You could add Frontline Medic to your sideboard since it only has 10 cards in it, or even add it to the main deck! It really makes excellent use of Battalion because all your creatures are indestructible until the end of your turn, if just three attack. And its latter ability, to act as a counter spell - better than Mana Leak even, can stop your opponent's spells with "X" in their cost.
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Spellkite is interesting to attract artifact hate away from your clocks. But you might also wish to consider Deceiver Exarch which untaps a permanent or taps a permanent when it comes into play. Another interesting alternative is a way to bring back an artifact from your graveyard - white has at least four spells to consider for this roll. Also the white creature that removes a target permanent from play when it enters play can remove a threat that has built up a lot of counters or you could remove a Deceiver Exarch from play in order to untap your clock and mill your opponent some more with it. Finally, there is a sorcery that draws you two cards and proliferates versus the blue instant which is similar, but it only can trips (one card to replace itself), whereas the new card adds card advantage and gets the cards in hand that you need. Sideboard can use the blue trap that mills 13 cards from your opponent's library or the blue Sorcery which removes one half of your opponent's library - Traumatize. Shoot me an e-mail with how your deck performs at FNM events.
Your deck has one win condition - overrun your opponenet by casting as many creatures as you can before they set up and boost their power/toughness with your enchantment. Red Deck Wins and Goblins attempt to do the same thing. Other than your magnets, however, you do not have away to remove your opponent's threats. A Red Titan, for example using a mana ramp -green or artifact, cand suddenly ruin your day as can a Day of Judgement when playing against Caw-Blade. So you may want to include some sideboard cards to give so some 'finess" incase overrunning your opponents isn't working. A way to sacrifice a creature if it is being destroyed by a red burn spell or black destruction spell, etc. to allow you to draw cards could be added. If you block, for example, and your creature will receive lethal damage and not theirs you can sacrifice it to an artifact to draw more cards later. A way to remove your own creatures has other advantages too. What if your opponent Mind Controls or enchants one of your creatures with a painful enchantment? Culling Dais, an uncommon from Scars of Mirrodin offers a way to replace two or three creatures for three card draws when your hand of cards is depleted. Mimic Vat is worth consideration. If they block with a Perilous Myr, for example, you can put the Myr removed from the game under the Vat and deal 2 damage to your opponent or one of her creatures once a turn. Throne of Geth allows you to sacrifice one of your artifacts so you can proliferate a Magnet to keep a nasty creature at bay (tapped to get those final points of lethal damage through. Also do not forget some of the cards the base set M11 has to offer. Steel Overseer (compare with Tempered Steel) and Valtaic Key are useful. untapping the Dais in case more than one creature is destroyed will increase your replacement card draws. and for the next 6 months or so, Basilisk Collar, a one casting cost artifact/equipment from the Worldwake set definately needs to be in your type of deck. It equips for 2 and gives a creature lifelink and deathtouch. In matchups against red hate gaining some life can be invaluable. Because your mana source is white you definately want the pro-red Clerics. I would main board them given so many players at FNM events are using red decks because they are inexpensive to build as well as the fact that WotC released the red Event deck (comes with two Goblin Guides!). Finally, since your deck has no sideboard, you need to consider that aspect of your deck. In an event you can have a sideboard with exactly 15 cards or you cannot have a sideboard at all. (write down the S.B. cards - some players slip an identifier in the sleeve with the card so they can quickly remove sideboard board cards after a match before beginning a match against a new opponent. For a mirror match some form of artifact or combination of artifact/enchantment removal is needed. Do a card search for white instants and sorceries through the current