New quest decks

[Nordos]

Another Idea I had was something around these lines:

| Open

Code: Select all

4 Baleful Strix
1 Dimir Guildgate
2 Dimir Guildmage
4 Dire Undercurrents
4 Dovescape
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Evil Twin
4 Illness in the Ranks
8 Island
2 Loch Korrigan
2 Nefashu
2 Nightveil Specter
2 Oona's Gatewarden
1 Phantasmal Bear
2 Shadowmage Infiltrator
4 Stormscape Familiar
2 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Watery Grave

turned out to be weaker then expected, though. I wanted the AI to buy time via the Gatewarden and the Baleful Strix, yet the deck itself is too slow :S
It is based around being nearly only creatures and three different enchantments: Dovescape is the main part of the deck. It should mainly prevent the enemy from casting combos. Dire Undercurrent is a good supporter to draw cards - it was supposed to be played before Dovescape and at the same time being a two egded combo: once one of the Dire Undercurrent was in play, it should trigger for the spawned tokens, should the AI play another enchantment. The last one - Illness in the Ranks should simply reduce the effectivity of the enemies tokens.

[Nordos]

I tried to raise Jubilee's powerlevel. Tell me what you think about it

Jubilee 3 | Open

Name=Jubilee 3
Title=Jubilee
Difficulty=hard
Description=WUBRG multicolored creature Deck with Knight of New Alara and Spirit of Resistance
Icon=Jubilee.jpg
Deck Type=constructed
[main]
1 Arcane Sanctum
3 Bant Sureblade
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Bloom Tender
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Dryad Militant
2 Esper Stormblade
3 Fusion Elemental
3 Grixis Grimblade
1 Jungle Shrine
4 Knight of New Alara
2 Maelstrom Nexus
3 Naya Hushblade
4 Pillar of the Paruns
2 Plateau
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Savage Lands
2 Savannah
1 Seaside Citadel
4 Spirit of Resistance
4 Transguild Courier
2 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Woodland Cemetery[sideboard]

EDIT: As far as I am concerned, Bloom Tender may be an overkill, since the mana curve is quite low to begin with

Jubilee 3 | Open

Name=Jubilee 3
Title=Jubilee
Difficulty=hard
Description=WUBRG multicolored creature Deck with Knight of New Alara and Spirit of Resistance
Icon=Jubilee.jpg
Deck Type=constructed
[main]
1 Arcane Sanctum
4 Bant Sureblade
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Dryad Militant
4 Esper Stormblade
3 Fusion Elemental
4 Grixis Grimblade
1 Jungle Shrine
4 Knight of New Alara
2 Maelstrom Nexus
3 Naya Hushblade
4 Pillar of the Paruns
2 Plateau
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Savage Lands
2 Savannah
1 Seaside Citadel
4 Spirit of Resistance
4 Transguild Courier
2 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Woodland Cemetery[sideboard]

EDIT2: A risky card is Earnest Fellowship. Its pro: Once Spirit of Resistance is on the borg, it is a pretty good card. Itptotects your multicolored creatures from any harm and, at the same time, making them unblockable (more or less). Yet it can be quite risky against decks which pump one creature up (then again, it keeps the enemy from enchanting its own creatures)

Jubilee 3 | Open

Name=Jubilee 3
Title=Jubilee
Difficulty=hard
Description=WUBRG multicolored creature Deck with Knight of New Alara and Spirit of Resistance
Icon=Jubilee.jpg
Deck Type=constructed
[main]
1 Arcane Sanctum
3 Bant Sureblade
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Earnest Fellowship
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Dryad Militant
3 Esper Stormblade
3 Fusion Elemental
3 Grixis Grimblade
1 Jungle Shrine
4 Knight of New Alara
2 Maelstrom Nexus
2 Naya Hushblade
4 Pillar of the Paruns
2 Plateau
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Savage Lands
2 Savannah
1 Seaside Citadel
4 Spirit of Resistance
4 Transguild Courier
2 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Woodland Cemetery[sideboard]

[friarsol]

EDIT: As far as I am concerned, Bloom Tender may be an overkill, since the mana curve is quite low to begin with

I don't think the AI knows how to use Bloom Tender anyway.

