I hope Santa or a present bringing entity of your choice, brings you all the Myuthic Rares and Misprinted Foils that they can carry...
I shall be planeswalking off to a warm plane where the beer is cold, the sun is warm and the women aren't choosy...
Dark Design
Saturday, 25 December 2010
Thursday, 23 December 2010
Fastest Kills in Standard and Extended
Zero Quest
Ok I’ve played the original version of this deck ( quest for the holy relic ) and I have to confess I hate it. If it works and annoyingly, when I play it, it seems to work all the time, its brutal quick and there’s no coming back from the brink. So in age old ‘Vader’ style I thought, if you can’t beat them... Eat them...
Ladies and gentlemen this is Zero Quest and it has the fastest potential win of ANY Standard deck (that I know of..)
Its combo based and about as stable as the Euro, but I’ll give you the skeleton and I’ll leave it you to sculpt a T-REX out of it.
You will need
4 Memnite
4 Mox Opal
14 Mountains
So... what does it do?
Well it can swing for 12 damage on turn ONE.
Yep, you read that right not turn two... turn one... You’ll need the god hand, but the deck is designed to generate that relatively easily ... So 12 damage on the first turn how? Well you elect to get second if you win the flip, or if your opponent wins you’ll probably be going second anyway.
What you need in an opening hand is any combination of the following... 0 mana artifacts, mox opal, rebirth and most importantly the leyline... As long as you have the leyline you opponent is going to have a bad day, just how bad is dependent on your luck...
Here’s the trick... Let’s say you have the god hand, and I cannot stress enough you don’t need it.
Leyline, ornithopter, mox opal, kuldotha rebirth, 2 x memnite, goblin bushwacker... Keep the hand and immediately as the game begins lay the Leyline. Now during your opponent’s upkeep step flash in the menites , the ornithopter and the mox opal, then use the opal for one red and sac the ornithopter to play the rebirth. This will give you 5 x 1/1’s before your opponent has even laid a land.
In your FIRST turn, draw and play a land and tap the opal and the land to play the Goblin bushwhacker making everything a 2/1 and allowing you to swing for !2 damage on Turn one in turn 2 lay a Goblin chieftain and that ain’t game, you ain’t playing right.
Of course these are god hands, but think about the deck, even if you can’t pull of the ultimate in turn one you could have a any number of battle ready 1/1’s ...
No islands for leyline? Nope, it’s there for one reason and one reason only, mulligan till you find it. Like I said this is the skeleton and we at Adventures in the Meta encourage you to make your own decks.
Sideboard, we’re going to leave this to you to and I suggest that you completely change strategy on game two because a smart opponent will elect to play 2nd in game two if you beat them game one.
Here are some other ideas to play around the leyline...
Add Beastmaster’s Ascension and Birds of Paradise... and in your opponents first turn you can flash in the birds off the opal and then in your first turn you can lay a land and play Beastmaster’s Ascension, and swing for 3... In your 2nd turn that’s game...
There’s even a horrific Extended Combo which is potentially a one turn kill.... again during your opponent’s turn flash in the memnites/ornithopters and then use the opal to play Amulet of Vigor.
In your first turn, play Windbrisk Heights and stick an Emrakul under it... As it comes in un-tapped, thanks to the Amulet you can then swing with 3 memnites and use the opal to activate it, thus ‘casting’ Emrakul and getting the extra turn... Swing in on the next turn (which is really still your first turn) and that’s 21 damage including the memnites)
So there you have it the fastest kills in Standard and extended, that don’t require any help from your opponent.(You can do nasty things with Summoning Trap, but this will require your opponent to cancel your spells for you.)
Update for Christmas (you can abuse this build further by the addition of Shared Discoveries ) of course you can now add islands too which will make the leylines work
update Dec 25th... I've been thinking about this concept over and over and I've come to a startling conclussion... If Wizards do introduce an Artifact Land in Mirrodin Besieged then I think we've just invented the new Archetype.
Why? Well for one thing the Mox opal will finally be playable anyway and with both llanowar Elves and Birds of paradise being 1 drop mana producers with leyline ofanticipation in play it could be easy to drop 3 mana on turn 1 - or 2 if that doesn't happen (which let's be fair, is a good plan b)... and that would give you access to a staggering choice of options including tutors, culitvates, turn one ratchet bombs with mana to spare ... the list is endless and you could easily replenish your hand...
Turn one cultivate - turn two jace's inginuity... anyone?
Friday, 17 December 2010
Whiite Weenie Christmas?
This one's from regular contributor MAXFAN... What I like most about it is the number of 'sideboard' cards in the main deck... Some folks will tell you that the likes of White Knight and Kor Firewalker don't belong in the main deck because they are colour specific, but those same people seem to forsget that they are both still decent 2 drops and if you happen to be playing Red or Black, you've just given yourself a massive advantage... So I for one applaud MAXFAN'S innovation and leftfield thinking. Anyways enough from me here's the deck...Gordon Vader....
This is what I currently have going on in Standard.
I love to play white weenie, but I hate the Quest for Argentum Armor deck. It might have something to do with the fact that I once lost six consecutive coin flips attempting to break a Sorcerer's Strongbox. This is the deck I've built to have better consistency. You could play it without the dual lands, but Stirring Wildwood is insanely good and you'd lose a couple sideboard cards. Just be sure to activate the man-land before you cast Brave the Elements or use Ajani.
The goal is to continuously draw two mana creatures that threaten to end the game by themselves or with one other creature in play by making them large with Honor of the Pure and/or Ajani Goldmane. If large is not enough, give the team protection with Brave the Elements for the win.
