I like FLuctator decks :) Most fluctuator decks I've seen rely on a few things. A very high land count, to account for the fact that you'll be mulliganing down to three or four most games, and lots of stuff that is useful and able to be cast. AND anything that can't be cycled won't be in the deck unless it's your win-con or absolutely necessary. I'd Include some more cycling land, Lonely sandbar, Barren Moor etc. I'd want at least 24 lands in there that are all able to be cycled. Include a 2 or 3 of each of protection spells Gilded Light, Miscalculation. Gitaxian Probe is useful, but I'd cut it as it's not a creature - Street Wraith is better though. I'd also cut Songs of the Damned down to one (two at most) as you should only need one to win with Miscalculation as backup since you've churned trough your whole deck on that turn. Lotus Petal could be Simian Spirit Guide or ELvish Spirit Guide, or both!! With Elvish Spirit Guide, it makes a single Autumn's Veil in the deck KICK ASS at protecting your combo. Reason being for that block of text; Once Fluctuator gets going, you want to win THAT turn, so the more non-cycling cards in the deck, the worse off you'll be. Try and get it down to 8 at most, or even lower. However, one way to correct this,is pop in Restess Dreams. Darigaaz's Cadera is a nice land to return a cyclin land to your hand for extra cycling too. You need an alternate win-con in case Mortal Combat gets countered. I'd consider Haunting Misery, or Exsanguinate as win-con's to be honest. Mortal Combat is assuming you're not going to have your graveyard nuked by Tormod's Crypt etc., whilst Songs of the Damned is an instant, so you'll be able to get the mana even if someone does try to nuke your graveyard. Exsanguinate may be a better option, although consider that it would require 22 creatures and your opponent not running lifegain. Haunting requires 20 creatres in the graveyard. Also assume that once someone knows how your deck works, SOngs will attract the counter....so be prepared for it. Fluctuator decks are tough to build well, and you'll get countered pretty easy sometimes, but good Luck! That said, there are lots of ways to build them, so don't put too much weight into my thoughts... Any chanceyoucould take a look at my INFECT COmbo U/R deck? Any improvement I could make? http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=370773
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As said above, VEXING DEVIL!!!! I would think 4 would be an auto-include. Yes, it's not really a creature in some games, but it's got to be one of the best red creatures in the entire block IMO. Legacy/Vintage burn is running it for it's sheer power. I'd consider cutting some of your removal spells for 4x Gatekeeper of Malakir. Play it for the extra mana, and make your opponent sac something. Any chance you could take a look at my Deck? it's an infect deck, U/R, based around a combo to make a lethal one-off hit. http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=370773
Thalia NEEDS to be a four-of. Combo/Control decks are running 4-of's in legacy and vintage for a reason! It's a house at hosing blue counterspell and R/B removal spells from slowing you down much. Other than that, about the only thing I would change would be to pop the O-rings in the mainboard so you have a way to deal with any large enchantment/creature they land that you don't have a creature-based answer to. I usually play about 4 in my white decks, as a lot of decks just have no answer to them. Any chance you could look at my Infect U/R deck? It's combo based, can win between T2 to 5 usually, but I'm looking for advice to make it better. http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=370773 Cheers.
I like this, but I feel you need to quicken it up a bit more instead of just adding lots of removal. If you're looking to infect & proliferate to the win, have you thought about splashing a colour to make that happen faster? Blue has some great cards that could add to your deck, like Blighted Agent & Tezzeret's Gambit (which doesn't need you to run blue at all) and even Mutagenic Growth (which also doesn't need green) for pumping whichever creature doesn't get blocked. If budget is a concern, I think you've got something here, but it depends whether you only wanna play standard? I made a U/R infect deck that includes Blighted Agent & Inkmoth Nexus with counter to protect, and a combo to blast them in one hit. Please let me know what you think I could improve. http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=370773
Duh... I should just do this and make it easier, huh? http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=340978
Is Bloodghast usually the first target for your Buried Alive? If so; My old Grave Pact deck deck ran a load of fetchlands, the non-painful variety, Evolving & Terrmorphic, and a single Mountain to go with all the swamps. Bloodghasteses (plural? LOL) got sac'ed every turn. Pawn of Ulamog helped here, as did the G'Pact. Point is, the single mountain loved having a creature in the graveyard - Anger. Every turn I attacked with the Bloodghasts, sac'ed them, rinsed and repeateses. I also ran a couple of Helm of Possession for LOLz should anyone actually have something worth stealing, like a Blightsteel Colossus. If you're going to try it, just be mindful, the Helm is a good support for Grave Pact, but both in play isn't good.
