Lesson of Round 0: Don't stirr the graves on an elephant graveyard. Or something like that. Your next challenge involves resource management & goats. Let's fight the anti-goat prejudice among R&D1 and demonstrate our love for these fluffly critters. This round counts towards the Championship. You have six days to submit decks.
You have until the 4th of January 12am GMT+1 to submit decks.
Good luck to all !!
1) Main rules
- Any member of the MTGSalvation forums can submit a deck for the contest, including judges.
- This is "Casual". -> Only the cards banned in Vintage, silver bordered & celebration cards are banned. There is no Restricted list. It should be noted, however, that judges might not be impressed by overuse of “broken” cards."
2) Time
- Contestants have six days to build and post their decks for each round.
- Judges consult to select the top decks that will be judged for that round during the next two days.
- The next ten days, judges will test and rate the top decks.
- A ranking of the contestants’ scores will be posted and the winner of the round will be announced.
3) Judging
- There are three judges: Blackvise, Etched Chester, Blutsau.
- In each round judges will rate up to five decks. The number of decks rated is equal to half the decks submitted (rounded up) or five, whichever is smaller.
- From the time the entry period in a given round ends, the judges have 48 hours to post a number of the decks they want to rate equal to the number of decks going to be rated plus one.
- From among the decks that received votes, those with the most votes will be rated.
- If votes fail to define the to be tested decks directly, in descending order decks with the most votes are locked in until more decks share their number of votes than there are places left for decks to be tested. From among those the remaining places will be chosen by dice roll (made by me with the dice-tag, #s assigned alphabetically).
- Each deck's judge-scores will be arithmeticaly averaged to determine its score for the round.
- Judges cannot rate their own decks.
- Judges are out-of-contest for the final-ranking.
- Judges are encouraged to add some comments as to why they chose a certain deck for rating or not.
- Judges are encouraged to add some comments as to why they gave a certain score to a certain deck.
- Judges are encouraged to add some suggestions how a rated deck could be improved.
Each judge awards up to 25 points to each tested deck he or she is allowed to rate, based on the following system:
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck. Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card? Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection. Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods? Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks. Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus(can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence other than Vintage & Legacy; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour.
Interpretation of this is up to the judges, individually.
4) Championship rules
- Six rounds will be played.
- To be included in the final ranking, a player has to gather scores in atleast three of the six rounds. (If too few players meet this criteria, it will be lowered accordingly.)
- At the end of the season, the player within the final ranking having the highest arithmetical average of top 6 scores becomes the Champion. Example: RabidVacin participates in all six rounds, has his decks scored five times and gets f.e. 23 points each round. baldersmashed participates in three rounds, gets tested in two of these three rounds and gets twice 24 points. All other players have an average < 23. -> Despite having a lower average than baldersmashed, RabidVacin wins, because baldersmashed hasn't met the criteria of having atleast three scores.
tl;dr:
For each round, a card is scheduled. Anyone can enter the contest and submit a deck using that card.
Contestants can post their decks during an entry period of six days. In the following ten days the judges (Casual staff) will elect the best decks submitted, to test and rate these decks. After (planned) six rounds the contest will have a winner.
Did I mention the prize for the Champ?
For those interested in the contest's history:
- The [official] CDCC 6 general discussion thread. - The current season's rounds: R0, - Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & CDCmC.
Credits for the contest banner go to perv90210.
This is my first time doing this so please tell me if I break some kind of rule that I did not know about. I use Dual lands and fetch lands in my list, so it is far from budget, but it is still casual.
The deck may look very confusing at first, but that's okay, it does a lot. The main engines of the deck are Trading Post (duh), Tortured Existence and Bloodbond March. Combined with all the other cards in the deck you can generate some serious card advantage, field presence, and damage.
Using Trading Post alone one can recycle the different artifact creatures in the deck, sacrificing them for their effects, choosing to use the "sacrifice an artifact" or "sacrifice a creature" abilities of the post, depending on which one you need.
Bloodbond March works with the discard and sacrifice aspects of Trading Post, giving you your artifact creatures to use again and again, abusing their "comes into play" and "dies" abilities. This is made much easier when you get yourself a Carrion Feeder, or cast a Buried Alive.
Carrion Feeder alone works wonders with this engine, growing huge thanks to Myr Sire and the goats from the Trading Post. Add in Blood Artist and things get out of hand very fast.
Tortured Existence helps you take advantage of bloodbond march. bring back a single copy of whatever creature you want, cast it, and all the other copies come back. Then, sacrifice them to your post or feeder and rinse repeat for serious card advantage. One can also use this in combination with Buried Alive to find specific creatures that may be needed. Squee can be one of the cards chosen, and can act as fuel for the enchantment every turn. If these 2 cards are assembled with Spore Frog, you can give yourself infinite fogs for the rest of the game. Also, Squee combined with Post gives you 4 life every turn if you need it, bringing you back into the game after those Ancient Tomb activations.
Overall the deck takes a bit to get going, but once it does it is a TON of fun to play. You find yourself seeing new interactions and lines of play every time you use it.
This deck utilizes Trading Post by taking advantage of "whenever a creature dies" and the ability of the Trading Post to return artifacts from the graveyard to your hand.
Description of deck:
What I have hear is an aggro red artifact deck that cares about the artifacts in the graveyard. The deck's format is Modern. The theme is burn/recursion.
There are the sac engines: Trading Post, Arch Bound Ravager, Shrapnel Blast, and Phyrexia's Core. The Isochron Scepter is for the Shrapnel Blast's or Galvanic Blast's.
The cards that want the graveyard large is Slag Fiend and Scrapyard Salvo.
There are artifacts w/ enter and leave the battleground effects, such as the Wellsprings.
To make sure the deck doesn't lose steam, there is recursion: Trading Post, Myr Servitor & Myr Retriever. Also, 2 Buried Ruins for recursion.
And since there are a 7 Myrs that can be brought back over and over again, the Myr Battlesphere for another win condition.
The deck has some life gain w/ Trading Post, Loxodon Warhammer and Glimmerposts. The Warhammer is there also for the Slag Fiend and Myr Battlesphere, which need to get there damage in from attacking.
The mana acceleration for the deck is through the 8 Locus lands. The Great Furnace is there as sac bait, and also for Metal Craft.
Trading Post. Need life? Discard a spare Expedition Map. Use some of that life to make a goat. Sac the goat to get an Ichor Wellspring back. Sac the Wellspring and draw 2.
Trading Post is a jack-of-all-trades, master of none type of card. I've tinkered around with a lot of unique builds but it's really not feasible to make a 100% original yet powerful deck with this card. So let's just go with ~75% originality with a card that makes Trading Post so, so unfair: Rings of Brighthearth. Let's make one thing clear - this is not a Rings of Brighthearth deck. There are lots of activated abilities to abuse, but most of the cards either benefit or benefit from Trading Post.
1. The main strategy is simple. Trading Post combined with Rings of Brighthearth means you can pay:
- 3 and discard 1 card for 8-life.
- 3 and 1 life for for 2 goat tokens.
- 3 and 1 creature to get back 2 artifacts.
- 3 and 1 artifact to draw 2 cards.
This is of course cumulative with each copy of Rings of Brighthearth. You're essentially getting a 2-for-1 deal every time. This is a combo deck that stops aggro with 8-life per turn and laughs at control by getting back destroyed/countered artifacts.
2. As combo decks are typically weak against control decks, I centered the deck around an uncounterable land-based strategy backed up by Expedition Map. You can continue to recycle Expedition Maps using Trading Post as well. Almost all of the lands have activated abilities to abuse with Rings of Brighthearth:
- Hellion Crucible - This normally requires 3 activations, but with Rings you can put both counters on at the same time, and then copy the 2nd ability as well, putting out two 4/4 hasted tokens in only 2 turns.
