5c Mask

[black lotus]

Hi everyone. To be honest: I'm new in this format. I played 60 cards highlander before with only Tinker and P9 banned (and all the cards that aren't legal in Vintage) and "surprisingly", Flash turned out to be boring =) Not to play though, but to play against it.

Anyway, here my first try:

1 Demonic Tutor
2 Enlighted Tutor
3 Fabricate
4 Muddle the Mixture
5 Dimir Infiltrator
6 Shred Memory
7 Worldly Tutor
8 Intuition
9 Rhystic Tutor
10 Eladamri's Call

1 Survival of the Fittest
2 Illusionare Mask
3 Stifle
4 Trickbind

1 Goblin Welder
2 Sundering Titan
3 Volrath's Shapeshifter
4 Flowstone Hellion
5 Phyrexian Dreadnought
6 Squee, Goblin Nabob
7 Sylvan Safekeeper
8 Trinket Mage
9 Sakura Tribe-Elder
10 Eternal Witness
11 Tarmogoyf
12 Hunted Horror
13 Hunted Troll
14 Viridian Shaman
15 Monk Realist
16 Ornithopter
17 Bird of Paradise
18 Llanowar Elf
19 Fyndhorn Elf
20 Loxodon Hierarch
21 Jötun Grunt
22 Flametoungue Kavu
23 Grim Lavamancer
24 Dark Confidant
25 SSG
26 Nekrataal
27 Shadowmage Infiltrator
28 Trygon Predator
29 Magus of the Moon
30 ESG
31 Academy Rector

1 Regrowth
2 Tormod's Crypt (in my opinion one of the strongest cards in the format)
3 Frantic Search
4 Impulse
5 Recurring Nightmare

1 Remand
2 Spell Snare
3 Duress
4 Mana Leak
5 Lightning Helix
6 Putrefy
7 Terror
8 Sword to Plowshares
9 Miscalculation
10 Repeal
11 Engineered Explosives

1 Chrome Mox
2 Kodama's Reach
3 Search for Tomorrow
4 Rampant Growth
5 Wayfarer's Bauble
6 Mox Diamond

1-33 Any Lands considerable, but 1-2 basic lands of each basic land type and some Artifact Lands.

Comments?

[MarkusMagic]

Hi,
first of all I think 27 lands is not enough for a 100 card deck. In my opinion you should play at least 34.
Befroe I'll go one commenting your list I've got a question.
What are ESG and SSG?

Thanks
Markus

[black lotus]

I thought 27 is not much... I'll fix it and cut a few creatures and some blue stuff. 34 you think? Even with landtutors? I know they don't actually replace lands, but they decrease the amount of lands needed in the deck quite bit.
ESG = Elvish Spirit Guide
SSG = Simian Spirit Guide

[MarkusMagic]

Hi
yeah I think a number around 34 is good even with these tutors and moxes. But I think for the correct number you need to test the deck in several different matchups.

Can u explain in a short post what exactly you want the deck to do. Cause on the first view I think it's dangerous just to play Survival and Mask. Nearly every deck has accsses to enchantment removal, countermagic or possibilities to handle one part of that combo.

Thanks
Markus

[black lotus]

I got logged off posting my comment (and forgot about this illness some forums have and didn't copy the message before posting...) so I'm kinda pissed -.-'

Short version:
Build up some pressure with your creatures and keep him busy until you find Survival 4 win (either Shapeshifter or - depending on the situation e.g. if less Mana is available - Welder; both should be supported by Safekeeper) or dealing with his stuff with the toolbox (I rather like Magus of the Moon in this format) Survival provides.
Mask (and Stifle/Trickbind) is another thing supporting the strategy. It doesn't only bypass cip-drawbacks, it also makes your creatures impossible to counter and it creates a HUGE surprise effect.

I lack protection for Survival, I admit, but since every additional creature card in the Deck supports the Survival strategy better than a counterspell does AND all (well, most of) these creatures are pretty darn strong by themself, i have a solid beatdown plan as well. I felt that this is better than being busy finding Survival doing nothing but running into a Krosan Grip, ending up facing my opponents creatures with useless counterspells. To sum it up: It's an aggressive deck + it has Survival and Mask, but doesn't entirely depend on them.

Edit: I made some changes in the list above, playing currently 33 Lands (+7 other manasources + 5 land tutors)

[Vazdru]

I would play 32 lands and cut this 5 cards:

Rhystic Tutor - in late game often a dead card

Magus of the Moat - honestly i don't know why you've added this card; i think it's some kind of "counterproductive" in your deck (Hunted Troll + Magus  )

Magus of the Moon - you have a multicolour deck and imo you need to play at least fetch lands to have a solid mana base - i don't think MofM works well in this deck

Spellsnare - imo weak counterspell, i prefer even force spike // stronger alternatives: dissipate, complicate, hinder, good old power sink, memory lapse...


