmies to act mature. It's actually the opposite. What he is saying is that in EDH specifically, you can make your own banned restricted list if need be. So groups of players are spikes, and they want to play edh. Maybe they want to use the full power nine. It's thier choice. Sheldon and the rest of the RC are ok with that. Thier personal beliefe is they would rather see the format grow and to be played by mature Timmies, but they realize that's only in a perfect world.
I still like the format online even though the games can be more degenerate, but you don't always go up against spikes. I have been having good luck as of late.
Two different changes I might consider on the Vine Conscription deck is to remove 1 x Sovereign of Lost Alara for 1 x Behemoth Sledge
or
Remove 1 x Rhox War Monk & 1 x Soverign of Lost Alara, 1 x Cunning Sparkmage and put 3 x Knight of the Reliquery(KOTR)in. I would lean more towards to the 3 x KOTR because you have a bunch of fetch lands (11 with evolving) that would ramp those creatures up and be more dominate threats without damaging your "packaged threats" too much.
I've been playing a Black-Red Abyssal Persecutor deck to really nice results in the causal room. In the TP room it does OK, but clearly isn't T1. Anyway, a couple of comments based on my experience with that deck.
First, I don't see the need for such an anti-control focus for a causal deck. Something like RDW or any aggro creature deck should beat this deck... and that's what you see in casual 7/10 times. I'd much rather run lightning bolt than discard that is for sure. rpitcher's results are kind of what I'd expect to consistently happen.
Second, removing the Lavaclaw Reaches is a huge mistake. That card kills control. They can't counter it, they can't DoJ it, it kills Wall of Omens, etc. I understand that we all live with budgets for cards, but seriously, invest in good lands. You will never regret it.
Third, I've tried Sarkan the Mad and I just don't like the card that much. I'd rather play some combination of Chandra Nalaar and Liliana Vess. People outright laugh at you when you play these PW's and think they suck but they can and sometimes do dominate a casual game.
Finally, no Persecutor deck is complete without fling. Attack for 6, fling for 6 ends A LOT of games.
My list:
4 Goblin Guide (aggro beats)
4 Hellspark Elemental (aggro beats)
2 Chandra's Spitfire (testing how good it is)
2 Vampire Nighthawk (a little life gain goes a long way)
4 Abyssal Persecutor (aggro beats)
2 Inferno Titan (just awesome... all the titans are)
3 Fling
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Terminate
2 Comet Storm (Earthquake is usually better, but rotates soon)
2 Searing Blaze (run mainly because of Spitfire)
You pray they don't draw then, or that you can counter them, or that they don't hit any creatures with them. The match is horrible, and I cover my solution to it next article :D
I feel your pain. Deeply. For 16+ years I've played this game and for 16+ years Ive dealt with the frustration of bad shuffles, horrendous cuts, amazing opponent top decks and just general where the heck did that come from? draws. On the other hand, now that modo shuffles for me I don't have to worry whether I am sufficiently randomized or if my opponent is a sleight of hand artist. (I've faced no less than 3 such individuals in tourney in the past offline.) On a more serious note, as one of your suggestions mentions, dramatically changing the structure of the game to remove mana flood/screw would make it an entirely different game. So not enthusiastic about the ideas except maybe in a Friday Night Kitchen (tm pending) game.
I am fairly certain, mana woes are 70% building issues 30% luck issues. My luck is almost always negative or at 0 so if I build the deck even a little wrong I can be sure to see problems. Hence, the question of how good your fixing is, really is very important. You mentioned Simian Spirit Guides and that is a perfect fixer (If you are in solid red.) It is paramount to dedicate enough of the deck to making sure you can cast ALL your important spells (and why are there unimportant ones in the deck? I may ask.) Some deck designs make this easier than others. 4 color combo is tougher to pull together than mono green elves for example. Play, adjust, play, adjust, play, adjust. Do that 1,000x and call the doctor in the morning.
Yes, we'll call that the 'Finally, something workable' solution then. That would be a great change to the game.
Make draws with 0,1 and 6,7 land mulligan for free (without drawing a card less) and it should be ok....
Sunday evening and I can’t stay up late enough to play the Pez Player Run Event, so I took the Idol deck to the Casual room again.
Same list as my previous reply.
The first game was against an Ally deck with at least green and white. He fixed some land and got an Ally in play as I set up with Idol and Skeleton. He paused a moment when I started with the Idol and then scooped. Premature I think.
