New quest decks

[Sloth]

U G Lands 1 or 2 | Open

4 x Rites of Flourishing
1 x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
12 x Forest
4 x Oracle of Mul Daya
3 x Laboratory Maniac
3 x Future Sight
4 x Horn of Greed
1 x Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer
4 x Exploration
3 x Allosaurus Rider
4 x Hinterland Harbor
3 x Magus of the Future
10 x Island
4 x Grazing Gladehart

I agree that this decks lies between easy and medium. It's fun to play against, because it can help you a lot.

I haven't really decided whether to turn it into medium or easy. Any ideas?

[Nordos]

Hmm... I would prefer turning it into a medium, yet I don't see that many syns. Maybe landfall...? For example adding Roil Elemental, Windrider Eel, Ior Ruin Expedition, Rampaging Baloths, Avenger of Zendikar (many plant tokens), Khalni Heart Expedition ...

[friarsol]

U G Lands 1 or 2 | Open

4 x Rites of Flourishing
1 x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
12 x Forest
4 x Oracle of Mul Daya
3 x Laboratory Maniac
3 x Future Sight
4 x Horn of Greed
1 x Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer
4 x Exploration
3 x Allosaurus Rider
4 x Hinterland Harbor
3 x Magus of the Future
10 x Island
4 x Grazing Gladehart

I agree that this decks lies between easy and medium. It's fun to play against, because it can help you a lot.

I haven't really decided whether to turn it into medium or easy. Any ideas?

I had a deck just like this when I played back in the late 90s. Off the top of the head, cards I used were: Veteran Explorer, Teferi's Puzzle Box, Evacuation, Multani, Maro Sorcerer, Wall of Blossoms. Yavimaya Elder, Storm Cauldron and Ghost Town as well, but I'm not sure the AI would able to handle those.

[Sloth]

Hmm... I would prefer turning it into a medium, yet I don't see that many syns. Maybe landfall...? For example adding Roil Elemental, Windrider Eel, Ior Ruin Expedition, Rampaging Baloths, Avenger of Zendikar (many plant tokens), Khalni Heart Expedition ...

I had a deck just like this when I played back in the late 90s. Off the top of the head, cards I used were: Veteran Explorer, Teferi's Puzzle Box, Evacuation, Multani, Maro Sorcerer, Wall of Blossoms. Yavimaya Elder, Storm Cauldron and Ghost Town as well, but I'm not sure the AI would able to handle those.

The only addition that turned out useful was Avenger of Zendikar instead of two copies of Allosaurus Rider. Otherwise i couldn't find any good changes to the original list.

Hookah-Smoking Caterpillar 2 | Open

4 Rites of Flourishing
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
12 Forest
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
3 Laboratory Maniac
3 Future Sight
4 Horn of Greed
1 Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer
4 Exploration
1 Allosaurus Rider
4 Hinterland Harbor
3 Magus of the Future
10 Island
4 Grazing Gladehart
2 Avenger of Zendikar

[Sloth]

5) Speaking of decking, Oreius 4 is also another deck that needs some refining on the subject. If you manage to hold his Goyf/Delvers you simply stall until he decks himself. IMO this deck could have more interaction and less digging. Something like Beast Within, Unsummon or Rapid Hybridization would work just fine. Getting rid of your best threat means a higher chance of his Goyfs dominating the ground

After a bit of testing i came to the result, that Dismember is the best interaction spell for this deck:

Oreius 4 | Open

4 Tropical Island
1 Forest|ODY
2 Island|ODY
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Nimble Mongoose|ODY
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Mental Note
4 Spell Snare
1 Daze
1 Visions of Beyond
1 Time Walk
3 Mulch
3 Tracker's Instincts
2 Werebear|ODY
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Deep Analysis
3 Fact or Fiction
2 Dismember

[Sloth]

I tried to build a deck around Illusory Angel, which isn't really easy with the current AI. This is what i came up with:

Blue Devil 2 | Open

23 Island
4 Illusory Angel
4 Skyshroud Condor
4 Incursion Specialist
1 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Treachery
4 Peregrine Drake
2 Riftwing Cloudskate
2 Snap
2 Distortion Strike
1 Hands of Binding
1 Infiltrator il-Kor

Any possible additions?