- Dust Bowl - Punish those nonbasic decks by destroying 2 lands at once with Rings. You have a continous supply of lands if you sacrifice Great Furnace and get it back via Trading Post. Alternatively you keep using Expedition Map off Trading Post.
- Maze of Ith - Copying this ability with Rings is crucial! Holds off 2 attackers at once.
Walking Atlas is in here to help accelerate the deck with all of its lands. It also works great as a surprise instant play to drop Maze of Ith. Normally you won't have much use for the Atlas after Turns 3~4 so you can safely sacrifice it to a Block or to Trading Post. This has been errata'd to be an Artifact Creature so you can use it for 2 ways on Trading Post.
3. The Win-Conditions:
- Suspend Greater Gargadon asap, and remember that it also has an activated ability. So you can use the Rings to take off 2 counters at once! Trading Post continously supplies sac-fodder for it.
- Hoarding Dragon + Monkey Cage - The dragon is used to find combo pieces, but it also allows for a win-condition in Monkey Cage. One plausible scenario would be with Greater Gargadon suspended, cast Hoarding Dragon, find Monkey Cage. Next turn, sacrifice the Dragon to the Gargadon, cast Monkey Cage, and do whatever to make the Gargadon come into play. Voila, ten 2/2 tokens and a hasted 9/7.
- Monkey Cage also plays very well with Trading Post, even if your opponent tries to minimize the Monkey token output. You'll almost always get at least 1~2 tokens off the Cage, and you can then sacrifice that token to Trading Post to get back Cage to recast it again.
- Pyrite Spellbomb - is great for early removal/draw, but it becomes really scary when combined with Rings of Brighthearth. 4-damage per activation + reusuable with Trading Post.
4. Misc.:
- Prototype Portal allows you to spam artifacts like crazy, especially with Rings. Remember you can imprint Great Furnace if you're desperate for mana, and if you want to imprint something else, sacrifice it to Trading Post and get it back.
- Ensnaring Bridge plays very well with Greater Gargadon - so sacrifice the artifact to Gargadon right before it comes into play.
- Ratchet Bomb is a reusable method of destroying problematic permanents. Use the Rings to get double the counters. On the rare occasion that you get this out with Prototype Portal, you can safely sweep your own stuff to since tokens have a CMC of 0.
Built Around - Trading Post Format - None (MTGO's Classic). Single games, no sideboarding. Theme - Goats become humongous wolves. Type - Combo, I guess... Playtest Amount - :rate5::rate1: as of latest post edit.
It is your fault. You make the round's card an artifact. Then my deck goes blue because of Mirrorweave and Copy Artifact. It is only natural to use Tolarian Academy and the rest of the kit.
The deck taps on people's tendency to disregard 0/1 goat tokens as non-threats. Spawn the necessary amount of 0/1 goats, cast a Timberpack Wolf and Mirrorweave it during the declare blockers step for a surprise alfa-strike. In one of the playtests I Mirrorweaved an opponent's 2/2 infect creature with 5 goats on the field for a single 10-poison attack.
Mishra theme deck time! The desert nomads he spent several years with definitely loved to trade, and I assume that if you were lucky enough, you could trade a few goats for ancient Thran (or Phyrexian) tech. While I had to use mainly New Phyrexian tech (the old Phyrexian cards were primarily black, not artifacts, thus don't interact with the Trading Post too well), I hope Mishra won't run into too many compatibility issues.
What's the point of the deck?
While the deck may need a moment to set up (by drawing cards, tutoring for Trading Post or piecing together the proper mana base), once the machine starts running, it's card advantage time. Build a Wurmcoil Engine army, repeatedly shoot stuff with Spine, trade that Cathodian for extra mana plus an artifact to use it with, or reload that Rocket Launcher, the options are countless.
I'm aware there would be more powerful options (like Tezzeret or the functonal reprint of Rocket Launcher), but putting a planeswalker into a Mishra theme deck somehow feels wrong.
This deck abuses 3 of the four activated abilities on Trading Post. I really wanted to make a Goat-themed deck with it, but you rarely ever use the goat producing ability so I decided instead to highlight the three best abilities of the card. The end result was less gimmicky, but more powerful.
This was a crazy round, and we had some excellent submissions. If I had the time (i.e. if I had not jobs, no wife, and no kids) I'd gladly test all of them.
Still, I focus on the unusual, and we had many unusual submissions. Here are my votes, followed by explanations regarding those whose submissions I didn't select.
My votes:
-spooky-
Boarmelon
DLink123
Teraparsec
Maserati
PeterRiviera
As for those I didn't vote for....sorry. I can only vote for 6, you know? (We'll ultimately be testing 5 this round.)
racky54 Although it looks like a pretty good deck, it's sort of what I expected to see. I like unique decks, but I feel that I've seen this before, both with and without trading post.
RabidVacin Admittedly, I didn't predict a Chimera deck of any kind. I unfortunately didn't see a solid wincon / long-term plan; just repeatedly pumping Chimeras.
Stoogeslap As per what I told racky54, I looked for more unique decks. A decent artifact deck, but again...I've seen it before.
FoxxyEDarko Although I do love me some goats, you deck appears to focus too much on them and not much on the other trades that Trading Post has to offer.
Gaea's Regent This was a tough one, and I'm sad to not give a vote to my CDCmC Winner :(. The Timberpack Wolf and the Mirrorweave combos look pretty sweet (and I may have included this if I had one more vote). As much as I'd like to try that, the focus is predominantly on the goats tokens and not as much on the other attributes of the card. I reiterate: this was a tough call here, and it came down to this and one other deck as my final vote....
Malky Simply put, there are other ways to make goats. Trading Post has more to offer (see above comments) than "play goats, pump them with Glorious Anthem.
racky54 - Neofinnity with some bad choices, including Post, to make Post not look like the ugly stepchild. Well, it still stands out.
Rabid - Chimera.dec. 4cmc 2/2s are ... simply too slow. I don't see this deck coming back from its nonexistant early game.
foxxy - With a 5cmc beater why bother to make Goats with Shepperd? Protect the fat and ride it to victory. The deck also has some weird card choices and Post is used below its potential.
boarmelon - Your plan to end the game ... looks like a coin flip to me. With only two Heights with no 'to top' tutor, or hoping to get enough goats to be lethal. And the eight 1cmc goats are, frankly, dead cards.
maserati - You want to win with a Portal lock, but run only two copies and no tutor. The deck's strongest synergy appears to be recurring Glass, and while that's back breaking, the deck just looks fragile to me.
Malky - Goat.dec the 2nd. With only two copies of Post, and it being inferior to Shepperd... This ain't no Post deck.
that said, my votes:
Dlink123
Gaea's Regent
Teraparsec
PeterRiviera
Stoogeslap
-spooky-
Also: As Stoogeslap edited his post after the dead-line, I have remind you that the dead-line is ment to be final. No more edits to posts with submissions once the round is closed for entries. While staff can see the edit history of posts (Stooge did not edit the list but add the description), you guys can't. Future edits to posts after the round is closed for entries (decisive is the deadline, not the post announcing the closure) will result in disqualification for the round.
-spooky- iii
Teraparsec iii
DLink123 iii
Boarmelon ii
Maserati ii
PeterRiviera ii
Gaea's Regent ii
Stoogeslap i
Looks like we're testing -spooky-, Tereaparsec, and DLink123, plus two more.
As for the remaining two, waiting to check with Blut to see how to handle the die roll (?) for the remaining two slots.
I believe that I must roll the die twice (once with four, once with three) for:
1. Boarmelon 2. Gaea's Regent
3. Maserati
4. PeterRiviera
Dice Roller1 D4 rolled
3
OK, Gaea's Regent, and....
