Card Changes
Antonius_Cleus, 3 years ago
I was able to get my hand on an Exploration, which means I'm taking out Altar of the Brood. Altar is a nice gimmick for this deck, seeing as with Omnath, Locus of Rage out I get two triggers from it every time, however it doesn't help me progress my game plan with my lands, so I'm favoring the free land drop over the mill.
Update #5: Powerful Progress
zelephent, 3 years ago
Within the past few sets, there have been a few cards that progress this deck towards perfection.
- Commander's Insight has been replaced with Even the Score
Pretty straightforward upgrade. While Commander's Insight can net one more card at times, Kruphix is incredibly hard to get rid of, due to being indestructible and not a creture at times. This means usually Commander's Insight will only draw one additional card. Even the Score can be three mana cheaper, so it will net two more cards than Commander's Insight on average with its discount.
- Time Stretch has been replaced with Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant
Time Stretch is really just used to get a free win; a bit of a boring card, after playing with it for a bit. Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant is much less boring; being able to copy big draw spells, ramp spells or even an extra turn spell is incredibly powerful. That being said, copying Time Stretch takes it a bit too far.
- Circle of Dreams Druid has been replaced with Topiary Stomper
This deck doesn't play very many creatures in the early game, and even in the late game, doesn't usually have a ton unless it is about to win. Therefore, Circle of Dreams Druid is too inconsistent in this deck, and weak most of the time in the early game (especially because Kruphix isn't a creature when played). Topiary Stomper is far more consistent, while providing a better body in the endgame.
- Ecological Appreciation has been replaced with Cultivator Colossus
Ecological Appreciation is pretty powerful, but it does miss out on some important cast triggers of some of the best bombs in this deck (such as Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger & Emrakul, the Promised End). Also, similar to Time Stretch, I don't really enjoy playing the card. Cultivator Colossus is incredibly powerful in this deck. Usually it has a very large hand, and lands can clump in them. Because Kruphix gives no max hand size, they aren't ever discarded, so Cultivator Colossus is likely to dump down a ton of lands while keeping my hand large.
- War Room
has been replaced with Dreamroot Cascade
War Room
isn't really needed in this deck; there are enough good draw spells in this deck that a subpar one on a land is unnecessary. Dreamroot Cascade is a good two color land that will enter untapped 99% of the time.
Update #9: Plant Power-Up
zelephent, 3 years ago
Plants have gotten slightly larger since their appearance in Plants versus Zombies... While not many new cards have been good enough for this deck, there has been one sweet card the past three sets for landfall.
- Gelatinous Cube was replaced with Cultivator Colossus
Gelatinous Cube is not quite exile in black, unfortunately. This card ends up playing very similarly to Banisher Priest, which is not a very good card, because if it gets removed the threat returns to the board. The cube happens to be more costly than the preist, being four mana instead of three. Compared to a card like Ravenous Chupacabra, which kills two creatures permanently with Yarok, and this card falls short. Taking this out for non control is greedy, but this card doesn't function as removal most of the time anyway, so the deck shouldn't feel like it has less removal.
Cultivator Colossus, on the other hand, is pretty crazy. Being able to cycle all of the lands in my hand onto the battlefield is incredibly powerful, and combos very well with basically any landfall card in this deck. Unfortunately, doubling this enter the battlefield trigger off Yarok isn't very useful, because presumably all the lands in hand will have been placed on the battlefield by the time the first trigger resolves, since it can keep placing down lands for as long as it wants. That being said, the one trigger is good enough that it doesn't need the extra boost. The only issue I could see arising is card draw to fuel this card; this deck struggles with card draw sometimes and is already adept at placing down many lands from hand a turn, so I can see situations where this sits dead in hand. But it had a positive impact on playtest, and is certainly better than Gelatinous Cube.
