Additons!

boothis, 7 years ago

I am going to be adding Sylvan Library, Day of Destiny, Thousand-Year Elixir, Yeva, Nature's Herald, Mangara of Corondor, and Saffi Eriksdotter to the list.

Card Update

shadow_life, 7 years ago

Hello, just wanted to say that I updated the SQUIRREL! deck

The "Official Release" Update

VeryVorthos, 7 years ago

This update means I've added Sorin, Solemn Visitor to the deck and as such am perfectly happy with it. It's been published for a while now, but up until that point I consider versions of the deck to be beta versions. This can be considered V1.0.

This doesn't mean that I'm not still open to suggestions or that I'm not seeking to further optimize the deck. It simply means that altering this deck will no longer be a priority to me, and I'll just optimize it when I have the time and money.

This update also marks the beginning of the description process, and over the next few days I'll be sprucing up the old description block and potentially even the deck name to something befitting a Mardu Khan.

bigbear360, 7 years ago

Please discuss where you think the deck will fall short and how to make it better

Looking to add a combo to the deck

ohmless, 7 years ago

Need to find cuts to fit three creatures into the deck. Necrotic Ooze, Triskelion, and Phyrexian Devourer. New adds additionally include Shizo, Death's Storehouse, signets, Gorgon's Head, Breath of Life, Goblin Lore and Resurrection. Also in general swapped out some creatures to get more token generation.

Added a few mana boosts...

CrazyDanPsycho, 7 years ago

Removed:

Crown of Empires, Scepter of Empires, Throne of Empires

Added:

Caged Sun, Pristine Talisman, Sol Ring

Out of a cauldron came a Ooze

Joumba, 7 years ago

-1 Champion of Lambholt

+1 Primordial Hydra

-1 Forest

+1 Saltcrusted Steppe

-1 Cauldron of Souls

+1 Experiment One

More thematic love inbound! First of all, Saltcrusted Steppe works well with atraxa's proliferate so here it goes, though it does make me more vulnerable to non-basic land hate... but hey. Out goes the champion, a amazing card, but sometimes, themes are worth more then goodstuff. In any case, a Primordial Hydra is nothing shaby, quite the powerhouse. And last but not the least, Experiment One! Fits in marvellously. I liked the cauldron, but it's not a useful in a deck without comboish undying creatures...

Further Tweaks

Ishmokin, 7 years ago

Experimenting with these changes: Enter the Infinite --->Emrakul, The Promised End Dramatic Reversal ----> Curse of the Swine Isochron Scepter ---> Forbid Back to Basics --> Rhystic Study Spell Snare --> Flusterstorm Trying out some cards from the baral deck of @ASM. (Emrakul, Forbid and Curse of the Swine) Rashmi can function without Isochron - Dramatic reversal. You only needed it when casting ETI. So now without ETI, I have two more slots for control cards: Forbid and a mass destruction spell vs. creatures. Forbid has synergy with Rashmi and Season Past. Forbid can really guarantee you always have a counter spell in hand. Rashmi's draw triggers help fuel Forbid. U can toss lands for buyback and put those lands into play with ramunap excavator. Emrakul has been awesome. I see why people are using him now in baral decks. Mindslaver effect makes cripple opponents so bad the game is practically over for them. The protection from instants make him very very hard to deal with. Casting a mid game Emrakul is very easy, with the mana Rashmi makes with dorks and mana rocks. Emrakul is usually 10 to cast because of fetch land, sorcery and instants in the graveyard. Big difference from ETI and Emrakul is, the former requires tons of blue and much fatter to cast, emrakul can be 10 or 9 depending on the yard, plus its colorless which make it way easier to cast. I felt like Emrakul is a very aggressive card, you can cast it just to brute force the mindslaver effect, it will trigger even if emrakul gets countered. It has to be stifled. ETI requires you to cast it at the last possible moment. Without ETI and scepter combo, The deck just grinds the game out and casts Emrakul and finish everyone off slowly. The deck can eventually still combo with Seasons Past Temporal Manipulation loops.

OrmsByGore, 7 years ago

Swapped Mina and Denn for regular old Oracle of Mul Daya. I figured the trample granting and bigger body for the same cost would be good, but it turns out that a 4/4 trample is pretty small fry for this deck, so I'd rather have the better pure ramp/card draw control with Oracle, especially with a few more fetchlands in the list now. Also took out some more incremental value cards for some punchier slots, as this is more about ramping into haymakers, so the midrange cards don't do as much work here. Fauna Shaman feels just worse than Evo Leap in this deck as I generally want to resolve everything and then be able to replace it, and I mostly just want more threats, not so much specific ones. Genesis Wave has never felt great here because of the lack of mana dorks and abundance of non creature spells (for R/G) +Oracle of Mul Daya -Mina and Denn, Wildborn +Hunter's Insight -Solemn Simulacrum +Rishkar's Expertise -Fauna Shaman +Genesis Wave -Rishkar's Expertise +Sheltered Thicket -Blighted Woodland

OrmsByGore, 7 years ago

-Suture Priest +Auriok Champion

Champion reporting in

Gridlok, 7 years ago

Godo, Bandit Warlord -> Changeling Berserker - This brilliant piece is so fun to play with. It saves a creature from mass removal and can re-trigger ETB effects of creatures already on battlefield.

