Calling all FNM decks
Deck Help forum
Posted on May 13, 2012, 4:45 p.m. by HoneyBadger
After 4 years of casual magic, I want to try my hand at FNM. I have almost NO exposure to the metagame and only an inkling of what decks are prominent. I want to see how Shere Khan eats Biscuits stacks up, find where it struggles, and use that info to develop a well prepared side board.
If you have a deck(s) that you use at FNM. Post it. I'll playtest vs. it, and if I can't beat it in a best of 5, I'll +1 your deck and hail you across the lands... well, maybe I'll just +1 your deck.
If you feel so inclined, you can leave your deck's W-L record and/or a brief outline on how to optimally play the deck if it isn't readily apparent.
If I beat yours, I can send you play by plays of the hands and how the games went so you can see what gave your deck problems/you can tell me if I played your deck wrong. Please specify beforehand if you want the play-by-play. If you don't and it goes to 5 games, the likelihood of me remembering the details or each game are pretty slim
Rhadamanthus says... #3
The deck likes to win by playing the long game, using a bunch of mass removal to draw it out. It can finish up with either some burn plus a huge Shrine, late game Titan attacks, a steady stream of Mountain Elementals, a couple big-mana Wolf Run slaps, a Koth Emblem, or sometimes you just get a turn 4 Titan and go nuts. Along the way, there's the aforementioned mass removal, efficient point burn that synergizes with other cards, Ghost Quarters to deal with problem fancy lands, and Karn, the Death Star (I would only ever use his Limit Break if I literally had nothing else going on and had ripped some truly ridiculous things with his other abilities).
May 13, 2012 5:04 p.m.
deck:zandls-new-wolf-run-blue
and
The Evolution of Wolf Run Ramp
... are both what I'm currently playing at FNMs and whatnot.
While dramatically different in card choices, they essentially play the same. The idea is to ramp up until I'm forced to deal with something that's on the board. Day of Judgment/Devastation Tide frequently hit the board on the third and fourth turns, when needed. They're both truly "mid-range" decks.
The Evolution of Wolf Run Ramp frequents the Top 8 at tournaments with 20-28 people. I have yet to actually play deck:zandls-new-wolf-run-blue at FNM, but playtesting it against friends' FNM decks reveals that it's more-or-less just as effective as the White.
Have fun playtesting. If it's not too much trouble, could I get the play-by-plays? If not, that's cool. I just like reading that kind of stuff. Let me know how it goes!
May 13, 2012 5:50 p.m.
DarasuumKote28 says... #5
Snapping Flare (Esper Flare/Control). It's my sorta twist on Solar Flare, and I've found that it's made a bit of a comeback, so you might as well see how well you stack up against a deck that's common.
Puresteel Equip/Staying Power. Woo! Rogue build! Equipment without Swords of X and X- Put axes on Mirran Crusader! Put axes on Glint Hawk! Put living weapons on everything! Haste a Hero of Bladehold for a surprise win!
Good luck with the deck- the idea seems pretty cool. I have an EDH deck that wins by casting and then copying any huge Fireball-type card, and that sorta deck in Standard is TOO funny. Plus, it has beautiful ways of winning without it! Happy deckbuilding!
May 13, 2012 8:25 p.m.
UB Heartless Architect is getting bit long in the tooth now but it's an insanely fast artifact deck. Wurmcoil turn 3 anyone?
My new deck is still being adjusted for my local meta and is here at Delving Devils
May 13, 2012 8:32 p.m.
