Playing Catchup

So, over the past month or so I've been playing around with mostly two decks.
The first of which is my still-current standby; monogreen.


Monogreen Midrange
--Land (22)--
20 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Kessig Wolf Run

--Creatures (24)--
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Borderland Ranger
4 Dungrove Elder
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Llanowar Elves
1 Primeval Titan
1 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Strangleroot Geist
4 Viridian Emissary
1 Vorapede
1 Wurmcoil Engine

--Noncreature Permanents (9)--
1 Akroma's Memorial
1 Birthing Pod
2 Garruk Relentless
1 Karn Liberated
4 Rancor

--Sorceries (5)--
1 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Genesis Wave
3 Green Sun's Zenith

--Sideboard (15)--
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Acidic Slime
2 Beast Within
2 Crushing Vines
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Torpor Orb
1 Super secret tech of the week


It needs work, as I haven't touched it in two weeks. I really like the one-of Pod, seeing as it doesn't show up enough to get in my way, yet can keep an opponent on their toes. The Genesis Wave, not so much.
Moving on, the second deck's one that I thoroughly enjoy, but am rather sad to observe as being a bit too slow for the format.



Seven Evil Ex's
--Land (24)--
8 Plains
9 Swamp
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Ghost Quarter

--Creatures (6)--
2 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Wurmcoil Engine

--Noncreature Permanents (12)--
1 Batterskull
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Gideon Jura
1 Liliana of the Dark Realms
1 Lingering Souls
3 Pristine Talisman
4 Sphere of the Suns

--Instants/Sorceries (18)--
3 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Day of Judgment
1 Entreat the Angels
3 Lingering Souls
4 Sign on Blood
1 Timely Reinforcements
3 White Sun's Zenith

--Sideboard (15)--
1 Act of Aggression
1 Celestial Purge
1 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Day of Judgment
1 Mimic Vat
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Revoke Existance
1 Stony Silence
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Timely Reinforcements
2 Torpor Orb


This one's probably going to be deconstructed soon. There's just too many ideas I want to try before rotation.

Deck - Tribal Wolves [G/W]

So yeah, I’ve been a tad quiet lately. So here’s an older deck of mine, if only to break the silence.

Wolves, while not the most cohesive creature type, happen to be my favorite. A few years back, after getting sick of a Goblin tribal made of anything lying around, I decided to put together something full of creatures I’d enjoy looking at.

When I originally assembled the deck, I had a couple ground rules: It had to have at least one of every in-color wolf in the deck, the critters being the theme and all; And in order to curve any future pursuits of foil cards, any “blinging up” I did had to be restricted to this deck. I feel that I’ve been faithful to both rules, but after the newer wolves in recent sets (which I haven’t updated the deck with yet), I’ve since decided to improve the deck, moving those that don’t make the cut into a display portion of my trade binder. So in other words, this’ll be the “before” list.


Wolves!
—Land (23)—
12 Forest
7 Plains
2 Graypelt Refuge
2 Temple Garden

—Creatures (27)—
1 Arctic Wolves
1 Dire Wolves
3 Howling Wolf
4 Lone Wolf
1 Master of the Wild Hunt
1 Rot Wolf
4 Sacred Wolf
1 Tel-Jilad Wolf
1 Timber Wolves
1 Tolsimir Wolfblood
2 Tundra Wolves
4 Watchwolf
2 Wyluli Wolf
1 Young Wolf

—Noncreatures (10)—
3 Alpha Status
1 Aspect of Wolf
1 Fable of Wolf and Owl
1 Howl of the Night Pack
4 Sound the Call


You can already see the disparity with what I like and don’t like to see in play. Master of the Wild aside, of course. Currently the main win condition of the deck tends to be an Alpha Status on a Lone Wolf or Sacred Wolf, which then dispenses a beatdown. Speaking of Lone Wolf…


Blurriness aside, that’s probably the pride of my collection right there. Particularly the top left one.

Until next time!

Deck Concept - White Sligh

Daily MTG's Building on a Budget Column has ended. Those who know me or have read my comments on the articles know that I'm no fan of the last author. So when the namesake of the last article doesn't even make it in a deck, I take that as a reason to start building.

There's a tribal creature if I ever did see one.

 

I can't claim to have a record at making decent tribal decks. Wolves and Myr aside, I honestly don't care for them that much. Besides those two, the only time I made a serious tribal deck was back in Lorwyn times, after literally opening only goblins from a few back-to-back drafts. Today I'm going to turn to the same base strategy that I used when assembling that old thing: Sligh.

