Morph?
Standard forum
Posted on May 4, 2015, 10:34 a.m. by kameenook
When KTK came out, Secret Plans and Trail of Mystery wanted to see play in some homebrew jank morph deck, but the only thing that felt worth morphing were Sagu Mauler and Rattleclaw Mystic, which left the deck begging for playables.
When FRF came out, manifest brought some neat stuff, particularly Whisperwood Elemental and Mastery of the Unseen.
With DTK out, I think morph decks are set to go ham, Deathmist Raptor and Den Protector are certainly playables. In addition to these, other megamorphs seem like they could see play, Hidden Dragonslayer, Stratus Dancer, Silumgar Assassin, and Ainok Survivalist (sideboard).
Is the meta prepared for a REAL morph deck? My qualifications for a REAL morph deck from just value morphing is a REAL morph deck would run Secret Plans + Trail of Mystery , thoughts?
I think what you have to do to make this deck viable is decide what colors youre going to play i dont think its worth it to play t color morphs or maybe even 4 color. Once you figure that out i think it could do ok
May 4, 2015 12:31 p.m.
In my opinion, no.
Whisperwood Elemental, Deathmist Raptor, etc see play because they are good one their own. Even if you never flip a manifest or morph these are already cards already worth their rate. Even something like Mastery of the Unseen, while slow, is an engine all its own.
Cards like Secret Plans and Trail of Mystery are always going to have a certain low ceiling because they are cards that don't impact the board in any meaningful way by themselves. Topdecking happens, discard happens, and bad draws happen. It's bad enough having to navigate standard when it comes to what removal to play and accept which match-ups it's dead against, I just don't think you can afford to have more dead draws.
May 4, 2015 12:37 p.m.
Bant megamorph is the plan, I've found Secret Plans to be clunky, but Trail of Mystery (I forgot Obscuring AEther but it's great) and Mastery of the Unseen seem amazing with the rare megamorph cycle.
May 4, 2015 3:25 p.m.
UpperDeckerTaco says... #6
I would never use trail, it's too dependant upon other interactions and it could end up being a dead card in hand or a waste of a Turn 2 play. With how the meta is, you need something that immediately does something as far as impact the board or assist you in achieving faster board states, especially facing RDW and Esper dragons. You can't wait forever to do something because you'll be out raced by aggro or end up giving a control deck too much time to set up Shop.
May 4, 2015 10:13 p.m.
UpperDeckerTaco, your control matchup is already going to be fairly great because they can't really count on what you're morphing. Consistently hitting lands with trails, and closing out games with the +2/+2 ability will be nightmarish for them. Obscuring AEther does less against control other than let your morphs come down faster, but if you're also running Secret Plans, your card advantage morph stream will be hard for them to beat. When played properly, megamorphs generate card advantage, Hidden Dragonslayer killing a Dragonlord, Den Protector returning something, Stratus Dancer countering their crux of fate. In addition to all this, with the abscence of Sultai Control, control just doesn't have good answers to Mastery of the Unseen, and that card alone will steal games from them.
May 5, 2015 6:53 a.m.
HorridBEAST says... #8
kameenook, There are plenty of answers to Mastery of the Unseen. Abzan and Bant decks are already mainboarding Dromoka's Command which sacrifices enchantments and if Mastery really becomes an issue then Esper control decks will just sideboard Erase. Besides, if the control deck is on the play then they have the mana to Silumgar's Scorn your turn 2 Mastery of the Unseen, then Dissolve your turn 3 play, and on turn 5 they Crux of Fate to kill all your morphs, and you can only un-morph so many creatures in response to Crux of Fate.
The biggest reason that the "Real" morph deck that you define doesn't work is because even the good morph creatures are slow to play and not big enough creatures to win the game on their own. Even with Obscuring AEther on the field you need to pay 2 mana to play the card face down and the 2 mana to megamorph them (for the morphs you listed). So you are paying 4 mana for a 3/2 body and a 1 time effect. Red Aggro is faster than you, Midrange decks will just kill you with bigger creatures, and control will just counter your enchantmetns and destroy every morph you play
May 5, 2015 10:42 a.m.
[Qarsi Deceiver] and [Elvish Mystic] almost guarantee you a turn 2 morph. And Qarsi is good against aggro. I think UG can get there just be sure to always think the big picture (beating the meta) and not the small one (playing morph cards). I expect a good deck will include many non-morphs to have a strong overall game.
May 8, 2015 12:13 a.m.
My idea of that morph deck was morphs, morph suport (such as Trail of Mystery), Elvish Mystic, Sylvan Caryatid, Courser of Kruphix, and Dromoka's Command. The rest is a solid number of morphs/manifests/other enchantments.
May 8, 2015 7:29 a.m.
See if you can't skip Courser. Telling them your cards ruins the surprise.
May 8, 2015 8:31 a.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #12
Lens of Clarity is a good replacement for courser, allowing you to view the top card anytime. Helps the 'Morph top card' abilities without giving it away. Unless your poker face sucks.
May 8, 2015 5:44 p.m.
HorridBEAST says... #13
Courser of Kruphix is not an amazing card because it lets you look at the top card of your deck. It is amazing because it lets you play land off the top of the deck so you don't waste your draw steps getting stupid land
May 8, 2015 7:10 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #14
Would be a good idea if not running courser to run fetch lands and maybe other land tutors to thin out the deck. However, if you don't care about your morphs being surprises or not then Courser it is.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #2
Can't forget Obscuring AEther.
Agreed they have given alot more cards to work with. Trail is a definite must especially if running Whisperwood as it thins out the deck severely allowing to actually morph creatures instead of lands. The Plans I think is depending on your meta and what your up against. More of a Sideboard card in my opinion. I've built a few Morph based decks myself playing around with different idea's, all on my profile if you would like ideas.
Some of the newer cards though don't even need to be in morph specific decks. The Raptor and Protector alone are pretty decent additions to anything sporting green. Dragonslayer and Assassin for removal, like have spells with bodies.
May 4, 2015 10:55 a.m.