Version 5.0

EMPARAWR, 8 years ago

-1 Duplicant >>>> +1 Willow Satyr
-1 Inspiring Call >>>> +1 Armorcraft Judge
-1 Forest >>>> +1 Botanical Sanctum
-2 Forest >>>> +1 Island +1 Mountain
-1 Grove of the Burnwillows >>>> +1 Flooded Strand
-1 Lumbering Falls >>>> +1 Misty Rainforest
-1 Swiftwater Cliffs >>>> +1 Scalding Tarn
-1 Temple of Abandon >>>> +1 Spirebluff Canal
-1 Temple of Epiphany >>>> +1 Verdant Catacombs
-1 Temple of Mystery >>>> +1 Windswept Heath
-1 Thornwood Falls >>>> +1 Wooded Foothills

This update was a bit more land fixing. I removed a bunch of the lands that came into play tapped no matter what and added in some fetch lands and check lands.

Duplicant I discovered doesn't actually copy a commander because the opponent can just choose to put it into the command zone and as long as the commander isn't in the exile zone, duplicant can't do its thing. So instead I put in Willow Satyr to just steal their commander instead. That way it has been removed so they can't use it, and it can't be recast because you control it now. All in all a good trade.

Removing Inspiring Call for the new Armorcraft Judge from Kaladesh was a sweet trade up. Armorcraft Judge doesn't have the temporary mass indestructible but Armorcraft is a creature that will more often than not draw me a whole lot of cards for just a single green mana.

Edit

jahammon, 8 years ago

Removed: Baleful Strix, Hooded Horror, Terra Ravager, True-Name Nemesis, Viseling, Curse of Shallow Graves, Price of Knowledge, Infest, Eye of Doom, Swiftfoot Boots, Temple Bell, Wayfarer's Bauble, Dimir Guildgate, Evolving Wilds, Grixis Panorama

Added: Chandra Nalaar, Liliana Vess, Jace Beleren, Jace, Memory Adept, Temple of Deceit, Trading Post, Ring of Three Wishes, Opaline Unicorn, Darksteel Ingot, Slaughter Pact, Traumatize, Rise of the Dark Realms, Plague Wind, Demonic TutorGC, Nighthowler

I went 4-1 this Friday! Here's my report!

PierreThePlaneswalker, 8 years ago

Hello everyone! I've been playing at my new LGS for three weeks now, and I think it's about time I do a write-up!

Here's a recap of my last few weeks:

9/3: 4-0-1

9/10: 2-3

9/16: 4-1

I feel like I've been very successful with this deck and I'm happy with how it has preformed; last night was a particularly exciting FNM, so here's a quick report about all of my matches!

Match 1

Affinity, 0-2

I'll be honest: I was ticked that I was paired against Affinity in the first match, I ran 0 Hurkyl's Recall in the Side, so I died a horrible death.

Match 2

Living End, 2-1

Game 1

I start off keeping a risky one-lander that happened to have a Cursecatcher in it, probably not the best hand to keep, but it actually wan't bad. I drew into two more Cursecatchers which prevented him from comboing off. I didn't draw a second land for what felt like 10 turns (I was super sad), I eventually am able to play a Lord of Atlantis and swing in to trade with two Fulminator Mages. That was a misplay, he easily cascaded into Living End and held up a Simian Spirit Guide to pay for the cost.

Game 2

This was a much better game for me, I drew all the cards I needed and I was able to cut my opponent off the necessary mana with Spreading Seas. I overran him pretty easily.

Game 3

This game was weird. My opponent just sits there for most the game, piling things into his Graveyard, and I'm able to do my thing for the most part. I have lethal versus him on the board at one point, he casts Anger of the Gods with a Master of Waves on board. I note that Master of Waves has protection for Red and he scoops. It turns out that the only reason he scooped was because he though that meant Master OF Wave$'s Elemental Tokens would also not die. The guy dropped.

