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5 months ago ::
Jan 20, 2013 - 11:08AM
#641
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Date Joined:
Jul 12, 2012
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Agreed that the Champion is a necessary finisher. The deck really wants to win mostly before the late-game. It delays the first set of late-game threats through forcing discard, but after that its only defense against late-game threats are Barrin's Spite  (which only bounces the stronger card), a single counter, and Painful Quandary  .
Grimgrin still exists.
I haven't tested him yet, how many times would you say you've resolved him. And how many of those times did he make an impact? I'm really curious about him.....
He is pretty decent - I've won a number games just by attacking with him. The combo of Grimgrin + Neurok Invisimancer is great - cast the Invisimancer to make Grimgrin unblockable, then sac it to Grimgrin to attack is my favorite. The fact it requires a creature to sac is ok most of the time since your opponent will also lose a creature.
But he can be interrupted and that part could really screw you. On the other hand, if you block an attack and sacrifice a blocker that would otherwise die to Grimgrin then the risk is much lower. You can also sac a creature as they attack and then block with Grimgrin to kill it, but I wouldn't do that unless they were tapped out or it was something like PI with no instant-speed removal.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 20, 2013 - 11:09AM
#642
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Played a bunch of 2HG with my buddy who is running Painful Quandary . In most of our games, My creatures stalled the game out and when he dropped the Quandary, people just got stupid. It's like people either completely freeze up and don't want to play anything, or they treat their 6-card hand like a treasured resource and burn through their life in a few turns. This becomes a double-lock when he threw down Sangromancer  . Opponent turns began to take forever as they tried to figure out what to do until they managed to remove the Quandary, and any creature kills were quickly rectified with Necromantic Thirst  on one of my critters to get him his creatures back. I especially like the way this deck comboes with my version of Peacekeepers (mostly flyers) and DP with the mill cut out. Wanna try it alongside Ajani and see what come about.
Of all things, Death is least permanent.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 20, 2013 - 11:12AM
#643
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Do you think Harvester of Souls  could be cut to fit in Grimgrin? I find that by the time Harvester hits, I don't have any available removal so I'm not drawing cards from him all that often. Or should I cut both and run both of the 5-cmc enchantments instead?
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5 months ago ::
Jan 20, 2013 - 11:29AM
#644
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Date Joined:
Jul 12, 2012
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I'm not sure about the 5cc enchantments - I haven't tested a build with both of them. I think I had both in when I first started playing the deck but I've changed the build so much since then that I would need to test it further. Grimgrin is better than the Harvester, though. At least for me, I've had more attacks with Grimgrin than I have drawn cards from the Harvester.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 20, 2013 - 12:07PM
#645
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I'm not sure about the 5cc enchantments - I haven't tested a build with both of them. I think I had both in when I first started playing the deck but I've changed the build so much since then that I would need to test it further. Grimgrin is better than the Harvester, though. At least for me, I've had more attacks with Grimgrin than I have drawn cards from the Harvester.
Yeah, I've been leaning this way; I'm gonna make the switch and test it out.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 20, 2013 - 2:33PM
#646
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Date Joined:
Jun 30, 2011
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This deck is frustrating because it has really fun combos but the removal is mediocre. This deck needs 2 or 3 copies of Barter in Blood 
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5 months ago ::
Jan 20, 2013 - 3:43PM
#647
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This deck is frustrating because it has really fun combos but the removal is mediocre. This deck needs 2 or 3 copies of Barter in Blood
When I think blue, I think counterspells; when I think black, I think removal. This deck does neither. It's not a bad deck, but it's not a good one either. I still find it fun to play, however, if only because of the underdog factor.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 20, 2013 - 5:09PM
#648
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I haven't tested him yet, how many times would you say you've resolved him. And how many of those times did he make an impact? I'm really curious about him.....
Grimgrin has been great. My strategy has been discard heavy, and I've always been happy to see Grimgrin. I haven't read every post in this topic, but I have seen some discussion about Grimgrin. From what I've seen, I'd say there're people both for and against Grimgrin that are playing him wrong. I'd also be bold enough to say that Grimgrin is the most skill intensive card in the game. He's been very rewarding for me, and I can't see myself cutting him.
I'm not sure about the 5cc enchantments - I haven't tested a build with both of them. I think I had both in when I first started playing the deck but I've changed the build so much since then that I would need to test it further. Grimgrin is better than the Harvester, though. At least for me, I've had more attacks with Grimgrin than I have drawn cards from the Harvester.
I've been liking both 5cc enchantments. Dire Undercurrents  I originally underrated. It's the only discard effect that doesn't involve creature combat or having a Guildmage survive. Even if your opponent is topdecking, it's really nice to be able to play any blue creature and have it replace itself upon entry. Now I can't see myself cutting it.
From what I've gathered though, I'm playing this deck slightly differently than others, which may explain my success with Dire Undercurrents and Grimgrin. I think Double G is becoming one of my favorite U/B creatures.
Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 deck builds and analysis: http://megamaster125.angelfire.com/dotp2013/ Another one of my websites: http://megamaster125.angelfire.com/rationalchristianity/ 
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5 months ago ::
Jan 20, 2013 - 7:00PM
#649
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Date Joined:
Jul 12, 2012
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Yeah Dire Undercurrents is outstanding - no argument there. I think it is better than Painful Quandary but I haven't run both in my current build yet, but I will add Painful Quandary and test both together for awhile. Obviously having both hit the field is probably a win condition but I did not include both because I thought that was somewhat unlikely.
Grimgrin is also my favorite blue/black creature but that is mainly because I don't know of any blue/black creatures outside of this deck since I haven't played paper magic in more than a decade (so he's my favorite out of ... 6 U/B creatures that I know of). But it's also a prime removal target (or at least it should be but sometimes isn't with weaker players since he comes into play tapped) and this deck doesn't have many comparable threats.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 21, 2013 - 4:23AM
#650
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Date Joined:
Jan 28, 2006
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..."window.parent.tinyMCE.get('post_content').onLoad.dispatch();" contenteditable="true" />Grimgrin is also my favorite blue/black creature but that is mainly because I don't know of any blue/black creatures outside of this deck since I haven't played paper magic in more than a decade (so he's my favorite out of ... 6 U/B creatures that I know of). But it's also a prime removal target (or at least it should be but sometimes isn't with weaker players since he comes into play tapped) and this deck doesn't have many comparable threats.
The favourite of mine that instantly jumps to mind is Shadowmage Infiltrator  .
How it's not in this deck is simply mind-boggling...
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