What does the deck actually do? I'm confused as to how it's a contender against, say, Grim Long.
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The main goal of this deck is to drop a Mystic Remora as soon as possible. That having been done, it can almost certainly both pay for the remora each turn, and contains such a large quantity of countermagic that it should be able to deny any threat and eventually drop a win condition and ride it out. Ophidians, and sometimes cards like Jace or Meditate, perform a similar function to remora until the remora hits. The deck, although characteristically underplayed, has put up several results in the last few months by its creators at Myriad, and has prompted its status update.
Wow. I always played the Remoras I got from the bricks (large hunk of cards for a dollar) in casual control decks, and they were good, but didn't seem good enough to be competitive. Anyone played with this deck yet?
The original version, which is still played (this is just the most recent variant), employed Show and Tell and Tyrant as the primary win condition. Out of respect to the creators, and since the internal strategies have remained constant, I kept the name. Another possibly more applicable name would be "Big Blue" or something to that end.
This deck has had several top 8 performances by its creators, known by Harliquen and Rock Lee on TMD, predominantly at Myriad. Despite it lacking a whole lot of play, it has proven itself when played.
The strategies of this and oath are completely different, only the original win condition is similar.
Would augury adept be a better card choice for this deck than Ophidian? He beats for 2 gains you life and still draws you the cards.
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Quote from TJ-Whoopy »
From TMD
Round One: Bill Copes playing Stax
Bill seems like a nice guy till I see that he's playing Stax and realize (by way of a concrete Magic formula I learned from my 4th grade math teacher) he has no soul.
I am liking morphling more than meloku right now but I think I need to test more. maybe one and one split...
augery is a house, and so is shackles. It takes opposing blockers and allows you to use them to chump block. It seems so strong and if I draw the collosus it is the first tinker target.
I really need help with the board. Back to basics, and tormods crypts for sure, but what else?
thoughs?
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Quote from TJ-Whoopy »
From TMD
Round One: Bill Copes playing Stax
Bill seems like a nice guy till I see that he's playing Stax and realize (by way of a concrete Magic formula I learned from my 4th grade math teacher) he has no soul.
surprisingly to me meloku has proven to be astonishingly great with alot of people running stax variants or workshop variants playing crucible with wasteland and strip mine.
and i have always liked mystic remora since the day i saw it, and now it seems to be viable.
I have always liked Keeperish decks and was glad to see something similar playable again. I have also tried Remora alot back when it first came out, but was dissapointed. So I was so happy to see something like this and have been playing around with it a bit.
I played some test games last night on MWS with no sideboard, making the odd tweak as I went. I started with basically the OP build with slight changes, my final build at nights end was like the OP only with the following ;
I know that adds to -10/+11, I am miscounting somewhere. I will give a more accurate list tonite when I get home.
I must say I am impressed though, even with Remora being practically useless against Goblins (my main test match) I was still 50/50 with no board.
I added one Underground Sea to make Explosives more consistant.
Stifle is extremely useful. I beat Goblins on a few games just because of the tempo swing it gave early on, and it helped deal with Lackeys that made it through.
I must say I often had trouble keeping a full hand, but that was generally due to the uselessness of remora in this match.
Morphling and Meloku both never saw play. Collosus and Augury are both the key game winners in these matches.
From TMD
Round One: Bill Copes playing Stax
Bill seems like a nice guy till I see that he's playing Stax and realize (by way of a concrete Magic formula I learned from my 4th grade math teacher) he has no soul.
So I didnt do too well on Saturday. I feel like at least 2 of my 3 losses could have been avoided if I would have played more conservatively and really taken my time on each of my plays...but after round one I was really on tilt due to mana screw and a couple poor choices.
So round one I played against one of the people in my play group, playing UG grow he designed.
Game 1
I win the roll and keep a risky hand of U mox, B mox, Top, tinker, force of will, stifle, and thirst for knowledge. I play both moxen top and pass with the sapphire up to stifle. He plays land mox, null rod...uh-oh. I top in response, see nothing useful and force pitching the stifle...he dazes and I lose in the next few turns to a dryad and a goyf.
Game 2 I keep a hand of 2 islands, shackles, misdirection, force, spell snare and a mox. I play land mox go, he plays land mox goyf, I spell snare, he forces, and I misdirection. I draw a thirst for knowledge and keep my 3 mana up. I pass and he plays a null rod, I thirst in response, draw nothing and loss to not drawing another land until 10 turns later!!!! I counter all of his threats but one goyf and it goes all the way.
Round 2 I play against MUD. Game one he pulls out a hard fought win through a thorn and a couple tangle wires, beating me down with a jugs
game 2 I play back to basics on turn 2 after forcing a sphere on his turn one. its a walk after that
game 3 see game 2...easy win.
Round 3 I play against Icorid and get smashed game one.
