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Pranked
Posted On 10/19/2007 13:40:56
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Pranked!!
Last week Dan teased this lovable little fish. I’m sure many of you felt bad for poor little Sharkbait (that’s me). If you read you know that Dan made me think I was getting a roommate of the opposite gender and we all know what that means but alas he was only referring to the card Wild Pair. I feel so abused. To top it all off Dan was in the dumps most of the week and so he didn’t get around to feeding me as much as normal.
Don’t worry about me though. Nobody needs to call PETA or anything like that. I survived and am here again to give you all another one of Dan’s crazy concoctions.
For those of you who are new to my blogs here is the background. My name is Sharkbait and I’m a fish. You read it right a fish. My owner is a Magic The Gathering player who unfortunately rarely gets to play live games against live people (we live about 3 hours drive away from the nearest game that hosts a Friday Night Magic). He does however practice a lot. He does this mostly at work on Apprentice but sometimes against me. Basically, he shuffles up and deals out his seven and then works to build some combo.
My owner is kinda weird. He is always fascinated with some crazy combo. Even though he knows it isn’t close to a competitive deck he still plays around with it always believing that there is some sick degenerate combo that no one has played or posted on the net. He dreams of posting his creation and living vicariously through the players that chose to run with it.
In last week Pro Tour at Valencia Dan really felt he had posted a strong deck with the Cephalid Breakfast. His sideboard allowed him to transpose to a full out Life deck that was unphased by Leylines or Crypts. He scoured the info coming out of Valencia and found that one deck similar to his even made the Video Tech highlights. Thomas Refsdal piloted a very similar list and started out 8-0 but must have floundered after that because Dan can’t find any mention of him in later rounds. If any one out there (even Thomas himself) knows how he fared drop Dan a line at daneckstein@hotmail.com.
If you watch the video tech you see that Dan did have one piece of tech that Thomas and his team did not use. I have to agree with Dan, Phantasmagorian is a very good and necessary card in this deck. First of all it gives the Sutured Ghoul +6/ +6 which is as good or better than the overpriced Tarmogoyf gives. Secondly, it allows you to avoid the auto mulligan or auto loss you are faced with if you draw into your one Sutured Ghoul or any other singleton in you win condition. Just discard the card you need in the yard with two others and return the Phantasmagorian in your hand. If you watch the deck tech video Thomas even mentions this problem but doesn’t realize the solution.
As for the numbers Dan was really pleased with the Day 2 percentage of decks similar to his. TcgPlayers own Bill Stark reported that out of 11 Decks that would fall into this category 27.3 % made day two. This was the third highest from decks with at least 10 plus representatives. Behind only Gifts Rock and Counterbalance Goyf. I am a little confused on how a deck doesn’t make Day 1 though????
If you read last week you’ll know that Dan’s wife will be heading out of town for States weekend so he’ll be Mr. Mom for his two daughters instead of attending his local (3 hours away) tourney. That hasn’t stopped him from playing with the Standard environment.
If you read Dan blogs the week before the Pre-release you know that he really liked Glen Elendra Pranksters. No one else seemed really high on it but that’s Dan for ya.
The concept he is going for is to get a Glen Elendra Pranksters in play and then use two Mystic Snakes and / or a Mystic Snake and a Venser, Shaper Savant to have a repeatable hard counter every turn. Mix in some other counters and some creatures with flash so in later turns you can double hard counter. Eventually you can cast a Venser at the end of the opponents turn as a bouncer instead of a counter. Using this and Cryptic Command eventually your opponent has a empty field and you can swing with your Snakes and Vensers at their unprotected life points.
His deck looks like this. The title is a tribute to Spaniels quote “Note: Of Glen Elendra Pranksters ever did produce an album, it would probably be titled “Straight Up Jank” to match the quality of the card.”
Straight Up Jank
4 Glen Elendra Pranksters
3 Vedalken Aethermage
4 Mystic Snake
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
3 Cryptic Command
3 Cancel
4 Mystical Teachings
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Fertile Ground
4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Vivid Thicket
3 Vivid Creek
7 Island
6 Forest
When I first saw this list I had to scratch my Dorsal on a couple of entries. I don’t like the Fertile Ground. I would prefer to use a Gemhide Sliver to the enchantment but it does serve a purpose that creature accelerants can’t do. Give mana the turn it is played. If you can pay 2 and still have a land untapped you can put the Fertile on the open land and then tap it for two. Essentially only costing 1 mana to play.
I had to give a second look to Vedalken Aethermage as well. Until I realized that the Pranksters and others are all Wizards. It also flashes for some Prankster tricks later in the game.
So here are some hands that Dan played last night.
Hand One –Fertile Ground, Mystical Teachings, Forest (2), Mystic Snake, Llanowar Elves, Island
Turn 1 – Play Forest
Play Llanowar Elves
Turn 2 – Draw Cryptic Command
Play Island
Play Fertile Ground enchanting Island
Turn 3 – Draw Glen Elendra Pranksters
Play Forest
Play Glen Elendra Pranksters
Turn 4 – Draw Mystical Teachings
On opponents turn Play Mystic Snake
Turn 5 – Draw Wall of Roots
Play Wall of Roots
On opponents turn Play Cryptic Command returning Snake and Drawing Vedalken Aethermage
Turn 6 – Draw Vivid Creek
Play Vivid Creek
On opponents turn play Snake
Turn 7 – Draw Fertile Ground
Wizard Cycle Vedalken Aethermage for Venser, Shaper Savant
On opponents turn Play Venser returning Snake
Counter Cycle achieved.
