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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Pauper Duel Commander | Legal |
| Pauper EDH | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Rules Q&A
Awe Strike
Instant
The next time target creature would deal damage this turn, prevent that damage. You gain life equal to the damage prevented this way.
TheVectornaut on
When The Wall Is Up Against You
3 years ago
I have a lot of experience with mono-green Assault Formation in modern and legacy casual, so I'll toss in some of my thoughts.
Perfect curves certainly aren't necessary, but you should be able to accomplish something on each of the early turns of the game. More than just playing any old card, it should be something that fits in with your overarching gameplan. I agree with cutting Adventurous Impulse as a 1-drop for this reason. It can't get you Formation, Bow, or any other noncreature combo piece you happen to be running. I'd usually run a Llanowar Elves style dork instead in a ramp list. Still, in walls, I think there are even better options than that. My personal favorite is Traproot Kami since it adds an early defender to the pool and can become a serious threat with Formation if the game goes long. Plus, it works well with the lands-matter strategy that Oran-Rief Hydra is also part of. Other options I've had less success with are Jaddi Offshoot for life, Portcullis Vine for cards, and Saruli Caretaker for slow mana. On 2, Sylvan Caryatid, Gatecreeper Vine, and Wall of Roots are all ramp options, but you're probably fine with just Battlement and Vine Trellis. Wall of Blossoms, however, I view as a must-have if you want to maximize your mana without running out of gas. The ability to up the defender count while replacing itself is so good that I even run a playset of the slower Carven Caryatid too, but this could be excessive depending on the deck. The last defender I'll mention is Tree of Redemption. It's more expensive, both in CMC and in dollars, but it is an undeniable threat with Formation. Higher toughness also makes better use of tricks like Sheltering Word and Feed the Pack.
For the top end of the curve, you might actually be underestimating how much mana the ramp walls can net. With your current setup, you only need 2 of either Guardian or Battlement and 1 other wall to have 9-11 mana on T4. Removal is obviously the biggest obstacle to this being a reality but it seems like you're preparing for a counterspell-heavy meta in a big way. Either you use your protection on the walls and win with Formation when they stop your bombs, or they wait to remove the bombs and you have protection saved up to stop them. Honestly, it feels like you might have too much defense in the mainboard but I'll touch on that later. My point here is that you are likely to have more than enough mana to cast threats much more substantial than the Hydra, and that's without modifications to your suite of defenders. In the current version of my deck, it isn't strange to have a game like: T1-Forest+Traproot Kami, T2-Forest+Overgrown Battlement, T3-Forest+Wall of Blossoms+Axebane Guardian, T4-Forest+Genesis Wave for x=9. Oran-Rief Hydra is a totally fine card to top off at if you build around it, but right now I don't even see it being better than Terra Stomper in a lot of games (and Stomper even has built-in counter protection now that I think about it XD). To get more value out of the Hydra, I'd swap the cycling lands for cheap fetches like Evolving Wilds to double up on landfall triggers, and I might also consider some +1/+1 synergy cards in the vein of Hardened Scales or Hydra's Growth. On the subject of landfall, Vinelasher Kudzu is an interesting option that fits with the plant/wall cards, at least thematically. Mechanically, Undergrowth Champion, Rampaging Baloths, and Avenger of Zendikar are all probably better. I've already mentioned Genesis Wave, but some other options for finishers that I've seen are Archetype of Endurance, Hydra Broodmaster, Primordial Hydra, Vigor, End-Raze Forerunners, Colossus of Akros, pretty much any eldrazi, and any red x-spell that can target players. If you choose something with x in the cost, having Umbral Mantle or Freed from the Real to generate infinite mana is beneficial.
The last thing I'd like to talk about are your noncreatures. As I mentioned before, 4 countermagic blockers seems a little excessive in the main 60. I personally struggle much more with Path to Exiles, Fatal Pushes, and Searing Bloods than Counterspells on most days, so I'd usually prefer the Vines of Vastwood or the flexible Veil of Summer. However, I don't know what your meta looks like. If countermagic is a big problem, another way to get around it is to add in plenty of redundancy. Instead of running only 4 bombs, run 8 so 1 is more likely to slip through. Savage Summoning and Insist are fine answers, yet they run the serious risk of becoming dead cards if your opponent isn't playing blue. Of your instants though, Subdue seems to be the weakest to me. It looks like it will usually be a bad Awe Strike or an inverted Berserk that can't contribute to damaging the opponent. If you had cards to benefit from toughness outside of combat like Kin-Tree Invocation, it could at least serve a similar role to Glyph of Destruction in Wall of Blood/Rite of Consumption decks. The final card I might reexamine is Bow of Nylea. generally, mass deathtouch is at its best when you either have a way to force damage (like Lure or Thornbite Staff) or when you want to create a disincentive for your opponent to block (like when running a Curiosity deck. The thing about a high power is that it already allows you to kill multiple blockers and the thing about trample is that it already discourages single blocking. Deathtouch on such a creature is therefore a little redundant. Sure, it's better to have it than not have it, but it might not be worthwhile if it comes at the cost of 3 mana and a card. I'd want some concrete way to take advantage of the Bow's activated ability to justify running it. For example, my G/W enchantment lifegain deck from Theros standard used the gain 3 life ability to buff Ajani's Pridemate. In your case, the +1/+1 might be the best choice to build around since it can overlap with the Hydra's trigger.
