Magic the Gathering fans?

[Lindel he/him]

Thanks for the tips! I went ahead and sideboarded Blinding Flare, and I'm considering dropping a couple lands and adding Pyromancer Ascension. With my mana curve, I could probably afford to run as few as 20 lands, right? Eye of the Storm might not be competitive with this deck, but it'd certainly be fun.

Edited January 23, 2016 by Lindel

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

Can anyone recommend a chaos deck, from like innistrad to now? Been interested in playing one but haven't the foggiest how to go about it.

[Wyrmhero he/him]

The Innistrad-onwards restriction is a bit difficult - 'Chaos' decks are hard to build at the best of times, and a large chunk of them are pre-Innistrad. But I suppose it all depends on what you mean by 'Chaos'.

 

Actual randomness puts you immediately into Red. Almost no two-ways about it. The only particularly sensible 'Chaos' card I can think of in this time period is Possibility Storm, from the Return to Ravnica block. Whenever you cast a spell, you instead cast the first one you come across in your deck with the same Type. The other entirely random cards since Innistrad are frankly so bad as to be unplayable even within the theme. Before then, the only other one I can think of which isn't coin-flips is Scrambleverse.

 

Alternatively, there is the more playable Guild Feud from that block, which basically puts you into RG as deck colours with big Creatures being cheated out. That may not be what you're looking for though, as it still feels a bit like an actual deck.

 

A bit older, and less random but still fairly chaotic is the Cascade mechanic, possibly pairing with Possibility Storm for chains of spells. The issue with this as an idea though is that a lot of the Cascade cards are rather expensive for what they do.

 

Not sure this is of much help, but it may spark an idea or two. It just depends on the flavour of chaos you want to implement, and how much you care about the deck being playable or wanting to play it.

[Dunkum he/him]

Yea, gonna say it really depends on what you mean by "chaos deck".  I have a deck I refer to that way, but it might more accurately be called something else.  it is less about random chance and more about dealing pain to everyone/everything.  a friend of mine had one with Timesifter (mirrodin, so predates your inistrad only reqmt), which mean turn order was randomized.  i dont remember anything else that was in that deck.

 

if you are looking to make a deck based on randomness,, as stated above, red is pretty much the default, with maybe a sprinkling of other colors depending on what other kinds of effects you want:

red/black can inflict a lot of pain across the board

red/white could let you protect yourself from some of the bad luck, and avoid the worst of the potential backfires

red/blue for a spell based deck

red/green for creature based

 

I'm not very familiar with any of the chance based cards post inistrad, with the exception of Ral Zarek, whose final ability is based on coin flips.

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

Hmm, was thinking along the lines for EDH. Possibly B/R/U

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

Hell yeah I love Magic (though I play online most of the time)

My favourite deck combo is red and white 

 

sooo.... what do people do here?

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

Ask questions about cards and mechanics, post deck lists, fanhype and speculate on upcoming blocks, which speaking of, I'm intrigued about shadows over innistrad, as I missed it the first time

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

Ask questions about cards and mechanics, post deck lists, fanhype and speculate on upcoming blocks, which speaking of, I'm intrigued about shadows over innistrad, as I missed it the first time

Ah ok thanks

[Adamir he/him]

I've found my deck in the paradoxical situation where Red, otherwise known as Attack Attack Attack, makes my deck far slower in the early game and stops me playing aggressive while giving me a better endgame. To give context, I was playing Mardu Ramp (Black White Red); I've boiled it down to just plain old black and white, scrapping the most aggressive color so as to actually be able to play aggressively.

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Red in Standard hasn't really been offensive as a secondary colour for ages - You're better off going monored, or Black/White warriors (white is the strongest at early-game aggression, though I think Red should be better at it personally). What Red gives you access to which no other colours have is reach, as burn spells can close a game when your creatures can't get through. So you're better off White/Black warriors, splashing Red for removal/burn.

 

I have to ask though... Mardu ramp? How are you ramping (and why) in those three colours?

