Deck Tech: BantBlade

Last time, I shared my list for an oddball innustrad deck, so jank to the point that Angelic Destiny was not only played, but there was a playset of them. This time, I've decided to share my -real- list, the sexy tech I've been brewing and sharing with some community members behind the scenes. If you're looking for -the- deck, odds are you're going to find it here.

This deck came about about a month ago from the rotation of Squadron Hawk. I wanted to find a replacement- a card that would generate a sea of dudes like the hawks once were. And I found him.

Innustrad's Destiny

For the past few months, I'd pretty much dropped the idea of brewing casual stuff, instead focusing on more serious content for the site. Well now, that's about to change, and you're still probably gonna steal some games. It was foretold in the heart of the cards, man. This is your destiny.

It's your destiny to get 2-for-1d with this card.

HDC 003: Bombshell Babe

I haven't added to the HDC in a long time, so today I thought I'd take a look around that inbox and I found this email from Nick T:

Fastest Deck in Standard
The deck must be able to drop bombs on turn three or sooner.  Bomb being a plausible  win condition that cost five or more. Mana dorks/mana acceleration  should be the only none bomb cards. The core idea is to blast ahead faster then any other deck in the meta, by for example dropping a titan on turn three.  Green seems the optimal color but any color or combo is allowable. Just an idea, hope you try it out!

So basically, I need to construct a standard deck with mana dorks, ramp spells, fatties and nothing else. Oh boy, doesn't this sound like fun. Time to get my Timmy on.

So I'm playing Hawks With Swords

So about a week before M11, I decided to leaf through my binder to see what I could have built for the new standard environment.  SuperShock is still a good deck, but is extremely anti-meta and the numbers need to be tweaked based upon what the field looks like.  Until the format re-establishes itself, I won't be slinging any Dark Tutelages any time soon.  Instead, I'm using the classic, 'nerfed' hawks with swords.

I was lucky enough to literally have the entire deck built minus Jace, TMS and two Stoneforge Mystics.  I sleeved up my list immediately and have been playing the same build since (not even adding Ponder/Oblivion Ring from M12).

Cheap Weenies

A local player had asked me yesterday about a list for a budget white weenie list.  And by this I mean regular old weenies.  No Quests, no Puresteels, no Tempered Steels.  Regular old weenies.  Come to think of it, I don't believe you can find much in the archetype at the moment, so I agreed to write up a list.  Instead of a passed along note, I thought I'd share my list with all my followers out there.  Without any further ado, I give you my cheap weenie.

That's what she said.

Deck Tech: Tezzeret's Empire

Hey there, folks.  I know I've been gone a month, and it couldn't have been a worse time, but instead of being remorseful about the spoilers and bannings I missed, I want to jump straight back into the brewing game with a cycle of cards that have managed to pique my interest.

Probing Standard

It's rare for me to do a strategy piece, but I really wanted to talk for a bit about the relevance of this card.  In New Phyrexia, a new Peek entered standard in the form of Gitaxian Probe.  It refills itself, it's an instant, but most importantly, it can be played without any color dependency.  Git Probe begs the question- does it go in every deck?

Didn't they use one of these on
Cartman once?

Deck Tech - Splinter Twin

Nothing says Lorwyn block quite like a
creature combo that wins as early as T3.
Quillspike, anyone?

For those of you who don't know, this has been a combo in Extended for a long time now between Pestermite and Splinter Twin, a combo that also works with Pestermite and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.  Basically, a Pestermite enchanted with Splinter Twin taps to create a 2/1 with flying and haste.  When the token enters the battlefield, his trigger untapsthe enchanted Pestermite (or Kiki-Jiki).  In this way, you can create an infinite number of creatures and swing for lethal damage on T4, T3 with acceleration.

In standard, another Pensermite is about to be printed and the combo shall live again.  There's been a lot of talk of just what shell the deck will fit into, so I'm here today to share my views on how to get to that magical Christmas land.  And boy, is my sack full of presents for you!

October Deck Day: Mono-white Equipment

Insert WoW reference here.

A local player was looking for some advice last FNM on a mono-white equipment-focused deck post-rotation.  He showed me his list, which had questionable cards like Sunspear Shikari and Brass Squire with little to no disruption to back him up.  I told him that not only would I work on a lost for him, I'd type up a full article on it.  Now, this will probably be full of inaccuracies, since M12 and Innustrad will both be legal sets after the rotation period, meaning that I'm basically building a block deck with some obvious core set reprints thrown in.  Oh well.

What'll you play post New Phyrexia?

