Magic the Gathering fans?

[Dunkum he/him]

haven't gotten any.  don't know if I will.  i've said before that I was never a fan of the original Zendikar, and my friends have dropped off of drafting for a bit, so not sure I'll bother getting any.  That said, looking at spoilers and card lists I did like what I was seeing a lot more than I had expected to, so I might do it eventually.

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Actually rather fond of it so far. In the process of making an Eldrazi deck. And yeah, there are no White Eldrazi, which is a bit of a shame as they're relatively easy to justify - Moreso than Blue ones, in my opinion.

 

In other news, I now have a Crucible of Worlds

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

damnation that must have cost you a pretty penny.

 

Mulling over different ideas atm; awaken/landfall, ally, some sort of blue/green for kiora but I always have trouble trying to get that balance. Will definitely purchase Omnath for an elemental deck.

 

Question; If you use Swell of Growth on Zada, Hedron Grinder, would that allow you to put more than the initial land on the field?

 

EDIT: trying to build an Ally deck = frustrating as rust. far too many options

Edited October 6, 2015 by ParadoxSpren

[The Sovereign]

Question; If you use Swell of Growth on Zada, Hedron Grinder, would that allow you to put more than the initial land on the field?

You would get to put a land into play for each creature that got a copy of the Swell of Growth (and the initial Swell of Growth) assuming you actually had that many lands in hand.

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

I thought as much. Not band for a Red/green aggression ramp

[Lindel he/him]

So, I built this Izzet deck a while back, and it typically performs well in our local group. I want to make it viable in a slightly more competitive environment, however, and could really use some feedback. If any of y'all could take a look, I'd be much obliged. Here's the link:

http://www.mtgvault.com/lindel1324/decks/isochron-sniper/

[Khyrindor he/him]

My brother has a deck that is basically half hydras and half mana/mana multiplying cards. When he plays Hydra Broodmaster (which he has three of by the way) he can literally spawn hundreds of abnormally strong hydras and just win. Its frustrating. 

[Dunkum he/him]

@Lindel - off the top of my head, my only suggestion would be to see if you can't find some cheaper spells.  lightning bolt (one mana, 3 damage) is a bit hard to come by these days, but I would think Shock (one mana, 2 damage) is still readily available (though admittedly, I havem't looked).  Basically, if you aren't using the Turn portion of the Turn//Burn cards, you could probably replace them with Shock to your benefit.

 

@khyrindor - that sounds like something that could be beaten with a bit of speed.  hydras tend to be expensive, or at least tend to be most effective when you spend a lot of mana on them.  I have a friend whose deck is nearly unbeatable if he has time to build it up, and another friend who regularly beats him with a goblin deck by killing him quickly, before he can get most of his defenses into play.  another possible strategy is to include things like Holy Day.  it doesn't matter how many hydras and how strong if you can prevent all damage with one mana.

[Lindel he/him]

Theoretically, Turn//Burn would be used against large, indestructible or similarly hard to kill creatures, but that doesn't actually come up that often, especially as I plan to kill my opponent before he has a chance to play anything too dangerous. I think I'll sideboard the Turn//Burns and replace them in the main board with Shock, as you suggest. Thanks!

Edited November 1, 2015 by Lindel

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Theoretically, Turn//Burn would be used against large, indestructible or similarly hard to kill creatures, but that doesn't actually come up that often, especially as I plan to kill my opponent before he has a chance to play anything too dangerous. I think I'll sideboard the Turn//Burns and replace them in the main board with Shock, as you suggest. Thanks!

 

I have an Izzet deck (with some white in it), and I would actually say keep the Turn//Burns, with the current deck at least. They are basically your only reach against creatures with high Toughness. I think that if your plan is to kill your opponent quickly though, the deck needs a little fiddling with to make it quicker on the creature side.

 

I would suggest removing Skullcrack from the deck unless you are seriously in need of preventing Lifegain. Its inability to hit Creatures prevents it from being versatile, so it can end up basically being a dead card in your hand. But you've got Leyline of Punishment in the sideboard, so I'd just remove them from the deck, as they don't add much, if anything. If you can get some, I'd suggest adding in a few copies of Electrolyze - a great card which deals damage, can kill two creatures, and replaces itself.

 

I would also potentially swapping out the Fluxcharger and Gelectrodes for a few different creatures, possibly ones with Prowess, unless you are really making use of the pinging aspect of Gelectrode. The deck looks like an aggro deck, with its low CMC, but the creatures you've got in it make it look more mid-range. I think you're also better off using Prowess creatures than Kiln Fiend or Nivix Cyclopes. Monastery Swiftspear is a great card, and almost as offensive as Kiln Fiend, but it improves its Toughness too so it doesn't get killed by a 1/2-drop all the time. If you are in need of draw, I think Jhessian Infiltraitor's pretty good, as it does that and has Prowess too. Bit more expensive, but Abbot of Kheral Keep is also a good creature for a deck like this.

