Here I Am! - and Boy it's Good to be Here!
This is my first deck build posted publicly anywhere. I'm a kitchen counter player who started playing just a few months ago. My goal was to create something with a somewhat unusual WinCo that would work as consistently as possible against all other colors, deck types, and play styles. My goal was to keep this reasonably affordable (~$250 without any sideboard/maybeboard included) since at this point in time I, unfortunately, don't have thousands to spend on a deck to play in real life, I like to browse, read about, and with this debut, build decks that are likely to be considered budget to many others. As a rookie deck builder and player, I'm working with a limited memory of cards and their accompanying mana costs, synergies, weaknesses, strengths etc. I of course did some research to track down cards that functioned close to how I wanted, but of course there are undoubtedly cards that would be better substitutes for my 'version one' choices, that I simply haven't come across yet.
Calling All Decklords and Top Helpers!
I discovered TappedOut within a few days of playing my first game. I've done a lot of creeping through the decks and find the comments sections can be the most informative material: watching debates play out on pro's and con's of particulate cards in a number of given scenarios. The internet can be a harsh & cold place, but....I would love any and all input! A few things that would be useful to me are listed below, but there may be things to consider regarding card selection, gameplay, or rules, that I am unaware of yet, so really, any comments/suggestions will be welcome, as long as people can keep it kind, fun, and relaxed. I don't need any more stress in my life, doubt anyone does actually - and I'm getting into this game to have fun and use my brain muscles a little. No need for the holier-than-thou elitist commentary I've seen a few poor souls get berated with upon sharing their decks:
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Is a different Format be better suited for the deck?
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What card selection changes would you suggest keeping overall cost close to where it's currently at?
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What card substitutions would you make if budget was no option and the goal was to stay protected while getting to the winning scenario as fast as possible?
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With this deck being a little bit of a one trick pony, what could be added to either get a very high percentage chance of getting the cards I need in hand when I need them (thinking something like PainShake did in Zombie Hunt is best combo in Modern allowing Treasure Hunt to carve through the lands in the library and retrieve the critical card(s) for that deck), and/or how can I keep those critical cads as safe as possible while in the battle field, or lastly, what changes could be made to create alternative paths to success, making the deck a bit less janky, for the times when the cards don't fall favorably?
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Thoughts on where this deck is the weakest and how that link in the chain can be improved?
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Are there places where I could reduce from a full 4x playset on a card and bring in 2x from my maybeboard that would retain that cards role in the setup of the deck and potentially bring some diversity to my defense?
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How does this deck potentially perform 1 V. 1 compared to multiplayer? I typically only play with one or two other people, so larger tables are something I haven't experienced yet.
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Exquisite Blood related question which is laid out below in the "Alternative Options" section, trying to understand how it interacts with Celestial Convergence while the stack resolves. Please read below!
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The title for the deck is a total work in progress, any suggestions are welcome, brownie points for any that get a good laugh!
How's This Dang 'Ol Thing Work Man?
Alrighty! I'll start out with what I think the ideal starting hand is and how I'd play through to the win. There are a few essential cards, which I will call out, as I don't know of many others that could fulfill their role in setting things up to take all opponents out of the game at the same time, not matter how many there are. Ironically, this last, seemingly critical role, has a lot of options. These were hard to make a choice on, I retained some of my top alternatives in the maybeboard and the "Alternative Options" section below with a quick description of what they would replace in the main deck and what I like / dislike about them. And away, we, go!
The basic gist is this. The endgame is to use Repay in Kind to level all player's life totals out, equal to whoever has the lowest at that time. Knowing this is coming, should allow us to spend some life to speed up the setup if mana or other critical cards are not being drawn.
Once everyone's life count is set equal, this deck will hopefully be able to slam the door and finish the game. The intention is drop Celestial Convergence and our critical "take the lead" card (this is the one I have a number of sideboard options for). For now I'm looking to use Arashin Cleric who costs just 2 mana, delivers 3 lives as it enters the battlefield which puts us in the life total lead, provides blocking should another player get a turn, and is human, which potentially helps us out as this turn develops.
The rest of the turn is dependent on how much mana is out and available. We'll have used a total of six to play the first two cards and we must have seven mana still available. These mana will be used by our Hex Parasite which ideally would have come out turn one with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. Hex Parasite will use one life and seven mana to remove all of the omen tokens from Celestial Convergence who's text writing notes that _"If there are no omen counters on Celestial Convergence, the player with the highest life total wins the game."
