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BrianBoitano

Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 12:19 pm

Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 124 Location: Houston, TX

--- description ---
This was actually the first deck I built when coming back to Magic, it was based off of the precon Simic Mutology, and uses mainly the same strategy.
--- end description ---

Casual U/G Simic Control

This was actually the first deck I built when coming back to Magic, it was based off of the precon Simic Mutology, and uses mainly the same strategy.

Graft Dodgers (60 Cards)

Creatures {28}
4 Simic Initiate
4 Cytoplast Root-Kin
4 Plaxcaster Frogling
4 Simic Guildmage
4 Trygon Predator
2 Plaxmanta
4 Coiling Oracle
2 Drift of Phantasms

Other Spells {12}
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Cytoshape
4 Flight

Lands {20}
10 Forest
10 Island

As you can see, there isn’t much difficult about this deck. Utopia Sprawl and Coiling Oracle helps accelerate to the Mutants, the Plaxcaster Frogling and Plaxmanta are to disrupt spot removal, but the real star of this deck is Cytoshape. I’m sure most of you have figured this out by now, but Cytoshape can act as spot removal as long as you have one of your 0/0 mutants out, it can make one of your mutants a copy of the Trygon Predator, giving it +2/+3, Flying, and the Naturalize ability, or it can copy their Simic Sky-Swallower or any other untargetable (non-legendary) fatty, which with the +1/+1 counters flying around usually means you’ll win the one-on-one (wow, this is a long sentence).
The "Dodgers" in the name refers to the Plax abilities as well as the Flying, which is the main way of getting damage through.

This deck is vulnerable to burn, and slows down mid-game due to the lack of drawing, but it has a lot of utility to deal with all kinds of situations.

Doubling Season would help in the mid-game, but it doesn’t do much to help your creatures already in play, except with Cytoplast Root-Kin. Evolution Vat could help here, as it also has some utility in that it works on your attackers, late-game it becomes ridiculous, and can take out trouble creatures, although this has a drawback (the +1/+1 counter). Novijen, Heart of Progress was considered, but the more creatures you play, the more likely it is you’ll need Novijen and those other two lands for mana, so it’s kind of self-defeating.

Lastly, I’d like to apologize for the way I’ve acted up to this point. I was very stubborn and naive and not very friendly. I was just excited to get back into the game, and I was feeling criticized rather than advised. I will try harder to accept your comments and suggestions, as I’m sure you guys know what you’re talking about Cool

Cobra

Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 2:04 pm

Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 1202 Location: Austin, TX, USA

Looks pretty good... my first reaction is simply "tell me more!" Matchup analysis in particular is very valuable.

You might also read through this with an eye (ear?) for writing style/tone. It’s almost as if you think the reader knows everything you’re about to say -- "as you can see..." "I’m sure most of you have figured this out by now..." -- which prevents it from being a very exciting read, IMO. Ditch the disclaimers and let your confidence in the deck come out! Very Happy

One random question about the decklist: why Flight? If you want the benefit of flying creatures I would try Flight of Fancy or Helium Squirter instead, as these provide much better card efficiency.

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BrianBoitano

Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 2:23 pm

Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 124 Location: Houston, TX

Well, again, many of my shortcomings can be explained with the excuse "I’m new at this!" The "I’m sure most of you..." comment was because I don’t know if this card has really been exploited if it has, so I was trying to avoid being a johnny-come-lately by gushing over a sweet card.
I chose flight because it’s cheaper at U than the other two choices, at 3U and 4U. I suppose Flight of Fancy is card advantage, and takes advantage of the Guildmage as much as Flight does, so it’s worth considering. Helium Squirter found me as kind of expensive, but it does have the advantage of being able to affect mutliple creatures.
I think I’ll go
Creatures
+4 Helium Squirter
-2 Plaxcaster Frogling
+2 Plaxmanta.
Other Spells
-4 Flight

I had more Froglings to provide more +1/+1 counters, but since I’m getting 4 new counter sources, I can use the sneakier Plaxmantas, and search for the froglings in a pinch with the Drift of Phantasms.
Thanks for the tips!

Memnarch Mastermind

Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 5:19 pm

Joined: 24 Jan 2006 Posts: 49 Location: Bochum/Germany

There’s something missing in your deck IMO, namely Cytoplast manipulator. This guy is awesome! Why haven’t you considered him? this tricky fellow will help you gain control over their fatties, and you can protect him with shielding plax. Sounds a bit slow? remember you are playing control what should give you the time to realize this. I had such a deck for casual, and I really enjoyed to play my opponents’ creatures against him.

Another fine option is Leyline of singularity IMO, and Leyline of lifeforce should be standart when you are going to cast so many creatures IMO.

