Waha! Round 2 was even more successful than round one. By one whole entry! Maybe we can keep our momentum going into round three. The rules are more or less the same (given that I just copy/pasted them) but here they are again anyway.
The rules: 0. I will announce 1 or more cards for each round. 1. You may submit a deck that utilizes one or both of the announced cards. Decks that use multiple announced cards may get a small bonus in the judging (at the judges' discretion) 2. Your deck should "break" the chosen card(s). A card can be considered broken if it has a normally weak effect that gets utilized in an exceptionally powerful way. A card that has trade-off effects can also be considered broken if it is used in such a way that all of its effects are positive for the deck. 3. You ARE required to run full playsets of each of the chosen cards that you use. 4. Unless explicitly stated, there are NO deckbuilding restrictions (color, rarity, or otherwise). As long as it's legal in Duels and breaks one or more of the cards, it's valid. 5. The building part of the contest will last for a week. After that, I'll still consider submissions, but probably with some sort of late penalty. 6. Submissions must be sent by PM. For this round, submissions will NOT be anonymous. 7. Unless they object, the judging will be done by Soupcannon and Barney again. 8. The winner of each round gets to decide one of the cards for the next round.
Haven_PT and CardboardNomad both won last round so they collaborated to pick the card for this round. And that card is... Can I get a drum roll? Huh? They already know what card it is? They've already tested several brews while waiting for me to post the thread? Ach! Well, in case we get any newcomers to the thread, this time the card is Bloodbriar! That's it. No other options. But it is such a versatile card that I'm sure we'll see a lot of fun builds.
The deadline for submissions is was Wednesday, November 8th. As always, walk in the Jank.
3 * Fatal Push // If Bone Splinters was an instant I'd run them instead but they aren't so we'll just stick to some friendly back patting. 1 * Yahenni, Undying Partisan // I had 2 games in a row where I drew 2 copies of this back to back so I trimmed it to one. 3 * Bloodflow Connoisseur // Being able to activate on instant timing proved more valuable than Defiant Salvager's ability to sac clues for free. 1 * Liliana, the Last Hope 3 * Destined // Lead // my special super secret tech - it really shines in this build
Notes: This is another land lite build but the curve tops out at 3 (4 if you count the GY half of Destined // Lead but that's a late game play) and it has a set of Druids and a few Blisterpods to help out the early game. The deck is sort of an aggressive crats build with a +1/+1 counters theme. Scrounger is in there mainly as renewable sac fodder but he still hits hard early on. Destined // Lead is the real surprise tech. Both halves are potent in this build. Destined can be a combat trick but is primarily there to keep those vulnerable fatties from eating removal. Lead is a great finisher. Build up a few heavy creeps and then cast it on a Primal Druid or Blisterpod token and swing with all. Your opp is forced to pile all his defenses on the non-threat while your beaters wreck his face. Saccing the bait after blockers have been assigned to further pump your fatsos is just icing on the cake. One other bit of advice (which should apply to all of these builds) is to punish bad players by waiting to sac stuff like Evolving Wilds until the middle of combat after blockers are declared. Good players prolly won't fall for it but noobs will often make blocks that seem good until your creep suddenly gets a +1/+1 counter or three bigger despite you being tapped out. Constrictor especially messes with people's math - the more the merrier.
Last edited by TheFlakyMage on Sun Nov 19, 2017 9:07 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Joined: Feb 29, 2016 Posts: 2899 Location: Portugal
So this is my initial build, still not sold on a bunch of options, got to test them throroughly. This is a slight rebuild of an older Bloodbriar deck I had posted here somewhere.
I went with Salvagers over Connoisseurs because they can sac clue tokens for free. 20 land feels iffy tho and I’m toying with trying to work in a set of Primal Druids to help make it work. Destined // Lead has been quite good here, countering removal and allowing my huge Bloodbriars to swing unimpeded while some sacrificial grunt gets piled on.
Edit: looking at the list analytically and with fresh eyes, I think a big issue is the tokenmaker creeps. They provide huge value to the other cards but have negligible impact on their own. I def think I’ll try replacing the Thralls and one Yahenni (I drew both back to back in TWO of the three test games) for those Druids. And prolly put Smothering Abomination back in over Aid from the Cowl. Aid is a really fun card but this prolly ain’t the right build for it. Scrapheap Scrounger is another card I’d like to squish in for recurring sac fodder but IDK what to cut for it.
Joined: Feb 29, 2016 Posts: 2899 Location: Portugal
Smothering Abomination without sac fodder is terrible. Totally didn't work in the first brew. I made a golgari list and it went 2-0 and it felt much smoother, but less focused on the briars. Mid-range just feels so bad, it got out-answered in everything. This list is much more aggro and more my style.
Flaky you sadistic bastard! -with love-... this bloodbriar BS... is making me hate Duels! I wish I win this crap so I can select a good card next time... first draft Bloodbriar- brewing
Joined: Nov 10, 2013 Posts: 17753 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
I’m not sure I’ll be able to judge/test anymore cuz I lost access to the site at work and I used to print deck lists to build and take notes on. I’m so bummed I can’t NGA from work anymore
Joined: Nov 10, 2013 Posts: 17753 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
I’ve been going to NGA forever from lots of different companies and jobs, this is the first to block it They let me on YouTube though which is almost always blocked. I don’t want YouTube though. I want to send intimate PMs to Soup
Cardboard gave me a great idea, if someone wanted to copy pasta the decklists in an email to me, that would work
I’m not sure I’ll be able to judge/test anymore cuz I lost access to the site at work and I used to print deck lists to build and take notes on. I’m so bummed I can’t NGA from work anymore
Those fascists! I’ve a mind to call your company and give them a piece of my mind. Hell, if I worked there, I’d seriously consider firing my boss.
(As I’m typing this, Beastie Boys’ Fight for your Right comes on the radio. Huh! Beastie Boys==BB==Black Barney? It’s an Omen!)
@Cucho: while I have no objections to being labeled a “sadistic bastard”, I do feel compelled to point out that Bloodbriar was actually Haven’s idea. Honestly, I think it’s prolly the least terrible card we’ve worked with yet, but that’s just me. I’m curious which card you’d choose tho, so here’s hoping you win, too.
While we’re talking about sadistic bastards, anyone else scare any poor trick-or-treaters into tears last night?
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