In my first test, I went up against Matt's Sneak and Show deck and won after an Emrakul attack. I'd sacrificed everything but a Mountain and a Firewing Phoenix but on my turn I was able to recur Flamewake Phoenix to the battlefield, attack for 6 and win.
So that felt pretty good.
Then there was the response I got both here and at the Reddit at the Casual Magic forum: lots of ideas coming from people, which is always pretty gratifying.
One person commented that I didn't have much mass removal and that is a concern going forward. They were very emphatic on that point, so I'll be keeping that in mind as I play. That same commenter pointed out that I wasn't going to get Kuldotha Phoenix online very reliably with only seven artifacts. Or at least, not by turn 4 or 5; the math just doesn't allow for it.
That's true but I've realized my goal isn't to have Kuldotha Phoenix online by turn 4: The goal is to be able to bring it back as my other threats get neutralized. With this in mind, it's not an unacceptable ratio.
One other commenter suggested Simian Spirit Guide, once Demigod was added to the deck, because the mana acceleration could be very useful.
Finally, Pyrewild Shaman was suggested and man, I have to admit that idea seems pretty cool. I'm not sure if there's room for the card though, as much as I like the idea.
I went into testing with Noah with what I thought were reasonable hopes: those hopes hit some rocks.
Burn is a brutal matchup. Once I figured out how to play it, that got better but still, the closest I took Noah to was 4 and he untapped and brought me from 20 to 0. On the upside, it's easily fixable with Dragon's Claw, though, which also contributes to metalcraft!
White weenie: I took care of that pretty handily. Control? Coming back from Supreme Verdict isn't that difficult. Green devotion? That is the one matchup where I felt like mass removal could've helped.
By then, however, I'd took out Magma Phoenix and reconfigured the deck to run Kuldotha Phoenix, Demigod of Revenge and Simian Spirit Guide. Noah didn't disagree with this but he did acknowledge; "That's really aggressive."
It is but maybe it's correct?
Depends on whether you want the deck to be casual or tourney. I find if you take a good thing far enough you have to start making choices like this. And admittedly sometimes a cool idea can only go as far as good enough to beat my friends but not good enough to beat established tournament decks.So then you are stuck with a deck that doesn't see a wealth of play for that reason.
ReplyDeleteI have 200+ playable decks now; it's not really about getting to a tournament. It's about building the best thing I can build, given my interest.
DeleteIf, for example, going to 19 lands meant I was mana screwed every time, then that would be an incorrect choice. If I'm still able to play a consistent game of Magic though, then 19 lands instead of 23 is a pretty big decision, no?