Master Forgery

Over the course of the last few weeks I have been tinkering with a few cards. I’m sure it will come as no surprise to my astute readers that I have a penchant for a few in particular. And anyone who has played with The Tardis, The Dark Design and Big Blue Boom Button will know that hidden in the depths of these decks there are a few awesome combos. I’ve been meaning to post the results of my experiments for a while, but there were other decks to build first and this one is similar enough to the three I mentioned to  call for some distance. Basically this is stripped down version of my grand architect deck without all the smoke and mirrors and it is, to be quite frank, the NUTZ…

Ladies and gentle men this is potentially the new Archetype, because Mirrodin Besieged can go one of two ways now…

If it goes down the big artifact route then this could be the new rock and roll… If it doesn’t then you ‘ll probably never hear about it… I’m hoping for the former… I know there’s one spell in this set that combo’s off like a rocket in this deck but we’ll get to that later. 

I call it

Master Forgery

You Will Need

Either… now this is important because how you start the deck is dependent on your preference….

4 Kraken Hatchling (defensive play - good against elves & Aggro)

4 Cosi’s Trickster (Aggro play – good against Control of nay kind)

4 Enclave Cryptologist  (cautious play  for blue players trying to shy away from putting mind sculptors in every deck they possess regardless of colour)

In my version I play hatchlings (because for me they tend to survive longer)

So here we go…

4 Kraken Hatchling

4 Trinket Mage (yes this deck needs them)

4 Grand Architect

4 Kuldotha Forgemaster (It wouldn't surprise me if they banned this card)

4 Prototype Portal

3 All is dust

2 Whispersilk Cloak

2 Elixir of Immortality

 1 Voltaic Key

2 Everflowing Chalice

1 Mindslaver

1 Lux Cannon

1 Ratchet Bomb

2 Platinum Emperion

1 Platinum Angel

Land wise you can go anywhere you like with this deck… there is an argument for fetch lands and Eldrazi temples, but we are a budget blog… so I’ve gone simply for 16 islands, 4 tectonic edges and 4 dread statuary – a must in this deck…   

So how does it work? Well its partly combo based, but it’s a very simple and achievable combo… All you want to do is stay alive long enough to play a kuldotha forgemaster and have it survive a turn… if you can do that then there is a real chance you’re going to win… 

There are of course secondary agendas and the most important of them is to get a Voltaic key imprinted on a prototype portal if you can achieve this with mana to spare and a forgemaster in play there is only one deck in the meta that can survive more a few turns…

Ok it all sounds a bit pricey, surely it’ll just get mana leaked out of the water?… Of course like all decks you will have to play with caution against the likes of control. But if you can resolve an architect with even a couple of blue creatures in play then you’ll have mana and mana spare for the likes of Mana leak.  And there only a few cards in today’s game that can deal with the fat bottomed forgemaster… Doom Blade will be your worst threat but if you gat get him out for just one turn like I said they are going to really suffer… How?What?Why?

Well the forgemaster is a tutor extraordinaire, there are few cards in the game that can tutor cards into your hand at instant speed, let alone into play.  Of course if you’re not in any immediate threat of dying and he’s been round the table once the first thing you want to get is a prototype portal. So unless you already have this in place sac everything (except him) to go get one… You should have a voltaic key in hand… You know when you played that trinket mage earlier? So go sac everything activate the lands if you need to or that Whispersilk cloak or your everflowing chalice… EVERYTHING… because if you can do this… You are going to win and there are only a couple of cards in the world that can stop you…  For a start counters spells are no longer going to affect you as everything you want will be tutored into straight into play. So you have a couple of blue critters… a forgemaster and a keep on the portal…  what can you do? Well the simple answer is anything…

Ok here’s some scenarios… you are on 6 life, you’ve taken a beating , Valakut is about to go off and your opponent swings with Primeval Titan… he also has a khalni heart expedition on the field with a couple of counters… So he swings and gets a couple of mountains…  What can you do? Well first you wait.. He can see then end is in sight (and has a safety net in the heart  ) so he directs all the damage to you… In response you can tap the portal and generate some token keys (if you don’t already have some) and sac them to the forgemaster to instantly tutor the Platinum Emperion into play (now your life can’t change) now your opponent is not an idiot.. so he uses the extra lands to crack the shrine and goes and gets more mountains and targets the Emperion… But you were ready for this too so using one mana and a key you can un-tap the forgemaster and tap and sac the Emperion and the key and any other artifact to go get another one... (this actually happened to me once during a game…)   In my turn I made some keys went and got mindslaver taped and sacked it and killed him with his own deck…   

‘Oh but he’d target the forgemaster’ I hear you say! (and smart players are starting to realize this is the best play… )

So he targets the forgemater, in response you can make keys and tap and sac them to get the emperion then un-tap the forgemaster with another key and tap sac it and the forgemaster and another key to go get another forgemaster…All at instant speed (still think I was mad saying it could be banned?) 