In a nutshell, Sligh is a type of aggressive deck that takes to heart the value of using all of your mana in a given turn. It plays cheap creatures for fast attacking combined with burn for removal and yelling "KO!" at your opponent's face. That last link goes more in depth and probably better than I could ever explain it.

Wait a second. I said burn, right? Well, okay, I'll disclaim now that going outside of red can severely hinder that burn part, which can't be understressed. We're fortunate to have a few ways to make up for it, but in the end, we lack the simple elegance of 'Bolt to the Head. 

Onto the deck building.

We're making tribal, so screw our concepts of good creatures and turn to Gatherer for a preliminary list of Soldiers and Knights that might be inclusion-worthy. Linked are the M13 cards, since I don't like making you do all the work.

• War Falcon
• Odric, Master Tactician
• Knight of Glory
• Crusader of Odric
• Captain's Call
• Attended Knight
• Aven Squire
• Accorder Paladin
• Hero of Bladehold
• Kemba's Skyguard
• Mirran Crusader
• Riders of Gavony
• Silverblade Paladin
• Spectral Rider
• Champion of the Parish
• Doomed Traveler
• Elite Inquisitor
• Gideon's Avenger
• Loyal Cathar
• Mentor of the Meek
• Porcelain Legionnaire
• Thalia
• Timely Reinforcements

A respectable list, no?
I see a few rather juicy inclusions that I want to use, but sadly won't. Immediately tossing in three Hero of Bladehold sounds grand, but that wouldn't be showing up Van Lunan, now would it? If budget is something you don't value, then by all means run her, Mirran Crusader, Thalia, and Champion of the Parish. Hell, that sounds like a pretty good reverse order of plays too! Moving on.

Copy/pasted from that-link-I-somehow-believe-is-easier-to-keep-referencing-than-just-to-relink, this is the general format of a Sligh deck:
1 mana slot: 9-13
2 mana slot: 6-8
3 mana slot: 3-5
4 mana slot: 1-3
X spell: 2-3
Removal/Burn: 8-10

That doesn't seem too hard to follow, no?


White Sligh
---Lands (23)---
23 Plains

---1cc Critters (12)---
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Elite Vanguard
4 War Falcon

---2cc Critters (8)---
4 Elite Inquisitor
4 Loyal Cathar

---3cc Critters (5)---
4 Attended Knight
1 Mentor of the Meek

---4cc Critters (3)---
2 Odric, Master Tactician
1 Riders of Gavony

---Removal (5)---
3 Bonds of Faith
2 Oblivion Ring

---X Spells (4)---
3 Divine Reflection
1 White Sun's Zenith


Okay, I kind of mish-mashed the X spells and removal a little bit. Divine Reflection tends to do that. But it's the only form of white burn I'm aware of in Standard that hits both creatures and players. Bonds of Faith tries to compensate its lack of player removal by strengthening most of your creatures. As far as general creature selection goes, I tried favoring creatures of card advantage; Attended Knight is the poor man's Blade Splicer, while Doomed Traveler and Loyal Cathar keep on swinging after they die. Mentor of the Meek is a one-of intended for the late game, to help use up that mana and keep up creature mass. Beyond boring old Plains, I leave the land up to you. My only advice is to favor battle cry over exalted.

Meh.

Deck Concept - RW Aggro

For the past two weeks I've had this thing stewing around half-formed in my head. Let's just get it out of there. Particularly since I don't have access to the somewhat required Vexing Devils to run it. The idea started with basic Cloudshift abuses and evolved into a "Boy, I'd like to see Sun Titan bust a Lightning Mauler out of the 'yard..."


Pink Assault
---Lands (24)---
4 Clifftop Retreat
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Slayers' Stronghold
8 Mountain
8 Plains

---Creatures (23)---
3 Blade Splicer
2 Leonin Relic Warder
3 Lightning Mauler
1 Mentor of the Meek
2 Nearheath Pilgrim
2 Silverblade Paladin
3 Stromblood Beserker
3 Sun Titan
4 Vexing Devil

---Noncreatures (13)---
3 Cloudshift
2 Divine Reckoning
4 Faithless Looting
2 Fling
2 Oblivion Ring


I also wanted to run Priest of Urabrask to abuse with cloudshift, but ultimately decided that without something like Inferno Titan, it's not so easy to spend a solid RRRRRR. Oh well, that's what it gets for being a concept.

FNM Recap - GW 'Walkers (5-1)

Blah blah blah introductory paragraph. Anyway, again I decided to try my not-so-superfriends build at FNM. This time around, I went with the simpler of the two build-changes I was thinking about.


