Casual Play Archetypes is a collection of articles that explain and give insight to various types of decks. Any cards not covered in the Card Selection section, simply suggest it and it will be looked into.
This thread will be dedicated to the general fixing of the articles, as well as what to do in the future. Also, it will be used as a reference point to find all the articles without digging through all the pages. Also, due to lack of support, this thread will no longer be active as a deck critique. This is also because it will have so many articles, it would not be sufficiently organized to be effective.
To Do List: -Update Articles With: Opening Hands, Match ups, Possible Run-Throughs ??? -Update Articles With: SBs ??? -Update Articles With: Unifying color, and size to make more eye appealing.
How to use the Articles
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Autocard Autocard is a tool provided by the boards that lets you see what a card is. In order for me to autocard every single card I mention, would be an enormously impossible task. So in order to bypass this problem, in every article I say Autocard .
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What is.... This is a general description, overall plan of the deck. It may also contain some history of the deck.
Is it Competitive? This is information on how powerful the archetype is, and how it was doing (at the time) in any format.
Decklists These are examples of an archetype and give insight to one example of how the deck may look like.
Formatting:
Deck Name Color of Deck Deck Owner: Format Tournament Placement
Deck Name: Obvious, this is the name given to the deck. Color of Deck: What color spells it uses. Deck Owner: who owns, or used the deck. Format: Which format it is legal, or used in. Tournament Placement: If it was taken to a tournament, how it did.
General Card Choices These are some of the cards that are advised or ill advised to use. While not every card possible is listed, a good portion are.
This is subdivided into various sections which varies depending on the article. In each section, there will be the name of a card, and a small description of it underneath.
If you wish to contribute information, please follow these instructions:
Private Message me with your list, and make sure you tell me which section it is for. A description along with list isn't mandatory, but would probably help so to lessen the chance of a mix up.
There are however, a couple requirements for the deck: -Has to be a well thought out and constructed deck. -Relevance. it has to be on the topic of the section.
If it is a creative or innovative way of doing the deck, I can be more lenient with the requirements.
-If it is a lot of information, yet you don't want to write the whole thing out and format it or have enough as a standalone, simply pm me with the information you have and I'd be happy to use it and write the article asap. Of course credit would be shown, and there will be a "Major Contributor" list or some such way of showing credit.
OR
-Private message me with the article, or basis of one and I will make sure to include "Special Thanks To: *****" tag at the bottom of the article.
When I recieve the article, it'd be prefered to be formated in the general way i did, but i can do any fine tuning to it.
Lastly, if you wish to contribute any number of cards for a certain article, simply state which one and name them and give a brief description why. It will be then looked into. This will also encourage discussion and help further the understanding of a deck, and give more ideas.
If you have an ideas for new sections in already written articles, I will look into it, but realize the updating every article is a huge task even for the smallest things. Simply post it.
If you have any candidates you'd personally like to add to the "Candidates" list, simply say so. Unless it is something ridiculous, I'd be more than happy to look into it and hopefully eventually do it.
Fish is an archtype primarily played in vintage today; mostly u/w. It is an aggro control deck. This means it wins with creatures but has plenty of control to back it up. It is a playable basically in any format that supports quick creatures and good control.
There have been many forms of fish, traditional u/w, the sullivan solution, worse-than-fish, but all are based on the concept of beat and control.
The reason it is called fish, was because originally it featured merfolk, but since has wandered away. However the name still sticks to any aggro control weenie deck, usually containing blue.
Spells: 4x Aether Vial 4x Force of Will 4x Standstill 3x Daze 2x Stifle 4x Swords to Plowshares 4x Brainstorm
Creatures: 4x Jotun Grunt 4x Meddling Mage 4x Ninja of Deep Hours 3x Kataki, War's Wage
Notes: This is what a general idea of u/w fish would look like in legacy. In vintage it would include power, null rods and a few other cards; which are banned aren't useful in legacy. They key thing to this deck is the aether vials. With a lot of useful creatures at 2cc. The deck abuses this with aether vial, which not only gets around counters, it works wonders with standstill.
The deck was originally made to beat the crap out of combo and control (slaver), but it had problems with aggro. Standstill, single handedly makes the game a lot better against aggro.
Spells: 28 4x Force of Will 4x Mana Leak 4x Stifle 4x Duress 4x Swords to Plowshares 4x Brainstorm 4x Aether Vial
Sullivan Solution Tommy Kolowith: Vintage Legal 1st place at a StarCityGames Power 9 Tournament tournament in Rochester, New York, United States on 2006-06-11Spoiler:Show
Maindeck: Artifacts 1 Black Lotus 1 Engineered Explosives 1 Lotus Petal 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Pearl 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Sapphire
Creatures 4 Dark Confidant 4 Dimir Cutpurse
Instants 1 Ancestral Recall 4 Brainstorm 1 Chain Of Vapor 1 Darkblast 4 Force Of Will 1 Mystical Tutor 1 Rushing River 1 Shadow Of Doubt 4 Stifle 1 Vampiric Tutor
Notes: This deck features Erayo, Soratami Ascendant. When it gets flipped, along with many of the counters, it provides a basic softlock which of course makes it easier to win. The most notable thing about the deck, is all the cards are T2 legal, showing how wizards is really pushing for effecient creatures, and how vintage isn't a set series of cards. The deck of late has died down.
4 Wild Mongrel 4 Basking Rootwalla 4 Spiketail Hatchling 3 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Force of Will 4 Standstill 4 AEther Vial 4 Chalice of the Void 2 Umezawa's Jitte 1 Black Vise 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Time Walk
4 Flooded Strand 4 Mishra's Factory 4 Island 3 Tropical Island 1 Strip Mine 4 Wasteland 1 Library of Alexandria 1 Black Lotus 1 Mox Sapphire 1 Mox Emerald
4 Ray of Revelation 1 Tundra 1 Plains 3 Phyrexian Furnace 3 Oxidize 2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner 1 Umezawa's Jitte
The deck uses the basic frame of vintage fish, but throws throws in mongrel and rootwalla in. Not only that, but green gives Ray of Revelation, and Oxidize. I don't think it was this list, but Jacob Orlove has taken WTF to multiple placings, including a 3rd in Brockton, MA
Meddling Mage: The face of fish. In any strong meta, this deck is a house if you know what you're up against. If worse comes to worse, its great counterbait, throw this guy out, they waste a counter, lay a bigger threat. Pitches to FoW as well which is huge.
