Kamikazegerbil wrote: Coke Spill Level 1 Encounter Attack Power Trigger: You must be pouring yourself a drink Range: Close Blast 1D10 from Player Target: All creatures and objects within blast Attack: Any vs. Reflex Hit: 1d6 Fizzy damage and target is wet (save ends) Aftereffect: Target is sticky (save ends)
1xKira, Great Glass-Spinner 1xCemetery Puca 1xAeon Chronicler 1xDominating Licid 1xMagus of the Moon 1xVolrath's Shapeshifter The above is my official submission. I cleaned up the land base, and added a couple of more useful cards to tutor for with Imperial Recruiter/Drift of Phantasms. The way i figure it, in this format, the worst threats you could possibly face are creatures (so Clone and its ilk make your current board position 1st/2nd place), and lands (Vesuva ). Stealing creatures or lands is also a powerful ability. I figured I would remove all the chaff from my deck of over priced creatures and add in some Clone effects. I also added a couple of creature steal, because that is powerful too (this is especially true of the Licid, because people won't be playing Disenchant, and you can always turn it back into a creature in response to such spells.
Budget EDH:EDH on $20 a Deck. Join the Group Link has been defeated(X times) by Eyegorc in Dungeons 2(2x), 3(3x), and 6(3x).
I do believe that I have everything properly updated at the moment. Please check the first post under "Current Deck Submissions" to make sure that your deck is both there and as you intend for it to be submitted. Let me know if something is amiss and I'll make sure to fix it ASAP.
"Do not concern yourself with my origin, my race, or my ancestry. Seek my record in the pits, and then make your wager." --Arcanis the Omnipotent
I'm both selfish and rational. I'm scheming, secretive and manipulative; I use knowledge as a tool for personal gain, and in turn obtaining more knowledge. At best, I am mysterious and stealthy; at worst, I am distrustful and opportunistic.
Before they banned the format out of existence, I was a proud supporter of Modern.
I updated your deck list, Minus_Prime. Are you going to be going with the 4 Ajani's Pridemate s or the four Serra Ascendant s (your actual deck list didn't specify)?
"Do not concern yourself with my origin, my race, or my ancestry. Seek my record in the pits, and then make your wager." --Arcanis the Omnipotent
I'm both selfish and rational. I'm scheming, secretive and manipulative; I use knowledge as a tool for personal gain, and in turn obtaining more knowledge. At best, I am mysterious and stealthy; at worst, I am distrustful and opportunistic.
Before they banned the format out of existence, I was a proud supporter of Modern.
I also have a random rules question for anybody who knows, can I use Vedalken Mastermind to bounce an evoked creature (in the case of my deck, Shriekmaw ) when it enters the battlefield but before it's sacrificed? I honestly didn't think of this before, but if it works my deck would get a pretty sizable boost from it (basically I'd get a Terror with a buyback of ).
The time is 12:06 AM. I am officially calling this contest. The submission portion of the contest is over. The only changes to the decks as they are in the first post of this thread will be to fix transfer mistakes (what appears is not what they actually submitted as their final version, in otherwords) and clarification (if they posted "card A and/or card B" and decided to specify which would be actual choice).
Now begins the 1 week process of ranking the deck lists. Please see the first post for information regarding this process. All submissions will be due by 11:59 PM, Sunday, January 16th (Central Standard Time).
If a deck did the "card A and/or Card B" thing, unless they specify otherwise, make your judgments on which gets the slot based on whatever reasoning you wish.
If you would care to have an input pertaining to the banned list and specific formatting restrictions of the next contest (which will start next week), please go to the overarching thread for this contest series, as that process will begin today.
"Do not concern yourself with my origin, my race, or my ancestry. Seek my record in the pits, and then make your wager." --Arcanis the Omnipotent
I'm both selfish and rational. I'm scheming, secretive and manipulative; I use knowledge as a tool for personal gain, and in turn obtaining more knowledge. At best, I am mysterious and stealthy; at worst, I am distrustful and opportunistic.
Before they banned the format out of existence, I was a proud supporter of Modern.
