Feed the Midrange

Standard forum

Posted on Oct. 20, 2014, 11:15 p.m. by pretickle

After the rotation, I have been playing nothing but midrange decks with the focus on green. I would do decently in most match ups. But the Jekai decks kept pounding me out in the final rounds. I would always get burned out right before I could swing in for lethal. I immediately turned to life gain. Siege Rhino is good against jeskai because it gives a little boost of life to keep you alive, as well as tipping the damage scales in your favor. I found that against jeskai (or burn in general), they can't keep up with a life boost in your favor. This is when I turned to Feed the Clan . Assuming that I have a creature of significant power when I cast this (usually turn 4-5), I can gain the ten life and pretty much take the game afterwords. I play tested about 20 games with two copies in the sideboard and whenever I resolved one in the matchup, the game was pretty much over. Do you guys think that life gain is a valid strategy against jeskai? Or should I just focus on stomping them out?

Slycne says... #2

Life gain is often key to stabilizing against a number of decks, but you really never want to run something like Feed the Clan . There's just way too many better ways to gain life.

The aforementioned Siege Rhino , Sorin, Solemn Visitor , Wingmate Roc , Nylea's Disciple , Whip of Erebos , etc. These all gain you life in additions to being an actual card in your deck that pressure your opponent.

This is especially needed against the Jeskai deck, which while it has a lot of burn spells you finishing off its opponents it's still trying to stick a recurring source of damage to the board. That deck isn't just throwing burn spells at your face, and 10 life is actually a pretty paltry sum when say a Goblin Rabblemaster is online.

October 20, 2014 11:33 p.m.

pretickle says... #3

I haven't tested with sorin or whip yet. I'll get right on it.! Thx for the feedback :D

October 21, 2014 12:06 a.m.

Quadsimotto says... #4

Sorin and the whip in abzan midrange is nuts. Throw in wingmate roc after having attacked and you are pretty secure against burn with lots of bodies to swing with.

October 21, 2014 12:27 a.m.

Servo_Token says... #5

Resolute Archangel is another card that is seeing use right now as a way to stabilize. In the abzan deck, you can get it out turn 5 pretty easily, and it swings a lot of games too far in the other direction.

October 21, 2014 8:08 a.m.

PreZchoICE1 says... #6

Sorin, Solemn Visitor is your best option imo. it offers not only lifegain but warm bodies.

Resolute Archangel deserves a mention for sure but I've found that even though it recovers your life total back to the starting number, a lot of the time you're already too far behind for her one body to matter. You don't want to get caught running more than 2, so your chances of drawing one are meh.

October 21, 2014 1:58 p.m.

This discussion has been closed