GW 'walkers
---Land (23)---
2 Gavony Township
3 Razorverge Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove
10 Forest
4 Plains

---Creatures (16)---
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Primeval Titan
3 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Strangleroot Geist
4 Viridian Emissary
1 Wurmcoil Engine

---Planeswalkers (8)---
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
3 Garruk Relentless
1 Gideon Jura
2 Karn Liberated

---Artifacts / Enchantments (6)---
4 Abundant Growth
2 Mimic Vat

---Nonpermanents (5)---
1 Creeping Renaissance
1 Entreat the Angels
4 Day of Judgment
1 White Sun's Zenith

---Sideboard---
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Nihil Spellbomb
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Vorapede
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons


In other words, kicked out the Sun Titans for a Wurmcoil and a Primeval, while reducing the sideboard Thrun's by one in favor of a fourth O-Ring. Also, a friend wanted me to try out an Entreat the Angels in place of one White Sun's Zenith, so I gave it a shot. I still wanted to switch out the Pilgrims for Birds of Paradise, but had forgotten to do so until drawing my first hand of the night. Whoops, too late!


Round 1 - [GRU] Slime Combo (2-0)
From what I saw, the goal of his deck was simple: ramp up to, then play Acidic Slime and Deadeye Navigator. Then use that ramped-up mana to "1U: Destry target land." while bating in their face with Navigator's body. Assuming an early game Sword on a Birds of Paradise doesn't end the game before that. The red's for Faithless Looting, and what I assume to be a few Titans in there.
Game 1: Got out a few bashers while watching him ramp up. Acidic Slime came up, eating an enchanted Gavony Township. I thought little of it until his next turn, recognizing the combo after it hit the table. Looking at the little creatures on board and a Gideon in hand, I had little option in my mind for how to deal with this threat. With no mana to be a nuisance with, he ended his turn and my draw saved the day: Entreat the Angels. Taking a good twenty seconds in an odd pose, deliberating whether the cards in one hand would be better than the sole one in my other hand, I miracled up three seraphs with all my mana. Knowing it would be my last spell this game, I passed the turn. He attempted to attack, and my untouched life total took the hit. He then destroyed all my lands with the combo, a futile display, as my next turn saw him taking an evasive twelve to the face when eight was enough.
Sideboarding: +4 Oblivion Rings, +3 Green Sun's Zenith, +1 Sigarda; -4 Abundant Growth, -1 White Sun's Zenith, -1 Entreat the Angels, -1 Creeping Renaissance, -1 Gideon Jura.
Basically I sided out the late game stuff for removal. And without Abundant Growth, I went back to "playing a sixty card deck." Should know my ravings over that cantrip by now.
Game 2: We start with early mana guys, he ramps while I swing a bit with Strangleroot Geist and Garruk Relentless starts his wolf-production. He lays down a Sword of Feast and Famine and equips it on a tapped Bird. With an Oblivion Ring in hand, I decide that exiling the Bird means my aggro machine won't be slowed down. The game ends two swings after that.

Round 2 - Esper Frites (1-2)
Standard Unburial Rites deck, forgoing red's digging ability to focus on blue control.
Game 1: I let lose some early aggro. Looking good until he hard-casts Unburial Rites on Elesh Norn. With no wrath in hand nor creature on board, I call it after he plays a Lingering Souls.
Sideboarding: +4 Oblivion Rings, +2 Ratchet Bomb, +2 Nihil Spellbomb, +2 Thrun; -4 Abundant Growth, -1 Entreat the Angels, -1 Creeping Renaissance, -1 Gideon Jura, -1 Elspeth Tirel, -1 Garruk, Primal Hunter, -1 Karn Liberated.
Out go the less helpful things vs. flying souls and counterspells, in go things that slow him down and endure wrath-effects.
Game 2: Early aggro skirts by his counterspells, and I play into them while he digs for solutions. A well-placed Spellbomb causes him to concede.
Game 3: I attack early, and end up staring at a Timely Reinforcements. Quite unfortunate. What follows is him breaking out Norn again and a little stalling on my part. Ultimately unsuccessful.

Round 3 - [W] Tempered Steel (2-0)
Call it somewhat old-fashioned, in Standard-terms. An older archetype involving small artifact creatures being pumped up by each other and Tempered Steel.
Game 1: Early aggro gets out there, and when he slaps down the Steel, I respond with my board-wipe spell. My Geists survive to finish the job.
Sideboard: +4 Oblivion Rings, +2 Thrun, +3 Green Sun's Zenith, +1 Sigarda; -4 Abundant Growth, -1 White Sun's Zenith, -2 Mimic Vat, -1 Elspeth Tirel, -1 Garruk PH.
Mostly I want removal, and a way to deal with his Inkmoth Nexus. Garruk Relentless become focused as creature removal, and Karn sticks around for his ability to exile enchantments and land alike.
Game 2: A Viridian Emissary paves the early aggression. He's not finding what he wants and resorts to attacking with two Inkmoth Nexus. I green Sun up a Thrun, and use a second Sun to bring out Sigarda. With her blocking his flying infect, I finish the game with 5 poison counters.

