Jackhammer

3x Condemn
4x Goldmeadow Harrier
3x Runed Halo
4x Wizened Cenn
4x Oblivion Ring
4x Mirror Entity
2x Story Circle
2x Loxodon Warhammer
3x Wrath of God
4x Springjack Shepherd
3x Cloudgoat Ranger
22x Plains
2x Springjack Meadow


Sideboard
4x Kitchen Finks
4x Unmake
4x Oversoul of Dusk
3x Ajani Goldmane


Here's a different take on goats. Pretty simple. Early game is stall. Mid game is mass removal followed by spot removal. Late game is lots of tokens that swing for a big win. Or I give my 0/1 goat a hammer and let it go to town.

Wizened Cenn has good synergy with Mirror Entity (all my goats get +1/+1), Cloudgoat Ranger, and Springjack Shepherd/Goldmeadow Harrier get bigger. Also, double white symbol makes more goats. Finally, a turn two cenn turn three cenn sometimes steals games.

Cloudgoat Ranger seems to be a bomb for this deck. Four creatures for five mana. Synergy with Mirror Entity (lots of creatures fast), Cenn (the three tokens are kiths). Double white symbol makes more goats. Also, I can make a 5/3 flyer, which steals games sometimes.

Condemn and Harrier are very effecient early game.

Runed Halo typically comes out of the sideboard, but let me defend her presence in main deck. Game one it has two white symbols on it to help with goat production later on, like after a turn four or five wrath. Also, I can probably guess a threat my opponent will be playing game one. But even if I drop Runed Halo and say Mulldrifter, it still helps the goat production. Game two and three I will know better what to name, so it stays in, and I have a secret sideboard game, as you'll see.

Twenty four lands seems a bit much, but since I have two lands that make goats and require four colorless in addition to the pasture tapping, AND I have mirror entity, which is benefited by lots of lands, twenty four didn't seem like too much.

Now, as for the sideboard...
Game two and three I can play mono-white control. I can -4 Wizened Cenn, -4 Mirror Entity, -4 Springjack Shepherd, -3 Cloudgoat Ranger, +4 Unmake, +4 Kitchen Finks, +4 Oversoul of Dusk, +3 Ajani Goldmane. It is a compeletely different deck. I could only do that vs. Black Red or Blue, b/c now my win condition is the Oversoul, but he is a good win condition. Otherwise I'm depending on limited lifegain and removal into a big avatar, or just stalling until I get my oversoul down and swinging.

Or if my opponent seems to not be using any firespout, corrupt or wrath, and my already decent removal in my library is suffecient, I could leave things alone. Or if I want to race against mid-range aggro, I can take out wrath and runed halo and cloud goat add finks and ajani unmake.

What do you guys think?

Challenge of the Week

Here's the feature where I come up with a combo, and we see what kind of decks we can build.

This is a landmark project, in its first week, so how about an amazing combo in black?

Immoral Coil and Colfenor's Plans

By midnight next thursday I expect to see your decks. What a fun game!

BRG Tokens. Again. This time I think I have it.

BRG TOKENS, or, They are going to put this decklist in a vault somewhere for the prosperity of future generations.

4x manamorphose
4x bitterblossom
4x goblin assault
4x kitchen finks
4x gilt-leaf ambush
4x nantuko husk
3x sprouting thirnax
3x grave pact
3x marsh fliter
3x furystoke giant
4x reflecting pool
4x savage lands
2x vivid marsh
2x vivid grove
3x graven cairns
3x fire-lit thicket
2x llanowar wastes
2x karpulsan forest
2x sulferous springs

sideboard
4x firespout
4x snakeform
4x thoughtseize
3x flame javelin

60 cards main deck
24 lands
17 creatures
11 enchantments
8 instants
24 black mana symbols
18 red mana symbols
20 green mana symbols
15 card sideboard
8 sorceries
7 instants

Well, lets start with the curve. Zero one cost. Eight two drops. Nineteen three drops. Six four drops. Three five drops. I don't have much in the way of draw (four manamorphose, and four snakeforms from the board) but I have incredible virtual card advantage, in the form of many many tokens. It is as token heavy as the pre-Shards version, but now its a mid-range heavy-weight. Nineteen three drops is good, because I only have nine cards that cost four or more, but its bad because I only have eight cards which cost two or less. I think it will be ok, however, especially considering often times I will be playing at least one if not two lands that come into play tapped. That lets me get all three mana colors by turn three reliably.

