I did have a good time at overdrive (even though my deck took a huge steamer), and I told a bunch of people about it as well. Thanks for a good time!
Btw, your articles always look sweet. More sabbath tunes would be awesome though!
You aren't the first one to suggest using Springleaf Drum in the deck. It's certainly a card that has potential but I'm not sure what I would cut for it and I fear it might be a little underwhelming.
I actually hadn't thought about the synergy between Inspired and Convoke. That is quite exciting. Certainly makes the mechanic a lot more powerful. Probably more likely to make an impact in Standard than Modern but still very interesting.
Ive been thinking that the upcoming return of Convoke may be what Inspired needs to become good. It is already fun, just needs some good cards to be convokable to make it great.
I am loving your article series. If possible, I would like to see if a budget legacy or vintage deck can post a winning record in a small tourney. I am eager to see what comes with M15.
I agree somewhat with your critique. My reasoning for a few of the cards:
Titan, Ophiomancer - Already make tokens in a deck based on them. You will not always be able to cast your general.
Homeward - Comes in most Commander Pre-cons and is a great card against blue and in multi-player
Tragic slip - Just a great card in single player and perfect versus any indestructible threat
Forced March - Cheap board wipe because we can not afford Damnation
Disciple and Slate - They draw cards. Not the best at it, but they draw cards.
Trading Post - It just does so many things.
If this deck had the stuff I really wanted in it, then you would be looking at 100 tickets minimum, but not everyone can afford that.
Everyone's idea of budget is different. Mine is usually >$50, but I can also see >$20. The good thing is that most of those cards that are expensive can be replaced.
The Mutavaults are an easy swap for mountains. I would say 2-3 in the mainboard and maybe 1 in the sideboard to bring in for control matches.
Chandra is normally a 1 or 2-of, with one in the main and one in the side, or just one in the sideboard. Spark Troopers are an easy cut.
Eidolon of the Great Revel is played both in the main board and out of the sideboard in a lot of decks. I would say it is a more of a sideboard card as it is quite poor against the midrange decks
The most important cards in the sideboard are blind obedience, Firedrinker Satyr and chained to the rocks. the other 7 slots are very flexible.
I already own all the "more expensive cards". I just started playing again after 3 years and I don't really know what I should be replacing with those cards. I love eidolon and the reach mutavault gives me, but I'm pretty clueless as to what I should take out for those cards. Thanks for the awesome article I'll def be looking forward to more of yours! You wrote everything I have been feeling the past couple of days because I am changing over from mono red and there is only so many times I can rock a 1 land hand and feel comfortable.
Sideboard;
4 Dark Betrayal
3 Doom Blade
4 Duress
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
2 Whip of Erebos.
I had considered Master of the Feast but I haven't been that impressed the times that my opponents have played them. I would like to have some number of Boon of Erebos in the deck for the combat trick/regenerate, but other than that I am pretty happy with the list. I have also thought about putting the Tormented Heros back in the list, but the synergies with Mogis's Marauder is lacking.
sure, I'll always take a look. I had a couple whips in the board at one point. I never faced burn in the dailies or two-mans. I only seemed to play it in the T.P. room.
I would play a daily event every day if I could, they don't take that long. My wife doesn't appreciate this game as much it as I do, to put it mildly. Two man's I can bang out quickly, so I end up doing them more.
Lately, I've been on a modern kick with blue tron, and generally enjoying that thoroughly.
Whip of erebos is very important against burn and aggro decks. I have 2 bile blight, 2 ultimate price and 2 hero's downfall as well as the 4 thoughtseize in the main board. Don't be afraid to kill your own creatures if it is going to save you a lot of life. I have had to kill my own herald of torment before, which I ended up winning. I will post my list if you'd like.
Did your ever try master of the feast? I did. It usually was bad, and I couldn't make it good often enough.
Also, how did you feel about the match up against burn? I seemed to lose a lot because they'd hit 3 or 4 searing blood. Otherwise I did OK.
I think as long as you're running a decent amount of removal, main deck would be OK. I just feel like people think of thoughtseize as a one mana doom blade, and it isn't.
One good thing is main decking thoughtseize opens up sideboard slots for duress so you can run 8 discard spells post board against control decks.
