CardShark

Hey everyone, I've just made an EDH, and I can tell it's not finished but I'm not sure what to out in so here goes:

General
Reaper King
Mana
8 Swamps
5 Mountains
5 Forests
5 Plains
5 Islands
Leechridden Swamp
Sapseep Forest
Rupture Spire
Naya Panorama
Terramorphic Expanse
Veinfire Borderpost
Firewild Borderpost
Creatures
Blue
Leech Bonder
Amoeboid Changeling
Skill Borrower
Green
Copperhoof Vorrac
Spearbreaker Behemoth
Wickerbough Elder
Black
Bringer of the Black Dawn
Cairn Wanderer
Blue/White
Aven Mineomancer
Mistmeadow Witch
Blue/Black
Soulquake
Cemetery Puca
Green/White
Qasali Pridemage
Black/Red
Kaervek the Merciless
Deathbringer Thoctar
3+ Colours
Ink-Treader Nephilim
Child of Alara
Madrush Cyclops
Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Artifact Creatures
Heap Doll
Painters Servant
Scrapbasket
Lockjaw Snapper
Scuttlemutt
Non-Creatures
White
Global Ruin
Gleam of Resistance
Congregate
Otherwordly Journey
Faith's Fetters
Green
Shard Convergence
Prismatic Omen
Rampant Growth
Tower Above
Reap and Sow
Red
Puncture Blast
Fiery Fall
Rage Reflection
Black
Crumbling Ashes
Demonic Tutor
Blowfly Infestation
Liliana Vess
Torture
Absorb Vis
Incremental Blight
Diabolic Tutor
Barter in Blood
Blue/White
Turn to Mist
Blue/Black
Fate Transfer
Green/White
Reborn Hope
Behemoth Sledge
Red/Green
Exploding Borders
Red/Black
Torrent of Souls
Terminate
Red/White
Intimidation Bolt
Black/White
Necromancer's Covenant
3+ Colours
Maelstrom Nexus
Slave of Bolas
Artifacts
Darsteel Ingot
Whispersilk Cloak
Clearwater Goblet
Fist of Suns
Legacy Weapon
Darksteel Pendant

http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=15193

Artifacts
2x Obsidian Battle-Axe
Creatures
1x Marisi's Twinclaws
3x Nacatl War-Pride
4x Brighthearth Banneret
3x Llanowar Elves
4x Bramblewood Paragon
1x Goblin Razerunners
1x Goblin Sky Raider
1x Scuzzback Marauders
1x Scuzzback Scrapper
2x Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
1x Radha, Heir to Keld
1x Skyshroud Elf
Enchantments
1x Seal of Fire
Land
8x Forest
6x Mountain
2x Darigaaz's Caldera
2x Pinecrest Ridge
Spells
2x Incinerate
3x Manamorphose
2x Moment's Peace
2x Naturalize
2x Fury of the Horde
3x Harmonize
2x Relentless Assault

this deck is so much fun, like most of my decks they are not very good at dieing. that does not mean they win.

Bramblewood Paragon is the king of this deck giving me trample ^_^

Rockin' around the clock:
// Lands
4 [10E] Forest (2)
3 [EVE] Twilight Mire
2 [10E] Karplusan Forest
4 [ALA] Savage Lands
2 [ALA] Swamp (4)
1 [LRW] Mountain (1)
3 [10E] Treetop Village
2 [SHM] Fire-Lit Thicket
1 [10E] Llanowar Wastes
1 [LRW] Mountain (4)

// Creatures
4 [ARB] Putrid Leech
4 [SHM] Kitchen Finks
4 [SHM] Murderous Redcap
4 [10E] Birds of Paradise
2 [ALA] Broodmate Dragon
2 [SHM] Sygg, River Cutthroat

// Spells
4 [ARB] Maelstrom Pulse
4 [ALA] Jund Charm
2 [LRW] Profane Command
3 [LRW] Makeshift Mannequin
4 [EVE] Puncture Blast

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [SHM] Sygg, River Cutthroat
SB: 4 [ARB] Anathemancer
SB: 3 [CNF] Volcanic Fallout
SB: 2 [MOR] Mind Shatter
SB: 2 [LRW] Cloudthresher
SB: 2 [LRW] Primal Command
SB: 1 [ARB] Thought Hemorrhage

