95 degree wet rainy afternoons in NC...i think im winning so far. You would think an afternoon rain shower would cool things down. But no, it just makes it more humid and hotter
@ Orgion - Thanks, glad you like it! Well, it was freezing when I started the article (about 3 or 4 days ago), it's warmed up since then though. It'll be subzero again in a few days you mark my words...
@ Sebastian - Nice ideas. The Oracle definitely. The Wurm probably definitely too. Shame to lose the Walls though. I'd be tempted to take out an Ondu Giant and a Ponder for 2 Wurms.
+4 Sea Gate Oracle -4 See Beyond, definitely better than See Beyond with a body to boot.
+2 Palakka Wurm -2 Mnemonic Wall, something else for Rite of Replicate. 42 life for you, 42 damage for your opponent. Just my opinion. =)
The Shieldmage Advocate and Nurturing Licid seem like they have pretty obvious reasons in the Uril deck. Protect Uril, and protect Uril. Something like an Earthquake to wipe out Uril and lose you whatever auras were on him is a significant setback in a deck that's all about attacking with a big Uril. Likewise, the Licid helps out against big blockers, deathtouch blockers, gang-blocks, etc. by making sure you can keep swinging in with Uril every turn anyway.
Licid also has the benefit of being able to decide which creature to protect in response to removal, giving your whole team regeneration potential any time you leave extra green mana up. He can protect more than one creature sometimes, or provide a free unkillable blocker.
Consider a turn when someone's attacking you with three nasty huge creatures, and you already have the Licid on some random little elf. You also have 5 green mana open. You pay one green mana to regenerate the elf. Pay another to make Licid stop being an enchantment and be a creature. Then let Declare Blockers step arrive, block one creature with the elf, one with the Nurturing Licid, one with Uril. Then you pay and tap to make Licid an aura again, put it on Uril, and pay your 4th green to regenerate Uril. Bam, all 3 huge fatties are blocked, two of your blockers are regenerated so they don't die, the third doesn't exist as a creature any more to take damage.
Mainly though, I'd think as many ways to keep Uril around with all his auras + swinging every turn is really the focus of an Uril deck. So these two cards really fit the theme just fine. If you ever let them kill Uril with red sweepers or with blockers it sets back the plan of the deck significantly.
I have a similar version of the wall deck that I play and Luminarch Ascension can flat out win games if it is not answered. Also, having 4 rage nimbus is key because you can force an attack into your perimeter captains and if they only send that one creature you can block with every defender and gain 2 life per blocker. It absolutely dies to Day of Judgement but it is a fun deck to play and can cause some real headaches for your opponents.
Heh! I don't know where you are in the UK, but here in Southampton we've had a blistering 20+ degC for the last 3 days. It's been glorious!
Anyway, with a deck list that hot you shouldn't need any sun :-) I love the idea and only wish that Wizards hadn't made it so blooming obvious that you lose if your opp plays Emrakul. It'd be really nice if I could just get to attack with it once!
I'm guessing the grandfather clause doesn't hold water for the descendants of the pilgrims (myself)...shame because I know so many good jokes about England. (No, not really but boy does that sound like a smartassed thing to say.)
1) Mul ! Even vs reanimator, the hand is good but risky. So to deal with merf, I immediatly mul without any doubt ... How many time did I loose a game being overoptimistic and being ravaged by a simple wasteland ? Not this time thank you... and not even a vial to have a reasonnable doubt.*
2) I attack with the bodyguard, play waste and that's all. I wont keep bodyguard in defense because if he drops a lord on next turn, my defense is useless. I wont play grunt because I dont believe my opponent will use Daze on it, and even if he's doing it, he's still in the tempo thank to vial... No need to play it now. As for wasteland, I could hesitate but I'd keep it : if he plays stifle, to wait with waste isnt a good idea althought he got now no untapped land. But vial is the real problem here, and I will be slowed more than him. Plus, my waste could help me to getenough mana to :1) play grunt dazeproof, 2) play O.ring ... Last thing, sword is definitly not for the adept, I'll keep it for lords.
3) My only chance here is to gain time : I cannot clear the board now. So I will minimize damages. I will block the adept with bodyguard. If he vial lord, I stp immediatly, I'd be dazeproof. If he want to sacrifice cursecatcher+daze to stp, the deal is ok, I'll lose 1 bodyguard & 1 stp but he'll loose 1 creature + 2 damages to me +1 land drop and would have all his mana tapped ... not that bad. If he'll FoW, that is not that bad either for me for almost the same reasons. Once all this phase done, I could also waste the muta. All in all my position is not that good, but let him attack without reaction is probably the worst thing for me i guess.
