Infect is dumb

Playing SOM/MBS sealed (3 packs of each).

Turn 2 Mortarpod
Turn 3 Panic Spellbomb
Turn 4 Sacrifice the germ to kill his Blackcleave Goblin. Cast Carrion Call on his end step
Turn 5 Drop Phyrexian Hydra. He concedes.

Magic and Complexity Creep

I had a great time playing casual multiplayer at the Pirate Ship last night with Tim and CBG. I thought I had brought EDH decks with, but had not, so my only "casual" deck was one of my first netdecked lists, from way back in the 20th century. I used Randy Buehler's CounterPhoenix list from 1998 with a few tweaks. I tried to stay as true to the spirit of the deck as possible, and kept most of my card choices pre Masques block (except for the manabase- no one should have to play with Caldera Lake ever again). I also had the Naoki Nakada Caw Go list as well, not for casual but because I have been meaning to try it in Standard. I played that deck for the last game, just for the hell of it. What surprised me was how much more complex control decks are today than they were a decade ago. Frankly the same may be said for aggro decks too, I'm not sure. But the CounterPhoenix build was a deck that, as a control deck of it's day was at the peak of subtlety and while it was no ProsBloom in terms of complexity, like most control decks it wasn't easy to play well. Today it is fairly straightforward. Even with Intuitions, there are only a few targets you really want, and obviously once you have all 4 Shard Phoenixes recurring there is not much else to the deck other than sitting up on Forbid/Capsize mana. Now compare to Caw Go. It is a control deck, and as Conley Woods pointed out in a recent article, control decks are designed to eventually streamline the number of choices that need to be made as the game goes longer. But look at what happens with today's control decks in the long game. Which of Jace's abilities is best to use here? What about Venser's? And Elspeth's? Do I search for SoFaF or SoBaM with Stoneforge? Do I want to get back my Tech Edge with my Sun Titan? How about the Plains I discarded at the end of turn 2 when I searched up 3 Squadron Hawks? What about the Journey to Nowhere? Or the dead Squadron Hawk to get a shuffle for my library prior to using Jace's Brainstorm? Maybe it's no surprise, but Magic in general, and control in particular has become crazy complicated, even in the late game, when in 1998 you'd just be swinging with 4 Shard Phoenixes and ditching lands to buyback your Forbids.

Casual Monoblack Metalcraft

Uh, so when I was drafting yesterday I saw this and I was all like, what? But that... Ohhh. So obviously we start with

4 Phylactery Lich

Then we want some good cheap artifacts like

4 Darksteel Axe

and

4 Memnite

and

4 Contagion Clasp

Hmm... let's come back for more artifacts later. I know we'll want some, but let's wait a second to find out. Because I think we want...

4 Black Knight

How about some removal?

4 Grasp of Darkness
2 Carnifex Demon

So we still need some more artifacts. What's the curve like?

0-4
1-4
2-12
3-4
6-2

26 total cards. Right now, we are looking at 22-24 total land so we could probably add 10-12 cards. Let's see what's exciting at 3 for artifacts.

Mimic Vat
Strata Scythe
Whispersilk Cloak

How about 4?

Lux Cannon and Molten-tail Masticore both seem sexy. And expensive...I guess Chrome Steed could get there.

So, 2 Mimic Vat, 2 Strata Scythe, 2 Whispersilk Cloak, 4 Chrome Steed. Needs two more. How about 2 Bleak coven Vampires?

So this would be the list...

Wait! Better idea. 4 Sphere of the Suns instead of 2 Strata Scythe

4 Memnite
4 Darksteel Axe
4 Sphere of the Suns
4 Contagion Clasp
4 Black Knight
4 Grasp of Darkness
4 Phylactery Lich
2 Mimic Vat
4 Chrome Steed
2 Bleak Coven Vampires
2 Carnifex Demon

22 Swamp

How about that?

