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R/G Beatdown

Started by Fish, 25-02-2009, 01:35:45 PM

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Fish

Hello everyone.
I have heard there are many specialist in the highlander field here, so I tried to put together my deck and I would like to ask you to give me some suggestions.

Here is my deck:

Lands:
13x Mountain
14x Forest
Keldon Megaliths
Karplusan Forest
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
Fire-Lit Thicket
Stomping Ground
Taiga
Bloodstained Mire
Wooded Foothills

Creatures:
1cc:
Basking Rootwalla
Tattermunge Maniac
Kird Ape
Scorched Rusalka
Skyshroud Elite
Jungle Lion
Wild Dogs
Frenzied Goblin
Magus of the Scroll
Ghazbán Ogre
Goblin Patrol
Pouncing Jaguar
Jackal Pupp
Llanowar Elves
Grim Lavamancer
Sarrgan Pit-Skulk
Mogg Fanatic

2cc:
Kavu Predator
River Boa
Hellspark Elemental
Nacatl Outlander
Skirk Marauder
Emberwilde Augur
Rip-Clan Crasher
Viridian Zealot
Gruul Guildmage
Scab-Clan Mauler
Mire Boa
Thornweald Archer
Radha, Heir to Keld
Wild Mongrel
Keldon Marauders
Tattermunge Witch
Dryad Sophisticate

3cc:
Countryside Crusher

4cc:
Blistering Firecat

Spells:
1cc:
Shard Volley
Lava Spike
Shock
Lightning Bolt
Briar Shield
Giant Growth
Firebolt
Rancor
Brute Force
Seal of Fire
Might of Old Krosa
Tarfire
Chain Lightning
Cursed Scroll
Blask Vise

2cc:
Fire/Ice
Blood Lust
Incinerate
Wild Might
Fists of Anvil
Thunderbolt
Volcanic Hammer
Flame Rift
Magma Jet

3cc:
Char
Flames of the Blood Hand
Rift Bolt
Sulfuric Vortex

4cc:
Sarkhan Vol

I am still missing some cards like Tarmogoyf, Garruk or Windswept Heath, , but I still want to know your opition on THIS deck.
The strategy of this deck is quite clear I think. The creatures are as cheap as they can be and if they cost 1 mana, it is better for me, if they are 2/1 or 2/2 if possible. Now I have to say I don't like Jackal Pupp (beacuse it hurts) and his "echo friends", but I couldn't think of better drops. Also Wild Dogs and Ghazbán Ogre are both tricky.

Thank you for any comments.

Georg B

Well, if you like to play ceap creatures, play Zoo or WW. Honestly!
The power of RG is its 4-Drops.
Of course you should play a good number of ceap creatures, but there are so many good midrange drops (e.g. Blastoderm, Ravenous Baloth, Keldon Champion, Flametongue Kavu...).

It has been a wile since I made Top 8 at the GP with RG and I haven't played this deck for a long time, but there are some good RG-players around here (Goblinpiledriver, Kavu24... ;)). I hope you will get your answers.

grizzledmage

There are TWO other threads that might give you some other ideas as well (and I started them both  :P).

One talks about mono-green aggro, and my starting version was kind of clumsy (but kind of fun also); after some posted discussions, however, you'll find a leaner meaner decklist at/near the end of the thread. It's here:

http://www.magicplayer.org/forum/index.php?topic=143.0

The other talks about RDW types of strategies, and again some good card choices are brought up by people who responded to that thread. It may be found here:

http://www.magicplayer.org/forum/index.php?topic=150.0

Between the two threads, I have no doubt that you'll find some great possibilities to help your deck.

Now, of course, RG interactions are important to your deck as well, and the people Georg B mentioned do in fact seem to be good at this kind of a build so I hope they will add some comments as well. Note, however, that some of the cards in the two threads listed above have intrinsic RG interactions; you'll know them when you see them.

Good luck!

Fish

Thank you for your suggestions till now. I changed my deck slightly (not yet included in my post) but I will wait for some more ideas. After that I change my decklist.

Georg B

Well, it would be better if you'd not change the list above, but instead post a new list.

Mythrandir

Goblinpiledriver played a RG in this league,  you could PM him and ask for his list or advice.

