4CMM:ICC is the same limited deck-size Magic game you know and love, but with a smaller pool of cards, a larger deck, and across three forums: WOTC, MTGS, and NGA.







Round 9

Update: I've made three updates to the rules to help with future clarity. If you have any comments or issues with them, let me know.

1. I've removed the rule about a deck needing to win. I feel that it doesn't serve a positive purpose and kills the legality of some interesting decks.
2. I've updated the first turn win rule to have the following clarity: "Decks are not allowed to win before an opponent has completed a full turn. When determining this, consider the opponent's deck to consist of four blank cards. (For example, a deck designed to play Ignite Memories on turn 1 would be legal, even if doing so could kill an opponent.)"
3. I've updated the discard rule to have the following clarity: "Decks are not allowed to reduce the number of cards in an opponent's hand by more than one per turn. When determining this, consider the entire set of possible characteristics a card in your opponent's hand could have. (For example, Persecute is not allowed in a player's deck.)"



Round 10
Decks due Wed. 12/31/14 at 5pm PST. I should be back to a normal schedule and be able to update this more promptly with the coming new year. I also intend to do a card/deck analysis to see/suggest new bannings. Until then, brew wisely.

Also, I've already locked in my deck. If you would like a PM to know what my deck is, I'd gladly send one. (Though that means you aren't allowed to change your own deck for the round.)

Already more entries than the last attempt. Woooo!

Not unless you submitted it from another forum.

Oh, okay, I'll put that deck in.

Round ends in just under 6 hours. We've got plenty of decks from the other forums. Well, mostly from MTGS. If you sent in a deck last week, I'm gonna include it in this week unless you want to change it.

Round 1 Spreadsheet

Fill in your scores as you see them, mark notes in the cells where you feel things are miscalculated, and share on the boards how you think your match-ups should play out.

I've marked a note in 2v8, someone wrote it up as 2-2 but it's definitely a 0 for me. Cavern of Souls makes Mayor of Avabruck uncounterable, so Mayor lives, my Zealous Guardian will die to Funeral Charm, and Mayor and his pack runs me over hardcore.

I've also marked myself down in 5v8, someone wrote it as 6-0 me but I've got it as 2-2. Mental Misstep can always crush my Zealous Guardians leaving me with no wincon (just as my Mana Tithe can always crush either the Chrome Mox or Meddling Mage leaving my opponent no wincon).

I really would've done better to stick with my pilot week 2 deck than the switch I made. Had no idea how much 'scouting' the other boards' submitters might have had of the decks submitted to the previous round.

2v6 is marked 4-1... is that right?

2 plays Funeral Charm forcing 6 to discard something on 2's T1. So right away 6 has to turf something that wrecks the shoal-for-9 freecast planned for 6's T2, meaning is relegated to winning by simple Inkmoth pings over ten turns. 2 then plays Mayor on 3 and it transforms on 4, swinging with eventual packmates for 3+6+9+12 over the next 4 turns. Inkmoth can't outrace that, Blasphemous Act can't get played before that, and storing up mana on Slagheap to hardcast Shoal sure can't outrace that.

They had none, as I erased the spreadsheet from existence for that very reason. I also decided to just submit the same deck regardless to make it easier on everyone involved. Which proved to work out poorly.

I also accidentally put Bituminous Blast in the spreadsheet instead of Blasphemous Act for deck 6. That's now been corrected and the scores adjusted.

And with that change, it looks like WhammeWhamme is the prelliminary winner of the round. Since we're still at the infancy of this format, I'd like to open discussion about whether or not anything from the round should be banned. The first few weeks are gonna be like this; then we'll have a regular rotating ban list that kills the top deck from previous rounds. As well as an unbanning system once the list gets a bit bigger.

Anyway, discuss!

Whew, I'm not crazy. I had typed up a long summary of how CJ beats Whamme, only to see Blasphemous Act there on doublecheck and having me wondering why my notes only had Whamme able to freeShoal for 5 or (slowly) kill one thopter.


I do have a note that would reduce Whamme's score and increase Tom's, but it wouldn't knock Whamme off the top.