Standard sets. Three white artifact removal spells come to mind: Solemn Offering - is an instant and gains life so you can even destroy one of your own artifacts as you need to. Revoke Existance is excellent because the targeted artifact or enchantment is removed from the game - good bye Wurmcoil Engine! But it is a Sorcery. And there is Divine Offering - an instant that is cheaper to cast than Solemn Offering is by one mana (important in a low mana/ratio deck) , but the life gain becomes a variable depending on the artifact and who controls it. The last type of card you need to consider for your sideboard or even your main deck is some type of interruption or removal. The Zendicar block offers "Oust" which deprives an opponent of a creature for two turns by placing it in their deck second from the top. It also means they don't draw another unknown threat until turn three. Excommunicate is simlar to Oust, but places the creature/card ontop of the opponent's deck. Oust is cheaper to cast than Excommunicate and so doesn't interfere with casting creature spells on your turn. Condemn is popular, but it means another turn to defeat your opponent with your army, generally, because you give your opponent extra life to be able to place the creature on the bottom of their library. Celestial Purge is powerful, but is only a sideboard card because it is limited to removing only two colors - red or black (Doesn't help with Caw-blade decks). To deal with multiple attacking creatures Dispence Justice and Choking Fumes are viable instants. I consider these to be "situational cards" because you can only cast these spells if there are creatures attacking you. If you went with the Throne of Geth to proliferate the counters on your Tumble Magnets, for example, then Choking Fumes is excellent. Neither spell targets so that is a benefit to get around prevention effects, but their draw back is that you have to keep three mana untapped from your turn to your opponent's turn - this is ok if you flood the board and empty your hand of creatures by turn 3. But on your turn three you want to play your Tempered Steel! That leaves two final cards I want to mention. Silence is cool, and can hamper your opponent's plans, especially wanting to swarm the board on a single turn or have mana ramped into playing that Titan or other nasty threat. It will be rotating out shortly and also is a rare which makes it harder to obtain. But Soul Parry is only a common. It can stop a Red Titan from dealing damage to your creatures when it comes into play and one other creature. It is excellent against "haste" decks like Vengevine, etc. It is an instant, easy to obtain, and its low casting cost will not interfere with your deck. Having reviewed some of the alternatives my first three preferences are Revoke Existance, Soul Parry and Condemn. After making any changes be sure to use the Vault's online deck shuffler and look at how consistent your hands are and what the next 3 or 4 draws will be. use the shuffler at least 20 times and make notes. Good luck. Goblinguide.
To deal with Valakut -Titan Ramp decks I would add a third, possibly a fourth Decimator Web to replace the Core Prowler or two of the Swords. (Milling to catch some Valakuts and mountains - maybe a Titan or two even!)
Hi. First, i wanted to recognize that you pulled some excellent cards from your boxes. The Inkmoth Nexus, four copies were excellent pulls. Also the four copies of Tempered Steel were excellent. So it sounds like you wanted to build an artifact deck around Inkmoth Nexus and Tempered Steel. Here is a link to a deck I designed around your list - see below: http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=185039 Is it possible to utilize the cards just from your Scars of Mirrodin block cards to build a competitive deck to save you from spending money to acquire M11 cards or Zenikar block cards (keep in mind that Zendikar block will rotate out of Standard after the summer) ? Answer: I think so. Inkmoth Nexus deals posion counter damage to an opponent and -1/-1/ infect counters to their creatures. Read my summary of the combat rules changes which is important because of infect since you haven't played since Homelands. Also triggered effects now go on a stack and do not resolve immediately if there is a stack or create a stack then resolve. Let's get to work. I want to build around winning with Poison and infect. I also like the four copies each of both Tumble Magnet and the