First I don't think Melira combos will be a thing in Modern without Pod except as a fringe thing, as the combos don't even necessarily win you the game unless you have Redcap, and you need three cards for it. The redundancy helps but isn't quite there.
It has won a PPTQ over here so it might have potential. This might push it from fringe towards the next tier.
Because it's not just redundancy, I think this one is much better than Melira.
One problem with Melira was that if you had a persisted Finks/Redcap on the field you couldn't combo until you found a new one/a Restoration Angel/a Township. With Anafenza you can play any creature to make your combo life again.
Next to that if you aren't comboing Melira is just a bear while this one can provide a more solid board presence if not dealt with.
Biggest downside I see is the combination of the double white cost and that it doesn't tap for green for Chord of Calling, so the deck might have to rely more on shocklands.
Also in a meta where infect is a popular deck 4x Melira mainboard was just hilarious.
Also, I think this card might've been a factor in the decision to ban Pod itself.
Nah, I think Collected Company was more likely to be the factor in banning Pod. In my now-retired Melira Pod, CC could hit 23 creature cards, so it would have been pretty likely to hit 2 creatures there. And from my testing, Collected Company is bonkers in shells that are likely enough to make it poop out 2 creatures, and it's even been powerful enough (if flaky) in a 17-creature deck.
But yeah, in testing in my "Melira" Collected Company Combo deck, Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit has been so much better than Melira. Like you said, she actually refreshes Persist (so I can be even more reckless with my Persist dudes), and her Bolster pump actually matters in basically every match-up (yes, especially outside of the combo). I ripped out both Meliras for Anafenzas and haven't regretted it.
First I don't think Melira combos will be a thing in Modern without Pod except as a fringe thing, as the combos don't even necessarily win you the game unless you have Redcap, and you need three cards for it. The redundancy helps but isn't quite there.
It has won a PPTQ over here so it might have potential. This might push it from fringe towards the next tier.
Because it's not just redundancy, I think this one is much better than Melira.
One problem with Melira was that if you had a persisted Finks/Redcap on the field you couldn't combo until you found a new one/a Restoration Angel/a Township. With Anafenza you can play any creature to make your combo life again.
Next to that if you aren't comboing Melira is just a bear while this one can provide a more solid board presence if not dealt with.
Biggest downside I see is the combination of the double white cost and that it doesn't tap for green for Chord of Calling, so the deck might have to rely more on shocklands.
Also in a meta where infect is a popular deck 4x Melira mainboard was just hilarious.
Also, I think this card might've been a factor in the decision to ban Pod itself.
Redundancy is good, now that Surgical Extraction seems more common. I'd play both...
I'm also trying to make Melira/Anafenza combo work again, but problem is that it's a 3-4 card combo (Melira, sac outlet, Redcap or Melira, sac outlet, safehold elite, blood artist) without the tutor goodness of Birthing Pod. How?
To make the "Melira" Combo work in Modern, use the magic that is Collected Company. It digs 6 deep for 2 out of 3 combo pieces (or any other 3--cmc creature you...flip). Don't find combo pieces? You're 6 cards closer to getting them, at least, and you've probably bought quite some time with the creatures you did get!
I've been having good results with my Pod-like "Melira" Collected Company Combo deck. Back when I had 3 "Meliras", 3 sac outlets, and 5 Persist dudes, assembling the combo was slow enough that I was better off grinding with higher-quality cards against most decks. Thus, I dropped the "Meliras" and sac outlets to 2-ofs. I still combo off fast enough against removal-light, creature-heavy decks such as Abzan Liege. The only cards Collected Company can't hit in it are 2 Abrupt Decay, 2 Siege Rhino, the other 3 copies of Collected Company (I run a full playset), and 22 lands (yup, I don't run Chord of Calling). I've had to make some adjustments from the Pod base because Collected Company can't hit 4+-cmc creatures and can't tutor--for example, I run 2 Qasali Pridemage instead of 1, and I'm running Garza's Assassin (yuck) instead of Shriekmaw.