Jotun Grunt: 2 mana 4/4 is great. What really makes this worth using is in a lot of metas the 'downside' is really a plus. It can hose many graveyard strategies, Friggorid, Tog, Thresh, and more.
Ninja of Deep Hours: basiaclly a 2/2 drawing machine for 2. Even in vintage where there are few creatures, this is a debatable card though. Pitches to FoW.
Kataki, War's Wage: Hoses any and all decks that use any artifacts for a main strategy. Affinity, Stax, Tendrils
Dark Confidant: The primary reason to ever run black in fish. It is a 2 damage hitting card advantage machine for a negligable cost. It has a cc of 2 which has synergy with other vial creatures.
Voidmage Prodigy: A counter (or more) with a body. Also costs 2 for vial synergy. Needs atleast meddling mage included to be run. Pitches blue for FoW also.
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant: Can a create a soft lock. Not exactly a great choice. Costs 2. Pitches to FoW.
Dimir Cutpurse: Not exactly great, but in a creatureless (or light) meta, it can be strong. Pitches to FoW.
Samurai of the Pale Curtain: Great against any graveyard based deck, like ichorid.
Silver Knight: Good against goblins.
Isamaru, Hound of Konda: Costs 1 mana for a 2/2 body. the /2 isn't as relevant in vintage anymore, for recent drop of darkblasts, and lavadart.
Savannah Lions: Isamaru's cousin. Swings for 2 damage for 1.
Spiketail Hatchling: Simple, evasive (weaker) manaleak with a body. Costs 2, pitches to FoW
Stormscape Apprentice: Basic control creature. Pitches to FoW, helps lock down welder and other pesky creatures.
Azorius Guildmage: Decent utility creature. Easy on the mana, Costs 2, and pitches to FoW; not a great choice though.
Wild Mongrel: Costs 2, IMO, in the top 5 creatures ever made, probably top 2 for aggro creatures. Pitches useless cards for extra damage. Is especially good with Madness
Basking Rootwalla: Can come up huge. Only run if the madness is relevant though.
Werebear: 4/4 for 2 that can give mana. Only run if it has heavy thresh theme.
Grim Lavamancer: Used in the U/R version of fish. It's bad in vintage, but a lot better in legacy.
Quirion Dyrad: This innocent 1/1 can become huge fast. Costs 2.
Gorilla Shaman: Vintage use only. The Mox Monkey.
River Boa: 2/1 evasion with reanimation. Of aggro green creatures in general, this is pretty high up there.
Blurred Mongoose: Uncounterable, Untargetable.
Trygon Predator: Repeatable Disenchant for WTF (or any non white varient). evasive and 2/3 body.
Hiddon Gibbons: 4/4 for g. Meta call, and even then not highly advised as it gives your opponent a choice.
Dandan: Not really a win con creature except possibly in vintage. In non vintage games, its there to apply pressure, not to actually go the distance. In vintage though it can be useful as a 4 power creature, as save welder, nothing else is really going to be chumpblocking it. Although Grunt is most of the time jsut better.
Brainstorm: Strong draw. Fetches and the like make it even better. Instant speed.
Impulse: Okay, not really good though.
Ancestral Recall: Best draw spell ever.
Standstill: Solid draw, but requires you to work with it. You can't just tack it on to any fish deck. Vial is a requirement if you wish to play standstill in the deck; as it gets creatures out with breaking it.
Night's Whisper: Okay card. Sorcery Speed.
Phyrexian Arena: Recommend against using this. Too slow and bulky.
Sui is an aggro control deck archtype. The name of the deck comes from the blatant disregard of life to win asap. It displays the theory: The only lifepoint that matters is the last one. This means that, if in order to win, you must sacrifice some life points; do it.
Originally Monoblack, the deck was created to hose MUC. In the old days, it was a weenie looking deck with light disruption to back up. Today, Neo-Sui and the like are the most recent incarnation of the deck. It has few creatures and is very heavy on disruption. It is good for a combo meta. The most powerful incarnation of it was during black summer, or while necropotence was t2 legal.
Generally no. However it has had huge success, and its variants have popped up all over the place; and some sui decks are stilling being played and winning.
SB: 15 3 Cursed Scroll 4 Masticore 2 Null Rod 3 Perish 3 Sphere of Resistance
General Card Choices: Creatures: Tier1Spoiler:Show
Dark Confidant: It is a 2 damage hitting card advantage machine for a negligable cost. The card advantage far outweighs the life in the deck as everything disrupts or deals a lot of damage.
Nantuko Shade: Great card. Relies on heavier black build, but almost all builds are. Just use removal to clear the way for a huge swing.
Plague Spitter: Budget, yet effective. Clears the way of pesky weenies. Careful though, it has obvious conflicts with other important creatures like shade and confidant.
Phyrexian Negator: A house in vintage due to zero burn and few creatures. Potential First turn 5/5 thanks to Dark Ritual. Still good in legacy though.
Hypnotic Specter: Contrary to hype, it isn't as good as it used to be. Still a solid first turn play with dark ritual, just not absolutely amazing.
Rotting Giant: Fair card, 3/3 beater for 1b. Requires fair amount of spells and possibly fetches.
Wretched Anurid Okay card, 3/3 beater for 1b. It is poor against aggro, and races well, but not as well as shade or negator can.
Dauthi Slayer: The evasion is almost always unblockable in todays metas. It'll never be able to chump past the first turn though, the clock isn't really fast, and it doesn't disrupt.
Dauthi Horror: Can chump, but will die. Any random soltari won't be able to block.
Nezumi Graverobber: Hoses graveyard decks, will, welder, ich/frig, loam, etc.
Sarcomancy: A bit outdated, a 2/2 for b.
Carnophage: Same as Sarcomancy.
Sangrophage: Bigger carno. The body is nice.
Black Knight: Pro: white and stp. First strike is nice.
Hand of Cruelty: Pro: white and stp. 3/3 against blockers.
Mesmeric Fiend: Discard with a body.
Knight of the Holy Nimbus: Regenerating. Trades with 3/3's
Knight of Stromgald: Shade with pro white and first strike.
