I was surprised to see that no one was talking about this; the deck has been popping up in standard PE top eights all over MTGO.
The deck itself is very flexible and the Chord lets you run a creature toolbox strategy. The general gameplan against control is to get the pickles combo rolling, while against aggro there are few decks that can beat Shifter + Hermit.
I've been playing a similar list, but I'm wondering about the inclusion of Silklash Spider. You already have an out against Akroma in Shapeshifter suicide-morph. I'd pull it for another Shapeshifter.
Also, I don't think this deck is about getting down the "Pickles combo" any more so than the Ub version. Brine + Shapeshifter is fantastic, but both cards can be fantastic on their own.
A little surprised this deck doesn't have it's own thread (especially since I even played it as one point a while ago), but here you go - thread officialized.
I posted up this decklist on the Pickles thread a few months ago after seeing Naoki (aka Shimichin2005) get a top 8 on a MODO PE with it as well as a few Japanese players running them in tournaments all over Japan. It was discarded by everyone on the boards because they considered it very "unstable" due to the Tron mana base and a lack of counters.
From watching the replays of him playing it, it seems quite consistent. A lot of mana accelerators, decent counters, card advantage all over the place. They all help strengthen powerful Chords out earlier And the Deadwood Treefolk seems like a new addition that he just put in.
As for the Silklash Spider, as I recall, he was using it against Dragonstorm to prevent his opponents from being able to kill him in one swoop since he could block Hunted Dragons with them and not have them die.
EDIT: I was stupid and just realized that if you're gonna bring out Dragons, they're going to bring out the Hellkites. However, it does stop the Dragon known as Akroma.
This deck is very good. I really wanna try and fit in 2 more mana leak because mana leak is good against the URW decks that are bound to get popular. Hmm, how about
My friend plays this, and plays 1 Simic Sky Swallower because it comes out of nowehere, and if you flip up a shapeshifter, 12 trample in the air is quite scary
My friend plays this, and plays 1 Simic Sky Swallower because it comes out of nowehere, and if you flip up a shapeshifter, 12 trample in the air is quite scary
I have to say, that does sound like a really good change-up. This deck in general is a weird beast, but it does look pretty spiffy.
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this deck is very interesting. I have only played against it once (the person I played also had at least 1 MD SSS). I was playing Dralnu, and didnt see this coming at all. I managed to squeek out a win but just barely...
I think I may have to test this deck a bit this week and see how it rolls..
Out curiosity, does anyone know some of this decks particularly bad matchups? Those are the ones Id like to test most.
SEAN
EDIT:@ SRDude, I really like your decklist. It seems like the most streamlined version possible. The Teferi's and Think Twice's in the decklist Pham posted seem a bit unnecessary. Would we really need Think Twice when we can Compulsive or Harmonize?
Please, accept that Magic costs money to play, and drop it. A playset of Baneslayers>playset of duals. New Jace>Force of Will. Etc... Not to mention, Legacy is so wide open, that it's easy to build a deck that can perform reasonably well without very many "money staples" at all.
I got a question on how the Chord is played.....do you generally Chord for more than one creature?? Or do you just got the most relevant one.....so If you had a shapeshifter already in play....would you get both the one Brine and a Thelonite????
EDIT:@ SRDude, I really like your decklist. It seems like the most streamlined version possible. The Teferi's and Think Twice's in the decklist Pham posted seem a bit unnecessary. Would we really need Think Twice when we can Compulsive or Harmonize?
The decklist was pre-Planar Chaos. No Harmonize was available at the time and there were a lot of differences to what Naoki did now. Build wise, SRDude's deck seems pretty solid, but I'm not very big fan of getting rid of either Willbender and now the Deadwood Treefolk.
Willbender is going to be key against any removal in the format and against Demonfire with all the Angelfire and UR Tron decks that will start popping up again. I remember playing Pickles with him and Shapeshifter, as it provided another "counter" element for the deck, so to speak.
As for the Deadwood Treefolk, having it will give you a late game for your destroyed creatures that this deck didn't have before Planar Chaos.
I can definitely understand removing Silklash Spider because it's pretty worthless outside of Japan. But I am a lot more iffy about seeing the other two parts of the deck removed. You won't be able to counter everything and are quite vulnerable to X spells, so you'll need some out versus them.
I got a question on how the Chord is played.....do you generally Chord for more than one creature?? Or do you just got the most relevant one.....so If you had a shapeshifter already in play....would you get both the one Brine and a Thelonite????
Chord of Calling only fetches one creature at a time. When you Chord, you'll want to grab the most relevent creature to set up a synergy, or maybe just a very opportune Mystic Snake.
As for Rune Snag over Mana Leak, if you're up to four, I'd completely suggest the Snag over the Leak. It will almost always be the stronger counter for you, since the second is already stronger than any Mana Leak. -Jack
So whats the consensus on Voidslime??? You hardly ever see it any U/G deck, I think its good........bash me if I'm wrong. But I include it in every U/G deck I play.
On another note.....Do you think one Draining Whelk is a good inclusion. Chord call to counter and get a flying threat????
the problem with voidslime (and it's a doozy) is that it costs CCC in a deck with 13 colourless lands. The deck often tries to make do with as little CC costs as possible, adding CCC to the mix would be like adding teferi to the deck, it was tried in triskettron, but it isn't as good as you'd think.