Just like old times with Pod, I often don't win with the combo, and nowadays, it's even harder to make opponents play around the combo, but pooping out 2 creatures per Collected Company wins games. It even wins games against traditionally bad match-ups such as RG Breach Trap. You can argue that this is a good reason to not run a combo--in fact, that's the direction Junk/Abzan Pod was evolving towards just before it got banned. I just don't know a good enough Value Collected Company list yet.
I would have really liked it as as 1/1 for but as it is I'm not sure how powerful it is.
From my testing, she's powerful enough in creature-heavy shells...in Modern. ...Yeah, that makes her just good enough to be fringe in Modern, as I have a tough time envisioning her in anything other than a Pod-like deck there, but golly, does she make Collected Company even better than it already is. I've already turned Collected Company into a mean instant-speed combat trick twice so far with Anafenza out. (They tend to be of the "Eternal Witness was about to trade with a 2/1 but now stomps over it" variety.)
In Standard? I don't know...the colours are harsh, she has no synergy with any pushed tribe in Standard, and she won't Bolster when tokens ETB, but if you land her early enough, semi-lord pump and/or being a 2-mana 3/3 (if you play a creature on Turn 3 or, heck, Turn 2 right after her) cannot be denied.
I've been having good results with my Pod-like "Melira" Collected Company Combo deck. Back when I had 3 "Meliras", 3 sac outlets, and 5 Persist dudes, assembling the combo was slow enough that I was better off grinding with higher-quality cards against most decks. Thus, I dropped the "Meliras" and sac outlets to 2-ofs. I still combo off fast enough against removal-light, creature-heavy decks such as Abzan Liege. The only cards Collected Company can't hit in it are 2 Abrupt Decay, 2 Siege Rhino, the other 3 copies of Collected Company (I run a full playset), and 22 lands (yup, I don't run Chord of Calling). I've had to make some adjustments from the Pod base because Collected Company can't hit 4+-cmc creatures and can't tutor--for example, I run 2 Qasali Pridemage instead of 1, and I'm running Garza's Assassin (yuck) instead of Shriekmaw.
Wait...you only run 2 Meliras, 2 sac outlets and 5 persist guys and are still able to combo off reliably? It's a good direction you're going, more like hatebears, but I just want to be sure I got you correctly...
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Yup, most of them get to horrid exile with Anger of the Gods. Given that Anger of the Gods levels have fallen lately and the red sweeper is generally bad against the currently dominant Modern Junk Midrange, that might not be a bad thing.
The 3 Goyfs I have in my latest build should get around Anger of the Gods, though, and Collected Company is an awesome way to recover from any board wipe.
Yup, most of them get to horrid exile with Anger of the Gods. Given that Anger of the Gods levels have fallen lately and the red sweeper is generally bad against the currently dominant Modern Junk Midrange, that might not be a bad thing.
The 3 Goyfs I have in my latest build should get around Anger of the Gods, though, and Collected Company is an awesome way to recover from any board wipe.
I was looking at another deck recently and came across myr superion.
between mana dorks and tarmogoyf 2cc creatures like myr superion I can agree that anger of the gods won't wipe the board as effectively as one would like. though I'm thinking of how game winning anger of the gods use to be to the suit of creatures that cost 3cc or less for POD like decks that were JUNK colors.
good point though, definitely a "recovery card" as well.
kind of reinforces the notion that modern needs a reprint of pernicious deed! I'd say gaze of granite compares, but unfortunately you can't achieve the same amount of board wiping damage as and X cost enchantment. 6 mana for gaze of granite to wipe out a deck specializing in collected company, pretty useless/meh!
-if anger of the gods can't solve the problem, I guess oblivion stone might be what achieves the affect were looking for. only down side is you have to go from 3cc to 5 mana!
