I'v had an email from those Lovely Wizard Retail Researchers Qualvu...And they need some help so... if you are a DCI judge or run FNM magic events they want to talk to you and there may even be some money in it for you....
lwilson@qualvu.com
Dark Design
Saturday, 11 December 2010
Monday, 6 December 2010
The End of the Madness and We announce our winner....
We’re ending the week of madness with one last desperate play. We’ve had a blast at the past with our lunatic one turn legacy trick and we dabbled in the murky world of extended, but now it’s time to take a look at Standard.
There’s been a lot of speculation over one card in particular in the Scars set and for good reason. I’ve made at least three decks around it myself. It’s not really played yet, but I’m certain it will be, because Grand Architect is just too good to ignore.
This is our chatotic Standard Deck and we call it...
Defcon 1 – Because it's all about blowing up the world...
.
.
You will need.
Land? well we''re going to leave that to you... but we will admit that the deck needs Scalding tarns (come on guys... the rest of it is really cheap)
So what does it do? Well it’s simple really, instead of using the Grand Architect to play early game threats like Wurmcoil Engine or do anything tricksy with liquimetal coating, what your are trying to do is get ahead by playing mana creating artifacts.
Why?
Well if all goes well, on turn 4 you are going to blow up the world, by casting Destructive Force
But why on Earth would you do that?
Well the theory is most decks these days use fetch lands to thin out their decks and a lot of decks also use creatures to ramp.... So if you were able to force your opponent to sacrifice all their lands and destroy all their creatures while you retained some artifact based mana production, you should be able to keep ahead of your opponent for the rest of the game. Of course it will decimate your lines too, but that’s ok because now you have the advantage.
Advantage?
Well yes, firstly your opponent tried to get ahead early game by using fetch lands and therefore will now have less lands in his deck, besides some of your lands are also Zendikons so when you sacrifice them, they actually go back to your hand.. Secondly since this s your plan, you… well planned for it. Your creatures fall into five categories and each has a special part in the plan.
a. Sacrificial lambs there to help you ramp into destructive force and then die horribly to its terrible effect.
b. Game winning bombs designed to survive the blast and to beat face.
c. Creatures that rise from the grave to swing in again and again and again
d. A great big encyclopedia of what do I need next.
e. enchanted man lands that force the lands back to your hand when they die....
What happens if it all goes wrong? Don’t worry... You’ve got a plan B.
Remember the 'ramp into massive artifact creatures,' comment earlier? Well we lied, because this deck can do that too, if the cards come out in the wrong order for plan A then go down the artifact beat down route until destructive force does show up. And remember you’ll always have elixir of immortality to reset your deck..
So what’s the perfect play…
Ideally you want an architect and destructive force in your hand, any mana producing artifacts, oh and some land.
First turn you want to drop land and either a Wind Zendikon or another one turn blue critter.
Turn two, you want to start the ramp. Drop an everflowing chalice or another blue critter and on turn 3 you want to lay the architect and another blue critter if you didn’t play one last turn.
Now you want to use anhy blue creatures and the Architects ability, to play the likes of Khalni Gem and Dreamstone Hedron or even just another super pumped Chalice. You’ll want to have enough artifacts to blow up the world on turn 4 and still have some mana left to cope with a mana leak. Basically if you've got this far you're going to have little problem taking home the prize.
First turn you want to drop land and either a Wind Zendikon or another one turn blue critter.
Turn two, you want to start the ramp. Drop an everflowing chalice or another blue critter and on turn 3 you want to lay the architect and another blue critter if you didn’t play one last turn.
Now you want to use anhy blue creatures and the Architects ability, to play the likes of Khalni Gem and Dreamstone Hedron or even just another super pumped Chalice. You’ll want to have enough artifacts to blow up the world on turn 4 and still have some mana left to cope with a mana leak. Basically if you've got this far you're going to have little problem taking home the prize.
Use the Forgemaster to get the elixir or other cards you need and if you need cards don’t be afraid to sac a Dreamstone.
I haven’t had a chance to rigourlsy test this deck, so if you do build it, let me know how it plays... I can tell you how it’s supposed to play however so here goes...