I did poorly with the couple 4-0 lists I downloaded, because they ran like 4 removal spells. Funny thing is, I ran into a guy who's list I had downloaded, but I was running my list . I beat him game one badly, then got bad draws and that guy got at least 3 of his removal spells game 2 and 3. I was praying for mine.. . But that's variance
Thanks for reading. And I agree with your comments.
Nice Deck! I play mono black aggro in standard as my regular deck. I would very much recommend including the Thoughtseizes mainboard, but for me they're a turn 3 or 4 play. Ideally it goes something like this
T1 - 2 power creature
T2 - 2 x 2 power creatures
T3 - 1 Thoughtseize. See what is in their hand, normally take removal/big blocker/tempo choice*, use another Thoughtseize if possible and needed. Then play a creature if possible.
Assembling 6 power on board in the first two turns and then thoughtseizing away their removal/blockers feels great (for the mono black aggro player) It almost feels like slow rolling, as it just isn't expected to be used 'late' like that and it means that you have power on board to apply pressure before they're able to assemble blockers or have the opportunity to remove our guys.
*tempo choice - what was going to be their next play, often leaving them with no play for the turn aka the best way to use thoughtseize IMO
You're correct - I was playing too conservatively, I should have read the board state better. It would have been exactly 4 with the elemental and the blind obedience trigger
I like your article series by the way, I think it is important for magic to be accessible, and well-performing cost efficient decks are very helpful for that.
I can see the attempted etymology in deriving from ponder. I believe I still owe you some pictures.
Request for Black Sabbath noted. Hmm... Veggie Week is coming up soon... :)
I'm assuming Ozzy would also be OK. Sabbath w/Ronny James Dio OK, or are you a purist?
I did have a good time at overdrive (even though my deck took a huge steamer), and I told a bunch of people about it as well. Thanks for a good time!
Btw, your articles always look sweet. More sabbath tunes would be awesome though!
You aren't the first one to suggest using Springleaf Drum in the deck. It's certainly a card that has potential but I'm not sure what I would cut for it and I fear it might be a little underwhelming.
I actually hadn't thought about the synergy between Inspired and Convoke. That is quite exciting. Certainly makes the mechanic a lot more powerful. Probably more likely to make an impact in Standard than Modern but still very interesting.
I think springleaf drum needs to be in this deck to help the mana and induce inspired
Ive been thinking that the upcoming return of Convoke may be what Inspired needs to become good. It is already fun, just needs some good cards to be convokable to make it great.
Strangely I took it to mean "heavy" and full of deep thoughts.
Correction: adjective failure when I described AJ's interview. It's not "ponderous". I meant, "deep, thoughtful, insightful". You'll see.
I am loving your article series. If possible, I would like to see if a budget legacy or vintage deck can post a winning record in a small tourney. I am eager to see what comes with M15.
I agree somewhat with your critique. My reasoning for a few of the cards:
Titan, Ophiomancer - Already make tokens in a deck based on them. You will not always be able to cast your general.
Homeward - Comes in most Commander Pre-cons and is a great card against blue and in multi-player
Tragic slip - Just a great card in single player and perfect versus any indestructible threat
Forced March - Cheap board wipe because we can not afford Damnation
Disciple and Slate - They draw cards. Not the best at it, but they draw cards.
Trading Post - It just does so many things.
If this deck had the stuff I really wanted in it, then you would be looking at 100 tickets minimum, but not everyone can afford that.
Everyone's idea of budget is different. Mine is usually >$50, but I can also see >$20. The good thing is that most of those cards that are expensive can be replaced.
The Mutavaults are an easy swap for mountains. I would say 2-3 in the mainboard and maybe 1 in the sideboard to bring in for control matches.
Chandra is normally a 1 or 2-of, with one in the main and one in the side, or just one in the sideboard. Spark Troopers are an easy cut.
Eidolon of the Great Revel is played both in the main board and out of the sideboard in a lot of decks. I would say it is a more of a sideboard card as it is quite poor against the midrange decks
The most important cards in the sideboard are blind obedience, Firedrinker Satyr and chained to the rocks. the other 7 slots are very flexible.
