Jank Squad is a blog where Treasure Coast Magic: the Gathering players chronicle our efforts to build and tune oddball Magic decks. We mainly play Standard and Commander. Contributors: Jake - lizardvvizard.tumblr.com Rebekah - seilka.tumblr.com
Finally got my hands on two Chandra, Pyromaster which I've been wanting to try out in this deck for a long time. My hope is that Chandra will A) help draw into Purphoros when I don't have him, B) help hit my devotion for Purphoros, and C) compliment the burn package to help keep opponents' weenies off the board.
The Chandra's Phoenix/Flames of the Firebrand package are also something of a new addition I'm trying out. Between Flames and Chandra herself, the Phoenix seems like it will recur fairly often, and it has nice synergy with the Battledriver and Purphoros. Flames replaces Anger of the Gods for now as my method of mass creature kill, though I'm still holding onto Mizzium Mortars in the side for larger problems.
The green mana in the land base is entirely for Selesnya Charm, which I'm relying on for the flying Gideons that have proven to be a thorn in my side. Now that I've got access to green, though, I could also see swapping Chandra for Xenagos if the Pyromaster doesn't end up pulling her weight.
This is the updated version of the deck I will be taking to this week's Standard events.
Creature (10)
3x Ogre Battledriver
3x Purphoros, God of the Forge
4x Young Pyromancer
Planeswalker (2)
2x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Instant (15)
2x Boros Charm
4x Lightning Strike
4x Magma Jet
3x Shock
2x Warleader's Helix
Sorcery (9)
3x Goblin Rally
3x Mizzium Mortars
3x Molten Birth
Land (24)
10x Mountain
6x Plains
4x Sacred Foundry
4x Temple of Triumph
Sideboard (15)
3x Anger of the Gods
3x Chained to the Rocks
2x Renounce the Guilds
2x Wear / Tear
1x Boros Charm
1x Skullcrack
1x Assemble the Legion
1x Hammer of Purphoros
1x Ogre Battledriver
The God's Girls deck is designed around abusing Purphoros, God of the Forge by making large numbers of tokens -- chiefly with Young Pyromancer; Molten Birth and Goblin Rally.
It is not typical for Purphoros to animate into a creature. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as the combo is harder to disrupt when he is just an indestructible enchantment rather than a creature.
Changes from the old list:
Hammer and Assemble are both way too slow for a lot of matchups, so I ditched them in the main for one each in the sideboard (for the control match). The extra maindeck slots let me fill out my burn package a little more. I also ditched the singleton Guildgate for another Mountain as the extra tapland was slowing me down more than it was helping.
The sideboard feels kind of messy right now, mostly because I don't have a good feel yet for what matchups I'll need help in. As I play the deck more I expect I'll snip some of those one-ofs for extra copies of whatever I really need.
Here's the deck I'm building for the new Standard. It's super fun, decently powerful and has some explosive turns where it wins almost out of nowhere. At the same time, it's also able to play the long game with powerful permanents that stick on the board and provide repeated incremental value.
Currently, the deck is almost done except for 2 more Purphoros / 2 Elspeth / 1 Hammer, and I'm using Boros Guildgates until I can find some Temples. Looking forward to my first chance to bring this to a Standard FNM and whomp face...
As I stated in a recent post, I just slapped together a Damia, Sage of Stone EDH deck, and I want to know what generals you guys use. What do the decks do? Is your general just there to enable the colors you want, or is it crucial to cast? MTG-Spot wants to know!
Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder — Monoblack tokens + sacrifice effects. Think of this as an (intentionally) poor man’s Ghave, Guru of Spores. The deck ramps lots of small bodies and sacrifices them for fun and profit. This is my attempt at building a self-limited deck that’s a bit more “fair” but can still stomp face.
Teneb, the Harvester — My longest-lived deck, this one’s over four years old and has stayed more or less the same despite many individual card changes. The deck is essentially 1 part reanimation spells, 1 part removal spells and 1 part stompies. Pretty straightforward rock/reanimator deck.
Karador, Ghost Chieftain — This is my most degenerate deck (although that’s qualified by the absurd lack of graveyard hate in my meta. You’d think people would tech against this given how hard this deck beats them, but… ). Karador is a dredge deck that aggressively mills itself, then combos out in one of a few different ways. I’ve intentionally limited this deck by not running any combo that can win the game by itself in less than four cards. Somehow, that hasn’t proven to be much of a handicap.
