I've been making fewer changes to Scion lately because Rosheen's just been a ton of fun. I only played one game with the dragon since my last changes, and it's still too slow; it's just a lot of shenanigans without much flash.
I'm going to have to make some serious changes to Scion before it's actually playable -- we're talking systemic changes. To that end, I'll probably be narrowing my Haakon packages significantly, removing much of the Volrath's Shapeshifter shenanigans (Essence of the Wild is a prime candidate here) and generally streamlining it to be more of a Scion deck with some wackiness to it. I know, that defeats the purpose; it's just that it's going in too many directions.
Some thoughts:
1. More non-legendary dragon options. This will make the Shapeshifter more powerful, as it will have nicer interactions with Scion.
2. Stripped-back Haakon packages. Essentially, Haakon should be part of an Intuition grab with a Shapeshifter in play, rather than an engine for knights that I wouldn't play if he wasn't in the deck. I love the guy, but knights just aren't a strong tribe, and he's grinding me up in about a million ways -- I have dead draws thanks to him, I've got dudes that aren't that great when he's not around, I have yet _another_ tutor target (this deck needs more subpar decision trees like I need another hole in my chest. That's right, ANOTHER ONE), etc. He's still a star with Crib Swap around, but that should be my game-cinching play, not a setup.
3. So much chaff. A lot of dudes I love -- Disciple of Griselbrand, I'm looking at you, brother -- just clog up my draws. Survival of the Fittest is terrible here since I'm not running anything that honestly synergizes with it (though Tortured Existence seems pretty good still, thanks to Shapeshifter). My solution is to run a) a bunch more good dudes that can get into the red zone and clog up other people's plays and b) more haste enablers, mostly for Scion. In the worst-case scenario, I'd rather topdeck a weak threat (e.g. Spawnwrithe) than a solution to an answer (e.g. Disciple of Griselbrand).
4. I'm going to throw out the rules for a week and do some radical pruning. I plan to swap out at least 10 cards and start again. I just need to get some threat density in the deck so I can do stuff while I'm working toward a crushing Scion or some other nonsense.
Somewhat unrelated: I'm going to mark up my perfect fits over Overgrown Tomb and Verdant Catacombs. The cards look next-to-identical -- I tried to fetch a Tropical Island last night using an Overgrown Tomb. Derf.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
ROSHEEN SMASH
Got to play Rosheen tonight. (Was eager. Sosumi fer not playin' Scion.) Results:
1. I shouted a lot.
2. I did about 120 damage to players.
3. I didn't win, but killed Allen, got Ryan to 1 and new guy (sorry new guy, didn't get a chance to ask your new guy name)to 3.
4. Got called an asshole.
So, a resounding success all around. Good on ya, Rosheen -- maybe next time I'll get to play some land destruction. I also saw a Chaos Warp in the case and swapped out Tropical Swarm for it. Win!
1. I shouted a lot.
2. I did about 120 damage to players.
3. I didn't win, but killed Allen, got Ryan to 1 and new guy (sorry new guy, didn't get a chance to ask your new guy name)to 3.
4. Got called an asshole.
So, a resounding success all around. Good on ya, Rosheen -- maybe next time I'll get to play some land destruction. I also saw a Chaos Warp in the case and swapped out Tropical Swarm for it. Win!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Mana
My project this week, besides looking for a Mana-Charged Dragon, is to watch the mana for this deck.
Specifically, I want to trim out dual lands -- particularly my shocks -- in favor of basics or Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds. I'm leery of utility lands; the very last thing I want in this deck is to make all my land drops and have something idiotic like RU3 on turn five. I'm also leery of unnecessary duals, and I've got way too many in the deck.
So, I'm going to keep track of what lands I play; how hard I lean on my signets; what mana I'm behind on (hint: it'll be black or green); and how often I hit WUBRG on turn five. Secondly, I'll be tracking how long it takes me to hit my minimum mana requirements -- WWBBGGUR -- every game. That particular combination of mana allows me to meet the color requirements for every card in the deck except Nicol Bolas and Chord of Calling, but Chord cheats mana costs and I doubt I'm ever going to hardcast Nicol Bolas.
