Hello everyone!
So I recently took part in a very bizarre, yet incredibly awesome draft format - Vintage Rochester! This draft was nothing like you would ever expect in a draft! First, I have to explain what a Rochester draft is. Rochester is considered to be the hardest form of playing limited because of how skill intensive it is. In an 8-man Rochester, all 8 players would stand around a table and the packs would be open for everyone to see instead of passing hidden information to each other. This made drafting far more difficult because you could see when other players are cutting you from your colors, and you could see where other players were going with their decks.
So we take this simple format, and now we open it up to every card that is legal in Vintage! 1 copy of every vintage legal card is in the pool, and you get 40 rounds of picks to build your deck! Everyone who was drafting was encouraged to bring their laptops with them to research cards, and eventually to build and play the decks on Cockatrice.
Unfortunately 1 guy wasn't able to make it because he was cut off by Hurricane Sandy, but we did a 7 person draft anyways. I would up getting the first seed after rolling dice, so I naturally first picked Ancestral Recall. As the draft progressed I forced as many good blue spells into my deck as possible - Snapcaster Mage, Mana Leak, Delver of Secrets, Vendilion Clique - before ultimately deciding I wanted to splash red an started taking cards of the Lightning Bolt variety.
The other 6 guys played these archaetypes:
Mono-White Control
BUG Control
UG Ramp Soratami Control
Goblins
UB Tezzeret MUD
Survival of the Fittest
We're casually timing out the playing of the games. It took us two hours to do the drafting (280 individual picks takes a LONG time), so some guys couldn't stick around to play their matches. As of right now, I have beaten Mono-White Control, UB MUD, and I have lost to Goblins.
Even though we have hardly gotten halfway through playing out the games, this was absolutely a successful draft! Everyone enjoyed the uniqueness of it, and there is absolutely unexplored territory. Jake's Goblin deck is probably the best deck because it is so streamlined that it very consistently punches you in the mouth with an onslaught of dudes.
After the draft was over, before we were even getting into deck building, I was talking with some of the guys about cards and archaetypes we didn't even think of until it was too late. Zoo and tribal aggro is a huge one that we think would do well! Another powerful archaetype is Show and Tell. With Show, Natural Order, Oath of Druids, Sneak Attack and Eureka you can pretty consistently drop in quick fatties. You could even go deeper and play cards like Quicksilver Amulet and Elvish Piper to drop in the boom booms and crush face.
The one thing that I quickly discovered to be important is you need your deck to be consistent. My UR delver deck only has 7 creatures in the maindeck (Delver, Snapcaster, Vendilion Clique, Goblin Guide, Guttersnipe, Sower of Temptation, Phyrexian Revoker) and often I just don't have one in my opening hand, which completely neuters my deck. This prevents things like Dredge or Storm from being very playable because there's not enough redundancy. Then again, I may try to force storm playing Necropotence, Drain Life, etc.
Overall, we had a ton of fun doing the draft, and I'm sure the games will be good too! We're definitely planning on doing it again, and maybe every couple of weeks. Every time you draft a new format, there's a lot to be learned and discovered. Thankfully with Rochester though, you can't "break" the format because by round 30 everyone has their deck picked out, and now they're just picking cards to hose everyone else's decks!
I strongly encourage you to get a group of guys together and give Vintage Rochester a whirl, you won't be disappointed! That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Storm Puzzles!
Hello everyone!
There is a deck that I have been playing off and on in Legacy for a while although haven't written anything about for a long time - Storm. The deck has been top-tier for a very long time, and although it is not doing well right now, it's worst matchup - Miracles - is moving out of the metagame which may open up a window for Dark Ritual to crush hopes and dreams.
One thing that makes Storm such a consistently powerful deck is how it is a modular combo deck. What do I mean by modular? There's many lines of play that can make you win. Decks like Painted Stone aren't modular - they are linear. They have only 1 line to attack with, and if it is disrupted then they lose. Today I want to pull example games that I have played online where victory was achieved.... but in a non-intuitive manner. Here's the list I'm playing right now:
1x Chrome Mox
4x Lotus Petal
4x Lion's Eye Diamond
1x Ad Nauseum
4x Brainstorm
4x Cabal Ritual
4x Dark Ritual
3x Burning Wish
2x Cabal Therapy
4x Duress
3x Gitaxian Probe
4x Infernal Tutor
1x Past in Flames
4x Ponder
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Badlands
1x Volcanic Island
2x Underground Sea
2x Island
2x Swamp
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Scalding Tarn
4x Polluted Delta
Sideboard:
4x Dark Confidant
3x Dread of Night
1x Deathmark
1x Empty the Warrens
1x Grim Tutor
1x Il-Gotten Gains
1x Infest
1x Shattering Spree
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Thoughtseize
These puzzles have all come from games of mine, because I could never write these on my own.
So let's start off with a fairly simple puzzle. We're against MUD game 2, so after a blind cabal therapy takes Chalice of the Void from his hand, he has just Metalworker, Staff of Domination, and lands. We have a window of opportunity here so we want to win quickly - if he draws a Trinisphere or a Chalice it's going to get hard! We have not played a land yet, and there are 5 cards in our graveyard. Opponent is at 20
Cards in hand:
Lion's Eye Diamond
Infernal Tutor
Dark Ritual
Duress
Bloodstained Mire
Cabal Ritual
In play:
2x Underground Sea (untapped)
What's the line of play to win?
.
..
...
....
.....
......
Answer:
This one is actually very straight forward. He has no interaction with us, and we have rituals, lands, and a tutor. This is the "normal" line of play:
Bloodstained Mire --> Badlands
1 - Dark Ritual
BBB
2 - Cabal Ritual (with Dark Ritual and Bloodstained now in the graveyard we have 7 cards for threshold)
BBBBBB
3 - Lion's Eye Diamond
4 - Infernal Tutor, retaining priority break LED for red, grab Past in Flames
BBBBRR
5 - Past in Flames
BB
6 - Dark Ritual
BBBB
7 - Cabal Ritual
BBBBBBB
8 - Infernal Tutor, grabbing Tendrils of Agony
BBBBB
9 - Duress
BBBB
10 - Tendrils of Agony with 9 copies
This one isn't too difficult.... I wanted to start with this though. Obviously learning how to goldfish is the first step to any combo deck. Now let's get weird!
This is game 2 verses Counter-Top Miracles. I sideboarded in 4 Dark Confidant and took out 1 Ad Nauseum, 1 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Cabal Therapy, and 1 Chrome Mox. I kept an opening hand that could win turn 1 despite not having any lands assuming he had no counterspells, but had a Gitaxian Probe to make sure. He was on the play and played Misty - go. I cast Gitaxian Probe and saw Counterbalance, Spell Snare, Flusterstorm, Surgical Extraction, and lands. Gitaxian Probe drew me into a Polluted Delta, so I fetched up an Underground Sea, cast ponder, and saw 2x Duress and an Infernal Tutor, so I kept it. Over the next couple turns I cast my Duresses taking his Spell Snare and Flusterstorm. He resolved a counterbalance, and my Brainstorm was caught by a revealed Spell Pierce, which he then (completely incorrectly) Surgical Extrationed. When it came back to my turn, here was the board:
In Play:
His side: Academy Ruins (no artifacts in yard), Karakas, Volcanic Island, 2x Tundra, Counterbalance all untapped
My side: Underground Sea
Because of how I tracked his hand over the course of the game, I know his hand is exactly Counterbalance + Spell Pierce
My Graveyard (5 cards): Polluted Delta, 2x Duress, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder
My Exile: 4x Brainstorm
My hand: Polluted Delta, 3x Infernal Tutor, 2x Dark Ritual, Lion's Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal
How do we win?