Vazdru

Jochen Korbel
aka Goblinpiledriver

4th at GP No. VI (126 players)      
   

8 Forest
11 Mountain
Wooded Foothills
Stomping Ground
Kaplusan Forest
Fire-Lit Thicket
Windsweapt Heath
Taiga
Bloodstained Mire
Babarian Ring
Horizon Canopy
Pendelhaven
Mishra's Factory
Treetop Village
Wasteland

Birds of Paradise
Dryad Sophisticate
Mogg Fanatic
River Boa
Wild Mongrel
Grim Lavamancer
Llanowar Elves
Troll Ascetic
Fyndhorn Elves
Arc Slogger
Scrab Clan Mauler
Phantom Centaur
Thornscape Familiar
Kird Ape
Eternal Witness
Skizzik
Granger Guildmage
Countryside Crusher
Skyshroud Elite
Hell's Sunder
Giant Solifuge
Magus of the Moon
Tattermurge Maniac
Twinblade Slasher
Boartusk Liege
Blastoderm


Keldon Champion
Flametounge Kavu
Radha, Heir to Keld
Burning Tree Shaman
Basking Rootwalla
Blistering Firecat
Rip-Clan Crasher
Boggart Ram Gang
Gruul Guildmage
Tattermurge Maniac
Vexing Susher
Keldon Marauders
Viridian Zealot
Tarmogoyf
Wild Nacatl
Volcanic Hammer
Tin Street Holigan
Kitchen Finks
Frenzid Goblin

Garruk Wildspeaker
Sharkan Vol
Shock
Sudden Shock
Sulferic Vortex
Incinerate
Sword of Fire and Ice
Giant Growth
Magma Jet
Aether Vial
Firebolt
Rift Bolt
Chain Lightning
Rancor
Tarfire
Lightning Bolt
Berserk
Survival of the Fittest
Price of Progress
Rhystic Lightning
Char
Winter Orb
Tangle Wire
Far below the earth
Where the demons hunt the souls of those that sleep
In the city of the Vazdru and the Drin
Where the black flame burns inside the palace fountain.

Fish

#7
Hello. Unluckily I missed a highlander tournament in my country during this weekend, so I couln't test my deck. On the other hand I have some new cards and I improved my deck. It is on the "Jochen Korbel basis" but there are some differences. I did this changes cause it was really true that if I want to play small critters and to be fast it is better to play zoo deck (what I don't want to do). I will be glad if you give me some comments.
Here is the deck:

Lands:
11x Mountain
9x Forest
Windswept Heath
Wooded Foothills
Bloodstained Mire
Stomping Ground
Taiga
Karplusan Forest
Fire-Lit Thicket
Horizon Canopy
Barbarian Ring
Treetop Village
Pendelhaven
Wasteland

Creatures:
1cc:
Skyshround Elite
Wild Nacatl
Jungle Lion
Llanowar Elves
Twinblade Slasher
Basking Rootwalla
Fyndhorn Elves
Birds of Paradise
Kird Ape
Mogg Fanatic
Frenzied Goblin
Grim Lavamancer
Tatermunge Maniac

2cc:
Viridian Zealot
Tarmogoyf
Thornscape Familiar
Mire Boa
Wild Mongrel
Kavu Predator
River Boa
Dryad Sophisticate
Tin Street Hooligan
Keldon Marauders
Hellspark Elemental
Gruul Guildmage
Rip-Clan Crasher
Scab-Clan Mauler
Radha, Heir to Keld

3cc:
Troll Ascetic
Hell's Thunder
Countryside Crusher
Kitchen Finks
Boggart Ram-Gang
Burning-Tree Shaman

4cc:
Phantom Centaur
Blastoderm
Keldon Champion
Blistering Firecat
Flametongue Kavu
Giant Solifuge
Boartusk Liege

5cc:
Arc-Slogger

Non-creature:
1cc:
Rancor
Giant Growth
Chain Lightning
Firebolt
Shock
Seal of Fire
Brute Force
Tarfire
Black Vise
Cursed Scroll

2cc:
Thunderbolt
Incinerate
Magma Jet
Volcanic Hammer
Sudden Shock
Colossal Might
Winter Orb

3cc:
Rift Bolt
Char
Flames of the Blood Hand
Rhystic Lightning
Sulfuric Vortex
Sword of Fire and Ice

4cc:
Garruk Wildspeaker
Sarkhan Vol

I am still planning to add more cards:
Spellbreaker Behemoth
Tangle Wire
Vexing Shusher
Price of Progress
Magus of the Moon
Skizzik
and probably Reckless Charge and Dust Bowl (cause it is unbanned now I guess)

Kavu24

Hello,
the deck that Piledriver has played on GP was my RG Beats. We have chance some cards in last seconds but the main deck was my idea. I have played and tested this deck still Highlander GP I.

To your decklist and some card choices.

Kavu Predator: you have no space for a 2/2 bear with random ability. Or do you need the ability of this card any time? Then tell me!