Order of the White Shield: Nega-Knight of Stromgald.
Paladin En-Vec: With some equipment, this guy is a house.
Silver Knight: Owns Gobs and burn, which is important in legacy. First strike is nice.
White Shield Crusader: Flying Self Buffer. Pro: black for removal.
White Knight: Pro: black and first strike.
Kataki, War's Wage: Hoses artifacts.
Jotun Grunt: Hoses random decks like thresh and ich. 4/4 beater for 2.
Soltari Monk: Pro: black takes care of half the games removal. Shadow for 2 damage. Costs ww.
Soltari Priest: Pro: red is great too. burn and chumps gobs. Shadow for 2. Costs ww.
Swords to Plowshares: aka StP. Best spot removal ever. Instant speed. Cheap. Unconditional. Removes from game. Possibly can get you out of a pinch by giving yourself life.
Disenchant: Meta, instant speed.
Seal of Cleansing: Another version of Disenchant.
Duress: Great all around discard. Always should be run.
Hymn to Tourach: Very strong discard. Creates card advantage but has a bb cost. Probablly Always should be run.
Cabal Therapy: Great discard in a known / strong meta. Works well with Dark Confidant too.
Innocent Blood: Untargeting removal. Not great though.
Snuff Out: "Free" removal. Targets only nonblacks though.
Vendetta: Costs a single b. Instant Speed. Hits regeneration. Watch for facedowns, the flipped version is the health you lose.
Sudden Death: Uncounterable removal. Nearly nonexistent amount of creatures run in aggro that can survive this. Good in standard, possibly extended, but after that it loses its goodness.
Darkblast: Hits important guys (welder, lackey etc.). Cheap. Dredges for CA. Instant. Only run if your meta really calls for it.
Chains of Mephistopheles: Basically tendrils, and other draw7 used deck hoser. Although it does hose other combo.
Sinkhole: Disrupts the opponents mana base. Costs only 2 (although its bb).
Coercion: Okay discard in Standard.
Vindicate: Pretty costly in the deck, but destroys any permanent.
Chalice of the Void: aka CotV. Hoses artimana. Hoses other random decks.
Zoo is foremost, an aggro deck. Also, the deck is a tempo deck. It relies on staying ahead of the opponent to win. If it loses speed, it loses its ability to win.
Just like R/G Beats, there are basically two different types of Zoo: Weenie and Fat. Weenie Zoo, (or Sligh Zoo) is what you generally think of when it comes to zoo. Fast, and effecient creatures backed up by solid burn.
Fat Zoo, or as some call Fires Zoo is more based on the mid to late game. It accelerates the first turn turns into a big midsized creature; or "fat".
Has it been successful? What formats is it played in?Spoiler:Show
In T2, it was probably the best aggro deck in Kami-Rav but while is still fairly good, it isn't as dominating. The standard version, was also known for the "20-20-20" as in lands, creatures, and burn.
In Extended, the archtype Gaea's Might Get There has had a surge and has been inducted into the gauntlet of decks to test against to see if your deck is any good.
Legacy, there has been some varients on it, but never had consistantly good success.
In Vintage, the deck actually has seen some successful play. However this was because it became more of a fish type deck in RGW rather than tempo zoo.
Creatures: 4x Kird Ape 4x Savannah Lions 4x Magus of the Scroll 4x Watchwolf 4x Scab-Clan Mauler
Spells: 4x Volcanic Hammer 4x Rift Bolt 4x Char 4x Lightning Helix 4x Seal of Fire
The basic idea of what Zoo looks like in standard now. Nothing tricky, nothing fancy. It has 2/3, 2/1, one drops. 3/3 two drops. and good burn to back it all up and reach if neeed.
Standard Zoo Lucus Glavin: Standard Legal 1st, Massachusetts StatesSpoiler:Show
I choose to show this one for a couple reasons. Firstly, it breaks the 20/20/20 frame, which shows not all zoo decks are alike. Next it runs Griffin Guide: creature pump. Call of the Herd makes an appearance, which provides quality CA, but is slower. And lastly, the Sb contains no less but 8 LD spells.
I've been playing aorund with this and so far it's a lot of fun. It's a "balls to the wall" aggressive deck looking to get that 3rd/4th turn kill. Honestly it's just fun to turn your little creature into a very unexpected 20+ power threat in a turn. I think the basic premise is pretty obivious, play a keep creature and try to pump it/berserk for massive damage. There are no lightning bolts because pump does more damage when swiftblades/berserks are taken into account and the deck is a pure aggressive deck so that is really all that matters. If removal is necessary hopefully you have a fireblast and some extra land; and those are run because they bring a kill a turn early.
Gaea's Might Get There Chris Woltereck: Extended Legal 2nd, Charleston PTQSpoiler:Show
Creatures 3 Boros Swiftblade 4 Grim Lavamancer 4 Kird Ape 1 Savannah Lions 2 Tin Street Hooligan 4 Watchwolf 4 Wild Mongrel
General Card Choices Creatures: Sligh Spoiler:Show
Kird Ape: 2/3 for R basically. Good beater. Basically, if you are running taiga or stomping, you have to run this.
Magus of the Scroll: Solid one drop. Respect for Cursed Scroll. Basically its just repeatable burn, rarely used to attack. Gives reach to the deck and adds CA.
Grim Lavamancer: Okay card. Gives reach and burn to clear out blockers.
Savannah Lions: 2/1 For W. Solid card.
Isamaru, Hound of Konda: In this deck, its almost always better to have 4x Isamaru than 4x Lions. This is because, since you are always just swinging, rarely does any creature last a whole game; so Legendary status is irrelevant. Not uncommon to run both though, some prefer 3:3 or such shinanegans.
Carnophage: 2/2 for B. Life may play a factor, as zoo does require duals and fetches.
Skyshroud Elite: Meta call, basically a mono green Kird Ape.
Gorilla Shaman: Only used in vintage, rarely used in legacy. Aka the Mox Monkey. Eats moxen and other random "Manafacts".
Watchwolf: G/W for 3/3. Good for curve, but not neccesarily included in larger cardpool formats. Always run in standard though.
Scab-Clan Mauler: Can be a better Watchwolf. Solid card, but meta can play a factor if its really worth anything.