The Kor Firewalker might look a bit odd mainboard, but it wins free Game 1's. White Knight is good enough as a 2/2 First Striker even if the protection from black never becomes relevant.
Tajuru Preserver and Oust in the sideboard are for the green ramp decks, Leyline for red and black as you'd expect, Revoke for decks packing good artifacts, and more Journey to Nowhere for other random creatures. Depending how many colorless creatures are running around in your meta, you might change out the Brave the Elements for more Journeys in the maindeck. Also, if you have Day of Judgments, there are matchups where it should be coming in.
Creatures (26)
4 x Student of Warfare (this card is certifiably nuts, get them!)
4 x White Knight
3 x Kor Aeronaut
3 x Kor Skyfisher
4 x Kor Hookmaster
4 x Kor Firewalker
Other spells (11)
2 x Ajani Goldmane
Lands (23)
8 x Plains
3 x Sunpetal Grove
4 x Tectonic Edge
Sideboard (15)
4 x Tajuru Preserver
3 x Revoke Existence
3 x Oust
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Proliferhate...
As it’s nearly Christmas you may have noticed we haven’t been as prolific as usual. So apologies if we’ve been a bit slack, but we’re going to make it up to you now with a brand new deck. It’s quick, it’s brutal and the entire thing will cost less than a single ‘Jace The Pocket Melter.’
I have to give a nod to my good friend Jim for the foundations of this deck. He’s still promising to submit his original list and when he does I’ll stick it up, but Adventures in the Meta can’t wait forever so I’ve decided to make my own version with a few twists....
I call it Proliferhate... but I’m open to better names...
You will need
8 Mountains
8 Islands
As the deck is entirely colourless why not have some fun and play some Jedi Mind Tricks on your opponent. I've gone for blue and red so they'll be more likely to play with caution. The Mazes will take out dragon lords and superpumped unblockable posoinous monkeys. whilst you can actually pump the sanctuaries with the overseers and then proliferate the counters.
So what does it do?
Well this deck is really three decks in one. It’s one part ramp, one part aggro and one part control and the key to the deck is proliferation.
So what’s the plan ?
Start as you mean to go on with an early Ornithopter and either the Elixir or preferably a Voltaic Key. Turn two either drop a Chalice for 1 or the Overseer. The Thopter will get in the way of any early beats with its 2 toughness and because it flies, if it needs to get in the way of a Plague Stinger it can. By the third turn you have many options.
What you are ultimately trying to do is to swing in with artifact creatures and to use proliferation and Voltaic Keys to mega charge all your attackers. There’s also a couple of sneaky tricks hidden in the deck and with any luck your opponent will be too busy dealing with 6/7 flying thopters to notice them.
Grafted Exoskeleton may seem an odd choice for the deck, but not only does it give your critters a +2 +2 bonus, it’s also fuel for the throne and more importantly it can be a single turn win. If you can get it on Triskellion not only does it turn him into a virtual Contagion Engine, but you can simply give your opponent poison counters with his ability add some proliferation and you could easily take game in a single turn...
EG. Let’s say he comes in with 3 counters, you have the throne, 2 keys, an overseer and the exoskeleton play. First equip it with the Skeleton and give your opponent a poison counter, next tap the overseer and reset Triskellion to 3 counters , next sac the overseer to the throne and proliferate Triskellion up to 4 and give your opponent another counter. Next untap the throne with a key and tap it again this time saccing the key. Your opponent will now be on 3 counters and Triskelion will have 5 counters use the last key on the throne and boom! Your opponent will have 4 poison counters and Triskelion will have the last 6 he needs to finish the game. Ok it’s unlikely, but this is the one turn version, if you do it over a few turns and you’ll find it’s easy, and don’t forget you can swing with him too and use the counters to take out any defenders.
Grafted ExoSkeleton really? None of my other creatures have infect?
Why not and it doesn’t matter that your other creatures don’t have infect. By the time you can equip and play the ExoSkeleton, you’ll either be pinging with the toxic Triskelion or swinging in with a massive flying thopter. Either way it’s bad news for the other side, and don’t forget with the ExoSkeleton on Triskelion, the counters will stick and with the amount of proliferating you’ll be doing, walls and titans will fall by the wayside while you ramp into the Stratosphere and push your opponent to the limit.
We all have to make sacrifices and this deck is no different and you may have to chuck everything in the bin to get what you want, but don’t worry too much about it, because your deck is running a natural safety net. With the Elixir of Immortality, your deck is a never ending loop of little martyrs, all ready to bounce back out of the graveyard and pick up the banner once again.
Match ups?
V’s elves – With double tapping Overseers and Indesctructible mega charged Myrs and Pro green Champions, yYou should be able to hold own until Triskelion’s big guns come out. In stalemate the Exo Skeleton could easily give you the win.
V’s Eldrazi Ramp. – Go in fighting and don’t be afraid to throw away triskelion in an attempt to stop your opponent from ramping. If you’re iucky you can pull off the ultimate nose rubs and kill Emrakul with a 15/16 Ornithopter ( I haven’t quite pulled this off but I did manage to kill one with two 9/10 thopters.)
V’s Valakut - Agaiin it will be down to pace. Keep your creatures massive and swing swing swing...
V’s Blue Whte Control – Your Myrs will beat Day of Judgment and the Champions will beat Jace and Gideon. And don’t forget Infect works on Walkers too.
V’s Infect – Block everything and you’ll win... Save Triskellion for anything that gets a distortion strikeor use your Mazes
Saturday, 11 December 2010
Are you a Magic Judge? Do want to earn a bit of cash?
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
lwilson@qualvu.com
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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