Hi everyone.
Today I attended a local smalltime Standard tourny. I Brought some friends and it was a blast.
I ran a home-brew deck I spent time on tuning and testing, and as far as I know isn't a defined archtype.
I'd like to share it with you guys and get some feedback on it. There might be some weird choices, noob choices or just dum choices, but bear with me, I'm usually a casual player

G/R/w BigFatGuy control

Creatures:
4x Llanowar Elves
3x Wall of Reverence
3x Boggard Ram gang
3x Deus of Calamity
3x Spellbreaker Behemoth
2x Uril, the miststalker

Spells:
4x Volcanic Fallout
2x Firespout
3x Fertile ground
2x Path to exile
2x Naya Charm
3x Runes of the Deus
2x Garruk Wildspeaker

Land:
4x Jungle Shrine
2x Vivid Grove
2x Vivid Crag
3x Mountain
13x Forest

Sideboard
3x Guttural Responce
3x Vexing Shusher
3x Naturalize
2x Firespout
2x Primal Command
2x Path to exile


I'd like to describe this as a GRw mana-ramp control deck. You ramp into a turn 3 behemoth or something silly, and after that you can keep control with lots of removal. The Spellbreaker and Urill both dodge some form of removal, the deus is just powerfull nuts. Boggard ram gang is very hard to pass up on. I tested without him, but he gives such a great early pressure and defence.
Fertile ground and Llanowar elves allow you to play expensives fast and Fertile ground works good with Garruk. Garruk Is of course, mana ramp, but also defence or agression if necesary. Wall of Reverence might be a weird choice, but it is my only big defence in the air, and helps garruk and me stay alive by gaining from 1 to 6 life a turn.
Oh and runes of the deus on almost anything r/g in this deck is nuts, and on Uril it makes for an unstopable 18-damage-a-turn killer.

In the end I went 3-1 and won a booster, jay.

All tips are welcome, i'm still looking to tune the deck. Looking at cascade might be next..

This deck definitely has some power to it. You could have somebody dead by turn 5 if you can hit a turn 1 elf and runes on turn 5 for the win, all along beating them down. I think the issue that I have with this deck is that it's very beatdown, but tries to be controlling at the same time. I don't think that the wall is really what you're looking for. You can drop guys quickly enough with a deck like this that you're not often going to have to worry about racing an opponent. In situations where you would be racing, it seems like Loxodon Warhammer would be better, or Behemoth Sledge depending on your preference. They both give you lifelink to win races, trample to get over chump blockers/tokens, and some extra power to finish your opponent even faster.

The next thing that I don't like so much is the six Pyroclasm-style effects. I play 5 color control and only have six wrath effects in the maindeck. An aggressive deck having six seems a bit overkill. How to split up your Fallouts and Firespouts becomes a question of what decks you expect to see. If there are any faerie decks around, I'd go with the set of Fallouts. If you've got slightly bigger creatures, specifically opposing Ram-Gangs and Wren's Run Vanquisher, I'd go more with Firespout. With token decks, you usually want Fallout more, as a way to hit their Ajanis. You also have to worry about killing your own Ram-gang with Firespout. And taking a second glance at your lands, getting the double-red for Fallout might also be a problem. All things to consider. If it was me, I'd probably mess with the lands a little bit to make the RR easier and go with 3 Fallout and 1 Firespout in the main. You should probably include the fourth fallout in the side, but I don't think that you need eight pyroclasms between your maindeck and sideboard.

What is your reason for including the Naya Charm? Point removal or tapping down blockers? I'm not sold on the charm in this deck. I went ahead and made some changes to the list, trying to stick with your general starting point. I didn't think that you had enough guys, so I added a pair of Boartusk Liege, which will double as a pumper for the rest of your team. I added a third Path to Exile to deal with problem creatures. I also added a banefire since you've got Llanowar elf and the Fertile Ground/Garruk interaction to boost your mana. If you don't have banefire, you can throw in blaze, but one is obviously better than the other if it's available.