[Nordos]

Maybe Cipher? Namely Hands of Binding?

[Sloth]

Maybe Cipher? Namely Hands of Binding?

There's already one copy in the list, but the AI will sometimes play it before having a creature, so i don't really want to raise the number of copies.

[Nordos]

Oh. Missed it ... o.O
So, either Imaginary Pet (dunno...) or, if the AI knows how to handle it, Trusted Advisor...?

[Nordos]

Can I have the decklist of the mono B Vamp deck?
NVM, found it.

Bela Lugosi | Open

4 Bloodline Keeper
2 Bloodlord of Vaasgoth
4 Feast of Blood
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus
3 Gatekeeper of Malakir
3 Malakir Bloodwitch
3 Kalastria Highborn
1 Ascendant Evincar
2 Guul Draz Assassin
1 Mox Jet
22 Swamp
2 Anowon, the Ruin Sage
2 Bloodghast

Stronger... or weaker....? I wanted to include the new Bloodlord of Vaasgoth x)

[Sloth]

Bela Lugosi | Open

4 Bloodline Keeper
2 Bloodlord of Vaasgoth
4 Feast of Blood
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus
3 Gatekeeper of Malakir
3 Malakir Bloodwitch
3 Kalastria Highborn
1 Ascendant Evincar
2 Guul Draz Assassin
1 Mox Jet
22 Swamp
2 Anowon, the Ruin Sage
2 Bloodghast

Stronger... or weaker....? I wanted to include the new Bloodlord of Vaasgoth x)

I'm afraid Go for the Throat is still way superior to Feast of Blood even in a deck full of vampires. Also your deck has only 57 cards.

What about:

Bela Lugosi | Open

4 Bloodline Keeper
2 Bloodlord of Vaasgoth
2 Feast of Blood
4 Go for the Throat
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
3 Malakir Bloodwitch
3 Kalastria Highborn
1 Ascendant Evincar
2 Guul Draz Assassin
1 Mox Jet
22 Swamp
2 Anowon, the Ruin Sage
2 Bloodghast

[Nordos]

Somehow, the deck lost Mirri the Cursed and 2 Shadow Alley Denizen after I posted it o.O Oh well ^^

So, the Shado Alley Denizen can be quite strong, giving a vampire, more or less, every second turn intimidate. Additionally, they are quite easy low drops ... ^^
I guess I don't need to elaborate why I want to include Mirri the Cursed.

The thing about Feast of Blood is, that you can destroy artifact creatures with it. It is only at sorcery speed, that may be true, though the AI tends to use the removals right away anyway - or was that changed recently?
Having 2 Vamps is not a very hard task to achieve with this deck anyway - maybe lowering the mana curve a bit would even increase the probability to have this removal work?
We have 4 Bloodline Keeper which need a high number of vampires anyway ... and if we would lower the CMC cuve, we may even include Captivating Vampire - his tap cost may be high, yet it can be, combined with the Keeper, used pretty often and break stalemates. And through the Bloodlord of Vaasgoth, low CMC vampires can be pretty strong, too. Then again, we may even include 1 or 2 copies of Dark Imposter to have a similar effect (for the very lategame of course - since we don't have many CMC 3 Vamps, he may fit nicely, too...).

hmm...

Mono B Vamps | Open

4 Bloodline Keeper
2 Bloodlord of Vaasgoth
4 Feast of Blood
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
3 Kalastria Highborn
22 Swamp
1 Mox Jet
2 Guul Draz Assassin
4 Captivating Vampire
2 Anowon, the Ruin Sage
1 Mirri the Cursed
2 Shadow Alley Denizen

BTW, I know why the cardlist was incorrect - seems like I played with Ante, and after each loss one was 'deleted' from the cardlist...

