Splashing Void in a B/U deck

[Mars]

I played against an interesting deck last night that was essentially B/U but splashed just enough red to include Void. I don't have the exact decklist but the "happy" (4-of) version was something like this:

4 Void

4 Undermine
4 Recoil
4 Lobotomy

4 Counterspell
4 Fact or Fiction

4 Dark Ritual
4 Chilling Apparition
4 Abyssal Spectre

4 Salt Marsh
4 Sulfurous Springs
Random Swamps, Islands, Mountains

He made the finals with this deck.

I know for a fact he didn't have 4 Undermines, and the deck has WAY too many gold cards for my liking, but there's nothing nice about having a Abyssal and two Chilling Apparaitions coming at you each turn. Tuning and sideboard thoughts?

 

[Duel]

I am curious about why void is used here. If anything, I expected machinehead to splash blue, not vice versa. I guess void/recoil makes for enchantment removal.

How about sleeper's robe? Chilling apparitions need to get through bigger creatures. Plus, it means whenever the creature hits, they lose a card and you get one. That's sick card advantage.

 

[Mars]

...including Sleeper's Robe. I think it's a great card in Limited, as is Armadillo Cloak. But Creature Enchantments have built in card DISatvantage - kill the creature and it kills the Cloak or Robe. In the entire history of Magic, only a very few creature enchantments have ever been considered good, especially Rancor, Control Magic, Unholy Strength, and Spirit Link. Otherwise, they are for the most part, as the French would say, merde. I would rather have an Instant pumper or a creature with a great built-in special ability.

But, hey, throw in 2 Robes and playtest, if you like, and see how it goes.

Void is not a card I'm a big fan of, but it will punish Weenie decks and sweep creatures, large and small, if unimpeded. Void, choosing 5, sweeps Morphling (in Extended, of course) off the board, or any other untargetable, such as Blastoderm, choosing 4. Void + Recoil. Or Recoil + Lobotomy. Very synergistic.

I can also see red being splashed in for sideboard technology as well.

 

[phantmjokr]

Robe is fundamentally a bit different than a lot of creature enchantments. If it hits once it has already replaced itself..

On a Chilling it can be very difficult to remove. Not impossible but difficult.

It's an interesting deck. I don't think it needs both 4 Void and 4 Lobotomies. I think MD Misdirection might be an idea...

 

[Mars]

I played Robes at States, and was supremely disappointed. I think one out of five got through, for a grand total of one turn before Wrath came through. The others that didn't make it were countered, or the creature they were cast upon was Shocked, Assaulted, or Raged in response.

Still, I agree that the maindeck needs tuning, and that 16 Gold cards are WAY too many. Work on it a bit and tell me how you do.

 

[Duel]

Robe works with any deck but against counter-wrath. With r/g, you have apparitions to put it on. With coubnterwrath, IF it resolves, your creatures will be swept anyways.

The thing is, it works nice against rebel, it hurts geddon bad, and r/g is punished by it. It's a generally useful card.

 

[Mars]

In spite of the fact that r/g (G/r Fires) has direct damage and WW has Seal of Cleansing, they still have to DRAW and use those cards, right?

Ironically, the only deck I beat with my B/U deck at States was CounterWrath (with Rising Waters). I had Thrashing Wumpus (which just dies to Urza's Rage) instead of Abyssals, and 2 Robes and 4 Accumulated Knowledges replacing the Voids and 2 of the Lobotomies. And yes, I did Recoil his Rising Waters, which he chose not to discard, and then Lobotomied his Waters next turn. That was the first round, and I lost to Machine Head and NetherGo in quick succession. Gizmo is mad at me because I spent the WHOLE previous month working with him on CounterWrath with Gizmo Soothsaying Tech, only to crap out the night before and decide to go B/U rogue control, which is my BAD habit (going rogue), rather that playing the BEST deck (Gizmo CounterWrath). The reason was that in playtesting vs this very player whose deck you see above, he just crushed CounterWrath so I made a stupid last-second switch. Oh, well.

This deck lost to me in the finals last Friday, but it wasn't a fair fight since I was playing a 4C Control Type One deck (yes it WAS a Type One Tourney, so why did he play his Type Two deck? Probably to see how it'd do.)

And it did well. Took quite a while to beat him, even after he Voided both of my Morphlings three times (I brought one back with Regrowth), and cast FoF three times (unfortunately for him, I know how to make the piles). Gaea's Blessing can be cruel, and the REAL Moat crueler, especially when followed by The Abyss.

[Edited by Mars on 11-25-00 at 08:31 PM]

 

[Duel]

OKay, I've been testing th deck a little (Proxy for voids of course) and the only deck OI've been unable to play against is r/g fires, and it does well against the others. Sleeper's robe is a welcome addition, especially because of the difference you end up with in hand size.

 

[Mars]

Duel, you mean you have been UNable to playtest against Fires, not that you've playtested against it and been unable to beat it, right?

G/r Fires should be the FIRST deck you playtest against, as Stompy was in the last T2, since if you can't beat it, then either pray to the God of Fortunate Pairings, redesign, or move on. Because thanks to States results, you WILL be seeing Fires, most likely.

G/r Fires is considered the BEST deck in T2 right now, and I couldn't disagree with that assessment more. I fully believe the best deck to be Gizmo's CounterWrath, ASSUMING you play it correctly (rather error-free). Or maybe Millstone is the best.

To keep up on the current state-of-the-art T2, check out the JSS reports posted today at http://www.neutralground.net, or wait until this weekend for PT Chicago. Should be very interesting.

And what was your exact decklist, Duel?

 

[Duel]

4 Void (proxied)

4 Recoil
3 Lobotomy
3 Sleeper's robe

4 Counterspell
4 Foil (Didn't have undermines. Aghh)
4 Fact or Fiction (proxied)

4 Dark Ritual
4 Chilling Apparition
4 Abyssal Spectre

1 Salt marsh
4 Sulfurous Springs
9 islands
6 swamps
2 Mountain

the land mix has changed alot, and still needs work, though.

I have no fires deck to test against, except my brother's "Burstless fires" which, honestly, is not really the same deck at all. Zadok's building one, though, so I should be able to test on him if I want to reconstruct the deck.

Okay, now to explain something: Void is not the winning card. Void is simply the board clearer. Whenever the opponent gets the upper hand or you fear foul play, you use this card to retain balance.

Like fires, this deck does not need the key card to win, that card just helps it along nicely. I am beginning to like this deck more and more. 3 color may be the way to go in invasion block.... I hope...

"Oh. My. God."
-Zadok, after a void for 4 removes 2 geddons, a mungha wurm, and 2 blastoderms from my hand, completely emptying it....