Dispatch in your deck. Also the Mox Opals offer ramp. That is 18 cards from your original deck. Not too bad! Tumble Magnet and Dispatch help your Inkmoth Nexus get through to deal their posion counters. We have 8 white spells. There is room for only 4 more white spells. Then the rest of the spells in the deck should to be artifacts to take advantage of the Tempered Steel and contrubute to out poison theme. We want cards that offer "Synergy" to your deck. The four additional white cards I would add is an infect creature. Priests of Norn is an excellent defensive infect creature - it surves a Lightning Bolt. So to remove it early in a duel a red Mage will need to spend two spells to destroy Priests of Norn sincie it is a +1/+4 infect creature. When Tempered Steel is on the board it is nearly indestructable. We are up to 22 spells now. To draw cards - critical in mtg to get a key card in hand and to have card advantage I want to add 4x Ichor Wellspring and 4x Throne of Geth - Throne of Geth can be a finisher by proliferating and allows you to sacrifice Ichor Wellspring so you can draw another card. Another often overlooked trick is to use Throne of Geth to sacrifice an artifact your opponent attempts to steal or attach a painful enchantment to. Note: Try to use Throne of Geth's ability always at the end of your opponent's turn...as well as the next card. Contagion Clasp - 4x. It weakens opponent's creatures. Proliferates your poison counters and adds more counters to your Tumble Magnets. Try to tap an opponent's creature with a tumble magnet at the end of their turn if possible if using it offensively so you can tap a second creature with it on your turn to get your poison damage through. Need to deliver that first point of poison to be able to proliferate - this is critical to help you win. If the game is in the middle stages and you need to stall while you proliferate use your Tumble Magnets to prevent your opponent's creatures from attacking you - especially if equipped be sure to tap a creature only after your opponent declares his or her attack Stage and not before. Always play to reduce your opponenet's choices and options when that is available. Tapping before combat is declared allows your opponent to consider other options and not to attack even. That is 34 spells. Lets look for just four more spells for a total of 38 spells. I would add 4x Bladed Pinions or substitute for a Sword of Body and Mind or Sword of Feast. Note: I would sideboard swords and use them if playing a quick green Elf Deck - protection from green when your creature is equipped and a +2/+2 Wolf token can help you block or making your opponent discard while you untap your lands to ploferate with a Contagion Clasp can be a key to victory in close duels. Wait a second - we still have room for four more spells because Inkmoth nexus is a land! I think I'll try Ichorclaw Myr 4x and also Plague Myr 4x. Side Board: 3x Corpse Cur, 2x Core Prowler, Swords (2 of each) 4x , Decimator Web 2x, Revoke Existence 4x (remove pesty artifacts/enchantments your oppent is packing) or Divine Offering 4x (Can even destroy your own artifact in response to your opponent stealing it also) Final cuts..... Final Deck list: Artifacts: 18x 2x Bladed Pinions 4x Contagion Clasp 4x Ichor Wellspring 2x Mox Opals 3x Throne of Geth 3x Tumble magnet Creatures: 12x 4x Ichorclaw Myr 4x Plague Myrs 4x Priests of Norn Spells: 4x 4x Dispatch Enchantments: 4x 4x Tempered Steel Lands: 22x 4x Glimmerpost 4x Inkmoth Nexus 14x Plains Note: I added 4x Glimmerpost for fast Red decks as the few extra points of life may give you the extra turn or two needed to proliferate your opponent to 10 posion before dishing out 20 points of damage. Experiment and make notes so you will know what to remove when sideboarding. Honorable Mentions: Decimator Web, Necropede, Infiltration Lens, Shymmer Myr, Mortapod, Contagion Engine Link to new deck: http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=185039 Shoot me an e-mail and let me know what you think.
You definately need to work on a sideboard, ie. how to deal with Valakut/Titan decks for example. in considering a sideboard to deal with the meta game or specific decks you play against in your area you need to know what comes out to make room for the sideboard cards also. Make some notes about this to stay sharp and so that you can sideboard quickly and save time to actually duel - drawing a match in the 3rd game due to time is no fun.
