Essential Questions for Shards of Alara

Invincible Hymn - Eight mana to set your life to 200 or 220. Totally worth it.

Tezzeret the Seeker - Unless he is banned, which some are calling for, he is absolutely worth playing.

Flameblast Dragon - It is worth increasing our Red creature count instead of constantly pulling out red creatures for red creatures? This guy can swing at one person, then Blaze kill another. Then next turn you can swing at one person, then Blaze someone or somethign else, each turn. Very strong, but he's no Slogger or Knollspine. Is it time to add to our Red instead of replacing our Red?

Bant Charm - Answers Akroma the White, Darksteel and every targetable creature in between, destroys any artifact, or counters an instant. Solid.

Hellkite Overlord - Totally worth playing, the Akroma of Dragons.

Jund Charm - This is the good charm. Instant Pyroclasm, and we saw how good Pyroclasm was this past weekend, instant Tormod's Crypt which is great since the Essentials has such little gfraveyard removal, or combat trick with a permanent effect. All good.

Sarkhan Vol - The other good Planeswalker from the set. Good enough?

Wooly Thoctar - If you can;t figure out why a THREE mana 5/4 is playable in the deck, then perhaps you need to reassess the nature of the mana curve concept in Magic. Can the deck's amazing mana base (according to Aaron) handle it?


Panormas - I like the fetchs. Get this, you can get any combination of mana with the tri fetches except one, allowing you to fix two colors instead of one. How many times have i had a Badland sin play and got the red/black fetch, and I can only fix one color of mana instead of two. Now I can get the B?U?R one and fix blue and white at the same time. Plus they tap for mana and do not CIP, so they dont slow you down and you can fetch as needed.

Tri CIP - I like these a lot, and if the deck didnt have so many duels and fetches and such, these would get the nod.

Anyway, those are the cream of the crop from the set, as far as I can see. Discussion begins now.

Sure, sure, let's just auto-include the two $30 cards right off the bat [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

I don't know if Tezz's usefulness will be as apparent with the essentials. Get him out, and for 0 you've got chrome, diamond, and crystal (and the artifact lands were I to have them in). Going with 1 gets you Sol Ring, Scroll Rack, Clamp. 2 is fellwar, Jitte.
The untapping ability works nicely with things like the mana artifacts, but diamond doesn't work without a land in hand, chrome requires imprint. The other thing he does is make the high cost artifacts into crazy death machines.
Don't get me wrong, I think Tezz is highly abusable, I'm just not sure that he would be so in this deck.
A deck with deck built to abuse him, one with more artifacts relevant to his ability, a combo deck, perhaps one of those....

Invincible Hymn..... really?! Leave that in the wishboard.

FB Dragon - Agreed, worth looking into

Bant Charm - True, solid. The essentials mana base can surely support it. Do we want to start supporting cards in the essentials that require many colors of colored mana? It's hard to say whether a regular deck may be able to support it. Since the essentials is an ideal to strive towards, that is also akin to supporting a push towards an essentials mana base. Which is fine, but is in a completely different league than pushing striving towards the non-land ideals in the deck.

Hellkite Overlord - *see bant charm* Also, that's a lot of stuff on a stick for 8 mana. Definitely great for the price. Curve examination? Creature review?

Jund Charm - *see bant again* I like that this features a set of abilities that I'm not sure are represented many, if any, places elsewhere in the essentials.

Sarkhan - good question, I'm not sure either

Wooly Thoctar - *see bant charm, then forget about that* yeppers, agreed

Panoramas - fetch basics. No thanks.

Tri-taps - exactly.

Sarkhan Vol - I'd take the +1/+1 and haste every turn for 4 mana. The Threaten is aslo nice. The 4 4/4 flying dragons is a bomb in standard. I don't know if that's that great in multiplayer or 5C. We'll see how it tests ...

Sedris, the Traitor King - No mention of this guy? Get a sacrifice outlet and break 187 creatures in half? I just wish Unearth was instant speed ... but that'd be just silly.

Scourglass - Another Disk variant ... but it hits planeswalkers, not artifacts ... maybe?

Invincible Hymn - Abe suggesting lifegain?!? What?!? Did I just hear that? lol. I know gaining 200+ (in Abe's case 1200+) life for 8 mana is great. I'd probably play around with it at least and see how it works out.