Match 3

Bogles, 2-1

Game 1

Bogles did it's thing and murdered my face, nothing to see here.

Game 2

My opponent keeps a one-lander which I Spreading Seas, he never top decks another land and die a horrible death.

Game 3

This game was stressful. He starts the game for a Gladecover Scout and on turn two plays two Slippery Bogle and swings. I'm able to trade a few creatures and kill everything except for the Gladecover Scout. After that I controlled his Enchantment shenanigans with a few well-timed Spell Pierces and Remands. Toward the end of the game I have three sources of Blue mana on the field, I have the option to play a Silvergill Adept or Lord of Atlantis. He presents lethal on board in two turns. I end up playing the Silvergill Adept and draw into a Master of the Pearl Trident. My next turn I play both cards and swing in for lethal. My opponent plays Path to Exile on a Merrow Reejery I had on board, but I was still able to get in for exact lethal. This game was close.

Match 4

N/A, 2-0

My opponent drops and leaves the tournament. Free win!

Match 5

RG Stone Rain, 2-1

Game 1

I was not excepting this match-up to be honest. I was forced to mulligan to five, which was super sad. My opponent goes ahead and murders all my lands and I'm hold no answers. Better luck next game.

Game 2

I keep an opening hand with Aether Vial because it is super good in this match-up. I starve my opponent off double-Red the best I can to prevent Anger of the Gods from being played. It works and I Islandwalk all over him.

Game 3

I keep a decent hand that did not contain Aether Vial, I wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not. It ended up being perfectly fine, my opponent had to mulligan to six, had a slow start, and didn't draw into anything relevant. I take the victory.

I end up winning $25 in store credit which I use to buy myself one Grafdigger's Cage.

I'm very happy about my performance last night, I went up against a lot of very hard games that I didn't think I would be able to beat. I feel like I'm getting a hand of this deck! I do not plan to change anything in the Mainboard as of today, but I do plan on making the following changes to my Side:

-1 Relic of Progenitus

-4 Tectonic Edge

+4 Hurkyl's Recall

+1 Grafdigger's Cage

Well, that's my first report! If you have any questions about my match-ups please feel free to ask and I will answer them best I can!

Thank you!

neses, 8 years ago

Update

NinjaShank56, 8 years ago

After talking with a few people, and goldfishing a bit, I have:

-added 2 Falkenrath Gorgers to bring it up to the full set, -added 1 Swamp, -added 1 Bloodhall Priest, and -added 2 Bomat Courier. -cut 1 Voldaren Pariah  ^Flip -cut 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance -cut 1 Geier Reach Sanitarium -cut 1 Stromkirk Condemned -cut 1 From Under the Floorboards

For the sideboard,

-cut 1 Combustible Gearhulk -cut 2 Noxious Gearhulk -cut 2 Grasp of Darkness -add 2 Avacyn's Judgment -add 1 Key to the City -add 2 Call the Bloodline