Add Mindbreak Trap to your sideboard - with all the fast red decks playing multiple spells early in the game and depleting their hand this trap should slow them down just a bit. It is a mythic, but not in demand right now, so easy to obtain for under two dollars. There is also a black rare, Memoricide, allows you to remove a pesky planeswalker, or an anti-milling card from their hand and deck, such as Elixir of Immortality or that nusance Eldrazi card they will sideboard in against you - Emrakul the Aeons Torn. A card to help you with creature removal, besides Blacksun's Zenith, is Consuming Vapors - it nabs two of their creatures or makes them hesitiant about playing one on their turn because of the rebound mechanic. But it also nets you some life which helps you hang around to mill them. Horrifying Revelation doesn't give you enough control - I would opt for Duress in the sideboard or the very annoying Inquisition of Kozilek - an uncommon black sorcery spell from Rise of the Eldrazi and it only cost one black mana to cast so if you are first you get to look at your opponent's hand and quickly size up the threats you will be most likely facing which helps you plan your strategy accordingly - including sideboarding. Also it is much more distracting and annoying to your opponent when they watch you mill through their hand besides their deck - Horrifying Revelation lacks puch in that department. A card that shocks your opponent may cause them to make play mistakes as their mind is distracted worrying that you know what is in their hand. It will also help you know which creatures to save Go For The Throat for too! since i mentioned Go For The Throat you may want to balance it or have an alternative removal card in your sideboard for large artifact creatures, etc. Also the white weenie/artifact decks will make your Go For The Throats useless. Also Haunting Echoes makes a very good sideboard card. While I am thinking of M11 cards, the Diabolic Tutor should not be over looked to get the right card for the situation into your hand, especially since your deck lacks card drawing which means your opening hand and first 4 draws will probably determine your fate right out of the gate. Finally, your sideboard may want some sort of "bounce spell". You should experiment there, but blue has quite a few: Unsummon M11, Disperse SoM, Regress RotE, Aether Tradewinds W, and Into the Roil Z. For your deck, since your deck lacks card drawing I suggest Into the Roil the blue instant from Zendikar block because of its kicker which nets you an extra card. If you do not go for that then an alternative is a spell that can bounce back a painful man land into your opponent's hand depriving them of mana for a turn and preventing them from attacking you with it for a turn or two. but a bounce spell can return an artifiact that has been proliferated with counters multiple times which makes your opponent start from square one! Aether Tradewinds, then, would be my second choice, possibly first because it can return one your permanents that has infect counters on it or even a pesky enchantment placed on it by your opponent. Time is the name of the game when you operate a mill deck. You have to buy enough turns (how time is measured in MtG or by how many cards they have left in their deck when they play against you LOL) to cast your mill spells and to be able to draw them from your deck. when you play tournament games be sure to play with pen & paper and make a note of the cards you mill into their graveyard or see in their hand. Keeping track of their hand size and asking them their hand size every third turn or so just to make sure it is what it is supposed to be - keeps them from making an extra top deck if you know what I mean, especially if they are feeling deperate. It alerts them that you are paying attention to the number of cards/spells in their hand.
Note: This deck was made in response to a forum blog so some cards were left in and others were excluded. To make this a tournament quality deck I would replace 2x Venser's Journal with 2x Elixir of Immortality Elixir can be cast on the first land drop- if it is in your opening hand. And can not only net 5 life sooner than Venser's Journal, but it allows you to shuffel your discard pyle back into your library along with Elixir. So it can be used multiple times which stymies mill decks and prevents your opponent from taking creatures from your graveyard and putting them into play under their control. Wurmcoil Engine (a mythic rare) could replace a Dreamstone Hedron. But a tournament quality card which accelerates the deck's mana as well as adding a +1/+1 to each other blue creature is Grand Architect. To add 3x of Grand Architect to the deck remove one Dreamstone Hedron, one copy of Psychosis Crawler, and remove one copy of Stoic Rebuttal.
Sideboard...hmmmm for u/w control try jinxed idol & Duress Didn't notice a lot of creature removal so Doom Blade (maybe) or.... Nemesis Trap - so much fun to off their Baneslayer Angel or Titan and get the life yourself or bring something nasty out of your own graveyard. Perhaps something to remove a lot of little Myr artifact creatures or weenie creatures like Goblins (I had to say that so don't tell my cousins if you can find any left)....Consume the Meek & Marsh Casualties. Also Death Mark or a creature with swamp walk for mirror type matches. Or colorless creature removal using an artifact to off Eldrazi.
standard is M11, scars of mirrodin, and Zendikar block - zendikar, Worldwake, & rise of the Eldrazi I'd focus on the equipment theme: speed + pounding and remove the overwhleming stampedes and Not of this Worlds and add two more Stoneforge Mystics and protect with Vines of Vastwood which will have more versatility and the +4/+4 as well. I'd add another kor Outfitter and remove one of the the Glint hawks. Also Baloth Cage Trap (for artifact heavy decks - Scars of Mirrodin!) or Summoning Trap against u/w control/draw go because they like to mana leak or use another counter spell and then you can spring the Summoning Trap - look at your next seven cards, choose a creature from among them, and put it into play! I hope this is worth considering.....oh, I like the new white artifact/enchantment removal Instant from Scars - Revoke Existance. Your Goblin Guide.
