Super Shock is a deck that initially came about when a friend of mine, pro tour veteran Bryan Haak first came to us with his Vampire deck-the one that turned heads during his feature match at a SCG Open in Boston, the one that put vampires back on the map. At the time, the deck was still in it's roughest stages, and ran some cards that never made it into the build we see today. However, the deck still ran Dark Tutelage. When we were talking back and forth about builds, I pointed out that the deck was weak to early disruption. At the time, a Pyroclasm on the third turn was pretty much game, not like it is now. However, I brought up using red as a focus, using a burn package instead of the vampires and running four copies of Finkel 2.0. He liked the idea, and I set to work, building what I called Super Shock for running every shock effect in the format: Forked Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Galvanic Blast, and Burst Lightning. And Super Shock was born.
The cool thing about the deck is that it's extremely cheap. In my initial build, the deck was about $25. It was Dragonskull Summits, Lavaclaw Reaches, Blackleave Cliffs, Dark Tutelages, and the rest was a bunch of commons and uncommons-essentially every burn spell in the format. The idea of the deck is to keep hitting your opponent's face with shocks at the end of each turn, until you eventually run out of burn and drop a Finkel. At that point, you should be able to out-damage your opponent. The deck has a great advantage against removal-heavy decks, but loses to the white leyline, Kor Firewalker, and is extremely weak against both Duress and Inquisition of Kozilek. A deck that boards in Duress and yet keeps Inquisitions will rock Super Shock more than I rocked yo mama last night. Mana Leak, Spell Pierce and Memoricide are all great against it too, so it's safe to say that the deck had definite disadvantages. However, it went through some tweaking and now runs a couple Pyromancer's Ascensions, which help get the card advantage you need when you've lost your Enchantment - Finkels. But the enchantment is weak to Hexmage, and the deck is still weak to control, even with Dark Tutelage. So what I hope to do tonight is revise the deck yet again, and build it up to something that can stand up in competitive play. There's a qualifier I might go to tomorrow, and if I do I want to bring Super Shock.
Well, to start, here was my original list:
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Forked Bolt
4 Fireball
2 Doom Blade
2 Pyroclasm
4 Searing Blaze
4 Arc Trail
4 Staggershock
4 Dark Tutelage
4 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Blackleave Cliffs
4 Dragonskull Summit
8 Mountain
This build was okay, but there were a few big issues. First of all, Fireball sucks. Second of all, there's too many Pyroclasms/Arc Trails and not enough Doom Blades.
My second version of the deck was nothing more than a few tweaks, meaning the addition of Pyromancer's Ascension. This gave the deck a bit of an edge, but honestly I think the only reason it got better was the extra Doom Blade.
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Forked Bolt
3 Doom Blade
3 Pyroclasm
4 Arc Trail
4 Searing Blaze
2 Pyromancer's Ascension
4 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Blackleave Cliffs
4 Dragonskull Summit
8 Mountain
Now, my trouble is that with Arc Trail, Pyroclasm, and Searing Blaze all taking up slots, I have a bit too much burn that focuses on creature kill, at least in the main. Control is too big right now that all the extra burn is completely unnecessary.
I'm also worried about the white Leyline screwing up my plans since people will have it prepared for valakut, so my answer for that comes in two forms: First, Bloodchief Ascension. If my opponent gets the leyline before I can get the ascension active, though, I'll need something more than Lavaclaw Reaches to beat for two. Hence, Goblin Guide. I considered Bloodghast, but blue decks will have Brittle Effigy anyways, plus the deck isn't running fetches. Not to mention that the guide is R for two damage, so he fits in the Super Shock theme.
Creatures (4):
4 Goblin Guide
Spells (36):
2 Bloodchief Ascension
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Forked Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Doom Blade
2 Arc Trail
4 Searing Blaze
4 Staggershock
4 Dark Tutelage
Lands (20):
4 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Blackleave Cliffs
2 tectonic Edge
6 Mountain
So as you can see, I cut Pyroclasm altogether, added the fourth Doom Blade, and switched my active Quest. I also cut two of my Arc Trails to make room for a set of Guides. Now I'd say the entire deck's worth about $50. And it pwns n00bs.
Of course, no good deck comes without a sideboard, and here's mine:
2 Arc Trail
2 Leyline of Punishment
4 Duress
4 Pyroclasm
3 Brittle Effigy
Extra creature burn to help against big red, vamps, elves, etc. Duress for control, Leyline for anything with pro-red or lifelink (wurmcoil), and Brittle Effigies to deal with Bloodghast/Vengevine/Wurmcoil/Skytherix or any other annoying creature I happen to see. Honestly, the deck I'm most afraid of is Valakut, I just don't think I can out-damage them consistently. I don't know though, I haven't played with Goblin Guide yet. I was too busy playing with yo mama.
*Note: The lack of links, images and such WILL CHANGE. I'm only posting this as is because it's already 3 A.M. and I want to get some other stuff done before sleep, if I even have any. Well, cheers!
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