Hand 2 – Terramorphic Expanse, Glen Elendra Pranksters (2), Cryptic Command, Forest, Vedalken Aethermage, Vivid Creek
Turn 1 – Play Terramorphic Expanse sac to fetch Island
Turn 2 – Draw Fertile Ground
Play Forest
Play Fertile Ground enchanting Island
Turn 3 – Draw Mystic Snake
Play Vivid Creek
Wizard Cycle Vedalken Aethermage to get Venser, Shaper Savant
Turn 4 – Draw Terramorphic Expanse sac to fetch Forest
Play Glen Elendra Pranksters
Turn 5 – Draw Llanowar Elves
Play Llanowar Elves
On Opponents Turn play Mystic Snake
Turn 6 – Draw Mystic Snake
On opponents Turn play Venser return Snake
Counter Cycle Achieved.
Hand 3 – Island, Cryptic Command (2), Vedalken Aethermage, Vivid Thicket (2), Glen Elendra Pranksters
Turn 1 – Play Vivid Thicket
Turn 2 – Draw Forest
Play Vivid Thicket
Turn 3 – Draw Wall of Roots
Play Island
Play Wall of Roots
Turn 4 – Draw Vivid Creek
Play Vivid Creek
Play Glen Elendra Pranksters
Turn 5 – Draw Island
On opponents turn play Cryptic Command Draw Birds of Paradise
Turn 6 – Draw Vivid Thicket
Play Forest
Wizard Cycle Vedalken Aethermage for Venser, Shaper Savant
On opponents turn play Venser
Turn 7 – Draw Birds of Paradise
Play Vivid Thicket
Play Birds of Paradise
On opponents turn play Cryptic Command returning Venser and Drawing Cryptic Command
Turn 8 – Draw Fertile Ground
Play Fertile Ground enchanting Island
On opponent turn play Venser
Turn 9 – Draw Island
Play Island
On opponents turn play Cryptic Command returning Venser and drawing Cancel
Turn 10 – Draw Mystic Snake
Counter Cycle Achieved. Making sure to play Snake first the Venser for the bounce.
Hand 4 – Mystical Teachings (2), Mystic Snake, Forest, Glen Elendra Pranksters, Llanowar Elves
Turn 1 – Play Forest
Play Llanowar Elves
Turn 2 – Draw Cryptic Command
Play Vivid Thicket
Turn 3 – Draw Island
Play Island
Play Glen Elendra Pranksters
Turn 4 – Draw Forest
Play Forest
On opponents turn play Mystic Snake
Turn 5 – Draw Island
Play Island
On opponents turn play Cryptic Command returning Snake and drawing Mystic Snake
Turn 6 – Draw Island
Counter Cycle Achieved
Hand 5 – Vedalken Aethermage, Fertile Ground, Venser Shaper Savant, Cryptic Command, Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves, Mystical Teachings
Mulligan
New hand 5 – Wall of Roots, Vivid Thicket, Birds of Paradise, Terramorphic Expanse, Mystic Snake, Mystical Teachings
Turn 1 – Play Vivid Thicket
Turn 2 – Draw Fertile Ground
Play Terramorphic Expanse sac to fetch Island
Play Birds of Paradise
Turn 3 – Draw Forest
Play Forest
Play Fertile Ground enchanting Island
Play Wall of Roots
Turn 4 – Draw Island
Play Island
Play Mystical Teachings to get Vedalken Aethermage
Wizard Cycle Vedalken Aethermage for Glen Elendra Pranksters
Turn 5 – Draw Birds of Paradise
Play Birds of Paradise
Play Glen Elendra Pranksters
Turn 6 – Draw Cryptic Command
On opponents turn play Mystic Snake
Turn 7 – Draw Vivid Thicket
Play Vivid Thicket
On opponents turn play Cryptic Command returning Snake and drawing Glen Elendra Pranksters
Turn 8 – Draw Mystical Teachings
Play Mystical Teaching to get Venser, Shaper Savant
On opponents turn play either Venser or Snake
Counter Cycle Achieved.
That is all Dan played tonight. I personally don’t know if this deck can play out at all. You’re more than welcome to try it out. I think that Guile would be a real fun win condition in this deck even though Dan built for the annoy pick pick method.
I remember seeing a recent poll asking what deck people hated playing against the most. Two of the choices where counter based decks and combo decks. In this case we have both.
The Pairing
In a fish’s life there are few things to look forward to. Mostly just food and the opposite Sex are the only reasons for breathing. The rest of my life is just swimming around watching my owner Dan live through his regular frustrations.
This week started out rough. If you’ve been following Dan was very excited about his Cubs making the playoffs and scoring tickets to game 3 and 4 in Wrigley. He has also been very excited about playing Extended with a couple of decks that where made for Speed if not resiliency. Both Dredge and Breakfast caught his attention and he built a couple of decks and was very excited about them.
Now things have gone awry for my loving provider.
First the Cubs got swept. Meaning he only got to see one game. You see the Cubs losing is no big deal to a true fan. They kind of expect it. But getting ripped out of a game at Wrigley that can make a man near suicidal.
Then Dan was hit with a realization. He’s spent the last two weeks building and testing for a format that probably won’t matter to him for quite some time. Sure he keeps checking to see if Wizards has announced the formats for next season’s Pro Tour Qualifiers. Knowing Dan’s luck there won’t be an Extended format this year at all. In fact it’ll probably be all about drafting and sealed.
The final piece of bad news came from his wife. Her job has called her to a convention in New Orleans. That normally isn’t a big deal since does not mind playing Mr. Mom for their two kids (age 2 and 5). This trip however hits on a really bad weekend. States weekend. So for the 4th time in the 6 years Dan has been playing Magic The Gathering he will be forced to miss his favorite tournament of the year.
During his Melancholy Dan played a cruel trick on your faithful narrator. All week long he hinted to me that he was looking for me a Pair. In fact he said he was looking in the Wild for one. I started having extreme fantasies about some Tropical little Angel Fish landing in my bowl. I knew that I would have to impress her so I started working out a bit extra and watching what I ate. I was all prepare for my life having more that just food and cards.
And then Dan shows up with this deck and I all most turned over right there. You see he wasn’t talking about a Pair for me. Nor was he talking about the Wild outside the bowl. He was talking about Wild Pair.
