| |
| Author |
Message |
| kliberal |
![]() Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 6:23 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 30 May 2006
Posts: 5
Location:
|
My husband has finally talked me into playing online magic. I have a very definite idea of what I want in a deck. I have put this together so far. Please tell me what you think.
4 Diving Griffin
4 Skyshroud Falcon
4 Blinding Angel
4 Cloudreach Cavalry
4 Wall of Restraint
4 Suntail Hawk
4 Soulcatcher’s Aerie
4 Divine Light
4 Worship
4 Holy Day
4 Arrest |
Kristi
My husband dragged me into MTG |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Cobra |
![]() Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 8:25 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 1202
Location: Austin, TX, USA
|
Welcome! 
First of all, I see 44 spells here with no lands. I’m not sure exactly what you had in mind for the full deck, but the numbers don’t seem to add up -- in most cases you should shoot for a 60-card deck, with around 23 lands and 37 spells.
A few card suggestions:
Skyshroud Falcon --> Courier Hawk
Essentially the same card ("Vigilance" = "does not tap to attack"), but the Hawk has +1 toughness.
Arrest --> Faith’s Fetters
For 1 extra mana, you gain the ability to play this on any permanent, as well as some nice life gain.
Wall of Restraint (do you mean Wall of Resistance?)
I don’t think blocking creatures will be a concern for this deck -- you’ve got creatures with vigilance, the Blinding Angel’s ability, and of course Worship.
I also think making this a two-color deck would help a lot -- for a small sacrifice in mana consistency, you get access to a lot of fantastic cards from Ravnica block. For example, go   and you get Pride of the Clouds for an even bigger swarm of birds.  |
| http://cobracards.com -- Web's best deals on Trading Card Games. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| kliberal |
![]() Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 11:43 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 30 May 2006
Posts: 5
Location:
|
I just didnt list the land
Ok, here is where I am after playing it once.
4 Diving Griffin
4 Skyshroud Falcon
4 Blinding Angel
4 Cloudreach Cavalry
4 Courier Hawk
4 Suntail Hawk
4 Soulcatcher’s Aerie
2 Divine Light
4 Worship
2 Holy Day
4 Faith’s Fetters
20 Land
I want to play mono white for now but I had already thought about going white/blue just to add Pride of the Clouds.
How does it look to you now? |
Kristi
My husband dragged me into MTG |
|
| Back to top |
|
| kliberal |
![]() Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 7:11 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 30 May 2006
Posts: 5
Location:
|
Ok, here it is. This is the final version.. you believe that dont you 
1 Aven Warhawk
3 Battlewise Aven
3 Blinding Angel
3 Cloudreach Cavalry
3 Courier Hawk
3 Gustcloak Harrier
1 Gustcloak Savior
4 Holy Day
2 Mystic Familiar
20 Plains
3 Skyshround Falcon
1 Soulcatcher
3 Soulcatcher’s Aerie
3 Suntail Hawk
4 Worship |
Kristi
My husband dragged me into MTG |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 12:13 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
|
First of all, Kristi (is it all right to call you Kristi? I’ll do it for now, but let me know if you want me to change it ), you have an awful lot of creatures, and they can get really big when you least expect it, so I liked it a lot. Some suggestions: if you wanna achieve threshold, Mystic Familiar is far better than Battlewise Aven, not to mention cheaper, so you should stick with 4 of them, and lose the Battlewises. Also, you may wanna raise the number of Soulcatchers in the deck, they’re probably gonna be your biggest threats. Since you MAY have to lose quite a few creatures on blocking, if you fight aggro decks (decks that play a lot of big creatures really fast), you might consider Kami of False Hope (it’s basically a Holy Day that won’t make you leave a mana open at all times). Also, you may want to consider Glorious Anthem, when you can afford the time to play them (by surviving, by either means of Kami of False Hope or Holy Day), they make your birds pretty big.
I like your vision on using only one Aven Warhawk, since they’re rather expensive and will gt your hand clogged (you may even consider losing him, if you add Glorious Anthem), but I also think you have a lot of Blinding Angels, since they’re REALLY expensive cards. You could, after add Kami, consider dropping the number of them to 2, and substituting them for 2 Serra Angel, since its bigger and also helps blocking, ’cause of its Vigilance ability. In that area, you would also want to raise the count of Skyshroud Falcon and Courier Hawk to 4 each, maybe dropping some of the Gustcloak creatures, since they’re not ALWAYS Vigilants...
