So, we're purely at deckbuilding now. What changes do we want to make, if any? I think we've got a good build here, and I made a couple swaps based on suggestions thus far. We've got til about the weekend, then it'll be game time!

I want to know how people feel about putting in a Sinister Possession in place of one Hired Torturer . I'm not too excited to play two non-attacking creatures with mediocre abilities. Most of the time, Sinister Possession is a pseudo-Pacifism , which seems better than a 2/3 defender for 3 to me.

I like the Hired Torturer for the direct damage it deals. Even if the board-state is stalled out, we will be able to do 2 or possibly 4 damage a turn.

My opinion on Sinister Possession is this: It's one of those cards where, whichever thing we're trying to achieve by putting that on a creature, we're going to get the opposite. Giving them so many choices makes the card fairly unusable. Either we put it on their big swinger and it swings anyway, being worth the 2 life loss to do so, or we put it on their best blocker and it blocks anyway, given many of our attackers do better than 2 damage, or we stick it on something and they sac the creature or throw it away in combat and then our enchant is gone.

That said, it is much cheaper than the costs that the Torturer imposes, and can potentially dissuade our opponents from doing what they want to do. I'm open to rationalizing its use.

Here's the thing - everyone's got Gatekeepers but us. 2/4s are going to be bouncing around everywhere. Hired Torturer can withstand the attack and keep them from taking us out with 2 power hits over ten turns. Once mana for the ability is online, that's good damage at the ends of their turns. I really feel like two of them is good stuff for us. (Now, that's not to say we might be able to get Possession in place of something else, possibly?)

Possession isnt a good card. It's not a pacifism, putting it on their bomb won't make a difference, unless they're at 2 life. And then we can just use Torturer.

I was thinking replace Weapon Surge with Rakdos Cluestone . I just like being consistent, and im not sure how good Weapon Surge is.

Looking at weapon surge, i think the big thing is pumping a 3 power creature to 4 to get through one of those mana x/4's. We only have 2 3/x creatures and then 2 Battering Krasis .

I guess Rakdos Cluestone and Weapon Surge are close. I just would like a third cluestone.

To me, Weapon Surge is more about the first strike and the Overload. We get Tajic out, we need to swing battalion style, and Surge is a great blowout opportunity, even if we only have mana up to stick it on one guy. I really wish in some of those packs where we'd seen it that we had gotten a second.

I do like the third cluestone thought, but I feel like each stone is another spell we aren't really playing. That's the problem with ramp. But then, maybe ramp is what we need? Six drops ahoy!

Sorry, skimmed over Hired Torturer and missed the life drain part. Definitely makes it better. That being said, I've just never really liked cards like Weapon Surge . Maybe I'm just missing something, but I've never liked the instant buffs in any format. To me, it just doesn't seem to be worth the card. But what do I know?

"Tricks" like Weapon Surge are not exactly good - you would never play them in Constructed. However, in Limited you have to play them because you don't have very many removal spells, and they act as pseudo removal. With them, you can win fights between your similar sized creatures, throwing away your cheap trick rather than your X mana creature. Weapon Surge is better than most because you can potentially 2 for 1 your opponent. It should stay in.

I also think we should play Fatal Fumes , possibly over Rot Farm Skeleton . We need a couple of instants to keep us winning combat, and Putrefy is a pretty lonely removal spell up there.

Just read the other comments. Not sure if the 3rd Cluestone will be good. It's probably worth drawing a few sample hands to see. My playtest is broken right now though : (

We're definitely keeping Rot Farm Skeleton in. It breaks through all them x/4's which are everywhere. I'd like to play Fatal Fumes .

My playtester isn't working either but yeah we need to figure out if the deck has trouble playing its six drops or getting from 3 to 4 mana. If that is a persistent problem, then we can think about dropping one of them for the fatal fumes or a cluestone. Other than that I don't think there are many changes we can make because we need to keep at least 15 creatures and 18 land. To be honest, I'm pretty fine with how the deck is in its current state but i haven't playtested it yet either so if anyone can playtest it and display their results that would be great.