Big Pair
4 Wild Pair
4 Ohran Viper
4 Grinning Ingus
4 Wall of Roots
2 Radha, Heir to Keld
2 Timbermare
4 Magus of the Vineyard
2 Primal Forcemage
4 Bogardan Hellkite
4 Avalanche Riders
4 Coalition Relic
8 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Karplusan Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
I was rather disappointed in this build of Dan’s. He normally builds in more redundancy in his combos. This list looks like an all are nothing build where the all is very fragile. But still he did shuffle it up a few times. Here were the results.
Hand 1
Wild Pair, Forest (2), Mountain, Grove of the Burnwillows, Grinning Ingus, Primal Forcemage
Turn 1 – Play Forest
Turn 2 – Draw Magus of the Vineyard
Play Mountain
Play Magus of the Vineyard
Turn 3 – Draw Wall of Roots
Play Forest
Play Grinning Ingus (using GG from Magus and R from Mountain)
Play Wall of Roots (using GG from 2 Forest)
Turn 4 – Draw Karplusan Forest
Play Grove of the Burnwillows
Play Wild Pair (using GG from Magus, G from Wall of Roots, GGR from basic lands)
“I wish I had one more mana Sharkbait. Then I would beat you this round. Still I’ll make you be one less mana on your next turn.”
Return Grinning Ingus to hand (using R from Grove, +1 life for Sharkbait) –RRR in pool
Play Ingus (using RRR from the return)
Search library and put Avalanches Rides into play (via Wild Pair)
Attack with Riders (when attacking Dan assumes half damage in most cases. – 1 for Sharkbait.)
Turn 5 – Avalanche Riders dies to not paying the Echo
Draw Bogardan Hellkite
Play Karplusan Forest
Return Grinning Ingus to hand (R from Mountain) –RRR in pool
Play Ingus (using R and GG from Magus) – RR in pool
Search Library and put second Grinning Ingus in play (Wild Pair)
Use RR to return both Grinning Ingii* to hand. – RRRRRR in pool
Play Grinning Ingus
Search Library and put third Ingii in play (Wild Pair)
Use RR to return both to hand – RRRRRRR in pool
Play Grinning Ingus
Search Library and put forth Ingii in play (Wild Pair)
Use RR to return to hand – RRRRRRRR in pool
Play Grinning Ingus
Search library and put Primal Forcemage in play – RRRRR
Use R to return Ingus – RRRRRRR
Play Ingus
Put Bogardan Hellkite in play since Ingus is a 5 / 5 after the Forcemage bonus.
Hellkite deals 5 to Sharkbait – RRRR
Use R to return Ingus – RRRRRR
Play Ingus
Hellkite in play – 5 to Sharkbait – RRR
Use R to return Ingus – RRRRR
Play Ingus
Hellkite in play – 5 to Sharkbait – RR
Play Primal Forcemage from hand (using G from Forest and RR)
Search and play Timbermare.
Attack with 11 / 11 Timbermare (5 / 5 plus two +3 / +3 bonuses from Forcemages)
“I think that’s enough damage Sharkbait.”
Hand 2
Timbermare, Magus of the Vineyard, Grove of the Burnwillows, Primal Forcemage, Karplusan Forest, Forest, Bogardan Hellkite
Turn 1 – Play Forest
Play Magus of the Vineyard
Turn 2 – Draw Avalanche Riders
Play Grove of the Burnwillows
Play Avalanche Rider (+1 life for Sharkbait)
“Land Destruction on turn two should set you back a little.”
Attack with Riders (-1)
Turn 3 – Riders dies to no Echo cost
Draw Grinning Ingus
Play Primal Forcemage
Turn 4 – Draw Radha, Heir to Keld
Play Timbermare
Attack for 8 / 8 ( Sharkbaits life is at 12)
Turn 5 –Timbermare dies
Draw –Grove of the Burnwillows
Play Grove of the Burnwillows
Play Grinning Ingus (+1)
Play Radha, Heir to Keld
Turn 6 – Draw Grinning Ingus
Use R from Karplusan to Return Ingus to hand –RRR
Play Bogardan Hellkite – 5 to Sharkbait (8 life)
Turn 7 – Draw Magus of the Vineyard
Play Both Grinning Ingus (+1)
Attack with Hellkite (6 life)
Turn 8 – Draw Grove of the Burnwillows
Attack with Hellkite (3 life)
Turn 9 – Draw Ohran Viper
Attack with Hellkite (0 life)
“That was slow.”
Hand 3
Bogardan Hellkite, Wall of Roots (2), Grinning Ingus, Karplusan Forest, Avalanche Riders, Forest
Mulligan
Mountain, Primal Forcemage, Magus of the Vineyard, Ohran Viper, Karplusan Forest, Mountain
Turn 1 – Play Karplusan Forest
Play Magus of the Vineyard
Turn 2 – Draw Forest
Play Mountain
Play Ohran Viper
Turn 3 – Draw Coalition Relic
Play Forest
Play Coalition Relic
Attack with Viper (assumed Block)
Turn 4 – Draw Forest
Attack with Viper (Draw Wall of Roots)
Play Forest
Play Wall of Roots
Play Primal Forcemage
Turn 5 – Draw Avalanche Riders
Play Avalanche Riders
Attack with Viper and Riders (assume Block)
Play Mountain
Turn 6 – Riders Dies
Draw Bogardan Hellkite
Play Hellkite (14)
Turn 7 – Draw Forest
“That’s enough, too much mana Sharkbait. You win that one”
Like I said earlier Dan is very frustrated this week. He just didn’t have any more patience for this deck. I think part of the problem is the fact he was winning by turn 3 the last two weeks. That and the fact that his deck was built around one card that he had no way to tutor for.
I don’t know what he’ll do next week. Without a States to prepare for it could be just about anything.
