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This is to piss off my buddies. We are playing regularily for 15+ years and I am always the one with the fun, original decks that turn out to be a tad bit too harmless in the recent years - not because they suck, but because my buddies can't always resist to use the ridiculous cards and combos of the recent editions. So I wanted a deck that's as unfun to play against as some of their decks and whip it out whenever they push the envelope too much. That's why I also included some pieces of power which I usually don't use in my casual decks.Anyway, what I brewed up here is a lockdown based on the combo of Maralen and Stranglehold. It works like this:Maralen makes all players skip ANY draw they would make, no matter what, players just can't draw cards anymore. Instead each upkeep the active player searches is library for a single card and puts it into his hand (also loses 3 life). This is where Stranglehold comes in, with that out, opponents cannot search their libraries anymore, so unless they have somthing weird like Elkin Bottle out, I will be the only one that gets fresh cards (and since I can grab whatever I want, I should be able to win soon).I usually don't play combo and rarely lockdown (and IF I do, it's usually a softlock), so I am unsure about alot of things. This is still for multiplayer, so I have to be quick. I really don't know how much mana I should have in there, 24 permanent mana sources plus Dark Rituals looks a bit excessive but I can't risk to enter mid- or lategame. Also unsure if I need more removal, an alternate win option or more lifegain. Furthermore I fear the Gatekeepers might stab me in the back and kill a Maralen if I play them early on and my opponents don't try to kill them.As always, cards in the sideaboard are cards I consider adding, not an actual sideboard.
Main strategy:Your goal is to have Maralen and Stranglehold in play as soon as possible. The "sexy rector" engine Academy Rector plus Diabolic Intent can put it together on it's own. Aven Mindcensor is an alternative for Stranglehold, it's no complete lock but hopefully enough (once Maralen resolved, you can grab the Stranglehold). Phyrexian Tower is an alternative to Diabolic Intent kill Academy Rector. Abyssal Gatekeeper is your main line of defence which can also be feeded to Intent or Tower. Maralen, Mindcensor and Gatekeeper can come back with Unearth for a single mana. All these interlocking synergies should make this deck quite consistent, but you'll never know, I haven't played it yet and it's all theory as of now.The fine print:Having the lockdown doesn't always autowin you the game. First problem of course are cards that have already hit play and cards that are still in the opponent's hands. With Maralen out I can tutor each turn but this is fore multiplay (we usually play pentagram) so I still have to pick wisely. I have a single Ray of Distortion to get rid of enchantments or artifacts. It has flashback so I can use it twice without having to waste another Maralen"draw" on a Disenchant effect. There is also a single Innocent Blood to pop creatures left and right. It may catch your Maralen, but can also trigger a chain reaction with Gatekeepers. The other problematic situation is when you have the combo in place but are way back in life at that point. That's what the Zuran Orb is for. I also added a Death Grasp which helps you staying alive, can help getting a player in range (or kill the most dangerous one) or could be used to kill a creature in a pinch.
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this deck is SICK!!!!!! WHOAH!! kinda looks like you thought of everything.... but.. i hate land that comes into play tapped.. i would get rid of the rocky tar pits and use bloodstained mire instead... looks like you are heavy on the land..... for faster mana i would throw in ancient tomb or city of traitors...... those are just some of the first thoughts that come to mind... it looks like you have a good hold on the creature removal... i might think about switching death grasp or zurzn orb for exsanguinate... (it gets you life rediculously quick in multiplayer games) the other thing im thinking is.... how are you going to be able to deal with decks that have a lot of counterspells? maybe thoughtseize? there is another card just like it too.... inquisition of ...( i dont remember the rest) .. thats all i can think of for now..
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sorry... i was also thinking.. less basic land more dual land... add some fetch lands... its not a problem finding land if maralen is in play.. but you dont want a starting hand with the wrong mana for your cards. and maybe add demonic tutor.. you dont always have a creature to sac for the diabolic intent
I'll answer just here for both of your messages.I use MTGVault mainly to build and manage the decks I play IRL, not for others to rebuild them. So, I am not only limited to the cards I actually own, I am also limited to other circumstances: At any given point I have at least 20 decks. Although I do own 4 of every Revised dualland, I can't put them in every deck. So, I spread them across many decks and fetch them. Since the good fetchlands are almost as expensive as the duals they should fetch and since I usually have more time in casual/multiplayer, the very cheap Mirage fetchies are a great substitute. That's also why I usually write into my deck descriptions that people shouldn't comment on the mana base unless I missed a specific non-basic with abilities that are useful for the deck.Having said that, this deck might be the exception where I should indeed switch to the other fetchies and/or other duals like Shocklands. I just don't own many of them.Exsanguinate might indeed be the better option, at least better than Zuran Orb. It was my oldschool brain that processed "Zuran Orb, dude!" when I queried "need lifegain in a pinch to stay alive in an annoying control/lock deck" ;P However, I am hesitant to replace Death Grasp with Exsanguinate because the latter can't kill creatures. Also, we are usually 4-6 players and if we happen to be 5, we play Pentagram. In that format, Exsanguinate might kill players that I want to stay around.Opposing counterspells are of course a concern but my playgroup is sophisticated enough to don't run 10+ of them in every blue deck. They usually run about 4, if at all. If Maralen gets countered, I still have Unearth. If Stranglehold gets countered, I still have Aven Mindcensors (and Unearth for them, too). If all of that gets countered - well, no deck is perfect. I could run Duress, however, what should I cut for it? Deckspace is crucial here and I think, whatever I swap for Duress, it will make the deck weaker in other areas I can't afford. Cavern of Souls would be an option, at least for Maralen. Might screw up the mana base, though.Thanx for the input, though, always good to think everything through again.
didnt mean to jump on your mana... its like one of the only things i can think of that would make your deck better.... ummm... what do you think about Aura of Silence?