This deck likes to win on turn six or seven, same as back in its pre-Shards days. My own pain lands and bitterblossom tends to kill me off if the games go much beyond that. Hence the Finks. I originally had loxodon warhammer, but that was before I was green. The Finks is a guaranteed two life, and I can almost always get four life out of it. It takes six mana to play and then equip the hammer. Finks, I anticipate, will help out incredibly. Not to mention persist, which creates good synergy with grave pact/husk, or if my opponent plays wrath.

I considered Predator Dragon long and hard (as a win condition, instead of furystoke giant) but ultimately decided six mana is too much of an investment, and Devour is too risky. I would not like to devour my six tokens and swing for eighteen only to have my dragon go down in a heap of terror. It is safer and cheaper to use the giant. And the clinching argument for the giant is his persist, which I already discussed the advantages of. And ultimately,the giant allows me clear the board with my tokens, make a huge sac to my husk and swing for lethal, which is effectively the same exact thing as the dragon, but it takes two cards instead of one. (That is if turning my guys sideways to tap for two points to my opponent's dome won't be sufficient.)

I feel good about this build. I have not play-tested it at all. Nineteen three drops may not work. I do have reservations about the perfect mix of lands. Perhaps I could tweak the lands a bit, or add a fourth marsh flitter.

The sideboard...
vs bitterblossom, token, or weanies: firespout comes in, gilt-leaf ambush goes out.
vs chameleon collosus, or other huge creatures that don't die easily: snakeform comes in, Flame Javelin comes in, -4 Goblin Assault (those guys don't help me chump block) -3 gilt-leaf ambush.
vs control: I want to get down turn two bitterblossom turn three goblin assault. -3 Grave Pact, -4 Gilt-Leaf Ambush, +3 Flame Javelin (a good finisher at instant speed) +4 Thoughtseize (make them discard a mannequin or cryptic command)
vs reveillark: This is where I wish I had unmake, crib swap, beckon apparition or other remove from game stuff. This deck is weak to reveillark, especially if it is coupled with mannequin and/or lifegain.

Just for purposes of discussion, here are cards that I considered, that didn't make the cut. If anyone wants to make arguments for them, or others, I'm listening...

Profane Command
Caldera Hellion
Murderous Redcapp
Shriekmaw
Loxodon Warhammer
Rockslide Elemental
Springjack Pasture
Unmake

brg tokens (revised)

4x manamorphose
4x bitterblossom
3x goblin assault
4x kitchen finks
4x nantuko husk
3x gilt-leaf ambush
4x sprouting thirnax
3x grave pact
4x marsh flitter
3x predator dragon

4x savage lands
2x reflecting pool
4x gilt-leaf palace
4x auntie's hovel
2x graven cairns
4x vivid grove
2x karplusan forest
2x llanowar wastes

sideboard
4x murderous redcap
4x firespout
4x bekon apparition
3x loxodon warhammer

Comments? Suggestions?
I have decided Shriek maw is ok from the sideboard, but too much black in our FNM meta to be maindeck. Gravepact should be maindeck, cause there's lots of aggro. There are lots of four+ toughness creatures. Profane command, nameless inversion and shriekmaw aren't that good, in this meta. If I had four RP's, I would go down to two vivid groves. My count is 19 green symbols, 17 red, 25 black. That's how I came up with my land count.

Black Control Splash for Grixis AKA GREED

4 Cryptic Command
4 Mulldrifter
2 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Ponder
4 Incinerate
4 Agony Warp
2 Oona, Queen of the Fae
4 Unmake
4 Grixis Charm
4 Flame Javelin

4x Crumbling Necropolis
4x B/R Pain
4x Underground River
4x Graven Cairns
4x Sunken Ruins
4x Reflecting Pool

I need some cards...

