www.vitenka.com | ToothyWiki | Vitenka | RecentChanges | Login | Webcomic Basic deck: (Can post whole list later) Lots and lots and LOTS of mana acceleceration. What's the best stuff? The 'gain colour you already have' is basically duff, I need to replace it.
The mana acceleration is mostly based on what I have, sadly. Kodomas is in, journey isn't, didn't seem good enough. The elder I ignored, since I have artifact land and the blue one that doesn't sack to do it (but is morre expensive) Pentad prisms (for the turn3 bringer, if nothing else), mir, dawns reflection, chromatic spheres and one of the 'turn green mana any colour' critter round out the selection. Also a couple of artifact pain-lands and some real pain lands. (Though I'm actually using the champions 'stay tapped' ones) This is probably overkill, but I've never yet not reached 11 mana by turn 7 :) --Vitenka
I might say drop the Myr. If "artifact pain-lands" means Talismans, then they can stay, as they give 2 colours if you need them. MTG: Dawn's Reflection is great also. And turn-3 bringers are too much fun to drop the MTG: Pentad Prisms :) The only reason I mention Journey is that although it's not as good as the others, it does get you two colours when you're on 3 mana. I think of it as much more of a 5-colour-enabling card rather than an accelerator, but it looks like with sunburst and bringers that you're quite keen for 5 colours. How many manafix nonlands total are you playing? I'd say more than 12 might be too much, taking up slots that could be disenchant or fat creatures. --AC
Um - many. I'd have to check - but I still think the mana feels flaky early on. Getting five colours isn't usually hard, getting enough is usually the hard part. (Nezumi is one heck of a recurring cost) The sunbursts were mostly 'I can cast them as soon as I have enough mana, and I'll usually have all the colours and I'm already using energy chambers...' - the bringers are what the mana is for, mainly. I only have about 6 multi-lands - it's mostly plain single colour stuff. Would that be the problem? Journey can ALSO only get basic lands, though. --Vitenka (And I've enough kodomas to strip every basic out of my deck already.)
Addition - my land is balanced, only the mir and a talisman tip it toward green. I have used the pentads to cast the kodomas before - that really jumpstarts a manascrew. --Vitenka
Then a bunch of the sunburst artifact creatures. (sunburst fliers) and a few 'filler' fliers for defence - the white bird wall (4/4 for 4) and the red promo card dragon. (I'd use more of that cycle. m5 is a GOOD cost.)
It's fast. It's not weenie fast, but it does turn 3 5/5 creatures. It can also create bottle-gnomes of doom.
It cannot beat big-green - not even the red bringer is enough. It's fragile - killing off a few key creatures cripples it. Its end-game is NOT big enough in multiplayer. It has no removal, no disenchants no nothing to cripple a combo deck except by stomping on it.
But it's very fun, so I want to keep it.
How do I fix the above problems without losing the things that DO work? Most of the deck, frankly, is devoted to the mana. It's trying to work both in two player (hence the speed - and it CAN outspeed weenies, sometimes) and in multiplayer (hence needing some big end-game effects)
Any ideas?
I make it a rule of thumb to *always* squeeze in 3 disenchant-effects minimum if I'm in a colour that supports them (*sigh*s at his two recent blue-black decks). If you've got the mana, MTG: Dismantling Blow may be good, or MTG: Creeping Mold or MTG: Break Asunder are versatile, but anything would do. --AC
Should have stated an unstated rule. No cost of mmx - mx or x's only. I'm perhaps overly terrified of manascrew :) MTG: Dismantling Blow would indeed be awesome. But then so would MTG: Disenchant and I have about the same chance of getting that in a booster as MTG: Black Lotus. {Grumbles about the new set in an old-set environment} --Vitenka
Deck list.
This is currently constrained largely by what I own. So both realistic and 'if you ever see one' ideas are welcome.