Round 4 - [RU] Reforge Mill (2-0)
Facing a friend and what I believe to be his rather fun deck. The goal is to abuse miracle via Noxious Revival, mainly via Reforge the Soul hand draws. Secondary to that, Devastation Tide and Bonfire of the Damned keep opposing boards from getting too problematic. After that, discarded Increasing Confusion flashbacks finish off the opponent's deck. Failing that, it's a quick sideboard away from turning into a burn deck that's capable of refreshing it's hand quickly.
Also was a feature match! Meaning it was posted online for everyone to see! At least until next Friday...
Game 1: A combination of early creatures and a lack of solutions finished the game fairly quickly. And there was much digging done for sure.
Sideboard: +2 Nihil Spellbomb, +3 Green Sun's Zenith, +2 Thrun, +1 Sigarda, +1 Vorapede; -4 Day of Judgement, -4 Abundant Growth, -1 Garruk Relentless
I want to take out my anti-creature spells, and for once, playing a 56-card deck is a liability.
Game 2: Was a long game. I kept playing my creatures into Tides and a few burn spells. Eventually I got him down to 2 life and no creatures on the board, probably one turn away from being milled. I flashback Creeping Renaissance in order to play one Strangleroot Geist, its haste winning the match.

Round 5 - [U] Architect (2-1)
Fairly straightforward deck: Use small blue creatures to deal some damage early game, then break out a Grand Architect to sneak out some large artifact early. 
Another feature match. Nice timing. Also his first FNM. Pretty impressive, and makes me feel bad being one to stand in his way.
Game 1: I got chewed out by his aggressive little things. Stuck on three land with at least one Day of Judgment in hand the whole time.
Sideboard: +4 Oblivion Ring, +2 Thrun, +1 Sigarda; -1 Wurmcoil Engine, -4 Abundant Growth, -2 Mimic Vat
He was running Phyrexian Metamorphs, so I didn't want him to see/steal my artifacts. Hexproof creatures to negate some of his Disperse shenanigans.
Game 2: He manages to pull a hand full of Architects. Unfortunately for him, Garruk Relentless and removal take each out one-by-one. Gavony Township upped my wolves and co. to lethal powers.
Game 3: Phantasmal creatures come out this game, and manage to do some damage. Another Garruk Relentless takes advantage of their targeting weakness, and my creatures quickly take over again.

Top 8 - Esper Frites (2-0)
Oh, don't worry, it was the same deck from earlier.
Game 1: Early aggro isn't missed. They come out and start pounding to the point where he has to cast spells on his turn to hold me off. Lingering Souls is put on blocking duty. I draw White Sun's Zenith, attack him, and try to end my turn. He sneaks in a Blue Sun's Zenith for massive digging, only to see me White Sun enough kitties to end his day.
Sideboarding: Same as before.
Game 2: To my surprise, a Strangleroot Geist comes out uncountered. He's followed by Thrun. Pretty content with those, I avoid overextending my attacks. He's having a hard time finding solutions, and casts Tamiyo to slow down a vulnerable Primeval Titan. At that point I play Karn and disappear the sandled-rival planeswalker. He doesn't last long after that.


After that, we split the top four. Records-wise, I took second that night. Overall, I'm rather pleased with how the deck ran. And while I don't think it's as strong as MonoPod, it's the more interesting of the two to play.

Decklist - Your Deck.dick [BU]

Well look at that. Six posts in one month. Well, I'd say these ReConstructed submissions have done the trick. Afterall, we're matched with total posts in 2010 now. Now to match 2011. What to post now... what to post n- AH! My deck from two weeks ago. It didn't do so hot then, but it wasn't this close to finished then either! Here it is in untested current form:


Your Deck.dick [BU]
---Lands (24)---
4 Drowned Catacombs
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Shimmering Grotto
1 Forest
5 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Swamp

---Creatures (13)---
4 Cryptoplasm
1 Dark Imposter
3 Evil Twin
2 Phantasmal Image
3 Phyrexian Metamorph

---Noncreatures (4)---
2 Mimic Vat
2 Mind Control

---Spells (19)---
2 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Cackling Counterpart
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
4 Praetor's Grasp
4 Stolen Goods


General Breakdown:
The Lands: Have the potential to simulate any color, while hopefully leaving our Dimir needs fulfilled. Hopefully an upgrade from my unshared, earlier version.

