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| Memnarch Mastermind |
![]() Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 10:00 pm |
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Joined: 24 Jan 2006
Posts: 49
Location: Bochum/Germany
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--- description ---
You feel your turns are far too short? You hate to see that your opponents get to kill you just because you need 1 turn more to get him? No problem! Stop everything!!!
--- end description ---
1. Introduction
I was thinking of a multiplayer deck that would work with the one of my two headed - partner. The point was - as ever - buying time so that he can drop his big bombs... and that’s what this article is all about.
2. Decklist
Creatures = 16 cards
4 x Loxodon Hierarch
2 x Kaho, Minamo Historian
4 x Birds of Paradise
3 x Watchwolf
1 x Tolsimir Wolfblood
2 x Simic Sky Swallower
Artifacts = 4 cards
4 x Voyager staff
Instants / Sorceries = 20 cards
3 x Time of Need
2 x Remand
3 x Mana Leak
2 x Spell Snare
4 x Ghostway
3 x Wrath of God
3 x Time Stop
Lands = 21 cards
3 x Breeding Pool
3 x Hallowed Fountain
3 x Temple Garden
4 x Forest
3 x Island
3 x Plains
2 x Boseiju, who shelters all
Sideboard = 15 cards
2 x Remand
2 x spell snare
3 x Research / Development
2 x Windreaver
4 x Valor Made real
2 x Leyline of Lifeforce
3.a Explaining the Deck
I don’t like to explain every card in detail... everyone knows what general purpose those cards have. I rather explain how the cards work together.
After that I’ll tell how to play this deck.
Kaho, Minamo historian - Time Stop
I think everyone just gets the point... Yes, Kaho is used to stop the time.
It would be stupid to drop Kaho in turn 4, your opponent would just wait for such a chance... don’t let him be the lucky one!
Ghostway - Wrath of God - Loxodon Hierarch
To make sure Kaho will drop the table, you have to be tricky. I think this is the problem about legendary creatures... some are so good that they just have to be stopped. Wrath of God is a natural good stopper, but if you kill your own creatures either, it is not as much fun as it could be.
Play ghostway at the beginning of your turn, perhaps use boseiju, who shelters all, and all your creatures are gone...PAFF! and then, you got it, destroy all creatures, using Boseiju again and let them feel the Wrath of God! When your creatures come back, you won’t have that much but if a Loxodon Hierarch is with it, it has also positive aspects for you.
And the Hierarch is just a top card - 4/4 for 2GW is good enough to hold back attackers and a good turn 3 or 4 drop.
Watchwolf - Tolsimir wolfblood - Simic Sky Swallower
There is not much to tell - in case you are waiting for the cards and just nothing happens, they are quite good in combination with Loxodon Hierarch.
And in case you are facing Isamaru, Hound of Konda or something else, Watchwolf will be a good drop. If nothing happens you can have a 5 / 5(Watchwolf), 6 / 6(Loxodon Hierarch), 4 / 4(Voja token) and 3 / 4 attacker on turn 6. This is the worst case!
Simic Sky Swallower is the finisher... see 3.b for more details.
3.b Explaining the sideboard
Research / Development vs. Cranial extraction
Under normal circumstances you should get your goal, but it is most likely that someone just gets to strike with Cranial extraction and disrupt this deck. Therefore I chose Research / Developement to get the missing cards back into the deck.
Leyline of Lifeforce vs. U - Control
You know how annoying it is when you just get no foot on the (battle)ground because your opponent seems to have counter spells all day? That is something that has not to be. Therefore I picked the green Leyline - it is a general recommendation.
Valor made real vs. Zoo
Sometimes I am asking myself for what reason and how my opponent creates nearly hundrets of creatures, just for example a green snake deck with seshiro the annoyted and family and all other snake multipliers. It sucks! But as long as they don’t have trample, Valor made real can make a real hero out of Watchwolf! Everything that buys you another turn is good enough!
Simic Sky Swallower - Windreaver
I like Simic Sky Swallower... it is the only useable --> Sky Swallower in the Ravinca block. And he’s a knocker! He’ll be hard to kill, although Windreaver can be the right option. You’ll have the mana to pump him, but IMO the SSS is the better option.
You recognized the additional counterspells( I am not reffering to the original card named Counterspell!!!) in the SB. They are useful if someone has forgotten to add other cards than counterspells to his or her deck(I’m just kidding!).