Prepping for the Pro Tour

GeminiSpartanX, 7 years ago

I'm trying out different configurations of cards to help make the deck more resistant to black midrange decks, as well as Gifts Storm and Affinity. I figure that those decks will be well-represented at the pro tour, and since we're still favored against tron and scapeshift we can focus on a perceived meta of agro and midrange. This build will still be bad against creature-less combo like Ad Naus or a heavy control deck, but I feel like those will be less popular at the Pro Tour.

LabManiac_Sigi, 7 years ago

OUT: - Coalition Relic - Elixir of Immortality IN: - Grim Monolith - Blue Sun's Zenith

Ashiok and Temur Battle Rage

Teddyjunior11, 7 years ago

I think that Ashiok is good in a field where there is a lot of Durdly control decks UW Control and Midrange with no Interaction such as RG Ponza Amulet Titan, but in terms of high quality cards Liliana the Last Hope is just a better card. I still stand by in saying that while having access to Tasigur for the early delve threat to hold stubborn denial or fatal push is nice, the 5 power is more relevant in my opinion and the fact of how wide open the format is the 5 power is more advantageous then holding up an instant speed counter or removal on turn 2. Temur Battle Rage in testing has proven to be a real liability and the fact that your opponent can just remove the creature means I am not a fan of the card. It is great for stealing games one against Burn and Eldrazi Tron, thats about it. It is really bad in the mirror really bad against any form of Jeskai, Jund or Abzan.

Quality of life

ModernEraJazz, 7 years ago

In: -Felidar Guardian -Hope of Ghirapur - Leonin Arbiter

Out: -Village Bell-Ringer -Sire Of Insanity -Dusk / Dawn

I was finding that in play, felidar was always finding ways to break the game state and push me ahead while village bell ringers was just a subpar replacement that only synergizes with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. Just as well, sire does GREAT things for this deck, namely bringing everyone down to my level and this might be a bad swap, which is why he goes to the maybeboard. But Hope of Ghirapur serves to target the reactive player that matters to me most at the time and I want to experiment with it. The last one is another experimental swap. We shall how that scratches out.

Deciding on a Direction

YamishiTheWickedOne, 7 years ago

Building vampires used to be pretty simple for me. Now there's way too much to play with, both in new vamps and in Black staples. I'm reconfiguring this deck for now to be closer to my original variant while I decide if I want to be more straight tribal or if I want to be Vamp-flavored Jund. A few of the madness vamps are really tempting to include here for synergy/speed, particularly Stromkirk Condemned, Asylum Visitor (who is much-needed draw along with power), Falkenrath Gorger so I can flash in Captains, and Smuggler's Copter and Liliana of the Veil for support. That's an engine, but that's an awful lot of space to dedicate.

I'll include all the idea cards in the "maybeboard", I'd appreciate it if we could get a discussion going on pure tribal and how to construct it vs. semi-Jund midrange.

Performance and Recap of SCG Invitational

Teddyjunior11, 7 years ago

FNM 3-1-1 Cut to Top 8

Round 1 Played against Adnaus (2-0) This is a very favorable matchup main thing is making sure when you thoughtseize is to take Adnaus or Phyrexian Unlife. They can not win without unlife in play so removing it as quickly as possible is key.
Sideboard Plan: Add discard subtract removal like Fatal Push. andDismember. , I would keep one copy of terminate as a hedge towards Godhead of Awe. Plan Cut 3x Fatal Push 1x Dismember 1x Terminate. Add 2x Collective Brutality. 2x Liliana of the Veil. 1x Dispel. Imperative to not keep a hand on game 2 with tons of discard as it could be dead because they board Leyline of Sanctity. Unfortunately this is our game plan to discard I would mulligan a hand that has any more than 2 forms of discard excluding Liliana of the Veil.
Round 2 Played GW Death and Taxes (2-0). I casted Kozilek's Return. killing all 3 mirran crusader before he could attack G2 opponent scooped after over commiting to the board.
Round 3 Jeskai Control (1-2) Was really close Game 3 lost to Gideon Ally of Zendikar did not have some form of counter for it.
Plan: Removal is quite bad. Cut 3 Fatal Push 2 Terminate 1 dismember 1 street wraith. Add 2 collective brutality 1 dispel 1 Disdainful Stroke. 2 liliana of the veil 1 Liliana, the Last Hope. Disdainful stroke is fine he was the tempo version playing Cryptic Command. and big planeswalkers post board which is why I went with one instead of two for boarding. Round 4 GW Company (2-0) It's a midrange deck and as long as you remove card:[knight of the reliquary] all your creatures are bigger so they are forced to block if you keep threatening lethal.
Plan: Midrange matchup 2 liliana of the veil 1 liliana the last hope 1 dreadbore 1 kozilek's return 1 flaying tendrils. Side out 1 stubborn denial 4 street wraith. You want your cards to have as big of impact as possible in this matchup anticipating a top deck war so street wraith is not particularly good here. Cutting stubborn denial as the only card it tags is Collected Company.
Round 5 ID against Humans. Lol this matchup I believe is great G1. G2 is absolutely horrible especially if they have mirran crusader and dark confidant. Plan: 2 liliana of the veil 1 kozilek's return 1 flaying tendrils 1 engineered explosives 1 dreadbore 1 liliana the last hope. Cut 3 stubborn denial 2 street wraith 2 thought scour.
Top 8 Abzan (1-2) Opponent ripped Siege Rhino. Game one had him dead to rights, STOLE that game. G3 casted 2 siege rhino's turn 4 and 5 left me dead. Chose to play around one Siege Rhino could not playt around the second. Oh well. Plan: 2 liliana of the veil 1 liliana the last hope 1 izzet staticaster 1 dreadbore 1 engineered explosives 1 disdainful stroke Cut: 2 inquisition of Kozilek 1 thought scour 4 thoughtseize. Cut all the discard because in this matchup you anticipate a late game topdeck war in which case you need all your cards to have high impact.

