Mass Polymorph Still Viable in Scars
Deck Help forum
Posted on Oct. 18, 2010, 5:25 p.m. by Leonard_McCoy
With the new meta game in Scars, I am looking for a way to relaunch Mass Polymorph for Standard.
Does anyone know a way? So far I have tried U/R, U/Gb, and much more to make Mass Polymorph a much more efficient deck to deal with, now that Scars has come up.
So far, I have been going back and forth from my main template, poly-bombshell. However, what mPoly still suffers from is that if you don't have mPoly in your hand you are pretty much doomed, or if your tokens get destroyed. Players are overly aware of token poly nowadays. So, I don't really know what to change about Mass Poly.
Diabolic Tutor seemed to be a good alternative. Yet running a tri-color deck is insane and really slow.
I also took a good look at the new cards, but could not come up with implementing them efficiently. Anyone a good idea?
Before I forget it: jace, the mind sculptor, even though a perfect addition to the deck, is simply too expensive to invest into for me.
Well, I thought about using Precursor Golem and then using Shape Anew targeting a golem for an interesting combo...
You sacrifice all your golems, and go search for 3 artifacts... if you hit another Precursor Golem , then the effect won't affect them already cause the spell would already have been cast so you refil your board advantage with 3 3/3 golems plus whatever else you hit :)
All you'd need then would be instants for blue search (Preordain , See Beyond & Treasure Hunt ) and possibly red burn, or green mana ramp depending on your play style... Heck you could even stay solid blue and run full on Stoic Rebuttal and Mana Leak . Or even funnier for you and not the opponent would be Redirect ? :)
your artifact creature's could come in the flavour of Wurmcoil Engine , Platinum Emperion , or Myr Battlesphere , heck, even Platinum Angel could be thrown into the mix.
The only problem with this setup is the factor of drawing into Precursor Golem and not the other cards.
Just an idea I'm throwing out there.
October 18, 2010 6:10 p.m.
Leonard_McCoy says... #5
Chimeric Mass is real good card that I have tried to integrate. Yet the problem is that it doesn't create many tokens.
It can have great defensive capabilities, but in order to Poly I have to activate it before polying on my turn, which adds to the total base of mana I'd need to cast Mass Polymorph . It practically makes it impossible then to back-up mPoly, or your tokens, with counters; or it delays casting mPoly safely too much.
October 18, 2010 6:29 p.m.
Leonard_McCoy says... #6
@cardcoin OK, but where does Mass Polymorph come into play there?
October 18, 2010 6:34 p.m.
Well, Mass Polymorph doesn't strictly come into play, unless you wanted a way to ramp into more creatures than just artifact ones...
Though to be honest, there was a green/blue mass polymorph deck that someone stuck up here and reported that it done pretty good. the trick behind it was using Bestial Menace for token count.
Green also gives access to Growth Spasm , Gelatinous Genesis , Awakening Zone and Khalni Garden which should give you token without creature count in your library. (Plus the usual mana ramping :) )
Though to be honest, the big problem with mass polymorph decks is Ratchet Bomb which could spoil anyones token party
October 18, 2010 6:44 p.m.
One card out of the new set which might be of fun use is Origin Spellbomb , but it falls to the same pitfalls as any other token I guess.
October 18, 2010 6:46 p.m.
cnielsen05 says... #9
I like Mitotic Slime for a token generator that is board wipe/spot removal resistant.
October 18, 2010 7:35 p.m.
cnielsen05 says... #10
Important to note though I don't know if the Slime would work well with mPoly just because he is only one creature until you kill him at least once =/.
October 18, 2010 7:37 p.m.
Leonard_McCoy says... #11
@cnielsen05 The problem is that if you poly into Mitotic Slime , you are kinda doomed. That's why it is kinda counter-productive to put in other creatures in an mPoly decks besides the one you wanna poly into to claim the match.
October 18, 2010 7:42 p.m.
Put one precursor golem and 4 clone, clone the golem and well you will have a whole lot of creatures. Maybe put distortion strike in there and I think there was an aura that gives haste. Ur all set! I used to okay burst of speed with mass polymorph and the 3 mayor eldrazi it was insane.
October 18, 2010 9:58 p.m.
Leonard_McCoy says... #13
The thing is that Precursor Golem is CMC 5; and Clone , 4. So they would come into play relatively (too?) late. Besides that once cast, there is little you can do to protect them on turn 4 and 5. And they are creatures. Thus, in case you poly, you could just run into another one of those, which will lose you the match :/.
October 19, 2010 5:44 a.m.
You could run some Chimeric Mass with Trinket Mage s to fetch them. Only creatures in the deck would be those 4 Trinket Mage and some really really big guys, so poly would prolly hit at least 1 of them, instead of saccing tokens etc to get an army, sac 1 or 2 to get some fatties and then protect them with counters etc, mono blue.
October 19, 2010 1 p.m.
Leonard_McCoy says... #15
@razer357 I kinda like the core of your idea: thinning out your deck with some fetch magic. I thought that Squadron Hawk might fit better though.
Have quickly made a deck: It's a U/W Mass Polymorph deck called poly-armageddon. Any help/comments on that is appreciated, of course.
October 19, 2010 3:30 p.m.
While I like the white splash for condemn and DOJ, I think the hawks are unnecessary. My friend and I are testing the UG version without the Jaces due to budget restraints. I have found Jace Beleren to be a reason replacement. Maindecking fog against all the poison decks is a viable option or going 4x awakening zone is also something we are doing. I love the concept of mass poly so keep on trucking with your ideas.
October 20, 2010 4:05 p.m.
Leonard_McCoy says... #17
@Raddman I have been playing U/G Mass Poly quite extensively (here's my humble take at it: poly-bombshell for the last month. But the slow token generation and bad defense -- plus, it's mad easy to see what's coming for your opponent with U/G Poly -- really lost much of its competitive value with the release of Scars.