Typically, my fetches are for Scrubland, Savannah, Bayou, Tropical Island, Taiga and Underground Sea; I'm pretty sure Volcanic Island only gets played when I topdeck it and need a land. (Shocks are second-class citizens in this deck, and are probably going to be scaled back pretty severely. The 2-life penalty happens a lot more than I like.) I'm guessing that, when I've got mana a little better tuned, I'll be looking at five or six more basics. There's also room for improvement in the signets -- Coalition Relic and Darksteel Ingot are probably both better than Dimir Signet, for example. (Golgari Signet is solid gold, though.)
Specifically, I want to trim out dual lands -- particularly my shocks -- in favor of basics or Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds. I'm leery of utility lands; the very last thing I want in this deck is to make all my land drops and have something idiotic like RU3 on turn five. I'm also leery of unnecessary duals, and I've got way too many in the deck.
So, I'm going to keep track of what lands I play; how hard I lean on my signets; what mana I'm behind on (hint: it'll be black or green); and how often I hit WUBRG on turn five. Secondly, I'll be tracking how long it takes me to hit my minimum mana requirements -- WWBBGGUR -- every game. That particular combination of mana allows me to meet the color requirements for every card in the deck except Nicol Bolas and Chord of Calling, but Chord cheats mana costs and I doubt I'm ever going to hardcast Nicol Bolas.
Typically, my fetches are for Scrubland, Savannah, Bayou, Tropical Island, Taiga and Underground Sea; I'm pretty sure Volcanic Island only gets played when I topdeck it and need a land. (Shocks are second-class citizens in this deck, and are probably going to be scaled back pretty severely. The 2-life penalty happens a lot more than I like.) I'm guessing that, when I've got mana a little better tuned, I'll be looking at five or six more basics. There's also room for improvement in the signets -- Coalition Relic and Darksteel Ingot are probably both better than Dimir Signet, for example. (Golgari Signet is solid gold, though.)
Third Changes
It's week three, and I've had some changes lined up. I'll just jump right in:
-Ashes of the Fallen
-Glimpse of Nature
-Krosan Reclamation
+Court Hussar
+Ethersworn Adjuticator
+Memory's Journey
These are all straightforward trade-outs, but here's the reasoning.
Ashes of the Fallen was only present to allow Haakon to play non-knights. That typically meant that I was either a) trying to replay dragons from the grave that I'd ditched with Scion, or b) I've been playing piecemeal catch-up all game long and had stumbled upon Ashes. Neither of those situations is particularly appealing, one because it's a win-more and the other because it's typically a gasp before death. It's hard to get really aggressive with Haakon; I've got three discard outlets, but all are high-priority targets, and he's mana-intensive.
My solution? Just play a dude that I'd want to play with Haakon. Ethersworn Adjuticator is like Avatar of Woe in a lot of ways, and I think it'll work out OK. (Much nicer, of course, when I've got Anger.) The trick here is that I've got to be a little narrower in my strategies: I'm only going to go for Haakon when I've got Survival, and I'm not going to go for Survival when I can go for other plans.
Second, Glimpse of Nature's a fun card, but it's a lot worse without Aluren. After I cut Aluren, I'd typically engineer a one-shot turn to pay G to draw two with it; that price is good, but I shouldn't be setting up a turn for a 2-mana discount off Divination. Court Hussar is a dork -- a knight dork, in fact -- he doesn't require setup, he gives me more selection, he plays defense and Haakon brings him back. All winners. (As an aside, I'm pretty sure I'm the only deck on the Internet that plays two Vedalken Knights.)
Finally, Memory's Journey is a perfect example of a card that's not strictly better than what it's replaceing (Krosan Reclamation), but it kinda is. If it cost 1G, it would be strictly better; that 1U v. 1G makes it a different animal (especially in this deck, where a spare green on turn 8 is a touch more likely than a spare blue). In any case, the card's better in every numerical way, and it's a replacement I've been meaning to do for a while.
I'm still gunning for Goryo's Vengeance -- it's really trying my patience. I'm never in a position to cast it, but I would have cast Necromancy in more than a few of the situations I had GV in my grip. Tutoring for Vengeance in order to cast it so I can cut it is against the spirit of the rules, but I'm damned close to doing just that.
-Ashes of the Fallen
-Glimpse of Nature
-Krosan Reclamation
+Court Hussar
+Ethersworn Adjuticator
+Memory's Journey
These are all straightforward trade-outs, but here's the reasoning.