matt1991 on
4 years ago
Thanks for the tips.
I updated the deck following it, altho i'm not really sure if it's what you meant, replacing Awe Strike with Path to Exile , added 4 more lands, and replaced the Authority of the Consuls with Dawn of Hope . Also included two Seraph Sanctuary as another lifegain source just to trigger it like it was before since i removed Authority of the Consuls . The 1 life may not seems much but helps boosting the team using Archangel of Thune and Ajani's Pridemate , and with one or two Angel of Vitality will bring a lot of +1/+1 counters to the battlefield. Let me know if i could improve it even more. Thanks again.
wallisface on
4 years ago
I think you have to make sure that your cards are giving you more value than just gaining life - as that in of itself will not win you the game.
I would drop Rest for the Weary because of this, it doesn’t help do anything except give you more life, and you should be gaining enough of that anyway. Same goes for Authority of the Consuls . It’s also worth questioning whether Awe Strike does enough when you could just remove that creature instead?
I think your land count is also quite low. 20 lands means you’re not hitting your 5th land until turn 8 on average, and not reaching your 6th land until (on average) turn 11. That’s a really long time, and your opponent will have likely overwhelmed you by this stage, if you haven’t won already.
Rhadamanthus on Awe Strike vs Skirk Fire …
5 years ago
All the damage Skirk Fire Marshal would deal to creatures and players will be prevented. The damage is dealt in a single event, so the "next time" part of Awe Strike applies to all of it.
Awe Strike doesn't specifically say it only works on combat damage, so that means it can prevent any kind of damage a creature would deal.
Milesprower87 on Awe Strike vs Skirk Fire …
5 years ago
Awe Strike vs Skirk Fire Marshal,will 20 damaged be prevented, 10 damage, or none at all? Or does Awe Strike only affect combat damage?
DemonDragonJ on Shroud of Benevolence/Malevolence
5 years ago
Story Circle is a wonderful card, but it has not been reprinted in many years, nor have any cards similar to it been printed, recently, so I wish to pay a homage to it with my own creations, as seen, below:
Shroud of Benevolence Show
This card adds the effect of Awe Strike and/or Hallow to story circle, and, as such, is more expensive to both cast and activate.
Shroud of Malevolence Show
This card is more aggressive than the other, being very similar to, yet very different from, it at the same time.
What does everyone think of these cards?
Darth_Savage on
Moments of Grandeur
5 years ago
Hi creepergreen,
Apothecary Initiate, Serene Steward, Soulmender and Cradle of Vitality all have issues, mostly that the effect costs mana or requires you to tap a creature. The most common life gain deck in Modern is Soul Sisters, named so for Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant. If your wanting to avoid that route then maybe a more aggro focused list with Lone Rider Flip and Ajani, Caller of the Pride.
You might also want to consider Awe Strike, Kabira Crossroads and Authority of the Consuls. Another option is you look at a mechanic like Extort, see Blind Obedience as an example. Or look at alternative (but based on life gain) win conditions like Chalice of Life Flip, Aetherflux Reservoir, Felidar Sovereign or finally Divinity of Pride.
Whatever you decide, I hope this helps and have fun brewing your deck.
joshw335 on
Don't Hit Me I'm Just Playing A Game (Oloro Stax)
6 years ago
Plague of Vermin and Phyrexian Processor are great ways to use the life you gain for additional board-presence. Using Children of Korlis with it allows you to have no downside to the heavy life cost.
Toxic Deluge is a useful board-wipe
Boon Reflection, Rhox Faithmender and Alhammarret's Archive allow for double life-gain.
Awe Strike is a great way to gain life when you have a large attack on you.
Blood Celebrant allows for mana diversity when you are missing a color.
