Moonfolk Gone Mad

M

Mikeymike

Guest
Like Girls Gone Wild, but with Magic cards.

So, after CoK came out I ordered a bunch of Moonfolk cards I can abuse, but never got around to building the deck. Hell, I haven't made any decks in the past 5 months or so, and need to get moving.

Anyway, I figured this deck could have some pretty cool MP interactions without being too obnoxious or fragile. Still, I've had a difficult time getting beyond the key cards (Azusa, Moonfolk) and am open to all suggestions.

Cards - 70 (that's right! I don't think it will be a problem with the Horn of Greed/Azusa)

Creatures - 20
3 Sylvan Safekeeper (or Soratami Rainshaper?)
3 Budoka Gardener (I actually like the Gardener much Dokai here)
4 Azusa, Drunk and Incoherent
2 Soratami Mirror Mage
1 Soratami Savant
2 Meloku
2 Uyo, Silent Prophet
2 Patron of the Moon (this card shouldn't be blue, but I'm playing it anyway)
1 Tradewind Rider (I figure I can Defense it out late game, and start being annoying with my tokens...worth it?)

Others - 20
4 Horn of Greed
4 Naturalize (have to in my group)
3 Impulse
3 Sprouting Vines
3 Defense of the Heart
1 Fastbond
1 Regrowth
1 Ancestral Recall (hey I have it, I'm playing it)

Land-me-downs - 30
4 Mox/Lotus/Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
2 Maze of Ith (just because I can protect them with my Moonfolk)
4 Tropical Island
4 Treva's Ruins
8 Island
5 Forest

Cards I'm thinking about
- Undiscovered Paradise, but I can't afford these and the Ruins, and in this particular deck I think the Ruins are better.
- Library of Alexandria, good early game card-draw before the Horns
- Nature's Lore, b/c I have an unhealthy addiction to it.
- Counterspell, b/c its counterspell
- A single card that blows up multiple ench/arts

Thanks in advance!
 
M

Mikeymike

Guest
That would definitely work Limited, but we have a gentleman's rule in place in our group to not play infinite combos.

So I built this deck this past weekend and played it. We played 2 games in 3-player Chaos, and it won both games while running into a low amount of 'teaming up' against me.

Here's the build:

Creatures - 20
3 Sylvan Safekeeper
3 Budoka Gardener (for the Gardener, not really Dokai)
4 Azusa, Drunk and Incoherent
2 Soratami Mirror Mage
1 Soratami Savant
3 Meloku, Breeds like Rabbit
2 Uyo, Silent Prophet
2 Patron of the Moon

Others - 20
4 Horn of Greed
4 Naturalize (have to in my group)
3 Impulse
3 Journey of Discovery
3 Defense of the Heart
1 Fastbond
1 Regrowth
1 Ancestral Recall (hey I have it, I'm playing it)

Land-me-downs - 30
4 Mox/Lotus/Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
2 Wasteland
2 Maze of Ith (just because I can protect them with my Moonfolk)
4 Tropical Island
2 Treva's Ruins
1 Jungle Basin
1 Coral Atol
8 Island
4 Forest

Changes and why:

- Another Meloku instead of Tradewind Rider: I couldn't find the Rider in time for the game. It worked out, because Meloku was arguably the most dangerous combo element in the deck.

- Journey's instead of Rites of Spring: The first reason I didn't run the Rites was b/c my basic land count is relatively low. The second reason is that the Journey's alternative abilities both fit this deck extremely well. Plus with Azusa, I often got both effects for 2G.

- Library in place of a Forest: I finally got a Library and wanted to play it.

- 2 Visions bounce lands: Turns out I only owned 2 Treva's Ruins. They are a bit too cumbersome for this deck, but the double mana they provided was helpful when they did make it in. The Ruins, however, were excellent.

How the deck played:

- Azusa makes the deck run so much smoother, with her in play I can run all sorts of crazy loops. That said, the deck can run pretty well without her, since there is plenty of synergy with other plays.

- Meloku is the kill card, and with Azusa in play it creates many, many tokens. Being that they are flying tokens at instant speed it also serves as a formidable defender. I was very impressed with the card.

