[Archive] Challenge Set 2

[thedrigo]

ARRRGH! I still can't beat Dude! Here's the list I'm running. Help is desperately necessary!

4 Dryad Arbor
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Birchlore Rangers
4 Heritage Druid
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Priest of Titania
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Wren's Run Vanquisher
4 Regal Force
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Gaddock Teeg
1 Platinum Angel
1 Ali from Cairo

I'm not sure about the Ali, but there seems to be more decks with Disenchant and Naturalize effects rather than creature removers so I decided to leave one of each. Bloodbraid Elf is there to up the card advantage as he can pull almost every card in the deck with cascade. At one point, I had some Killer Bees in there but it didn't really help much. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't one of the lucky ones who beat the challenge when Deathtouch was still under the old rules, killing blockers without having to deal damage, which made it a lot easier when paired with Wirewood Symbiote.

Thoughts?

[aww1979]

I wouldn't use any nongreen cards, would be my advice. I tried splashing some other cards, and I found I could never cast them. Mana is in short supply as is without worrying about offcolour mana, too.

[thedrigo]

The thing is, Ali from Cairo is golden when you fight the green decks, or the multicolor Bant deck, that will ALWAYS disenchant the Angel. Clearly against Burn, Goblins or Kobolds, Platinum Angel is the way to go; I don't really depend on these two guys to win every game, but when the AI has two Juggernauts in play on turn three or something crazy like that, they definitely help.
My main problem is generally just getting overrun in the first few turns when the AI drops moxen and Black Loti and my first play is a land that I can't even tap because it has summoning sickness. In general, and I'm not trying to whine here, I've found this particular challenge to be the most difficult one apart from 5:1 and Land Ho, because of the auto Time Walk the AI gets every game at the beginning.

[aww1979]

Another thing you could try, if you are intent on keeping Ali and Bloodbraid Elf, is to include Simian Spirit Guide.

[discoransom]

That's Big, a UWB list. This challenge was a study in patience for me (ironically this build won on the first try). Too may times the AI would flat god-draw me. I think 26 lands is perfect for any non-affinity build.

4 Baneslayer Angel
3 Wrath of God
2 Moat
2 Elspeth, Knight Errant

4 Kokusho, the Evening Star
4 Shriekmaw
3 Damnation

4 Mulldrifter
4 Treachery
4 Cryptic Command

4 Reflecting Pool
4 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
4 Scrubland
4 Arcane Sanctum
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Watery Grave
2 Godless Shrine

Similar to some other lists. I found this build through Reveillark constantly crashing the game. Switched him to 2 Elspeth and 2 Moat. Elspeth is a HOUSE against the AI. Other than that, the only interesting choice is Cryptic Command. Everything in the deck is designed to straight steal games you are supposed to lose. Kokusho is absurdly powerful, and has great synergy with the extra Wraths lying around, or the legendary rule, either of which are huge plays.

[Vecc]

Sad, I lost all of my posts here in the board swipe.. oh well.

Dude... ended up being one of my favorite challenges, despite having to play it some 4 times to get it done. Generating 25 mana then attacking with 20 5/5+ elves never seems to get old. Wirewood Symbiote is definitely the key card holding everything together, like others have said.

Now there's only Land Ho! left in the Set #2 left for me, but I'll leave that for last. Maybe the manlands from WWK will make the task a lot less frustrating...

Guess I'll go back to 5:1 Odds and get the first Set done for good.

[aww1979]

Yeah, I hope so. I asked for the WG manland in my top ten list just for Land Ho, since I'm playing WG for Kjeldoran Outpost, Dryad Arbor, and Treetop Village. (though the Village got broken in the last update, so land ho is pretty hard until the next update :p) All the dual-manlands made it into the top 20 cards jatill's going to code, so regardless of your colour strategy, it'll help you. Gargoyle Castle is also a useful card in this challenge

[aww1979]

Land Ho is almost beatable now :p I just got to round 10, only to lose to a topdecked lightning bolt by kobolds the turn before I won (AI at 2, no creatures, and two manlands on my side)

Deserted Temple is worth its weight in gold :p Stirring Wildwood is helping a lot, too.

