Especially good thing to defend Ula is and Krakens is Turn Aside.
November 7, 2014 8:59 a.m.
Wiktul thanks for the link! I enjoyed looking at all the big monsters you have. I do have Turn Aside in my sideboard. Not of This World is interesting, but I don't think it would work to surprise anybody, as I will almost always have the quest on the field, and they will see whatever I draw. Still, its a fun deck, and that is a fun spell!
November 7, 2014 9:21 a.m.
Really liking this deck so far. My only thought might be to swap out the Serum Powder for something like the previously mentioned Turn Aside or Swan Song. Most people don't put in enchantment hate until the 2nd game, true, but it can always stop a tough removal spell if nothing else. If you're wanting to keep it in the creature pool, though, Cursecatcher can serve as copies 5-8 of Judge's Familiar.
I've been playtesting it against some of my own decks and it's pretty consistently getting Ula's Temple active by turn 4 or 5 at the latest, and all of those scry-creatures are great chump blockers against aggro.
I've had the elements of a good Ula's Temple deck for the longest time, but could never get it to work well, so I'm always glad to see one like this actually working consistently! So, y'know, good job with that. I'll probably wind up netdecking this for my next few casual group games.
November 7, 2014 11:54 a.m.
What about AEtherize or Whelming Wave in case you'd face some nasty, crappy, token aggro?
November 7, 2014 12:02 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #6
Would Omenspeaker be better than Sage Owl? I see the flying as being good, but I'm wondering if scry is better than rearranging your top deck?
November 7, 2014 12:08 p.m.
Sloanan thanks man, the deck has been working really well, and Cursecatcher will only make it better! WIsh it wasn't so $$ tho. :) Spellskite is already denting my wallet pretty good.
The Serum Powder is a must have, as the deck mulligans until it gets a turn 1 Quest... speaking from experience not having that turn 1 is a really bad idea. You just can't durdle around when your "combo" needs 4 turns to trigger under optimal circumstances, and then you need another 3 turns to kill the opponent,
MindAblaze! I think Omenspeaker is a great idea! I will probably swap out the Sigiled Starfish for it tho, as generally speaking, being able to manipulate the deck the turn a creature enters is stronger than each turn after -- missing a trigger is just so bad in this deck.
November 7, 2014 12:43 p.m.
Huh, I forgot Cursecatcher was so expensive now. Funny, considering Judge's Familiar is strictly better on its own at this point, but still, it's a nice card. I'm guessing it's the tribal opportunities with the Cursecatcher that hikes the price up?
November 7, 2014 12:57 p.m.
Yea -- Merfolk gaining popularity in modern probably made this card expensive... don't know what else would play it.
As an aside, Merfolk decks will destroy this deck. I would put the odds at around 10% of winning against Merfolk. Against most aggro decks you have chump blockers for days with this deck, but Merfolk have islandwalk by turn 2 or 3 and then you are just done lol. If anybody knows of something to help against them, I would really appreciate it.
November 7, 2014 1:06 p.m.
Awesome deck! I think this is the best leviathan deck I have been able to find so far. I might build a budget version of this for my next casual deck.. :)
December 1, 2014 5:43 a.m.
Zoolbar thanks! I spent a lot of time working on it... You can only polish so much tho. Is still going to be a gimmick deck. :p
December 1, 2014 9:35 a.m.
Hey Wiktul! I have thought about it. And cards like Clockspinning. It doesn't do anything that I'm not already doing with creatures (that also trigger the quest). I just can't afford to have a card that doesn't trigger the quest because unlike most win conditions, the quest triggering 3 times is only the start of winning -- i still need a few more turns to actually play leviathans and kill my opponent.
December 9, 2014 2:58 p.m.
Ok, I can see that you have perfect trigger for the Quest, but in my opinion you're totally defenceless against controll. Boomerang, Naturalize, Back to Nature, Disperse, Disenchant... There's over 120 cards made only to destroy enchantments, not to mention counterspells or blinks. You can win almost instantly if you'll put Inkwell Leviathan turn 4, but the only thing opponent has to do is to sideboard himself properly. Discard, things like Slaughter Games or Quash, Unsummon that can made you really mad. Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver will take you on the edge of suicide if you have nothing to controll your opponent playing him (trust me on this one ;) ). Jace, the Mind Sculptor - speaks for himself.
Even when you finally can put one of the biggies onto the battlefield, you're done againts removal decks, like this one:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/infinite-agony/
I've played once with my version of kraken-Ula deck at legacy tournament. When opponent played an artifact (I can't recall the name right now) in first turn, that prevented all spells with converted mana cost 1 from being played, I could just give up.
I asked before - what about AEtherize or Whelming Wave to defend yourself?
And - why Grozoth? I have almost all krakens, octopusses and leviathans that have been printed and it's really no big deal. It's even better to put Denizen of the Deep instead of him, if you want just one big, ugly mtherfucker :) or Trench Gorger.
I know your targeting modern as default format, but I guess you're getting my point ;)
December 9, 2014 7:47 p.m.
That's a lot of feedback:)
OK... So yes, cards that destroy enchantments will beat this deck. But that's what Judge's Familiar and Spellskite are there to help with.
