[Archive] Challenge Set 3

[scherbchen]

personally, I feel that Sorin Markov is just a waste of (digital) cardboard. especially for this challenge. if you want to get fancy go for Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

[Tattooedoni]

Well part of this challenge is to figure out how the AI screws up dealing with Planeswalkers, and it usually does not seem to put Sorin Markov high on the kill list so you get to use the card more often. The other thing is that Sorin in general has turned out really great. He is the closest thing to a clock the Planeswalkers have. If you can power him out with lotus on 3 then it is the only way I can figure out this deck can put your opponent at 8 life on turn 4. You drop Ajani Vengant turn four they are at 5, and if they cant kill one or the other with their next attack then they are going to be at 0 on turn 5. Since creatures are usually what I really want to kill most often during the challenge Nicol's + ability doesn't do it for me. I have seen a lot of lists with the Chandras which I have not tried at all. It always seemed to me that especially C. Ablaze works better with a lot of burn that you cant run in this challenge. Do you have sucess with her, and how? I also wonder about Nissa and the chosen. Is it worth taking up 4x of your choice cards with her chosen? I can't imaged running Nissa without the chosen, it would just be her life gain abillity....

[240sxforever]

I used 4 deed 2 disk. (see the list on page 4)

It turned out to be stable and a deed for 3 will wipe most all of the challenge decks while leaving the plainswalkers untouched.

As far as a clock, 10 damage, 20 power worth of dragons and an overrun work well.

[Tattooedoni]

I will give the deeds and disks a chance, thanks!

Edit:Yep, finally beat it with 4x Pernicious Deed, 1x Black Lotus, 1x Demonic Tutor. Disk just really doesn't do it for me when you can't usually cast a spell until turn four (definitely if you are not playing lotus) and your just getting further and further behind. Disk wont wipe anything until turn 5, but that is usually too late because most of the time the good tribal decks have already killed you. The deed tip was definitely good.

[sandman423]

I ran this deck but Why does it Disqualify me every time now???

I am trying to do Challenge #3 Easy as 1,2,3

I have been trying Gauntlet and Challenge checked Gauntlet set up for 1 Win and 20 Guys

I am using the deck someone posted...

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 Fires of Yavimaya
.120 4 Iona, Shield of Emeria
.1308 4 Platinum Angel


Why do I keep getting disqualified? I enter the game fine and then when It ask me to Mulligan I say yes and then I choose Challenge #3, and Easy as 1, 2, 3

Also is there a Deck list to beat each challenge anywhere here?

I want to get the Bloodbraid Elf, Jitte, Tezzeret the Seeker, Serum Powder..etc.

How do you beat 5:1 what is a good deck for it?

[Tattooedoni]

I am not sure why specifically because at first glance you have four of each CC, but it is 64 cards. There are some hidden clauses that come up from time to time and 60 cards only might be one.

[aww1979]

I ran this deck but Why does it Disqualify me every time now???

It seems fine (I think it was my deck, actually, so it should work) as there is 4 of each casting cost from 1 to 10. Try running the launcher program and tell it to use 'best of magic'. I had the same thing happen with perfectly legal decks, did that, and then the same deck was accepted the next time around.

Also is there a Deck list to beat each challenge anywhere here?

Yup, there's a bunch of threads for the various challenges.

How do you beat 5:1 what is a good deck for it?

With great difficulty... :p I made a keeper deck with 4x Ring of Ma'Ruf and lots of other Wish cards to get the things for the various win conditions to avoid having to maindeck everything you'll need.

[sandman423]

I need a deck build that will work to Unlock Bloodbraid Elf...I got to like round 6 with the deck I posted up above this post, but I notice A LOT of the time I get crappy Hands in later games and just can't beat the opponent...Please post your Keeper deck and how to run it...I have used Tendrils of Agony to win 1 game for "The Perfect Storm" but it is near impossible to keep going.

Also could you post a Deck for the 5:1 Challenge? Also could you explain the strategy for each deck as well?

I have been trying to beat 1 challenge for days now, but no luck.

[aww1979]

For the bloodbraid elf challenge, the deck you posted was the one I used, and I made heavy use of mulligans. If I didn't have Oath of Druids or Enlightened Tutor, I mulliganed, no matter what else was in the hand. If it turns out you are against a creatureless deck, then you have to cast a Eureka to get out the fatties. If you can catch the millstone/fog deck tapped out, a Eureka with Fires of Yavimaya and a few creatures can end it in one attack, for instance.

