Zealous Guardian

Creature — Kithkin Soldier

Flash

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

Discussion (9)

excasteal on UW kithkin

6 years ago

You most definitely need to be playing Hallowed Fountain since you can fetch it with any of your fetchlands, making any fetch fix for either of your colors. Additionally, Flooded Strand is the best fetchland for you to be playing, so if you are only running 4 fetches you should be running those instead of the mistys and the mesas. Ponder is also banned in modern, so maybe try Serum Visions to have a similar effect. Supreme Verdict is a superior Day of Judgment since you are in UW and have a solid enough manabase. Eldrazi Monument is likely to never be cast, and is also just bad for control anyways since you will slowly be diminishing your own board. If you really want an anthem, I'd suggest Always Watching since it will let you attack and still hang back on defense, which is very useful for a control deck. It doesn't give your creatures indestructible, so they will now play poorly with your board wipes, but again the monument is still pretty unplayable.

The deck overall has this awkward split between wanting to be aggro and wanting to be control. You are going wide on creatures yet playing board wipes; you are a control deck with 24 creatures and no cheap removal or counterspells. I'd try to streamline the deck and play an agro-control strategy. Cut the board wipes and add in cheap interraction, like Path to Exile (4x Path can easily replace the 2 board wipes and Oblivion Rings) and then add in some cheap countermagic in place of your Eldrazi Monuments. Remand, Mana Leak, Spell Snare, etc. are where you want to be here. Goldmeadow Harrier is also pretty inefficient, I'd say look into Figure of Destiny or even Goldmeadow Dodger for marginal evasion or Zealous Guardian because flash is generally more useful than the tap ability (though the latter two aren't a large step greater than the harrier). FoD is also great because you could grow him while holding up mana for control - remember, you can always activate his abilities at EoT (end of turn)! Aether Vial is another solid option if you want to mimic fish, but your cmc is all over the place so I wouldn't auto-jam it in.

Pedro2163 on Tap to Win

7 years ago

Tout lgal en modern:

Goldmeadow Harrier, Soul Warden, Town Gossipmonger  ^Flip, Zealous Guardian, Champion of the Parish, Dragon's Eye Sentry, Dutiful Thrull, Loyal Sentry (ca c'est la pire).

triproberts12 on Night Skies

7 years ago

Ah, thanks for bringing that to my attention, PrancingTarpan- Stinkweed Imp would be a pain. I think Bant Sureblade is solid enough to keep, especially since 2 of the blades at once give some insulation against pingers, but I agree that Zealous Guardian is the weakest card in the deck. Was actually considering swapping it mainboard for Vapor Snag, which would definitely help with Stinkweed Imp, and it will at least slow down pingers. Being able to bounce it for 1 damage and then hold up mana to counter or threaten a counter could be a solution.

PrancingTarpan on Night Skies

7 years ago

I've had so much fun playing this deck! A few things I've been thinking about (and wonder if others would agree with.)

-While the Zealous Guardians have some obvious blade-enabling value (and at instant speed they have some cool pump spell-like synergies) I consistently feel like the average performance of the U/W creatures in this deck is good, but not great. They don't trigger your Nightsky Mimics and they don't get the same overwhelming power boost from Edge of the Divinity. Against grindy decks I often find myself wishing for a cheap way to dig for more B/W creatures or instant-speed ways to protect what's already on the board. I'm thinking of replacing the guardians with a cheap blue instant that will smooth out my draws into something with higher impact... any recommendations?

-This is may be more of an observation, but I think that Stinkweed Imp hoses this deck more efficiently than any other single card I've played against. (Vulshok Sorcerer is probably a close second.) The decks that play it usually have plenty of sacrifice outlets to get around your Curse of Chains. It's the one instance where I really found myself longing for an Unmake (esp. since it exiles.) Any advice for dealing with these situations?

Queritz on Tribal: Kithkin

7 years ago

@total_euphoria

Thank you for your detailed comment! :)

I think Cloudgoat Ranger is to slow for my deck. I do run 3 coppies of Militia's Pride. I looked at Ballyrush Banneret but it would only affect Kinsbaile Borderguard and Militia's Pride since all the other cards dont have collerless mana.

Thistledown Liege and Zealous Guardian look realy fun to play thanks for pointing them out.

I replaced Dismember with Journey to Nowhere.

total_euphoria on Tribal: Kithkin

7 years ago

Cloudgoat Ranger could work for you as would Militia's Pride, Ballyrush Banneret, Thistledown Liege and Zealous Guardian. As kithkin are generally low costing I'd be tempted to go creature heavy (around 24-26) and swarm your opponent. That way you could remove Ranger of Eos which isn't tribal. I also believe whilst 24 lands is a solid number you could afford to lose 1. I run 23 in my soldier/angel deck and seem to get on fine even though the mana curve is significantly higher. Finally, if you really want to run removal, there are much better cards than Dismember. Try Journey to Nowhere or Pacifism for more control.

Lame_Duck on

7 years ago

Zealous Guardian seems kind of low impact. Figure of Destiny or Cenn's Tactician or Goldmeadow Harrier or even Goldmeadow Stalwart are 1-drop Kithkin that should remain relevant for longer.

triproberts12 on Night Skies

8 years ago

It's definitely a better card, if you have the mana to cast it. However, if people are spending turns bouncing creatures, that bodes well for this deck, since it's so fast. I totally encourage a slower build with the options you suggested. I can imagine dropping Nip Gwyllion, Mourning Thrull, and Zealous Guardian for a slower build using Unmake, Preordain, and Delver of Secrets  ^Flip with Hydroblast and Crystallization in the sideboard. Mostly, I just want to use every available mana and win by turn 5 with a deck that costs under $5. I see hybrid mana and conditional counterspells as the best way to accomplish that goal.