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| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:24 pm |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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--- description ---
The return of the Zoo!
--- end description ---
So, after a small hiatus in my writing duties, I’ve finally decided to make a return. And what’s better to illustrate a return than bringing back a deck archetype from the dead, right?
1. Introduction
Back in the old days, when Kamigawa was still legal and people had to worry only about legendary artifacts instead of an army of dragons appearing from nowhere, one of the most popular aggro builds was the Zoo, which got it’s name because, well, between Kird Ape, Isamaru, Hound of Konda and Savannah Lions, it was like a Zoo indeed. The build was so aggressive, it could pull a turn 5 clock with ease, unless the opponent put up a defense that REALLY mattered. However, the deck had two BIG problems:
1- A terrible mana base, which made it get color-screwed quite often;
2- It was very vulnerable to mass removal like Wrath of God, or specially Wildfire.
However, the whole archetype lost only one card with the old block, which was Isamaru, so I was very surprised to see that it didn’t make a comeback in the new meta… until now.
2. Fixing problems
Well, if I want this deck to work, the first thing I’ll need to do is fix the problems it had. So let’s start with the second, which is easier to do, shall we?
What can we do against a Wrath of God, short of actually saving creatures in hand? Huh? And that’s not really a good strategy, since it essentially means I’ll not be putting enough pressure to force them to play Wrath as soon as turn 4. Then, there’s the problem of them finding another. Now, what can we do about it?
The first thing, which the old Zoo already did, is pack burn to finish things off. However, the NEW pack of burn is much more attractive now. We have the old staples, like Lightning Helix and Char, but we ALSO have a better replacement for the slower, mana-consuming Volcanic Hammer: Rift Bolt. It’s essentially the same, for one more mana. However, if you’re in a pinch, you can let them know it’s coming (by suspending it), and play it for one LESS mana, which makes all the difference in these kinds of builds. Also, since it resolves during YOUR upkeep, counter-happy decks that try to counter it will get caught red-handed with no more mana to counter your OTHER threats for the turn, say, the better burn spells like Helix or Char. So Rift Bolt does it all. It’s good, it’s cheap and it’s protection for your better spells. Then, there is the problem of global removal of other kinds, namely Pyroclasm, Sulfurous Blast (although this one kind of helps you too, since they take damage from it) and the fearful Wildfire (because of the fragile mana-base). Fixing these problems was almost automatic, too, due to newcomers to the set. Pyroclasm is ALMOST useless against you main firepower, since 2 damage can’t REALLY slow you down most of the times, and white has gotten back a pretty good friend against Wildfire, Pyroclasm of whatever they may be packing in red: Soltari Priest. Sure, it’s a little color-intensive (although that’s not really a problem, as we’ll see in a minute), but hey, it’s a Shadow (seriously, who packs Shadows in the decks, short of the Priest itself?), it swings for 2 AND it’s immune to red removal. And, in the event they ARE packing a Shadow too, you can always blast it off of your way with YOUR red removal (unless it’s another Priest, of course). These alone are enough to make sure the little guy matters. But then, there’s that old staple that they should never had brought back, but did: Call of the Herd! It’s not color-intensive, it’s a creature that matters in size, AND it’s got Flashback, so you can save some firepower for an after-Wrath situation! Seriously, could this card be anymore useful for us?
But then, we move on to the next issue: the mana-base. The old Zoo packed 12 Ravnica duals, meaning it took SOME pain from itself, not to mention it got color-screwed quite often. However, Time Spiral has helped us fix THAT issue too (I just LOVE this set, don’t you?), by bringing back the very useful Gemstone Mine (which fixes the color-issue very well, even though at a cost), and the new staple land Flagstones of Trokair, the fetchland of modern times! However, this would make our mana base still not VERY consistent, which is where ANOTHER new land (this one very overlooked) comes into place: Vesuva! Vesuva is kind of slow, but it helps IMMENSELY! It copies a dual from your opponent, in case it’s got one type you need, it can copy a Flagstones of Trokair (making essentially the same effect, since you don’t get to use the mana of the second one anyway, making THIS the best use for it in the deck), or it can copy one of YOUR duals or Mines, for helping development/fixing colors. Still, if we want to keep the first-turn Kird Ape a possibility, we still need SOME forests around, so Ravduals are still a must.