I originally thought that while the winning turn is happening, I would ideally have a Benediction of Moons, Alive / Well, and a Angel's Mercy in my hand. The first two cost only one mana each to cast (sorcery card types) and result in +2 lives for each player in the game and +32 lives for every creature you control respectively. The third is four mana to use, but it has the bonus of being an instant and is a simple +7 on the life count.
However, if Celestial Convergence really ends the game as I understand it would, perhaps these three cards would be better off replaced by a counterspell such as Dawn Charm would be better to have in case of spell attacks while the final winning play is occurring. Even better, would be to play one of the Angel's Grace which should offer fairly comprehensive protection for only one mana. This realization dropped some of the sorcery and instant life building cards mentioned above from the main board to the maybeboard and replaced them with these more defensive options.
Alternative Options
Straightforward enough here....I'll list out the cards left in my maybeboard and briefly comment on which cards they were competing with in the main deck and why they fell short in my opinion.
Exquisite Blood -- I'm wondering if someone could advise how this card would work if it was played before, or with the Celestial Convergence ? Is there a way I could order the play so that all players, including myself would have our life total reduced to be equal to the lowest player's and then I would be rewarded life equal to the other players losses? If this is the case, then there would be less of a mana worry on the final turn.
Arbiter of Knollridge -- This is an alternative to Repay in Kind with a similar function except raising all player's life totals equal to the player with the highest - I thought the black option was more attractive since the main play is designed to be a surprise, if it didn't work out, I'd be in better shape to win with opponents in survival mode.
Angel of Grace + Angelic Enforcer
-- These were options to play instead if Arashin Cleric. I elected the lower power and lower mana cost. If things go correctly, their higher power and toughness will never see any play. These are my favorite's that didn't make the deck.
Abuna's Chant -- The downside is the cost; 4 mana in a hand where I already need a pile of mana. It offers a bit of extra defense, but is not nearly as useful as a creature in the pivotal game point where I could be scrambling to sure up a long game strategy.
Graveyard Trespasser
-- Yet another option to replace Arashin Cleric and that crucial role. This guarantees the life total lead by taken from opponents and gifting to me, a doubling of the gap in case the game goes on. It's a better offensive play in the long term, but I think it's worth getting the WinCo off as soon as possible, rather than have a slightly better card a turn later, forcefully delayed by a mana shortage.
Bargain -- This was a contender to fulfill the mechanism of putting us in the life total lead after equalizing everyone, but before removing the counters on that will enact the win. I didn't see any benefit here compared to other options.
Liliana of the Dark Realms -- I would really like to have this card in the main deck and in the mix. I'm not sure how/where it fits, but the extra mana it can produce would allow less perfect drawing and open higher cost options to set up a secondary path to the finish line. The possibilities with this and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth seem exciting!
Vizkopa Guildmage -- I like the synergy of this card with the deck's playstkle and the two cards mentioned above. It isn't super costly, especially for later in the game. It seems like it could carry the 'take lives away and put them in my pile' theme even if the main attempt failed.
This deck is very centered around the single win condition. I think re-balancing the number of cards and bringing in some bigger, badder, black cards would probably help this. With so much focus on cranking mana early, if the initial life count plot failed, I'd hope to be up just enough in life and mana assets that one or two offensive cards might be able to finish the job in the turns following the main WinCo fail. Suggestions on how to round out the deck are of course very welcome. As mentioned above, I am drawn to Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Liliana of the Dark Realms but obviously am here to learn and wouldn't mind being steered in a different direction.
In general, choosing between 4x playsets or 2x etc. is still a bit foreign and I didn't do testing or statistics to see if I was overstocking the cards I really need by playing them at 4x. Perhaps a more clever extraction form library card(s) would be more efficient?
Wrap it Up; with an Upvote?
If anything about this post is formatted incorrectly or set up wrong, please let me know so I can fix it. Along these lines, please throw an upvote for the deck if you like it or enjoy my description section. I'm trying to keep it clean, with minimal formatting, and touch on all the things I wish every posted deck had to understand the basic function or the deck, why certain cards were chosen, and ,if any, what input the author hoped to receive. So go ahead and hit that upvote; if for nothing else than knowing your boosting serotonin and dopamine levels in a MTG rookies brain from across the internet. I'm excited to see if this late night deck idea can evolve into anything playable! I'll wait for comments and try to do some Playtesting as well in the meantime.
If you stuck with me through all that - many thanks - Cheers!
