[G-Tech] A different kind of blue deck [Urza's Constructed]
Myron Mychal
those hated cards from T2 and Urza's block and I was considering working
on an Urza-Block deck idea. Now that the combos have pretty much been
nullified, I think there are a lot of possibilities for interesting
decks in this format. People even seem to hint that it will be a lot
like the MirVisLite block constructed which was supposedly a lot of fun
to play in (I missed that format, oh well).
I have been having a propensity for getting Imaginary Pets in my Saga
Boosters of late and I have 4 of the little buggers already. The guys
here at work keep telling me how aweful the Pet is for a blue deck -
it's just a cheap flying wall according to them. But I have been doing
some thinking about an aggressive blue deck. People have played
Fish-type decks before and they have done well, but the Pet is a 4/4
flying BEATdown machine. The problem is that blue tends to keep a hand
full of countermagic. Or does it?
I played in some Booster Draft recently and got passed a late-pick
Grafted Skullcap and decided to play it in my red/white deck. Needless
to say, the 'Cap turned out to be amazing in that deck. I simply drew
more threats than my opponent did regardless of my hand being empty.
And I saw one of my Imaginary Pets laying next to the Skullcap I drafted
and bingo - the cards have some synergy. So I decided to work on a
hyper-aggressive blue deck with some mild disruption to maintain the
momentum. Imaginary Pets would be my star creatures.
So I started out the deck:
4 Imaginary Pets
3 Grafted Skullcaps (somehow I think that 4 may end up being too much,
but we'll see).
So then I perused Urza's Saga and Urza's Legacy to see if I could get
"more bang for my blue mana buck". What other cheap FAT blue creatures
are there? There's the Veiled Serpent - the sleeping enchantment that
turns into a 4/4 fattie with Islandhome . . . hmm - easy to get hjim
triggered, but Islandhome? Maybe . . . are there better choices? I
looked at Veiled Sentry and he looked OK but would usually trigger into
a 1/1 from a smart opponent. The Veiled Birds were also only a 1/1.
Then I camme across Veiled Crocodile - 4/4 for 3 mana that triggers if
ANY player's hand is empty? I can trigger this thing myself!!! And it
is a beating! There we go - 4 Veiled Crocodiles. ANd I notice that my
creatures are a cheap beating and also highly splashable. SO now how
else can I empty my hand quickly?
Those "free" blue creatures are normally intended for blue mages to have
counterspell mana available. Hell - what if I play with them so I can
use my mana to cast even MORE creatures?? The Great Whale and the
Peregrine Drake are a little hefty for the cost for this kind of idea
and Palinchron is also probably not a good choice, but I can play with
Cloud Faeries! Hey - they cycle, they are a 1/1 for FREE and I can
actually go second turn Cloud Faerie, Cloud Farie, Imaginary Pet and
I have layed out 5 of my 7 cards! And if I draw a lot of Cloud Faeries
off the Grafted Skullcap, that's OK - I cast them for free! They are
cheap flyers that can chump-block or even lay down some mini-beats. And
at the worst, they cycle!
So now I am thinking:
4 Cloud Faeries
4 Imaginary Pet
4 Veiled Crocodile
3 Grafted Skullcap
What else can work well in this deck archetype? I probably want to
avoid countermagic since I want to cast lots and lots of spells and keep
my hand empty. But do I have to sacrifice my countermagic completely?
I don't think so. How about Lilting Refrain? (is this deck looking
like a PILE or what? *laugh*). It's a growing Power Sink that I can
keep on the board while keeping my hand empty. Of course it loses its
surprise value, but it also can be quite a damper if two imaginary Pets
are beating down on you AND there is a Lilting Refrain on the board.
The Refrain can also win a countermagic war if I am not mistaken since
its effect cannot be "countered." It's also CHEAP to cast and still
splashable. What other countermagic can I use? How about
Miscalculation? If I draw it early, I can counter another agressive
deck's offense and if I draw it late, I can cycle it away to get
something else to help me maintain my momentum.
