Challenge 3-8 : Easy as 1, 2, 3...

[Salbei]

Easy as 1, 2, 3...
Challenge: 3-8
Unlocks: (Bloodbraid Elf)
Description: Your deck must include exactly 4 one casting cost cards, 4 2 CC cards, ... up to 4 10 CC cards.
NavigationChallenge Index - Archive for Set 3


Please discuss this Challenge here!

[Salbei]

aww1979 used this version at (found at the Archive) to beat the this, might be out of date by now.

;easyas123
;
;#oldgames
;
;05/11/2009
;1
;4th Edition
;

.1902 4 Oath of Druids
.1675 4 Progenitus
.378 4 Hellkite Overlord*
.1932 4 Demigod of Revenge
.252 4 Tropical Island
.212 4 Savannah
.12 4 Bayou
.241 4 Taiga
.9 4 Badlands
.216 4 Scrubland
.629 4 Eureka
.349 4 Enlightened Tutor
.1443 4 Broodmate Dragon
.711 4 Serum Powder
.120 4 Iona, Shield of Emeria
.1308 4 Platinum Angel

Just another oath deck :p It wasn't winning enough until I hit upon the idea of Serum Powder in the 3cc slot instead of Knight of Reliquary or Fires of Yavimaya. Serum Powder prevented enough of the noncombo hands to give the win. I'd originally had Colossus of Sardia and then Inkwell Leviathan in the 9 slot, and I tried Volcanic Dragon in the 6 slot for a bit, and also had Angel of Despair in the 7 slot, but decided upon the deck you see here. The deck is 64 cards because 20/60 land is not enough. 24/64 is enough, since all you ever cast is enlightened tutor or oath of druids.

Play is very simple. Mulligan until you have what you need, drop the oath you hopefully got, and win. Against the burn or turbofog decks, you'll need to hardcast stuff or drop a Eureka, since Oath is useless. Against the mirror, drop an Oath and wait for the AI to play a creature like Broodmate or Demigod, then Oath for something that's usually better.

The only catch is occasionally you don't want to oath for fear of killing your Progenitus or Iona with the legend rule. Other than that, zero skill involved.

Found at the Archive, might be outdated.

Easy as 1,2,3

I was sick of playing oath (who isnt ^^), so i beat it with this:

.1811 4 Stratadon
.1766 4 Bringer of the Black Dawn
.1857 4 Tombstalker
.1443 4 Broodmate Dragon
.1768 4 Maelstrom Archangel
.726 4 Moat
.307 4 Farseek
.1 1 Ancestral Recall
.15 3 Birds of Paradise
.12 4 Bayou
.9 3 Badlands
.189 1 Plateau
.212 4 Savannah
.216 3 Scrubland
.241 4 Taiga
.252 3 Tropical Island
.254 1 Tundra
.258 2 Underground Sea
.266 1 Volcanic Island
.1191 4 Wood Elves
.1308 4 Platinum Angel

The deck really is a lot of fun, had to get a little lucky not to run into fairies though.
Sry for the Moats , feels like cheating

[Perloxus]

Hi, I played this challenge yesterday.

First I would like to thank jatill for making these challenges.
I admit that I had ignored the challenges for a long time. But having played now some of them I think they are really exciting and an enrichment.

To accomplish this special challenge I first tried the deck meesterhans had posted in December 2009:

Easy as 1, 2, 3... (Bloodbraid Elf) - Your deck must include exactly 4 one casting cost cards, 4 2 CC cards, ... up to 4 10 CC cards.

;Deck - Easy as 1 2 3
;cc 1 t/m 10
;
;
;28/11/2009
;1
;4th Edition
;

.349 4 Enlightened Tutor
.1902 4 Oath of Druids
.1862 4 Jenara, Asura of War
.1314 4 Magus of the Moat
.1585 4 Baneslayer Angel
.1308 4 Platinum Angel
.120 4 Iona, Shield of Emeria
.1675 4 Progenitus
.1198 4 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
.212 4 Savannah
.254 4 Tundra
.252 4 Tropical Island
.91 3 Forest
.188 3 Plains
.126 2 Island
.1064 4 Sphinx of Jwar Isle

But somehow it didn't work for me.
If I wasn't overrun by cheap creatures I was squeezed by black vises or was sitting at the wrong end of a gigantic enchantment- and artifact-powered fireball.
I really wanted to have some kind of mass destruction in the deck to handle creature and non-creature permanents.