Getting the specific equipment for the specific situation looks cool to me - a collar when life is needed or Argentium Armor when you go for the knock out! Also, remember that the new Elspeth doesn't destroy token permanents or she would destroy her own token creatures. So that is why I suggested ways to generate token creatures. Also, you may want to look hard at equipment that is "undestructible". But I do like that you kept your mana cost down and therefore can play with a lower mana ratio to cards in your deck increasing the probability of drawing a hand of creatures. I prefer creatures that can inflict early damage versus equipment, however, because if it comes down to needing a good top deck draw a good creature is generally more important than a piece of equipment - equipment is useless - it just lies rusting on the battlefield unless you have a creature to attach it to. Otherwise, it can be pretty cool! Oh....almost forgot.....look at Revoke Existence! Definately worthwhile to remove a Ratchet Bomb, etc. from the game because Sun Titan returns stuff from their graveyard as well as many of the new Scars of Mirrodin cards can do. Finally, Mimic Vat will be a card you may face - being able to remove it can help with Revoke Existence. Hmmmm - it may even be good for your deck since you aren't running a token generator deck so you need some other form of card advantage incase speed throws you upon your own sword!
You may be able to improve on Blackcleave Goblin - since its casting cost is 3B (4 mana) Maybe experiment with Ichorclaw Myr - an artifact creature with infect that only costs 2 mana. When blocked, Ichorclaw Myr gets +2/+2 which means he kills most creatures blocking him early, just to avoid a poison counter! Mimic Vat is worth consideration for your sideboard if you face an opponent with creature hate/removal! It essentially gives all your creatures "unearth" when they go the graveyard. Because of cards like Sun Titan, the inexpensive Nihil Spellbomb is good to have in your sideboard. Let me know what you think, Goblin Guide
How has hand of the Praetors faired for you? Are you able to add poison counters to your opponent just by casting creatures with infect? Goblinguide
I don't like quest for the Holy Relic in this deck - it is too slow and too vulnerable. something like Brave the Elements will protect your white creatures to 1) allow a final attack to break through or 2) protect your creatures as you equip them. It is an Instant that costs one white mana only. Silence is also worth considering. Also the new Scars of Mirrodin "Myrsmith" may be a good addition since you have lots of equipment and artifact creatures. Steel Overseer is good. Pacifism or Arrest are good too. Finally, look at artifiacts in Scars of Mirrodin that will allow you to deal with black creatures protected from white. Keep in mind that weenie decks need to win before a control deck gets 6 lands in play or have them about to collapse. "Leonin Arbiter" is a hot card - take a look at E-bay (selling like hot cakes) because it slows down mana ramp decks which rely on searching for lands - it also slows down other decks relying on fetch lands to fix their mana colors and thin out their decks!
This deck should have Fireballs so that you can cast a larger damage spell after Fire Servant is finally cast. Also, besides Fling, you need a card like an Altar so you can sacrifice your opponent's creatures instead of giving them back. I would also consider Grotag Siege-Runner which destroys creatures with defender (white) and does to damage to them also. Ember Hauler acts like a minnie Fling. Both keep your oppent's board clear and/or give you permanent sources of damage since this deck isn't about maximizing turns like a red deck wins has to...or it loses when its hand is depleted and is forced to top deck a card.
I would remove the Arc Runners for Chandra's Spitfire. I also agree with some of the other suggestions that fling should be removed. If you are trying to keep the deck standard I would add Temple Bell - use it at the end of your opponent's turn so you get to use the extra card before your opponent. If this is a local for fun deck then Howling Mine is good because it is cheaper to cast then Temple Bell. Remove Pyretic Ritual. The deck needs Fetch lands - even the budget lands, to assure you can Blaze on your opponent's turn and pump your Zektar Shrines. Attack with your Zektar Shrine creature when its trample damage will do the most damage - forget the fling. Red has to maximize turns. This is very important. Also you need to hold enough burn spells in hand in case you need to destroy a Baneslayer Angel before it gains life! Red has trouble against life gaining decks which can utilize the life gain to set up their control. Good luck. P.S. Goblin Bushwacker is good, and Crusher Zendikon are worthy of Merit because land creatures have haste if enchanting a land that is already in play through an untap step.
