You're saying it's difficult to go infinite when you're running value creatures instead of things that enable the deck to go infinite? What a shock.

astorlapapa

Thanks for the kind words. To answer your questions Scroll Rack and Memory Jar work well and are integral parts of the deck due to the game ending loop they can create to win without attacking. Of the two, Memory Jar is more important in that it is a big draw spell that you can chain during a storm turn. I know of at least one good Selvala player who opts for Hornet Sting over Scroll Rack; they end the game via recurring Hornet sting w/ Eternal Witness / Temurcat after getting infinite so that's an option to explore. Personally I prefer Scroll Rack - in fact both Rack and Jar were in or options for the deck before we put the combo together.

Dosan and DGrid have both been tried and are reasonable options. Herald I think is too narrow. There is some flex to the list but most of us have found the the ratios for pump/fatties to draw to untapper must remain relatively constant. Outside of that you can adjust the flex slots and many have toyed with protection heavy packages. I recommend adjusting and in blue heavy metas, DGrid at least is a fine choice.

The interaction between Recruiter and Engine is quite simple: if you stick them both you can use your creature mana to activate recruiter, pull a creature to hand, cast it to untap your creatures, then repeat. The high density of creatures and big mana producers makes it easy to chain this all the way to a win.

Yisan is quite effective because there are many ways to win off of Phyrexian Dreadnought which Yisan can fetch on verse 1. This sets up some very easy win attempts on Turn 4 like Turn 1 Dork, Turn 2 Yisan, Turn 3 Selvala, Turn 4 tap Yisan fetch Dreadnought, Make 12 w/ Selvala cast Momentous Fall (draw 12), untapper, etc. I wouldn't say it's a must (many pilots opt for Yisan-less versions of Brostorm) though.

Thoughts on adding Surrak, the Hunt Caller as a fetchable creature that could give haste to Selvala?

I don't personally think it's worth the slot. The effect is too expensive. I'd be more inclined to run Yeva, Nature's Herald since you can flash in yeva and flash in selvala. And on that line, there's also Hall of the Bandit Lord and Winding Canyons that are probably also worth considering.

Just a couple of thoughts here. Since getting infinite mana is relatively easy, is Walking Ballista a valid wincon? I've seen discussion about running Squallmonger for an infinite mana dump, but Walking Ballista seems cleaner.

Sorry if this has been brought up, but the comments section of this deck is becoming quite large!

Thanks!

Hi Meut!

You definitely can run Walking Ballista as it doubles as kind of weak but functional removal. As a wincon I just haven't ever felt the need for it, but if you find your eternal witness and your concordant crossroads getting exiled often, it is a fine addition. Alternatively, if you don't like crossroads, walking ballista is a fine non-ewit reliant win con.

Hey guys, just curious how essential Gaea's Cradle is to the deck because i am planning on taking the deck to GP Toronto but i have limited funds for the deck before the GP and I doubt I'll have enough for all the things I'll need. Thanks in advance!

babykrugg

Cradle is not essential at all... you're not going wide like other elfball decks and your fatties and pump spells privide plenty of mana. Cradle is great but not nearly as important here. Spend you budget to upgrade elsewhere

Ok, that is what I thought but wanted to double check. Thanks for the quick and helpful reply!

babykrugg crop rotation is often fetching wirewood lodge for me. Only in rare situations am I fetching cradle instead (ie. not enough mana after fetching to activate lodge and use selvala or cradle producing more mana)

Any thoughts on Hall of the Bandit Lord? Giving Selvala haste the turn you play her seems powerful, although it ETB's tapped which is a downer.

What about Sylvan Tutor? I mean yes, it is sorcery speed, but with so many card draw spells, you can definitely use it to help set up the next fattie or combo piece.

Sylvan Tutor is ok - I run it on and off in the flex slot. The problem is that you cant use it as your first fatty to kickstart the combo unless you pass the turn (typically). It's better if you run Top slongside.

http://www.magicspoiler.com/mtg-spoiler/rhonass-last-stand/

This is so going into my selvala Deck. Or is the side effect too much of a downside? What do you think, guys?