Ashes of the Fallen was only present to allow Haakon to play non-knights. That typically meant that I was either a) trying to replay dragons from the grave that I'd ditched with Scion, or b) I've been playing piecemeal catch-up all game long and had stumbled upon Ashes. Neither of those situations is particularly appealing, one because it's a win-more and the other because it's typically a gasp before death. It's hard to get really aggressive with Haakon; I've got three discard outlets, but all are high-priority targets, and he's mana-intensive.
My solution? Just play a dude that I'd want to play with Haakon. Ethersworn Adjuticator is like Avatar of Woe in a lot of ways, and I think it'll work out OK. (Much nicer, of course, when I've got Anger.) The trick here is that I've got to be a little narrower in my strategies: I'm only going to go for Haakon when I've got Survival, and I'm not going to go for Survival when I can go for other plans.
Second, Glimpse of Nature's a fun card, but it's a lot worse without Aluren. After I cut Aluren, I'd typically engineer a one-shot turn to pay G to draw two with it; that price is good, but I shouldn't be setting up a turn for a 2-mana discount off Divination. Court Hussar is a dork -- a knight dork, in fact -- he doesn't require setup, he gives me more selection, he plays defense and Haakon brings him back. All winners. (As an aside, I'm pretty sure I'm the only deck on the Internet that plays two Vedalken Knights.)
Finally, Memory's Journey is a perfect example of a card that's not strictly better than what it's replaceing (Krosan Reclamation), but it kinda is. If it cost 1G, it would be strictly better; that 1U v. 1G makes it a different animal (especially in this deck, where a spare green on turn 8 is a touch more likely than a spare blue). In any case, the card's better in every numerical way, and it's a replacement I've been meaning to do for a while.
I'm still gunning for Goryo's Vengeance -- it's really trying my patience. I'm never in a position to cast it, but I would have cast Necromancy in more than a few of the situations I had GV in my grip. Tutoring for Vengeance in order to cast it so I can cut it is against the spirit of the rules, but I'm damned close to doing just that.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Second Changes, part two
Only got one game in tonight (we played Horde variant, which is pretty rough -- horde needs to be less swingy).
So, first off -- Anger is incredibly good. I kinda hate it, but them's the breaks. I'm trying to chalk it up as yet another bit of utility, but haste is sooo good in multiplayer.
Secondly: Haakon needs something a little better. Ethersworn Adjuticator and Knight of the Reliquary are both solid drops; one's a beater that can also kill dudes and play on defense, while the other's a solid beater that can grab a touch of utility before it starts crashing through the gates. I don't have an Adjuticator at the moment (but I will -- $1 mythics ahoy!), but I do have my Knights of the Reliquary, which are just wasting their time in the Conflux box. Both will come in, but we're going to start with what I got -- Knight of the Reliquary. (On the utility side is Court Hussar, who's crazy solid, too, for a slower game.) In addition, one or two karoos might go in with Knight; Plains --> Bojuka Bog --> Karoo --> Bojuka Bog --> Karoo --> Bojuka Bog, /hip thrust. You can just picture it, you know?
Second: My tutors need to be more targeted. Mystical is terrible, because it's almost always fetching other tutors, it's usually too slow to get answers and I don't have any powerful, game-advancing sorceries or instants to grab when it comes down to it. There's quite a few better tutors for this deck -- Eladamri's Call, Liliana Vess, even Sylvan Tutor all spring to mind -- but I think that, since I can't play with Gifts Ungiven, I'll go with No. 2 (with an air pellet) Intuition. Intuition's really nice in that it can grab answers (Path, Swords, Crib Swap), it complements Haakon, it can grab Haakon, and it does it all at instant speed with no inherent card disadvantage. I'm kinda in hearts with you, Intuition, but you're no flashy one-night stand like Aluren. You're solid, you're a workhorse, you can bring home the bacon. Your brown eyes make me swoon, baby.
So, that leaves us with two cards to drop. Avatar of Woe is going to go out for Ethersworn Adjudicator, but we haven't crossed that particular threshold yet. (We've also only played Avatar once so far.)
Paradoxically, Ashes of the Fallen is high on my list of "meh" lately. I'm trying to hone Haakon a tad more, and "you can play your crappy dudes from the grave over und over" just doesn't cut it. That being said, it's staying on for a little while longer -- I've got some other nonsense to cut first, and Ashes + Haakon gets a lot better with small utility dudes that like to die. (Magic: It's more vicious than you'd think.)