Prime Speaker Zegana — Zegana is built around blue/green enters-the-battlefield creatures. There are trace amounts of blink, more copious sources of repeatable bounce, and lots and lots of fun and powerful utility creatures to recur ad nauseum. This deck sometimes has trouble stabilizing in the early game, but given enough time to pull pieces together it’s very hard to beat.
Thraximundar — Grixis tribal Zombies. This deck usually plays one of two ways: it either explodes aggressively in turns 3-7 or it flounders and can’t draw gas. When people borrow my decks for a game, this is the one they borrow the most. If it weren’t for Anger and Torrent of Souls, I would strongly consider making Grimgrin the general of this deck instead.
I’m also currently working on a sixth deck, which will be monogreen Autumn Willow with a strong Auras theme.
I used to play Standard all the time, back before Digital Domain closed and I lost my regular work schedule, my slightly more stable income and the bulk of my playgroup. Then everybody moved away, I had to take the Wal-Mart job, and suddenly I wasn't free for very many evenings or weekends anymore. As a footnote to that, we had also had some problems for awhile with sexist douchebaggery in the shop, so I hadn't really been motivated to spend my few free evenings there.
Things are starting to change on that end, though, and the truth is I miss going to the shop two or three times a week. I have this deck I love, too -- the Bant Frights deck I've written about before -- and I know rotation is coming in another two months and I won't get to play it anymore. So when my work schedule changed at the last minute and I found myself free for Sunday Game Day, I jumped at the chance for what might very well be this deck's last hurrah.
My first round was against Azorius Control -- Syncopate, Think Twice, Azorius Charm, Day of Judgment, Snapcaster Mage, Sphinx's Revelation, Restoration Angel, AEtherling, etc. My deck is still fairly budget, so I walked into this match expecting to get pretty soundly beaten. As it happens, I gave my opponent -- a guy I know named Nick -- a decent run for his money, losing Game 1 when he only had one card left in his library. The close game had been grueling for both of us, and had taken a long time, so before we were more than a few turns into our second game we had a few people who'd finished their own matches coming over to watch.
Game 2 went even more surprisingly well for my janky little graveyard deck. I'd boarded in three Purify the Grave, and used them to fizzle a couple of his more crucial Snapcaster triggers. While the crowd around us grew, I was able to harass his removal suite enough to eventually stick a Kessig Cagebreakers and attack for close to 30 damage. I went on to lose Game 3 despite Nick getting stuck for lands in the beginning, but at this point the crowd had already decided my deck was the coolest thing they'd ever seen. One of the local judges -- a guy named Tim -- actually asked me for my decklist so he could build it.
This kind of experience -- doing a cool thing with my deck and getting recognition for it -- is a big part of what I enjoy about the game. The loss didn't bother me -- Nick would go on to win the event, so losing to him was almost a badge of honor. For me, it's all about playing a great game and showing off what I've made.
Of course, now the cat was out of the bag. Sitting down to Round 2, everybody in the shop knew what I was playing -- no more surprises from my clever little rogue deck. Instead it was my turn to see something new. My second round opponent was another local judge -- a guy named Matt -- playing a hilariously janky combo deck built around Faithless Looting, Past in Flames, Krenko's Command, Young Pyromancer, Battle Hymn, Goblin Electromancer and a singleton Burn at the Stake. Matt was able to go off Game 1 on his turn 5 -- my turn 4 -- and Burn at the Stake me for 66. Games 2 and 3 he didn't get his combo together fast enough and I was able to beat him pretty handily, but we both had a blast.
Round 3 I played against a new combo deck that's going around involving Nivix Cyclops, Artful Dodge and Boros Charm -- which together get you a 10/4 unblockable double-striker for a turn. Unfortunately (for my opponent) the combo relies pretty heavily on not seeing a single life gain card across the table, and my list was packing 3 Thragtusk, 3 Gnaw to the Bone and 3 Centaur Healer. So it was pretty easy for me to eat the 20-life swing and keep going.