3. The decklist
Well, let’s take a look at where I’ve gotten to, and have a card-by-card analysis do the rest of the job in telling why the deck is good.
THE NEW ZOO (60 cards)
21 Lands:
4 Stomping Ground
4 Sacred Foundry
3 Temple Garden
4 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Vesuva
3 Gemstone Mine
23 Creatures:
4 Savannah Lions
3 Icatian Javelineers
4 Kird Ape
1 Magus of the Scroll
4 Watchwolf
4 Scab-Clan Mauler
3 Burning-Tree Shaman
8 Sorceries:
4 Rift Bolt
4 Call of the Herd
8 Instants:
4 Lightning Helix
4 Char
SIDEBOARD
3 Leyline of Lifeforce
3 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Giant Solifuge
3 Krosan Grip
3 Honorable Passage
Ok, so let’s take a look card by card.
Stomping Ground – A staple land, in the fact that it allows for a first-turn 2/3 Kird Ape, which is an AMAZING opening.
Sacred Foundry – If you take a closer look at the decklist, you’ll notice the deck it mainly R/W, so this dual is the most important one to have around, although you need at least ONE forest for your Kird Apes. If you’ve already got it, don hesitate to copy Foundry with Vesuva, unless there’s a more juicy target for it.
Temple Garden – Ok, the deck REALLY needs red to play with, so no need to pack four copies of this one. Of course having white is very good too, and the fact that this is a Forest makes it worth it. Also, this essentially adds up to seven Plains in the deck, which is good because of the land-tricks you can pull off.
Flagstones of Trokair – The ultimate fetchland in Standard right now. It’s essentially a Plains in every way (except in its land type), and if you play a second one, although you “lose” your land drop for the turn, you get to search two duals with Plains in its type. Also, against a LD deck, Flagstones replace themselves, which is pretty decent.
Vesuva – A gift from heavens, if wisely used. Vesuva tends to be a tad slower, since it comes into play tapped when it copies a land, but if you copy a Flagstones of Trokair (either yours or one your opponent have played), it’s VERY GOOD. You get your dual(s), and you still have more Flagstones to play untapped later (this essentially means you can play up to 7 Flagstones of Trokair and activate them all, providing the opponent plays AT LEAST one, thus, the seven Plains)! Vesuva ALSO helps out by giving you more Sacred Foundries, essential for the deck’s development, or by giving you a Forest from an opponent (or whatever color of mana you might need that they have) in a pinch, if you need one. Ultimately, it can copy a Gemtsone Mine, fixing color issues almost completely (for a short period of time, yes, but hopefully enough time to wrap things off).
Gemstone Mine – Fixes color like no other land nowadays, enough said.
Savannah Lions – A pretty good first-turn play, no discussing that.
Icatian Javelineers – A deck that packs Scab-Clan Mauler NEEDS first-turn threats badly. I considered using Scorched Rusalka, but because of the 4 copies of Flagstones, the deck’s gotten a little heavier on white, so I decided to go with the little guy. Also, if anything else, it’s cheap removal against smaller creatures, it can block/sac in response a Giant Solifuge to still deal 1 damage to another creature or player, and it can bypass an army of huge red dragons for those last points of damage I might need.
Kird Ape – If you have Stomping Ground in a deck, this is THE ULTIMATE first-turn play for an aggro deck, pay 2 life, have a 2/3 creature on the board. Pretty good deal, huh?
Magus of the Scroll – Now, this guy was actually the last card I added to the build. Once I finished building my mana-curve accordingly, a one-card gap appeared in the deck. I didn’t need another land (specially since the options were Vesuva, which is slow; Temple Garden, which does not help out a lot; Gemstone Mine, which is kind of dangerous to abuse; and Skarrg, the Rage Pits, which I don’t like as a one-of, and does not help out our colors at all, not to mention, trampling isn’t REALLY all that necessary here), Javelineers were not necessary as a four-of and ONE Scorched Rusalka wouldn’t make THAT much of a difference. I started with a one-of Kinght of the Holy Nimbus, but figured out it made the deck even MORE color-intensive than it already was for white, and didn’t matter all that much. Then, I remembered this little guy. The deck has enough red to pull him out easily, AND he’s MORE removal in case I need it. Oh, yes, if nothing else, he is ALSO a first-turn threat to enable a turn two Mauler with Bloodthirst, so this guy was quite a finding, the perfect one-of for an agro deck like this.