- Uyo is just dumb powerful. I was seriously stalled out with zero cards in hand and a Defense in play, and sacked the Defense to fetch an Uyo (as I knew my opponent had a Demonic Tutor). I copied his tutor to fetch a Recall, then copied the Recall. That was pretty much game.

- The Budoka Gardener was pretty good. Got to use its ability a few times, never once flipped it (which was OK since it was the first ability I was interested in).

- Sylvan Safekeeper never really came into affect. Simultaneously, no targeted spells went in the direction of my creatures, so maybe it did.

- The Mirror Mage has a nice ability, but it is WAY too costly. I used it once. Never used the Savant's ability

- The "Offering" ability of the Patron came in very handy for combo tricks twice. Really liked it.

- Horn of Greed is both vital to the deck and a threat to its existance. The deck putters a bit until I get one in play, then it begins to move very nicely. If I drop a 2nd it really begins to motor with great speed, to the point where I got myself down to 6 cards in my library and had to stop playing lands from my hand. Still managed to win thanks to the Patron's ability to put lands into play w/o 'playing' them.

- Defense of Heart worked out better than I expected. It set off three times, and was once killed before it popped. Each time it set me up for the most useful combo given the game situation, which was very valuable.

- Journey of Discovery ran extremely well.

- Impulse was always a useful cast, and was a nice alternative to the Horn's "quantity" card draw.

- Maze of Ith served me extremely well. Would like to squeeze in a 3rd.

- The Moonfolk / Patron (Budoka) combo allowed me to get around the evil, evil Crucible-Strip Mine combo. You can't imagine how happy this made me.

Perceived Weaknesses, suggestions appreciated

- The deck sputters a bit until I get a Horn of Greed out. I either need to get to the horn faster, or run more early game draw/search. I'd prefer it to be creature based if possible.

- Lack of lifegain, I sat at 1 life for about 10 turns one game and somehow pulled out a miracle. However, I realize that was the exception. Lifegift would be very strong, but I imagine it would also be a bit explosive and put a big target on my head.

- With two Horns out I do threaten to deck myself and/or prevent myself from playing lands. I'm adding Time Spiral as a reset.

- I can use an uber-bomb creature to fetch with the Defense. Any ideas? I was thinking about Greater Morphling.

Thoughts?
 
L

Limited

Guest
Limited said:
Summer Bloom
With Meluko and Uyo = infinite storm + tokens!
Actually, once again I am an idiot.. you can't play lands if there's an sorcery on the stack, so you don't go infinite.. just an annoying lot..
(* kinda disappointed though, I really thought it worked, but Jorael knew better.. I already had the combo in play when he shared this information.. :( *)

I like the review of all the cards.. I do think there's not a lot to copy in your deck... perhaps more instant carddrawing?
 
J

jorael

Guest
Yes, it was more enjoyable spoiling the fun when you were right in the middle of trying it :D
 
M

Mikeymike

Guest
Limited said:
Actually, once again I am an idiot.. you can't play lands if there's an sorcery on the stack, so you don't go infinite.. just an annoying lot..
(* kinda disappointed though, I really thought it worked, but Jorael knew better.. I already had the combo in play when he shared this information.. :( *)
Don't feel so bad, I missed it myself. Blame it on joreal, for being the evil bastard that he is :D.

Limited said:
I do think there's not a lot to copy in your deck... perhaps more instant carddrawing?
I kind of noticed that myself, and I'm a bit torn. The deck wants to play creatures with cool Moonfolk abilities, but one of the coolest ones wants plenty of instant/sorceries (or interrupts, if you swing that way). My inclination is to not run heavy Uyo support, just because I already have a Mirari deck in place that my group hates, and I want this to have a different feel. But they really wouldn't be the same, so maybe its doable.

Splashing white for Eladamri's call might be nice though, as an alternative to the Defense of the Heart. Another would be Time of Need, which wouldn't require the white splash. I wouldn't mind a 4th Impulse either.

I suppose given the deck choices, I should probably limit any additions to Creatures or Instant/Sorceries.

Amazing, I've got 70 cards in here, and the deck has no freaking room for new additions :rolleyes: .
 
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