1. Boarmelon
2. Maserati 3. PeterRiviera
Dice Roller1 D3 rolled
1
PeterRiviera.
So, the decks to be tested this round: -spooky-
Teraparsec
DLink123
Gaea's Regent
PeterRiviera
Thank you to all who entered this round. Round two will begin when we are finished testing these five decks.
Remember, it's just round 1...You can still participate in the next several rounds a) even if you didn't get chosen this round, and b) even if you haven't entered the contest this round.
Also: As Stoogeslap edited his post after the dead-line, I have remind you that the dead-line is ment to be final. No more edits to posts with submissions once the round is closed for entries. While staff can see the edit history of posts (Stooge did not edit the list but add the description), you guys can't. Future edits to posts after the round is closed for entries (decisive is the deadline, not the post announcing the closure) will result in disqualification for the round.
Sorry bout that. I am in Pacific Standard time, & it's my mistake that I didn't see that the contest ended sooner than I expected.
After further testing my deck, I found it to be too cute. A lot of card drawing power but to no end. These are the changes I would make to both make it Vintage Legal and more powerful:
There was some thought to using Genesis Chamber as well, but the initial version of the deck didn't have enough creatures to abuse it, or defense to protect against aggro + Chamber.
Creativity/Originality: 4
I must admit, Morrorweave + Timberpack Wolf was an unusual idea. Even my opponents commented on the strange inclusion of the Wolf, wondering what the heck it was doing in a Trading Post deck. -1 because it's almost too unusual. Another type of lord might have been more effective (and mana-reliable).
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3
Adherence to the "goat aspect" of TP was clear, but I would have liked to see TP do something else as well. It would have almost been better to just replace TP since Springjack Pasture made the goats, too. The only real use I found for TP other than making goats was gaining life. That became necessary (as the deck really had no defense against attackers) but often backfired. If I was forced to discard Mirrorweave just to stay alive, opponents knew exactly what was coming. (If I had to discard Mirrorweave, I was probably already dead anyway). Other than that, I didn't have a practical use for any of the other abilities, as it was rarely in my best interest to do so.
Synergy/Tuning: 2
This was a fine idea that relied only on luck of the draw. Even an Enlightened Tutor or two would have really helped. IF I needed Oblivion Ring, I had to wait for it (and oh boy, did I need O-Ring!). Trinket Mage got me Sol Ring if I needed it....or an artifact land if I was desperate....or Expedition Map (and if that was the case, I was only desperate enough to elaborately search for Tolarian Academy). I couldn't even fetch TP to get things going, so if that wasn't in my opening hand, I had to mulligan.
Power/Capacity to win: 1
I never won with this deck. I give you points because the other judges assured me that they were able to win with it (though I'll leave the details to them). It was too unreliable and could not deliver as promised.
Interaction/Protection: 2
Two points because a) O-Ring did some sorely needed defensive work, and b) opponents didn't really know what I was up to, so that counts for something. Again, if I didn't draw Oblivion Ring, I was done. If I was attacked by flyers, I was done. Basically any creature that could trample over a goat....done. I really wanted to see Mirrorweave work here, but I found that I was spending mana mostly to keep others at bay. Too many 4cc cards, if you ask me.
TOTAL: 12/25
Creativity/Originality: 4
Although the Wellsprings were nothing surprising, I was delighted to see Cathodion in use. That, plus Mishra's Helix and Rocket Launcher certainly caught my attention.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 5
Solid 5 points here because it utilizes most of Trading Post's abilities effectively (I never used the goats--not once). There was enough going on here that I could easily discard an artifact for life, then recur. Though it took some time to set up, once the Trading Post got going, it was a superstar. I was also impressed with how effective it was in generating enough mana (with Cathodion etc.) to help make Starstorm a viable wincon. In a nutshell, TP was instrumental in running the deck.
Synergy/Tuning: 4
Overall, each card really had a place here, with the exception of a few. Despite my initial draw to Rocket Launcher, I never used it (or the Helix). Mishra, Artificer Prodigy was an incredible inclusion in this deck; as you aptly described, "double the fun." One of my favorite games involved a Spine of Ish Sah lockdown with Wurmcoil Engine coming onto the field (that got a concession). Although Cathodion was clever, I didn't use it as frequently as I would have liked--it became a 3/3 attacker.
Power/Capacity to win: 3
I sang the deck's praises, but now the weak point. I won about half the games I played with this. It is a bit slow getting started, which often became a problem. Spot removal may have helped this deck, as I'll expand on in a minute.
Interaction/Protection: 3
The 50% win rate for me seems to have to do with the deck's capability (or incapability) of dealing with early threats. There were games in which I wished I had something as simple as a Lightning Bolt or Doom Blade to get a pesky critter off the field. (Starstorm didn't really fit the bill for that.) This deck was loads of fun to play, but at the expense of protecting itself at times.
TOTAL: 19/25
Creativity/Originality: 3
Some clever ideas, but those interactions (Prototype Portal + Monkey Cage) were ultimately irrelevant.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 2
Although Trading Post "did some stuff," it wasn't a necessary part of the deck. You originally posted, "This is not a Rings of Brighthearth deck." However, I have to disagree; this was a Rings deck with Trading Post included. I couldn't use TP as much as I wanted to because I reached a bit of a conundrum: I wanted to draw cards desperately, but I didn't want to sacrifice any of the artifacts I had in play. I could sacrifice Ensnaring Bridge and leave myself open to assault. I needed Pyrite Spellbomb for removal. Discarding cards was an issue because I often needed to utilize the cards in my hand if I wanted to stay in the game. Mostly, I used TP to discard / sacrifice other TPs. In a nutshell: I felt like I was getting a bad deal at ye olde Trading Post.
Synergy/Tuning: 3 Ensnaring Bridge was a good call, and I get it: keep enemies at bay, then sac it with Trading Post so that the Greater Gargadons could attack. Still, there may have been a better way to do that. I also spent a few games without seeing TP. It needed tutoring for anything to work. Despite the cycling lands, I found that I needed mana, so drawing was a gamble. Basically, I had to play the waiting game. If I didn't have Trading Post in hand, I didn't care; I wanted Gargadons. I wanted Rings of Brighthearth to use with my Gargadons. I only used Prototype Portal with Rings of Brighthearth. If I cast Hoarding Dragon, I was at a loss as to what I should exile: Ratchet Bomb? Pyrite Spellbomb? For the most part, opponents really didn't care and thus removed the Dragon.
Interaction/Protection: 2 Ensnaring Bridge kept major threats away for a time, but the deck could have used spot removal. The Bridge kept them at bay, but then what? Get rid of it so my Gargadons could be blocked? It's nice that Pyrite Spellbomb could deal with little guys, but....a single Ratchet Bomb was not enough.
TOTAL: 13/25
Creativity/Originality: 4
Not an entirely new deck, but it was certainly well-built around Trading Post. Bonus for making every aspect of TP work.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 5
Every turn, I had something to do with Trading Post. Apparently, opponents didn't really see it as a thread until way too late. Rage quits happened when I used it to retrieve a Wurmcoil Engine; it was able to keep my hand fully stocked, so Counterspell and the like didn't really bother me too much. It really accelerated the deck; the best part was that people ignored it and directed their hate to Tezzy and the Wurmcoil Engine.
Synergy/Tuning: 5
Although I think two versions of Tezzeret were overkill (and drew some focus away from TP), the deck's capacity for card advantage alone is worth 5 points. I initially was going to take points off for lack of protection (no Counterspell? no Go for the Throat?), but I found that I was usually OK with the card advantage. TP came in quite handy in making the most out of spot removal (I sacrificed my own Wurmcoil Engine to avoid Path to Exile; opponent quit the game). Skullclamp seemed a bit out of place to me, and I really never used it, but it was a nice backup.
