BNG Update
evncrbch, 11 years ago
Updated for BNG and other things I changed from testing, namely:
Main Board:
-3x Steam Augury +1x Divination +1x Assemble the Legion +1x Plains (yes I needed more land)
Side Board:
-1x Assemble the Legion -2x Glare of Heresy +3x Revoke Existence (a good answer to the pesky gods like Xenagos, God of Revels and Mogis, God of Slaughter)
Also due to the evolution of this deck I took off the search term "Burn" as that is not really a good focus for this deck any more. You could win that way, but good luck to you if you tried.
chillistills, 11 years ago
-- sword of body and mind ++ swiftfoot boots
WillBenicio, 11 years ago
UPDATE
After many tests with the deck, the main strength are the creatures that come at the beginning of the game.
It is possible to win in the 3rd to 4th depending on your hand, use prioranzando Madcap Skills in creatures like Rakdos Cackler or Thrill-Kill Assassin .
The sideboard was mounted so that it will never be caught out pro other guild (as Selesnya or orzhov).
I need suggestions to improve this deck forever.
Thanks Friends!
bluntfudge, 11 years ago
Added some sideboard cards and experiment one to see if it runs better against faster decks
Update on a few games last week
zerotwo, 11 years ago
Played two three players matches with this deck against a Jund deck and a Gruul deck.
Changes before play:
Static Orb <- Island and Deputy of Acquittals <- Puppeteer and Prodigal Sorcerer <- W/G/U removal I can't remember the name of
Amazing. Utterly amazing. I love this deck with all my heart. I pulled the Static Orb early and risked it. Static Orb forced the Jund and Gruul decks to a complete and utter standstill, only able to play a creature every few turns and those creatures easily handled by me or each other, I kept them locked down until one eventually drew some artifact destruction.
By that point with a gajillion lands on the field and my ability to untap more lands per turn thanks to Derevi landing hits I was way better prepared and plowed both of them into the ground. I really get a great sensation of control with this deck, I still feel I need more tricks though.
Panpipe, 11 years ago
Panpipe, 11 years ago
Panpipe, 11 years ago
New Commander!
dannylambo, 11 years ago
So, until I get Rafiq of the Many (next week) I'm gonna use Roon of the Hidden Realm and focus on ETB effects for the most part, with plenty of removal along the way.
Boros Charm and Anax and Cymede
Skyrex, 11 years ago
I've, again, made the deck more consistent by adding in another Boros Charm
(Finally found another one! Took forever just to get the two I have).
I also removed the Fiendslayer Paladins because I don't think they really fit unless I'm playing against Red burn or Black control. In their slot I put in Anax and Cymede which have a good heroic trigger as well as First Strike and Vigilance, how can you go from with that in a Boros aggro deck?
Removed 2 Lightning Strikes for the Boros Charm and another Martial Glory for more Heroic triggers.
Finally, moved Elite Inquisitor to the side board for specific match ups. I replaced him with another Spark Trooper.
I've found this deck a lot easier to hone in on what I want from it.
Thoughts are appreciated!
Chaser121, 11 years ago
after playtesting
born4battle, 11 years ago
Added Mutavaults and Obzedat, Ghost Councils after playing FNM against too many U/W Control decks.
That night I made Top 8, beat Mono-Black easily, Fiendslayer Paladin was huge against G/R Monsters, and beat 1 U/W deck after I got a dream hand 1st game and he got Mana-screwed 3rd game. Hope next week U/W gives me less problems!
veediepoo, 11 years ago
So this deck did horrible at the TCG player 5K in providence. I went 0-4 and then dropped. It was a combination of being mana screwed and having bad draws. I drop Chandra and some removal and added an extra swamp and another underworld connections and put Mogis back in. I'm hoping to test this out soon and hopefully it will have better match ups
Early Game
Skyrex, 11 years ago
I updated the deck to make the early game a little bit better. I'm attempting to make my early game set me up for late game. This deck really shines after turn 5/6 when you have enough mana to get our your big hitter, and then play Gray Merchant of Asphodel. The early game should benefit this in some way.
The only problem is that I've removed a lot of dual color cards, and it's slowly turning into a mono black deck, which isn't my goal. I may revert some of the changes and go in a bit more of an "Orzhov" life-drain direction soon. I can't really decide.
Early game cards I've changed --
I've removed the following cards:
1x Reaper from the Abyss 3x Unmake 3x Pillory of the Sleepless 3x Castigate 1x Banisher Priest 1x Oblivion Ring
Cards I've added: 1x High Priest of Penance 2x Mortify 1x Go for the Throat (would like to replace with another Mortify, I just don't have another one right now) 3x Distress 3x Surgical Extraction
I removed Unmake and Castigate because I want to be able to use Surgical Extraction on whatever I destroy and make them discard. I removed the Pillory of the Sleepless for the Surgical Extractions.