At least take the Manipulator in; he won’t stand against wrath of God but you can focus on that by counterspells.

But Simic are great stuff!

Keep working!

BrianBoitano

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:33 pm

Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 124 Location: Houston, TX

You’re right, Cytoplast Manipulator is awesome, and indeed does fit in this deck. The trouble now becomes where to fit him. I like the idea of Shielding Plax, since it means I can use the Plaxmanta-like effect (Using the Guildmage to move the Plax), and on the same turn I can use good, or friendly effects that target. Again, the Manipulator helps with Grafting, so I can drop some lesser grafters and not miss them. Also, it occured to me that drawing multiple Flights during the same game wasn’t too bad an idea, but one Helium Squirter covers my whole army, so I can cut down on them. As an added perk, by adding Shielding Plax the Drift of Phantasms gains in usefulness.

I have a rules question! I have in play a Cytoplast Manipulator, and some other creature, and I’ve managed to get a +1/+1 counter on one of their creatures. Can I Cytoshape my other creature into a Manipulator (assuming it has some +1/+1 counters so it doesn’t die), and use its ability to control the enemy creature permanently? I want the rules to say that the ability only checks for the Manipulator leaving play, not becoming something else (at end of turn, when it changes back), and so it could bypass the problem of them destroying the Manipulator.

I searched Wizards.com for this information, and couldn’t find any rulings on it, but I did find a nifty interaction Mark Gottlieb mentioned in an article:
Simic Ragwurm and Experiment Kraj. In the same article, he "wonders" what would happen if Simic Ragwurm, Experiment Kraj, and Cytoplast Manipulator all had a party. For those of you not paying attention, it means UU: control target creature until this really big guy leaves(well, UUU: if you want to do it multiple times). Also in the article (I’m starting to like this article) is the insane interaction between Simic Ragwurm and Ocular Halo, which means U:draw a card. Use this ability free once per turn.

Well, these two interactions seem like game-breakers to me, and so I’d like to try and remake this deck with these 4 cards in mind.

Twisted Experiment {60 cards}

Creatures {26}
4 Simic Ragworm
4 Cytoplast Manipulator
4 Simic Guildmage
2 Experiment Kraj
2 Ethereal Usher
4 Plaxmanta
4 Coiling Oracle
2 Trygon Predator

Other Spells{14}
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Ocular Halo
4 Shielding Plax
2 Cytoshape

Land{20}
11 Island
9 Forest

The pieces of these combos all cost 4 or more, so Utopia Sprawl and Coiling Oracle help to speed up the deck. The Shielding Plax takes the place of long-term untargetability that the Frogling used to fill, with the Guildmage moving it around as necessary. Each piece of these combos are also decent on their own, since Ocular Halo can make the Oracles earn their keep after their initial utility, and then can be moved over to the Ragwurm with the Guildmage. The Ragwurm isn’t the most cost-effective creature by itself, but the untapping makes him a "bad vigilance" creature until the Halo comes around. The Manipulator is usually good for one control creature even without Kraj around, and with the Guildmage you can move the counter, in response use the Manipulator, so you gain control of the creature and then the +1/+1 counter moves to your next target. Ethereal Usher is the 1UU way to search for Kraj, a little more expensive than Time of Need but more useful if you already have Kraj, especially since its unblockable ability works on any creature!

Cobra

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:42 pm

Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 1202 Location: Austin, TX, USA

Hm, didn’t even think about the Halo in a Simic deck. Laughing

I just took a look at Mark Gottlieb’s Dissension article as well, some pretty cool combos there.

You’ve gotten rid of some card choices that seemed only so-so, and replaced them with some of those really mean combos. I can’t give much advice here as I’m not that familiar with how Simic decks play in practice, but I will say this decklist looks like a big improvement!

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Felipe Musco

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 2:29 pm

Joined: 18 May 2006 Posts: 2434 Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil

Cytoshape is an AWESOME remover, when you play graft decks. And, seeing as you don’t have a single counterspell, you’ll be crushed by faster decks... Might consider thinking about it.
Also, I’m not sure you should only use 2 Trygon Predators, 0 Assault Zeppelids and 4 things like Plaxmanta + Shielding Plax, or Ocular Halo (too expensive)... Might consider simply dropping Ethereal Usher, too, you’ll need things like Drift of Phantasms AND/OR Carven Caryatid to stop aggro, at this speed rate and high costs...

I don't like YOU.

La_Sin_Grail

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:01 pm

Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 806 Location: Maryland

I’m not seeing enough raw power here... perhaps a little simic sky swallower or kodama of the north tree could help out?

ure_d_best

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 10:54 pm

Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 43 Location: Kelowna, BC

Add Evacuation and Biorhythm, you will have instant and awesome win condition. Laughing

hi Grail and Felipe Wink