Mycoloth - REALLY good if you have creatures to devour. See Sarkhan Vol.

Skullmuncher - Green card draw? May not be essentials, but c'mon ... you can draw 10 cards with this guy (with green's wonton token gen) for 5 mana in GREEN!

Kederekt Leviathan - You have a 5/5 beatstick. They're wide open. Yeah it's 8 mana. That sucks. It DOES unearth ...

Tezzeret the Seeker - I like the search aspects WAY better than the other abilitis. Untapping 2 artifacts isn't bad either. Solid.

Flameblast Dragon - This is just a flat out BOMB. I watched it go broken at the release. Just imagine what it could do with an essentials manabase/accel! Swing, deal 5 to plaer A, KILL player B. Swing deal 5 to player A, KILL player C. Continue till victory.

Vicious Shadows - Interesting, no? People will be getting Hellbent ASAP if this hits. See any creature with Devour. Notice it doesn't care whose creature or whose graveyard. %&^# 7 mana tho ...

Minion Reflector - The creature mirari. See 187 creatures of happiness and joy.

Quietus Spike - See Invincible Hymn

Elspeth, Knight-Errant - Definately isn's bad. His bomb is quite good. Wrath of god = I win at that point.

Woolly Thoctar - A 5/4 for three mana? No drawback?

Fleshbag Marauder - Yay new CIP creature! Not essentials, no ... but I likie!

Thorn-Thrash Viashino - This guy gets stupid in a hurry. Helped me take 1st in the prerelease. Stomped a guy with a 20/20 trampler game 1. Stomped him with a 24/24 trampler game 2.

*Prerelease side note*

Having the Thorn-Thrash with Hissing Iguanar, Rockslide Elemental, Goblin Assault, and multiple dragon fodders was great. Resolving a Soul's Might was H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S!

<font color="#C0C0C0" size="1">[ October 01, 2008 01:19 AM: Message edited by: Haddix.dec ]</font>

<font size="1">psst..... 187</font>

<font color="#C0C0C0" size="1">[ September 30, 2008 11:21 AM: Message edited by: kerbythepurplecow ]</font>

We might want to put the Tri-taps in because the deck is meant to guide peopel to a good deck, and they won;t have all of the duels that others have.

Quote:

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Originally posted by TheAbe:
We might want to put the Tri-taps in because the deck is meant to guide peopel to a good deck, and they won;t have all of the duels that others have.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Do not agree. Should we pull duals to favor Invasion CIP lands? Spitting Image for Clone? We shouldn't degrade the quality of the deck to show people the alternative available should they not have access to the best stuff.

Just ran both 250's with some new additions in Tuesday group. Thorny is as good if not better than expected so far. Again quickly became a player-killer and stomped face. Happens post decree with flare out tho. Makes Rise of the Hobgobs that much better too. Resounding Thunder was pretty ok. Nice to cycle it EOT for a kill and a card. Don't think it's essentials, but it's 250 worthy. Lotsa stuff in Shards that will make my Chaos 250 I think ... not so much Essentials. Didn't see much else of what little Shards in the deck so far ... will continue to tinker!

Current list for reference:

Name

Bosh, Iron Golem
Cauldron of Souls
Chrome Mox
Darksteel Colossus
Etched Oracle
Fellwar Stone
Gilded Lotus
Masticore
Memory Jar
Mind's Eye
Mox Crystal
Mox Diamond
Nevinyrral's Disk
Planar Portal
Scroll Rack
Sensei's Divining Top
Skullclamp
Sol Ring
Solemn Simulacrum
Sword of Fire and Ice
Sunforger
Tawnos's Coffin
Umezawa's Jitte
Vedalken Orrery


