Blue Lightning

[Griffith_se]

Hi,

One of My first good decks was U/R so, when I saw
this deck I was immediately attracted to it.

I'd like to hear some of Your opinions.

Blue Lightning

4 Cloud Sprite
4 Cloudskate
4 Spiketail Hatchling
4 Sapphire Leech
4 Rishadan Airship
2 Flailing Soldier

4 Maniacal Rage
4 Shock
4 Seal of Fire
2 Earthquake
2 Breath of Darigaaz

13 Island
9 Mountain

Maybe some Giant Strength?
Maybe drop the Leech for something better?
Maybe more Quakes?

[Edited by Griffith_se on 01-04-01 at 08:44 AM]

 

[Griffith_se]

No responces?
This deck must be soooo..... "broken", that it rendered eveyone speechless.

 

[rkoelsch]

here are my ideas
take out flailing solder
take out sapphire leech

put in 3 ribbon snakes
put in 3 counterspells

I can't build a deck with even a splash of blue without including at least 4 counters

 

[Griffith_se]

Thank You Sir.

 

[Duel]

okay, I like it, but use better fliers and more land-clearers....

4 Rishadan airship
4 Cloud Sprite
4 Wash out
4 seal of cleansing
4 withdraw
4 Counterspell
4 Daze

4 Earthquake
3 Urza's rage
2 Breath of Darigaaz
3 Ruby leech

And 20 land

 

[Draconis]

Not meaning to be disrespectful, but how does 'better fliers' consist of leaving in 8 of them, taking the others out, and adding Ruby Leech?
Ruby Leech is a *horrible* card, as even pumped by Maniacal Rage (at 1RR) it still runs into most of the anti-Blastoderm stuff out there.
I would probably build it something like...

4 Cloud Sprite
4 Cloudskate
4 Spiketail Hatchling
4 Rishadan Airship
4 Thwart
4 Daze/Foil
3 Maniacal Rage
4 Urza's Rage
3 Earthquake
2 Skizzik (Possibly... Generally without Kicker)

4 Rishadan Port
4 City of Brass
5 Mountain
11 Island

Good luck, though
Nice to see a deck using opposing colours for a change..

 

[Duel]

Hatchlings are decent, but weak. Cloudskates are just iffy, too. I used the ruby leech because of how few red spells we use here. Skizzik is a better choice, but I didn't add it in because it's hard to get ahold of one.
Red flyers are hard to find. Anyone have a suggestion?

Question: Obsanius Golem survives a derm. Is it good here?

 

[Draconis]

If you're playing Blue, the main anti-Derm tech of the moment is Glacial Wall. Ruby Leech still has no place in the deck. I'd rather play Pouncing or Rogue Kavu over the Leech, and they're both common.
Chimeric Idol would be another far more efficient ground-pounder, is more castable under Sapphire Leech if you decide to use it. And hold on to your Sapphire Leeches, they could be really quite strong in Block Constructed.
Also, in an Aggro deck like this (What to call it? Well, there's something like Blazing Skies, or you could go all deep and say Aurora Borealis...)
the free counterspells are much more usable.
Thinking about it, though, Thwart may not be viable with only 11 Islands in the deck... You could always swap the Cities for a mountain and 3 islands.
Obsianus Golem is, I think, quite weak. First of all, it's expensive, and second they may have Artifact Mutation in the board, which is a *horrible* deal...

 

[Duel]

I doubt it. Artifact mutation is rarely if ever seen.

The golem is some good from what I've seen, because it has the touhness to survive a derm, plus can attack, which glacial wall cannot. Also, it can survive color-hosers and terror.

Draconis is right about rubvy leech though. a 2/2 first strike is decent, no more. ANd the drawback.....

 

[Draconis]

The main problem that I have with Obsianus Golem is that it comes out at least two, probably three or four turns later than the *first* 'Derm, and is not likely to do anything more than leave you on, at most, 5 life, at which point burn, a Leech, a Hydra, Dragon or Burst come down and kill you...
I just think that you can't seriously expect a six casting cost creature in a deck with no acceleration to come out before about turn eight with any regularity, which is far, far too slow.

 

[Duel]

If blue/black cannot counter the first derm, they've already lost. Obsanius Golem comes out later, when you feel safe or have acc counterspell backup. It allows you to tap out later without fearing a derm, skizzik, or a leech.

The bottom line, you MUST COUNTER BLASTODERM
Or, in the words of Wakefield: "The first fattie you can't deal with is the one that kills you."

In U/B control right now, assume that turns 3-5 are spent countering or otherwise stopping an opponent.

 

[mpgsheep]

Obsanius Golem - such cool flavour text!
"The Foot Stone is connected to the Ankle Stone, the Ankle Stone is connected to the Leg Stone...."-"Song of the Artificer"
hehe

 

[Draconis]

So, if Blastoderm is a must counter spell, why use a creature that will need you to tap out to cast it? Unless you want to cast it with counterspell mana open in case he has burn, or a fires on the the table... I just don't think 4/6 is big enough. The Glacial Wall is good because you drop it quickly, turn 3 or so, and it will have a *better* chance of surviving the Blastoderm, as a Ghitu Fire for 1 won't kill it (the only real difference in terms of longevity.)
The beatdown capacity of the Golem is almost irrelevant, coming out as late as it does. Generally, if you survive that long against Fires, you should be able to drop an Air Elemental, or pretty much anything else, and just swing. Also, the Golem fails to stop Saproling Burst, as if you have a Golem down, they just make a 6/6 and swing with it, forcing you to chump or take 6-8 points to the head, depending on whether they sacrifice their Fires (probably not, as the token then goes down to 5/5, attacks again, with the threat of +2/+2.)

Basically, it is *very* hard to survive the Fires god-draw, counterspells or no, and the only creatures that will be any help are those that can, if necessary, throw themselves in the way of that early rush to give you a chance to stabilise.
A combination of mana-disruption and cheap, efficient, durable blockers would seem to be the way to go.

 

[FoundationOfRancor]

DracoDude, I think your missing Duel's point though. He means that turns 3 to 5 are spent countereing, and you can plan your deck around the convient stall point of the 6 to 8 turn point with the golem.

However,

I agree with Draco-Dude, that the wall is a better choice. Why? It has bigger toughness, which comes in handy (Fires +2+2 thingy), and its 3 less then the other golem option. I think all this for the trade of -4/+1, is a fair trade indeed.


I'd go with wall.

 

[Duel]

Okay, but then what creature would you go with to attack?
Please don't say anything about evil eyes of orms-by-gore....

 

[Draconis]

What would I go with to attack?
I thought we were talking about a Skies deck?
Unless we've changed around, I'd suggest Rishadan Airship, possibly Troublesome Spirit or Air Elemental, or whichever huge red monster you manage to get hold of (Skizzik et al.)

 

[Duel]

Fair enough, but this deck is turning out too varied a miz of creatures for my liking. Glacial wall and skizzik? I mean, honestly, who recruits a red elemental? WOuldn't the wall melt?

 

[rakso]

Aside from the fact they fly, blue weenies are generally among the weakest in the game. Unless you want to use some blue tricks, you'd be better off with G/R if you need another color for your creatures.

 

[Griffith_se]

I was told that an enemy colors deck was an automatic looser, and to just give up on it.
Any thought's, is a U/r deck not viable?

 

[Spiderman]

What is an "enemy" colors deck? Being U/R, all the other colors are enemies or allies.

Did they tell you why it will auto-lose? I'd stay with it until further information.