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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Vallox3, a G/W surprise deck by Verge

Sept 11, 2
006

This next E-mail I must admit I struggled with.  For one, there's a LOT going on here, and sifting out the best elements was difficult as removing one match in a pile without disturbing the others.  And for another, it bears striking similarities to the last deck I fixed, Storm Season.  But I resolved to fix it anyway.
Hi,
 
I could really use your help...and, your honesty.  I created the following deck (which I've named Vallox3), and have had some mild success with it.  True, it's a trick deck, but every card seems to work with every other card pretty well (at least for its intended uses).  First, your honesty; can a deck like this ever be tweaked to actually be a competition deck?  Secondly, how can I improve this thing?
 
Here's the deck:
 
Vallox2
 
(23) creatures:
Arkardar Valkyrie - 3
Darien, King of Kjeldor - 2
Juniper Order Ranger - 3
Loxodon Heirarch - 3
Martyr of Sands - 2
Order of the Stars - 2
Ronom Unicorn - 2
Sakura - Tribe Elder - 3
Soul Warden - 3
 
(19) non-creatures:
Wrath of God - 3
Storm Herd - 2
Kodama's Reach - 3
Congregation at Dawn - 2
Proper Burial - 2
Debtor's Knell - 2
Faith's Fetters - 3
Selesnya Signet - 2
 
(18) lands:
Selesnay Sanctuary - 4
Plains - 7
Forest - 7
 
So, in a nutshell, this deck has some fun with a few things.  First, a Loxodon/Valkyrie combo.  By sacrificing my Loxodon at the end of a turn, while targeting it for return through the Valkyrie, I get +4 life per turn...add a Proper Burial and Soul Warden on top of that, and I get 9 life per turn.  Now, throw in Juniper Order on top of that, and I get +1/+1 for it every turn.  Why the gain of life?  2 reasons: to outlast my opponent, plus, to take the hit when Darien is there (once again, a *LOT* of pumping for my Juniper Order Ranger as the tokens come in), as well as a big bonus when I get Storm Herd out (coupled with Soul Warden, and Juniper Order....well....it's a lot of wide eyes).
 
OK...the rest of the cards:
 
Obviously, this is a very slow deck.  I need a bit of acceleration (Kodama, Sakura, and the Signets help there).
 
In order to last until the mid-game, I have a couple of cheap, but very useful creatures.  Martyr of Sands really adds a lot of life early on.  Order of the Stars keeps me a little protected.  Faith's Fetters not only gives me life, but neutralizes some of the early threats.  Finally, Wrath of God is my table clearer to take out swarms (or big threats), and allows me to start my engines.
 
This leaves a few cards, such as Ronom Unicorn.  Enchantments are a major source of pain (ranging from Faith's Fetters on my creatures, to global enchantments).  Ronom is there to help take care of them (and coupled with the Valkyrie later in the game, is a way of clearing all enchantments fairly quickly...all while pumping my Juniper Ranger).  Congregation at Dawn is my mid-game caller...so I can get my engine working.  And, finally, as creature removal is pretty common, I have Debtor's Knell to bring things back if I end up losing creatures along the way (once again, helping me out with Juniper, Proper Burial, etc...). 
 
All in all, it's a blast to play.  In fact, I have not seen another deck like this around...so there is always some surprise when I start up the engines.  Unfortunately, fun decks don't seem to be overly competitive.  What can I do to make it worthy of competition (I'm serious, so if I have to purchase, then so be it).  Since I want to keep it in Standard format, I'm looking towards the future (the fewer from the Kamigawa block, the better).
 
Thanks in advance,
Verge
Well, well, well, that's what I call a combo deck.  There's a lot of combos here, or "engines" as Verge calls them, and this deck only needs one of them to go off.  But with so many different strategies, I'm worried that the deck may give you pieces of various combos without fully supplying any one.  Ideally, I'd like this deck to focus itself more on one means of winning, with a possible Plan B or C.  To start, let's isolate each individual combo.
 
Combo 1:Loxodon Hierarch & Adarkar Valkyrie
Combo 2:Proper Burial & Loxodon Hierarch
Combo 3:Soul Warden & Storm Herd
Combo 4:Soul Warden & Darien, King of Kjeldor
Combo 5:Juniper Order Ranger & Storm Herd
Combo 6:Juniper Order Ranger & Darien, King of Kjeldor
Combo 7:Adarkar Valkyrie & Sakura Tribe Elder
 
That's kind of a lot, but several cards appear on the list multiple times.  And this doesn't even really mention the life gain sub-theme that helps facilitate Darien and Storm Herd.  So, how can we determine which combos are most important?  Well, the Valkyrie/Hierarch combo is the one Verge mentioned first, so I have to assume that's the one he likes the best and wants me to leave in.  It also helps that Adarkar Valkyrie and Loxodon Hierarch are the two best individual creatures in the deck at the moment, and therefore it would be folly to cut them.  By that logic, of all the cards listed above, which one is the worst in a vacuum?  Which one will Verge be least happy to draw if none of the engines that involve it get set up?  I believe it is a toss-up between Proper Burial and Storm Herd, but Storm Herd is worse simply because if nothing else, Verge can cast Proper Burial on the assumption that he will control a creature that will go to the graveyard at some future point.  Storm Herd, a 10-mana sorcery, just isn't that flexible.  It sits in the hand until you have 10 mana, and then if none of the other combo pieces are in play, you can either wait for them and risk losing life in the meantime (lessening the effectiveness of the Herd) or cast it without the other pieces and lose out on that potential.  Additionally, every card that combos with Storm Herd (Juniper Order Ranger, Soul Warden, and Proper Burial) combos just as effectively with Darien, King of Kjeldor.  So Storm Herd is removed from the deck.
 
However, I'm not convinced Proper Burial is safe either.  After all, life gain in and of itself just is not an economical use of a card.  A card that does nothing else is at a disadvantage.  Soul Warden and Martyr of Sands are at least creatures and can therefore chump block or swing for 1 even.  Proper Burial does nothing until a creature of yours dies, and even then, the loss of board position is not worth a few life points.  Proper Burial can safely be dropped as well.  The Hierarch, Martyr, Warden, and Faith's Fetters should be plenty of life gain for any deck.
Finally, one last card that can safely be cut: Order of the Stars.  The Order is a fine card, but for my purposes we'll need those slots for more important cards.
 
Before we fill those slots, though, I'd like to replace Wrath of God with Sunscour.  Sunscour may cost more mana, but since you've already got Martyr of Sands, you shouldn't have any problem having a few white cards in hand.  Also, Sunscour doesn't say "they can't be regenerated", so with the Valkyrie/Hierarch engine online, you can kill off all your opponents' creatures and leave your own untouched.  Remember, every sack of the Hierarch regenerates all your creatures!
Now then, right now we have six slots available.  Three of them should go to a fourth copy each of Loxodon Hierarch, Adarkar Valkyrie, and Faith's Fetters.  Two more go to the third and fourth copies of Congregation at Dawn.  And the final one goes to an extra Martyr of Sands.  I was just about to suggest a few copies of Hurricane, since you could use some anti-flying tech plus the obvious synergy with Darien and life gain cards, but then I remembered you wanted it Type 2 legal, and Hurricane isn't coming back until next year or so.  A shame, because it would've worked so well in Vallox4.  Maybe Vallox5 will have more luck.
 
~BMoor
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