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Post by midnight03 on Jul 1, 2013 23:22:04 GMT -5
Well ladies and gentlemen, this month brew of the month is once again standard pauper and this time we're taking blue white control for a spin. Our first draft of the deck can be found here www.mtgdeckbuilder.net/Decks/ViewDeck/725912
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avery61
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Posts: 283
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Post by avery61 on Jul 2, 2013 13:30:08 GMT -5
Built it played my 1st match.
Lost 1-2 to a UBG Gate deck didn't see Ghostly Flicker but it could have been there. Ogre Jailbreaker is still just as good as it ever was. Mulled in G3 and still kept a bad hand (all land). Sammy_Deluxe has played decks from the forums lol.
Initial feelings - - I didn't like Feeling of Dread, it didn't really do anything for me in the game. I would have rather had Hands of Binding - Riot Control was nice - I love Amass the Components but 4? too early for me to complain about yet. - I just couldn't do enough about the mass of creatures that were out there. - Attended Knight I'm a little unsure but he stays until I know more.
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Post by midnight03 on Jul 2, 2013 16:44:11 GMT -5
Got my first couple of matches in and my current record is 3-1
First game was against Black Blue Zombies 2-0.
The deck looked like it was trying to be an aggressive zombie based deck using creatures like dead reveler, highborn ghoul,scrape skin drake, and butcher ghoul to go on the offensive while using ghoulraiser and ghoul caller's chant to reuse killed off creatures and black cat for hand disruption.
game one was pretty easy, Basilica Guards held down the fort against the unleashed dead revelers and my attended knight held of everything else while my seraph went over the top and finished him.
game two didn't get past turn three after turn one doomed traveler, turn 2 essence scattered his highborn ghoul and sticking Basilica Guards on turn three at which point he scooped.
Second match was against Mono Blue Control 0-2.
game one was close unfortunately I couldn't answer all of his flyers and while extort was my main method of damage this game drawing into feeling of dread which maybe stopped him that turn if I had hands of binding I would have had him creature locked for a few turns which would have let me win.
game two was a mess. Mulled down to three and to my dismay he boarded in silent departures. Simply couldn't get anything started with have my stuff bounced for the first couple turns and getting countered after that and then him having the back to back mizzium skins to stop feeling of dread again.
Third match was against Boros 2-1
Game one I mulled down to 4 where i finally got a land but unfortunately no playables and after four turns of not drawing a land I scooped.
Game Two after boarding in the extra mizzium skins and a few riot controls I was able to hold off against his early game assault by keeping the basilica guards alive from morbid brimstone volleys and stopping an all in attack with riot control I was able to put a big enough life buffer up that I was able to pacifism his bonds of faith creatures and just kill with a combination of seraph of dawn and stitched drake.
Game three my opponent kept and iffy hand and after pacifying his Halbideir and countering his Viashino Firstblade he just ran out of gas and I over took from there.
My fourth match was against UBG flicker gate deck 2-0
I still hate playing against these damn decks
Game one after seeing his turn two gatecreeper vine I knew exactly what type of deck he was playing so it became a game of sand bagging those essence scatters for either the gatekeepers or archeomancers and holding the negate for the flicker and sure enough after after counter the first flicker and essence scattering the ubul sar gate keeper his gatecreeper vines and elvish visionaries couldn't stop the syndic of tithes and seraph of dawn.
Game two is the exact reason I hate playing these decks. even after bringing in the beckon apparitions I just couldn't draw and serious threats this game and while thanks to my three basilica guards I and my black white spirits I was able to get him down to three but unfortunately I was not able to stop him from sticking a saruli gatekeeper and started flickering, where in our game quickly became a game of me trying to extort as much as possible and hit with the spirits while he spent his turns flickering. eventually he was able to hit the point where he got two archeomancers and was able to start grabbing removal and killing my board state. to my luck however his turns were taking three times as long as mine were and when he finally had board superiority he had less than five minutes left and I was at fifty health and was able to just run out his clock to win. While not my favorite means of victory, a win is still a win.
After these matches I can agree with Avery that the feelings just don't seem to do a whole lot but I was never able to draw them against the agro decks where they would have shinned so I'm not going to cut them quite yet. Also may need to cut one of the Amass the components for something else however if i'm going to keep getting stuck in those longer gate matches I may just leave them in there.
Also note on the attended knight, the episode isn't up quite yet but the knight was kind of a throw in for our last two slots and while being nice against the agro decks, if anything that would serve the deck better I would be completely open to replacing them.
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avery61
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Post by avery61 on Jul 2, 2013 17:57:27 GMT -5
I'd have to think on a replacement for Attended Knight, maybe Loyal Cathar is the right choice not sure yet -- other options are bumping up the numbers on Seraph of Dawn and Basillica Guard.
