Nice article, good analysis on pros and cons of cards.
UW Blink is probably my favorite deck to pilot but I couldn't get a strong list to combat MUC. That's the unfortunate reason why I put the deck down for now. It's a very strong achetype though.
I'm not a fan of ninja in decks that aren't loaded with removal but hey, 2cc for a bounce + draw + bear isn't terrible and you've got the bola to help out a bit. Skyfisher + ninja is cool too. You justified your choices and that's what is important to me.
Oh, and there was this awesome strategy article on how to play grand entrance which was what got me into the deck: http://pdcmagic.com/wordpress/?p=152
Oh sorry, i thought you'd know Grand entrance has been around for a few years. Heres a link: http://puremtgo.jamuraa.net/node/1362, and a list (although not the list I run)
Creatures
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Phyrexian Walker
3 Aven Riftwatcher
3 Cloud Sprite
3 Trinket Mage
2 Leonin Squire
2 Thought Nibbler
1 Silver Drake
1 Wormfang Drake
23 cards
Other Spells
4 Momentary Blink
3 Bonesplitter
3 Memory Lapse
2 Aether Spellbomb
1 Viridian Longbow
13 cards
Lands
11 Snow-Covered Island
7 Snow-Covered Plains
2 Lonely Sandbar
2 Secluded Steppe
1 Ancient Den
1 Seat of the Synod
24 cards
Flaring Pain does nothing to Guardian of the Guildpact. It has protection from mono-colored, that doesnt prevent damage.
Doc, I think the table for Burn is still wrong. Counting things up, the win/loss is backwards.
I did think about the expanses, I might try using those in future. I would agree the wizard tribe is very much a control tribe, and with the deck you could move away from the Blue/Black wizards or humans and move into mono blue wizards with counter abilities maybe, Circu would only activate once but that would be made up by the wizards countering ability. But thats why I said both the Human and Wizard tribes are huge and probably to hard for me to cover in just one article all the options in that tribe.
You could always just add a eldrazi legend or two if you intended to do the mill via orbs as they would serve the same function as blessing while also giving you a nasty critter if games go long.
As for focusing on Circu while he's certainly a beastly critter one must remember that he is a legend and only 4 of 60 cards so using multi-color cards with a rough manabase to maximize his effect most likely cost you a game or two.
You had no fetch lands and only 4 lands that produced both types of mana, even 4 terramorphic expanse would helped smooth out mana issues to a great extent.
My personal opinion is that wizards by their nature is a very control centric tribe I'd say moving the deck in that direction is the right call. Granted it creates a completely different deck but there's never anything wrong in focusing on what a given tribe does best.
And don't worry too much about useing the same word several times. All of us writers have done it a few times so don't feel that it's just you. All you can do about it is just become aware of it and search for it after that :)
Yes I do. I built it for standard. I was not pushing the standard theme as the shards cards are rotating out soon. I didn't make the deck to be a tournament deck but more for those who just play pauper for fun like myself. Its performance in classic may not be as strong, but it still holds it's own weight and I am sure it will still be a decent deck in the new extended.
You are right a Mill deck needs a back up plan, and I think the creature restrictions of Classic Tribal Wars, make that difficult unless the tribe is built to Mill, namely merfolk. I have seen Flippers_Giraffe with a deck before which had Mill as a plan using Mesmeric Orb and had Gaea's Blessing to avoid decking yourself. I liked the idea but felt it didn't fully fit the style of the guild.
You're right it is a bit slower than the original version (not that much thought), but agro match ups are already good thanks to all the life gaining cards so that's not that big of a deal: the deck is very consistant at developping a board, finding land drops etc...
Bonesplitter is a good card in this deck and I can totally see a case beeing made for wanting to include it.
As for your comment about the 1 drop flyer, I don't understand what you mean, there are no 1 drop flyer in any list that I know of (heck even MUC fearies doesn't run any 1 drop flyer). Am I missing something here?
And you're supposed to win on time, not loose on time :-)
I agree, Temporal Fissure is a strong way of clearing the board. I think its steep cost is more affordable in the UG build. Traditional Grapeshot can also deal with unicorn, most builds have 1x shred memory and 1x echoing decay to deal with it, but taking out maindeck cards for the sideboard is always an issue. Still, I think the fact that traditional Storm can go off one or two turns faster on average may still be a big factor here.
I like some of your suggestions, Commando. I'll try out the 4th EE and I could use the Dispels to raise my odds against combo and control. Dispel also covers Burn which is good.
I don't agree with swapping out Prohibit though. Prohibit has a much different purpose than Negate. Prohibit acts as an easier to cast Counterspell against Goblins and Stompy, it's a great answer to Spellstutter Sprite, and if necessary it can stop creatures up to 4cc like GotG. On top of that, since the majority of removals and counters are in the 1-2cc range, it handles them perfectly too. Negate is too narrow to be a maindeck card imo.