Actually, Blasphemous Act gets there just in time.

Mayor deals 18 by turn 5, and has 4 creatures on the battlefield at the end of it. Slagheap can charge 4 times in its first 5 turns. So on turn 6, it'd have 4 mana from Slagheap, 1 from Inkmoth, and Blast would cost exactly 4 less. Because of this, the Mayor deck has to hold back on Charm and use it as removal.

Tricksy, that. Yeh, when you substituted Blasphemous Act for Bituminous Blast, in my mind I just shifted from "5 cost shoal fodder, extremely unlikely to be hardcast" to "9 cost shoal fodder, even less likely than the 5 to be hardcast" and completely forgot the Act's cost-reduction clause.

The same way it beats every 2-land deck on the play. It plays Inkmoth Nexus on T1, you play a land on T1, then on t2 it plays its Molten Slagheap, taps it for to activate Inkmoth Nexus, swings with Inkmoth Nexus and casts Blazing Shoal by pitching Blasphemous Act, giving the Inkmoth Nexus +9/+0. You get hit by a 10/1 infect creature, get 10 poison counters, and die by poison before ever playing your second land or casting any spells.

Round 2
No additional bans as of yet are being made. You have a metagame to work with now. Decks due Oct. 29th, 5pm PST.

Banned list for Round 2
Blackmail
Chancellor of the Annex
Dark Depths
Ghost Quarter
Inquisition of Kozilek
Laboratory Maniac
Shelldock Isle
Thoughtseize

My entry is locked in. If anyone wants to lock in, I'd gladly send my list for confirmation and discussion purposes.

1.25 days left to submit a deck!

Round 2 Spreadsheet

After you've looked at/posted some match-ups and entered your scores, come join the conversation about whether or not anything needs to be banned going forward.

And the funny thing is, if I had played the virtually identical Piracy Charm - Island - Sea's Claim - Chronomaton deck, I'd have done far better. So many decks are playing black that me making one of their lands a swamp doesn't slow them at all.

1v2: Chalice does nothing. (This format doesn't really have much going on at 0 mana, and you don't really need to save your land after Crack.) On the play, I can land both threats which easily outrace the Thallid horde. On the draw, I lead with Noble, sac it to Crack, Charm Thallid, and Rack for the win. (6-0)

1v3: Gut Shot gets my Noble, but The Rack outraces Megaliths cleanly. (6-0)

1v4: The Rack outraces Helix by a mile. Noble forces cards out of your hand. (6-0)

1v5: Stromkirk can't survive and Rack can't race. But I still have a trick! On the play, I lay out Noble and begin my assault. On my second turn, I leave my land untapped. When you go to Smallpox, I respond by Charming Ulamog out of your hand, which won't shuffle back whichever land you choose to sacrifice. And you can't race the charge counter route. So, we tie. I can't do any of that on the draw, though. (1-4)

1v6: Either I get both of my threats and mow you down or you answer Noble and make yourself vulnerable to The Rack. Inkmoth can't quite race fast enough. (6-0)

1v7: Revoker's ability does nothing to me. I slam both threats and charm either the Revoker or the Nexus. Either way, Rack gets there. (6-0)

1v8: Tricky decision trees here, but what it really comes down to is our Charms. You need Mayor to stick since Inkmoth can't outrace my Noble. Which means you need to Charm away my Charm. However, I have no incentive to play out The Rack. I start with Noble. If you Charm it, I Charm your Mayor either out of your hand or off the board. If you let it go, it eats you alive faster that Inkmoth eats me. If you trade with Inkmoth, you have no mana for Mayor. My threat density seems to win out. (6-0)

1v9: Strange how Desert almost beats me all on its own, holding back Noble and keeping 3 cards in your hand. Charm thankfully discard you down to 2, allowing the win. Playing out Magus doesn't help at all. (6-0)

1v10: Presence, as you already showed, was a bit of a misfire this round. It's probably okay overall, but way too much black showed up. Because of that, my 2 threats beat your 1. (6-0)