**************************************** **************************************** ** ** ** Magic The Gathering: Battlegrounds ** ** ** ** ********************** ** ** * Decks & Strategies * ** ** ********************** ** ** ** ** by Ranilin ** ** ** ** E-mail: zidaneslayer@hotmail.com ** ** Gamertag: Ranilin ** ** ** ** Last Updated: January 6th, 2004 ** ** 13:50 CST ** **************************************** **************************************** DECKS WITH STRATEGIES NOTE 1: If anyone has any tips or ideas as to how I can set up this TEXT list to be organized better, PLEASE let me know. I'm at a loss. NOTE 2: Please forgive any typos in this section. The majority of this content is directly copied from what I am sent. Feel free to correct anything marked under Author, however. :) Duelist Selection: Okay, this question gets asked alot. If you have unlocked whatever Legend, it doesn't matter when choosing a duelist for your deck. You can only use a Legend if the color of that Legend is in your deck. You cannot make a White and Red deck, and expect to use Multani, Ihsan's Shade, or Arcanis in it. The first and second tier of Duelists are available for any color, however, as well as Mishra, Tsabo Tavoc, and Mirrora. The third tier are limited to decks with their own color in them. Trick: Do you like how Akroma looks (or any other 3rd tier duelist), but prefer playing a mono-black deck? Well you can use her (or the others) anyway as your duelist! Just create a dual color deck, with the color you want as your monocolor deck, and the color that corresponds to the duelist you wish to be. Add a card of each color, and finish the deck by choosing said duelist and naming the deck. Then edit the deck, and build the monodeck as normal. The game will automatically remove the colors from a deck that are not used. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Deck Name: ViciousForest Sent in by: Ranilin XBL Gamertag: Ranilin Primary Color: Green Secondary Color: Black Sorceries: Giant Growth, Run Wild, Vicious Hunger, Untamed Wilds, Infest, Dark Banishing, Tranquility Creatures: Death's-Head Buzzard, Elvish Warrior, Juzam Djinn Strategies: Control creatures some with the negative affects of Infest and the Death's-Head Buzzard while using Green to attack/defend with (Elvish Warrior) and cast Untamed Wilds. When you have the mana, cast Juzam Djinn (quick note - many people will try to kill it right off the bat with a big pump on a creature - the first time the Juzam attacks, give it Run Wild only so it regenerates, basically wasting all the mana they spent pumping). Rely on Run Wild to keep the Juzam on the board, so you can use Vicious Hunger to get life from creatures, as well as kill weak blockers like Carnophages, Youthful Knight, Goblin Hero/Raging Goblin, etc. Because of the Run Wild on the Juzam giving Trample, it won't respawn after EVERYTHING it fights, slowing down the rate at which you take damage. Dark Banish eliminates massive threats (like the Rushwood Elemental, Steve) and Tranquility to protect yourself. VERY DETAILED: This deck is great against big or small creatures. The first thing you need to know is how to defend with this deck. If the enemy is sending a lot of 2/2 and 2/3 creatures at you (as you were, for example), don't waste mana on Infest unless you are pressed to defend yourself immediately. If you have a few moments before the creatures get to you, cast Death's-Head Buzzard and swat it instead. This will get you the shards from it, plus you can collect the shards from the attackers as you swat them - take the measly 1 damage from the Elvish Warriors to hit them twice. If the enemy is trying to Spiritualize stuff, I'll try to kill it without using any creatures so as to waste their mana and preserve mine. Don't spam out creatures to attack with. That's not the way to win with this deck (or many others, for that matter). What happens if you just sent four creatures at your opponent and they kill them all somehow? They'll have lots of mana and you'll be screwed. This leaves you wiiiiiiiide open, and is generally a bad idea (it's how I killed you most of the time!). Use Run Wild freely. Try and get a feel for when you should Giant Growth with Run