A Side of Life Cereal
Sharkbait here again. If you haven’t been following you can check out my recent blogs. This fish doesn’t know how to link but feel free to go to my page and check ‘em out.
http://my.tcgplayer.com/blog/view/id_517/
http://my.tcgplayer.com/blog/view/id_446/
http://my.tcgplayer.com/blog/view/id_380/
The deal is this. My owner (Dan) is a magic enthusiast. Though he doesn’t get a chance to truly compete very much he loves the game. His favorite thing to do is play around with combo’s and tweak them till they purr. Recently he’s been playing around with the Extended environment. I don’t know why he’s trying to break a format that he won’t be playing (didn’t even get to attend a PTQ for Valencia) but that what he’s been working on.
With States coming up I am pretty sure he’ll switch over to Post Lorwyn standard soon. I can only say I’m pretty sure since he won’t be able to attend States this year. This time it’s his wife’s job that’s getting in the way. She’ll be partying in New Orleans while he’s stuck at home with me, the cat, and his two kids. He’s not bitter though since he loves his kids and this weekend he’s going to Chicago to see the Cubs play. I personally hope that the win since he always feeds me a little bit more when he’s in a good mood.
In the last two weeks Dan has played around with a Dredge deck and a deck he called Breakfast. The Dredge deck was pretty close to what’s been flying around the net but without any of the security precautions used by others. While he liked the big explosions he was wholly dissatisfied with the high amount of mulliganing and the occasional strike out that can happen. Dredge just isn’t consistent enough for a real tournament test and it gets worse if there is any hate in the meta. Who doesn’t pack hate for Graveyard strategies?
The last week he played around with a deck he called Breakfast. He told me that he had search for a comparable deck but never found a full list. All he heard mentioned out there was a passing reference to the main combo. (Shuko plus Cephalid Illusionist to dump entire deck in the yard and then use the same staple cards of Narcomoeba and Dread Return to make a win condition.) He took that as a good sign since people don’t talk about decks they think can win unless they’re not playing.
I’ve been able to peek at Dan’s laptop to see that at least 3 people who will be competing in Valencia have posted a Dredge list but no one has posted a Breakfast list (I am sure there is a conspiracy to keep the deck hidden). No one has posted Mono White Control either but that doesn’t mean it’s any good.
Speaking as a fish I found the Breakfast deck to be fast and consistent. It does have issue against certain cards and it has the same hate issues that Dredge has. And that is where I found Dan this week. What could he do to handle the hate? He played with a lot of avenues and every thing he tried slowed the deck down to much. He had 13 slots in the board to play with and I thought that someone out there in MTG land would help but no one commented anything. (See the Pro conspiracy mentioned earlier).
So Dan came up with an idea. But I’ll just let him tell you by relaying what he said to me.
“Sharkbait, I think I figured it out. Driving home today I was stuck behind this huge piece of farm equipment that I couldn’t pass. And I thought to myself that this is like my sideboard issue with Breakfast. No matter what I do it just slows me down. So I started think about taking a different road and then I realized that I need to take a different road with my deck.”
I looked at him with my best confused face and he continued.
“I need a transformational sideboard. That means by switching a major portion of my deck out with sideboard I turn into a completely different strategy that my opponent won’t be prepared for. And all the hate that they boarded in would be dead space in there deck instead of my anti hate being dead or useless in mine.”
Okay, I get the transformer thing but to what?
“Life is the answer. Think about it the whole Shuko/ Cephalid combo could be a Daru Spiritualist/ Shuko combo. I just have to switch out the graveyard enablers for a little land search/ Condemn and some way to keep from decking out (Purity, Vigor, Darksteel Colossus).”
If you didn’t see last weeks here is his original list.
Fish for Breakfast
1 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
4 Flooded Strand
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
4 Polluted Delta
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Street Wraith
1 Sutured Ghoul
4 Narcomoeba
1 Krosan Cloudscaper
2 Phantasmagorian
1 Outrider en-Kor
3 Cephalid Illusionist
4 Chrome Mox
4 Shuko
2 Dread Return
3 Steelshaper’s Gift
4 Living Wish
1 Dragon Breath
4 Eladamri’s Call
Sideboard
1 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Outrider en-Kor
13 Help wanted Ads
Now it is this
Fish for Breakfast with a Side of Life Cereal.
3 Flooded Strand
4 Windswept Heath
3 Polluted Delta
2 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Starlit Sanctum
2 Temple Garden
3 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Outrider en-Kor
4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Phantasmagorian
1 Sutured Ghoul
4 Street Wraith
4 Narcomoeba
1 Krosan Cloudscraper
2 Dread Return
3 Steelshaper’s Gift
4 Living Wish
4 Eladamri’s Call
1 Dragon Breath
4 Chrome Mox
4 Shuko
Sideboard
1 Darksteel Colossus
3 Sylvan Scrying
4 Condemn
4 Daru Spiritualist
1 Outrider en-Kor
1 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Starlit Sanctum
He sides out a total of 11 cards when anticipating graveyard hate. Which is pretty much any deck that isn’t Dredge. These are his switches.
+1 Darksteel Colossus
+3 Sylvan Scrying
+4 Condemn
+3 Daru Spiritualist- Leaving one for a Living Wish Target
-1 Sutured Ghoul
-1 Dragon Breath
-2 Narcomoeba
-2 Phantasmagorian
-2 Dread Return
-3 Cephalid Illusionist
I am surprise Dan plays against me tonight. His Cubs just lost the second game and now must win to stay alive against the D-backs. So I guess Spaniel got one thing right in his set review.
Here are some of the hands Dan played. He is assuming that he will be on the draw in most of his game 2’s.
Hand 1 – Living Wish, Daru Spiritualist, Condemn, Chrome Mox, Windswept Heath, Polluted Delta, Steelshaper’s Gift.
Turn 1 – Draw Condemn
Play Windswept Heath sac it to fetch Temple Garden untapped.
Play Chrome Mox imprinting Condemn.