After a quick 2-0, I let Judge Tim pilot my deck for a few casual games so he could see how it worked. We discussed the possibility of Unburial Rites for a few minutes (I explained I'd run a four-color version of the deck before and it just wasn't consistent enough -- Rites is great if you mill into it but frequently is wasted in your hand) before moving on to the final round.
Round 4 I played a guy named Mike piloting Jund. I knew my goofy little budget list just can't really keep up with Jund's tempo and card advantage engines, and Mike was able to give me a pretty unsurprising and decisive 2-0 beating. In the second game, he stuck Olivia Voldaren with the lands to abuse her, which my deck pretty much can't answer -- every win condition I've got, Olivia can steal before it has a chance to swing. I smiled and shook Mike's hand.
My 2-2 record was enough to get me into the top 8 -- with it three prize boosters and the Game Day promo, Goblin Diplomats. While the top 4 played an elimination bracket for the Champion playmat, I stepped out front with Mike and Matt so they could smoke a cigarette. We talked about the stuff that had been going on lately -- the sexism at the shop, the owner's announcement that things were going to change and bad sportsmanship of any kind wouldn't be tolerated, and the ugly argument I'd gotten into with one of the offenders over facebook. I said I was embarrassed it had gone down the way it had -- I'm not one for drama really -- but Matt and I agreed that at least now everything was out in the open. Mike asked if the sexism stuff really something I had a problem with, or just my girlfriend. I told him it was both. We talked about the problems in wider gamer culture, about the way Melissa DeTora was treated by other pro players, and about how abuse is cyclical. Matt said he and Judge Tim were looking at ways to change the local culture in our area, starting with putting more judges in more shops to keep an eye on things. I told him I thought that was good news.
All in all I had a wonderful experience at Game Day -- which I think I needed even more than I'd realized. I've told a few people now that before all the facebook mess hit the fan, I was one more bad experience away from walking away from the shop -- maybe the whole local Magic scene -- and not coming back. To go and play and just enjoy myself again was an immense relief, and kind of made me realize what I've been missing these last few months. With rotation on the horizon, it's almost time to build something new... and at last, I'm finally looking forward to it.
This is my initial approach to building a Standard black/red discard deck for the coming year. The list is rotation-ready and includes only cards from Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, Dragon's Maze and Magic 2014:
Sorry, I've not been posting.... ever... I need to update more on Jank-squad and have many ideas for my newest deck to be rather ridiculous. :) I shall post my latest Janky FNM deck up here soon! Looking forward to continuing and re-establishing myself at Standard events as well as continuing EDH League at our local Shop.
No matter who you are, what gender you may be, how long you have been playing MTG...
It is not okay to bulldoze other players, i.e. "speed things up" by skipping proper steps and playing formats in standard when your opponent is simply taking 10 more seconds to read their cards.
It is not okay to treat another gender as a lesser human being.
It is not okay to try to get the judge involved in such douchebaggery.
It is not okay to be a bully and tell others to "calm down" when they call you on your behavior.
It is not okay to treat anyone with disrespect.
Lately, I've met some real tossers. The ones that ogle you instead of paying attention to the game. The ones that decide they have already beaten you and start packing up before you have time to counter their spell, bulldozing over any rules or decision-making. (Which by the way, I won that match). The ones that try to get their fellow friends to gang up and bully and screw with you during a match. And the ones that can't take the same treatment, giving out their snide remarks and unable to take the verbal sparring or sarcasm back.
To those players that make the game fun, and light and energetic, I thank you. Whether you be male or female, you treat me and those around you with respect. You and I have an understanding of how we should treat one another and fellow humans. We can laugh at absurd combo's and trash talk each other in a teasing manner. It doesn't matter if we win or lose, but that we have fun. I salute you.
To the rest.... Take a leaf out of their book. It wouldn't hurt you to be more open and accepting of others that help to keep the game, the FNM's and the shops that support them alive.
Thanks for listening to the rant. Happy Magic-ing.
After some deliberation, I realized that while the four-color Frights build I was looking at was significantly better than the previous BUG version, I really wasn't getting a lot out of the black portion of the deck (Lotleth Troll, Unburial Rites, Dreg Mangler). As hard as it was to give up Unburial Rites in particular, ultimately I decided to trim black and go with a strictly Bant (GWU) build.