The Creatures: Simulate my opponent's stuff. Evil Twin is underrated, Cryptoplasm is annoyingly useful, and Imposter takes advantage of late game mana supplies. I don't foresee any problems against anything Legen-wait for it-dary.

Black Sun's Zenith: Because I can't easily simulate craptons of tokens outnumbering my field.

Cackling Counterpart: Usually reads, "Get out of jail free, Mr. Cryptoplasm."

Gitaxian Probe and Ponder: Because this kind of deck needs some digging.

Praetor's Grasp: Rather underrated, in my opinion. It usually reads: "Choose one--Setup your next turn's strategy; or steal target opponent's Sword of X and X. If this is your fourth turn, entwine." The sad thing is, I'm not joking. Upped from three in the former version.

Stolen Goods: It could be a boat.



"What deck are you playing?" "I don't know, you tell me."

Brainstorming - Bits and Pieces

Those of you who use a fairly current version of Windows might know of an application called Sticky Notes.

Kind of like that, except mine's much less organized.... and mostly "stacked" on the bottom right of my screen.


So for the sake of my desktop, I'll be clearing off anything slightly-worth keeping here.


Bounceplay [W]
Just playing around with all that flickering...
Lands:
20 Plains
4 Seraph Sanctuary
Creatures:
3 Leonin Relic-Warder
4 Fiend Hunter
2 Sun Titan
4 Emancipation Angel
4 Restoration Angel
1 Avacyn
3 Suture Priest
Not Creatures:
2 Bladed Bracers
4 Scroll of Avacyn
1 Defy Death
0 Divine Reckoning
0 Divine Reflection
4 Cloudshift
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Gideon Jura


Future Deck Idea: Surgeatron
 A Primal Surge deck that gets up to ten with Urza Lands.


Eternal
A broken list of pieces to consider for an Eternal Dominion deck.
Eternal Dominion x4
Paradox Haze x4
Chalice x4
Surge Node x4
Cycling
Cloud of Faeries
Complicate
Decree of Silence
Dragon Wings
Miscalculation
Vedalken Shackles
Propaganda
High Tide
Copy Enchantment
Drift of Phantasms


Empires Deck
An unfinished concept for the respectively named artifacts.
4 buried ruin
22 land
4 crown of empires
4 scepter of empires
4 throne of empires
4 forbidden alchemy
4 faithless looting
4 ponder
2 batterskull
2 wurmcoil engine


Mental Note: Make a Myr deck soon.


Random R/G Deck Concept
4 noxious revival
4 reclaim
4 thunderous wrath
4 faithless looting
4 vexing devil
4 risky bet
4 stormblood beserker
4 strangleroot geist
1 red sun's zenith
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 galvanic blast
1 thrun
23 land


Ah, that's a bit better. Maybe there's a little purple weight off my mind, too.

Deck Concept - Red Deck Wins [Ru]

I've decided to try regularly submitting decks to the ReConstructed Column on Wizards' web site. Figured it'd be a good way to both get the Creative juices flowing and encourage at least weekly posts.

This week's article (linked above), asked for Innistrad Block submissions. So with very little knowledge of the general metagame in the format, I threw this together:


Red Deck Wins (or at Least Draws a Lot)
---Lands (22)---
15 Mountain
2 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Island
4 Sulfur Falls

---Creatures (14)---
3 Lightning Mauler
2 Pyreheart Wolf
3 Reckless Waif
2 Torch Fiend
4 Vexing Devil

---Instants / Sorceries (21)---
1 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Brimstone Volley
4 Dangerous Wager
3 Desperate Ravings
1 Devil's Play
4 Faithless Looting
4 Pillar of Flame
2 Thunderbolt

---The Flourish (3)---
3 Runechanter's Pike


General Breakdown:
 The Land: Yeah, it strays from pure red. Thank Desperate Ravings for that. At least I didn't throw any blue in the deck. Suck on that Delver.

Faithless Looting, Desperate Ravings, Dangerous Wager: The draw. The idea's to empty your hand as fast as possible for the Gambit. Looting's for filtering into things you want to play, and Gambit's just more draw in general.

Pillar of Flame, Thunderbolt, Devil's Play, Brimstone Volley: The burn. Preferably on those annoying things that like to block your ever-aggressive minions.

Bonfire of the Damned: For erasing those little annoyances en masse.

Runechanter's Pike: See all those noncreature spells I just barely brushed over? Yeah, this if for taking advantage of their crispy shells. And it lasts longer than Harvest Pyre.