Play Daru Spiritualist
Turn 2 – Draw Temple Garden
Play Temple Garden untapped
Play Steelshaper’s Gift fetching Shuko
Play Shuko
Equip Shuko to Daru Spiritualist and repeat until Daru Spiritualist reaches a sufficiently large amount. Dan normally says 92,101,121,005. That’s the digits of his daughters birthdays.
Attack with Daru Spiritualist.
Play Condemn targeting the Spiritualist
Hand 2 – Living Wish, Condemn, Breeding Pool, Street Wraith, Condemn, Starlit Sanctum, Shuko.
Turn 1 – Draw Simian Spirit Guide
Cycle Street Wraith – Draw Condemn
Play Breeding Pool untapped
Remove Simian Spirit Guide from the game for R mana
Play Living Wish fetching Daru Spiritualist
Turn 2 – Draw Simian Spirit Guide
Play Starlit Sanctum
Play Shuko
“We need a white mana, Sharkbait.”
Turn 3 – Draw Chrome Mox
“That’ll do fish, That’ll do.”
Play Chrome Mox imprinting Condemn
Play Daru Spiritualist
Turn 4 – Draw Windswept Heath
Equip and Repeat as listed above
Sac to Starlit Sanctum for infinite life.
“That would have been one turn faster with a fetch land instead of Breeding Pool.”
Hand 3 – Daru Spiritualist, Shuko, Flooded Strand, Condemn, Chrome Mox, Daru Spiritualist, Sylvan Scrying.
Turn 1 – Draw Temple Garden
Play Flooded Strand sac to fetch Temple Garden untapped
Play Chrome Mox imprinting Daru Spiritualist
Play Daru Spiritualist
Turn 2 – Draw Sylvan Scrying
Play Temple Garden tapped
Play Shuko
Equip and Repeat
Attack
Play Condemn
Hand 4 – Simian Spirit Guide, Chrome Mox, Simian Spirit Guide, Eladamri’s Call, Flooded Strand, Windswept Heath, Chrome Mox.
Mulligan
Eladamri’s Call, Condemn, Windswept Heath, Simian Spirit Guide, Living Wish, Steelshaper’s Gift
Turn 1 – Draw Sylvan Scrying
Play Windswept Heath sac to fetch Temple Garden untapped
Remove Simian Spirit Guide from the game for R mana
Play Living Wish to fetch Daru Spiritualist
Turn 2 – Draw Sylvan Scrying
Play Steelshaper’s Gift fetching Shuko
Turn 3 – Draw Condemn
Play Shuko
“I need some mana!”
Turn 4 – Draw Krosan Cloudscaper
Turn 5 – Draw Condemn
Dan gives up here. Looking at his deck it’s 6 more draws before he hits a mana source and it’s Starlit Sanctum.
“That’s the definition of mana screw there Sharkbait. You win that one.”
Hand 5 – Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Breeding Pool, Steelshaper’s Gift, Flooded Strand, Windswept Heath, Shuko
Mulligan
Living Wish, Windswept Heath, Polluted Delta, Temple Garden, Narcomoeba, Sylvan Scrying
Turn 1 – Draw Simian Spirit Guide
Play Windswept Heath sac to fetch Temple Garden untapped
Remove Simian Spirit Guide from the game for R
Play Living Wish fetching Daru Spiritualist
Turn 2 – Draw Steelshaper’s Gift
Play Polluted Delta sac to fetch Hallowed Fountain
Play Sylvan Scrying to fetch Starlit Sanctum
Turn 3 – Draw Street Wraith
Cycle Street Wraith – Draw Flooded Strand
Play Flooded Strand sac to fetch Breeding Pool untapped
Play Daru Spiritualist
Play Steelshaper’s Gift fetching a Shuko
Turn 4 – Draw Shuko
Play Starlit Sanctum
Play Shuko
Equip and Repeat
Sac Daru Spiritualist to Starlit Sanctum.
That’s all the hands he played tonight. Dan seems really pleased with his Side of Life Cereal. I think he could make some single card changes like maybe switching a Narcomoeba in his main for one of his sideboard cards. Making room for an extra Steelshaper’s Gift or Sylvan Scrying. Even Mishra’s Bauble might make the combo more likely to occur but what do I know? I’m just a fish.
A Fishes Breakfast
Hello and welcome to Fish Fodder. My name is Sharkbait and I’m a fish. You read it right a fish. My owner is a Magic The Gathering player who unfortunately rarely gets to play live games against live people. He does however practice a lot. He does this mostly at work on Apprentice but sometimes against me. Basically, he shuffles up and deals out his seven and then works to build some combo.
My owner is kind of weird. He is always fascinated with some crazy combo. Even though he knows it isn’t close to a competitive deck he still plays around with it always believing that there is some sick degenerate combo that no one has played or posted on the net.
So why am I talking you? First of all a talking fish isn’t exactly normal. But going beyond your hallucinations I am here to tell you what I see when my owner plays. I seriously doubt that his combo’s will warrant the attention of the Spikes of the world. But maybe a Johnny or two may appreciate what he has built.
Something is awry in my household. Dan (that’s my owner) is actually trying to be competitive. He’s all fired up trying to find the fastest kill in Extended. Last week he toyed around with the Hot deck right now. Dredge. While he did get some explosive hands which I’ve already highlighted for you in my last installment he walked away unsatisfied. In Dan’s eyes Dredge is like a Homerun hitter that is just as likely to strikeout as to get a hit. Sure everyone remembers when he jacks it over but look at the number of times he lets his team down.
This evening Dan comes in and said “How would like some Breakfast Sharkbait?” I was a little perplexed since it was about 9:00 pm but I did get some food sprinkled in my bowl. So I commence to eat while Dan blabbers on about this new deck he’s found. I don’t really pay attention very well while I’m eating but here’s a few snips.
“…. Haven’t really seen it anywhere. That lead’s me to think that the Pro’s are ….”
“ … isn’t really my normal deck since it’s so easy to ……”
“ …. Might see some Spell Snare issues but …….
“…. It even has a turn one kill. Consistently faster than TEPS and basically as fast as…..”
