Puschkin

Thanks.

Corrected the cc1/2 error in the descriptions.

I could probably go down in landcount to get running, however, I need lands to put on top to not get damaged. Moreover each land makes the next Soothsaying, Suffer the Past and Exsanguinate bigger. So I am unsure about this and only playing the deck will tell. It's one of the things I am monitoring.

The card you get from the seer is NOT a draw! Probably for it's own good, otherwise it would be too tempting to couple it with Underworld Dreams and from there it gets boring fast.

About the removal debate: I can understand (to some degree) that players don't want removal in their agressive 1-on-1 decks. But not running removal (besides creature removal) in any multiplayer format is nuts! Unless of course you play against noobish creature decks all day - and even then you run into equipments and enchantments that boost creatures. Those players are probably the same that complain about silly combos or gamebreaking permanents ...

Now to the part about putting cards on top opponent's library:
I briefly thought about Memory Lapse and then decided against it. The reason is twofold:
For one, if I start adding those cards, then I have to cut something. Knowing me the result would be yet another deck with lots of single cards and two-ofs, nobody would bother reading and the deck would get ignored again.
Secondly its about multiplayer dynamics. Adding those cards makes the deck more comboish => I would be a bigger threat => I get ganked on earlier and harder. But that might happen no matter what, so I still consider adding this stuff. Since I stopped researching past Memory Lapse, lets examine your suggestions:

- Ether Well: Maybe, but I don't think that it will be creatures that kill me.
- Nevermaker: That's pretty nifty! Didn't know that card - the evoke makes it flexible.
- Research the Deep won't work since this deck will hardly ever win a clash, Soothsaying or not, simply because of that flat mana curve
- Noxious Revival: Hm. Is there something similar that isn't one-shot?
-Spin into Myth: That's viable, however, 5 mana is risky. Too bad this is the only card so far with fateseal
- Totally Lost: I'll go with Nevermaker!

About non-basics, I could maybe run cycling lands which would also solve the question if I should go down with land count.

Thanks again.

Please check out my newest creation, it is budget, straight, easy to understand, has lots of 4-ofs and everything else you guys love. The only thing it doesn't have yet is any comments ... but it could need some tuning!

http://www.mtgvault.com/puschkin/decks/think-small-30/

And that's where I think many players make a mistake. They just look at the price of a deck but don't evaluate the longivity of those cards.

See, you can buy a deck for 30 dollars and call it a day but if the deck consists of cards that are too specific then you don't really build up a collection because you will not be able to use them in the future outside of that deck. Most tribal decks are like that. A bunch of creatures that buff each other but rarely work with something else.
But if your deck contains lots of cards that are generally useful, then you are really building up a collection you can work with. I'd rather spend 50 dollars on a deck with cards like Black Sun's Zenith, Phyrexian Metamorph, Incendiary Command, Mother of Runes and Spell Crumple than 30 dollars on a Ally deck where most cards can't stand on their own.
That's also the reason why you should not dodge buying dual lands for too long. It doesn't matter if it's fecthlands, shocklands or whatever, once you've got them, they will always be useful for you.

The other thing, of course, is the value. Will the cards keep it? Of course that's hard to say, but there are some rules of thumb. Most importantly, how old are they? Most cards that are still Type II legal will go down once they rotate out of Standard. I'd rather buy a 500 dollar Legacy deck than a 300 dollar Standard deck because I know the former well keep it's value.
Also, there are a lot of cards that aren't really worth their price. Many cards only have a nominal value, 50 cent here and 90 cent there, but that's just a price dealers slap on them arbitrarily. If you try to sell it yourself you will never going to get your money back, you might not even find a buyer for 10 cent. MANY cards are of this nature. Staple cards, however, are always in high demand. A Qasali Pridemage may not be expensive either but has a *true* value of about 1 dollar. It's listed as 1.50 but it is so widely used and in demand that if you go down to 1 dollar, then it won't take you long to find a buyer. Only THEN a card has a true value. Your Kavu Monarch, however, may be listed as 40 cent but even if you go down to 10 you will probably never find a buyer.

People have literally worked themselves to death in about any era. WWII? Poeple died in concentration camps/gulags. Industrialization era? People worked 14+ hour shifts under inhuman circumstances without any safety issues in place. Medieval ages? Peasants broke their back to be able to feed themselves and pay their tithes in serfdom. It doesn't matter where and when you look back, there have always been slaves or forms close to it. And compared to that we can still consider ourselves lucky.

