Budgetplay - Shape Anew [RU]

Being a Johnny player more than anything else, I’ve been a big fan of Polymorph decks in the past. In fact, it was the first thing I tend to throw together in Standard whenever they announce a fun fatty creature.

Sadly, I realize that when October hits, we’ll be depending on Return to Ravnica to bring it back. So we better enjoy the one we have while it’s here.



Now, generally there’s three parts to the combo: The target, the spell, and the fatty. Let’s work backwards.

• Considering that Shape Anew works only with artifacts, I’ve only one one fatty in mind; Blightsteel Colossus. 
• Shape Anew’s our Polymorph. Fairly straightforward.
• Well aware of the existence of Naturalize and it’s kin as well as the ever fun Oblivion Ring, I want something that can survive the former and can sneak in before the latter has a chance to hit it; Darksteel Relic. With Trinket Mage, we only need to run one copy, therefore avoiding hitting another when casting Shape Anew.

There’s what I call a shell. Since this combo can work by itself, one can basically build a deck alongside these bits. In current Standard, that tends to be a Blade Splicer control deck. Since the release of Restoration Angel, Blade Splicer’s upped beyond the budget range I’m trying to shoot for. Since I want the combo to be the star here, I’m going to focus on digging for it. Red helps with that.

Speaking of Budget, I’ll be only using one Blightsteel Colossus. I advise against this, as drawing your only one without a way of emptying it from your hand rather sucks. Red helps with that.


Shaping Steel
—Land (24)—
4 Evolving Wilds
10 Island
10 Mountain

—Creatures (5)—
1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Trinket Mage

—Spells (31)—
2 Apostle’s Blessing
1 Darksteel Relic
4 Faithless Looting
2 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Mana Leak
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Ponder
1 Red Sun’s Zenith
4 Shape Anew
3 Think Twice
3 Wild Guess


Like I said, lots of digging. And a few burning and counterspells to slow down the opposition. Ideally you want a turn 3 Trinket Mage, getting the Relic ready to drop/shaped on turn 4. If you’re wondering about the Apostle’s Blessings, they’re in to combat Vapor Snag/Oblivion Ring and to give us a quicker win against one-color boards. I’d have two more on Sideboard for sure.

As far as the mana base goes, I kept things even for the benefit of Wild Guess. As a Blightsteel discarder, it’s worth keeping around even if it doesn’t bode so well with a turn one Ponder. For those adding Sulfur Falls, I’d only take out one of the Islands.

Oh hey, how’s Andrew Jackson sound for a budget? Because as of this posting, the deck clocks in just under twenty dollars. Check it out.

Deck Concept - Battle of Wits [BRU]

Yeah, I tossed this together the day I heard it was spoiled, and just want to get it out of my head and off my Sticky Notes.


Battle of Wits aka Deck Population: 227
—Land (90)—
4 Evolving Wilds
86 other lands

—Creatures (22)—
4 Bloodgift Demon
4 Merfolk Looter
4 Oculus
2 Rune-Scarred Demon
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Vampire Nighthawk

—Digging (53)—
4 Amass the Components
4 Dangerous Wager
4 Desperate Ravings
4 Divination
4 Faithless Looting
4 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
1 Mind Unbound
4 Reforge the Soul
4 Sign in Blood
4 Think Twice
4 Visions of Beyond
4 Wild Guess

—Graveyard Recovery (5)—
4 Elixir of Immortality
1 Time Reversal

—Mana Fixing (16)—
4 Gem of Becoming
4 Manalith
4 Traveler’s Amulet
4 Vessel of Endless Rest

—Stall Tactics (26)—
4 Blasphemous Act
4 Cancel
4 Circle of Flame
3 Death Wind
4 Devastation Tide
4 Dissipate
3 Killing Wave

—Tutors (11)—
2 Diabolic Revelation
4 Diabolic Tutor
3 Distant Memories
2 Increasing Ambition

—Win Condition (4)—
4 Battle of Wits


I think the groupings above pretty much take care of the basic strategy. Dig for Battle of Wits or if you can, tutor it. Then, if you need more cards in deck, find a piece of graveyard recovery.

Remember kids: Real combo players count their hand, graveyard, and permanents instead of their deck!

Deck Concept - Stuffy Love [GR] [BRU]

Another ReConstruction idea. I figured that I didn't give it any love last time he was legal, so it was due.