Where am I getting all these keys? Well as you have one on a prototype portal (which is an artifact) and it only cost one to make a key and the keys ability is to un-tap an artifact… you simply use all of your mana to keep tapping and un-tapping the portal to make keys… With a Grand Architect in and a couple of his buddies in play you should be able to make 8/9/10, possibly more keys a turn.

Basically the fastest way to win is to tutor in an Emperion and then a whipersilk cloak on the next turn… If you can achieve this unmolested then only Day of Judgment can save them… and it won’t really save them it will only reset the board… Sure there are other long and convoluted multiple card combos that can help, but remember they now have 3 turns max in the game… Jace will help hear you cry! What Jace? You just took him out with an unblockable 8/8 and he couldn’t help any way as the Emperion has shroud.. (Platinum Emperion is a very under-rated card… and you can get them for $5 trust me this is a good investment)

Other fun plays….

They bring in a ratchet bomb to take out your portal… in  response make some keys and tutor one up yourself… then use the keys to tap and un-tap to get it to two counters and set it off before they can do anything with it… I’ve had upwards of 50 keys in play at times and once that’s happens imagine what you can do with the Lux Canon…

This deck is so flexible it’s ridiculous… As long as the forgemaster gets through a single turn…

They can’t… bounce it

                       Exile it

                       Destroy it

                       Steal it

                       Make you sac it…

                       Because you can sac it in response… Ok for the last one you’d have to get the Mindslaver, Ratchet bomb or Canon instead but is that really so bad?

Ok I play this deck a lot and I can tell you that it’s strong against every deck… I ‘ve beaten every single tier one deck with it and I’m not going to say its unbeatable , but I will say it’s a tough deck to beat…

God hand Mox goblins can give it trouble… and Big red can be a pain.. It should walk over
Valakut.. Its strong against elves and vamps (although be careful of domblades and gatekeepers…) It eats blue white control and Mono green Eldrazi, but this deck’s nemesis is Blue Black control… A clever player can steal the combo pieces from your hand and the forgemaster will die to a doom blade….

Of course you could go blue black yourself and beat them at their own game with duress’s and inquisition… Blue black is the sole reason I run two elixirs as taking one from your opening hand (which can often be the only target has the unfortunate side effect of ruining this deck…)

Anyway the reason I am publishing this list now is there may well be two card in the next set that either make or break this deck… If there is, as I suspect there may be, a ‘destroy all artifacts’ card, then this deck won’t work or will need silly counterspell cover… BUT…Spoiler Alert…. Spoiler Alert….Spoiler Alert….

There is a destroy all artifacts card... but there's some good news too... 1.. its double green and 2. the only artifacts that seem to have folks worried are the indestructible colossus and the split in two wurmcoil engine... So until some one invents a Tezz infect deck (which is unfortunately likely) then there's no real reason to panic

There you have it the first combo of Besieged and you heard it here first… Of course this may all be nonsense, but hey its only a game…

Update Jan 19th... Well as if this deck needed any more help.... Here's sme more resons to get building...

In one game recently I had  over 300 voltaic keys in play... Add throne of geth  and some Tezzs and that my firend is game set and match...

Need a way to secure the mindslaver/ portal  lock? 'Et voila..'.

If 3 turns is too long to wait for a kill... Then why not add the Brightsteel Colossus ?  in theory with a really good hand, you can actually have this swinging and equipped with a Whispersilk Cloak by turn 4...

Fog anyone? because thats pretty much the only way your opponent is going to see turn 5

A liege of their own

Well we had a look at some global lords and we’ve picked out chainer and Balthor for the our new Commander / EDH deck SWISS ARMY KNIFE.

