MTG thread

Heylel_sl said:

Welcome back Affinity. We've missed you (said no one ever).

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Yay my deck! I'm amazed that they still allow Mox Opal, wtf it's basically a strictly better power 9.

Maybe. It'll be nice to see Jeskai come back in a form that doesn't just try to jizz cantrips for Young Pyromancer.

I'm tinkering with a couple different Mentor lists (Esper and Mardu), and looking back at old GW Vengevine lists from a couple years ago to see what might still be relevant. Fauna Shaman could be too slow, but I really like the old GW list with it, Vengevine and Squadron Hawk. We've had a lot of sets since then, but if I can play Knight of the Reliquary I'm damn well going to try.

I think the Vengevine lists are going to be hurt by Golgari Grave Troll unbanning. With Pod and the Delve Brothers gone, there would have been basically no reason to run Graveyard Hate, which would have been great for the Dredgevine decks. But Golgari Grave Troll is a 'scary' card that is now at the front of people's consciousness to watch out for, even if it ultimately ends up doing jack shit (I mean, most of the current "dredge"vine decks can barely/can't find room for the Dredge 5 off Stinkweed Imp, it's just been more effective to proactively dump shit in the graveyard while sculpting a stronger hand using things like Faithless Looting and Grisly Salvage, rather than bricking your draw steps for a (generally) blank card that just mills you). I mean, I'm more likely to play GGT than I am Stinkweed Imp, because a Lhurgoyf with +1 Dredge is a Lhurgoyf with +1 Dredge, if I'm in the market for a random high dredge card.

You're less likely to encounter people whose sideboards consist of "that miser's Grafdigger's Cage" as their sole graveyard hate, because Golgari Grave Troll exists and people remember it being busted (with Dread Return, the actually busted card).

Also, no Blue Delve spells=Rest in Peace is actually a Sideboard option for decks again. which is no bueno.

It is a whole new world indeed. I still feel for people who bought into pod recently.

In other news does anyone else feel like Temur Sabertooth, Whisperer of the Wilds, Ugin, and Whisperwood Elemental are the keys to a possible mono-green devotion resurgence? Temur Sabertooth especially seems to provide ample opportunities for ETB trigger abuse in the deck alongside wrath and targeted removal protection.

My brother and I have playtested a monoG with Ugin. That card just ends UW Heroic. Lay him down quick, -2 or -3 to trash the board and you have +2 to colorlessly (weird word) Ghostfire any attempt at rebuilding. We tried 2x Shamanic Revelation to try and recoup some cards and wring value out of the mana dorks. Also plays nice with Nissa, who is strong a ramp play as well.

Shamanic Revelation is fun but I wonder if it is just better to play Eidolon of Blossoms to abuse the interaction with Temur Sabertooth?

Mist_sl said:

Technically they didn't do anything to stop this. I'm actually kinda interested in seeing what people come up with.

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It'll gas out in a hurry. There's no cost effective way for these low to the ground Pyro decks (and they were Pyro decks first, Delver decks second) to refill their hand. I expect them to fade away.

Xalara_sl said:

It is a whole new world indeed. I still feel for people who bought into pod recently.

In other news does anyone else feel like Temur Sabertooth, Whisperer of the Wilds, Ugin, and Whisperwood Elemental are the keys to a possible mono-green devotion resurgence? Temur Sabertooth especially seems to provide ample opportunities for ETB trigger abuse in the deck alongside wrath and targeted removal protection.

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Yea, was thinking something similar. I had kind of missed the sabretooth until after playing it in the prelease and reading Chapin's recent article. I already liked monoG devo just with adding Ugin and Whisperwood. Whisperwood fills a BIG weakness of the deck, dying to wraths, and since I believe UB control will start being a legit deck with Crux of Fate. Or, just other decks running Crux, you need that anti-wrath ability.
Ugin gives us a way to overcome really bad board states in the mid/late game, something the deck couldn't do before. If it had it's board wiped, it generally just conceded. Not so true now.

I don't know that Whisperer of the Wilds is necessary, especially 4. 4 Elvish Mystic, 4 Voyaging Satyr and maybe 2 Whisperer of the Wilds seems fine. Plus, 3-4 Nissa as another potential ramp card. Don't want to overload on ramp just to have the one big threat we play get killed by hero's downfall or something.
Plus, we have plenty of 4-5 mana dudes that can take over the game, so it's not as necessary to generate infinite mana.