1) Shouldn't you run 4 Birthing Pods!?

2) That Whip of Erebos exiles your dudes when they leave play, so they won't come back via persist if that's what you are aiming for. Corpse Dance would work because they are exiled at end of turn, so if you sac them before eot, they'll bouce back with persist.

3) Undying works, too! Geralf's Messenger seems to be destined for this as a possible replacement/addition to the Finks, however, the triple black might be problematic.

4) Voracious Wurm seems out of place here. It's only good if you have everything else and then you probably don't need it. Strangleroot Geist, Butcher Ghoul or Safehold Elite are worthwhile replacements at that slot.

5) Rancor is a strong card, however, does it really belong here? You don't need to attack to win and your creatures will keep coming and going, suffering from summoning sickness again and again. And you don't want to risk most of your creatures in combat anyway. So I suggest to make room for something else:
- the missing two Birthing Pods
- Artifact/Enchantment removal (tons of cards to pick here)
- Melira :P
- library manipulation and/or card draw
- Knights of Sursi would be a cheap way to have a CC4 dude ready when it's about Birthing Pod time


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If you found this to be helpful, don't forget to upvote and to check out (one of) my decks.

Sure, you are always welcome and you know that :)

If I pick a Fog Bank, then, with Shared Fate active, my opponent will have access to Fog Banks. The usual scenario is that my opponent will have some creatures or other damage sources out by the time I play Shared Fate, so I am on the clock. I have to draw creatures from my opponent's deck to kill him and if he can stall me with my own Fog Banks, then I might be too late.

Quicksilver Wall however ... note that EVERY player can bounce it! More importantly, no matter who controls it and who activates the bounce ability, it will alway go to *MY* hand ;) So, if my opponent is playing Quicksilver Wall, he is actually helping me :)
For the same reason Wall of Tears would be awful in this deck! If my opponent gets it and I run into it with the creatures I got from him, they will go back to HIS hand.

Sigh. This is probably also one of the reasons I don't get many replies ... poeple just don't realize what I am doing here :P
So, glad that you asked^^^(even though I explained the bounce thing several times so far ...)

The Tangle Wires weren't that great in the games I played meanwhile. I have to add that I played both 1-on-1 and multiplayer. Basically, it does slow dwn my opponent but usually not enough. He can typically afford to untap at least one creature and keep on hitting me while I also suffer from the Wire, albeit less.
I'll try Quicksilver Wall next.

No.
If it was that easy, then there would only be experts.

And sometimes it goes the other way around: You lose but it's not your own deck you begin to hate, it's the opponent's deck that strikes awe in you! How did I lose so fast despite having lots of defense? How can he pull off his combo so consistently even after 5 games? How does he manage to always always ALWAYS have the rights answer to whatever I play? Then you are hunting down decklists and try to play yourself what has beaten your ass.

And sometimes, when playing your enemies' deck, you learn how it works from the other side. And that in turn may give you hints at what you did wrong back then when you lost. And sometimes you go back to your old style, refine it and mold it into a deadlier weapon because now you know your enemy.

If you are honest, most of what Sun Tzu has to say is obvious, too.

It's just that the average person is lazy with his brain and tends to get stuck in common thinking patterns, sometimes so much that he can't see the obvious. Also, regarding Sun Tzu, he was talking strategy for military operations, and ... well, let's put it this way: The average general (or any other military leader) of that time or even many hundred years later were completely incompetent! Let's see:

* Guys that became military leaders by inheritage (just because you are born royal doesn't mean you know anything about strategy).
* Guys that became military leaders because of their position (for example if you were a consul in ancient Rome, you got your own legion, no matter if you've ever seen a battlefield)
* Guys that had enough money or power to field troops and then took over leadership because that's how they roll.

Add to that the typical ego that that is usually attached to people like that and their tendency to not accept any advice or criticism and you get pretty laughable generals.