So I cut blue and went with black for Pernicious Deed. I also added 1 Magus of the Disk.
In the 6 CC-Slot I took Kokusho, the Evening Star. By the way: The Kamigawa Dragons are all very powerful creatures, but Kokusho is awesome!!
I upped the land count, because having 40 spells with half of them costing 6-10 Mana I wanted to have a fair chance to hardcast if I wouldn't draw Oath of Druids or Enlightened Tutor.

But the main part of the deck stayed the same as meesterhans's original build, so kudos to meesterhans!

After having tried some different versions I came to this build which was successful in the first attempt (lucky):

;Kokusho's Dream
;
;Perloxus
;no.spam@plea.se
;06/04/2011
;1
;4th Edition
;If the opponent plays a creature, put a bigger creature with Oath of Druids onto the battlefield. If the opponent plays another creature, put an even bigger creature onto the battlefield. Stop the opponent's creatures with Moat or Magus of the Moat or nuke his permanents with Pernicious Deed. While playing this deck watch out for the legend rule!

.1198 4 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
.1585 4 Baneslayer Angel
.349 4 Enlightened Tutor
.120 4 Iona, Shield of Emeria
.1283 1 Magus of the Disk
.1314 1 Magus of the Moat
.726 2 Moat
.594 4 Kokusho, the Evening Star
.1308 4 Platinum Angel
.1902 4 Oath of Druids
.1839 4 Pernicious Deed
.1675 4 Progenitus
.12 4 Bayou
.91 4 Forest
.188 4 Plains
.189 2 Plateau
.212 4 Savannah
.216 4 Scrubland
.239 2 Swamp
.254 2 Tundra

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This deck is the tale of Kokusho, a mighty black dragon spirit who was called the Evening Star, because he brought eternal night to many a creature.
Kokusho once heard about the heroic deeds done by angels. Until now Kokusho's only delight had been to tantalize and kill creatures. His only ambition had been to become the mightiest creature on earth, untouchable and fearsome at the same time.
But lately he had got sick of his own behavior and deep inside him the wish matured to change everything: He wanted to become an angel.

By night and by day Kokusho flew through the skies always being on the lookout for angels, but he couldn't find any.
So he asked the human druids who once had sworn to serve him as consideration to let them unharmed. The human druids depicted Kokusho where he would find the angels.

With anticipation Kokusho flew to that place and finally found the angels.
But the angels only tolerated Kokusho. They knew about Kokusho's pernicious deeds in the past and because of that they didn't accept him as a companion.

Kokusho became very sad that the angels did not appreciate that he had changed.
Now he realized that in order to his dream come true and to become an angel he had to give the most valuable he owned: His Life.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<


Have fun with the deck, but avoid the red burn deck which happens to be not so funny (no creatures here, just bolts, price of progress and fireblasts being slapped to your face)!

[240sxforever]

I had really good luck with a mono green strategy, using summoning traps and lots of excel.

;123 green
;
;User
;User E-Mail
;05/06/2011
;1
;4th Edition
;

.1667 4 Joraga Treespeaker
.1564 4 Elvish Archdruid
.439 4 Wren's Run Packmaster
.647 4 Summoning Trap
.142 4 Pelakka Wurm
.1199 4 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
.1767 4 Bringer of the Green Dawn
.1675 4 Progenitus
.869 4 Batterskull
.91 26 Forest
.1974 4 Priest of Titania

This deck was fast enough to win on quality of board alone in most matches and a turn 3 batterskull will win a game by itself.