I didn't get to take care of the sideboard yet, but I don't like Primal Command in the sideboard. If anything, you should probably find a spot for it in the maindeck. I wouldn't run 3xShusher and Guttural unless you've got a LOT of control decks running around at your store. I'd just go 4x Guttural and call it a day. Maybe I'll come back and give some complete thoughts for the sideboard later today. Good luck if you're heading out to FNM tonight. Here's to going 4-0. I'll be taking my 5cc deck out tonight. My friend, Skip, is out of town this weekend, so maybe somebody else can win tonight, since he 5-0'd the last two times he went(with Quillspike/Rock). I went 4-1 and 3-0-2(IDing with my friend Jon in the third round and then having my last round match against Boat Brew go to time). This past time we had 33 players, so the payout was pretty nice. I finished sixth with 3-0-2 and got 3 packs.

My version of BFG
Creatures:
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Boggard Ram gang
3x Deus of Calamity
3x Spellbreaker Behemoth
2x Uril, the miststalker
2x Boartusk Liege
Spells:
3x Volcanic Fallout
1x Firespout
2x Loxodon Warhammer
3x Fertile ground
3x Path to exile
3x Runes of the Deus
2x Garruk Wildspeaker
1x Banefire
Land:
4x Jungle Shrine
2x Vivid Grove
2x Vivid Crag
5x Mountain
11x Forest

He, thanks for the reply!
Yeah well, you're pretty much right on everything I guess. Responding by point:

The walls:
I know yeah. I knew everyone was gonna think it to be a strange inclusion. I think I still look upon it more as a control deck but ok, I'll listen for once and replace it. (although I SO love to play with them, oh well )

Equipments:
Indeed, it's more the fact that I didn't have 2 sledges that I didn't run with them. Also I kinda half/half like to play with them (as you see, this is a great factor for me in considering a card). Then again, I'm looking to do better at FNM so i'll try to add those in.

Wrath effects:
My point of view was: More fallout then firespout as to not hit my own Ram Gangs. After sideboarding I could add more spout and maybe even remove the gang completely. And yes I run a lot but I sorta knew 50% of the metagame was gonna be small dudes bashing my face so I ran it like this.
I'm glad to take a few out though, it opens up the deck a bit.

Naya charm:
It was a last minute inclusion. My reasoning was that it could sort of act like a one-sided Firespout in the early game, and lategame it could be a Fog to stall, or let me get through, or let me nab something out of the graveyard. I learned though that most removal these days is exiling, or putting on the library, so yeah, I'm gonna take it out.

3rd path to exile, boartusk liege and banefire:
I'd like one more path, cool. I actually started out with a playset of the lieges in it, but early in testing I removed those for the Ram gangs were gone too for a while. Never looked back, kinda forgot them... And luckily enough I DO have a banefire. That was also in for a while, dunno why I took it out though.. Good changes.

Sideboard:
Erm, yeah, I REALLY hate getting countered. I REALLY do. That's why I went overkill on those. Also, against 5c control I could just sb out 6 wrath effects, and get 6 anti-counters in it! Not sure about this. Also, primal command I side in against planeswalkers and crap like that. You think it should be main? I'll take a look then.

Anyway, I'm gonna test these tips, thanks again!

I have this deck that performed great in a casual tournament with my friends and I feel like it could be competitive in Standard, but it needs a few tweaks to get it there. The basic idea is domain aggro/burn. Any suggestions?

4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Plains
7 Forest
4 Mountain
6 Swamp
4 Island

3 Wild Nacatl
4 Matca Rioters
4 Fusion Elemental

3 Might of Alara
4 Exploding Borders
4 Prismatic Omen
3 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Drag Down
4 Absorb Vis