Stuffy Burn [GR]
---Land (23)---
4 Buried Ruin
2 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Rootbound Crag
9 Forest
4 Mountain

---Creatures (18)---
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Elvish Visionary 
2 Predator Ooze
4 Stuffy Doll
4 Viridian Emissary

---Noncreatures (5)---
2 Batterskull
3 Garruk Relentless

---Instants / Sorceries (14)---
4 Blasphemous Act
4 Faithless Looting
2 Rampant Growth
4 Red Sun's Zenith


Idea's mostly straightforward. Burn the doll. Extra style points if you get a Batterskull onto it.

And now for the crazy...


Dancing Dolls [BRU]
---Land (24)---
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Drowned Catacombs
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Sulfur Falls
3 Island
3 Mountain
2 Swamp

---Creatures (7)---
3 Creepy Doll
4 Stuffy Doll

---Noncreatures (11)---
3 Pristine Talisman
4 Sphere of Suns
4 Spiteful Shadows

---Instants / Sorceries (18)---
1 Blasphemous Act
2 Bonfire of the Damned
3 Diabolic Tutor
3 Faithless Looting
3 Ponder
2 Slagstorm
4 Switcheroo

Just a shell for this fun interaction:
Stuffy Doll + Switcheroo + Spiteful Shadows.
You do the math.

Deck Concept - Worldfire [RU]

With M13 coming out, ReConstructed is asking for something featuring M13 cards. Naturally, I defenestrated all tribal ideas and tried thinking up something amusing.

This monstrosity was begging for some attention.

So I gave it some thought. Points of dwelling:

• Hitting the mana to cast it.
• Surviving to the point where I can cast it.
• Winning after casting it.

Well, for the first point, Blightsteel Colossus's old friend Counterlash cuts Worldfire's mana cost by a third. It's at cost of card advantage, but who cares? Clearly we're playing a Johnny deck here. Which means we have a fourth point.

• Digging for the combo.

That does help with the second point a bit. Also focusing on defense will be Red Sun's Zenith, Distortion Wake (suck on that, tokens!), and the respectable blocker that is Augur of Bolas. Remember, any non-lethal damage we take is irrelevant after Worldfire hits.

Third point, winning. That Red Sun up there helps. I originally wanted to run Vexing Devils, but decided to keep this budget. Oh well. Going with Delver of Secrets; It'll flip almost half the time with the amount of instants and sorceries that we're packing in this nonsensical thing.

And lastly, for giving the Johnny a happy ending, we have the cheap masseuse's named Ponder, Faithless Looting, and Wild Guess. If the most inexperienced of the three isn't doing it for you, try replacing it with some Pillars of Flame for second and third point reinforcement. Also good for getting use out of redundant combo piece draws.

Ideally, when Worldfire hits, it'll be off of an opponent's sorcery spell. Well, they probably aren't playing twenty in their deck, much less any after game one when they see you hit six mana. That's why twelve of our sorceries cost one to play. A seven mana Worldfire is still better than nine. I'd also suggest having one land in hand for dropping after a Worldfire, unless you're feeling particularly draw-lucky. You should have a much easier time than your opponents at casting a cheap win condition, particularly with all the filtering spells in the deck. 

So, putting it all together we're looking at:

Worldfire [RU]

---Lands (24)---

2 Desolate Lighthouse

4 Sulfur Falls

9 Island

9 Mountain

---Creatures (8)---

4 Augur of Bolas

4 Delver of Secrets

---Combo (8)---

4 Counterlash 

4 Wildfire

---Sorceries (20)---

4 Distortion Wake

4 Faithless Looting

4 Ponder

4 Red Sun's Zenith

4 Wild Guess

Yeah, just be glad I didn't try to squeeze in room for two more land or Gitaxian Probes...

Decklist - Warp World Modern [GR]

Remember my old Warp World decks? As far as MtG goes, I'll never forget them. Nor forgive myself for missing out on their existence back in Ravnica.

After my old Warp World deck stopped being Standard, it sat around for a few months, slowly losing bits of it in a process that I call cannibalization. As for a current example, MonoPod's fighting a losing battle to stay intact. Before that, I had a Heartless Architect that just last weekend succumbed to complete separation. When the decks down to three major parts (Heartless Summoning, Grand Architect, and Myr Superion), it's time to admit defeat.

Anyway, sometime around a year ago, I got the urge to rebuild the deck for casual play. It looked something akin to this, with the additions of Lotus Cobra, Ob Nixilis, and a solo Emrakul.

And then, in early April, I saw this:

I loooooooooooooooove Lotus Cobra.