Okay, some of that applies to Magic players as well, so ... go ahead and read Sun Tzu :)

I am not sure if this really helps new players. While what has been said is true, it also is confusing more than it actually clears up, I guess. And that's mostly due to the nature of the game and all those exceptions. Let's examine some of these and give examples for everything (I think examples are the only way to illustrate):

RESOURCES WIN THE GAME
VS
KILLING THE OPPONENT WINS THE GAME

Actually both are true. Forget for a while that you can win without killing your opponent (Test of Endurance for exqample). Yes, it doesn't help you amassing 200 life and 20 cards in hand if your opponent is still alive and about to deal the last poison counter to you. However, the more resources you amass, the easier it will become for you to actually kill your opponent.
The reason why experienced players say "resources win the game" is because if you waste your resources, you will be very unlikely to kill anybody. Of course, resources alone won't kill but they are needed in order to kill. What's the typical newbie's stance towards this? Newbies typically go straight for the opponent's throat and neglect building up resources, both in deckbuilding and actual gameplay. This might work out okay for some forms of pure aggro but even those have to convserve their resources.
EXAMPLES:
* Throwing a Giant Growth on an unblocked creature just to do more damage: If that kills the opponent right there, do it of course. But if not, you are wasting resources. Wait for your opponent trying to kill or block it dead and then GG it ... you will gain card advantage and keep your critter which will translate into more damage in the long run, exceeding those extra 3 that you would have done otherwise.
* Using your Lighting Bolt to burn the opponent's face right away instead of killing off a creature. Removing potential blockers clears the path for your attackers and therefore translates into damage, too. Killing of something like an Llanowar Elf on the first or second turn will also slow the opponent down. Especially the latter is a war on resources that will often times ultimately translate into a kill that you would not have achieved otherwise.

However, there will be situations where it's the other way around. Assume the same as above but your opponent is a deck with removal and counterspells instead of blocking creatures. Your opponent has tapped out and you are attacking, unblocked.
* Now you DO want to Giant Growth the creatures because you won't need to save them for creature combat and you will not get many opportunities to play them. So do it NOW when you have that opportunity.
* Same is true for your burn: Use it in a batch when the opponent is tapped out. You won't need it to burn creatures anyway.

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RESOURCES
VS
IMPACT

When talking about resources and making these decisions it basically comes down to this:
- SHORT TERM effects Vs LONG TERM effects
- BUILDING UP (resources) Vs IMMEDIATE IMPACT on the BOARD POSITION

Here the granddaddy of all examples to understand this:

* You and your opponent had a lengthy creature battle. You have no creature left, the opponent has a 5/5. You now draw and cast a Hero's Reunion. This spell is efficient, you traded 1 card and 2 mana for 7 life. However, it doesn't have any impact on the board! You are still left without blockers and that 5/5 will still damage you every turn. So, the Hero's Reunion barely bought you one more turn to draw a card that remedies your situation. A removal spell or potential blocker would indirectly have saved you more life!

Again, this can be reversed depending on the situation, decks and dozens of other factors. For example if it's only 2 damage you get every turn, then that Hero's Reunion would have bought you at least 3 more turns. But generally you are better off running more spells that actually change board position than those that don't. However, this doesn't mean those cards without immedediate impact are bad in nature. You can easily see why if you take a card drawer:

* If you play a Concentrate instead of a Hero's Reunion, you'll draw 3 cards. And obviously the solution to your problem can be among those cards. Now it depends on the mana you have available - can you still cast that solution after spending 4 mana on concentrate? Chances are you can't, so you have to wait another turn. On the other hand, among those three cards might be more mana, another resource by the way, which will allow you to do so in the future, if you survive, that is.

Then there are cards like Preferred Selection. This one doesn't impact board position at all. But it will improve the quality of your future draws. This is something very hard to judge - and usually it is not worth the trouble when going 1-on-1 against straight built decks. But the longer a game actually goes, the better this card will be.

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Generally put, you always have to balance between short term impact and long term impact. Basically there are three categories:
SUICIDE STYLE:
Doesn't invest in the future, only wants immediate impact on the board, aims for short games. Typcially aggro and combo.

BALANCED STYLE:
Has a mix of cards that invest and cards that impact early, but nothig outrageous in either direction. Has tools for any length of games but usually wins midgame. Most flexibility. Typically aggro-control, slower combo or any kind of mid-ranged deck.

ECOWHORE STYLE:
It is all about building up resources and investing long-term, will typically on the brink of losing when it's engines start to kick in. Aims for longer games. Typically control or lockdown decks, EDH.

