Engaging Games

Hi guys, long time no post. Had been slightly peeved at Standard for a while now until one of my friends went through my binder. "Hey, you got all these cool cards here, why aren't they in decks?". She also apparently has someone Magic-bullying her at school. Turns out this someone 'bought a white deck' (no, I don't know what she meant by that) and was letting her just play with the dregs. So, I took a deep breath, forgot all about nationals qualifiers (played OtV, got paired against UWr, UWr, OtV, UWr, scooped to a friend and dropped out at 1-2-1) and dove into brewing. Turns out I'm still not good at it, but I had loads of fun. The three decks I built in basically under a day are mostly equal (and fun to play against each other), except the ThopSword combo'er. That was... kinda unfair.

So, without further ado, here's the one I started out with (she has a thing for black decks, loving Tendrils of Corruption and Liliana, so the first choice was obvious):

Land
22 Swamp
1cc (4)
2 Dark Ritual
1 Deathmark
1 Trusty Machete
2cc (14)
1 Urge to Feed
2 Doom Blade
2 Null Champion
2 Vampire Hexmage
2 Black Knight
3 Sign in Blood
3cc (9)
1 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Beseech the Queen
2 Gatekeeper of Malakir
2 Cadaver Imp
3 Vampire Nighthawk
4cc (6)
1 Vampire Nocturnus
2 Murderous Redcap
3 Tendrils of Corruption
5cc (4)
1 Marsh Casualties
1 Liliana Vess
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
6cc (1)
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
Xcc (2)
1 Consume Spirit
1 Disembowel

Thoughts: It feels really slow, and sometimes clunky, but I just love playing with Vampire Nighthawk. I dunno where to start cutting things. Maybe cut the Redcaps, as they are bloody excellent blockers, but don't really match the theme. Maybe the Null Champions, too, and fill out some more Vampires. Maybe a few Mind Rots and a Sludge for hand control. Dunno. Would really appreciate input here. History: Cut a Drana and Mind Shatter for two Swamps.

The 2nd one I brewed was actually a ThopSword combo deck that I had basically wanted to build since Thopter Foundry came out but I never seemed to get around to. I posted it here: http://www.5colorcontrol.com/Forum5CC/viewtopic.php?p=2265.

The 3rd one was fun fun fun. I basically started with a Gr build, with Green for ramp and Elfs and Red for Comet Storm and Fireball (changed to Bolt because, well, Fireball isn't that good). Oh, and since I have big mana, why not play some huge Eldrazi as well? Fun fun fun.

Lands
11 Forest
5 Mountain
1 Raging Ravine
2 Kazandu Refuge
2 Slippery Karst
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Ugin's Eye

Elfs
3 Nissa Revane
3 Nissa's Chosen
2 Oracle of Mul Daya
2 Elvish Visionary
2 Joraga Treespeaker
2 Arbor Elf
1 Elvish Archdruid
1 Farhaven Elf

Accel
2 Nature's Lore
2 Growth Spasm
2 Kozilek's Predator
1 Harrow
1 Explore

Big'uns
1 Artizan of Kozilek
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog's Crusher
1 Eldrazi Conscription

Random
3 Comet Storm
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Windstorm
1 Devastating Summons
1 Expedition Map
1 Harmonize
1 Eternal Witness

Bit of history: From feedback elsewhere I changed Fireball -> Lightning Bolt (it's just such a good spell), Momentous Fall -> Harmonize, Beastmaster Ascension -> Elvish Archdruid, 1x Explore -> 1x Nature's Lore. I played this against the Black deck a lot and was just devastated when Sadistic Sacrament came into play. The 3 cards to cut were always the same, too. So, Wolfbriar Elemental -> Ulamog's Crusher. It's *kinda* not cool, since this was supposed to be a Kozilek deck, but I don't really see playing another Artisan or Kozilek in that slot.

Things I learned: Annihilator is not fun to be in the receiving end of. Comet Storm is really really good.

Anyhoo, those are my decks and I stand by that they're at least fun to play Any feedback appreciated.

-MH

I saw your last deck, and its very very close to my green red pump deck (it's based on elves, comet storm and strength of tajuru)

so far it has done well if you wanted to look at it


http://mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=40656