 

You're also running 65 cards, which is never good. I'd remove 5 cards, of which I'd suggest two are Lands. You don't need to run 24 in a deck that has this low a mana curve. The Boilerworks probably slow you down quite a bit as well, and should probably just be replaced by Mountains. 7/12/3 would probably be around the right split for lands in this deck.

 

Overall, I think it might be an idea to have a look at Modern burn decks, to see what they're playing. Obviously you don't want Goblin Guides or fetchlands or anything like that, but it can give you an idea of what competitive players are doing in burn decks.

 

---

 

Khyrindor, one of my friends has a deck very similar to it, and it is pretty much a question of speed and removal. Enchantment removal can wreck a player's game in a deck like this, and boardwipes that aren't based on damage can just shut them down and make them have to start again entirely. But other than that, ramp is traditionally a mid-range strategy, and they get entirely shut down by lightning-fast aggro and by heavy control.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Wyrmhero

[Dunkum he/him]

I think you mean Jhessian Thief, not Jhessian Infiltrator.

 

Ultimately, it all really comes down to the decks you are playing against too.  I figured the Turn spells were probably for dealing with big creatures, but I wasn't sure how much use you were actually using those.  if you play people who use a lot of life gain, then preventing it is useful, if you play people that focus on heavy hitting creatures, then keep the Turn//Burns and push out something else.

 

I will second the idea of removing the fluxcharger and izzet boilerworks.  the former looks like you most expensive card other than Ral Zarek (side note: I've used his -7 ability once.  it was fun) and can easily be replaced with more cost effective creatures, and the latter will tend to slow you down because of how it comes into play.

[Lindel he/him]

So I've added Monastery Swiftspear, removed Fluxcharger, swapped Turn//Burn for Shock, but kept it on the sideboard. I don't often face face players who use a lot of larger creatures, and I can always change my mind later. I also swapped out the Skullcracks for additional Lightning Strikes and Searing Spears, and cut the Boilerworks. I still like the Kiln Fiend and Nivix Cyclops, as the boosts quickly add up. The idea is to clear the path with burn, then swing in. I'm also keeping Gelectrode, as I usually put his ping ability to good use. He actually can provide some reach against higher toughness creatures: one Flame Slash brings him within range of a toughness 6.

http://www.mtgvault.com/lindel1324/decks/snipe-w-aggro/

It's still at 65 for now, as I'm reluctant to cut anything.

EDIT: Clarified a couple things.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Lindel

[Lindel he/him]

Apologies for double posting, but I recently got a couple of the Commander 2015 decks, and I was wondering if anyone wanted to discuss.

I'm working on a casual Storm style deck for Mizzix. Key cards in my build include Empty the Warrens, Mind's Desire, Guttersnipe, Talrand, etc. Tons of card draw and disruption. Turnaround, High Tide and a couple rituals enable even more casting, and Reiterate is also nuts when combined with Seething Song and Mizzix, cause who wouldn't want infinite mana and infinite copies of their favorite spells?

Any other thoughts on Mizzix, or the other 2015 Commanders?

[Dunkum he/him]

I liked a lot of those cards, but none of them enough to replace any of my commanders (though Mizzix would fit into my Niv-Mizzet deck)

Myriad looks like potentially a very very fun ability, and I imagine that Blade of Selves would be just a generally fun card to play.

unrelated to that, have you looked at any of the upcoming set yet? there are only a few cards available, but they so far include new mana type and a new basic land. no description yet (as far as I could see) on how that mana works, though. not sure whether i think it is a good or bad thing yet, though given the annoyances that were snow lands and phyrexian mana, I'm leaning towards bad.

[Wyrmhero he/him]

I really like the look of the commander decks this time around, particularly the UG and GB ones. Unfortunately, I'm not playing a lot of Magic at the moment, so I'm not able to test them out/buy and upgrade them...

 

My hope for Oath is that the 'spoilers' we have seen so far turn out to be utterly incorrect. It's a parasitic mechanic that only works with itself and provides absolutely nothing to the game that coloured mana already provides. Snow mana, at least, could be used outside of the set as normal mana. Wastes doesn't even have a basic land type, which stops it working with Domain as well. I see no reason for it to exist, other than because it can.

 

Just because you can, WotC, doesn't mean you should.

[Lindel he/him]

Huh. With Phyrexian mana, you gain flexibility even outside the block. Being able to pay life instead of mana can be a handy ability, so it's relevant even if you're not playing anything else from new Phyrexia.

Unless we're missing something, this looks to be pretty useless outside of Oath. Even assuming Waste mana counts as a colourless mana, which it probably does, why would you run them unless you're paying Eldrazi?, Or perhaps a Colourless Commander deck, but those are still very narrow, limited uses.

On the subject of Commander, UG is the other deck I got, and it's also pretty fun. Mycoloth. Just, Mycoloth. And Sage of Hours is pretty funny too.