Hmm... isn't Rune Snag better than Mana Leak if you're making room for four?
Though are are certain decks that wont rune snag, this deck wants the cheap counter early. Though this deck does have a good deal of card drawing, I don't know if the games go long enough to make good use of rune snag.
Ghost Quarter + LftL isn't that big of a problem. This deck actually runs more basics than the average tron deck, and it is less reliant on the urzatron.
I really dont see why the spider would be removed. This card alone can usually shut down akroma, SSS, we'll just say any flying finisher in the game. theres really no other way to stop a resolved akroma or a resolved reanimation on akroma even after the brine lock since this deck dosent run gigadrowse.
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Breeding Pool
4 Yavimaya Coast
1 Island
1 Forest
1 Simic Growth Chamber
4 Wall of Roots
1 Mystic Snake
1 Brine Elemental
1 Deadwood Treefolk
2 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
3 Thelonite Hermit
1 Willbender
1 Silklash Spider
4 Compulsive Research
2 Harmonize
3 Chord of Calling
4 Remand
2 Mana Leak
4 Repeal
4 Serrated Arrows
4 Spike Feeder
2 Rewind
2 Annex
1 Willbender
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Muse Vessel
The deck itself is very flexible and the Chord lets you run a creature toolbox strategy. The general gameplan against control is to get the pickles combo rolling, while against aggro there are few decks that can beat Shifter + Hermit.
Thoughts?
Also, I don't think this deck is about getting down the "Pickles combo" any more so than the Ub version. Brine + Shapeshifter is fantastic, but both cards can be fantastic on their own.
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From watching the replays of him playing it, it seems quite consistent. A lot of mana accelerators, decent counters, card advantage all over the place. They all help strengthen powerful Chords out earlier And the Deadwood Treefolk seems like a new addition that he just put in.
As for the Silklash Spider, as I recall, he was using it against Dragonstorm to prevent his opponents from being able to kill him in one swoop since he could block Hunted Dragons with them and not have them die.
And here was the original decklist:
2 Island
4 Breeding Pool
4 Yavimaya Coast
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Mine
1 Urza's Factory
4 Wall of Roots
1 Willbender
3 Thelonite Hermit
2 Mystic Snake
3 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Brine Elemental
3 Repeal
4 Remand
3 Think Twice
3 Chord of Calling
3 Compulsive Research
1 Tidings
4 Simic Signet
2 Trickbind
1 Willbender
4 Spike Feeder
3 Serrated Arrows
2 Annex
2 Trygon Predator
1 Vesuva
EDIT: I was stupid and just realized that if you're gonna bring out Dragons, they're going to bring out the Hellkites. However, it does stop the Dragon known as Akroma.
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Powerplant
4 Urza's Mine
4 Breeding Pool
4 Yavimaya Coast
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Simic Growth Chamber
4 Wall of Roots
3 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
3 Thelonite Hermit
1 Mystic Snake
1 Brine Elemental
Spells 25
4 Simic Signet
4 Repeal
4 Mana Leak
4 Remand
4 Compulsive Research
2 Harmonize
3 Chord of Calling
I think I'm going to move a bunch of silver bullets to the side since it seems most chords go for either shapeshifter, hermit, or briney.
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I have to say, that does sound like a really good change-up. This deck in general is a weird beast, but it does look pretty spiffy.
I think I may have to test this deck a bit this week and see how it rolls..
Out curiosity, does anyone know some of this decks particularly bad matchups? Those are the ones Id like to test most.
SEAN
EDIT:@ SRDude, I really like your decklist. It seems like the most streamlined version possible. The Teferi's and Think Twice's in the decklist Pham posted seem a bit unnecessary. Would we really need Think Twice when we can Compulsive or Harmonize?
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i really like the idea of playing pickles in a different colour,
3-4 mana leak MD is good!
Thanks!
The decklist was pre-Planar Chaos. No Harmonize was available at the time and there were a lot of differences to what Naoki did now. Build wise, SRDude's deck seems pretty solid, but I'm not very big fan of getting rid of either Willbender and now the Deadwood Treefolk.
Willbender is going to be key against any removal in the format and against Demonfire with all the Angelfire and UR Tron decks that will start popping up again. I remember playing Pickles with him and Shapeshifter, as it provided another "counter" element for the deck, so to speak.
As for the Deadwood Treefolk, having it will give you a late game for your destroyed creatures that this deck didn't have before Planar Chaos.
I can definitely understand removing Silklash Spider because it's pretty worthless outside of Japan. But I am a lot more iffy about seeing the other two parts of the deck removed. You won't be able to counter everything and are quite vulnerable to X spells, so you'll need some out versus them.
Chord of Calling only fetches one creature at a time. When you Chord, you'll want to grab the most relevent creature to set up a synergy, or maybe just a very opportune Mystic Snake.
As for Rune Snag over Mana Leak, if you're up to four, I'd completely suggest the Snag over the Leak. It will almost always be the stronger counter for you, since the second is already stronger than any Mana Leak. -Jack
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On another note.....Do you think one Draining Whelk is a good inclusion. Chord call to counter and get a flying threat????
Though are are certain decks that wont rune snag, this deck wants the cheap counter early. Though this deck does have a good deal of card drawing, I don't know if the games go long enough to make good use of rune snag.
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I want to play this deck, but I'm not convinced its good enough. Does anyone who has played the deck a lot have a list of good and bad match ups?