Two updated Extended decks, plus about eight matches of additional Extended testing. Enjoy!
I started out playing the Mono-White Control deck from last night again. For those of you who got the wrong deck list looking at it (which is everyone… it wasn’t even sixty cards*), here is the proper deck list:
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Akroma’s Vengeance
2 Crovax, Ascendent Hero
2 Decree of Justice
4 Eternal Dragon
4 Mana Tithe
4 Martyr of Sands
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Proclamation of Rebirth
4 Wrath of GodÂ
20 Snow-Covered Plains
4 Temple of the False God
2 Urza’s Factory
sb:
1 Chalice of the Void
4 Unmake
1 Crovax, Ascendent Hero
4 Kataki, War’s Wage
4 Condemn
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
Urza’s Factory is new, obviously. I have to admit I didn’t actually produce any tokens with those tonight… But I’m sure something like those might come up someday… And the deck doesn’t need 22 Plains.
I also swapped in the fourth Kataki, War’s Wage over the solo Ethersworn Canonist; the deck is super good against Affinity already, but the Time Walk aspect against Lightning Bolt Red has just been so good. Plus, it gives you a body that they almost have to answer, which doubles up as life gain, kind of.
Mono-White testing was pretty unspectacular tonight. I broke even in four matches. Ironically the first three were against various Lightning Bolt Red… a nigh bye.
I lost the first match L-W-L… I randomly Condemned a Mogg Fanatic in Game three not realizing his Morph was, um, not a Gathan Raiders. I was planning to kind of ignore it and jump around with chumps and whatnot, but it was a Blistering Firecat! Then he paid retail for another one and I took a million… I really wish I had not blown that Condemn.
I played against the same player later, and played around his Morphs and easily won.
Next match was against another Lightning Bolt Red; Game One he ripped a second Sulfuric Vortex right before I found my first Martyr of Ashes and he got me for just enough, even though I actually had two Eternal Dragons and the Martyr on board. Only Flames of the Blood Hand or Shrapnel Blast would have been relevant in that spot (I had the Proclamation). Game Two I drew four spells, eleven lands. Shrug. I was able to fight off two Sulfurics with Oblivion Rings (obviously not profitable) but with almost no spells otherwise, I couldn’t race or gain life effectively.
The last match was against a kind of poor Black deck… So 2-2 almost doesn’t even count.
In the interim I worked on a Beasts deck. Michael Le (won with my Beasts two Extended PTQ seasons ago) told me to work on it, pointing out Mutavault + Contested Cliffs is a combo against a 1/1… But I realized the strategy is probably not good enough against the metagame. So I scrapped the Boreal Druids to work on a Mono-Blue deck (that turned into a U/R deck).
I started with the Spire Golem deck I made with Andre Coimbra and ended up with this, which is part way between my deck, Tezzerator, and Gabriel Nassif’s deck:
1 Aether Spellbomb
2 Chalice of the Void
3 Chrome Mox
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
2 Vedalken Shackles
4 Cryptic Command
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Spell Snare
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Trinket Mage
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
2 Academy Ruins
4 Cascade Bluffs
3 Flooded Strand
6 Island
1 Great Furnace
3 Polluted Delta
3 Riptide Laboratory
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Steam Vents
sb:
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod’s Crypt
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Hurkyl’s Recall
4 Firespout
Fairly easy 3-1 (should have been 4-0).
I beat regular Faeries, earning a quick concession in Game Two after showing a couple of Ancestral Visions (Osyp mentioned sideboarding these to me).
After that the Tournament Practice metagame switched from Red Decks to Rock decks. I beat The Rock / Death Cloud and Storm combo; got crushed by Slide. I actually shouldn’t have lost to the Slide deck. He gave me a wide open turn by not flipping his Exalted Angel that I had bounced three times, but then he played a second Angel and there was no way to get around both with my Trinket Mage, Riptide Laboratory, and choice of Spellbombs (I was at one). Game Two I mulled to four and saw a total of two lands in the four hands I looked at and bowed out.
The Rock deck was another super easy victory thanks to siding in Ancestral Visions. The Rock works so hard to get an advantage with Raven’s Crime and so on and I just managed time and drew a bunch, then started dancing around his Worm Harvests with Relic of Progenitus and Tormod’s Crypt. I actually forgot there is a free ability on Relic of Progenitus for about three turns. Embarassing. But I had so many cards it didn’t matter.