Jotun Grunt: Very nice body. Even better than watchwolf's. Also its drawback isn't really a "drawback" depending on your meta.
Dark Confidant: For Dark Zoo, or Domain Zoo and the like. Very good CA. Respectable 2/1 beater for 1b.
Boros Swiftblade: For Legacy/Extended varients with things like armadillo cloak, jitte etc. Rarely used in standard.
Vinelasher Kudzu: In domain, or any version with a lot of fetches, this guy can be a house.
Wild Mongrel: One of the best green creatures ever. Turns useless cards into damage.
Ronom Unicorn: Strong SB choice for a meta. The flavor fitted version of Kami of Ancient Law.
Kami of Ancient Law: Playable in all formats is legal in. Same thing as Ronom Unicorn.
Tin Street Hooligan: Decent 2/1 beater for 1r, but also lets you destroy an artifact. Pairs up well with Kird Ape.
Birds of Paradise: Has the added bonus it can chump fliers or be pumped for flying damage.
Llanowar Elves: Only produces G, but still effective and has 1 extra P point.
Troll Ascetic: Good 3 drop. Follow up for first turn BoP or Elves. Not in standard yet.
Phyrexian Negator: Strong body, bad in an aggro meta though. 5/5 for 2b is great. Follow up like Ascetic. Needs to be backed with disruption so you don't self pwn yourself with it.
Burning-Tree Shaman: Its in standard, and can provide a faster clock against activated abilities. Also is a very nice 3/4 for 3.
Paladin En-Vec: Owns Boros, Gruul, and any other r/b aggro deck hard. Mana cost is prohibiting as green is the main color followed by red than white usually in standard, but deserves mentioning.
Sulfur Elemental: Uncounterable, Instant, Removal (or buff depending how you use it), and an okay 3/2 body.
Loxodon Hierarch: 4 Life is huge against other aggro decks. Its a 4/4 for four. And its other ability is sometimes relevant. Great card.
Rumbling Slum: Another example of the effeciency of zoo. its a 5/5 for four, and its ability helps speed the clock against control/combo.
Lightning Bolt: Effecient burn. Decent choice if you see aggro. Gives reach to the deck.
Rift Bolt: The Lightning Bolt of standard.
Red Elemental Blast: Gives counter for solidarity, thresh etc. and can hit random blue perms.
Swords to Plowshares: Best spot removal ever.
Duress: Great discard; but not neccesarily great in zoo. Best used against combo
Magma Jet: While it does only 2 damage for 1r, it gives the deck some card selection.
Tribal Flames: Only used for Domain Zoo
Lightning Helix: Burn for 3, and counteracts all the pain from fetches and duals.
Surpression Field: Great against control decks.
Umezawa's Jitte: Good tool. Acts as removal, pump, and life for other aggro decks racing and for duals/fetches.
Sword of Fire and Ice: Alright card. Costs a bit too much to be worth it in zoo. The effects are great for the deck though.
Browbeat: In standard some people run this. I would recommend against it for various reasons. Firstly, Some decks can just take the damage and win, when if you drew a threat or burn you could kill them. Also, if you are using it for burn, its a 2r for 5 damage. Flames of Blood Hand was barely run, and only because it could be a 8 life swing against a heirarch.
Char: Great burn in standard, but outside it isn't that great.
Cryoclasm: A lot of decks run either w or u in standard. A viable option in standard.
Fiery Justice: Can create massive card advantage; which is why the cost is so tricky.
Giant Growth: Okay card, but I'm not a huge fan of it.
Brute Force: Giant Growth if your deck is more red based.
Seal of Strength: Basically Giant Growth, but plays out a bit differently.
Beserk: Requires a fair amount of pump to make it worth it. Traditionally, not a great card.
Gaea's Might: For domain zoo. Can be a really strong card.
Might of Old Krosa: It is a Giant Growth-esque card, that can be better, but loses the surprise element.
Moldervine Cloak: Repeatable Aura but takes up a draw. Solid P/T bonus.
Armadillo Cloak: I will always be partial to this card, but its great. Even though it creates CDA if the creature is destroyed, the effect is so great, the reward is high enough for the risk.
Bathe In Light: I used to see this in most lists, but I haven't seen this played as much. Its a decent card that can give an alpha strike or just protect your guys.
Elvish Spirit Guide: Accerates you a turn. The only thing i could see against this is that it eats up some of your CA for an aggro deck.
Honorable Passage: In Standard it hurts dragonstorm really bad.
This type of deck is based on accelerating to bigger, stronger creatures fast, while not sacrificing a lot of speed. Often, the deck is found to be aggro control, as the first few turns are its weakest.
Has it been successful? What formats was it played in?Spoiler:Show
It has gone from Tier1, everyone plays it, to nonexistent. Right now, only Gifts Rock is a viable form.
Storm Combo, is a combo based on storm. What is storm you ask? It is one of the most broken mechanics ever. Making its debut in scourge, it has proven to be one of the best combo mechanics, and has revolutionized how combo is played.
Absolutely. It has seen major play across the board in every format. There have been various lists such as: Dragonstorm, Solidarity, High Tide, Desire, Twiddle Desire, TEPS, TPS, TES, Grimlong, Pitchlong, Burning Desire, Deathlong, Dirty Kitty.
Not to mention all the various decks that have adopted ETW (Empty the Warrens) as an alternate wincondition. If you want a combo win, the first place too look for a wincondition is the storm cards available.
Spells: 32 4 Dragonstorm 4 Sleight of Hand 4 Seething Song 4 Remand 4 Telling Time 4 Rite of Flame 4 Lotus Bloom 4 Gigadrowse
SB: 4 Ignorant Bliss 3 Shadow of Doubt 1 Govern the Guildless 2 Ophidian Eye 1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind 4 Truth or Tale
Set up the first few turns via telling time, sleight of hand, remand etc. Gigadrowse and Remand hold out the early game. And then you go all out and blow out a dragonstorm (for four hopefully) and play 4 hellkites for an instant win.