Vexing Devil: Ah, we've hit the meat of the deck. Somewhat. This minion acts a great burn spell or a soon-dead critter, depending on what's less inconvenient for your opponent. Still inconvenient.

Reckless Waif: The poor girl, this deck leaves her fairly conflicted. Early game she can be rather angry, but after the draw spells start up she'll probably calm down. Still pretty handy with a Pike.

Lightning Mauler: For giving things haste, I think. Meh.

Torch Fiend: Not a bad body. Kick this minion at any unpleasant artifacts your foes show you.

Pyreheart Wolf: Of course I'd save the most annoying creature for last. I'm sure a Pike on him will annoy most token decks.

"Oh noes, my ice cream!"

Update - MonoPod [G]

With an added Top 8 (4-2), a near miss (3-1-1), and a casual standard (3-0) under the deck's collective belt, I've decided that this time around I'll skimp on the quick recaps.

The deck hasn't changed too much. Lent out one of the Wurmcoils, so the replacement has varied between tournaments (Creeping Renaissance, Increasing Savagery, and Steel Hellkite, respectably). After obtaining a Vorapede tonight, it's in the slot. Acidic Slimes have earned their keep enough to stick around. Considering how often I've sideboarded in Karn, he's replaced one of the Pods. So far, no complaints. Lastly, I've switched out a Forest for an Island. It's nice being able to fetch it up in non-Dungrove games in which I know they'll be a Phyrexian Metamorph coming soon.

So, in summary:
-1 Forest, +1 Island
-1 Wurmcoil Engine, +1 Vorapede
-1 Birthing Pod, +1 Karn Liberated


Monopod
---Lands (23)---
2x Kessig Wolf Run
18x Forest
1x Island
2x Mountain

---Creatures (32)---
2x Acidic Slime
2x Avacyn's Pilgrim
1x Birds of Paradise
4x Dungrove Elder
4x Llanowar Elves
3x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Precursor Golem
1x Predator Ooze
1x Primevil Titan
3x Solemn Simulacrum
3x Strangleroot Geist
4x Viridian Emissary
1x Wurmcoil Engine

---Noncreatures (8)---
3x Birthing Pod
1x Garruk Relentless
1x Karn Liberated
2x Mimic Vat


---Sideboard (15)---
3x Autumn's Veil
2x Batterskull
3x Beast Within
3x Corrosive Gale
3x Surgical Extraction
1x Thrun, the Last Troll

Oh yeah, Beast Within in sideboard. Phyrexian Obliterator has been going around. It deals with him when I can't manage to copy it, in addition to having a little more control in the deck.

General Strategies
No recap, but I'll still go over a little of my local metagame/strategy.

Control: The hardest part of facing control are the variants going around. All I can really say is that tight play and timing my Autumn's Veils are key. Surgical Extractions go in if I see Dissipate or Phantasmal Image. Mana Leak's the easier play around. Dungrove Elder is key here, since Wrath-less variants have little solution to deal with him.

Zombies: Comes in two variants; Obliterator and non-Obliterator. Both I try to stay on the offensive with at all times. Metamorph gets saved for when Obliterator comes out, otherwise I try to make myself a Geralf's Messanger or big thing in general. Mimic Vat is boss here, giving some killed things chance for revenge, snatching a recurring zombie, or even catching the previously mentioned Obliterator.

French Rites: Are problematic, to say the least. Either I have to race them before Elesh Norn comes out, a hard task; or I have to catch her/it in a Mimic Vat. Post sideboard I can delay with Beast Withins and Surgical Extraction. Pods are out, given the abundance of Ancient Grudge. One of the best matchups to have a "Deus Ex Karn" in.

Red Deck Wins: Race race race. Bloodthirst is a bitch. Stormblood Berserker is hard to play against, when burn can eat my many little creatures. Dungrove is key, with Wurmcoil an objective in both stabilizing and turning the tide. Post sideboard, Beast Within cancels damage steps and Batterskull gives me a better chance of keeping my life up. If my mana dorks take hits to keep me from ramping, that's less burn for me to eat. As for Chandra's Pheonix, Surgical Extraction is too situational to deal with her, so I have to steal a red philosophy: Annoying things opponents have go away when they die.

Delver: I haven't seen it too much recently, but the goal is simple; Race, resolving a Dungrove if possible. The spirit-emphasized variants are where Corrosive Gale shines.

About all my mind can conjure up for now!

Decklist - MonoPod [G]

So, the FNM after I posted that quickly-made list, my friend's Birthing Pods were free to use, so I tossed my loyal U/B Heartless deck to the wind and assembled the build. After a month's worth of FNMs, I'm still royally digging it, especially the fairly frequent Top 8 scores. Here's how it is now.


