MDF league

[Xilren's Twin]

Here's what I went with for my latest MDF league.  I;m currently in week 3.  I thought I was in serious trouble as I my only artifact removal for non creature was a Goblin replica but the Molder Slug has been huge for me.  It;s a rather high mana curve deck already so most often I was looking to hold out early game still i hit 5-9 mana.  Surprisingly, it worked.

Week 1: 5-0 in matches
Bringer of the Green Dawn - 5/5, always hardcast for 9, but a free 3/3 a turn is game over
Wurmskin Forger - 2/2 but adds 3 +1/+1 counters which can be a huge help
Tangle Spider - 3/4 block flyer and play as an instant
Fangren Pathcutter - 4/6 gives all attackers trample
Spire Golem - 2/4 flying, affinity for islands
Molder Slug - 4/6 that makes each play sac an artifact during upkeep, my mvp
Needlebug - 2/2, protection from artifacts, can play as an instant
Viridian Joiner - 1/2 mana elf, mana=power (used equip and counters to power up)
Goblin Replica 2/2, can pay R3 to sac & destroy and artifact
Thought Courier 1/1 tap to draw a card, then discard 1
Wizard Replica - 1/3 flyer, sac to counter unless pay 2
Myr Enforcer - 4/4 affinity for artifacts
Anodet Lurker - 3/3 get 3 life when it goes to graveyard
Tel-Jilad Wolf 2/2 +3/+3 if blocked by artifacts

Heartseeker - +2/+1, tap to unattach and destory target creature
Vulshok Morning Start - +2/+2 equipment
Horned Helm - +1/+1 can bounce as instant for GG
Bonespliter - +2/0

Fireball - red x; what more can you say
Barbed Lightning - 3 dam to creature of player, can entwine
Electrostatic Bolt - 2 dam to creature or 4 to artifact creature

Serum Visions - draw 1, scry 2
Thirst for Knowledge - draw 3 and discard 2 or 1 artifact
Regress - bounce a perm back to hand

Stalking Stones
3 Mountain
3 Island
Great Furnace
Seat of the Synod
8 Forest

Week 2: no green at all in pack :(
Added: Icy Manipulator
Damping Matrix - shuts down all activated abilities of creatures and artifacts so my fattys can go to work with no tricks
Iron Myr
Talisman of Unity

Removed:
Anodet Lurker, Bonespliter, Horned Helm, Regress

Went 4-1 that week, getting totally wrecked by a deck packing Reiver Demon (kill all non black non art critters plus a 6/6 flyer body)

Week 3
Tough choices this week.  My packs had
Another Heartseeker +2/+1, basically pay 5 to tap and kill a critter
Spire Golem 2/4 flyer, affinity for islands
Death Mask Duplicant - 5/5 for 7 plus can imprint abilties from graveyard creatures
Whispersilk Cloak - makes creature unblockable plus can't be targeted
Unforge - destroy equipment, do 2 damage to creature equiped
Talisman of Indulgence
Viridian Acolyte - mana color fixer
Vedalken Engineer - add 2 mana for artifacts only
Neorok Spy 2/2 unblockable if opponent has an artifact

I've tried a couple of sets but when 1-2 so far against some good decks (razormane manticore is mucho painful).

The rest of the pool:
Æther Spellbomb
Arcbound Hybrid
Armed Response
Assert Authority
Awe Strike
Barter in Blood
Battlegrowth
Blind Creeper
Bonesplitter
Burden of Greed
Darksteel Pendant
Death-Mask Duplicant
Demon's Horn
Disarm
Disciple of the Vault
Dragon's Claw
Echoing Courage
Essence Drain
Fractured Loyalty
Frogmite
Grimclaw Bats
Groffskithur
Hallow
Inflame
Infused Arrows
Irradiate
Krark-Clan Engineers
Krark-Clan Grunt
Krark-Clan Shaman
Leonin Scimitar
Loxodon Anchorite
Loxodon Mender
Machinate
Molten Rain
Moriok Scavenger
Mourner's Shield
Myr Adapter
Myr Enforcer
Myr Incubator
Myr Moonvessel 2
Necrogen Mists
Necrogen Spellbomb
Neurok Hoversail
Neurok Stealthsuit
Nim Lasher
Opaline Bracers
Oxidda Golem
Power Conduit
Pteron Ghost
Raise the Alarm
Razor Barrier
Skeleton Shard
Skyhunter Cub
Skyhunter Patrol
Slagwurm Armor
Soldier Replica
Somber Hoverguard
Spincrusher
Steel Wall
Swamp
Talisman of Indulgence
Tanglebloom
Test of Faith
Tooth of Chiss-Goria
Vicious Betrayal
Vulshok Gauntlets
Vulshok Sorcerer
Wrench Mind

Any suggestions? Or questions for that matter?

Xilrens

[Anonymous]

Wow, that's some fat you got right there... I'll sort your cards and come up with an opinion soon, but the short answer is: cut the fat. More in a bit (I'll edit this post).

