Post by greystone on Jun 18, 2013 21:58:11 GMT -5
Alright, since I was 'outted' on the latest Pauper to the People Podcast (114), I figured that I should give a brief primer on the Mogg Bombers deck that they spoke about. I've done very little testing with the deck, but it has been fun and has a few interesting interactions.
So, without further ado...
Bombs Away (Eldrazi Bomb) Primer
I. Introduction
So as usual I was surfing magiccards.info at work finding new toys to play with when Mogg Bombers popped out at Me, and what caught My attention the most was the wording on the card.
"When another creature enters the battlefield, sacrifice Mogg Bombers and it deals 3 damage to target player."
Note the comma and it's placement. Seems a little odd doesn't it? Doesn't seem to follow what Wizards prints now, now does it? Nope. The wording on this card makes it very unique in that it requires a gathering ruling to ensure that it is understood properly. That ruling is:
"1/25/2011: If multiple creatures enter the battlefield at the same time, the ability triggers once for each of them. You may choose a different target player for each time it triggers.
1/25/2011: The damage is dealt whether or not you sacrifice the Mogg Bombers. For instance, if Mogg Bombers is destroyed or sacrificed in between the time when the ability triggers and when it resolves, then the targeted player will still be dealt 3 damage."
So, depending upon how many creatures you can get to come into the battlefield at the same time, you could drop a serious amount of mid-late game damage.
Several cards instantly come to mind, such as Dragon Fodder or Krenko's Command, both being in the same colour.
But I wanted to see if I could go bigger. Two tokens, late game, for 6 damage. That's good, but is it as good as I can get it?
II. Development
This led to Me searching for any token generating cards that could pump out more than 2 at a time. I wanted Bang for My buck. I wanted at least 9 damage for this guy.
Note, that yes I do realize that this is conditional on your opponent not playing a creature and blowing him up. But as it was said in the podcast your opponent really has to worry about taking that bolt to the face, especially if he is already low on health.[/i][/color]
So, what can bring more than 2 bodies into play at the same time? Saprolings? No. Goblins? If only Goblin Rally wasn't uncommon, so sadly, no. Elves? Nope. Soldiers? Well, yes they can with Captains call! But that didn't really feel right with the direction I wanted to go.
Then as I was searching I thought back to an earlier concept I never got around to trying. Eldrazi! Besides the fact tahat I have an absolute hate-on for Ulamog's Crusher.
*glares at post*
I thought they were an interesting concept.
So, I looked at what was available and saw quite a few guys that brought in more bodies than what was needed. The big ones being:
Emrakul's Hatcher and Kozilek's Predator respectively, with Nest Invader kind of coming in behind them but fit more as an enabler. I mean there are 4 bodies for 5 mana, 3 bodies for 4, and 2 bodies for 2.
Now, admittedly these guys are a little high on the mana curve, but when I read them over a few times and I realized that not only do these guys provide massive amounts of bodies, but they also generate tons of mana in the process. Making the curve look 'not so big'.
An example of a match I played with the above guys had Me on turn 4 with 4 eldrazi tokens in play and 4 mana available. So turn 4, eight mana... How many decks can say that? This led to Me dropping a Nest for a G and popping one of the spawn, producing one to replace. Then I threw down a Predator for another G and sucking back another 3 leaving 1 out, but producing another 2. Then dropping a another Predator. Turn 4 from nothing to 1x2/2 and 2x3/3 with two more mana chumpers held back.
That was when I realized how powerful and aggressive this deck could be.
Supplementing this though was Brood Birthing, facilitated by spawning breath.
Now, spawning breath isn't the best card in the world, but breaking it down you are getting one damage and a mana chump for 2 mana. About what you should be expecting from a 2 mana card, seems to Me to be on the vanilla curve. Now, when you factor in it enabling Brood Birthing to produce 3 mana chumps for 2, you are getting value above your regular vanilla.
Plus when you combine it with Mog Bombers in play, that 2 mana turns into 9 damage!!! Bomb!
So, here we are producing a massive amount of mana chumps, and sacrificing them to get out more guys to make more mana chumps to sacrifice them to get out more... you see the pattern?
Well, with all this sacrificing I thought of another mechanic that just screamed to be abused, and that was morbid. And again I scoured magiccards.info and came across a little beauty in Festerhide Boar. At it's base it is 4 mana for a 3/3 Trample, not exactly a great trade off, but it makes the vanilla test. Add in it's morbid and you have a 5/5 trample for 4 mana. Well above the vanilla curve and easily facilitated by the mana chumps sacrificing themselves for the greater good of kicking your opponents butt.
Along with Festerhide I found a nice burn spell, that when combined with Morbid would give a decent turnout for it's payment, and that was Brimstone Volley. Now, 5 to the face is fantastic when you are dealing with 20 life total. But 5 to a creature? Especially when you have so many fat asses out there with Myr Enforcers and Nivix Cyclops running amok? 5 Damage can look at them and go BOMB! And looking at that 3 mana cost isn't that big of a deal when you have mana chumps all over the board.