Hint to get started: I played Polluted Delta, then Lotus Petal. He revealed Force of Will for Counterbalance targeting the Petal.
I did not discard any cards when you activate Lion's Eye Diamond
.
..
...
....
.....
......
.......
........
.........
..........
Ok, here's the answer:
1 - Play Polluted Delta, cast Lotus Petal (he reveales FoW to Counterbalance)
2 - Tap Underground Sea to cast Dark Ritual
3 - He casts Spell Pierce in response. We tutor up a Badlands, and then pay the 2 mana
BBB
4 - Cast Infernal Tutor, reveal Dark Ritual from hand to get another
B
5 - Cast Dark Ritual
BBB
6 - Cast Infernal Tutor, reveal Dark Ritual from hand to get another
B
7/8 - Cast 2 Dark Rituals
BBBBB
9 - Cast Lion's Eye Diamond
10 - Cast Infernal Tutor, crack LED in response for red
BBBRRR
11 - Tendrils of Agony copied 10 additional times
BR
It doesn't actually matter what you crack LED for, but if you want to piss off your opponent, you could tutor up Past in Flames, then flashback 4 Dark Rituals before casting Infernal Tutor for Infernal Tutor into Burning Wish into Tendrils for 18 additional copies and 38 damage total.
It's game 1 vs an unknown opponent. We keep a hand of: island, 2x fetch lands, dark ritual, burning wish, ponder, Lion's Eye Diamond. We're on the play and play island - go, waiting an extra turn to see what our opponent is on to make our ponder better. He plays Ancient Tomb, Chalice of the Void on 1. Well, fuck. 4 turns later I won. How? (Top decks are irrelevant for this puzzle)
.
..
...
....
.....
......
.......
.......
On my turn 2, I played a fetch --> Badlands, and then I cast Burning Wish --> Shattering Spree. On his turn 2 he played another Ancient Tomb and then a Sword of War and Peace. On my turn 3, I played fetch land --> Volcanic Island, then I cast Shattering Spree and replicated it once.
Wait... That shouldn't work, right? Shattering Spree costs 1 so it shouldn't matter! Well first, read the oracle text on Chalice of the Void: "Whenever a player CASTS a spell with.....". When a copy is put on the stack, it is not cast so the Chalice of the Void will not be able to trigger. So the first Shattering Spree will be countered by the Chalice of the void, but the copy (which is technically on the stack on top of the original) will not trigger the Chalice because it is placed on the stack and not cast, and therefor it will destroy the Chalice.
From this point, I still had an untapped island, so I cast Ponder and won shortly thereafter.
There is a deck that I have been playing off and on in Legacy for a while although haven't written anything about for a long time - Storm. The deck has been top-tier for a very long time, and although it is not doing well right now, it's worst matchup - Miracles - is moving out of the metagame which may open up a window for Dark Ritual to crush hopes and dreams.
One thing that makes Storm such a consistently powerful deck is how it is a modular combo deck. What do I mean by modular? There's many lines of play that can make you win. Decks like Painted Stone aren't modular - they are linear. They have only 1 line to attack with, and if it is disrupted then they lose. Today I want to pull example games that I have played online where victory was achieved.... but in a non-intuitive manner. Here's the list I'm playing right now:
1x Chrome Mox
4x Lotus Petal
4x Lion's Eye Diamond
1x Ad Nauseum
4x Brainstorm
4x Cabal Ritual
4x Dark Ritual
3x Burning Wish
2x Cabal Therapy
4x Duress
3x Gitaxian Probe
4x Infernal Tutor
1x Past in Flames
4x Ponder
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Badlands
1x Volcanic Island
2x Underground Sea
2x Island
2x Swamp
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Scalding Tarn
4x Polluted Delta
Sideboard:
4x Dark Confidant
3x Dread of Night
1x Deathmark
1x Empty the Warrens
1x Grim Tutor
1x Il-Gotten Gains
1x Infest
1x Shattering Spree
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Thoughtseize
These puzzles have all come from games of mine, because I could never write these on my own.
Puzzle 1
So let's start off with a fairly simple puzzle. We're against MUD game 2, so after a blind cabal therapy takes Chalice of the Void from his hand, he has just Metalworker, Staff of Domination, and lands. We have a window of opportunity here so we want to win quickly - if he draws a Trinisphere or a Chalice it's going to get hard! We have not played a land yet, and there are 5 cards in our graveyard. Opponent is at 20
Cards in hand:
Lion's Eye Diamond
Infernal Tutor
Dark Ritual
Duress
Bloodstained Mire
Cabal Ritual
In play:
2x Underground Sea (untapped)
What's the line of play to win?
.
..
...
....
.....
......
Answer:
This one is actually very straight forward. He has no interaction with us, and we have rituals, lands, and a tutor. This is the "normal" line of play:
Bloodstained Mire --> Badlands
1 - Dark Ritual
BBB
2 - Cabal Ritual (with Dark Ritual and Bloodstained now in the graveyard we have 7 cards for threshold)
BBBBBB
3 - Lion's Eye Diamond
4 - Infernal Tutor, retaining priority break LED for red, grab Past in Flames
BBBBRR
5 - Past in Flames
BB
6 - Dark Ritual
BBBB
7 - Cabal Ritual
BBBBBBB
8 - Infernal Tutor, grabbing Tendrils of Agony
BBBBB
9 - Duress
BBBB
10 - Tendrils of Agony with 9 copies
This one isn't too difficult.... I wanted to start with this though. Obviously learning how to goldfish is the first step to any combo deck. Now let's get weird!
Puzzle 2
This is game 2 verses Counter-Top Miracles. I sideboarded in 4 Dark Confidant and took out 1 Ad Nauseum, 1 Gitaxian Probe, 1 Cabal Therapy, and 1 Chrome Mox. I kept an opening hand that could win turn 1 despite not having any lands assuming he had no counterspells, but had a Gitaxian Probe to make sure. He was on the play and played Misty - go. I cast Gitaxian Probe and saw Counterbalance, Spell Snare, Flusterstorm, Surgical Extraction, and lands. Gitaxian Probe drew me into a Polluted Delta, so I fetched up an Underground Sea, cast ponder, and saw 2x Duress and an Infernal Tutor, so I kept it. Over the next couple turns I cast my Duresses taking his Spell Snare and Flusterstorm. He resolved a counterbalance, and my Brainstorm was caught by a revealed Spell Pierce, which he then (completely incorrectly) Surgical Extrationed. When it came back to my turn, here was the board:
In Play:
His side: Academy Ruins (no artifacts in yard), Karakas, Volcanic Island, 2x Tundra, Counterbalance all untapped
My side: Underground Sea
Because of how I tracked his hand over the course of the game, I know his hand is exactly Counterbalance + Spell Pierce
My Graveyard (5 cards): Polluted Delta, 2x Duress, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder
My Exile: 4x Brainstorm
My hand: Polluted Delta, 3x Infernal Tutor, 2x Dark Ritual, Lion's Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal
How do we win?