Game 2 I board in 3 needles, 3 tormods crypts, and 1 echoing truth. I open hand all 3 and walk to a win
game 3 I mull to 6 and see a marginal hand with only an echoing truth as hate...I mull the hand and end up mulling down to 3. lotus, crypt, crypt...I keep gladly and he plays a chalice on zero and walks all over me. If I would have kept the 6 card hand I think I easily could have won this match, being that he really dredge any way to win other than narcomebas and flashback dread return...live and learn.
Round 4 is against Bomberman game one I drop a remora and he tries to combo out through all my card draw...I win after stopping one of the returns with a stifle and make him use his last 2 mana to return it again, then forcing the lotus. On my turn I play my shackles take his salvagers, play my lotus and play 14 cards from my hand...cant lose this one.
Game 2 he mulls to 5 and loses when I stifle his first fetch...not even really a game, and I feel bad about this win...but only a little
Round 5 I play against one of the best magic players in southern California. Marshal is playing CS and he outplays me games one and 3. I dont really remember much other than in game one he loses every roll on his mana crypt and ends the game at -8 or so with a platinum angel on board....I lose to 4 swings of the angel and he has an active welder on board and I cant get a spell through or an artifact to stick.
Game 2 I win a pretty one sided game when I take his welder with a shackles...not an exciting game
Game 3 I countered 2 spells I think I should have let resolve and I stopped paying for my mystic remora for no reason after like 2-3 turns and lose to a massive amount of card advantage and the platinum angel with him at -2 or -3.
I really didnt feel good about this match at all after thinking about it. I just didnt think through any of my plays in the third game and rushed myself into the loss. I dont mind lossing to Marshal, he played his game perfectly but I still feel I could have won the match if I would have held my counters.
All in all, I was pretty happy with the deck even though I ended 2-3 after a long day of disapointing draws and poor opening hands I should have mulliganed, and never drawing threats to put pressure on my opponent.
Sorry for the long post, but I thought people might like to see it.
From TMD
Round One: Bill Copes playing Stax
Bill seems like a nice guy till I see that he's playing Stax and realize (by way of a concrete Magic formula I learned from my 4th grade math teacher) he has no soul.
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8 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Academy Ruins
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
Creatures
2 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
1 Darksteel Colossus
3 Augery Adept
Spells
2 Misdirection
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Mindslaver
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
3 Repeal
4 Mystic Remora
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
2 Vedalken Shackles
2 Trickbind
2 Powder Keg
3 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Pithing Needle
2 Trickbind
3 Back to Basics
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Artist Strikes Fish
This deck has had several top 8 performances by its creators, known by Harliquen and Rock Lee on TMD, predominantly at Myriad. Despite it lacking a whole lot of play, it has proven itself when played.
The strategies of this and oath are completely different, only the original win condition is similar.
im trying to make use of Scroll Rack in this deck
I have rebuilt this deck for post B/R of brainstorm. I havent played it at all, but it seems pretty strong goldfishing.
8 islands
1 tolarian academy
1 library of alexandria
1 academy ruins
3 delta
3 strand
artifacts 11
1 mox pearl
1 mox ruby
1 mox jet
1 mox emerald
1 mox sapphire
1 black lotus
1 sol ring
1 mindslaver
1 vedalken shackles
2 engineered explosives
4 force of will
4 mystic remora
3 mana drain
3 misdirection
3 spell snare
3 repeal
1 brainstorm
1 ponder
1 fact of fiction
1 time walk
1 tinker
1 recall
3 augery adept
2 morphling
1 collosus
I am liking morphling more than meloku right now but I think I need to test more. maybe one and one split...
augery is a house, and so is shackles. It takes opposing blockers and allows you to use them to chump block. It seems so strong and if I draw the collosus it is the first tinker target.
I really need help with the board. Back to basics, and tormods crypts for sure, but what else?
thoughs?
1x academy ruins
1x library of alexandria
3x polluted delta
2x flooded strand
5x island
4x underground sea
1x morphling
1x meloku, the clouded mirror
1x darksteel colossus
3x dimir cutpurse
1x yawgmoth's will
1x vampiric tutor
1x demonic tutor
3x thoughtseize
1x tinker
1x ancestral recall
2x misdirection
1x timewalk
1x gifts ungiven
3x mystic remora
1x fact or fiction
4x force of will
4x mana drain
1x ponder
1x brainstorm
1x mystical tutor
1x chain of vapor
1x echoing truth
1x mox pearl
1x mox ruby
1x mox sapphire
1x mox jet
1x black lotus
1x mana crypt
1x sol ring
1x mindslaver
3x duress
3x extirpate
3x leyline of the void
1x hurkyl's recall
3x trickbind
1x platinum angel
surprisingly to me meloku has proven to be astonishingly great with alot of people running stax variants or workshop variants playing crucible with wasteland and strip mine.
and i have always liked mystic remora since the day i saw it, and now it seems to be viable.
let me know of any thoughts.
