ICE : Ug aggro-control

Beyond Dominia: The Type One Magic Mill: ICE : Ug aggro-control

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By FeverDog (Feverdog) on Wednesday, May 29, 2002 - 01:57 am:

A while back i started working on a multi-color Phid deck using green for Call of the Herd/Regrowth and red for Shaman/Fire and such. After a lot of testing and metagame considerations, i came to realize the deck was better off without the red component and i went with Ug instead, since then the deck has performed better than i could have hoped. If you wanna play something competitive thats a little diffrent then i have a deck for you:

//NAME: ICE

4 Powder Keg

1 Regrowth
4 Call of the Herd

1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Cunning Wish
2 Misdirection
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Mana Leak
4 Ophidian
2 Morphling

1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Yavimaya Coast
4 Tropical Island
1 Forest
8 Island

SB: 3 Tranquil Domain
SB: 3 Seedtime
SB: 4 Compost
SB: 1 Teferi's Response
SB: 1 Forbid
SB: 1 Opportunity
SB: 2 Hydroblast

This deck has strong control elements but also has the option of going on the offensive. The Calls can act as walls early versus aggro or as threats vs control decks. The card advantage they provide, coupled with the card drawing power of the Phids, makes it very hard for other decks to keep up with. The low numberof Wastelands is not due to some brain injury but rather to my strange metagame, i might run one more in place of the 4th Mishras but thats as far as i will go. I welcome all suggestions for the deck and i do consider all advice given(props to Nevyn for thinking of Cunning Wish).


By Nevyn, the Village Idiot (Nevyn) on Wednesday, May 29, 2002 - 12:25 pm:

I overlooked this when you showed me your list, but one or two copies of intuition could also be good. Im not trying to get you into an AK engine, but intuition for 3 calls gives you 5 3/3's. Look up Tomi Walamies 1.x 'dumbo drop' deck for reference as this is where i got the idea from.


By FeverDog (Feverdog) on Wednesday, May 29, 2002 - 01:13 pm:

I have tested it but i really dont like it. Sure it gives you a ton of 3/3s but the whole reason Call is great is because you get 2for1 when you draw it. I dont like the idea of turning half my Calls into plain old Hill Giants.


By The Phoenix (Phoenix) on Wednesday, May 29, 2002 - 01:52 pm:

I'd swap an Island for an UP and add in some more Wastelands. Trust me when I say that they'll be very usefull if you get in the T8 (there are a number of good control/combo players, you just haven't shown up when they did).


By FeverDog (Feverdog) on Wednesday, May 29, 2002 - 02:23 pm:

Thanks for the advice Andy, from my experience there didnt seem to be many good control players around but you have been to more of these tourneys than me. Either way this deck is months from seeing any tourneys since i dont own a single Tropical and i dont have the cash to get any cards right now. BTW, i hope you will be playing Keeper or OSE this sunday, we need more good control decks to weed out the junk.


By BeBe, the Redeemer (Bebe) on Wednesday, May 29, 2002 - 09:39 pm:

I like your build as is and have been experimenting with a similar idea over the last week and a half. It began after reading your post at the refugee mill. I started by playing your build online. It performed as advertised but after two days of testing at the shop (sunday and wednesday), we modified the deck to see if any of the new cards from judgement might find a fit. Now, again it started from your original list so don't be too harsh. We just wanted to see if we could pop out some creatures a bit faster and fatter:

QuietIce.dec

**Manipulation** 17
4 Deep Analysis
3 Quiet Speculation
2 Brainstorm
Mystical Tutor
Fact or Fiction
Regrowth
Sylvan Library
Time Walk
Ancestral Recall
Merchant Scroll
Cunning Wish

**Kill Cards** 8
4 CotH
2 Roar of the Wurm
2 Morphling

**Utility** 1
Zuran Orb

**Counters** 9
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
Forbid
Misdirection

**Mana** 25
Sol Ring
Black Lotus
Strip Mine
Mox Sapphire
Mox Emerald
9 Island
4 Yavimaya Coast
4 Tropical Island
3 Forest

SB:
4 Compost
3 Tranquil Domain
3 Oath
Hydroblast
2 Gainsay
2 Masticore

QS repalces the intuitons Nevyn was speaking us. Deep Analysis seems janky but we drew an average of aix cards a game and as many as ten cards from it. Maybe 'Phids are better but so far DP has worked and it allows for an innovative sideboard. I also saw no reason not to add a few Roars. Roars make the deck that much fatter and more difficult to deal with. Two are plenty. Forbid replaces one Drain as another means to dump a card in the grave and of course Brainstrom for post transformation. Yhe biggest difference is the lack of Kegs and Mishras. So far I have not missed them.

This build becomes much better vs. aggro after siding in Oaths, a Forbid and two Nasties for three QSs and two DPs. A Morph or Nasty on the table and fat in the grave are good win conditions. We thought of adding Gaeas but so far decking has not been an issue as I've had good results of of Oath. When both Morphs are in the last five cards, I might rethink this and add a copy.

I will be playing some sort of hybrid of this deck at the next tournament with the hope of beating the Keeper/OSE/mono-blue decks that are currently dominating our metagme.


By FeverDog (Feverdog) on Thursday, May 30, 2002 - 01:40 am:

Hey, im just happy someone saw potential in the deck. Whether you run the same exact list or you just take the basic concept of the deck and modify it to your own tastes is up to each individual. My deck is, of course, still in testing and its getting better all the time and im glad to hear yours is working well for you. Its funny how this is the second time this has happened with you and me BeBe-first with Iron Monkey and now with this deck. Im glad to see ppl actually considering my ideas and building from there, it makes me feel like someone is actually listening. I wish you best of luck with your build and i hope to get an update soon. Thanks.


By FeverDog (Feverdog) on Thursday, May 30, 2002 - 02:05 am:

Just to keep you guys updated here is the current list.

//NAME: ICE

4 Powder Keg

1 Regrowth
1 Sylvan Library
4 Call of the Herd

1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Merchant Scroll
2 Misdirection
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Mana Leak
4 Ophidian
2 Morphling

1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
3 Mishra's Factory
4 Yavimaya Coast
4 Tropical Island
1 Forest
8 Island

SB: 4 Emerald Charm
SB: 3 Seedtime
SB: 4 Compost
SB: 2 Hydroblast
SB: 2 Masticore

I tried Cunning Wish for short time and it was cool when it worked but i just found it overly complicated and i cant really say it helped me more than Sylvan did. Because of the Wish leaving my sb has reverted to a more normal build, i also added a 3rd Strip over the 4th Mishras for now but that is still being tested.


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