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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 8:30PM
#1
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Date Joined:
Dec 13, 2009
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Hello. I've been away from Magic for a while and I finally had time to look back into it. I originally planned to just skip the Innistrad block, since I personally didn't care much for it, and start again with M13, so I am a little off.
The only deck I have left in Standard is my Werewolf Deck, which I finished because I had all the Innistrad Werewolves. The problem with that is that it will be out come September. So I am looking for something based more in the Ravnica Block that will hopefully do a bit better than Werewolves.
Originally, I posted a few deck types I was considering (Goblin, Selesnya Populate, Azorius Detain, Izzet, and Dimir Mill). But after reading the first few replies below, I wanted to change up the main post a bit. I will probably work at 1 or 2 decks although I doubt I will be finishing the full deck lists too quickly. I don't plan to play too competitively, only FNM and maybe a Game Day. I am willing to spend a good bit of money on my decks, but at the same time, I don't want to spend a ton. By that, I mean I don't mind working towards a couple playsets of $10 cards ($40 a playset) but I'd rather skip the playsets of $25 cards ($100 a playset). Also, I want the deck to be based more around Ravnica than Innistrad. I don't mind uses some Innistrad cards here and there, but I prefer that the central theme of the deck be focused around Ravnica cards and that any Innistrad cards are lower in cost.
The one deck I am planning to work on is my Selesnya Populate deck. I liked the idea behind the mechanic, although it currently seems to be too weak to be very competitive. Still, I made a deck list and posted it a few posts down. Feedback on that would be appreciated.
I would like to make another Standard deck, but I am not sure what to consider. I still like the idea of a WU Detain or a UR Deck, maybe a WUR deck even. While I don't expect others to decide this for me, I am hoping to gain a bit more insight on what to expect. I've been away for a while and before I still wasn't that knowledgeable of the Top Tier. So a good summary of what decks are currently owning the game, how they work, and what their deadly cards and combos are would be appreciated.
The next thing I'd like is advice on what decks you think would be worth looking into. Personally, I am kinda wanting to play more of a White and/or Blue deck as my third. You can suggest decks that focus in Red, Black, or Green; but I probably won't be too interested. Just to repeat, I am looking for more of a budget deck whose key cards are in Ravnica, not Innistrad. I am not really looking for anyone to build a deck for me, although if you want to show me a list as an example I'd be fine with it. I am more looking for some guidance of what decks would work well in/against the current metagame without costing me $200+.
Also, just to mention, I am not very good at playing Control based decks yet, but I am interested in trying them. My style has been more archetype focused (Bant, Landfall, Myr, Infect, Werewolf) than strategy focused; something I want to change.
So do you think I could come up with a good budget WUR deck? Or would you suggest a different color combination or focus? I know Gatecrash is almost here and that it will surly change a lot, but it would be nice to have a better idea on things beforehand so I can better adjust afterwards.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 9:01PM
#2
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Date Joined:
Nov 25, 2012
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Goblins are actually really good with m13.
http://stat.rumandmonkey.com/tests/1/6/5261/20802.jpg
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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 9:01PM
#3
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Date Joined:
Nov 25, 2012
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Goblins are actually really good with m13. And I would run them.
http://stat.rumandmonkey.com/tests/1/6/5261/20802.jpg
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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 11:25PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Oct 27, 2007
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Goblins are actually really good with m13. And I would run them.
I disagree. It's almost impossible to build a competitive goblin deck in Standard. Somewhere there is a thread on this (try searching on Krenko, Mob Boss  ).
My short answer to the OP is that none of the Return to Ravnica guild mechanics are strong enough to build a whole deck around. For example, I have a Selesnya midrange aggro deck that I used for FNM tonight. It does have some use of tokens, populate, and life gain (via Trostani, Selesnya's Voice  ), but this is just a bonus to its main theme which is to quickly build up powerful creatures with double strike, trample, or flying (or some combination thereof).