Hint to get started: I played Polluted Delta, then Lotus Petal. He revealed Force of Will for Counterbalance targeting the Petal.
I did not discard any cards when you activate Lion's Eye Diamond
.
..
...
....
.....
......
.......
........
.........
..........
Ok, here's the answer:
1 - Play Polluted Delta, cast Lotus Petal (he reveales FoW to Counterbalance)
2 - Tap Underground Sea to cast Dark Ritual
3 - He casts Spell Pierce in response. We tutor up a Badlands, and then pay the 2 mana
BBB
4 - Cast Infernal Tutor, reveal Dark Ritual from hand to get another
B
5 - Cast Dark Ritual
BBB
6 - Cast Infernal Tutor, reveal Dark Ritual from hand to get another
B
7/8 - Cast 2 Dark Rituals
BBBBB
9 - Cast Lion's Eye Diamond
10 - Cast Infernal Tutor, crack LED in response for red
BBBRRR
11 - Tendrils of Agony copied 10 additional times
BR
It doesn't actually matter what you crack LED for, but if you want to piss off your opponent, you could tutor up Past in Flames, then flashback 4 Dark Rituals before casting Infernal Tutor for Infernal Tutor into Burning Wish into Tendrils for 18 additional copies and 38 damage total.
Puzzle 3
It's game 1 vs an unknown opponent. We keep a hand of: island, 2x fetch lands, dark ritual, burning wish, ponder, Lion's Eye Diamond. We're on the play and play island - go, waiting an extra turn to see what our opponent is on to make our ponder better. He plays Ancient Tomb, Chalice of the Void on 1. Well, fuck. 4 turns later I won. How? (Top decks are irrelevant for this puzzle)
.
..
...
....
.....
......
.......
.......
On my turn 2, I played a fetch --> Badlands, and then I cast Burning Wish --> Shattering Spree. On his turn 2 he played another Ancient Tomb and then a Sword of War and Peace. On my turn 3, I played fetch land --> Volcanic Island, then I cast Shattering Spree and replicated it once.
Wait... That shouldn't work, right? Shattering Spree costs 1 so it shouldn't matter! Well first, read the oracle text on Chalice of the Void: "Whenever a player CASTS a spell with.....". When a copy is put on the stack, it is not cast so the Chalice of the Void will not be able to trigger. So the first Shattering Spree will be countered by the Chalice of the void, but the copy (which is technically on the stack on top of the original) will not trigger the Chalice because it is placed on the stack and not cast, and therefor it will destroy the Chalice.
From this point, I still had an untapped island, so I cast Ponder and won shortly thereafter.
Puzzle 4
Same match, but this is game 3. My opponent is playing the mono-blue aggro deck that I think is a steaming pile of crap. We sideboarded +4 Dark Confidant, -1 Ad Nauseum, -1 Cabal Therapy, -1 Duress, -1 Chrome Mox. We're getting beat down, and things aren't really working for us. I'm a little frustrated because I think he's playing a bad deck, and I would feel like a chump to lose. Here's some stats:
We're at 4 life, he has 7 power on board.
Opponent has 2 cards in hand, one of them is a land.
Opponent is at 18 life.
We have Dark Confidant, 2x Underground Sea, Island, Badlands, Fetch all untapped
Our graveyard: Cabal Therapy, 3 Fetch lands, Ponder, Brainstorm, Gitaxian Probe, Dark Confidant, Infernal Tutor
Our hand is: Dark Confidant, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Lion's Eye Diamond, Infernal Tutor
We attack for 2 with Bob, he goes to 16
1 - Flashback Cabal Therapy naming Brainstorm. His unknown card is Flusterstorm
How do we win?
.
..
...
....
.....
......
.......
........
2 - Cast Dark Ritual (tapping Underground Sea)
BBB
3 - Cast Cabal Ritual
BBBBBB
4 - Lion's Eye Diamond
5 - Infernal Tutor, sacrifice LED in response for red --> Past in Flames
BBBBRRR
6 - Cast Past in Flames
BBR
Quick aside
{
If he cast Flusterstorm here, the only way I could get my spell to resolve would be to pay 7 mana because of the high storm count. I have 4 lands untapped along with my 3 mana floating, so I could pay it, but then I would have 0 mana to work with and I would only have Gitaxian Probe as an out if it drew me exactly a black mana source (Lotus Petal / land).
However, I also have the option of letting the Past in Flames get countered, then only investing 5 mana to flash it back, so I would still have access to two lands, and I could fearlessly just ritual + tutor for the kill. Therefor, not casting Flusterstorm here is correct, because there is also no Duress effect in the graveyard to lose the Flusterstorm to.
}
7 - Flashback Brainstorm (tapping island) --> 2x Fetch Land + Infernal Tutor, put back 2 lands
8 - Cast Infernal Tutor from hand --> Duress
R
9 - Duress (tapping Underground Sea), taking Flusterstorm
10/11 - Crack fetch --> Swamp. Flashback Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual
BBBBBBR
12 - Infernal Tutor --> Tendrils of Agony
BBBBR
13 - Tendrils for 26
R
In hindsight, I didn't need to cast Brainstorm because I had 2 Infernal Tutors in my graveyard so I could have just flashbacked a Tutor for a Duress and saved 1 mana. I did get lucky off the Brainstorm, but it's still important to acknowledge superior lines of play.
I don't have any more sweet puzzles to put up today, although I did have some other cool games. There was one against BW Deadguy Ale where I had no permanents in play, taking 3 a turn, and he had a Liliana ticking up. I had everything I needed to combo... in the graveyard. However I topdecked a Past in Flames, so things looked possible. I then drew 2 LEDs, and got to discard the Past in Flames to the Liliana, so I flashbacked the Past in Flames with B in the pool, then cast a ton of rituals and tutors and won out of absolutely no where with no permanents in play - magic at its finest!
Ad Nauseum is a sweet deck because even though it has one clear way to win the game, there are infinite routs to get there, and sometimes all your need is a little extra thinking to make all the pieces come together. In these puzzles you got to fight through counterbalance, soft counterspells, and Chalice of the Void. Sure, these all are tough to deal with, but this deck is so robust that it is possible to fight through anything!
That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
I don't have any more sweet puzzles to put up today, although I did have some other cool games. There was one against BW Deadguy Ale where I had no permanents in play, taking 3 a turn, and he had a Liliana ticking up. I had everything I needed to combo... in the graveyard. However I topdecked a Past in Flames, so things looked possible. I then drew 2 LEDs, and got to discard the Past in Flames to the Liliana, so I flashbacked the Past in Flames with B in the pool, then cast a ton of rituals and tutors and won out of absolutely no where with no permanents in play - magic at its finest!
Ad Nauseum is a sweet deck because even though it has one clear way to win the game, there are infinite routs to get there, and sometimes all your need is a little extra thinking to make all the pieces come together. In these puzzles you got to fight through counterbalance, soft counterspells, and Chalice of the Void. Sure, these all are tough to deal with, but this deck is so robust that it is possible to fight through anything!
