Basalt Idol deck

[Zedsdead]

I'm sure there are lots of Basalt Idol decks out there. Here's my take on it.

I started with every card I could think of that has a negative end-of-battle cost. I thought Wraith would be huge in this deck, but he's such a weenie that every time he misses, he dies, and as a neutral he can't hold a land. Zombie just plain sucks. Then I dropped Behemoth so I could go monored. Here's how it looks now:

Basalt Idol x4
Gold Idol x2

Conjurer x4
Golem x4
Ba'al x3
Efreet x4
Flame Lord x2

Fire Shield x2
Gremlin Amulet x4
Fire Amulet x3
Lance of Odin x1

Bistair x1
Manna x3
Upheaval x1
Influence x1
Fly x4
Mutation x4
Peace x2
Soltis x1

The deck starts quickly with idols, Conjurers, and Golems. It takes a couple laps to build momentum but then it soars. There's obviously a lot of synergy; the idols even prevent the poison effect from the Mutations. Mutation and Peace are there to keep the idols alive, but they come in handy in other ways. A couple of scrolls might be a good idea to make the Conjurers more valuable (do Golem and Ba'al have scroll restrictions?)

It's weak in really short games, but it's fun to play.

So, questions anyone? Comments? Snide remarks?

[WhoseYerLilith]

I built a deck that was simaliar to this at first, but the mono-color drove me nuts, it's by far one of my favorite decks to this date- 4 Conjurers, 4 Ba'Als, 2 Basalts, 2 Golds, 4 Decoys, 2 Wraiths, some Liliths and Knights to make it interesting.

As far as comments, hey if its fun to play more power to you. Personally, I'd probably reduce the Basalt Idol and Fly Count to include Telegnosis to faster summon the Ba'Al's and Telekinesis, to take over opponents levelled up territorries.

[InfiniteMHP]

Basalt negates poison effect when using mutation...hmm, I never even thought of that. Thanks!

[InfiniteMHP]

Quick question. Why Gremlin Amulet as opposed to the recyclible Stink Bottle? You might be able to regain two cards in your deck by adding those instead. And its 50 G less. Come to think of it...why would one ever use the Gremlin Amulet?

[WhoseYerLilith]

In all frankness, I've found the gremlin amulet to be MUCH more useful then the Stink Bottle, despite its lower casting cost and recyclibility. In most cases, it's a guessing game and more often than not, I end up tossing the Stink Bottle in favor of something a little more dependable.

That being said- here's my Basalt Idol Deck:


"Saitus Omen"

2x Basalt Idol
2x Gold Idol
3x Decoy

4x Conjurer
4x Ba'Al

3x Lilith
1x Mad Clown

3x Knight

2x Claymore
2x Vorpal Sword
1x Masamune
1x Lance of Odin
2x Counter Amulet
1x Gaseous Form
1x Talisman
1x Dragon Helm

2x Manna
2x Triumph
3x Mutation
2x Peace
1x Soltis
1x Drain Magic
2x Telekinesis
1x Relief
1x Telegnosis
1x Evil Blast

The Deck is pretty much straightforward- the Conjurers are dropped quickly and sacrificed just as quickly to start up chains of Ba'Als. The computer will rarely ever attack one of these creatures, especially if I have a Vorpal or Claymore in hand. The Decoy's actually make a wonderful addition to add to the chains of red/blue and yellow- With a Mutation or 2, they're literally indestructable. The Basalt and Gold Idols are helpful, but not intrinsic to the success of the deck. If I have one handy, and I'm doing well money wise, I'll utilize a Peace on one of the idols in play to try to protect it from invasion- but more often than not, it gets blasted anyway, and they're not quite important enough to Land Protect. The Gold Idol is far more useful in the earlier stages, and the Basalt Idol's only use is to protect against the Ba'Als card destroying effect.

I chose Lilith and Knight to represent blue and yellow respectively because in all my playing, those are the two creatures of those colors that have the highest ratio of usefulness in both attacking enemy creatures and protecting their own lands with a marginal cost.

The Mad Clown is just a personal favorite- in all honesty, this deck doesn't see a great deal of fighting as the fleets of Ba'Al's are enough to deter enemy attacks. It's a lot of fun to see 6 or 7 Ba'Als flying together in harmony.

The Telekinises is used to move levelled up creatures out of the way, then using my Conjurer to place a Ba'Al there. Telegnosis is used to garner the territorry ability faster, or to do some levelling up.

This deck is one of the most fun I've ever built and actually has the highest win/loss stats (yes, I'm a nerd that actually keeps track). Its at 42 wins and only 1 loss and that time was in Durhan against Leo and Ahdla and Leo merrily traipsed through everyone one of my high level red lands (and I had them ALL) while stopping to pay each one of Ahdla's tolls. Jerk.

[Zedsdead]

Telekinesis-Conjurer! Brilliant! I can't believe I never thought of that. Strolling in and squatting on someone else's level 5 land has to be the most satisfying Culdcept experience there is.

I have to confess I've never used Stink Bottle. What does it do exactly? (I've learned not to trust the translations on the cards) Honestly I just love Gremlin Amulet. I think it's worth every penny, especially in a deck loaded with fatties.

I like having the four Basalt Idols because they also boost the Golems, Efreets, and Flame Lords and neutralize opposing Basilisks, Wendigos and Levelers. But you're right that monocolor gets annoying. Maybe I'll shake it up.

[InfiniteMHP]

Well, the stink bottle destroys any item/support creature card at the beginning of a battle...then recycles back into your deck. Honestly, I've never used the Gremlin amulet as I thought it performed the same function but was just more expensive and sans recyclibility. Whoseyourlilith, perhaps you can shed some life on the difference since you said it is more reliable. Does it negate Archbishop's ignore item/destruct effect or something?

[WhoseYerLilith]

The difference is that the Stink Bottle doesn't just break any item/support creature, it ONLY breaks tools and support creatures. So if all you have is a Stink Bottle in your hand as an item, and you're playing someone who uses a lot of weapons like Zagol, armor like Pickett or Scrolls like Mullyn and Luthien, the Stink Bottle destruction feature will not activate.

[InfiniteMHP]

ah..hah! That makes sense. I do seem to remember countless times where I've used the item just to discover that it didn't work for some reason. Thanks for the explanation!

[InfiniteMHP]

I just posted in the other thread about the usage of dynamite in a Basalt Idol deck. Check it out! Cool stuff.