Watchwolf – Originally, they were Soltari Priests. However, Watchwolf is easier on the manabase, and a better swinger on itself.
Scab-Clan Mauler – One of the best agro tools in the format right now. Play anything that means a first-turn threat, get damage in, and kazaam, this guy as a 3/3 trampling creature for TWO mana! What else can you ask for? Oh, yes, one of the colors is red, the second-most abundant color in the build!
Burning-Tree Shaman – Amazing creature, again. Great body for a low cost, and a pretty useful ability against those pesky Sacred Mesa decks (SnowWhite in my meta packs it, for instance). Also, note that THIS is the TOP of our mana curve, which makes the deck so amazingly fast and cheap.
Rift Bolt – Has already been discussed, but I’d like to point out the fact thatm if nothing else, this IS a first-turn threat that can enable a second-turn Mauler. Although it’s not the best play you can make, it’s a last resort to make opening hands less likely to be thrown back.
Call of the Herd – Already been discussed, too. The first time you play, it matches the mana curve. The second, it’s a bit expensive considering the rest of the deck’s cost, but hey, it’s an after Wrath tool that you just might need, which was one of the major problems with Boros alone.
Lightning Helix – An AMAZING removal, which also eases the self-inflicted pain from the deck’s duals.
Char – A finisher. If nothing else, it can take out a relatively big creature, like a Bogardan hellkite played in response of an attack, that blocked at least 1/1, in IzzeTron builds.
Now, let’s talk sideboard. As I said before, sideboards posted here are SUGGESTIONS, and it’s usually the one that fits MY meta the best. By no means it’s THE one you should use, it’s just the one I have been most successful using so far, and my meta IS counter-heavy and Dragonstorm-heavy.
Leyline of Lifeforce – I have discussed this before in my Gruul Beats deck (you can check it out at the Deck Clinic, under Standard). This means counter-happy decks won’t be able to buy that time they so desperately need, and this also means a knotch up against D-Storm. Now, I know that, in essence, agro decks should have an edge against combo decks, but hey, it’s a combo deck that has won Worlds, beating SEVERAL aggro decks in the process, so with all due respect, I think it’s a deck that aggro needs answers to. Also, this particular deck takes a lot of self-inflicted pain, which makes D-Storm a dangerous match-up for it.
Honorable Passage – A final answer to D-Storm. This deck can pull turn-five clocks consistently, and usually dishing out around 25 points of damage or so, so ONE of these on a tight turn-four clock pulled by D-Storm means you have a very good chance of winning before they ever get to swing with those pesky Dragons the following turn, to wrap things up (assuming, of course, they calculated for exactly lethal damage and you avoided it).
Tormod’s Crypt – This one does SO much! It helps against Martyr decks (which are a pain for aggro), it stops Magnivores right on their feet (which tends to be a bad match-up, bacuse of the three-color issue) and it clears opposing Calls from the graveyard before they hit play again, making your life easier. Oh, yes, and it also kills reanimation almost altogether.
Giant Solifuge – Relegated to the sideboard not because it’s bad, but because it’s over the desired mana curve. If the opponent has little or no answers for them, then bring them in! Also, they can replace an expensive burn spell like Char, or replace Call of the Herd in match-ups that you choose to go with the Leyline strategy, since this will leave them with plenty of counterspells for you other spells, so it’s better to leave instants and Rift Bolt in, since they can help each other get by the counter barrier.
Krosan Grip - Replaced Naturalize and Disenchant, so it can fit in well in the anti-control meta, specially when you get to blow up signets, and they don’t get to counter it..
4. Strategy
This deck is really easy to pay with, as you just try to produce the most sourcers of damage with the given mana for the turn. However, there’s one small rule that helps not only playing these kinds of builds, but playing the game altogether, which is asking yourself the following questions, if you’re about to cast a creature spell:
1- If a play this creature now, will I need it to attack the following turn to push enough damage through?
