Dies to Removal

poppa_f

Am thinking about playing Gruul for rotation, but can't decide whether to go all-in on the ramp/devotion strategy or go for something less powerful but more consistent. The all-in ramp plan looks something like this: Creatures:23 4 Elvish Mystic 4 Genesis Hydra 4 Voyaging Satyr 4 Courser of Kruphix ...

poppa_f

Burn away is just a hedge against dredge/graveyard tbh. Pillar of light is a good shout, nice that it Exiles as well. My main thought with having the 3 additional white exile effects, was if you're playing against G/x and they sideboard in their enchantment hate for your CTTRs (I expect to see a lot...

poppa_f

Been thinking about what to play post-rotation, leaning towards Gruul ramp at the moment, as it just seems broken. Also considered B/W aggro (better than mono-black aggro imo as you get Sorin for aggro mirrors). My other thought is Boros Burn, you can make an approximation of Z's original pyrowhite ...

poppa_f

This is the R/b 75 I'm running at the moment: Creatures:18 4 Gnarled Scarhide 2 Rakdos Cackler 4 Young Pyromancer 4 Chandra's Phoenix 4 Stormbreath Dragon Spells:16 4 Thoughtseize 4 Dreadbore 2 Lightning Strike 2 Magma Jet 1 Bile Blight 1 Ultimate Price 1 Hero's Downfall 2 Chandra, Pyromaster Lands:...

poppa_f

Guys if you were too build a PyroBlack deck (An aggressive YP deck) how would you do? [deck=PyroBlack Maybe?]Lands 23 8 Mountain 4 Blood Crypt 4 Temple of Malice 3 Mutavault 2 Mana Confluence 1 Swamp Creatures 19 4 Firedrinker Satyr 4 Rakdos Cackler 4 Chandra's Phoenix 4 Young Pyromancer 2 Exava, R...

poppa_f

It's something I've considered for W/b, due to the synergy with Athreos. Definitely worth a try, would be a great turn 3 play against control. On the other hand it's a terrible top deck in most match ups, so maybe makes more sense as sideboard tech?

poppa_f

Conley Woods posted up some lifegain themed decks, some of them actually look pretty sweet! http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/breaking-through-sister-act-2/ I tried my aristocrats deck on mtgo, it kinda sucked. Turns out having 5cmc enchantments isn't the best plan in a world where people have...

poppa_f

OK, cut some of the support and removal and added more creatures. Realised Ash Zealot has some nice synergy with Gorgon's Head and Thunderous Might. Deck looks better now I think, thanks for the feedback [deck]Land (24) 10x Mountain 4x Mutavault 2x Plains 4x Sacred Foundry 4x Temple of Triumph Encha...

poppa_f

Hi, been away from R/w for a while, but now I've seen PFS in action I really want to brew up a deck to take advantage of it! I saw a guy playing a gruul version at my LGS, using all of the bloodrush cards to pump up the flame speaker. It looked pretty effective, but the blitz shell meant that the de...

poppa_f

Going to try the following variant out once the remaining cards I need arrive next week: Creatures:25 4 Soldier of the Pantheon 4 Cartel Aristocrat 4 Daring Skyjek 3 Precinct Captain 3 Athreos, God of Passage 3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos 4 Xathrid Necromancer Spells:10 2 Altar's Reap 3 Banishing Light ...

poppa_f

MDU's old pyroskies deck was playing 2 Stormbreath Dragons off 23 lands, so blood baron off 22 isn't ludicrous, but agree it is unlikely you will cast it on curve. If it lands on turn 6/7 against MBD it may still be soon enough to stabilise you (the main exception being an early packrat that stuck)....

poppa_f

Pat Cox talks about it in his article here: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/pat-cox-talks-white-weenie-is-great-a-gp-cincinnati-report/ Personally I'm not a massive fan. It also does nothing against Archangel of Thune or Fiendslayer, which are other cards that Esper can bring in against you....

poppa_f

Introduction White Weenie was a tier 1 deck at the end of last season, with Craig Wescoe finishing 5th at Worlds with a Boros version powered by Slayer's Stronghold and Sublime Archangel. However, when Innistrad rotated, the archetype lost some key cards and has been a fringe deck in Theros block s...

poppa_f

It's a bit magical xmas land, but imagine resolving Aurelia on a board with Iroas. Swing with your whole team twice, with the 7/4 god corporeal to boot. Iroas is quite nice with Brimaz as well, as your 1/1 guy will always survive when you swing with him. I'm picturing a deck with Brimaz, Iroas, Prec...

poppa_f

So I went ahead and built a White Weenie deck. I based it on Patrick Cox's GP Cinci deck, but with only 1 mutavault and no Brimaz (simply as I don't have those cards). It's been pretty amazing so far! I'm playing with thoughtseize and Xathrid Necromancer main, as figured they are both good against M...

poppa_f

in other news, my brief flirtation with Drown in Sorrow was pretty disastrous, so switching back to Pharika's cure as my sideboard option for aggro

poppa_f

I don't understand why you would splash red and run 0 Dreadbore in the 75. Yeah I thought the same thing. I like having LBZ and tbhoughtseize main. I'm experimenting with 3 thoughtseize main at the moment (and dropping magma jet completely) and it's working really well. Basically I realised I was s...

poppa_f

JK if you are struggling against BlOb and hexproof then I really recommend trying ratchet bomb in the SB. It's a massive beating for hexproof, you can normally blow up their gladecover scout or whatever they have suited up and it also deals with BlOb. Devour flesh is a decent option, but gets tricky...

poppa_f

Tom Ross has R/b in his latest article with one of Jedi_Knight's 1st Place lists. http://www.starcitygames.com/article/28179_Beating-Esper-With-Aggro.html It'd be great if the last two copies of Lifebane Zombie could make their way into the maindeck since it's so good right now I played in my LGS l...