Long.dec Stephen Menendian: Vintage Legal 8/28/03Spoiler:Show
Lands: 11 4x Gemstone Mine 4x City of Brass 1x Tolarian Academy 2x Underground Sea
Spells: 49 1x Windfall 1x Yawgmoth's Bargain 1x Necropotence 1x Mind's Desire 1x Tinker 1x Memory Jar 1x Wheel of Fortune 1x Timetwister 1x Demonic Consultation 1x Demonic Tutor 1x Vampiric Tutor 1x Time Walk 1x Tendrils of Agony 3x Chromatic Sphere 1x Mox Sapphire 1x Mana Vault 1x Mana Crypt 1x Black Lotus 1x Lotus Petal 1x Sol Ring 1x Mox Ruby 1x Mox Pearl 1x Mox Emerald 1x Mox Jet 1x Mystical Tutor 1x Mox Diamond 1x Ancestral Recall 4x Dark Ritual 4x Duress 4x Brainstorm 4x Burning Wish 4x Lion's Eye Diamond
Sideboard: 15 1x Simplify 2x Seal of Cleansing 1x Vindicate 1x Regrowth 1x Hull Breach 1x Tendrils of Agony 1x Primitive Justice 1x Balance 4x Xantid Swarm 1x Diminishing Returns 1x Yawgmoth's Will
Probably the best legal deck ever. The deck powers out all the broken cards it can for huge effects and the win. The deck is based on Burning Wish, Lion's Eye Diamond, and Yawgmoth's Will. These cards is what makes the deck go. Play Wish for the Will in SB, and in response crack LED. This gives you mana to play your will, and replay your whole hand. You should have no problem getting the storm count to 10 if you've made it this far; and getting there isn't difficult either. On my (Tonyto3690) very first try testing this list I got a turn 1 win; and I only consider myself a moderate / amature at piloting combo.
After testing themselves, wizards found the deck won turn 1 60% of the time. This was, of course unaccepetable, so the result was restriction of Burning Wish and Lion's Eye Diamond in Type 1. This severely hindered the deck, but the deck has spawned multitudes of variations that have done (almost as) well.
I started building this long before Time Spiral block (with Tendrils of Agony as wincondition) for a legacy tournament that never took place and am tinkering around with it since then.
The stormcount for Grapeshot or Entity is reached by replaying 2 tops again and again for free with Helm of Awakeing (which changes the cc of the tops to ). A typical win-sequence is: 1) play helm 2) play top for free 3) spin top (draw card - put ~ on top of library) 4) play second top 5) spin second top to draw the first one 6) repeat with step 2 until you reach the desired stormcount (you always draw the other top in step 3) 7) Grapeshot When Mishra is around you draw your library during this process. The aim is to win around turn 3 - 5, while giving you the chance of a turn 1 kill with a godhand (like Tomb, Petal, Helm, 2x Top, Grapeshot/Entity) and a few ways to stay alive longer. Actually this deck was too weak for real tournament play but too strong for the casual table.
Card choices: Land: I didn't change the landbase for a long time and it probably could be made better (more Volcanic Islands,...) but I do not use proxies and that's the best base I could come up with, without buying duals or fetches. Lotus Petal: Mishra loves those, and they add to your stormcount without crippling your hand further. Disruption: FoW speaks for itself. Remand is there to give you a timewalk in case you need it - you're not going for a long game anyway. Pyrite Spellbomb: I had bolts in that slot, but bombs have more synergy (Mishra, Helm) and can be used to draw a card EE can get rid of Chalice and Warren-Gobbos. With Petals you can sunburst up to 5. Trinket Mage: without Mishra you need 2 tops. this guy helps. Impulse: Tutor for shot or helm - synergy with top. Top + Helm - main combo Grapeshot: A wincondition you can use as removal if needed (unlike Tendrils or Brainfreeze) Storm Entity: I only pulled 1 at the prerelease - but am trading to get my playset. This one may make the deck more viable than it was. Mishra: I use him instead of Future Sight to make my 4 card combo a 3 card one.
Cards I tested/consider testing: tested: * Lightning Bolt: good, but not good enough. You get rid of that first turn lackey, but thats about it... * Brainstorm: too much redundancy (Top). Maybe sideboard against discard * Duress: maybe sideboard * Lim Dul's Vault: got kicked by the Entity consider: * Dimir Infiltrator: Tutor for Grapeshot/Entity/Helm - but 3 mana and sorcery speed is slow * Pithing Needle: as a 1of - but I don't own any right now... * Wishes: none of them really fit * Pact of Negotiation: I had to use FoW defensively some times, so not sure about this one
Solidarity David Gearhart: Legacy Legal Winner – Grand Prix-Philadelphia Trial Legacy Format, 2005 Spoiler:Show
Lands: 18 4x Flooded Strand 2x Polluted Delta 12x Island
Spells: 42 4x High Tide 4x Reset 3x Turnabout 3x Cunning Wish 4x Impulse 4x Opt 4x Brainstorm 4x Force of Will 2x Twincast 2x Thirst for Knowledge 2x Flash of Insight 3x Meditate 3x Brain Freeze
SB: 1x Meditate 1x Stroke of Genius 1x Turnabout 1x Words of Wisdom 1x Snap 1x Chain of Vapor 1x Echoing Truth 1x Rebuild 2x Twincast 4x Hydroblast 1x Evacuation
Dirty Kitty Billy Moreno: Extended Legal 2006 Magic World ChampionshipSpoiler:Show
Spells: 19 4x Seething Song 4x Rite of Flame 2x Brightstone Ritual 4x Empty the Warrens 4x Fecundity 1x Grapeshot
SB: 15 4x Clickslither 4x Cabal Therapy 2x Pyroclasm 2x Krosan Grip 2x Ancient Grudge 1x Goblin King
The great thing about this deck was how it could switch from combo to aggro by what the pilot drew or wanted to do. With Fecundity and all the mana, it could combo into a huge storm for ETW and the win, or could just win via traditional goblin ownage.