2- If I play this creature now, will I need it to block, or to use an ability as soon as possible?
If any of the answers is “yes”, then go ahead and play it. If they’re both “no”, however, then don’t play the creature. This helps you to be prepared against a board-sweeping effect, since it let’s you reassemble your army quicker.
Then, the only advice I can give you, is how to sideboard, if you’re going with my build as it is:
Against IzzeTron:
In:
3 Leyline of Lifeforce
3 Giant Solifuge
2 Disenchant
1 Naturalize
3 Honorable Passage
Out:
4 Call of the Herd
4 Rift Bolt
4 Char
Against MartyrTron:
In:
3 Leyline of Lifeforce
3 Giant Solifuge
2 Disenchant
1 Naturalize
3 Tormod’s Crypt
Out:
4 Call of the Herd
4 Lightning Helix
4 Rift Bolt
Against SnowWhite:
In:
2 Disenchant
1 Naturalize
3 Tormod’s Crypt
Out:
2 Rift Bolt
4 Lithgning Helix
Against Dragonstorm:
In:
3 Giant Solifuge
3 Honorable Passage
2 Disenchant
1 Naturalize
(By destroying their Lotus during the upkeep, they can’t use the mana during the main phase, although this will only work for one game, since they’ll just go and use Gigadrowse at the end of your turn, but hopefully, you’ll only need one more game)
Out:
3 Rift Bolt
4 Char
2 Call of the Herd
Against Boros:
In:
3 Giant Solifuge
1 Honorable Passage
Out:
4 Char
Against Gruul:
No real need for sideboarding, unless they’re packing Moldervine Cloak.
In:
1 Disenchant
1 Naturalize
2 Honorable Passage
Out:
2 Rift Bolt
2 Char
Against Discard:
In:
3 Giant Solifuge
Out:
1 Rift Bolt
2 Char
Against Reanimators:
In:
3 Giant Solifuge
3 Tormod’s Crypt
(maybe some Honorable Passages might be useful, if they reanimate Hellkites, or other big creatures with Red in theyr cost)
Out:
4 Rift Bolt
2 Lightning Helix
Against RU Vore:
In:
3 Leyline of Lifeforce
3 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Giant Solifuge
2 Disenchat
1 Naturalize
Out:
4 Rift Bolt
4 Lighnint Helix
4 Char
Against RG Vore:
In:
3 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Giant Solifuge
Out:
4 Rift Bolt
Well, that’s it for now. I hope you liked the build, I’ve put a lot of work into making and playtesting it, and if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to post them here. Until then, hack away, and let’s see what the new set brings us! |
| Last edited by Felipe Musco on Thu Jan 25, 2007 1:13 pm; edited 1 time in totalI don't like YOU. |
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| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:38 pm |
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Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
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I must say, this is pretty solid as zoo decks go... but don’t you get color screwed? The reason Zoo phased out was because of two reasons. One, wrath control got powerful (which it still is now). Two, color screw problems happen in 3-color agro because you can’t afford to play signets (which is still there now). You identified these at the start of the article, but you suggest that you don’t need as many ravduals (but youre running 11!) and that you’re going to try the same thing the old zoo that got phased out did against wrath, plus call of the herd.
Regardless of how good you make the build, I don’t believe the deck type will fly.
I don’t know what’s up with you and the 1x magus of the scroll, but I think you know how me and most magic players feel about one-ofs outside search decks.
Watchwolf could have fit in well here. So could cryoclasm, but that’s arguable with MGA jumping up the rankings. Definately watchwolf.
In a three color deck, you can’t play a two of the same color card turn two and expect no problems unless you have mana fixers. It’s for this reason I think soltari preist is off limits to this deck- it’s way too easy to get color screwed.
If leyline of lifeforce wasn’t unneccesary in gruul beats, it certainly is now. Now you’re playing 4 creatures of 3 mana cost or greater, in the "have to worry about being countered" range.
Honorable passage is not an acceptable way to deal with dragonstorm here. Once again, you need to be killing them. If a D-storm deck goes first twice in a match and hits turn four on both of them, you’re not going to stop them with a passage anyway, most likely.