Also, U/G Poly is always kinda geared towards Control, but which, in fact, never quite worked out. The ramping spells/token generators are often simply too expensive to keep them coming while still countering your opponent's attempts to populate the board. And once they've hit, there is little you can do about it. I'd say, as of now, U/G Poly is kinda dead.
October 20, 2010 4:29 p.m.
I suppose part of it is meta dependent on where you live, but UG just placed in two MTGO tournaments so I don't think it is dead just yet.
Our decklist differs a little bit from yours. We are currently using Iona, Emrakul, Terastodon and Platinum Angel. We are also running 4x Into the Roil MD which significantly helps against the aggro matchup. What decks are you having trouble against in your local meta?
October 20, 2010 4:34 p.m.
Leonard_McCoy says... #19
I am mostly playing MTGO, so the local meta is kind-of a global one.
For me, when I was playing it, U/G Poly had all kinds of problems: one, of course, if you can't grab that combo card in time (by turn 7 the latest), it's GG.
The second one is that opponents are so overly aware of mPoly. He mere Khalni Garden would give my combo away; and, if that was not the case for some, then Growth Spasm made it sure.
I think the creature combo is really not crucial; the means of getting your combo out is. In any case, once your combo is out, it is a match winner most of the time anyway. (Of course, one could argue that the Platinum Angel you use be the little sister of the new [and better] Platinum Emperion ).
I have seen Terastodon put to good use lately. But still, it doesn't change much. If you ain't playing Jace 2.0, U/G Poly, while providing you with a nice ramp, is not strong enough anymore.
October 20, 2010 4:50 p.m.
Well I play on MTGO as well. My sn on there is ImpinAintEasy, look me up sometime and we can test some things out. I haven't taken my version to any PE's or DE's, but I am 6-0 in the 2mans with it. I agree with platinum being slightly better than the angel, except for the evasion. We also tried platinum, but I found hard casting at 8 vs 7 for angel often times did make a difference. Like you said, if you don't have the combo by t7 it is usually GG, so hard casting angel helped in the rare instance. The online meta is always harder to play than local fnms.
October 20, 2010 5:12 p.m.
Leonard_McCoy says... #21
Have you uploaded your version somewhere here? Because that would be interesting to compare to mine. Added you to my MTGO friends list.
I think that if Mass Poly has to hardcast its creatures, you are already in an uncomfortable situation. As I said, mostly U/G can't even hold out this long to even be in this position.
But maybe I am wrong. It could also be that your U/G attempt takes a vastly different approach or so.
Anyhow, my poly-armageddon really works wonders. No joking.
October 21, 2010 11:17 a.m.
I doubt my decklist differs much from your original UG version. I should get my computer back today, had it in for repairs. I will definately be trying out your poly version once I get my computer back up in running in the next or so. I'll post the current decklist my buddy is running under my profile. I usually play Valakut Ramp, but sometimes I get the urge to play mass poly.
October 21, 2010 12:19 p.m.
Leonard_McCoy says... #24
I'm still a bit lost with U/W Poly. Have been backrolling those Squadron Hawk s while changing a few things. Seems to run better now. Have a look here: U/W Poly Armageddon.
On a side-note: While U/G Poly may work against a certain deck type, early aggro and discard decks are its certain death, as it solely relies on pulling off that combo, while being weak on the defense side.
October 24, 2010 1:10 p.m.
I was testing online last night and ran into memoricide lol. He obviously took out my mass polymorphs. I was able to sustain for a little bit having 2 awakening zones on the board and I actually hard cast Ulamog. Unforunately, he into the roiled it and then cast his 2nd memoricide which eventually sealed the deal.
I am a little curious how your matchup against control is. Without khalni garden you lose an uncounterable creature drop. Have you found this to be a problem at all?
October 25, 2010 1:30 p.m.
Leonard_McCoy says... #26
In order to beat Control, you have to play ultra strict Control yourself. I would say U/GREEN Poly is certainly at a huge disadvantage here, as it solely relies on Mass Poly as its win condition.
However, U/WHITE Poly fares much better. Especially after the first duel you can fill up on counters from your sideboard and play it safe.
I must admit, though, that Control decks, in particular with that Frost Titan , are simply its death. I have yet to find a good way to beat them. The sideboard needs to be tuned further for this (U/W Poly Armageddon). I did not find Memoricide to be a particular problem with U/W, as it mostly comes into play in the second duel after you've most likely dropped the curtains revealing your combo.
October 25, 2010 6:46 p.m.
Kinda... but you best be usin' Stormtide Leviathan ! He is the best for mass poly because everything else will be flying or have island walk in your deck.
October 26, 2010 11 p.m.
Leonard_McCoy says... #28
The creature combo can be very situational. Of course, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Iona, Shield of Emeria are a must-have for mPoly.
While Stormtide Leviathan may protect you from nonflying creatures, it is really only just that. Noncombat damage or a couple of flying creatures (Eldrazi Monument ? Infect anyone?!) may still get at you rather easily - that's why I always sideboard Stormy and put it into play when I am kinda sure what I am up against. In my view, same goes for Terastodon .
October 27, 2010 10:28 a.m.
SupremeAlliesCommander says... #29
I think step one has to be solving the Memoricide problem. I have a buddy who splashed white for Silence . The mana base works out fine, but it complicates the combination requirements. You've got to have two specific cards in hand, enough mana, AND tokens on the board. Tricky.
October 28, 2010 11:39 a.m.
Leonard_McCoy says... #30
If Memoricide is the problem, counters are its answer, then.
jatp says... #2
Chimeric Mass?
October 18, 2010 5:41 p.m.