MPL Contest Entry: Altar of dementia

[Captain Caveman]

Dune or someone was talking about having a Multi-player
deck building contest. If that does happen, I'd like to enter
this deck in the contest. I talked with him about this very
subject awile ago, so he may be waiting for me to get the ball
rolling. In any case, here is a Muli-player deck I've been working
on. All comments and suggestions are welcome. Btw, I have
a few rules questions in the comments listed below the deck.

4 Hunting Moa
4 Spike Feeder
4 Veteran Explorer
3 Wall of Blossoms
2 Spike Weaver
1 Rhox
1 Triskelion
1 Junk Diver
1 Spike Breeder
1 Ticking Gnomes
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Multani, Maro-Sorcerer
1 Jolrael, Empress of Beast

4 Altar of Dementia
3 Lifeline
3 Reclaim
2 Mirri's Guile
1 Dual Nature
1 Creeping Mold

20 Forest
4 Treetop Village

Comments:
Hunting Moa puts +1+1 counters on my Spikes, Villages,
Triskelion and the Rhox..

Veteran Explorer thins out everyones library, which makes
the Altar milling more efficent by getting there business
cards.

Lifeline is the key to making the deck really effective. If the
Altar, Lifeline and Dual Nature get into play things get
totally insane. You have to be careful though. Always sack
the token creature first to avoid any rules lawyering. I can
generate a lot of +1+1 counters with a single Moa.

Jolrael, Karn & Multani are great cards for this deck but if the
Dual Nature is in play I think the token and the original will
bury each other before I can sack the token to the Altar. Its a
triggered effect and I don't know if I can respond to it. Does
anyone know for sure? Is it a semi-infinite, at end of turn, loop
like the Ball Lightning thing? One other thing of interest is the
Lifeline/Jolrael combo. Turn all your lands into 3/3 creatures
then block or attack, sack them to the Altar and get them back.
I think this works. It might come down to: "until end of turn" vs
"at end of turn" Treetop Village and Jolrael both say "until end
of turn", so if it works for the Village, as Wotc has already
stated, then it should work for Jolrael, right.Does anyone know
for sure?

Rhox and Triskelion are in the deck to deliver a limited form
of direct damage to my opponents. I doesn't matter if they
block the Rhox or not I can steal deal the damage to them.

Treetop Village is great in this deck to because I can put +1+1
counters on it and they don't go away. Atleast, thats what I've
been told.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Is it really that bad?

Does anybody know the answer to the Legend/Dual Nature/Altar
thing? Any comments about this would be appericated.

thanx
Caveman

 

[Zadok001]

Well, now that I've FINALLY found a way to look at the posts in this forum (damn 'puter hates me), _I'll_ comment!

RE: Legend/Dual Nature

Don't quote me on this, but I think Prophecy FAQ dealt with this; the token is sent to the graveyard before you can do anything with it. But the original stays around, so it's not too bad...

RE: Lifeline/Jorael

Yeah, your lands will pop right back where they belong. No problem.

RE: Deck

That's a neat deck... No Greater Goods, but it's still mono-green milling, so I must like it, right? I think it's part of my job description... Anyways, I only have a few things I'm confused on. First, Ticking Gnomes. Huh? They don't really synergize with anything else in the deck except Lifeline, and that works better with Triskelion... I may be missing something, obviously.

I'm thinking the numbers on the Alters and Lifelines should be switched around. The Lifeline is an early- to mid-game card which works with everything else in the deck and generally controls the table. The Alter is your kill method. You don't want two of either at any given time, but you're more likely to _need_ a Lifeline than _need_ an Alter. So I'd run 4 Lines and only 3 Alters.

I also question the Junk Diver. It works nicely with Lifeline, yes, and I can see the usefulness of pulling back an annihilated Lifeline, and since Lifeline and Alter have those cool little red and white concentric circles on them in multi-player-

Nevermind. Ignore me, that Junk Diver is a requirement.

Then again, the Karn can act like your Diver, by making a Lifeline affect itself... Now I'm torn. Up to you. Junk Diver is a bad card, but it may be nessesary. Perhaps pull it for a second Karn...

On a personal preference note, I like Soldevi Digger a _lot_ more than Reclaim. It's another Artifact to add to your arsenal, and more importantly, it keeps _you_ from being decked, while also letting you quasi-Reclaim several times a turn. With Wall of Blossoms, it's very much worth it.

I really like the Moa/Line synergy... I'm gonna have to test that out. I'd be tempted to (BAD CARD ALERT!) throw in a single Vernal Equinox, just to make your Spikes and other creatures more frightening in combat. Dropping a Moa at instant speed is like a Mini-Growth, and dropping a Spike lets you transfer counters around to make sure you win the fights. The drawback is, it doesn't work well with Lifeline. It does, however, work very, very well with Alter!

 

[Captain Caveman]

Thanx Zadok001,

How could I have missed Soldevi Digger?

I see Junk Diver and Karn as necessary cards because of
the Artifact destruction you were refering to.

Ticking Gnomes? I don't really know why. I needed a filler
and I could'nt think of anything else. I'll replace it with
something.

"(BAD CARD ALERT)"
Thats what this deck is all about. Making use of bad cards.
I have a bunch of useless stuff that I'm trying to fit into
decks.

Thanx again for all the sugestions.
oh ya, I'll work on the Lifeline/Altar thingy.

Caveman

 

[Spiderman]

I'll confirm what Zadok said about Legends and tokens - the token will immediately go to the graveyard with no chance for stacking.

 

[Duel]

CHEAP CARD THAT WORKS: HEARTSTONE!

Look at your creatures:
4 Spike Feeder
2 Spike Weaver
1 Rhox
1 Triskelion
1 Spike Breeder
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Jolrael, Empress of Beast
All use creature abilities. You wanna make a sudden spike scary? Make it even cheaper.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Spidy,
Thanks, I kind of thought that's how it worked.


Duel,
Thats a good point. I'll give it a try and see if I like
it in the deck.


Does anyone have any replacement suggestions for the
Ticking Gnomes slot?

Caveman

 

[Duel]

Ghutu Slingers. Oh, wait, you don't play red. Damn.

are you trying to fit a direct damage card in there? With green? Good luck. I'd use another triskepanthepalion, or whatever they're called.