I highly recommend getting copies asap because that card might be on the rise here soon.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
I played some test games last night on MWS with no sideboard, making the odd tweak as I went. I started with basically the OP build with slight changes, my final build at nights end was like the OP only with the following ;
I know that adds to -10/+11, I am miscounting somewhere. I will give a more accurate list tonite when I get home.
I must say I am impressed though, even with Remora being practically useless against Goblins (my main test match) I was still 50/50 with no board.
I added one Underground Sea to make Explosives more consistant.
Stifle is extremely useful. I beat Goblins on a few games just because of the tempo swing it gave early on, and it helped deal with Lackeys that made it through.
I must say I often had trouble keeping a full hand, but that was generally due to the uselessness of remora in this match.
Morphling and Meloku both never saw play. Collosus and Augury are both the key game winners in these matches.
3 flooded strand
2 polluted delta
9 islands
1 academy ruins
1 tolarian acadamy
1 library of alexandria
artifacts 13
1 black lotus
5 moxen
1 sol ring
1 darksteel colossus
1 mindslaver
1 nevinyrral's disk
2 vedalken shackles
1 sensei's divining top
4 force of will
3 mana drain
2 misdirection
guys 5
1 teferi
1 morphling
3 augury adept
draw 9
4 thirst for knowledge
4 mystic remora
1 recall
other 7
3 stifle
1 echoing truth
1 repeal
1 tinker
1 time walk
4 back to basics
3 tormods crypt
3 pithing needle
3 spell snare
1 chain of vapor
1 engineered explosives
Edit 7/11 : Some deck changes made. I am feeling much better about the list now. I will give a detailed report after the tournament on saturday.
So round one I played against one of the people in my play group, playing UG grow he designed.
Game 1
I win the roll and keep a risky hand of U mox, B mox, Top, tinker, force of will, stifle, and thirst for knowledge. I play both moxen top and pass with the sapphire up to stifle. He plays land mox, null rod...uh-oh. I top in response, see nothing useful and force pitching the stifle...he dazes and I lose in the next few turns to a dryad and a goyf.
Game 2 I keep a hand of 2 islands, shackles, misdirection, force, spell snare and a mox. I play land mox go, he plays land mox goyf, I spell snare, he forces, and I misdirection. I draw a thirst for knowledge and keep my 3 mana up. I pass and he plays a null rod, I thirst in response, draw nothing and loss to not drawing another land until 10 turns later!!!! I counter all of his threats but one goyf and it goes all the way.
Round 2 I play against MUD. Game one he pulls out a hard fought win through a thorn and a couple tangle wires, beating me down with a jugs
game 2 I play back to basics on turn 2 after forcing a sphere on his turn one. its a walk after that
game 3 see game 2...easy win.
Round 3 I play against Icorid and get smashed game one.
Game 2 I board in 3 needles, 3 tormods crypts, and 1 echoing truth. I open hand all 3 and walk to a win
game 3 I mull to 6 and see a marginal hand with only an echoing truth as hate...I mull the hand and end up mulling down to 3. lotus, crypt, crypt...I keep gladly and he plays a chalice on zero and walks all over me. If I would have kept the 6 card hand I think I easily could have won this match, being that he really dredge any way to win other than narcomebas and flashback dread return...live and learn.
Round 4 is against Bomberman game one I drop a remora and he tries to combo out through all my card draw...I win after stopping one of the returns with a stifle and make him use his last 2 mana to return it again, then forcing the lotus. On my turn I play my shackles take his salvagers, play my lotus and play 14 cards from my hand...cant lose this one.
Game 2 he mulls to 5 and loses when I stifle his first fetch...not even really a game, and I feel bad about this win...but only a little
Round 5 I play against one of the best magic players in southern California. Marshal is playing CS and he outplays me games one and 3. I dont really remember much other than in game one he loses every roll on his mana crypt and ends the game at -8 or so with a platinum angel on board....I lose to 4 swings of the angel and he has an active welder on board and I cant get a spell through or an artifact to stick.
Game 2 I win a pretty one sided game when I take his welder with a shackles...not an exciting game
Game 3 I countered 2 spells I think I should have let resolve and I stopped paying for my mystic remora for no reason after like 2-3 turns and lose to a massive amount of card advantage and the platinum angel with him at -2 or -3.
I really didnt feel good about this match at all after thinking about it. I just didnt think through any of my plays in the third game and rushed myself into the loss. I dont mind lossing to Marshal, he played his game perfectly but I still feel I could have won the match if I would have held my counters.
All in all, I was pretty happy with the deck even though I ended 2-3 after a long day of disapointing draws and poor opening hands I should have mulliganed, and never drawing threats to put pressure on my opponent.
Sorry for the long post, but I thought people might like to see it.