Alcatraz

by surewhynot on 08 May 2011

Main Deck (61 cards)

Sideboard (15 cards)

Enchantments (1)


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Deck Description

***THIS IS NOT MY DECK***

My buddy Artemis (Arty) was kind enough to let me post his Esper Prison deck, which he calls Alcatraz. I can attest that this deck is aggravating to fight.

Asking him to change it to the Vintage version is basically suicide.

Deck Tags

  • Prison

Deck at a Glance

Social Stats

31
Likes

This deck has been viewed 21,175 times.

Mana Curve

Mana Symbol Occurrence

159800

Card Legality

  • Not Legal in Standard
  • Not Legal in Modern
  • Legal in Vintage
  • Legal in Legacy

Deck discussion for Alcatraz

Jesus this deck looks brutal to face, but I was wondering whether the Windborn Muse would stack with the Ghostly Prison etc.

1
Posted 09 May 2011 at 19:45

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yeah, multiples of them and/or having both out stack. It's absurd...Provided you can even get a god damn creature on the field, you'll be hard pressed to attack with anything without dumping 10 frickin' mana a piece!

2
Posted 10 May 2011 at 00:53

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man do i hate this deck. even when i'm not the one playing against it it just takes forever to finally win. :|

2
Posted 10 May 2011 at 01:02

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See man? THIS is why I have storm! Which btw, I tested the probe in more slots, and it's amaaaaaazing.

Back on topic, prison... This would be pretty freaking obnoxious for all of my decks, and it's amusing.

1
Posted 10 May 2011 at 03:11

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Haha, indeed. Glad to know the probe is working well for you.

Freakin' obnoxious is a good way to describe this. I honestly hate playing against this deck. Do you think you'd dare take this on in its "vintage-ized" form?

1
Posted 10 May 2011 at 04:05

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If my friends uncle let me borrow his vintage deck, yeah. If using my legacy decks, or me making a vintage deck? Not a chance.

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Posted 10 May 2011 at 04:58

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the worst thing is, artemis is unbelievably good at PLAYING magic. he is obviously great at designing decks (actually he is comically bad at making anything that isn't some kind of control) since he made this nasty thing, but he can out play anyone he faces.

he has defeated ANT and other types of storm and/or combo simply because he is so tactical and smart at playing. sorry bro, but your friend's uncle's deck, if it won, would be the very first ever to do so. good old arty is like exactly what i imagine a planeswalker who specializes in prison/control would be like.

on a lighter note (sorry if that whole thing was a downer :|) i assume by 'probe' you mean gitaxian probe? how does that card work? i have been considering its uses for specific aggro deck designs, and would like a fresh opinion on it.

1
Posted 10 May 2011 at 09:30

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I do indeed mean the Gitaxian Probe. It costs one blue, or two life, shows you the opponents hand, and cantrips. I've been testing it in my rather off-kilter storm deck, and it works like a charm.

For Aggro, I really don't see much use for it, perhaps maybe in Bant? I really think it's a card more geared towards the Spiral@#$% decks, and Storm because it essentially functions as a GOOD Street Wraith.


Also, it doesn't surprise me that this deck doesn't lose much in the vintage version, but if I get a good hand I think the World Gorger/Animate Dead deck would do the trick. I do very much believe it would be a massively uphill battle.

However on storm, I can see him beating ANT, as I seem to be the only person who still has difficulty there; but I don't really see ANYTHING in this deck other than Orim's Chant and Trinisphere to stop mine from functioning. I will say this Arty probably is a great player, but in the legacy mode, I just can't see him winning unless my hand is absolute crap.


I mean no offense to this person by that, the vintage version would DEVASTATE my decks, but the legacy mode presented here just doesn't have enough ways to deal with it to me.

1
Posted 10 May 2011 at 09:54

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bant was sort of what i had in mind in a way so that's good to know. i doubt arty would take offense to it really. knowing him, he'd be happy to know someone thinks they can beat him :|

i know where you are coming from. i often think 'hey, i can beat him.' and then pow, i lose. buuuuut, we don't get many reanimators to the shop, and certainly world gorger/animate dead is a rarity to say the least. undoubtedly it would be a lot of fun to see how the match played out. more interesting than the typical game which becomes a 10 year torture fest :|

i know my stompy has to work harder against reanimator. some designs can put out enough speed to push back on the offensive, which is unexpected to say the least.

1
Posted 10 May 2011 at 10:17

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Arty sounds a bit like our shopkeep in reverse, he plays affinity for his casual deck, and let's just say things aren't pretty when he busts out the vintage version... Turn one I got hit for thirteen... Because he spread the love around the table.

I also rarely get to see a prison this good, so it would be a very interesting match I agree. I'd very much enjoy the chance to play the 'seven decks', but alas, I am poor. Right now I'm out FoW, and Brainstorm notably, but if I get hired I might actually shell out for them.

2
Posted 10 May 2011 at 19:21

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i just noticed that you screwed up the sideboard. arty does not have or use 2 libraries. and you claim you have our decks memorized! you're slipping man! :P

3
Posted 11 May 2011 at 10:47

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<_<

Damn...74/75 isn't bad though

1
Posted 11 May 2011 at 18:56

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You really own these cards like the black lotus?

0
Posted 17 May 2011 at 02:36

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I don't, this is my buddy's deck. He's an accountant, so...yeah, he owns all this stuff.

0
Posted 17 May 2011 at 03:08

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haha wow just wow i gotta try to clone this deck, ppl around here would kill me for it though lol. just a nasty annoying deck ur bud must get a kick out of everyone's face when he plays this hahahaha awsome.

0
Posted 16 May 2011 at 04:22

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This is more than likely the most annoying deck I have ever, EVER, laid my eyes upon.