Suicide's aim is to outrun any opponent before his resource buildup kicks in, the Ecowhore tries to od the opposite: Accumulate your resources first and then take control over game before you die. Balanced tries to do either depending on the opponent. This *typically* leads to a rock-paper-scissors scenario:

SUICIDE beats ECOWHORE
ECOWHORE beats BALANCED
BALANCED beats SUICIDE

This is only an overall tendency, though, and might be different for each format. Also, that formula applies mostly to 1-on-1 games. Most multiplayer formats favor the Ecowhores and crush the Suiciders.

EDIT:
By the way, I don't think this is any more useful for newbies than what the article says, just additional rambling. Nothing you can ever read will be able to replace actual experiences you make throughout real games. The article and my comment are just there to hint what you have to look for.

That's a bit silly, yes ... only the controller of a card can activate it's abilities unless the card says otherwise (like Quicksilver Wall does).

There is another underlying problem why it is so hard for new players to understand why cards like Fact or Fiction or Brainstorm are so good: They need to be coupled with other specific cards and advanced concepts and strategies. Cards and strategies that you and me take for granted, but aren't for beginners!
Let's take Brainstorm - if you don't have a way to shuffle your library and if your deck isn't about combo or control, just a "regular" creature deck without any tricks, then Brainstorm actually isn't a good card! In that case it acts more like a one-shot Sylvan Library. But we are so used to play with fetchlands for example that most of our decks have ways to shuffle anyway, so we don't really question this part. And Fetchlands are also cards a newbie will wonder why they are so good - and that's understandable, because they in turn need a couple if conditions to be met. It is so easy to dismiss both Brainstorm and fetchies when their true potential will only be unfolded when played together.

I still remember those old times when Necropotence just started to be played in tourneys and later on if it should be banned or not. The general gist of R&D was that Necropotence itself isn't the problem, the cards you draw with it are. I am among those that think R&D was right! See, Necro comes with a ton of drawbacks. Since you skip your regular draw you basically have to use it once (and therefore pay 1 life) just to ocunter the drawback each turn. Which means you are on a clock, an additional one: Your opponent is the other clock and each damage your opponent deals to you counts twice as much because it also means one less card for you. So, you will only succeed if you play the most (mana-)efficient cards there are because if you don't translate the cards you get with Necro into other resources, you will lose fast!
So, what are the typical cards in Necrodecks? Depending on format and era you'll name Dark Ritual, Hymn to Tourach, Strip Mine, Mind Twist, Sink Hole. Look at them - all of them are ultra-efficient and each of those have either been banned in one format or the other or have been on the brink of being banned. All of them have been removed from the base sets for good reasons and never been reprinted outside of special editions like From the Vault.
To back up my thesis I used to challange those that don't agree with this: You and me, let us both build a deck only using cards from Ice Age (and maybe Alliances and Coldsnap which are supposed to form a block). You do a Necrodeck. You will fail. Simply because in this environment you have Mind Warp instead of Mind Twist, Rain of Tears instead of Sink Hole, Abyssal Specter instead of Hypnotic Specter, Surging Dementia instead of Hymn to Tourach and absolutely no replacement for Strip Mine! Those aren't just inferior substitutes, they simply aren't able to fulfill their role because they are so slow! Destroying a land on turn 3 instead of turn 2 is a fundamental difference, if not for the fact alone that Necropotence itself costs 3 mana and competes for the drop on turn 3!
No matter what you do, an IceAgeOnly Necrodeck will always lose to any other IceAgeOnly deck, simply because this environement doesn't have any other broken cards to play with.

This kind of attitude has it's place: Tournaments. Which multiplayer certainly isn't. And people with a mindset like yours are better off attending tournaments. Often times they still try their hands on multiplayer - for exactly this reason this list was made.
Otoh (as I wrote in my reply to this thread way up the comments) if you need to explain why combos are bad fpor multiplayer, chances are that players like you really, really don't grasp the concept of what it is like to play a game socially instead of competitively. Which ultimately means they'll never understand.

