I was making a type-by-type analysis on OKnotOK's thread... and then I ended up just posting my whole deck as I play it now on Cockatrice, which I'm reproducing below.
Besides the -in-famous Hidetsugu + Furnace combo, it has several strategies, most importantly frequent board sweeps and flat-out resource denial. And the icing on the cake: it's insanely fun to play.
Have you considered Grafted Exoskeleton? Great way to one-shot everyone with poison, drawing the game if you're in an otherwise un-winnable situation or winning the game if you're lowest on life (<20).
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Sadly, citadel of pain is now a completely useless card since manaburn was eliminated. Sure, you can force blue mages to tap out, but that is not worth the card slot in this format. Unless they bring back mana burn, this card should never see play again
Sadly, citadel of pain is now a completely useless card since manaburn was eliminated. Sure, you can force blue mages to tap out, but that is not worth the card slot in this format. Unless they bring back mana burn, this card should never see play again
Hey, it's not quite as bad as Power Surge is. At least it can make a blue mage tap out on their turn.
Font of Mythos and Howling Mine are almost definitely not worth it - everyone else gets the advantage, and they get it before you do.
EDIT: I thought about the Mine and the Font on the basis that they are group hug stuff, not unlike Mana Flare: that greatly nerfs the size of the target painted over them both. After several games on Cockatrice I noticed extra draw helps everyone... but it helps me more Chandra Ablaze and Wheel of Fortune could be used to put a dent on the benefit got by the rest of the table.
Mana Web and Price of Progress - Unless blue is super-dominant in your meta, these might as well be blanked. And even if blue IS super dominant in your meta, these only really say "your opponent can only counter one spell of yours per turn, unless of course he has mana rocks in which case he's probably fine". Their impact seems fairly minor. Sulfuric Vortex - Lifegain isn't super-prevalent in EDH due to the ease of circumventing it with general damage and the prevalence of instant-kill and infinite combos. The 2 damage is also very minor Doubling Cube - By far the weakest mana doubler out there. It requires seven mana before it starts doing anything. Extraplanar Lens - Vulnerable to artifact destruction, leaving you down a land.
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Dropping Obliterate is not the best idea. There are certain decks (ramp decks in particular) that find it extremely difficult to recover from. Facing a deck like Molimo with an Obliterate in hand is just fun stuff.
Deathforge Shaman is a REALLY strong card, especially if you're playing a lot of mana doubling effects alongside damage doubling effects. I've knocked out full HP players with him on occasion.
You might give Stuffy Doll another look. It's a strong blocker, and if you have Furnace out at the same time it's freakin hilarious (11 CMC fireball becomes a 1-hit KO)
I also can't recommend Aftershock highly enough. Three life in EDH is NOTHING, and this hits most major problems.
If your meta is especially artifact-heavy, or everyone's suddenly started running Blightsteel Colossus, you might consider Into the Core. It's among the best red artifact removal available right now - I'd even play it over Shattering Spree. My reasoning for this is that Spree is going to be most useful against artifact heavy decks, a lot of which play a plethora of ways to recur their good stuff (Sharuum and Bosh are the biggest offenders in this regard. Thus, preventing the recursion is going to help you out a lot more in the long run.
Finally, where the heck is your Comet Storm sir? For shame!
Decklist updated... incorporated most of SonOfBhaal's suggestions. <Grateful nod> Still thinking whether or not to ax something for Into the Core and Comet Storm...
Initial inspiration: OKnotOK
Strategic insights: jbishow
Polishing: Wildfire393, SonOfBhaal
I was making a type-by-type analysis on OKnotOK's thread... and then I ended up just posting my whole deck as I play it now on Cockatrice, which I'm reproducing below.
Besides the -in-famous Hidetsugu + Furnace combo, it has several strategies, most importantly frequent board sweeps and flat-out resource denial. And the icing on the cake: it's insanely fun to play.
