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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Bazaar of Wonders deck
January 7, 2008

Nick wrote:
Hi there,

This is a deck I have been working on, the whole thing was meant to be built around the Bazaar of Wonders.  And originally, I had planned to use only blue mana; an idea I'd like to get back too, but I don't think it
s possible. 

It's been a real headache though actually, finding cards that work well with it is proving difficult.  And there's so little advice or information out there about this card and different strategies that work well with it.  So, I did my best to start from scratch.


The basic idea was to use the Temporal Adepts in order to return the Bazaar to my hand during my turn if I need to play a creature or artifact that I already have in play.  The idea was to remove it to my hand, play the duplicate card, and then at the end of my turn put the Bazaar back into play.  Originally, I also had an Ertai, Wizard Adept and Arcane Lab to slow down my enemies spell casting even more. 

The idea there was to use the Temporal Adepts to remove both the Bazaar and Arcane Lab during my turn, play my spells and any necessary duplicates and then return the Bazaar and Lab into play.  But then I realized how much mana this would require.  I felt like there weren't enough ways for me to win and now I'm thinking about including a Forsaken Wastes and Pestilence in order to deplete the life of my opponents as quickly as possible, but only after I use spells like Drain Life to get my life way up and theirs way down, so that they just can't win while Forsaken Wastes is in play. 

And then I gave Underworld Dreams a thought.  I just really am confused and I think I am making it much more difficult than it has to be, I haven't made a deck in a long time or played much recently so this is probably just making it worse.

Further more, I wanted to use Withered Wretch of Scrabbling Claws to remove spells from my graveyard whenever necessary in order to make sure the duplicate spells or whatever wouldn't get countered when I wanted to play it during an opponents turn.

This is the deck as I have it now with the inclusion of a couple cards will still need to get a hold of.  I would really like it for you to take a crack at making this deck more workeable.  Change anything, please, I love the whole Bazaar of Wonders thing, I just am extremely unsure of how to make it work well for me.  I realize the deck needs to be slimmed down quite a bit and I am open to any suggestions you have as long as the Bazaar remains the center piece of the deck if possible.

Creatures
x3 Temporal Adept
x1 Arcanis, the Omnipotent

Sorcery, Instants
x3 Dark Banishing

x3 Decree of Pain
x3 Annihilate

x3 Drain Life
x3 Soul Feast

x3 Dark Ritual

x3 Desertion
x3 Discombobulate

x3 Prosperity
x3 Persecute

Enchantments
x3 Bazaar of Wonders
x3 Forsaken Wastes
x3 Pestilence

Artifacts
x3 Scrabbling claw
x2 Spellbook
x3 Grindstone

Mana Sources
x12 Islands
x12 Swamps

Thanks a lot for taking a look at my deck, hope to hear back.

-Nick
 
This one's quite the tall order, Nick, but I'll do everything I can.
 
You've got so many competing ideas here that it's going to be difficult just understanding everything that the deck is trying to do.  Bazaar of Wonders is the main card though.  So start with the Bazaar in mind and work outwards.
 
First of all, the Bazaar has a little quirk to it that's easy to miss.  Technically, it's not just an enchantment, it's a "World Enchantment".  See, "Enchant World" isn't just the global equivalent of "Enchant Creature".  "World" is now a supertype, like Legendary.  And the "World rule" is that only one World permanent can be in play at a time.  If a second one comes into play, it replaces the first.  Sort of like a "home turf advantage".  The problem is that Forsaken Wastes is also World, meaning if you played one and tried to play another, the second would replace the first.  Having multiple World Enchantments isn't great, unless you intend specifically to use one to get the other out of play.  Since that doesn't seem to be the point of Forsaken Wastes, I suggest removing the Wastes.  With it gone, Pestilence can go too.
 
Next, there's the issue of spending UUU each turn to bounce your Bazaar, right?  Well, there's a cheaper way to do it: Vedalken Mastermind.  The Mastermind can only bounce permanents you control, but he does it for only U.  That'll loosen up your mana a great deal.
 
If you want an even cheaper way of bouncing your Bazaar, may I suggest Blood Clock?  Now you can bounce it every turn for free, play any multiples you want, then replay the Bazaar.  Then your opponent has to bounce something as well!  This tactic also works wonders with Arcane Lab, letting you get in as many spells as you want while your opponent can only play one (sorcery speed) spell per turn.
 
And as for leaving mana open, you probably want cheaper counterspells than Discombobulate and Desertion.  Since you're not worried about Standard legality, your best bets are probably Counterspell, Mana Leak, Undermine, Remand, Memory Lapse, and Hinder.
 
Which brings us to another tactic for breaking Bazaar of Wonders: redundant singletons.  I've said over and over that using one-ofs in your deck is a bad idea, but I've also mentioned that it's not so bad if there are cards that functionally do the same thing.  If you have one copy each of every counterspell I just mentioned, you'll still have six counterspells, but Bazaar will never stop you from playing them!  The same goes for Temporal Adept and Vedalken Mastermind-- why not try a few of each?
 
Cards that drain your opponent's life are equally ubiquitous.  Soul Feast and Drain Life are great, but so are Soul Spike, Consume Spirit, and Essence Drain, along with any others you find.  I'd also consider any creature with lifelink a "life drain spell".  I'd suggest Vampiric Link if only you had a creature big enough to justify playing it on.
 
Which brings me to my final nitpick of the evening-- or afternoon or whenever you're reading this-- your win condition.  Bazaar of Wonders lock is cool, but if you just sit there laughing and congratulating yourself on breaking your favorite card, you're opponent will either A) find a vulnerable spot in the strategy that he can exploit and win, or B) forfeit the game in frustration and decide he doesn't want to play with you anymore.  You need a way to put the trapped animal out of its misery, usually in the form of a big damage dealer.  A powerful drain spell will do it, but I'm fairly fond of the big creature approach.  And I can't help but notice that Mindleech Mass plays well into what you're trying to do.  Maybe a single copy of that would be fun if you can swing it.
 
Until next time, my mind is available for leeching from any who ask.
 
Good luck!
 
~BMoor


  


 

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