That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
My First Cube Draft!
Hello everyone!
Cube is a format that has been around for a couple years now and has been getting more and more popular every passing year! Recently WotC made a cube for mtgo, and in the Player's Championship the best players in the world had to draft it! I have always heard about cube, but never went out to try it. I finally got the opportunity to last week when hanging out at my firiend's house before SCG Providence.
Each cube is different, and since I was one of the only players who hadn't drafted this specific cube before I had to ask a bunch of questions. They said it wasn't designed such that you had to draft an archetype but there were cards that could be build around. It used to be powered, but most of the power had been removed. Basically you just had to draft a quality deck.
Pick one pack one netted me an Ancestral Recall, and then here's how the rest of the deck turned out:
I can't remember my sideboard, but here's how my deck turned out:
Noble Hierarch
Snapcaster Mage
Fauna Shaman
Tarmogoyf
Eternal Witness
Yavmaya Elder
Obstinate Baloth
Bloodbraid Elf
Muldrifter
Inferno Titan
Frost Titan
Myr Battlesphere
Maestrom Wanderer
Griselbrand
Woodfall Primus
Ancestral Recall
Preordain
Fact or Fiction
Frantic Search
Magma Spray
Treachery
Survival of the Fittest
Sneak Attack
I can't remember what I had for lands, although I remember a couple like Savage Lands, Jungle Shrine, Tropical Island, and Scalding Tarn.
I didn't get the Sneak Attack until halfway through the second pack, but as soon as I did I moved in hard on the card. As it turned out though, I hardly even needed it! My deck had so much value I had to contain myself from singing "Take me down to Value Town" the whole time. In case you were wondering, Snapcastering back an Ancestral Recall is in fact the nut high. But casting Bloodbraid Elf is always a good feeling, and once I even cast Maelstrom Wanderer and cascaded into a Tarmogoyf and Myr Battlesphere!
I wound up 3-0ing that draft, and had an absolute blast doing it! I really wish I had access to a cube here at school, because I really don't have the resources to make one right now. However from now on I think I am hooked! If you get the opportunity to try drafting cube and have not yet, I absolutely recommend it!
That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Cube is a format that has been around for a couple years now and has been getting more and more popular every passing year! Recently WotC made a cube for mtgo, and in the Player's Championship the best players in the world had to draft it! I have always heard about cube, but never went out to try it. I finally got the opportunity to last week when hanging out at my firiend's house before SCG Providence.
Each cube is different, and since I was one of the only players who hadn't drafted this specific cube before I had to ask a bunch of questions. They said it wasn't designed such that you had to draft an archetype but there were cards that could be build around. It used to be powered, but most of the power had been removed. Basically you just had to draft a quality deck.
Pick one pack one netted me an Ancestral Recall, and then here's how the rest of the deck turned out:
I can't remember my sideboard, but here's how my deck turned out:
Noble Hierarch
Snapcaster Mage
Fauna Shaman
Tarmogoyf
Eternal Witness
Yavmaya Elder
Obstinate Baloth
Bloodbraid Elf
Muldrifter
Inferno Titan
Frost Titan
Myr Battlesphere
Maestrom Wanderer
Griselbrand
Woodfall Primus
Ancestral Recall
Preordain
Fact or Fiction
Frantic Search
Magma Spray
Treachery
Survival of the Fittest
Sneak Attack
I can't remember what I had for lands, although I remember a couple like Savage Lands, Jungle Shrine, Tropical Island, and Scalding Tarn.
I didn't get the Sneak Attack until halfway through the second pack, but as soon as I did I moved in hard on the card. As it turned out though, I hardly even needed it! My deck had so much value I had to contain myself from singing "Take me down to Value Town" the whole time. In case you were wondering, Snapcastering back an Ancestral Recall is in fact the nut high. But casting Bloodbraid Elf is always a good feeling, and once I even cast Maelstrom Wanderer and cascaded into a Tarmogoyf and Myr Battlesphere!
I wound up 3-0ing that draft, and had an absolute blast doing it! I really wish I had access to a cube here at school, because I really don't have the resources to make one right now. However from now on I think I am hooked! If you get the opportunity to try drafting cube and have not yet, I absolutely recommend it!
That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Make All of the Mana!
Hello everyone!
So recently a guy on my floor asked me what infinite mana combos there are, because he wanted one for his deck. So I decided to set out and find every possible infinite mana combo I possibly could! Some of these are actually very good and are constructed playable, and others are just cool. But regardless, here's what I have found:
Combo 1: Elves
.jpg)
.jpg)
Cards:
1x Mirror Entity (Lorwyn)
1x Heritage Druid (Morningtide)
1x Wirewood Symbiote (Scourge)
1x Nettle Sentinel (Eventide)
Combo:
Start with all creature in play untapped. Wirewood Symbiote has not been used for turn.
1 - Tap Sentinel, Heritage, Mirror to add GGG to mana pool
GGG
2 - Activate Mirror Entity for 1
GG
3 - Wirewood Symbiote bounces itself to untap Heritage Druid
GG
4 - Cast Wirewood Symbiote, untapping Nettle Sentinel
G
At this point you are in the exact same position as when you started, except Mirror Entity is untapped and you have a green mana in the pool. By repeating these steps infinitely, you will net a single green mana every cycle:
1 - Activate Mirror Entity for 1
2 - Tap Sentinel, Heritage, and Wirewood to add GGG to your mana pool
3 - Wirewood Symbiote bounces itself to untap Heritage Druid
4 - Cast Wirewood Symbiote
Combo 2: Soulbonded
.jpg)
Cards:
1x Peregrine Drake (Urza's Saga)
1x Deadeye Nevigator (Avacyn Restored)
Combo:
1 - When the second of the two creatures come into play, Soulbond them
2 - Pay 1U to exile Peregrine Drake and return it with Deadeye Navigator's ability
3 - When Peregrine Drake comes back into play, float 3 mana from lands, and repair it to the Deadeye Navigator
Repeating steps 2 and 3 infintely will net 3 mana per cycle in any colors that the lands could produce
Other cards to try:
This combo also works if a Zealous Conscripts is bonded to the Navigator, untapping a Gilded Lotus
Combo 3: Myraculous
.jpg)
Cards:
2x Myr Galvanizer (Scars of Mirrodin)
1x Palladium Myr (Scars of Mirrodin)
Combo:
All 3 creatures must not have summoning sickness for the combo to work
1 - Tap Palladium Myr for mana
o2
2 - Use a mana to use Galvanizer A's untap ability
o1
3 - Tap Palladium Myr for Mana
o3
4 - Use a mana to use Galvanizer B's untap ability
o2
Repeat steps 1 - 4 to produce infinite colored mana.