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I've been having good results with my Pod-like "Melira" Collected Company Combo deck. Back when I had 3 "Meliras", 3 sac outlets, and 5 Persist dudes, assembling the combo was slow enough that I was better off grinding with higher-quality cards against most decks. Thus, I dropped the "Meliras" and sac outlets to 2-ofs. I still combo off fast enough against removal-light, creature-heavy decks such as Abzan Liege. The only cards Collected Company can't hit in it are 2 Abrupt Decay, 2 Siege Rhino, the other 3 copies of Collected Company (I run a full playset), and 22 lands (yup, I don't run Chord of Calling). I've had to make some adjustments from the Pod base because Collected Company can't hit 4+-cmc creatures and can't tutor--for example, I run 2 Qasali Pridemage instead of 1, and I'm running Garza's Assassin (yuck) instead of Shriekmaw.
Wait...you only run 2 Meliras, 2 sac outlets and 5 persist guys and are still able to combo off reliably? It's a good direction you're going, more like hatebears, but I just want to be sure I got you correctly...
I combo off reliably through 1 removal spell given enough turns. Most decks don't tend to give me enough turns (they never gave Melira Pod enough turns, either), but decks like Abzan Liege and Soul Sisters basically get walled too easily and don't have anywhere near enough removal for the combo, so I consistently combo off against them. I occasionally luck out against other decks.
Yup, most of them get to horrid exile with Anger of the Gods. Given that Anger of the Gods levels have fallen lately and the red sweeper is generally bad against the currently dominant Modern Junk Midrange, that might not be a bad thing.
The 3 Goyfs I have in my latest build should get around Anger of the Gods, though, and Collected Company is an awesome way to recover from any board wipe.
I was looking at another deck recently and came across myr superion.
between mana dorks and tarmogoyf 2cc creatures like myr superion I can agree that anger of the gods won't wipe the board as effectively as one would like. though I'm thinking of how game winning anger of the gods use to be to the suit of creatures that cost 3cc or less for POD like decks that were JUNK colors.
good point though, definitely a "recovery card" as well.
kind of reinforces the notion that modern needs a reprint of pernicious deed! I'd say gaze of granite compares, but unfortunately you can't achieve the same amount of board wiping damage as and X cost enchantment. 6 mana for gaze of granite to wipe out a deck specializing in collected company, pretty useless/meh!
-if anger of the gods can't solve the problem, I guess oblivion stone might be what achieves the affect were looking for. only down side is you have to go from 3cc to 5 mana!
Anger of the Gods was traditionally spanking good against Melira Pod, although it got slightly less effective when Siege Rhino got popular. Given that Collected Company decks have fewer reasons to run tricksy dudes over bigger beatsticks than Pod decks did, and Collected Company forces a lower curve than Pod did, I think CC decks are more resilient against Anger of the Gods than Pod decks were.
Nah, I think Collected Company was more likely to be the factor in banning Pod. In my now-retired Melira Pod, CC could hit 23 creature cards, so it would have been pretty likely to hit 2 creatures there. And from my testing, Collected Company is bonkers in shells that are likely enough to make it poop out 2 creatures, and it's even been powerful enough (if flaky) in a 17-creature deck.
But yeah, in testing in my "Melira" Collected Company Combo deck, Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit has been so much better than Melira. Like you said, she actually refreshes Persist (so I can be even more reckless with my Persist dudes), and her Bolster pump actually matters in basically every match-up (yes, especially outside of the combo). I ripped out both Meliras for Anafenzas and haven't regretted it.
To make the "Melira" Combo work in Modern, use the magic that is Collected Company. It digs 6 deep for 2 out of 3 combo pieces (or any other 3--cmc creature you...flip). Don't find combo pieces? You're 6 cards closer to getting them, at least, and you've probably bought quite some time with the creatures you did get!
I've been having good results with my Pod-like "Melira" Collected Company Combo deck. Back when I had 3 "Meliras", 3 sac outlets, and 5 Persist dudes, assembling the combo was slow enough that I was better off grinding with higher-quality cards against most decks. Thus, I dropped the "Meliras" and sac outlets to 2-ofs. I still combo off fast enough against removal-light, creature-heavy decks such as Abzan Liege. The only cards Collected Company can't hit in it are 2 Abrupt Decay, 2 Siege Rhino, the other 3 copies of Collected Company (I run a full playset), and 22 lands (yup, I don't run Chord of Calling). I've had to make some adjustments from the Pod base because Collected Company can't hit 4+-cmc creatures and can't tutor--for example, I run 2 Qasali Pridemage instead of 1, and I'm running Garza's Assassin (yuck) instead of Shriekmaw.