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 12:11AM
#5
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Date Joined:
Jun 23, 2012
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Get creative and make your own homebrewed deck, about a week ago I made a mill deck based solely around blocking with augur of bolas  then using unsummon  type effects to bounce the guy before damage was dealt, makes an impervious wall and constantly fetches spells for me to further abuse him with; no one at my FNM liked me that day  all the matches went to time, 2 ties 1 win and 1 lose; ironically lost to jace, memory adept  milling me  . The point is that the best ideas are never going to just hit you in the face so bluntly like a deck based around one guild's mechanics, try to find some interesting combos to abuse, most of the competitive decks right now use or abuse some sort of combo at their core. Do what works rather than what looks good, a good example of this would be populate decks vs thragtusk flickering decks, is it more effective to populate a 3/3 token or is it more effective to flicker a thragtusk gain 5 life and a 3/3 token, the populate mechanic is one of those things people want to base a deck around but in realilty it's better to use cards that are synergistic rather than try to base a deck around keywords. If you want a simple deck try a RB aggro deck, RDW, or the increasingly popular fight club deck that has recently come up; their all aggro decks, but if your on a budget aggro is probably the best way to go their cheap $$$ wise and they have a decent chance of winning. Only down side is that you have to beat them fast with aggro type decks if you get unlucky and the other deck can stop you before turn 5 your pretty much done. most other decks are going to cost you a pretty penny right now, if you want to seriously get into it all just wait until GTC comes out in a month because its probably going to completely change the meta game as it is right now.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 3:01PM
#6
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Date Joined:
Dec 13, 2009
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Thanks for the comments. I did see the Goblin thread before posting this. They got a good bit of token generation, but they just don't seem practical to me. I guess they just aren’t the goblins I know. Still, it is hard to even rule out goblins, but for now they just don't seem worth working at. Also, I guess I know that I can't build a deck solely around the Guild mechanics, at least not yet (maybe next two sets will change that). I just want something that makes use of them. Here is the Selesnya Populate deck I was planning to build: WG-Standard: 60
Creatures: 15 (Total Costs: 1CMC- 7, 2CMC- 10, 3CMC- 12, 4CMC- 5, 5CMC- 2, 6CMC- 3)
2 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
3 Armada Wurm 
3 Loxodon Smiter 
3 Thraben Doomsayer 
4 Arbor Elf 
Planeswalkers: 2
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter 
Artifact: 0
Instants: 7
4 Selesnya Charm 
3 Rootborn Defenses 
Enchantments: 9
3 Oblivion Ring 
3 Parallel Lives 
3 Rancor 
Sorceries: 6
2 Gather the Townsfolk 
4 Call of the Conclave 
Lands: 21 (Mana Breakdown: White- 35, Green- 31. Land Breakdown: White- 14, Green- 14)
2 Selesnya Guildgate 
3 Grove of the Guardian 
4 Sunpetal Grove 
4 Temple Garden 
4 Forest 
4 Plains  Okay, maybe I focused a bit too much on tokens with that, but I have to start somewhere before I can tweak it =P It is based on another deck I found on the forum, which seemed pretty solid from feedback. I think the main changes I made, besides skipped the Angel Token card, were adding Rancor and Oblivion Ring. Feedback on what to change would be nice.
Also, I know that all the best decks tend to use the less obvious combos and themes. The only issue there is that most (that I know of) tend to rely heavily on costly Innistrad Block cards, which I am trying to avoid. At least I know why Thragtusk is so costly now XD Makes sense, I just haven't remember all the flicker in standard recently. Personally, I'd love a flicker deck, but I doubt I could build one without spending a ton.
I doubt I will be doing much before GTC comes out either. So I guess I will be waiting a bit before deciding. I also should get a better feel for the current Metagame; it is nice to have an idea what will be crushing you beforehand =P I know some of decks by name, but not sure how they will play. Also, it is good to hear that mill isn't trash this year. Last time I looked into mill, Eldrazi came out. That kinda killed it for a while. Also, I think I am leaning more towards a White/Blue deck with Detain. I am not saying it will be my main focus, but certainly something I would like to use in the deck. Maybe I will even look into a WUR deck to try to take the best of Izzet and Azorius (think that sounds promising?). Still, for now, I think I will work towards the deck list I posted above and finish off my Werewolves. I guess I will just keep looking for new ideas and new themes and after Gatecrash I will think about a 3rd standard deck; hopefully stronger than the other two.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 4:45PM
#7
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Date Joined:
Oct 27, 2007
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Can you edit your deck list to get rid of all the extra blank lines? Thank you! It will make it much easier to give a review.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 5:42PM
#8
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Date Joined:
Dec 13, 2009
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I think that fixed it. No idea why I did that. I copied and pasted it from word and the format I use doesn’t double space or anything. I had to backspace onto previous line and hit enter to fix it. Eh, guess I am just not use to this kinda of post editor. Edit: just to note, I updated the main post and changed the focus of the topic a bit. Instead of trying to pick the better deck from a list of 5, I am now more of looking for suggestions and advice for decks (including the list above) as well as some information to help me better understand the current metagame. If this is no longer the proper forum, please move the topic or at least let me know where to repost it.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 06, 2013 - 6:10AM
#9
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Date Joined:
Oct 27, 2007
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I think that fixed it. No idea why I did that.
The forum software is really weird about adding blank lines, especially when copying from another source.
I'm on my way out to enjoy the day, but I'll try to have a look at your deck list later day.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 06, 2013 - 8:35AM
#10
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Date Joined:
Dec 13, 2009
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Yah, I think that is one of reasons I didn't like posting here too much before XD At least I remembered the trick to fixing it, backspace on previous line and then enter from top down (doesn’t work from bottom up for some reason).
I'll look forward to seeing you comments later.
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