Then I started going off on the cycling kick. Have you seen how many
spells there are that Cycle in Urza's? There are a TON of them. And a
lot of them are the situationally-useful variety. Here I was thinking
of using Rescinds (they can help against someone playing with Worship or
any other nasty enchantments and people playing with Phyrexain
Processors do NOT like having to recast them). I'll have to playtest
more to see how it works, but Rescind can even be used as a one-turn
enhancer to push an attack through and the idea of this deck is to apply
constant pressure with cheap spells. Then I went back to the 4/4
Islandhome fatties for 3 mana and saw that Lingering Mirage is a cycling
version of Phantasmal Terrain AND it is splashable! It cann give me a
little bit of disruption against a non-blue player or I can cycle it
against a heavy blue player and then later sideboard it out.
Some other creatures I considered for blue included the Veiled
Apparition, but the upkeep cost scares me a little. I am also
considering using Disruptive Students. It gives me another source of
countermagic that is even reusable. This is where I started to trail
off - I haven't built the deck and I was hoping you all might have some
input. Note that the deck is very splashable and I have had ideas for
putting in green (for Exploration which can be VERY nice with a lot of
cycling cards and the Grafted Skullcaps aand for Abundance too), black
(for Expunge, Swat, Flesh Reaver - yet anther CHEAP 4/4 beatdown) and
even white for things like easily-triggered Opals (the 3/5 that triggers
when your life hits 10). I am really thinking that black may be the way
to go. Tossing in some Flesh Reavers, maybe a Spined Fluke for a
late-game Cloud Faerie that could use a power boost. I can then add in
a few Vile Requiem (all the cycling cards should not give me mana
problems) and maybe this is a deck that can take a lot of advantage from
cards like Ill Gotten Gains and even Brink of Madness! I considered
Claws of Gix and Delusions of Mediocrity to keep the punishment from the
Reavers at a maximum and maybe the black enchantment that makes my
opponent lose life while I gain it. A Barrin, Master Wizard might be a
nice disruption card to keep my critters going.
Let's see what the blue/black might look like:
4 Cloud Faeries
4 Imaginary Pet
4 Veiled Crocodiles
3 Flesh Reaver
3 Grafted Skullcap
2 Veiled Apparition
2 Vile Requiem
3 Lilting Refrain
1 Confiscate
1 Second Chance (maybe this deck can use more?)
11 Island
7 Swamp
ALL OF THESE CYCLE:
3 Expunge
2 Veiled Serpent
2 Lingering Mirage
2 Miscalculation
2 Rescind
2 Remote Isle
2 Polluted Mire
What do you think? It looks like a real pile of useless cards, and it
just may be that . . . but I want to try it and see.
Myron Mychal
emai...@yahoo.com
ULeg! However, I don't like the Flesh Reavers...this isn't a Suicide deck is
it? Since you aren't playing with counterspells anyway, did you think about
using Energy Field? It would be easy to get rid of since you have a lot of
weenie creatures, but it could by you time. And also, wouldn't No Mercy be
really good in this deck. It has the Double black casting cost, but it should
still work for you.
Nick.
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Myron Mychal
> 4 Cloud Faeries
> 4 Imaginary Pet
> 4 Veiled Crocodiles
> 3 Flesh Reaver
> 3 Grafted Skullcap
> 2 Veiled Apparition
> 2 Vile Requiem
> 3 Lilting Refrain
> 1 Confiscate
> 1 Second Chance (maybe this deck can use more?)
> 11 Island
> 7 Swamp
> ALL OF THESE CYCLE:
> 3 Expunge
> 2 Veiled Serpent
> 2 Lingering Mirage
> 2 Miscalculation
> 2 Rescind
> 2 Remote Isle
> 2 Polluted Mire
>
> What do you think? It looks like a real pile of useless cards, and it
> just may be that . . . but I want to try it and see.
>
> Myron Mychal
In Hindsight, it might be better to find room for 3-4 Duress in the main
deck and possibly play some better beatdown creatures and tricks than the
Cloud Faeries.
How about yanking these:
4 Cloud Faeries
1 Confiscate
1 Vile Requiem
And adding:
3 Duress
1 Levitation
1 Flesh Reaver
1 Claws of Gix
Just some random thoughts I had
Myron Mychal
eeyoo
> 4 Cloud Faeries
> 4 Imaginary Pet
> 4 Veiled Crocodiles
> 3 Flesh Reaver
> 3 Grafted Skullcap
> 2 Veiled Apparition
> 2 Vile Requiem
> 3 Lilting Refrain
> 1 Confiscate
> 1 Second Chance (maybe this deck can use more?)
