Tuesday, March 10, 2015

A Sight for Sorin (Sore) Eyes

Hey gang,

I know I usually have some craziness for modern prepared, but I think I'm going to be running some standard FNM this friday, so I'll just show you what I'm considering playing.

Option 1: Ensoul Artifact

I haven't decided on the optimal list for this deck yet.  Here are the definites:

4 Ornithopter
4 Ensoul Artifact
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Ghostfire Blade
4 Ilusory Angels

and then some number of

-Frostwalker
-Singing Bell Strike
-Heliod's Pilgrim 4x if I stay in white, always such a fantastic card, but gives me mana problems
-Renowned Weaponsmith / Chief Engineer probably a split on these.  Engineer is more explosive, but Weaponsmith adds more mana...also
-Heart-Piercer Bow this card is generally awful, but you can search it up with the weaponsmith.  Mostly something to stick an Ensoul Artifact on.  I assume the other dumb artifact that gets printed in Dragons will say something like "gives a creature deathtouch."  1 damage + deathtouch, woahhhhh combo of the centuryyyy.
-Hewed Stone Retainers.  So this card is just Angel 5-8, except it doesn't fly.  It's very easy to cast off a Renowned Weaponsmith though.  It's infuriating how many times I've had an empty had, drawn an angel and then the retainers.  SWEET.  TWO CARDS I CANT CAST.
-Tomb of the Spirit Dragon.  I'll probably end up playing this if I cut white.  Maybe 1 in the sideboard.
-Phyrexian Revoker.  Sorry, man, this isn't legacy.  Sometimes it shuts down a planeswalker or mana dork, but I'm not sure if that's where this deck wants to be.
-Ugin's Construct / Juggernaut - wow, has Ugin's Construct pissed me off.  If it said both players, the card would be insane and an obvious include, but NOPE, just you.  So many times I've had the ability to play it out turn three (through drum or Engineer/Weaponsmith) and I dont want to since I'm so tight on mana.  OR even worse, I draw it late game and it would just eat an ensoul artifact.  Juggernaut is probably just not good enough since almost every deck has either Lightning Strike or Bile Blight.
-Crystalline Nautilus - I'd like to find room for this card somewhere, but it's not an artifact and there's already so much going on at 3.


So yeah.  There's no way I'd deck this deck to a real tournament, but maybe to FNM.  We'll see.

Option 2: Monoblack Humans / Monoblack

Tomoharu Saito has always been one of my favorite magic players and I'd always loved the decks he comes up with.  I've played lists similar to his (monored standard in Lorwyn standard and Hypergenesis in old extended) with usually pretty good results.

I'm sure some of you guys saw his list that got 20th in GP Memphis and there was a very comprehensive Channel Fireball article about it.

I like this deck a lot and I've liked monoblack aggro since it was popular last year.

I just don't know about the Obelisk.  Yes, I understand how insane it can be, but man, I have done so much goldfishing in this deck and almost everytime, Obelisk felt like a dead card.  If it was in my opening hand, it was a mulligan, if I drew it last game it was a dud, because I either A) STILL wouldnt have enough to cast it or B) all of my creatures would be dead so it wouldn't matter.

I've thought about returning to the Bestow-type deck I've been messing with, running Gnarled Scarhide, Spiteful Returned and Herald of Torment.  The deck has more reach and then I could run Brutal Hordechief.  Something to consider.

The thing about the monoblack lists, they are generally slower than monored aggro, usually by 1-2 turns.  If monored is very popular in the meta, I probably wouldn't play black...the matchup feels realllll bad.

Option 3: Monored

I've been playing (and been a big fan of) Tom Ross' red list in standard.

Here's my current list, a variation of some Miami lists:

21 Mountain
4 Satyr Firedrinker
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Lightning Strike
4 Searing Blood
4 Foundry Street Denizen
2 Monastery Swiftspear (should be 4)
2 Wild Slash (should be 4)
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Mardu Scout
2 Goblin Heelslitter
1 Collateral Damage

I don't think many of these cards need a detailed explanation, but Searing Blood probably won't stay as a 4-of.  Mardu Scout has been so good as a 4x, I don't really want to cut any.

The singleton Collateral Damage has always been good.  It's usually just sac-ing a goblin token.  I doubt I'll add any more C-damage main, but I'll leave some room in the board.  One thing I have to say: I like this deck a lot, but the two slot doesn't feel very strong.  1 and 3 are great, but the curve just feels very valley-like.

We'll see what I end up choosing on Friday.  Later guys.

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