Just like old times with Pod, I often don't win with the combo, and nowadays, it's even harder to make opponents play around the combo, but pooping out 2 creatures per Collected Company wins games. It even wins games against traditionally bad match-ups such as RG Breach Trap. You can argue that this is a good reason to not run a combo--in fact, that's the direction Junk/Abzan Pod was evolving towards just before it got banned. I just don't know a good enough Value Collected Company list yet.
From my testing, she's powerful enough in creature-heavy shells...in Modern. ...Yeah, that makes her just good enough to be fringe in Modern, as I have a tough time envisioning her in anything other than a Pod-like deck there, but golly, does she make Collected Company even better than it already is. I've already turned Collected Company into a mean instant-speed combat trick twice so far with Anafenza out. (They tend to be of the "Eternal Witness was about to trade with a 2/1 but now stomps over it" variety.)
In Standard? I don't know...the colours are harsh, she has no synergy with any pushed tribe in Standard, and she won't Bolster when tokens ETB, but if you land her early enough, semi-lord pump and/or being a 2-mana 3/3 (if you play a creature on Turn 3 or, heck, Turn 2 right after her) cannot be denied.
Wait...you only run 2 Meliras, 2 sac outlets and 5 persist guys and are still able to combo off reliably? It's a good direction you're going, more like hatebears, but I just want to be sure I got you correctly...
Retired: WUEphara, God of the PolisWU blink | WGerrard CapashenW lifegain | WUB Ertai, the CorruptedWUB combo | WAvacyn, Angel of HopeW
mono-white controlangel tribalPauper: UBDimirKittyUB | RBG Deathcycle RBG
Modern: GWUEnchantressGWU | GWUTurbofogGWU
thus handing the meta over to red decks?
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Yup, most of them get to horrid exile with Anger of the Gods. Given that Anger of the Gods levels have fallen lately and the red sweeper is generally bad against the currently dominant Modern Junk Midrange, that might not be a bad thing.
The 3 Goyfs I have in my latest build should get around Anger of the Gods, though, and Collected Company is an awesome way to recover from any board wipe.
I was looking at another deck recently and came across myr superion.
between mana dorks and tarmogoyf 2cc creatures like myr superion I can agree that anger of the gods won't wipe the board as effectively as one would like. though I'm thinking of how game winning anger of the gods use to be to the suit of creatures that cost 3cc or less for POD like decks that were JUNK colors.
good point though, definitely a "recovery card" as well.
kind of reinforces the notion that modern needs a reprint of pernicious deed! I'd say gaze of granite compares, but unfortunately you can't achieve the same amount of board wiping damage as and X cost enchantment. 6 mana for gaze of granite to wipe out a deck specializing in collected company, pretty useless/meh!
-if anger of the gods can't solve the problem, I guess oblivion stone might be what achieves the affect were looking for. only down side is you have to go from 3cc to 5 mana!
Twitter- RogueSource.
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[I]Some call it dig through time, when really your digging through CRAP!
Merfolk! showing magic players what a shower is since Lorwyn!
I combo off reliably through 1 removal spell given enough turns. Most decks don't tend to give me enough turns (they never gave Melira Pod enough turns, either), but decks like Abzan Liege and Soul Sisters basically get walled too easily and don't have anywhere near enough removal for the combo, so I consistently combo off against them. I occasionally luck out against other decks.
Anger of the Gods was traditionally spanking good against Melira Pod, although it got slightly less effective when Siege Rhino got popular. Given that Collected Company decks have fewer reasons to run tricksy dudes over bigger beatsticks than Pod decks did, and Collected Company forces a lower curve than Pod did, I think CC decks are more resilient against Anger of the Gods than Pod decks were.
Hallowed Burial and Perilous Vault tuck or exile creatures instead of killing them, while Oblivion Stone just kills them.