HoneyBadger says... #7
Shoot, I'm not looking forward to playing vs. red- I found out earlier I'm weak to it. I'll play vs them tomorrow or something. I spent a ton of time vs. The Evolution of Wolf Run Ramp.
zandl, that is a FINE deck! It came down to the 5th game. You took the 2 games without a sweat, the last 3 I won, but would have lost if my deck had been 1 turn slower- they were insanely good games and I learned a LOT about my deck, how & when to take damage, and what my priority cards have to be, and what order to play them in so thank you! Being in 3 "If I don't kill you this turn, I'm dead" games made me play slowly and think several turns ahead to optimize my play. I'll +1 your deck anyways because it TOTALLY deserves it. Here's your play-by-play:
1: You won the coin toss, you go first. I mulligan. Your starting hand: Elesh, rampant growth, razorverge thicket, sol sim, gideon, inkmoth, & sphere of the suns.
- razorverge... 1. copperline gordge, avacyn's pilgrim
- draw: prim. titan- inkmoth, ramp. growth->mountain...2. kessig wolf run, lingering souls
- draw razorvigre- razorverge enters tapped, sphere of blah... 3. bird of paradise, attack 3, take 3
- draw...something...sorry, idr, sol sim-> plains... 4. attack 2, take 2, fireball 3 to face (I had 3 fireballs in hand, I was hoping to just burn & beat until you die or i draw something else.
- Elesh hits the field, I'm drawing dead, gg game 1 you
I'm on the play. I mulligan. Your starting hand: forest, rampant growth, day of judgement, green sun's z, p. titan, wurmcoil, plains.
- Forest, Avacyn's Pilgrim... 1. draw slayers's stronghold, play forest
- razorverge thicket, lingering souls... 2. draw sphere of the suns, play plains, ramp growth->plains
- land, Hero of Bladehold attack 2, take 2... 3. Day of Judgement.
May 13, 2012 9:33 p.m.
HoneyBadger says... #8
GAME 3:
I'm on the play. Your starting hand: sol sim, red sun's z, titan, forest, ramp growth, inkmoth.
1: razorverge->avacyn's pilgrim... 1. draw: Gisela, play copperline gordge
2: forest, lingering souls... 2. draw green sun's z, inkmoth-> green sun fetch a birds of paradise
3: copperline gordge, play Hellrider instead of Hero of Bladehold because I'm scared of DoJ and want to attack with them before you have 4 mana. attack for 8, take 8... 3. Draw Day of Judgement (not again!!), play forest, ramp growth for plains.
4: Rootbound Crag, Fireball birdie and you for 2 each, before it died, bird awakens inkmoth to block so you don't take the lethal 10 damage that will come when I attack. I attack, hellrider is chumpblocked by inkmoth, you take 7... 4: DAY OF JUDGEMENT muhahaha!
5:Hero of Oxid Ridge attack for 4, gg.
GAME 4:
You're on the play. You mulligan (4 lands, 3 fatties. I looked at what you were going to draw in the next 4 turns, there was no ramp, you would have been a sitting duck, so this was the correct decision). The new 6: inkmoth, sol sim, forest, kessig wolf run, plain, wurmcoil.
- inkmoth... 1. razorverge thicket
- draw...something...sorry,forgot to write it. forest, attack, 1 poison... 2. copperline gorge
- draw forest, play plains, attack 1 poison... 3. kessig wolf run, lingering souls
- draw..something..sorry again.. kessig wolf run, sol sim->mountain... 4. Druids' Repository, attack 2, take 2. flashback lingering souls.
- Draw land. Play plains, wurmcoil, attack for 2, take 2... 5. rootbound crag, Chandra, the Firebrand, +1, then flashback lingering souls
- Draw Gisela, land, play Gisela, attack me for 12, chandra for 4. I chump for chandra and take the 12, you gain 12. (I had no idea how you would have attacked, but chandra would have lived as I had a 2nd chumper open)....6 attack for 6, take 5 (they were 1/1s so the damage isn't halved by Gisela). All I wrote was "copy fb, he dies" but if I remember I have 17 mana for a fireball, chandra copies it. Gisela dies and you take 8 thanks to Gisela (who also gets hit for 8), gisela dies, then the 2nd one resolves, you take 16. In total you take 5+8+16=29 damage. GG
May 13, 2012 9:34 p.m.