The build I brought to last night's Standard event looked like this:
4 Breeding Pool
4 Temple Garden
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Hinterland Harbor
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Glacial Fortress
2 Island
2 Forest
I managed to pilot the above list to a 3-2 record over the course of the night, earning me 10th place and two prize packs of Gatecrash. Not awful by any means -- the old BUG version used to go 2-2 most nights so this is marginally better -- and the deck feels a lot smoother now overall.
Restoration Angel was actually a fairly late addition, well after I was already running Thragtusk and Centaur Healer. Besides squeezing some extra life-gain out of those cards, the Angel can also help me dig deeper into my graveyard by blinking either of the Skaabs.
One major difference between this build and the BUG build is my preferred match-ups. The BUG version of the deck did alright vs. control but had a fairly bad match-up vs. aggro, and didn't get a whole lot better post-board. By contrast, the Bant build now has a fairly great matchup vs. aggro, being able to block most fast aggro decks early and gain tons of life to race when it needs to. I'm also not afraid to trade creatures with most aggro decks since every creature off the board is less steam for them and more bodies in my graveyard.
This is good news since my local meta tends to be fairly aggressive, especially with Burning-Tree Emissary decks being the flavor of the month right now. Unfortunately, my control match-up probably isn't as good as it used to be, so I'm looking for more ways to shore up that match-up.
Here's a work-in-progress list of what I'll probably be running on Thursday:
2 Dream Twist
4 Mulch
2 Tracker's Instinct
2 Gnaw to the Bone
4 Breeding Pool
4 Temple Garden
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Hinterland Harbor
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Glacial Fortress
2 Island
1 Forest
1 Plains
The biggest changes here are cutting Wasteland Viper and Screeching Skaab for Fog Bank, Borderland Ranger and Acidic Slime. These changes collectively give me an even better early game vs. aggro, as well as making me less susceptible to mana denial.
I also reintroduced Tracker's Instinct to the list, an all-around good card that gives me more options in the late game. With the loss of Ambush Viper and the addition of Borderland Ranger, I also feel comfortable dropping a Forest for a Plains in the mana base.
My main objective in the sideboard is to house answers I want to bring in against the decks I currently have the most problems with: Esper control, Junk Rites, and anything with Boros Reckoner. My first blush sideboard looks like this:
2 Acidic Slime
4 Fiend Hunter
3 Purify the Grave
3 Judge's Familiar
1 Gnaw to the Bone
2 Tracker's Instinct
I've been neglecting to post these for a bit, although I have not been neglecting to update my decks. Here's what's new.
Teneb, the Harvester
-1 Avenger of Zendikar
-1 Treasury Thrull
+1 Heartless Summoning
+1 Canker Abomination
Just a couple of quick swaps here. I've been meaning to put Avenger into Zegana for awhile, and I don't have enough copies to put it in everything. It's better for the other deck so it came out of this one. Meanwhile, Treasury Thrull just hasn't really been doing much for the deck since it went in (which is a shame since I have the pretty prerelease promo).
With Avenger of Zendikar out, there's very little reason anymore not to put Heartless Summoning back in. (It's less than great with Eternal Witness but that's the only mark against it.) Canker Abomination is also back in as I've missed being able to drop it as an early threat or blocker before my mana is really online. This deck's biggest issue has always been its top-heavy curve, and these two changes should help with that.
Karador, Ghost Chieftain
-1 Puppeteer Clique
-1 Sever the Bloodline
-1 Alaborn Zealot
-1 Genesis
-1 Loaming Shaman
Puppeteer Clique and Alaborn Zealot are out because they just haven't been doing what they need to. Sever the Bloodline is out because it's just too expensive for a flashback removal spell. Genesis and Loaming Shaman are out because I need them for Zegana, and because this deck just never really relies on them.
Morgue Thrull is a new inclusion here that I'm excited about -- an early drop that helps jump-start my dredging, and a handy target once Reveillark starts looping to mill into my real win conditions. Carrionette and Extractor Demon are new things I'm experimenting with, but I'm hopeful about both. Hex Parasite and Viridian Zealot are really placeholders for the time being, but more answers are never a bad thing. They probably ought to be Grand Abolisher and maybe True Believer, but I don't have access to those currently.