So what's coming out? Crop Rotation and Mystical Tutor. We've gone over Mystical Tutor's painful, sad life in this deck. Crop Rotation, though, is truly miserable -- its entire job in life is to get Bojuka Bog. That's literally all it's there for. Before I over-fixed the mana base, it would sometimes fix colors; those days are done, though, and unless I put in a Maze of Ith and an Academy Ruins, Crop Rotation just ain't earning its pay.
So, first off -- Anger is incredibly good. I kinda hate it, but them's the breaks. I'm trying to chalk it up as yet another bit of utility, but haste is sooo good in multiplayer.
Secondly: Haakon needs something a little better. Ethersworn Adjuticator and Knight of the Reliquary are both solid drops; one's a beater that can also kill dudes and play on defense, while the other's a solid beater that can grab a touch of utility before it starts crashing through the gates. I don't have an Adjuticator at the moment (but I will -- $1 mythics ahoy!), but I do have my Knights of the Reliquary, which are just wasting their time in the Conflux box. Both will come in, but we're going to start with what I got -- Knight of the Reliquary. (On the utility side is Court Hussar, who's crazy solid, too, for a slower game.) In addition, one or two karoos might go in with Knight; Plains --> Bojuka Bog --> Karoo --> Bojuka Bog --> Karoo --> Bojuka Bog, /hip thrust. You can just picture it, you know?
Second: My tutors need to be more targeted. Mystical is terrible, because it's almost always fetching other tutors, it's usually too slow to get answers and I don't have any powerful, game-advancing sorceries or instants to grab when it comes down to it. There's quite a few better tutors for this deck -- Eladamri's Call, Liliana Vess, even Sylvan Tutor all spring to mind -- but I think that, since I can't play with Gifts Ungiven, I'll go with No. 2 (with an air pellet) Intuition. Intuition's really nice in that it can grab answers (Path, Swords, Crib Swap), it complements Haakon, it can grab Haakon, and it does it all at instant speed with no inherent card disadvantage. I'm kinda in hearts with you, Intuition, but you're no flashy one-night stand like Aluren. You're solid, you're a workhorse, you can bring home the bacon. Your brown eyes make me swoon, baby.
So, that leaves us with two cards to drop. Avatar of Woe is going to go out for Ethersworn Adjudicator, but we haven't crossed that particular threshold yet. (We've also only played Avatar once so far.)
Paradoxically, Ashes of the Fallen is high on my list of "meh" lately. I'm trying to hone Haakon a tad more, and "you can play your crappy dudes from the grave over und over" just doesn't cut it. That being said, it's staying on for a little while longer -- I've got some other nonsense to cut first, and Ashes + Haakon gets a lot better with small utility dudes that like to die. (Magic: It's more vicious than you'd think.)
So what's coming out? Crop Rotation and Mystical Tutor. We've gone over Mystical Tutor's painful, sad life in this deck. Crop Rotation, though, is truly miserable -- its entire job in life is to get Bojuka Bog. That's literally all it's there for. Before I over-fixed the mana base, it would sometimes fix colors; those days are done, though, and unless I put in a Maze of Ith and an Academy Ruins, Crop Rotation just ain't earning its pay.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Second Changes
I know I just posted first changes two days ago -- but it was a Friday, and this is a Sunday. New week!
Besides, after a few more frustrating games, I confirmed a few suspicions.
1. Aluren is terrible. It's absolutely horrible. I've loved this card for so long, but it just doesn't do anything. I don't have the engine to abuse it properly, I don't have a game-ending plays to make it good game once it resolves, and the cards it plays nice with are two different types -- meaning it's hellishly difficult to resolve all three. The fact that others can play Phantasmal Image into it for free just makes it that much worse. Resolved twice, and it's outta here.
2. Goryo's Vengeance is just a low-rent Necromancy. I couldn't resolve this card twice, so it's still in, but it's just worse in almost every respect compared to the enchantment. I've sat on it, with no valid targets, in three of the last five games I've played. The exile clause means you really only want to use it when you either a) can really stick it to your opponents or b) when you have no choice.