Well, these were my suggestions so far, hope I could be of any help.
Oh, and also, in Magic, aside from the 60-card Main Deck, you’re entitled a 15-card Sideboard, and may switch any number of cards after games between them, as long as the Main Deck retains the same number of cards it had before (so this means you can’t simply ADD cards, something must be taken out). So, when you plan a deck, try and plan the Sideboard too. Sideboards must be planned like this: "If I play this type of deck, I’ll get beaten. What would be a good tool against this specific kind of deck?" Sideboard follows the same rules for decks (you’re limited to 4 copies only of any nonland card), but they CAN’T have more than 15 cards (even if your Main Deck has). So in a Sideboard you’ll want to stick to cards that can change your strategy, there’s no use, in your case, in simply adding more flying creatures (but strategic ones, like Blinding Angel, could be added). But I believe the guys here will be able to fill you in on this better.
Oh, and in this area, I believe you should either Sideboard Faith’s Fetters, or Maindeck it and Sideboard Worship, but you’ll figure out which is better after some playtests. But both of them should definitely be in your possession during a game, even if you’re not always using both of them in the Maindeck.
It just ocurred to me, so I’m editing this post from here, but instead of Glorious Anthem, you could just add Coat of Arms, but it may be a double-edged blade, since it also helps opponents... |
| I don't like YOU. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| kliberal |
![]() Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:21 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 30 May 2006
Posts: 5
Location:
|
WOW, I have read your message a dozen times. I cant tell you how much I appreciate the help. You were unbelievably generous with your time and effort, I want you to know how much I appreciate it
After going over what you said.. over and over and playing the deck A LOT *G* I really love it btw
Here is where I am at. I am trying to pick up like 3 of these cards as we speak
20 Plains
2 Aven Warhawk
4 Blinding Angel
3 Cloudreach Cavalry
3 Courier Hawk
2 Gustcloak Harrier
2 Gustcloak Savior
2 Serra Angel
3 Skyshroud Falcon
2 Soulcatcher
3 Suntail Hawk
2 Soulcatcher’s Aerie
4 Worship
4 Faith’s Feather
4 Holy Day
4 Coat of Arms
I am over 60 cards. I cant decide if I should weed or just let it go. What do you think?
Thanks again
Kristi, and by ALL means you can call me Kristi
As for the sideboard, I am gonna have to figure that out by feel I guess |
Kristi
My husband dragged me into MTG |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Cobra |
![]() Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:20 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 1202
Location: Austin, TX, USA
|
Coat of Arms works nicely here.
In Magic: the Gathering it’s almost always best to cut your deck down to 60 cards, to give you the best chance of drawing what you really need. Play it a bit and see what you tend to draw too often, or what you’re least enthusiastic about drawing, and then take another look at the decksize and see what you can cut. |
| http://cobracards.com -- Web's best deals on Trading Card Games. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:02 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
|
From as far as I can see, your land count should remain untouched, it’s perfect! You have a cheap deck, so mana shouldn’t be a problem. So, let’s begin with some notes: Serra Angel and Blinding Angel are essentially the same (a 5 mana flyer that saves you from some beating), but as I said, they cost 5 mana each, and they don’t fit the deck’s theme, as they’re not Birds, so you should only stick with ONE of them at your main deck (but the other SHOULD be sideboarded, we’ll get to that later). OF COURSE Blinding Angel’s ability is better than Serra’s, but it is most lethal against aggro decks (since they have A LOT of creatures, but GROUND creatures), but as I said before, it outshines Serra against THIS type of deck. However, most other decks simply won’t have that much creatures attacking you, since your Birds will get bigger as they die and you have things like Vililant creatures and Holy Day, so most of the time, for having a higher attack score, Serra Angel should be better. So, as far as I can see, he should be maindecked, and Blinding Angel should be sideboarded. As they are equivalent, you should switch one for the other most of the times (there may be times when you will want to have both in your deck, but they’ll be rare), you should have the same number of them, and since they’re rather expensive creatures and are not Birds, I think 2 is more than enough. Faith’s Fetters is just great, isn’t it? Keep it! Now, the Gustcloak creatures are just WAY too much expensive, with a not-so-great ability anyway, since you’ll need a lot of birds to die before they get big and useful (meaning attacks, kills a creature and untaps for blocking). So, if you’ll have a lot of dead birds, add Mystic Familiar, which will be a 2/3 flying body with protection from black, after you achieve threshold (and you WILL). This means that for only 2 mana you have an evasion creature (since it flies), that can’t be killed by Pyroclasm, Shock or Seal of Fire, like your other birds, and can’t be destroyed easily, since most cards that destroy a creature have black as a color. With all your blocking power, damage preventing and Fetters, Worship may not be needed that much, and it’s also a fairly expensive card, so you should drop the count a bit. Coat of Arms sure works DIVINELY with this deck, but keep in mind that it’s also expensive (5 mana), and it helps your opponents too, so you should drop the count on that one, too. For purposes of getting your creatures (and only them) bigger, I’d suggest using Glorious Anthem, but being a Bird deck, use Soulcatcher’s Aerie, it’s fat better!