I also have a random rules question for anybody who knows, can I use Vedalken Mastermind to bounce an evoked creature (in the case of my deck, Shriekmaw ) when it enters the battlefield but before it's sacrificed? I honestly didn't think of this before, but if it works my deck would get a pretty sizable boost from it (basically I'd get a Terror with a buyback of ).
Yep, you can. SO you get a terror with buyback. The key is the word "when" in the wording of evoke. Sacrifice it when it enters the battlefield = a triggered ability that goes on the stack upon entering the battlefield. It doesn't resolve until everybody yields so you can respond by bouncing the shriekmaw .
Kamikazegerbil wrote: Coke Spill Level 1 Encounter Attack Power Trigger: You must be pouring yourself a drink Range: Close Blast 1D10 from Player Target: All creatures and objects within blast Attack: Any vs. Reflex Hit: 1d6 Fizzy damage and target is wet (save ends) Aftereffect: Target is sticky (save ends)
I also have a random rules question for anybody who knows, can I use Vedalken Mastermind to bounce an evoked creature (in the case of my deck, Shriekmaw ) when it enters the battlefield but before it's sacrificed? I honestly didn't think of this before, but if it works my deck would get a pretty sizable boost from it (basically I'd get a Terror with a buyback of ).
Yep, you can. SO you get a terror with buyback. The key is the word "when" in the wording of evoke. Sacrifice it when it enters the battlefield = a triggered ability that goes on the stack upon entering the battlefield. It doesn't resolve until everybody yields so you can respond by bouncing the shriekmaw .
Thanks!
I think that I'm going to find Vedalken Mastermind sneaking into a lot more of my decks now.
"Do not concern yourself with my origin, my race, or my ancestry. Seek my record in the pits, and then make your wager." --Arcanis the Omnipotent
I'm both selfish and rational. I'm scheming, secretive and manipulative; I use knowledge as a tool for personal gain, and in turn obtaining more knowledge. At best, I am mysterious and stealthy; at worst, I am distrustful and opportunistic.
Before they banned the format out of existence, I was a proud supporter of Modern.
My vote for deck rankings are in for Beastmaster format. Once again, don't read my rankings or reasonings until you have submitted your own deck rankings. If something is worth analyzing, it is worth analyzing to death. Deck Analysis(Part 1)Show
Really, don't read this until you have evaluated the decks based upon your own criteria. I wouldn't want to influence your decisions with my own card evaluations. ArtVenn - Elvish Piper DeckShow
I like Elvish Piper in this Beastmaster Format. The ability to drop large creature threats for next to nothing ( total cost for the first activation, for each additional activation) is quite impressive. ArtVenn is running four copies, and 4 tutors. I personally think that adding Imperial Recruiter (since it can search for nearly everything in the deck except the fatties) or adding Fauna Shaman (is an Elf creature) that could find anything in the deck (or recycle your graveyard when needed) would be good additions to the deck. (BTW, I forget if the rules allow you to search for */* cards like Darksteel Juggernaut with Imperial Recruiter when you have 3+ artifacts in play. Do you have to calculate P/T for search cards as if they were in play? I would guess not. Would it be different if the search put the card onto the battlefield? This I am not so sure of. How/Does Rule 604.3/604.3a. apply here?) I also think that Seeker of Skybreak would be a better fit for the deck than Copperhorn Scout . This is really just a judgement call though, as Copperhorn Scout gives all your creatures pseudo Vigilance (but requires an opponent with no creatures to block with lest you lose him permanently), and Seeker of Skybreak doesn't require attacking, but can only untap a single creature (although, how many big fatties to you need to block with anyway). I also feel that the deck could have been mostly green, and that would allow the deck to run an Elf ball type build so he could hard cast some of his threats instead of relying solely on Elvish Piper with cards like Quirion Ranger , Priest of Titania , Skyshroud Ranger (to accelerate land drops), (Wirewood Symbiote for bounce protection of key pieces?), Heart Warden , Skyshroud Elf (if necessary for red mana?), Wirewood Herald (to search for singleton key elf cards like Caller of the Claw ). All that being said, I don't want to change the deck completely into an Elf deck (although you must admit, Fauna Shaman would be a good addition to the deck). I am also not too sure about the choice of fatties. I like the Legendary Eldrazi, but I would only