Need some School'n

[Griffith_se]

I want to try something like this, can I get some help?
I think its pretty self explanatory what the objective is.
A 2nd turn Lobotomy, would be good, and I think a 3rd turn Avatar is also possible.
How do I survive if that dosn't happen though?
Need some basic deck building advise.
What choices are good, and why, what choices are bad, and why?

Thanks

Nov. T2
8 Swamp
8 Island
2 Dust Bowl
4 Underground River
2 Salt Marsh

3 Dark Ritual
3 Vampiric Tutor
3 Spite/Malace
3 Parallax Nexus

4 Lobotomy
3 Recoil

3 Undermine
4 Counterspell

3 Waterfront Bouncer
3 Avatar of Will
3 Chilling Apparition

 

[Spiderman]

In general, if you don't get your plan working, you probably need defense to keep from being overrun by critters. So black removal under 2cc and maybe blue counters under 2cc would be worth looking into.

If this is not restricted to cards you have, probably 4 Rituals and maybe 4 Tutors to be certain you can get the card you need (I have no idea what to take out, an Avatar and Nexus, maybe?)

 

[Whimsical]

I thought they banned Dark Rit? Oh, wait. That was in 1.5 format. <sighs>

Though I'm really sick of fish and merfolk ... I'd plug in the Fish Zombies. Maindeck if green is very common in your area ... sideboard if not. Pro Green really goes a long way towards stopping that Hunted Wumpus with the three Rancors and Armadillo Cloak. Thorn Elementals are another story entirely though...

Hmmm ... given your fetish for running three of card ... I'd say you're a Legend of the Five Rings player, Griffy dahling. But I digress.

Parallax Nexus is just too iffy a card. I'd rather run with Addle. At worst (given a wrong color guess), it's a free peek at your opponent's hand.

Waterfront Bouncer ... eh? There aren't THAT many cards you can chuck as ammo (barring excess land) for the bouncer. Washout would be better for the deck. While it doesn't have the reusability of the bouncer, the sheer number you can potentially bounce back is dangerous. Massacre would do for board control ... but Washout is better, and it's easier to cast.

Sleeper's Robe doesn't belong in the deck. Hmmm. Fact or Fiction? Oh, wait. You already have the Tutors. Hmmm. Chilling Apparitions make for great chump blockers, and the discard ability is nothing to sneeze at. <laughs> Putting a Sleeper's Robe on it just paints a bigger bullseye on it than normal. I digress again.

Ick. Brainfreeze. <laughs> With mah mind refusing to cooperate, I leave you with...

Your deck, your tune-up. Happy Magicking!

 

[Gizmo]

You havr too many cards that don`t actually do anything (ie, don`t actually put one of your opponent`s cards in the graveyard). With Vamps, Nexus`s, and Bouncers you will struggle to keep card parity with your opponent, esp if your big fat guys are stuck in hand.

Drop Nexus, Stupor is better. Are you really sure you want so many Tutors? Isn`t just straight card drawing more effective in this deck (the obvious suspect being Fact Or Fiction). And Bouncer is a bad choice as well.

Thrashing Wumpus maybe?
Dominate?

 

[Baskil]

but for a totally different reason. Trust me: Nexus/Avatar looks good on paper, but it's really not all that good. If you dedicated more to control instead of the third turn combo (drop the tutors/nexus for counters/discard), you'd find that a lot of matches would become favorable. Remember the Mantra of Control: Your finisher does not matter. Whether or not you can get and maintain board control matters.

And yes, Thrashing Wumpus would do wonders in this.

 

[Purple_jester]

Let's see, a second turn Lobotomy is crippling especially if your opponent has a key card in hand, like say, a River Boa or Blastoderm. However, your deck does not revolve around Lobotomy. So I would recommend using only 3, maybe 2.

Now, for the same reason, I would recommend dropping the Avatar of Will down to 2 copies.

Another idea is this: with 4 Dark Rituals, you mentioned that you can cast Nexus and Lobotomy second turn. Why not work to that concept? Remove all 3 Vampiric Tutors. Add a 4th Dark Ritual. Then, add 2 Fact or Fictions. If absolutely necessary, you can even cast it second turn with a Dark Ritual.

Now, since this deck is very heavy on control, we could follow up on Gizmo's suggestions. Replace the Bouncers with Thrashing Wumpi. If there are any remaining cards left over from the trimming, you can even add Abyssal Specter for more disruption.

I'll leave it up to you if you want to replace Nexus with Stupor or Addle. If you don't then your non-land cards may look something like this, based on the above suggestions:

4 Dark Ritual
2 Fact or Fiction

3 Spite/Malice
3 Undermine
4 Counterspell

3 Lobotomy
3 Recoil
3 Parallax Nexus/Stupor

2 Abyssal Specter
2 Avatar of Will
3 Thrashing Wumpus
3 Chilling Apparition

 

[Duel]

2nd turn lobotomy is some good. It negates the card disadvantage tht is dark rituals. It also eliminates any importnts cards they have in their hand PERMANENTLY FROM THEIR DECK.
"But," you say, "What if they don't have important cards?" Well, then you probably win anyways. But isn't it better to be safe?