TPS (The Perfect Storm) David Beduzzi: 2004 Vintage Legal Turin, Italy: 5-02-2004Spoiler:Show
Land: 15 1 Tolarian Academy 2 Swamp 2 Island 1 Underground River 4 Underground Sea 1 Flooded Strand 4 Polluted Delta
Spells: 45 4 Duress 1 Necropotence 1 Yawgmoth's Will 1 Yawgmoth's Bargain 1 Future Sight 1 Vampiric Tutor 1 Demonic Tutor 1 Mystical Tutor 4 Dark Ritual 1 Windfall 1 Time Spiral 1 Timetwister 2 Tendrils of Agony 1 Mind's Desire 1 Rebuild 1 Cunning Wish 1 Chain of Vapor 4 Force of Will 4 Brainstorm 1 Frantic Search 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Time Walk 1 Black Lotus 1 Lotus Petal 1 Sol Ring 1 Mana Vault 1 Mana Crypt 1 Mox Sapphire 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Pearl 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Emerald
SB: 15 1 Brain Freeze 1 Echoing Truth 1 Misdirection 1 Hurkyl's Recall 4 Blue Elemental Blast 1 Coffin Purge 1 Rebuild 1 Ebony Charm 1 Chain of Vapor 1 Stifle 1 Skeletal Scrying 1 Fact or Fiction
Ancestral Recall: Best draw spell in the game. A mere u to get three cards.
Windfall: Sort of a Draw 7, but not really. Can be amazing in situations though.
Timetwister: Conflicts horribly with yawgmoth's will, but the fact that its a draw7 and its blunt power makes it a good card in combo.
Diminishing Retruns: Basically a bad Timetwister. However, The fact that it is legal in Legacy makes it a playable card. The remove 10 clause does have the randomness factor or randomly screw you over.
Brainstorm: Decent draw. Instant Speed allows plays at EOT. Best used with fetches or various shuffling effects.
Impulse: Better than Brainstorm if you aren't running enough shuffling effects and looking for sheer digging power.
Sleight of Hand: Not great if you other choices, but is a staple in t2 Dragonstorm decks.
Telling Time: In standard, this is one of the best available. Also a staple of t2 Dragonstorm. It sets up draws, gets you a card, and can get rid of an extra land you don't want to waste drawing into.
Opt: Instant speed makes it good in Solidarity. Works well with brainstorm. Can help dig a bit through the deck.
Accumulated Knowledge: An alright card, but not great. It worked well with Desire in extended while legal because it was a free draw card or free draw multiple cards.
Deep Analysis: Great card. Its a powerful draw spell in the right deck. Desire is the only storm combo deck that could use it, because it neglected its cost; and gave flashback draw.
Meditate: If you have "all or nothing turns" like the majority of combo decks do, the draw back is a bit irrelevant. the biggest factor with the card is getting 3 mana available to play it.
Night's Whisper: Alright card, costs 1b (and two life) for 2 cards at sorcery speed.
Necropotence: Absolutely amazing card. Helps you sculpt a perfect hand to go off.
Yawgmoth's Bargain: Even more powerful effect than necropotence. Difficulty is getting 6 mana. However once you play it you should be guaranteed a win.
Wheel of Fortune: Draw 7s are (almost) always extremely powerful cards. This one isn't an exception.
Memory Jar: Extremely powerful card. Obviously it is best used with Tinker.
Demonic Consultation: Arguably the best tutor available. Removed cards are irrelevant if what you draw makes you win; for a measley b.
Demonic Tutor: Solid tutor. Not Really good, but deffinatly a good choice.
Vampiric Tutor: Strong tutor. In Vintage combo you're near guaranteed to draw, so you should get it.
Grim Tutor: Costs 3, but it does put it directly in hand and is unrestricted in both legacy and vintage.
Infernal Tutor: You probably are going to end up playing your whole hand, so in Non Eternal + Legacy Formats is basically an unrestricted Demonic Tutor. However if you don't, it can pick up another ritual or draw spell if needed. Strong in anything but vintage.
Plunge Into Darkness: An alright card, but doesn't guarantee success, and gets even worse against aggro.
Mystical Tutor: Can grab the win condition, mana producer, or card draw.
Dark Ritual: Absolutely amazing card. Automatic 4 of in any deck supporting black and its legal in.
Cabal Ritual: An okay card. Depends on your build if it is worth running though.
Seething Song: Not as good as dark ritual, but deffinately a strong spell in anything but vintage.
Rite of Flame: first one gets you a mana, second one is a red dark ritual, and third one is even better than dark ritual (other than the possibility of red hinderance) Solid accel in anything but vintage to consider.
Simian Spirit Guide: AKA SSG. An okay card in standard, but even there it isn't commonly run in Dragonstorm.
Chrome Mox: Can come down as a free storm count if you don't wish to discard for mana. But, even as a nuetured moxen, it is still a great source repeatable mana.
Lotus Petal: Good source of free mana. Works well with Yawgmoth's Will (+2 storm count, +2 free mana)
Black Lotus: The same as Lotus Petal but 3 times better. Absolutely insane card. Automatic include if its legal (and you can get it).
Lotus Bloom: Neutered version of Black Lotus. However it is still a powerful card. Should probably always an include in extended and standard.
5 Moxen: Sapphire, Jet, Ruby, Pearl, Emerald. In that general order of importance. Each act as extra lands and free storm count.
Mana Vault: Solid card. Gets you 2 mana and is an artifact for tinker / academy shenanigans.
Mana Crypt: Slightly better than vault imo. Only because its free.
Sol Ring: I recall reading a "top 50 artifacts in the game" and this one came out on top. I don't agree with this, but that is surely and indicator of its power.
High Tide: Not technically a mana accelerator, but this has to be posted somewhere. This is the engine that makes high tide / solidarity go.
Channel the Suns: Seen play in various extended Desire decks. Gives mana fixing as well as +1 mana. In desire it is a free 5 mana.
Duress: Costs a mere b to take out possible troublesome counters. Or to take out a combo of theres so yours is faster.
Cabal Therapy: Slightly worse in combo, but still solid disruption for a consistent meta.
Force of Will: AKA FoW. One of the best counters in the game. It allows you to go off sooner and more assuredly that you can protect your combo. Great card, always play if your deck supports enough blue.
Misdirection: The second card that along with FoW created Pitch Long. Named after all other tendrils varients, but also named for the 6-8 pitch cards that it ran, giving it a lot more protection and not sacrificing buisness spells.
Gigadrowse: In standard, you use this card at the opponents EOT to tap all their lands so they can't disrupt your combo.
Goblins are the most powerful tribal group in Magic. They have proved their worth in across the board, including such powerful decks as FCG, and vial goblins.
It is a very strong, and popular deck. The downside is some cards are pretty expensive because of this. If you can afford all the cards it is amazing, but there are some cards that just make or break goblins.
