The first of which is a one-off series I started last year and never continued- Remember the Fallen. Kudos to you if you remember, Remember the Fallen- but if not, I'm going to tell you anyway.
(If you want, here's the first one: Remember the Fallen #1)
FACT: Some decks are going to sound awesome. Like the Xenagos Ball Lightning deck I featured in my first installment of Remember the Fallen.
FACT: Not all decks are going to be good.
More importantly, not all decks are going to be ones that we like, let alone ones that we keep.
This is what Remember the Fallen is all about. Often, I use Better Deckbuilding as my own little primer for deck designs I like and make so that they may inspire you to take some of my tech and try your own little spin on it.
This is what Remember the Fallen is all about. Often, I use Better Deckbuilding as my own little primer for deck designs I like and make so that they may inspire you to take some of my tech and try your own little spin on it.
However, because I'm a constant deckbuilder, and again, I can't like every design I make, there are some real bad ones that often get dismantled or abandoned quickly throughout my deckbuilding process. And because I believe it is important to show that I am not a machine that gets it right every time, we're going to make time and place so I can show you all the deck designs that didn't quite make it- which might inspire a few of you to share your lists and show me a thing or two.
So let's get started (again!)
Prime Speaker Zegana, aka PSZ, is a card that I've openly admitted I was entirely wrong to be disappointed with when she got spoiled back in Gatecrash. Everything about this card is right, I don't know what I was thinking, mea culpa like twenty-thousand times to William Murai for the brilliant art, as well as Design and Development for a fully functioning Simic Alternative.
And because it is well known that my love for Simic is moderately infinite, I did take her for a test drive last Fall.
The design was difficult- I didn't want to make the Control/Hexproof Dinosaurs deck, or this neat little Loam/Land Play deck that looked really solid.
I settled on a Wizard-Tribal/Combo deck, which ended up being not bad. Unlike some of my designs that don't make it past the Goldfish rounds, the 1v1 and multiplayer test drives did yield some victories.
Door of Destinies in conjunction with Master Biomancer set up Fathom Mage to always Evolve, as well as create some hilariously big Thought Couriers.
My big combos in the deck involved Biovisionary or Lab Maniac, so I was either drawing into a Rite of Replication or drawing everything. Oh, yeah- and I got to play Prophet of Kruphix. #HagridToldHimHeWasAWizard
Ultimately, the counterspells made the deck durdle, and the combos went stale quickly, mostly because the set up was very similar to Azami. There was just too many big-time, one-trick things in this deck to keep my interest in it long term, so I pulled off a Lab Maniac combo, a Biovisionary combo, and retired it.
So another year, another Boros deck dismantled. That seems to be a common thing for me as I continue to search for the right one for me in Red and White.
I'll admit the reason Anax and Cymede failed was a lot on me in deck design.
The concept seemed cool- Auras combined with Trick Voltron to make for a little Aggro deck with opportunities for multiple Heroic triggers. I'd done some serious Gatherer searching for Auras like Flickering Ward and Ghitu Firebreathing, which could be bounced and re-cast for Heroic value. Coupled with a few nice Storm spells like Astral Steel, I thought this was going to make for a nice deck.
What went wrong was two things. The first was that I forgot that mana was required, not only to bounce the enchantment, but to also re-cast it. Not compensating for this, the deck had a heck of a time repeating and resetting the effects of the Auras as many times as I wanted.
The other thing I got wrong, which was dumb, was a rules oversight with regards to Storm. Any copies I got off of Storm weren't going to trigger Heroic because, guess what? WE DON'T ACTUALLY CAST THE COPIES OFF OF STORM!
Those were probably the two biggest blunders I made in design, but there were actually two additional issues that broke the camel's back, leading to deck demolition.
The third problem was that we were swimming in options. What I mean is that I really threw every Heroic card I could play into the deck so I could figure out what, if any, were going to work. Like, do I always target A & C to get pumps and trample? Do I target this Vanguard of Brimaz to get Cat Tokens?
Having so many different options may sound good, but design-wise, none of these cards were big enough to get around creatures, so we were always making a sacrifice, and that's without trying to account for removal.
The last issue was just one I've had with all Boros decks I've made since the beginning of time- I never seem to have enough cards in my hand. While I like to think that I've become a better Aggro player, I'm still a calculating one. I take chances when I can, play tricks to protect my stuff, and most of my designs can support the tempo I want to play at.
Because of the innate need for R/W to get wide, I feel like I'm constantly over-committing to the board state, putting myself on a clock that's going to run out faster than I want. Clearly, I'm doing something wrong, and I've got to fix it- until then, the search continues!
I talked about Mirko a little bit in my strategy column over on CommanderCast, but I thought I'd get a little bit more in-depth about what was going on.
I'm still on the lookout for my Mill Commander. I'm also on the lookout for having a deck that's fun, that can win, but that I'm just as comfortable losing with. I'm also looking to have a successful Dimir deck at some point.
So against my better judgment, I threw together a scraggly-little Mill deck so I wouldn't be so behind while Mesmeric Orb was trending on Twitter (NOTE: I don't know if that's true. I actually don't Twitter). Fact though- Sidisi has made this Mesmeric Orb a pretty known quantity.
At first, I thought I might have some hope. Mirko, being just the right amount of unplayable, could come in under the radar and take away/potentially give my opponents a bunch of cards.
