MWS for Extended PTQ Practice

hey I just put a few decks into my DB on MWS. I put LSV's Elves! and a Faeries deck that top 8-ed. Also I put the Goblins! deck that I'm wanting to try out. If you want to grab those deck list files from me you can email me and I'll send them to you. I'd like to start testing these out and seeing what we like and dislike before the PTQ season rolls around. That way we can secure our tickets early to Honolulu for the Block Constructed PT. I know Jesse was wanting to test some of these decks so if anyone else wants to let me know to get the deck lists. Also if you're wanting to play a certain deck, create it and send it out to me and whoever else so we can play against it and with it.

I'll pm my ip address and e-mail when I get home.

Alright... so I kinda played Extended format all day on MWS. I have learned some things though. Why are Elves! better than Goblins!? I'm sure most of you know but I didn't quite understand the mechanic. Both decks focus around "Storm" ability kill conditions. [Keep in mind I'm discussing LSV's Elves! and not the Dragon Elves] The most important thing about the storm kill is that you have to have a good draw mechanic, so you can keep the line of spells going. Elves! Uses Glimpse of Nature which allows them to draw for every spell they cast in that turn. Now this is rather easy when you've got three different elves that allow you to tap for mana. Llanowar Elves, Heritage Druid, and Birchlore Rangers. This combined with Nettle Sentinel [tap two nettles for a green mana, play a spell, untap nettles, tap nettles for a green] Keeps the combo going on until they get Grapeshot. Game over. Now sorry to bore you with all that, but what I'm trying to do is make Goblins! draw mechanic more reliable than it is, although it will never achieve that Elvish Goodness that is Nettle Sentinel. The problem is, you end up spending a lot of your early game biding your time, getting your Fecunditys out so that when you do go off, you have those in place already. But from there it gets very situational. You need to be able to get out Skirk Prospector, which sacrifices a goblin for a red mana. Then you can play another one cost goblin and sac it. So on and so forth. But even then, to stay in that storm combo... you have to run into Rite of Flame a few times before you can throw out the Piledriver and then of course, Empty the Warrens. All that takes a while, and I'm left getting slapped in the face by weak creatures. So what is there to do about getting those cards through faster? I was thinking of using Volcanic Submersion to cycle early game and if I couldn't do anything else in a bind, kill an artifact. Though I hardly think that the situation will come up where I want to pay 5 to kill an artifact out of my 3 mana curve deck. Can anyone else think of some cheap red deck thinning? I think it's the best answer to the problem in this deck. But also, I really think that if Elves! gets banned... this is going to be the deck.

Volcanic Submersion is definitely not what you want. Just build the deck such that you can beatdown instead of comboing, if that's the draw you get. So play Frogtosser Banneret, Mogg War Marshal, Piledriver, Warchief, Sharpshooter, and whatever other Goblins are decent at attacking. Maybe Sparksmith and/or Siege-Gang. Maybe play Patriarch's Bidding. SB options include Smother, Darkblast, Thoughtseize, Blood Moon if you're MonoRed, Ancient Grudge if you splash green, Earwig Squad, Cranial Extraction, Persecute, etc etc.

well I started out playing it as a beatdown deck... but it just was not working. Everything is too small. So you've got to overwhelm them with Empty the Warrens. but it's hard to do that effectively without rite of flame, skirk prospector. And that takes time to wait on. that's gotta be one of the main reasons for the lands like Wooded Foothills right? Thin it out, get to the combo faster. If this Goblins! deck went beatdown... it would have to change a lot.

If you want to be a combo deck, play Mind's Desires and stuff. That, or play All-in Red with Demigods, Deus of Calamity, Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon.

If I was a little less lazy I'd MSPaint that Big Slick to a Deus, Demigod, and Empty.

TEPS can sideboard some Deus, Demigods, etc for the ole tranny surprise, if you're into that sort of thing.