Testudo Tactic Holy Cadre
Deck Help forum
Posted on March 25, 2019, 1:48 p.m. by 9-lives
Note the metaphor of the name of my deck in using walls of shields to protect against arrows as well as give a advantage against cavalry.
I am looking for help in making my deck viable for a competitive edge in Standard.
MontaukMonster says... #3
Correction: looks like you do have a 2-drop creature. I didn't see him; he never showed up. Nm.
March 26, 2019 5:38 p.m.
Thank you very much, MontaukMonster
I plan on using my 1-drop Duskborne Skymarcher in the beginning, 2-drops Martyr of Dusk or more Duskborne Skymarchers, and saving up enough mana so that I can counterspell with Negate or especially Essence Capture which would give me time to gather more Lands and give +1/+1 to whoever needs it. Then hopefully I will be able to cast, most of all Benalish Marshal , or Radiant Destiny which would be somewhat helpful as long as I still have some Vampires on the field, or Queen's Commission or even Squire's Devotion . As long as I have some 1/1 Vampires with Lifelink, I'll be able to block enemy creatures without trample for some life and more time for Lands. The main problem I have is Mana cost, as most of my cards are 3 and 4 drops: Unbreakable Formation , Sanguine Glorifier , Benalish Marshal , Radiant Destiny , Squire's Devotion , Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle , Queen's Commission . I'll have to change my deck entirely in order to make a better Azorius Deck as those are my main White Vampire cards to choose from.
March 26, 2019 6:04 p.m.
MontaukMonster says... #5
OK so I did a little research and I came up with this for you. I haven't tested it yet though let me know what you think:
4x Benalish Marshal
4x Duskborne Skymarcher
4x Martyr of Dusk
2x Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle
4x Skymarcher Aspirant
4x Famished Paladin
1x Nexus of Fate
3x Expose to Daylight
2x Unbreakable Formation
4x Blink of an Eye
4x Radiant Destiny
4x Seal Away
4x Azorius Guildgate
6x Island
10x Plains
March 26, 2019 6:18 p.m.
I have completely changed my deck from a horrible white vampire tribal aggro into my Bant deck focusing on using High Alert and Arcades, the Strategist to turn low offense high defense into just as much high offense. Walls and more.
MontaukMonster says... #2
I can't advise you on specific cards to add because my set knowledge stops at around 2011.
However.
I ran this against Psychatog and got smashed 100% of the time. A good contemporary standard deck should beat Psychatog.
Your mana curve is horrible. You have a win condition that feels like it wants to be aggressive but it doesn't start building until turn 3. You're missing a 2-drop. What your deck kept wanting to do was turn 1, vampire, turn 2, vampire, turn 3 Radiant Destiny , turn 4 sit on counterspells and combat tricks
You have too much boost for not enough creatures. Time after time, Squire's Devotion kept getting stranded in my hand waiting for a critter to put it on, only to get killed by a Repulse (remember Psychatog was once standard). As a general rule, creature enchantments suck. Unless it's on the order of Rancor don't waste the space.
You have a serious color problem. Picture this: your three drop is Benalish Marshal and your 4-drop is Essence Capture . The only way to pull that off is by skipping an early clock to play a guildgate, which neutralizes the marshal. You want that on turn 3, you're attacking with 5 damage.
You have absolutely no board control. I have always argued in favor of maindecking Disenchant (obviously the variant that's current in this format) based on the observation that decks that tend to win major events tend to do this. That and spot removal for creatures, planeswalkers, and problematic lands is useful.
You're not using blue. Not really, anyway. Divination is poo. The power of a good draw spell is that it's an instant so it gives you something to spend when your opponent fails to walk into your counterspells and it's cheap so it helps you early on to dig for creatures when your opening hand is weak. Think: Impulse For a sorcery draw spell it needs to fill my hand. As for counterspells, yours are just not versatile to be worth it. You're going to end up with a Negate When your opponent kicks a Desolation Angel or an Essence Capture when your opponent throws out a Wrath of God . Or whatever the contemporary version of these events, you get the idea. If you can ramp up your creature assault you might look at something like Remand , Memory Lapse , or some other form of Time Walk often mistaken for counterspells.
If there aren't any good draw/counter spells in this environment or decent tricks like Ray of Command you're probably better of going mono-white.
This concludes my TED talk =)
March 26, 2019 5:34 p.m.