4. Playing the deck
this deck is a time machine, but time travel is a troubling theme... Not if you get the right stratagem to jump to the (Magic)funeral of your opponent!
At first, keep in mind you are not going to win by simply playing creatures... it might work, but the problem is that there are decks with much better creatures, so I’d prefer to say "Stay cool".
So I have all the cards right here and am shuffling my deck. Let’s see how the next 3 turns will run.
Opening hand:(drawn under real conditions)
1 x Forest
1 x Birds of Paradise
1 x Island
1 x Remand
1 x Watchwolf
1 x Wrath of God
1 x Hallowed fountain
Wow, that makes me think... okay, in this case my drop on turn one would be birds of Paradise, but then? I got wrath in my hand, and remand. But instead of waiting I think I’ll get a watchwolf dropped on the next turn.
Drawing a time of need on turn two there is still the watchwolf the best option. Of course I have the possibility to play time of need but I refuse. Castigate and other spells could trouble me, and 3/3 on turn 2 isn’t that bad. The Fountain comes into play tapped.
Turn three brings in a Voyager staff. I put this nice artifact into play plus an Island, then I swing in for 3. And I still got the Mana for Remand.
I could write 100 additional pages like that, but it doesn’t reflect real conditions. I played this deck since wednesday and it was incredible. The best thing is that in most cases you can do something, as you read before the time of need is important to pull Kaho out, the Voyager staff is the tricky part about holding Kaho in play.
If you play her for the first time in a match, search for nothing! Sacrifice Voyager staff end of your turn or during your opponents turn to remove Kaho temporary from the game. When she comes back end of your opponents turn, search all instants you’d like, but search especially for Time Stop.
Now you are where you wanted to be: It’s your turn now, and you do nothing than untap and drawing a card. Then you are finished because you now need 6 colorless mana. When your opponent goes into his turn, before the upkeep you pay 6 and tap kaho stopping time.
Then it’s your turn again. proceed like before, drawing cards and wait until you got all the mana you need for your finishing move.
You can say that your opponent sits there so that you can show off your deck. It’s really funny.
5. Alternative Cards
I was thinking of Eternal witness... the ghostway would return each time I use him, but that is not necessary. 
Still I am thinking of Leyline of Singularity... might be a very good alternative because I don’t have two copies of creatures in play, my opponents might have. That would stop them a while. 
Condemn. Damn it! It would fit perfectly, I need to get this card in there, it is somehow a UW - classic card(compared with Swords to plowshares).
Chrome Mox / Mox Diamond /Moxes in general. Who wouldn’t like to add those to his or her deck??? I’ll keep looking for them like everyone! 
Well, that’s it!
 Thank you! |
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| BrianBoitano |
![]() Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 12:43 am |
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Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Posts: 124
Location: Houston, TX
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I like the feel of the deck. It has nice acceleration, cheap early threats and a killer mid-game. The coming-into-play effect of Loxodon Hierarch makes him fit right in with the Astral Slide feel of this deck. For Two Headed Giant, I would take this deck as my ally any day. I especially enjoy the EOT Ghostway followed by Wrath. The combo seems powerful, since you can tutor the Historian and also use the Historian to get more countermagic if need be.
All in all, very powerful deck! |
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| Memnarch Mastermind |
![]() Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 1:10 pm |
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Joined: 24 Jan 2006
Posts: 49
Location: Bochum/Germany
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Thank you. Yeah, indeed the mid-game is the point of no return, I took much care to ensure it’ll work.
There are some decks that wait until they rule the game(e.g. bringer of the white dawn / mindslaver). But those decks aren’t really fun to play.
I have to admit that this deck is also good against one opponent... but it might get rough. Nevertheless Simic sky swallower can come on turn five or six as I just have seen today, so I am not so scared if someone really gets to stop Kaho. And Kaho came today nearly every match, thanks to BoP, I just don’t need more acceleration than them(okay maybe Moxes  ).
Today I took out a G snake deck, my own creation the WBG-Controldeck, a BUR-Deck, a Dimir-deck and a mono-W deck. seemed okay so far. Snakes fall because of WoG, control failed because I was faster and used also Wrath, BUR killed everything but Kaho(my opponent didn’t understand what I was doing, so he blew off all burns for nothing!), the dimir managed to win one time because I suffered 6(!!!) glimpse the unthinkable(Sins of the past).