I already own all the "more expensive cards". I just started playing again after 3 years and I don't really know what I should be replacing with those cards. I love eidolon and the reach mutavault gives me, but I'm pretty clueless as to what I should take out for those cards. Thanks for the awesome article I'll def be looking forward to more of yours! You wrote everything I have been feeling the past couple of days because I am changing over from mono red and there is only so many times I can rock a 1 land hand and feel comfortable.
You sound like you're in a very similar position to me. Here is the list
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Gnarled Scarhide
1 Pack Rat
3 Thrill-kill Assassin
4 Spiteful Returned
4 Pain Seer
4 Herald of Torment
4 Mogis's Marauder
2 Bile Blight
2 Ultimate Price
2 Hero's Downfall
4 Thoughtseize
18 Swamp
4 Mutavault
Sideboard;
4 Dark Betrayal
3 Doom Blade
4 Duress
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
2 Whip of Erebos.
I had considered Master of the Feast but I haven't been that impressed the times that my opponents have played them. I would like to have some number of Boon of Erebos in the deck for the combat trick/regenerate, but other than that I am pretty happy with the list. I have also thought about putting the Tormented Heros back in the list, but the synergies with Mogis's Marauder is lacking.
sure, I'll always take a look. I had a couple whips in the board at one point. I never faced burn in the dailies or two-mans. I only seemed to play it in the T.P. room.
I would play a daily event every day if I could, they don't take that long. My wife doesn't appreciate this game as much it as I do, to put it mildly. Two man's I can bang out quickly, so I end up doing them more.
Lately, I've been on a modern kick with blue tron, and generally enjoying that thoroughly.
Whip of erebos is very important against burn and aggro decks. I have 2 bile blight, 2 ultimate price and 2 hero's downfall as well as the 4 thoughtseize in the main board. Don't be afraid to kill your own creatures if it is going to save you a lot of life. I have had to kill my own herald of torment before, which I ended up winning. I will post my list if you'd like.
Did your ever try master of the feast? I did. It usually was bad, and I couldn't make it good often enough.
Also, how did you feel about the match up against burn? I seemed to lose a lot because they'd hit 3 or 4 searing blood. Otherwise I did OK.
I think as long as you're running a decent amount of removal, main deck would be OK. I just feel like people think of thoughtseize as a one mana doom blade, and it isn't.
One good thing is main decking thoughtseize opens up sideboard slots for duress so you can run 8 discard spells post board against control decks.
I did poorly with the couple 4-0 lists I downloaded, because they ran like 4 removal spells. Funny thing is, I ran into a guy who's list I had downloaded, but I was running my list . I beat him game one badly, then got bad draws and that guy got at least 3 of his removal spells game 2 and 3. I was praying for mine.. . But that's variance
Thanks for reading. And I agree with your comments.
Nice Deck! I play mono black aggro in standard as my regular deck. I would very much recommend including the Thoughtseizes mainboard, but for me they're a turn 3 or 4 play. Ideally it goes something like this
T1 - 2 power creature
T2 - 2 x 2 power creatures
T3 - 1 Thoughtseize. See what is in their hand, normally take removal/big blocker/tempo choice*, use another Thoughtseize if possible and needed. Then play a creature if possible.
Assembling 6 power on board in the first two turns and then thoughtseizing away their removal/blockers feels great (for the mono black aggro player) It almost feels like slow rolling, as it just isn't expected to be used 'late' like that and it means that you have power on board to apply pressure before they're able to assemble blockers or have the opportunity to remove our guys.
*tempo choice - what was going to be their next play, often leaving them with no play for the turn aka the best way to use thoughtseize IMO
You're correct - I was playing too conservatively, I should have read the board state better. It would have been exactly 4 with the elemental and the blind obedience trigger
Thanks. I'll google those.
I like your article series by the way, I think it is important for magic to be accessible, and well-performing cost efficient decks are very helpful for that.
Most people use xsplit or cam studio. I am using xsplit, but cam studio is apparently better and less resource hungry.
What software should I use to make my own videos? I usually use the beta to play, and I've heard that creates problems. I do have v3 installed though.
I thought about playing this deck, partly because I have the mutavaults already. I've never been a huge fan of burn, although I've lost to it plenty.
Good game the other day :)