The second game was one of those WOTC_ names with the cool Wizards flag icon next to their name. I wish I could post a video of this one as it was both fun and interesting. He ramped into a green Titan in a hurry. I had poked away with a Seer for a few turns as he hit me with a man land. When he played Titan, I had Act of Treason and the Idol in hand (along with a Specter and Mountain). I played the Idol, stole the Titan, used to it beat face and dig up some Tectonic Edges, and then sacked it to the Idol. He followed up with Destructive Force and Birds of Paradise. I only got to keep two lands in play, and chose two swamps. He used the BoP to send the Idol back to me. He was down to five life while I was around 14, until he popped a fetch land to go to 4. I played my Specter, which put him to zero cards. Specter put him to 2. He had noting on his turn, so my Specter put him to 2. He could still activate his Raging Ravine, so I couldn’t end it with Idol. Again, nothing on is turn, and when it came back to my turn he said something about not getting priority. I don’t know what he had up his sleeve, and my Specter finished the job.
Game three was against a fun looking GW token deck. I won the roll and hit lots of black mana early, allowing a Ritualist to ruin some upcoming bombs. Act of Treason with a Seer in play set my opponent back while Skeleton and Seer dug up whatever I wanted to play with. An Idol soon joined the party and my opponent scooped.
Game four had me fightning 4 Colour Greedo, right from Bill Stark’s coverage of the SCG event in Denver. There is too much power in that serious deck to expect the Idol deck to compete, but I gave it go. Sadly, the Idol deck did not come up too well, and I lost in about 12 turns. I drew Act of Treason with no sac outlet, and suffered to some Grixis style Specters while I had no removal.
Can’t win them all, but had lots of fun trying
3-1 this evening, and that’s enough for me.
I had lots of fun with this deck RCeuvo. Thanks for the inspiration!
what adrian also fails to consider or doesnt care about is that no one really cares about his little crusade he seems to be on anyways. Adrian, You know they always say if you dont like youre welcome to leave.
Archetype win loss percentages of top 8 participants
Oath total 34-25
vs. Dredge 10-10
vs. Merfolk 10-2
vs. Suicide Black 4-1
vs. Oath 13-9
Dredge total 21-11
vs. Oath 10-7
vs. Dredge 4-0
vs. Merfolk 3-3
vs. Storm 2-0
vs. Suicide Black 2-0
Merfolk total 15-15
vs. Oath 6-10
vs. Dredge 5-4
vs. Grim Welder 4-1
extenze | genf20
I was being a bit light-hearted with my "tough audience" comment.
I guess if you want to have articles posted, you have to expect and accept criticisms of your content and/or writing skills.
The error in the teaser line here was unfortunate for sure. Such errors bother me more in articles from "paid" writers at premium sites.
Adrian's complaint is about the lack of proof reading. What Adrian fails to consider or doesn't care about is that English is not Rene's first language, and I guess he has started being nasty to people who fail his criteria for a "good" article on here. I have mentioned this problem to Rene myself but I guess if people read and enjoy it anyway then who cares?
Wow, tough audience here it seems.
I took RCuevo’s article to be about a casual deck using the Idol. Yes his title is about beating UW control, but that can still be considered casual, as losing to UW control in casual becomes less than fun in a hurry.
I know this brings up the age old debate about Magic always being about winning regardless of the setting (casual or competitive). As a former “Pro Tour Wannabe” who has downgraded his seriousness to “Magic Enthusiast”, I am a believer that there is a lot of fun to be had with decks that have not (and will not) show up in any important Top 8 lists.
Yes, ChardOne’s BR aggro list is a better competitive deck than the BR Idol lists RCuevo inspired me to try. ChardOne’s list is NOT an “econo” Jinxed Idol deck, though. It’s that sort of deck I wamted to try. Casually.
I enjoyed RCuevo’s deck idea enough to try it out myself, as reported in my earlier reply. I felt I had some tough luck when I tried it, so I came back to the drawing board today. Admittedly, my list needed work, so I tweaked it with some new ideas and took it to the casual room again.
Here’s my current list:
3 Act of Treason
3 Akoum Refuge
2 Bloodhusk Ritualist
2 Bojuka Bog
3 Cunning Sparkmage
2 Dread Statuary
2 Duress
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Jinxed Idol
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Liliana's Specter
5 Mountain
2 Pilgrim's Eye
4 Reassembling Skeleton
7 Swamp
2 Tectonic Edge
4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Tuktuk the Explorer
3 Viscera Seer
I believe I have made the list without any M10 or Alara block cards. That’s just a nod towards the fall rotation, not that rotation matters for a casual deck in August. I’ve also continued to ignore money cards. Obviously a better deck can be made with “better” cards. I often prefer to play deck with no rares or Mythics in the casual room, but Jinxed Idol being a rare keeps me from doing that in this case.