Noncreature for creature

Beio53, 8 years ago

Alright, small update here since I came across some cards by chance that would be good straight trades and I've thought over some of my leftover maybe board. Malicious Affliction for Flameshadow Conjuring: I have 0 instant recursion but most of my removal is based off etb anyway, so I figure it's a good trade off in mana for double creatures off Alesha's recursion, then a free sac for one of my new sac outlets and it moves me more towards red Wear / Tear for Tuktuk Scrapper: again moving from instant to creature is always good in this deck. Plus I now have 3 allies and (3?) in my acquire board for possible trigger stacking. I'll be putting resolutr blademaster back in once I have all the allies I'm looking for. Day of Judgment for Extinction: I was stoked to see this card. Targeted removal!! It's a bit niche but most of my meta work with select creature types so day can still be snugly in my sideboard if I go against more diverse decks. Life's Finale for Austere Command: more controlled boardwipe and the option of enchantment/artifact removal is hard to ignore. The selected mill for finale is amazing but being able to pick and choose my wants out of command is better I think. Dreadbore for Garza's Assassin: this could still be side boarded if I'm against a deck with black in it, but I'm the primary black user in my meta anyway so I can afford to switch a sorcery for a creature. Not to mention its recurrable in the deck and I can wait for a good target. Victimize for Hell's Caretaker: this card is soooo old for a newbie like me, but what it can do is incredible for my strategy. The required tap is a disadvantage but it's safely repeatable and I think that trumps getting 2 creatures out tapped in a sorcery. Undertaker for Animate Dead: this is a little off from the main strategy for me, but I have my reasons. Animate is great for a 2 cost but Undertaker is once again a creature with a discard outlet that I sorely need, and I can use it to load up creatures for substantial etb combos with the right stuff out. If I have Aurelia, the Warleader in my hand, I can Sneak Attack her out, use flameshadow to sac the original, swing with the copy to get my extra combat, make copy 2 with Feldon of the Third Path, swing for another combat, recur Aurelia to my hand, sneak her again, then flameshadow a final time for a total of 5 combat phases at a cost of 6 mana and everything but the discarded card is back where it started for next turn. This will probably never happen but I can dream. Vampiric Rites for Nantuko Husk: I love nantuko, it's the perfect card for my goals here: Alesha-recurrable, free no tapping sac outlet, and a substantial pump for big hits. I need all of these and, although the rites gives me something to do with my mana in turn 1, it costs more overall after its first use than nantuko does permanently. Unquestioned Authority for Skeleton Key: I consider this overall to be an upgrade even if I can only recur the key with Sun Titan at the moment. The discard outlet was my real reasoning for swapping these out, plus it gives me card draw. Protection from creatures is hard to turn down but skulk will do the job with Alesha I think, and anything below her power will likely lose in combat because of her first strike. Authority will still be in my sideboard though for dealing with pesky creatures.

I still have Imposing Sovereign in my maybe and it would be SO appreciated if someone could point out a place to put her in the deck because I can't find one. I've also got Whitemane Lion in there for possible comboing: dump mana into it to bounce itself and repeatedly trigger Goldnight Commander or just a simple counter to spot removal against Alesha. Recently encountered Song of the Dryads for the first time and I may be a little sore about my deck being shut down because my commander turned into a damn pine tree haha. Any suggestions welcome and thank you to all who've managed to read through these mountains of updates!

TORLOSTHEDRAGON, 8 years ago

Final changes / testing / W/L 2-0

BarfQuackers, 8 years ago

Officially removed Caged Sun it didn't add much for me, after adding, removing, and then adding again I decided to keep Darksteel Forge, while Avacyn, Angel of Hope does basically the same thing having both helps if one gets exiled and the forge can be brought back from the GY or tutored. I finally folded and spent the $30 on Batterskull which was a great addition. While I have 26(27) Plains its been a problem finding double white sometimes, so I may remove Thran Dynamo for Chromatic Lantern. and Still waiting on Inventors' Fair to be released which is why I have an extra plains.

Testing -1 Thran Dynamo and +1 Chromatic Lantern

This win was against Slivers commanded by Sliver Overlord, King Macar, the Gold-Cursed and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, I didn't think I was going to win this one I was a little drunk and not paying attention plus i had to mulligan to 4 and I couldn't find 2 white mana with 3 double white creatures in hand. So mono-black is ramping with artifacts, slivers is playing a lot of slivers and finally turn 5 I have enough to play my commander but that's it and turn 6 I finally get double white to play Transcendent Master Slivers takes a commanding lead by lifelinking up to 90. Alesha wipes all creatures I cast Stoneforge Mystic with Lightning Greaves and put in Batterskull, then Alesha sweeps all artifacts knocking mono black to only 3 lands and I think he scoops (at this point I'm playing GTA on xbone with my friends.) I put Deathrender in on mystic and someone kills it and I get Stonehewer Giant and search for Shield of Kaldra, I get Mask of Avacyn on him too (I don't have the match recorded at this point so I'm just going off memory.) Next turn I put on Loxodon Warhammer and swing for some lifelink. end of his turn I search for Sword of Kaldra. Next turn I search for Helm of Kaldra and put the mask and warhammer on Kaldra and I take out Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. Finally it's just me and slivers he has about 7 or 8 unblockable still at like 70 life and I have Stonehewer, a token, Heliod, and Kaldra at like 14/11. So I play Wrath of God destroying his board and keeping Kaldra and I also play Spear of Heliod. He replays and swing with his haste commander and I destroy it with Spear of Heliod he sees there's no coming back and quits as well.