Academy Ruins
Adarkar Wastes
Badlands
Battlefield Forge
Bayou
Bloodstained Mire
Brushland
Caves of Kolios
City of Brass
Flagstones of Trokair
Flooded Strand
Forest
Grand Coliseum
Island
Karakas
Karpulsan Forest
Kor Haven
Krosan Verge
Library of Alexandria
Llanowar Reborn
Llanowar Wastes
Maze of Ith
Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
Mountain
Murmuring Bosk
Nimbus Maze
Plains
Plateau
Polluted Delta
Reflecting Pool
Savannah
Scrubland
Shivan Reef
Stomping Ground
Strip Mine
Sulfurous Springs
Swamp
Taiga
Terramorphic Expanse
Tolaria West
Tropical Island
Tundra
Undergroud River
Underground Sea
Urborg
Vesuva
Volcanic Island
Volrath's Stronghold
Windswept Heath
Wooded Foothills
Yavimaya Coast
Yavimaya Hollow
Zoetic Cavern


Avatar of Woe
Bane of the Living
Damnation
Demonic Collusion
Demonic Tutor
Diabolic Tutor
Guiltfeeder
Kokusho, the Evening Star
Liliana Vess
Living Death
Mortivore
Oversold Cemetary
Recurring Nightmare
Rend Flesh
Sudden Death
Tortured Existence


Allied Strategies
Ancestral Vision
Arcanis the Omnipotent
Bribery
Bringer of the Blue Dawn
Cunning Wish
Drift of Phantasms
Fabricate
Fact or Fiction
Forbid
Future Sight
Magus of the Jar
Mystical Teachings
Spitting Image
Stroke of Genius
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Tidespout Tyrant
Time Spiral
Tradewind Rider
Willbender
Wonder


Brion Strongarm
Doran, the Siege Tower
Eladamri's Call
Hull Breach
Kaervek the Merciless
Mirari's Wake
Mystic Enforcer
Oros, the Avenger
Pernicious Deed
Putrefy
Rith, the Awakener
Shadowmage Infiltrator
Simic Sky Swallower
Sol'kanar the Swamp King
Spiritmonger
Sterling Grove
Teneb, the Harvester
Terminate
Vhati il-Dal
Vindicate
Vulturous Zombie


Cold-Eyed Selkie


Dead/Gone
Fire/Ice
Spite/Malice
Supply/Demand


All Suns' Dawn
Birds of Paradise
Chameleon Colossus
Crop Rotation
Defense of the Heart
Eternal Witness
Farseek
Genesis
Hermit Druid
Joiner Adept
Journey of Discovery
Kodama's Reach
Krosan Tusker
Living Wish
Nantuko Vigilante
Nostalgic Dreams
Pattern of Rebirth
Prismatic Omen
Protean Hulk
Raking Canopy
Recollect
Regrowth
Restock
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Scapeshift
Silklash Spider
Silvos, Rogue Elemental
Skyshroud Elf
Spike Weaver
Sylvan Library
Sylvan Scrying
Thornscape Battlemage
Tooth and Nail
Treefolk Harbinger
Wall of Blossoms
Yavimaya Elder


Akroma, Angel of Fury
Ancient Grudge
Anger
Arc-slogger
Avatar of Fury
Burning Wish
Firestorm
Flametounge Kavu
Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
Knollspine Dragon
Rakavolver
Recoup
Stigma Lasher
Wheel of Fortune


Academy Rector
Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Akroma's Vengeance
Balance
Commander Eesha
Crib Swap
Decree of Justice
Dismantling Blow
Enlightened Tutor
Eternal Dragon
Exalted Angel
Glory
Hallowed Burial
Indomitable Ancients
Land Tax
Magus of the Disc
Oblation
Orim's Thunder
Pristine Angel
Ray of Revelation
Reya, Dawnbringer
Rout
Stonehewer Giant
Swords to Plowshares
Tithe
Weathered Wayfarer
Wing Shards
Wrath of God

I think it is time to consider pulling Spite/Malice. It's a great card, and I love it, no question. There's a lot better creature removal though, and a lot better counter magic. It's usually a good adjunct to other counters, but we don;t have a bunch of counters, so it feels lonely and doesn;t do as good of a job as it otherwise would.

That's a slot where we could find a place for one of the new cards.

Best Cards for Essentials are, in order:

Jund Charm - Does three things the deck does not have, does them all very well.

Wooly Thoctar - Early drop of significant beatings, later is just as good.

FB Dragon - Because seriously, this thing rocks.

Hellkite Overlord - The next best aggressive after Akromas, no question in my mind. Might be better than Akroma the Red, need to play him a bit to find out. Haste matters a lot there.

