Red/black/white madness

Well we’ve been here for 3 weeks and the feedbacks been great. So I did a bit of listening and it turns out a lot of folks want the same thing; something competitive and something cheaper than the tier. Well i 'm not sure how competitve this one is but its a lot of fun..

This deck is unusual in that it uses s few higher price cards, but as the game has changed these cards have dropped in value and the very idea that you could create a budget deck featuring them would have  been a joke three weeks ago.. Ladies and gentlemen this deck uses Baneslayer Angels and in a previously unheard of fashion. Before you say I’ve gone corporate, remember that a month ago these cards were £30/$45 and now you can pick them up on ebay ‘buy it now’ for £13/20 (just to prove my point look here). This deck also uses the planeswalker that proliferate was so clearly aimed at.... Sarkhan The Mad. You can currently pick one up for just £6.99 and by now you might be thinking ... ‘Oh yeah... I get it...’  Well good but we’ve got more to add, but these two cards have a natural synergy which this deck will exploit to the nines.   I call it.

Scars Tech 2- The Wrath of Sarkhan

You will need

4 Dragonmaster Outcast

4 Baneslayer Angel

4 Sarkhan the Mad

4 Act of Treason

3 Liquimetal Coating

3 Throne of Geth

2 Everflowing Chalice

1 Elixir of Immortality

3 Mimic Vats

4 Ratchet Bomb

4 Condemn

Lands, well I am open to suggestions ... right now I’m running 4 terra morphics and 4 evolving wilds and a mix of basics 

Ok basically this is red black control with a double splash of white for the Angels and condemns. The condemns will keep out early threats and defend well against dragons.  In fact most things in the deck will do well against dragons, which is also lucky because you are going to be facing lots of dragons. Why? Because you’re going to be giving them away like they are going out of fashion.

Ok so in what universe is it a good idea to give away dragons? Well it all depends on planning, let’s say you knew there would be dragons and maybe you had planned ahead and ordered the industrial size tins of wieners and a great big dragon cake for the party... and basically set your deck up around that fact... Well surely that would be better than having just anything turn up and try and eat you... and besides... you might be giving your opponent dragons, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to let them keep them.

So what’s the plan, well first things first, you’re not going to be giving away anything unless you a) need to and b) can handle it.

So here’s the general plan...

Early game you’ll be looking for the outcasts and condemns  to get in the way of early attacks. Then the game can run two ways, firstly use Sarkhan to make your opponent sac their biggest threat and give them a dragon, which will just bounce off your angels until you’re ready to steal them back and swing. Then either sac them to Sarkhan, to get a dragon all of your own or you can get Sarkhan to make it deal damage equal to its power to your opponent or their biggest threat before turning in to an artifact and sacking it to the throne to proliferate Sarkhan back up...

...Or you can steal their creatures, or even just sac an outcast, to make a dragon and swing through the air for massive damage... Obviously their dragons will just bounce of your Angels which have the all important ‘protection from Dragons’. Andif one does get through, don’t worry, that turn two ratchet bomb can take them out at instant speed.

Late game the outcasts will conjure up all sorts of chaos and give Sarkhan more fuel for the fire...  

Use the Chalices and the throne to ramp and you should be able to keep pace with most decks. 

Sarkhan can take out most threats and as long as you can deal with the dragons you are going to give your opponents you can mix up their strategies and confuse their game. Use the mimic vat to steal their sacked creatures and keep swinging.

Dependent on which of the tier you’re up against your play will vary, against Eldrazi Ramp don’t be afraid to blow up overgrown battlements with Sarkhan and obviously any actual Eldrazi, against Red Deck blow up your own outcasts and against elves blow up the mythic regenerator and the archdruids.

In testing it’s proving pretty capable, but as always I’d love to hear some suggestions...

News just  in fromn Karchev.... Bloodghast is a good additon to the gang maybe over the thrones ???  anyway keep em coming...

Polymorph Redux..

We’re going to have a look at an old friend this week... There once was a time when polymorph was the fringe deck to watch. It made a show at a few tournaments and it also made an appearance as the sideboard for Pyromancer’s Ascension. You might think that with the advent of Mass polymorph we might see a resurgence, but we’re hitting the border of Mirridon Besieged soon and we haven’t even had a postcard. 

So no one’s playing it and it’s in the card shop bargain bucket, sounds like the perfect time for a rethink.  Ladies and Gentlemen I give you a twist on a classic...

