. Stephen Menendian
29. Burning Ice - Ice Blue Zoo
4 Serendib Efreet
3 Rootwater Thief
2 Morphling
4 Force of Will
4 Misdirection
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Psionic Blast
1 Windfall
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Soothsaying
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Sol Ring
1 Zuran Orb
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
1 Powder Keg
14 Islands
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wastelands
1 Strip Mine
I found this deck under the T1ToC4 Decklists posted by Burning Ice and I've tried it out....I've modified it slightly and here is my version:
4 Serendib Efreet
3 Rootwater Thief
2 Morphling
4 Force of Will
4 Misdirection
4 Fact or Fiction
2 Psionic Blast
1 Windfall
1 Scroll Rack
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Soothsaying
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Sol Ring
1 Zuran Orb
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Lotus Petal-I don't own a real lotus
3 Powder Keg
14 Islands
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wastelands
1 Strip Mine
Any advice? I added the scroll rack over the merchant scroll because with the card drawing in the deck, I have found it more useful to look at 6 or 7 cards instead of getting just 1. Also, I took out 2 Psionic Blasts and added 2 Powder kegs. I haven't once in testing wish the powder kegs were blasts. It hels immensely against sligh and stompy and if you get it out early against Keeper or BBS it can kill their Morpling as I an win without one an they can not.
is soothsaying useful? it seems sort of slow for aggro.
How useful are only two Psionic Blasts? If they are good and the right amount, then keep them, if not consider going to a more optimal number or altering other cards in the deck to fill the empty slots or remove others as needed.
One potential candidate it seems might be Zuran Orb. In this deck I see that card more as a sideboard card that comes in against sligh. I do see the value of blocking with a Factory and then damage on the stack, sac - but is it worth having a potentially meaningless card in your deck is certain matchups?
Also, just from looking over the list, and not actually testing the deck, it seems that only having one two off color moxen is silly - either go to 5 or play the Sappire depending on what you deem more useful. I think I would play with all five if they are available to you. Casting a first turn Thief or Efreet seems to be a decent play under nearly any circumstances.
Also, if your going to use scroll rack, then the addition of a merchant scroll might not be a bad idea for the purpose of getting what would be in essense access to new cards if you keep in the Scroll rack.
I hope this helps, and I wish you good luck.
Stephen Menendian
In other words, the scroll and rack might have synergy rather than being mutually exclusive.
Stephen Menendian
If you're going to take anything out, take out two Misdirections. There are only 4 maindecked right now because the T1TOCs tend to have a major control meta-game, and since I always SB them in for control I just upped the count to 4.
I've taken Soothsaying out, but Merchant Scroll is very good. It let's you get 16 cards in the deck, it's almost a Demonic Tutor for anything except creatures.
Scroll Rack's a little slow for an aggro deck I think, but whatever works for you.
I've been fitting Standstill's in, as they rock.
Steven: The off-color moxen help speed the deck up. I'd like to include all 5, but I don't want to take anything out, so the count stays at 3.
It seems to me that if you want moxen, than you should try and find room for all five, unless that after extensive playtesting you've found 3 to be optimal. They are just so good in aggro .
Stephen Menendian
Chuck, play some Standstills. Cut the ZOrb, the Scroll Rack, and Soothsaying (you never used it against me). And if I lend you my Ancestral and Twister (definatly the Twister) then you damn well better play Merchant Scroll (at least one, if not two, and you DO have one, it is (or was) in your binder). And 2 Counterspells would probably be better maindeck than 2 of the Mis-Ds. What do you really plan to Misdirect anyway?
-Eric
Eric: Counterspells don't really fit in here. It's meant to be an Aggro deck, not a control deck. It plays with 6 counterspells usually (that list has 8), but they are all free counterspells, so you can tap out to play your threats.
But I agree. Fit in 2-4 Standstills, they rock.
Well, in witnessing Mystical's deck being played, he didn't really use more than 3 mana a turn (and that was only because of a Rootwater Thief). While I suppose you'd be pumping mana into a Morphling or Mishra or Thief, I didn't see it happen. Perhaps more games would prove me wrong.
-Eric
I have been testing a slightly more aggro version. In limited play it has exceeded all my expectations.
BlueZoo
R Ancestral Recall
R Time Walk
3 Impulse
3 Misdirection
4 Force of Will
4 Psionic Blast
4 Coral Merfolk
4 Thought Eater
4 Serendib Efreet
4 Ophidian
R Black Lotus
5 Moxen
R Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
14 Island
I have to admit i like the deck a lot, the Ophidians look out of place but they work rather well. Im playing Impulse over FoF-im not drunk-i just find that 4 mana is a lot for an aggro deck and plus the Phids give me some card-drawing.
Here' the New Deck:
4 Serendib Efreet
3 Rootwater Thief
2 Morphling
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
4 Fact or Fiction
2 Psionic Blast
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
4 Standstill
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Lotus Petal
3 Powder Keg
14 Islands
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wastelands
1 Strip Mine
The Changes were:
-2x Misdirection
-1x Windfall
-1x Scrollrack
-1x Soothsaying
+4x Standstill
+1x Merchant Scroll
The 4 Misd's seemed too many also in some of the testing I have done with it. The Windfall was never cast because of bad synergy with the FoF's. The Sroll Rack and Soothsaying also didn't accomplish as much as I think the Standstill's will. Also, the Merchant Scroll's ability to get so many important cards made it an easy addition. Also about the number of moxes in the deck. The reason I only have 3 in the deck is because I only own 3. If I had more, I would find some way to add them in, but seeing that I don't, I don't worry about it.Also I could use an oppinion on my sideboard. As of now it is:
4x Back to Basics
4x Blue Blasts
2x Gainsay
2x Chill
2x Misdirection
1x Masticore
Let me know what you think. Any advice is appreciated.
I'd still play with 4 Psionic Blasts, but otherwise, it looks good to me.
What would you take out to add 2 more Psi Blasts then?
Why play Lotus petal over the other two moxen? The only reason I can imagine is that you don't get blue enough first turn - but I would prefer a fourth mox so that you can drop another creature the following turn.
Stephen Menendian
Like I said before, I only own the three moxes,otherwise I would play more..I have more than enough blue as pretty much anything I would be able to play first or second turn with the deck only has 1 Blue anyway
Well, I only play with one Powder Keg, but since you want 3, hmm. Possibly 1 FoF and 1 Standstill? This well all be moot on December 1st if Fact or Fiction gets restricted of course.
Oh, and here's my current Sideboard
4 Back to Basics
4 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Misdirection
2 Masticore
2 Chill/Gainsay (changes depending on metagame)
1 Tormod's Crypt
I thought I would revive this topic now that FOF's are restricted. What would you change about the deck?