(Sun Titan by Chris Rahn)
APOLLO LOCO
by
Phil "Fat Ninja" Tacata
(You can find the TCG Player link to this deck along with card descriptions and sample hand generator here.)
2x Throne of Geth
3x Ichor Wellspring
4x Solemn Simulacrum
4x Contagion Clasp
2x Tumble Magnet
4x Oblivion Ring
2x Lingering Souls
4x Day of Judgment
4x Terminus
1x Gideon Jura
2x Karn Liberated
4x Sun Titan
4x Inkmoth Nexus
2x Phyrexia's Core
1x Buried Ruin
2x Ghost Quarter
4x Isolated Chapel
1x Swamp
10x Plains
---------------------------------------------
OBJECTIVE AND PLAY-STYLE
Apollo Loco is an ultra-slow, ultra-grindy white control deck that usually wins post turn 15 with attacking Sun Titans or, more likely, proliferated poison counters. The objective is to get a single poison counter on your opponent, wipe the board with a sweeper, then stabilize and control their subsequent creatures while proliferating their poison counters to 10 for the win. Like any dedicated control deck, Apollo Loco is vulnerable to hyper-aggro strategies, but with 8 sweepers, 4 Contagion Clasp (for the small stuff), 4 O-Rings, 2 Tumble Magnets, 2 Karn and a Gideon, they better have a damn good opening seven.
ENGINE
Apollo Loco gains significant incremental card advantage from the interaction between Throne of Geth/Phyrexia's Core and Ichor Wellspring/Solemn Simulacrum. The ultimate card drawing combo is Sun Titan (Apollo Loco's namesake ;) + Ichor Wellspring + Throne of Geth: tap throne, sac Wellspring to draw a card and proliferate, use Sun Titan's ability to bring back Wellspring to draw another card.
CARDS
-Throne of Geth: doesn't do much on its own, but has incredible synergy with Ichor Wellspring, Solemn Simulacrum, Sun Titan, Tumble Magnet, and your Planeswalkers. Becomes a win-condition when your opponent is poisoned.
-Contagion Clasp: use it early to kill off 1 toughness guys and mana dorks. Like Throne, has great synergy with Sun Titan, Tumble Magnet, and your Planeswalkers and is a win condition when your opponent is poisoned.
-Lingering Souls: probably the most broken white card in the current Standard. Use it to chump, over and over and over and... you get the picture.
-Terminus: when Day of Judgment isn't good enough i.e. creatures with Undying, Regenerate, and Indestructible.
-Gideon Jura: incredibly effective against smaller aggro creatures and is a win condition after a board wipe. (note: I want to find space for another copy in the deck, but I'm not sure where to cut. Multiple copies should be in your sideboard if aggro is big in your local meta)
-Karn Liberated: I used to use Spine of Ish Sah in this slot, which was good, but Karn is simply better. Exiling at least 2 things for 7 mana is pretty silly.
-Sun Titan: SO MANY TRICKS! Brings back most of the stuff you sac to Geth/Core and allows for multiple proliferate attempts per turn. You will be missed, Apollo :(
-Inkmoth Nexus: the vector. When your opponent dies from poison on turn 27, remind her that you hit her with an Inkmoth on turn 2. :p
-Buried Ruin: a useful utility land in the late-game.
-Ghost Quarter: for Moorland Haunt, Kessig Wolf-Run, and opposing Inkmoths. Has nice synergy with Sun Titan.
OTHER NOTES
I have tinkered around with different builds of this deck for over a year now (the original version was wicked-quick when Everlasting Chalice was legal in Standard) and find this configuration to work best for me. I'm sure Batterskulls, Elesh Norns, Wurmcoils, and Entreats would also substitute in very well depending on the meta. Unfortunately, Restoration Angel doesn't synergize well due to the lack of creatures... It would be unbelievably broken, however, if it could blink permanents (i.e. Flickerwisp).
The addition of Terminus, though, seems to have brought this deck to a new level, at least in my local (creature-heavy) meta; removing creatures from pretty much the entire game (by putting them at the bottom of the library) is SO powerful, and sweeper redundancy is essential to the proper functioning of this deck.
(Terminus by James Paick)
No comments:
Post a Comment