4) I'd play grunt, probably the best blocker I have. My wasteland + previous plays allow me to hink that I get enough cards in th GY to keep it alive more than 1 turn... It could stop any of his critter. If he counter me, the turn after I could try o.ring with less possibilities for him to counter I guess
5) My biggest fear is the commander : he's the only merfolk with evasion (flying) vs my deck. Plus it is a lord. I would try to erease it with O.ring : if it resolved, I would be able bloc any of his creature with a bigger creature (4/4); and btw, even if he manages to destroy the ring (i dont know how, but surprises happen) he will loose all his counter which is a nice timing gain. Then I'd attack with avenger as it is a creature he couldnt block. As I have 3 lands, I hope to draw another one to play stoneforge next turn and get jitte as soon as possible.
6) Pretty hard to answer, especialy with the impressive amount of tricks DnT allows ... I would say that to resolve vial & jitte and to manage to control opponent's vial & jitte is the key here. Whatever the way you choose to do that. I think also that stp for me, and stifle for him are very important card in this match, each of them could be decisive...
7) It's keepable on R1 ( If i loosed a round before, I think I could mul as the tempo isnt very favorable to us here with only T4 creautres and no fast removal). T1 play ? Vial ! vs gob, I have to get a very good quickness to keep the tempo. It could allow me to play bodyguard T2 and eventualy O.ring T3.
8) Hard also to answer. I'd say I will try to harm his tempo strategy which means manage to keep away his vial & his lackey either with stp/oring, or with mangara if it is not too late. His strategy is exactly the opposite : try to abuse of vial & lackey; siege gang being a solid creautre also without the bodyguard protection ...
PS : mentionning the adventure book, just a special & nostalgical big up to Ian Livingstone & Steve Jackson for many enjoyable reads ;)
I have been playing a version of the enchantress deck in the casual room that is similar to yours, but has Rhox War Monks, Noble Hierarchs, and two copies of Sigil of the Empty Throne. This way if you do not draw an enchantress you still have an alternate path to victory.
I also have two drake umbras. Nothing like a 6/7, flying, Lifelinking Rhino.
This is not my deck, but one that I got from Marcell on the Monday Night Magic Podcast.
just reread your article, sorry for missing the bit about summoning trap in the text;
Does it count if my grandfather is an englishman in the sense that he actually was born, bred, and reared there (including serving in the navy during WWII)? do i get to half-make fun of England now? do i get make fun of england as long as the joke is only 1/3rd of a joke? Help me out here :P You can totally rip on the USA all you want... :P
I mentioned Summoning Trap in the intro to the Piper deck - maybe the deck would've worked better with it in. It certainly failed miserably when I tried it. But in any case, the first two decks were really only there for illustration, it's the third deck I'm interested in. Thanks for the comment :)
that a trench coat and anti-depressants were standard issue when you got off the plane in england...
I jest, because my best friend lives in Bathe currently :)
No Summoning trap inclusion to sneak in Emrakul? Summoning Trap and elvish piper in the same deck seem to work really well for my standard green decks to sneak in big ol' Eldrazi.
And that is really the crux of it. For the person selling valuation of any particular card must be by what you can get for it. If you are a buyer however you know the traders are going to be the test for what the valuation is. If they are selling at 8 it doesn't matter if they are only offering 3 because no one else is going to sell at less than 8 unless you get lucky. In fact what I have noticed is players (human traders) invariably overvalue their cards from whatever the current bot averages are. Usually by as much as 20%. Sure you might be able to bargain with such a person but most of the players I've tried this with just refused to even respond. There are reasonable people of course who are interested in just getting out while the getting is good but most are cagy enough to hold until they get the offer they want. So as long as the traders (bots) prices are still high that is what you will see.
Bots don't take Shocklands at all or for horrific prices. Of course dealers won't reduce their prices at sick rates, they are dealers and can't handle such a fall in price and demand.
1. If I think he plays merfolk, def mull. This hand folds to Wasteland. I think in this MU, without ever played it, having a Vial is the key. Also, Runed Halo and Flickerwhisp are stinkers here. If the Karakas would have been a basic plains I would keep it btw.
2. I see playing around Wasteland as a loss here, opp already has some tempo advantage, and most of our cards are pretty bad on their own. Rihgt now theres nothing in the grave so playing Jötun can't be correct. I play wasteland and wait for him to play a lord.