How to get one of these promo bad boys? Play in a Grand Prix.

So that's what I want to do.

And that meant turning the deck serious. Because I feel it'd be the most appropriate deck to play for that cobra.


Warp World, Modern [GR]
---Lands (25)---
1 Arid Mesa
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Stomping Grounds
8 Forest
4 Mountain

---Creatures (27)---
4 Joraga Treespeaker
4 Lotus Cobra
2 Wood Elves
4 Overgrown Battlement
4 Primeval Titan
2 Avenger of Zendikar
2 Bogardan Hellkite
2 Eternal Witness
2 Rampaging Baloths
1 Urabrask the Hidden

---Enchantment (4)---
4 Khalni Heart Expedition

---Sorcery (4)---
4 Warp World


General Breakdown:
The deck's goal is to cast Warp World, abusing EtB and landfall to gain an upper hand while decks running less permanents suffer. If Warp World isn't around, ramping into big creatures quickly suffices.

The Land: A bit more complicated this time around. The fetchlands are to take advantage of landfall and to abuse Stomping Ground's Forest/Mountain nature. Wolf Run's placing is pretty straightforward. With the amount of ramp effects in the deck, and my need to draw more, I'm feeling pretty comfortable at 25, though going higher was a possibility for some time.

The Ramp: Joraga Treespeaker, Khalni Heart Expedition, Lotus Cobra, Overgrown Battlement, Primeval Titan, and Wood Elves... quite a few here, eh? It's needed, since eight mana's my goal. And believe me, that's a hard number to race towards. I had to sign a deal with the devil and use the Titans. They lowered my average turn-cast for Warp World from turns 5-6 to turns 4-5. A rather important improvement in a competitive environment. Also, they're the main reason I haven't gone up to 28 lands in the deck.

Eternal Witness: General graveyard recursion as usual, with the major note of bringing Warp World back to hand post-Warp. Combined with enough land, or Lotus Cobra's mana, it can lead to a situation I call "Infinite Warping." Infinite Warping tends to lead to a mix of the following: huge battlefield for me; opponent death-by-Hellkite; and lack of battlefield permanents for others. Nine-out-of-ten Judges recommend opponent's concede when that happens.

The Big Guys: Avenger of Zendikar, Bogardan Hellkite, Primeval Titan, Rampaging Baloths, and Urabrask the Hidden all count here. The Avengers and Baloths love the post-Warp environment, pumping out craploads of token critters. And the Hellkite's make quite an entrance, burning opposing creatures as well as throwing fireballs at heads when I need to end things quickly. Primeval Titan helps fuel the token frenzy in addition to busting out the Wolf Run's for more win conditioning. Lastly is the smaller and solitary Urabrask, enabling a free swing post-Warp, which generally is enough to do the trick.

Warp World: Confuses opponents, hates planeswalkers, ignores Cascade, screws up board states, and is a Sorcery that doesn't play well with other nonpermanents. Almost as effective as throwing a Comprehensive Rules print-out at your opponent.


I don't have a set sideboard for it yet, but it'll come. Most likely after I obtain the three each Stomping Grounds and Titans for the deck. Expect mucho anti-counterspells and an obligatory solo Emrakul, She Who Tears the Aeons.

Casual playtesting has mostly been positive for me. We'll see how it goes after putting it through the minor modern tournament grinder. The big tournament for me is in November, so I've got a little time...

alt by Card Kitty

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.

Commander Decklist - Iname, Death Aspect [B]

Once again a ReConstructed entry, calling for unbarred Commander entrants.

So I choose to pull out my strictly casual one.
Goal of the deck is simple; get out Iname, then abuse that graveyard.

Iname's Army
General: Iname, Death Aspect
---Land (35)---
Barren Moor
Crypt of Agadeem
Dakmor Salvage
Ebon Stronghold
Polluted Mire
Spawning Pool
Temple of the False God
28 Swamp

---Spirits (25)---
Akuta, Born of Ash
Banshee
Cairn Wanderer
Cruel Deceiver
Deathknell Kami
Enemy of the Guildpact

Foul Familiar
Ghost Hounds
Gibbering Kami
Hyalopterous Lemure
Keening Banshee
Kemuri-Onna
Kuro, Pitlord
Lost Soul
Midnight Banshee
Moonglove Changling
Morkrut Banshee
Nether Shadow
Patron of the Nezumi
Revenant
Seizan, Perverter of Truth
Spirit of the Night
Thief of Hope
Wicked Akuba
Will-o'-the-Wisp