HoneyBadger says... #9
GAME 5:
You are on play. Your hand: inkmoth, bird of paradise, razorverge, wumrcoil, copperline, mountain, forest.
- razorverge, birds... 1. razorverge, avacyn's pilgrim
- draw plains, play copperline gordge... 2. forest lingering souls
- draw sol sim, inkmoth, sol sim->plains...3. druids' repository, attack 2, take 2, flashback lingering souls.
- draw gideon, forest, wurmcoil engine... 4. copperline gorge, hellrider, attack 4, take 4.
- Draw p. titan, play titan, fetch kessig and a 2nd inkmoth. attack 8, take 8, gain 6 life... 5. chandra, attack with 6, you take 11 after blocking hellrider, play bonfire of the damned, copy it, 12 damage to you and your field. GG.
May 13, 2012 9:34 p.m.
HoneyBadger says... #10
Today I found out that there is a 3000 character limit on comments. Who knew?
May 13, 2012 9:34 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #12
I'm really going to enjoy your games v.s. mono red. I do have an afterthought though that you should know. All of the 5 damage spells are destined for the player and very RARELY used as creature control.
May 13, 2012 9:52 p.m.
HoneyBadger says... #13
I actually have 13 creature killers in various form and effectiveness. 2x Chandra, the Firebrand pops X/1's, 2x Elspeth Tirel destroys "not tokens]], 1x [bonfire of the damned]] kills everything, 4x Fireball can kill whatever I need it too, 4x Revenge of the Hunted kills anything left untapped.
RDW is tough because it can stop my ramp by killing the creatures I use to do said ramping, all while beating me down in 4-5 turns with a good hand
May 13, 2012 10:05 p.m.
HoneyBadger says... #14
I'll definitely have to change my playstyle if I'm gonna win
May 13, 2012 10:05 p.m.
Infinite hell, Just read the deck description and it should explain most of it.
May 13, 2012 10:07 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #16
If you drop to 10 health you're in killing range. The only way I can beat my girls deck is to not get in that 10-11 life range no matter what.
May 13, 2012 10:08 p.m.
1/1s deal 0 damage to me and my permanents if Gisela, Blade of Goldnight is out. I prevent half of the damage, rounded up. Half of 1 is .5, and rounded up, that's 1 damage prevented. So I would've survived the fourth game with a Wurmcoil Engine that deals double the damage. =/
Though the playtesting with my deck was likely done to the best of your abilities, keep in mind that the subtle things make all the difference in the world. For example, since you're playing such an explosive deck, I likely wouldn't have simply attacked with Wurmcoil Engine every chance I got, especially if you've got creatures on the ground that I can block. If you attack, I gain 6 AND kill something.
Regardless of the hair-splitting, it would be a very interesting match-up against you in real life. Any progress yet on the Wolf Run Blue?
May 13, 2012 10:11 p.m.
Not sure why Gisela, Blade of Goldnight died, either, in the fourth game, now that I look at it.
Gisela would've needed to take 10 direct damage with Fireball to be killed, since the damage is halved. Blocking a Spirit token wouldn't have dealt any damage to it (A, since it has First Strike, and B, since a 1/x deals no damage to me or my permanents).
May 13, 2012 10:16 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #19
Also, i wouldn't mind a play by play just to see if you got it right. It's a fairly simple deck but some trickery and sleight of hand is involved.
May 13, 2012 10:18 p.m.
Internet_the_Explorer says... #20
HEY MAN, id love it if you could playtest my deck,
its called
deck:badass-ub-control
thx
May 13, 2012 10:20 p.m.
DarasuumKote28 says... #21
Holy crap, this is turning out pretty cool, just by what I've seen so far. I feel like we should bother squire1 and get something like this featured regularly, now that KrazyCaley no longer does the Daily Dose of Standard. :/ Perhaps it could be done weekly, like have 2 decks voted on to play each other on the Facebook page, and have the play-by-play posted maybe Thursday night, so we can check it out before FNM. Anyone else think that sounds like fun?