V’s Elves- So long as you can get to the destructive force before Elves can drop Ezuzi and the mana to regenerate all the rest, you should wipe the floor with them…
V’s Eldrazi Ramp – unless they pull a luck y turn 4 Ulamog you should eat them too
V’s Blue White Control – this will be your nemesis, if you can resolve Destructive Force before they drop a Jace, you should have them
V’s Red Deck – Again this will depend a little on the version you’re playing,. Being less dependent on land, Red Deck will be able to recover quickly...
V’s Vampires – Well you’ll be seeing a lot of Bloodghasts and this deck has a lot of graveyard recurrence, but then they don’t know what you’re planning, so keep your eyes on the prize and wait till they target before you tap to the architect....
Anyway despite being part of our Madness series, I sincerely think that this deck in particular has some hope.... So sleeve it up and let us know how you get on...
So on to our Competiton...
Unless you've been in hiding this month you will know tjhat we'd anniunced the first round in a great competition.... I have to say, I was really impressed...There was some awesome concepts and I shall be giving more than one of the decks a trial in my upcoming FNM...
November's Challenge was to crreate a deck centred arround Ethched Champion... If you are reading this early Tues moring this means ki haven't had a chance to create links to the decks etc...so have a loook in our archives for the creatively titled thread "Our first Competition...."
You'll be pleased to know I passed the judging on to a pro... DCI Judge Micheal Chamberlain...
Here's what he had to say about our finalists...
Here's what he had to say about our finalists...
Great list that abuses the metal craft wonderfully and the acceleration package is quite exciting too. A list I would happily pilot for s**** and giggles, it has enough play in it that a skilled player can really make it stand up and dance.
2nd choice Jordan Anderson:
Most of the Tempered steel decks were frankly dull, tedious and predictable. However this deck's inclusion of prototype portal and contagion clasp/engine elevated it to a level I would actualy be intersted in seeing. It had removal and it was funtional removal coupled with the fact that the maindeck tectonic edges don't disrupt the functionality of the deck was very pleasing to see.
So laides and gentlemen I hereby announce that winner of December's Deckbuilder of the Month and Gordon Vader's first innovation award goes to Mr Brian Leahy....
Once the Champange hangover has worn off, and the vertigo has faded from the dizzy heights of fame. We shall ask Mr Leahy to take his place amongst the great names in Gordon Vader's Hall Of the Mighty and then and only then, we shall ask him to pass on the mantle of innovation, by naming this month's competition card....
Anyway well done to the pair of you.... and you need only send us an email and you may collect your prize, as we mentioned earlier we shall be staging this competition every month so you better start thinking ladies and Gentlemen....
Sunday, 5 December 2010
just a quick update...
We're running a little behind at the moment...but we have a winner in our competition... Results will be posted tommorrow and we've got an awesome Standard Deck to share with you tomorrow too...
But we promised some EDH madness so here's a one turn player EDH kill... Using Vendillion Clique as your general (someone told me it was banned, but since I can't find it on a banned list. I'll assume its not.)
So this is a very easy 1 player kill... you'll need Mystical Tutor to find Tunnel Vision (or just Tunnel Vision)
Flash in Vendillion Clique and look at their hand... Choose a card and send it to the bottom of their library. In your turn play Tunnel Vision and name the card you chose last turn, because there are no doubles in EDH they will be forced to mill their entire deck away to reach the card you put at the bottom of their library...
Of course a lot of folks run at least one of the big three eldrazi (Kozilek, Emrakul, Ulamog) to prevent this happening, so you may need to back up the play with relic of Progenitus or tornods crypt or the like...
Anyway we'll have more tomorrow...
Meanwhole check out our Christmas Card Sale on Ebay....
But we promised some EDH madness so here's a one turn player EDH kill... Using Vendillion Clique as your general (someone told me it was banned, but since I can't find it on a banned list. I'll assume its not.)
So this is a very easy 1 player kill... you'll need Mystical Tutor to find Tunnel Vision (or just Tunnel Vision)
Flash in Vendillion Clique and look at their hand... Choose a card and send it to the bottom of their library. In your turn play Tunnel Vision and name the card you chose last turn, because there are no doubles in EDH they will be forced to mill their entire deck away to reach the card you put at the bottom of their library...
Of course a lot of folks run at least one of the big three eldrazi (Kozilek, Emrakul, Ulamog) to prevent this happening, so you may need to back up the play with relic of Progenitus or tornods crypt or the like...
Anyway we'll have more tomorrow...
Meanwhole check out our Christmas Card Sale on Ebay....
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