Wild, and when to let it die so it regenerates. If the Djinn is at 2 life or less (sometimes 3), I'll give it Run Wild and let it kill a creature or two before regenerating at full health again. It's like casting the Djinn brand new, for 2g! So since you aren't spending Black mana, you can use Vicious Hunger to get little boosts in life while killing blockers as well. Don't try to spend all your mana to do some damage - instead of spending 2g to cast Giant Growth one extra time because you KNOW your creature is going to hit, save it! The more mana you have currently, the faster the rest comes back! This will allow you to keep the creature strong when it respawns and going longer. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Deck Name: ReturningDead Sent in by: Ranilin XBL Gamertag: Ranilin Primary Color: Green Secondary Color: Black Sorceries: Giant Growth, Run Wild, Vicious Hunger, Untamed Wilds, Dark Banishing Creatures: Harbinger of Night, Elvish Warrior, Krovikan Vampire, Priest of Titania, Sengir Vampire Strategies: Mainly, go straight for Harbinger with this deck if your opponent casts any creatures. You start this deck defensively. Once you have kept the board clear for a bit and have 4 of each color mana, you can go aggro with Krovikan, Giant Growth, Run Wild - WAIT until the opponent throws creatures at you when Harbinger dies, so you can take control of them. Keep enough Green to regenerate the Krovikan, so he keeps control of everything he took over. Try and summon him as far back on your side as possible so he takes longer to get to your enemy (and possibly his doom!). If the game persists into the 10th crystal (5 black for you), go for Sengir Vampires. Use Run Wild to mow through weenie creatures, Giant Growth to kill bigger things, and if it respawns with less than 3 toughness, give it Run Wild and kill it yourself (assuming you still have 2g to regen it). I mainly only play the Priest when playing against other Elf decks for a quick mana boost, unless I'm really in control. I've been known to draw Harbinger out to the point where I have 6 of each color. I'll cast a Priest when Harbinger dies followed by another when I get full Green again, then go offensive. Use Vicious Hunger to kill (or weaken) creatures, especially anything Krovikan will be fighting. When Krovikan is fighting something, the less defense the target creature has, the more attack power Krovikan will still have for the next creature - plus you gain life! =) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Deck Name: TrampledWater Sent in by: Ranilin XBL Gamertag: Ranilin Primary Color: Green Secondary Color: Blue Sorceries: Counterspell, Giant Growth, Unsummon, Untamed Wilds, Run Wild Creatures: Fighting Drake, Horned Turtle, Ancient Silverback, Priest of Titania Enchantments: Pendrell Mists Strategies: Defend with Turtles (+ Giant Growth & Run Wild to not waste the GG). Get two Priests, preferably three, generating shards. Unsummon flyers if they are too big, otherwise try and kill it with melee. Use Run Wild to make Silverback Trample when you go offensive. Use Drakes the same way, with Giant Growth. If the game makes it to seven blue (very easy to do, with Untamed Wilds), cast Pendrell Mists and keep an eye out to counter disenchantments. Unsummon all opponent's creatures to lock down the board. Sometimes Giant Growth will miss the Turtles, so if it builds up on a Priest so they are a 7/7 or 10/10, give her Run Wild as well. This deck isn't designed SOLELY to win by locking the opponent with Pendrell Mists. Use the Drakes and Ancient Silverback to deal damage - the natural regeneration of the Silverback will put serious pressure on your enemy. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Deck Name: WhiteHotFury Sent in by: Ranilin XBL Gamertag: Ranilin Primary Color: Red Secondary Color: White Sorceries: Reckless Charge, Warrior's Honor, Guided Strike, Wrath of God, Demystify Creatures: Goblin Hero, Suntail Hawk, Raging Goblin, Magma Giant, Goblin King Strategies: The idea is to overwhelm the enemy with Goblins pumped by the Goblin King and Warrior's Honor. This will keep the Goblin King alive (hopefully) so the rest stay pumped, especially with the Honor helping. Magma Giant, Wrath of God, and Demystify are personal card choices, but totally not necessary for this deck to work. You might consider replacing the Giant with Goblin Sky Raiders. The basic strategy is on the fourth red crystal, to cast two Raging Goblins at the back of your side followed by a Goblin King, then a Warrior's Honor. If you hit 3 white again before the King respawns, cast a Suntail Hawk right as the King respawns, so you hit both with Warrior's Honor. Be sure to keep two Raging Goblins going so the King isn't as likely to be blocked. Since you will be spending mainly White mana to cast Warrior's Honor, you can cast Goblin Heros near the line when a Raging Goblin dies, so you have a 4/4 instead of a 3/3 with Haste (Honor!). I like to cast Reckless Charge on the flyers as they respawn before Warrior's Honor, as the only color that can chump-block flyers is White, with other Hawks, which almost guarantees extra damage from the flyer. If you replace a card with the Goblin Sky Raider, remember that it gets pumped by the King as well, so you are summoning a 2/3 flyer for 3R. With Warrior's Honor, that's a 3/4 flyer, a 6/4 with Reckless Charge. Guaranteed to deal 3 damage even when shielded. The Raider and Reckless Charging creatures generally comes later in the game as you are no longer struggling with mana to keep creatures on the board. DO NOT TRY TO SAVE EVERY CREATURE! At most, give the King Guided Strike so he won't die, but the rest are completely expendable. Warrior's Honor at least once per respawn of the King. Feel free to cast it more than once, but only if you can afford to cast it again when he respawns. Note: If you add in Engulfing Flames, you might as well remove Reckless Charge as well, because you'll never have the Red mana for both! Also, Goblin Hero with Guided Strike is an excellent, and cheap, blocker. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Deck Name: Blessed Evils Sent in by: Ryan (funky_monkey92@hotmail.com) XBL Gamertag: Thead Primary Color: White Secondary Color: Black Sorceries: Guided Strike, Warrior's Honor, Demystify, Wrath of God Creatures: Suntailed Hawk, Youthful Knight, Harbinger of Night, Death's-Head Buzzard, Krovikan Vampire, Warrior Angel Strategies: heh, the strategy for this is to get out a harbinger as quick as you can, it will help against evles, and maybe a deaths head buzzard if needed. Once you can get out Krovikan vampire use guided strike, you control the enemies easy, unless they keep using giant growth, in which case you wrath of god. Taking damage at the start doesn't matter, as long as you ge out warrior angel. Author: I found this deck to be decent, but very slow. I came up with two ways to change it to improve it. Change 1: Switch the colors so Black is primary and replace Warrior Angel with Vicious Hunger. Once you have a Krovikan on the board, you basically stop using Black mana, so use it to gain life instead of the Angel, which requires the White mana you never have (Guided Strikes and Warrior's Honors). Also, you will be able to get Harbinger out sooner - cast a Warrior's Honor or two to keep him around an extra drain or two. Use Buzzard's with Guided Strike to kill any and all flyers. Even the Angel of Retribution will take 3 damage, plus you can stand under the Buzzard and hit her when the Buzzard dies, dealing a total of 4 damage. The -1/-1 from Buzzard dieing will kill her, so you get all the mana of blocking her back. Change 2: Keep it as White primary, Black secondary, but replace the Angel with Blessed Orator. Wrath of God (or Hawk) becomes Vicious Hunger. Same strategy of taking control of creatures through Krovikan, and the Orator will pump the creatures you steal to make them more deadly. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Deck Name: SpeedyKillas Sent in by: Ranilin XBL Gamertag: Ranilin Primary Color: Green Secondary Color: Red Sorceries: Engulfing Flames, Reckless Charge, Untamed Wilds, Scorching Missile, Threaten, Tranquility Creatures: Llanowar Elf, Elvish Warrior, Goblin Hero, Priest of Titania Strategies: First, let me say the actual build was original inspired by Wizard of Sorts. He told me to try playing GR to see how 'hard' it was to play, so I built a deck similar to his, modified it to my playstyle, and beat him with it. The idea is to cast Llanowar Elves at first, followed by Priest of Titania. Cast Reckless Charge to make a Llanowar Elf run in front so you can cast the Priest safely behind it, and Engulfing Flames won't hit it. Repeat with the other Llanowars you've casted to replace them with Priests. Use Goblin Heros as cheap ground attackers to begin with as well. For big ground assaults, a Llanowar with Reckless Charge deals 4 damage, making a nice blocker on demand. After you have 3 Priests in play, use Elvish Warriors to attack with so the Priests produce maximum mana - keep two Warriors attacking if possible. Use Untamed Wilds to get more mana, then chain cast Scorching Missile with all of the mana the Priests produce. Threaten any dangerous creatures, especially if they have trample since you can pump it up with Reckless Charge. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Deck Name: Goblin Might Sent in by: Ranilin XBL Gamertag: Ranilin Primary Color: Red Secondary Color: Green Sorceries: Engulfing Flames, Giant Growth, Untamed Wilds, Threaten Creatures: Goblin Hero, Elvish Warrior, Goblin Sky Raider, Magma Giant, Goblin King Enchantments: Fervor Strategies: This deck is similar to the WhiteHotRage (W/R) deck. The idea is to get Goblin King out asap and keep him alive with Giant Growth, then cast Goblin Heroes. Use a Giant Growth on the King everytime it respawns to make it into a 5/5. If the game makes it to where you have 6 red, cast Fervor. If you have the extra Green, cast Untamed Wilds to help it get there faster. Goblin Sky Raiders are excellent flyers when the King is creating havoc below. A 5/5 King can be chump blocked, but will survive. The heroes will hopefully be taking all the blocks, so the 5/5 will actually hit the opponent, which is even better. Deck is very weak against White/Red combos. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Deck Name: Brushfire Sent in by: Dragunfyre XBL Gamertag: Dragunfyre Primary Color: Green Secondary Color: Red Sorceries: Engulfing Flames, Giant Growth, Reckless Charge, Run Wild, Threaten/Overrun Creatures: Defiant Elf, Elvish Warrior, Raging Goblin, Giant Spider Enchantments: Gratuitous Violence Strategies: A little weak at the very beginning of the game (since a good player will just whack the 1/1 Defiants and Raging Goblins) this deck shines once you put together at least three of each kind of mana. Example: Raging Goblin, Run Wild, Giant Growth, and a couple Reckless Charge for good measure. Once you get Gratuitous Violence into play, the fun truly begins. Add Elvish warriors with Run Wild and Reckless Charge to taste. Spiders help with the defense, and if you're feeling especially evil you can replace Threaten with Overrun. Author: Personally I'd go with Threaten in this deck, since the majority of the creatures are green, as well as the effects that make them scary (Run Wild, Giant Growth). However, I actually removed that. I also replaced Giant Spider with Goblin Sky Raider instead. By the time you cast Sky Raider, you can give him Giant Growth and Run Wild as well. He'll trample through the skies to your enemy. I also put in Scorching Missile, so as I pump my creature up with Giant Growth, I can build my mana for a surprise Missile. That's just how I play. The strategy seems to be to kill the enemy as fast as possible. In Arcade Duel on the third row custom deck, I could beat most everyone but Arcanis within 90 seconds. It's a very good deck overall, a powerful combination of the Red & Green. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Deck Name: Black Forest Sent in by: Ranilin XBL Gamertag: Ranilin Primary Color: Green Secondary Color: Black Sorceries: Giant Growth, Run Wild, Untamed Wilds, Tranquility Creatures: Carnophage, Elvish Warrior, Juzam Djinn, Krovikan Vampire, Harbinger of Night, Avatar of Might Strategy (deck by Author) This deck has multiple strategies, which is why I like it. There is nothing you can do until the third crystal, but cast Elvish Warrior towards the back of your side when you get 2g. On the 4th, cast Carnophage the same way. Reason is because alot of people cast a counter creature asap - this will