Hi, today I want to share with you a fun deck, the GRUB Rebirth Midrange Deck.
This is perhaps the most difficult build I have ever made, since it plays 4 civs in a 40-cards deck. The civs needs to be balanced, as well as the mana curve. Being a midrange deck, it is also in a disadvantaged position against 40-cards aggro decks and > 40-cards control deck. It requires accurate judgement of deciding when is the best time to go in and attack shields, and therefore you also need to know well about your opponent's deck and predicting your opponent's next move. Perhaps in the best hands (mine not included), this midrange deck (or similar build) may do wonders (in the right match-up).
One more thing, I intentionally leave out light, put in water and keep it at 40-cards, as I think the usual BAT + soulswap + Skysword + Phal + belix +/- Forbos +/- Mist Rias style of control play is kind of undermining the game a bit and is too commonplace. I personally have a LWDF Rebirth Midrange built, but I don't usually play it, for the sake of fun and challenge.
This deck is by no means complete/perfect. Changes were just made, and likely will have new changes in future. This is the fun bit of making this deck as nothing is absolute.
So let's have a look at the deck
Discussion:
Number of civs (multi-colored included):
N: 11
F: 12
D: 12
W: 11
Strategy of this deck:
1. Make use of Miraculous Rebirth to play creatures and utilize their come-into-play effects or amazing static ability to either gain board presence or control your opponent.
2. After creating sufficient board presence, swing in for shields (and go for game) at the right timing.
3. If it is impossible to achieve the above, contingency plan = Meltdown + Magnus play. Before having both cards in hand, try the best to stall the game to buy time.
Based on the strategy above, you can see that this deck is of a Midrange built, as it does not rely on creatures attacking early and at the same time it lacks the vast amount of spells needed to control your opponent in the late game. In summary, you have to finish before the control decks gain the upper hand, and have to control your opponent before their aggro decks defeat you.
Staple cards:
Hulcus x 4
BAT x 4
Surfer x 3/4 (depending on personal preference)
Loco x 3/4 (depending on personal preference)
Rebirth x 3/4 (depending on personal preference)
Mana ramp:
4 BAT + 2 Volcano Charger + 2 Corpse Charger
Draw cards + Retrieval cards + Search cards:
4 Hulcus + 2 Rumbling Terahorn + 2 Corpse Charger + 2 Thrash Crawler + 4 Rebirth
Perhaps someone may say running 4 Surfer, 4 Loco, 4 Rebirth might seem too much (especially Rebirth). I also struggle for some time, with frequent changing of cards for the last surfer/loco/rebirth. But the final built decided to go for a more consistent play and go for more creatures (i.e. surfer/loco) to accommodate the use of 1 more rebirth.
Some of the card choices worth discussing:
Before going into the card choices, note that for every change of card choice, you also have to consider the mana cost and the number of civs (whether it is well-balanced).
Bloody Squito:
- the only 2-drops in the game
- purpose: to hold off opposing aggro creatures; it is perhaps the best blocker in this deck, as it is cheap, high power, gives a darkness mana. Being a 2-drop allows you to play it when you play Rebirth on opposing Emeral, Gonta, Quixotic Hero, Melnia etc.
Magnus + Meltdown:
- this old-fashioned combo saves me in a lot of the aggro/rush matches. The magnus is just to play safe in case your opponent play light and there could be Holy Awe in shields.
Thrash Crawler + Corpse Charger + Volcano Charger:
- the interaction between these cards is great as you can reuse them with the help of thrash crawler
- running 2 thrash crawler is necessary to ensure consistent play of such strategies
Apocalypse Vise, Bazagazeal Dragon, Photocide
- Apocalypse Vise = the sole mass removal spell in this deck for clearing the boards
- if space allows, I will definitely add in one more. The need for mass removal, however, is diminished in this rebirth deck, as the 4 Rebirth can kill some of the big creatures too
- if your opponent play light, it is likely that your opponent will play Petrova in aggro decks/hydrohurricane decks to boost power, or a bunch of Yuliana in control decks. This deck will therefore struggle a lot as they cannot be targeted. To solve this problem, the only solutions is the Bazagazeal dragon to attack them and the newly added Photocide which is only 5 cost and therefore can be played by playing rebirth on your opponent’s Mist Rias, Phal, Skysword etc.