I've made a few changes to the late game as well by removing:
1x Avatar of Woe 1x Liliana's Reaver 1x Rogue's Passage
And adding:
1x Underworld Connections 1x Druidic Satchel 1x Norn's Annex
My reasoning: Druidic Satchel will help me decide if I want to force draws with Underworld Connections, give me more land, chump blocker tokens, and some extra health.
Norn's Annex gives me some protection, and I can bring it out on turn 3. I'm not to concerned about self pain cards in this deck, I have enough life gain/drain to recover it. I may remove this card for something else in the near future.
Underworld Connections is just great all around in this deck. With Druidic Satchel I tend to have enough lands to use Connections every turn if I choose, while having land to play other cards. It also gives 2 devotion, which is amazing.
Please give me any feedback!
Initial Card Replacements and Additions
StormedWolf, 11 years ago
Thanks to all of you who gave some advice, I really appreciate all of it.
I've done some consolidating here and there, removing some cards, and adding duplicates of others, but I won't have a trip to make it out to my local card shop for a few days to get any new cards.
I'm definitely going to add Trading Post, along with Festering Newt, Bogbrew Witch, and Bubbling Cauldron as soon as I can find them all. I'll go ahead and add Doom Blade and Pacifism to the deck, as I've already got two of each. I'll also be adding in two more Angelic Accord, Child of Night, and Soulmender as soon as I can get my hands on them.
I'm considering the removal of Avenging Arrow and Wring Flesh, I don't feel the really align with the rest of the deck that well, any opinions? Accursed Spirit and Minotaur Abomination are out as well. They were last minute additions that didn't sit too well with me either, and I'm glad that opinion wasn't just mine.
I'd also like to end up with a second Sunbond and Divine Favor, I like the concept of Stab Wound, but I'd be like to hear arguments as to why It doesn't work in the deck.
--
For now I'm using the Maybeboard as the Acquireboard. It makes more sense to actually display the things you'd like to add but don't own.
SKR1BB13, 11 years ago
Did a rebuild and pulled the forest cards out. I will post the new deck soon.
Rebuilt and ... better?
raithe000, 11 years ago
Alright, I finally got around to updating this and taking some suggestions into account. Siren of the Silent Song is out for Herald of Torment, the Springleaf Drums went with her, Dimir Charm is being tested, Thoughtseize moved to the sideboard, Nivmagus Elemental went in, and I upped the land count. I think that was it.
Explanation of Card Choices/ Tips and Tricks
brando602, 11 years ago
4x Fleecemane Lion: This was one of the easiest decisions made in this deck, fleecemane lions are wonderful, 3/3 for 2 and with a monstrous ability that makes it incredibly relevant throughout the game. A neat little trick with fleecemane is that you can monstrous in response to things. "Oh you doom blade? I will monstrous. Sup." which will occasionally get a free card away from an enemy that wasn't paying enough attention. 4x Loxodon Smiter: Best card art in the deck by far, so awesome looking. Oh yeah, this isn't in my head. Okay, Loxodon is certainly one of the MVP's of this deck, totally worth having a 4of in my opinion, even though other decks have been shying away from him. He's a 4/4 for 3 with extreme upside, he's great at ruining the dreams of your control playing opponent. Oh you shocked your third land into play so you have a second source of blue, then pass the turn to me. It would be a shame if something happened that your dissolve wouldn't stop. Wouldn't it be...Boop. Out comes a huge elephant warrior that drinks the very tears of your opponent. 1 of the 3 mana to cast him is colorless which is wonderful because alot of this deck has some strict color restrictions and this is your turn 3 room to breathe. Also if you ever follow me in being risky and keeping a six land + smiter hand vs mono black and they turn 1 thoughtsieze you get to jump on the table and dance as they summon your loxodon for you before you even have a land out and hurt themselves for two. TL:DR - An Elephant never forgets. 4x Experiment One: An unsung hero of sorts, Experiment One is in my opinion the most powerful one-drop in the game. Plain and simple. Once he is at 2 1/1 counters (Very easy to achieve this by turn 4 consistently) He can live through verdicts/removal/burn/combat tricks gone awry. Basically everything. How many 1 drops become 3/3 creatures with nearly free regeneration attached? Great card, worth having 4 of. 2x Banisher Priest: What can I say, the dude's a savior. He steps up and removes from play some threats that otherwise couldn't be dealt with, while also serving to evolve an experiment one in the most cost efficient way possible, by just 1 upping his stats. Banisher Priest is our "Get back into this damn game" card if severely behind, and can set up many victories by removing that key blocker. Be warned though, if you banish a card that has a come into play effect it will go off when banisher priest is removed, meaning sometimes it may not be worth exiling their big creature. I'm looking at you Shadowborn Demon. Banisher may not be on board for huge amounts of time very often, but at worst will often trade card for card with a removal spell, and at best functions as a 3 mana 2/2 that removes an enemy creature from the game. Totally worth running some in the deck, my