Good start for you: Kird ape T1, T2 Mauler, (them to 18 ), T3 Shaman (them to 13) they go off. If you didn’t play the shaman because you were waiting for the combo to hit, then watch: They tap you down at end of turn with gigadrowse. Next turn, they go off.
If dragonstorm gets a godhand, they will go off, whether you play honorable passage or not.
The better chance here is to make sure that you kill them if they don’t go first/have a godhand. If you can instead just increase your clock as much as possible (and play the very underrated pull from eternity), you’ll have a better shot.
T1: Ape, T2: Mauler, T3: Pull from eternity + soltari preist, you grant time for a turn four and five unless they can go off without lotus bloom, which is less likely.
Another point: why only 3 fuges in board? 4 fuges hurts wrath control, your probable worst matchup.
I really think you’re starting to beat a dead horse with this deck. You’re doing a fine job of beating it, don’t get me wrong, but I still think it’s going to be a dead horse until you can prove you can beat the problems we both mentioned at the top of our perspective posts.
Specific Sideboarding things: Taking out call of the herd against martyrtron makes no sense to me. Martyrtron likes running wrath. Wrath is bad against CoTH. So... I must be missing something.
Snow White is not a competitive deck.
Dragonstorm, you forget entirely about gigadrowse. They’ll surely be running plenty of them. I don’t know why this will "only work for one game" as if they have a gigadrowse, they will tap you down EoT before going off as insurance if they’re decent.
Discard: fast against discard is good. So what’s with the slowest creature coming in? Rift bolts are great against discard. At one mana, you can float them and have them leave your hand. You need more burn against discard, not less.
One more thing. Against gruul and snow white were the only matchups you recommended not boarding in solifuge. Why not just MD him if he’s going to be used in 8/10 matchups?
U/B pickles, scryb&force, and MGA were the top three decks this past week. None of them were in matchup listings.
I know I’m coming off really harsh, but it just kills me to see you write in without doing your best. It would have been simple to look up the competitive decklists instead of putting up snow white (less than 1%), two builds of vore (less than 1%), discard (1%), Martyr Tron (which is a worse, not top 20 form of searing martyr, at 2%) and things like that.
You could really stand to start looking at the top tier decks as they are, not as they were and playing against them.
Now that I’m sure you’re angry and stuff, here’s some things you did well.
1) Guts to go back to the basics/old school
2) Use of icatian Javelineers
3) Use of plenty of one drops, something some agro decks don’t use.
4) Playing all the right burn spells. If you’re to play twelve, you chose the right twelve.
5) Not forgetting lessons from gruul beats- playing the right aggressive creatures
6) Running Vesuva
7) Running Gemstone mine
 Admitting the deck’s shortcomings and trying to attack them.
I just think you really could be a lot better if you only made the conscious decision to. You could easily run playtestings against people who aren’t too silly to miss the chance to drowse just because you don’t have blue mana (which won’t work when mana tither comes out anyway) and miss going off because of it. There’s so much more you could have done with this that you chose not to. |
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| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 7:26 pm |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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| I haven’t seen a Selesnya build in SO much time, can you believe I actually FORGOT about Watchwolf? I’ll fix the decklist accordingly, hopefully before the end of the month. I’m out of internet, so, sorry for the delay in responding. Thanks for the compliments, and yeah, I figured that out about Dragonstorm, like that old article from Wizards: "the match-up is soooo unwinnable if they go off, not worth trying to defend myself against it". I’ll try to fit in Watchwolf. Probably over Soltari Priest, and leave the priest guy on the sideboard, over Passage, in case Wildfire starts flying all over the place again. And about color-screw, between Flagstones, Gemstone Mines and Vesuvas, not, I rarely get color-screwed. Run it on MWS and you’ll see. I draw some dead opening hands every once in a while, though, but hey, who doesn’t, right? I think that, in mana-base issues, this is as good as it gets, but DEFINITLY Watchwolf is coming in! And no, I was not angry, as reading THROUGH your lines, well, you complimented my build MUCH more than tackled it, and WHERE you tackled it, you did it right. I’m just a little confused on the Leyline this time, you think it’s in or out? |
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| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:53 pm |
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Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
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I never like leylines, I never have and I never will. I think no tournament deck can run them. Why so harsh? Because to hardcast a leyline is awaste of time. To not cast it’s a waste of a card. And to rely on the about 1/2 chance it’s in your starting hand is a big risk. Because if you get two in your starting hand, the second is a dead card. It’s just way too inconsistant to be good.
