The Starstill Cockatrice Plugin

This is the thread for the Block Constructed playtesting of Starstill.

Playtesting goals

Our goal is to make Starstill Block Constructed:

• Balanced. One strategy can't be so powerful that it dominates all others.
• Deep. There must be a variety of viable archetypes with different pros and cons.
• Smooth. It should be easy to build and play the deck you want to play.
• Thematic. The format has to feel like Starstill.

Current agenda

Right now, Starstill Block is an unknown format. We need to figure out the main archetypes that exist in Block Constructed and how they interact with each other. I've already done some work on this front, but I'm not familiar enough with the format to solve it to any significant degree. We need to build as many decks as possible and see what works. The deckbuilding process itself could give useful insights for development.

Once we have decks, we should play as much as possible. Not just high-level Constructed (although that's what I'm best at), but kitchen-table decks as well. We want the set to be fun for both the casual player and the tournament player. Once we have enough data from playtesting, we can start discussing what to tweak and what to refine.

In summary

• Build lots of different decks.
• Play lots of different matchups.

I'm ready to playtest on Cockatrice with anyone that happens to be online. I lean more to the cutthroat tournament side though, so we need people to try out different casual decks as well.

I poked around a little and here are some of my findings:

Format impressions

• Mana is bad. There's only one cycle of enemy duals and no Evolving Wilds analogue, and monocolored decks have too few cards to draw from, so most decks will be two-colored. Abzan, Sultai and Temur might pop up though.
• The main sweepers are Sandquake, Worldscour and Bahraz the Tyrant. Sweeping is terrible against big creatures.
• Grixis removal is very good. White is less so. A lot of removal is toughness-based, which makes big creatures more resilient. Artifact/enchantment creatures dodge Deathly Chill.
• Aggro decks are in a bind because there are not that many good aggro creatures, so you have to settle for Glory Seeker and Goblin Piker. There's also a lot of aggro-hate cards like Turn Back (aka. blue Shock), Sandquake, and Desperate Prayer.
• is not that great overall but has some decent creatures. The enchantment deck, if it exists, is going to be white.
• may be the best color. Chronicler Sphinx is one of the best creatures, plus counterspells and tempo are really strong.
• is a powerful control color because of removal and Bahraz.
• is decent because of Sandquake and Giltfang Matriarch, but a lack of good burn spells or aggro creatures leaves it struggling.
• is an okay midrange color but desperately needs more removal-resistant creatures.
• is mostly forgettable but has really powerful ramp in Metalscape and Druid's Heirloom.
• Tarmogoyf sucks.

Blue-Red Chronicler



This is a Delver-like tempo deck that overwhelms with bounce and Young Pyromancer Giltfang Matriarch tokens. It's very strong against slower decks but gets hit hard by sweepers.

Blue-Black Control



This is a midrange/control deck that uses powerful colorless acceleration to ramp into a turn four or five Bahraz and win. The lack of Duress in the format means very few decks can contend with it once it gets going.

Mono-W Enchantments



Was originally planning to splash , but realized that wasn't necessary when all it really had to offer was Blooming Marlback. Decided to leave off Sunbringer Falcon because most of the enchantments just cost anyway.

If you're still on, I'm free all day to playtest.

What's your username on Cockatrice? I'm parad

chinkeeyong. I think I missed you.

How do you set this up. I download Cockatrice, but how do i load the cards and join the games?

Thanks, made a silly mistake.... lol

@chinkeeyong... Im ready for you with my new deck.......

No time right now, sadly.

I'm starting to have the hunch that Starstill Block Constructed is a one-deck format. The "play UB control or die" format.

Lol.... I have a GWU deck that might have a few tricks for you....

Ok, got mine:

R/B creature hate (or, how to get and keep a Bahraz):

4 Giltfang Matriarch
2 Sparksigil Apprentice
4 Cheapshot Enthusiast
4 Test Subject

2 Sandquake
4 Ignite the Ashes
4 Insult to Injury
4 Insturments of Torture
1 Deathly Chill
4 Icy Whisper
3 Bahraz the Tyrant

1 The Manufactory
2 Metalscape
4 Spire of Undeath
4 Spire of Inspiration
8 Swamp
5 Mountain

Sideboard:
4 Archmage's Staff
1 Endless Night
3 Dragonrend
3 Go Haywire
2 Magma Bomb
2 Raid the Ruins

Edit: Also, built this at work using Starstill.com. It still had Young Pyromancer, so let me know if any of these cards are off.

Just read this...part of the problem is how insanely powerful Bahraz the Tyrant is. Land him and you've pretty much won, especially if you can protect him.

With limited ways to interact with Planeswalkers, his Prot from Everything after three activations, andso much cheap/effective removal, its nearly impossible to remove him if he gets on the board. (and also impossible to race what with a 6 point life swing every turn and a built in sweeper.)

Here is the deck I have been play testing, Im not sure how well it will do with all the creature hate, but if I can combo or bring out Voice of Unity, im ok.

4x Viashino Suncaller
4x Loamblood Druid
4x Groveskipper Ouphe
2x Canoca of the Lost Orchard
4x Voice of Unity
4x Veteran Armorer
4x Crushthread Sage
2x Restoration Spirit

4x Track to the Lair
4x Delve into the Unknown
4x Arcane Scrying

17x Forest
4x Plains
1x Island

Really scary deck.... but I think Giltfang Matriarch is out the set, can anyone confirm?

Glad to see this is taking off so well. Expect to see me around on this thread. I'll be the guy with the crazy nonsense decks.

I think the problem is not that Bahraz is too strong, but that the creatures are laughably weak. I designed Bahraz assuming that there would be actually playable creatures costing 4 or more mana. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case in the current metagame. We need to buff creatures, nerf the unconditional removal, or both.

How is that a valid design decision?

And then there's Elspeth, Sun's Champion who's already winning game by herself. This black PW is beyond broken. Why can't his 0 ability be -something? Becoz everyone enjoys a repeatable wrath?

LOL @ Gruff as well. Free creature-fireball every turn. #whereisyourgodnow?