Power/Capacity to win: 5
I won most of the games I played. Even when I lost, the deck was loads of fun to play anyway.
Interaction/Protection: 4
As per above, some removal may have helped a bit more. I generally made due with Wurmcoil Engine, and certainly TP's recursion helped quite a bit. I didn't even see aggro as too much of a problem against this deck. Besides, Tezzeret drew enough hate that the rest of the deck remained unscathed quite often.
TOTAL: 23/25
Creativity/Originality: 3
I really wanted to try Bloodbond March in this deck . . . that with Trading Post is unheard of! Unfortunately, there's a reason for that . . .
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 2
You get some points for being able to use TP (somewhat). I only really used it to sacrifice Perilous Myr or Myr Sire for cards. Unfortunately, there are probably better ways to draw cards or sacrifice creatures. Most of the time, I found that I didn't really want to use TP because I'd rather have the mana for something else. After a while, TP just stayed in my hand. I see the overall picture, but I don't see how Trading Post effectively gets it done.
Synergy/Tuning: 1
To quote your own post, the deck "takes a bit to get going." It certainly takes a while, and I actually think Trading Post slows it down. Cards like Buried Alive did absolutely nothing. I only used it to put Squee, Goblin Nabob (really kind of odd in this deck) and Perilous Myr in the graveyard (possibly recursion to deal damage), but that was more for lack of anything to really do. Bloodbond March only helped me get utility creatures back and benefited my opponent more than it did me. I also found that there were real wincons, so . . . why was I using TP? Why did I need to draw cards? What was the benefit of sacking creatures? I certainly had no use for goat tokens....:( Carrion Feeder was a better star for this deck.
Power/Capacity to win: 1
I came close to winning . . . once. I managed to keep discarding Squee, Goblin Nabob in order to recur Perilous Myr, which I would then instantly sacrifice with TP (as an artifact) for card advantage. Wash, rinse, repeat. Blood Artist was there. Then my opponent played Platinum Angel.
Interaction/Protection: 1
There's only so much a Perilous Myr can do, and as your only source of removal, it was difficult to do so using Trading Post. Flyers demolished this deck. How was I to deal with Titans? Usually, such formidable foes ensured my loss. Overall, the deck tried to do too much without doing anything about opponents.
The deck actually made me build a Mishra EDH. While I lose the 'fetch a duplicate' ability, I can still counter my own artifacts to have Mishra bring them on the table. Untap effects have turned out to be incredibly good when the Trading Post is online. I'm currently using Unwinding Clock to great effect.
If I were to build a new incarnation of the deck, I'd probably include some more artifact ramp, untaps and most likely Arcane Denial (with Mishra out, it basically reads 'Target artifact spell you control can't be countered. At the beginning of your next upkeep, draw 3 cards').
Yeah, Chester you pointed out a lot of flaws with my deck, which is a good thing. I'm learning as far as what you guys are looking for, so it is a plus for me that you found what you did.
BlackVise you have it pretty much right on the money as far as wanting the other sac outlets before Trading Post. =/ They just work better with the engine I decided to try and make. But I'm glad you saw the spore frog lock, that is what makes the deck really playable imho considering how slow it is.
I've learned a lot as far as how all of this goes and I'm excited for the next one.
EDIT: Before Blut left, he posted explanations for 2/5 decks in the Casual mod thread. Here they are, and if he wants to add the remaining explanations, he can.
Creativity/Originality: 5
Unexpected combo. Not only for my opponents. I would've thougt s.o. to use Coat of Arms.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 2.5
Your deck did could barely use three of the four abilities Post has. There are no artifacts one wants to sac, there barely is anything to get back (tho getting back Map helped me in two games, as I could get Pasture & an untap land), discarding for life was not exactly viable either (it's necessary from time to time). The deck also could use any token producer, Weave & any Lord for an effect similar enough - barring goats in wolf's clothing. Or rather than Weave & a Lord just Mirror Entity.
Tho the deck clearly is built around Post.
Synergy/Tuning: 2
The deck has 18 four drops. 18 four drops! The only accel is each one Sol Ring, Academy & Workshop, but the latter only pays for six artifacts (all 4cmc). Vesuva only wants to copy Academy, but can't. Only Temples for sucks, there's Maps but you don't want to waste them for Temples. Atleast a single Tree of Tales would not have been too much asked for, given Trinket Mage & Academy. Generally I would've cut Vesuva & Shop for more coloured mana. The Trinket box was not exactly thrilling either. And given the white and blue options for token production and lord effects, I'm not sure green was even worth adding (yeah, flavour...).
The Copy enchantments are grateful to see play, but I don't think worth it (you only want to copy expensive stuff, so they act like more 4+ drops). I only got to copy Ring twice. Might as well just play Detention Sphere.
Concluding: Curve :thumbsdown:. Lands :thumbsdown:. Rest ~ nothing outstanding.
Power/Capacity to win: 2
I actually stand 3:3 with the deck. Lol, right? All wins include topdecking Orings than one should draw (5,2,3 respectively). The losses were to decks Varchilds War-Rider.dec (lol, Goats?) and twice to my lands. Basically I needed a good draw and lots of time.
Interaction/Protection: 2.5
Oblivion Ring was really useful and the deck needs it. Most other decks this round, efficient removal or disruption was simply disregarded. "we have life and goats.":armscross:. Turned out that does not quite work as planned. Any form evasion or something that is not dealt with by blocking or gaining some life every couple turns? ... Ouch.
Format/Thematic: 1
You get a point for flavour: 'a wolf in sheep's clothing'. Goats are close enough.
TOTAL: 15/25
Creativity/Originality: 3
I've seen enough Mishra decks to not find them particularly creative. The deck looks mostly like I've seen it before. How both "Mishra's" cards do not work with him is ... not ideal, but neither to be blamed on you.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4.5
I'd give you a 5 for effectiveness, because the recycling of artifact creatures is simply the strongest ability of Post. The deck also made good use of the sac an artifact ability and consequently could afford to discrd for life. Goat activations were only used once or twice, to start the engine with a second activation. Card adherence tho, the deck wants post more than it wants Mishra (a lot, I'll get to that), but it doesn't need Post either - it's rather ok without access to a Post (this will get you plus points below).
Synergy/Tuning: 4.5
There's no reason for harsh critique here. The deck plays smooth, with one tiny exception - Mishra's mana cost. Luckily he's not terrible relevant either. I cast him only trice, twice to bait an answer to follow up with a Wurm (worked :)), and once it worked and got me another Wurm - sweet overkill. If you play such a fancily costed card, have the lands be able to support it. And, the deck would work without Mishra just as fine - rale him with Baleful Strix & Storm with some black mass removal and you're good to go. Double Sol Ring start got me a snarky comment, so that might be something to consider too, but the deck is not busted because of it.
Obligatory note that anythign with evasion is a problem (until you get Spine active, or are lucky enough to draw Storm), see below.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
Solid deck, won me a majority of the games, tho only won pairing against a really agressive deck. He opens turn one with Wingcrafter & Ornithopter -> t2 flying Mistblade Shinobi. I concede on the spot. Game plan is as easy as potent: Grind out people with raw power & CA. If given the opportunity, one should play this deck agressive.
Interaction/Protection: 3
The deck needs cheaper answers, but can hold the ground quite well with 3/3s and CA-bots. As I said, Mishra - if one looks for easy cuts - a Ring, Helix & Launcher are also mostly just cute, Mycosnyth Wellspring would be next on my list. A late game lock with Spine is hard to overcome tho, without an own CA engie(that has to be resistant to Spine).