[HornofAmmon]

I had really good luck with a mono green strategy, using summoning traps and lots of excel.

;123 green
;
;User
;User E-Mail
;05/06/2011
;1
;4th Edition
;

.1667 4 Joraga Treespeaker
.1564 4 Elvish Archdruid
.439 4 Wren's Run Packmaster
.647 4 Summoning Trap
.142 4 Pelakka Wurm
.1199 4 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
.1767 4 Bringer of the Green Dawn
.1675 4 Progenitus
.869 4 Batterskull
.91 26 Forest
.1974 4 Priest of Titania

This deck was fast enough to win on quality of board alone in most matches and a turn 3 batterskull will win a game by itself.

I was inspired by this deck to make my own mono-green deck, which easily took down this challenge. The Natural Orders were the main change - and they worked as well as always, giving me Progenitus or Hellkite Overlord at least half the games for the win.


.1667 4 Joraga Treespeaker
.1974 4 Priest of Titania
.1922 4 Natural Order
.1564 4 Elvish Archdruid
.647 2 Summoning Trap
.1073 4 Chancellor of the Tangle
.1040 2 Woodfall Primus
.253 4 Artisan of Kozilek
.1675 4 Progenitus
.91 30 Forest
.1962 2 Ant Queen
.934 2 Terra Stomper
.40 2 Cockatrice
.378 2 Hellkite Overlord

[mox]

For this challenge I turned back to an Oath deck -- with a twist: C.O.P.: Red, and lots of tutors to make it sort of a swiss knife.
After a lot of tweaking, this deck won on the first try:

.212 4 Savannah
.12 4 Bayou
.216 4 Scrubland
.254 4 Tundra
.91 2 Forest
.188 2 Plains
.252 4 Tropical Island
.1525 3 Enlightened Tutor
.1527 1 Mystical Tutor
.62 1 Demonic Tutor
.3522 1 Oath of Druids
.4517 1 Land Grant
.36 1 Circle of Protection: Red
.11565 4 Beast Within
.629 3 Eureka
.2748 1 Natural Order
.10384 2 Ant Queen
.10166 2 Maelstrom Archangel
.10717 2 Admonition Angel
.11162 2 Primeval Titan
.12565 4 Elderscale Wurm
.11336 4 Platinum Emperion
.10571 2 Iona, Shield of Emeria
.10870 2 Artisan of Kozilek
.8567 1 Greater Gargadon
.10974 2 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
.10187 1 Progenitus

Plan:

1. Mulligan until you (hopely) get an Enlightened Tutor or Demonic Tutor, or a Mystical Tutor to get an Enlightened Tutor, and mana to play it/them.

2. Place the mana to play the tutor, then wait and see what mana the AI is going to play.

3a. If the AI plays anything else than Barbarian Ring, Mountain or Tundra, then you are going to either face a creature deck or TurboFog. Tutor for Oath of Druids.

3b. If the AI plays Barbarian Ring, then you are going to face a red direct burn deck. Tutor for C.O.P.: Red.

3c. If the AI plays a Mountain, then you are either going to face a red direct burn or a Goblin or Kobolds deck. If the AI plays a Tundra, then you are either going to face a green/red direct burn deck, or a mixed direct burn + red/green creatures + Black Vise + Winter Orb deck. In all these cases, if you are in a hurry, then tutor for C.O.P.: Red. Otherwise, try and wait for another turn to get a better insight of the AI deck. Against Goblins, Kobolds, or red/green creatures, your best chances are with tutoring for Oath of Druids.

4. Against TurboFog, you will have played Oath of Druids (see 3a). Wait for a Beast Within or Eureka. If Iona comes in play then forbid white spells, as mass-creature-destruction white spells are your worst nightmare in this situation.

This deck offers several sinergies: among them, Natural Order + Ant Queen (green tokens to Natural Order for Progenitus), and especially Admonition Angel + Primeval Titan.