Monopod
---Lands (23)---
2x Kessig Wolf Run
19x Forest
2x Mountain

---Creatures (32)---
2x Acidic Slime
2x Avacyn's Pilgrim
1x Birds of Paradise
4x Dungrove Elder
4x Llanowar Elves
1x Myr Propagator
3x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Precursor Golem
1x Predator Ooze
1x Primevil Titan
3x Solemn Simulacrum
3x Strangleroot Geist
4x Viridian Emissary
2x Wurmcoil Engine

---Artifacts (6)---
4x Birthing Pod
2x Mimic Vat


---Sideboard (17*)---
3x Autumn's Veil
2x Batterskull
3x Corrosive Gale
1x Karn Liberated
2x Naturalize
3x Surgical Extraction
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
2x Ratchet Bomb


Breakdown:
- Kessig Wolf Runs, Forests, and Mountains: Forests are the primary fuel of the deck, with Mountains in only to support the game-ending potential of the Wolf Runs. And while it is annoying to run into either of the non-green sources early in some games, most of the deck only cares about having just one green symbol anyway, and the redundancy has dashed at least three opponent's plans to date.
- Avacyn's Pilgrims, Birds of Paradise, and Llanowar Elves: Provide the early game support. Blue hates it when I turn two Dungrove Elder. The Pilgrims would be Birds, but they're on loan and I don't mind the early aggro nor really need the color fixing.
- Viridian Emissaries and Solemn Simulacrums: Give me ramp, and decent Pod fodder.
- Strangleroot Geist: Early aggro and not a bad Pod target, since he can swing after it, unless he's busy with having been killed earlier by removal or previous sacrificing.
- Dungrove Elder: The tastiest critter in the deck. He provides the most of the beats, wins, and opponent disliking. Especially when it's an Emissary providing Pod fodder for him.
- Wurmcoil Engine: Doesn't show up as much as the Elder, but still provides a decent amount of beats.
- Phyrexian Metamorph: Jack-of-most trades. Kills opposing legendaries. 85% of the time becomes Dungrove Elder and doesn't afraid of anything. Especially in this artifact hate-filled environment.
- Precursor Golem: Fun against light-removal decks. Mostly only a bridge between a Simulacrum and a Wurmcoil, though. Never hurts when he leaves behind his posse!
- Acidic Slime: Only removal in the deck pre-sideboard. Loves to eat swords and long walks on unique locales.
- Myr Propagator: Occupies a very chaotic spot in the deck. Used to be a Pyreheart Wolf until I disliked the lack of early game red for it. Then was a Daybreak Ranger, but wasn't relevent / alive for enough games. Almost became a One-Eyed Scarecrow until Spirits got lucky and I thought better of it. Knowing my luck will become a Jar of Eyeballs, but more likely will become a Garruk Relentless until I get a better three-drop in color in Avacyn Restored. Assuming I don't take it out now that I've noticed there's 61 cards in the deck. Fingers crossed.
- Predator Ooze: A convenient one-of. Rarely shows up in games he shouldn't participate in, and can be Podded into when he is needed. Blocks opposing Dungrove Elders on the defensive, and offensively can swing all day long until they run out of chump blockers or I hit a Wolf Run. So basically, an anti-mirror / Timmy deck tech inclusion.
- Primeval Titan: Purely in the deck for fetching up a Wolf Run and a mountain. If he lives to swing, good for him; the Dungroves are sure to appreciate it.
- Birthing Pod: One of the key bits of the deck, but not vital. Generally only used as a tool to turn cmc 2s into Dungroves and cmc 4/5s into Wurmcoils.
- Mimic Vat: Defensively, keeps an expendable blocker around at a low cost. Offensively, lets me swing and Pod if the fake critter survives. Douchebaggingly, can steal a Chandra's Pheonix or a Gravecrawler if need be. Serves 'em right for depending on graveyards instead of their deck for more critters.
What's Missing:
- Predator Ooze: One's out, since it's intentional use is veeeery specific so far.
- Woodland Sleuth: I took her out after rarely ever seeing her hit play, much less have time to fetch / abuse it. Sadly, I haven't missed her.
- Vorapede: No access. Acidic Slime seem to be doing fine in their place.
- Bellowing Tanglewurm: A casualty of never showing up. Podwise, I always felt more of a need to pull acidic slime instead.

