Second of version of my Famished Paladin Combo build for Dominaria Standard. Here is a link to the first version. This second version emphasizes deck filtering, card advantage, simpler mana, and more permanents for Twilight Prophet's ascend ability. Basically, this build is focusing on cards that make the combo more consistent and easy to find, at the cost of individual card power and quality. This also means that the odds of this build being able to win games without assembling its combo are somewhat diminished, since it has less interaction and no individual powerhouses like Vona, Butcher of Magan. This is more of a "combo or bust" approach.
This version dropped Prepare / Fight (along with the Forest that went with it) in favor of Squire's Devotion. This is less interactive but it adds two permanents for Twilight Prophet's ascend ability. It can also assist with late-game beats when the combo isn't working, and can turn Famished Paladin into a 4/4 pseudo-vigilance lifelinker -- a legitimate threat.
Since this version has fewer Vampire creature cards, 1 copy of Unclaimed Territory has been dropped in favor of a second copy of Field of Ruin. This adds a little more interaction and deck filtering capability to the mana base, while not seriously impacting the consistency of the deck's mana.
Legion Conquistador has been introduced to replace Gifted Aetherborn. This is all about card advantage and filtering the deck. The Conquistador tutors up all its extra copies into your hand, thinning the deck significantly. Along with Dusk Legion Zealot, this brings us to a total of 8 creatures which replace themselves and decrease the size of the deck. This proportionately increases the odds of drawing pieces of the combo.
Legion's Landing
has been introduced as a 2-of. It adds two permanents for Twilight Prophet's ascend ability, and its transformed side can add lifelinking Vampire bodies to the field. This should increase the deck's survivability in attrition matchups.
The fattening of the 3-drop slot on the curve means that we've also dropped Vona, Butcher of Magan (who was best with Prepare anyway) and Bishop of Binding to lower the deck's overall curve.
Rounding out the maindeck changes is one additional copy of Twilight Prophet. This build is more likely to be eligible for getting the city's blessing, so extra copies of this card are more likely to pay off. This also helps this version focus on sources of card advantage.
The sideboard adds an extra Vraska's Contempt while dropping a single copy of Settle the Wreckage. This reflects my expectation that planeswalkers will be rather prevalent early on in the format.