Mire Boa: I have cuttet this one. I think 2 Boa's are too much and the River Boa is the better one.

Blistering Firecat: It is realy good but 3 red mana's! I have played it a longt time but with Alara Reborn there 2 new cards i have no space. So i have cut it.

Seal of Fire: I think it is not good enough because it has no instant speed an no suprise effekt. :-D

Black Vise: Without any tutor it is a random card for small chance to make 7 damage with one card. I play it in my Boros.dec but in RG.beatz i think it is not good enough

Cursed Scroll: i do not like it and can you tell nothing about this card only that i don't play it.

Thunderbolt: not flexible enough

Flames of the Blood Hand: not flexible enough


Missing Cards:

Eternal Witness: It is only a 2/1 crea for cc3 but it makes card advantage and this is so improtant for RG.beatz we have few cards that make advantage. the most cards trade 1:1 and this is a big problem of this deck. So we need good cards they have a chance to make card advantage.

Bloodbraid Elf: It is incredible. The most cards have cc < 4. He makes card advantage.

Survival of the Fittest: Either you love it or you hate it. And i love it. It is extrem strong and you can ever find the right spell.

Tarmogoyf: No comment! :-P

Krosan Grip: Goblin Piledriver has said to me: "we have a big problem with enchantments like Moat, Confiment, Oath...". And this card is the answer for all with the problem we can not tutor it. Test it! Or ask Goblin!

Nantuko Vigilant: It is realy good and you must ad it because of the enchantment problems.

Vithian Renegades: I will test it. But i think we have no big problems with artifacts.


Cards which you want to play:

Spellbreaker Behemoth: no this man is nocht good enough. The most Creas are smaller than power 5 and a 5/5 without haste and shroud ist not good enough.

Tangle Wire: This Card is very important and good.

Vexing Shusher: I play it. And when you want to play Spellbreaker Behemoth you better play this Goblin because he can give all your spells protection from counters

Price of Progress: This card ist IMBA! You must play it.

Magus of the Moon: I think you can abdicate this card but in some MU it is very nice.

Skizzik: It is better than Firecate becaus of the mana cost.


So, i hope i can help you a little.

So long

KAvu

Fish

#9
Well thank you very much. I give you some comments to certain cards:

Kavu Predator - I used to play it when there were more pumps in my deck but I cut them off lately. The next thing why do I play it is because of life gain. I am afraid of it very much and Loxodon Hierarch for example or Kitchen Finks can ruin my game quite well. Although it is connected with my metagame. For me it has not such a random ability and sometimes trample helps me too.

Mire Boa - I am testing this one because many people play swamps, it is also a good candidate for excluding when I have something better.

Blistering Firecat - I can't help myself but I love this creature. The two other things I play it for is the effect of surprise (I REALLY need haste) and because I can't compare it to Skizzik yet. It is not in my "arsenal". :) Maybe I change it later but till now I am satisfied with it.

Seal of Fire - Before you answered it was changed for Eternal Witness. Seal really wasn't good enough.

Black Vise - Maybe it is quite a random card (probably I will change it for Vial) but it won me a couple of games. On the other hand the truth is that it was in my opening hand.

Cursed Scroll - This is because of many controls in my meta.

Thunderbolt - I agree it is not flexible but sometimes I need to kill some flyers and I need it to do for less mana but also it is still opened slot.

Flames of the Blood Hand - I like doing 4 damage for 3 mana and again I am afraid of life gain (metagame). I still agree it is not so much flexible. If you know about something that deals with life gain I will be glad to know that.

Bloodbraid Elf - I am still missing it

Survival of the Fittest - This will be strange but: I love this card but not in this deck. Sorry, kill me for that. :) Maybe I test but not yet.

Tarmogoyf - It is in my decklist, you must have skiped it.

Krosan Grip - Well, I know it is a good card but I want to do some damage and this card doesn't allow me to do that. :) It is helpful indeed but I rather play some kind of creature that can deal with enchantments like zealot. When I begin to have troubles with enchantments more maybe I include it.

Nantuko Vigilante - I will add this one for sure sooner or later to test it.

Vithian Renegades - Maybe you don't have trouble with artifacts but I do. That's why I play Tin Street Hooligan and that's why I will automaticaly play this one. Still I don't want to play Krosan Grip for that. Again maybe I am making a mistake but those are my personal preferences.

Spellbreaker Behemoth - I have to test this one in my meta. We have quite a big number of control decks. If I have a Vexing Shusher I would play both of them.

Price of Progress - This card is awesome but I am still missing it.

