Challenge of the Week: Cloven Casting

I want to ramp to cloven casting then start casting a bunch of cascade spells with my build!

extended day

I somehow borrowed the rest of the cards i needed for lark, and i finished 6th. i made the top eight table and lost game 1 to ben c (living end).

looks like the 17th and 24th of april are the release event days, i think it is saturday and sunday both weekends. $30 entry fee.

Extended Vore!

Well I wanted to try to make something viable since I'm having a hard time getting new cards. This looks pretty good to me. I've tested it a little and I beat scapeshift easily, especially after boarding in blood moon. I played about eight matches with zoo and it went 50/50. I assumed this would be my worst match-up. Then I remembered my worst matchup is probably RDW. I did beat RW weanie aggro 2-1 in a match, but it felt like a fluke because i was at one life for four turns in a row while he couldn't draw a land. I played four times in a row vs. various U-control decks and they stood no chance. I think if i show up with this deck i can win some matches. i hope so, because this is about all i can put together with my card pool, and this is what i wanted to play anyway.

4 ponder
4 treasure hunt
4 spreading seas
3 compulsive research
4 stone rain
4 molten rain
4 fulminator mage
3 magnivore
3 wildfire
3 repeal

8 mountain
5 island
4 steam vents
4 scalding tarn
4 cascade bluffs

board
4 blood moon
3 cryoclasm
2 chain reaction
3 shattering spree
3 pyroclasm

I think it would be better with the new Jace, but since I'm talking about cards I have or realistically think i can get, i won't include him. But i'd have him in the MD instead of repeal. Honestly Repeal may be almost as good for this deck, anyway.

polymorph: the new win

35 spells
4 Ponder
4 Treasure Hunt
4 Spreading Seas
4 Captured Sunlight
2 Jace the Mind Sculptor
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Day of Judgment
1 Ajani Goldmane
3 Polymorph
3 Bestial Menace
2 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Martial Coup
1 Wargate

25 lands
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Khalni Garden
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Forest
7 Island
5 Plains

I have a decent chance against mid-range aggro (jund, boss naya) but it's the RDW, goblins, RW weanie, vampires, and even RG Valakut that are going to be a terrible match up for me. They kill my 0/1 plant when i try to polymorph, they kill me on turn four or five consistently. My sideboard is gonna focus on that.

2 Solemn Offering -- good for lots of stuff, actually, but only 2 because it is mostly good against decks i can already beat. It hits O-ring, spreading seas, zendikar 7/1 elemental shrine, any of the ascensions, and it helps out vs the boss naya--it kills their equiptments, but also game 2 and 3 they will have boarded in manabarbs, and i have to name white for iona, so if they have lots of creatures and gain life stuff and all i have is iona, i might want to get rid of manabarbs.

2 mind control -- synergy with polymorph. when i play decks with stuff like baneslayer or big dragons or big creatures i want a couple of these. i get their creature and sac him to polymorph. 2 birds with 1 stone.

4 rest for the weary -- 8 life for 2 mana (with landfall) or if i hit it with the cascade, 12 life for 8 mana. I'm not sure this is the best stall tactic I could find, but it is the best thing i've seen so far. Not a long-term solution, by any means, but good enough to get me through an extra turn. This slot is pretty questionable. Might be better to run divination and hope to draw some answers?

4 path to exile -- i need this to get rid of blood ghasts, also good to hit the RDW creatures with unearth.

3 oblivion ring -- good for lots of stuff, especially jund, and i hit it with my cascade.

so it still isn't much help vs. RDW. I might be better off with a dragon's claw than Rest for the Weary. I'd love to run a Kor Firewalker, but not only is my manabase questionable to make it useful by the time i can play it, but i want to hit iona with my polymorph, not a firewalker. iona wins the game vs vampires and RDW and goblins, so my best bet is to hope they tap out on turn four, or else they aren't holding a removal when i polymorph my guy for the win.

I am afraid I still lose a lot to RDW and vampires. Ideas?