Pacifism worries me. I love the card but with the Flicker decks it's worthless - worse than that if you have it in your opening hand it's the same as a mulligan. Not sure bounce is a better option though and white removal doesn't hit non-blockers/attackers. Damned if you do, Damned if you don't. It is good vs. aggro and Cyclops.
I have three more games in and they went a little better.
2-0 vs. Cyclops - Counters are awesome. Pacifism is great, but extort rocks.
1-2 vs. RBU Flicker - Won G1 easy when he had mana problems. G2 he nailed me with the Mancer/Gatekeeper combo and grabbed control of my creatures. G3 - almost.
2-1 vs. Mono Blue - G1 & G3 extort ftw. G2 well I really think it was all about who got to draw 1st. I did like the Pacifisms.
Overall I'm batting 50-50 - 2 wins 2 losses
EDIT========================================
Made a couple of changes to the deck to see how they do below is an updated list.
Deck Name - Counter Extort (have to call it something) Lands: 4 Azorius Guildgate 2 Haunted Fengraf 9 Plains 8 Island 23 Lands
Creatures: 4 Syndic of Tithes 4 Seraph of Dawn 2 Stitched Drake 4 Doomed Traveler 4 Basilica Guards
18 Creatures
Other Spells: 2 Hands of Binding 4 Essence Scatter 4 Negate 3 Amass the Components 4 Pacifism 2 Mizzium Skin
Sideboard: 1 Mizzium Skin 3 Beckon Apparition 3 Dispel 3 Keening Apparition 3 Riot Control 2 Divine Verdict??? yeah really not sure about this 15 Sideboard Cards
The ability to extort seems amazing and I wanted to increase those odds and Basilica Guards make for some nice blockers. Seraph of Dawn is another evasion body for the Hands of Binding I added and finally I found myself wishing for a negate a couple of times and cut one Amass.
I've only gotten on one match but it was great to see the Hands of Binding in action. Hands of Binding + extort just gives me warm fuzzy feelings.
2-1 vs. UBGW Gate - I won both games on the back of evasion creatures with Hnads of Binding/Extort tricks. Mulled game two and had a slow hand he punished me for. I had a Beckon Apparition token all ciphered up and was hitting him for three a turn at one point (two extort cretures). Rather than kill my Seraph he killed the token when he had the chance - wise choice but too late I was armed with negate/scatter back-up and took it down.
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Post by Fan of History on Jul 4, 2013 8:02:03 GMT -5
Which decks do you need 4 Doomed Travellers against? Is that just not a 1/1 dude that does nothing in most matchups?
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avery61
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Post by avery61 on Jul 4, 2013 10:11:03 GMT -5
Which decks do you need 4 Doomed Travellers against? Is that just not a 1/1 dude that does nothing in most matchups? I'm always siding them out.
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avery61
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Post by avery61 on Jul 5, 2013 0:49:18 GMT -5
Split a set vs. Flicker Gate. Hold counters for Archaeomancers - Ghostly Flicker & Grave Purge. Life gain doesn't really matter. Still fortunate to win vs. the elephant in the room.
Won 2-0 vs. Mono Green - Neither game was even close. Guy was a dick. Tried to get me angry but it really doesn't bother me when someone acts up. Kinda funny really and I'm very quick to thank them for making me laugh.
Overall record 4-3
Won't be on for a few days so no play testing for me until at least Monday.
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Post by slithytove on Jul 6, 2013 21:53:11 GMT -5
Excited to try out the new brew! I only managed to get in one game though so far.
0-2 Vs Blue Black Control. First game I mulliganed down to 5 and had to keep a 1 land hand. That land was the only 1 I would see for 5 turns. The next game went a little better but my opponent was playing heavy control with what looked like playsets of dispel, psychic strike, essence scatter, and cancel. What few creatures I could play were killed with removal. I know that control is a viable strategy but I just feel that I tend to hate it more than any other kind of deck. Drawing the 2 Fengrafs for my beginning land didn’t help. I hate Ghostly Flicker + Archaomancer, it just promotes a type of play that isn’t fun.
My first impression of the deck is that it wants to trying to do a lot of different things at once. Its got elements of control, extort, and white weenie. I agree with Dan that the Doomed Traveler really isn't ideal for the deck. For the most part he ends up being just a target for the Stitched Drake. I am try to replace him with the Deputy of Aquittals (she might no be he best fit for the deck but she's such a nice card that i've got to find a good use for her).