- Photocide is also good in going over big creatures like Ailzonius, Bluum Erkis, in which Bazagazeal will have a difficult time in killing them
Ice Vapor:
- a must-have against spell-heavy control decks; its static ability is just amazing
- it can slow down your opponent when they plan to discard you with clamp or lost soul; they must find a way to kill it first, otherwise it would just hurt their mana and hand
Jagalzor + Tekorax
- Jagalzor is a cheap finisher when you have sufficient board presence; itself is also a 6-drop, so a good Rebirth target on Forbos, Surfer, Bliss Totem, Gajirabute etc.
- Tekorax allows you to evade the shield trigger that may potentially hinder Jagalzor from attacking when normally you would blindly attack a shield with your other creatures. Tekorax alone without Jagalzor as finisher is also great as it allows your small creatures to evade from shield trigger, so that they can survive another turn if you cannot finish your opponent in one turn. It also gives you reassurance when you otherwise have to hesitate whether your opponent will have shield triggers in his shields that can turn the tide before your weak little creatures can go for game. It is a 5-drop, also good for rebirth targeting.
Rumbling Terahorn + Arque + Hulcus
- Rumbling Terahorn can protects you from being discarded by searching Arque
- Rumbling Terahorn searching hulcus, and then playing hulcus in the same turn can also generate huge board presence and pressure
Weakness of this deck:
- inconsistent play because of the great number of 1-off cards
- no light cards, therefore no access to spells in deck, mana zone, graveyard
- decks consists of mainly weak creatures, vulnerable to fire mass removal spells and opposing creatures
- rely on your opponent to play creatures; in decks like RUB control, may not have great Rebirth target if they don’t play creatures
- limited shield trigger for defence: no pits, no soulswaps etc, have to rely on blockers, surfers
It's a long discussion. Better save the remaining discussion next time.
In future threads, I will further talk about other card choices and why I don’t include them in the deck. Will probably discuss ~ 20-30 cards
See you next time!
This is perhaps the most difficult build I have ever made, since it plays 4 civs in a 40-cards deck. The civs needs to be balanced, as well as the mana curve. Being a midrange deck, it is also in a disadvantaged position against 40-cards aggro decks and > 40-cards control deck. It requires accurate judgement of deciding when is the best time to go in and attack shields, and therefore you also need to know well about your opponent's deck and predicting your opponent's next move. Perhaps in the best hands (mine not included), this midrange deck (or similar build) may do wonders (in the right match-up).
One more thing, I intentionally leave out light, put in water and keep it at 40-cards, as I think the usual BAT + soulswap + Skysword + Phal + belix +/- Forbos +/- Mist Rias style of control play is kind of undermining the game a bit and is too commonplace. I personally have a LWDF Rebirth Midrange built, but I don't usually play it, for the sake of fun and challenge.
This deck is by no means complete/perfect. Changes were just made, and likely will have new changes in future. This is the fun bit of making this deck as nothing is absolute.
So let's have a look at the deck
Discussion:
Number of civs (multi-colored included):
N: 11
F: 12
D: 12
W: 11
Strategy of this deck:
1. Make use of Miraculous Rebirth to play creatures and utilize their come-into-play effects or amazing static ability to either gain board presence or control your opponent.
2. After creating sufficient board presence, swing in for shields (and go for game) at the right timing.
3. If it is impossible to achieve the above, contingency plan = Meltdown + Magnus play. Before having both cards in hand, try the best to stall the game to buy time.
Based on the strategy above, you can see that this deck is of a Midrange built, as it does not rely on creatures attacking early and at the same time it lacks the vast amount of spells needed to control your opponent in the late game. In summary, you have to finish before the control decks gain the upper hand, and have to control your opponent before their aggro decks defeat you.