SB: 15 4 Leyline of the Void 3 Blood Moon 2 Ancient Grudge 2 Krosan Grip 2 Umezawa's Jitte 2 Cranial Extraction
Mike Flores]If you haven’ wrote:
If you haven’t seen a Goblin Bidding deck played perfectly, you are missing out on great spectator Magic. Here’s how it goes... The Goblin Bidding deck is an almost equivalent Goblin beatdown deck, but instead of the regular Goblin deck’s frills, the Goblin Bidding deck has an unstoppable endgame. Patriarch’s Bidding is just useful against mass removal (Damnation and Wrath of God), but that isn’t the only reason it is played in the deck. What Pauly might want to do is to get a ton of Goblins in play, including Goblin Sharpshooter and Skirk Prospector (though Goblin Sledder works in a pinch). Then the deck is about sacrificing all the non-Sharpshooter guys, which create untap opportunities. Most Goblin decks can run their Sharpshooters this way, but Bidding is special. You get them all back!
You can use the Skirk mana to play Bidding (well, you still need ), get back a graveyard full of Goblins. Provided you have Warchief access, you can start all over again (or you can just keep the same Sharpshooter before and after Bidding). Situations like the one I just described are generally bloodbaths capable of dealing 50+ in a single turn. Forget about any of the opponent’s creatures leaving the turn standing.
Bidding has never been a force in Extended, though the strategy has always been more powerful than regular Goblins in Standard. The reason is that, historically, formats that allowed for Goblin Bidding decks were already densely populated with regular Goblin decks, and Bidding was a liability (the opponent gets all his Goblins back, too). Moreover, the requirement is no small matter for a deck with such early red mana requirements.
Vial Goblins Chris Coppola: August 11, 2006, Legacy Legal 7th Star City Games Duel for DualsSpoiler:Show
Land: 22 4x Mountain 4x Rishadan Port 4x Bloodstained Mire 3x Wooded Foothills 4x Wasteland 3x Taiga
Vial Goblins is the best deck in Legacy. It is fast, it is (relatively) cheap (so a lot of people play it), it can recover from sweepers with a single goblin, and makes the opponent have answers for everyone of your goblins or they lose.
White splash was at first the more popular splash, but of late green has been taking over as the secondary color.
Spells: 19 4x Seething Song 4x Rite of Flame 2x Brightstone Ritual 4x Empty the Warrens 4x Fecundity 1x Grapeshot
SB: 15 4x Clickslither 4x Cabal Therapy 2x Pyroclasm 2x Krosan Grip 2x Ancient Grudge 1x Goblin King
The great thing about this deck was how it could switch from combo to aggro by what the pilot drew or wanted to do. With Fecundity and all the mana, it could combo into a huge storm for ETW and the win, or could just win via traditional goblin ownage.
Goblin Lackey: Insane 1 drop. Can power out turn two Siege-Gang Commanders, or just accelerate a turn or two.
Goblin Recruiter: Gives insane card advantage along with Goblin Ringleader. Can set up great draws as well.
Goblin Piledriver: This card is basically the enforcer of goblins. Very expensive, but can make or break the deck.
Goblin Ringleader: Gives great card advantage.
Goblin Matron: Strong card, can tutor for goblins or goblins you need multiples of. Also synergizes well with lackey.
Skirk Prospecter: Can help accelerate into even more goblins. Works especially well with shenanigans like Bidding.
Goblin Warchief: Amazing card. Makes you win a turn faster, lets you play all your goblins for less. Also amazingly good with Food Chain.
Sparksmith: A decent card, that can provide decent creature control.
Goblin Sharpshooter: Strong card. Especially good with skirk prospecter. This card also provided great moves with bidding and prospecter.
Gempalm Incinerator: Lets you cycle through the deck and also lets you get rid of a pesky creature.
Goblin Grappler: If you can, you should try to avoid this card. It can be alright in situations, but most of the time its just bad.
Tin Street Hooligan: Solid splash card for metas with heavy artifacts SB or MD. It good against equipement, Affinity, Angel Stax, CotV, etc. There is debate of those card vs. tinkerer. This requires a suffecient green splash and only works once. However it happens right away and it has a body to keep swinging with after.
Mogg Fanatic: Very good Sligh type card. It is strong for goblin sligh, but in more explosive goblins like vial and FCG, its not as effective.
Siege-Gang Commander: Lackey this bad boy out, and follow up with a Goblin Piledriver... GG
Goblin Tinkerer: There is debate over this or Tin Street. This is repeatable artifact hate, but it costs additional mana to use, requires haste or a turn waiting. Also the body is less helpful at a 1/2 instead of 2/1.
Red Elemental Blast: Counter in red? Destroys permanents for ? sounds good to me.
Pyrokinesis: You'll be generating great CA with recruiter and ringleader. Why not burn all their guys so you can win right away? Pretty good card for Metas heavy on weenies (chumps). Also can instantly remove Exalted Angel, Loxo, etc.
Shattering Spree: Good against Faerie Stompy, Affinity, basically anything that runs lots of artifacts. You can generate mana with a prospector as a combat trick, or you can clear their whole board.
Swords to Plowshares: AKA StP. Best spot removal ever. No doubt. This is one of the main reasons to splash white. It can get rid of pesky Pro:Red creatures. or just some big fatty bearing down on you.
Chalice of the Void: Can help stop combo, zero cc tricks. Probably not highly recommendable save for zero as each slot has pretty important goblins: 1: lackey, 2: recruiter, piledriver, 3: warchief, matron etc.
Disenchant: Another reason to splash white. Red can deal with artifacts, but enchantments it is in trouble.
Tormod's Crypt: Obviously great against graveyard strategies and doesn't cost anything.
Probably the most important red deck in the history of magic. This deck, created by Paul Sligh, singlehandedly invented the manacurve and showed how important it really is. The deck is cheap effecient, red creatures, followed up by burn to clear blockers, and the burn can double as late game wins.
For sligh, the name of the game is tempo. The manacurve helps you win via this.
The deck, hardly looks like much by todays standards. But if you dig deep it really is a well of tech. At its debut it got second at the Pro Tour Qualifier: Atlanta, it lost to a necropotence deck in finals.