run it as a 2x of. An Elfball build would allow you to get the benefit of casting the Eldrazi as well. I like the Darksteel Colossus as well, but I am not so sure Etched Champion and Darksteel Juggernaut are the best choices. Pristine Angel is essentially the same thing as Etched Champion but is off-color (a drawback) and has flying (a bonus). Progenitus has protection from everything and is really off-color, but has a much fatter frontside and butt. I personally think that Etched Champion / Darksteel Juggernaut are not that strong, and pushed the deck into using Artifact Lands and making the deck more susceptible to disruption from Magus of the Moon /Karn, Silver Golem (not that that is an issue in this particular contest, as no one except for me put Magus of the Moon in their deck). Personally, I would have preferred to have seen Norwood Priestess in the deck as well as Elvish Piper, and then replace your Artifact/Colorless creatures with Verdant Force , Progenitus , Terastodon , Woodfall Primus , Phantom Nishoba , Novablast Wurm , etc. allowing your land base to be less based on nonbasics. Norwood Priestess can't drop Ashling the Pilgrim (personally i prefer Bloodfire Colossus /Magma Phoenix as the former is more of a rattlesnake and fattie, and the latter has recursion built in...not to mention neither are legendary). But, even if you can't drop Ashling, you still have Elvish Piper for that, and with enough tutors it shouldn't be too difficult to find him. Like I said, personal preference on my part (I prefer the consistency of having multiple cards that have the same effect, and tutors to find those cards). This is not a dig towards this particular deck build, just a style choice on my part.
CadaverousBl00m - Elemental, My Dear Watson DeckShow
I am not sure exactly what to think of this deck. At first glance, it appears to be all over the place (I don't mean this just because Flamekin Harbinger allows the deck to play a toolbox of Elementals). The deck is similar to ArtVenn's Elvish Piper deck, with its focus on Incandescent Soulstoke . I think the strongest combo in the deck is putting Reveillark into play with Incandescent Soulstoke , with Flamekin Harbinger +Mulldrifter in the graveyard. This allows the deck to stack the top of the library with the Elemental card they would like to draw and draw it immediately. Even without that particular combo, Reveillark can return the key card of the deck Incandescent Soulstoke or Smokebraider / Ashling the Pilgrim. Even with that being said, I don't know if I am particularly sold on the Elementals that were selected for the deck. Purity seems out of place. In a creature/lands only format, the odds of anyone playing a creature that deals damage outside of combat is fairly rare (I suppose, for a while there I did have my Pestilence creature deck, and Purity would have completely hosed it), and does work well with Ashling the Pilgrim , so I am not completely against it. Wispmare should at most be a singleton, and Faultgrinder /Ingot Chewer could both probably be replaced by a singleton Stingmoggie . Ashenmoor Liege also doesn't seem like a great fit for the deck. 13 of the 40 creatures aren't Black or Red, and therefore gain nothing from him being in play. Even if was initially added to combat Plague Spitter (et. al.), it would require two being in play since they only pump other Black/Red creatures. Meadowboon also seems out of place, as I can't think of a time I would prefer it over a copy of Vigor in hand. Thorn Elemental is nice, but I would prefer to see Tornado Elemental in its place (6 damage to fliers seems better to me than 1 more damage). I also would prefer to have seen Living Inferno in place of Hateflayer , although that is a judgement call since splitting damage is sometimes worse than Wither damage plus combat damage. Mirror Entity could have been a good Elemental to add to the deck as well. Purity and Vigor both would be difficult to hardcast without Smokebraider in play, and I would personally have played a minimum of 22 lands (considering Smokebraider are mana dorks). This is another of those decks that is severely hampered by Magus of the Moon . As far as the landbase goes, I can't see not running 4xAncient Ziggurat . You only lose the ability to use the mana to activate Ashling, Incandescent Soulstoke, Hateflayer, and Ashen Firebeast, but that is only a total of 8 cards from 40. Not only that, but where are the 4xPrimal Beyond ? It would seem to me that they would be an automatic inclusion. If this deck was going to stay 5-color, I would add 2xHorde of Notions . This would give you the ability to return your fattie Elementals from your graveyard that Reveillark cannot. I would also probably up Reveillark to 4 copies. The Mulldrifter + Flamekin Harbinger is too good, and at a minimum Reveillark returns your key card Incandescent Soulstoke . I could also see this deck as a mostly Red/Green deck. There are lots of great Elementals in those colors. Liege of the Tangle (no one is playing False Prophet ) that gives you lots of 8/8 green fatties, Regal Force / Skullmulcher (that draw you lots of card), Wilderness Elemental (considering the meta, could be a fattie that you could actually hardcast early), Living Hive /Avenger of Zendikar (gives you an army of tokens even though it gets sacrificed), Barishi (shuffles your Elementals back into your library...this could be good or bad), Forgotten Ancient +Kulrath Knight acts as both board control and creature pump (not to mention Forgotten Ancient is also fun with Magmasaur or Rage Forger ), Timbermare (although Thundermare already exists), and to a lesser extent cards like Fertilid . I could also see this deck as a mostly Red/Blue deck, using cards like Nova Chaser , Changeling Berserker , and Supreme Exemplar . Either using them defensively using Incandescent Soulstoke's ability to temporarily exile Incandescent Soulstoke or other Elemental from destruction, or to hardcast Nova Chaser after putting an Elemental into play with Incandescent Soulstoke saving that card from being sacrificed (later coming back into play for free when Nova Chaser gets destroyed). In this type of deck, I would like to see more Elementals with Enters the Battlefield triggers (EtB), such as Thundermare , Thunderblust , Coal Stoker / Morselhoarder , AEthersnipe /Nevermaker , Spitebellows , Mulldrifter , or even cards like Sunflare Shaman I could also see the deck as Red/Black, with Necroskitter , Soul Snuffers , Kulrath Knight , and Igneous Pouncer . There are also probably enough Elementals in Red that you could make it monored if you wanted too...Taurean Mauler , Rockslide Elemental , Blazing Effigy , Brighthearth Banneret / Grinning Ignus , War Elemental , Spitemare , Stigma Lasher , Chandra's Spitfire , Pyroclast Consul , plus the numerous Red Elementals mention previously. I don't think the deck build is optimal, but it definitely isn't bad. My biggest complaints would be the lack of Horde of Notions for fattie recursion, Primal Beyond which would smooth out the mana, and a couple of Elementals that could be singletons in my opinion.
I will leave my critique until after everyone has submitted their opinions. I wouldn't want to taint everyone else's opinion, especially regarding my own deck.
I have to say that Cathaldus has created what I would call a near optimum build. I can hardly think of any cards that I would play in place of what is already there. His deck is designed around bounce and control, and although it is a little mana intensive, it does that very well. I personally would have liked to see the inclusion of something like Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir (or to a lesser extent Shifty Doppelganger /Metathran Aerostat ). Teferi would allow the decks targeted bounce / destruction to be cast during his opponent to the right's End of Turn (EOT). This allows him the maximum flexibility on his cards. That being said, it isn't a huge loss as Cadaver Imp gets to return killed creatures, and Man-o'-War / Nekrataal get to bounce/kill nearly everything except those creatures with haste, the deck should be able to hold off most threats even without Flash. I almost want to see Waterspout Elemental in this deck, but I am not sure if the deck would be improved with it (and what would you take out?) Now personally, I wouldn't play these single targeted spells. I think that the deck could be reworked to include the Soul Snuffers +Necroskitter combo, with Thrummingbird providing Proliferate to keep the combo going, (Saprazzan Skerry / Peat Bog might be worth consideration as a way of speeding up the deck, with Dimir Aqueduct as backup for when you don't have the bird), and perhaps 2xCarnifex Demon for finishers instead of Grave Titan . The nice thing about this combo is that Dimir Infiltrator can tutor the Thrummingbird / Vedalken Mastermind, Drift of Phantasms tutors Necroskitter / Man-o'-War / Cadaver Imp / Shadowmage Infiltrator, and Dimir House Guard can find Soul Snuffers , and Ethereal Usher finds Carnifex Demon and works well with Thrummingbird before you get 2x Carnifex Demons on the board. The tutors could allow you to reduce the number of other duplicate cards, while still providing you consistency. This really would be a different deck though, focusing on stealing creatures not just trying to control the board and bounce stuff/kill stuff that might be coming your way. All in all, a perfect (or nearly perfect) deck. I congratulate you Cathaldus on your deck building expertise.