Obvious additions are Viscera Seer and Act of Treason. I felt the Seer added some value to the Skeletons and gave the deck some much needed manipulation. Then, of course, Act of Treason seemed realistic with all the sac outlets available.
The new Bloodhusk Ritualist replaces Blightning, in a way. With the Idol plan, it’s nice to have creatures to do the work of sorceries. This explains my Pilgrims Eyes as well, which help ensure plenty of mana in this mana heavy deck.
In my first game with this new list, I faced an interesting mono green ramp deck. It featured all the expected green Mythic bombs. The Oran-Reif land kept my pinger from dealing with many tokens, and tokens are strong against an Idol strategy. Fortunately for me the ramp strategy is a bit slow, and massive green mythic creatures make good targets for Act of Treason. Act of Treason works both with and against the Idol strategy, with it becoming a pseudo Terminate when your opponent controls the Idol. I squeaked out a win a turn before massive green dudes would have overwhelmed me.
My 2nd game with the new list was against a UG deck I wasn’t able to identify. My opponent mulliganed twice and scooped moments after my first turn Duress. You know; the kind of luck I had the other day.
My next game was against a noobish GW creature deck. It hurt me with main deck Naturalize, but balanced things out with main deck Angel’s Feathers and Holy Strength. Skeletons can hold off lots of green dudes while pingers deal with little fliers. Eventually, resource advantage action pulls me to victory.
My fourth game was against a green deck that seemed to be all about ramping into Garruk’s Packleader and drawing into more beef. I didn’t see much more if it as the Idol deck came up rather sick. First turn Duress stole green’s ramp and saw a couple of Packleaders and some other beef. Next turn I put the Idol out due to what I had in hand: the right amount of land, Act of Treason, Seer, and Skeleton. Green scooped before I could play an Act of Treason.
I started a 5th game but my opponent had to leave before his thirds turn. It appeared to be an Ally deck, but I only saw white in the first two turns. He had a couple Allies out in a hurry, and with no removal in my hand, I was probably in trouble. Call it a draw.
A sixth game saw me up against Warp World in Jund colours. Hellkite, Siege Gang Commander. Pretty much what belongs from what I saw. The Idol deck pulled the right amount of disruption early on and Seer/Skeleton manipulation helped get there later in the game. Never found an Act of Treason or Idol this game.
I’m out of time for this afternoon. Call it 5-0-1 today?
I am to have some matches for you folks next week. I like the tutelage deck and have most of the cards for it so I may try to construct it next week. I will probably add 1 sword of vengeance and 1 crystal ball instead of 2 blades.
I,m going to post a decklist that I can't afford to build and that u seem to have all the cards for. Feel free to try it out and let me know if it's any good or has possibilities.
4 Abyssal Persecutor
4 Basilisk Collar
4 Blade of the Bloodchief
4 Bloodghast
4 Bloodthrone Vampire
4 Consume Spirit
4 Dark Tutelage
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Marsh Flats
4 Phylactery Lich
12 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wretched Banquet
just tried it on paper the baanquets suck use doom blade and it needs a new artifact in place of at least 2 blade of bloodchief. the dark tuteledge rocks
Well deluxeicoff what can I say... You caught me with my pant down.
Chardone I see what your saying, sepecially about the lavaclaw reaches, but the oly problems I have with you list are that:
a.) 4 Goblin Guide (aggro beats)
4 Hellspark Elemental (aggro beats)
Stopped by wall of omens.
b.) Your decklist, while nice, is more traditional then what I wanted to do.
Thanks plusua. Do you mean GR mana ramp?
Any article is a good article, nice review. Anyone have the link to the Ascension French Nationals posting?
Some tournament report with the deck would be excellent. Keep working on it, you forget pithing needle. But with GW Mana Ramp on the rise there's that to deal with too. Like the article!
The latest version is a "ALL-IN-RED" hybrid....basically:
4x Kiln Fiend
4x Goblin Warrens
4x L.Bolt
4x Spark Spray
4x Lava Dart (MVP)
4x Seething Song
4x Rite of Flame
4x Manamorphous
4x Crimson Wisps
4x Fireblast
4x Lotus Petal
16x Mnts
"...You don't want to play another boring match against do you? " - REALLY? Before the article even begins - may be a new error record :)
One small correction regarding the psychographics. Johnnys tend to be the ones with the infinite combos. Look ma, No hands! Where as the spikes tend to bring the heavy guns in counters, ld, removal, sweepers, and anything else that just flat out wins. Infinite combos are definitely more likely in edh/commander due to the more time you get normally but chances are if it isn't 40 points to the dome it's not a spike play.