I might have drafted M11 3 times last night

Ok, unfortunately, I didn't download my drafts but I went 1-2 with GB (good deck, shitty draws), 2-1 with UR (losing to UB in the finals), 1-2 with UB (good deck, unfortunate mana screw in match 3 game 3). I should have the complete walkthroughs each of the next 3 days so you all can tell me precisely where I went wrong. Won't that be fun? Also, I am going to post a couple base Green infect lists for the wee one to play at Besieged Game Day next week. W00t.

Playable list

Alright everybody, thanks for the help so far. Here's the list I have

3 Hero of Bladehold
4 Accorder Paladin
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Glint Hawk
3 Mirran Crusader
4 Squadron Hawk
3 Kor Skyfisher
4 Quest for the Holy Relic
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Argentum Armor
1 Sword of Body and Mind

4 Contested War Zone
16 Plains

Some questions: Is 20 lands playing it too light? Should I be up around 21-22? Please don't mention again how awesome Stoneforge Mystics are. I know. They are also at least $15 per, which I am not going to spend for a semi-casual event like Mirrodin Besieged Game Day. Take it as a given that I know I should be playing those. I am shipping a foil Colossus and Titan to pay for this deck, but that still wouldn't cover Mystics. I've been through my collection and I think my needs are...

2 Accorder Paladin
2 Memnite
1 Ornithopter
1 Signal Pest
1 Mirran Crusader
4 Squadron Hawk
3 Kor Skyfisher (No, I didn't play during Zendikar/M11)
4 Quest for the Holy Relic
3 Contested War Zone

Somebody offered to loan me a War Zone in the last pack but I don't know who that was.

Needs more Quest

So TooSarcastic suggested more Quest for the Holy Relic. This is what I came up with.

3 Hero of Bladehold
4 Accorder Paladin
4 Memnite
4 Wall of Omens
4 Kor Skyfisher
4 Glint Hawk
4 Puncturing Light
4 Arrest
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Strider Harness
1 Argentum Armor
3 Quest for the Holy Relic
19 Plains
4 Terramorphic Expanse

Thoughts?

Maybe this?

Okay, here's what super speedy deckbuilding ideas are like in my world.

3 Hero of Bladehold
4 Accorder Paladin
4 Memnite
4 Wall of Omens
4 Kor Skyfisher
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
4 Puncturing Light
4 Arrest
1 Strider Harness
3 Day of Judgment
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
4 Master's Call

19 Plains
4 Terramorphic Expanse

Mirrodin Besieged Game Day

I can't believe I am saying this, but I want to build a constructed deck. More specifically, I want to build two of them. I want to have decks for me and Eve for Mirrodin Besieged Game Day. I need something simple for Eve, probably all-in infect or something aggro (Boros?). Myself, I'd like to build a Mirran white deck that includes my 3 Hero of Bladehold. You all are my friends, Romans and countrymen and I need help. I am terrible at building Constructed decks (admittedly, I'm not very good at building Limited Decks either, but ignore that for the moment).

What Does an "Affiliated Deck" Mean?

All non-Planeswalker cards in Scars of Mirrodin are watermarked with either a Mirran or Phyrexian symbol to represent the card’s affiliation. You can build your Game Day deck to be affiliated with one of the two sides; this makes you eligible to win the Mirrodin Besieged preview cards. (Having an affiliated deck is not required for Game Day; you can play any Standard-legal deck you choose.)

An affiliated deck must have at least ten watermarked cards from its affiliated faction in its main deck, and no watermarked cards from the opposing faction in its main deck or sideboard. The deck must still be Standard-legal.

So we've already got the 3 Hero of Bladehold. What else? Awesome equipment? Cheap artifacts and Glint Hawks and Idols? A different color for some control? I don't want to spend a ton of money on this but I could drop a little. Lemme know if you have any ideas. I'll post something you can tear apart a little later. Also, I don't know Zendikar, Eldrazi or M11 block cards really at all. So help me there. Here's a link to Mirran-aligned cards. Go!