So I was thinking about removing Lightning Greaves because equipments target and if something has lightning greaves on I can't add any more equipments. But the haste for 0 is extremely helpful so I think I'm going to keep it for now. Having 2 creatures is no problem because I can just stick it on one and load the other with equipments and move it back, but I rarely have more than one unless I'm already winning pretty hard.

The second win was interesting, it was mono-green Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury, Golgari Thelon of Havenwood, and mono-black Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni

this is what happens when things need to happen

mookie990, 8 years ago

Gotten an influx of higher-power decks in my meta, so decided to actually order cards to improve my decks for once. Lots of changes, so may need to undo a few of them at some point.

Cuts:

-Grave Betrayal - as a 7 mana enchantment, this can take over a game once it comes online... but hitting 7 mana is difficult, plus I don't have many ways to force my opponent's creatures to die.

-Mimic Vat - generally want to imprint my opponent's creatures on it... but once again, don't have a ton of ways to force things to die. Plus, need to hold up 3 mana.

-Vampiric Rites - costing 2 mana to activate always meant it was weak as a sac outlet. The incidental lifegain and card draw will be missed though.

-Butcher of Malakir - 7 mana creatures make this slower and more vulnerable than Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos. Not sure I actually want 3 of the effect anyway.

-Pontiff of Blight - always got stuck in my hand due to being a 6 mana creature that doesn't impact the board. Bigger issue was generally that I was pinched on mana - casting Exsanguinate every turn is sweet, but less so when X = 3.

-Diabolic Servitude - had a bit more recursion in the deck than I think I needed. Servitude has the downside of exiling the returned creature, and the upside of getting to reanimate multiple things is limited by me having multiple things worth reanimating.

-Harvester of Souls - nontoken, plus I don't have the ability to kill my opponents' things on demand.

-Bloodgift Demon - a bit slower an more fragile than I would like.

-Greed - a difficult cut, but 2 life and a mana per card is a bit steep. Wish I just had a NecropotenceGC lying around...

-Devout Chaplain - best case scenario is amazing, but I always find it too slow. If I play it early, my opponents don't play their big artifacts/enchantments until after it dies. If I play it after threats come down, I need to have it survive a full turn cycle before I can exile something. Maybe if I were playing some haste equipment? I do want more artifact/enchantment removal in the deck.

-Prismatic Lens - cutting for some different rocks.Didn't hate its inclusion though, so may add it to a different deck.

-Gift of Estates - always a bit too slow, and a bit too conditional.

-Plains, Swamp

Adds:

+Tombstone Stairwell - generates a lot of tokens, and makes them die. Very strong synergy alongside Teysa.

+Karmic Guide - one of the best reanimation effects available. No Reveillark here, unfortunately, but still good.

+Phyrexian Furnace - solid graveyard hate, plus it cycles in a pinch. Guaranteed to exile relevant cards eventually.

+Spirit of the Labyrinth - good at slowing down opposing blue decks, plus I can sacrifice it in a pinch.

+Merciless Eviction - when you absolutely need a lot of something gone. Will usually be naming artifacts/enchantments, but flexibility is good in general.

+Ashnod's Altar - premium sac outlet - free, instant speed, and relevant upside in the form of mana generation.

+Blasting Station - slightly awkward timing restrictions, but it can turn tokens into removal or serve as a win condition.

