lakebottom says... #2
lemmingllama, What exactly is the concern with taplands? It's true that this deck is slow without Melek out, but it seems that has more to do with the general inneficiency of token spells in these colors, and the need to have 'em doubled to be a threat (being the case, maybe Twincast , and Fork are good? Have you had much experience with these Melek replacers?).
Anyway, it's true that the vivid lands rarely lose all their counters in a game. Meaning that, as cheap dual lands, they aren't indispensible. However, they do get use, and I'm still not sure, why do you think they should go? By the time Melek is ready to be cast they're all untapped anyway.
Runechanter's Pike , and Bribery are fine, but if I put them in I will be removing some token card and decreasing the already dubious chance of winning with tokens, meaning they will vie for being my main wincons. At which point, the rest of the deck feels kinda silly. Purphoros, God of the Forge , Pandemonium , and Warstorm Surge , are plenty of wincons, in no game have they all been removed. Mostly because they don't come down until I'm ready to use them.
I will definitely think about Capsize , the price of the buyback is rough, but it brings it in above other bounces. Boomerang does too little and was always a sad "I'm still about to lose" card whenever I used it in EDH.
Rhystic Study , and Future Sight both seem good at acceleration, and speed is still my main issue, I want to try them. Can't afford the top, and mortars is too weak to fill a spot.Thanks for your input, I'll try some things out.
August 25, 2014 10:05 a.m.
lemmingllama says... #3
lakebottom I personally don't like having them in decks unless I really need the dual-lands. Lets say turn 6 you need one last land to get out Melek, and you draw a land that comes into play tapped. Now you have to wait a turn for Melek. It might not be a big issue, but it still slows down the deck. Its more so a personal preference for me than anything else.
I also personally enjoy cards like Reiterate , Reverberate , Increasing Vengeance , and Twincast . Why have something only doubled when you can have something tripled or more. They do take up slots, but can be viable. They are also really nice when using Empty the Warrens , it gets your storm count up and adds more copies.
Anyways, glad I could help.
lemmingllama says... #1
Your Melek deck plays quite differently than mine does, but it still seems pretty fun to use. I like the way that you use Melek's doubling ability to spawn twice as many tokens.
I noticed a couple weaknesses of this build though. One is that even though you have a very low average CMC, you can't really capitalize on it until Melek is out. It might be best to not use some of your tap lands in your mana base. Some like Vivid Crag , Vivid Creek , and Izzet Guildgate aren't really necessary and slow you down.
Another weakness is your dependence on Purphoros, God of the Forge and Warstorm Surge . Since you don't have a lot of protection, and your deck will be weaker in a long game, it would be best to have either some way of protecting these, or a secondary win condition. Adding in something like Runechanter's Pike or Bribery can give you another way to win, thus giving you more diversity and hopefully a better chance at winning.
Finally, you don't have a lot of good removal for enchantments or artifacts. Something like Propaganda and Ghostly Prison could entirely shut down your deck. Rather than using cards like Jilt , cards such as Capsize and Boomerang could remove these threats.
A couple other cards that I would recommend adding include Sensei's Divining Top , Rhystic Study , Future Sight /Magus of the Future , Pull from the Deep , Mizzium Mortars , and Panoptic Mirror . Still, the best way to determine what's best for your deck is to rigorously playtest it. Try replacing cards that you feel are weaker, and see if it can improve the overall strength of your deck.
August 19, 2014 10:07 p.m.