So I really want to try to play mono-white goats. I love tokens, and the idea of winning with 0/1 tokens really makes me happy. So, I need to look through my stock pile, but I am pretty sure I need:

2x Mirror Entity
4x Rhys, the Redeemed
3x Springjack Shepherd
3x Ajani Goldmane
2x Springjack Pasture
4x Runed Halo
4x Stillmoon Cavalier (I guess I'll have to run the Paladin en-Vec if I can't get this guy)
1x Oversoul of Dusk

Also, Drok, did you ever build the swans, or are you going to? I think you may have some of my cards, maybe even a mirror entity, but I'm not sure I'm remembering that correctly. At least half of the cards in the deck were yours, and I have no idea what wasn't. Maybe I should put swans in my goat deck. Ha!

Updated Puppets

4x Ponder
4x Broken Ambitions
4x Cryptic Command
4x Shriekmaw
4x Mulldrifter
4x Nameless Inversion
3x Sower of Temptation
3x Profane Command
3x Puppeteer Clique
3x Makeshift Mannequin

4x Sunken Ruins
4x Secluded Glen
4x Underground River
2x Faerie Conclave
4x Swamp
6x Island

SB:
3x Infest
3x Thoughtseize
2x Vendillion Clique
4x Murderous Redcap
1x Sower of Temptation

how to make your life harder and someone else's life easier

It is very easy to make hyperlinks to all the cards.

Step one: Type in the name of the card, such as "Oblivion Ring" into the text field of the blog.

Step two: open up a seperate window with a picture of the card. I do this by opening a new window (Ctrl + t), going to the www.gatherer.wizards.com site, copy and paste my card title into the search field, then click the link when it appears. That brings up a picture, and more importantly, the link to the picture.

Step three: copy and paste the address

Step four: Highlight the entire card name in the text field on the blogger page.

Step five: click the third icon from the left, looks like a world with a chain.

Step six: copy and paste your address into the text box there

Step seven: click ok

goats for the win

4x Condemn
4x Rhys, the Redeemed
4x Kitchen Finks
4x Oblivion Ring
4x Mirror Entity
4x Spectral Procession
2x Story Circle
4x Wrath of God
4x Springjack Shepherd
3x Ajani Goldmane
3x Springjack Pasture
20x Plains

Sideboard
4x Runed Halo
4x Stillmoon Cavalier
3x Oversoul of Dusk
4x Unmake

selective discarding, targeted removal, turning guys sideways, and bitterblossom is still the best card i have four of

4x Thoughtseize
4x Distress
4x Oona's Prowler
4x Nameless Inversion
4x Bitterblossom
4x Unmake
4x Nantuko Husk
4x Murderous Redcap
3x Gravepact
3x Profane Command
22x Swamp

Sideboard
4x Nameless Inversion
4x Shriekmaw
4x Stillmoon Cavalier
3x Bekon Apparition

B R TOKENS ! (goblins, fairies and...goats?!)

4x bone splinters
4x bitterblossom
4x nameless inversion
4x nantuko husk
4x goblin assault
4x rockslide elemental
3x loxodon warhammer
4x marsh flitter
3x profane command
3x seige gang commander
6x swamp
3x mountain
4x auntie's hovel
4x graven cairns
2x springjack pasture
4x sulfurous springs

sideboard
3x caldera hellion
4x thoughtseize
4x gravepact
4x bekon apparition

B R G tokens

4x bone splinters
4x manamorphose
4x bitterblossom
4x nameless inversion
4x nantuko husk
3x gilt-leaf ambush
3x sprouting thirnax
4x marsh flitter
3x furystoke giant
3x profane command
4x savage lands
4x reflection pool
4x gilt-leaf palace
4x auntie's hovel
2x graven cairns
2x fire-lit thicket
2x sulfurous springs
1x karplusan forest
1x llanowar wastes

sideboard
1x gilt-leaf ambush
1x furystoke giant
1x sprouting thirnax
4x murderous redcap
4x firespout
4x bekon apparition