Samuel here has done pretty much everything right.
Not only is his decklist fairly solid, but
he's gone above and beyond the call of duty
to explain to me exactly what his goals for
his deck are and what he's done so far to
try and make it work. He's even referred to
previous fixes I've done, proving that he's
done his homework.
Hello again, BMoor. I sent you an email a
little while back asking about getting my
deck of unblockable creatures fixed, but I
later on showed it to my friends who
proceeded to point out a pretty significant
flaw which I had failed to notice: my deck
was rather split between control and aggro
elements and so probably wouldn't do either
one very well. They suggested I change it
again and make it either more aggro or more
control. I couldn't figure out how to make a
good control deck out of it, and I also
already have a controllish Simic deck, so I
decided to go aggro with it. I'd like it if
you could fix this version instead of the
previous one I sent you. Here's the deck
list:
Creatures:
Zephyr
Sprite
x4
Cloud Sprite x4
Nightshade Stinger x4
Inkfathom Infiltrator x4
Dauthi Horror x4
Dauthi Warlord x4
Inkfathom Witch x4
Dauthi Marauder x2
Non-Creatures:
Scare Tactics x2
Chorus of Woe x4
Syphon Life x4
Land :
Ancient Ziggurat x4
Secluded Glen x4
Darkslick Shores x4
City of Brass x4
Thran Quarry x4
I think this deck will probably be fairly
effective, but I do have a few concerns. The
most prominent of those concerns is that it
won't measure up to another fast deck. There
aren't a whole lot of efficiently-costed
unblockable creatures out there, so I think
if I was up against another aggro deck with
more efficient creatures I'd probably die
faster than the other player. The problem is
that the deck is themed around unblockable
creatures, so it's not like I can just scrap
these ones out and go for more efficient but
bloackable options. The second thing I'm
wondering about is if this deck will be too
predictable. In case you forgot from my last
email, I only play casual with my friends,
so it won't take my opponents long to
realize how the deck works. It's very
simple: draw, land drop, summon, swing out,
end turn. I guess aggro decks are suppose to
be like that, but I've never made an aggro
deck before and honestly, I don't know if
this is how it's suppose to be done.
I attempted to address my first issue with
the Scare Tactics and Chorus of Woe, since
they essentially mean "Deal X damage to
target player, where X is the number of
creatures you have." seeing as the opponent
can't block any of them and I'll be swinging
every turn with everything I can. Though
really, there aren't any true aggro decks in
my groups' metagame right now (it has a
variety of combo and control, but no aggro).
But if this one works well, they might start
popping up and I don't want the deck to just
be good for a while until someone whips up a
Goblin deck and beats me over the head with
it. As for the second issue, I have no idea
how to address it, or if I even need to.
Good aggro decks are suppose to consistently
do the same thing, aren't they?
Syphon Life is there in case the game starts
to draw on a bit longer than I'd like, but
I'm not sure if I really need it. It's just
that I wouldn't know what to replace it
with. I think I'm good on my number of
creatures, and since my play group
mana-shuffles their decks, I've got the
perfect number of lands to make sure I hit
my fourth land-drop on turn four. And I
can't think of any other good non-creature
spells to add. Maybe some cheap draw power,
like Ponder?
The only stipulation I have for this deck is
that I probably can't afford cards like
Watery Grave (not that my mana base isn't
already tricked out enough- getting mana
screwed sucks and I can't afford to waste
even a single turn to it because I need one
color of mana and not the other), the theme
needs to remain on unblockable creatures,
and I don't want to add or remove any
colors. If I did, it wouldn't really be the
same deck as before. I want to make the
current deck I have respectable and this is
the deck list I came up with to do so. And
on the note of colors, the deck is a lot
heavier on black mana than blue mana. I'd
kind of like to even that out a bit because
I'm a little OCD about that sort of thing,
but that's really not too important.
Also, since you say you like it when your
readers suggest ideas for future articles, I
was thinking that maybe you could do
articles that give in-depth overviews on
different deck types. Sort of like a how-to
guide for certain decks, perhaps where you
make your own deck for that type as an
example. I mean, people like me who have
never made an aggro deck before would
benefit if they had someone who knows just
what an aggro deck should look like showing
them how they work and such. And with so
many different deck types in existence,
there are a lot of potential articles you
could do like that.
