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| Cobra |
![]() Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:29 pm |
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Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 1202
Location: Austin, TX, USA
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 White:
Castle Raptors
D’Avenant Healer
Detainment Spell
Divine Congregation
Duskrider Peregrine
Errant Doomsayers
Foriysian Interceptor
Gaze of Justice
Icatian Crier
Jedit’s Dragoons
Pull From Eternity
Sidewinder Sliver
Temporal Isolation
(Harmonic Sliver)
 Blue:
Crookclaw Transmuter
Deep-Sea Kraken
Draining Whelk
Eternity Snare
Fathom Seer
Ixidron
Ophidian Eye
Screeching Sliver
Slipstream Serpent
Trickbind
Truth or Tale
Viscerid Deepwalker
Wipe Away
(Shadowmage Infiltrator)
 Black:
Call to the Netherworld
Corpulent Corpse
Cyclopean Giant
Drudge Reavers
Evil Eye of Orms-by-Gore
Evil Eye of Urborg
Feebleness
Premature Burial
Psychotic Episode
Skulking Knight
Strangling Soot
Traitor’s Clutch
Trespasser il-Vec
(Shadowmage Infiltrator)
 Red:
Aetherflame Wall
Barbed Shocker
Empty the Warrens
Fire Whip
Flamecore Elemental
Flowstone Channeler
Grapeshot
Ground Rift
Subterranean Shambler
Viashino Bladescout
 Green:
Chameleon Blur
Durkwood Tracker
Gemhide Sliver
Glass Asp
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
Scarwood Treefolk
Scryb Ranger
Search for Tomorrow
Sprout
Strength in Numbers
Wall of Roots
(Harmonic Sliver)
Artifacts:
Chromatic Star
Chronatog Totem
Clockwork Hydra
Grinning Totem
Jhoira’s Timebug
Locket of Yesterdays
Phyrexian Totem
Prismatic Lens
Triskelavus
Non-basic Lands
Dreadship Reef
Terramorphic Expanse
Urza’s Factory
Ideas? |
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| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 8:55 pm |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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Well, *cracks fingers* this will be one hell of a long post, Conor, so buckle up. Let’s start by sorting out the "most playables", shall we?
White:
Castle Raptors
Duskrider Peregrine
Icatian Crier
Sidewinder Sliver (let’s see how many Slivers we’ve got)
Temporal Isolation
Blue:
Crookclaw Transmuter
Eternity Snare (if it’s the only removal, it’s considerable...)
Fathom Seer
Screeching Sliver (at most at the sideboard, but again, if we have enough slivers to make it happen...)
Truth or Tale (who knows, it can be a good tool)
Viscerid Deepwalker
Wipe Away
(Shadowmage Infiltrator)
Black:
Corpulent Corpse
Cyclopean Giant (can be cool, specially against people splashing a color, or packing lands like Kher Keep)
Drudge Reavers
Feebleness
Skulking Knight (let’s face it, if he becomes the target of a spell or ability in Limited, he’s most likely going to die anyway, might as well get some early damage in, and have him suck removal, although he CAN be "removed" by even a feebleness...)
Strangling Soot
Trespasser il-Vec
(Shadowmage Infiltrator)
Red:
Barbed Shocker (who knows, in Limited, this guy can be a bomb, since milling IS a possibility; also a removal magnet)
Empty the Warrens (maybe, let’s see what we have)
Fire Whip
Flamecore Elemental
Flowstone Channeler
Grapeshot
Subterranean Shambler
Viashino Bladescout
Green:
Chameleon Blur
Durkwood Tracker
Gemhide Sliver
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
Scarwood Treefolk
Scryb Ranger
Search for Tomorrow
Sprout
Strength in Numbers
Wall of Roots
Artifacts:
Chromatic Star
Clockwork Hydra
Phyrexian Totem
Prismatic Lens
Triskelavus
Non-basic Lands
Dreadship Reef
Terramorphic Expanse
Urza’s Factory
Ok. From what I can see, white is kind of low, so let’s drop it for now. I liked Black (I always do), and if we pair it up with Bluem we have access to Dreadship Reef, and also the Kraken AND Ixidron. I also liked Red, but it’s lacking removal, not even for a good splash. There is SOME potential for Madness tricks with Flowstone Channeler, but that’s really not a lot to go for. If there was a Looter il-Kor, maybe... Red would look good with the Green, since there are some cheap suspend cards, and we could try to raise a Storm count for either Grapeshot or Empty the Warrens. However, I’ll follow my instincts, and go with BU here (also because this grants us access to the extremely powerful SHadowmage Infiltrator). Now that our colors are settled, and so far we’re in only 2, let’s see what they both have got to offer, shall we?