Tezzeret the Seeker - Even getting Clamp, Jitte, Sol Ring, etc is still damn fine. Oh, and toss in a set of the artifact lands with this guy in deck. Gets those for no loss of loyalty.

That's my view of 1 through 5.

I think we can also pull Farseek. It's the only two mana sorcery that gets just one land, and although it gets a duel land, it sucks compared ot the others. Reach gets two lands, Tusker gets a land and a card, Journey of Discovery can entwine, STE is a creature so it can block befoer saccing or wield a Clamp or Jitte later, Crop Rotation and Scrying get you anything, Land Tax gets a lot, Wayfarer gets anything, Solemn and Elder have established uses as mana smoothers, Living Wish can get a land to smooth your mana, Treefolk Harbinger can get a Forest or a Doran or a Crib Swap, Birds and Skyshroud Elf can get you many types of mana, Joiner Adept and Prismatic Omen fix your mana in an uber way, and so forth. Farseek is poor compared to all of that.

<font color="#C0C0C0" size="1">[ October 05, 2008 07:12 PM: Message edited by: TheAbe ]</font>

I like Jaya Ballard, but maybe its time for a three mana 2/2 with tap abilities, one of which is virtually never used to get the axe.

I think its time to pull Skyshroud Elf as well, as I look more at the massive amount of mana smoothing this deck has. Besides, frankly, Quiron Explorer is a batter card and its not even in the deck.

So, my current recommendations:

Pull:

Spite/Malice
Farseek
Skyshroud Elf
Jaya Ballard


Add:

Fireblast Dragon
Jund Charm
Wooly Thoctar
Hellkite Overlord

We pulled two creatures and added three. That's good to know. One creature pulled was a 1/1 that only made and smoothed mana, and the second was a 2/2 that was only used for its tap abilities. It is replaced by two good flyers and a vanilla 5/4 for three.

Oh, and I'd change one basic to a Mountain too.

As I look more at the list of included artifacts, I want to find space for Tez even more. Top, Mox Crystal, Sol Ring, Sword of Fire and Ice, Sunforger, and even Orrery or Coffin if you want to kill Tez or you gave it some counters.

I am comfortable with the suggested changes. Good call on all the outs. Sometimes it's hard to part with the ones we love ever so much. Seeing Skyshroud go will be sad just because I love my mod so much [img]biggrin.gif[/img]
I'm certainly willing to give the HK Overlord a shot. I haven't played with or against him, so I've just got to take all of the word that he's amazing.
As for Tez, it may take me some time to get around to acquiring one. Mostly due to the expense. So, during the interim, we can see how he does for everyone else. That could make a sway.

As for the cards still in the deck, nothing screams out to me for removal. We should probably think ahead about weak performers. The only thing that's been especially weak as of late is Planar Portal. It only really works with 12 mana open. 6 to cast, 6 to use. That's an expensive tutor. And, if you can't cast and tutor, it has a minuscule chance of surviving to be used (or used again). With those drawbacks, I'm starting to feel that PP may not be worthwhile anymore.

Only ever expect HKO to ever hit once. He doesn't even last until the next turn in a release event. Still, I think he's worth trying out and is a potential HOUSE if someone doesn't have removal in grip.

No removal dodge does hold him back a bit. The regeneration helps, but doesn't stop all the removal that's already there for Akroma, DS, and kin.

I wasn't trying to use that as a justification for non-inclusion. I was just stating the only real weakness he has.

Also, last night I dreamt Planar Portal was in my hand. I noticed the casting cost was only 2. I thought, damn I was wrong on that. Not so bad after all. Then I read further and found the activation cost was also 2.

Quote:

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Originally posted by kerbythepurplecow:
No removal dodge does hold him back a bit. The regeneration helps, but doesn't stop all the removal that's already there for Akroma, DS, and kin.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The fact that he does not dodge much removal (although some, like Rend Flesh, Eyeblight's Ending and such via regen) is not a reason alone not to play him. He ends games more quickly than Akroma.

Quote:

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No removal dodge does hold him back a bit. The regeneration helps, but doesn't stop all the removal that's already there for Akroma, DS, and kin.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Mine has yet to get past Aaron's stupid Terminate that he seems to have in hand EVERY time I play my Overlord.