Mainboard Change +3 Opt -2 Serum Visions. Really like the dismember right now. Thinking about trimming Kolaghan's Command and moving it to the side. But unsure. As for the delve creatures that has been going well most of the time I am able to deploy turn 2 gurmag angler. tombstalker has been amazing, flying is SUPER RELEVANT

December updates

Thedudeabides117, 7 years ago

Not much new, I switched Worldly TutorGC out in favor of Lotus Cobra, only because it was a so-so inclusion in there anyway, and I already have GSZ that works a little better for my purposes anyway (and is re-tutorable). I also (begrudgingly) put Momir Vig, Simic Visionary back in from a cut a while ago, because I'm at more of a level to keep track of the triggers. This deck is becoming more competitive by the minute

Update to the Deck

CrazedPorcupine, 7 years ago

Due to how enchantment heavy this deck can be, especially with the numerous Enchantment Creatures Heliod, God of the Sun can create, I've added in Sphere of Safety.

I've also done the following Angelic Purge was swapped out for Trostani's Judgment, Altar's Light was swapped out for Revoke Existence and Cloudshift and Acrobatic Maneuvers were swapped out for Skullclamp and Sunset Pyramid and I swapped out a couple lands for things like Even the Odds and Rootborn Defenses

Small change of direction

deemberdom, 7 years ago

Based on the matches I'd previously played, it seems like the deck was trying to straddle using creatures alongside a very anti-creature strategy. This increases the number of enchantments to turn on Devotion, while also trying to lower the average CMC.

IN: Liability, Westvale Abbey  ^Flip, Underworld Connections, Spreading Plague, Diabolic Tutor, Inventors' Fair, Dauthi Embrace, Night Dealings, Kothophed, Soul Hoarder, Tainted AEther, Season of the Witch, and Black Market.

OUT: 2x Swamp, Butcher of Malakir, Painful Quandary, Dregs of Sorrow, Evincar's Justice, Whip of Erebos, Patron of the Nezumi, Reiver Demon, Whispersilk Cloak, Profane Command, Reaping the Graves

Still probably a lot more changes to come once I get a sense of how this update changes things.

Reversing Recent Changes

MegaMatt13, 7 years ago

Recent changes had added a lot of Selesnya token goodstuff to the deck. While not of these cards were effective, they took away from the landfall "feel" of the deck. I was bored of my former Rhys deck because it was just token good stuff. I didn't want this deck to fall to that fate. It is one of my faves.

Some of the recent additions, like Elspeth and Eldrazi Monument, have been great addition. A lot of others I have swapped out to bring back landfall cards like Guardian of Tazeem and Retreat to Kazandu

Bomberman Added

TheFanatic, 7 years ago

Auriok Salvagers, Lion's Eye DiamondGC, and several other bomberman combo pieces have been added to the deck. I removed some of the slower death and taxes pieces and some of the less reliable sacrifice combo pieces to fit them in. I also generally lowered the curve some more and got rid of some cards that were underperforming.

Reverted back to budget deck with ninja theme

Death4Sale, 7 years ago

_____Removed_____ 4x Remand: going back to a budget deck. Mistblade Shinobi takes care of bouncing creatures 2x Delver of Secrets: going back to budget; keeping theme ninja-centric 4x Dissolve: too expensive of a counterspell, replaced with cheaper one 4x Vapor Snag: good card, but Mistblade Shinobi already bounces creatures; not needed since Delver is taken out too _____Added_____ 4x Mistblade Shinobi: good, cheap ninja for bouncing creatures 4x Mana Leak: inexpensive cardwise and mana wise counter spell 2x Slither Blade: replacing triton shorestalker as an unblockable ninja-enabler 4x Distortion Strike: to keep ninjas on board unblockable for 2 turns 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge: a blue land with a bonus effect

EDH League

demonicgrizzly, 7 years ago

Beeñ playing this deck at my LGS weekly commander league. I am going to start keeping track of my win/loss record, with the ultimate goal of making the deck more tuned and consistent. I will be starting this next week.