I call it 

Critical Mass

 The problem with polymorph was always the reliability, left unchecked and if you were lucky a turn 3 Iona or Emrakul was probably game however if it went wrong, and it so often did, you could spend the entire game with an Emrakul in your hand and no way in hell of getting it out... or worse yet, lay token after token and not catch a sniff of an actual polymorph and trust me numerous as they are eldrzi spawn do not an army make.

Yes, there were pros, without lots of creatures taking up your slots it had loads of room for answers. (if you’ve just started playing or just don’t know what I am on about... Polymorph was a deck build around the premise that you only had one or two creatures in the entire deck and the rest of it was token generation and ways to search for the elusive polymorph which itself was there to cheat one of your two horrendous fatties into play ) So with all those extra spaces you could add in all sorts of madness.. There was a blue/green version with Into the Roils and negates and ponders, there was a red/blue/green version with staggershocks and bolts and Sarkhan Vol and I as I mentioned above there was a blue/red limited edition hidden in the sideboard of Pyromancers Ascension...  The problem is sometimes it just didn’t work.   So I got thinking is there anything I could do to make it more stable, well... this is what I came up with....

You will need.

4 Mass Polymorph

2 Chimeric Mass

4 Squadron Hawk

3 Rusted Relic

3 Glint Hawk Idol

4 Liquimetal Coating

1 Indomitable Angel

1 Emrakul

1 Iona Shield of Emeria

1 Ulamog

4 Everflowing Chalice

4 Preordain

4 Revoke Existence

3 Contagion Clasp

1 Elixir of Immortality

Go the whole hog with Glacial Fortresses, Seachrome Coasts and Celestial Colonnades, which will give you another threat. You don’t need fetch lands, so save yourself the cash and besides the more decks that use fetch lands the sooner we’ll see main deck Leonin Arbiters, with this deck at least you’ll waste 4 spaces in their sideboard.

Ok what makes this deck different from polymorph is that is has actual threats rather than tokens. The Squadron Hawk is a test play, but it does give you decent targets and of course once you find the first one you can strip your deck of all creatures except for your fatties.  As neither Chimeric Mass, Rusted Relic or Glint hawk Idol actually count as creatures until they hit the open air and even then, two of them will need a nudge.

It might not seem like much but a 2/2 flyer is lightyears ahead of an Eldrazi Spawn and it won’t take long before your rusted relics are swinging in for 5 and you can lay the Chimeric Mass for as much as you can spare.  Meanwhile, preordain for the Mass Polymorph and use the liquimetal coating and revoke existence for the serious game threats. Use the clasps for light removal and to pump the chalices and the Chimeric Mass.

If you can resolve a Mass Polymorph for 4 and get the fatties, or as many as you can in, the end of the game can’t be far off...

So let’s look at the creatures one by one...

The four are a team and they’ll work like one too.. 

Emrakul, Ulamog and Iona need little explanation and unlike the original, this deck will actually let you to play them if you need them, but it could take a while, but why the others? well the angel is there to protect Emrakul or Iona, because with the liquimetal coating  you can turn them into artifacts at will and give them instant shroud, bouncing them with Jace was a favourite trick of Blue White Control and you don’t want to go to all that effort just to have the critters sent back to you hand. Keep Emrakul in play for just one turn and you’ll soon see why Eldrazi ramp is one of the top decks. The angel is also playable early gameand good for protecting your investments.

Competitive?  I think it’ll hold its own... It’s certainly a strong fringe/rogue deck, with careful play it could easily be a contender...it's definatelhy stronger than Polymorph, as it can win games without ever  pulling off the trick...And remember you don't have to animate the Mass or the idol, before you polymorph... unless you  need to...

Update

This is just the alpha list and I'm already thinking about dropping the clasps thanks to a suggestion I swap em for negates from a fella named 4 tens...  I reckon he could be right there.,..

New update...

Suggestions for a green blue version have been coming in and its not a bad play... green will give you ramp and more token generation and access to the possibly game swiinging Autumn's Veil and you can use nature's claim or naturalise inplace of revoke existence

Either way I'd strongly suggest swapping the clasps for See beyonds and not negates... as unlikely though it is to draw two or more of your fatties, fate would find it hillarious...

  

A cheap extended Deck THey Might be Giants (and some cows)

Well we’ve had a crack at standard and we’ve had a sneaky peak at EDH now it’s time for a pop at Extended. Post rotation extended has tightened its belt and we can finally say good bye to the dreaded Goyf...