Although it was named after him, the deck design was actually created by Jay Schneider.
Lastly, it is important to know that back then one requirement is you have a card from five sets, making it distinctly harder to make an effective deck.
One of the biggest problems elves has is disruption and overextending. This deck solves this problem by putting all its eggs into the speed basket; and prays they go lethal before a sweeper hits.
It powers out tons of mana for a bunch of guys and strikes
Llanowar Elves: The standard in elf mana producers. A solid general choice.
Fyndhorn Elves: Same functional thing as Llanowar Elves. Perhaps a bit better because its less common if you get specific.
Elves of Deep Shadow: A decent card. Although obviously not as good as Llanowar or Fyndhorn because of the black and the pain it gives.
Elvish Archers: A solid 2/1 first strike. In general a decent beatdown. Not particularly synergestic besides a decent beater and first strike.
Elvish Champion: Solid power up with a body. Forestwalk can also be a powerful ability in the right meta.
Elvish Lyrist: A very good hate card. A strong SB or possibly MD addition.
Wirewood Herald: A solid tutor with a body.
Elvish Pionneer: Essentially a llanowar elves with a spin. Land destruction is rarer than creature removal, but it relies on having a land in hand. As apposed to Llanowar which cna make a one land hand playable.
Elvish Skysweeper: A solid hate card. It works very well against decks that cheat beaters into play, as they usually have flying and are large. (Decks like oath, reanimator, etc.) Also they generally hope to have pro: black, while pro: green is nearly non existent.
Wood Elves: Solid card to pick a dual if you have a splash.
Elvish Vanguard: An okay card, but it relies on winning to be effective.
Bloodline Shaman: Gives you card advantage. And besides land it will most of the time work. Best used in 'speed builds'. As they have mostly creatures (elves), save lands.
Elvish Warrior: An above the curve 2/3 for 2.
Tribal Forcemage: Very nice card with cheap pump AND trample.
Fyndhorn Elder: Has nice synergy with first turn mana elves, to get you 5 mana turn 3.
Gaea's Herald: A strong hate card. It helps against control in the hopes for you go fast enough they can't sweep in time.
Gaea's Skyfolk: Decent 2/2 flying for 2.
Tel-Jilad Chosen: Solid hate card against affinity and the like.
Gempalm Strider: A decent 2/2 for 2. The biggest thing about this is when you're in full swing with mana production. It helps go through the deck for even more beaters, and gives you some strong pump for an alpha strike.
Headless One: A fun casual card, but for a competitive deck it shouldn't be run.
Llanowar Elite: Can double as an early chump / beater or when you have tons of mana as a late game finisher.
Llanowar Knight: Decent 2/2 for 2. Pro: black can be very useful.
Multani's Acolyte: Helps go through the deck and has a 2 power.
Wirewood Channeler: A toned down version of Priest of Titania. Still an effective card however.
Priest of Titania: Absolutely amazing mana producer.
Timberwatch Elf: Very nice card that gives instant speed pump. Can create tough decisions for the opponent and very nice combat tricks.
Wellwisher: A touchy card. Life gain does NOT win you games, and a lot argue this is a waste of a slot / resources. The thing going for this card is that it can give you a lot in two turns and is repeatable and really helps against aggro.
Primal Forcemage: With an okay 2/2 for 3 body, its real potential is with the +3/+3 clause. This very well could be breakable with a huge mana turn, slate of ancestry and an alphastrike.
Quirion Ranger: Strong card than can enable a big mana pocket.
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary: A decent addition, but its badside can huge. Forests are hard to play when you have other lands like cradles, and lodges.
Seeker of Skybreak: A decent card, quirion ranger is better however.
Wirewood Symbiote: A toned down version of Quirion Ranger. Still can be a solid choice though.
Silhana Ledgewalker: Powerful card with pump and beatdown, but probably not extremely effective in most elf builds.
Viridian Shaman: Can provide nice card advantage and helps against pesky artifacts while still being a creature.
Viridian Zealot: A naturalize with a 2/1 body. A solid choice if you expect lots of enchant/artifact tricks. Good SB material.
Stonewood Involker: A decent 2/2 for 2. Late game can become a huge (trampleless) beast.
Sylvan Messenger: An excellent source of card advantage.
Elvish Beserker: With Timberwatch and other pumpers, this can be very nice with built in trample.
Taunting Elf: A solid card that helps out alpha strikes. Also can be used to get rid of important creatures with pump.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa: A repeatable overrun with a body. Most of the time its just a win more, but it can be useful. Also the land ability can be useful. Also it can be a trick to get rid of their lands via that, and taunting elf + pump. 4/3 body is also nice.
Mobilize: Effectively doubles your mana, also allows for an alpha strike after some major mana producing if you did some kind of combo to go through your deck.
Vitalize: A better Mobilize.
Staff of Domination: Allows infinite tricks. Get a Priest or the like to be able to produce 5 mana in one tap. Use staff to untap it for 3 (2 mana left). Then use one to untap itself (1 mana left) rinse and repeat for infinite mana, then use for 'infinite' life and drawing.
Glimpse of Nature: Can provide combo fuel and provide mana to cycle through your deck.
Eladmri's Vineyard: Can be very bad against certain decks, but very useful against things that have no use for it like combo (assuming they dont' go off that turn).
Biorhythm: An alt win condition against control or combo
Tsunami: In legacy, good tech against solidarity.
Concordant Crossroads: Can help with more explosive turns if you have draw enablers already. Or just lets your elves get the rest of the elves out the turn they are played. Strong card against control and combo.
Overrun: Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is almost always better.
Ground Seal: An okay card against certain decks if you expect them in your meta. Also has a cantrip effect which is makes it more playable.
Glimpse of Nature: Pretty strong card in a more comboish deck. Probably requires haste effects like concordant crossroads, so you can have a more explosive turn.
Collective Unconscience: The argument against glimpse is that is slows you down, and you hold back to hopefully make it more effective. This card lets you play it out, and at a fairly easy to achieve 6 mana to draw several cards.
Harmonize: Strong card in more limited card pools with a +2 card advantage note.
Slate of Ancestry: Repeatable draw that can get you a lot of cards when in full swing. Although it is a bit on the costly side, this is negated by the fact it can be repeated. Still something to watch for though.
? sounds good to me.