- Littjara Mirrorlake was replaced with Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
Littjara Mirrorlake has been activated maybe twice ever during real play? While copying a card can be pretty powerful in this deck, and being on a land means a clone can be inserted into a land slot, the manabase in this deck is pretty competitive, due to being a landfall deck. This land is incredibly subpar if not sacrificed, since it is just a tapped island. The difference between this and Glasspool Mimic Flip is massive, because while the mimic is a tapped island on the flip, it only costs three mana to play the clone. Littjara Mirrorlake usually takes a turn to activate, because it enters tapped.
Takenuma, Abandoned Mire is at worst an untapped swamp, which is already far better then a tapped island. But unlike Littjara Mirrorlake, its utility can be used right away, assuming the mana is available, and at instant speed. Adding more recursion to this deck is good, since it lacks in that area quite a bit. It also has neat synergy with Simic Growth Chamber; if I've already played Takenuma and want to recur a creature, it can be bounced back to hand using the chamber's enter the battlefield trigger. Regardless, the utility this land provides is more needed in this deck than another clone spell, and it provides it far more easily than Littjara Mirrorlake did.
- Kodama's Reach was replaced with Topiary Stomper
Kodama's Reach is seen as a stable in this format by some. While it is a great card, Yarok wants to be playing creatures to ramp, since after Yarok is played, these creatures will ramp more when played, further amplifying the landfall triggers. The cheaper non-creature ramp spells (Nature's Lore & Three Visits) not only are cheaper, but also can get any forest, meaning they can fix mana much more easily than Kodama's Reach can, despite the latter getting two lands instead of one.
Topiary Stomper is an awesome card. Not only is it a plant dinosaur, which is cool in itself, but also it is a three mana creature that ramps on enter the battlefield, which is precisely what this deck wants! Yes, it can't attack or block until seven lands are in play, but in a landfall deck with plenty of mana ramp, that's hardly a downside. The body is pretty sizeable as well; not most three mana dorks can boast a 4/4 power & toughness. Pretty easy decision here.
None
kingcoopa, 3 years ago
OUT:
Yawgmoth's Will, Undead Augur, Shepherd of Rot, Poppet Stitcher Flip
IN:
Wheel of Fortune, Windfall, Thirst for Discovery, Mystic Remora
None
irish_trunks, 3 years ago
Lurrus of the Dream-Den got the ban hammer so he can no longer hang with these hammers
None
Skaso, 3 years ago
IN Mirari's Wake, Essence Sliver, Hibernation Sliver, Lavabelly Sliver, Necrotic Sliver, Metallic Sliver, Vanquisher's Banner, Realmwalker, Herald's Horn, Maskwood Nexus Dormant Sliver, The Locust God OUT Ruinous Ultimatum, Golgari Signet, Selesnija Signet, Fist of Suns, Songold Barrage, Tamiyo's Safekeeping, Volcanic Offering, Go for the Troat, Myriad Landscape, Krosan Verge, Rusvale Bridge, Razortide Bidge
Streets of New Capenna Updates
zswarat, 3 years ago
Remove - Add / Liliana, Death's Majesty - Lethal Scheme / Lazotep Plating - An Offer You Can't Refuse /
Streets of New Capenna Updates
zswarat, 3 years ago
Remove - Add / Drag to the Underworld - Lethal Scheme /
Streets of New Capenna Updates
zswarat, 3 years ago
Remove - Add / Corpse Knight - Halo Fountain / Kaya, Geist Hunter - Rabble Rousing / Yahenni, Undying Partisan - Bennie Bracks, Zoologist / Dockside Chef - Tenuous Truce / Diabolic Intent - Ink Shield / Blot Out the Sky - Grand Crescendo / Baleful Mastery - Lethal Scheme /
Streets of New Capenna Updates
zswarat, 3 years ago
Remove - Add / Invigorating Spring - Luxior, Giada's Gift / Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei - Family's Favor /
+ Seht's Tiger - Felidar Guardian
Padbras, 3 years ago
He's more useful, and cuter
The 100 Card Cut!
