T2 Accelerated Black

G

Gizmo

Guest
This original idea was posted to my Deckdoctor topic by 'supascrub' and it has been doodling around in the back of my head ever since. I finally got around to building a version last night, and having tweaked it for 12 hours it`s no longer a random deck, but now 'the deck I am playing'.

The basic idea is to put a random big thing down fast then use copious removal to drive it through. Mainly I am aiming it at Stampy and WWeenie, which seems sensible given the current metagame. It comes off as part control black and part suicide, with the spell base of control but the speed of beatdown.

CAND!MAN Accelerated Black
v1.2
Monsters (11)
4 Phyrexian Negator
3 Skittering Horror
1 Masticore
3 Cateran Enforcer

<i>The Horrors give me seven "Ritual, blue player concedes" cards, and with the mana base as it is the fat should reliably be hitting the board significantly ahead of schedule. Cateran Enforcer is in as a creatures with the ability "Can only be blocked by Masticore", rather than as a Merc.</i>

Spells (21)
4 Dark Ritual
4 Vendetta
4 Duress
2 Vampiric Tutor
2 Seal Of Doom
2 Yawgmoth`s Will
3 Forced March
1 Persecute

<i>Forced March is SO strong in the current environment and is the reason why this deck doesn`t bother with Kegs. The deck sits heavy on removal because of the way the field is going, and my need to force "Ritual, Negator" through early creatures for a quick win. Seal of Doom is not only Dark Banishing, but one I can recur with Will when there is nothing I need to kill. The Tutors give me flexibility to find the key spells at the right time and allow great SB diversity.</i>

Artifact (4)
2 Ring Of Gix
2 Mishra`s Helix

<i>Ring is the latest addition to the deck but it seems to fit very nicely, especially in conjunction with other tap stuff like Port and mass sweepers like Forced March. Helix is a lockout kill that comes down very early thanks to the mana base</i>

Land (23)
4 Rishadan Port
4 Crystal Vein
4 Peat Bog
11 Swamp

<i>All the sac lands might look a lot but in fact they aren`t a problem - the curve of this deck is actually very low, and only reaches up to 5 for occasional big spells and that is perfect for stuff like Bog and Vein. Also can be recurred by YWill and that can make a big difference.</i>

Sideboard (prototype)
2 Planar Void
3 Terror
2 Engineered Plague
1 Stromgald Cabal
1 Persecute
1 Distorting Lens
1 Cursed Totem
2 Kill Switch
1 Masticore
1 Phyrexian Processor

Mainly I`m now worried about the RedLD match, as none of my creatures are Hammer-free.
Thoughts?
 
D

Daenen

Guest
You're right. Red would eat your deck for breakfast. Otherwise, it looks awesome.
 
A

arhar

Guest
Just curious - what happen to the new and improved Type 2 version of Unholy Strength - Twisted Experiment? I think the advantages of this card are obvious, esp. in this sort of deck.
 
Q

Quill

Guest
Arhar, do you think twisted experiment is an improvement over unholy str? I know unholy str is not T2 but I think it kicks Twisted Experiment's butt. The thing I don't like about TE is you can't play it on a */1 creature. You can also play multiple unholy str on a weenie to keep it out of lightning bolt range.
 
D

Daenen

Guest
Quill
You are correct. A Twisted Experement will kill a */1 creature. This is also a good thing, because you can kill your opponent's creatures (bye bye, Rofellos). Two of them together will kill even the grand and powerfull Cho Manno.

[Edited by Daenen (03-18-2000 at 06:12 PM).]
 
K

King of Cheese

Guest
I tested this deck against each of my decks and it seems to beat all of them except for my t2 suicide brown. Then I tested on apprentice against each of the world championship decks and it beat all of them except for Kai Budde's German Tinker deck. Turn 2 and turn 3 processors absolutely crush this deck and all the self saccing lands really help them lock you down. I suggest more than two kill switches sideboard or maybe something main deck against tinker. It's a good thing no one plays tinker decks anymore, but if someone did it would beat this deck. All they have to do is counter kill switch.
 
G

Gizmo

Guest
Yeah, I wasx already coming round to thinking I really needed a third Kill Switch - I hadn`t originally considered just how widespread Processors were for the Black-on-Black matches.

You guys are great, doing all that playtesting for me! All I`ve been able to prove up to yet is that I beat weenie decks every time I see Forced March and most of the time when I don`t. And that the flavor text on Cateran Enforcer should be:
"Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock -
Here comes the big black clock"
- Ramosian Nursery Rhyme

This is what my playtest notes look like:
20
16 (Enforcer)
12 (Enforcer
8 (Enforcer)
4 (Enforcer)
0 (Enforcer)
In almost every game!
I haven`t seen that since AlTran Flying Beatdown, and in playing I am definitely reminded of that deck. Eerie.

Gone off Mishra`s Helix a little, I think I`ll drop to one as too often I blow all my lands up to put thing into play (whihc kind of makes it pointless) so it really is a late-game tool for me to Tutor for if necessary. It`ll probably come out altogether when I think of something better in that slot, currently eyeing up a third Will or second Persecute.