3. Block adept. Either he vials a lord in that we can Stop ( or not, if he has Force ) or just does nothing. I always prefer to trade in situations like that. if he has Force we are pretty screwed, if daze and curse he has to use 2 cards to disrupt one thats fine. Either way, better than taking 8. Plus, a filled grave is good for the Grunt.
4. Hm. Play Flickerwhisp and reset Vial. Wish I could untap Wasteland, but I need to make sure to cast that O_ring next turn.
5. Playing the O-ring on his flying lord and attack with Avenger is what I would do here ( if he doenst counter ring of course ). He could have another Lord, Force, Daze or maybe Stifle ( if that version plays it ). Force or Stifle would be annoying, but not the end of the world. For the ring, we let Wasteland untapped.
When he attacks we try to prevent as much damage as possible and not to sacrifice the Wasteland, so we can vial Stoneforge in, search for Jitte so we can gain control of the board next turn. Life total is more important for us as we need to survive. Once his board is cleared he could have 10000 life.
6. Uhm.
Dnt: Playing Vial? Vial Stoneforge into play? Bring a jitte with him into play ( or sword )? Waste his Mutavault and kill his lords? Somehow you confuse me with your questions, but then I have never played either of the decks.
7. Keep. As I can play first I play Vial turn 1. Tempo is they key in these matchups, doing things with instant speed also pretty important. All my opponent could do is either play turn 1 Lackey or a Vial of his own.
8. 5 plays uhm... kill his lackey and destroy his vial. Recurring Mangara and Jitte also look strong. Keep him off Mana... if that works.
My opponent... could play warren weirding to get his lackey through, or cycle genpalm incinerator. Resolving Siege Gang or Ringlear is also horrible for us. Resolved Vial that we can't handle is our worst nightmare.
Your definition of east somewhat jars with mine. I know it's east of the river but still quite far from the coast :p I'd call Ole' Miss South Central.
Mississippi. I wins. :P
Or at least score another for the Southeast. :D
Yes! Me, Jacobs, and Lythand WIN!
The southeast has to be the worst combination of heat and humidity in the US.
95 degree wet rainy afternoons in NC...i think im winning so far. You would think an afternoon rain shower would cool things down. But no, it just makes it more humid and hotter
Paul, Not sure who's weather is worse. Your 90+ degree stagnet NY heat, or my humid 100+ Florida heat.
Anyway awesome deck. What about running Wall of Omens in the deck?
@ Orgion - Thanks, glad you like it! Well, it was freezing when I started the article (about 3 or 4 days ago), it's warmed up since then though. It'll be subzero again in a few days you mark my words...
@ Sebastian - Nice ideas. The Oracle definitely. The Wurm probably definitely too. Shame to lose the Walls though. I'd be tempted to take out an Ondu Giant and a Ponder for 2 Wurms.
I like the deck you provide us but I'd like the artcicle could benefit a few more explanations. For example you only explained half of the sideboard.
+4 Sea Gate Oracle -4 See Beyond, definitely better than See Beyond with a body to boot.
+2 Palakka Wurm -2 Mnemonic Wall, something else for Rite of Replicate. 42 life for you, 42 damage for your opponent. Just my opinion. =)
Since you're playing green I really like playing the Canopy Cover. Gives evasion and protection to your creatures both.
The Shieldmage Advocate and Nurturing Licid seem like they have pretty obvious reasons in the Uril deck. Protect Uril, and protect Uril. Something like an Earthquake to wipe out Uril and lose you whatever auras were on him is a significant setback in a deck that's all about attacking with a big Uril. Likewise, the Licid helps out against big blockers, deathtouch blockers, gang-blocks, etc. by making sure you can keep swinging in with Uril every turn anyway.
Licid also has the benefit of being able to decide which creature to protect in response to removal, giving your whole team regeneration potential any time you leave extra green mana up. He can protect more than one creature sometimes, or provide a free unkillable blocker.
Consider a turn when someone's attacking you with three nasty huge creatures, and you already have the Licid on some random little elf. You also have 5 green mana open. You pay one green mana to regenerate the elf. Pay another to make Licid stop being an enchantment and be a creature. Then let Declare Blockers step arrive, block one creature with the elf, one with the Nurturing Licid, one with Uril. Then you pay and tap to make Licid an aura again, put it on Uril, and pay your 4th green to regenerate Uril. Bam, all 3 huge fatties are blocked, two of your blockers are regenerated so they don't die, the third doesn't exist as a creature any more to take damage.