If you're not a blue player, that is
1 Crystal Ball
2 Mind's Eye
3 Scroll Rack
4 Sensei's Divining Top
Equipment
5 Basilisk Collar
6 Grafted Exoskeleton
7 Loxodon Warhammer
8 Lightning Greaves
9 Gauntlet of Might
10 Gauntlet of Power
Utility
11 Mimic Vat
Deck Thinning
12 Journeyer's Kite
Tutoring
13 Planar Portal
14 Nevinyrral's Disk
15 Oblivion Stone
Mana Sources
16 Sol Ring
Buffers/Enhancers
17 Thousand-Year Elixir
18 Akroma, Angel of Fury
19 Deathforge Shaman
20 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Artifact Hate
21 Hoard-Smelter Dragon
22 Viashino Heretic
Land Hate
23 Magus of the Moon
24 Ashling the Pilgrim
25 Crater Hellion
26 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
27 Magma Phoenix
28 Steel Hellkite
Pinpoint Damage
29 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
30 Anger
31 Godo, Bandit Warlord
32 Urabrask the Hidden
Damage Boost
33 Hostility
Utility
34 Solemn Simulacrum
Defense
35 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
36 Stuffy Doll
37 Rimescale Dragon
38 Blood Moon
39 Price of Glory
Damage Dealers
40 Pyrohemia
41 Vicious Shadows
42 Furnace of Rath
43 Gratuitous Violence
44 Quest for Pure Flame
45 Repercussion
46 Mana Flare
47 Fault Line
48 Inferno
49 Starstorm
50 Grab the Reins
51 Word of Seizing
Artifact Hate
52 Into the Core
53 Overblaze
Utility
54 Reiterate
55 Wild Ricochet
57 Koth of the Hammer
58 Molten Disaster
59 Obliterate
60 Aftershock
61 Insurrection
62 Wheel of Fortune
64 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
65 Forgotten Cave
66 Glacial Chasm
67 Hall of the Bandit Lord
68 Scrying Sheets
69 Smoldering Crater
70 Terrain Generator
71 Thawing Glaciers
72 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
Angelheart Vial and Doubling Cube both seem iffy.
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
- Angelheart Vial
- Chandra Nalaar
+ Chandra Ablaze
+ Grafted Exoskeleton
Considering these... what to cut? Are any actually worth it?
- Font of Mythos
- Howling Mine
- Mimic Vat
- Expedition Map
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
Hey, it's not quite as bad as Power Surge is. At least it can make a blue mage tap out on their turn.
Font of Mythos and Howling Mine are almost definitely not worth it - everyone else gets the advantage, and they get it before you do.
Expedition Map and Mimic Vat almost certainly are, however.
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
- Citadel of Pain
+ Mimic Vat
EDIT: I thought about the Mine and the Font on the basis that they are group hug stuff, not unlike Mana Flare: that greatly nerfs the size of the target painted over them both. After several games on Cockatrice I noticed extra draw helps everyone... but it helps me more Chandra Ablaze and Wheel of Fortune could be used to put a dent on the benefit got by the rest of the table.
The list of niceties under consideration grows (credit to SonOfBhaal):
- Expedition Map
- Font of Mythos
- Howling Mine
- Planar Portal
- Rimescale Dragon
- Vicious Shadows
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
Mana Web and Price of Progress - Unless blue is super-dominant in your meta, these might as well be blanked. And even if blue IS super dominant in your meta, these only really say "your opponent can only counter one spell of yours per turn, unless of course he has mana rocks in which case he's probably fine". Their impact seems fairly minor.
Sulfuric Vortex - Lifegain isn't super-prevalent in EDH due to the ease of circumventing it with general damage and the prevalence of instant-kill and infinite combos. The 2 damage is also very minor
Doubling Cube - By far the weakest mana doubler out there. It requires seven mana before it starts doing anything.
Extraplanar Lens - Vulnerable to artifact destruction, leaving you down a land.
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
- Doubling Cube
- Mana Web
- Price of Progress
- Sulfuric Vortex
+ Gauntlet of Might
+ Planar Portal
+ Rimescale Dragon
+ Vicious Shadows
The Portal is temporary. Very probably I'll swap it out for either Crystal Ball or Scroll Rack...
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
- Extraplanar Lens
- Sculpting Steel
+ Crystal Ball
+ Scroll Rack
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
Changes:
- Wake of Destruction
+ Insurrection
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
Dropping Obliterate is not the best idea. There are certain decks (ramp decks in particular) that find it extremely difficult to recover from. Facing a deck like Molimo with an Obliterate in hand is just fun stuff.
Deathforge Shaman is a REALLY strong card, especially if you're playing a lot of mana doubling effects alongside damage doubling effects. I've knocked out full HP players with him on occasion.
You might give Stuffy Doll another look. It's a strong blocker, and if you have Furnace out at the same time it's freakin hilarious (11 CMC fireball becomes a 1-hit KO)
I also can't recommend Aftershock highly enough. Three life in EDH is NOTHING, and this hits most major problems.
If your meta is especially artifact-heavy, or everyone's suddenly started running Blightsteel Colossus, you might consider Into the Core. It's among the best red artifact removal available right now - I'd even play it over Shattering Spree. My reasoning for this is that Spree is going to be most useful against artifact heavy decks, a lot of which play a plethora of ways to recur their good stuff (Sharuum and Bosh are the biggest offenders in this regard. Thus, preventing the recursion is going to help you out a lot more in the long run.
Finally, where the heck is your Comet Storm sir? For shame!
RRRHeartless Hidetsugu: The Ogre for TrollsRRR
BBBSeizan's Perverted VicesBBB
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
- Battle Rampart
- Detritivore
- Shattering Pulse
+ Into the Core
+ Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
+ Urabrask the Hidden
If you're on budget (like I am) you may want to consider running Caged Sun instead of Gauntlet of Might.
EDIT: Totally forgot to make room for Karn Liberated.
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
Punishment Deck