May 13, 2012 10:53 p.m.
I went 4-0 at my latest fnm placing 1st in it with my new deck. My total record with it is 8-2 in fnm and casual. Id love for you to playtest it and give a play-by-play. If you do playtest it though, the deck revolves around using miracles so once you get about 2 mana don't forget to pay attention to the topdecks.
May 13, 2012 10:55 p.m.
I went 4-0 at my latest fnm placing 1st in it with my new deck. My total record with it is 8-2 in fnm and casual. Id love for you to playtest it and give a play-by-play. If you do playtest it though, the deck revolves around using miracles so once you get about 2 mana don't forget to pay attention to the topdecks.
May 13, 2012 10:56 p.m.
HoneyBadger says... #25
ah, I didn't see the round up part. that said, you still would have died. I could have killed The angel the engine, and sol sim with the first fireball, then both the tokens with the second lol. With 17 mana, I was hitting 4 targets for 12 damage each, and then doing it again lol, so 6 damage the first time, 12 the second. If you hadn't attacked and gained the life. You'd have been at 14 life. I would have had 14 mana from attacking with flyiers that wurmcoil couldn't block, you'd gain no life, and I'd use the 14 mana to kill the angel, then you straight up, the first fireball would do 6, the second would do 12. And even if not THAT turn, I had another fireball in my hand. haven't had time on the blue one, sorry.
Ohthenoises. If you are within 32 damage on turn 5, you are in killing range for me lol. But I know how to play your deck, I have a modern goblin deck (not on tappedout). I run similar things, but with better gobbies that you get in the modern format.
DarasuumKote28 that sounds like a great idea. I'm not gonna be the one to do it, but it sounds like fun. Also, your snapping flare deck took me down 3-2! Congrats! I hate your deck! :D I need to figure out what to sideboard vs. it. Right now, all I than think of is Thrun, the Last Troll (which has no synergy with my deck) and a 4th Nevermore (day of judgement was a PAIN, 2 of the 3 loses were a direct result of it). I'd also like something like red sun's zenith and an extra chandra... I already have oring sided, that'll help I guess. Idk, I realize how common that type of deck is so I really need to be able to beat it. I need to learn to play differently, too. If you just bum rush out everything out, you will wipe everything away and leave me to play topdeck magic with 2-3 lands . It'll take a lot of thinking, but I'm way too tired and frustrated
May 13, 2012 11:24 p.m.
I don't think you're using Fireball correctly. It divides damage evenly, rounded down to each of its targets. If you cast it for with 12 as "x", with 3 separate targets, it only deals 4 damage to each. It doesn't just take X and smash every target with it.
So with Gisela out, you would've only been able to deal 2 damage to each target, tops. If anything, you would've had to have the first Fireball hit Gisela with everything, then figure out how to deal with the remaining creatures, or my life total, which was 22, IIRC.
May 13, 2012 11:33 p.m.
HoneyBadger says... #27
vila_a23 I tried, but honestly, that's the kind of deck that takes a TON of practice to be able to use properly... I wouldn't do it justice (trust me, I tried). I am least familiar with u/w control. The person who got me into magic played a u/w control deck with a million counter spells so I quickly grew to hate playing against it, I never wanted to put anyone through the pain of his deck so I never built u/w control either.
You are more then welcome to playtest vs. mine, though I have to admit, my deck takes a lot of practice to be able to optimize how and when you explode with it, and I'm learning that you have to play really weird vs. hardcore control, I don't even think I know how to play it right in that circumstance... But that's why I made this thread :)
May 13, 2012 11:37 p.m.
HoneyBadger says... #28
Oh fuck... Damnit! I suck at reading! Fireball you disappoint me. That changes... a lot of things...
May 13, 2012 11:40 p.m.