Blue:
Crookclaw Transmuter
Deep-Sea Kraken
Eternity Snare (maybe?)
Fathom Seer
Ixidron
Ophidian Eye (this on SHadowmage would look great, but let’s see how that turns out...)
Truth or Tale
Viscerid Deepwalker
Wipe Away
(Shadowmage Infiltrator)
Black:
Call to the Netherworld
Corpulent Corpse
Cyclopean Giant
Drudge Reavers
Feebleness
Premature Burial (maybe, if we REALLY need removal)
Skulking Knight
Strangling Soot
Trespasser il-Vec
(Shadowmage Infiltrator)
Artifacts:
Chromatic Star
Clockwork Hydra
Phyrexian Totem
Prismatic Lens
Triskelavus
Non-basic Lands
Dreadship Reef
Terramorphic Expanse
Urza’s Factory
Now, at first glance, this is my list right here:
UB TIME SPIRAL LIMITED (36 cards)
18 Lands:
1 Urza’s Factory
1 Dreadship Reef
8 Island
8 Swamp
14 Creatures:
1 Crookclaw Transmuter
1 Deep-Sea Kraken
1 Fathom Seer
1 Viscerid Deepwalker
1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
1 Ixidron
1 Corpulent Corpse
1 Cyclopean Giant
1 Drudge Reavers
1 Skulking Knight
1 Trespasser il-Vec
1 Clockwork Hydra
1 Phyrexian Totem
1 Triskelavus
3 Instants:
1 Wipe Away
1 Truth or Tale
1 Strangling Soot
1 Enchantments:
1 Feebleness
Now, I like the fact that we don’t have sorceries, and we do have a lot of flash cards, which means open mana to make careful decisions. However, we’re a bit short on removal (at least for big targets, although we are nicely served on board cleaners, which make Phyrexian Totem a whole lot more reliable; oh, yes, not that I classified it as a creature), and we have no counterspells, so we may be outrun by a horde of creatures, specially big ones, thus, Ixidron. Also, our best removal card has no way, so far, to be flashed back, so I’m considering splashing red mana to make it happen. Also, so far, colored mana symbols look like this:
[b] (considering the suspend on Corpulent Corpse and the activation cost on Phyrexian Totem, but not regeneration)
(considering the suspend on Deep-Sea Kraken, and the fact that I will almost never play Fathom Seer face-up from hand)
And this is our mana curve, so far, by color (now considering both suspending and hard-casting our creatures, and even considering the hard-cast cost on Fathom Seer, and double-colored costs, which are grouped together before commas; oh, yes, and the flashback cost on Strangling Soot):
1cc: ,; 2 cards
2cc: ,; 2cards
3cc: ,,,,,, (for unmorphing Fathom Seer),; 8 cards
4cc: ,,; 3 cards
5cc: ,; 3 cards
6cc: ,; 2 cards
7cc: 1 card
10cc: ; 1 card
From here, we can take that we need both colors as early as possible, so they should have equal amounts of producers. We can also see that the colored cost is not THAT heavy (since, for instance, the Kraken will almost always be suspended), so we CAN support a splash. Also, we have Chromatic Star, Prismatic Lens AND Terramorphic Expanse to make that happen, so, let’s see we’re our holes lie:
1- We’re weak against a steady force of big creatures;
2- We NEED to feature AT LEAST one source of red mana to flashback Soot;
3- We don’t have a lot of early game gas, but we DO have some combat tricks/removal tricks to make sure we can get back in the game, unless we take too powerfull a beating early on.