I tried and used part of the 3 slot for Serum Powder, but it did not work for me on this challenge. Mulliganing with Serum Powder exiles some of your cards, and, unless all exiled cards are lands, this makes your deck uncompliant with the challenge's rules. You are going to get kicked out very soon.

[Emphyrio]

I tried a mix of oath and land searching to hardcast stuff, with many wraths, and it works really well and very fun to play (stuff like hardcasting Myojin of Life Web on turn 4 to put Kozilek, draw platinum angel and put Kozilek again to draw avacyn and finish with 10 cards in hand:P). Maybe the 2 Wrath can be replaced by eureka vs burn which is the toughest match up, I always had 5 or 6 mana for Winds of Rath or Phyrexian Rebirth.

3 Plains
16 Forest
4 Savannah
4 Veteran Explorer (really awesome for this deck)
4 Oath of Druids
4 Cultivate
2 Wrath of God
2 Gerrard's Wisdom
4 Winds of Rath (or Rout if you unlocked it)
4 Phyrexian Rebirth
4 Platinum Angel
4 Myojin of Life's Web
4 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
4 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

The 2 wrath of God can be replaced, Eureka maybe, or 2 more Gerrard's might be better.. I didn't encounter the standard burn/howling mine, but I think he usually won't get enough burn quickly enough to compensate even a single Gerrard's; while the heartbeat of spring one is tougher but allows you to hardcast stuff much faster - I met it once the first run, he made a perfect draw and I got no Gerrard's. I put 3 baddies out to kill next turn thanks to myojin but he managed to hurricane and finish with me at exactly 0 life and him 1 ^^).


Mirror match was very easy, I cast oath, he casts Veteran explorer, I get Avacyn, game over.

Any starting hand with a wrath and enough lands + land tutors to cast it fast is usually winning (Might lose ocasionally to merfolk/silver with force of will/daze, though, I guess), just like hands with oath.

Don't hesitate to put Kozilek in play twice to draw cards if no Avacyn or plat angel yet,(you won't draw many lands p).

[Zeek]

I was inspired by this deck to make my own mono-green deck, which easily took down this challenge. The Natural Orders were the main change - and they worked as well as always, giving me Progenitus or Hellkite Overlord at least half the games for the win.


.1667 4 Joraga Treespeaker
.1974 4 Priest of Titania
.1922 4 Natural Order
.1564 4 Elvish Archdruid
.647 2 Summoning Trap
.1073 4 Chancellor of the Tangle
.1040 2 Woodfall Primus
.253 4 Artisan of Kozilek
.1675 4 Progenitus
.91 30 Forest
.1962 2 Ant Queen
.934 2 Terra Stomper
.40 2 Cockatrice
.378 2 Hellkite Overlord

Okay, I've been trying a version of this green elf thing, though I splashed white to use Baneslayer Angel as my 5-drop and Eternal Dragon as my 7 (Plainscycling to a Savanah helps stabilize the mana flow).

But I'm just not getting lucky enough with this. One attempt I get a no-land hand of 7, mulligan to 6 and end up with two land, two 8cc, and two 9cc cards. Then another attempt, both my elves fall prey to targetted removal and I'm sitting here with 4 land, Baneslayer Angel and Natural Order both in hand...and no way to cast either. Another time, I lack a 1-2 drop (though I can cycle a dragon on turn 2), and my 3rd turn Elvish Archmage lands just in time to watch me die to a fast Goblin/Kithkin onslaught.

How are you guys getting around this?

[bayobar]

Hi everyone, i have to share my deck ive beated this challenge with. This one is extremely hard, since you´ll never know, what deck you are playing against and it could be mirror. I was trying all variations of deck posted here, nothing worked due to the losts of elves(opponent usually try to kill everything, which has power 1 and more) so i got overbeaten by fast agro, or rats, which are very hard to deal with, if an opponent is starting.