There’s a lot of cards in extended and I’m not even going to try to trawl my way through them. Instead I am going to show you how to make a simple and effective extended deck which is part Lorwyn tribal, part mythic beat down and surprisingly inexpensive...

I call it...

They might be GIANTS (and some cows)

You will need...

4 Favor of the Mighty

4 Stinkdrinker Daredevil

4 Thundercloud Shaman

4 Inferno Titan

4 Sun Titan

4 Lightning Bolt
2 Hamletback Golliath
2 Brion Stoutarm 

4 Austere Command

4 Taurean Mauler

 Ok this deck is just ballsy aggro with a couple of tricks... You’ll want a favour and a stinkdrinker in the opening hand and if you’re lucky a thundercloud and a bolt. 

Turn one lay - a mountain...pass turn in their end step, bolt whatever they’ve dropped..

Turn two - lay a plains and favor of the mighty  and pass turn...

Turn three - Drop the stinkdrinker and if it resolves, because of Favor of the mighty, there’s very few ways that they can kill it...

Turn four – because of the stink drinker you can now lay a six mana Titan that will most likely have protection from all colours... And that it this deck in a nutshell... Use Austere Command if it all goes wrong and good luck...

The matchups...

Heaven knows what else folks will be playing these days but here’s what we do know...

V’s White weenie – you should be able to pace them and just swing swing swing,,, use inferno titan to take out spectral processions as soon as they come in...Thunderclouds will help you wipe the board...and keep you on the up...

V’s Merfolk – you’ll have a fight on your hands but you do have some secret weapons. 1.  Most of their critters have converted mana costs of 3 or less so as long as you stick with the maulers and the stinkdrinkers, because of Favor he won’t be able to target either your creatures or his with the rejerry, and don’t forget you don’t have islands but he does, so when he drops the lord of 

Atlantis you can wipe the smile off his face with your pumped cow shaped merfolk mauler (note to self Lord of Atlantis rotated out and... numpty!)

V’s Cascade Swans – You’ll  drive your opponent mental as your deck has an unintentional antidote to his, because of favor of the mighty as long as you keep your critters 4 mana or under your opponent will be unable to target his own swans and thus you’ll ruin his combo without even having to try... (another note to self no one plays swans)

V’s 5 Colour Contol – This one is going to be a bitch, the Quick and toast deck is one of the few decks that can deal with the turn 3 stinkdrinker, it does this with the annoying mechanic ‘Evoke;’ Because evoked creature do technically come into play before they have to be sacrificed they can evoke a Shriekmaw for just one mana and it will, for the split second that it’s in play, become the creature with the highest converted Mana cost and therefore steal protection from all colours long enough  enough to kill the stink drinker... So good luck here...

V’s Fairies - this one’s anyone’s game if you get the right start the stinkdrinker will allow you to drop a 2 point thundercloud turn 4 and this should be enough to kill all the fairies, I actually own a thundercloud with a personal message from the artist Greg Staples for just this occasion and you will be pleased to the message often got through loud an clear to Oona and her gang...

Ok the cards in short.

Favor - will give you a mid game advantage and has some interesting fringe benefits.

Taurean Mauler is an incredibly cheap and powerful giant that you can lay for a single red with a stinkdrinker out...

Brion Stutarm is a strong threat early game and his lifelink will help you stabilse your life, use his fling ability late game to break deadlock

 Lightning bolt  - nuff said / sideboard Volcanic Fallout for fairies...

Inferno and Sun Titan – oh if you could have a £1/$1 for every time someone says ‘oh I forgot they were giants!’ when you drop one turn four... Inferno Titan great for taking out spectral processions / sun titian great for bringing back the Uber Cow...

Austere Command – A pricy but flexible board wiper which has earned its place in many of my decks due to its ability to deal with just about anything.

Hamletback Goliath – pure unadulterated overkill enjoy!

Sideboard – you’ll want grave yard hate for quick and toast and in case some brings living end.  So stick in Relic of Progenitis, as mentioned volcanic fallout for fairies and either vexing shushers or Guttural Response for anything with counters...

Landwise if you have the cash  then stick in some Arid Mesas, but this deck works fine with the much cheaper Giant Amphitheatre and Rugged Prairie's an d a mixture of plains and moutaiins

(final note to self ...FNM tonight.... They might be Giants does eat Iona/Windbirsk/Summoning Trap and goes toe to toe with Reviellark hurrah!)