Now, for the creatures:
Cloudreach Cavalry is EXTREMELY powerful as long as you ahve a bird, so you should raise his count. The same goes for Courier Hawk, Skyshroud Falcon and Suntail Hawk, which should be raised, since they’re cheap creatures, and this will help get your main theme on the table faster (which is: BIG birds!). So, as for now, I’ve come up to something like this:
MAIN DECK
Plains x20
Holy Day x4
Serra Angel x2
Faith’s Fetters x4
Soulcatcher’s Aerie x3
Worship x3
Coat of Arms x2
Suntail Hawk x4
Skyshroud Falcon x4
Courier Hawk x4
Soulcatcher x3
Cloudreach Cavalry x4
Mystic Familiar x3
SIDEBOARD
Coat of Arms x2
Blinding Angel x2
Worship x1
Mystic Familiar x1
Soucatcher x1
Ivory Mask x2
Kami of False Hope OR Demystify x4
Aven Warhawk x2
Now, for the sideboard and its explanations:
Coat of Arms - Should you play an opponent which Coat won’t help much, and that you need REALLY big birds quickly, just switch these in.
Blinding Angel - Already gone through that.
Worship - Even if not maindecked, you SHOULD keep 4 copies of Worship, in case you find yourself needing it a lot.
Mystic Familiar - Great when you play black or red decks, ’cause black destroys your birds, and red burns them, since they’ll be "little" at the beggining.
Soulcatcher - In case you feel the need for 4 copies during some games...
Aven Warhawk - Since it clogs your hand, you should cut him out. HOWEVER, there are SOME decks against which he’ll be GREAT (but only SOME decks, so, as before, that’s why he is only in the sideboard), since things like Wrath of God, Cleansing Beam, Savage Twister, Wildfire and, during the beggining, even Pyroclasm will kill all of your birds at once. Against these decks, you should try to pound them fast, but if they have 4 copies of those cards, and you notice that (they’ll always have a copy ready to play at turn 4 or 5, tops), save some birds in your hand to play a big enough creature to survive the burning (against Wrath, however, it proves useless...).
A piece of advice: ALWAYS keep your deck count as low as possible. You’ll notice this deck have 60 cards (the minimum number) and 15 cards in the sideboard (the maximum number, since THIS should always be used to maximum potency), but I’ll get to this later. Just check this post again tomorrow, maybe!
Ivory Mask (La_Sin_Grail’s gonna KILL ME for this one!) - Not good enough to take a 2-card gap in your main deck, but FANTASTIC at the sideboard, since it means: opponents can’t make you discard cards, cannot mill your deck and cannot burn you directly, and since you don’t use cards like: "Prevent the next X damage that would be dealt to target creature or player" (which wouldn’t be able to target you), it’s a win-win situation.
Kami of False Hope OR Demystify - Now, this will depend on playtests. If you REALLY feel the need to prevent some damage, go with kami, since it essentially means raising the Holy Day count to 8 in 60 cards, and you’ll most likely have one in your opening hand, third turn tops (just remember to NEVER play more than ONE Kami out at once, since if something kills 2 or more of them, sacrificing them in response will only prevent the damage for that turn, no matter how much of them you sacrifice). Now, I said to use this if you REALLY need life-savers, ’cause Demistify simply means killing things like Holy Strength, Unholy Strength, Moldervine Cloak (very popular these days), Circle of Protections, Glorious Anthem, Furnace of Rath, Leyline of Singularity, Heartbeat of Spring (also very popular nowadays), etc... for only ONE mana! So, if you can spare the Kamis, use these! But each of them is only useful at a count of 4, so don’t even botter in trying 2 of each, it simply won’t work as well. Also, again, killing enchantments is only good if your opponent REALLY needs them, and if they’re even using enchantments, so that’s why it is only on the sideboard.