Other cards to try:
You can also use any 2 single mana Myr like Leaden Myr and Copper Myr to produce the appropriate colored mana
Combo 4: Grandest Pili-Pala
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.jpg)
Cards:
1x Grand Architect (Scars of Mirrodin)
1x Pili-Pala (Shadowmoore)
Combo:
Pili-Pala needs to not have summoning sickness
1 - With both creatures in play, pay a blue mana to make Pili-Pala blue
2 - Tap Pili-Pala to produce 2 colorless mana through Grand Architect
3 - Use said 2 mana to untap Pili-Pala and add a mana of any color
Repeat steps 2 and 3 to produce infinite mana of any color
Combo 5: Meek Assembly
.jpg)
Cards:
1x Thopter Foundry (Alara Reborn)
1x Sword of the Meek (Future Sight)
1x Krark-Clan Ironworks (Fifth Edition)
Combo:
Start with all 3 cards in play
1 - Pay 1 mana and sacrifice Sword of the Meek to Thopter Foundry to make a 1/1 Thopter
2 - The 1/1 coming into play will trigger the Sword in the graveyard and return to play
3 - Sacrifice the token to Krark-Clan Ironworks
o2
Repeat steps 1-3 to produce infinte mana or produce infinite Thopters. To produce infinite Thopters skip step 3 every other cycle to retain one Thopter
Combo 6: Palinchron is High
.jpg)
Cards:
1x Palinchron (Urza's Legacy)
1-2x High Tide (Fallen Empires)
4-6x Island
Combo:
This combo has slightly different required starting positions depending on how many High Tides you have. If you have 1 High Tide, then you need 6 Islands. If you have 2 High Tides, then you need 4 Islands.
1 - Cast High Tide
1a - If you have a second High Tide, cast it, and leave 1 blue mana floating in the pool
2 - Cast Palinchron, untapping all your lands
3 - Pay 4 mana to return Palinchron to your hand
Repeating Steps 2 and 3 infinitely will net you 1 blue mana per cycle.
Other cards to try:
Playing Sneak Attack to put Palinchron into play floating mana with your lands before they untap, then bouncing Palinchron can also produce infinite mana off 6 lands.
Combo 7: Salvaging Diamonds
.jpg)
.jpg)
Cards:
1x Lion's Eye Diamond (Mirage)
1x Auriok Salvagers (Fifth Dawn)
Combo:
Start with Auriok Salvagers in play
1 - Cast LED
2 - Sacrifice LED to produce white mana
WWW
3 - Return LED to your hand with Auriok Salvagers
W
Repeating steps 1-3 infinitely will produce one white mana per cycle. However, once you have infinite white mana, you can start adding other colors from your LEDs and essentially have infinite mana of any color, adding 1 per cycle
Other cards to try:
In case you happen to have a Black Lotus poking around, this works there too
Combo 8: Working the Metal
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.jpg)
Cards:
1x Metalworker (Urza's Destiny)
1x Staff of Domination (Fifth Dawn)
3x artifacts in hand
Combo:
Start with Metalworker in play without summoning sickness
1 - Tap Metalworker and reveal Staff of Domination and 3 other artifacts in your hand
o8
2 - Cast Staff of Domination, then use it to untap Metalworker
o2
3 - Tap Metalworker and reveal 3 artifacts from your hand
o8
4 - Untap Staff of Domination
o7
5 - Use Staff of Domination to untap Metalworker
o4
Repeat steps 3 - 5 to produce infinte mana, netting 2 colorless for each cycle. Once you have infinite mana you can draw your entire deck and gain infinite life through the Staff.
Other cards to try:
Any kind of creature that taps for 5+ mana is viable with Staff to produce infinite mana. Some cards of interest may be Elvish Archdruid, Priest of Titania, Rofellos Llanowar Emissary, and Sacellum Godspeaker.
Combo 9: Echo the Queen
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Cards:
1x Sliver Queen (Stronghold)
1x Mana Echoes (Onslaught)
Combo:
Start with both combo pieces in play with 2 untapped mana sources
1 - Pay 2 mana to produce a sliver from Sliver Queen
2 - When the sliver enters the battlefield, Mana Echoes will trigger adding colorless mana to your mana pool
Repeating steps 1-2 infinitely will produce and exponential amount of mana. The first time through you will only have 2 slivers, so you get your mana back. However each iteration after that will produce 1 more mana than the previous one did.
Combo 10: Consuming all the World
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Cards:
1x Worldgorger Dragon (Judgement)
1x Animate Dead (Alpha - Fourth Edition)
Combo:
Start with Worldgorger Dragon in your graveyard
1 - Cast Animate Dead targetting Worldgorger Dragon
2 - Float mana from all of your untapped lands
3 - When Worldgorger Dragon enters the battlefield, you have to exile all other permanents your control
4 - When Animate dead is removed from the Worldgorger Dragon, the Dragon is placed back into the graveyard
5 - Worldgorger Dragon leaving the battlefield will return all other permanents you control onto the battlefield
6 - When Animate Dead returns to the battlefield, have it target Worldgorger Dragon
Repeating steps 2 - 6 infinitely will produce infinite mana of whichever colors your lands produce. This combo is all mandatory triggered abilities which means that if there are no other creatures in either player's graveyard the game will end in a draw because you get caught in an infinite loop. To eventually end the combo, just target any other creature with Animate Dead.
There are MANY more infinite mana combos, but I wanted to publish this first edition. Some combos are very complicated, expensive, and ultimately not that great (Heartstone + Reassembling Skeleton + Ashnod's Altar + Initiates of the Ebon Hand), however there are other condensed combos that I feel are legitimately playable that are worth looking at. Soon I will have another 10 ready for your consumption, but for now, have fun with these ones!
That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
So recently a guy on my floor asked me what infinite mana combos there are, because he wanted one for his deck. So I decided to set out and find every possible infinite mana combo I possibly could! Some of these are actually very good and are constructed playable, and others are just cool. But regardless, here's what I have found:
Combo 1: Elves
Cards:
1x Mirror Entity (Lorwyn)
1x Heritage Druid (Morningtide)
1x Wirewood Symbiote (Scourge)
1x Nettle Sentinel (Eventide)
Combo:
Start with all creature in play untapped. Wirewood Symbiote has not been used for turn.
1 - Tap Sentinel, Heritage, Mirror to add GGG to mana pool
GGG
2 - Activate Mirror Entity for 1
GG
3 - Wirewood Symbiote bounces itself to untap Heritage Druid
GG
4 - Cast Wirewood Symbiote, untapping Nettle Sentinel
G
At this point you are in the exact same position as when you started, except Mirror Entity is untapped and you have a green mana in the pool. By repeating these steps infinitely, you will net a single green mana every cycle:
1 - Activate Mirror Entity for 1
2 - Tap Sentinel, Heritage, and Wirewood to add GGG to your mana pool
3 - Wirewood Symbiote bounces itself to untap Heritage Druid
4 - Cast Wirewood Symbiote
Combo 2: Soulbonded
Cards:
1x Peregrine Drake (Urza's Saga)
1x Deadeye Nevigator (Avacyn Restored)
Combo:
1 - When the second of the two creatures come into play, Soulbond them
2 - Pay 1U to exile Peregrine Drake and return it with Deadeye Navigator's ability
3 - When Peregrine Drake comes back into play, float 3 mana from lands, and repair it to the Deadeye Navigator
Repeating steps 2 and 3 infintely will net 3 mana per cycle in any colors that the lands could produce
Other cards to try:
This combo also works if a Zealous Conscripts is bonded to the Navigator, untapping a Gilded Lotus
Combo 3: Myraculous
Cards:
2x Myr Galvanizer (Scars of Mirrodin)
1x Palladium Myr (Scars of Mirrodin)
Combo:
All 3 creatures must not have summoning sickness for the combo to work
1 - Tap Palladium Myr for mana
o2
2 - Use a mana to use Galvanizer A's untap ability
o1
3 - Tap Palladium Myr for Mana
o3
4 - Use a mana to use Galvanizer B's untap ability
o2
Repeat steps 1 - 4 to produce infinite colored mana.