Maindeck:

Creatures
4 Sakura-tribe Elder
4 Wood Elves

Instants
4 Cryptic Command
4 Repeal
4 Peer Through Depths
4 Remand


Sorceries
4 Ponder
4 Scapeshift
4 Search For Tomorrow

Basic Lands
4 Forest
4 Island
2 Mountain

Lands
2 Breeding Pool
2 Flooded Grove
4 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
2 Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle

Sideboard:
1 Echoing Truth
1 Lightning Bolt
3 Negate
3 Ravenous Trap
1 Wipe Away
4 Firespout
2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All



other than the manabase this looks pretty cheap... and with potential.

We have almost every card for this

U/W Reveillark
An Extended Magic deck, by Ryan Benito
2nd place at a Pro Tour Qualifier tournament in San Antonio, Texas, United States on 2010-01-17
As reported at http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/events.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/sanjuan10ptq/0116sanantonio
Click here to see a summary of all decks from PT: San Juan PTQ Season
Maindeck:

Artifacts
3 Azorius Signet
2 Chrome Mox

Creatures
1 Body Double
1 Figure Of Destiny
3 Martyr Of Sands
4 Meddling Mage
4 Mulldrifter
2 Ranger Of Eos
3 Reveillark

Instants
4 Aethermage's Touch
2 Momentary Blink
4 Path To Exile

Legendary Creatures
1 Venser, Shaper Savant

Sorceries
4 Wrath Of God

Basic Lands
8 Plains

Lands
3 Arid Mesa
1 Emeria, The Sky Ruin
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Marsh Flats
2 Tolaria West

Legendary Lands
1 Miren, The Moaning Well

Sideboard:
2 Chalice Of The Void
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Crovax, Ascendant Hero
1 Meloku The Clouded Mirror
3 Teferi, Mage Of Zhalfir
2 Ghost Quarter

This is the deck.

Convince Me not to build this:

4x Quest for Ula's Temple

4x Grozoth
4x Inkwell Leviathan
4x Mystic Snake
4x Sage of Epityr
4x Sage Owl

4x Clockspinning
4x Spell Burst
4x Condescend

4x Halimar Depths
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Breeding Pool
4x Flooded Grove
4x Dryad Arbor <- complete proof that this is one of the worst decks
4x Yavimaya Coast

Thopter Depths

This looks like the coolest deck--EVER!

this was a first place finisher somewhere, but lots of similar versions are showing up all over ptq's.

Maindeck:

Artifacts
4 Chrome Mox
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Sword Of The Meek
3 Thopter Foundry

Creatures
4 Dark Confidant
4 Vampire Hexmage

Instants
4 Muddle The Mixture
3 Repeal
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Thirst For Knowledge

Sorceries
2 Compulsive Research
4 Thoughtseize

Basic Snow Lands
3 Snow-covered Island
1 Snow-covered Swamp

Lands
4 River Of Tears
4 Sunken Ruins
3 Tolaria West

Legendary Lands
1 Academy Ruins
4 Urborg, Tomb Of Yawgmoth

Legendary Snow Lands
4 Dark Depths

Sideboard:
2 Sower Of Temptation
1 Sphinx Of Jwar Isle
4 Leyline Of The Void
1 Darkblast
4 Deathmark
2 Exile Into Darkness
1 Dimir Aqueduct

What a fun idea! There are some expensive cards here, but this looks like a budget deck compared to some. I may try this thing out. It looks great.

Vore -- getting extended decks ready for the gran prix

The closest thing I have to an extended deck is vore. Here's my current decklist:

4 Careful Study
3 Devastating Dreams
4 Remand
4 Volcanic Hammer
3 Mana Leak
4 Molten Rain
4 Pillage
4 Compulsive Research
3 Magnivore
2 Fathom Trawl
1 Repeal

2 terramorphic expanse
1 shivan reef
4 steam vents
9 island
8 mountain


my incomplete board:
4 smash
4 cyroclasm
1 repeal

i was pretty sure i had shattering spree's and not smash, but i guess not

cards that do not appear to be extended legal:
--pillage
--devastating dreams
--careful study

cards that might be good to replace those or others:

Treasure Hunt -- this would be the opposite approach as fathom trawl--instead of having five mana and being in a position where all i need to do is get some juice to win, treasure hunt would be instant speed (not helpful to vore) that will hopefully net me a land and a something, and will occasionally give me lots of lands and a something. That could be useful for discarding sorceries. Probably need to go with one of the good sorcery draw cards. I need a cheap draw to replace careful study.