+Carrion Feeder - premium sac outlet - free, instant speed, and cheap. Cartel Aristocrat is a bit better, but Feeder has the upside of being an enormous beater.

+Knight of the White Orchid - primarily serves as ramp.

+Orzhov Keyrune - another mana rock, taps for both colors, turns into a creature in a pinch.

+Worn Powerstone - above-average mana rock.

+Everflowing Chalice - mana rock, potentially taps for lots.

+Oath of Lieges - not necessarily ramp, and it is symmetric, but it will hopefully allow me to catch up to any green decks.

+Terrain Generator - testing. I've noticed that I tend to draw cards in large batches, and often need to discard lands. This should hopefully let me play multiple lands per turn.

New pillowfort options

sweetaction, 8 years ago

I am looking for new pillowfort options. Ideally I would like to remove any remaining creatures I have in the deck and replace them with enchantment or artifact based pillow fort.

These are some options I am considering. Looking for suggestions.

1. Lethal Vapors
2. Sphere of Safety
3. Norn's Annex
4. Confusion in the Ranks
5. Night of Souls' Betrayal
6. Lightmine Field
7. Ensnaring Bridge
8. Meekstone
9. Land Equilibrium
10. Death Cloud
11. Pox
12. Tainted AEther

I'm not a huge fan of the pay to attack me approach because in most cases, they will just pay it to kill of my planeswalker threats. Ideally I want the more oppressive options. Honestly, boarderline stax strategy might be worth considering to help the planeswalkers out.

Cards I am considering removing:

1. Silent Arbiter - It's a creature, so it makes it less desirable to board wipe
2. Vigor - Looking to get as close to no creatures as makes sense

Katisu, 8 years ago

Ajani

Cactushorror53, 8 years ago

Katisu, 8 years ago

ARC_Salty, 8 years ago

oMass_Assassin, 8 years ago

-4 Young Wolf +4 Experiment One

-4 Garruk's Companion +4 Rancor

-1 Kalonian Tusker -1 Prey Upon

+4 Vines of Vastwood -2 Llanowar Elves

+1 Noble Quarry +1 Reverent Hunter -1 Revenge of the Hunted +1 Overrun

ARC_Salty, 8 years ago

First Draft Changes

foxboy93, 8 years ago

Out:

Basilisk Collar Dictate of Erebos Leyline of the Void Nim Deathmantle Oona's Blackguard Profaner of the Dead Rune-Scarred Demon Skullclamp Slithermuse Swan Song Treasonous Ogre

In:

Gray Merchant of Asphodel Disciple of Bolas Beacon of Unrest Beseech the Queen Brutal Expulsion Diabolic Tutor Falkenrath Aristocrat Flayer of the Hatebound Hedron Archive Victimize Zulaport Cutthroat

Reasons:

Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Zulaport Cutthroat, and Disciple of Bolas are all decent ways to gain life. They have the chance to return to the battlefield and trigger for another time and are recurable. Collar was a way to control what I gained and how much, but even then this is low life gain. These lets me get a bit more life substantially faster and easier, without trying to attack into creature.

Beseech the Queen and Diabolic Tutor went in, adding at least one additional tutor effect. Rune-Scarred demon was removed for the sole purpose of it getting bribed away and a player getting a combo piece they need to win.

Brutal Expulsion is a bounce and 'counter' spell all in one. Destroying a 2 or less toughness creature is just gravy. Havent decided if this is staying or not.

Falkenrath Aristocrat is a card I have been meaning to add for a while. Flying, haste, can give itself indestructible and is a low costing sac outlet

Victimize and Beacon of Unrest address the issue of recursion. I considered Champion of Stray Soul, but that needs creatures to sac to bring stuff back. Victimize allows a sac of a creature and the recursion of two creatures. Beacon shuffles back into the deck for reuse. Dread Return, Corpse Dance, Diabolic Servitude, Animate Dead and Ever After were all other reanimate spells considered, and might still change to up this number in the deck, but until further testing is done, cannot say if it will make a difference.