HoneyBadger says... #29
Ahhhh! now I'm probably gonna have change the entire deck around -_-
All the playtests are going to have to be put on hold... Sorry guys. I don't know how I missed that, thank you so much for pointing that out before I spent money on this deck zandl, you saved me on that.
Back to the drawing board I guess. And apparently, when I remake my deck, I should really account for u, u/w, and esper control.
May 13, 2012 11:45 p.m.
HoneyBadger says... #30
I think I might try to rock Burn at the Stake as I can EASILY get 4-8 creatures out by turn 4-5, but I don't even know if it's possible to fix the mana to such a degree to allow for it... I'd probably want to run more Bonfire of the Damned too... well, I suppose deck building is my favorite part about mtg, I just really thought I nailed it this time, guess not.
May 13, 2012 11:57 p.m.
HoneyBadger says... #31
Actually, I just found out that the ~$8000 I have in my bank account is almost the exact amount I've taken out in student loans, which means I'm technically flat broke once I pay that back in a few years when I graduate... That sobering fact realized, I really can't afford to build this deck or any deck right now. And given the fact that I'm a triple major in college, I really don't have the TIME either now that I'm looking to take up a 2nd job to keep myself out of the red.
I'm going to sell my cards to help pay for the gas it takes driving 2 hours from tucson to glendale to see my friends and family a couple times a month. Magic is fun, and I regret not making it till m13 comes out and RDWs returns to full glory, but friends, family, and food are more important MTG.
I won't be playtesting vs anyone anymore... Sorry guys. I'm sure they are great decks!
It's been real! And by real I mean on an internet site where no one uses there real name and you never know who anyone REALLY is. I have no idea how to delete my account, but I do know how NOT to type "tappedout.net" into the browser.
Peace out muthafuckers!!
HoneyBadger-aka The Rogue Thunder- aka El Hombre del Fuego- aka Matt Ryan
Stay ANGRY and lightning bolt!
And my the great Goblin Guide you
May 14, 2012 12:54 a.m.
Who says nobody knows who you are? You go to UofA and you're from Glendale. Dude. I go to NAU and I used to live right around 83rd Ave and Olive.
Well, well. It's a small world after all.
Best of luck with your finances; I'm not looking forward to dealing with mine once I'm out of here next year.
May 14, 2012 1 a.m.
cooknathan says... #33
I understand that your changing things atm so you might also want to consider the following.
I did a few playtests with my Hallelujah deck against yours (I sideboarded -2 scrambleverse -2 thunderous wrath for +4 devastation tide). It seems like you are VERY vulnerable to any kind of mass removal. So I might mention that FNM is full of it and you should try to find solutions (Gutter Grime) or otherwise try to be quicker. You will come up against Day of Judgment, Slagstorm etc a lot.
If you swap the Fireball for Bonfire of the Damned it should solve your other problem.
My current deck that ill be taking to FNM is Hallelujah (suggestions from any of the good deckbuilders here would be great :-)) my old deck is deck:birthing-of-the-genesis-elves give them a playtest if you want, dont worry about a turn for turn update but share what you learned and any suggestions are cool. How to play the decks are in the description.
In other advice the decks you have to watch (and prepare for) are; "super best friends"-control, wolf-run, delver, a variety of aggro decks (both weenie and stompy some tribal some not), perhaps a few pod decks or solar flare. There will likely be a lot of human/spirit token decks, less competitive aggro decks and whatever just came out in the last set, but these should be easy wins ;-)
I enjoyed the deck btw you have some nice synergy in there, +1.
May 14, 2012 1:15 a.m.
cooknathan says... #34
Good luck dude, try to stay sane.
Best of wishes from Nathan Cook.
Ohthenoises says... #2
Boom goes the goblin! its creature aggro till the opponent has a big enough blocker to cause an issue then it is burn. Main killshot is goblin grenade and reverberate.
May 13, 2012 4:50 p.m.