Other cards to try:
You can also use any 2 single mana Myr like Leaden Myr and Copper Myr to produce the appropriate colored mana
Combo 4: Grandest Pili-Pala
Cards:
1x Grand Architect (Scars of Mirrodin)
1x Pili-Pala (Shadowmoore)
Combo:
Pili-Pala needs to not have summoning sickness
1 - With both creatures in play, pay a blue mana to make Pili-Pala blue
2 - Tap Pili-Pala to produce 2 colorless mana through Grand Architect
3 - Use said 2 mana to untap Pili-Pala and add a mana of any color
Repeat steps 2 and 3 to produce infinite mana of any color
Combo 5: Meek Assembly
Cards:
1x Thopter Foundry (Alara Reborn)
1x Sword of the Meek (Future Sight)
1x Krark-Clan Ironworks (Fifth Edition)
Combo:
Start with all 3 cards in play
1 - Pay 1 mana and sacrifice Sword of the Meek to Thopter Foundry to make a 1/1 Thopter
2 - The 1/1 coming into play will trigger the Sword in the graveyard and return to play
3 - Sacrifice the token to Krark-Clan Ironworks
o2
Repeat steps 1-3 to produce infinte mana or produce infinite Thopters. To produce infinite Thopters skip step 3 every other cycle to retain one Thopter
Combo 6: Palinchron is High
Cards:
1x Palinchron (Urza's Legacy)
1-2x High Tide (Fallen Empires)
4-6x Island
Combo:
This combo has slightly different required starting positions depending on how many High Tides you have. If you have 1 High Tide, then you need 6 Islands. If you have 2 High Tides, then you need 4 Islands.
1 - Cast High Tide
1a - If you have a second High Tide, cast it, and leave 1 blue mana floating in the pool
2 - Cast Palinchron, untapping all your lands
3 - Pay 4 mana to return Palinchron to your hand
Repeating Steps 2 and 3 infinitely will net you 1 blue mana per cycle.
Other cards to try:
Playing Sneak Attack to put Palinchron into play floating mana with your lands before they untap, then bouncing Palinchron can also produce infinite mana off 6 lands.
Combo 7: Salvaging Diamonds
Cards:
1x Lion's Eye Diamond (Mirage)
1x Auriok Salvagers (Fifth Dawn)
Combo:
Start with Auriok Salvagers in play
1 - Cast LED
2 - Sacrifice LED to produce white mana
WWW
3 - Return LED to your hand with Auriok Salvagers
W
Repeating steps 1-3 infinitely will produce one white mana per cycle. However, once you have infinite white mana, you can start adding other colors from your LEDs and essentially have infinite mana of any color, adding 1 per cycle
Other cards to try:
In case you happen to have a Black Lotus poking around, this works there too
Combo 8: Working the Metal
Cards:
1x Metalworker (Urza's Destiny)
1x Staff of Domination (Fifth Dawn)
3x artifacts in hand
Combo:
Start with Metalworker in play without summoning sickness
1 - Tap Metalworker and reveal Staff of Domination and 3 other artifacts in your hand
o8
2 - Cast Staff of Domination, then use it to untap Metalworker
o2
3 - Tap Metalworker and reveal 3 artifacts from your hand
o8
4 - Untap Staff of Domination
o7
5 - Use Staff of Domination to untap Metalworker
o4
Repeat steps 3 - 5 to produce infinte mana, netting 2 colorless for each cycle. Once you have infinite mana you can draw your entire deck and gain infinite life through the Staff.
Other cards to try:
Any kind of creature that taps for 5+ mana is viable with Staff to produce infinite mana. Some cards of interest may be Elvish Archdruid, Priest of Titania, Rofellos Llanowar Emissary, and Sacellum Godspeaker.
Combo 9: Echo the Queen
Cards:
1x Sliver Queen (Stronghold)
1x Mana Echoes (Onslaught)
Combo:
Start with both combo pieces in play with 2 untapped mana sources
1 - Pay 2 mana to produce a sliver from Sliver Queen
2 - When the sliver enters the battlefield, Mana Echoes will trigger adding colorless mana to your mana pool
Repeating steps 1-2 infinitely will produce and exponential amount of mana. The first time through you will only have 2 slivers, so you get your mana back. However each iteration after that will produce 1 more mana than the previous one did.
Combo 10: Consuming all the World
Cards:
1x Worldgorger Dragon (Judgement)
1x Animate Dead (Alpha - Fourth Edition)
Combo:
Start with Worldgorger Dragon in your graveyard
1 - Cast Animate Dead targetting Worldgorger Dragon
2 - Float mana from all of your untapped lands
3 - When Worldgorger Dragon enters the battlefield, you have to exile all other permanents your control
4 - When Animate dead is removed from the Worldgorger Dragon, the Dragon is placed back into the graveyard
5 - Worldgorger Dragon leaving the battlefield will return all other permanents you control onto the battlefield
6 - When Animate Dead returns to the battlefield, have it target Worldgorger Dragon
Repeating steps 2 - 6 infinitely will produce infinite mana of whichever colors your lands produce. This combo is all mandatory triggered abilities which means that if there are no other creatures in either player's graveyard the game will end in a draw because you get caught in an infinite loop. To eventually end the combo, just target any other creature with Animate Dead.
There are MANY more infinite mana combos, but I wanted to publish this first edition. Some combos are very complicated, expensive, and ultimately not that great (Heartstone + Reassembling Skeleton + Ashnod's Altar + Initiates of the Ebon Hand), however there are other condensed combos that I feel are legitimately playable that are worth looking at. Soon I will have another 10 ready for your consumption, but for now, have fun with these ones!
That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Monday, October 8, 2012
Drafting Ravnica
Hello everyone!
Just 3 days ago I went back home for the day from college to go back to toys and pick up 3 boxes for drafting on my floor. And now, here it is 3 days later and we're drafting in 45 minutes which will leave me with just 6 draft sets! As of right now I have done 4 drafts, so I may get my 5th one in soon. First things first: this draft format is awesome! All of the guilds seem very good assuming you get certain cards, although some seem easier to put together than others. Here's how I have done so far:
@ Toys: 4-1 (the structure for this draft was terrible.... 3 pods drafted, then we had a 5 round swiss as if it was a contructed FNM) drafted Golgari splashing 2 Augur Spree, and Chaos Imps. Rares: foil Vraska, Chaos Imps, Underworld Connections, Wild Beastmaster
@ Toys: 1-2 Drafted Izzet with minimal early game. Rares: Chaos Imps, Sphinx of the Chimes, Hypersonic Dragon
@ UML: 3-0 Drafted Selesnya infi dudes. Rares: Precinct Captain, Wayfaring Temple, Azor's Elocuters
@ UML: 3-0 Drafted Izzet splashing white just for an Arrest and Sphinx's Revelation. Rares: Sphinx's Revelation, Niv-Mizzet, Hypersonic Dragon
Every format has some special nuances about it, and one thing that has quickly come apparent to me is how important mana fixing is! In the most recent draft, my first 3 picks were: Hypersonic Dragon, Centaur's Accord, Izzet Guildgate. Then I forced Izzet and got rewarded with a pack 3 pick 4 Niv Mizzet! While yes, the Niv really shouldn't have made it all the way to me, I only ever cast it twice the whole draft, so the rest of the deck was still solid. Transguild Promenade especially is a very good card and I have been picking it higher and higher every time I draft! Traditionally I have always taught people that they should pick following the rules of BREAD:
B ombs
R emoval
E vasion
A bilities
D udes
However, now clearly mana fixing has to be on the list, and I would put it on par with removal! I started playing in Zendikar, so this is the first multicolored draft format I have ever had! If you were around for Lorwyn/Shadowmoor or Shards of Alara, then knowing mana fixing is essential doesn't really shock you, but for me this is still a new concept.