Alternatively, the other decks I'm toying around with on paper are Red devo (splash white probably), W/R aggro/tokens (soulfire grand master, monastery mentor, lots of burn, chain to the rocks, etc..), a G/W manifest beatdown deck, G/R monsters (Dargons!!) or a G/B constellation/controlish deck.

I think Sultai will still be good, as will Abzan.. I just am not that drawn to either deck, so hoping I can find a deck that beats them consistently. Have a Super IQ coming up on Saturday with FRF legal. If I can't settle on a deck, will probably play Sultai in some form.

enzie_sl said:

Alternatively, the other decks I'm toying around with on paper are Red devo (splash white probably), W/R aggro/tokens (soulfire grand master, monastery mentor, lots of burn, chain to the rocks, etc..), a G/W manifest beatdown deck, G/R monsters (Dargons!!) or a G/B constellation/controlish deck.

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I like G/R Monsters and can see it doing more this time around. Tom Ross initially put together the G/B deck with Eidolon of Blossoms/Pharika etc - it's problem was it didn't have an answer to early Mantis Riders and, later, Rhinos. Now it can look at Xenagos, God of Revels into a hasted Atarka for 24 flying trample damage. Seriously though, with the new Phoenix and a couple of other FTF cards I can see G/R doing something.

I would like to try to get chromanticore and soulflayer into a working g/b or sultai deck. Also toss in some gods and hexproof guys. Im like 80% done making it should be awesome.

Intox_sl said:

I would like to try to get chromanticore and soulflayer into a working g/b or sultai deck. Also toss in some gods and hexproof guys. Im like 80% done making it should be awesome.

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You mean like Pharika and Sylvan Caryatid?

Of course. Seems like it may be annoying to play against since whip decks were already good and soulflayer seems great.

Enzie: After doing some testing with it, Temur Sabertooth is awesome. Unfortunately I think green devotion just durdles for too long against decks like 4C delve and Jeskai tokens. I hope I am wrong, and someone will figure it out because Temur Sabertooth alongside Ugin and Whisperwood Elemental open up a lot of play for green devotion where previously it was a very linear deck..

As for G/R monsters, Xenagod and Atarka are not where you want to be. I think G/R monsters wants to be as low to the ground as possible and curve out on turns 2-4. The deck that I am running through the gauntlet in preparation for a PreTQ this weekend is here:R/G Punch v2 (Unknown MTG Deck)

The key questions I am hoping to work out before Saturday are: Do I need Lightning Strike and is Wildcall better than Rattleclaw Mystic? I suspect the deck may not need Lightning Strike and that Wildcall gives you such a good curve out you dont need Rattleclaw Mystic. The deck still has issues with Siege Rhino, like all G/R decks do, but that is what Chandra and the fliers are for. I tried splashing white for Iroas but it was just too painful. The sideboard is still in flux with some experimental cards like Arcbond.

Wildcall is still my pick for sleeper of the set. It won't ever spike that hard, but it oughta do something.

I agree. The card can hit every spot of the curve, with upside. However it only goes in a few decks so you are right, it isn't going to spike.

I watched CVM do a VS video with a GR monsters build, and he basically confirmed my initial testing of flamewake phoenix. It's a good card, but doesn't quite fit into that shell. He wasn't running rabblemaster, while you are, but the double red and only 9 guys to activate ferocious make it subpar overall. I think you want more ashcloud phoenix, boon satyr, yasova, sarkhan or rattleclaws instead. I appreciate the Fanatic of Xenagos and staying lower to the ground, you really have to make sure you get ahead of your opponent and maximize pressure.. but the flamewakes are just a little awkward in the deck. They are better in a mono red shell.

Also, I tried to update Sam Pardee's R/W aggro list with new FRF cards, basically adding Soulfire Grand Master and Monastery Mentor and shaving other creatures.. Grand Master has been great, Monastery Mentor has been way too slow. Brimaz generally does more, and sooner. Mentor might fit into some kind of control deck that wants to sit back and kill/counter everything, but not in the more aggro lists people are trying to shoehorn it into.

This is the list I am at currently, got a PPTQ/Super IQ tournament this saturday that I'm trying to settle on a deck for and this is the current favorite.

Sounds about right for Mentor. I'm brewing with him quite a bit in Modern using more of a Jund-like or control shell. A 2/2 just isn't what you want for mixing it up on the ground.