Really, don't read this until you have evaluated the decks based upon your own criteria. I wouldn't want to influence your decisions with my own card evaluations. Elder_Kraken - Taste the RainbowDeckShow
Since Elder_Kraken's deck is very similar to CadaverousBl00m's deck, I am not going to rehash all my previous comments. Instead I will talk about what I really liked, and what I didn't like so much in this particular build. First, the positive. This deck features 4xPrimal Beyond , which CadaverousBl00m was missing, but the deck doesn't include 4xAncient Ziggurat (only 10 of the 41 creatures can't use the mana to use there abilities, I hardly think that is reason enough not to use them). I like Horde of Notions in the deck, but I am not sure I would play it as more than a 2x-3x of. Shriekmaw is a 4x which makes sense in a creature only format. I like Blazing Effigy as a nice early blocker, and as a way to lightning bolt a creature (or deal 6 with one on the board and one Soulstoked into play). My favorite addition to the deck by far is Doomgape though. You might be thinking to yourself though, when is he going to have the mana to cast Doomgape , the answer is never (well, not really never, but 7 CMC is quite a bit)...he doesn't have to. The interesting thing about Incandescent Soulstoke 's ability is that the creature lasts until the beginning of the next end step. Luckily, if you do this during the opponent to your rights EOT the "beginning of end step" has already passed. You will get to sacrifice Doomgape and gain 10 life (or some other creature if you want to respond to his upkeep trigger by Incadescent Soulstoking something else into play). Now the bad. Wispmare & Ingot Chewer just don't belong in this format (or at most they belong as singletons). Running 2x copies each is going to set you up for dead draws. This deck again features only 20 land where I would only be comfortable playing with 22 (and it has 61 cards too). I would have liked Nova Chaser again as a way of saving your key pieces or saving Soulstoked creatures from being sacrificed, but Horde of Notions does make up for it somewhat.
I like this deck, because I know how explosive Elves can be in multiplayer. And although I do like it, I think that there are some things that are just missing from the deck that would greatly improve it. Starting with the landbase, I don't think that Red mana is necessary at all for the deck. It is only in there so you could get a manland (Treetop Village could just as easily fit that bill, or better yet Mutavault ), and to cast Bloodbraid Elf . Bloodbraid Elf is a good card, but I don't like the fact that you don't get to choose what elf you hit when he cascades. You might get lucky and hit Imperious Perfect or some other elf lord, or you might just get Viridian Zealot / Thornweald Archer. Too random for my taste, but a Lord pumped Bloodbraid Elf (the only hasty non-changeling elf) might make people think twice about leaving themselves undefended with no blockers. Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers is another strange inclusion. It only interacts with 4 cards in the deck. I would liked to have seen Yavimaya Hollow in its place, as regeneration is a much better ability than a small +1/+1 pump (and it works on all your creatures). As for the other lands, I might have added an additional Gaea's Cradle (but only if I added more elf token generators to the deck (see last paragraph), or another way to abuse your token generators). One thing that I think is missing in the deck is a way to generate a large amount of card advantage. One way of doing this would be to add Wirewood Symbiote to the deck as a way to bounce Sylvan Messenger (although, as the only card with an EtB trigger it might not be worth it. Perhaps if Elvish Harbinger , Elvish Visionary / Multani's Acolyte , Deranged Hermit , Farhaven Elf /Wood Elves /Yavimaya Granger if some combination of them were in the deck as well? Another combo is with Masked Admirers +Rhys the Exiled , allowing you to regenerate Rhys and get back Masked Admirers the next time you cast a creature for (Masked Admirers also works well with Lys Alana Scarblade ). really wish the deck had some creature tutors. Tutors are quite powerful in this format, and they allow you to run singletons of cards that you wouldn't always want to draw, or allow you to find cards you really need. Skyshroud Poacher would probably be the best tutor for the deck, but Elvish Harbinger and Wirewood Herald wouldn't be bad either. I think you could focus less on some of the weaker Lords (why isn't Joraga Warcaller one of your lords?), and put some Tutors and singleton "answer" cards in the deck. Singletons like Elvish Soultiller , Caller of the Claw , Nath's Elite , Jagged-Scar Archers (instead of Thornweald Archer ), Sages of the Anima (another card advantage card, but dipping into Blue), Momir Vig, Simic Visionary (CA and tutor, but again dipping into Blue), Heritage Druid / Joraga Treespeaker / Birchlore Rangers (fun with lots of token elves to multikick Joraga Warcaller ), Quirion Druid (fun with Nath's Elite ), Wellwisher (I know you have Rhys, but Wellwisher might be superior if you see my suggestion below regarding untapping during opponents turns/token generation), or Keeper of Progenitus (if you were playing with more basics). I realize that this deck is an Elf Lords deck, and you want to probably want to stay on that theme, but at a certain point it is better to stray from the theme when better more powerful options exist. I think your weakest Lord by far is Wilt-Leaf Liege . He has zero synergy with the rest of the deck. If you replaced him with Murkfiend Liege (still a lord, but not an elf), you would be able to untap your Imperious Perfect to create extra tokens. If you were worried about having the mana available, that is what the singletons of Heritage Druid /Birchlore Rangers are for (Joraga Treespeaker not so much as the tokens suffer from summoning sickness), or you could do something dangerous and add Ambush Commander to the deck to untap all your forests as well (or just add Seedborn Muse , Patron of the Orochi ). Truthfully, before you added a card like Murkfiend Liege (or other untapper) it would be best to add some other cards (possibly only as singletons) with in their activations like Bloodline Shaman , Rhys the Redeemed , Voice of the Woods , Timberwatch Elf (works well with Viridian Joiner ), Frontier Guide , or Immaculate Magistrate (did I mention how much I thought Joraga Warcaller should be in the deck?). Even a card without tap in its activation like Wren's Run Packmaster comes with its own army when Seedborn Muse is on your side (Winding Canyons would allow you to abuse Wirewood Symbiote as well). verall, I like the deck but I think that focusing less on the Lord theme (with Joraga Warcaller being the biggest omission), using more creature tutors like Skyshroud Poacher to find situational elf cards, using cards that untap your creatures during other opponents turns or that generate card advantage through other means would have improved the deck. A good build, but not optimal in my opinion.
I love the concept of this deck much more than I like its execution. For one, it seems unnecessary to add Green and Blue to the deck. All this did was make the deck more suceptible to Magus of the Moon . I would much rather have seen this deck be monowhite (or nearly monowhite). Nearly monowhite would allow the deck to feature Emeria, the Sky Ruin and/or Mistveil Plains , with a higher probability of having 7 plains within a game. The only creature that needs it is Plaxcaster Frogling , and what it does could just as easily be accomplished with Mistmeadow Witch (which only requires one off-color mana, Blue). Not only that, but Mistmeadow Witch could be used offensively to destroy tokens, or remove +1/+1 counters off of creatures/temporarily remove a Lord (the only nonwhite creatures that are immune to the Godhead of Awe +Crovax, Ascendant Hero lock are creatures with +1/+1 counters or Lords that pump themselves, or 2xLords). Blue could also be used to search out the combo, with Ethereal Usher finding Crovax, Ascendant Hero (and Graven Dominator ). You could reduce the number of Crovax down to 2x copies (since he protects himself) and possibly add a toolbox of 6 CMC creatures (Sun Titan , Captain of the Watch , Sunblast Angel ). Although you don't need Mistmeadow Witch, the deck would be much better with it included, so to find it quicker could almost be behind adding Red/Black to the deck for either Imperial Recruiter /Dimir Infiltrator (although this messes up the manabase again). Other creatures that could replace Glimmerpoint Stag (not that it is that bad), are Galepowder Mage (reusable blink which I think makes it superior, and more useful with Graven Dominator), Admonition Angel (6 CMC so it could be a singleton), and Flickerwisp (which is Transmuteable via Drift of Phantasms . f the deck becomes more monocolored (or at a minimum WU), and the deck focuses on blink cards then cards like Ranger of Eos /Reveillark look amazing, especially if you add Serra Ascendant to the deck (the deck aleady features a mini Soul Sister's build in it). nother possibility besides running the Soul Sisters combo, the deck could branch into a more controlled approach. Magus of the Disk , Windborn Muse /Magus of the Moat , Hokori, Dust Drinker , and (Dust Elemental to bounce Magus / Hokori) are all brutal control cards and they are all 4 CMC (too bad Dimir House Guard is black). verall, I think the deck is good, I would just once again have