Suggestions for this lockdown deck?

Magic: The Gathering - Puzzle Quest MtGPQ Deck Strategy & Planeswalker Discussion
1

As I got into Battle for Zendikar Chapter 3, my regular deck was not cutting it. I’ve been having some luck with this deck, but it needs some tweaking. I’m able to lock down my opponent, but it takes a long time to kill and there is some duplication, I think. I feel like I’m missing something here.

Creatures - 4

Willbreaker
Jhessian Thief - card draw
Jori En, Ruin Diver (OTG) (At the beginning of your turn, draw 1 card.) - card draw
Ringwarden Owl

Spells - 3

Day’s Undoing - reset
Clutch of Currents - bounce
Roil Spout - bounce

Support - 3

Claustrophobia - lock creature
Mage-Ring Network - mana
Jace’s Sanctum - mana drain

The way it has been working is that I bounce any early cards opponent gets out while I set up the lock with a combination of Sanctum, Claustrophobia and Jace’s 3rd level ability which sets mana drain traps. Then my creatures come out and pound away as I keep the lock going.

If for some reason I have bad cards or he is filling up cards, I can reset our hands with Day’s.

As I said, the lock works fine so far, but the games are very long due to the creatures being kind of weak. I don’t necessarily mind a long game, it’s just that it creates an opportunity for the opponent to break the lock and get up on me. Would love some suggestions.

2

I beat a lot of these challenges with Jace. I personally would prefer a lot more removal. If you have them, Turn to Frog, Disperse and Scour from Existence work really well. Harbinger of the Tides works great as well.

I don’t like Willbreaker because she’s just temporary removal. You only have 88 life and your opponent might have over 400 life. You can’t afford to keep their fatties on the board and trade them back and forth.

For card draw, I prefer Sigiled Starfish to Jhessian Thief, since Starfish costs 1 less and draws at the beginning of your turn. I love Jori En and have added her to all of my red decks.

If the Eldrazi you’re facing create any kind of void gems, then Murk Strider is an excellent choice. He casts for free with Day’s Undoing and can give you early board presence. In the later game, if there are any void gems on the field, he can bounce an opponent’s creature when he enters the battlefield.

I don’t really like Sphinx’s Tutelage because it requires you to be continuously drawing cards. I would much prefer to sit with a full grip of fully charged removal spells and a starfish or two chipping away at their life total than constantly drawing and pitching cards.

I’m not a fan of Mage-Ring Network here, because you really need all of your cards to have impact. Jace can generate plenty of mana by making good gem matches.

I’m not sure about Roil Spout. Disperse does essentially the same thing for 4 mana. The 6 mana it gives to the opponent is negligible when the thing you just bounced costs 25 or so.

My current Jace deck (which is similar to the one I used to beat the Zendikar battles) is:

Day’s Undoing

Talent of the Telepath (used to cast Day’s Undoing for free when Day’s Undoing cost 6)

Disperse

Murk Strider

Sigiled Starfish

Turn to Frog

Jhessian Thief

Tightening Coils (I’d probably take this out when facing Eldrazi, but it can be surprisingly good when facing creatures with power less than 6)

Harbinger of the Tides (keep it in your hand disabled but fully charged until it can bounce a creature)

Scour from Existence (creates void gems which can help Murk Strider).

Good luck!

3

Like in paper magic, there’s a balance between controlling the game and generating enough of a threat to beat the opponent. It’s useful to combine threat/control strategies by using cards that combine both. I used this deck with good success in the last event. Can’t beat the creatures? Stop them from summoning them or keeping them around.

Murk Strider - bounce
Reflector Mage - bounce
Tower Geist - decent body, useful ability
Cyclone Sire - makes more critters. I’d use Harbinger if I had one. You could use Separatist Mage, too, or put in your Owl if you like him. The trick with Owl is to have enough spells to make it worth using him.

Horribly Awry - drain
Bone to Ash - drain
Disperse - bounce
Tightening Coils - clogs up their board, though obviously this is substitutable depending on matchup
Scour from Existence - clean kill

Mirrorpool - nice to make larger bodies or generate mana for Scour/Coils after casting a cheap spell

4

Another concept from paper Magic is that of the Turn Clock. If they have 300 life and you’re hitting them for 10 each turn, they’re on a 30-turn clock. If you’re at 80 life and they’re hitting you for 10 each turn, you’re on an 8 turn clock. This is why removal is more important than power. If you can answer every threat, you’ll eventually win the game. If you just delay their threats from coming down for a few turns, then they’ll eventually win the game.

The owl should be seen as a vanilla beater, not a card which has significant impact. It doesn’t draw you cards. It doesn’t bounce or kill or disable their creatures. It just hits them for 4 or 6 or whatever each turn. Meanwhile, it eats up a creature slot on your board and a card slot in the deck. It can work out just fine in PvP mode, but here it’s probably not pulling its weight.

5

Great feedback everyone, I will look into seeing what cards of these I have and work in more removal and more efficient cards. I will post back with my results. Thanks!

Edit: Ugh, turns out I have hardly any of your suggested cards, other than Disperse. I will get that in there to start, and look and see if there’s any other improvement I can make. Guess I have to save up my crystals.

6

Another question to consider is how many times you are debating waiting to pay for an Awakened version of a spell. If all your creature spots are filled, the extra mana is wasted. If you get cascades and are going to cast the spell without Awakening, the extra mana is wasted.

Anchor to the Aether is a cheaper bounce alternative than Clutch of Currents, and is going to be replaced with a card draw rather than potentially wasting mana on Awakening.

I also recommend replacing Ringwarden Owl for Reflector Mage or Harbinger of the Tides.

Exert Influence is a good option to remove their threats and turn them into yours permanently, instead of only doing that temporarily with Willbreaker.

Prism Array is a great alternative to Claustrophobia, cheaper too, but relies on Landfalls to work reliably. You may need one of the colour changing supports, or Sword of the Animist to help with that instead of Mage-Ring network, which takes quite a while for it to pay itself back. Alternatively, consider Shrine of the Forsaken Gods as an alternative.

7

Yeah, don’t have any of those cards yet :confused:

Good suggestions though.

How do I avoid the awakened card getting filled over?

8

You cannot stop it from over filling if I’m not mistaken.

9

There is no way to make the card not take extra mana.

The best you can do is mitigate it through positioning in your hand and counting mana gain.

If you get a big cascade then there’s nothing you can do about it except hope you get a big enough cascade to get the creatures or don’t cast it this turn to fill on next if that is an option with the card.