hopefully make sure they all die on your side. Don't grab the crystals yet though, wait a moment. On the 3rd G, cast Untamed Wilds, grab the crystals, and cast Harbinger of Night as close to the back as possible. Here's the true killer: Hit Harbinger with Giant Growth when you get the mana (shield any attacks in the meantime and take a swing back, but don't cast a creature to block). When you see him low on health again, pump him up more. Why bother letting him die if you can keep him around and always working? White has no chance against Harbinger, and he's so cheap, Wrath of God is useless. From here, you fend off whatever attack is coming while trying to get to four mana. Then you have your choice of what to do. If the enemy is going for the Overrun strat, then see if you can throw your Avatar of Might out there for a measly 2 green. If not, no worries. Throw a Juzam and give him Run Wild and a giant growth. Let him go have fun while you regen mana again, this time for a Krovikan Vampire. Give it giant growth everytime it respawns, but save black mana because you're going to need to cast it again when Harbinger kills it. If the enemy is casting an army of defiant elves to block it, give it run wild along with that giant growth, and he'll have an army of defiants attacking HIM. Basically, for 4B, you can cast Juzam, a 5/5. 1 green makes him trample, so you don't have to worry about him respawning every half a second to kill you. Giant Growth makes him an even greater pain. Krovikan Vampires with Giant Growth will kill Elvish Warriors and turn the tides of combat. But be sure he gets that giant growth, or he only has 1defense left and most duelists will run up to attack him (which is also a good time to giant growth it). Tranquility is there for playing against decks like Black or Blue. I always have some form of disenchant in my deck if my color allows it. If you are getting extra Green mana (ie, the opponent is taking a break from attacking you to do whatever) and are still at 5/5 or 6/5, cast another Untamed Wilds. Don't be afraid to take damage. Throw a carnaphage up to block an Elvish Warrior and it'll respawn with 1 def, easy to swing at. Or simply shield the attack of a 1/2 elf (thanks to Harbinger) so it deals 0 damage, but DO NOT SWING at it. This is almost kind of critical. If you swing at it, it will most likely die on your opponents side from the next Harbinger wave. You want them to die on YOUR side. Besides, it'll be a 0/1 by the time it gets to you again. By the end of the game, you'll be at about 1-8 life most likely. No biggie. Your creatures will bring your opponent from 20 to 0 in under a minute once you have held off their attack long enough to really get rolling. Anyway, have fun with it. Just remember, a lot of the mono-green decks like to pump out 2 llanowars then Elves/Priest of Titania. Don't kill their first Elvish Warrior, and you can have a 8/8 trampler out by turn 4 (AoM only costs two mana to cast if the enemy has 4 or more creatures than you). -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Deck Name: Block the Sun Sent in by: Eric Weeden XBL Gamertag: Primary Color: Green Secondary Color: None Sorceries: Untamed Wilds, Giant Growth, Overrun, Tranquility Creatures: Llanowar Elves, Priest of Titania, Elvish Warrior, Avatar of Might, Giant Spider, Ancient Silverback Weeden wrote: Anyway here is my deck. It is a Mono-Green deck which I called "Block the Sun". I called it that because I either have a ton of creatures or one or two Huge ones. So you basically build up mana with Llanowars, Priests and Untamed Wilds, then cast some Elvish warriors and cast overrun or get out some Avatars and Giant growth them. Author: A pretty decent and straight forward deck. Replace Avatar of Might with Rushwood Elemental. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Deck Name: Overhall Sent in by: amn1088 XBL Gamertag: amn1088 Primary Color: Red Secondary Color: Blue Sorceries: Engulfing Flames, Counterspell, Unsummon Creatures: Goblin Hero, Horned Turtle, Wind Drake, Magma Giant, Clone, Mahamoti Djinn amn1088 wrote: This deck is mostly about getting out the Mahamoti Djinn and cloning it or using the Magma Giant to clear some of the weaker things. Of course before that you must defend yourself first so that’s where the Horned Turtle comes in followed by the Wind Drake for air support and of course Engulfing Flames. You might be asking yourself where does the Goblin Hero come in, well if your not able to get Magma Giant out or Mahamoti Djinn you might as well try over- whelming them with Goblin Hero if they’re not throwing anything strong at you. You must also be wiery if they start building up mana so always keep your Counterspell ready. Also if they try throwing powered up creatures at you or black creatures for that matter just Unsummon them until you can take them out with Engulfing Flames or one of your creatures. You can really go either way on the primary color but the main reason I choose this is because Engulfing Flames is more useful than Unsummon early on and also Magma Giant is also alot more useful than clone early on of course if you have a Avatar of Might coming after you, you might think differently. I’ve once held off four Avitars of Might for a good minute while killing off some and Unsummoning the rest but of course I lost in the end, but holding them off for that long has to say something. I don’t see the point of powering up creatures with this deck since you will either overwhelm them early or show some true power in the end. Just always be sure you can COUNTERSPELL ONCE YOUR OPPONENT HAS ABOUT SIX OF ANY MANA otherwise you will find yourself between a rock and a hard place. Author: It's a decent deck, but Mahamoti is very rough to get out against many players anymore. If you replace Clone (or the Djinn) with Reckless Charge, you have a very good early game offense in Horned Turtles + Reckless Charge. This gives you the time to keep your opponent busy until you get enough mana to do your main strategy. If you replace the Djinn with Reckless Charge, then change the Wind Drake to red's Dragon instead - this is more mana efficient anyway. You can cast the Dragon and then Clone it to get two 4/4s for 5 of each color mana, which is much faster, and more efficient, since you'll regenerate the different colors of mana seperately, but at the same time. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Deck Name: Hidden Power Sent in by: Deus XBL Gamertag: Primary Color: Green Secondary Color: Red Sorceries: Giant Growth, Run Wild, Overrun, Threaten, Untamed Wilds Creatures: Goblin Sky Raider, Defiant Elf, Llanowar Elf, Priest of Titania Enchantments: Gratuitous Violence Deus: Deus This deck allows you both to get a lot for little mana, such as a Defiant Elf (1 mana) plus Giant Growth (2 mana) gets you a 4/4 creature with trample, and to spring suprise attacks when you get more mana. The first thing I would do is summon two Llanowar Elves to help with mana regeneration. If your opponent is quick off the line with creatures, you can defray the attacks with Defiant Elves, and then kill the weakened creatures with your attack. Once you get up to three green mana, you can either lay on the Defiant Elves with Giant Growth, or increase your mana faster by casting Untamed Wilds. You should gain back whatever you spend quickly thanks to your Llanowars. Once you get a few more red mana, you can cast Gratuitous Violence, and then use Goblin Sky Raiders with Giant Growth and Run Wild, making them large flying creatures with trample. You should be able to get 2 Giant Growths on the Sky Raider, allowing it to take down even the largest flying creatures and still attack the enemy deulist. If you want to be really sneaky, summon another Llanowar and a Priest of Titania, an excellent mana source that seems non-threatening. You pick up the mana shards produced, then cast Overrun, and you have four 4/4 creatures with trample heading for your enemy. I also like to sneak in a few Giant Growths before this, the enemy usually thinks you cast on the wrong creature and doesn't suspect anything. Thats the "hidden power" of this extremely versatile deck. Author: Not a bad deck, but weak against red or blue decks. Red can kill ALL but one creature with a quick Engulfing Flames. Not good. Other than that, if you can keep the Priests/Llanowars alive.. killer weenies! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-