As one of my newer decks, Prime Speaker Zegana is still a bit rough around the edges, so there are still lots of small changes to be made.
Dungeon Geists, Voidwalk, Primordial Sage and Garruk's Horde are all cards I like a lot, but they just didn't seem to be doing enough here. Collective Voyage is out because I don't think I want to help my opponents accelerate (at least in this deck).
Omniscience and Cyclonic Rift are game-winners that help the deck's endgame immensely. Coiling Oracle is one of those iconic blue-green cards that I feel like I can't not-run in a deck like this. (There are a bunch of those, and I'm slowly figuring out which ones I actually can't do without.) Genesis and Loaming Shaman I have desperately needed for awhile to help me deal with mill decks. Avenger of Zendikar is a huge boon that makes my board position better and better each time it's recycled. And Soldevi Excavations is just a fun utility land I found to run in place of a basic land.
. . . . .
That's all for now! Trostani and Thraximundar have no substantive changes, and Rakdos is in such constant development that there's no point in going into details right now. Suffice it to say that I'm looking for more duel lands; more colorless creatures (including Eldrazi); more early damage sources; and more ways to end the game when I'm ahead.
I've been away from Standard for a few months now, but lately I've been really jonesing for a fix. So much so that I've thrown together a new riff on my old standby -- standard dredge (aka "Frights").
The twist this time? Four colors.
After some initial playtesting, here's the list I'm currently kicking around:
I've had this guy on the brain for a few days now, and I finally sat down this afternoon and threw together an initial draft of the deck. It's got a lot of things I like and a lot of things I don't, so it's safe to say I'll be doing quite a bit of tuning in the future.
The gods-eye view of the deck is a red-black beatdown strategy aimed abusing Rakdos's final ability to dump big stompies on the board for cheap. As a result, the deck is full of cheap ways to deal reliable damage each turn, plus a lot of game-breaking beaters to power out.
The deck's maiden voyage be at my next local Commander League event, a week from tomorrow, so I'm sure I'll have more ideas after that. For now though, here's the list.
Land (38)
1x Akoum Refuge
1x Barren Moor
1x Evolving Wilds
1x Forgotten Cave
1x Jund Panorama
12x Mountain
1x Polluted Mire
1x Rakdos Carnarium
1x Rakdos Guildgate
1x Smoldering Crater
1x Spinerock Knoll
13x Swamp
1x Tainted Peak
1x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Vesuva
Creature (26)
1x Artisan of Kozilek
1x Avatar of Woe
1x Blood Speaker
1x Bogardan Hellkite
1x Cryptborn Horror
1x Deathbringer Thoctar
1x Flametongue Kavu
1x Harvester of Souls
1x Horobi, Death's Wail
1x It That Betrays
1x Karplusan Minotaur
1x Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
1x Knollspine Dragon
1x Living Inferno
1x Magmatic Force
1x Moltensteel Dragon
1x Pathrazer of Ulamog
1x Reiver Demon
1x Rune-Scarred Demon
1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
1x Shriekmaw
1x Stalking Vengeance
1x Steel Hellkite
1x Stronghold Overseer
1x Stuffy Doll
1x Twisted Abomination
Artifact (14)
1x Everflowing Chalice
1x Helm of Possession
1x Loxodon Warhammer
1x Phyrexian Totem
1x Pristine Talisman
1x Quietus Spike
1x Rakdos Keyrune
1x Rakdos Signet
1x Spine of Ish Sah
1x Staff of Nin
1x Talisman of Indulgence
1x Trailblazer's Boots
1x Veinfire Borderpost
1x Whispersilk Cloak
Enchantment (7)
1x Bloodchief Ascension
1x Enslave
1x Magmatic Core
1x Phyrexian Arena
1x Polluted Bonds
1x Vicious Shadows
1x Vile Requiem
Planeswalker (2)
1x Chandra Nalaar
1x Chandra, the Firebrand
Sorcery (7)
1x Beacon of Unrest
1x Chain Reaction
1x Diabolic Tutor
1x Exsanguinate
1x Insurrection
1x Rise from the Grave
1x Syphon Mind
Instant (5)
1x Grab the Reins
1x Murder
1x Shattering Pulse
1x Terminate
1x Wrecking Ball
My gut feeling about this draft of the deck is that it's a bit light on creatures for what it's trying to do. Most of my Commander lists sit comfortably around the 30 creature mark, and this commander specifically wants a large volume of creatures in hand to power out.