[Sloth]

Another Idea I had was something around these lines:

| Open

Code: Select all

4 Baleful Strix
1 Dimir Guildgate
2 Dimir Guildmage
4 Dire Undercurrents
4 Dovescape
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Evil Twin
4 Illness in the Ranks
8 Island
2 Loch Korrigan
2 Nefashu
2 Nightveil Specter
2 Oona's Gatewarden
1 Phantasmal Bear
2 Shadowmage Infiltrator
4 Stormscape Familiar
2 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Watery Grave

turned out to be weaker then expected, though. I wanted the AI to buy time via the Gatewarden and the Baleful Strix, yet the deck itself is too slow :S
It is based around being nearly only creatures and three different enchantments: Dovescape is the main part of the deck. It should mainly prevent the enemy from casting combos. Dire Undercurrent is a good supporter to draw cards - it was supposed to be played before Dovescape and at the same time being a two egded combo: once one of the Dire Undercurrent was in play, it should trigger for the spawned tokens, should the AI play another enchantment. The last one - Illness in the Ranks should simply reduce the effectivity of the enemies tokens.

This is basically a single card strategy based on Dovescape (costing 6 mana) and there are only two other cards that have synergy with it (and only if played before). I think the odds that a player actually gets to see what this deck is about are very small.

EDIT: As far as I am concerned, Bloom Tender may be an overkill, since the mana curve is quite low to begin with

I don't think the AI knows how to use Bloom Tender anyway.

Yes, the AI can't use mana abilities that produce more than one color. It also can't use Deathrite Shaman to produce mana (it's just a side-effect for the AI).

[Sloth]

I tried to raise Jubilee's powerlevel. Tell me what you think about it

To be honest, i wasn't really impressed by any of the additions but Spirit of Resistance. Earnest Fellowship and Maelstrom Nexus are "win more" cards, they are only good when the deck is already doing fine.

I also disagree with replacing Blessing of the Nephilim, Civic Saber and Pledge of Loyalty. They are the backbone of the theme (together with Knight of New Alara) and their power level is (barely) ok even for a hard deck.

This is what i'm testing at the moment:

Jubilee 3 | Open

1 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
3 Savannah
4 Flooded Strand
4 Windswept Heath
4 Seaside Citadel
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Blessing of the Nephilim
4 Civic Saber
3 Spirit of Resistance
4 Knight of New Alara
4 Pledge of Loyalty
4 Bant Sureblade
4 Esper Stormblade
1 Fusion Elemental
3 Naya Hushblade
1 Horde of Notions
4 Transguild Courier

[Nordos]

I still think, that Earnest Fellowship could be considerable powerful in this deck.
After pondering about it, I really think that the pro's outweight the con's.
pros:
- the creatures are pretty much prottected, since many of them have at least 3 colours. Knight of New Alara would still die to black or red removals, but not to white exile cards or Mortify/Vindicate.
- it mostly keeps the enemy from enchanting his creatures. This alone could break many human decks.
- it makes many creatures unblockable. Through Civic Saber and Knight of New Alara, the power of these creatures are already quite high. It should outweight the power of any enemy creature, since these are often based on colkored abilities or spells ...

The contra is solely, that it helps the enemy in getting unblockable creatures. That is it, more or less. Since this deck doesn't have any removals, or, for that matter, any card which interacts with the enemy, it's the only downside I can think of