[thedrigo]

OMG! FINALLY BEAT DUDE!
T H A N K Y O U F O R T H E U P D A T E ! !

After countless attempts and many hairs ripped off my scalp, I finished it.
The update definitely made it happen for me.

Here's the final list:

4 Dryad Arbor
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Imperious Perfect
4 Joraga Warcaller *MVP AWARD*
4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Magus of the Vineyard *Honorable Mention*
4 Priest of Titania
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Wren's Run Vanquisher
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Regal Force

I left the deck at 48 cards, eliminating the chaff that made it slow and, following Awww's advice, removed the off-color cards. It took a couple tries, but definitely worked, though I must say I didn't face TurboFog the time I beat it, so... yeah. Land Ho and 5:1 to go!

[aww1979]

You can use 48 card decks in challenge mode???? Damn, I wish I'd known you could go smaller than 60 :p Magus of the Vineyard must've been awesome in Dude :p

[thedrigo]

I redid There Must Only Be One because before the release of Challenge set 2,I'd never heard of the format (which I now think is AWESOME) and there are sooo many new amazing cards. Fun Fun Fun.
Check it out:

1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Blood Crypt
1 Breeding Pool
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Plateau
1 Raging Ravine
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Savage Lands
1 Seaside Citadel
1 Steam Vents
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Stomping Ground
1 Taiga
1 Temple Garden
1 Treetop Village
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Watery Grave
1 Windbrisk Heights

1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Emeria Angel
1 Eternal Dragon
1 Exalted Angel
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Moat
1 Balance
1 Wrath of God
1 Hedron Crab
1 Collective Restraint
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Propaganda
1 Standstill
1 Show and Tell
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Cunning Wish
1 Impulse
1 Telling Time
1 Bringer of the Black Dawn
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
1 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
1 Phyrexian Scuta
1 Shriekmaw
1 Liliana Vess
1 The Abyss
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Duress
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Contagion
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Ali from Cairo
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Imperial Recruiter
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Ryusei, the Falling Star
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Burning Wish
1 Gamble
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Starstorm
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Scute Mob
1 Cream of the Crop
1 Eureka
1 Living Wish
1 Regrowth
1 Broodmate Dragon
1 Grand Arbiter Agustin
1 Lord of Extinction
1 Meddling Mage
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Sarkhan Vol
1 Lavalanche
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Vindicate
1 Mortify
1 Naya Charm
1 Putrefy
1 Terminate
1 Black Lotus
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Phyrexian Processor
1 Scroll Rack
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Zuran Orb
1 Sol Ring

Went through it on the first try. I wish I had enough cards to do this with my friends playing paper Magic... A little more than 101 Cards, but it works fine.

[aww1979]

.508 4 Mishra's Factory
.377 4 Maze of Ith
.528 1 Strip Mine
.1728 4 Wasteland
.1913 4 Dryad Arbor
.740 4 Pendelhaven
.873 4 Gargoyle Castle
.212 4 Savannah
.241 4 Taiga
.61 4 Raging Ravine
.57 4 Stirring Wildwood
.806 4 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
.1946 4 Treetop Village
.557 4 Deserted Temple
.1473 4 Windswept Heath
.694 1 Karakas
.438 1 Library of Alexandria
.612 1 Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree

I got to the final round with this deck in Land Ho, losing only to a topdecked lightning bolt the turn before I won. I also made it to round 9 once but the game crashed.

Using a totally different deck and abusing a *very* nasty bug (which I won't disclose :p) and possibly another bug (depending on whether it was intentional or not) I beat Land Ho, but due to the amount of time I've put into it and how close I've come in the past, I don't feel too bad about it :p Still, the deck above, with a *lot* of luck, can do it, eventually.

[jatill]

I redid There Must Only Be One because before the release of Challenge set 2,I'd never heard of the format (which I now think is AWESOME) and there are sooo many new amazing cards. Fun Fun Fun.
Check it out:

Would you upload this in dck form?

[Cognis]

Here's the deck. I've beaten the challenge on my first try with it with only minor alternations to the posted deck list.

[thedrigo]

Here it is. Sorry it took a while, Jatill, I hadn't checked the forum in a couple of days.