‘… The sideboard is a wishboard plus room for …..”
Sounding promising to me but I had to wait for Dan to finish dinner. The Cubs game is on tonight and he often shuffles a few practice hands during baseball games.
Here is the deck that he has right now.
Fish for Breakfast
1 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
4 Flooded Strand
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
4 Polluted Delta
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Street Wraith
1 Sutured Ghoul
4 Narcomoeba
1 Krosan Cloudscaper
2 Phantasmagorian
1 Outrider en-Kor
3 Cephalid Illusionist
4 Chrome Mox
4 Shuko
2 Dread Return
3 Steelshaper’s Gift
4 Living Wish
1 Dragon Breath
4 Eladamri’s Call
Sideboard
1 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Outrider en-Kor
13 Help wanted Ads
Let’s look at some of his practice and comments.
Hand 1-
Simian Spirit Guide (2), Chrome Mox, Temple Garden, Shuko, Street Wraith, Windswept Heath. “I need to get the Ceph. This is a mulligan hand but let’s if cycling the Wraith would have been lucky.” Dan looks at the next card. It’s Eladamri’s Call. “That would have been a turn three.”
Mulligan
Chrome Mox (2), Shuko, Eladamri’s call, Sutured Ghoul, Polluted Delta
Turn 1 – Play Delta, sac to fetch Temple Garden
Play Shuko
Turn 2 – Draw Flooded Strand
Play Strand sac to fetch Breeding Pool
Play Call to fetch Cephalid Illusionist
Turn 3 –Draw Flooded Strand
Play Cephalid
Equip Shuko to Ceph (Heath, Narco, Shuko discarded Narco to play)
Repeat until another Narco is in play, 20 + toughness is in the yard, Dread Return is in the yard, Dragon breath is in the yard and Phantasmagorian is in the yard.
Discard Mox (2) and Sutured Ghoul to put Phantasmagorian in his hand.
Sac Narco’s for Dread Return targeting Sutured Ghoul.
Remove creatures for Sutured Ghoul to be a 23/26.
Dragon Breath attaches to Ghoul.
Attack.
Hand 2
Steelshaper’s Gift, Eladamri’s Call, Narcomoeba, Windswept Heath, Living Wish, Cephalid Illusionist, Simian Spirit Guide. “It’s a little land light but let’s try it out.”
Turn 1 – Play Heath sac for Hallowed Fountain
Play Steelshaper’s Gift to fetch Shuko
Turn 2 – Draw Breeding Pool
Play Breeding Pool
Play Ceph
Remove Simian from the game for R.
Play Shuko
Equip and Repeat
Attack
Hand 3
Simian Spirit Guide, Shuko, Cephalid Illusionist, Dragon Breath, Chrome Mox, Eladamri’s Call, Wooded Foothills. “Check it out Sharkbait. This rocks! I love this deck!!!”
Turn 1 – Play Wooded Foothills sac to fetch Breeding Pool
Play Chrome Mox imprinting Eladamri’s Call
Play Cephalid Illusionist
Remove Simian Spirit Guild from the game for R
Play Shuko
Equip and Repeat.
Attack
That’s right Dan just pulled of a turn 1 kill on the play. I don’t think his Dredge deck could do that with its God hand.
Hand 4
Dragon Breath, Wooded Foothills, Shuko, Eladamri’s Call, Windswept Heath, Simian Spirit Guide, Living Wish
Turn 1 – Play Foothills and sac it to fetch Breeding Pool
Remove Simian from the game for R.
Play Living Wish for Cephalid Illusionist
Turn 2 – Draw Narcomoeba. “A Mox would have been nicer”
Play Windswept Heath sac to fetch Temple Garden - tapped
Play Shuko
Turn 3 – Draw Sutured Ghoul “I’m glad I put Phantasmagorian in here”
Play Cephalid Illusionist
Equip and Repeat
Before playing Dread Return via Flashback discard Narco, Ghoul, and Breath to return Phantasmagorian to hand
Attack
Hand 5
Shuko, Street Wraith (2), Windswept Heath (2), Temple Garden, Cephalid Illusionist
Turn 1 – Play Heath and sac to fetch Breeding Pool
Cycle Street Wraith – Draw Dread Return
Cycle Street Wraith – Draw Wooded Foothills
Play Shuko
Turn 2 – Play Heath and sac to fetch Hallowed Fountain
Play Cephalid Illusionist
Equip and Repeat
Attack
“That went well. Didn’t it Sharkbait? So much better and more consistent that that Dredge deck from the other night. I wasn’t very much work either. It all most plays itself. What’s weird is that I haven’t really seen a list for this anywhere. I caught some players making a reference to it but no one seems to be putting up a list. That would meant it either total jank or secret tech. Don’t look at me like that I know it’s probably jank.”
Awwww man, the Cubs lost again. That’ll put Dan in a bad mood. Apparently he’s going to stay up for Sportscenter to see how the Brewers did. So we get to see a couple of bonus hands.
Hand 6
Flooded Strand (2), Windswept Heath, Phantasmagorian, Steelshaper’s Gift, Shuko, Eladamri’s Call
Turn 1 Play Windswept Heath sac to get Temple Garden
Play Shuko
Turn 2 Draw – Shuko
Play Flooded Strand sac to fetch Hallowed Fountain
Play Eladamri’s Call to get Cephalid Illusionist
Turn 3 Draw – Street Wraith
Play Cephalid Illusionist
Equip and Repeat
Attack
Hand 7
Hallowed Fountain, Simian Spirit Guide, Shuko, Chrome Mox, Living Wish, Wooded Foothills, Street Wraith.
Turn 1 Play Wooded Foothills sac to fetch Breeding Pool
Play Chrome Mox imprinting Street Wraith
Play Living Wish to fetch Cephalid Illusionist from Sideboard
Turn 2 Draw – Chrome Mox
Play Hallowed Fountain
Play Cephalid Illusionist
Play Shuko
Equip and Repeat
Attack
Well there’s some good news the Brewers lost as well. I am happy there playing games that matter to both teams now. Maybe the Cubs will just back there way into the playoffs. Not that Dan will take me to Chicago with him.
