New To Magic, Need Help with this Deck Please
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on May 5, 2017, 1:20 a.m. by benfjerstad
I made this deck Life Gain Power Gain its supposed to power up my creatures as I gain life. I also threw in some other win conditions like Chalice of Life Flip and Aetherflux Reservoir just to be safe. any pointers would be great. trying to keep it budget.
chaosumbreon87 says... #3
This appears to be casual +/ extreme budget lifegain with modern legal cards.
As for suggestions, you dont have much in the way of draw power and you dont have much to stop mill. Have you thought about 2x Elixir of Immortality to stop mill? Secondly, it would be better to keep your deck as close to 60 cards as you can. It increases the probability that you will draw what you need. Terramorphic Expanse or Evolving Wilds can help thin the deck to draw what you want better.
May 5, 2017 3:59 a.m.
chaosumbreon87 Mill is not something you generally have to concern yourself with in your mainboard because it isn't a strategy people tend to go for. And deck thinning is not a good reason to use fetches as you need to use all 4 and then wait till turn 20 to have gained any bonus from it. You run fetches for shuffle effects, graveyard filling and to power up other cards.
May 5, 2017 4:29 a.m.
chaosumbreon87 says... #5
Sorry i tend to generalize a lot. I agree with anti mill being sideboard material but needless to say it still should be an include. Not to mention it helps the lifegain plan. Also a deck thin of 1 card means an approximate .04% increase in probability of drawing a helpful card or game winning card. This may not seem like much but this base increase leads to more favor of you winning so i stand by my advice.
May 5, 2017 5:06 a.m.
May 5, 2017 6:24 a.m.
chaosumbreon87 says... #7
Even in your case your data cites an increase in spells drawn with 8 fetches. Seeing as though the deck in its current form cannot win without spells your data supports mine. My data was simply directed toward the fetches to spell data. I just did quick binomial expansions to see desired effects
May 5, 2017 9:59 a.m.
Gidgetimer says... #8
An increase in spells drawn at the cost of an amount of life that is undesirable since that article is about the good fetches. The reason you don't play the bad fetches for thinning is that since the land comes in tapped you are giving up a turn's worth of mana development instead of one life for the increase in spells drawn. This tempo hit is much larger than just paying a life.
The problem is that you are effectively paying 4.3 mana per game for a single card out of 25 draws. Even assuming an average game length of 12.5 turns (shoot me now) this is 8.6 mana for an additional spell. Concentrate is not good enough to include in most decks and assuming 33% land it nets you the same number of spells (1 land and 2 spells per casting. one spell replaces Concentrate you net 1 spell) for 4 mana
May 5, 2017 10:25 a.m.
chaosumbreon87 says... #9
Under normal modern circumstances, I would agree with you but this is a kitchen table deck. The deck curves into 4 so there is not a major tempo change as the curve of 1s and 2s sustain the tempo. The outliers of the 2 serra avatar IMO are worse than felidars but back to my original statement, of all cases, using these bad fetches increase your spell count per draw and the reason concentrate is not used is because there are better blue draw spells. This is why harmonize is used but concentrate is not.
May 5, 2017 11:52 a.m.
Gidgetimer says... #10
This is the modern forum and that is the only reason I am having a discussion on thinning at all. The low percentage gains in consistency are only worth consideration in a competitive environment. If you are playing these small percentages in a casual deck then I expect the rest of the deck to also have the same consideration taken.
That was also kinda my point on Concentrate, there are better options for less mana but using bad fetches isn't even as good as it is at letting you see more spells.
May 5, 2017 12:21 p.m.
Your deck is already really close to Soul Sisters. As a matter of fact, you have most of the cards for it already.
Here's a few examples and links of the deck:
White/Black Soul Sisters
White/Red Soul Sisters
Mono-White Soul Sisters by Louis Torres 8th. Place Finish
Mono-White by Derek Meyers 3rd. Place Finish
List of Soul Sisters decks on MtG Goldfish
List of Soul Sisters Decks on MtG Top 8
The only card I think you're missing is Serra Ascendant. A lot of people use Squadron Hawk, but I'm more of a fan of Lone Rider Flip because it's a faster clock.
I'd also suggest a second color.
Black gives Lingering Souls, Zealous Persecution, Blood Baron of Vizkopa, Vault of the Archangel, Thoughtseize, and Inquisition of Kozilek.
Green gives Gavony Township (really powerful when combined with Kitchen Finks), Essence Warden, Obstinate Baloth, and Scavenging Ooze.
Red gives Lightning Helix, Lightning Bolt, Boros Charm, Blood Moon, and Norin the Wary.
The thing you'll find about these types of decks is how much easier it is to use the life gain to pump up your team. You don't need Aetherflux Reservoir or Felidar Sovereign when you can just beat people's faces in with It That Rides as One Flip, Serra Ascendant, and Ajani's Pridemate!
May 5, 2017 5:46 p.m.
benfjerstad says... #12
Thanks for the tips everyone. They have been super helpful
Gidgetimer says... #2
You put this in the modern deck help forum, are you wanting advice on a deck to play in modern tournaments taking in the meta game and power level of the format, or are you playing casual kitchen table magic with modern legal cards?
May 5, 2017 1:40 a.m.