TheNinjaPhoenix, 3 years ago
After a lot of pondering, testing with different cards, and general thinking on how the deck should play, I've pushed this Syrix deck down from well over 150 cards at one point to a playable 100-card list. This includes a separate 15-card sideboard that has more evasion and combat-themed cards, as the main deck is a little more focussed on the GY interactions and Phoenix/Ninja triggers.
Since reaching 100 cards, I've made a minor change, which is the addition of Phyrexian Tower to the landbase, which somehow I missed. It's a phenomenonal piece of tech for the deck. I'm also mulling over increasing the land count to 35, as 33 has been a bit hit and miss.
The real test for Syrix will be building the deck in paper fully and playesting at my local store rather than just casually online via goldfishing and 'computer-randomised' testing.
As always, feedback is appreciated!
Update
Murcierlago, 3 years ago
Wheel of Fortune and streamlining mana/focus
Trying to fix some issues
DoubleCorvid, 3 years ago
There tends to be an issue of getting lands into the yard to trigger Slogurk. Magus of the Moon doesn't do much. Elvish Reclaimer and Seasoned Pyromancer can be used to trigger Slogurk, with differing goals. SPyro is used to reload late game, while Reclaimer can grab fetches, Boseiju, or Otawara.
Overburdened With Treasure
Beebles, 3 years ago
Well, this was probably the most treasure-laden set since Ixalan… Here's my analysis of the ones that could be added in this deck:
- First off, back in Neon Dynasty Commander we got Universal Surveillance. Although it’s not an instant, it is a better fit here than Commander's Insight. It’s the logical extreme of cards like Thoughtcast and Reverse Engineer. Happy to run this.
- We have a great new outlaw to add to our crew in Professional Face-Breaker. Almost a second Malcolm in terms of treasure generation (only combat damage), but with the upside that all our creature types can join the fray. The ability to turn any treasure into impulse draw is a major benefit! Taking out Sigil of Sleep for this, which proved to be a bit too situational here.
- Prosperous Partnership: an awesome treasure producer in our colors, but unfortunately more at home in a creature or creature token heavy deck. Although it has some synergy here with cards like Magda and vigilance Akiri, there likely aren’t enough tappable creatures in here to make this card outperform something like Monologue Tax, as Malcolm wants us to swing with most of our creatures instead.
- Hoard Hauler: too slow and situational for my taste, at least for this list. Also, there aren’t a lot of creatures here that can crew this.
- Rose Room Treasurer: another treasure producer that gels well with creature token decks. Which, unfortunately is not this deck… It’s a bit of a similar card to Storm-Kiln Artist here, as the deck does not provide enough synergy to warrant an include.
- Indulge / Excess: one more treasure maker that goes into go-wide decks. Not enough synergy here.
- Smuggler's Share is probably more valuable as a draw spell than a treasure token maker. In terms of token production, it will probably also not outperform a Monologue Tax, but taken overall it is probably the stronger card of the two. I like the flavor of this one as well. Cutting Intuition to try this one, as it ultimately felt a bit out of place here.
- Rain of Riches: I’m split on this card. One the one hand it’s an interesting treasure payoff. I like that it works on any turn and that it’s a super greedy card that’s very on theme. On the other hand it takes the deck in a different direction, as it incentivises that we use our treasure instead of banking them. That’s why I won’t be running it for now.
Enough lightning riding already
Forkbeard, 3 years ago
Ok welp, that's that. I've played this deck for many years and have tuned it to what I think is a decent build, but as it turns out I don't really enjoy counterspelling things until I'm ready to hit the 'I win' button with an infinite mana combo + [insert opponent death card here]. Kind of neat the first few times (hey it worked!), sort of boring the next few times (hey, it happened again, ok) and then just super meh ever since (hey, this is getting repetitive and causing feel bads all round). I also don't love playing against counterspell heavy solitaire decks that combo out when they're ready so why would I want to be that guy? So yeah. I'm stripping this deck apart for parts but I'm leaving this final list up here online for posterity - I won't be updating this list again. Side note, this is the first deck I've ever dismantled! Feels weird but also liberating.