[Calantus]

The above post was mine, didn't realise I wasn't logged in... :/


This pool really wants U/B/r Affinity (try it in the tie-breakers maybe?):

Myr Enforcer
Goblin Replica
Icy Manipulator
Needlebug
2 Spire Golem
Talisman of Indulgence
Wizard Replica
Skeleton Shard
Iron Myr

Vulshok Morning Star
Bonespliter

Neorok Spy
Somber Hoverguard
Serum Visions
Thirst for Knowledge
Thought Courier

Blind Creeper
Essence Drain
Grimclaw Bats
Moriok Scavenger
Nim Lasher

Barbed Lightning
Electrostatic Bolt
Fireball

Stalking Stones
1 Mountain
Great Furnace
5 Islands
Seat of the Synod
6 Swamps


Of course if you want to keep the fatty green, this is the G/U/r (best colors for the green in this pool IMO) deck I'd recommend:

Goblin Replica
Icy Manipulator
Iron Myr
Needlebug
Spire Golem x2
Talisman of Indulgence
Talisman of Unity
Wizard Replica

Bonesplitter
Vulshok Morning Star

Bringer of the Green Dawn
Fangren Pathcutter
Molder Slug
Tangle Spider
Tel-Jilad Wolf
Viridian Joiner
Wurmskin Forger

Neorok Spy
Serum Visions
Thought Courier

Barbed Lightning
Electrostatic Bolt
Fireball

Stalking Stones
3 Mountain
5 Island
7 Forest


A bit about why I chose this:

Cutting the enforcer is easy, you don't have enough artis to make it worth it, especially in a deck with so much fat already. I dropped a land because I added in 4 mana accelerators to get the fat out nice and quick, and 17 lands + 4 accel is too much even in a deck like this (I chose a mountain... you have 4 "red" spells and 2 non-land red sources). The bonesplitter and morning star have great synergy with the spy, the 2 spire golems, veridian joiner, and the trample guy. Not a fan of heartseeker to be honest, but if you want it, take out the bonesplitter for it. The thirst I dropped because I find it too expensive in limited if I don't have the artifacts to discard, which you don't (plus you have serum visions and thought courier, you don't need the card draw really). Took out the dampening matrix because it's a sideboard card against decks with insane activated abilities, otherwise it's just as likely to hurt you more. Added in another spire golem because they rock and you need the evasion. Neurok spy doesn't need an explanation. I took out the arti lands and replaced them with basics because nothing in your deck works off artifacts and artifact lands can hurt you. I also moved a forest into an island to better help the spire golems and make blue more regular. Losing a forest shouldn't hurt as you have 2 non-land green sources and all your double green spells are expensive anyway.

Hope that helps.

[schild]

For a moment there I tried a Wurmskin Forger out in my limited decks (mostly in sealed deck tourneys) and have discovered that it's just total crap and can ruin the tempo of a deck completely. I suggest dropping him and keeping him out. I want like the U/B/R affinity idea above, though looking at the creatures it looks almost as though you could go mono-color about now. Or possibly dual. I'm not entirely sure three colors is a necessary evil at this point. Some people get lucky and 3 colors will still work in terms of draw, but I know better than to even chance that with my decks.

If I catch you online I'll challenge you so I can really see how the deck works. But I agree with the sentiment of just removing the Myr Enforcer altogether. I mean if you want to leave him in, remove the Wurmskin Forger.

[Anonymous]

My suggestion:

Æther spellbomb
Electrostatic Bolt
Bonesplitter

Iron Myr
Talisman of Unity
Talisman of Indulgence
Vedalken Engineer
Vulshok Morningstar
Thought Courier

Goblin Replica
Neurok Spy
Thirst for Knowledge
Barbed Lightning
Skeleton Shard
Wizard Replica
Vulshok Sorcerer

Infused Arrows
Frogmite
Needlebug
Icy Manipulator

2 Spire Golem
Somber Hoverguard

Myr Enforcer

Fireball

= 25 spells

Great Furnace
Seat of the Synod
Swamp
4 Mountain
8 Island

= 15 lands

Green is your worst colour (and the worst colour in Mirrodin block in
general). Molder slug does have a certain allure, but the support it needs is
just not there. White doesn't look that hot either, so you're faced with
playing some combination of your blue, red and black cards. The double spire
golem with assorted goodies puts you in heavy blue, so the question becomes
which red and/or black cards to play. You'll want to play the red removal
headed up by fireball, so the two main options are a blue/black deck with a red
splash, or a blue/red deck. I'd go with the more stable two-colour build here.
You get to play more artifacts in that deck (this setup has 19), which has
synergy with your affinity cards. The skeleton shard is a star in this deck,
as it has 8 artifact creatures and the mana to power it up.

Didn't see anyone playing the infused arrows, which is certainly a mistake in
any deck that's not mono-coloured. It's good with two colours in play, and
really great if you get more. You should routinely get three counters on it
with this build, as you have two talismans, an engineer and a swamp to produce
other colours than blue or red.

15 lands is an easy choice due to four mana accelerants plus a spellbomb.

I'd not run the stalking stones as they'll make it harder to cast either the
sorcerer or the spire golems depending on whether you cut an island or a
mountain for them. I rarely ended up playing it in this format. Damping matrix
is as likely to hinder you as help you.