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Post by Fan of History on Jul 8, 2013 3:56:53 GMT -5
I just played my first game, using Avery61's most recent list here with two changes: -3 Doomed Traveller (what is he good against? He just looks like a 1/1 that does not do anything. I can see using him in a super aggressive WW deck - maybe - but in control?) -1 Amass the Components +2 Think Twice +2 More creatures (trying out Gryff Vanguard and main deck Keening Apparition this game) I will replace the fourth with a Gryff Vanguard too, after this. Gryff Vanguard is a finished, carries hands of binding, draws cards etc. Seems good to me. For my first match, I played against Nivix Cyclops UR Delver Electromancer. This is what happened: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZi49njI8js&feature=youtu.be
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Post by Fan of History on Jul 8, 2013 4:04:21 GMT -5
My first impression of the deck is that it wants to trying to do a lot of different things at once. Its got elements of control, extort, and white weenie. I agree with Dan that the Doomed Traveler really isn't ideal for the deck. For the most part he ends up being just a target for the Stitched Drake. I am try to replace him with the Deputy of Aquittals (she might no be he best fit for the deck but she's such a nice card that i've got to find a good use for her). Glad to hear about someone agreeing with the Doomed Traveller thing. But I think similar things about the Deputy. She seems superslow and not a nice card at all. The cards I plan to try out instead of Doomed Traveller is: ------------------ Think Twice Gryff Vanguard Keening Apparition (main deck) Beckon Apparition (main deck) - seems really weak though Metropolis Sprite Azorius Arrester Frostburn Weird Ajani's Sunstriker Loyal Cathar Scroll Thief Tower Drake Guardians of Akrasa (nice with the seraph) Village Bell-Ringer Attended Knight Voiceless Spirit They all seem better to me than Deputy of Aquitals. What does she really do? Save a Seraph? That's 10 mana to have a Seraph in play.
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Post by slithytove on Jul 8, 2013 11:00:49 GMT -5
Thought i'd squeeze in a few games on my morning off. Turns out though that playing against Flickergate mean't I only had time for 1 game!
2-0 Vs BUG Flickergate, Game 1 I was lucky enough to start with multiple Essence Scatter which enabled me to stop all of his Gatekeepers and enabled me to take over the board state. Next game I boarded out the pacifisms, doomed travelers, and feeling of dread for more Dispels and beckon apparition. The last game took forever but Extort won the game for me, eventually.
After 2 games with the vanilla list i decided to make several changes:
-4 Doomed Traveler -4 Pacifism -2 Attende Knight +3 Hands of Binding +3 Tower Drake +2 Gryff Vanguard +1 Negate +1 Basilica Guards
From my limited experience the deck seems to works best focused around a slow control game with your flying creatures and extort triggers being your main source of damage. Being able to dispel their flicker while also creating a 6 point lift shift is pretty nice. Also I always though that the Cipher mechanic works really well with extort. Being able to extort without casting a spell from your hand is awesome. I wonder how Hidden Strings would work with extort? If you had 2 extort creatures Hidden Strings would allow you to extort twice without using any mana! Once I get a chance to list my new deck i'll update the post with it.
P.S. Dan, fair points about the Deupty. I feel she's a great creature but I just haven't figured what deck to put her in.
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avery61
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Post by avery61 on Jul 9, 2013 0:32:38 GMT -5
I've removed the Doomed Travelers and added two Gryff Vanguards and two Prophetic Prisms. I've also removed two Amass the Components and one Negate in favor of three Think Twice.
The Prisms are great. Never have trouble with white mana now. The Stitched Drakes may come out next, they've been stuck in my hand a few times now. I know our instants/sorcery count is low but is Delver worth a slot? Mono-Blue has about the same number of spells and they run Delver.
With that said - Mizzium Skin and Negate have been underperforming to me and I may cut them altogether. If I do I vote for an increase on the creature count. Essence Scatter , on the other hand, always seems to have a target. Pacifism is another must keep for me. It's bad vs. Flicker but golden in almost every other match-up.
Three more matches played
2-0 vs. Mono-Blue Flyers - Pacifism and extort and an occasional Seraph and it was over.
2-0 vs. Boros - Extort & Seraph kept me out of harm's way while Hands of Binding and Pacifism allowed me to go agro.
0-2 vs. Cyclops - Mulled in both games, missed land drops and he rocked my world. I still don't fear this deck and feel it is a favorable match-up.
2-0 vs. BW Extort - Counters for his extort creatures and I was able to keep ahead on extort creatures. Pacifism - Hands & Flyers and he quit early in game two.
Overall Record 7-4
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and one more match.
2-0 vs. Mono White Enchantment - vs. a clan member. His deck was basically enchant a creature until it's too big to burn away or Keeper away and swing with it. Pacifism's were awesome here as was Hands of Binding. In game two he brought in Angelic Walls for a stall but Divine Verdicts killed his enchanted creatures and I managed to land more flyers than he had and that plus extort won a concession.
