| |
| Author |
Message |
Rate this article!
| 5 (Best) |
| [ 0 ] 0% |
| |
| 4 |
| [ 3 ] 60% |
| |
| 3 |
| [ 1 ] 20% |
| |
| 2 |
| [ 1 ] 20% |
| |
| 1 (Worst) |
| [ 0 ] 0% |
| |
Total Votes : 5 |
|
| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 3:37 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
|
--- description ---
Grab a sneak peak of the new tools available after coldsnap comes out with G/W Agro, with a finisher and one of the new most frustrating cards in standard!
--- end description ---
This article is based on the assumption that all information on the www.mtgsalvation.com partial spoiler is correct at the time of the deck’s creation, on July 3, 2006.
* * *
The Coldsnap Prerelease, for those of us lucky enough to be playing magic inside the U.S. (Sorry felipe!), is coming right up this weekend. However, it’s the new set that matters more than the prerelease for it. This is a first because there will be TWO sets and two blocks legal in standard, instead of the normal core set plus two blocks. In other words, at this point, we have access to more cards than normal. So why not spend the breif time Kamigawa block and Coldsnap overlap with a bit of manic deckbuilding?
3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
4 Savannah Lions
4 Dryad Sophisticate
4 Selesnya Guildmage
4 Umezawa’s Jitte
4 Moldervine Cloak
4 Ohran Viper
4 Loxodon Hierarch
4 Faith’s Fetters
3 Hibernation’s End
4 Temple Garden
9 Plains
9 Forest
Sideboard- 4 Kami of Ancient Law
4 Glare of Subdual
3 Naturalize
4 Promise of Bunrei
Card Explanations
Isamaru, Hound of Konda- Um. He’s been in every white agro deck for the last two years, and with good reason. A solid beater, would play four except legendaryishness.
Savannah Lions- Lions aren’t legendary, but they still have two power. Again, this shouldn’t be a surprise in a part white agro deck.
Dryad sophisticate- This guy I pulled straight from gruul beats with his best buddy moldervine cloak because he isn’t specific to gruul beats- just that gruul beats was the only logical choice for green agro… until now.
Selesnya Guildmage- Selesnya Guildmage is terribly frustrating because he’s easy to play in this deck and at bear size, it just isn’t fair to have such good aggressive abilities.
Umezawa’s Jitte- This would fall under the “win condition rule”. This states that if a card is going to win you a game by having it, play four of them (assuming you can play get them in play). Because an unchecked jitte messes up so many decks, people tend to play jitte hate (others may call this artifact hate, but those of us who’ve played with jitte enough know what it really is), so logically having another copy for backup is a good idea.
Moldervine Cloak- Um. Duh! But aside from the obvious it’s a good card, fitting the theme and the colors, cloak has two specail purposes. One, it’s good with dryad, as Gruul beats taught us, but two it’s absolutely killer with ohran viper (see below).
Ohran Viper- As the spoiler would tell you, this is 1GG for a 1/3 with two abilities: 1) Whenever Ohran Viper deals combat damage to a creature, destroy that creature at the end of combat. 2) Whenever Ohran Viper deals combat damage to a player, you may draw a card. So basically, he does crazy things no matter what he hits, and is almost impossible to be dealt with and gain card advantage. He can’t just be blocked by a fattie, and if he’s let in, he’ll still be on the board and give card advantage. Not to mention, late game, he can annoy rumbling slums.
Loxodon Hierarch- Hierarch doesn’t exactly fir the stereotypical agro deck, but he’s great in the current standard meta because against ghost husk you can just keep swinging. You get a little padding to your life total with hierarch, not to mention a blocker big enough that husk needs to burn two creatures to live if you block with this mad elephant.
Faith’s Fetters- Here’s the answer to so much stuff. Padding for life, stopping enemy jittes, stopping husks, ghost councils, glare of subdual… this card just stops lots of things no matter how you spin it. Ideally, your opponent will be curving out at least a little bit slower than you, and fetters can keep the tempo gain to a max.
Hibernation’s End- This is another little bit of ‘Snap, 4G for an enchantment. Cumulative upkeep 1
Whenever you pay Hibernation’s End’s cumulative upkeep, you may search your library for a creature card with a converted mana cost equal to the number of age counters on Hibernation’s End and put it into play. If you do, shuffle your library.
Basically, this means you can curve out and then still grab more creatures. The mana curve on this deck has options at evey mana cost 1-4, by which point if the game isn’t over, you’ve probably lost anyway.
Random Stuff about Deck
I like the mana curve here. There are 7+ options the first four turns, and you should draw at least one card of over three mana cost. So this means a very low curve, centered around hitting drops every turn.
The problem, of course, faced by many good agro decks, is running out of gas. This won’t be created through mana problems, usually, the base is very solid on two colors, and I also try to avoid it by using weapons against pyroclasm and wildfire. Cards such as moldervine cloak tend to beat board clearers like clasm, and jitte as well.