> 11 Island
> 7 Swamp
> ALL OF THESE CYCLE:
> 3 Expunge
> 2 Veiled Serpent
> 2 Lingering Mirage
> 2 Miscalculation
> 2 Rescind
> 2 Remote Isle
> 2 Polluted Mire
>
I don't think there's a good enough reason to go 2 colors with this deck. I
made a t2 version with a few similar cards, and in playing the Pets well,
sucked. The Crocs tho.....
Myron Mychal
> Myron Mychal wrote:
>
> > 4 Cloud Faeries
> > 4 Imaginary Pet
> > 4 Veiled Crocodiles
> > 3 Flesh Reaver
> > 3 Grafted Skullcap
> > 2 Veiled Apparition
> > 2 Vile Requiem
> > 3 Lilting Refrain
> > 1 Confiscate
> > 1 Second Chance (maybe this deck can use more?)
> > 11 Island
> > 7 Swamp
> > ALL OF THESE CYCLE:
> > 3 Expunge
> > 2 Veiled Serpent
> > 2 Lingering Mirage
> > 2 Miscalculation
> > 2 Rescind
> > 2 Remote Isle
> > 2 Polluted Mire
> >
>
> I don't think there's a good enough reason to go 2 colors with this deck. I
> made a t2 version with a few similar cards, and in playing the Pets well,
> sucked. The Crocs tho.....
I am finding similar things, Alan. The Crocs are amazing and they actually
WORK with the Skullcap. At times I found that I was holding 2 Imaginary pets
with 4 mana which should be great, right? Unfortunately, that was during my
opponent's turn and I draw - guess what - a Grafted Skullcap. Hmmmm . . . keep
casting two Pets while I wait for mana or drop the Skullcap and lose my 2 4/4's
. . . sheesh. I tried both versions with and without Cloud Faeries and
actually my initial assumption was wrong. The Cloud faeries ARE incredible.
And I think that you may be right - this deck MIGHT be able to go mono-blue
with maybe a little more artifact support.
I playtested against a fast green deck that utilized the echo creatures and let
me say this right now - Flesh Reaver is not good in this deck. I was afraid it
might not be. This is another hinting that might push me toward mono-blue.
The things that WERE working well for me were the Cloud Faeries, Crocodiles,
Skullcaps (when I DIDN'T have Pets running for me - go figure) and the mad
cycling the deck had.
My opponent DID hate the Lilting Refrains a lot too. I was surprised at how
effective they could be. I think the deck needs some 1-mana drops though.
Duress was OK but it seemed like a filler card that didn't really help the deck
flow (even though I LOVE Duress). Crazy as it may sound, maybe Veiled Sentries
ARE an OK drop. With early Miscalculations, an opponent trying to make my
Sentry a simple 1/1 could get countered. Also, I find that opponents tend to
like tapping out on turns 2 and three, so maybe a turn-2 Cloud Faeries + Veiled
Sentry would encourage them to trigger my Sentry with something bigger. I am
just afraid that my opponent may lay an early threat and then not trigger any
of my enchantments. Maybe this is where I dump the creature removal that I
splashed in and play more Rescinds.
Also - I think that the earlier poster made a good suggestion with No Mercy. I
may have to try that.
Well, at least it's not a Time Spiral/Stroke you for 93 deck. It needs a lot
of tweaking.
What do you all think of this . . . ?
The Pet Didn't Come out to Play
4 Veiled Sentry
3 Lilting Refrain
2 Veiled Apparition
4 Cloud Faeries
4 Miscalculation
2 Spire Owl (just to try it out)
4 Veiled Crocodile
4 Rescind
2 Ring of Gix (I think the deck needs some more control with black gone)
2 Grafted Skullcap (I think that 3 was too many with all the Cycling that
I had)
4 Drifting Djinn (I just realized that he cycles)
Average mana per spell: 35 spells with about 2.6 mana/spell
2 Faerie Conclave
3 Remote Isle
20 Island (I wonder if 25 mana is enough considering the upkeep costs of the
Djinns/Apparitions)
19 cards that cycle
22 creatures
Is it tricky enough? I know it has a lot of beef with the Crocs and the Djinn,
and the Apparitions aren't very shabby either. In theory, it can deal with
Worship/Pariah by bouncing them. It can lay early creatures for defense. It
can control fatties with the Ring of Gix or by dropping my own fatties. It is
strong in the midgame with Grafted Skullcaps and a ton of cycling. It has
control elements with the Miscalculations and Lilting Refrains. It might still
be missing something - maybe Morphling is a better creature? Note that it
doesn't get hosed badly by some of the typical hosing cards against blue like
Defense Grid (I have a lot of permanents) and Multani's Presence (I don't
depend on countering a lot of spells, just the critical ones). All of its
creatures with the exception of the Faeries/Djinn have a good power/casting
cost ratio and the aforementioned creatures have good special abilities. I'll
have to playtest it more and let you know.