Getting crappy hands is a mostly unavoidable problem, because the challenge forces you to use so many high cost cards. You could try trading 3x Fires of Yavimaya for Wheel of Fortune, Timetwister, and Windfall (and adjust the mana so you have more blue) so that if you have 3+ mana but no oath/tutor you can get a new hand.

Another thing you can try is trading some of the creatures for spells (almost any spell, really) so that when you use Oath, you are more likely to get (insert your favourite creature here from the deck). For example, suppose Progenitus is the one you want, replace any or all of the other creatures with noncreature spells to increase the odds Oath gives you Progenitus. If you try that, I'd keep Fires of Yavimaya and Eureka both at 4-ofs, and after that it doesn't really matter what you use, since you'll never cast them, except I'd make the 5-cost slot 4x Force of Will. If it's Platinum Angel, say, that is your favourite, do the same thing, just use Aladdin's Lamp (I think that's the only 10cc noncreature spell in manalink) instead of Progenitus so that Oath always hits the Angel.

As for how to play Keeper and Tendrils... those are probably two of the hardest decks to master, but I'll think on it for a minute and make a post soon.

[aww1979]

For the Keeper-style deck, the deck I used is here:
(it's actually not that close to a real Keeper deck, but when you play it, it feels similar)

viewtopic.php?f=57&t=1532&start=30

There is also an explanation for what I did on each round. Because it is 5:1 now, you can replace the Copy Artifacts and Sculpting Steels with any cards that will keep you alive longer, like Moat, The Abyss, Swords to Plowshares, and so on. Some of the rounds require slight tweaks since it is 5:1 instead of 10:1 but it should be obvious (use a 5/5 creature instead of leviathan, etc) what to do instead. For round 11, ignore everything I said, and instead wish for 4x Strip Mines (you have one in main deck) and at least one Donate, give them away, and then play a strip mine yourself. Don't play any land right away, just use your Moxes, since you don't want the AI to use his strip mines you gave him. (that, or Zuran Orb all your lands before giving him the first one) You can take your time on #11 because the AI deck is just 200x Tranquility.

The most critical thing with that challenge is to tutor for the Time Vault and Voltaic Key as soon as possible. Once you get that, you have all the time in the world. Use Voltaic Key to untap your Time Vault, then tap Time Vault to take an extra turn. On the extra turn, you untap the Key and repeat. Do *whatever it takes* to get those two cards in play.


For Tendrils, the deck I used is on page 1 of this thread. It's pretty hard to explain concisely how to play it, so I'll just give a few pointers for now:

-Since you have to win on one turn (doesn't have to be the first turn!) just do nothing but drop land until the turn before you are going to die, and then try to win on that turn. Unless you suspect the AI is going to surprise you (with Giant Growth, for instance) don't try to win earlier.
-When playing your mana sources, play the Cabal Ritual last, if possible, so that the earlier Dark Ritual and Manamorphose help get threshold.
-colored mana is at a premium, so be sure to tap Mana Vault, Mana Crypt and Sol Ring for your colorless mana.
-always play all your mana spells before doing anything like timetwister
-when using Lion's Eye Diamond, note that you can cast a card draw spell, like Meditate or Timetwister, and then *respond to it* by activating the Lion's Eye Diamond. The same goes for a tutor spell.
-using Grim Tutor on Black Lotus, Lion's Eye Diamond, or Cabal Ritual if you have threshold is a 'mana neutral' play. In other words, you'll have the same amount of mana as you started with, but your storm count will be two higher. This can be helpful in some cases.
-the two best cards in the deck are Black Lotus and Yawgmoth's Will. Keep them in mind, particularly when you have a tutor. Black Lotus should be obvious; it makes quick mana that is crucial in this type of deck. Yawgmoth's Will is also amazing. You can cast all your Dark Rituals, Cabal Rituals, Black Lotus, Lotus Petal, and Manamorphose, have lots of mana, play Yawgmoth's Will, and then play them all again for even more mana! (not to mention your tutors, ancestral recall, and so on)
-Hurkyl's Recall can be used both to get mana and increase your storm count by tapping all your mana artifacts, playing it on *yourself* and replaying all those moxes/etc, which are of course now untapped again.
-if you are having trouble with the low land count, cut 1-2 each of Infernal Contract and Meditate, and maybe a Grim Tutor, and add some more Bayou and Tropical Island. Technically, this probably weakens the deck (for statistical reasons like drawing land later when you don't want it) but it would make the deck easier to learn
-due to the 4th edition rule set, you do not instantly die if you are at 0 life, and since tendrils will give you life later, don't worry if you are 'dead' while doing stuff on your turn, because if the deck works, you'll be fine later when you drain 20+ life with tendrils. You can also cast Infernal Contract at 0 life, but it sometimes crashes the game if you cast it at negative life.