Glen Elendra Archmage was pretty good against The Rock.
Storm combo he had such enormous Storm in Game One! He showed his whole hand, made a giant Mind’s Desire, showed so many Goblins that they didn’t fit on the board… I was ready to spoil his fun with the Trinket Mage I had in hand… But he had also ye olde Tendrils. No fun! Games Two and Three I made Chalice of the Void for one about as quickly as I could (Ponder, Rite of Flame, etc.) and just got some light countering going. Ho hum.
This seems like it could be a good deck for a few weeks into the PTQ season, as it seems to have the advantage versus some combo, The Rock, and other Blue decks. Then again the advantage-getting strategies can probably be spliced onto other Blue decks successfully.
I just realize there are 61 cards in the second deck. I’ll fix this if we decide to move forward with the deck list (which, again, seems reasonable for a few weeks into the season).
Happy New Years my friends!
LOVE
MIKE
PS Follow me on Twitter (assuming you have Twitter) at Twitter.com/fivewithflores
* Extra embarrassing in light of the 61 card second deck.
20 comments ↓
White list is still 56 cards. Missing Wrath?
@mg
Embarassing! Fixed.
What is with me and never being able to post the deck list successfully?
Hi, I was working on a mono-white deck as well.
A couple ideas- I dont know if your games ever go to decking- but adding one mistveil plains would give you the edge there- and you can search it out with eternal dragon.
I played two austere command and two akroma’s vengeance because I was worried about offing oblivion ring.
Finally, i was playing condemn maindeck instead of mana tithe, and runed halos in the sideboard- was mana tithe much better maindeck than condemn?
Thanks, Kevin
In the white deck, what about Pulse of the Fields, maybe out of the board? Seems like the Best Ever against Lightning Bolt (or general Mountains).
@kschreve
Mistveil Plains is an awesome idea! I will definitely play at least one. Seems like the awesomest with Eternal Dragon and gives you infinite Decree action.
@KZipple
It’s not as good as you might guess. I think Kitchen Finks would typically be better (I used to be all about the Pulse you probably know). Any ideas on how to beat The Rock?
I guess someone has to mention Wilt-Leaf Liege and Dodecapod…
I love the idea. It’s like the ultimate Stage 3 deck. 🙂
There ir any card of Rock that u have afraid? Or is the hole deck? Is about Gifts rock, isn´t?
im playing following list right now (added red for helix)
// Lands
4 [SC] Temple of the False God
4 [ON] Flooded Strand
2 [RAV] Sacred Foundry
1 [SOK] Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
14 [CS] Snow-Covered Plains
1 [TSP] Urza’s Factory
// Creatures
2 [PLC] Crovax, Ascendant Hero
4 [CS] Martyr of Sands
4 [SC] Eternal Dragon
// Spells
4 [SC] Decree of Justice
4 [10E] Wrath of God
4 [PLC] Mana Tithe
4 [REW] Lightning Helix
3 [DIS] Proclamation of Rebirth
2 [ON] Akroma’s Vengeance
3 [MR] Chalice of the Void
and im really thinking about running bloodmoon sb … nobody will fetch basics vs this deck because their lifepoints aren’t that important and nobody will expect it …
oh my reasoning
only way blue decks can win is riptide labratory or recursion with academy ruins followed by mutavault beats
and i think it helps vs gifts rock too
Does divinity of pride have a place in this deck? It will be an 8/8 lifelinking, black, flying for five often enough, and the decks that we have trouble with- i.e rock,discard- can’t remove it or race it. It seems awesome, but i dont know anything in the maindeck that we could replace. I was thinking some number of them in the sideboard to replace our slower win conditions against the above decks.
Liege + Dodecapod is neat….wish there was a 22 card sideboard for it. What about Relic of Progenitus/Scrabbling Claws v. The Rock? Good against Loam, Crime, Gifts, and Goyf. You have to get a little lucky and, you know, draw them, but what else are you gonna do? Play Pure Intentions?
Divinity seems less than thrilling against Death Cloud. If we’re putting them on Loam and Crime, Cloud seems likely too.
Could Genju of the Fields be good at all? It seems doubtful, but it comes down early and sticks around.
hmmm any more cards against elves ? right now we only have the chalice and the mana tithe ?
thought about magus of the tabernacle but i think he is way to slow
and what about boil after splasing red ?