Lesson of Round 0: Don't stirr the graves on an elephant graveyard. Or something like that. Your next challenge involves resource management & goats. Let's fight the anti-goat prejudice among R&D1 and demonstrate our love for these fluffly critters. This round counts towards the Championship. You have six days to submit decks.
You have until the 4th of January 12am GMT+1 to submit decks.
Good luck to all !!
1) Main rules
- Any member of the MTGSalvation forums can submit a deck for the contest, including judges.
- This is "Casual". -> Only the cards banned in Vintage, silver bordered & celebration cards are banned. There is no Restricted list. It should be noted, however, that judges might not be impressed by overuse of “broken” cards."
2) Time
- Contestants have six days to build and post their decks for each round.
- Judges consult to select the top decks that will be judged for that round during the next two days.
- The next ten days, judges will test and rate the top decks.
- A ranking of the contestants’ scores will be posted and the winner of the round will be announced.
3) Judging
- There are three judges: Blackvise, Etched Chester, Blutsau.
- In each round judges will rate up to five decks. The number of decks rated is equal to half the decks submitted (rounded up) or five, whichever is smaller.
- From the time the entry period in a given round ends, the judges have 48 hours to post a number of the decks they want to rate equal to the number of decks going to be rated plus one.
- From among the decks that received votes, those with the most votes will be rated.
- If votes fail to define the to be tested decks directly, in descending order decks with the most votes are locked in until more decks share their number of votes than there are places left for decks to be tested. From among those the remaining places will be chosen by dice roll (made by me with the dice-tag, #s assigned alphabetically).
- Each deck's judge-scores will be arithmeticaly averaged to determine its score for the round.
- Judges cannot rate their own decks.
- Judges are out-of-contest for the final-ranking.
- Judges are encouraged to add some comments as to why they chose a certain deck for rating or not.
- Judges are encouraged to add some comments as to why they gave a certain score to a certain deck.
- Judges are encouraged to add some suggestions how a rated deck could be improved.
Each judge awards up to 25 points to each tested deck he or she is allowed to rate, based on the following system:
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25)
1 point for any format adherence other than Vintage & Legacy; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour.
Interpretation of this is up to the judges, individually.
4) Championship rules
- Six rounds will be played.
- To be included in the final ranking, a player has to gather scores in atleast three of the six rounds. (If too few players meet this criteria, it will be lowered accordingly.)
- At the end of the season, the player within the final ranking having the highest arithmetical average of top 6 scores becomes the Champion. Example: RabidVacin participates in all six rounds, has his decks scored five times and gets f.e. 23 points each round. baldersmashed participates in three rounds, gets tested in two of these three rounds and gets twice 24 points. All other players have an average < 23. -> Despite having a lower average than baldersmashed, RabidVacin wins, because baldersmashed hasn't met the criteria of having atleast three scores.
tl;dr:
For each round, a card is scheduled. Anyone can enter the contest and submit a deck using that card.
Contestants can post their decks during an entry period of six days. In the following ten days the judges (Casual staff) will elect the best decks submitted, to test and rate these decks. After (planned) six rounds the contest will have a winner.
Did I mention the prize for the Champ?
For those interested in the contest's history:
- The [official] CDCC 6 general discussion thread.
- The current season's rounds: R0,
- Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & CDCmC.
Credits for the contest banner go to perv90210.
4 Cranial Plating
4 Ichor Wellspring
3 Mimic Vat
2 Mindslaver
1 Mycosynth Wellspring
4 Trading Post
3 Master of Etherium
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
2 Steel Overseer
3 Academy Ruins
4 Darksteel Citadel
13 Island
2 Phyrexia's Core
Really simple Trading Post in an Affinity shell with Artifact Creatures to maximize its power along with Wellsprings and Mimic Vats
4 Carrion Feeder
4 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Myr Sire
3 Perilous Myr
3 Blood Artist
2 Viscera Seer
1 Tukatongue Thallid
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Spore Frog
4 Bloodbond March
4 Buried Alive
4 Tortured Existence
4 Trading Post
Lands-
2 Swamp
2 Forest
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Bayou
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Golgari Rot Farm
The deck may look very confusing at first, but that's okay, it does a lot. The main engines of the deck are Trading Post (duh), Tortured Existence and Bloodbond March. Combined with all the other cards in the deck you can generate some serious card advantage, field presence, and damage.
Using Trading Post alone one can recycle the different artifact creatures in the deck, sacrificing them for their effects, choosing to use the "sacrifice an artifact" or "sacrifice a creature" abilities of the post, depending on which one you need.
Bloodbond March works with the discard and sacrifice aspects of Trading Post, giving you your artifact creatures to use again and again, abusing their "comes into play" and "dies" abilities. This is made much easier when you get yourself a Carrion Feeder, or cast a Buried Alive.
Carrion Feeder alone works wonders with this engine, growing huge thanks to Myr Sire and the goats from the Trading Post. Add in Blood Artist and things get out of hand very fast.
Tortured Existence helps you take advantage of bloodbond march. bring back a single copy of whatever creature you want, cast it, and all the other copies come back. Then, sacrifice them to your post or feeder and rinse repeat for serious card advantage. One can also use this in combination with Buried Alive to find specific creatures that may be needed. Squee can be one of the cards chosen, and can act as fuel for the enchantment every turn. If these 2 cards are assembled with Spore Frog, you can give yourself infinite fogs for the rest of the game. Also, Squee combined with Post gives you 4 life every turn if you need it, bringing you back into the game after those Ancient Tomb activations.
Overall the deck takes a bit to get going, but once it does it is a TON of fun to play. You find yourself seeing new interactions and lines of play every time you use it.
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Getting Started in Legacy and Legacy Budget Primer 5!
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4 Tin-wing Chimera
4 Iron-heart Chimera
3 Brass-talon Chimera
Instants (6):
3 Enlightened Tutor
3 Diabolic Edict
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Grave Pact
Artifacts (13):
4 Trading Post
2 Blade of the Bloodchief
4 Orzhov Signet
3 Voltaic Key
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Fetid Heath
2 Isolated Chapel
9 Swamp
5 Plains
This deck utilizes Trading Post by taking advantage of "whenever a creature dies" and the ability of the Trading Post to return artifacts from the graveyard to your hand.
4 Slag Fiend
4 Myr Servitor
3 Myr Retriever
3 Arcbound Ravager
2 Myr Battlesphere
SPELLS
3 Shrapnel Blast
3 Scrapyard Salvo
3 Galvanic Blast
4 Trading Post
2 Isochron Scepter
3 Mycosynth Wellspring
4 Ichor Wellspring
2 Loxodon Warhammer
LAND
2 Buried Ruin
4 Great Furnace
2 Phyrexia's Core
4 Cloudpost
4 Glimmerpost
6 Mountain
Description of deck:
What I have hear is an aggro red artifact deck that cares about the artifacts in the graveyard. The deck's format is Modern. The theme is burn/recursion.
There are the sac engines: Trading Post, Arch Bound Ravager, Shrapnel Blast, and Phyrexia's Core. The Isochron Scepter is for the Shrapnel Blast's or Galvanic Blast's.
The cards that want the graveyard large is Slag Fiend and Scrapyard Salvo.
There are artifacts w/ enter and leave the battleground effects, such as the Wellsprings.
To make sure the deck doesn't lose steam, there is recursion: Trading Post, Myr Servitor & Myr Retriever. Also, 2 Buried Ruins for recursion.
And since there are a 7 Myrs that can be brought back over and over again, the Myr Battlesphere for another win condition.
The deck has some life gain w/ Trading Post, Loxodon Warhammer and Glimmerposts. The Warhammer is there also for the Slag Fiend and Myr Battlesphere, which need to get there damage in from attacking.
The mana acceleration for the deck is through the 8 Locus lands. The Great Furnace is there as sac bait, and also for Metal Craft.