If you want you could do something like give the AI a dummy deck in gauntlet mode (30x mountain 30x lightning bolt will make it predictable and require you to win in roughly the amount of time it would take in challenge mode) and practice using tendrils, without having to stress over making a mistake. You can learn when to play certain cards without worrying that you might cost yourself an hour of challenge play if you choose wrong.

Decks of this sort often use Tinker and Memory Jar. I don't remember why I decided not to use them, but if you want to, cut an Infernal Contract and Meditate for them. Also note that Time Walk is useless in this challenge. (think about it for a minute if you don't see why right away) Otherwise it would be in any tendrils deck.

[monopoman]

Sorin is a beating seriously he is one of the greatest planeswalkers ever made since he can control the board by himself without depleting his loyalty.

Bolas is more powerful for sure but he costs 8 mana and has a more complicated mana collection. So by default old Bolas should be more powerful.

Anyways I have modded the as easy as 123 oath/eureka deck posted earlier. I find Compulsive Research in the 3 slot better then Fires of Yavimaya. You have to rework the mana base to fit blue but Fires doesn't do a whole lot in that deck. The other option would be show and tell. Anyways after I made that modification I had a real easy time winning that challenge. Card draw is ridiculous for that deck since you can get cards you need and pitch creatures you can't cast or whatever.

I am now running instant grat with the burn deck and would highly recommend Flame Javelin over shock. Shock is a fine card but flame javelin is superior especially in a deck that can generate RRR fairly easily and at worst you can cast it for 2RR.

I am still working on a planeswalker deck the ones I have tried on here just don't seem to cut the mustard I will post my own radical version soon. Has someone had success with the wall deck I like wall of roots a lot and its a really underrated card but that deck seems ridiculously hard.

[aww1979]

All of the planeswalkers are pretty good cards, but for the planeswalker challenge, I found Sarkhan Vol to be by far the best one. I'd use his dragon ability when it would bury him, then play a 2nd Sarkhan, haste them all, and win on the spot. Sorin is a beast to cast at 3BBB but he definitely is one of the best if you can get him out, as is Nicol Bolas. I also think it's pretty funny how Nicol can kill other planeswalkers :p

You are right to a point about Fires of Yavimaya not being that helpful, mostly because I also picked a lot of haste creatures. My reasoning was a creature was basically useless in that slot (too small to waste Oathing into) and at least in some situations, the Fires allowed a one turn faster kill. Serum Powder turned out to be by far the best 3 slot if you have it.

Flame Javelin might well be better than Shock, but I never got a chance to refine my deck, as the one I had was good enough.

I haven't beat the Wall challenge yet, but I don't like Wall of Roots, so I haven't really tried that hard. That challenge is also slightly prone to crashing because often the game gets bloated with a dozen walls on your side and a dozen creatures on the AI side. The 'obvious' solution seemed to be Rolling Stones, but in those stalemate situations, there's no way to get out. Felidar Sovereign worked well with Wall of Reverence, if I wasn't getting beat up for too much each turn. Living Wish and Ring of Ma'Ruf were more versatile, but the Ring is pretty slow.

[scherbchen]

fine, so I am pretty much alone in my utter dislike for Sorin

I'd argue that the 4 coloured mana for Nicol are just barely more taxing than the 3 coloured for Sorin but this is getting too much into preferences. if you find you enjoy Sorin then by all means play him. I, for one, find Nicol far more gamebreaking. you are going to play blue anyways so the one U is not going to be an issue....

[monopoman]

accidental double post.

[monopoman]

Right but look at this way by the time Nicol drops a lot of the time the game is already decided. Can Nicol radically change the game will duh but nearly any 8 mana card radically changes the game unless the card is a pile of crap.

Now look at a 6 mana sorin that is huge because by 6 mana he can come down just in the nick of the time and seek to take over the game. Really his only noteworthy abilites are the first and 3rd the second is only awesome if you got a guy with like 40+ life.

His 3rd is even more powerful in real life magic since if I take 1 turn from certain decks I can screw them over bad say goblins. Oh i'll play this goblin out of your hand and all these other goblins oh look I can sac them for red mana sounds good let me do that oh wait did I just 1 sided wog you and make you pitch your hand in the process sucks to be you.

Or a burn deck oh look I'll cast this lightning bolt targeting you and this flame javelin. Or a normal creature deck with staples like swords/path whoops I just swords your own creature and pathed the other without looking for a land tough break.

So yeah don't judge him by his nerfed state in game Sorin is very good that is why he is one of the most expensive walkers right now.