I firmly believe the non-grapeshot version of this deck is stronger, both in the metagame and mirror - it's easier to get up to 20 mana than it is to cast 20+ spells. The build I went with (only got 16th - but I'm not the best pilot -lost one to decking myself..lol) uses Fissure to bounce the permanents all back, and Mnemonic Wall/Thunder to finish them off. I do agree the deck type is MUCH more consistant than traditinoal storm...but be warned, it's a headache to pilot, and very, VERY easy to screw up! PRactice a bunch.
Also a knock against the Grapeshot build - is that Benevolent Unicorn STILL works, and in the deck above, proves to be a game winner since you don't have a plan B - the warrens, with my build, I simply have to pay one more mana for each silly unicorn on the board.
Main:
-1 Exclude +1 Errant Ephemeron. In this case we will be more resistant to overwhelming stacks of removal from, for example, White Weenie.
-4 Prohibit +4 Negate. According to my practice with similar build our greatest problem is to defend the finisher guy from removal, stacked in the opponent hand. In the controls dogfight it works just like old'n'good Counterspell. And it cut down good half of the other popular spells.
Sideboard:
- 4 Hydroblast + 4 Dispel. Well, we are packed enough with a tons of removal and counters against nasty Goblins. So this is just overkill. The counter-thought "But it can stop kicked Bushwacker!" can be eliminated easily with "Oh, yeah? Let him hit empty board, mwahaha!". It surely helps against Burn, but if you run 4 Dispel you still can stop a solid part of the Burn deck.
Whilst on my dinner at work I read through your article Melissafey and found it much improved on the previous one, whilst reading it I noted you have taken onboard comments given on your last article.
Whilst I have not been playing the Tribes PRE much I do hope to play this coming Saturday whilst also looking forward to seeing your new creation from Ravnica block.
Whilst I feel you had a good idea with the mill deck it could use a back up plan when it comes to tribes as you found out they can be just too quick for this style of deck. I have tried it myself with allies whilst finding the backup plan of beatdown to also be effective. But maybe I'm not the person to give advise never won to dam thing whilst there are others better suited to the task.
So if they declare Guardian to block Keldon Mauraders, and then I play Flaring Pain, Keldon kills Guardian?
We should play sometime clannie.
Actually protection does prevent damage as well as targeting, blocking etc.
Apparently the use of humor is unheard of on the internet. :/ Sad because I heard it was fun.
Nice article, good analysis on pros and cons of cards.
UW Blink is probably my favorite deck to pilot but I couldn't get a strong list to combat MUC. That's the unfortunate reason why I put the deck down for now. It's a very strong achetype though.
I'm not a fan of ninja in decks that aren't loaded with removal but hey, 2cc for a bounce + draw + bear isn't terrible and you've got the bola to help out a bit. Skyfisher + ninja is cool too. You justified your choices and that's what is important to me.
Oh, and there was this awesome strategy article on how to play grand entrance which was what got me into the deck: http://pdcmagic.com/wordpress/?p=152
Oh sorry, i thought you'd know Grand entrance has been around for a few years. Heres a link: http://puremtgo.jamuraa.net/node/1362, and a list (although not the list I run)
Creatures
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Phyrexian Walker
3 Aven Riftwatcher
3 Cloud Sprite
3 Trinket Mage
2 Leonin Squire
2 Thought Nibbler
1 Silver Drake
1 Wormfang Drake
23 cards
Other Spells
4 Momentary Blink
3 Bonesplitter
3 Memory Lapse
2 Aether Spellbomb
1 Viridian Longbow
13 cards
Lands
11 Snow-Covered Island
7 Snow-Covered Plains
2 Lonely Sandbar
2 Secluded Steppe
1 Ancient Den
1 Seat of the Synod
24 cards
Sideboard
4 Grayscaled Gharial
3 Cloudchaser Kestrel
3 Divine Offering
3 Temporal Isolation
1 Aven Riftwatcher
1 Sunbeam Spellbomb
15 cards
I always liked Roterothopter as the turn 2 Ninja enabler, and Flying helps win games sometimes.
Flaring Pain does nothing to Guardian of the Guildpact. It has protection from mono-colored, that doesnt prevent damage.
Doc, I think the table for Burn is still wrong. Counting things up, the win/loss is backwards.
I did think about the expanses, I might try using those in future. I would agree the wizard tribe is very much a control tribe, and with the deck you could move away from the Blue/Black wizards or humans and move into mono blue wizards with counter abilities maybe, Circu would only activate once but that would be made up by the wizards countering ability. But thats why I said both the Human and Wizard tribes are huge and probably to hard for me to cover in just one article all the options in that tribe.
And thanks for all the support appreciated.
True, allies is another one :D
You could always just add a eldrazi legend or two if you intended to do the mill via orbs as they would serve the same function as blessing while also giving you a nasty critter if games go long.
As for focusing on Circu while he's certainly a beastly critter one must remember that he is a legend and only 4 of 60 cards so using multi-color cards with a rough manabase to maximize his effect most likely cost you a game or two.
You had no fetch lands and only 4 lands that produced both types of mana, even 4 terramorphic expanse would helped smooth out mana issues to a great extent.
My personal opinion is that wizards by their nature is a very control centric tribe I'd say moving the deck in that direction is the right call. Granted it creates a completely different deck but there's never anything wrong in focusing on what a given tribe does best.