So now I have a good mana curve and avoidance of board clearing spells. What’s missing? A way to not run out of gas. This is the reason behind my playing cards with “renewable abilities.” Such abilities include selesnya guildmage, most notably, but also umezawa’s jitte. The use of hibernation also helps- I can start pulling out two cards a turn in a topdeck war, with a guarantee that at least one is a creature.
Matchups
Ghost Husk- Nobody likes ghost husk in standard right now. The problem with the husk is he’s a tough one to kill without a spell that actually kills him. Damage through burn and blocking seem to be inconsequential- even board clearing burn won’t kill the husk. However, there are a couple weapons in here that cause him problems. The use of Ohran Viper, Faith’s Fetters, Umezawa’s Jitte, and Loxodon Hierarch are all powerful tools against the husk, part of the reason they were included. Ohran Viper is a house, and he takes out husk despite toughness boosts, with the ability to match the card draw of husk if unblocked. Jitte controls how many tokens the husk has to sac, fetters basically reads destroy target nantuko husk, and hierarch provides a life boost and a large body at efficient mana cost. Be happy if they play isamaru turn one and counter with your own. In a long match, jitte, hibernation, and enough ways to deal with husk and/or ghost council should be able to win you the game. Use the control tools in the deck- make sure to capitolize on activated abilities.
Sideboard- +4 Glare of Subdual
-4 Moldervine Cloak
In this case, cloaks just provide the enemy with card advantage, with a mortify or sickening shoal, but glare can create a total lockdown of the board. If you can resolve glare, there is no pheasable way to lose- just tap down those few important threats.
Gruul Beats- Gruul beats loves playing unblockables and little creatures, followed by the occasional creature with just plain impressive power and toughness. The reason this isn’t too hard a match for you is you have enough ways to stop agro. First off, this has four copies of umezawa’s jitte, the bane of all agro. This is also a place where the lifegain package can really help out- the hierarch can eliminate any creature they have, and if they char it, it’s a six life swing in the trade (try not to get flamed in response to hierarch or fetters!). Just hope you hit your drops, play control-style, and you should walk out a winner.
Sideboard-+4 Glare of Subdual
-4 Moldervine Cloak
This seems to be a nice package for boarding against any agro deck, because the glares just beat creatures, hands down, and cloaks are better for just pushing damage than they are at stopping damage. In the end, you should be able to grab control of the board and just out-manuever and out-stall gruul beats.
Heartbeat of Combo- Against heartbeat is when you start really needing to bring the agro-style heat. Try to make sure you play to get as much damage to their face as you can, as fast as you can. Often times, that means missing out on that mean little ohran viper in favor of a moldervine cloak, or favoring a selesnya guildmage to a dryad. Turn 5 kill happened over 50% of playtesting (dealing twenty against a fish by turn 5 near 80%) thanks mainly due to selesnya guildmage and moldervine cloak. The ability on the guildmage is great for pushing in that final damage because to cast another creature, the damage would not start until the turn after, but that three damage is frequently lethal. Hopefully, you should outrace the beat, but if not, no worries!
Sideboard- +4 Kami of Ancient Law
-3 Loxodon Hierarch
-4 Faith’s Fetters
+3 Naturalize
Kami of ancient law is just cruel to throw at heartbeat, almost as much so as naturalize. When they try to go off, you can just blow up their heartbeat, causing either great difficulty in going off or great impossibility. Fetters is, for all intents and purposes, useless against heartbeat, and hierarch is too expensive as well, so they are the logical choices for removal.
U/W/R Firemane Control
Firemane control has been annoying agro since its creation, and now is no exception. Firemane control (the kind with Wrath of God, fetters etc) is made to be good against agro, and facing agro is how it made the top tier of decks in regionals. The first game is going to be tough, but here’s what you can do against it. Step 1, don’t overextend. Step 2, don’t overextend. Step 3, don’t overextend!!! Wrath will cut you down if you do- make sure you put as much pressure as you can quickly, but don’t play much of value early. Typically, using the 1, 2, and moldervine cloak drops in the deck works well against firemane, because you can leave vipers and hierarchs for after the wrath hits.
Sideboard- -4 Faith’s Fetters
+4 Promise of Bunrei
-4 Dryad Sophisticate
+4 Kami of Ancient Law
Faith’s fetters shouldn’t exactly have a bunch of targets against a deck that mainly waits to blow stuff up then create a lockdown. Dryads are nicer when being unblockable makes a difference- kami of ancient law can come here to stop fetters and wierdings. Promise is an excellent tool against wrath of god. They wrath and you can still swing for four the next turn, even more if you cloak a token. Save all selesnya guildmages if you have a promise down and wait for a wrath. If they wrath leaving tokens and you guildmage, their time is numbered. A very, very small number.
Summary Facts/Thoughts
Two colors gives a solid mana base
Guildmage/jitte/viper/hibernation give the longevity to not lose in a topdeck match
Turn 5 average kill (against a fish)
No “unwinnable” matchups
Great Fun! I hope you guys at least playtest with or against it when preparing for tournaments. It’s not exactly what you can expect to face, but it has a feel of agro against it with control elements; testing how decks deal with each aspect of it can tell you a lot about the creation you’ve made.