prefered to see some creature tutors to ensure that you actually get the combo when you want it. Certain creatures like Wall of Omens could just as easily been Drift of Phantasms (which can find Azorius AEthermage which works well with Stormfront Riders and/or Stonecloaker /Whitemane Lion /Dust Elemental ).Not that I think you should, I don't think that Wall of Omens / Stormfront Riders fit well against the other cards in the deck. I am just saying, you have other options. like the deck concept, but it appears to me that the deck is running three small combos, kill all nonwhite creatures, lifegain and pump Ajani, and bounce stuff too your own hand. It would have been better to focus on one of the combos, or at a minimum increase the number of tutors so that you actually have the pieces in hand/play to pull off one of the combos.
This deck will absolutely, without a doubt piss off and disrupt a hell of a lot of the other decks. It is another deck that is highly disrupted by Magus of the Moon , and it is another deck that could really have used some creature/land tutors. Everything in the deck is either 2 CMC, 3 CMC, and 4 CMC, meaning that Dimir Infiltrator , Drift of Phantasms , and Dimir House Guard could have been used to find the particular card that the deck needed at that particular time. This could have allowed the deck to run a toolbox of creatures and not run so many duplicates of cards that don't have effects that stack, (i.e. Maralen of the Mornsong , Merieke Ri Berit , Hokori, Dust Drinker , and Loxodon Gatekeeper ). Roiling Horror I don't like in the deck. I don't think it is that strong of a creature, and would suit the deck better as a singleton Urborg Syphon-Mage searchable via Drift of Phantasms (or a 3x direct replacement). I think you will find that too often it will be coming out as a 1/1 or worse (since it looks at all opponents. It will have a very bad matchup vs. Minus_Prime - Aryan Lockdown or Helphelpe - Elf Lords decks). Speaking of the Transmute tutors. How nice would it be to have singletons of Hokori, Dust Drinker in the deck instead of 4x copies of him, when you can use a singleton of Hokori in play plus Glen Elendra Pranksters preventing your opponents from untapping all but one land, while you cast Stonecloaker on your opponent to your right's EOT and bounce Hokori and Exile a card from someone's graveyard (you can do this each turn for a total of ). Better yet, you can just use Soul Sculptor +Stonecloaker and Hokori to do the same thing for (Soul Sculptor / Maralen are both 3 CMC). You could also run singletons of Magus of the Disk +Dust Elemental and wipe the board for 4+5 mana spread over two turns. If you wanted more precise destruction, Pentarch Paladin or Mangara of Corondor +Mistmeadow Witch . All that said, I am still not sure these white control schemes are right for this deck. I am not even sure about the Transmute tutors. I like that they allow you to run fewer duplicates, but Transmute runs counter to Leonin Arbiter (although with Soul Sculptor , you could make yourself immune to any of your own cards, and just use a single gating creature at each CMC Whitemane Lion , Stonecloaker , Dust Elemental plus the Transmuters). I like the key components of the deck, the Leonin Arbiter +Maralen of the Mornsong lockdown. I just wish the deck was running more lifegain (so you wouldn't have to worry yourself about the -3 life per upkeep). You could almost drop Blue and still have nearly the same deck, with Preacher /Witch Hunter replacing Giant Oyster / Merieke Ri Berit (giving the stuff back kind of sucks, but perhaps Rats of Rath ?), and Spelltithe Enforcer could replace Grand Arbiter Augustin IV . It also worries me that if an opponent has an answer to Maralen of the Mornsong , they get to find it because of her. The only way to avoid that is to have multiple Leonin Arbiter s in play before you cast Maralen. I suppose that even if they go find an answer, they would likely have to tap out (or get close to tapping out, so you might be able to cast Hokori / Grand Arbiter and make it unlikely that they have the mana to cast their "answer" card...this is assuming you have the mana available to cast Hokori (etc.) because they were already in your hand, or you actually had the mana to pay for Leonin Arbiter . I just can't imagine this happening that often, people will find answers but they will likely be down 6-9 life by the time that they do (still, one Magus of the Moon and your pretty much screwed). I am going to have to goldfish this deck a couple of times (more than the others) to get an idea how to play it properly. I bow my head to you SirCurry for your devious deck design. Even if your deck doesn't win, it will surely leave an impression (as Cathaldus's Pauper Stax deck did in the previous contest.