Does anybody have any stupendously good SB ideas to let me swing the RedLD match my way after boarding - I`m happy to run up to 6 slots specifically for that matchup.
 
D

Daenen

Guest
Whenever I'm playing against Black with my Wildfire deck, the cards that shut me down the fastest are Unmask, Duress, and Mind Swords. Black has a tough time stopping red once it gets going, but it does have the capabillity of stopping it before it gets started. Parallax Nexus might even work. Try running 2 of those instead of the Mishra's Helix.
 
G

Gizmo

Guest
Way ahead of you. I was fiddling with my deck, and deceided that my two tough matches were Red and Black control. In that case I think Persecute is too good to not use.

Currently the deck is:

Monsters (10)
4 Skittering Horror
2 Masticore
4 Cateran Enforcer

I dropped Negators because time and again I felt vulnerable playing them. They make it to the SB, and if I add even a couple more permanents in they might come back.

Spells (26)
4 Duress
4 Dark Ritual
4 Vendetta
2 Vampiric Tutor
2 Yawgmoth`s Will
2 Seal Of Doom
2 Ring Of Gix
3 Forced March
3 Persecute

Land (24)
4 Port
4 Vein
4 Bog
12 Swamp

But now I`m starting to see the problems with the deck. Such as:
Mana Curve (counting Will as 4 and March as 5)
0/1 2 3 4 5+
14 0 8 7 7

Hmm...
Starting to go off this already.
Think I preferred it with Negators. Might just go 'balls out' and run NegatorRemoval.dec, and simply hope to run so many blatant hosers that even though the rest of my deck is useless (Forced March vs Bargain) that I win anyway with my one good spell that I drew (Negator vs Bargain).
My eck then needs to go:
Cast Good Spell
Survive while Good Spell wins game for you.

Thoughts? How should I interpret what this deck is doing?
 
G

Gizmo

Guest
Hmm, I`m noticing a trend here - I go off on a bit of a high-strategy rant and kill off the forum.
Dagnammit.
I think my first version was closer to correct than the second and I have decided to go with my thoughts that this deck should be all about impact and ignore any other long term strategy. This deck is probably a close neighbour of mono-brown - for Wildfire read Persecute and Forced March, and for Covetous Dragon read Phyrexian Negator.
The decks 'races' a lot - trading Enforcer damage for whatever they have, so I`m thinking a couple of Soul Feast would be nice in that situation, but nowhere to put it and I guess that simply having enough removal is another perfectly viable option - I always wondered why you would want to cast Fog when you could cast Terror, and I guess it`s the same with Soul Feast and Forced March.

CAND!MAN Accelerated Black
v1.3
Creatures (11)
4 Phyrexian Negator
3 Skittering Horror
1 Masticore
3 Cateran Enforcer (the Black Air Elemental)

Spells (25)
4 Duress
4 Dark Ritual
3 Vendetta
2 Vampiric Tutor
2 Seal Of Doom
2 Ring Of Gix
2 Yawgmoth`s Will
4 Forced March
2 Persecute

Land (24)
4 Rishadan Port
4 Crystal Vein
4 Peat Bog
12 Swamp

SB
3 Planar Void
2 Terror
4 Coercion (need to swap out removal in control/combo matches)
3 Kill Switch
2 Thran Lens

I`m going to introduce it to my playtest group tomorrow - should do ifne because they are currently with WWeenie. Without Armageddon I might add...
 
G

Gizmo

Guest
As if anybody cares (there should be a little 'read xxy times' counter so I know if I`m wasting my time or not), this version has been taken as the current strongest after the playtest yesterday.
Surprisingly I turned up to find that my teammate Andy McNish (inventor of CounterSliver and CounterOath) had built the self-same deck, only having not been as exhaustive with the spoiler list as I am (my great deckbuilding strength is that I look at EVERY card to see if it will be good or not in that particular deck) he was missing some key cards like Forced March (he was with Massacre, a couple of games against Crusade/Lin Sivvi showed him how poor it was), Skittering Horror, and Cateran Enforcer.

CAND!MAN Accelerated Black
v1.5
Monsters (11)
4 Skittering Horror
2 Phyrexian Negator
2 Masticore
3 Cateran Enforcer

Spells (25)
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
3 Vendetta
2 Vampiric Tutor
3 Vicious Hunger (key addition)
2 Yawgmoth`s Will
2 Seal Of Doom
3 Forced March
2 Persecute

Land (24)
4 Bog
4 Vein
4 Port
12 Swamp

But I am having problems with the SB. The amount of removal I now have in the deck means I need to SB out 6-10 cards against the nono-aggro decks, so I need some generic non-removal replacements. The problem is I really need mainly stuff that costs 1 or 2, because I`m already clumping at 3 mana and adding more just clogs up the Wills.