personal preference is 2 because he's quite awful in the control matchup, but he's my most sided in card. I will bring the other 2 priests in against most creature based decks, he's just that good. 2x Boon Satyr: This card is quite the trickster, can function as a flashed in blocker to ruin your opponents plans, to be flashed in at the end of your opponents turn to dodge Supreme Verdicts, or be flash-bestowed onto a creature to create a very sudden lethal. Comboes INCREDIBLY well with Ajani, Caller of the Pride's -3 ability, bestowing boon satyr on the creature with flying/doublestrike alone creates 8 damage to your opponents face, let alone the damage from the creature it was bestowed to. Another great part of Boon Satyr is that when bestowed on a creature, will often force your opponent to use a removal spell they otherwise wouldn't want to waste, and then afterward the Satyr comes into play for free, with a big ole' smile on his face. A 4/2 for 3 isn't the best, but with all that upside, how can we say no? 2x Mistcutter Hydra: Oh sweet lawdy this guys a monster. We run 25 lands in this deck, most g/w aggros run much less, this guy allows us to spend some of that excess mana into a creature that is an amazing creature even in it's worst matchups. Mistcutter Hydra is the sum of every Mono U Devotion and U/W control players nightmares. He is a humongous creature with haste and protection from everything you do. Good luck. You're probably now thinking "If he's so good against blue specifically, why not sideboard him??" Well i'll tell ya dumby, it's because he's really good even if the protection from blue isn't relevant, he creates extremely sudden killing blows with the Haste and is generally impossible for opponents to predict. He also can't be countered. Which may be a bit overkill with the protection from blue already on, but it's still pretty cool. 3x Call of the Conclave: I must say, this card is good, but probably the second worst card in the deck. A 3/3 for 2 is never bad, and the fact that it's a token is upside thanks to populate, but overall this card pales in comparison to Fleecemane Lion in the two drop slot, and has no real other function than another aggressive cost effective creature that's low curve. This card is almost always sided out if I ever need to bring other cards in, but hey, she's pretty good to have in general, she's just 3 more chances to draw a slightly less good fleecemane lion. I can dig it. 2x Ajani, Caller of the Pride: Ajani is my dude, he's my first planeswalker i've ever owned and he creates more victories than any other card in this deck. His plus 1 ability is never not relevant, functioning as a buildup to your own creatures or as a way to make his 4 power creature killable by selesnya charm (Never thought of that interaction, did ya? Granted, it doesn't work for alot of the cards it would be awesome for, namely Stormbreath Dragon and Blood Baron of Vizkopa, but still. It's pretty fucking cool.) and his negative 3 ability is an extremely sudden way to win games, best part is he can negative 3 the turn he hits the board and won't even die for it! Ajani is a great card and when combined with Selesnya Charm and Boon Satyrs Bestow potential can resolve 20 life opponents in a flick of the wrist pretty reliably. That all alone would justify this guy being in the deck (And being 12 dollars) But wait! There's more! His ultimate is also a pretty potent threat, ensuring opponents have to deal with him if the board state is stable and he's just plus 1'n dudes just waiting for that army of tokens to fly out and get ready. His ultimate is far from the best of this standards planeswalkers, but it's not the worst either. Ajani is the card that finishes like 75% of my games, and he's definitely earned his slot in the deck. 4x Advent of the Wurm: This card has everything this deck represents, he's cost effective in that he's a 5/5 for 4 and has some extremely amazing effects around that, first off he has trample, which is huge for any creature based matchup for us, but he's also a token, which makes rootborn defenses not as bad of a card as it seems. But wait, here's the kicker, it's an instant! You pass your turn 4 to your opponent with 2 open forests and 2 open plains and they know...oh they know. But they can't stop ya. And it works even better for opponents who have no idea, suddenly the board state goes from clear from the start of their turn to filled with a giant 5/5 wurm with trample that can attack this turn and who's controller still has all of his mana, by the end of the turn. Advent also is the most common creature you will use ajani's negative 3 ability on, resulting in the most static damage possible from the deck (Excluding Mistcutter Hydra potential). And who doesn't love the idea of a wurm with wings? No one but your opponent that game. 4x Selesnya Charm: This card is amazing, the three functions are each extremely potent and the card is everything we could ask for in a 2 mana instant. The ability to remove threats, the ability to let us trample through for extra damage, and the ability to turn into a 2 mana 2/2 with vigilance at instant speed. This card also serves to evolve experiment ones for the perfect amount, allowing us to cost effectively evolve so that our 3/3's don't have to waste evolve triggers on higher powered creatures first. Selesnya charm says "Fuck you!" to every god but Phenax, as well as cards like Desecration Demon, Polukranos etc. The +2/+2 and trample results in a lot of sudden victories and is a consistent threat to your opponent in creature based tradeoffs, and the token is nothing to scoff at. I find myself using the token rather often, and never regret it, a 2/2 for vigilance is grossly underrated. 