Learning to say no

[fr0stfyre1]

I’ve been thinking about this wincon for a while. In Duelyst there really are only two ways to win a game. Method 1 would involve you killing the enemy general, and method 2, is running them out of cards. And asides from mnemovore, there really is no way to do this. So I decided to promptly take a look as to whether it would be possible, somehow, to outlast the enemy general by simply playing cards, and removing all their threats, until you end up winning the game. I figure the go to faction for this, would probably be magmar, who are supposed to be a control faction.

I came up with this deck, which is basically almost wizard starhorn, only you try to survive for longer by just trying to wipe whatever they drop.

Did they drop a wanderer?
It’s time you said no.
Did they drop kha kha? Or a skyrock bomb?
It’s time you said no.
Did they drop something to progress their wincon?
Ragnora says no.

All the cards you use, are either removal or healing. Or as in the case of fugitive, simply a method to outlast the opponent. I’ve got most of the cards in the list, but am working towards a fugitive and a metamorphosis to round things out.

Any advice on what I should be doing here? Is starhorn better?

[zanestheargent]

Any advice on what I should be doing here?

Ponder on instead of being here, join the ranks of monoblue MTG players, for starters.

But real talk, maybe also ponder adding some more major wincons besides eggs? I’d question swapping one Morph and a couple other cards of choice for some more tempo. A couple Lavaslashers, maybe a pair of either Bounded Lifeforce/Extinction/Stampede/Saurian?

[melkorita]

Guess you might aswell play burnhorn, it does what you want, but better

[humancalc]

Wait a sec, no Makantor .
Add your favourite out of hand damage, AOE board clear and Magmar’s best friend .

[limango]

If your main objective is to outlast, Makantor Warbeasts and Saurian Finalities are key. First is arguably the best utility card in the whole game whereas second is just insane tempo difference. As you lack an ability to draw later on, you’d most likely need to play Starhorn. And if you just despise the Decispikes package, Starhorn works really well with spell-heavy decks anyways since you’d need to draw bazillions of cards. Also worth noting is that Ragnora’s eggs hinder 6 cards, Plasma Storm and Natural Selection while only really benefitting from 3 cards, the Pupabombs. I have not found a way beside Decispikes to ping artifacts or pressure long-distance builds within a Magmar control shell though, although these builds are quite rare. Not playing minions/Vaath counters Khanuum-Kha already, so that’s one wincon down. Mythrons are your enemy, especially Hideatsu the Ebon Ox, in which the moment of completion turns everything in a Songhai hand into ping and more ping, and secondly Grand Strategos, which outputs more high-value minions (THAT SURVIVE REBUKE) much faster than you can Plasma Storm with. Worth noting is Grandmaster Variax, which is a perfect counter to any stalling shell although rarely used in the current meta ( I run it in every non-Underlord Abyssian deck though. ). Recommended cards are Abjudicator, which grants more than enough curving force in any spell-heavy deck, Tectonic Spikes still as a 3-draw, and probably the replace package.

My variation is this: Play Starhorn, replace Pupabomb with Saurian Finality, Flash Reincarnation with Abjudicator, Earth Sphere with Makantor Warbeast, Kinetic Equilibrium, Krater,Upper Hand and Quillbeast with Kron, Tectonic Spikes, White Widow and Aethermaster. Theobule is unneeded here since you’re not fishing for anything specific. This is a slower but more reliable control shell that hopefully will outright force a concede with the help of multiple Saurian Finalities. Always remember to fish for any minion during the mulligan phase and you should do fine.