[Adamir he/him]

 

I have to ask though... Mardu ramp? How are you ramping (and why) in those three colours?

 

 

I'd been running four Generator Servants (1Gen, 1R 2/2, sacrifice for two mana) and two copies of Liliana of the Dark Realms (+1 tutors swamps, -6 gives swamps five times their normal value). The plan here was to use one of my four copies of Secure the Wastes (1W XGen, summon X 1/1 warrior tokens) on Turn 5 with 8 mana to drop seven 1/1 tokens, then buff them over the next two turns with various stat bonuses from Spear of Heliod and Dictate of Heliod (+1/+1 and +2/+2 respectively), as well as give them Menace with Blood-Chin Rager (all other warrior creatures you control have Menace whenever Blood-Chin Rager attacks) to finish the game by Turn 8.

 

The entire purpose of this strategy is to catch the enemy off guard; a strong early game defense gears them up for a long game of attrition against what they think is a control deck, which is supposed to transform into a rush deck inside the space of two turns when they've decided to concentrate on long-term advantage. It's gotten me the first victory in eight out of twelve decks I've played against, but drops in effectiveness when playing against the same person more than once.

 

Took your advice and focused entirely on b/w warriors, with a strong emphasis on mid-combat adjustments; instants and flash enchantments to boost my creatures' stats before combat resolves but after blocks are declared. With a focus on Herald of Dromoka to give all my warriors vigilance, I can declare attacks every turn and force my opponent to choose between the high chance that I am going to drop an instant or Dictate of Heliod mid-combat and the damage they would otherwise take, while still being able to hold up a solid defense. I don't have as much of an advantage against people who haven't played against me before, but my overall w/l ratio has improved since I adjusted the deck.

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Yeah, I think the real issue with a deck like that is that you're splitting between aggro and control. It might catch some people off-guard sometimes, but all that does is make you end up midrange in a deck not designed to support it. Aggro gets worse and worse the longer the game gets on, as well. I had misunderstood though, I thought it was a Standard deck. Makes more sense now I know it's not.

 

It's good to hear that my suggestion works. Combat tricks are quite fun, I think. My friend has a Gruul deck from both Ravnicas, and I'm never sure if I'm meant to block and get Bloodrushed or not block, take damage and get Bloodthirsted. Entirely different bluff, one you'll always win . BW Warriors is rather strong, particularly with the support they got.

 

To completely throw a curveball: Pauper. Anyone here play/played it? It's mostly what they play where I'm living right now, and I'm thinking of trying either a Tron or a UW/UB Flicker deck. Not sure which I'd rather play, but the key point is that they're rather different to what I'm playing right now.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Wyrmhero

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

I still have no idea of different formats/styles etc. Is pauper EDH/Comm?

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Pauper is a format in which you are only allowed to use cards that have been printed at Common rarity (or are Basic Lands). It's a bit of a weird format, more focused on the grind than quick games. There's some really weird decks, and 'eggs' (mana fixing artifacts that are often sacrificed afterwards and draw a card) are very often used to fix mana.

[Master Elodin]

I play dredge.

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

Predictions for SOI/EMO planes walkers;

SOI; Jace, Sorin, RG Werewolf walker/legendary, unlikely possibility of Tamiyo UW

EMO; Liliana, Tibalt, Nahiri

[Wyrmhero he/him]

I play dredge.

 

You're a soul-crushing monster . Though more seriously, graveyard-based decks are rather fun, I absolutely love playing them. I considered playing one myself in pauper, but another player has that deck already so I chose something else.

 

Predictions for SOI/EMO planes walkers;

SOI; Jace, Sorin, RG Werewolf walker/legendary, unlikely possibility of Tamiyo UW

EMO; Liliana, Tibalt, Nahiri

 

I'd bet on Jace, Liliana, Tibalt, followed by Nahiri and Tamiyo. Sorin doesn't tend to really do anything. Only thing is that that spread gives you no Green Walkers. Maybe we'll see Garruk again? Basically, this new 'all the Walkers everywhere' thing is a pain. Perhaps not Jace? In which case I'd put Garruk in the first set, maybe come for revenge against Liliana, and conviniently getting to mess Jace up again as well.