Sideboard:
4 Terminate
3 Volcanic Fallout
4 Naturalize
4 Farhaven Elf

1) Farhaven Elf should not be in your sideboard. There shouldn't be any match in Standard for which you would board in that guy, let alone 4 of him.
2) Yes, Cruel Ultimatum is a powerful card. Yes, I am an advocate of the card in 5 Color Control. No, I don't think it should be in this deck. The key reason in my opinion is that it causes you to stretch your mana base and play a card that does nothing(ie. Prismatic Omen). Since the Omen is the only reliable way to play Cruel Ultimatum in a timely fashion, you put four in. Instead, I think you'd be better off switching up your finishers. Enter section 3.
3) Broodmate Dragon. This guy is good. 2 dudes. 8 power. 6 mana. It is a big threat that has evasion and makes your mana much easier. I'd take out the 4 Omens and 3 Ultimatums and just add four of this guy. Hmm...that leaves us with three other slots open. Let's hold onto that thought and skip to something else. Thought 4.
4) Since we don't need as much mana fixing with Cruel Ultimatum gone, we don't really need Absorb Vis as an over costed burn spell. Let's replace it with something a little more versatile. Enter Resounding Thunder. Early game, it's a removal spell to get rid of a pesky blocker. Late game, it's uncounterable burn that draws you a card. Seems like a solid 3-of. But, we don't really need 7 point removal spells main deck, so let's move on to point 5.
5) Drag Down is solid, no denying that. Depending on the decks your normally would expect to see, it might even be the right choice over Resounding Thunder. The fact that Thunder goes to the head makes it a better option. We'll leave two Drag Down in though, because point removal can be important. The one thing that seems to slow down your deck a lot would be tokens. My vote is to add Jund Charm as a foil to that. Replacing 2 Drag Down with Jund Charms would probably not be a bad idea. It also helps against anything dealing with the graveyard(Reveillark), or in a pinch could act as another pump spell.
6) Given that my suggestions take out 8 mana fixers(Absorb and Omen), We should probably also add some fixing back in. Wild Nacatl doesn't seem that great in either your version or mine. The reason being that for it to be a 3/3 you have to have a Plains. Neither list uses white mana for anything other than Fusion Elemental. Since white is only just splashed you don't really want to be searching up a Plains in the first few turns to make the Nacatl good. I would suggest switching them out for those Farhaven Elves that were hiding in the sideboard. We can also add the fourth in since we were missing a card from point 4.

So, to sum up the spell changes to the maindeck
-3 Wild Nacat
-4 Prismatic Omen
-3 Cruel Ultimatum
-2 Drag Down
-4 Absorb Vis

+4 Farhaven Elf
+4 Broodmate Dragon
+3 Resounding Thunder
+2 Jund Charm
+3 ...

And I just realized that I carried three over from the Cruel Ultimatum/Prismatic Omen section and forgot to add something in for those three spots. What to do...? This might depend on the area you play and a bit on what you have available. Wait a second. There are still 27 lands in this deck. We could probably cut one or two. If you have any planeswalkers, specifically in the Garruk Wildspeaker/Ajani Vengeant/Sarkhan Vol/Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker persuasions, those could go in. Bolas is much easier on the mana than Cruel Ultimatum, so adding one of him is no big deal. If you add Vengeant, make sure to include 2 plains instead of the 1 that I would suggest otherwise. Garruk helps to ramp you up into Broodmate/Resounding Thunder. Ajani can be extra burn, lock down their best guy(or a land against control) and Sarkhan Vol can take their guys so that you can bash your opponent about the head and neck more vigorously. Nicol Bolas is BA. If you question him, he travels to the future and eats your unborn first child out of your womb or the womb of your wife, whichever the case may be.

Long story long, I'd drop down to 25 lands and add 5 other cards you like that help prepare you for the foes you expect to face. Kitchen Finks might not be bad. 1-2 Voices from the Void could be pretty good as well. An opponent with no hand is always the way that I would rather face them. Naya Charm could also be nice as removal or to tap down their blockers for a big attack. Soul's Majesty could be used to fill up your hand once you've got a fatty on the board. A good old X spell like Banefire, Apocalypse Hydra, or Hurricane could be useful as well with any extra mana. Sorry for the vagueness and math errors in some sections. It's still early. Let me know what you think. Feel free to bounce any other ideas off me.

I really appreciate your help! Your picks are good choices for my deck. My only concerns here would be that most of the plays are going to come on turn 3 or higher. Is there a worthwhile one or two drop to throw in here? Wild Nacatl + Prismatic Omen almost guaranteed a 3/3. Cruel Ultimatum was also only in here for the casual tournament I was in, and it's almost too fun to get rid of, but I digress.

Yeah, so I would be looking for a one- or two-drop that would fit nicely. I always like to play Naturalize, if that's worthwhile, but likely it's a sideboard card.

