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Post by sdfkjgh on Feb 28, 2020 16:55:31 GMT
So, this is the last in the Backlog of Ideas During Dad’s Hospitalization, and I was inspired by the sale of Lotus Field, and its historically high sales price: So, we all know and love Jack Stratford and his work, but he kinda folds to Stone Rain. So, I want you all to build a 60-card deck that, except for Basic Lands, uses NO Avon lands, and uses NO non-Avon nonlands. Now, this deck must have a clear theme to it (or at least a clear path to victory), so nothing that just looks like you picked a random assortment of cards & called it a day. For clarity’s sake, I’d also like a quick writeup on: your thought processes while building, your card choices, and, if possible, how it stacks up against other decks with similar legalities. You have two weeks. Oh, and extra points will be awarded to the contestant who uses none of the cards that everyone else used. Good luck. |
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Post by ZephyrPhantom on Feb 29, 2020 17:58:46 GMT
So there's actually quite a few interesting cards here - I was trying to sneak Lethal Vapors into a deck for quite a while, but splashing black just for it didn't feel justified in the long run. I then tried Izzet tempo but found myself struggling with enough cards to keep it together as well. In any case, I decided to double-dip with Lady Mapi's budget deck thread and keep the entire list buildable with either less than 20 USD or with only John Avon nonlands, and here's the result: Bant AvonFog4 Fog4 Tangle4 Dawn Charm4 Silent Departure3 Bant Sojourners2 Shimmering Glasskite1 Cloud Dragon2 Gilded Light4 Witching Well4 Prophetic Prism4 Explore6 Plains6 Island6 Forest4 Evolving Wilds2 Terramorphic ExpanseSo this deck relies upon the fact this cardpool does in fact have 12 fogs - Fog, Tangle, and Dawn Charm. The idea is to stall out until you somehow manage to get in enough damage. Cloud Dragon is relatively expensive (1 USD) and easily shot down by removal, so two Shimmering Glasskites serve as a sort of very bad in-between compromise instead (partially due to being resistant to a lot of removal), but with no other real wincon present, it's better than nothing. Bant Soujourners and Silent Departure serve as pseudo-fogs that have other applications like being able to be somewhat aggressive vs slower decks and protecting the sole Cloud Dragon in a pinch. Gilded Light serves as a way to combat Storm, 8rack, and half-way decent burn lists and be card draw if nothing else. Witching Well, Prophetic Prism, and Explore all primarily serve as card "draw", but ideally we would like to use Prophetic Prism's manafixing and Explore's ramping capabilities to help smooth out our land drops (Evolving Wilds-type lands are pretty much the only kind of tricolor fixing we can really afford) Obviously, like most TurboFog decks, this doesn't do so great against slower more controlling decks, but there are enough hosers like Suppression Field and Hum of the Radix in this pool that you could in theory build a sideboard for it. At that point however you might as well throw budget to the wind add Supreme Verdict in which I feel defeated the point of the deck. Otherwise, if you're expecting a lot of enchantments, I'd just swap the 2x Gilded Light for 2x Harmonic Convergence which will keep you within budget. Against artifacts, you can make the swap for 2x Purify instead. It's a real shame almost all the land destruction virtually costs 4 or more, because otherwise Ponza could've looked interesting. I might revisit this challenge just to do a non-budget build or a less restrictive budget build that tries to use some of the other wincons or janky combos. |
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Post by arthurxiv on Mar 4, 2020 20:57:15 GMT
sdfkjgh: Maybe it's a little bit too much freedom to let us choose amongst all non-Avon lands. Here is my creation. My first idea was to build a control deck that runs Supreme Verdicts, recurs them with Mystic Sanctuaries and runs only Colfenor Saplings so that we don't fear wraths. Lethal Vapors were the next obvious great addition because it doesn't kill Colfenor Sapling. I chose Tangle for cheap strong early tempo and Suppression Field because it could be gamebreaker and i don't suffer from it, it even protects Lethal Vapors a little. Then i went to search for lands and i chose the weakest ones like the useless Tabernacle and some badly printed lands that are supposed to be bicolor but i can't really tell anymore because my eyes don't distinguish these colors well enough anymore... The Diamond Valley is here to get 5 life when we have too many Colfenor Saplings in hand. It can eat the skygate too. I hesitated to add stuff like Angelic Wall, Monastery Flock or Wall of Air that combo with the Colfenor Saplings and with the Diamond Valley but i thought it's not necessary. Prismatic Omens are here mostly to make Tabernacle and Diamond Valley generate mana. I could add Obelisk of Alara or Caustic Tar to help end the game but they don't like Suppression Field much. :/
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Post by sdfkjgh on Mar 12, 2020 23:57:59 GMT
Since Daij_Djan is sick, I'll be extending this contest for another week, so get those submissions in!
Ral: What are you talking about man? It's been dead here for days!
Remember what we talked about earlier?
Ral: I'm just stating a fact.
Teferi: Yeah, man. I highly doubt anyone else's got anything to add.
It's just a little depressing, is all. I have such high hopes for this, but almost nobody's participating. Would it help if I allowed contestants to use homebrewed cards? |
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Post by arthurxiv on Mar 13, 2020 11:48:52 GMT
It was fun for me to participate here.
Maybe it's just that people didn't notice the thread i guess.
I see only one problem with this idea which is that some cards are just too powerful, thus every contestant would create almost the same deck. Maybe you could ban all cards that are worth more than $5 to force originality.
Or maybe do another chain type thread where each player submits a decklist and then gives 2 artist names, the next player has to create a decklist using only nonland cards from those two artists.
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Post by sdfkjgh on Mar 13, 2020 17:57:06 GMT
arthurxiv: That's a great idea. I'd advise you to hold onto that one for later...
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Post by sdfkjgh on Mar 21, 2020 18:09:46 GMT
Well, it's unfortunate that so few participated, but you who did certainly turned in some amazing decks.
ZephyrPhantom: I'm a man without convictionwho loves to Calvin out (my term for setting impossibly high goals for oneself, setting oneself up for failure; from the Calvin and Hobbes storyline where Calvin has to do a report, and he chooses the hunter vs. scavenger T. rex debate), so when someone else not only does the same, but succeeds, it's doubly impressive. You didn't have to operate under a dual challenge, but you went ahead and did it anyway, because you're just that awesome/crazy. The deck does suffer slightly for its dual restrictions, yet still looks to be a fun and interesting one.
arthurxiv: From one extreme of the pursestring to the other. Lethal Vapors+Sapling of Colfenor is a MEAN combo, and  control is scary. I'd hate to both play against this, and try to build it.
A Winner Is:
ZephyrPhantom! By just barely edging--
Ral: Gross.
NOT THAT TYPE OF EDGING! Sorry. By just barely edging out arthurxiv by tying one hand behind their back, and building to two different constraints, Zeph was able to score just the few more style points needed to win. Congratulations.
Next Challenge will be posted in a new thread. |
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