hickwarrior

2 Decks, 10 Comments, 2 Reputation

On the last thing, I verily agree. There's probably a lot more they can do with illusions, but we'll have to wait and see.

If swiftfoot is only for your lord, which I think I could've guessed, try something else. 7 out of 60 cards are for another 6 out of 60 cards. This makes the probability that you use those on them a lot less likely.

I would sideboard redirect instead of main decking it. It has its uses, but the uses don't come often. Besides, if your illusions get targeted, they'll go poof anyway so I'm not sure why you would use it.

As for some of the sideboard, I would main deck vapor snag. I'm not sure how much cards I would main deck it, though 2 would be a minimum for me. Incidentally, you could actually save your lord with that too, at the cost of 1 life, which is negligible.

Visions of beyond is something I'd take out. Unless you are slogging it out with another player, which you probably don't want with this deck, it's best left out.

other than that, I look forward to seeing what will happen with this deck, since I'm into illusions too. Check out my decks if you want. One deck is one I own though, keep that in mind. The other is the deck I would definitely like to play, but the sideboard is atrocious to me.

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Posted 11 August 2011 at 20:40 in reply to #190707 on Lord of Illusions

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Well, it's more because I'm thinking of how the card can be used. Incidentally, try reverberate instead. it is a godly card for any red player out there, IMO. I mean, being able to copy spells on a whim whenever you want could put other players in trouble and more wary of how much cards you still have. Of course, this is another rare.

Try looking for other cards that also contain burn on a stick or something. If you cannot use your burn, you're not going to do a lot.

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Posted 11 August 2011 at 20:31 in reply to #190926 on Rapid Incineration (Type 2, Very Cheap to Make!)

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@JTMS No problem. You just have to know how cards can work in order make observations. Of course, that's theory, but it can get you a long way in a game like this.

For maybe some ideas for aggro decks, look at my decks. One is a deck I actually own in real life, while the other is a deck I think would suit me the most.

I'm still playing around myself and remember, deck building is an ongoing thing. It never really stops.

All of the things I've learned are from things I read around the web. Try some google searches, maybe you'll come up with something that will help you immensely.

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Posted 11 August 2011 at 20:26 as a comment on The Hate Machine - Blue Control

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I'd suggest adding creatures in to be safe. I see you have artillerize, but it's not useful if you cannot use it. There are also quite a lot of burn spells, so having the planeswalker chandra, the firebrand in this might help out.

Also, don't think about your combo in terms of turns if you're going standard with it. Try to find more cards that can actually work with multiple other cards in your deck.

You also need to make some more mana. 22 should be just enough.

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Posted 11 August 2011 at 10:30 as a comment on Rapid Incineration (Type 2, Very Cheap to Make!)

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Well, even if you did put 1-offs a lot in here, I'll just comment on every card choice.

Phantasmal is a 4-off in my book. 1 blue for a bear, barring the illusion ability, is just great and a good way to start off.

If you don't have a way to constantly deceiver's ability, I suggest pulling that one out. And this deck doesn't seem like it has it.

I don't know about Roil Elemental at all. For all I know, at 6 mana, both players would have used the majority of their hand at that point, even you, so landfall won't trigger as much as you'd want.

Frost titan's always fun and a nice way to seal the win in a game. Just make sure to see what options your opponent might have.

I heard that levelers don't do well in standard. You might have to research it for the why, but for all I know, they are usually way too expensive for what they can do. I'd take out any levelers in this deck.

Aether Figment, for 5 mana, is brutal. Unblockable and always swinging in for 3. that's really good. Adding a lord of the unreal on top of that, and your opponent is going to have hard time with this figment.

Now, this is one of those M10 cards out of another core set. For standard, keep an eye at which sets are legal. Right now, that's Zendikar block, M11, Scars of mirrodin block and M12. Zendikar is going to rotate out in september because there is going to be a new block, the innistrad block.

Instead of phantom beast, try phantasmal dragon. same cost, but the dragon has 1 point more in power than the beast.

Okay, now we come to guard gomazoa... Let me tell you about the types of control. First up is aggro control. Have you seen the new event decks for M12? Well, if you have, you'd notice that the illusions are aggressive as anything. This means that you could play a blue beatdown deck. This means having a lot of low mana creatures and control spells like vapor snag and mana leak.
The other type of control is usually very much slower and this is where Guard Gomazoa comes in. Guard gomazoa, even though it has a CMC of 3, is a card that symbolizes control at its purest level. Stalling your opponent while you prepare to drop a huge bomb on the field, like frost titan.

Keep these 2 archetypes in mind when building a deck and the rest should come easier, although there are still choices to be made.

Coral Merfolk isn't good for constructed. I'd suggest Merfolk Looter instead.