Overall, I have found this format to be very fun, diverse, and balanced. It doesn't rely too heavily on bombs or anything like that and all of the guilds are very playable. Here's my take on the guilds and some essential cards:
Azorious: Lots of fliers! To make the best use of detain, you want to have cheap threats and tempo the opponent out of the game. Voidweilder is another good addition. The Guildmage is simply insane, and can take over a game completely by itself!
Izzet: This feels like the weakest guild to me, but with heavy removal and large threats, this is the control deck of the draft format. I have seen aggressive Izzet decks, but those are very heavily red. There's not much for beatdown blue.
Rakdos: This seems like it would be the most powerful deck if it is built right. With a low curve and some removal, this can kill the fastest in the format. I think the best rakdos decks splash blue for Teleportal to get the final damage in
Golgari: This is an attrition deck that goes biggest in the format. Lots of black removal plus scavenge guys killing with some scavenged evasion has been very effective IMO.
Selesnya: I have found this deck is only as good as it's best token. Centaur's Accord seems to be one of the best cards in the set, and the guildmage is insane, but if your best token is a bird, then you're in for a bad time.
As I said, this format is very good and very diverse, and I think I will have fun drafting it for some time now! That's all I have for today, until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Just 3 days ago I went back home for the day from college to go back to toys and pick up 3 boxes for drafting on my floor. And now, here it is 3 days later and we're drafting in 45 minutes which will leave me with just 6 draft sets! As of right now I have done 4 drafts, so I may get my 5th one in soon. First things first: this draft format is awesome! All of the guilds seem very good assuming you get certain cards, although some seem easier to put together than others. Here's how I have done so far:
@ Toys: 4-1 (the structure for this draft was terrible.... 3 pods drafted, then we had a 5 round swiss as if it was a contructed FNM) drafted Golgari splashing 2 Augur Spree, and Chaos Imps. Rares: foil Vraska, Chaos Imps, Underworld Connections, Wild Beastmaster
@ Toys: 1-2 Drafted Izzet with minimal early game. Rares: Chaos Imps, Sphinx of the Chimes, Hypersonic Dragon
@ UML: 3-0 Drafted Selesnya infi dudes. Rares: Precinct Captain, Wayfaring Temple, Azor's Elocuters
@ UML: 3-0 Drafted Izzet splashing white just for an Arrest and Sphinx's Revelation. Rares: Sphinx's Revelation, Niv-Mizzet, Hypersonic Dragon
Every format has some special nuances about it, and one thing that has quickly come apparent to me is how important mana fixing is! In the most recent draft, my first 3 picks were: Hypersonic Dragon, Centaur's Accord, Izzet Guildgate. Then I forced Izzet and got rewarded with a pack 3 pick 4 Niv Mizzet! While yes, the Niv really shouldn't have made it all the way to me, I only ever cast it twice the whole draft, so the rest of the deck was still solid. Transguild Promenade especially is a very good card and I have been picking it higher and higher every time I draft! Traditionally I have always taught people that they should pick following the rules of BREAD:
B ombs
R emoval
E vasion
A bilities
D udes
However, now clearly mana fixing has to be on the list, and I would put it on par with removal! I started playing in Zendikar, so this is the first multicolored draft format I have ever had! If you were around for Lorwyn/Shadowmoor or Shards of Alara, then knowing mana fixing is essential doesn't really shock you, but for me this is still a new concept.
Overall, I have found this format to be very fun, diverse, and balanced. It doesn't rely too heavily on bombs or anything like that and all of the guilds are very playable. Here's my take on the guilds and some essential cards:
Azorious: Lots of fliers! To make the best use of detain, you want to have cheap threats and tempo the opponent out of the game. Voidweilder is another good addition. The Guildmage is simply insane, and can take over a game completely by itself!
Izzet: This feels like the weakest guild to me, but with heavy removal and large threats, this is the control deck of the draft format. I have seen aggressive Izzet decks, but those are very heavily red. There's not much for beatdown blue.
Rakdos: This seems like it would be the most powerful deck if it is built right. With a low curve and some removal, this can kill the fastest in the format. I think the best rakdos decks splash blue for Teleportal to get the final damage in
Golgari: This is an attrition deck that goes biggest in the format. Lots of black removal plus scavenge guys killing with some scavenged evasion has been very effective IMO.
Selesnya: I have found this deck is only as good as it's best token. Centaur's Accord seems to be one of the best cards in the set, and the guildmage is insane, but if your best token is a bird, then you're in for a bad time.
As I said, this format is very good and very diverse, and I think I will have fun drafting it for some time now! That's all I have for today, until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Monday, October 1, 2012
Every Flavor of Delver
Hello everyone!
So there's this card thats really good, but hasn't been seeing a lot of play for some reason.... It seems insane to me! A 1 mana 3/2 flyer?! Oh wait... Never mind, it's been discovered.... But without the scars block cards, ok without the set New Phyrexia, the deck has to take on a different flavor. I have been thinking about and playing a few different builds, so here's a ton of different delver lists!
UW Humans
3x Champion of the Parish
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Lyev Skyknight
3x Restoration Angel
4x Lyev Skyknight
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Azorius Charm
4x Syncopate
4x Thought Scour
4x Unsummon
4x Gather the Townsfolk
4x Inaction Injunction
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Island
3x Plains
3x Moorland Haunt
Sideboard:
4x Knight of Glory
3x Detention Sphere
3x Faith's Shield
3x Negate
2x Purify the Grave
This deck started when I saw how awesome Lyev Skyknight is, and realized it's a human. This naturally makes Champion of the Parish a little better! The deck basically built itself from there. No Geist of Saint Traft might just be wrong, and the human tribal may not be as essential as previously thought, but Champion is incredibly aggressive and is often a 3/3 or a 4/4 by turn 3! Restoration Angel on a Skyknight is about as awesome as it sounds, and leads to many free wins! Remember, Skyknight can detain any non-land permanent, so planeswalkers are fair game!