 

Hm, that'd be a good plot point. Garruk comes to kill Jace, and Liliana is confronted with the consequences of her actions. I mean, this is Wizards of the Coast we're talking about so it'll never happen, but it's a nice idea.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Wyrmhero

[The Sovereign]

I play dredge.

 

In Legacy or Vintage? In Vintage I have Storm sleeved up so I just ignore Dredge since I'm faster and outside of Cabal Therapy you can't interact with me and even then I can just use a Draw 7 and not care about the disruption anymore. But, in Legacy I currently have Canadian Threshold (or RUG Delver if you prefer) sleeved up so Dredge is a bit of a nightmare... I was on Miracles for years which has a decent to good Dredge matchup but I've shelved it for a little while just to change things up. I may be going back though if the Eldrazi deck gets as popular as I think it might (Miracles smashes it...).

Edited March 1, 2016 by Iron Eyes

[Master Elodin]

Legacy dredge, to be precise.

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

I didn't include Garruk due to reading forum comments about why he'd bother returning to Innistrad but it would be nice if he got cleansed.

EDIT: WOOP, Werewolf planeswalker is official, much hype. Here hoping she's either R/G or G/W, as some are speculating

Edited March 3, 2016 by ParadoxSpren

[The Sovereign]

I played Modern last night for the first time since Splinter Twin got banned. I tested out the Eldrazi Aggro deck to see what the hype is about.... Holy crap that deck is overpowered in Modern, every game I won convincingly and it never felt close. I predict by the next update to the Banned/Restricted list we will see Eldrazi Temple and maybe Eye of Ugin banned.

[Kynedath]

I'm so sad that I waited so long to find this thread. :'(

 

Don't mind me, I'll just be here googling all the new terms that I'm learning.

[Wyrmhero he/him]

I would be amazed if Temple was banned but not Eye. Temple is strong, yes, but its Eye that enables the really ridiculous plays and gives the deck staying power in the lategame, with its lack of draw. The only real reason Temple might be but not Eye is the Legendary status, and cynically because its an Expedition.

Kynedath, just ask away!

[The Sovereign]

I would be amazed if Temple was banned but not Eye. Temple is strong, yes, but its Eye that enables the really ridiculous plays and gives the deck staying power in the lategame, with its lack of draw. The only real reason Temple might be but not Eye is the Legendary status, and cynically because its an Expedition.

Kynedath, just ask away!

 

Yeah, going by how Wizards has been historically over-reactive when dealing with Modern's BR list I would say both will be banned.

Regarding play Eldrazi yesterday, I just played in a local weekly Modern. 16 players 5 rounds of swiss, no cut to top x.

 

I played against: Burn, Jund x2, Collective Company, and Grixis. I won all 2-0 and never even felt challenged. I also played a few fun games of the mirror against the other guy playing Eldrazi, he went 4-1.The deck just seems insane. You don't really have any truly bad match-ups. I was barely needing to sideboard. One note I made throughout the tournament was that Endless One just seems like the worst card. It can be nuts with Eldrazi Mimic but overall it is a bit clunky and often irrelevant or a win more. I found myself siding it out for more Wail's and Phyrexian Revolker in a lot of matchups.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Iron Eyes

[Dunkum he/him]

I'm so sad that I waited so long to find this thread. :'(

 

Don't mind me, I'll just be here googling all the new terms that I'm learning.

heh, i still have to do that on occasion.  I'm not really connected with the magic community at large, just my own friends mostly, so half the time people start talking about things that are seeing discussion in tournaments and the like and i'm just completely out of the loop.  i'm still not actually sure of the precise rules in legacy, modern, vintage, or whatever all the tournament formats are, simply because I don't participate in those anyway.