Another thing: I keep finding it weird, having these lands. They all can only produce W, G or U. The only possibility to get R or B is via the moxes - yet we have 2 creatures in this deck, which need all colors to be casted. I can't understand the reason to keep Horde of Notions neither. Sure, he has trample, vigilance and haste - then again, it's a 5/5 with an ability that can target only one creature.
So, I would think about making following changes:
Plegde of Loyality will be substituted by Earnest Fellowship, Blesing of Nephilim will be converted into another 1 drop. Why not use the 1 drop creatures which are by default dual colors? They should be able to accomplish about as much as the enchantments, since these need a special body (5 color to get pretty badass, which we have 6 creatures for. If it enchants a Knight of Alara, it only grants +2/+2 anyway, the others get +3/+3. A Dryad Militant can break some decks and is a 2/1 for one mana with dual colors. A Rakdos Cackler can be a 2/2 as a 1 drop. with Earnest Fellowhip, it wouldn't matter that they can't block. prot red and prot black is the most annoying 'anti removal' combination, too This whole deck is aggressive anyway... And the last one I want to mention is Scuzzback Scrapper - even though a 1/1, the Wither ability can be quite annoying at the start of the game.)
Another interesting card: Jund Hackblade. This is solely to push Spirit of Resistance. It has 2 colors in it, which the deck lacks: red and black. With Earnest Fellowhip, it is yet another card which is quite hard to remove
Then lets proceed. Horde of Notions becomes useless with the change. Trample -> it can't be blocked in many cases anyway. Vigilance -> it can't block in many cases anyway. The ability is quite useless. What remains is a 5/5 haste body for 5 mana...
I still think, that the Sliver Legends can be quite strong. Sliver Queen can sink any unnecessary mana - and can produce tokens (even though they are initially 1/1) which are colorless, and thus, be able to block the enemies creature even while Earnest Fellowship is on the battlefield. And with Sliver Legion, they can become quite powerful in a short amount of time - and that's why I would like to include Sliver Overlord, too. Not only can he take control of the enemies sliver, should he play a sliver deck (or even just use Gemhide Sliver 's to produce mana), he can search for the Legion and the Queen, too, enabling the combination and brinbging two strong creatures to the hand. Since they are multicolors, they are quite powerful in this deck, too ... The only downside is, that Legion could backfire

So, now about the lands. The whole deck has a low mana curve, thats why I approve of the sacrifice lands. Yet I have to say, that this deck is lacking in mana diversity. Since plains and forest are quite needed, I would all colors pair up with either of them (so, no Underground See but Scrubland, Tropical Iland, Tundra and so on)


That's my point of view

Jubilee 3 | Open

1 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Savannah
2 Plateau
1 Scrubland
2 Bayou
1 Taiga
4 Flooded Strand
4 Windswept Heath
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
2 Dryad Militant
2 Rakdos Cackler
4 Civic Saber
3 Spirit of Resistance
4 Knight of New Alara
4 Earnest Fellowship
3 Bant Sureblade
3 Esper Stormblade
2 Naya Hushblade
2 Jund Hackblade
1 Sliver Legion
1 Sliver Queen
1 Sliver Overlord
4 Transguild Courier

EDIT: Damn, Earnest Fellowship is still broken :-/

[Sloth]

Another thing: I keep finding it weird, having these lands. They all can only produce W, G or U. The only possibility to get R or B is via the moxes - yet we have 2 creatures in this deck, which need all colors to be casted.

Oops, that was a mistake.

Jubilee 3 | Open

1 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Savannah
2 Plateau
1 Scrubland
2 Bayou
1 Taiga
4 Flooded Strand
4 Windswept Heath
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
2 Dryad Militant
2 Rakdos Cackler
4 Civic Saber
3 Spirit of Resistance
4 Knight of New Alara
4 Earnest Fellowship
3 Bant Sureblade
3 Esper Stormblade
2 Naya Hushblade
2 Jund Hackblade
1 Sliver Legion
1 Sliver Queen
1 Sliver Overlord
4 Transguild Courier

Ok, that doesn't sound so bad anymore. I've tested against the deck three games: I was crushed two times and one game the AI wasn't finding a red mana source (and was dying with 7 mana sources in play and a Sliver in hand). Will test some more tomorrow.