Mainly though, I'd think as many ways to keep Uril around with all his auras + swinging every turn is really the focus of an Uril deck. So these two cards really fit the theme just fine. If you ever let them kill Uril with red sweepers or with blockers it sets back the plan of the deck significantly.
I have a similar version of the wall deck that I play and Luminarch Ascension can flat out win games if it is not answered. Also, having 4 rage nimbus is key because you can force an attack into your perimeter captains and if they only send that one creature you can block with every defender and gain 2 life per blocker. It absolutely dies to Day of Judgement but it is a fun deck to play and can cause some real headaches for your opponents.
Heh! I don't know where you are in the UK, but here in Southampton we've had a blistering 20+ degC for the last 3 days. It's been glorious!
Anyway, with a deck list that hot you shouldn't need any sun :-) I love the idea and only wish that Wizards hadn't made it so blooming obvious that you lose if your opp plays Emrakul. It'd be really nice if I could just get to attack with it once!
I'm guessing the grandfather clause doesn't hold water for the descendants of the pilgrims (myself)...shame because I know so many good jokes about England. (No, not really but boy does that sound like a smartassed thing to say.)
Thanks for the responses guys, I know it takes awhile to write up your thoughts on the issues. I appreciate the time you took in doing so.
1) Mul ! Even vs reanimator, the hand is good but risky. So to deal with merf, I immediatly mul without any doubt ... How many time did I loose a game being overoptimistic and being ravaged by a simple wasteland ? Not this time thank you... and not even a vial to have a reasonnable doubt.*
2) I attack with the bodyguard, play waste and that's all. I wont keep bodyguard in defense because if he drops a lord on next turn, my defense is useless. I wont play grunt because I dont believe my opponent will use Daze on it, and even if he's doing it, he's still in the tempo thank to vial... No need to play it now. As for wasteland, I could hesitate but I'd keep it : if he plays stifle, to wait with waste isnt a good idea althought he got now no untapped land. But vial is the real problem here, and I will be slowed more than him. Plus, my waste could help me to getenough mana to :1) play grunt dazeproof, 2) play O.ring ... Last thing, sword is definitly not for the adept, I'll keep it for lords.
3) My only chance here is to gain time : I cannot clear the board now. So I will minimize damages. I will block the adept with bodyguard. If he vial lord, I stp immediatly, I'd be dazeproof. If he want to sacrifice cursecatcher+daze to stp, the deal is ok, I'll lose 1 bodyguard & 1 stp but he'll loose 1 creature + 2 damages to me +1 land drop and would have all his mana tapped ... not that bad. If he'll FoW, that is not that bad either for me for almost the same reasons. Once all this phase done, I could also waste the muta. All in all my position is not that good, but let him attack without reaction is probably the worst thing for me i guess.
4) I'd play grunt, probably the best blocker I have. My wasteland + previous plays allow me to hink that I get enough cards in th GY to keep it alive more than 1 turn... It could stop any of his critter. If he counter me, the turn after I could try o.ring with less possibilities for him to counter I guess
5) My biggest fear is the commander : he's the only merfolk with evasion (flying) vs my deck. Plus it is a lord. I would try to erease it with O.ring : if it resolved, I would be able bloc any of his creature with a bigger creature (4/4); and btw, even if he manages to destroy the ring (i dont know how, but surprises happen) he will loose all his counter which is a nice timing gain. Then I'd attack with avenger as it is a creature he couldnt block. As I have 3 lands, I hope to draw another one to play stoneforge next turn and get jitte as soon as possible.
6) Pretty hard to answer, especialy with the impressive amount of tricks DnT allows ... I would say that to resolve vial & jitte and to manage to control opponent's vial & jitte is the key here. Whatever the way you choose to do that. I think also that stp for me, and stifle for him are very important card in this match, each of them could be decisive...
7) It's keepable on R1 ( If i loosed a round before, I think I could mul as the tempo isnt very favorable to us here with only T4 creautres and no fast removal). T1 play ? Vial ! vs gob, I have to get a very good quickness to keep the tempo. It could allow me to play bodyguard T2 and eventualy O.ring T3.
8) Hard also to answer. I'd say I will try to harm his tempo strategy which means manage to keep away his vial & his lackey either with stp/oring, or with mangara if it is not too late. His strategy is exactly the opposite : try to abuse of vial & lackey; siege gang being a solid creautre also without the bodyguard protection ...
PS : mentionning the adventure book, just a special & nostalgical big up to Ian Livingstone & Steve Jackson for many enjoyable reads ;)
If one of your parents was English, then you could half make fun of the place. For a grandparent, the rule is you can quuarter make fun of it.
