Deckbuilding for interesting formats

[Simon O'Keeffe]

Hi all,

Both Glenn and I qualified for the XGL end of year invitational happening next weekend in Colchester. Unfortunately I can't attend but thought that the formats were interesting and might scratch some deckbuilding urges for those who want to try their hand. Formats are:

15-card Standard Highlander - players must have decks of 15 cards and a sideboard of 3 or 0 cards. Players may only have 1 copy of any standard legal card in their deck and sideboard. The banned list is as follows:

Mind Funeral, Hedron Crab, Archive Trap, Sadistic Sacrament, Memory Erosion, Tome Scour.

Standard Rainbow Stairwell - players must have a constructed deck of 56 cards consisting of the following:

20 basic land (4 of each)
6 of each coloured card (White, Blue, Black, Red, Green)
6 artifacts

Each set of 6 coloured/artifacts must consist of mana costs of 1 - 6 e.g. white could be 1: Elite Vanguard, 2: Kor Skyfisher, 3: Devout Lightcaster, 4: Day of Judgment, 5: Baneslayer Angel, 6: Felidar Sovreign.

There are no banned cards for this format.

Have a crack at constructing some decks, I'm sure Glenn will appreciate the help as he is on holiday most of this week and will have little time to build something.

[Amar Dattani]

the 15 card highlander - do you lose to decking? Either way i would recommend some sort of grixis unearth strategy as you are then getting double use out of your creatures. not sure on sideboard but it could have some sort of mass removal or countermagic - i think soul manipulation is awesome in the format!

rough example:

visceria dragger
extractor demon
sederix spectre
fire field ogre
fatesticher
soul manipulation
doom blade
rotting rats
vampire nighthawk (cos he is awesome)
crumbling necroplis
dragonskull summit
bu dual
island
mountain
swamp

manabase needs work, obv!

[Simon O'Keeffe]

Amar Dattani said:

the 15 card highlander - do you lose to decking?

You do not lose to decking, just keep playing until one person wins, or the game is declared a draw.

In the past recursion has been key for these kind of things, or unstoppable tempo. So Grixis looks like a good start. I'm wondering if you can get some recursion going with the Blue Quest that shuffles you library/graveyard?

[Amar Dattani]

could put bloodghast in there as well i suppose.
also extractor demon could be a nice mill strategy assuming it doesnt come out too late for it to matter...

the blue quest would prob fit better in another deck as when you unearth the critters they get RFG'd at EOT - so shuffling back wouldn't be so good

sideboard could be some more removal (disfigure, deathmark, volcanic fallout) if your opponent has got some ridiculous fast agro deck - this deck will always have long term inevitability so you just need to survive early game

the other rainbow deck sounds like too much thinking for me!

[Ben Titmarsh]

Wheel of Sun and Moon seems to fit the relentless aggro archtype pretty well!

[Amar Dattani]

also do you draw an opening 7 as per normal or are there different rules regarding opening hands etc?

also wheel sun and mon isn't in standard anymore- although it would have been pretty awesome if you drew it early on!

[Simon O'Keeffe]

Amar Dattani said:

also do you draw an opening 7 as per normal or are there different rules regarding opening hands etc?

also wheel sun and mon isn't in standard anymore- although it would have been pretty awesome if you drew it early on!

Wheel of Sun and Moon was key to the last time I had to play this format and in tandem with Mistveil Plains were the core of a great mono white control deck.

All rules are the same as normal Magic, barring no losing by decking, and only 3 card sideboard.
So you have half your deck in your hand by turn 1 pretty much.

[Amar Dattani]

i forgot about another pretty important card - corpse connoisser - which could also mean you can have kederk leviathan in the deck!

i am getting WAY too into this considering im not playing in the tournament!

Glenn better win now! Who else is going to the invitational?

[wv]

Needs moar Crypt of Agerdeem (or whatever the fuck that card is called).

Amar Dattani said:

i forgot about another pretty important card - corpse connoisser - which could also mean you can have kederk leviathan in the deck!

i am getting WAY too into this considering im not playing in the tournament!

Glenn better win now! Who else is going to the invitational?

[Simon O'Keeffe]

So you can laugh at my atrophied deckbuilding skills, here are some first drafts I came up with:

Bushwhacker:
Steppe Lynx
Goblin Guide
Plated Geopede
Kor Skyfisher

Lightning Bolt
Burst Lightning
Journey to Nowhere
Quenchable Fire

RW fetch
WB fetch
RU fetch
2 Mountain
2 Plains

LD:
Birds of Paradise
Noble Hierarch
Lotus Cobra
Goblin Ruinblaster
World Queller
Acidic Slime

Oblivion Ring

RW fetchland
GB fetchland
Ancient Ziggurat
Jungle Shrine
2 Forest
Plains
Mountain

A deck with more lands than spells seems wrong though...

[Tom Reeve]

Brainstorming...

Llanowar Elves
Noble Hierarch
Nissa's Chosen
Qasali Pridemage
Baneslayer Angel
World Queller

Nissa Revane
Elspeth, Knight Errant

5 Forest
2 Plains

First guess at a SB - Relic of Progenitus, Grizzled Leotau, Wall of Reverence

[wv]

It seems Lotus Cobra might actually have a place here... (brainstorming)

Saclands
Basics
Noble Hierarch
Lotus Cobra
Harrow
Kalni Expedition
Violent Ultimatum
Baneslayer
Jwar Jwar Sphinx
Inkwell Leviathan
Chandra (the new one)

[Tom Reeve]

Not sure if the Nissa/Chosen thing is really necessary - if not, maybe trade them out for something like Bant Charm + War Monk, swap the Llanowar for a Birds, and drop 2 Forest for an Island and Rainforest.

Tom Reeve said:

Brainstorming...

Llanowar Elves
Noble Hierarch
Nissa's Chosen
Qasali Pridemage
Baneslayer Angel
World Queller

Nissa Revane
Elspeth, Knight Errant

5 Forest
2 Plains

First guess at a SB - Relic of Progenitus, Grizzled Leotau, Wall of Reverence