I also looked at trying to abuse the fact we are putting so many creatures into play so quickly, and came across an early version of the Foundry Street Denizen, and his name is Kruin Striker. Only, unlike Foundry, he doesn't look for colour requirements. He only sees that a creature came into play. Oh, and he gets trample to boot. So, I figured that he could be a good beater early on and get some damage in if used properly, going over the top.
Then another "ETB" creature came to mind to give the deck a bit of breathing room. Bring in Essence Warden. Early enough drop that this little gem can give you just the bit of room you need in order to edge out those aggressive decks. Think of the sac and ETB engine I mentioned earlier with 4 mana chumps in play already, so you've gone up by 4 life. Then you brought in the nest for another 2, a predator for another 3, and another predator for another 3. That's 12 lifegain, and you still have bodies on the board to show for it. I couldn't ignore that one.
Oh, and the last Bomb to drop in the deck would be the Hand of Emrakul. As early as turn 3 this big fatty can drop, and if your opponent doesn't have an easy answer to it, it will wreck them entirely.
III.The Deck List
Bomb's Away (Alpha)
24 Lands
11 Mountain
10 Forest
2 Gruul Guildgate
1 Terramorphic Expanse
27 Creatures
4 Hand of Emrakul
3 Emrakul's Hatcher
4 Kozilek's Predator
4 Nest Invader
2 Kruin Striker
3 Festerhide Boar
4 Mogg Bombers
3 Essence Warden
9 Spells
4 Brood Birthing
3 Brimstone Volley
2 Spawning Breath
(15) Sideboard Just thrown together
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Festerhide Boar
3 Electrickery
3 Faerie Macabre
2 Smelt
2 Naturalize
1 Spawning Breath
IV. Conclusion
Now, I know the deck has it's weaknesses and that it isn't exactly a Tier 1 deck, maybe not even Tier 2, but I had fun building it, and piloting it for it's initial birth.
And, that was an afternoon at work coming up with something that I figured would be fun and unusual.
So, I hope you enjoyed reading it and if you want to give it a few spins around the block I highly recommend it. I would also like to note that it is a VERY VERY inexpensive deck to run.
Whether it's dropping a Bomb on your opponents courtesy of Mogg, or it's the turn 3 Hand that Bombs the table, or an explosive start of bodies Bombing the battlefield, I hope you enjoy the experience.
Peace!
~ Greystone
So, without further ado...
Bombs Away (Eldrazi Bomb) Primer
I. Introduction
So as usual I was surfing magiccards.info at work finding new toys to play with when Mogg Bombers popped out at Me, and what caught My attention the most was the wording on the card.
"When another creature enters the battlefield, sacrifice Mogg Bombers and it deals 3 damage to target player."
Note the comma and it's placement. Seems a little odd doesn't it? Doesn't seem to follow what Wizards prints now, now does it? Nope. The wording on this card makes it very unique in that it requires a gathering ruling to ensure that it is understood properly. That ruling is:
"1/25/2011: If multiple creatures enter the battlefield at the same time, the ability triggers once for each of them. You may choose a different target player for each time it triggers.
1/25/2011: The damage is dealt whether or not you sacrifice the Mogg Bombers. For instance, if Mogg Bombers is destroyed or sacrificed in between the time when the ability triggers and when it resolves, then the targeted player will still be dealt 3 damage."
So, depending upon how many creatures you can get to come into the battlefield at the same time, you could drop a serious amount of mid-late game damage.
Several cards instantly come to mind, such as Dragon Fodder or Krenko's Command, both being in the same colour.
But I wanted to see if I could go bigger. Two tokens, late game, for 6 damage. That's good, but is it as good as I can get it?
II. Development
This led to Me searching for any token generating cards that could pump out more than 2 at a time. I wanted Bang for My buck. I wanted at least 9 damage for this guy.
Note, that yes I do realize that this is conditional on your opponent not playing a creature and blowing him up. But as it was said in the podcast your opponent really has to worry about taking that bolt to the face, especially if he is already low on health.[/i][/color]
So, what can bring more than 2 bodies into play at the same time? Saprolings? No. Goblins? If only Goblin Rally wasn't uncommon, so sadly, no. Elves? Nope. Soldiers? Well, yes they can with Captains call! But that didn't really feel right with the direction I wanted to go.
Then as I was searching I thought back to an earlier concept I never got around to trying. Eldrazi! Besides the fact tahat I have an absolute hate-on for Ulamog's Crusher.
*glares at post*
I thought they were an interesting concept.
