Felhide Spiritbinder and Aurelia, the Warleader can get you infinite combat phases if you can get infinite mana, or 2 for each additional combat phase. To do this, we would have to run R/G/W so that we have mana dorks that we could use. Simple things like Karametra's Favor which can make some smaller things useful later on to generate said infinite mana.

My suggestions would be:

Aurelia, the Warleader

Sylvan Caryatid

Karametra's Favor

I know playing three colors is tough and this is a very Johnny thing to do, but could be a fun homebrew if there were the correct fixing and such. There's no tutors that would help bring things out, and theres little card draw in our colors, but it would be an interesting concept to try.

Also in running Green you could run Alpha Authority if you wanted to try with the hexproof to protect guys from getting offed quickly.

I'm thinking of a R/b build with Gray Merchant of Asphodel and maybe even Abhorrent Overlord , they are both really strong cards with insane results with high devotion. Because this is a devotion deck we should also be playing nykthos to cast our big guys.

He'd be good in the same deck as pack rat. I'm thinking R/B rather than R.

Awaken the Ancient . 7/7 token, plus it's free if you have Nykthos. Plus it's just fun to brew with.

Nvm, doesn't work. Sorry.

Well, technically it works, but you just end up making copies of Mountain ...with Haste.

Fear all, the turbo Mountain s cometh!

I like the idea of potentially going infinite if we go Naya colours. However, that does seem like a risky strategy. You'd have to run a lot of fixing.

The R/b devotion route seems interesting. A Gray Merchant of Asphodel hitting the field every turn is not a fun prospect for your opponent. R/B also gives you the best removal suite in the format (which is Standard, I assume).

I think either R/b or R/w devo would be best here (but naya would be very fun), which echoes a lot of people. However, R/u should still be considered due to unblockability (free swings and taps for inspired = yay!) as well as Hidden Strings and other ways to tap guys.

If not, Springleaf Drum could be considered.

I'm johnny so I'm going to say Aurelia, the Warleader plus 2 mana dorks (Elvish Mystic + Sylvan Caryatid ) would be quite fun.

Otherwise you could go with a Rakdos devotion (Rakdos Cackler , Spike Jester , Rakdos Shred-Freak , Cryptborn Horror , etc) into an eventual win off of Fanatic of Mogis or Grey Merchant of Asphodel copied a lot of times.

People have got to be more original with their deck names... I meant Gray Merchant of Asphodel

I really like the idea of this article in general. As far as a shell to build around, I think a R/G/w build using Sylvan Caryatid and other similar things for fixing just enough to drop Aurelia could work.

Ral Zarek 's +1 ability seems really perfect for the inspire mechanic. Gives you a way to tap him if you can't swing, tap an opponents creature so you can swing, or untap after combat. Other notable blue cards that could synergize well with Felhide Spiritbinder are Omenspeaker to fix your draw and Master of Waves to totally swarm the field.

Would you guys be interested in me streaming a few rough lists of the ideas mentioned here?

I would say that for using the inspired mechanic, Springleaf Drum is a great benefit. I had considered the interactions with Inspired + Springleaf Drum + Kiora's Follower and/or Prophet of Kruphix for decks myself, as the abuse of the mechanic could get rediculous... but obviously going R/U/G could be awkward.

With that said, R/G could still have a time going with things like Inspired + Springleaf Drum + Burst of Strength /Savage Surge .

Really, you want a good way to keep the Felhide Spiritbinder alive, but something that can also be used in other circumstances. Might this be a useful time for Gruul War Chant ? It would fit in an agressive theme.

Another route I've seen suggested would be R/B devotion. Fanatic of Mogis , Grey Merchant of Asphodel and Abhorrent Overlord would all be amazing to constantly make copies. I wonder if Black Oak of Odunos might have a place here? Pain Seer and Servant of Tymaret seem like possible inclusions here too, as they help you stall to the point an overlord can be dropped and copied more reliably.

I did see a lot of blue sources to untap creatures as well, like Hidden Strings which was mentioned by flyguy earlier.