Mizzix is where it's at, though. Never underestimate the power of cost reduction. X spells and Buyback get pretty ridiculous. Casting huge spells practically for free is a good feeling. Or, in the case of Scour from Existence, you can cast it literally for free. I'd say Mizzix is the best U/R Storm Commander yet. Mizzix may not provide the direct damage outlet and card advantage that Niv-Mizzet does, but she's powerful in her own right.

Edited November 23, 2015 by Lindel

[Dunkum he/him]

Mizzix is probably better than Niv-Mizzet in a straight spell=based direct damage deck, though I think Niv-Mizzet wins out if you add some card draw.

On the Wastes mana...presumably the Wastes card has basic land type "Wastes", though can't be sure until there is more information released on that (especially given that there is nothing in the subtype field). I'm also assuming that it provides colouless mana. In some discussion board, I skimmed through a debate about whether the <> mana symbol was going to just be a new symbol for colorless mana (with the (x) symbols being relegated to 'generic' mana), or whether it was going to be its own unique thing like snow or phyrexian mana. Ultimately, if it is being required as a mana type in a mana cost, I am not sure whether there is actually a distinction.

[Lindel he/him]

I've got card draw, and I've included Niv-Mizzet in the 99, but the draw is more to allow me to cast more spells than to be my primary win condition. Mizzix is more effective at casting tons of spells and working up a high Storm count, in my opinion. I guess it's just a matter of opinion.

It would appear that Wastes don't have a basic land type, which is probably intentional, as it won't interact with things like Domain. I would assume that <> was just a mana cost symbol requires true colorless mana, not just generic mana, except that Mirror Pool appears to produce <>, which really throws me off. It would be strange for the WotC to change the symbol for colorless mana in the middle of a block. Battle for Zendikar's Scions produce one colorless mana, represented by {1}, not <>. So I'd guess it's something new. I saw suggested somewhere that it might be able to be payed either by two colorless or <>, which I could see.

EDIT: I accidently downvoted your post, I'll go upvote a couple to make up for it, sorry.

Edited November 25, 2015 by Lindel

[Dunkum he/him]

was wondering what was up with the downvote. no worries, on that.

my niv-mizzet commander deck is a lot of creature based pinging and a fair amount of card draw, so Mizzix wouldn't work quite as well for me. honestly, I created it from a regular deck I had, which in turn was created specifically to work with Niv-Mizzet (prior to gettign him, I'm not sure I ever had done a direct damage or card draw type deck, but he was too good not to use). the other thing niv-mizzet has going for him is the way he works with cards like curiosity or ophidian eye (and at least one other, btu the name escapes me right now). being able to play him immediately once I have one of those in my hand can be devastating.

[Lindel he/him]

That's fair. For your deck, Niv-Mizzet is obviously the stronger choice, which makes sense, cause it's built around him. Mizzix is better for what I'm going for, which is abusing of X spells, Buyback, Storm, etc.

[Dunkum he/him]

exactly. in the deck you describe, I 100% agree that mizzix works better. also, that sounds liek afun deck. I've tried to work storm into some of mine, but the spells are generally just too expensive to warrant it.

[Lindel he/him]

I've been working on my Izzet deck, and I think I've made some significant improvements, but it's not quite there. Any suggestions on how to better maximize this list for a fairly competitive environment?

http://www.mtgvault.com/lindel1324/decks/izzet-wip/

[Dunkum he/him]

I take it your normal strategy is something like blast the enemy creatures with instants and sorceries to clear the way for you prowess-buffed creatures to attack.

[Lindel he/him]

Yup, that's the basic idea. Any suggestions to make it run more efficiently?

Edited January 23, 2016 by Lindel

[Dunkum he/him]

not sure how useful any of these would be but here are a few thoughts (i don't run this sort of deck, so take them with a grain of salt):

 

maybe look into some of the red spells that make it harder for opponents to block you (like blinding flare), at least as sideboard cards.  that way if your opponent runs large creatures (like treefolk) you can temporarily disable them with one spell, rather than having to waste 2 or 3 to remove them.

 

interesting thing I discovered while looking up examples: for spells with the "Storm" ability, the copies you create aren't technically cast, they are just put on the stack, so they wouldn't help you (which is a pity) but Isochron Scepter's copied spell is cast (without paying mana cost) so it does trigger prowess.

 

If you ever get bored with your deck, you might try adding Eye of the Storm to it.  i doubt it will make it better, but it might make things more interesting.

 

and if you ever have 8 mana just hanging around, mizzix's mastery's overload ability would trigger dragonauts, guttersnipe, and prowess once for each instant and sorcery in your graveyard.

 

and pyromancer ascension, while it wouldn't trigger the when cast abilities, would let you take advantage of the multiplicity of your cards, increasing the damage by copying (but not technically casting the copies) spells if you have them in your graveyard