First 11 days in M.T.G.! Help me defeat my gf!

Standard* whisenhuntn

SCORE: 6 | 104 COMMENTS | 1237 VIEWS


brewtzar says... #1

Hello there whisenhuntn, I'd great to see that you're enjoying Magic so far! It's really good to see that the community is supporting you so well, thanks everyone for contributing!

I personally prefer Modern for its relatively huge pool of cards, but Standard is a great way for newer players to learn the game and for those who like to keep things fresh! Once you feel that you have a good grasp of the game, be sure to also check out the Commander format - It's much more drawn out, but makes for some really fun diplomacy games and impressive plays.

In terms of your deck here, here's some advice:

  • You might considering cutting out some of the slower cards like Cruel Reality. If your gf is bearing down on you with several creatures in play, then it would probably be better to play a more immediate answer such as Languish.

  • Deck synergy is really important, as having a lot of cards that work well together will often beat out decks composed of good cards that don't help each other out. For example, many zombie cards like Relentless Dead or Diregraf Colossus can make an unusually persistent aggro deck when working together. You might consider trying to build you deck around a common theme or two such as -1/-1 counters, zombies, or life stealing.

  • Be careful when using cards like Knight of Infamy or Trespasser's Curse. While they're effective against specific threats, if you opponent doesn't use those threats then they won't be nearly as useful.

  • These aren't all legal cards in Standard, but for Modern and Casual play you could consider cards like Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Abyssal Persecutor, Desecration Demon, Dismember, and Grasp of Darkness, to name a few. There's a lot more out there, but these could be some good budget cards to give you some ideas.

  • As stated above, try to keep your deck at 60 cards max and with as few one-ofs as possible in order to improve the odds of getting something useful to whatever situation you're in.

  • Your mana cost curve is very important. For an aggro deck such as this, you'll probably want to have it peak at two and three, if you can.

I hope that this helps you improve your deck! You're showing great potential and it's good to see you stick with it!

Oh, also, if you want to write out a card and have it display the card when moused over (Thoughtseize, for example), add two brackets around the card name like this: [0[thoughtseize]0] (without the 0s).

May 21, 2017 5:37 a.m.

brewtzar says... #2

Also in regards to your previous post, mono-colored decks can be very effective, especially in an aggressive build. Red Deck Wins is a very powerful mono-red deck archetype involving dealing damage directly to your opponent as quickly as possible, for example.

May 21, 2017 5:47 a.m.

Argy says... #3

You might want to include some draw in your deck. Aggro decks often "run out of gas", meaning your hand empties out quickly and then you have nothing left to play.

Painful Lesson is a good draw card that came out in Amonkhet.

May 21, 2017 5:57 a.m.

whisenhuntn says... #4

I am currently with my binder/deck and i am able too answer any questions.

im looking for suggestions like....

REMOVE:___

AND REPLACE IT WITH:___

The cards i have are in the maybeboard.

Feel free to ask if i have ____ card.

May 21, 2017 11:05 p.m.

DubiousDanish says... #5

Does your gf play a ton of creatures?

May 21, 2017 11:11 p.m.

DubiousDanish says... #6

May 21, 2017 11:23 p.m.

DubiousDanish says... #7

If she doesn't play a ton of creatures then:

3x Trespasser's Curse out

1x Oblivion Strike in

2x Painful Lesson in

May 21, 2017 11:29 p.m.

whisenhuntn says... #8

she does 20/20/20

20 creatures

20 spells

20 lands

3 color deck from memory

she has black green white

based around lifelink deathtouch trample.

3 plainswalkers

Liliana, Death Wielder

Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

Sorin, Grim Nemesis

May 21, 2017 11:33 p.m.

whisenhuntn says... #9

@ dubiousDanish im on it ... gonna edit it now

May 21, 2017 11:38 p.m.

DubiousDanish says... #10

If she does play a ton of creatures then:

3x Trespasser's Curse out

3x Trial of Ambition in

1x Cruel Reality out

1x Cartouche of Ambition in

1x Liliana of the Dark Realms out

1x Cartouche of Knowledge in

May 21, 2017 11:43 p.m.

DubiousDanish says... #11

If she's playing those three, she plans on a long grinding game. She is probably doing so to give you time to do things. It's common to do this when teaching someone a game. What you need to do is try to win the game quickly. Remove your late game threats in favor of a more aggressive early game. She will be building her defenses until she can "ultimate" her Planeswalkers most likely. The final ability of a Planeswalker is often called their ultimate ability.