2x Signal Pest
3x Weathered Wayfarer
3x Mistmeadow Skulk
4x Kitchen Finks
4x Springjack Shepherd
2x Balefire Liege
2x Divinity of Pride
2x Nobilis of War
2x Oversoul of Dusk
4x Aether Vial
4x Trading Post
Enchantments
4x Runed Halo
2x Recumbent Bliss
Lands
4x Ancient Den
11x Plains
1x Springjack Pasture
4x Windbrisk Heights
WUB Esper Control
Legacy
WU Miracles
Edh
WUBErtai, the corrupted
Modern
GR Welcome to the Jungle
4x Trading Post
4x Mountain Goat
4x Zodiac Goat
2x Parallel Evolution
2x Parallel Lives
Wincons
2x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2x Rolling Thunder
4x Expedition Map
4x Ichor Wellspring
4x Trading Post
2x Unwinding Clock
3x Voltaic Key
3x Manamorphose
1x Springjack Pasture
4x Great Furnace
4x Rootbound Crag
4x Stomping Ground
4x Taiga
4x Tree of Tales
2x Windbrisk Heights
Get out goats on your opponents turn with Unwinding Clock, the artifact lands, Voltaic Key, Manamorphose, and whatever other mana you have open.
Trading Post. Need life? Discard a spare Expedition Map. Use some of that life to make a goat. Sac the goat to get an Ichor Wellspring back. Sac the Wellspring and draw 2.
After you've spent a few turns making goats with Trading Post, Parallel Lives, and Parallel Evolution, attack with three goats and pop out Emrakul, the Aeons Torn or sac them to Springjack Pasture and drop Emrakul or a big Rolling Thunder
4 Mountain
4 Great Furnace
2 Barbarian Ring
3 Forgotten Cave
3 Smoldering Crater
3 Hellion Crucible
2 Buried Ruin
1 Kher Keep
1 Dust Bowl
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
2 Maze of Ith
4 Walking Atlas
4 Greater Gargadon
2 Hoarding Dragon
Non-Creature Artifacts 23
4 Trading Post
4 Rings of Brighthearth
4 Expedition Map
1 Monkey Cage
1 Prototype Portal
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Ratchet Bomb
1. The main strategy is simple. Trading Post combined with Rings of Brighthearth means you can pay:
- 3 and discard 1 card for 8-life.
- 3 and 1 life for for 2 goat tokens.
- 3 and 1 creature to get back 2 artifacts.
- 3 and 1 artifact to draw 2 cards.
This is of course cumulative with each copy of Rings of Brighthearth. You're essentially getting a 2-for-1 deal every time. This is a combo deck that stops aggro with 8-life per turn and laughs at control by getting back destroyed/countered artifacts.
2. As combo decks are typically weak against control decks, I centered the deck around an uncounterable land-based strategy backed up by Expedition Map. You can continue to recycle Expedition Maps using Trading Post as well. Almost all of the lands have activated abilities to abuse with Rings of Brighthearth:
- Forgotten Cave and Smoldering Crater - Cycling is an activated ability, so you can copy it with Rings to draw 2 cards.
- Hellion Crucible - This normally requires 3 activations, but with Rings you can put both counters on at the same time, and then copy the 2nd ability as well, putting out two 4/4 hasted tokens in only 2 turns.
- Dust Bowl - Punish those nonbasic decks by destroying 2 lands at once with Rings. You have a continous supply of lands if you sacrifice Great Furnace and get it back via Trading Post. Alternatively you keep using Expedition Map off Trading Post.
- Maze of Ith - Copying this ability with Rings is crucial! Holds off 2 attackers at once.
Walking Atlas is in here to help accelerate the deck with all of its lands. It also works great as a surprise instant play to drop Maze of Ith. Normally you won't have much use for the Atlas after Turns 3~4 so you can safely sacrifice it to a Block or to Trading Post. This has been errata'd to be an Artifact Creature so you can use it for 2 ways on Trading Post.
3. The Win-Conditions:
- Suspend Greater Gargadon asap, and remember that it also has an activated ability. So you can use the Rings to take off 2 counters at once! Trading Post continously supplies sac-fodder for it.
- Hoarding Dragon + Monkey Cage - The dragon is used to find combo pieces, but it also allows for a win-condition in Monkey Cage. One plausible scenario would be with Greater Gargadon suspended, cast Hoarding Dragon, find Monkey Cage. Next turn, sacrifice the Dragon to the Gargadon, cast Monkey Cage, and do whatever to make the Gargadon come into play. Voila, ten 2/2 tokens and a hasted 9/7.
- Monkey Cage also plays very well with Trading Post, even if your opponent tries to minimize the Monkey token output. You'll almost always get at least 1~2 tokens off the Cage, and you can then sacrifice that token to Trading Post to get back Cage to recast it again.
- Pyrite Spellbomb - is great for early removal/draw, but it becomes really scary when combined with Rings of Brighthearth. 4-damage per activation + reusuable with Trading Post.
4. Misc.:
- Prototype Portal allows you to spam artifacts like crazy, especially with Rings. Remember you can imprint Great Furnace if you're desperate for mana, and if you want to imprint something else, sacrifice it to Trading Post and get it back.
- Ensnaring Bridge plays very well with Greater Gargadon - so sacrifice the artifact to Gargadon right before it comes into play.
- Ratchet Bomb is a reusable method of destroying problematic permanents. Use the Rings to get double the counters. On the rare occasion that you get this out with Prototype Portal, you can safely sweep your own stuff to since tokens have a CMC of 0.
R: Copypasta Sauce {Browbeat}
UR: Mana Cache , One Spell to Bind them All {Magnetic Theft}
UG: Epic Struggle , All-In-Poison {Metamorphosis}
UW: Planar Overlay , Decree of the Bailiff {Saprazzan Bailiff}
BG: Thought Gorger , Dark Chroma {Umbra Stalker}
UBR: Dwarven Shrine
WUBRG: Dissipation Field , Maelstrom Nexus
4 Trading Post
3 Expedition Map
2 Unwinding Clock
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Sol Ring
1 Voltaic Key
Creatures
4 Timberpack Wolf
4 Trinket Mage
4 Mirrorweave
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Parallel Lives
4 Foresee
2 Copy Artifact
2 Copy Enchantment
Land
4 Temple Garden
4 Ancient Den
4 Seat of the Synod
2 Springjack Pasture
2 Vesuva
1 Deserted Temple
1 Mishra's Workshop
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Tolarian Academy
Built Around - Trading Post
Format - None (MTGO's Classic). Single games, no sideboarding.
Theme - Goats become humongous wolves.
Type - Combo, I guess...
Playtest Amount - :rate5::rate1: as of latest post edit.
It is your fault. You make the round's card an artifact. Then my deck goes blue because of Mirrorweave and Copy Artifact. It is only natural to use Tolarian Academy and the rest of the kit.
My YouTube Channel
Deck:
3 Trading Post
4 Ichor Wellspring
2 Mycosynth Wellspring
2 Sol Ring
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Cathodion
3 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Spine of Ish Sah
1 Rocket Launcher
1 Mishra's Helix
4 Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Carddraw/Tutoring
3 Fabricate
2 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Stroke of Genius
Wrath needed?
2 Starstorm
Lands
3 Seat of the Synod
2 Vault of Whispers
3 Great Furnace
4 Island
2 Swamp
4 Mountain
2 Phyrexia's Core
2 Mishra's Factory
What's it all about?
What's the point of the deck?
While the deck may need a moment to set up (by drawing cards, tutoring for Trading Post or piecing together the proper mana base), once the machine starts running, it's card advantage time. Build a Wurmcoil Engine army, repeatedly shoot stuff with Spine, trade that Cathodian for extra mana plus an artifact to use it with, or reload that Rocket Launcher, the options are countless.