[Sloth]

So, the Shado Alley Denizen can be quite strong, giving a vampire, more or less, every second turn intimidate. Additionally, they are quite easy low drops ... ^^
I guess I don't need to elaborate why I want to include Mirri the Cursed.

I like the addition of Shadow Alley Denizen (and Mirri the Cursed is a fine card). I also like cutting Bloodghasts, because the deck sometimes needs blockers.

The thing about Feast of Blood is, that you can destroy artifact creatures with it. It is only at sorcery speed, that may be true, though the AI tends to use the removals right away anyway - or was that changed recently?
Having 2 Vamps is not a very hard task to achieve with this deck anyway - maybe lowering the mana curve a bit would even increase the probability to have this removal work?

Sorcery speed doesn't really matter for the AI, but the casting restriction is much worse than you make it sound. Feast of Blood is only playable when the board position is good already, which is a small version of "win more".

We have 4 Bloodline Keeper which need a high number of vampires anyway ... and if we would lower the CMC cuve, we may even include Captivating Vampire - his tap cost may be high, yet it can be, combined with the Keeper, used pretty often and break stalemates. And through the Bloodlord of Vaasgoth, low CMC vampires can be pretty strong, too. Then again, we may even include 1 or 2 copies of Dark Imposter to have a similar effect (for the very lategame of course - since we don't have many CMC 3 Vamps, he may fit nicely, too...).

Captivating Vampire is ok, but i think 4 copies are too much. They are rather weak on their own (and once again having 5 vampire should win you the game anyway).

About the 5 and 6 drops: This is a midrange creature deck. Against a competitive deck the game will be almost decided when one of the 5/6 drops come online (aggro will have almost killed you or you will have almost killed control).
The most important feature of a finisher is an immediate effect on the board. Ascendant Evincar and Malakir Bloodwitch are much better in this regard than Bloodlord of Vaasgoth and Anowon, the Ruin Sage. AND Malakir Bloodwitch is very hard to remove being a black creature with protection from white and 4 toughness.

So:

Mono B Vamps | Open

4 Bloodline Keeper
1 Bloodlord of Vaasgoth
2 Feast of Blood
4 Go for the Throat
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
3 Kalastria Highborn
1 Ascendant Evincar
22 Swamp
1 Mox Jet
2 Guul Draz Assassin
2 Captivating Vampire
1 Anowon, the Ruin Sage
1 Mirri the Cursed
2 Shadow Alley Denizen

[friarsol]

Do any of the decks that globally set color (Painter's Servant or Darkest Hour) use Tsabo's Assassin? Seems like it would be a quality card.

[Sloth]

Here is an easy deck based on the legendary subtype:

Cohen the Barbarian 1 | Open

11 Forest
11 Plains
1 Karakas
1 Eiganjo Castle
2 Reki, the History of Kamigawa
2 Captain Sisay
2 Champion's Helm
1 Day of Destiny
2 Sword of the Chosen
1 Yomiji, Who Bars the Way
1 Loyal Retainers
1 Asmira, Holy Avenger
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1 Darien, King of Kjeldor
1 Dosan the Falling Leaf
1 Huang Zhong, Shu General
1 Jasmine Boreal
1 Kaysa
1 Kongming, "Sleeping Dragon"
1 Lord Magnus
1 Masako the Humorless
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Meng Huo, Barbarian King
1 Rashka the Slayer
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Shizuko, Caller of Autumn
1 Sidar Jabari
1 Sir Shandlar of Eberyn
1 Torsten Von Ursus
1 Zuo Ci, the Mocking Sage
1 Desert Twister
1 Rampant Growth
1 Heroes' Reunion
1 Captured Sunlight
1 Reknit
1 Tigereye Cameo