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Post by JediCheese on Aug 1, 2012 2:29:14 GMT -5
So, I'm thinking about building a dedicated 4 player deck designed for SCG EDH side events. I think the best idea would be some sort of mana/resource denial deck with a plausable but non-threatening general.
The obvious generals are Numot The Devastator, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, or Radha, Heir to Keld. The thing is, all these scream out my plans and contain color weaknesses. Numot has blue for counters but is missing black/green for extra LD. Grand Arbiter is missing the LD colors and attempts to make their spells so expensive they can't be played. Radha has the best LD spell mix available but is missing blue for counters.
Another option would be to play a 5 color general and play good stuff. The problem is that the Slivers eat a ton of room and put a huge target on your back. The Reaper King would be interesting, but you need a few scarecrows to combo off with him (and good scarecrows are hard to find). Hoard of Notions is ok, but elementals don't have many resource denial abilities.
Anyone have any thoughts?
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Post by Travis Lannoye on Aug 1, 2012 8:24:27 GMT -5
You could try to build a Wort deck with LD spells in it. Put a lot of cheap ramp spells at 2-4cc, then at 4-6 cc start dropping the LD spells like Creeping Mold, Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, or Frenzied Tilling. Late-game you drop Wort, and conspire something like Lavaball Trap or Bonfire of the Damned. EDIT: Make sure you include Ruination in any red deck, because you'll randomly screw at least one out of three opponents every time.
Another option would be something like Ghost Council of Orzhova (less scary than Teysa because she is more known for her combo applications). Play a ton of fodder, control the board, and slowly drain the life away from everyone while keeping yours at a high level.
A third option would be Sygg, River Cutthroat. He comes down real cheap, and his ability to draw you extra cards for free is very subtle. Not sure what your win condition would be, but I'm sure you can think of something.
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Post by John Galli on Aug 1, 2012 9:50:16 GMT -5
Mimeoplasm or Damia. Their colors are great and they are totally busted. You could run counters, LD, removal, all sorts of goodies
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Post by Travis Lannoye on Aug 1, 2012 11:48:41 GMT -5
Mimeoplasm or Damia. Their colors are great and they are totally busted. You could run counters, LD, removal, all sorts of goodies BUG-colored generals tend to be rather threatening because they are widely considered the best three colors in the format. If that isn't a problem, then Damia is absolutely worth it. |
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Post by JediCheese on Aug 1, 2012 12:22:31 GMT -5
With going LD, you can't play Creeping Mold or Acid Moss. 1:1 spells will only get you behind. You need to destroy 3 lands for each spell you play, so something like Boil or Choak is much better than the above (or 'Bend or Break' or 'Rain of Salt').
I hate mimeoplasm because it removes your creatures. What Black or Green deck wants to remove stuff from your graveyard? Your graveyard is just as playable as your deck.
Any three colored general is a major threat. I would agree that BUG is threatening, but you don't usually see randomness at these side events. It's usually Rafiq, Niv Mizzet, and the like entering and they are fully powered. I don't think a BUG general would phase them.
I do like Damia. I like the color mix, but my only worry is missing out on white for Ghostly Prison and Red for the LD is sub-optimal.
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Post by abeckett on Aug 1, 2012 13:03:46 GMT -5
In Damia, collective restraint and propaganda are both strong enough to overcome the loss of Ghostly Prison. The bigger concern is the missing red spells, such as Ruination, Dwarven Blastminer, Wildfire/Lavaball Trap.
What about a 5-color general. Just run the base with a heavy emphasis on ramp and focus on only 2-3 main colors, splashing the key cards from others. This allows you to run the good geddon effects, tutors, ramp, and draw. You also get access to good recursion.
While I know many people shy away from 5c decks because they lack the land base, I've seen a fairly effective deck that runs only basics. There are more than enough good green ramp spells that can net you 2+ cards, especially if all you have to fetch is basics.
My personal preference would be Horde of Notions since he has haste and there are actually some elementals that would be great to recur. Some of them even fit the resource denial theme.
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Post by JediCheese on Aug 1, 2012 14:06:59 GMT -5
Horde of Notions is pretty good, but you have two land destruction elementals: Fulminator Mage (excellent) and Faultgrinder (bad). You do have a random destruction elemental in Tyrant of Discord (who always hits a land) plus removal like crib swap.
As to land base, I have a nearly full set of Duals, fetches and shocks so I wouldn't have mana problems in that sense. I also have most of the Legendary Lands that add filler or extra abilities. The major issue is I want to run stuff like Ruination, Price of Progress and Boil, but if I'm running 5 colors I'll hit myself just as hard unless I build the deck very carefully.
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Post by Travis Lannoye on Aug 1, 2012 14:49:29 GMT -5
My vote is still Wort, the Raidmother. My budget version runs a ton of ramp for basic lands, and there's enough draw power to find good stuff like Ruination and Price of Progress. It is possible to run very few non-basics, and the amount of card advantage that you build up with Wort is insane. You also get some pretty fun win-cons in Banefire, Bonfire, and Gelatinous Genesis.
If that's not your style, I would vote for either Talrand, Thada, or Edric.
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Post by abeckett on Aug 1, 2012 14:58:24 GMT -5
My vote is still Wort, the Raidmother. My budget version runs a ton of ramp for basic lands, and there's enough draw power to find good stuff like Ruination and Price of Progress. It is possible to run very few non-basics, and the amount of card advantage that you build up with Wort is insane. You also get some pretty fun win-cons in Banefire, Bonfire, and Gelatinous Genesis. If that's not your style, I would vote for either Talrand, Thada, or Edric. Wort is good and the free nature of conspire is not to be downplayed at all. Riku is also worth considering. Then you also get access to Sunder ;D EDIT: Very seriously thinking about doing this now, even if I'll probably hate myself for playing the deck. |
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Post by Travis Lannoye on Aug 1, 2012 15:07:56 GMT -5
My vote is still Wort, the Raidmother. My budget version runs a ton of ramp for basic lands, and there's enough draw power to find good stuff like Ruination and Price of Progress. It is possible to run very few non-basics, and the amount of card advantage that you build up with Wort is insane. You also get some pretty fun win-cons in Banefire, Bonfire, and Gelatinous Genesis. If that's not your style, I would vote for either Talrand, Thada, or Edric. Wort is good and the free nature of conspire is not to be downplayed at all. Riku is also worth considering. Then you also get access to Sunder ;D EDIT: Very seriously thinking about doing this now, even if I'll probably hate myself for playing the deck. Yeah, it's taken a lot of will-power to resist putting LD in my Wort deck. Another real mean one that works even better with conspire is Wake of Destruction (imagine calling both Islands AND Swamps) |
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