I’m sure the mana base is pretty solid, but I’m equally sure if I tried to play it in a big game, I’d be mana screwed.  |
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| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 1:18 pm |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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Are you THAT jinxed? Hehehe
Oh, yes, I forgot to answer about the one Magus!
The thing is, I had ONE slot left in the deck. Now I didn’t want a fourth Javelineer, I just didn’t need it. I also didn’t want a fourth Burning-Tree Shaman (btw, I swapped out Honorable Passages for a fourth Shaman, and 2 Barbed Shockers), so the curve would still be low. It wasn’t worth it to play ONE Scorched Rusalka, and I didn’t quite need another land, so I thought of the little guy. He matters on turn one, because he enables the turn-two Mauler, good for the strategy. He matters on the late game, because he forces damage, or clears the board where I need him to do it. That’s why the one-of. It’s really cool, though, most Gruul decks on the net are running him as a one-of, too. |
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| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 2:50 pm |
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Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
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For your answer, I am not THAT jinxed, but think of it this way. If you have a deck that wins 3/4 of the time it goes off, and it goes off 3/4 of the time. Because unless you’re playing something like dragonstorm you’re not going to win much more than 3/4 of the time you get a good hand, you need to make the % chance of getting the good hand better.
Playing leylines greatly decreases the chance of going off for a slight increase in the probability of winning if you do. Instead of 75% and 75%, maybe it makes 60% of going off but 85% if you do. The even 75%’s make a 56.25% chance of theorhetically winning, but the less shots at better chances 60% and 85% make 51%. The key is that leylines hurt you worse when they don’t work out than they help when they do work out. THAT’s why I don’t like them.
For magus, I’ve seen most gruul beats running them as 2-3 of, but I guess it works... I’d just rather have more higher-ofs. You could always play more instead of javelineers. I find two damage way more useful than one that can’t reuse. Scorched rusalkas could also work, but I’d prefer magus, too. |
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| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 6:37 pm |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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| Yeah, that’s what I meant, 1 Magus is pretty ok. By the way, run the deck in simulation, you’ll be surprised by its consistence in mana-base, specially after I added those Watchwolves you talked to me about (btw, I changed the decklist a bit because of that). Pretty cool. |
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| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 8:16 pm |
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Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
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| Yeah. Most of my concerns weren’t with getting one of every color, it was getting two of a color. The watchwolf swap should fix that. |
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| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 4:11 pm |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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| Oh, yeah! It’s much more reliable now! Try it out! This thing kills a goldfish on turn 5 almost all the time, and usually with over 25 damage, so even a few blockers or burn spells on creatures wouldn’t be all that reason to worry. Wrath of God and Damnation, on the other hand... |
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| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 8:24 pm |
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Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
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Only 25? Hm... I made a G/W deck that was doing that and more,,,
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Savannah Lions
4 Gaea’s Anthem
4 Glorious Anthem
4 Fists of Ironwood
4 Groundbreaker
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Mana Tithe
4 Watchwolf
4 Moldervine Cloak
2 Glare of Subdual
4 Brushland
9 Forest
6 Plains
I fished 50 times. Here’s the results:
45 Games: 5 turns, 8.8 average overkill damage.
3 Games: 4 turns, 1.0 average overkill damage
2 Games: 6 turns, 9.0 average overkill damage
Overwhelmingly common for a 5-turn kill. But as you can tell my the deck, it’s not completely rush, with mana tithes (which suck against fish) and glare of subduals (which suck more )
And yes, it does only play 19 land. Lands are for squares!
Anyways, in this particular deck, I liked the greater ability to recover from wrath. Also note the lack of call of the herd. It’s not a bad card, but I needed cheaper things in an anthem deck. |
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