Did I mention that I won both games without ever hitting a negate? Didn't need them to handle his enchantments. It will be cut from my list.
Overall Record - 8-4
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greystone
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Posts: 110
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Post by greystone on Jul 9, 2013 9:34:12 GMT -5
Love the idea for the deck. Sorry for getting here late folks, I've been writing up a storm. Now I'm wondering why we aren't using Deputy? (Sorry I'm only halfway through the podcast)
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Post by midnight03 on Jul 9, 2013 16:39:32 GMT -5
unfortunately didn't get a chance to talk about the deck during last nights recording but this is how I've been doing
1-2 BUG Flickergate, Stomped him first game, unfortunately after board he brought in duress' and ravenous rats and was able to get rid of my counters at the right time so he could clear my board via Ubul sar gatekeeper and keep me of draws by flickering the rats on my draw.
1-2 BUG Flickergate this match played out very similar to the previous match the only difference being he had two archeomancers and just kept getting back aerial predation to kill of my flyers leaving me with just the basilica guards and syndic of tithes which couldn't out extort the life gain via saruli gate keeper and the chipping of flickering bloodhunter bat.
here is when I changed the list a bit
Current list
Lands 4 Azurious Guildgate 2 Haunted Fengraf 9 Plains 8 Islands
Creatures 4 Syndic of Tithes 4 Basilica Guard 4 Seraph of Dawn 2 Stitched Drake 3 Elgaud Shieldmate
Other Spells 4 Essence Scatter 4 Negate 4 Pacifism 2 Mizzium Skin 3 Think Twice 2 Amass the Compinents 1 Hands of Binding
Sideboard 3 Beckon Apparition 3 Dispel 3 Keening Apparition 1 Mizzium Skin 3 Riot Control 2 Divine Verdict
As many people here have said doomed traveler was just a 1/1 dude in the deck and didn't really do anything and for the life of me i can't even remember why I suggested him in the first place when we came up with the first draft. So after to fill their spot I was looking for something to stop ubul sar gatekeeper just wrecking my board like it did in the previous games so I settled on the shieldmates which have been holding their own quite well as they keep you angels and drakes safe and can hold their own in combat thanks to being a 2/3.
The next thing I found complicating games was our draw spell being at four mana and not being able to hold up a counter after which is what was starting to bit me in the ass. So i decided to cut two amass the components and use the last slot left open from doomed travelers cut to put in three think twice. doing so as allowed me much earlier draw as well as providing two instances for extort which helps add up the damage quick.
after the changes I went ahead and got back in there.
2-0 BUG Flickergate, held essence scatter for archaeomancer and the negates for flickers eventually I was able to stick a seraph and pair it with a shieldmate after he played his ubul sar gatekeeper and realized that it could no longer kill my angel he scooped. Second game played out exactly the same except I had more tools to play with and again sat back countered the the archaeomancer and dispelled the flickers and then beat face with with a seraph and drake each paired with a shield mate.
2-0 BUG Flickergate, starting to get tired of seeing this deck, but in any case this match played out the same as the one above.
2-0 U/R Electromancer Control. This match seemed highly in my favor was able to sit behind my basilica guards to keep him from attacking and extorting more than enough to keep me out of any hope of burning my out eventually clinching out the first game after sticking two seraphs. game two was more of the same extort to stay ahead of life save counters for the burn spells and after getting a seraph paired with a shieldmate he scooped.
2-1 Junk Enchantments. Game one he was able to get a rubbleback rhino down when i didn't have essence scatter in hand and was able to stick mark of the vampire on it after i tapped out to counter the ethereal armor. next turn he dropped a tricks of the trade on it, blue mana courtesy of abundant growth he finished me off. game two after bringing in the keening apparitions even when he was able to stick a primal hunt beast he couldn't get an enchantment on it and the basilica guard were able to hold down the fort while the seraph flew over the top. game three I was able to keep him from sticking either of his hexproof creatures and just proceeded to go all in seeing how his gatecreeper vines couldn't stop me.
2-0 U/R Cyclops game one didn't last long as it seemed hit decided to try going all in with a single cyclops which did nothing as its was pacified the immediately after it was played and proceeded to just extort to make sure I was safely out of burn range while my syndics swung in for the kill. game two only lasted until I got a seraph paired with a shieldmate, with out being able to kill the constant life gain I was netting from the seraph he scooped.
Current record is 8-3
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avery61
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Post by avery61 on Jul 9, 2013 19:58:06 GMT -5
I really like the idea of Shieldmate and will give it a shot.
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