I don't need to make fun of the USA, it does it all by itself :p
I have been playing a version of the enchantress deck in the casual room that is similar to yours, but has Rhox War Monks, Noble Hierarchs, and two copies of Sigil of the Empty Throne. This way if you do not draw an enchantress you still have an alternate path to victory.
I also have two drake umbras. Nothing like a 6/7, flying, Lifelinking Rhino.
This is not my deck, but one that I got from Marcell on the Monday Night Magic Podcast.
just reread your article, sorry for missing the bit about summoning trap in the text;
Does it count if my grandfather is an englishman in the sense that he actually was born, bred, and reared there (including serving in the navy during WWII)? do i get to half-make fun of England now? do i get make fun of england as long as the joke is only 1/3rd of a joke? Help me out here :P You can totally rip on the USA all you want... :P
Only I'm allowed to criticise my country! :)
I mentioned Summoning Trap in the intro to the Piper deck - maybe the deck would've worked better with it in. It certainly failed miserably when I tried it. But in any case, the first two decks were really only there for illustration, it's the third deck I'm interested in. Thanks for the comment :)
Sounds right to me.
that a trench coat and anti-depressants were standard issue when you got off the plane in england...
I jest, because my best friend lives in Bathe currently :)
No Summoning trap inclusion to sneak in Emrakul? Summoning Trap and elvish piper in the same deck seem to work really well for my standard green decks to sneak in big ol' Eldrazi.
And that is really the crux of it. For the person selling valuation of any particular card must be by what you can get for it. If you are a buyer however you know the traders are going to be the test for what the valuation is. If they are selling at 8 it doesn't matter if they are only offering 3 because no one else is going to sell at less than 8 unless you get lucky. In fact what I have noticed is players (human traders) invariably overvalue their cards from whatever the current bot averages are. Usually by as much as 20%. Sure you might be able to bargain with such a person but most of the players I've tried this with just refused to even respond. There are reasonable people of course who are interested in just getting out while the getting is good but most are cagy enough to hold until they get the offer they want. So as long as the traders (bots) prices are still high that is what you will see.
Bots don't take Shocklands at all or for horrific prices. Of course dealers won't reduce their prices at sick rates, they are dealers and can't handle such a fall in price and demand.
1. If I think he plays merfolk, def mull. This hand folds to Wasteland. I think in this MU, without ever played it, having a Vial is the key. Also, Runed Halo and Flickerwhisp are stinkers here. If the Karakas would have been a basic plains I would keep it btw.
2. I see playing around Wasteland as a loss here, opp already has some tempo advantage, and most of our cards are pretty bad on their own. Rihgt now theres nothing in the grave so playing Jötun can't be correct. I play wasteland and wait for him to play a lord.
3. Block adept. Either he vials a lord in that we can Stop ( or not, if he has Force ) or just does nothing. I always prefer to trade in situations like that. if he has Force we are pretty screwed, if daze and curse he has to use 2 cards to disrupt one thats fine. Either way, better than taking 8. Plus, a filled grave is good for the Grunt.
4. Hm. Play Flickerwhisp and reset Vial. Wish I could untap Wasteland, but I need to make sure to cast that O_ring next turn.
5. Playing the O-ring on his flying lord and attack with Avenger is what I would do here ( if he doenst counter ring of course ). He could have another Lord, Force, Daze or maybe Stifle ( if that version plays it ). Force or Stifle would be annoying, but not the end of the world. For the ring, we let Wasteland untapped.
When he attacks we try to prevent as much damage as possible and not to sacrifice the Wasteland, so we can vial Stoneforge in, search for Jitte so we can gain control of the board next turn. Life total is more important for us as we need to survive. Once his board is cleared he could have 10000 life.
6. Uhm.
Dnt: Playing Vial? Vial Stoneforge into play? Bring a jitte with him into play ( or sword )? Waste his Mutavault and kill his lords? Somehow you confuse me with your questions, but then I have never played either of the decks.
7. Keep. As I can play first I play Vial turn 1. Tempo is they key in these matchups, doing things with instant speed also pretty important. All my opponent could do is either play turn 1 Lackey or a Vial of his own.
8. 5 plays uhm... kill his lackey and destroy his vial. Recurring Mangara and Jitte also look strong. Keep him off Mana... if that works.
My opponent... could play warren weirding to get his lackey through, or cycle genpalm incinerator. Resolving Siege Gang or Ringlear is also horrible for us. Resolved Vial that we can't handle is our worst nightmare.