I won a modo 4-man with this last night. I played a couple of games in the TP room, and they were both against DC Rock, which I struggled against.
Round 1 in the Q I played against affinity. We both kept low-land hands, my 26 lands pulled out earlier, and I stalled with a couple of wraths until I hit Akroma’s Vengeance mana. Kapow! game 2 I went turn 2 Kataki for the easy 2-0 win
Round 2 I played against Zoo, and used wraths in tandem with Challices to clear the board then lock down his options. Game 2 I kept a one-lander on the draw, rationing that if I drew two land in my first four turns, I should be OK, as I had an eternal dragon, a tithe and a condemn for early game. Well I didn’t. Game 3 I had him Chalice-for 1 turn 2, chalice for 2 turn 4 locked pretty quickly. I again used wraths for edge, and eventually I got there with Urza’s Factory tokens, which was pretty cool. I added insurance with an eternal dragon on the turn before he scooped, but the Assembly-Workers would have gotten there.
As I was typing this, I won another 4-man (i’d be playing 8 mans if they filled >_>)
Round 1 was affinity again. I stumbled a bit on my mana, and he managed to Fatal Frenzy me out in game 1. In game 2 I got a turn 2 concession off of Kataki and in game 3, he had a slow draw that I just made worse with Mana Tithe on his first Ravager, Condemn on his second, 2-for-1 with wrath, And then all of a sudden I cast Crovax and that was that 🙂
Round 2 I played against dredge, and thankfully I had a double Martyr draw to hold off his bridges. I had him down to about 20 cards, post-Akroma’s Vengeance and suddenly the board looked clear for him. But then I forecast my first Proclamation, and that was that 😀 – That combo is such a kick in the balls for them. Not only do you gain a bajillion per turn, but you reset all the bridges you want. Fun times! Game 2 he mulled to four, and he scooped the turn before I was about to cast Crovax.
I love this deck, Mike! Thanks for posting it! 🙂 The only change I made was -2 plains for 2 Desert, but that was only because I don’t have enough Plains in my account 🙁
@ReeceP
You bastard!
You are going to trick me into playing this, aren’t you? I think that I am definitely going to play Mistveil Plains if I play this.
@pandabaer
Rather than Red I am thinking about splashing Temple Garden, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Life from the Loam for The Rock. Is that awful? It might not even be worth it.
i think the splash colour should help with md gaddock teeg at least i expect a lot of zoo with him in it. or you should try the unmake md.
oh and red offers slice and dice and pillar for elves and boil for bluebased decks(maybe)
vs death cloud sacred ground might help at least 1 game …
and with conflux i think there will be many changes 😉
still dont know what the keycards in the rock mu is except death cloud and persecute … because i dont think that it is the card advantage alone.
this deck just has some of the best “creatures ” of the format
maybe ignorant bliss can help … i dont know but i think we can work something out
It’s no trick, Mike. I can’t stop winning! 😛
So far over the last 24 hours I have lost once to DC Rock because of a rough matchup, and once to affinity because I f4’d through my third turn without playing a land, and ended up dying before i could cast wrath. I’ve won my other …approximately eight or so rounds, mostly against Affinity, or artifact decks of some description. If you can come up with a way to deal with DC Rock (it’s mostly the manlands), i’d highly reccommend it. Without that – I wouldn’t suggest it for American and European fields, too many people play good decks as opposed to the sea of homebrews here in Australia.
runed halo is a good way to deal with manlands as is condemn
and lightning helix helps there too
i think zoo, affinity, monored burn and other aggro decks should be quite good
blue is good
so our only problem is rock …
The best answer I’ve come up with to DC rock is elspeth. Actually I haven’t playtested this at all, but it certainly trumps death cloud. This, plus a few crypts or relic of progenitus might be enough to swing the math towards us.
Death Cloud Rock bends MWC over with the namesake spell, knocking out the majority of our resources. I’m wondering if the symmetrical effect of Second Sunrise wouldn’t be a reasonable sideboard answer. Float 3 mana in response to Death Cloud, and put it out there.
Both players have no hand, I assume we are at higher life because of Martyr shenanigans, and all of a sudden you have lands to deal with that Garruk they still have in play. Thoughts?
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