One good thing about this deck - it can sideboard Hibernation which I think is
going to be a key hoser card in the Urza Block. It has a LITTLE defense
against the permachantments with Rescind and countermagic, but I did have fun
playing Enchantment Alteration in some instances. Another possible problem
could be Parch, but I think that Douse would fit very well into the sideboard
in place of the Lilting Refrains.
I appreciate any commentary as I am just starting to analyze the Urza's Block
environment.
Myron Mychal
Myron Mychal
> I like this deck. Cloud of Faeries could be the coolest card to come out of
> ULeg! However, I don't like the Flesh Reavers...this isn't a Suicide deck is
> it? Since you aren't playing with counterspells anyway, did you think about
> using Energy Field? It would be easy to get rid of since you have a lot of
> weenie creatures, but it could by you time. And also, wouldn't No Mercy be
> really good in this deck. It has the Double black casting cost, but it should
> still work for you.
Cloud of Faeries is unbelievably cool. It flies, it cycles, it's free . . . I
couldn't believe how fast it could be even though it's only a 1/1. And you were
absolutely right on point with the Flesh Reavers. I think they work better in
decks like Suicide Black or something to take away the insane drawback somehow -
either lifegain or something like Pariah on a Prot/Black creature (which smacks
of the Preconstructed deck based on Pestilence).
Energy Field . . . hmmm . . . now it goes away it one of my spells goes to the
graveyard . . . does this apply to spells I cycle from my hand? Or does the
spell have to be cast? I know this is not .rules, but it would make a huge
difference in this deck because I do rely on cycling both early and late-game.
I currently posted a mono-blue version of the deck without the Imaginary Pets but
with some of the ideas from the initial development.
I still think I should try to find room for Barrin, Master Wizard and maybe
things like Memory Jar.
Another possibility is putting back some of the black and tossing in some
graveyard manipulation what with all the cycling, but the only creature I could
see that I would want to recur from the grave would be something like Drifting
Djinn. Phyrexian Reclamation would be nice, but it cannot bring back any of the
Veiled enchantments. If I stick with the blue/black version, I think that No
Mercy would be a decent fit.
Hmmm . . . maybe a black/blue discard/countering deck with No Mercy to control
the creature front. This might be a fun evolution of deck ideas . . . maybe not
tournament caliber, but who knows?
Myron Mychal
Dave Meeson
> Hmmm . . . maybe a black/blue discard/countering deck with
> No Mercy to control the creature front. This might be a fun
> evolution of deck ideas . . . maybe not tournament caliber,
> but who knows?
Just wanted to touch on this briefly, but I believe that this will be
the future of CounterPhoenix in Type 2. Or at least a variation on
it. Consider this:
Use Duress, Ostracize, maybe Urza's Bauble to check out your
opponent's hand. This gives you an idea what is coming up that needs
to be countered, or can be let through. Standard 14+ counterspells.
Black removal like Terror maybe, or Edict, or Befoul. Things like
Capsize get around black creature decks. No Mercy for horde deck
protection. Lobotomy against combo decks.
The Draw-Go with the Black splash that's been turning up recently, to
some extent - not as many counterspells, but it splits the colors
evenly enough that there's room for Drains or Corrupts maybe.
No Mercy takes the place of the Phoenixes nicely - it takes care of
flying creatures as well as ground creatures, albeit at a lifecost to
you (they have to damage you). Something like Delusions of Mediocrity
or Second Chance? Also needs a finisher creature like Morphling or
Palinchron.
It's definitely a viable deck. I'll try to slap something together
this weekend and give it a run.
Dave Meeson, Green Mage
2, Tap: Place a 0/1 Dave Meeson Deck token into play.
The Chimera Project
Demonic Consultant
mee...@stelnj.com