May 21, 2017 11:55 p.m.

whisenhuntn says... #12

Okay DubiousDanish

i have 2 piles of cards in front of me

cards going out::::::::

x3 Trespasser's Curse

x1 Knight of Infamy

x1 Cruel Reality

x1 Vampire Envoy

x1 Liliana of the Dark Realms

GOING INTO DECK ::::::

x3 Trial of Ambition

x1 Cartouche of Ambition

x1 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner

x1 Gifted Aetherborn

x1 Oblivion Strike

x2 Painful Lesson

May 22, 2017 12:07 a.m.

DubiousDanish says... #13

So if you can finish her by turn 7 she will not get to her game plan. The best way to do this is to cast aggressive creatures that can attack her life total and planeswalkers. To help your creatures get through you will need to use spells that remove her defenses, in this case it sounds like she's probably blocking your creatures with her own. So destroy, exile, or make her sacrifice them. She probably has a slight advantage by running three colors because she has a larger pool of cards to choose from, but don't get discouraged because the victory will be that much sweeter!

May 22, 2017 12:08 a.m.

DubiousDanish says... #14

The interaction between Trial of Ambition and Cartouche of Ambition could be your best option to deal with her strategy. Make your creatures better while making hers weaker "and" recasting your trial to make her keep sacrificing her creatures.

May 22, 2017 12:15 a.m.

DubiousDanish says... #15

I'm actually piecing together a deck that is almost entirely about the trial and cartouche synergy. Check out my deck Grix-Crop Elites, I only need the Soul-Scar Mages and I'll have it all together.

May 22, 2017 12:19 a.m.

whisenhuntn says... #16

Okay. I went card by card in my deck and its guaranteed to be what you see above (66 Cards)

May 22, 2017 12:26 a.m.

Argy says... #17

You need to get rid of six more cards.

Put these in the Sideboard, and bring them in against Gods and Indestructible Creatures:

3x Cartouche of Ambition
3x Trial of Ambition

May 22, 2017 5:56 a.m. Edited.

DubiousDanish says... #18

Is your Essence Extraction able to remove her creatures reliably? Are there creatures that you need to exile from her graveyard or are you just casting Shamble Back for a zombie token and 2 life? Has Rush of Vitality been useful to your game plan? You mentioned Trample as being a component of her deck, so it would seem like at best it would negate the damage of one creature for one turn. Which essentially puts you behind in tempo, tempo is how advantage is gauged in mtg. If you are spending mana and using cards to only affect one turn while her cards and mana remain in effect, she will slowly pull ahead.How often can you get Ob Nixilis Reignited into play and get any use out of him? I have tried jamming him into five or six of my standard decks; only to end up pulling him back out. He's an awesome card but I would always either draw him too early and have a dead card in hand or play him too late to be worth the mana. The above cards would be the six that I pulled out first if they fail to perform against her deck. I know the general consensus is that auras are bad (because if they kill your creature they spend one card to remove two of yours) and making an opponent sacrifice is less effective than targeting a specific creature, but I really do like how the trials can be recast by interacting with the cartouches.

May 22, 2017 9:11 a.m.

Argy says... #19

See now I WOULDN'T take out Ob Nixilis Reignited.

He has won me a lot of games.

Not only does he give late game card advantage by refilling your hand, he can also act as another source of removal.

I agree that Shamble Back is kind of weak.

May 22, 2017 10:08 a.m.

whisenhuntn says... #20

I updated the deck both in real life and here on the forum.

Im going to spend some time putting spells and instants / enchantments that i have in my maybeboard

May 22, 2017 1:08 p.m.

In the deck name, "defeat" may be more appropriate than "beat" lol

May 23, 2017 12:12 a.m.

Add 1-2 lands since it's a midrange deck with 5 and 6 converted mana cost spells. Nothing worse than a hand full of fatties and not enough lands to cast 'em. :)

+1 keep up the practice and "brewing" new deck ideas!

May 23, 2017 12:15 a.m.

whisenhuntn says... #23

@Jimmy_Chinchila

I added x2 Swamp to my deck

My card count is up to (62)

May 23, 2017 12:24 a.m.

whisenhuntn says... #24

I am currently with my binder/deck and i am able too answer any questions.

im looking for suggestions like....

REMOVE:___

AND REPLACE IT WITH:___

The cards i have are in the maybeboard.

Feel free to ask if i have ____ card.

May 23, 2017 12:33 a.m.

Argy says... #25

Indulgent Tormentor needs to come out.

It is not Standard legal.

May 23, 2017 12:59 a.m.

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