PS: I'd also like to apologize for something
in my first email. I mentioned that you've
probably never seen a deck like this before,
and later on I noticed you had already done
a fix of an unblockable deck. You've said
before that you appreciate it when people
actually read your articles and not just get
a fix and then leave the garage. I'm working
on reading the rest of your articles still
and I don't want to give you the idea that I
had ignored all the previous lessons you've
given (I actually think I've learned a lot
of things from you). So, yeah. That's all
there is for me to say. Thanks a lot BMoor;
I hope you can see what you can do with this
deck.
~Samuel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for the E-mail, Samuel. I've pondered
your deck for quite a while now, as well as
your comments. How-to guides on various play
styles would
be fairly useful, wouldn't they? They'd take
a fair bit of research, of course, but I
would like to explore that idea. Thank you!
But for today, it's U/B unblockable aggro.
Let's see what we can do. The biggest thing
that stands out to me is that you're using
no basic lands whatsoever. Is that really
necessary? Maybe it is, but with so many
hybrid cards in your deck, I think you could
get away with a few ordinary Swamps and
Islands.
But then again, you did mention not being
comfortable with your black-to-blue ratio
and wanted it to be more even, so let's see
if we can't add a few blue cards.
The first such blue cards that come to mind
are some of the il- creatures from
Time Spiral block. They came in blue and
black, and also white if you're interested
in a three-color deck, but the two that best
serve you would be Drifter il-Dal and
Infiltrator il-Kor. One is a 2/1
shadow for a measley one blue mana... every
turn. The other is a 3/1 with shadow that be
on the board and swinging as early as turn
four... if you suspended it on turn two.
Aggro decks aren't known for wanting to
invest in the future, or on letting the game
run until turn six, which is the earliest
that this il-Kor will be able to
attack if you hardcast it. That's probably
why the Infiltrator hasn't seen much play.
Drifter, on the other hand, is very popular
and would suit you quite well in place of
one of your 1/1 fliers for 1. The
Infiltrator? I'll let you be the judge.
Adding in both of those creatures would make
your Dauthi
Warlord more impressive, but I'm skeptical
as to whether you really want the Warlord at
all. Sure, he hints at being a 4/1 or 5/1
for 1B, but will that make up for all those
times he's a 1/1 for 1B? How many shadow
creatures do you need on the board
do you need for the Warlord to be effective?
Two? Three? And remember, your opponent
probably has kill spells.
Speaking of, let's talk about your
noncreature spells. First of all, Syphon
Life was a wise choice. Not only is it an
extra 2 points of unblockable damage, but
the life gain is helpful against other aggro
decks. Remember, most of your creatures
can't block! And with a single Syphon Life
in the graveyard, you never have to worry
about mana flood, because every land you
draw is a potential 2 damage more.
Chorus of Woe and Scare Tactics I have less
confidence in. Sure, it's extra damage
because all your creatures are unblockable,
but maybe you can do better. My first
suggestion was Hideous End. It allows you an
answer to opposing creatures, in case you
get a creature-light draw or your opponent's
aggro swarm is faster than yours. It also
allows you to push in an extra 2 points of
life loss, like Syphon Life does, while
killing one of their creatures.
Boomerang would also be a good choice,
giving you a temporary solution to just
about anything. And since you intend to end
the game quickly, temporary solutions are
all you really need. Boomerang can also
bounce a land, setting your opponent back a
turn and thus allowing you to capitalize on
your speed.
Another good spell would be Scarscale
Ritual. Aggressive decks tend to play out
their hand quickly, and if your opponent
manages to survive the first wave, or play
Pyroclasm and cut off your initial surge, it
can be very useful to be able to restock
your hand. Granted, Scarscale Ritual will
likely mean sacrificing one of your
creatures, since so many of yours have one
toughness. Maybe Consult the Necrosages or
Preordain would be better for your needs?
But if you really want to spend a black mana
to pump your creatures' power, Why not try
Virulent Swipe? In order for Chorus of Woe
or Scare Tactics to deal as much extra
damage as Virulent Swipe, you need four
attacking creatures that turn. Virulent
Swipe only asks for one, and for one again
next turn.
That's just about all I can come up with for
you, Samuel. Your deck was pretty solid to
begin with. Now I just need to get thinking
about those in-depth overview articles!
Good luck!
~BMoor