3. I need at least one creature-based enchantment or artifact removal spell. I'm leaning toward both an Uktabi Orangutan and a Viridian Zealot. One's cheaper, the other doesn't fold to Torpor Orb.
4. Scavenging Ooze is choice, but he don't nuke graves like I want -- I'm already hurting for green mana due to Survival and all the double green in the deck. I'm thinking a Nihil Spellbomb or a Withered Wretch might be in order.
5. I want a Mana-Charged Dragon for Scion. The Trample!
6. I need an Anger. It literally makes me sick to say that, because he's in every single deck with red, and it's just a no-brainer with Survival of the Fittest (something I'm trying to avoid), but I'm so aggro-based that I really need the haste. I've been whiffing a lot on attack steps to removal, and that ain't kosher.
7. I need a cheap dude that EtB and kills a dude. Fleshbag Marauder, Big Game Hunter (that should be hyphenated, Wizards!) and Bone Shredder all fit the bill. (Thanks for the heads up on Bone Shredder, Travis.)
8. Finally, I wanted the deck to play Volrath's Shapeshifter, Haakon and Scion as differing threats that had some synergy. The way the deck's shaping up, I'm running Haakon with Shapeshifter and Scion backup; Haakon's awesome, but he can't hold down a table by himself yet. (Stillmoon Cavalier may change that. With enough control and a dose of mana, I think he might get there.) My next few games will concentrate on getting Shapeshifter to hold its own. I'll try to kill someone with him and see what I wish I'd had.
So, the changes:
-Aluren
-Hibernation Sliver
-Dominating Licid
Aluren is terrible, as said above; the other two are just way too cute (re: narrow). It's a shame, because I wanted to make like 14 Licids, but it just wasn't in the cards.
+Anger
+Fleshbag Marauder
+Viridian Zealot
Besides, after a few more frustrating games, I confirmed a few suspicions.
1. Aluren is terrible. It's absolutely horrible. I've loved this card for so long, but it just doesn't do anything. I don't have the engine to abuse it properly, I don't have a game-ending plays to make it good game once it resolves, and the cards it plays nice with are two different types -- meaning it's hellishly difficult to resolve all three. The fact that others can play Phantasmal Image into it for free just makes it that much worse. Resolved twice, and it's outta here.
2. Goryo's Vengeance is just a low-rent Necromancy. I couldn't resolve this card twice, so it's still in, but it's just worse in almost every respect compared to the enchantment. I've sat on it, with no valid targets, in three of the last five games I've played. The exile clause means you really only want to use it when you either a) can really stick it to your opponents or b) when you have no choice.
3. I need at least one creature-based enchantment or artifact removal spell. I'm leaning toward both an Uktabi Orangutan and a Viridian Zealot. One's cheaper, the other doesn't fold to Torpor Orb.
4. Scavenging Ooze is choice, but he don't nuke graves like I want -- I'm already hurting for green mana due to Survival and all the double green in the deck. I'm thinking a Nihil Spellbomb or a Withered Wretch might be in order.
5. I want a Mana-Charged Dragon for Scion. The Trample!
6. I need an Anger. It literally makes me sick to say that, because he's in every single deck with red, and it's just a no-brainer with Survival of the Fittest (something I'm trying to avoid), but I'm so aggro-based that I really need the haste. I've been whiffing a lot on attack steps to removal, and that ain't kosher.
7. I need a cheap dude that EtB and kills a dude. Fleshbag Marauder, Big Game Hunter (that should be hyphenated, Wizards!) and Bone Shredder all fit the bill. (Thanks for the heads up on Bone Shredder, Travis.)
8. Finally, I wanted the deck to play Volrath's Shapeshifter, Haakon and Scion as differing threats that had some synergy. The way the deck's shaping up, I'm running Haakon with Shapeshifter and Scion backup; Haakon's awesome, but he can't hold down a table by himself yet. (Stillmoon Cavalier may change that. With enough control and a dose of mana, I think he might get there.) My next few games will concentrate on getting Shapeshifter to hold its own. I'll try to kill someone with him and see what I wish I'd had.
So, the changes:
-Aluren
-Hibernation Sliver
-Dominating Licid
Aluren is terrible, as said above; the other two are just way too cute (re: narrow). It's a shame, because I wanted to make like 14 Licids, but it just wasn't in the cards.
+Anger
+Fleshbag Marauder
+Viridian Zealot
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