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Deck (Time Spiral Block) : It all goes boom...

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Talaisan

PostPosted: Sat Jun 09, 2007 1:59 pm


Just something I've been working on...

4 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Molten Slagheap
5 Mountain
2 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Plains
3 Gemstone Mine
4 Swamp

4 Greater Gargadon
3 Keldon Marauders
4 Nihilith

4 Fury Charm
4 Prismatic Lens
4 Chromatic Star
4 Timecrafting
3 Word of Seizing
4 Restore Balance
4 Phyrexian Totem

SB
3 Porphyry Nodes
4 Sulfur Elemental
4 Sulfurous Blast
4 Void

Basically, if played right, when Restore Balance goes off, your opponent should pretty much just scoop, as he'll be empty against Gargadon, and maybe Nihilith too,
PostPosted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 10:24 pm


aha. Good old Nihilith and Gargadon! I have them in a landkill/global damage deck so they come out extra fast. Probably not as fast as yours does on the instant boom, but the look on people's faces as they lose land and creatures and see two or more monsters rearing up is pretty funny.

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epiclevelwarrior

Bashful Browser

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:42 pm


On the Manabase: You obviously want 4 flagstones and the Duals to search them with. That synergy is just too powerful not to run. Bounce lands work well with the GSMs and will help with your colors.

On the Creatures: I would say 8 total creatures that work off the RBs is too many. Cut to 6.

I'm not sure about the marauders. They're an early threat but they don't really help you pull off the RB/fattie setup or stay alive to do so.

On the Other Spells: You want a lower focus on removing time counters and a higher focus on utility effects to make your setup more likely to resolve. You also need a way to beat combo because they go off before you in most situations.

I'd almost tell you to run Blue. Hatching Plans/ Perilous Research would love to be in this deck but 4 colors is probably too much. You desperately need drawing, though, and not the kind that black provides. You want single use cards that dig deep into your library. Perhaps you want to forgo one of the fatties in favour of blue. Only you don't want to lose either one. Nilith is easier to resolve but Gargadon makes the engine work. I wonder if you could get away with it. You'd definitely need a full complement of duals but those, chomatic star, and gemstone mine it might just work...

If it were my deck I would probably go with blue over black.

Sorry if this post is disjointed. I see problems but not many ways to fix them.
PostPosted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 5:55 pm


epiclevelwarrior
On the Manabase: You obviously want 4 flagstones and the Duals to search them with. That synergy is just too powerful not to run. Bounce lands work well with the GSMs and will help with your colors.

On the Creatures: I would say 8 total creatures that work off the RBs is too many. Cut to 6.

I'm not sure about the marauders. They're an early threat but they don't really help you pull off the RB/fattie setup or stay alive to do so.

On the Other Spells: You want a lower focus on removing time counters and a higher focus on utility effects to make your setup more likely to resolve. You also need a way to beat combo because they go off before you in most situations.

I'd almost tell you to run Blue. Hatching Plans/ Perilous Research would love to be in this deck but 4 colors is probably too much. You desperately need drawing, though, and not the kind that black provides. You want single use cards that dig deep into your library. Perhaps you want to forgo one of the fatties in favour of blue. Only you don't want to lose either one. Nilith is easier to resolve but Gargadon makes the engine work. I wonder if you could get away with it. You'd definitely need a full complement of duals but those, chomatic star, and gemstone mine it might just work...

If it were my deck I would probably go with blue over black.

Sorry if this post is disjointed. I see problems but not many ways to fix them.


You see problems, partly because you're thinking of type 2, rather than block constructed. Blue just doesn't have the splashable spells in TSP block to really work in as a third color or as a fourth. As for the comments on creatures...

If I don't have either a gargadon or a nihilith suspended by turn 2, my game is shot to hell. So yes, 4 of each, because if I have to, I'll mulligan to 5 cards so long as I get one of those two, and the mana to play it. Keldon Marauders is just plain sick with Gargadon. You get 2 to your opponent, probably eat one of his creatures on block or attack, as well as sacrificing him for a time counter. In my book, that reads (1R, Target opponent takes 2 damage, destroy target creature with toughness 3 or less unless opponent pays 3 life, and remove a time counter from Greater Gargadon). Hyper efficient.

I don't have to worry about combo, because the only combo deck worth mentioning in Block constructed is U/G Vesuvan Hermit. And it goes off... one turn before I balance out, usually. Which is just bad for them.

As for all of the time-fixing spells... They let me adjust to drawing RB or a creature too late by fixing my time counters so everything goes off in the right order. Not to mention, Fury Charm will let a gargadon trample through for some serious beatings, or take down a Phyrexian Totem/Prismatic Lens.

Talaisan


epiclevelwarrior

Bashful Browser

PostPosted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 12:05 pm


Block would make it an entirely different ballgame.

Still, I think you're set up to be on the wrong end of the damge race rather too often.

Marauders will only work if your opponent makes the mistake of treating you like an aggro deck. The damage won't matter if you can't bring off the reset and once they figure out it's the only non suspend creature in the deck they won't be shy about spending removal on it. I just don't see it working beyond the first game (and not then if you suspend an early balance vs a savy opponent).

There's actually a sliver based aggro/ combo deck as well and a dragonstorm variant. They're both pretty rogue so you may not have to worry about them and certainly not as much as you would in standard.

What worries me is that you have no response to a counter on your Balance. The best you can do is try to unsuspend at instant speed when they're tapped out. However, a good player simply won't tap out against you once you get into combo range.

Then there's the nightmare of an opposing Teferi. Word of Seizing is the only card I see that can solve that one and that won't work if they have a willbender.

I think you're in the wrong place on the combo w/ big dudes backup spectrum. You don't have enough dudes to legitimately beat your way to a win and you don't have enough combo protection to reliably go off.

I hope I'm wrong about this because I really don't see how to fix it. You need some way to get more answers into play more quickly... A tutor, maybe, but the best available tutor is 5 CC.
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