[Sloth]

Here is a rather cute deck, based on Cairn Wanderer and Concerted Effort:

Anakin Skywalker 2 | Open

2 Swamp|M12
8 Plains|M12
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Arcane Sanctum
4 Marsh Flats
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
4 Cairn Wanderer
4 Concerted Effort
1 Buried Alive
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Prickly Boggart
1 Lantern Kami
2 Fencing Ace
1 Thraben Valiant
1 Beloved Chaplain
2 Mistmeadow Skulk
1 Spectral Lynx
1 Angelic Curator
1 Courier Hawk
1 Hovermyr
1 Freewind Falcon
1 Duskrider Falcon
1 Disciple of Malice
1 Elite Inquisitor
1 Nightguard Patrol
1 Paladin en-Vec
1 Skyhunter Skirmisher
1 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Commander Eesha
2 Glorious Anthem
1 Disenchant
1 Mortify
1 Unmake
1 Condemn
1 Doom Blade

[Chris H.]

Here is a rather cute deck, based on Cairn Wanderer and Concerted Effort:

Anakin Skywalker 2 | Open

2 Swamp|M12
8 Plains|M12
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Arcane Sanctum
4 Marsh Flats
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
4 Cairn Wanderer
4 Concerted Effort
1 Buried Alive
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Prickly Boggart
1 Lantern Kami
2 Fencing Ace
1 Thraben Valiant
1 Beloved Chaplain
2 Mistmeadow Skulk
1 Spectral Lynx
1 Angelic Curator
1 Courier Hawk
1 Hovermyr
1 Freewind Falcon
1 Duskrider Falcon
1 Disciple of Malice
1 Elite Inquisitor
1 Nightguard Patrol
1 Paladin en-Vec
1 Skyhunter Skirmisher
1 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Commander Eesha
2 Glorious Anthem
1 Disenchant
1 Mortify
1 Unmake
1 Condemn
1 Doom Blade

 

[Sloth]

Here is an easy mono black control deck:

Hugo Drax 1 | Open

24 Swamp
2 Will-o'-the-Wisp
2 Zulaport Enforcer
1 Giant Slug
2 Fog of Gnats
2 Withered Wretch
2 Carrion Wall
2 Wall of Bone
1 Corrosive Mentor
2 Soot Imp
2 Urborg Stalker
2 Highway Robber
1 Uncle Istvan
4 Dash Hopes
1 Death Stroke
1 Scepter of Fugue
1 Vicious Hunger
1 Warp Artifact
1 Underworld Dreams
1 Death's Duet
1 Enfeeblement
4 Grave Peril

[Sloth]

I'm thinking about a Black/Red aggressive deck that focuses on having no cards in hand. Do we have something like that? I guess a bit like a Hellbent deck.

Key cards would be: Grafted Skullcap, Dread Slag, Dark Suspicions.

I'm still waiting for this deck sol. DGM braught some great possible addition like Sire of Insanity and Blood Scrivener.

[Nordos]

I thought about a symmetrical draw deck with the new dimir thief - then again, are there any other cards (beside things like Underworld Dream and similar) which has an exponentiell advantage through symmetrical draw?
Most of the cards I think about (Jace's Erasure, Jace's Archivist, Teferi's Puzzle ...) are only really good when Notion Thief is in play ... And I don't know whetever Jace's Archivist can be activated by the AI, or if Jace's Erasure would be good enough to keep it.
So, to beginn with, there are two possibilities (IMO) to go after when using symmetrical draws: First one is milling. The human, at some point, can't draw enough and dies. This deck would be blantly based on Jace's Erasure in combination with Tefari's Puzzle and Notion Thief.
The second option would be a deck based upon having a LOT of cards in hand. Key cards would be something like Venser's Journal, Sturmgeist, Entropie Specter(?), Kagemaro, First to Suffer (only if the AI knows how to use it), Overbeing of Myth, Psychosis Crawler and Lorescale Coatl.
I am somewhat torn. The first option would be mainly UB, while the second one would become UBG. . .