I'm aware there would be more powerful options (like Tezzeret or the functonal reprint of Rocket Launcher), but putting a planeswalker into a Mishra theme deck somehow feels wrong.
L1 Judge
Warning: This deck loves durdling.
4x Ichor Wellspring
4x Trading Post
2x Spine of Ish Shah
1x Dead-Iron Sledge
1x Grafted Wargear
1x Skullclamp
1x Voltaic Key
Creatures: 14
4x Etherium Sculptor
4x Epochrasite
4x Myr Servitor
2x Wurmcoil Engine
3x Thirst for Knowledge
Planeswalkers: 4
2x Tezzeret the Seeker
2x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Sorceries: 1
1x Fabricate
Land: 24
4x Underground Sea
4x Watery Grave
4x Vault of Whispers
4x Seat of the Synod
2x Creeping Tar Pit
1x Academy Ruins
1x Buried Ruin
1x Tolarian Academy
2x Island
1x Swamp
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
No empty placeholder posts this time.
(8:12pm)
_______
closed for entries, since 40min.
Still, I focus on the unusual, and we had many unusual submissions. Here are my votes, followed by explanations regarding those whose submissions I didn't select.
My votes:
-spooky-
Boarmelon
DLink123
Teraparsec
Maserati
PeterRiviera
As for those I didn't vote for....sorry. I can only vote for 6, you know? (We'll ultimately be testing 5 this round.)
racky54 Although it looks like a pretty good deck, it's sort of what I expected to see. I like unique decks, but I feel that I've seen this before, both with and without trading post.
RabidVacin Admittedly, I didn't predict a Chimera deck of any kind. I unfortunately didn't see a solid wincon / long-term plan; just repeatedly pumping Chimeras.
Stoogeslap As per what I told racky54, I looked for more unique decks. A decent artifact deck, but again...I've seen it before.
FoxxyEDarko Although I do love me some goats, you deck appears to focus too much on them and not much on the other trades that Trading Post has to offer.
Gaea's Regent This was a tough one, and I'm sad to not give a vote to my CDCmC Winner :(. The Timberpack Wolf and the Mirrorweave combos look pretty sweet (and I may have included this if I had one more vote). As much as I'd like to try that, the focus is predominantly on the goats tokens and not as much on the other attributes of the card. I reiterate: this was a tough call here, and it came down to this and one other deck as my final vote....
Malky Simply put, there are other ways to make goats. Trading Post has more to offer (see above comments) than "play goats, pump them with Glorious Anthem.
Keep in mind, Blut and BV might vote differently!
Thanks to GR @ Yavin IV Studios for the signature!
racky54 - Neofinnity with some bad choices, including Post, to make Post not look like the ugly stepchild. Well, it still stands out.
Rabid - Chimera.dec. 4cmc 2/2s are ... simply too slow. I don't see this deck coming back from its nonexistant early game.
foxxy - With a 5cmc beater why bother to make Goats with Shepperd? Protect the fat and ride it to victory. The deck also has some weird card choices and Post is used below its potential.
boarmelon - Your plan to end the game ... looks like a coin flip to me. With only two Heights with no 'to top' tutor, or hoping to get enough goats to be lethal. And the eight 1cmc goats are, frankly, dead cards.
maserati - You want to win with a Portal lock, but run only two copies and no tutor. The deck's strongest synergy appears to be recurring Glass, and while that's back breaking, the deck just looks fragile to me.
Malky - Goat.dec the 2nd. With only two copies of Post, and it being inferior to Shepperd... This ain't no Post deck.
that said, my votes:
Dlink123
Gaea's Regent
Teraparsec
PeterRiviera
Stoogeslap
-spooky-
Also: As Stoogeslap edited his post after the dead-line, I have remind you that the dead-line is ment to be final. No more edits to posts with submissions once the round is closed for entries. While staff can see the edit history of posts (Stooge did not edit the list but add the description), you guys can't. Future edits to posts after the round is closed for entries (decisive is the deadline, not the post announcing the closure) will result in disqualification for the round.
-spooky- iii
Teraparsec iii
DLink123 iii
Boarmelon ii
Maserati ii
PeterRiviera ii
Gaea's Regent ii
Stoogeslap i
Looks like we're testing -spooky-, Tereaparsec, and DLink123, plus two more.
As for the remaining two, waiting to check with Blut to see how to handle the die roll (?) for the remaining two slots.
I believe that I must roll the die twice (once with four, once with three) for:
1. Boarmelon
2. Gaea's Regent
3. Maserati
4. PeterRiviera
OK, Gaea's Regent, and....
1. Boarmelon
2. Maserati
3. PeterRiviera
PeterRiviera.
So, the decks to be tested this round:
-spooky-
Teraparsec
DLink123
Gaea's Regent
PeterRiviera
Thank you to all who entered this round. Round two will begin when we are finished testing these five decks.
Remember, it's just round 1...You can still participate in the next several rounds a) even if you didn't get chosen this round, and b) even if you haven't entered the contest this round.
Thanks to GR @ Yavin IV Studios for the signature!
Sorry bout that. I am in Pacific Standard time, & it's my mistake that I didn't see that the contest ended sooner than I expected.
-4 Epochrasite
-2 Thirst for Knowledge
-2 Tezzeret the Seeker
+4 Baleful Strix
+2 Thunderstaff
+2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
There was some thought to using Genesis Chamber as well, but the initial version of the deck didn't have enough creatures to abuse it, or defense to protect against aggro + Chamber.
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
Creativity/Originality: 4
I must admit, Morrorweave + Timberpack Wolf was an unusual idea. Even my opponents commented on the strange inclusion of the Wolf, wondering what the heck it was doing in a Trading Post deck. -1 because it's almost too unusual. Another type of lord might have been more effective (and mana-reliable).
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3
Adherence to the "goat aspect" of TP was clear, but I would have liked to see TP do something else as well. It would have almost been better to just replace TP since Springjack Pasture made the goats, too. The only real use I found for TP other than making goats was gaining life. That became necessary (as the deck really had no defense against attackers) but often backfired. If I was forced to discard Mirrorweave just to stay alive, opponents knew exactly what was coming. (If I had to discard Mirrorweave, I was probably already dead anyway). Other than that, I didn't have a practical use for any of the other abilities, as it was rarely in my best interest to do so.
Synergy/Tuning: 2
This was a fine idea that relied only on luck of the draw. Even an Enlightened Tutor or two would have really helped. IF I needed Oblivion Ring, I had to wait for it (and oh boy, did I need O-Ring!). Trinket Mage got me Sol Ring if I needed it....or an artifact land if I was desperate....or Expedition Map (and if that was the case, I was only desperate enough to elaborately search for Tolarian Academy). I couldn't even fetch TP to get things going, so if that wasn't in my opening hand, I had to mulligan.
Power/Capacity to win: 1
I never won with this deck. I give you points because the other judges assured me that they were able to win with it (though I'll leave the details to them). It was too unreliable and could not deliver as promised.
Interaction/Protection: 2
Two points because a) O-Ring did some sorely needed defensive work, and b) opponents didn't really know what I was up to, so that counts for something. Again, if I didn't draw Oblivion Ring, I was done. If I was attacked by flyers, I was done. Basically any creature that could trample over a goat....done. I really wanted to see Mirrorweave work here, but I found that I was spending mana mostly to keep others at bay. Too many 4cc cards, if you ask me.