Sudden Shock - i prefer Magma Jet (Scry vs. SS), Lightning Bolt (cheaper + more dam vs SS)

Search for Tomorrow - what do you think about Nature's Lore



I'm missing badly Recurring Nightmare and Gifts Ungiven in your deck.

EDIT: I don't find the first version anymore - what cards have been cut?

[black lotus]

I would play 32 lands and cut this 5 cards:

Rhystic Tutor - in late game often a dead card
That's quite true. But I take that risk since it's pretty darn cool in the earlygame.
Magus of the Moat - honestly i don't know why you've added this card; i think it's some kind of "counterproductive" in your deck (Hunted Troll + Magus  )
True again! I thought about cutting it myself. But it provides a last-minute "solution" against beatdown decks or angry evasion bears (if the evasion isn't flying ). Simply drawn it is a dead card in most occasions. This is one of the few cards not being good without Survival.
Magus of the Moon - you have a multicolour deck and imo you need to play at least fetch lands to have a solid mana base - i don't think MofM works well in this deck
I do. Really. It can shut down most Controldecks even protecting itself. I consider it as one of the most powerful tools in the toolbox since i myself only need green mana to win once Survival already is in play. On the draw again not very useful in most situations, but without testing it, I wont cut it.
Spellsnare - imo weak counterspell, i prefer even force spike // stronger alternatives: dissipate, complicate, hinder, good old power sink, memory lapse...
Very powerful spell. Most threats to my key-cards will be countered and it can counter a Bob even if my opponent started. None of your listed spells can do that. And I rather cut the counterspell in this slot than playing an UU spell (besides Shapeshifter of course).

Sudden Shock - i prefer Magma Jet (Scry vs. SS), Lightning Bolt (cheaper + more dam vs SS)
I already cut Sudden Shock since weak removal doesn't do much in this deck. You must have been looking at the old list.
Search for Tomorrow - what do you think about Nature's Lore
I already cut Farseek - which is most likely a lot better than Lore. I just don't see any more slots. Search has permission to stay in the Deck since i don't have many 1drops already - but I wanna use my mana round2.


I'm missing badly Recurring Nightmare and Gifts Ungiven in your deck.
Recurring Nightmare: I simply forgot that card existed =) It will be added. Gifts: What for? I already don't like Intuition, but Gifts doesn't seem to do much apart from useing a lot of mana just for moving your bombs from your Library into your GY in this deck.

EDIT: I don't find the first version anymore - what cards have been cut?

Hang on, I'll see what I remeber.
Edit: I cut Sleight of Hand, Sudden Shock, Brainstorm, Farseek, Serum Vision and 2 toolbox critters I don't remeber. And now I replaced Moat with Nightmare.

[Vazdru]

Spellsnare - imo weak counterspell, i prefer even force spike // stronger alternatives: dissipate, complicate, hinder, good old power sink, memory lapse...
Very powerful spell. Most threats to my key-cards will be countered and it can counter a Bob even if my opponent started. None of your listed spells can do that.

But Force Spike can do - it has been always a big surprise for opponents if their early gamebreaking spoiler has been countered that way - but maybe your right. I've played Spellsnare a few times and always cut it after some tests.

Search for Tomorrow - what do you think about Nature's Lore
I already cut Farseek - which is most likely a lot better than Lore. I just don't see any more slots. Search has permission to stay in the Deck since i don't have many 1drops already - but I wanna use my mana round2.

I wouldn't play many basic lands cause you need lots of duals (old school, Rav), Fetchlands and Utilitylands in this deck. Nature's Lore > Farseek cause the Land comes into play untapped. Nature's Lore > Search cause you get your preferred Forest-Dual.

I'm missing badly Recurring Nightmare and Gifts Ungiven in your deck.
Recurring Nightmare: I simply forgot that card existed =) It will be added. Gifts: What for? I already don't like Intuition, but Gifts doesn't seem to do much apart from useing a lot of mana just for moving your bombs from your Library into your GY in this deck.

Gifts is the best! Tutor you can have in many cases, instant speed and only cc +1 than rhystic tutor:

Some examples:
Gifts eot for Life from the loam, Cycleland #1, Cycleland # 2, Wasteland or Cycleland #3 BTW: i would add LftL and Gifts
Gifts eot for Regrowth, Eternal Witness, Survival, Squee
Gifts eot for Recurring Nightmare, Squee, Welder, Survival
and so on......

[Mythrandir]

gifts is one the best cards in the format, especially in decks that run cards like regwroth, witness, volrath, recurring, etc..

try it, and see its power