I just submitted this post as an independent thread when i saw a big fatty thread dedicated to exactly what i was doing.... so this is copied content from the other thread... enjoy

4 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
3 Arcane Laboratory
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 High Tide
4 Counterspell (i plan on subbing these out for Force of Will at some point)
4 Lotus Petal
4 Brainstorm
4 Vampiric Tutor
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Black Vise (sub in Iron Maiden for multiplayer games)
1 Teferi, Mage of Zalfir
1 Evacuation

4 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
7 Island
1 Maze of Ith
1 Academy Ruins

60 cards total


My expected problem matchups include:
- Martyr of Sands decks (forecast gets around erayo)
- Goblins (epic early game board presence)
- Afinity (epic early game board presence)
- Astral Slide (if it gets into late game for some reason)
- Counter-Top (most of my stuff is 1 to cast, looked at running Counterbalance in here, but space is limited...i guess i could put in one instead of Teferi)
- Scepter-Chant (for obvious reasons)
- Hulk-Flash (its faster)
- 1-drop aggro decks (can get past erayo's effect before arcane labs comes out..and then kill me several turns down the road)
- Man-lands

i can reliably flip erayo by turn 2 or 3, and sometimes on 1, but i need 2 Lotus Petals to do that. What this build lacks is defense. i want to run unsummon but dont know what to cut, if anytihng. i might not even need it that badly, but cards like savanah lions or mogg fanatic worry me if they come out early enough. the deck is not meant to win every game, or even have answers for every matchup. its an all or nothing strategy that can happen really fast, but, in the past, has not always been able to facilitate a win in time. important to note: Black Vise and Vampiric Tutor are new untested additions that have been amazing in test draws. before i didnt have a very good win condition, and while the vise isnt the best killer out there, i think it fits the build pretty synergistically considering that peoples hands will fill up fast if they cant play spells. and vamp tutor is essential, glad i added it.

...thoughts?

Isnt the decks you say you have problems with pretty much every popular extended deck?

Yeah, but it also is not an extended legal deck, so that does not really matter.

i was just brainstorming about mechanics and things that can get around an erayo lock. i dont play in any kind of structured format (except for EDH cuz its awesome) and mostly dont adhere to banned lists (neither does my play group) so my competition is, well, anything. what id like to hear from others is what useful cards could be added or subbed in to help it run more resiliently and also if people know of other decks/cards that i havent mentioned that can get around an erayo lock. also any suggestions for how to include unsummon would be great.

this is just a crappy idea i came up with and expanded on it. i am sure it will never work that well, but the idea is mean. (i also posted this in my facebook if anyone sees that, so thats why the format is alittle weird)

red - 4
4x manabarbs

black - 14
4x Sanguine Bond
2x Corrupt
4x Consume Spirit
4x Syphon Soul

white - 11

4x Children of Korlis
4x Goldenglow Moth
3x Aven Riftwatcher

colored artifacts - 4
4x Tainted Sigil

artifacts - 4
4x sun droplet

gold - 6
4x Terminate
2x Kitchen Finks

basic land

7 swamps
6 plains

non-basic land 7
3x Urborg Volcano
2x Jungle Shrine
2x Arcane Sanctum

the deck as i would build it and its mana base needs

R 8/47 =.1702 * 20 = 3.4042
B 22/47 = 9.3617 * 20 = 9.3617
W 17/47 = .3617 * 20 = 7.2340

thats if i was using basic lands. seeing as i have to include none basics in order to rehave a semi stable mana base i will have to ajust the numbers alittle. i am guessing 7 of the 20 lands should be none basics for the deck to have a chance.

R 8/47 =.1702 * 27 = 4.5957 = about 5
B 22/47 = 9.3617 * 27 = 12.6382 = about 12
W 17/47 = .3617 * 27 = 9.7659 = about 10

R 5 -3 (Urborg Volcano) - 2 (Jungle Shrine) = 0 mountains
B 12 - 3(U V) - 2 (Arcane Sanctum) = 7 swamps
W 10 - 2(J S) - 2 (Arcane Sanctum) = 6 plains
dream cards i would love in this deck

white
Boon Reflection
Purity

black
Kokusho, the Evening Star

land
Blood Crypt
Graven Cairns
Godless Shrine
Fetid Heath
Vivid Marsh
Reflecting Pool

since your deck has both Tainted Sigil and R in it, i'd love to see Breath of Malfegor in that deck. i mean REALLY. this is built for multiplayer, right?