Any thoughts on uncage the menagerie? Seems pretty good to me

ScrOuch

Rhonass is certainly playable but its not an autoinclude. At best its a lupine prototype but the GG isnt ideal and you cant tutor for it.

Dustintaylor26

Im going to find a slot for uncage in my list. Its flexible and powerful though not quite as gamebreaking as weird harvest. Im pretty sure this card will find a permanent slot - although slots are certainly tight at this point. Im not sure what to cut.

Weird harvest is one of my favorite cards in the deck. My opponents always get excited to get creatures till they realize I've won from it

I rather like the GG snake maker. We already have sheltering ancient to tutor for, so I don't feel like I really need the snake maker to be tutorable. The 2cmc bodies work really well with the pump, but the drawback is pretty severe. This will definitely be going into my list for testing.

I'm not entirely sure how to evaluate the new tutor. It looks powerful, will definitely give it a shot. Being able to tutor dreadnought is a huge plus.

Im loving this deck, I think its interesting because although its on the verge of competitive, its definitively an all-in strategy, which in turn substracts a little of it "competitiveness"; a correctly execute counter spell delays us a couple of turns normally. At the same time, I think its the only competitive deck which has the properties of not knowing which is the best route for victory (or even if there is a real one), as some times you may draw 20 cards + infinite mana (which in most decks would equate to victory) and just have your hand filled up with lands + mana dorks (it happened).

Now, to some card discussion:

• Uncage the Menagerie: has anyone done any testing with this; Im seeing this as an expensive tutor, but maybe someone did find some interesting combinations?

• Hashep Oasis: I think this is an auto include; I dont see myself using its sacrifice ability that much, but at the same time this is almost a forest (the only real problem might be Quirion Ranger?).

• Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: most people will think this as another autoinclude and I just removed it from the deck (for a Forest). Early green mana is indispensable, period.

• Rhonas's Last Stand: I was playing Hunted Troll and I think this is going to be in its place. Normally the troll required too much mana and this might not be the best alternative, but its an alternative none the less.

• Sylvan Safekeeper: Im struggling to find a place for this guy, Im having as much trouble with counters as with Path to Exiles; what everyone thinks about it? Yeah, I know shroud is a terrible bummer when we need to untap.

• Im finding that Fast Mana is indispensable: this not only enables early Selvala, but its definitively extra mana on the turn you go off (and draw lots of cards). In my deck this replaces directly lands (the discard faerie and lotus petal come to mind, dont have the list here).

The deck is competitive. Now it's not tier 1 competitive, but it'll win a fair number of games at a competitive table. Where she really shines is the u/x matchup from my experience, as you tend to force their hand in mulliganing for answers.

To address your points:
Uncage - I do want to test this but I think it may be worse than primal command. Best case scenario is X=1 for dreadnought/untapper, but 3 mana tutor is pretty expensive.

Oasis - yep, I will be swapping a forest for that.

Nykthos - I think that cut is fine. It sometimes give you extra mana, but I do agree that colorless is a real drawback.

Rhonas - I'd like to give this a shot as well. My current build has more pump, which these 2 cost fatties work really well with.

Safekeeper - I'm actually testing Savage Summoning instead of safekeeper. Safekeeper is pretty awkward when they try to disrupt you. Savage hopefully leaves people unprepared to answer you. I think if you run safekeeper though, you'll want an untap package of Vitalize, Mobilize, Paradox Engine. Certainly an angle worth exploring.

Fast mana - I actually have gone the opposite direction and cut the fast mana. Not that they were terrible, but they weren't amazing for me and I felt they were worse than lands. Additionally, they're presence was cutting into the pump package, which I felt was reducing the consistency of the deck.

On a side note, JVP is another deck that has that feeling of uncertainty, which I also love to pilot.

asm - any HoD updates? I wonder which slot would Rhonas's Last Stand fit :).

Have you considered inventors fair? To tutor out your mantle/staff?

Rarian testing still. I'm not convinced anything from the set is actually better than what we currently run though.

LeonGraves123 The colorless mana is not worth occasionally being able to tutor out staff/mantle.