And don't worry too much about useing the same word several times. All of us writers have done it a few times so don't feel that it's just you. All you can do about it is just become aware of it and search for it after that :)
"make that difficult unless the tribe is built to Mill, namely merfolk"
Or Allies
Yes I do. I built it for standard. I was not pushing the standard theme as the shards cards are rotating out soon. I didn't make the deck to be a tournament deck but more for those who just play pauper for fun like myself. Its performance in classic may not be as strong, but it still holds it's own weight and I am sure it will still be a decent deck in the new extended.
Yeah indeed
Thats more simic
Thanks Bingo, Hope we see you at this weeks PRE.
You are right a Mill deck needs a back up plan, and I think the creature restrictions of Classic Tribal Wars, make that difficult unless the tribe is built to Mill, namely merfolk. I have seen Flippers_Giraffe with a deck before which had Mill as a plan using Mesmeric Orb and had Gaea's Blessing to avoid decking yourself. I liked the idea but felt it didn't fully fit the style of the guild.
You're right it is a bit slower than the original version (not that much thought), but agro match ups are already good thanks to all the life gaining cards so that's not that big of a deal: the deck is very consistant at developping a board, finding land drops etc...
Bonesplitter is a good card in this deck and I can totally see a case beeing made for wanting to include it.
As for your comment about the 1 drop flyer, I don't understand what you mean, there are no 1 drop flyer in any list that I know of (heck even MUC fearies doesn't run any 1 drop flyer). Am I missing something here?
And you're supposed to win on time, not loose on time :-)
I agree, Temporal Fissure is a strong way of clearing the board. I think its steep cost is more affordable in the UG build. Traditional Grapeshot can also deal with unicorn, most builds have 1x shred memory and 1x echoing decay to deal with it, but taking out maindeck cards for the sideboard is always an issue. Still, I think the fact that traditional Storm can go off one or two turns faster on average may still be a big factor here.
I like some of your suggestions, Commando. I'll try out the 4th EE and I could use the Dispels to raise my odds against combo and control. Dispel also covers Burn which is good.
I don't agree with swapping out Prohibit though. Prohibit has a much different purpose than Negate. Prohibit acts as an easier to cast Counterspell against Goblins and Stompy, it's a great answer to Spellstutter Sprite, and if necessary it can stop creatures up to 4cc like GotG. On top of that, since the majority of removals and counters are in the 1-2cc range, it handles them perfectly too. Negate is too narrow to be a maindeck card imo.
Also, anyone notice the next tournament is at the same time as a sceduled downtime?
http://www.wizards.com/magic/digital/magiconline.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magi...
What's up with that? Anyone know if it's going to happen at all?
I firmly believe the non-grapeshot version of this deck is stronger, both in the metagame and mirror - it's easier to get up to 20 mana than it is to cast 20+ spells. The build I went with (only got 16th - but I'm not the best pilot -lost one to decking myself..lol) uses Fissure to bounce the permanents all back, and Mnemonic Wall/Thunder to finish them off. I do agree the deck type is MUCH more consistant than traditinoal storm...but be warned, it's a headache to pilot, and very, VERY easy to screw up! PRactice a bunch.
Also a knock against the Grapeshot build - is that Benevolent Unicorn STILL works, and in the deck above, proves to be a game winner since you don't have a plan B - the warrens, with my build, I simply have to pay one more mana for each silly unicorn on the board.
Good job! Really interesting article. What I do love in the publications - card analysis and talking about sideboard choices - all is here.
As for the deck - well, only more of the queues-proven results can verify or deny the very idea of the build.
Main:
-1 Exclude +1 Errant Ephemeron. In this case we will be more resistant to overwhelming stacks of removal from, for example, White Weenie.
-4 Prohibit +4 Negate. According to my practice with similar build our greatest problem is to defend the finisher guy from removal, stacked in the opponent hand. In the controls dogfight it works just like old'n'good Counterspell. And it cut down good half of the other popular spells.
Sideboard:
- 4 Hydroblast + 4 Dispel. Well, we are packed enough with a tons of removal and counters against nasty Goblins. So this is just overkill. The counter-thought "But it can stop kicked Bushwacker!" can be eliminated easily with "Oh, yeah? Let him hit empty board, mwahaha!". It surely helps against Burn, but if you run 4 Dispel you still can stop a solid part of the Burn deck.
Incredible article, as always! Thanks, Doc. :)
That's right. I run 3 Flaring Pain in my Goblins for the same reasons.
Whilst on my dinner at work I read through your article Melissafey and found it much improved on the previous one, whilst reading it I noted you have taken onboard comments given on your last article.
Whilst I have not been playing the Tribes PRE much I do hope to play this coming Saturday whilst also looking forward to seeing your new creation from Ravnica block.
Whilst I feel you had a good idea with the mill deck it could use a back up plan when it comes to tribes as you found out they can be just too quick for this style of deck. I have tried it myself with allies whilst finding the backup plan of beatdown to also be effective. But maybe I'm not the person to give advise never won to dam thing whilst there are others better suited to the task.
Whilst
Bingo