The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

[Jamfalcon]

Three of my friends and I split a box of M14 (the first box any of us have every purchased). One of the other guys got some pretty great pulls (Ajani, Lilliana, and a Primeval Bounty), but I think I came out ahead. We played a sealed game tonight, and in addition to my six boosters containing a pretty nifty sliver deck that won all but one game, I opened a Garruk and a Mutavault. Now to sell them to pay for my share of the next box...

[Lord Hosk]

I went 0-6 with this deck in phantom sealed.

Twice I got more than one black source, twice I got more than two creatures on the board at a time. In match two game two against a simic deck I had Pontif and four creatures on board facing his 4/6 crockanura and his Layline phantom he is at 5 life, against a deck that has shown me nothing but blue and green for two and a half games drops a plains and Supreme Verdict.

[Lurkon]

Wow. That's pretty rough, Hosk.

[Lord Hosk]

MOVED!

[Lemegeton]

hey all. went 2-1-3 at the GPT. only 1 of the losses was bad. other 2 were really close games, lost to a miracle bonfire in game 3 of a jund mirror. other loss was against aggro humans in game 3 and mulled to 5 and could not get board presence in time.
got a lot of valuable info on what works in my deck and what needs to change.
def dropping the mindsparker, it did nothing. it was in there for control matchups but i did much better sticking in a lifebane zombie with cavern and bashing in and knowing what was in their hand.
primeval bounty was great in the long matches so glad i went with that, a few players commented they didn't realize how good the card was in those matchups. also really liked the exava+hydra combo. I destroyed a bant hexproof deck in the opening round and my opp admitted he was playing around cards like liliana and Olivia that i did not have so there was value to not just running the expected jund list.

shadowborn demon was my gamble and im torn on it. in matches where i had a board presence it was great but it was useless when i was behind.

bringing the deck to a PTQ in 2 weeks so more testing to do.

[Lemegeton]

so got a PTQ this weekend and testing various builds of my jund deck, trying to tweak where i can.
do you guys think there is enough value in running 2-3 cavern of souls main deck when the popular control deck right now U/W/R flash runs more removal like turn//burn in place of straight up counters.

interested in getting some opinions on this.

also what would you pick if you wanted to add some card draw into a jund build. i have been testing with underworld connections and garruk primal hunter. the life loss with connections is mitigated with my huntmasters and scavenging oozes and i can draw two cards off it with a forest+arbor elf. Garruk can be much better if i have a big creature in play but he gets removed easier and over a long game the connections might yield more cards and value.

[AdmiralMemo]

I'm thinking 1-2 Caverns, not 2-3, because 3 seems like pushing it in the current meta-game.

[Lord Hosk]

I went into a different LGS to talk to them about getting drafting going, they used to do it but stopped, and they needed a 8th man for a standard "game day" event. They let me borrow cards from their boxes so I put together a pretty good version of the death ping deck and went 2-1-1. everyone I played was either ticked or impressed that it was something they had never seen before. I was very happy.

I was playing against the L2 judge, In a previous game I had blood rushed Ghor-Clan Rampager onto a wasteland viper when my opponent double blocked it, which killed his two guys and then ran in for 3 damage he called judge. So when I attacked the judge with my ashmouth hound which was soul bonded to a nighshade peddler he said "OH no, not this time" and he blocked it with three first strikers and a token. He asked how I would stack the defenders, I informed him "it woundn't matter they were all just dead to death touch, the ping effect happens on the block before combat damage"

He just stared for a minute and then said "I think I have to turn in my judge jersey now I didnt even see that"

I ended up timing out in game three with him in his tokens lifegain deck.

I also had a really fun thing where a guy attacked with two 1/1 tokens and two first strikers against my deadly recluse with ping, and wasteland viper with ping, so I blocked the two tokens and then pinked the first strikers in response. on my next turn I killed his two renaming guys for a board wipe and he said "well I wont be doing that again"

[korvys]

I (like your opponents) am unfamiliar with the Death Ping deck. Can you elaborate?

[Kapol]

Ashmouth Hound does 1 damage to any creature that it blocks or blocks it. Nightshade Peddler gives itself and the bonded creature Deathtouch. When Ashmouth becomes blocked, it's ability activates, and deals one damage to all blocking creatures. Thanks to deathtouch occurring any time it deals damage, this kills off all the blocking creatures before they can do anything.

The entire point, if I'm not mistaken, is to give pingers like that deathtouch. It turns their pings into PINGS OF DEATH.

[korvys]

I got those parts, but he also mentioned Deadly Recluse with ping, and Wasteland Viper with ping. How are they gaining their deadly accuracy?

[Kapol]

I wanna say Wolfhunter's Quiver, but I'm not certain.

[Lord Hosk]

Wolfhunters quiver, and Lightning Prowess,

Prowess gives haste and "Tap: This creature deals 1 damage to target creature or player."

Quiver gives "Tap: This creature deals 1 damage to target creature or player" and "Tap: This creature deals 3 damage to target Werewolf creature."

Same thing as the ashmouth hound, it deals 1 non combat damage. With the additional benefit of death touch which unlike what some people assume, is on damage, not combat damage.

I am very sad that I didnt figure this combo out until just before dragons maze so the deck really only came together a few months ago.

[korvys]

But that doesn't make any sense! If it's only red and green, how do you fit Bump in the Night in?

That does sound like a lot of fun, actually. That sounds like the sort of deck I'd make, but my collection in non-existent right now. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with cool stuff like that once I get some more cards.

[Kapol]

Four overgrown tombs and four Blood Crypts for the splash, obviously. :p

[Lurkon]

I NEED to put together a version of that deck Hosk. But all my cards are in storage (until I move into my new apartment at the end of the week).

[Lord Hosk]

It actually works a little better in modern IF you go up against a creature deck. There are a lot of pingers in old sets

[Jenelmo]

Also in older formats you can play Basilisk Collar is it is easier to move from pinger to pinger and is harder to remove than the peddler

[Lord Hosk]

added bonus, you kill their creature AND gain one life.

[Utilitarian]

Basilisk Collar + Archangel of Thune + Triskelion = Infinite!

[Lord Hosk]

Just found out that drafting a sick sliver deck with three predatory, two steelform, a Sentinel, a Megantic, two Striking, and a hive strings works a lot better if you draw more than 1 sliver in game one, and having one in your opening hand and two others the last two turns before you die. (sigh)

[Lurkon]

Put together a simple version of the Deathping deck on MTGO for Standard. Very fun to play. I rarely get to actually ping anything though. Everyone realizes that blocking my Ashmouth Hound bonded to a Nightshade Peddler just gets their creature killed. And the only time I resolved Lightning Prowess (on a Deadly Recluse), my opponent just conceded right there.

[Lord Hosk]

Thats very similar to my experience with it.

[AdmiralMemo]

Except for every time you played me, though.

[Utilitarian]

Hmm

Elite Arcanist imprinted with Burst of Strength + Illusionist's Bracers +

-Basic Mana Dork = Infinite counters on Arcanist and Dork
-2+ Mana producing Dork = Infinite mana, infinite counters on any number of creatures, infinite untap of any number of creatures
-Zhur-Taa Druid = Infinite Damage to Opponent