Manabarbs deck

[Spiderman]

Okay, here's my pride and joy, nurtured for several years, through Ice Age to Stronghold. It got me 4th place in my first tourney (back during Ice Age) and the only reason I think it didn't go further is because I played a side duel while waiting for my next match and my mana was clumped. No particular format for help, although I only have cards from Revised to Stronghold.

The reason why there's a lot of ones and twos of spells is because at the time, I was playing against people who used Lobotomy a lot.

Creatures

2 Bird of Paradise
1 Acridian
2 Skyshroud Elf
1 Soul Warden
1 Albino Troll
1 Wild Dogs
1 Treetop Rangers
1 Mirri, Cat Warrior
1 Derelor
1 Soltari Visionary
1 Dirtcowl Wurm

Spells

2 Fellwar Stone
1 Seismic Assault
1 Mox Diamond
1 Shattering Pulse
1 Symbosis
1 Fireball
2 Mana Leak
1 Hurricane
2 Manabarbs
4 Incinerate
1 Disenchant
1 Mirri's Guile
1 Crosswinds
1 Armageddon
2 Winter Orb
1 Allay
1 Skyshaper
1 Convalescence

Land

2 Plain
2 Quicksand
6 Mountain
8 Forest
3 Gemstone Mine

 

[Duel]

Land tax, maybe? Combos with seismic assault and geddon well.

 

[Spiderman]

Actually, this deck has gone through MANY incarnations of what was Type II from Ice Age to Tempest Block. This was when Tempest Block was the last block legal in Type II; I definately had Land Tax, Ivory Tower, Lightning Bolts, and other "oldies" when they were legal.

I think I'll start different decklists for each legal format, just 'cause I love this deck so much Manabarbs is always a surprise...

 

[krichaiushii]

I told you I'd dredge...

Anyhow, what about a MP version of Manabarbs? I suspect a variation of the Power Surge-Mana Barbs deck could be devastating - at least the first time its played.

I've seen one before. A R/W build, using white for lifegain and aggressive defenders (read Serra Angels), and Red for the key enchantments, as well as other nasty bits (Burn and Shivan Dragons, mostly). Sisters of Flame work well for generating red mana, as does a wide variety of artifacts.

Zuran Orb, Dwarven Armory, and Glacial Chasm can help get around the "having too much land in play" problem.

Alternately, the G/R build could be even nastier, what with all the mana generating possibilities green provides.

Just remember to have a solid defense out BEFORE playing the enchantments, otherwise everyone kills you dead. This was what the version I saw neglected to do the first time. So it died. After it was pointed out how to play it properly, he won every time. Go figure.

 

[rkoelsch]

I always liked sunglasses of urza to smooth out the mana. It was just cool.

 

[Spiderman]

I tried the version initially posted in a MP game and it was okay, the Dirtcowl Wurm helped deter attacks since it kept growing but everything else kept getting killed by burn so I couldn't attack back. And my two Manabarbs were near the bottom by the time I got killed, never got a chance to play them The others sure didn't like Winter Orb though

I would attempt making it more MP after I get a better chance of seeing how my other MP decks do. I haven't really gotten to play them yet. But yeah, as this has gone through its various incarnations I've had alomost all the cards you guys named in here except for Dwarven Armory.

 

[Spiderman]

Well, I kept being a target in MP when I played this deck, so I turned it more into single duel and using all of my cards instead of just Tempest/US block legal.

//NAME: Manabarbs deck

Blue

2 Mana Leak

Green

1 Mirri's Guile
2 Basking Rootwalla
1 Crosswinds
1 Erhnam Djinn
1 Dirtcowl Wurm
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Mirri, Cat Warrior
2 Wild Mongrel
1 Hurricane
1 Blastoderm

Red

3 Manabarbs
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Granite Gargoyle
4 Mogg Fanatic

White

1 Armageddon
1 Land Tax
1 Spirit Link

Artifacts

2 Fellwar Stone
2 Winter Orb
1 Ivory Tower
1 Mox Diamond
1 Black Vise

Land

4 Mishra's Factory
5 Mountain
1 Library of Alexandria
3 Taiga
6 Forest
2 Karplusan Forest
1 Strip Mine

The idea is to get out early creatures to whittle life down, slow down with the Winter Orbs if I don't get a Manabarbs out, and BoPs and artifact mana to get around Manabarbs and make it come out faster. Mana Leaks are a nice counter surprise.

Things I'm not sure about:

Crosswinds as an anti-flyer. There's so many out there, I just stuck with this one (besides Hurricane). I know there's Spidersilk something, the global enchantment that gives everyone Web basically, but not sure if my creatures would be strong enough to still handle them.

Spirit Link - not sure if I should use Armadillo Cloak instead.

Bolts - not sure if I should use Swords to Plowshares or a miz of maybe 2/2.

Granite Gargoyle - good flyer for 3 mana, but is really there to fill a slot. Thinking about maybe Iridiscent Angel or some "big" hitter.

Same thing with Blastoderm since it goes away, but it is cheap for 5/5.

Experimenting with the Wild Mongrel/Basking Rootwallas.

Not sure if Mogg Fanatic is the best one red drop out there, or if I should drop some and mix it up.

Not sure if I should include Sterling Grove to search/protect Manabarbs.

 

[WickedBoy6]

Reminds me of my Dingus Egg/Ankh of Mishra/Land Destruction deck. If I can find it, I'll post it up.

Ah, what a combo: Dingus Egg/Zuran Orb/Armageddon. Opponent takes massive damage, you're completely safe.