It’s time now for a look at the most insane lords ever.  The double pumping, utterly broken hybrid nightmares from Shadowmoor and Eventide, ladies and gentlemen these are the Lieges...

As there are only a few of these beasts in existence we’ll have more time to study them and their insane abilities...

Best / Worst? Where to start?  Well I’d like to start by thanking everyone who sent in suggestion for the favourite and least favourite lords. So I guess we’ll start here with Adam Tobin’s best and worst... Here’s what he had to say on the matter...

“As my collection only goes as far back as Lorwyn so far, my favorite Lord would have to be Wilt-Leaf Liege. In my opinion the best liege out of the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block, running 4 of these beasts is a must for extended elves and great for discard hate, even if it's just a sb. The worst Lord I've come across so far would be another liege from shadowmoor, Thisledown Liege…Ok I'm liking the +1/+1 for white and blue creatures, flash is alright too, but a 1/3? No thank you sir, just too much of a target.”

Wise word there from Mr Tobin, Wilt-leaf Liege was the Obstinate Baloth of its day and you have to remember that elves were a top deck at the time.  It’s all very well having a blue white liege that could lay golden eggs and turn all your opponents into Dita Von Tease, but if the only blue/white creatures were a couple of rabbits and a blind monkey then no-one was going to play them. As it turned out the Thistledown liege, despite its flashy title could do little more than appear at will, only to be bolted the second it hit atmo… 

So Mr Tobin’s arguments are strong and in their day he was probably bang on the money. (There were a lot of good green white elves) But we’re hitting the realms of Mirrodin Besieged in a couple of weeks and things have changed. So who is the top of the liege tree now? Well we’ll start at the bottom and work our way up.

First amongst the losers I’m going with Adam’s suggestion.  Flash aside there’s no getting away from the fact that Thistledown is really just a lightning bolt target for 4 mana. 

Next up guys I should warn you that if you are of a weak disposition you may do well to get behind the sofa and look away now… 

Yep you guessed it it’s a boar tusk liege and it’s a staggering 3 / 4 trampler (I know frightening isn’t it) Ok it pumps both green and red creatures, but have you even seen a green creature that needs a boost? (ok ok… ignoring birds of paradise)

So for the astute amongst you these were the baby lieges and there’s one more and whilst Mr Tobin’s Wilt-leaf Liege may have been the Primeval Titan of its day, I think that Ashen-moor Liege could easily be the Grave titan and thus the pair of them are definitely at the top of their game.  Ok it may only be a 4/1, but getting rid of it’s going to cost your opponent 4 life. And if you can prevent it from dying then those 4 life are going to add up. Plus if any critters need a boost it’s the little sneaky black ones…  

So… if these are the babies, you have to ask… who’s the Daddy?

Ok someone’s got to be first and it’s a genuinely tough call amongst these guys. I guess without a deck dedicated to him the most specific, and therefore potential least useful card would be the Muck-field liege.  I mean sure the ability to un-tap all your tricksy merfolk tappers and green mana generators in your opponents turn is awesome, but without the blue and green creatures to play their part it’s not going to win you any EDH games despite its otherwise awesome ability …

Next up Creak-Wood Liege is the cheapest of the big boys and at first glance its ability to spawn a 1/1 each turn doesn’t seem that great, of course a quick second glance and you’ll instantly see that the 1/1 are black/green and are therefore instantly pumped by their creator into 3/3’s and a free 3/3 every turn is decent no matter what way you look at it and once again it’s the black critters that need the boost…

And in third place… Mind-wrack liege ok it’s the priciest of the lot at a hefty 6 mana and four mana to flash in a critter from your hand isn’t bad, oh but it has to be a blue or a red critter darn it… hang on though isn’t Progenitus red? (and blue for that matter) oh it is… oh…

And the runner up is… Balefire liege, now this was a close call and I’m still in two minds but there has to be a winner.. Balefire liege is awesome there’s no way round that. Play a white spell get a free healing salve play a red spell hit your opponent with a free lightning bolt, play a red/white spell get a free lightning helix. Top stuff…

There can be only one and here it is… ladies and gentlemen I give you liege of the lieges.. Death Bringer Liege… firstly It pumps black critters and white critters, but play a white spell and tap out a defender… play a black spell take out a tapped out attacker…  play a black white spell take out anything… and there are some great black/white spells.