Sphinx of Lost Truths -- this guy's function is to get me cards, and possibly get me cards into the yard. Benefits: he doesn't die to wildfire, he has evasion, he blocks man-lands and lots of other stuff without dying. He would be the only other creature than vore, so maybe good for pulling removal from my opponent's hand, maybe even a sorcery. Negatives: a 3/5 chump blocker for five mana isn't terribly mana effecient. If I'm in a place where i have five or six lands, no cards in hand, and i need a chump blocker then he isn't the best topdeck i could get. I don't see that happening very often though. The other negative is he isn't a sorcery.

Wildfire -- I can't think of anything off hand that works better for me than Wildfire (except devastating dreams). I haven't looked at all my options, but I figure people use this card for a reason.

Something to replace Pillage -- there are lots of ways to get lands into the yard, I haven't looked at any of them yet but i figure this to be pretty easily replaced.

Lots of people go with bounce effects over counterspell effects. Maybe instead of running 3 leaks and 4 remands, I should go with 4 leaks and 4 remands and -1 repeal. (Repeal would be nicer if it was a sorcery).

lands-- i have scalding tarns, that might be better than terramorphic expanse/shivan reef. not sure what else to do there. the simplier the mana base the better, in my opinion.

Board options:

Cyroclasm still seems like a good choice.

Mindbreak Trap and/or double negative might be good for the local meta (naya has bloodbraid elf, and i heard three people say they are playing that, including ben c). Mindbreak also is good vs dragonstorm or tendril of agony or whatever happens to be happening.

Probably some crypt of tormod or some kind of GY hate.

Hopefully everyone will be playing Valakut decks and I'll win really easily.

Mike: if you don't have a deck idea yet, you should look at the Hive Mind/Pact of Negation/Pact of Titans, etc. For some reason I could see you having fun winning games with Hive Mind.

Also, I have 1 tarmagoyf, so if either of you guys are playing green and don't have your playset, you can borrow that one.

BUW reanimator: Open the Vault

I kept seeing people playing this over the last week. I just kinda guessed at how many of whatever card they were running. Maybe could use a tweak. But this thing is a beast. It is super fun to play. It is more fun than empty the warrens combo back in the day, and that is probably the funnest deck I played.

Looks something like this:

4 Architects of Will
4 Courier's Capsule
4 Day of Judgment
3 Everflowing Chalice
2 Fieldmist Borderpost
3 Filigree Angel
4 Glassdusk Hulk
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Mistvein Borderpost
3 Open the Vault
1 Sharuum the Hegemon
4 Sphinx of Lost Truths
2 Sphinx of the Steel Wind

4 Arcane Sanctum
2 Celestial Colonnade
1 Drowned Catacomb
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Island
3 Plains
4 Swamp

board
3 celestial purge
3 flashfreeze
4 kor firewalker
1 martial coup
4 negate

Challenge of the Week, Revisted: Ooze Garden is strong!

4 ooze garden
4 rampant growth
4 sprouting thrinax
3 maelstom pulse
4 blightning
2 sarkhan vol
4 bloodbraid elf
4 abyssal persecutor
2 bituminous blast
4 stone idol trap

3 forest
3 mountain
3 swamp
3 raging ravine
4 verdant catacombs
3 dragonskull summit
4 savage lands
2 oran-rief, the vastwood

sideboard
4x goblin ruinblaster
4x mark of mutiny
4x jund charm
3x terminate


edited 03.08.2010 300pm