Why don't you just toss Felhide Spiritbinder into a Big Red deck? Though I'm not sure if the midrange-y Big red is viable right now, I just really like mono red. Two Chandra, Pyromaster , Mizzium Mortars and Anger of the Gods and other burn spells like Shock , Lightning Strike , Magma Jet (this also kill gets rid of dead draws) are great to keep the board clear of blockers and safe to tap Felhide, also Stormbreath Dragon , Boros Reckoner , Fanatic of Mogis and Ember Swallower are great copyables I've seen in most Big red decks now, along with Ash Zealot, but only as an early game blocker and some early pressure, if you can only copy the zealot you are in bad shape. Hammer of Purphoros is great lategame but also gives speeds up the cloning process.

OutspokenFerret I think we should get a few deck lists running.

ntTg The second article is coming soon :D

I doubt this needs saying again, but I think the Rakdos build has potential. Redundancy is good, and playing both Fanatic and Merchant basically gives us 8 of the same card in the deck.

But I also like the Ral Zarek idea mccracka suggested. Adding Voidwalker could give us a way to control the battlefield. Play it with a Spiritbinder on the field, bounce a creature for a safe attack. Next turn: Untap, copy, and bounce another (or the same) creature, attack safely again. We would also gain access to the inspire-enabler of Retraction Helix which also bounces. Utvara Hellkite could be a win condition that gives us a permanent reward for attacking with a token of it. Assuming we attack with the token and the original, we would get four 6/6 Dragon tokens for keepsies.

When I first read this suggestion for Felhide Spiritbinder I totally bought into the opportunities that it's inspired mechanic could crush with the 'enter the battlefield' mechanic.

So I went and tried designing a few decks (Rw and Br) - and now I'm not so convinced that it will be a star player in a competitive deck. It's a pretty good card, but it's a mid-range (or control) card and it sits in the 4 cmc slot in a deck which means it has pretty good competition for our attention.

It's a bit like Whip of Erebos in my mind - it has a small role in most matches with an opportunity to shine in a few specific matchups. When I first saw the whip, I thought reanimator deck... that didn't work out so well.

It just seems a bit slow: 4 cmc, an untap mechanic (attack, Springleaf Drum or otherwise), and a creature to copy. Unless you have haste or mana ramp going, the best you can hope for is copying a creature in turn 6 (hopefully after your first Gray Merchant of Asphodel hits the board on turn 5).

Anyways, I just thought I would throw out my initial analysis and see what others have to say. Has anyone come up with a deck list that they think is competitive?

Thanks to everyone, especially OutspokenFerret, as this type of discussion is one thing I really value with the TO community.

Holy crap, I just realised something. Felhide Spiritbinder + Burning-Tree Emissary /Priest of Urabrask + Intruder Alarm = Infinite creatures. Awesome.

You would need something to tap down the Spiritbinder, however.

Felhide Spiritbinder + Priest of Urabrask + Intruder Alarm + Mothdust Changeling or any other free, repeatable tap effect. Infinite Priest of Urabrask tokens and infinite red mana in modern.

I like putting Retraction Helix's ability on it. Bounce their creatures as you are churning out tokens

I would like to see that guy in a Naya somewhat token themed build with Wayfaring Temple for extra combos and Voice of Resurgence for quality. The Wayfaring Temples get exponentially bigger for each token copy of themselves you make, and they replace themselves. Maybe Banisher Priest just to take an additional creature off the battlefield during your turn. That actually seems pretty fun!

If you wanted to ramp you could play Armada Wurm for crazy value off of a populate effect.

I also might play a singleton Trostani, Selesnya's Voice if you think the manna can handle it. Basically what Spiritbinder is doing is a populate effect, so the more the merrier, and she is the queen of populating.

Maybe black for Pack Rat and Gray Merchant of Asphodel ? Or for something like Shrike Harpy ensuring either a 4/4 in the air every turn or them saccing a creature? Or, play R/W/B for things like Ashen Rider and Evangel of Heliod with some aspects of B/R control so you can ensure a late game. Slum Reaper would be interesting as you could make them sac a creature every turn for (1)(R).

And of course, with R/W/B you could play Chained to the Rocks .

Article will most likely be up tomorrow, sorry for the delay, but I have not been home the past couple days