Certainly, you need to trim the deck to 60 cards. And you can have 15 cards in your sideboard for certain match-ups. Make sure you know what you will remove after game one of a 2 out of 3 match to add a sideboard card so you don't waste match time, especially if you ned to win both the 2nd and 3rd game to win the match after sideboarding. Now having said that let me think about your deck list above....hmmmm..... Everflowing Chalice from Worldwake could add a bit of mana ramp to your deck to go along with the Gold Myrs and Voltic keys. Curse of Chains is no longer legal so remove it. Steel Overseer should be in the deck to pump Ornithopters. Try this: "Sphere of Destruction" Platinum Angel 4x Gold Myr 4x Voltic keys 3x Everflowing Chalice 4x Ornithopter 4x Palladium Myr 2x Etched Champion 2x Sun Titan 2x Salvage Scout 3x Myr Battlesphere 2x 30 Creature Indestructibility 3x Silence 4x 7 Spells (Enchantments and instants) Plains 19x Tectonic Edge 4x (to kill man lands, etc.) or Kabira Crossroads 4x (to gain life) 23 Lands 30 + 7 + 23 = 60 cards Sideboard Pacifism 4x (Sideboard) Day of Judgement 3x (Sideboard - or 4) Priests of Titania 3x (Sideboard) Protected from Red Salvage Scout 1x (sideboard) Leyline of Sanctity 4x (Sideboard) 15 Card Sideboard This is a tight deck with sideboard. Consideration: Armored Ascension 3x in place of Indestructibility - great on a priests when playing against a "red deck wins" (rdw) deck.
Let me know how it works against the new decks and decks that will remain in the standard format. Your sideboard looks good - I like the memorex card. Tim
I would try to slow them down with land bounce in this type of deck then get your Caress into play. Megrim may go out of standard this October I believe. If you are playing casual you have boomerang and some other ways to slow your opponent down (slowing down your opponent in this case means making them keep cards in their hand). In standard there are a limited number of cards that can bounce their mana back to their hand. M11 offered players nothing to use this strategy with. Unsommon works on creatures to give you one more turn, but doesn't slow down your opponent's progression to higher casting cost spells. Aether Tradewinds bounces a land but it costs three and you must bounce one of your permanents - works ok with a bommerang creature, but it is their lands that you want to keep off the table. Also all the Fetch lands circumvented the strategy also. Into the roil would have been a versatile (would have been) if it bounced lands, but it doesn't! Twitch slows them down and it Cantrips (replaces itself) but it cost three and they simply decide whether to cast a spell that costs four or three on turn 4. (they only sort of lose a turn because they still kept a land in play) Regress will bounce a permanent - includes a land ...so that is two differnt cards - 8 land bounce cards. Again, it costs three. Reality spasm is a Twitch with out the Cantrip, so you have to cast it when you have four lands in play so you can tap two of your opponent's lands or other permanents. I am pointing out these cards because you want to keep threats off the field of play and keep their threats in their hand where you attempt to make them discard them. Unfortunately, the new Scars set offers nothing new to bounce permanents like lands back to your opponent's hand. Evidently, WotC's decision makers/designers aren't interested in allowing a player to employ this method of control while employing a discard/damaging strategy.
What type of decks have you played it against? Have you considered a sideboard for tournament play? Stompy (Man) Lands could be an issue for you Spreading Seas would be an excellent sideboard to deal with such lands and give you a cantrip (card replacement). Also, valakut, the Molten Pinacle Decks running Primeval Titans will cause a problem for your deck. Against blue or blue/white control decks some players using this deck are mainboarding a green trap card called Summoning Trap. It is pretty nast after you counter one of their spells - look at next 7 cards and choose a creature and put it into play! So two Trapfinder's Tricks and two Dispels are good in your sideboard. Besides removing Traps like Summoning Trap you get to look in your opponent's hand. Are you looking at the Spoiler List for the next block of cards about to come out? See if there are some cards that will ehance your deck and/or your sideboard.
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