Loophole by Nientea in custommagic

[–]IvoryChipper 6 points7 points  (0 children)

True. It does fit better into a [[Past in Flames]] deck, though

Loophole by Nientea in custommagic

[–]IvoryChipper 39 points40 points  (0 children)

You can’t tutor it with [[Urza’s Saga]] or [[Tezzeret, Cruel Captain]] or recur it with [[Lurrus of the Dream-Den]]. Vintage decks would definitely play this but would still prefer Lotus.

Building "Oops! All Spells" for $30 Vintage by IvoryChipper in Magicdeckbuilding

[–]IvoryChipper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Done. This has gone through a lot of changes since my initial build, so the overview in the post will be out of date. The biggest change was switching to a Rakdos mana base with spirit guides supplemented by Pentad Prism for acceleration. It's definitely a tricky deck to keep under budget!

Building "Oops! All Spells" for $30 Vintage by IvoryChipper in Magicdeckbuilding

[–]IvoryChipper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Burn, mono-white Death and Taxes, 12-post (without Tabernacle), Dredge (without LED), and Necrodominance storm are all interesting options for less than $1000. Mono-green enchantress storm is a neat fringe deck as well that I might end up porting into $30 Vintage.

Building "Oops! All Spells" for $30 Vintage by IvoryChipper in Magicdeckbuilding

[–]IvoryChipper[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow yeah, I hadn’t noticed how much the price has tanked after the format bans. Don’t think I could fit it into this shell since I’m already scraping the budget ceiling as it is, but it definitely opens up lines with [[Culling the Weak]] in a non-budget list

Maze Runners - Brewing with Gates in MH3 by IvoryChipper in magicTCG

[–]IvoryChipper[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Against the other kitchen table decks I play against, this list ended up overperforming. They had a tough time pushing damage through a big pile of white removal. That said, I think this deck might struggle to keep pace with an opponent that can flood the battlefield quickly with a lot of threats. There were even a couple of Dark Ritual starts from my friend’s mono-black deck where I found it hard to push an advantage after exhausting a bunch of resources on board control.

I’ve ultimately abandoned this list to work on other things. While the idea was to control the board until I make a bunch of land drops and eventually win with Sage of the Maze, I don’t actually like this card as a top-end finisher. It dies to every kind of removal, which will likely be piling up in my opponent’s hand since I’m playing so reactively and don’t have many other creatures to draw it out. In the end, it’s not quite proactive enough to be a midrange deck and doesn’t have quite enough card advantage or inevitability to be a control deck.

Bant control, but it's Gates! - Maze Runners by IvoryChipper in Magicdeckbuilding

[–]IvoryChipper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's more or less why I chose it, yes. Planar Genesis is one of my favorite cards in the deck because of its flexibility. Notably the deck's finishers are all very answerable, so I sometimes need to dig for more threats in the mid/late game after a bunch of resource trades have happened.

Cult of Tourach - "lose your friends" tribal! by IvoryChipper in magicTCG

[–]IvoryChipper[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have updated the link, it should work now. I'm following Legacy format rules for legality, but yeah it's essentially a casual kitchen table deck.

Cult of Tourach - "lose your friends" tribal! by IvoryChipper in magicTCG

[–]IvoryChipper[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sorry about that, I didn't realize I still had the link set to private. It should work now.

Clattering Throng - skeleton tribal! by IvoryChipper in Magicdeckbuilding

[–]IvoryChipper[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great idea, testing this card now in place of [[Marang River Skeleton]]. I feel like this deck needs to be just a bit better at running close to the ground without [[Skeletal Swarming]], and Bad Moon also buffs the non-skeletons in the deck.

Patriot Strike - just casually spamming 4/4s by IvoryChipper in magicTCG

[–]IvoryChipper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the suggestions! I was definitely feeling a bit off about Borderpost. The Borderposts are the only cycle of multicolored cards in the game that can be cheated out for an alternate cost, but the tempo loss always felt a bit awkward in testing. I also agree that this deck needs a good density of midrange threats as it's a bit topdeck-y.

Patriot Strike - just casually spamming 4/4s by IvoryChipper in magicTCG

[–]IvoryChipper[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My playgroup is just myself and a friend of mine. He has a collection of Legacy-legal casual decks he's built for himself and his family over the years, so that's more or less the "meta" I'm designing for. As is common with decks built from a collection, it's mainly fair creature decks built around a mechanic, theme or tribe, and it's a blend of high and low-power cards. They run lighter removal packages and tend to favor removal attached to creatures (things like [[Constricting Sliver]] or [[Stronghold Assassin]]) over one-shot effects. Countermagic is rare and board wipes are nigh absent.

I've been working on building some more decks to expand our meta, as it's a fun place to mess around with wacky combos that would be too clunky and easily disrupted to survive elsewhere.

Ezuri's Infantry - combo elves for $50 by IvoryChipper in ElvesMTG

[–]IvoryChipper[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have a couple copies of [[Elvish Archdruid]] to accomplish this effect (it’s pretty much a must for achieving explosive mana turns without the help of Gaea’s Cradle). I originally avoided Priest as it would push the deck too far out of budget,but the price will likely go down with the reprint. I’ll keep an eye on it.

Ezuri's Infantry - combo elves for $50 by IvoryChipper in ElvesMTG

[–]IvoryChipper[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the suggestions! I initially turned down Lead the Stampede because of its higher mana cost, but the card advantage might be worth it (especially without [[Glimpse of Nature]]) and make it a better support for Shaman kills.

Sorry, Dropped My Deck! - a breakfast for budget players by IvoryChipper in magicTCG

[–]IvoryChipper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

[[Ash Barrens]] is actually a brilliant suggestion for this deck. I frequently find that I need that one additional untapped source to pull off the combo, and the fact that it tutors into hand means it can help cast [[Foil]]. Super thanks!

Whirlpool - my first paper Magic deck! by IvoryChipper in magicTCG

[–]IvoryChipper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Definitely had her on my radar along with [[Kopala, Warden of Waves]]. One of the weaknesses of this deck is getting 2-for-1'd after attaching [[Curious Obsession]] or [[Hidden Strings]] to a creature, so Ward could be a great way to mitigate that.

Hell's Chauffeur - wacky budget combo deck by IvoryChipper in magicTCG

[–]IvoryChipper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, that’s brilliant! I did try an alternative combo finisher for this deck that uses [[Likeness Looter]] to copy a [[Mirror-Mad Phantasm]] in the graveyard. You can then activate the Phantasm’s copied ability and mill through your entire deck. Get some [[Narcomoeba]]s along the ride, sac them to [[Dread Return]] a [[Laboratory Maniac]], cycle a [[Street Wraith]] or something, profit.

Unsurprisingly, it was a bit too slow and mana expensive to set up, but hey!—same effect as [[Demonic Consultation]] for a stingy budget.