Game 1, most people won't have specific hate cards yet. Game 2 I can board in lots of help such as Turn Aside and Chancellor of the Annex. Even Voidmage Prodigy is a better possibility than a 2+cmc non creature spell.
As to the creature choices... I only want creatures with shroud or creatures that fetch creatures with shroud. That way creature removal just won't work against me.
But again, I really do want to hear feedback from players who try this in competitive environments, so keep testing and playing and keep me updated on how it goes. Thanks!
December 9, 2014 8:42 p.m.
Hexproof won't help against sacrifice or AEtherize or AEtherspouts, but yes, it is a great advantage. Isn't it better to put replace Chancellor of the Annex for something that can be of use in any other condition than starting hand draw? That's really hard condition to fulfill, especially when you're milling yourself out for Ula, and all after this 1st round counter you have useless card in hand. Some counterspells for 0, perhapse?
December 9, 2014 9:03 p.m.
Yea, that's the weakest link... But I'd rather play a set of Voidmage Prodigy over any non-creature. It's just that in my experience if you can't trigger the quest by turn 5 or 6 you probably lose.
If I were to use any instant spell it would be Swan Song... It's probably the best option for a deck that runs on 1-2 lands.
December 9, 2014 9:13 p.m.
DarkonCrack says... #18
I love this deck concept. It's pretty consistent and decently fast and just steam rolls anything that's not a dedicated combo deck (which even then, it has options to deal with). A definite +1 from me.
The only thing that I could really suggest for it is the Chancellors in the side seem like dead weight. Yes, it disrupts the opponent's early game, but then does nothing. Disrupting Shoal might be a better choice. I've been experimenting with your decklist and it rarely causes problems with the quest (because the overwhelming amount of scry you have), it's a free counterspell (so you can stay on curve), and because of all the low mana scry creatures you have, you should always have a valid exile target against removal. This can also help you against the Qasali Pridemage you have problems with. Yeah, it's a 2-for-1, but you get the advantage in the end by dropping Grozoth, so meh. Just an idea.
Also, have you thought about Scourge of Fleets? He might not seem like much, but he can disrupt a very large number of strategies. It can force an Affinity player into a hard spot, destroy a bunch of Bitterblossom tokens, and a slew of other things. Even though this deck stalls at about 2 mana (3 on a bad day), returning every creature with toughness 2 or less is still pretty good disruption. Just something to think about :)
Still, instant +1 from me.
December 24, 2014 8:14 p.m.
Thanks DarkonCrack! I really enjoy seeing other people giving this deck a try. I normally beat anything that doesn't combo off by turn 5 or 6, but I do die a horrible death to combo. I need to do more testing with a few counterspells to shore up the matchup with combo for sure. I will try your suggestions and post back after the next FNM. Thanks again!
December 24, 2014 8:35 p.m.
Ok, first of all I gotta say.... Love this deck!!!!! Ula is such an awesome enchantment! Second, have you considered Reality Strobe for repetitive disruption just in case you need to stall or run into a deck that can cheat out threats like the Blightsteel Colossus or Worldspine Wurm? Third, I highly recommend Deep-Sea Kraken. A 6/6 unblockable for 3 mana is beautiful just in case your Quest gets killed. Suspend that beauty and wait for your opponent to actually help you play him every time they cast a spell!
December 28, 2014 3:32 a.m.
Thanks for the input smccl! Both those cards are interesting and could be considered for longer games, but I have set the deck up such that either I get a quest and get it online or I lose. The bulk of the deck runs on two lands and the quest requires me to scry away any extra lands so that the quest fires asap... If I ever get 3 lands it's because of bad variance in shuffling, not because I wanted it. But I do hope you can tinker with the configuration and make improvements, as of right now the deck is still casual rather than competitive... Despite my best efforts.
Spellskite and Turn Aside really help for less mana, so I'll stick to a curve of two for now. :)
December 28, 2014 10:08 a.m.
Hmmm... I can't think of anything at the 2 cmc area quite yet but I will work on it In the meantime could you take a look at my Just a Matter of Time deck and give me some ideas?
December 28, 2014 10:16 a.m.
Blizzicane says... #23
I am so glad I click on this deck at random to find such a interesting combo. I love how fluently this deck works and enchantment removal is not use very much in modern as everyone is boarding more artifact hate because of affinity and tron. The sideboard could use some work though I will try to think up some suggestions later +1. :3
December 30, 2014 4:29 p.m.
Thanks Blizzicane! This has been my favorite creation, though it is fragile once the opponent sees what's happening. Still, it is very fun to play, and nothing beats a mulligan to 2 and winning! Looking forward to any advice.
December 30, 2014 4:40 p.m.
Added 4x Azorius Guildmage to the side board because it often happens that I want to stop Qasali Pridemage from ruining my day... And I want playing against much hand disruption lately.
Wiktul says... #1
I hope anything in here can help you: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/quest-for-the-gamebreaker/In it's modern shape it's much more effective (I cut all of the expendable "fun" things), but even now, in it's legacy-,multiplayer-fun shape it's really competitive ;)
November 7, 2014 8:59 a.m.