See you at the prerelease!!
Bernie Makino
La_Sin_Grail |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:46 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
|
Hey, no fair, Coldsnap’s Pre-Release event WAS scheduled to this saturday, ’till yesterday. But this, time, I guess it’ll "only" be delayed for a week (which IS good, considering the Dissenssion fiasco...), something ’bout a Customs strike, or whatever...
Anyway, at least I’ll have access to the Full Spoiler before playing, and that may be good. Oh, and about the cards you mention, I checked my local store’s homepage, and they’re all correct, they even have the cards’ pictures there, if you want to check them out: http://dragonshouse.com.br/ , then click on the Coldsnap Pre-Release Banner to theright, and then on the small pictures to see arts and cards. The small picture with the big Coldsnap logo is the Pre-Release promotional card.  |
| I don't like YOU. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:59 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
|
| I don’t know, I’m still missing the Watchwolves... Don’t know what to cut, though, except for Dryad Sophisticate, which would NOT be a good exchange... |
| I don't like YOU. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 1:43 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
|
As for watchwolves, I’ve found that dryad is better in many circumstancaes, and selesnya guildmage is in the rest of them. The one extra power may be nice, but not better than unblockability or late game control. And jitte... we all know jitte is rigged, so cutting hurts the deck.
This is one of the reasons watchwolf has been dropping in value- dryad is a better two drop and seles. beats isn’t generally accepted as tier one yet. Most players call it Tier 2 right now, but I’m trying to fix that  |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| T2_Fr33K |
![]() Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 12:56 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 28 Nov 2005
Posts: 32
Location:
|
Playable, definately.
Original... I guess the idea to use the new set was good. Still, people have all seen sel. beats. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 1:51 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
|
| Yeah, but La_Sin_Grail’s point is exactly that, people have seen it as a tier 2 deck, not a tier 1 |
| I don't like YOU. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 5:37 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
|
It’s okay... I knoow Fr33k. He’s not always reasonable. Methinks he felt like giving me a hard time.
I really do think it could become tier one, though, if only people would give it a shot. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 12:33 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
|
Hum... I was thinking for some time about this deck, trying to find some way to make it better, but I do have to say, it was getting kind of hard! But then, it struck me! I don’t know if this can make the deck better(since it’s a SB change), but I DO think it can give it a whole new approach, which might be fun!
You see, you could add in Silhana Ledgewalker. I mean, this card DO have a nice set of abilities, after all, and a Moldervine Cloaked Silhana simply ROCKS! But the main idea to add it is not to give opponents a hard time, but to make sure you’ll live FOREVER  (ok, not quite, but you will still give A LOT of opponents a nice headache)! Simply take out Glare of Subdual, which somehow stops you aggro ability, in my opinion, and add Worship! Now, if you opponent is giving you a hard time, instead of boarding in Glare, board in Worship! If you also add Privilleged Position, now THAT would be one annoying aggro deck! Just picture this, you pound your opponent, swinging with all you’ve got BUT Silhana Ledgewalker, and all your opponent can do is curse, swear and soak up the damage! Add in Bathe in Light, so Silhana can be protected from things like Savage Twister, Pyroclasm and Wildfire (protecting Vipers, Dryads, Guildmages and Hierarchs on the process), and you’ve got yourself a whole new mechanic, which I think may be better than using Glare of Subdual!
But as I said, these are only SB changes, so I don’t know if this would make the deck stronger, but I think it might, since SB IS a crucial part of any standard deck! |
| I don't like YOU. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 8:35 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
|
I intentionally did not play silhana ledgewalker because while she’s a great creature, she isn’t as fast as dryad. Ledgewalker is a really nice creature, but at one power for two mana, she’s better at control/combo than the raw agro I’m trying to get. She also can’t replace 2 for 2 power unblockable or bear with good activated abilities.
I do like the idea of bathe in light... I don’t know how I missed it. Thanks for pointing that one out! I’ll probably swap it for glare.
As for worship, though, I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be the one doing the killing. My point is that if I get to where I can’t kill them, the game is already over. By the time they have a shot at dealing me twenty, it’s already over. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 11:17 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
|
That’s why I was suggesting them as a SB option, assuming you play someone who can swing faster and more aggresively than you, it would be a nice way of staying alive. But then again, if your deck is getting beaten, the best thing to do would be tweak it so itbecomes even MORE aggresive and faster, not defensive...  Bathe in Light is sweet against annoying Pyroclasm, as it does provide you with a nice, surprising finishing blow, going ’round all that army of Saprolings or Illusions an opponent might have set up... |
| I don't like YOU. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
All times are UTC - 4
|
Page 1 of 2 [16 Posts] |
Goto page: 1, 2 Next |
|
|
Forum index » Magic: The Gathering » MTG Strategy Article Contest