I played against three friends and they really want to copy this deck. It is really good, not perfect, but doing just fine.
Boseiju is also perfect! Imagine paying Boseiju’s mana for mana leak- end of countering. Unstoppable wrath? All right!
Still I am missing something in this deck. hopefully someone has an idea what that might be... |
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| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:51 pm |
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Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
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Personally, I’d rather see more speed and less bombs, but it depends on what you’re using it for.
This looks like a deck for great, great fun in casual play, multi or just 1v1, but I’m pretty sure this is too slow for a tourney deck, like ghost husk etc.
Some well-placed sprawls/llanowar elves could help that a lot! |
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| Memnarch Mastermind |
![]() Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 11:01 pm |
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Joined: 24 Jan 2006
Posts: 49
Location: Bochum/Germany
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Thanks for the idea with the llanowar elves. Sprawl is just okay, but indeed if i have a little more speed I’ll get my goal pretty fast and could freeze my opponent very soon. I’ll try that!
I don’t know if it would be too slow for a tourney... I just know it is fast enough to work very reliable. Nevertheless I’ll pump up the speed. |
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| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 4:30 pm |
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Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
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| yeah... in a standard tourney, I’ve seen a match consisting of eight turns and two games. You’ll need something to do before turn four. GRanted, these were excellent hands, but it’s still going to be a pretty quick clock- count on 5 turns. |
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| Memnarch Mastermind |
![]() Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 12:29 pm |
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Joined: 24 Jan 2006
Posts: 49
Location: Bochum/Germany
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Okay, but I think I can hold off my opponent just long enough to reach my goal... that is the point: Once Kaho is working, there won’t be any further turn for my opponent. If I survive long enough, i.e. 4 to 5 turns, there’ll be hardly a chance for my opponent and I’ll have all the time to play all the cards I’d like to play.
Nevertheless I was once killed in a standart tourney in turn 6, standart WRG. Ouch! |
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| KillerKiku |
![]() Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 12:54 pm |
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Joined: 19 Jun 2006
Posts: 13
Location:
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Hello!
I like your idea so i make my first vote for you.
It seems to me that you have a very fast deck. I can hardly see any option to change it without to destabilize the balance. Maybe some speed tuning will do just fine. But it seems to be working well.
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| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 1:37 pm |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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I’d have to agree with Grail (although this does not seem to happen a lot, only after a great time of argument...  ), drop SSS and speed up things. I’d use Sprawls over Llanowars, since WoG will kill them too... Also, you could add another Mana Leak instead of Remand (it’s just plain better to stall opponents early game), raising the count on Spell Snare also, or maybe altering to Hinder. For a win condition, since you don’t quite need the speed, you could simply add something cheaper, like Hunted Phantasm, instead of big bombs like SSS. This alone would allow for great speed, since when allied to BoP and Utopia Sprawls will most likely allow a turn 3 Phantasm, protected by a Counterspell, also allowing for a turn 4 Kaho (again, counter-protected), due to all the spare mana. You could even consider dropping the Hierarchs (although I think dropping Tolsimir and the Wolves might be better) and use things like Holy Day, or Kami of False Hope, and more acceleration, so you’d have full life points and complete board control by turn 6, tops. Add in signets, and this count may drop to turn 5, or even 4! Oh, and I don’t know the reason (if you don’t have them, or what), but try to use more duals rather than basics, specially the Shocklands (tks to Grail for feedback on this!  ), so you don’t get mana-screwed. |
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| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 1:46 pm |
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Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
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Memnarch Mastermind wrote: Okay, but I think I can hold off my opponent just long enough to reach my goal... that is the point: Once Kaho is working, there won’t be any further turn for my opponent. If I survive long enough, i.e. 4 to 5 turns, there’ll be hardly a chance for my opponent and I’ll have all the time to play all the cards I’d like to play.
Nevertheless I was once killed in a standart tourney in turn 6, standart WRG. Ouch!
Pardon me if I’m missing something, but I see you playing Kaho around turn 4-5, then having to wait until the next turn to use his ability, granted your opponent plenty of time for removal (and pushing it off a turn). It seems like you should have Kaho down 4-5 but not combo off until 5-6?
Also, consider ethereal usher. Coming off a first turn BoP/Llanowar/Sprawl, you can tutor for a kaho turn two. Very, very useful.
I just think you could consolidate a little bit- I don’t think the 1x Tolsimir, for example, is really going to change the game. |
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