If You Build It…: Big ‘Drazi Game 4(+deck analysis)

Posted on June 24, 2010 by Travis R. Chance

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  1. Travis i love your videos..I’ve watched them all cause they’re so damn entertaining. Gurgadon?! You had me rolling dude. Keep em’ coming. You’ve inspired me to get into EDH just cause of how entertaining the games can become. Rock on dude.

    -Jason

  2. Thanks a ton. I will provide downloads in next month’s batch if anyone is interested in giving my builds a test drive, tweaks withstanding. They’re usually pretty brutal, pretty neat.

    Quick aside: I have had quite a conundrum with selecting a concept for next month’s deck. I started off with Snakes, (Senshiro as my General) wanting an uphill battle, but realized that this would be basically me getting batted around like an angora rabbit by whoever, whenever. Even with Blue, the deck just seemed soooooo awful; diet Momir for the sake of staying tribal. Yuks.

    Next, I dabbled with Aluren/Recycle combo, but then here we go again with the non-interactive stuff. So I benched that idea (even though it ruled like Zima molotovs).

    My third idea was to do Reanimator, but I have already covered so much in the way of GY recursion-style builds in 100CS that it seemed like a rerun. Expect this soon though.

    I have, in fact, settled on an idea, something akin to a deck I played in 100CS that was quite beloved by that community in particular. It’s a bit out of character for me, something of a challenge, irritating but not a griefer (entirely), and something in scarce implementation in the format. However, I am open to suggestions, if anyone wants to see something in particular. Pick a General, a card, a premise, an interaction you would like to see in action. And be realistic and fair. My mind gravitates toward “locks” in this format, esp. since I have to mosh three duders as opposed to one. This “casual” notion that players have – “my inconsequential, over-costed dork attacks you for an insubstantial and uneventful amount of damage” – is not my style. So feel free to fart your suggestions below. I have a solid idea in place, but I can switch it up ASAP if something tickles my fancy.

    AND, just to reassure all you haters out there, I will play as briskly as Paul Revere on a Starbucks and Skittles-infused high in the next batch, ya moaning bunch of so-and-sos!

    I appreciate the feedback, and, as always, thanks for watching my rants!

  4. I’d like to see some kind of tutoring general. I know generals like Arcum, Lin Sivvi and Zur put the red dot right on your forehead, but it’s all the more exciting that way. Plus there’s a lot of niche cards you get to play in those archetypes that can be fun and hilarious.

    Just my $.02.

  5. I try and veer away from the super-obvy power dudes like Zur and Arcum. The competition disparity is usually in my favor, which makes for less entertaining vids – unless you’re just a sadist, of sorts. Sivvi’s not available yet online, so she’s off the books. I def love deck manipulation. Maybe there’s another viable option.

  6. the uril player got ganged so hard haha. how come you didnt use reap for a white source after you misclicked? (which was epic by the way)

    good series, first time really seeing EDH games and being able to understand whats going on. by the way, why does the opponent bar on the top left keep changing players (and it seems arbitrarily to me)

  7. Aznsilly: Yes, the misclick was epic, and while I considered getting a White source with Reap I felt that I was afforded the opportunity to bide my time and use my cards optimally (despite my idiotic mouse blunder). I try to demonstrate the potential variance in games by 1.) keeping bad hands, 2.) making risky calls, and 3.) not compensating for gross blunders (technical interface-wise or play mistakes). This helps show how things pan out, and how to circumnavigate these common issues. I usually have an edge, be it through a better card pool, experience, or the grace of God, so a few curve balls make for a more interesting experience to play and, hopefully, to watch.

    With regard to the weird opponent bar changing… it just tracks the details of their library, GY, cards in hand, life, mana in pool, etc. since if we all had that info in our little windows it would clutter the crap outta the screen. Just a space efficiency measure. You click on a player’s general area, avatar, etc. and it pulls up the aforementioned info, hence why it appeared to be changing arbitrarily. I was just tracking random info with the hope of it being relevant and providing info for viewers.

  8. Also, it is worth mentioning that for the FIRST TIME EVER I had to politic to simply subsist in this game! Pride tastes awful (think sour milk and toothpaste) and goes down like a scared kitten covered in two-sided tape. Yuk!

  9. Ok the most hilarious tutoring general I could find is Isperia the Inscrutable (she’s totally impossible to scrute). Alternatively, you could make some kind of hilarious deck based on Archmage Ascension and tutoring for any dumb combos you can think of.

  11. Also I apparently have two wordpress accounts apparently. This is what happens when you use like a half dozen different computers at different times of the day.

  12. How about one of the other dragons a la Teneb? Maybe the Vorosh dude or the r/b/w one. Which floats your color boat will give you a basis to start and. Something with red pulling off some infi mana fireballs would be sick to see. Darigaaz, the Igniter strikes me as something fun with green for mana accel, red for obvious flame slinging, and black for what black does best. Destroy schtuff and bring it back to life.

  13. With all the Eldrazi around, I think a UR steal creatures and sacrifice them deck would be pretty fun … Reins of Power, Insurrection and other cards like that … also just one creature spells like Act of Treason … sac to Gargadon, Goblin Bombardment, Fling, etc.

    You might even splash black for Sarkhan the Mad, Slave of Bolas, Spinal Embrace, Rites of Consumption and others

    I have been running a deck like this in 100 singleton and it has been a lot of fun.

  14. Yo Trav,

    great video, nice epic fail and good politics. But lacking music :(
    Btw. half my familys got birthday (I’m broke right now) in may aswell and I also think theres to many girls in it :)

    I’d suggest a nice little tribal deck, like RB Big-Mana-Goblins with Goblin Recruiter, Imperial Recruiter and Black for carddraw + recurring engines.

    Also a Sedris, the Traitor King, unearth/combo, cip-effect creatures deck with all the stupid Grixis fatsos from Alara block might be nice.

    To me an Isperia the Inscrutable Skys deck seems really rediculous and is my favorite suggestion so far. But her colors are kinda boring.

    Really looking forward to your next vid(s).
    Will you be doing competitive singleton again sometime?

    Regards eXXa

  15. Alas, I have gone ahead and made the first video last night (far behind schedule by my own standards, I might add – stupid real life). I won’t give away the goose, but let’s just say this is something outside my comfort zone, bereft of combos and non-interactive flair, and wins through good ol’ fashioned conventional damage/attrition!

  16. I will def take some of these ideas under advisement. I need to make a triumphant return to 100cs, as the format, from what I have been monitoring, is a bit weird and needs a nice groin punch from Trav Daddy :)