NPH has garnered a lot of attention, being spoiled far in advance of the normal season and with a lot of future staples.  Cards like Mental Misstep or Surgical Extraction that will see play in legacy for ages to come.  But with the set spoiled in advance, the community is already focusing on what the best decks for standard will be without even getting hold of the cards themselves.  Never shying away from a bandwagon, I'm here to take a look at what you may be seeing in standard after the release of New Phyrexia.

HDC 002: College Pool Party

Last week, one submission for the HDC caught my eye that I really wanted to talk about, especially because this deck is extremely fun to play.  I've tested a little with it already for Manaleak's budget contest a few weeks back and, although I didn't take it far, there was definitely some cool interactions.

Anthony E. says-

 "For your horrible deck challenge, I wish to submit a deck built around Knowledge pool. It must win by stealing it's opponents cards rather than running good ones itself."

Bryan Haak Owes Me a Night on the Town

This past Saturday, I was at a tcgplayer.com 1K qualifier at the home store, The Game Castle, in Londonderry, NH.  The list I took was a slight alteration to Super Saiyan Shock I decided to try out, cutting two Bloodchief Ascensions and two Forked Bolts for a playset of Inquisition of Kozilek, the two forks replacing BSZ in my sideboard.  The fact is that while FB is a great way to kill two birds with one card, Inq does manage to kill four. I haven't been running them mostly because Blackleave Cliffs is my only land that comes down untapped on turn one and taps for black, but helps to deal with swords and counterspells that the rest of my maindeck simply can't handle.  It even helps my Valakut matchup by getting rid of GSZ pre-board.  The only real issue with Inquisition is that unless I'm facing down Kor Firewalker or Leatherback Baloth, I'd simply rather have the burn.  It's just more versatile.  A lot of times I'm just sitting there, waiting to draw the last point or two of damage, and Inq doesn't help me get there later on.  There's also some times when I get absolutely no value from it, albeit rare but it does happen. Nevertheless, Inq certainly did its job today and could have netted me a slot in top 8.

Tournament Report: TCGPlayer 1K Qualifier- Manchester, NH

This weekend, I headed down to a 1K piloting Super Saiyan Shock alongside Russel Keeler playing RUG, Raymond Cipoletti playing Elves, and Andrew Kiwatkowski with RDW.  The shop is Level Up Gaming in Manchester, NH, kindofa small space but with enough for the 61 players in attendance and a full six rounds of swiss.  However, the TO still had to turn back a good 20 players due to lack of space.

Build With Me- Standard Aggro Part 3

I didn't expect to keep on with this deck, but I've played a few matches with the deck against various opponents and I've quickly come to hate the choice in a few things.

Build With Me- Standard Aggro Part 2

Last article, I shared with you all the initial steps involved in me breaking into an aggro deck from scratch.  This time, I'll continue where I left off and go over what I want to do on turns 3-4.  Note that I'm building the deck as I'm writing the article, so you'll see the entire process that I'm going through.

Build With Me- Standard Aggro Part 1

Today, I decided I'd build a new aggro deck to play around with simply because I haven't played a true creature aggro deck in a long time (since pre-SSS Vampires).  But I want to do something a little different this time.  I'm writing this article with no preparation whatsoever.  I'm going to be building this deck right here and now, and take you through the process step by step; so you can see exactly how my thought process works when it comes to building decks.

Racialist Bloodchiefs: The Return

I was very surprised by the reactions that people had to the HDC list I posted earlier this week.  The deck was a jank combo that tried to win by getting bloodchief online with a Decimator Web and then mill for lethal damage.  And what happened?  People took it seriously.  I had gotten asked for playtesting results, various choices I had made in the deckbuilding process, what I would do for a sideboard in the tournament meta, etc. etc.  It seems that there's actually a market for a deck along these lines and it quickly became one of my more frequently viewed articles, so I began thinking about how I would actually build it.

HDC 001: UB Bloodchief

The challenge: "I want you to build a deck in which no card has a converted mana cost greater than four.  The deck must run Jace Beleren, not JtMS, and win off of Jace's ultimate ability.  With the exception of Trinket Mage, you may not run creatures which do not have an ability that mills the opponent."

mtgUK Design a Deck 2011

Over at www.manaleak.com/mtguk, another site where my articles are featured, there's a deck design contest going on with the goal of one standard deck costing under 60 pounds (about $100) being sold on their website under the creator's name, the designer receiving a copy of their deck, a shirt, a Deckbuilder's Toolkit, and about $25 in store credit.

Deck Tech: Super Saiyan Shock

A couple months back, I had built a deck known as SuperShock, my adaptation of the original post-rotation vampires list as was introduced to me by Bryan Haak during the last States.  I apologize, for some reason I can't find the exact list, but a similar build by Caleb Durward can be found here, only with three Doom Blades over Vendettas and Dark Tutelage and Captivating Vampire beating out two Pawn of Ulamogs and the equipment.