Oh ... just re-read Aura of Silence, it also affects all players now? Holy Moly, it does so since 2004 and nobody ever told me ...
only affects opponents i thought...?
Yes, that's what I meant, it affects ALL opponents now. As it's written on the card (the original from Weatherlight, that is), it only affects target opponent. Must have been erratad at the same time as Underworld Dreams.
A cheap lockdown deck, i didn't know that was possible! :)Joking aside, another really good deck. Good job. I always liked Zuran Orb...and have been surprised it isn't more used.
Maybe because the cards that Zuran Orb goes will with (stuff like Balance and Armageddon) have been gone out of fashion as well. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.I'll take the shot at the price tag of this deck as a challange to create a cheap lockdown deck^^
if you got rid of the moxes it actually wouldnt be crazy expensive
The Moxes and the 3 Revised duals. Diabolic Intent, Academy Rector and surprisingly Aven Mindcensor are about 6-12 euros apiece as well.
Yep, Mindcensor, in the states, are about 12 bucks.
yea.. but that takes it from $3000 to more like $500
First time I've seen something like this. +1
Thanks. The odd thing is: I haven't played it yet. Took me forever to get those Mindcensors, Rectors and Intents and since then my buddies weren't annoying enough to whip this out :)
Nice :DI can see how thought-through it is, even with this many playsets... It would be hard to cut cards!All I can really think of are a few draw engines, which you might or might not have thought about:[{Dark Confidant} as a solid creature on the board aswell, but {Dark Tutelage} might be the better card with the same "draw" effect, although it's more expensive ( {2}[b} ), it is an enchantment and works better with your edict effects, not soft-blanking them sometimes.Necropotence :======)] - They are enchantments! But cause additional lifeloss, yeah...And {Scroll Rack} ! Worth cutting a land for in my opinion (but I tend to be greedy), since it finds needed - and shuffles excessive ones away. Yes. With Maralen it even shuffles for free! (Demonic Tutor... I don't know... Diabolic Intect seems stricktly better and the one Demonic might not be needed here, actually. Maybe, can't really tell.)
I don't think I can afford all that life loss ... tempting as those are. Scroll Rack is an excellent suggestion, but the two I have are occupied here http://www.mtgvault.com/puschkin/decks/spell-avalanche/ and they are even better in that one. As I said somewhere else, I have to spread my good cards over 30+ decks (which is the reason my mana base looks so weird). I am waiting for the next reprint of Scroll Rack which is just a question of time, probably in the next Commander set or something like that. Now the difficult part: What to cut for Scroll Rack? Land?
Yeah, Ive glanced over the comments, so I didn't talk about Lotus and Fetches.Well... Yes, I would most definitely cut a land, since you courve out early, also having rituals, Sol ring and Moxen. Also adding 2 Rack in total at least has some upside, even when both of them are out.Of the playsets... I personally would try 4x Stranglehold and 2x Minsdcensor (both together are not toooooo good. Having essentially 10 copies in that configurations seems still good enough, especially when adding Rack)Cut one Swamp, cut one Unearth, adding 2 Racks and the one restricted Necropotence. (More upside with additional Academy Rectors. Since you don't play an enchantment utilitybox, which is another suggestion for removal btw (Serenity), not picking at least a second enchantment seems like a mistake to me.). In that case, I'd finally put in another Exsanguinate for (either) the second Unearth (or Death Grasp).Why the hate on Unearth? :D well, Rack and Necro replace the "find Maralen" part and unearthing a 4 drop for maximum value will happen RELATIVELY late, all in all making it reasonable to cut them for said cards.Again:- 1x Mindscensor- 1x Swamp- 2x Unearth+ 1x Necropotence+ 1x Exsanguinate+ 2x Scroll RackThis would be just to test how it would perfom in comparison, since it is really hard to cut stuff and the deck would only improve slighly, if at all. I also don't consider any shortage of cards here, so it would be my "final cut"....If you want Unearth, though, consider Fleshbag Marauder for Innocent Blood.
Don't forget it's for multiplayer. You just can't expect the first Maralen to survive and Unearth is a cheap way to get it back asap. I do agree that having no secondary option to fetch for the Rectors is a "crime", but Necro ... well, again, in multiplayer, where I annoy everybody at once, I feel like I can't afford to spend any life on card draw. Every critter out including Soul Wardens and their Mothers (of Runes) and other creatures that would otherwise enevr attack will be out to kill me, direct damage that would normally be withheld as removal will go face because, in the end, the safest and quickest way to end the shenanigans will be to remove the player that plays the annoying cards ... then again, necroing into those extra cards might shorten the time I need to kill, so ...But I'll consider your suggestions if I ever build this deck for real. My playgroup has softened down a bit lately and atually listen to criticism, games have become more enjoyable.