Dredging for the Bottom Feeders
Hello and welcome to Fish Fodder. My name is Sharkbait and I’m a fish. You read it right a fish. My owner is a Magic The Gathering player who unfortunately rarely gets to play live games against live people. He does however practice a lot. He does this mostly at work on Apprentice but sometimes against me. Basically, he shuffles up and deals out his seven and then works to build some combo.
My owner is kinda weird. He is always fascinated with some crazy combo. Even though he knows it isn’t close to a competitive deck he still plays around with it always believing that there is some sick degenerate combo that no one has played or posted on the net.
So why am I talking you? First of all a talking fish isn’t exactly normal. But going beyond your hallucinations I am here to tell you what I see when my owner plays. I seriously doubt that his combo’s will warrant the attention of the Spikes of the world. But maybe a Johnny or two may appreciate what he has built.
Something is awry in my household. Dan (that’s my owner) is actually trying to be competitive. He’s all fired up trying to find the fastest kill in Extended. This week he has actually worked on two different decks. The first I am sure you have seen around a lot lately. In fact, I would guess that if I asked you what the fastest deck in Extended right now is you would probably answer… DREDGE!
Dan played around a little with some different cards on Sunday. He finally settled on the following list.
4 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Godless Shrine
2 Watery Grave
2 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
2 Cephalid Sage
2 Flame-Kin Zealot
4 Golgari Grave Troll
3 Golgari Thug
3 Ichorid
4 Narcomoeba
4 Putrid Imp
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Street Wraith
2 Tireless Tribe
4 Breakthrough
4 Careful Study
3 Chrome Mox
3 Dread Return
This is the problem with playing against a fish. Dan doesn’t feel he needs the protection of Cabal Therapy or Chain of Vapor that you would see in most builds. Any way a few of his hands went like this.
Hand 1
Putrid Imp(2), Careful Study, Polluted Delta, Bridge form Below, Golgari Thug, Street Wraith.
Turn 1 – Play Delta,
Sac to fetch Watery Grave,
Play Imp,
Discard Thug,
Cycle Wraith,
Replace Draw with Dredge 4 for Thug (Delta, Tribe, Study, Sage)
Discard Thug.
Turn 2 –Draw Stinkweed Imp, Discard Stinkweed Imp
Play Study,
Dredge 5 for Imp (Narcomoeba –to play- Stinkweed, Breakthrough, Ichorid, Wraith),
Dregde 4 for Thug ( Thug, Dread, Narco – to play- Wraith)
Discard Thug, Stinkweed, Bridge.
Sac Putrid, Narco (2) to play Dread Return targeting Sage. (3 tokens).
Dredge 5 for Stink (Breakthrough, Coliseum, Troll, Strand, Stinkweed)
Dredge 6 for Troll (Grave, Coliseum, Putrid, Mox, Shrine, Troll),
Dredge 6 for Troll (Breakthough, Narco – to play-, Sage, Flame-Kin, Coliseum, Inchorid),
Discard two Trolls.
– “I can’t believe I didn’t hit a Dread Return in there. Half the cards are in the yard and I can’t find one Dread!” was all Dan could say.
Turn 3 – Dredge 6 for Troll (Troll, Tribe, Stink, Bridge, Flame-kin, Ichorid).
After that Dan starts flipping groups of 6 cards. Turns out it would take 2 more turns before a Dread Return landed in the Yard.
Hand 2
Stinkweed Imp(2), Breakthrough, Putrid Imp, Careful Study, Ichorid, Bridge from Below
Mulligan
Cephalid Coliseum (2), Bridge from Below, Tireless Tribe, Golgai Grave Troll, Stinkweed Imp
Mulligan again
Careful Study, Golgari Grave Troll, Narcomoeba, Flooded Strand, Ichorid
Turn 1- Play Flooded Strand,
Sac to fetch and play untapped Watery Grave,
Play Study
Draw Thug and Breakthrough
Discard Troll and Thug
Turn 2 – Dredge 6 for Troll (Wraith, Breakthrough, Bridge, Putrid, Bridge, Wraith)
Play Breakthrough –
Dredge 4 for Thug (Mox, Troll, Zealot, Dread)
Dredge 6 For Troll (Tribe, Dread, Bridge, Breakthrough, Wraith, Coliseum)
Draw Study and Stinkweed
Discard hand
Turn 3 – Remove Wraith to bring Ichorid to play
Dredge 6 for Troll (Tribe, Sage, Putrid, Sage, Troll, Study)
Swing with Ichy (Assumes that Opponent wouldn’t block since that would make for an easy Dread Return of Cephalid Sage)
End of Turn Ichy Dies leaving 9 Tokens
Turn 4 – Remove Wraith to bring Ichorid to play
Dredge 6 for Troll (Bridge, Stink, Mox, Ichorid, Narco – to play- Breakthrough)
Sac Narco and Ichy and 1 token for Dread Return of Zealot
Attack with 16 3/3 Tokens.
- “That was a bit overkill and a turn slow.” Dan mutters.
Hand 3
Chrome Mox, Polluted Delta, Breakthrough, Street Wraith (2), Watery Grave, Flame Kin Zealot
Dan debates on this one for a while. Obviously deciding Weather or not he would hit a Dredge card when Cycling the Wraiths. “I’ll Mull” he decides but still looks at the next two cards. First is a Stink.
“Damn”. Flips next five cards (Mox, Ichorid, Troll, Study, Stink).
“Might have been a turn 1. Let’s see.” Next 6 (Shrine, Wraith, Flame, Tribe, Breakthrough, Narco). Next 5 (Dread, Narco, Troll, Putrid, Troll) Next 6 (Wraith, Narco, Stink, Narco, Stink, Thug) Next 6 (Tribe, Ichy, Putrid, Troll, Study, Coliseum)
“Well I guess I was right to Mull. Would have been a turn 1 Kill if I had hit a couple of Bridges in that half of the deck. I don’t know if I like this deck to much Sharkbait. Either I’m doing it wrong or it’s a bit up to the Gods of the Shuffle.”