0
Posted 16 May 2011 at 18:26

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This is a pretty nasty deck idea, can you check out my standard tournament deck, I need advice on it.
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=185319

0
Posted 16 May 2011 at 20:32

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Do prisons even really have win conditions besides the other player running out of cards after 50 turns?

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Posted 16 May 2011 at 20:35

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Technically, no. Their main way of winning is that you just can't do anything at all. This one has Painful Quandry, which mostly serves as another thing that makes you unable to do anything, but eventually it serves as more of a "mercy kill". I know I have cast 4 spells in a row just to end the game before...

Technically he can also attack with Braids and/or Windborn, but that's pretty rare.

0
Posted 17 May 2011 at 00:06

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I love decks like that!

0
Posted 22 May 2011 at 15:42

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This looks very, very painful to play against. So many cards punishing aggro.... it seems like a typical game against it will involve sac'ing multiple permanents each turn, and having to tap all your lands just for a single creature to attack. BTW, isn't Balance restricted? You have 3 in your sideboard.

0
Posted 19 May 2011 at 23:18

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Balance is restricted...I'll ask him why there's 3 in there. Hell, even Arty makes mistakes.

0
Posted 20 May 2011 at 00:48

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Alright, I was told he couldn't decide which artwork for Balance he liked the most, thus the three. Deck's been updated to its full 100% self.

1
Posted 20 May 2011 at 00:58

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Updated again. Got a text with a picture of what he changed...2 Sen Triplets -_-

0
Posted 22 May 2011 at 07:23

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god damn it arty.

0
Posted 22 May 2011 at 20:47

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would smokestack trigger the activated ability of Scrubland, Tundra, or Underground Sea just curious

0
Posted 01 June 2011 at 03:45

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As lands, even dual, they are permanents. As such, Smokestack makes the get sacrificed just like anything else.

0
Posted 01 June 2011 at 09:35

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the reason for my asking is cause of scrubland and tundra text If a spell destroys one of these land types, this card is destroyed so if you are forced to sac one of these lands would u have to kill of the res of ur lands that are plains island or swamp

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Posted 02 June 2011 at 04:19

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Oh I see. The wording on them is a bit weird, but what it boils down to is this: If a spell or ability acts on either/both of the land types of this land, then treat those effects just as if they were to occur on a normal version of that/those land(s)

If I have a card that says: "Destroy target land. If it is a forest, do A. If it's a Swamp do B. If it's a Mountain, do C...etc." And use it on say...A Volcanic Island. The guy with the Volcanic Island would trigger both C and D

But if I just have something that says, "Destroy target Mountain" I will destroy the Volcanic Island, even though it is also an Island.

It really is that simple. The dual lands are just that -- two lands in one! Sometimes in magic, simplicity is the best answer. =]

1
Posted 02 June 2011 at 05:21

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ahh ok so if i were to destroy tundra with a spell like stone rain it would also destroy scrubland due to their text?

If a spell destroys one of these land types, this card is destroyed

0
Posted 02 June 2011 at 15:44

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No, you'll never get a two for one. The text means you don't need to destroy both halves of the dual to destroy it, just one.

0
Posted 02 June 2011 at 19:42

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ok thanks could you check this deck out been working on an endless turn combo and so far im please with the results

http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=192710

0
Posted 03 June 2011 at 18:47

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MAN! THIS DECK IS CRAZY!!! I don't even know how to return from seeing that!

0
Posted 01 June 2011 at 18:16

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i never seen time vault before, the card is crazy, with voltaic key, its an unlimited turn game, its game over for everyone else. surprisingly enough i have most of the cards for this aside from the time vault and a alpha black lotus. i my buy them and make this deck. lol

0
Posted 04 June 2011 at 08:06

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I will warn you dude. This deck is god damn expensive as balls. The SB is obviously outrageously pricey, but IIRC the actual deck is close to a grand too!

My other warning is this: Arty is a very nice guy, but despite that, this deck is so aggravating the shop owner once had to "ask" a player to leave for literally jumping at Arty. If you actually dish out the cash to make this, most people will hate you for playing it...even if they are only watching. This deck takes an almost comically long time to win...upwards of 20 to 50 turns.

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Posted 04 June 2011 at 08:51

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Normally I hate it when someone says that "Oh, all I hav to do is put these 16 cards in my deck and you will lose" rather then giving helpful advice to making a better deck...but in this format it is awesome!

I play multi-player, so building a deck around one player is suicide, because everyone lets you do the dirty work and you are unprepared for any other deck. I do think that the deck I am in the process of creating would have a shot (albeit a long one) and the idea behind it may inspire a good dec builder the inspiration to truly beat this.

I am working on various combos of Memnarch and Gilded Drake. With a "God Draw" with Artifact Lands, hopefully you can jumpstart the infinite mana loop with the Silver Myr and Myr Galvanizer. If you can get the Memnarch on the table with an infinite mana loop you can turn all permanents into artifacts and steal all artifacts simultaneously. Without the loop hopefully you can get at least pick off his lands or an enchantment that is badgering you the most one at a time. Unwinding clock will allow you to use your artifact lands every turn (Winter Orb says on Your turn you can only untap 1, Unwinding says on every OTHER players you can untap all) allowing you to use your lands and Memnarch more often. Also remember that any lands you steal would also be considered artifacts giving you much more mana available then this deck creator was prepared for. Mimic Vat could be useful for the Myr to protect your Myr mana loop or possibly your Memnarch. I use it for the Gilded Drake in my deck, but that would be useless against this guy. Again, my deck is in the process of being built and needs a lot of work, I was just throwing ideas around for someone better at this tehn I am to work with.

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Posted 04 June 2011 at 18:29

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this deck is amazing

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Posted 08 July 2011 at 05:43

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