A Planeswalker's Guide to SPPf (Magic: the Gathering)

[Kamotz]

yes but curse conveniently curves after vhati, so you can start destroying their dudes immediately. just playing damnation is probably better but w/e it's a perfectly sweet jank combo.

This^.

And like I said, Vhati is targeted, meaning he can tap to kill a specific creature and not just one of your own.

[the3rdH0kage]

I made a Rakdos deck!!!

[Kamotz]

I made a Rakdos deck!!!

Prove it! [/challenge initiated]

Rakdos is very good right now with people still reeling. The format is shifting from the slower control builds to a faster game.

[the3rdH0kage]

Challenge Accepted.

I wish I had Hellrider and Thundermaw Hellkite.

[D-World]

I heard someone won a GP with a self-mill reanimator with Chronic Flooding and Angel of Glory's Rise, then the players ranking from 2 to 15 were all rakdos.

[Kamotz]

That self mill is teched for Rakdos. I played against it last night with Naya and Bant and wrecked face.

Terminus and/or any counterspell stops any of the reanimation from occurring. Also, once you sideboard for it it's criminally under-prepared. Rest in Peace shuts it down completely.

[DucksGoMooful]

My Maelstrom Wanderer deck is up!

[the3rdH0kage]

I got the Selensya pre-con today. Din't get any extra packs though so I got the deck+2 packs. and rare were Cyclonic Rift (yay good card) and Mana Bloom (yay horrible card). I also spent 25 minutes organizing my local K-marts card section because it was absolutely atrocious. It looks awesome now.

[The Admiral]

I think I have everything I need for the Hydra deck, but I need to hash out the sideboard a little more. All I've got for that atm are four Tragic Slips (it runs Ultimate Price main board; Slip kills Aristocrat readily. I'm not sure how useful Victim of Night would be in it. I considered running a few Human Frailties in sideboard) and three Golgari Charms.

[Kamotz]

Victim of night is Great. Best instant-speed kill-spell in the format. It kills Thragtusk, Restoration Angel, Angel of Serenity, Thundermaw, Trostani, Centaur Healer, and Rhox Faithmender. The only creatures it doesn't kill are:

Vampire Nighthawk, Geralf's Messenger, Gravecrawler, Olivia Voldaren, Huntmaster of the Fells, and Falkenrath Aristocrat. That's it. And you don't want to be using a kill-spell on the Zombies anyway since they just come back. And the last three are immune to Ultimate Price too.

Human Frailty is crap.

[The Admiral]

Yeah, there are... like, no good targets for Human Frailty. It looks good on paper (a one-cost kill spell that boffs targets in the most common creature type?), but the targets are more easily managed by almost any other kill spell (Isn't the best human creature, like, Zealous Conscripts, whose biggest threat to the opponent occurs on cast?). Falkenrath doesn't take Slip well, as stated, but I'm not really sure what to do with Voldaren or Huntmaster.

So currently, sideboard of:
4x Tragic Slip
4x Victim of Night
3x Golgari Charm

[Kamotz]

Well. As a strategy you aren't really controlling the board. And you don't really care what they play. You just want to get primordial hydra and corpsejack menace out until you can swing or Essence Harvest for game.

[The Admiral]

Hm... also true, but I think I need a little bit of defense in there, since there are still some things that can bite me.

Also, it seems this standard is a spot... low on early game ramp (or am I just nuts/really missing Birds?). Mind, I have Arbor Elf and Farseek, so that's pretty good already.

[Kamotz]

Arbor elf. Avacyn's Pilgrim, Farseek, Deathrite Shaman. That's basically the Ramp right now. There's also Rangers Path, but its 4mana and doesn't really get as much done at that point in the game.

[niedude]

I posted a WB deck that also makes heavy use of Essence Harvest in the Rate section, be sure to check it out guys!

[palingensia]

human frailty is good for snapcaster and zealous conscripts but unfortunately killing them doesn't really do much of anything. also i'm not sure if 4x slip 4x victim is that good a sideboard; i can't think of a matchup where you'd want that much spot removal over, say, mutilate (assuming you're running a decent number of swamps). i'd definitely keep a couple of slips, as that card is fantastic, and maybe 1-2 victims i dunno. but if you can support victim easily i'd say just keep a couple of mutilates sideboarded instead. did you post a decklist anywhere?

[The Admiral]

human frailty is good for snapcaster and zealous conscripts but unfortunately killing them doesn't really do much of anything. also i'm not sure if 4x slip 4x victim is that good a sideboard; i can't think of a matchup where you'd want that much spot removal over, say, mutilate (assuming you're running a decent number of swamps). i'd definitely keep a couple of slips, as that card is fantastic, and maybe 1-2 victims i dunno. but if you can support victim easily i'd say just keep a couple of mutilates sideboarded instead. did you post a decklist anywhere?

Not yet. The only removal in main board is 4x Ultimate Price. Might sub in 2 Mutilates in sideboard and put at least 1 in main board. I have a small window of cards that I want to sub out in the mainboard that are currently being occupied by the Scavenge scorpions.

[Kamotz]

The issue is that there's not enough Swamp support for mutilate right now. He might be able to cast VoN, but he could do that off of a Forest and 2 Woodland Cemetary. Or a Forest, O-Tomb, and Cemetary. Just because you can hit the double black doesn't mean there will be enough to make Mutilate effective.

[palingensia]

a two colour deck with shocks and farseeks should have plenty of swamp support though.

[Kamotz]

It needs to be able to hit the double G early on, however. And you don't want to be hindering your own combo. I've played against this type of deck before, and it's much heavier in green.

[The Admiral]

If it gets out an O-Tomb and keeps an Arbor Elf in play for long enough, it's got double green. That said, my current land base is about 8, 8, and 4 Tombs (I pretty obsessively run 20 lands in a 60 card deck, which is probably a Bad Idea). Completely ignored Cemetery at the time, because you can't tutor it, Elf it, or count it for Mutilate. It's still a pretty good land, though, and I might sub them in somewhere.

[Kamotz]

20 lands is way too few...by about 3-4. You need the land to be able to play The hydra effectively. And so you can flashback Increasing Savagery.

Unless you're running Delver from last season's Standard, you probably need more lands.

[palingensia]

just add a playset of cemeteries and you'll be fine.

[The Admiral]

I think I could get away with three and hae a Mutilate in place of the fourth, as I only have a little wiggle room. Eh, this'll get fixed eventually.

Also, one (potential) new card was shown off by SCG. Seems okay... maybe a lot of micromanagement, though.

[palingensia]

there is an awful lot to keep in mind with that card but it seems like the mechanic has great potential.