So, I looked at what was available and saw quite a few guys that brought in more bodies than what was needed. The big ones being:
Emrakul's Hatcher and Kozilek's Predator respectively, with Nest Invader kind of coming in behind them but fit more as an enabler. I mean there are 4 bodies for 5 mana, 3 bodies for 4, and 2 bodies for 2.
Now, admittedly these guys are a little high on the mana curve, but when I read them over a few times and I realized that not only do these guys provide massive amounts of bodies, but they also generate tons of mana in the process. Making the curve look 'not so big'.
An example of a match I played with the above guys had Me on turn 4 with 4 eldrazi tokens in play and 4 mana available. So turn 4, eight mana... How many decks can say that? This led to Me dropping a Nest for a G and popping one of the spawn, producing one to replace. Then I threw down a Predator for another G and sucking back another 3 leaving 1 out, but producing another 2. Then dropping a another Predator. Turn 4 from nothing to 1x2/2 and 2x3/3 with two more mana chumpers held back.
That was when I realized how powerful and aggressive this deck could be.
Supplementing this though was Brood Birthing, facilitated by spawning breath.
Now, spawning breath isn't the best card in the world, but breaking it down you are getting one damage and a mana chump for 2 mana. About what you should be expecting from a 2 mana card, seems to Me to be on the vanilla curve. Now, when you factor in it enabling Brood Birthing to produce 3 mana chumps for 2, you are getting value above your regular vanilla.
Plus when you combine it with Mog Bombers in play, that 2 mana turns into 9 damage!!! Bomb!
So, here we are producing a massive amount of mana chumps, and sacrificing them to get out more guys to make more mana chumps to sacrifice them to get out more... you see the pattern?
Well, with all this sacrificing I thought of another mechanic that just screamed to be abused, and that was morbid. And again I scoured magiccards.info and came across a little beauty in Festerhide Boar. At it's base it is 4 mana for a 3/3 Trample, not exactly a great trade off, but it makes the vanilla test. Add in it's morbid and you have a 5/5 trample for 4 mana. Well above the vanilla curve and easily facilitated by the mana chumps sacrificing themselves for the greater good of kicking your opponents butt.
Along with Festerhide I found a nice burn spell, that when combined with Morbid would give a decent turnout for it's payment, and that was Brimstone Volley. Now, 5 to the face is fantastic when you are dealing with 20 life total. But 5 to a creature? Especially when you have so many fat asses out there with Myr Enforcers and Nivix Cyclops running amok? 5 Damage can look at them and go BOMB! And looking at that 3 mana cost isn't that big of a deal when you have mana chumps all over the board.
I also looked at trying to abuse the fact we are putting so many creatures into play so quickly, and came across an early version of the Foundry Street Denizen, and his name is Kruin Striker. Only, unlike Foundry, he doesn't look for colour requirements. He only sees that a creature came into play. Oh, and he gets trample to boot. So, I figured that he could be a good beater early on and get some damage in if used properly, going over the top.
Then another "ETB" creature came to mind to give the deck a bit of breathing room. Bring in Essence Warden. Early enough drop that this little gem can give you just the bit of room you need in order to edge out those aggressive decks. Think of the sac and ETB engine I mentioned earlier with 4 mana chumps in play already, so you've gone up by 4 life. Then you brought in the nest for another 2, a predator for another 3, and another predator for another 3. That's 12 lifegain, and you still have bodies on the board to show for it. I couldn't ignore that one.
Oh, and the last Bomb to drop in the deck would be the Hand of Emrakul. As early as turn 3 this big fatty can drop, and if your opponent doesn't have an easy answer to it, it will wreck them entirely.
III.The Deck List
Bomb's Away (Alpha)
24 Lands
11 Mountain
10 Forest
2 Gruul Guildgate
1 Terramorphic Expanse
27 Creatures
4 Hand of Emrakul
3 Emrakul's Hatcher
4 Kozilek's Predator
4 Nest Invader
2 Kruin Striker
3 Festerhide Boar
4 Mogg Bombers
3 Essence Warden
9 Spells
4 Brood Birthing
3 Brimstone Volley
2 Spawning Breath
(15) Sideboard Just thrown together
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Festerhide Boar
3 Electrickery
3 Faerie Macabre
2 Smelt
2 Naturalize
1 Spawning Breath
IV. Conclusion
Now, I know the deck has it's weaknesses and that it isn't exactly a Tier 1 deck, maybe not even Tier 2, but I had fun building it, and piloting it for it's initial birth.
And, that was an afternoon at work coming up with something that I figured would be fun and unusual.
So, I hope you enjoyed reading it and if you want to give it a few spins around the block I highly recommend it. I would also like to note that it is a VERY VERY inexpensive deck to run.
Whether it's dropping a Bomb on your opponents courtesy of Mogg, or it's the turn 3 Hand that Bombs the table, or an explosive start of bodies Bombing the battlefield, I hope you enjoy the experience.
Peace!
~ Greystone