Speaking of hand, I also think the deck is light on draw power, meaning it'll probably run out of steam once it dumps the first round of beaters on the table. Granted, sometimes I might be able to win right away if I can establish enough of an offensive early on, but sometimes I'm going to need ways to replenish my grip.
The three cards I'm probably most excited about at this point are Blood Speaker, Knollspine Dragon and Cryptborn Horror. Blood Speaker has some useful targets to search up, including Rune-Scarred Demon to tutor for whatever else I need. Meanwhile, the Dragon and the Horror let me capitalize instantly on big plays to either fill my hand or put a giant body on the board.
I'll let you guys know how the deck develops. Feel free to weigh in with suggestions!
I went back and forth about this. Canker Abomination is one of a small group of creatures that are low on the curve for this deck but have above-average power and toughness; they're around to give the deck a few more early plays so it's not quite so dependent on drawing into acceleration and/or reanimation. With that said, Canker Abomination itself just doesn't do enough, and I've been eyeing Lord of the Void for this deck since it was spoiled. In the end it was a pretty obvious replacement.
Prime Speaker Zegana:
-1 Island
-1 Forest
-1 Novijen, Heart of Progress
-1 Thragtusk
+1 Tree of Tales
+1 Winding Canyons
+1 Reliquary Tower
+1 Dungeon Geists
Zegana got some upgrades to her mana base this week: I finally got my hands on the third artifact land I needed for my Tezzeret package, and Winding Canyons and Reliquary Tower filled natural roles the deck wanted more of. I couldn't bring myself to cut more than two colored lands for these changes since the deck is starting to get a bit heavy on colorless lands, so Novijen, Heart of Progress got the boot.
On the creature side, I think Thragtusk probably doesn't do enough in a 40-life format to warrant a slot, no matter how hilarious it feels to recur it. I'm not 100% sold on Dungeon Geists as its replacement, but I'm going to try it out for awhile and see how I like it.
Karador, Ghost Chieftain:
-1 Revenant Patriarch
-1 Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
+/- Kagemaro, First to Suffer
+1 Alaborn Zealot
+1 Shambling Shell
Revenant Patriarch was intended to be a third copy of Spore Frog/Kami of False Hope, but it turns out paying five mana per turn to stop someone attacking at all isn't nearly as good as paying one mana per turn to just stop them attacking me. Vish Kal has been a longtime finisher for the deck, but after playing him a lot I've come around to the notion that he's just too much mana for what he does.
I experimented with Kagemaro briefly but ultimately decided he doesn't do enough in this deck.
I've been meaning to try out Alaborn Zealot in Karador for awhile, and I'm curious to see how she does. If I like her I'll probably bring in her cousin High Priest of Penance as well. Finally, Shambling Shell makes a much-needed return to the deck as yet another reliable dredge engine.
I've posted about this deck before on my other blog, but here it is again. Karador, Ghost chieftain is officially my favorite deck right now, and probably my best one.
While it's far from unbeatable, I find that it operates on a different paradigm than most people are used to dealing with in EDH (not relying on large creatures, being nearly impervious to removal and laughing outright at decks that have to attack to win). This makes it more challenging -- though not impossible -- for the average deck and player to answer.
The overall game-plan is to reach critical mass of small creatures in the graveyard, then profit. Besides Karador, the deck boasts some awesome recursion engines, including Genesis, Volrath's Stronghold and the ever-abusable Reveillark. While it can win in a variety of ways, typically it goes off either with Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord + something huge, or some giant multi-card Reveillark/Karmic Guide combo.
We started with my oldest Commander deck; Zegana is my newest. Actually, I've had some variation of the blue/x comes-into-play deck for about a year and a half, but it's changed colors and commanders quite a few times in that span. Most recently, it was a Wrexial, the Risen Deep deck, but I think this version might be here to stay seeing as it's both stronger and more fun.
The strategy behind this deck has two steps:
Get good enters-the-battlefield creatures.
Do silly things to exploit and re-exploit their enters-the-battlefield triggers.