so i was thinking, how to be able to play expensive cards soon as possible and ive remembered miracle cards, which are still legal at T2. then, since opponent doesnt kill my hierarch, i can farseek into some thrugtusk or some terminus very soon after fixing with chromatic lantern or another farseek, which always gave me that land i needed. first i was trying to play curse of cabal(nice suspend 2 for 4 mana), but it was sometimes very uselles, since i had few last lives and needed at least a blocker, or even sothing better. so then ive found that djin, which later came to be maybe the main reason, why i completed this challenge.
there is a bug in the engine, doesnt making djin to vanish, if the second counter is removed, which seemed pretty cool and his morph ability is just great since apponent is blocking or attacking without taking care, if i can morph or not, so usually a trade 0 for 1 into my favor

the second bug, which helped me a lot, was that reaper, which doesnt tap mana if he is casted from hand, so basicly you can play him for free, as soon as you have all 5 colors of mana and he doesnt dies, if you play another one, despite it is legendary, so its great vindicate with 2 copies of him in play and some restoration angels in hand

so here it is :

;4 CC 4color M14
;
;User
;User E-Mail
;25/07/2013
;1
;4th Edition
;

.12482 4 Temporal Mastery
.12483 4 Terminus
.1507 4 Farseek
.12628 2 Thragtusk
.12681 3 Chromatic Lantern
.12448 4 Restoration Angel
.11884 4 Blasphemous Act
.252 4 Tropical Island
.241 4 Taiga
.212 4 Savannah
.189 3 Plateau
.254 3 Tundra
.8969 4 Maelstrom Djinn
.12362 1 Entreat the Angels
.12318 1 Bonfire of the Damned
.12349 2 Devastation Tide
.9645 4 Reaper King
.266 2 Volcanic Island
.10181 3 Noble Hierarch
.164 1 Mountain
.126 1 Island
.188 1 Plains
.91 1 Forest


let me know, if the deck works for you thx and cheers

[RainbowLollipop]

Seems anything but an Oath deck is asking for trouble against the sheer range of decks ... I did at least try a couple of little tricks in my build (chiefly, filling slots with landcycling/countermagic to ensure Oath only produced great dudes).

6 Plains
5 Forest
1 Island
4 Tundra
4 Savannah
4 Tropical Island (24 land, as many have recommended - still had to mull quite a lot)
4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Oath of Druids
3 Show and Tell
1 Energy Flux (slows a lot of decks down, esp Burn and Turbofog)
4 Offering to Asha (surprisingly good, saved me twice - and if nothing else, FoW fodder)
4 Force of Will
4 Sylvan Bounty (gave me a shot at hardcasting stuff against creatureless decks; also lifegain, though never had to use it)
1 Garza Zol, Plague Queen
1 Thraximundar (great in the mirror, killed two of his Progenituses)
1 Diluvian Primordial (good against all those decks with Bolt & Path to Exile)
1 Phantom Nishoba (I know, should have stuck with one 7-drop, but ... heck, fun)
4 Woodfall Primus (essential against Mana Flare/Burn)
4 Iona, Shield of Emeria
4 Progenitus

Kobolds nearly beat me after a bad keep, and Treefolk guy somehow managed to play Deed AND activate it to wipe my board, including Iona, which was, I thought, set to black. Anyway. topdecked Primus stole it.

Most fun moment: Show and Telling out a Garza Zol against a creatureless deck, with Oath in play. And on his turn ... he Oaths.

[Zede71]

Worked like a dream

11 Easy as 123 WHITE
;
;User
;User E-Mail
;03/07/2016
;1
;4th Edition
;

.1509 4 Grim Monolith
.3962 4 Worn Powerstone
.4200 4 Thran Dynamo
.157 1 Mana Vault
.1543 1 Sensei's Divining Top
.1627 1 Voltaic Key
.230 1 Sol Ring
.10386 4 Baneslayer Angel
.12483 4 Terminus
.11595 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
.1308 3 Platinum Angel
.1198 2 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
.6968 2 Sundering Titan
.10571 2 Iona, Shield of Emeria
.7772 2 Blazing Archon
.10974 4 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
.188 20 Plains

Only problem i had was with being mana screwed at the start