Now, I know this post is even bigger than the last, but I believe this time you’ll find your deck faster and more lethal, just try it out.
Some last pieces of advice:
1- You should ALWAYS keep your deck count as low as possible (to the minimum of 60 cards), since it improves the odds of drawing that specific card you need, and ALWAYS use the maximum sideboard size, since it’s the only thing that’ll help you in a series of game. You’ll notice this deck has exactly 60 cards and 15 cards on the sideboard. Stick with that.
2- Remeber: you can only SWITCH cards in your deck and sideboard, never add or remove.
3- Even if you DO decide to play this deck as I wrote above (you may want to change a few things, or even A LOT of things), you should ALWAYS look for ways of improving it, since Wizards releases new cards every three months or so...
Hope I could help you more this time, I was out of spare time when I wrote the last post, so I couldn’t add a more in depht deck analisys. |
| I don't like YOU. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| kliberal |
![]() Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:13 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 30 May 2006
Posts: 5
Location:
|
I still can not believe you have taken all of this time and effort to help me like this. You will never know how much I appreciate it.
Here is where I am. The more I think about COA, the more I dont like the idea. I know I am prolly in the minority but I am just not all about helping pump other creatures that have their sights set on me. I may invest in the card down the road, but now now. I have been playing this deck for a coupla days and it gets worse the more I play it LOL Three games last night I got it handed to me, all mana and enchantments and no crits. I hear what you are saying about worship. I was originally gonna keep it at 4 but I want to run it a few times with leave no trace so I dropped my enchantments to 3 and lost a land. I know you said 20 but 19 is still over 30% and I am sick of drawing 4 and 5 out of 7 being land LOL Here is what I have ( I am trying to find soulcatcher for less than a dollar but am afraid its not gonna happen.. short three and this version is up) I need to plug some holes in my sideboard but figured I would run without it til I get it. I dont see how its a big deal really, by the time you have the information you need to switch cards from your sb the game is gone anyway.
BTW, what do you think of Divine Sacrament. I was thinking of adding that. That with soulcatcher could get ugly. Thing is I never wanted a slow deck and I am afraid I am headed toward bigger creatures which equals slower deck.
19-Plains
2- Blinding Angel
4- Cloudreach Cavalry
4- Courier Hawk
3- Mystic Familar
4 Sjyshroud Falcon
3- Soulcatcher
4- Suntail Hawk
4- Soulcatcher’s Aerie
3 Worship
3 Faith’s Feather
4 Holy Day
4 Leave no trace
Kristi
I have typed this post about 5 times today, having trouble posting. |
Kristi
My husband dragged me into MTG |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Ilvaldi |
![]() Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 11:43 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Posts: 59
Location:
|
WOW! 
A girl... .... who plays MTG.
Sorry, I had to express myself. It’s pretty cool to see females play magic, you don’t see that often. How did your husband convince you is what I’m surprised about. I can’t even seem to convince my sis.
So anyway, the main question is, is this casual?
If it is, I don’t think you should worry about making a sideboard or throwing in cards to make this deck amazing. Well, you could do that if that’s what you want.
When I play something like casual, I’d make a deck that is creative and unexpected. For example, a deck that focuses on getting alot of life and then playing storm herd.
What you might do is set up mod cards. Mod cards is a terminology I just created right now. Kinda like cards in a sideboard, mod cards changes the thesis in your deck. However, mod cards will change your thesis greatly.
You may plaing your bird deck at one moment, and suddenly, Wham! Your deck is now a fast killing aggressive deck that kills your opponent in 5 turns. Or... Wham! It’s now a combo deck that is capable of gaing 1,000 life.
It’s just a suggestion, but it may make your deck flexible and improve your deck-building skills so that when your games with your husband or someone else don’t have to be the same over and over. It could different each time and a little more exciting. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
All times are UTC - 4
|
Page 1 of 2 [13 Posts] |
Goto page: 1, 2 Next |
|
|
Forum index » Magic: The Gathering » MTG Deck Clinics » Casual / Other Formats