Another deck that I would argue is a near optimum build. The only change I would make is switching Dimir Infiltrator for Imperial Recruiter . The advantage of this is you get a 1/1 blocker, it only requires 1 colored mana (not a huge advantage), and it can search for all the cards in the deck (with the exception of Primeval Titan ) which is 12 more cards than Dimir Infiltrator can search for. My only guess as to why Tich did not do this is because he thought using a $200+ dollar card in a multiplayer deck was unreasonable. Although Tich purports that his deck would be an instant loss to Magus of the Moon , I don't think this is completely true. He might get lucky to draw 2+ copies of Birds of Paradise / Utopia Tree . This will happen approximately 40%-45% of the time by Turn 2-3 (the earliest that Magus is likely to come out (those odds aren't what I would call an instant loss, but they aren't good either). Now personally, I would have included fewer copies of cards like Ethereal Usher to make room for a singleton Basic Forest. This is especially true if the Dimir Infiltrator to Imperial Recriuter switch is made. This would slow the deck by a Turn, but would make it resistant to Magus, since you only need a single Forest to cast Birds of Paradise/Utopia Tree, and a single (plus your BoP) gets you access to most of the deck Eternal Witness / Primeval Titan / Fauna Shaman (which can find a second BoP) / Ethereal Usher. You can't pull off the Vampire Hexmage+Dark Depths trick, but you might be able to kill the controller of Magus with Primeval Titan beatdown, and then resume your 20/20 token generating tricks. In fact the simplest answer is probably just to play a singleton Riftstone Portal . You can search this card out first and never play it. If Magus locks you out, you will eventually have to discard it. These changes aren't truly necessary (as a 60%-55% chance of a loss isn't horrible), but just a personal meta choice that I would make. The only other thing that worries me about the deck is that the 20/20 tokens are legendary. If the deck goes on the offensive, it doesn't have much back home to protect itself from Trampling creatures. I just wish Arbiter of Knollridge was 6 CMC, then the choice to attack would be easy. Just kill off the weakest links first, and go after the life gaining players last, since if they don't have flying attackers they will have to kill your Vigilant Giant which you can recur with Eternal Witness. I congratulate Tich on a deck well built. 20/20 indestructible flying tokens will wreck havoc at any multiplayer table.
I just have to say that I was very impressed with all the entries. Although I made lots of suggestions about what I would have done, I thought all of the decks were very well built. Everyones decks were much better overall than the submission in Pauper Multiplayer format. In this particular contest, I think it would be very difficult to figure out how well a deck would do with regard to the other submissions, so much of basis of my ranking is on how well the deck goldfished for me (how quickly it could get a kill, or set up a lock, or draw into removal, etc.), and overall how well I think the deck was constructed. The above scores are based to on how well I think they would do in a 4-5 person Free For All (FFA) vs. the other decks, but keep in mind that there are 35 possible (4 vs. 4) games with 8 contestants. I wish I awarded points for how solid a deck was built. If I did Cathaldus and Tich would probably swap places with helphelpe and Minus_Prime.
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for each additional activation) is quite impressive. ArtVenn is running four copies, and 4 tutors. I personally think that adding 
