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11 months ago ::
Jul 10, 2012 - 10:19AM
#61
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Date Joined:
Jun 12, 2011
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Serra Avatar  is only good when you can cheat  it into play 
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11 months ago ::
Jul 10, 2012 - 11:43AM
#62
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Date Joined:
Jun 20, 2011
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This is my favorite deck by far, I guess I tend to like white control decks.
I play this with all removal / recumbent bliss. Total control, really fun deck that I love to use in 1v1. Favorite moves include 1 or 2 serra ascendants on board, and I either sword to plowshare one of my own creatures, or solemn offering a basilisk collar to get over 30 life. And again, well of lost dreams is amazing.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 10, 2012 - 6:14PM
#63
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Date Joined:
Jul 10, 2012
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Hi guys,
I want to post my decklist for some advice. I'm a complete Magic noob. Never played the card game. My only experience has been the past week with my iPad and I'm hooked. I'm not really good with strategy games where you need to combo the things you play to setup the win (ie: I suck at chess) but I like trying.
Anyway, I like this deck because it's easy for me to understand the mechanics and the cards. I tried playing with the black deck, and a control strategy seems difficult to be good at. I play this deck aggressively (or aggro, I guess!) at the beginning of the game, and then I try to defend until I can either play a winning condition or build some creatures that can deal a lot of damage.
Here's my noob build. Compared to other builds I've seen here, it might seem like I play some weird cards, but I'll explain after.
60 cards
Basilisk Collar
Cathedral Sanctifier
Elixir of Immortality
Serra Ascendant x3
Soul Warden x3
Swords to Plowshares x2
Ajani's Pridemate x4
Ajani's Sunstriker
Knight of Meadowgrain x2
Lone Missionary
Pearl Medallion x2
Kemba's Skyguard x2
Recumbent Bliss
Solemn Offering x2
Chastise x2
Day of Judgment x2
Well of Lost Dreams
Baneslayer Angel
Celestial Mane
Felidar Sovereign
So now, until I figure out the game better, this is why I play some of the less common cards:
Cathedral Sanctifier, Ajani's Sunstriker and Lone Missionary - I've played many online games against fast decks (Goblins, Peacekeepers) where I think I need lots of little creatures that I can play quickly to weather the storm against all of their little creatures. (I've got 15 creatures that are 2-drop or less) The only other card that's saved me against players who get a lot of creatures on the board is Day of Judgment. I don't want my life to dip too far below 20, since I'm trying to build to 30 and 40.
Elixir - only included because it's saved me everytime I've played Dream Puppets.
Ajani's Mantra - only because it's +1 life every turn, and my online opponents don't usually target this for removal.
Pearl Medallion x2 - I see some people excluding this card because of all of the 1- and 2-drops, but I play it so I can get the Felidar out quicker, and still have mana to cast other things or to spend on Well of Lost Dreams.
And there's a bunch of cards that I see in other decks that I don't use:
Loxodon Warhammer - am I wrong to think that this card costs too much to get into play, or am I just being a mana cheapskate?
Rhox Faithmender - since I'm looking to play aggro in the early game, if I draw this card, it just slows me down, I think.
Seraph of Dawn - once again, I chose to go the cheaper route with the cheaper flyers like Kemba, and hope to supplement my flyers with Serra Ascendant when I get to 30.
Archon of Redemption - same rationale as Seraph.
Beacon of Immortality - I chose to play Celestial Mantle over this card, since it's a doubling card but also adds +3/+3.
Purity - I've seen this in some builds, but I'd rather play Baneslayer Angel, who costs 1 less and packs more abilities.
Any recommendations on where I might be going wrong with my deck, or subtler things I might be missing?
Thanks! Looking forward to learning lots and hopefully contributing something useful to these forums in the future.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 11, 2012 - 9:03AM
#64
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Date Joined:
Sep 17, 2011
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Doctor, your list is good and you certainly have the right mentality when playing the deck (beat them down as much as possible early, then defend until you draw your bombs). I will just offer a bit of advice if I may? You shouldn't be focusing on getting your health to 30 (and ESPECIALLY not 40. Relying on Felidar Sovereign  as a win condition will only lead to disappointment 9 times out of 10). I can't stress this enough... You win duels by getting your opponent's life to 0, not your own to 9999. I have beaten Celestial Light after it got its hp up to over 300 (not 9000!!!! unfortunately) more than once. Similarly I have been beaten when my hp has gone to ridiculous heights...you must focus on killing your opponent, because card advantage >>> hp advantage. Life gain should always do something else other than just gain life. Against properly built decks and good players, you will rarely get your hp to 30 and keep it there for long, and even if/when you do your 6/6 fliers can still be removed. They're strong yes but not something you want to rely too much on (obviously 2hg is an entirely different matter). With that in mind I don't think Cathedral Sanctifier  and Lone Missionary  are worth including. I understand where you're coming from against the fast decks, but to be honest I've already got 14 early creatures (2x Serra Ascendant  , 4x Soul Warden  , 4x Ajani's Pridemate  , 2x Knight of Meadowgrain  and 2x Kemba's Skyguard  ) to do that for me. I have found that in most duels these are more than enough to fend off early offenses, especially from Odric and Exalted and usually from Goblins. Also, your 2 x Pearl Medallion  s are doing nothing but taking up draws where you could draw that crucial Swords to Plowshares  or Day of Judgement  . The only way I would ever recommend keeping the medallions in this particular decks was if you ran Serra Avatar , Purity  and both Baneslayer Angel  s, but your most expensive cards are two 6 CMC ones. As for Elixir of Immortality  ...I understand why you've got it in there against Mill, but this deck already has a fairly good matchup against Dream Puppets unless they draw a god hand (and as long as you focus on the early aggro strategy). Also, and I've said this in response to cards in other decks such as Mark of Asylum  in Exalted Darkness, pinning your hopes on a '1 of' card against one deck out of 10 will usually end up in disappointment. Not to mention Dream Puppets usually sends tonnes of cards from your deck to your graveyard, and probability says that in many duels your Elixir will be one of them. I don't disagree with this choice, but it's not one I would personally run with. Sorry if any of that sounded like I was ripping on you, I assure you I wasn't! There are many different ways to run decks in DOTP 2013. More importantly there are many RIGHT ways to run decks in DOTP 2013. If your build is working for you stick with it! People only offer their advice, and realise that many cards are a matter of personal opinion. Glad you're enjoying the game, have fun! EDIT: Oh and Loxodon Warhammer  ? It's undercosted, not overcosted. Amazing card ^^
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11 months ago ::
Jul 11, 2012 - 2:08PM
#65
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Date Joined:
Jul 31, 2011
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Loxodon Warhammer - am I wrong to think that this card costs too much to get into play, or am I just being a mana cheapskate?