And there we have it all the best and worst lieges in the game... get digging for the following cards because there are a few stars here that we can use in our upcoming EDH deck. Death Bringer is a must and I’m also looking at Ashen moor and  Balefire liege ignore the rest we have work to do... and  bet you thought we’d forgotten , but no we don’t talk about Glen Elendra Liege... its pants and Oona is a very naughty fairy...

Rather than re write the whole thing

Here'sa major update....

http://tragicthegathering.blogspot.com/2010/11/mirrodin-beseiged.html

January Sale

Grab yourself a bargain... Its time for Gordon Vader's Famous January Ebay Card sale...


have a look HERE


Tomorrow we'll be looking at double pumping insane broken leiges and duel coloured lords...

At last My Cow General....

Folowers of the blog may or may not be aware that I have secretly been buidling a Barnyard beatdown EDH / Commander deck..

And Last night at FNM I sucessfully obtained my general. Guys, I got to tell yiu this bovine based deck has proven quite the challenge, but finnaly I have the missing piece and next week I shall present the completed and devastating natural beauty of....

FARME FATALE

Featuring as the general....

Uril the Mistsatlker... it's just a big cow really... look it's even got horns....

Now at my local club its EDH night next week, so I have exactly 6 days to ready the deck for battle and I need as many bovine suggestions as possible in green, red and white...

Please send your ideas to Gordon Vader at gordonvader@hotmail.co.uk

As long as a card has SOMETHING to do with farming or livestock it can go in....

Think.....Pillarfield ox, farmstead, land tax, taurean mauler, arouchs..clock work horse... anything... so please send those ideas in...

Knowing my club I don't have much chance of winning, but you never know, maybe with your help? I'd love to beat some insane $3000 grand deck with a herd of cows....

.

Super Knights

So making Dark Knight,  I wondered what it would be like to do a Standard mono white version with just knights ...I still think that there is room for black and white and that once Mrridon Beseiged comes out that there may a B/W knight powrhouse deck, but if I had to make a mono white knight deck, I'd do it like this...

So Ladies and Gentlemen I give you my new deck and I call it...

Superknights
Why?
Because it's faster than a speeding bullet...

You will need...

4 x student of warfare
4 x caravan escort
4 x kemba's skyguard
4 x knight exemplar
3 x sun titan
3 x time of heroes
4 x ajani goldmane
3 x contagion clasp
3 x journey to nowhere
4 x brave the elements
4 x emeria, the sky ruin
4 x tectonic edge
16 x plains


And here's the list withoutn all the photos....

4 student of warfare
4 caravan escort
4 kemba's skyguard
4 knight exemplar
3 sun titan
3 time of heroes
4 ajani goldmane
3 contagion clasp
3 journey to nowhere
4 brave the elements
4 emeria, the sky ruin
4 tectonic edge
16 plains

The time of heroes in this deck replaces the honor of the pure as the standard weenie boost.  because having just a single counter on your critters will get them a hefty +2+2... And with Time Of  Heroes  in play that means just 2 mana can get either the student or the escort  to the hallowed ground of 4/4 and out of the range of standard burn spells....

Contagion clasp will  help you level them further and at instant speed and it also works as the removal...  The Knight Exemplar  doesn't need any help as you are unlikely to be  swinging n with it and the fliers should sail over the tops of defenders..

Time of heroes helps this deck where it needs most, at the start...

The deck will be very quick due to the 8 one drop knghts ... and like I always say, you need tect edges in today's game to stand a chance against anything..

Sun Titan can retrieve pretty much anything in the deck (incluidng emeria and the tech edges) but probably most imprtantly it cam bring back the exemplars... which could be a nasty surprise late game...

A neat trick here is use the clasps to proliferate both the level counters on the student and caravan escort AND the plus one counters from Ajani...

So why contagion clasp over normal levelling?

Well, remember you have both options, but with the clasps you can do something other level decks can't do!

What's that?

Level at instant speed and this tricksy little move may win you games...

 Here's a play to show you how fast this deck can be..

Turn one - Student
Turn two - caravan escort - swing for 1-  level student
turn three - second student - level escort - swing for 3
Turn four - time of heroes level student twice - swing for 12 -
Turn five - play ajani -level student swing for 18


Now that's just nasty....Of course this is without any resistance,  but it just goes to show how quickly things can add up...