Not a bad article. I would of liked to see some matchups. Also I don't think Pyromancer's Ascension has become a top tier deck yet. it has seen some play, but nothing spectacular except for the one French Nationals Posting.
Colorwise they are simular, but the mass polymorph splashes red. there are not Battlements in the deck though. All eldrazi except the Pulakka Wurms and the Acidic Slimes.
I think I may have to do an article on that deck.
Katastrophe: There seems to be one main difference in EDH and Commander. Commander is played online. You have no idea who these people are. They are very much more anti social then in real life. Guaranteed that half of the people who whine and complain about certain cards don't do so as much in real life. I can say from experience that playing EDH is a bit more enjoyable then Commander just for the social aspects alone. Commander online is a little bit more spikier, but I still enjoy playing it. You are not going to have the perfect game or opponents, but that's just life and people online. It goes to what you said yourself. Have a tough skin. If it bothers you, then don't play it. I would however like to see more and more people play and take into consideration they are humans and to treat others with respect. One of the things Sheldon has in his play group is a Merrit system. People get points for doing the right things, and loose points for doing the wrong things. This tones down the shenannigans, but it still isn't the perfect system. Spike players still try to play thier infinit combos, but it is more enjoyable. If MTGO had this same system online, it would be ore enjoyable.
As Paul has stated, Sheldon doesn't want Timmies to act mature. It's actually the opposite. What he is saying is that in EDH specifically, you can make your own banned restricted list if need be. So groups of players are spikes, and they want to play edh. Maybe they want to use the full power nine. It's thier choice. Sheldon and the rest of the RC are ok with that. Thier personal beliefe is they would rather see the format grow and to be played by mature Timmies, but they realize that's only in a perfect world.
I still like the format online even though the games can be more degenerate, but you don't always go up against spikes. I have been having good luck as of late.
I am glad. iw as beginning to think it wasn't going to happen.
Great article broski,
Two different changes I might consider on the Vine Conscription deck is to remove 1 x Sovereign of Lost Alara for 1 x Behemoth Sledge
or
Remove 1 x Rhox War Monk & 1 x Soverign of Lost Alara, 1 x Cunning Sparkmage and put 3 x Knight of the Reliquery(KOTR)in. I would lean more towards to the 3 x KOTR because you have a bunch of fetch lands (11 with evolving) that would ramp those creatures up and be more dominate threats without damaging your "packaged threats" too much.
Too bad FMN is a no go tonight....
Cheers
I've been playing a Black-Red Abyssal Persecutor deck to really nice results in the causal room. In the TP room it does OK, but clearly isn't T1. Anyway, a couple of comments based on my experience with that deck.
First, I don't see the need for such an anti-control focus for a causal deck. Something like RDW or any aggro creature deck should beat this deck... and that's what you see in casual 7/10 times. I'd much rather run lightning bolt than discard that is for sure. rpitcher's results are kind of what I'd expect to consistently happen.
Second, removing the Lavaclaw Reaches is a huge mistake. That card kills control. They can't counter it, they can't DoJ it, it kills Wall of Omens, etc. I understand that we all live with budgets for cards, but seriously, invest in good lands. You will never regret it.
Third, I've tried Sarkan the Mad and I just don't like the card that much. I'd rather play some combination of Chandra Nalaar and Liliana Vess. People outright laugh at you when you play these PW's and think they suck but they can and sometimes do dominate a casual game.
Finally, no Persecutor deck is complete without fling. Attack for 6, fling for 6 ends A LOT of games.
My list:
4 Goblin Guide (aggro beats)
4 Hellspark Elemental (aggro beats)
2 Chandra's Spitfire (testing how good it is)
2 Vampire Nighthawk (a little life gain goes a long way)
4 Abyssal Persecutor (aggro beats)
2 Inferno Titan (just awesome... all the titans are)
3 Fling
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Terminate
2 Comet Storm (Earthquake is usually better, but rotates soon)
2 Searing Blaze (run mainly because of Spitfire)
2 Chandra Nalaar
1 Liliana Vess
7 Mountain
8 Swamp
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Lavaclaw Reaches
3 Tectonic Edge
You pray they don't draw then, or that you can counter them, or that they don't hit any creatures with them. The match is horrible, and I cover my solution to it next article :D