TOTAL: 12/25
Creativity/Originality: 4
Although the Wellsprings were nothing surprising, I was delighted to see Cathodion in use. That, plus Mishra's Helix and Rocket Launcher certainly caught my attention.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 5
Solid 5 points here because it utilizes most of Trading Post's abilities effectively (I never used the goats--not once). There was enough going on here that I could easily discard an artifact for life, then recur. Though it took some time to set up, once the Trading Post got going, it was a superstar. I was also impressed with how effective it was in generating enough mana (with Cathodion etc.) to help make Starstorm a viable wincon. In a nutshell, TP was instrumental in running the deck.
Synergy/Tuning: 4
Overall, each card really had a place here, with the exception of a few. Despite my initial draw to Rocket Launcher, I never used it (or the Helix). Mishra, Artificer Prodigy was an incredible inclusion in this deck; as you aptly described, "double the fun." One of my favorite games involved a Spine of Ish Sah lockdown with Wurmcoil Engine coming onto the field (that got a concession). Although Cathodion was clever, I didn't use it as frequently as I would have liked--it became a 3/3 attacker.
Power/Capacity to win: 3
I sang the deck's praises, but now the weak point. I won about half the games I played with this. It is a bit slow getting started, which often became a problem. Spot removal may have helped this deck, as I'll expand on in a minute.
Interaction/Protection: 3
The 50% win rate for me seems to have to do with the deck's capability (or incapability) of dealing with early threats. There were games in which I wished I had something as simple as a Lightning Bolt or Doom Blade to get a pesky critter off the field. (Starstorm didn't really fit the bill for that.) This deck was loads of fun to play, but at the expense of protecting itself at times.
TOTAL: 19/25
Creativity/Originality: 3
Some clever ideas, but those interactions (Prototype Portal + Monkey Cage) were ultimately irrelevant.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 2
Although Trading Post "did some stuff," it wasn't a necessary part of the deck. You originally posted, "This is not a Rings of Brighthearth deck." However, I have to disagree; this was a Rings deck with Trading Post included. I couldn't use TP as much as I wanted to because I reached a bit of a conundrum: I wanted to draw cards desperately, but I didn't want to sacrifice any of the artifacts I had in play. I could sacrifice Ensnaring Bridge and leave myself open to assault. I needed Pyrite Spellbomb for removal. Discarding cards was an issue because I often needed to utilize the cards in my hand if I wanted to stay in the game. Mostly, I used TP to discard / sacrifice other TPs. In a nutshell: I felt like I was getting a bad deal at ye olde Trading Post.
Synergy/Tuning: 3
Ensnaring Bridge was a good call, and I get it: keep enemies at bay, then sac it with Trading Post so that the Greater Gargadons could attack. Still, there may have been a better way to do that. I also spent a few games without seeing TP. It needed tutoring for anything to work. Despite the cycling lands, I found that I needed mana, so drawing was a gamble. Basically, I had to play the waiting game. If I didn't have Trading Post in hand, I didn't care; I wanted Gargadons. I wanted Rings of Brighthearth to use with my Gargadons. I only used Prototype Portal with Rings of Brighthearth. If I cast Hoarding Dragon, I was at a loss as to what I should exile: Ratchet Bomb? Pyrite Spellbomb? For the most part, opponents really didn't care and thus removed the Dragon.
Power/Capacity to win: 3
It won sometimes: With Greater Gargadon and Rings of Brighthearth, once I stopped caring about Trading Post.
Interaction/Protection: 2
Ensnaring Bridge kept major threats away for a time, but the deck could have used spot removal. The Bridge kept them at bay, but then what? Get rid of it so my Gargadons could be blocked? It's nice that Pyrite Spellbomb could deal with little guys, but....a single Ratchet Bomb was not enough.
TOTAL: 13/25
Creativity/Originality: 4
Not an entirely new deck, but it was certainly well-built around Trading Post. Bonus for making every aspect of TP work.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 5
Every turn, I had something to do with Trading Post. Apparently, opponents didn't really see it as a thread until way too late. Rage quits happened when I used it to retrieve a Wurmcoil Engine; it was able to keep my hand fully stocked, so Counterspell and the like didn't really bother me too much. It really accelerated the deck; the best part was that people ignored it and directed their hate to Tezzy and the Wurmcoil Engine.
Synergy/Tuning: 5
Although I think two versions of Tezzeret were overkill (and drew some focus away from TP), the deck's capacity for card advantage alone is worth 5 points. I initially was going to take points off for lack of protection (no Counterspell? no Go for the Throat?), but I found that I was usually OK with the card advantage. TP came in quite handy in making the most out of spot removal (I sacrificed my own Wurmcoil Engine to avoid Path to Exile; opponent quit the game). Skullclamp seemed a bit out of place to me, and I really never used it, but it was a nice backup.
Power/Capacity to win: 5
I won most of the games I played. Even when I lost, the deck was loads of fun to play anyway.
Interaction/Protection: 4
As per above, some removal may have helped a bit more. I generally made due with Wurmcoil Engine, and certainly TP's recursion helped quite a bit. I didn't even see aggro as too much of a problem against this deck. Besides, Tezzeret drew enough hate that the rest of the deck remained unscathed quite often.
TOTAL: 23/25
Creativity/Originality: 3
I really wanted to try Bloodbond March in this deck . . . that with Trading Post is unheard of! Unfortunately, there's a reason for that . . .
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 2
You get some points for being able to use TP (somewhat). I only really used it to sacrifice Perilous Myr or Myr Sire for cards. Unfortunately, there are probably better ways to draw cards or sacrifice creatures. Most of the time, I found that I didn't really want to use TP because I'd rather have the mana for something else. After a while, TP just stayed in my hand. I see the overall picture, but I don't see how Trading Post effectively gets it done.
Synergy/Tuning: 1
To quote your own post, the deck "takes a bit to get going." It certainly takes a while, and I actually think Trading Post slows it down. Cards like Buried Alive did absolutely nothing. I only used it to put Squee, Goblin Nabob (really kind of odd in this deck) and Perilous Myr in the graveyard (possibly recursion to deal damage), but that was more for lack of anything to really do. Bloodbond March only helped me get utility creatures back and benefited my opponent more than it did me. I also found that there were real wincons, so . . . why was I using TP? Why did I need to draw cards? What was the benefit of sacking creatures? I certainly had no use for goat tokens....:( Carrion Feeder was a better star for this deck.
Power/Capacity to win: 1
I came close to winning . . . once. I managed to keep discarding Squee, Goblin Nabob in order to recur Perilous Myr, which I would then instantly sacrifice with TP (as an artifact) for card advantage. Wash, rinse, repeat. Blood Artist was there. Then my opponent played Platinum Angel.
Interaction/Protection: 1
There's only so much a Perilous Myr can do, and as your only source of removal, it was difficult to do so using Trading Post. Flyers demolished this deck. How was I to deal with Titans? Usually, such formidable foes ensured my loss. Overall, the deck tried to do too much without doing anything about opponents.
TOTAL: 8/25
Thanks to GR @ Yavin IV Studios for the signature!
If I were to build a new incarnation of the deck, I'd probably include some more artifact ramp, untaps and most likely Arcane Denial (with Mishra out, it basically reads 'Target artifact spell you control can't be countered. At the beginning of your next upkeep, draw 3 cards').
L1 Judge
Thanks to GR @ Yavin IV Studios for the signature!
BlackVise you have it pretty much right on the money as far as wanting the other sac outlets before Trading Post. =/ They just work better with the engine I decided to try and make. But I'm glad you saw the spore frog lock, that is what makes the deck really playable imho considering how slow it is.
I've learned a lot as far as how all of this goes and I'm excited for the next one.
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Getting Started in Legacy and Legacy Budget Primer 5!
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This was a fun round!
EDIT: Before Blut left, he posted explanations for 2/5 decks in the Casual mod thread. Here they are, and if he wants to add the remaining explanations, he can.
Thanks to GR @ Yavin IV Studios for the signature!