Ultimately, the deck got taken apart because it was just too slow. No joke- I did at least 18 damage with Mirko by the time I had an opponent's library in the Shelldock Isle zone (That's 20 cards or less, in case you've forgotten your Hideaway lands), and I just thought, "That's too much for not enough." The deck was working, and I could've probably made it better, but I just didn't want to spend any more time goofing off.
Well, that's all I have for now. Before I go, here's a link to the Milling article published yesterday over on the Big Brothership, CommanderCast:
Mill-osophy
Also- Here's a link to my first podcast, in which I got to guest interview one of the creators of Tiny Leaders, Steven Hamonic.
CommanderCast #185- Tiny Leaders (and I'm on it!)
As always, my failures hopefully lead to your gain. If you've got decklists featuring any of these Fallen heroes, or you've seen some in action, and they have a nice online list for us to look at, share them with us!
Thanks! Turn's To You.
-UL
And because it is well known that my love for Simic is moderately infinite, I did take her for a test drive last Fall.
The design was difficult- I didn't want to make the Control/Hexproof Dinosaurs deck, or this neat little Loam/Land Play deck that looked really solid.
I settled on a Wizard-Tribal/Combo deck, which ended up being not bad. Unlike some of my designs that don't make it past the Goldfish rounds, the 1v1 and multiplayer test drives did yield some victories.
Door of Destinies in conjunction with Master Biomancer set up Fathom Mage to always Evolve, as well as create some hilariously big Thought Couriers.
My big combos in the deck involved Biovisionary or Lab Maniac, so I was either drawing into a Rite of Replication or drawing everything. Oh, yeah- and I got to play Prophet of Kruphix. #HagridToldHimHeWasAWizard
Ultimately, the counterspells made the deck durdle, and the combos went stale quickly, mostly because the set up was very similar to Azami. There was just too many big-time, one-trick things in this deck to keep my interest in it long term, so I pulled off a Lab Maniac combo, a Biovisionary combo, and retired it.
I'll admit the reason Anax and Cymede failed was a lot on me in deck design.
The concept seemed cool- Auras combined with Trick Voltron to make for a little Aggro deck with opportunities for multiple Heroic triggers. I'd done some serious Gatherer searching for Auras like Flickering Ward and Ghitu Firebreathing, which could be bounced and re-cast for Heroic value. Coupled with a few nice Storm spells like Astral Steel, I thought this was going to make for a nice deck.
What went wrong was two things. The first was that I forgot that mana was required, not only to bounce the enchantment, but to also re-cast it. Not compensating for this, the deck had a heck of a time repeating and resetting the effects of the Auras as many times as I wanted.
The other thing I got wrong, which was dumb, was a rules oversight with regards to Storm. Any copies I got off of Storm weren't going to trigger Heroic because, guess what? WE DON'T ACTUALLY CAST THE COPIES OFF OF STORM!
Those were probably the two biggest blunders I made in design, but there were actually two additional issues that broke the camel's back, leading to deck demolition.
The third problem was that we were swimming in options. What I mean is that I really threw every Heroic card I could play into the deck so I could figure out what, if any, were going to work. Like, do I always target A & C to get pumps and trample? Do I target this Vanguard of Brimaz to get Cat Tokens?
Having so many different options may sound good, but design-wise, none of these cards were big enough to get around creatures, so we were always making a sacrifice, and that's without trying to account for removal.
The last issue was just one I've had with all Boros decks I've made since the beginning of time- I never seem to have enough cards in my hand. While I like to think that I've become a better Aggro player, I'm still a calculating one. I take chances when I can, play tricks to protect my stuff, and most of my designs can support the tempo I want to play at.
Because of the innate need for R/W to get wide, I feel like I'm constantly over-committing to the board state, putting myself on a clock that's going to run out faster than I want. Clearly, I'm doing something wrong, and I've got to fix it- until then, the search continues!
I'm still on the lookout for my Mill Commander. I'm also on the lookout for having a deck that's fun, that can win, but that I'm just as comfortable losing with. I'm also looking to have a successful Dimir deck at some point.
So against my better judgment, I threw together a scraggly-little Mill deck so I wouldn't be so behind while Mesmeric Orb was trending on Twitter (NOTE: I don't know if that's true. I actually don't Twitter). Fact though- Sidisi has made this Mesmeric Orb a pretty known quantity.
At first, I thought I might have some hope. Mirko, being just the right amount of unplayable, could come in under the radar and take away/potentially give my opponents a bunch of cards.
Ultimately, the deck got taken apart because it was just too slow. No joke- I did at least 18 damage with Mirko by the time I had an opponent's library in the Shelldock Isle zone (That's 20 cards or less, in case you've forgotten your Hideaway lands), and I just thought, "That's too much for not enough." The deck was working, and I could've probably made it better, but I just didn't want to spend any more time goofing off.
Well, that's all I have for now. Before I go, here's a link to the Milling article published yesterday over on the Big Brothership, CommanderCast:
Mill-osophy
Also- Here's a link to my first podcast, in which I got to guest interview one of the creators of Tiny Leaders, Steven Hamonic.
CommanderCast #185- Tiny Leaders (and I'm on it!)
As always, my failures hopefully lead to your gain. If you've got decklists featuring any of these Fallen heroes, or you've seen some in action, and they have a nice online list for us to look at, share them with us!
Thanks! Turn's To You.
-UL