Mulled Hand
Putrid Imp, Stinkweed Imp, Cephalid Coliseum, Chrome Mox, Ichorid, Careful Study
Turn 1 – Plays Coliseum
Play Mox imprinting Ichorid
Play Putrid Imp
Discard Stinkweed
Play Careful Study
Dredge 5 for Stinkweed (Narco – to play-, Thug, Coliseum, Breakthrough, Stinkweed)
Dredge 5 for Stinkweed (Ichorid, Breakthrough, Study, Stinkweed, Coliseum)
Discard both Stinkweeds
Turn 2 – Remove Thug to bring Ichorid into play
Dredge 5 for Stink (Wraith, Sage, Bridge, Study, Troll)
Swing Ichy
End of Turn Ichy dies making 1 token
Turn 3 – Remove Wraith to bring Ichorid to play
Dredge 6 for Troll (Dread, Bridge, Delta, Thug, Troll, Ichorid)
Discard Troll and Stinkweed
Sac Putrid, Narco, and Ichorid to Flashback Dread targeting Sage creating 6 Tokens (7 total in play)
Dredge 6 for Troll (Bridge, Putrid, Delta, Tribe, Zealot, Putrid)
Dredge 6 for Troll (Narco – to play, Grave, Shrine, Narco – to play, Wraith, Bridge)
Dredge 5 for Stinkweed (Narco – to play, Sage, Wraith, Dread, Breakthrough)
Sac 3 Narcos to flashback Dread Return targeting Flame Kin Zealot. 12 Tokens created making 19 total.
Swing with 19 3/3 tokens, a 3 /4 Sage and a 3/3 Zealot.
- “It’s all or nothing with this deck.” Dan muses.
Hand 4
Golgari Thug (2), Dread Return, Polluted Delta, Breakthrough, Putrid Imp, Tireless Tribe
Turn 1 – Play Delta sac it to get Watery Grave untapped
Play Putrid,
Discard both Thugs
Turn 2 – Dredge 4 for Thug (Breakthrough, Study, Mox, Wraith)
Discard Thug
Play Breakthrough
Dredge 4 for Thug (Stink, Coliseum, Bridge, Stink)
Dredge 5 for Stink (Godless, Wraith, Coliseum, Troll, Thug)
Dredge 6 for Troll (Ichorid, Troll, Putrid, Mox, Breakthrough, Wraith)
Dredge 6 for Troll (Narco - to play, Mox, Dread, Bridge, Sage, Narco – to play)
Discard Hand
Sac Putrid, Narco, and Narco to Flashback Dread Targeting Sage. (6 Tokens)
Dredge 6 for Troll (Coliseum, Study, Strand, Zealot, Wraith, Tribe)
Dredge 6 for Troll (Breakthrough, Stinkweed, Troll, Delta, Study, Troll)
Dredge 6 for Troll (Ichorid, Narco – to play, Putrid, Study, Dread, Stink)
Discard 2 Trolls
Sac Sage, Narco, and 1 Token to flashback Dread targeting Zealot. (9 total tokens)
Swing with 9 tokens and 1 Zealot.
- “Am I getting better or just luckier though? That is the question. It feels like luck to me.”
Hand 5
Golgari Grave Troll (2), Ichorid, Street Wraith, Golgari Thug, Chrome Mox, Cephalid Sage
Mulligan
Polluted Delta, Cephalid Coliseum, Putrid Imp, Tireless Tribe, Narcomoeba.
“If only I had a Dredger….”
Mulligan again
Dread Return, Stinkweed Imp, Ichorid, Cephalid Sage, Bridge from Below
“This is getting risky”
Mulligan to 4
Cephalid Coliseum, Careful Study, Breakthrough, Street Wraith
“Gotta try”
Turn 1 – Play Coliseum
Play Study
Draw Troll and Narcomoeba
Discard Troll and Narco
Cycle Wraith
Dredge 6 for Troll (Dread, Dread, Stinkweed, Godless, Study, Narco – To play)
Turn 2 – Dredge 5 for Stinkweed (Tribe, Study, Ichorid, Thug)
Play Breakthrough.
Dredge 4 for Thug (Thug, Putrid, Study, Troll)
Dredge 6 for Troll (Ichorid, Troll, Coliseum, Narco – to play, Troll, Grave)
Dredge 6 for Troll (Zealot, Breakthrough, Narco – to play, Mox, Breakthrough, Bridge)
Dredge 6 for Troll (Wraith, Thug, Delta, Wraith, Sage, Tribe)
Discard Hand
- “At this point I have to choose between Returning the Sage or the Zealot. The Zealot is a win if my opponent has no apparent answers. But if they do or might I would target the Sage to Dredge most of the rest of my library and then Return my Zealot.
Now Dan is focused on Sportscenter. His Dad has connections within the Chicago Cubs and he has tickets to the playoffs if the Cubbies can make it. Can you believe the Astros basically gave the Brewers those three games? How uncool to throw three Rookie pitchers in a row against a team in a playoff race. Dan gets a big smile when he finds out the Cubs move to a 1 game lead.
It’s time for lights out. Dan scoops up his cards. Then he says, “Maybe I have a idea that might be more consistent and just as fast. We’ll see tomorrow. ‘Night Sharkbait.”
I don’t know why he thinks I sleep at night. Oh well I gives me time to write this.
I know I mentioned two decks earlier but I have to stop now. Grace the Cat is looking rather suspicious. Gotta swim.
Removal is weak (so far) – WARNING SPOILED
I was just scaning the now half spoiled list for Lorwyn and I noticed that the removal is weak.
To illustrate my point I’ve compiled the current list. I didn’t list car | 
