I've never considered that Traumatize does not win the game, I was merely looking at its efficiency for its cost. Haunting Echoes doesn't necessarily win the game either, but it does put you real close to ending it. My favorite thing about Archive Trap is combo'ing it with Ghost Quarter and Mind Funeral :) It just reeks of amazing synergy. And Lim-Dul's Vault /is/ amazing, its like a tutor that can find multiple answers at once :D Just beware, I've lost games because of it too. Sometimes you have to know when to stop cycling and change strategies based upon what's on top.
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Thank you :) I have a hard time running MBC without some combination of Crucible, Strip Mine, and Lake of the Dead. Bloodghast and Diabolic Intent make that all the more difficult :P
Traumatize does still have its strong suits, like if an opponent mills into an Eldrazi before you can extract it, or drops an Elixir of Immortality, or I've even seen a good anti-mill mechanic worked into Big Green with Kozilek and Fauna Shaman. It's a failsafe, because once an opponent shuffles their graveyard, mill is pretty much done for. This, at the very least, will put 20 or so cards back into their graveyard post-shuffle. Regarding LotV, I usually encounter two varieties of mill -- that which runs LotV and mills through their entire library, and milltraction with Haunting Echoes. I personally prefer milltraction, there's just so much more versatility (like Snapcaster Mage coming out in Innistrad) but LotV is certainly viable, and even excels against certain decks. It's pretty much the /only/ mill that can win against Dredge, but then that's LotV for you :P Also, there's another creature you (Majician) might want to look into -- Shimian Specter. He doesn't see much competitive playtime, but he's one of my all time favorite creatures :) It's like Memoricide on a flying stick, without the "name a card" stipulation.
In a 26 land deck (assuming 1 land per turn until 4th turn, 5th land on 6th) that's 60 cards (full library) - 7 (opening hand) - 6 (cards drawn for 6 turns) = 47 cards remaining (assuming no other mill) / 2 (Traumatize) = Mill 23 cards. A competent mill deck should have already milled 20+ cards by then, so Mill 13 cards. It's like archive trap without the trap part ;) Imo, Haunting Echoes is infinitely better. I would recommend running (the card named) Extract over Traumatize. It'll help pull Eldrazi, and other things that shuffle the graveyard back into the library.
Haunting Echoes and Leyline of the Void are redundant. Also, if you want to try something potentially fun with Sacrament and Mind Funeral, try running a pair of Panoptic Mirror :) You can cast Sacrament for free during your upkeep, and still pay the kicker for {7}. It's a bit of a heavy combo, but you have plenty of other spells you could put on the mirror as well and {7} is a lot more achievable than {7}{B}{B}{B}.
Also, a little bit of extraction (Memoricide, Sadistic Sacrament, etc) can make Thought Disector uber deadly. Extirpate to remove high priority targets from an opponents library, and Haunting Echoes to really screw them up after they've milled 10 or so.
Add Ghost Quarter for land removal and to combo with Archive Trap :D
Honestly the only reason I wanted to splash blue is because I have a single Inferno Titan and a single Frost Titan XD I'm going back to mono red, but I'll make another deck for that. Only problem is you cant use a spell to ramp into an early Koth and get out Chandra in the same turn. Dunno if that's so much a concern atm or not. But Rite of Flame isn't a bad idea, I think. Between Koth and Chandra, it'd provide consistent mana accel to keep the deck balanced with such a heavy list of cmc 3 spells. Funny thing, though. Turn 1: Mountain Turn 2: Mountain, Simian Spirit Guide, Rite of Flame, Koth, Koth's -2, Rite of Flame, Chandra, Chandra's +1 Turn 3: Mountain, Chandra's -2, Gambit & Proliferate, Gambit & Proliferate, Koth's +1, swing for 4. Might be a little stacked, but hey. It helps me sleep better at night knowing it's possible :)
Don't trust the sample hands, it shuffles land like a noob.
I know some people who trade for value and others who trade for rarity and what they like/need. A card is only worth the cents it costs to print it unless you're playing it, eh? I'm actually flip-flopping on this deck quite a bit. I can run a Koth/Chandra burn deck like the initial build, maybe try to find a way to build what I have into Kuldotha Red (unlikely), or even Chandra/Jace in UR Pyro. Hmm... I'm thinking about keeping it burn though, since I did just get Koth in a very good trade. Ideas?
As a matter of fact, I'm going to scrap this list and rebuild with what I have. Which is unfortunately nowhere near what I had here before :-/
This is going to be changed around quite a bit, I absolutely despise the current mana curve. I went out last night, the guy I thought I could get two Chandras from misunderstood what I meant. He did infact have 3 Chandras, 2 for trade, but they were 1 of each version XD But I did get Chandra, and then Koth in another trade :D And all it cost me was Last Stand, Legacy Weapon, Planar Portal and a Sun Titan. Absofrickenlutely! This deck needs Shrine of Burning Rage! Can't believe I forgot about that :3
Well I'll be... >.> It /is/ banned. It seems so arbitrary next to a Post ramping out 18 mana per turn.. :P Stalked Prey is 100% bad ass. It would be insane with hordes of Goblins. The initial problem is that the list is already packed so tight, between artifacts, rebirth, battle cry, burn and card advantage. It would be a bit tricky to rewrite the formula to fit it in, but I think it's doable :)
I know what you mean :P I want a triplicate of them, along with a pair of Koth. And that's the center of the deck :D http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=231260
Hopefully I'll be able to trade for 2 more Chandras tonight ^-^ I fell in love with the card when I realized how even more badass her second ability is. o.o Next spell you cast /until the end of the turn/. Only card I could copy was Incinerate, but in limited that's enough to win :D Her +1 being a measly 1 point of damage was also more effective than I thought it'd be. Mostly just because I brought her up to 8 counters and dumped her -6 for the win :P
HAH! Just got back from the Magic Celebration mini master tournament. I /dominated/. First booster rare was Grim Lavamancer with Goblin Fireslinger, Scepter of Empires, and Blood Ogre. Second pack I opened Chandra and Carnage Worm. Third pack I opened Inferno Titan. They were freaking stacked! Anywho, just mentioning this because I opened a Chandra :D
Quietus Spike should only be a dollar or so. Otherwise I'm at a loss to replace Jitte. Banshee's Blade provides about 1/6 the pump and none of the other utility, and that's about the only card I can think of to compare.. Um.. Nemesis Mask would be funny?
And Allosaurus Riders.. Dayamn!
Oh man. I love the Khalni Hydra for Pods. Easy to cast 8-cost creature to chain up to Progenitus :D
Apostle's Blessing is what you'll want to replace Distortion Strike with. It doesn't rebound or buff, but it does partially fulfill the roles of both Distortion Strike and Vines of Vastwood when they drop.
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