EDIT: Hm. Compost. Painter's Servant. Wouldn't they get along pretty well? ... Maybe I try to build an anti black deck with Painter's Servant ^^

[Sloth]

I thought about a symmetrical draw deck with the new dimir thief - then again, are there any other cards (beside things like Underworld Dream and similar) which has an exponentiell advantage through symmetrical draw?
Most of the cards I think about (Jace's Erasure, Jace's Archivist, Teferi's Puzzle ...) are only really good when Notion Thief is in play ... And I don't know whetever Jace's Archivist can be activated by the AI, or if Jace's Erasure would be good enough to keep it.
So, to beginn with, there are two possibilities (IMO) to go after when using symmetrical draws: First one is milling. The human, at some point, can't draw enough and dies. This deck would be blantly based on Jace's Erasure in combination with Tefari's Puzzle and Notion Thief.
The second option would be a deck based upon having a LOT of cards in hand. Key cards would be something like Venser's Journal, Sturmgeist, Entropie Specter(?), Kagemaro, First to Suffer (only if the AI knows how to use it), Overbeing of Myth, Psychosis Crawler and Lorescale Coatl.
I am somewhat torn. The first option would be mainly UB, while the second one would become UBG. . .

HA! I was building a Notion Thief deck at the same time. Here is what i came up with:

Lupin the Third 3 | Open

2 Swamp|M12
4 Island|M12
4 Underground Sea
2 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Sol Ring
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Baleful Strix
4 Notion Thief
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Jace Beleren
1 Anvil of Bogardan
1 Kami of the Crescent Moon
4 Howling Mine
4 Words of Wisdom
4 Sinkhole
4 Spell Snare
4 Mental Misstep
1 Mana Drain
2 Doom Blade
1 Terror
1 Go for the Throat

It follows none of your options, because ... drawing more cards than the opponent wins the game without any help (of course land destruction and counters with mana advantage help).

[Nordos]

Can the AI already use: Demonic Tutor (I thought he wouldn't know what to pick) or Sol Ring (I did hear that he had some kind of problem, though that this was a while ago)?
I personally don't know. It may be true, that you win the game by having more cards, then again, you only get a card advantage if you actually have a Notion Thief in play
Another interesting combination is a Notion Thief with the Puzzle, if the human makes a mistake (drawing first, then using the trigger), he wouldn't draw a single card ...

And as far as I can remember, we did have a symmetrical draw deck somewhere, right? Could you maybe tell me the name/decklist? Maybe we can improve it with Notion Thief a bit

[Sloth]

Can the AI already use: Demonic Tutor (I thought he wouldn't know what to pick) or Sol Ring (I did hear that he had some kind of problem, though that this was a while ago)?

The AI will use Demonic Tutor to fetch the most expensive card: Notion Thief. The AI can use Sol Ring (and all multi mana sources that produce colorless or mono colored mana). But you are right this hasn't been the case a few month ago.

I personally don't know. It may be true, that you win the game by having more cards, then again, you only get a card advantage if you actually have a Notion Thief in play

Drawing lots of cards will eventually let the AI find a Notion Thief. Spell Snare and Mental Misstep have a chance of protecting him.

Another interesting combination is a Notion Thief with the Puzzle, if the human makes a mistake (drawing first, then using the trigger), he wouldn't draw a single card ...

Yes, Teferi's Puzzle Box is nice with Notion Thief, but unlike the other cards Teferi's Puzzle Box doesn't help find the Thief (mostly because it costs 4 mana itself).

And as far as I can remember, we did have a symmetrical draw deck somewhere, right? Could you maybe tell me the name/decklist? Maybe we can improve it with Notion Thief a bit

R2-D2 3 | Open

20 Island|M11
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Evacuation
4 Upheaval
4 Trinket Mage
4 Black Vise
1 Echoing Truth
3 Boomerang
1 Repulse
4 Hoodwink
3 Words of Wisdom
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Vision Skeins
3 Howling Mine
1 Remand
1 Frozen AEther

Notion Thief doesn't combo well with Black Vise.

EDIT: Hm. Compost. Painter's Servant. Wouldn't they get along pretty well? ... Maybe I try to build an anti black deck with Painter's Servant ^^

The only Painter's Servant opponent we have is anti red (Samantha Stephens). I wouldn't mind a anti black deck (Darkest Hour can help make it more consistent).