---Iname Abuse (11)---
Balthor the Defiled
Dread Return
Ghoul's Feast
Haunting Misery
Living Death
Living End
Mortal Combat
Patriarch's Bidding
Songs of the Damned
Stir the Grave
Zombify

---Odds and Ends (9)---
Beseech the Queen
Cruel Tutor
Dark Ritual
Demonic Tutor
Lightning Greaves
Nightmare Lash
Sensei's Divining Top
Temporal Extortion
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

---Kill Spells (9)---
Consume Spirit
Damnation
Devour in Shadow
Dismember
Eyeblight's Ending
Kiku's Shadow
Rend Flesh
Shriekmaw
Toxic Stench

--- Ramp Cards(10) ---
Charcoal Diamond
Coldsteel Heart
Darksteel Ingot
Fellwar Stone
Jeweled Amulet
Manakin
Mana Prism
Phyrexian Totem
Prismatic Lens
Sphere of the Suns


Totaling Up:
29 Creatures
1 Enchantment
1 General
8 Instants
35 Lands
12 Noncreature Artifacts
14 Sorceries


Pretty straightforward, I think. Only real thing to note is Ulamog, who mostly comes out with the help of Songs of the Damned or Crypt of Agadeem.

[witty ending remark here]

Concept Decklist - Temporal Mastery [GRU]

EDIT: I need to learn how to read. Specifically, the exile portions on cards. Still, this can stand as an example on how easily Miracle can be broken.

Spoiler season for Avacyn Restored. I like most of what I see so far, but today my thoughts are focused on one previewed card so far; Temporal Mastery.



A marvelous plaything indeed.

Miracle has awesome flavor behind it, and must feel awesome to pull off when it happens. Shame I'm going to abuse it.

See, we've got a few things that ensure we know what our first draw is.
- Noxious Revival
- Reclaim
- Ponder

That strips away the divine sheen, doesn't it? But wait! Two out of three require a graveyarded / already cast Temporal Mastery, don't they?
- Faithless Looting

Nevermind! Actually, I'm certain anyone familiar with Standard knew that was coming. Here's where I note that Civilized Scholar and Merfolk Looter work decent without splashing a third color, but leave a gaping vulnerability to creature hate. Smallpox and Liliana of the Veil are excellent options for a heavy black splash... if one can afford a playset of Liliana. Speaking of black, Zombie Infestation can also be considered a legitimate option.

Anyways, now we've got some idea of how to abuse our timeplay. But think about it; when I'm Time Walking, my "first turns" are always going to be a miracled Temporal Mastery. Hard to explain what I'm trying to get at here, but I'm concerned about running out of land and hand quickly, which doesn't bode so well when a good amount of turns could be used merely setting up next turns. I need something to help combat that.
- Rites of Flourishing

Alright, sounds like a cool idea and all, but how am I going to win?
- Delver of Secrets

Why hello there. I dig the early game potential to be swinging even on turns I waste making more turns. Now to page through my trade bind and find a few other random win condition-makers. It's a concept deck anyway, and is bound to change after Avacyn Restored has bared a little more flesh.
- Jace, Memory Adept
- Sturmgeist
- Charmbreaker Devils
- Galvanoth

I'll admit, the last two weren't quite so random. Jace takes advantage of our multiple turngen potential and gives us more drawing if we really really needed it. Sturmgeist works decently with Rites of Flourishing. And the last two are meant to generate more absurdity, especially together. Charmbreaker Devils comes out late enough in the game to make hardcasting Temporal Mastery an easy possibility, and Galvanoth gives us card advantage through non-hand spellcasting. Combined, you could see a random chance miss the Mastery but hit a green spell to put said Mastery back on top of your deck, then the second critter casting it without breaking a sweat. Could be sweet.

And because I don't like all this early game mana-pickiness, a playset of Birds to smooth out some edges.


Timeplay
---Lands (24)---
4x Hinterland Harbor
4x Rootbound Crag
4x Sulfur Falls
7x Island
4x Forest
1x Mountain

---Creatures (11)---
4x Birds of Paradise
1x Charmbreaker Devils
4x Delver of Secrets
1x Galvanoth
1x Sturmgeist

---Noncreature Permanents (5)---
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4x Rites of Flourishing

---Instants/Sorceries (20)---
4x Faithless Looting
4x Ponder
4x Noxious Revival
4x Reclaim
4x Temporal Mastery


And yes, if I ever put this deck together, I'll do some stencil-work on a blue deckbox.

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.]