Sideboard:
Note: I listed 17, because I've been switching between the two Naturalizes and Batterskulls. Both have merits and have won me games, so it's tough.
- Autumn's Veil: For screwing over control. Especially if it's to play a hexproof creature. A resolved Elder just eats them alive.
- Batterskull: For when the Pods come out and I go into pure ramp mode. They evade artifact hate, and that can really matter.
- Corrosive Gale: For stalling Delver decks and the occasional Spirit-focused token deck. Since I can't always draw a needed Dungrove for racing them.
- Karn Liberated: Another ramp mode choice. Slower decks don't appreciate his bulky exiling bullying.
- Naturalize: Mostly intended for busting Oblivion rings and Swords.
- Surgical Extraction: For the French Rites deck that's going around, mostly. With that, I almost feel like I need two Nihil Spellbombs as well to screw it over. Not sure, since it's probably the toughest matchup. Anyways, I also have a bad habit of exiling counterspells after they've annoyed me, with the added bonus of seeing my control opponent's hand.
- Thrun, the Last Troll: Another anti-control measure. Resolving hexproofers has been what's allowed me to eat them alive in most of my matches. He makes it easier, and (although I haven't needed it), can survive the rare board wiping.
- Ratchet Bomb: Disentegrates tokens. That is all.


That's about it. Most of the strategy involved is covered in the breakdown. Lastly, I do want to know how deceptive I've noticed the deck can be. With Dungrove Blade and Wolf Run metagame decks running around, I've noticed the more "internet-informed" players jumping to the conclusion that this deck's one of those, only to see "the other half" appear shortly after.

Tldr; Dungrove Elder beats.


Until next post!

Concept Decklist - MonoPod [G]

Had a few deck ideas once the Dark Ascension spoiler came out. Rather than solidify any of them (BW tokens, BRU Vengeance, BRU Curses, and most entertainingly, BW Myr), I decided to see how the Prerelease treated my thoughts. I'll talk about that later, I think.

So anyway, this has nothing to do with that. I just wanted to kick a monogreen Birthing Pod deck out of my head.


Monopod
---Lands (22)---
2x Kessig Wolf Run
2x Mountain
18x Forest

---Creatures (34)---
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Llanowar Elves
3x Strangleroot Geist
4x Viridian Emissary
4x Dungrove Elder
2x Predator Ooze
3x Solemn Simulacrum
3x Phyrexian Metamorph
2x Woodland Sleuth
1x Bellowing Tanglewurm
2x Vorapede
1x Primeval Titan
2x Wurmcoil Engine

---Noncreature Artifacts (4)---
4x Birthing Pod


The goal is to stomp hard. With seven one-drop rampers, chances are on your side that you'll have one in opening hand. Speaking of ramp, it's packing seven more just to up the Timmy Fury. Primeval's solely to get out a Wolf Run and / or Mountain if you need them, and Bellowing Tanglewurm's intended to be an End-of-Opponent's-Turn pod-fetch finisher. This build leaves problem solvers purely to the sideboard; Deal with it.

Concept Decklist - Goblincry [R]

Okay, kinda surprised I've gone this long without posting. Snagged a few top spots with some decks I'd been meaning to share. Suppose I'll get those up before Dark Ascension comes up and I dismantle them.

Anyways, a friend of mine was throwing together an aggro deck for next Friday. I took the general concept and spun it around my head a bit. It... strayed quite a bit. My bad. Well, for the off-chance sake of posterity, here it is.


Goblincry
---Lands (22)---
x18-22 Mountain
x0-4 Contested War Zone*

---Creatures (20)---
x4 Goblin Wardriver
x4 Memnite
x4 Signal Pest
x2 Spikeshot Elder*
x4 Stormblood Beserker
x2 Vault Skirge

---Spells (18)---
x4 Brimstone Volley
x2 Curse of Stalked Prey*
x4 Goblin Grenade
x4 Kuldotha Rebirth
x4 Reverberate


Basic strategy goes something like this; Aggro your opponent ASAP to ~10 life, then use Brimstone Volley or Goblin Grenade combined with Reverberate to turn that 10 into 0 life.

If such synergy's not for you, toss out the 'verbs for more aggro and do your thing.

* Deck notes: War Zones if you have them, I guess.
* Spikeshot Elders are meant to be more of a goblin filler than anything else. Without it, you've only got eight to work with when grenadiering. So if you're okay with that, max out the Vault Skirges. Otherwise, feel free to toss in other goblins there as you see fit. Preferably cheap ones, if you like early grenade options.
* Stalked Prey is a great idea in concept, but out of all the cards here, I've the least experience with it, period. Consider it a wildcard if you don't like it. More artifact/goblin fodder? Incinerates? Sure.


[Oh right, happy belated new year. Or something.]