2x Rootborn Defenses: This card has a couple potential good situations, and alot of plain awful ones. It falls flat 95% of the time, but the times that it doesn't it is a life savor, it essentially functions as a way to survive sweepers, as well as occasionally allow us to get in some free damage and make another token (Which if it happens to be advent, is really good, but will often be a Knight from selesnya charm or Centaur from call of the conclave.) The card I side out immediately against any matchup where it's not relevant for sweepers, what I consider to be the worst card in the deck. However, it just can't be sided out completely, the potential to rid the threat of u/w controls biggest removal spell is far too enticing. I don't know, at some point I might just bring in 2 replacement cards to this and just side all my rootborns, but that day is not today. 2x Unflinching Courage: SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST! No, actually I didn't at all. But hey, it isn't rootborn defenses. I kid, I kid. This card is actually extremely powerful, it's saved me more times than I can count, with an extremely relevant ability of lifelinking me back into the game while allowing creatures without trample to get in there and do some work. Good card that I recommend to be in every g/w decks mainboard but I would say to never have more than two as they often result in 1 for 2 trades for your opponent, but the potential is enough to outweigh this risk, enough for two copies at least. The Lands: Our lands aren't where I want them to be overall, i would love to replace the guildgates with temple gardens asap and add in our final temple of plenty, but all that will come in time, for now we will focus on the number of lands as that's the most distinctive feature of them thus far. So 25 lands. Why that many? While most selesnya decks aim for lower land counts to facilitate more lower cost creatures to come out and destroy, I took a different approach with this deck. I went for a more, higher curve bigger creatures style to the aggro deck. We have plenty of ways to spend any excess mana we run into, and I love having the curve I have instead of 10000 1 drops. The higher curve more land style of play just fits me better as a player, if you would want to pilot a similar deck it is up to you to judge your preference, but with a deck having Fleecemane Lion's monstrous, Mistcutter hydras, boon satyr bestows and generally nice higher curve than the usual aggro deck, this extra land does not go to waste. Sideboard: 4x Dryad Militant: I bring these into matches against decks that are slow and beat me if they get to where they need to be, things like u/w control/bant walkers etc. 4x Last Breath: Our only real early answer to Pack Rat, DESTROYS mono U (Literally kills every typical mono u creature but Thassa. Master of waves, Tindbinder mage, Frostburn weird, Judges familiar, Cloudfin Raptor, Nightveil specter etc. 3x Plummet: Great card for the situations it fits. Bring it in against Mono U and Mono B, you won't be dissapointed. Kills Desecration Demons, Angels of Thune, Cloudfin Raptors, Nightveil Specters etcetc. The other 4 sideboard cards are just extensions of their mainboard bretheren, they both have specific instances where they're worth having more copies of. So there was my explanation on the card choices as they stand, if you read this you're awesome, if you have any questions for suggestions feel free to ask/suggest, I had a blast typing this and consistently have a blast playing the deck. May Selesnya bless you in your future endeavors.
Playing my goldfish...
mercurial_golem, 11 years ago
Well, Shuffle-Draw-play pretend turns, shuffle-draw-play pretend turns.... etc. etc. Anyway, this is the current build of my Gruul deck and it seems to work pretty well, I'm very, very, rarely mana screwed. And, i seem to get more imposing threats out by turn 4 or so. It's always nice to have a God or three in your back pocket.
noskullonleague, 11 years ago
I'm probably going to take the Fleecemane Lion out of sideboard and put in 2 more Skylasher
MCC1701, 11 years ago
Good suggestions. I do want to note a few things. Card suggestions will only be accepted if they are listed as suggestions, not just mentioned. If some of the cards you mention aren't accepted and they are below $5, try suggesting them again. Each card taken is at the expense of another. If you see a suggestion you think would be better as a different card, mention in the comments to "downvote" it. I'm now going to remove cards from one downvote, not 2. Note the price of the deck through TCGplayer. The deck needs to remain under the $50 average mark to remain "budget" so feel free to remove cards that are extra expensive. When you suggest lands, I will deduct a basic I choose unless you specify one or nine to be replaced.
Pawel_Swist, 11 years ago
Player also has some tools to protect Brimaz like Charms & Bloodrush ability.
NotStiffler, 11 years ago
Deck now up to date sleeved.
Deck Shakeup v2.0
slooperman, 11 years ago
Okay! I added more creatures took out some useless stuff and added more land. I love how this is playing. I moved some stuff to sideboard and I am liking the speed of the deck. Current playtesting, I struggle against mono black/ orzhova decks.