Magus of the Moon - I have to include it again because of my meta.

Skizzik - Will be added as soon as I get him.

Thank you again you helped me a lot. If you have some more comments please let me know.


edit (9.5.2009): I am thinking about playing Blitz Hellion. Any opinions on this one ?

Vilhis

Hi everyone! I'v been playing RG Aggro for a long time, and I'll share my current list with you:

Lands:
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Arid Mesa
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 City of Brass
1 Fire-lit Thicket
6 Forest
1 Ghitu Encampment
1 Karplusan Forest
1 Mishra's Factory
8 Mountain
1 Mutavault
1 Pendelhaven
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Stomping Ground
1 Taiga
1 Treetop Village
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Wasteland

0cc:
1 Chrome Mox
1 Lotus Petal

1cc:
1 Æther Vial
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Chain Lightning
1 Demonfire
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Goblin Guide
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Jungle Lion
1 Kird Ape
1 Lava Spike
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Rancor
1 Reckless Charge
1 Skyshroud Elite
1 Tattermunge Maniac
1 Wild Nacatl

2cc:
1 Ankh of Mishra
1 Dryad Sophisticate
1 Hellspark Elemental
1 Horned Kavu
1 Incinerate
1 Keldon Marauders
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Magma Jet
1 Price of Progress
1 Radha, Heir to Keld
1 River Boa
1 Scab-Clan Mauler
1 Smash to Smithereens
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Tin Street Hooligan
1 Viridian Zealot
1 Winter Orb

3cc:
1 Blood Moon
1 Boggart Ram-Gang
1 Burning-Tree Shaman
1 Call of the Herd
1 Char
1 Eternal Witness
1 Flame Javelin
1 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Krosan Grip
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Molten Rain
1 Sulfur Elemental
1 Sulfuric Vortex
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Troll Ascetic
1 Vithian Renegades

4cc:
1 Avalanche Riders
1 Blistering Firecat
1 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Boartusk Liege
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Giant Solifuge
1 Keldon Champion
1 Phantom Centaur
1 Sarkhan Vol
1 Skizzik

5cc:
1 Arc-Slogger

6cc:
1 Fireblast

The list should include Kitchen Finks and Vexings Shusher. I just need to cut something to make room. What you think?
Now Playing:
R/G Aggro

Zephyr

What about mogg fanatic (new rules suxx) and Horned Cavu (too slow). And, Ruinblaster is usually 4CC :)

Thibir

I´d cut Smash to Smitherens and Lava Spike. I play smash in my casual RB goblins and I have mixed results. Sometimes it is great topdeck, but on the other hand quite often it is a dead card. Also I prefer to use my burn either to clean path for my creatures or to burn down the opponent. Lava Spike just does only one of these two so I would not play it. I like Shock with kicker from Zendinkar much more.

I also agree with Zephyr on Horned Kavu.

I´d like to ask you also about Mire Boa. I usually play both Boas or none :)

Are you testing results with Lotus Petal good? to me it seem, that single shot acceleration isn´t worth one lost card. I would definitely change if for Mox Diamond.

And my last question is about Ghitu Encampment. Is it worth playing? I know that manlands are great, treetop village is big enough to "forgive" CIPT. but is Encampment relevant?

Btw: Llanowar Elves and Fyndhorn Elves yes and no Noble Hierarch? why?

Fish

#13
I am still testing my latest version and because of upcoming highlander tournament in my country I am not posting it yet. But I can say, there are no major changes.
My plans are adding some LD and some acceleration (mox diamond, chrome mox) instead of pumps and I also want to add some new cards like fetch lands and cobra.

Ghitu Encampment - It was in the first version of my deck and it was TERRIBLE. I had to cut it out. Sometimes Treetop Village is not good enough (comes into play tapped) and I would rather use Mutavault or Mishra's Factory but I am afraid of mana screw, still I am planning to change it and I will see the results.

Lotus Petal is also bad in my opinion. It is not worth it.

I read what more experienced players wrote and they were right that damage to player only is not good enough. I would definitely cut Lava Spike. Smash to Smitherens is really casual. I would use some kind of creature to destroy artifacts or enchantments. The only card without a direct damage for destroying those things and is worth considering is Krosan Grip and I am still not playing it (I see that you are.).

Zephyr

Why not? As I said to you (and many of you will agree with me) that card is the best Ench/Art destruction ever printed. No chance to response makes really big advantage. Totally shuts down cards that are very often unable to destroy (SDT, Vedalken Shackles - because it´s blue and which color has counterspells?, etc.). It is a staple in green, so no thinking about including. And, of course, I agree with guys :)