Levitation is a card for beatdown if the opponent is locking the board. But it's best suited towards sideboard, IMO. BTW, remember the 2 archetypes.

Eel Umbra is something I wouldn't use. totem armor does seem fine, but if your opponent see you casting on your monster, and it doesn't have hexproof, well you're going to lose your card and haven't done anything of worth during that turn.

Mind Control's fine. Remember the 2 archetypes here.

Numbing Dose. Copy and paste: Remember the 2 archetypes here.

Cancel. The amount here seems fine to me and that's about it. Good card for countering opponent's cards.

Deprive. This is a counterspell, but has almost the same cost as cancel. Good for very early turns, but not much else to my knowledge. I know I don't want to lose a land for the next turn, unless I can fetch another one.

Mana leak. 4-off. 'nuff said.

Negate is a corner case card. At best, I would put it in my sideboard. At worst, I'd pull it out.

TBH here, this one seems nice to me. You can tap for however much mana, barring the 2 blue or untap to give your opponent a scare when he wants to attack. But on the other side, this probably would only untap/tap 1 or 2 creatures at most.

I like summoner's bane when my opponent wants to cast a big creature, but the 4 CMC is a turn-off. Having to keep 4 mana open will make anyone wary of you. Since you usually play blue as control, they will know you are up to something if you leave that much open.

Vapor snag's fun. Put it in a deck with not too much illusions though.

Ponder is really a plan card, and for me, it's mostly for a pure control deck. For an aggro control deck, I'd use divination or anything that gives me more cards than one for a card.

Preordain's nice. Not much can be said about it that you can't figure out.

Sleep's a great way to bust your opponent's defens if you need it. I think I'd put that in my sideboard.

Well, that's all I can say about the maindeck. Sideboarding for me is more difficult, because I would plan ahead which cards won't work against my opponent's and which cards would. However, that comes more with experience, and I'm very inexperienced.

Anyway, I hope it was helpful.

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Posted 11 August 2011 at 10:23 as a comment on The Hate Machine - Blue Control

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I dunno if you want to use swiftfoot boots in an illusion at all. I'd take it out if I were you. The combo of phantasmal image and lord of the unreal is good enough to do it. for the same reason, I wouldn't put spirit mantle in this deck, because there are illusions. That doesn't help.

also, 3x4=12. That's a big chunk you are paying there. But if you are willing to pay such a big cost in life, then go for it.

Could you explain why you chose redirect? I'm very curious to hear which cards are giving you so much trouble for redirect. If anything, I'd put it in my sideboard.

I think I would go with 22 islands to make it easier for me to draw it. This way, I will also be able to swarm the field with phantasmal bear, lord of unreal and image.

To draw more cards, or to help you draw the right cards, I suggest Divination/Blue sun's Zenith and Merfolk Looter respectively. To offset merfolk looter, use elixir of immortality or a card that shuffles all of your graveyard bck into your deck.

I would put mana leak 4 times in this deck. Actually, if you play, it's kind of a staple. A cheap counter spell if you pay attention. It's really good.

A thing like turn to frog seems funny, it's just a one-time card to disrupt a little bit. it also leaves +1/+1 counters on a creature, so be careful with that. Ponder might help you smoothen out your draws so you can plan more ahead, but I'm more of the draw more cards guy with aggro decks, since it doesn't matter how you plan it as long as you get creatures in your hand.

on that note, put a whole lot more creature cards in this deck and less other spells. It'll help you to swarm the battlefield better.

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Posted 10 August 2011 at 22:08 as a comment on Lord of Illusions

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I'd say take out glistener elves, unless you wanna run an infect deck or you use it to disrupt your opponent a little. Put more spells in that either ramp your mana or make you draw cards as you go, otherwise your starting hand is the best jumping off point there.

The latter is more a concern for myself, though, so take that as you will.

It definitely looks like a hard to beat deck, though. Can you playtest it? If so, put your results and how it all went in a comment or something. It doesn't matter if it is lengthy.

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Posted 10 August 2011 at 21:55 as a comment on Elf Warriors

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So why is Emrakul in this deck though? It costs way too much for what you want. Aggro decks will probably eat you for breakfast.

The way you put out your plan sounds like you won't have enough mana to use counterspells to balance things out. Incidentally, if you run out of cards, but the opponent keeps getting cards before your consecrated sphinx is on the field, you have no way of stopping an opponent except by copying his creatures.

My advice would be this: Find stall cards in blue. Anything from unsummon to Aether adept. Disrupt your opponent's plan, while you keep milling and he cannot do a thing.

Of course, that might be a total deck overhaul, but this what I would do with this deck.

Those were my 2 cents, though. So take it as you will.

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Posted 10 August 2011 at 21:49 as a comment on I Think Not

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