Staple cards:
Hulcus x 4
BAT x 4
Surfer x 3/4 (depending on personal preference)
Loco x 3/4 (depending on personal preference)
Rebirth x 3/4 (depending on personal preference)
Mana ramp:
4 BAT + 2 Volcano Charger + 2 Corpse Charger
Draw cards + Retrieval cards + Search cards:
4 Hulcus + 2 Rumbling Terahorn + 2 Corpse Charger + 2 Thrash Crawler + 4 Rebirth
Perhaps someone may say running 4 Surfer, 4 Loco, 4 Rebirth might seem too much (especially Rebirth). I also struggle for some time, with frequent changing of cards for the last surfer/loco/rebirth. But the final built decided to go for a more consistent play and go for more creatures (i.e. surfer/loco) to accommodate the use of 1 more rebirth.
Some of the card choices worth discussing:
Before going into the card choices, note that for every change of card choice, you also have to consider the mana cost and the number of civs (whether it is well-balanced).
Bloody Squito:
- the only 2-drops in the game
- purpose: to hold off opposing aggro creatures; it is perhaps the best blocker in this deck, as it is cheap, high power, gives a darkness mana. Being a 2-drop allows you to play it when you play Rebirth on opposing Emeral, Gonta, Quixotic Hero, Melnia etc.
Magnus + Meltdown:
- this old-fashioned combo saves me in a lot of the aggro/rush matches. The magnus is just to play safe in case your opponent play light and there could be Holy Awe in shields.
Thrash Crawler + Corpse Charger + Volcano Charger:
- the interaction between these cards is great as you can reuse them with the help of thrash crawler
- running 2 thrash crawler is necessary to ensure consistent play of such strategies
Apocalypse Vise, Bazagazeal Dragon, Photocide
- Apocalypse Vise = the sole mass removal spell in this deck for clearing the boards
- if space allows, I will definitely add in one more. The need for mass removal, however, is diminished in this rebirth deck, as the 4 Rebirth can kill some of the big creatures too
- if your opponent play light, it is likely that your opponent will play Petrova in aggro decks/hydrohurricane decks to boost power, or a bunch of Yuliana in control decks. This deck will therefore struggle a lot as they cannot be targeted. To solve this problem, the only solutions is the Bazagazeal dragon to attack them and the newly added Photocide which is only 5 cost and therefore can be played by playing rebirth on your opponent’s Mist Rias, Phal, Skysword etc.
- Photocide is also good in going over big creatures like Ailzonius, Bluum Erkis, in which Bazagazeal will have a difficult time in killing them
Ice Vapor:
- a must-have against spell-heavy control decks; its static ability is just amazing
- it can slow down your opponent when they plan to discard you with clamp or lost soul; they must find a way to kill it first, otherwise it would just hurt their mana and hand
Jagalzor + Tekorax
- Jagalzor is a cheap finisher when you have sufficient board presence; itself is also a 6-drop, so a good Rebirth target on Forbos, Surfer, Bliss Totem, Gajirabute etc.
- Tekorax allows you to evade the shield trigger that may potentially hinder Jagalzor from attacking when normally you would blindly attack a shield with your other creatures. Tekorax alone without Jagalzor as finisher is also great as it allows your small creatures to evade from shield trigger, so that they can survive another turn if you cannot finish your opponent in one turn. It also gives you reassurance when you otherwise have to hesitate whether your opponent will have shield triggers in his shields that can turn the tide before your weak little creatures can go for game. It is a 5-drop, also good for rebirth targeting.
Rumbling Terahorn + Arque + Hulcus
- Rumbling Terahorn can protects you from being discarded by searching Arque
- Rumbling Terahorn searching hulcus, and then playing hulcus in the same turn can also generate huge board presence and pressure
Weakness of this deck:
- inconsistent play because of the great number of 1-off cards
- no light cards, therefore no access to spells in deck, mana zone, graveyard
- decks consists of mainly weak creatures, vulnerable to fire mass removal spells and opposing creatures
- rely on your opponent to play creatures; in decks like RUB control, may not have great Rebirth target if they don’t play creatures
- limited shield trigger for defence: no pits, no soulswaps etc, have to rely on blockers, surfers
It's a long discussion. Better save the remaining discussion next time.
In future threads, I will further talk about other card choices and why I don’t include them in the deck. Will probably discuss ~ 20-30 cards
See you next time!