poppa_f

I agree with JK that 4 gates is too many. You want to cast your threats on curve (especially LBZ) and I've also found hitting that sixth land to overload mizzium can be critical against G/R (to the point that I'm now considering running keyrunes in the sideboard to curve out faster). Would swap 2 ga...

poppa_f

I think R/b "burn" would be more mid-rangey. Instead of blitzing with creatures you grind them down slowly with burn, hand disruption, mutavaults, keyrunes and ramp in to some dragons or Rakdos's Returns. Something along these lines: [deck]4 Young Pyromancer 4 Chandra's Phoenix 4 Stormbrea...

poppa_f

man I'd love to see the look on their face when you Wild Ricochet their Warleader's Helix, 24 point life-swing!

poppa_f

on side-note, someone showed me this awesome Chrome extension today, which makes all card names on web pages mouse-overable to get the gatherer picture:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... fabg?hl=en

poppa_f

I think the main problem with the R/x list is that it has lost power, whereas the other tier 1 decks have all got stronger post BotG. Mono-black got bile blight and drown in sorrow, G/R got Courser of Kruphix and Xenogod, U/x control got scrylands. W/x got Brimaz. Pyrowhite had Chandra for card draw...

poppa_f

I've considered running hellhole flailer before, but I don't think it helps much in many of the key matchups. Against MBD and U/x control, the gameplan is to get cheap threats out and overwhelm them, and the lack of haste here is bad (and it dies to all of their main removal). Against G/x monsters w...

poppa_f

I think I saw you in a couple of dailies :) I was up and down today, had one really bad game where the G/R guy had a rampager on the board and 2 flesh//blood in hand. I had read the bones and mizzium in hand and 4 lands in play, I cast read the bones and didn't see a single land in the 4, so I could...

poppa_f

Really liking ratchet bomb in the sideboard, basically hoses anyone trying to play blitz against you.

Just had a very satisfying game against RUG monsters where I had the nut draw of thoughtseize in to LBZ. Almost impossible for them to win when this happens

poppa_f

I think he's taking about my B/r list MDU

poppa_f

+1 for RR against Burn, I still think it's our best chance. I played in my LGS standard last night, went 2-2. I was short a couple of cards, so ended up playing a 25 land version with 2 vaults and 3 dragons. Lost a tight first match against mono-U (flooded out in the decider, regretted not boarding ...

poppa_f

I wonder if crypt incursion could be some good tech against burn, although it is a nombo with the whip (would also be back-breaking for dredge, but hardly anyone plays that). I'd consider bringing it in against blitz Aggro as well, just as a way to stabilise in the early rounds

poppa_f

Just an update to say that the deck is working better now I've cut the burn down and removed the Pyrewild Shamen, and moved 2 LBZ main. Bizarrely I played 2 Chromanticore decks in my last 3 matches (won both match ups pretty easily) Regarding the whip, I've had completely the opposite experience, it...

poppa_f

Thanks for the feedback guys, I'm going to make some of the changes you've suggested and test more on MODO. There's a win a box tourney at my LGS at the end of the month, so hoping to have the final 75 locked in by then and can crack top 8 again

poppa_f

been on holiday for the past week, but hit MODO on my return with my B/r list, currently on a run of 9 consecutive wins (although take with a slight pinch of salt, as 6 of these were in 2-mans): [deck]Sorcery (8) 2x Dreadbore 1x Flames of the Firebrand 2x Mizzium Mortars 1x Rakdos's Return 2x Read t...

poppa_f

Yeah I find the burn matchup tricky. I think the key could actually be running Rakdos Returns (if you are running at least 24 lands). If you have 2 Rakdos Returns post-board then you should be able to outrace them if you can returns them on turn 5 for 3

poppa_f

For a start 4 Lifebane Zombie should help a lot. You are definitely not the beatdown in that matchup, you really want to play for time until your dragons and Chandra can take over the board. I'd consider running thoughtseize as a pre-emptive solution for Voice, failing that Annhilating fire is your ...

poppa_f

[deck]Creatures (22) 4 Tormented Hero 4 Rakdos Cackler 4 Spike Jester 4 Herald of Torment 4 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch 2 Pyrewild Shaman Spells (14) 3 Lightning Strike 1 Bile Blight 2 Magma Jet 2 Mizzium Mortars 2 Hero's Downfall 2 Dreadbore 2 Read the Bones Lands (24) 4 Blood Crypt 4 Temple of Mali...

poppa_f

but with the number of GR Monsters people are playing, you're bound to get fucked here Well this is the whole point. The meta is mainly G/R, Mono-B and U/w now. The trusty R/x lists are a lot worse in this meta because G/R has gone bigger (so we can't burn out their threats any more) and has Caryat...

poppa_f

First draft of what the deck could look like: [deck]21 Creatures 4 Rakdos Cackler 4 Tormented Hero 4 Spike Jester 4 Herald of Torment 2 Pyrewild shaman 3 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch 15 Spells 2 Read the Bones 2 Dreadbore 4 Lightning Strike 2 Magma Jet 2 Hero's Downfall 1 Ultimate Price 2 Mizzium Morta...

poppa_f

The elephant (or Phoenix in the room) is that the only card really holding us back on fixing is the Phoenix (and to a lesser extent SBD). Herald of torment is actually a very similar card in what it brings to the table (evasive flyer with durability and tempo). If we swap 4 Herald for 4 Phoenix then...

poppa_f

MDU- how comes you're not running thoughtseize at all in your 75? (I get that it doesn't mesh so well with the overall strategy, but it's such a strong card in it's own right, probably the best card in standard right now)

Dies to Removal

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[Primer] W/b aggro AKA Orzhov Humans