Loxodon Warhammer + Ajani's Pridemate can be very powerful.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 11, 2012 - 4:45PM
#66
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I didn't take much notice of this deck at first but now since the Promo Unlocks I tried it out again and it's amazing. Soul Warden + Ajani's Pridemate is an unbelievable combo, especially when followed up by a Kemba's Skyguard . The additional Baneslayer Angel is just what the deck needed aswell.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 12, 2012 - 1:06AM
#67
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Date Joined:
Jun 23, 2011
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I don't have time to post a full decklist but I am very interested in playing this deck as a white control / stall deck that uses mill as an alternative win condition, and runs all of the "double life" enchants together with the 1/5 rhinoceros monk dude.
I had a game as mono black control (liliana) where an opponent was able to slap the 6 mana enchant on his creature and I had no murders. Ok, I took a few damage, nothing impossible. He slapped a *second* one on his creature and I was sure that the card advantage gained by 3 for 1 ing him would kill him. He didn't have well of lost dreams.
3 beacons of immortality later and he is at 2000 life. I have practiclaly my entire deck out, griselbrand, rune-scarred, grave titan, etc, before I start to realize that I can't possibly win.
Just curious what experience people have had with this sorta build. Only had time to play 3 games, won 2 and lost 1 to talrand, its not at all a good matchup vs talrand.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 12, 2012 - 3:14AM
#68
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Date Joined:
Feb 27, 2011
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I don't have time to post a full decklist but I am very interested in playing this deck as a white control / stall deck that uses mill as an alternative win condition, and runs all of the "double life" enchants together with the 1/5 rhinoceros monk dude.
I had a game as mono black control (liliana) where an opponent was able to slap the 6 mana enchant on his creature and I had no murders. Ok, I took a few damage, nothing impossible. He slapped a *second* one on his creature and I was sure that the card advantage gained by 3 for 1 ing him would kill him. He didn't have well of lost dreams.
3 beacons of immortality later and he is at 2000 life. I have practiclaly my entire deck out, griselbrand, rune-scarred, grave titan, etc, before I start to realize that I can't possibly win.
Just curious what experience people have had with this sorta build. Only had time to play 3 games, won 2 and lost 1 to talrand, its not at all a good matchup vs talrand.
I ran a control(ish) build for a while. Like you said, it loses out to talrand, and can also be a bad match-up against Yeva (although not so much), as they're both late-game bloomers; it's also a bit iffy against mill -- I had a game once when I was down to 20 cards and used a , but by the end I was being milled 20 cards a turn!
I'm trying a more aggro build atm, and while it's much better against the control decks like talrand, it fizzles a bit against some other decks, like lilliana. Overall, I think I might prefer a more control build (I just wish we had 1 more day of judgment  and swords to plowshare  !). Basically the tactic would be to keep healthy/keep your opponents creatures at bay until you have enough mana to wipe the board and follow with a massive WSZ, or other suitable bomb/s the next turn, rinse and repeat -- this would also have two alternate win cons in felidar and mill.
My favourite play is an opening hand with day of judgment , letting the opponent fill the board with creatures (perhaps drop a knight of meadowgrain to keep them at bay), then day of judgment when the time is right. Follow that by soul warden and ajani's pridemate, and it's essentially gg.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 12, 2012 - 2:55PM
#69
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Tough deck to figure out. So far aggro seems to be the way to go (the lifegain and larger bodies do a pretty good job against other aggro, and you have a chance to outrace control). But it's not great at aggro.. in a decent game you'll do 10+ damage by the time they get stabilized and *hopefully* pick off the rest with fliers if they take out your Pridemate. Plus, aggro is easier to get going again after you Wrath the board clear. Anyone had great luck going the full late-game route? It seems like you could, with Felidar's alternate win-con, the Serra Avatar , the Serra Ascendant s, the White Sun's Zenith  .. if you can keep card advantage. On the flip side, I don't know if I want to play hour long 1-on-1 grindfests
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11 months ago ::
Jul 13, 2012 - 7:46PM
#70
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I wish this deck was played a LOT less than it is played now in 2HG. Too many serra ascendant grinders goin down to 3-4 cards for it.
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