I definitely want:
2 Perish
2 Phyrexian Negator
1 Distorting Lens
1 Thran Lens
2 Kill Switch
Which leaves me with 7 slots to fill, ideas are:
1/2cc
Blight
Ankh Of Mishra
Mind Swords
Unmask
(None of which are outstanding)
3cc+
Perish
Coercion
Stupor
Tangle Wire
(all of which are good, but I need cheap spells so I can only take 2/3 at most)

Anybody with good ideas for the SB problem will be welcomed with open arms.
 
G

galtwish

Guest
As crappy as it sounds, Specter's Wail could be pretty decent. Maybe a couple Charcoal Diamonds to help against Ponza, 'Geddon and Rising Waters. This is all supposing you don't want to use Powder Keg, which should probably be a 3-4 count in the SB.

Erik
 
G

Gizmo

Guest
Played for and got!

Round1: CounterBurn, 2-0 WIN
Round2: Draw-Go, 0-2 LOSS (I got TOTALLY manascrewed and he admitted I should be 2-0)
Round3: Bad G/B monsers deck, 2-0
Round4: Enchantress, 2-0 (Forced March for two? Hmm, where`d my opponent go?)
Round5: WWeenie, 2-0
Semi`s: Stompy, 2-1
Finals: Mirrormatch, 2-0 (as we couldn`t kill the creatures, whoever drew more won)

So from a field of 24, with two CAND!MAN Accelerated Black decks, we come first and second. Guess the deck works then...

My SB was pretty solid eventually:
3 Perish
3 Parallax Nexus
2 Phyrexian Negator
3 Unmask
2 Thran Lens
2 Kill Switch

Cateran Enforcer was the business, nobody was happy to see him arrive, and Forced March hit everybody SO hard. First turn Horrors won a lot of games as well - all in all the deck ran perfectly.

[Edited by Gizmo (03-27-2000 at 09:34 AM).]
 
D

Daenen

Guest
to gizmo

I do enjoy discussing strategy with you, and probably would have been back sooner if my computer hadn't crashed (damn windows, Bill Gates is the anti-crist!!) I am not, however, a black mage. My speciality is Red. I am trying to work with the other colors, and I have tournament-viable decks from all colors. However, I still consider myself a red mage. I'd post more, but I have to go to a tournament. Be back later.
 
K

King of Cheese

Guest
seems like you could use distorting lens instead of thran lens. Since you will usually only have one permanent at a time, it doesn't make too much of a difference and distorting can side in against stampy that uses masticore to get around perish. It also helps if they side in light of day to effectively stop one of their creatures from attacking.
 
G

Gumby Khan

Guest
Just for red, why not hit em where it hurts? Side out negators for the Lurking Skirge or Horror? Red has no enchantment removal and you can trigger both real easy! Skirge is only two and Horror is three, great mana curve.
Question; is Masticore so vital to your deck when you are running so much creature removal? I sure would hate to see my Masticore get bribed, treached, or dominated! I like to run attrition or claws of gix, so I can sac targeted creatures. If you want more acceleration, I do suggest Twisted Ex or P. Dementia. The former is also weenie kill and the later puts your creatures out of thunderclap range. I once had my P. Dementia'ed Skittering Horror treachery'ed, the player didn't understand that the fade counter came off on MY upkeep and he got only one attack in, which was blocked by my little (but noble) blood pet! Hope this helps, :)
 
G

Griffith_se

Guest
Some Scrub Tech.

This might sound dumb , but...
Glasses of Urza. Look at your opponents hand after there draw step that way you could save your discard effects for something that realy worries you. Kind of like a cheap Zur's Weirding.

You helped me out alot, so I'm just trying to return the favor, even if my ideas suck.

Griffith_se
 
G

Gizmo

Guest
Some replies have built up since I last posted (and since I covered this deck in my last article for Starcity my Hotmail has filled up as well - looks like people like this deck!)
This was my article, for those with time no their hands:
http://www.starcityccg.com/mustread/000329dsutcliffe.shtml

King Of Cheese:
Main thing in favor of Thran is that it kills Crusades. Also not Kill-Switchable which might make a difference, and I do sometimes have two creautres down you know...

Gumby Khan:
So, against the red burn match I should spend half my life for a 4/4 flyer?!!?!!?
This was okay until Seal Of Fire came in, now they have a good chance of pulling burn together to wreck a 4/4. The PNexus has been good enough. And you obviously don`t drop the Masticore against blue unless some severe Duress action has just happened.

Griffith_se
On the whole I`m happy to waste Duress - if they have nothing worth taking then I`m not worried, right?

[Edited by Gizmo (03-31-2000 at 05:23 PM).]
 
G

GreenGiant

Guest
yo its me agian i was just wondering whats with Vendetta? i mean you lose live when you kill the creature but i guess if you were playing a black deck it might help slightly but agianst a red deck or a really fast and powerful green deck it would be useless. anyhow i would put in 3 or 4 order of yagomoth just to beat down their hand as it to cannot be blocked except from black creatures and artifacts. but other than that it looks like a very desent deck (i kinda got that same deck only with a few more powerful creatures)
 
Top