"My fun isn't dependent on you and neither is yours dependent on me."
This is completely untrue, especially in multiplayer. Magic is like sex, you need at least two participants and if nobody cares for the desires of the others, the result might still be sex, but it will be horrible sex. And when you play lame combos (especially those without interaction) then that's like jerking off and cumming into the face of everyone else. So, unless you find someone that likes jizz in his face it is YOU that has to fuck off and go somewhere else, not the group! Magic is a social game and if you enforce your way, it is X players that don't have fun. If you want to be that guy, you ruined the game or evening for everyone. Because even if you or the people that dont like your way leave, you won't have enough players left.

Feeding the Lavamancer and thinning out the deck. They should have been Polluted Mire, though, so he can add a single Island which would give him the option to hardcast those Probes.

Look again. Line 3 and 4 of third strophe.

Or just listen to the freaking song, it's on YouTube.

I highlighted the line, it IS from it!
I own the original CD, BTW.

And here I thouoght it was about Sir Mix-A-Lot!?

I like big butts and I can not lie
You other brothers can't deny
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist
And a round thing in your face
You get sprung, wanna pull out your tough
'Cause you notice that butt was stuffed
Deep in the jeans she's wearing
I'm hooked and I can't stop staring
Oh baby, I wanna get with you
And take your picture
My homeboys tried to warn me
But that butt you got makes me so horny
Ooh, Rump-o'-smooth-skin
You say you wanna get in my Benz?
Well, use me, use me
'Cause you ain't that average groupie
I've seen them dancin'
To hell with romancin'
She's sweat, wet,
Got it goin' like a turbo 'Vette
I'm tired of magazines
Sayin' flat butts are the thing
Take the average black man and ask him that
She gotta pack much back
So, fellas! (Yeah!) Fellas! (Yeah!)
Has your girlfriend got the butt? (Hell yeah!)
Tell 'em to shake it! (Shake it!) Shake it! (Shake it!)
Shake that healthy butt!
Baby got back!

(LA face with Oakland booty)
Baby got back!
(LA face with Oakland booty)
(LA face with Oakland booty)

[Sir Mix-a-Lot]
I like 'em round, and big
And when I'm throwin' a gig
I just can't help myself, I'm actin' like an animal
Now here's my scandal
I wanna get you home
And ugh, double-up, ugh, ugh
I ain't talkin' bout Playboy
'Cause silicone parts are made for toys
I want 'em real thick and juicy
So find that juicy double
Mix-a-Lot's in trouble
Beggin' for a piece of that bubble
So I'm lookin' at rock videos
Knock-kneeded bimbos walkin' like hoes
You can have them bimbos
I'll keep my women like Flo Jo
A word to the thick soul sisters, I wanna get with ya
I won't cuss or hit ya
But I gotta be straight when I say I wanna *fuck*
Till the break of dawn
Baby got it goin' on
A lot of simps won't like this song
'Cause them punks like to hit it and quit it
And I'd rather stay and play
'Cause I'm long, and I'm strong
And I'm down to get the friction on
So, ladies! (Yeah!) Ladies! (Yeah)
If you wanna roll in my Mercedes (Yeah!)
Then turn around! Stick it out!
Even white boys got to shout
Baby got back!

Baby got back!
Yeah, baby... when it comes to females, Cosmo ain't got nothin' to do with my selection.
36-24-36? Ha ha, only if she's 5'3".

[Sir Mix-a-Lot]
So your girlfriend rolls a Honda, playin' workout tapes by Fonda
But Fonda ain't got a motor in the back of her Honda
MY ANACONDA DON't WANT NONE
UNLESS YOU'VE GOT BUNS, HUN
You can do side bends or sit-ups,
But please don't lose that butt
Some brothers wanna play that "hard" role
And tell you that the butt ain't gold
So they toss it and leave it
And I pull up quick to retrieve it
So Cosmo says you're fat
Well I ain't down with that!
'Cause your waist is small and your curves are kickin'
And I'm thinkin' bout stickin'
To the beanpole dames in the magazines:
You ain't it, Miss Thing!
Give me a sister, I can't resist her
Red beans and rice didn't miss her
Some knucklehead tried to diss
'Cause his girls are on my list
He had game but he chose to hit 'em
And I pull up quick to get wit 'em
So ladies, if the butt is round,
And you want a triple X throw down,
Dial 1-900-MIXALOT
And kick them nasty thoughts
Baby got back!
Baby got back!