Given the large card pool, you have a lot of sideboarding options. It's
entirely reasonable to have worked out whole different decks to side into if
you meet certain colour combinations. I'd definately give the heartseekers some
thought if you run into any non-red or green decks that don't seem too fast.
Unforge will probably also find its way into your deck a fair percentage of the
time.

[Xilren's Twin]

My suggestion:

Iron Myr 1/1 mana
Vedalken Engineer 1/1
Thought Courier 1/1
Goblin Replica 2/2
Neurok Spy 2/2
Wizard Replica 1/3 fly
Vulshok Sorcerer 1/1 tim
Frogmite 2/2
Needlebug 2/2
2 Spire Golem 2/4 fly
Somber Hoverguard 3/2 fly
Myr Enforcer 4/4

= 13 critters

My issue with this sort of build is very few of those creatures look good enough to win me games.  Other than the flyers, who aren't very scary nor tough (3 artifacts and a 2 toughness guy), and the Spy, it's a bunch of gray ogres and 1/1 with limited special abilities, and one 4/4 guy.  Yeah, i've got 2 equipment to power them up, but everyone does.  Best case, i have 6 creatures I think can actually use to win with, plus 1 fireball.  I just dont think that's going to get it done.

Not enough offense, nor enough defense to commit to either path.

That why I went green on weeks 1 and 2.  It's my least favorite color, but if an opponent plays a single 4/4 or better against this config i'm basically done.  That's how i won 9 of my first 10 matches; playing one or more 3/4, 4/6, or 5/5 guys they couldn't deal with and tricks/removal to get them through.  It's definately a slow deck, which has given me problems, (when i do run mana shy it's almost an auto loss) and it's lack of true artifact removal it a huge weakness.  But the other builds I fooled with didn;t look to have enough win conditions to work.

Didn't see anyone playing the infused arrows, which is certainly a mistake in any deck that's not mono-coloured. It's good with two colours in play, and really great if you get more. You should routinely get three counters on it with this build, as you have two talismans, an engineer and a swamp to produceother colours than blue or red.

Not sure I agree with this logic.  Typically it's a one shot effect card for 4, plus it's sitting there so your opponent knows it's combat trick value.  Is this a card that helps you win compared to including another 2/2 or 3/3 creature or even a decent instant?  Hell if it would at least go to the graveyard upon use you might could recurse it a bit but once its counters have been used it's a dead card sitting in play.  Not a huge fan.

Sadly, i lost 2 more matches so I'm 10-5 after starting 9-1.  Crapola.  Can't complain too much as I really should have lost them.  One to a Goblin Charbelcher heavy mountain deck which was just brutal (no real artifact removal for me plus reuseable art damage=yikes.  The other to a decent white black deck that was just too fast for me.  For example, the black Slith plus a morningstar plus a 1/3 white flyer by the time i got to 4 mana was just too much to keep up with.  Tried to sub defensive for game 2 but it wasn't enough.

So, i shall be very insterested to see what the final week's booster brings.

I'll keep playing with configs this week in tiebreaker games to see what i like and what I don't.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Xilren

[Anonymous]

OK, infused arrows is really good. It screws up their combat math a lot, and it can be re-used! That is key! If you get 4 counters on it, you can use 2 point to finish off a big guy you blocked, then kill another 2/2 later.

I do agree with your general comments about a bunch of "meh" guys.

I started a league last night and I played a deck based on Molder Slug, Karstoderm, Fangren Hunter and Harvester of Sorrow. (I might be making that name up, the black 5/6 guy who forces opponents to sac 2 permanents.)

Molder Slug won a bunch of games on his own. I won more than one game by outright concession when the opponent was not in immediate danger.

My build only had artifacts for mana accel and card drawing. Myr, Talisman, Spellbomb, Chromatic Sphere, Pentad Prism. And a Loxodon Warhammer, because it really is that good. (A must play in limited)

With this build I can detroy artifacts, and am basically immune to artifact hate.

I went 3-2, but that's really because I just don't have enough cards to make a 2 color deck and had to run some pretty weak filler. I got some great cards but pretty spread out over 5 colors, and my artifacts were pretty weak overall. I ran Black/Green because black was my only other color with more than 3 or 4 playable cards. Most of my good playable cards had double color CC so 3 color wasn't an option.

Hopefully one of my colors will fill in next week and I can make a more solid 2-color deck. (My red has some nice stuff in it but is just too thin overall)

I would NOT play workskin forger or bringer if I only expected to hardcast him for the green cost. As you go by in time people have more answers and quicker decks, more evasion, etc. If you are looking to hardcast bringer it will be at best case turn 6 or so, assuming you do nothing but accelerate mana, and much more likely to be turn 7-8 or later. Molder Slug has a bigger rear (important for guys you really want to keep around for special abilities) and can come out pretty reliably on turn 4.

[Anonymous]

I cleared my cookies and logged in, and I'm still guest...any suggestions?

[schild]

I cleared my cookies and logged in, and I'm still guest...any suggestions?

I can delete your old account and you can remake it. POST COUNT GOES BYE BYE.

[Margalis]

Seems to be working ok now...