New Capenna adds and some replacements
um_fido, 3 years ago
New Capenna had some great cards for our queen deck, i've added:
- Tenuous Truce comes in and Toil / Trouble goes out, and its great, i love it, its a deal, a protection and a draw card;
- Shakedown Heavy replaces Prosper, Tome-Bound, its a bigboi draw and i like these cards that force our opponents to make a decision, like Clackbridge Troll;
- Painful Truths makes room to Master of Ceremonies, which in the worst case will amass us an army, in the best case we'll have lots of treasures and cards;
I love how these cards are so flavorful in this deck and increases our card draw.
I also added some cards that i feel that would benefits us more than the old ones:
- Dictate of the Twin Gods comes to replace Temur Battle Rage, the flash global double damage feels good;
- Debt to the Deathless replaced Tainted Strike, which makes me sad, cause the surprise infect is so in theme with Marchesa, but I needed something that could kill our opponents all at once if needed;
- Wishclaw Talisman is a better (and a little more expensive) Forging the Tyrite Sword, but the effect to send it to a opponent to make a deal and receive it back to use the last counter is great.
- Surveyor's Scope is better than Pyramid of the Pantheon and helps us to not stay too behind in the game;
Praetors Moving
illidan123, 3 years ago
Maximizing all proliferate. Praetors will find new planes to conquer.
Streets of New Capenna upgrades
shadowmoses514, 3 years ago
I want to lower the curve of this deck, while increasing both the mana production and speed of the spells of the deck. While I have fun playing the high impact cards here, I've noticed more and more the sorcery speed and mana hungry nature of this deck is leading to too many times where I'm sitting with nothing to do except sacrifice maybe one thing.
-1 Insurrection +1 Bootleggers' Stash: Firstly, its cheaper to play. The gap between 6 and 8 doesn't sound that large, but G vs RRR certainly is a huge price. Also, given that this deck plays Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth to have more access to G over red, this is a meaningful change. Additionally, Insurrection was supposed to be an "instant win" card, and I'm finding more oft that it's only good at eliminating one player and maybe halving or weakening another. The stash provides a bunch of artifact tokens to sacrifice, both for mana and for Shattergang. The tokens can also be doubled with Parallel Lives
-1 Hull Breach +1 Unleash the Inferno: While more mana intensive, the being both P.walker or creature AND artifact/enchantment removal all stapled into one card at instant speed
-1Vraska, Relic Seeker +1 Stimulus Package: Vraska is underwhelming, and cutting a 6 mana spell, that -while versatile- often blows one thing up, or makes a few irrelevant tokens has been feeling pretty mediocre. Stimulus package not only sticks around ans another enchantment to sack, but also makes mana and can make a few blockers in a squeeze.
-1 Explosive Vegetation +1Crop Rotation: Explosive is a relic of the past. It's certainly nice, but not only are there strictly better version of the same card, but I want to be able to find any land, not only basics. Also, instant speed
-1Staff of Nin +1Heartstone: Makes Shattergang's abilities cheaper. Narrow, but maybe effective enough. There is enough "drip-draw" with Erebos, greed and Arena, and burst draw that I don't feel like staff is needed and is also at 6, and does nothing for too long.
Changes to winning better
Skirtle, 3 years ago
Out:
1x Consuming Vapors Not worth a single extra treasure at my next upkeep
1x Izzet Chemister Not enough spells worth casting, a dead card on the battlefield sometimes
1x Disrupt Decorum Goading almost always backfired somehow
1x Swamp Have enough
1x Light Up the Stage I don't think it's worth playing
In:
1x Warp World Treasures count as permanents
1x Nadier's Nightblade Treasures also count as tokens
1x Exsanguinate Another nice wincon., and if it doesn't win, gains me a lot of life
1x Dockside Extortionist It's dockside.
1x Urabrask, Heretic Praetor I like Urabrask and helps with exile casting