I agree with the Fatal Fumes sentiment, but I don't think we want to take out an attacking creature for it. Remember that we need attackers for Tajic, Blade of the Legion to be good. I mean, a 2/2 indestructible is pretty good in limited on its own, but still. The question is, is Fatal Fumes better than Weapon Surge ? Because I think that's the only reasonable replacement I can see. I believe it is. Fatal Fumes can act as straight up removal for any X/2 creatures, and a really nice combat trick for anything else.

I was able to do some solo playtesting with this deck on Cockatrice. It seems to run really well. The white splash was never a problem. A few times I did experience mana flooding, but I'd be hesitant to go down to seventeen lands. Getting the right colors was usually not an issue. Though we should note that it's not likely we'll get down Zhur-Taa Druid on turn two ever. Our deck seems very resilient. I once mulled to four, keeping two lands and both cluestones. While we would still probably lose with that hand, it went better than I was expecting. We seem to be able to empty our hands pretty easily, which is a good thing. All in all, I think we have a good chance of winning.

I really like the deck as it is. As with most people, I think Sinister Possession is not a good card at all. The mana base lines up pretty darn well. As soon as the playtest bug is fixed, I'm sure we'll all give it a go around a few dozen times.

I have a question about Cockatrice. Is it still supported? Can you actually play matches on it? Can you single play a deck against another deck? And where do I find this?

Heh, Jarrheadd - my very first playtest I dropped Boros Guildgate, Forest & Druid on 2. Stupid Magical Christmas Land.

What are you guys testing against, necessarily? I've just been pulling sample hands and seeing how turns go, so far.

I would like to get Fatal Fumes in there some way. I'd also like to run Phytoburst , given the amount of trample we're likely to have. I just don't know that we've got the room. I can see both being boardable in certain circumstances.

Dammit magical christmas land don't tease me.
There is NO WAY I'm going t3 Krasis, t4 torturer, t5 torturer, t6 Master, t7 war chant. Stop it.

This thing's effing with me, guys. Morgue Burst in hand, even, for the inevitable removal on Master.

I agree that Weapon Surge is definitely sideboardable but i prefer it to Fatal Fumes because we can use it aggressively or defensively. It works really well with trample, trading, and i like how it can pump all our creatures. I believe Weapon Surge would be better in the mainboard and we can side it out if we need more removal.

Now, bear with me here as I might have just gone temporarily insane, but could we put in Fatal Fumes... and just deal? Would 41 cards murder our entire game plan?

Hey, I said unlikely, not impossible for a t2 Druid. Personally, I have no problem with 41 cards. I used to make Standard decks with 61 just because my card counts worked out like that. But I know a lot of people are religious about their minimum card counts.

@NickyTwoShoes Yes, it is still supported. Yes, you can play real matches on it. Pretty large community still. You can in fact single play a deck against another deck. And here's where you'll find it. www.woogerworks.com/cockatrice.

Just found it. I like it already. It's nice that something like this exists out there where one can just playtest desks, for free and for no value beyond experience.

And There is nothing wrong with 41 cards, IMHO.

GASP!!!!!??!?!?!?! Am i the only person here who freaks out when a person goes above minimum?!?!?!?!?! 40 cards please.

If you can make a strong argument for why 40 cards is much better than 41 cards, I would love to hear it. I honestly would. Simply because then I'd know why people are so religious about it. lol

The chances of drawing other cards are brought down quite a bit, and the chance of drawing that card is still low

http://www.gatheringmagic.com/the-extra-card-fallacy-2/

Actually adding a 41 card does not affect the game that much, as seen on the graphs halfway down the above link. Getting a 1-drop in a 40 card deck with our first draw is 20%. Getting a 1-drop in a 41 card deck by our first draw is 19.59%.

It really is an optimization choice. You never know when that half percent might or might not have worked against you. The math is there, everyone can work it out and it won't ever change. The true question is this: Is Fatal Fumes worth .41%?