Thanks. When I was looking at Preordain, Ponder and Brainstorm, I can only really fit 8 of them in the deck. Brainstorm is an auto-inclusion, and of the other two I went with Ponder so I could shuffle the deck, post Brainstorm or because Peer Through Depths puts cards on the bottom of my library. I will try it both ways though, as I do like the scry mechanic. On that; I'm still not sure how many Peer through Depths is optimal, same for Gitaxian Probe. Depths has the tendency to snare just what I need and removing the crap, but all too often, it can remove the creatures or land I need, and I just end up with a counter. Gitaxian Probe is a free look, and makes my opening hand 7 (+1), so I like it a lot for increasing consistency! RE: Mutagenic Growth - this deck aims to only make one hit, and make it lethal. I just don't have enough creatures to play turn after turn against aggro creature's or removal heavy decks, and by increasing the creatures to normal sort of numbers I'd lose speed & consistency. My aim is to win by turn 2 or 3, so everything in the deck is aimed towards that combo of Blazing Shoal & removing a 9+cmc card. Cards like Pact of Negation & Summoner's Pact help a lot for this, especially as Tolaria West can fetch those, or a Blinkmoth if I get a really bad draw. If I was running U/G stompy, I'd definitely have 4x Mutagenic, and I'd think about Berserk, Invigorate, Groundswell, Pendelhaven etc etc. Thanks.
Cheers. What actually drew me to this was the budget nature of the deck, as I already have most of the deck. Legacy decks can be extremely expensive, upwards of $1000 if you run two colours and want those dual lands. I really don't have the money for that, and refuse to spend big money on a single card. Just a few cards in this build are a tad pricey, everything else is pretty cheap and fairly easy to pick up..
What they said, this deck will take far too long to play it's main headkicker in Army of the Damned. Bear in mind, cards like Blasphemous Act and Echoing Truth will just straight out nuke your deck, it may be worth having some kind of back up plan if you come up against it. I would consider putting in 4 Dark Ritual and some Cabal Ritual so you can cast your business earlier. Could you take a minute to check out my deck? http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=370773
This deck looks pretty tricky to lock your opponent down. I generally have a hard time playing normal mill without having a reanimated beast hammering my head in. Considering the amount of decks play flashback, I'd be pretty wary of Past in Flames etc. Could you take a minute to check out my deck? http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=370773
Haha - I used to run a deck similar to this that would use Ashnod's Altar, Pawn of Ulamog and the clamp to churn out a massive Exsanguinate. Fun times. Could you take a minute to check out my deck? http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=370773
Nice. Bribery would be col, so would some of the other stealing things that blue can do, like Volition Reins. Could you take a minute to check out my deck? http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=370773
I used to run a deck like this casually. When it worked it was LOL awesome - but it is very vulnerable, and very easy to beat. I based it on 10 cards and 50 lands. I found any less than that would almost always mean mulligan's down to 1 card. The other cards I had were a single Elixir if Immortality, a couple Ad Nauseam, 4 Zombie Infestation to go with the treasure hunt's. Ad Nauseam is awesome for this deck as you get to draw your entire deck regardless. Lightning Storm is another option if you like instant's. Personally I found this deck fun for about 2 or 3 games before I got bored. ..and my friends worked out all they had to do was nuke my enchantment or laid down a Pyroclasm......
Fastbond would definitely be great here; Maybe put in some Elvish Spirit Guide aswell as manapmorphose for more consistency? I know this is not the idea of the deck at all, but just a fun idea for LOLz. Pandemonium? Cos every bloodghast becomes a Shock. ;) Just a quick question though - how are you looking to discard your Bloodghasts reliably?
You're dead right. Those would increase the speed of the deck no question. But....with a budget in mind, and a lack of defence means I might stay with the slower option in Evolving/Expanse But you're still right - they'd be a great inclusion.
Cheers, I'll check it out.
No worries. Glad I could help.
Nah - it's just not a proper Fog deck without Constant Mists. A Fog effect you can play EVERY turn is essential in a deck called Turbo-Fog. Fog attached to Isochron Scepter would be perfect! Given you're playing blue, I'm surprised you're not running any counter to stop non-creature win strategies. I think you need 4 Isochron Scepter in there to attach to either Counterspell, Fog etc. Any deck that win's on turn 3 to 5 with something like Laboratory Maniac is gonna be VERY hard for you to stop. Like this one; http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=326866 Anyways; Any chance you could take a look at my sac deck? http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=340978
Add to that; There is an option to boost you chances of decking yourself. Thought Lash It's not a quick card, but it's another way of doing it.....
I like it. I thought I'd try to make a Laboratory Maniac deck in legacy aswell. Here's my version; http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=326866 One thing that I think you'll have trouble with; You're relying (essentially) on three different cards to get your win-con. This is exactly what I always try to avoid with combo decks, any more than two and I find most combo decks fizzle with only the slightest amount of pressure. Discard, removal and permission are REALLY gonna screw you. To be honest, my take on Maniac probably isn't any better against those matchups. It's unlikely I'd win a game against a tournament winning legacy deck, but my deck only needs two cards to get the combo to work, and has lots of instant speed or free draw to get my win. I have transmute cards to find my pieces if my draw is bad. I have heaps of ways to draw through my deck to win once the Maniac is out, all at instant speed. I feel like you need some transmute/tutor in there to find your pieces faster. Muddle the Mixture is a counter, and can find you the Greaves & Cephalid. I'd replace your sorcery speed draw/scry with instant speed instead - apart from Gitaxian Probe, cos a free spell is awesome. Ponder/Preordain should be instants so you can use them at the end of your opponents turn, leaving mana open for counter before that. I'd think about Halimar Depths too, great card for combo decks. Anyways, good luck! Any chance you could take a peek at my casual deck here, based on abusing skullclamp; http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=340978
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