UR Delver
4x Delver of Secrets
2x Goblin Electromancer
4x Guttersnipe
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Izzet Charm
4x Searing Spear
4x Thought Scour
1x Thunderous Wrath
4x Unsummon
2x Bonfire of the Damned
4x Inaction Injunction
3x Pillar of Flame
1x Desolate Lighthouse
4x Island
2x Izzet Guildgate
5x Mountain
4x Steam Vents
4x Sulfur Falls
Sideboard:
3x Dungeon Geist
2x Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
4x Negate
1x Syncopate
3x Jace, Architect of Thought
1x Bonfire of the Damned
1x Pillar of Flame
This version plays a little more like a combo deck. If you haven't played the card yet, Guttersnipe is simply the nutter butters and leads to so many free wins! Delver + Guttersnipe + Snapcaster is a match made in heaven, and unless your opponent has a heavy disruption suite, they quickly succumb to all your burn straight to the dome. Cantrips are insane with Guttersnipe especially! The key thing about this deck is that none of the cards are bad by themselves, and together things just get juicy!
UWR Delver
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Guttersnipe
4x Geist of Saint Traft
3x Restoration Angel
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Azorius Charm
4x Izzet Charm
3x Searing Spear
4x Unsummon
2x Bonfire of the Damned
4x Inaction Injunction
1x Desolate Lighthouse
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
1x Moorland Haunt
4x Steam Vents
4x Sulfur Falls
Sideboard:
4x Knight of Glory
3x Syncopate
3x Jace, Architect of Thought
1x Bonfire of the Damned
4x Pillar of Flame
This is the natural mashup. I decided to go with Geist over Skyknight here because he provides a faster clock which pairs well with the burn from the red splash. Restoration Angel is fine here, nothing game breaking with just Snapcaster as a good value target, but fine nonetheless.
Bant Delver
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Geist of Saint Traft
4x Restoration Angel
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Azorius Charm
4x Syncopate
4x Selesnya Charm
4x Unsummon
4x Call of the Conclave
4x Inaction Injunction
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Hinterland Harbor
2x Island
2x Moorland Haunt
4x Temple Garden
Sideboard:
3x Armada Wurm
4x Centaur Healer
3x Detention Sphere
2x Garruk Relentless
3x Jace, Architect of Thought
This version come from the idealistic nut draw of Hallowed Fountain -> Delver -> Flip Call of the Conclave -> Hinterland Harbor -> Dudes -> You die. This list sometimes feels a little dude heavy to me and doesn't have enough interaction with the opponent. However, the charms are simply insane! Having access to 8 charms means holding up Hallowed Fountain + Temple Garden makes it impossible for your opponent to play around everything. I am not too sure where I want to go with the sideboard, but of course that depends on what other top decks arise. I am playing Centaur Healer over Thragtusk because with only 20 lands you can't reasonably expect to cast Thragtusk before you die in the matchups where you need him.
Overall, I have felt that the UW deck is the best, followed by UWR, UR, then Bant being the worst. Even though I know some versions are simply better than others, it's good to try everything. If the metagame shifts or when Gatecrash comes out, knowing starting templates for many different deck is a boon for us.
That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
So there's this card thats really good, but hasn't been seeing a lot of play for some reason.... It seems insane to me! A 1 mana 3/2 flyer?! Oh wait... Never mind, it's been discovered.... But without the scars block cards, ok without the set New Phyrexia, the deck has to take on a different flavor. I have been thinking about and playing a few different builds, so here's a ton of different delver lists!
UW Humans
3x Champion of the Parish
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Lyev Skyknight
3x Restoration Angel
4x Lyev Skyknight
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Azorius Charm
4x Syncopate
4x Thought Scour
4x Unsummon
4x Gather the Townsfolk
4x Inaction Injunction
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Island
3x Plains
3x Moorland Haunt
Sideboard:
4x Knight of Glory
3x Detention Sphere
3x Faith's Shield
3x Negate
2x Purify the Grave
This deck started when I saw how awesome Lyev Skyknight is, and realized it's a human. This naturally makes Champion of the Parish a little better! The deck basically built itself from there. No Geist of Saint Traft might just be wrong, and the human tribal may not be as essential as previously thought, but Champion is incredibly aggressive and is often a 3/3 or a 4/4 by turn 3! Restoration Angel on a Skyknight is about as awesome as it sounds, and leads to many free wins! Remember, Skyknight can detain any non-land permanent, so planeswalkers are fair game!
UR Delver
4x Delver of Secrets
2x Goblin Electromancer
4x Guttersnipe
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Izzet Charm
4x Searing Spear
4x Thought Scour
1x Thunderous Wrath
4x Unsummon
2x Bonfire of the Damned
4x Inaction Injunction
3x Pillar of Flame
1x Desolate Lighthouse
4x Island
2x Izzet Guildgate
5x Mountain
4x Steam Vents
4x Sulfur Falls
Sideboard:
3x Dungeon Geist
2x Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
4x Negate
1x Syncopate
3x Jace, Architect of Thought
1x Bonfire of the Damned
1x Pillar of Flame
This version plays a little more like a combo deck. If you haven't played the card yet, Guttersnipe is simply the nutter butters and leads to so many free wins! Delver + Guttersnipe + Snapcaster is a match made in heaven, and unless your opponent has a heavy disruption suite, they quickly succumb to all your burn straight to the dome. Cantrips are insane with Guttersnipe especially! The key thing about this deck is that none of the cards are bad by themselves, and together things just get juicy!
UWR Delver
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Guttersnipe
4x Geist of Saint Traft
3x Restoration Angel
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Azorius Charm
4x Izzet Charm
3x Searing Spear
4x Unsummon
2x Bonfire of the Damned
4x Inaction Injunction
1x Desolate Lighthouse
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
1x Moorland Haunt
4x Steam Vents
4x Sulfur Falls
Sideboard:
4x Knight of Glory
3x Syncopate
3x Jace, Architect of Thought
1x Bonfire of the Damned
4x Pillar of Flame
This is the natural mashup. I decided to go with Geist over Skyknight here because he provides a faster clock which pairs well with the burn from the red splash. Restoration Angel is fine here, nothing game breaking with just Snapcaster as a good value target, but fine nonetheless.
Bant Delver
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Geist of Saint Traft
4x Restoration Angel
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Azorius Charm
4x Syncopate
4x Selesnya Charm
4x Unsummon
4x Call of the Conclave
4x Inaction Injunction
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Hinterland Harbor
2x Island
2x Moorland Haunt
4x Temple Garden
Sideboard:
3x Armada Wurm
4x Centaur Healer
3x Detention Sphere
2x Garruk Relentless
3x Jace, Architect of Thought
This version come from the idealistic nut draw of Hallowed Fountain -> Delver -> Flip Call of the Conclave -> Hinterland Harbor -> Dudes -> You die. This list sometimes feels a little dude heavy to me and doesn't have enough interaction with the opponent. However, the charms are simply insane! Having access to 8 charms means holding up Hallowed Fountain + Temple Garden makes it impossible for your opponent to play around everything. I am not too sure where I want to go with the sideboard, but of course that depends on what other top decks arise. I am playing Centaur Healer over Thragtusk because with only 20 lands you can't reasonably expect to cast Thragtusk before you die in the matchups where you need him.
Overall, I have felt that the UW deck is the best, followed by UWR, UR, then Bant being the worst. Even though I know some versions are simply better than others, it's good to try everything. If the metagame shifts or when Gatecrash comes out, knowing starting templates for many different deck is a boon for us.
That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
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