And our strong points:
1- Our creatures are large or evasive enough to matter once they’re down, or at least tricky in some way;
2- We can keep weenie decks at bay with some ease.
Now, this is what the deck looks like after splashing red for Soot:
UB TIME SPIRAL LIMITED (38 cards)
18 Lands:
1 Urza’s Factory
1 Dreadship Reef
7 Island
7 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Terramorphic Expanse
14 Creatures:
1 Crookclaw Transmuter
1 Deep-Sea Kraken
1 Fathom Seer
1 Viscerid Deepwalker
1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
1 Ixidron
1 Corpulent Corpse
1 Cyclopean Giant
1 Drudge Reavers
1 Skulking Knight
1 Trespasser il-Vec
1 Clockwork Hydra
1 Phyrexian Totem
1 Triskelavus
3 Instants:
1 Wipe Away
1 Truth or Tale
1 Strangling Soot
1 Enchantments:
1 Feebleness
2 Artifacts:
1 Chromatic Star
1 Prismatic Lens
Now, even though I have lowered the U and B mana slightly, I have also added in Star, Lens and Terramorphic Expanse, which can help tutor for our splash color (although we won’t usually need it until the end of the game) or to make up for an eventual color screw, so I think our mana base looks good enough (perhaps, there’s even too much lands in there...). Upon building the deck, I’ve started to worry about Phyrexian Totem, though, I think it can be a bit dangerous, so I started to think about relegating him to a sideboard position, against decks not featuring burn, but we’ve still got a 2-card gap, so let’s see what all of our colors have to offer, that we’re not using (even the splash), which COULD be main deck material:
Blue:
Eternity Snare (expensive removal, but doable nonetheless)
Black:
Call to the Netherworld
Psychotic Episode
Red:
Barbed Shocker
Fire Whip
Flowstone Channeler
Subterranean Shambler
From here, I began to seriously look at red. We’re splashing the mana, why not a card anyway? Not to mention, we don’t have a lot of 1 toughness creatures, but THERE ARE Looters out there, and other things, and as I said, milling IS a possibility. So, from here, we can either go with Fire Whip or Subterranean Shambler, and Barbed Shocker. Fire Whip is good any time it may come, since it can help break a stall, and it’s a "never-ending removal" of sorts, AND, check it out, it DOES work in combo with the very smae Barbed Shocker! Also, Shocker may not look all that impressive, but hey, it has Trample, it has Haste, AND it’s a threat most opponent’s will HAVE to deal with, or they could be in serious problems. However, I still think he’s too dangerous, and hard to abuse as a splash, so I’ll resist the urge and cut him, but keep the Whip. Well, if we can’t rmove big threats, why not get then before they appear, right? I finally decided to go with Psychotic Episode in the main (although I’m almost certain it’s the first card to come out for game two, generally for something like Premature Burial, Eternity Snare or Call to the Netherworld. So, here’s how the list looks, IMO:
UBr TIME SPIRAL LIMITED (40 cards)
18 Lands:
1 Urza’s Factory
1 Dreadship Reef
7 Island
7 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Terramorphic Expanse
14 Creatures:
1 Crookclaw Transmuter
1 Deep-Sea Kraken
1 Fathom Seer
1 Viscerid Deepwalker
1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
1 Ixidron
1 Corpulent Corpse
1 Cyclopean Giant
1 Drudge Reavers
1 Skulking Knight
1 Trespasser il-Vec
1 Clockwork Hydra
1 Phyrexian Totem
1 Triskelavus
1 Sorcery:
1 Psychotic Episode
3 Instants:
1 Wipe Away
1 Truth or Tale
1 Strangling Soot
2 Enchantments:
1 Feebleness
1 Fire Whip
2 Artifacts:
1 Chromatic Star
1 Prismatic Lens
Thoughts? I’d love to see someone who’d go for the RG build, for instance. Or maybe a 3-colored one... |
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| Felipe Musco |
![]() Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 8:52 pm |
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Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 2434
Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil
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Hey, I’ve gone through one heck of a night when I put this up, ain’t no one even gonna flame me or anything?!?!?  |
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