MTG Salvation

With the prerelease past us, any thoughts of cards that can be used as answers to Standard's most dangerous threats? Thragtusk +/- Resto Angel? GoST? Snapcaster shenanigans?

I've seen a few things: Skullcrack to stave the life gain from Thrag and Glaring Spotlight for GoST

What do you guys think?

I found soul ransom really good in the pre-release, only way I could race is by discarding 2 cards and make him draw 2 to sacrifice the enchantment. It would have been a great answer to thragtusk if restoration angel wasn't in the same deck. Decks that run thragtusk don't kill very quickly so even if they choose discard u won't die on the swingback and you'll be swimming in card advantage.

Death's Approach is an easy way to deal with Lotleth Troll.

Executioner's Swing to deal with Thundermaw Hellkite at etb. The two cost edict effect Devour Flesh is a MUCH more flexible way to deal with the protect the Geist of Saint Traft plan.

Skullcrack does little against Thragtusk. Boros Reckoner on the other hand...

duskmantle seer replies to topdecking thragtusk, thundermaw hellkite for extra burn.
frontier medic is something that kills control decks in modern(with kill spells and stuff that they use to sweep/kill you).
fury replies to control, and chump blocking
deathpact angel replies to sweeps by leaving a 1/1 token on the field(you can sac the token anytime, which makes this card a beast)
alms beast kills anything, in Esper mill, who cares if they gain life? plus no one blocks it in fear of losing big creatures for life(swords to plowshares on a beast)
angelic skirmisher lets everyone get what they need to survive, combos with medic, "look at my army of indestructible vigilance/ first strike/ lifelink dudes coming at you!"
boros reckoner is a spitemare with the option of first strike
spark trooper is a lighting ball with lifelink

Quote from soulbanana

frontier medic is something that kills control decks in modern(with kill spells and stuff that they use to sweep/kill you).

How so? He only gives indestructibility as a Battalion clause so there are ways to deal with him. I think he is actually much more potent against creature-based decks that rely on combat to get ahead on board state.

my bad, sorry about that mistake

Quote from soulbanana

deathpact angel replies to sweeps by leaving a 1/1 token on the field(you can sac the token anytime, which makes this card a beast)

You have to untap with the token and your opponent will have 6 mana too. It will be easily dealt with before your untap step.
Not to mention every deck that has white in it that doesn't run snapcaster has 2 rest in peace in the sideboard.

Illness in the Ranks for any token based deck that needs pump out already!!

Quote from thatsnailguy

You have to untap with the token and your opponent will have 6 mana too. It will be easily dealt with before your untap step.
Not to mention every deck that has white in it that doesn't run snapcaster has 2 rest in peace in the sideboard.

true, but i don't get what you mean by untapping with the token. i assume lands
the only way that i found that makes the card better is populate and dredge, sacrificing the angel to mirei to get tons of life.
you can sac the token anytime! deathpact angel doesn't necessarily have to be killed immediately, so you will still have 6 mana open.
but yeh, if deathpact angel is killed on the turn it's summoned, then you're screwed:o.
idk about other standard decks, but i always run enchantment/ artifact hate on sideboard in EDH/ pauper/ modern casual just in case a pesky enchantment screws me up, like rest in peace.
good bomb, either way, and fair ressurection price.
i have yet to see someone sweep and remove a token at the same time...

almost forgot, spark trooper combos with siverblade paladin and aurelia infinite combat combo(conjurer's closet) it works as long as they don't kill the paladin, you gain 12 life either way, and if they can't kill aurelia/ spark trooper/ paladin, infinite life!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quote from soulbanana

almost forgot, spark trooper combos with siverblade paladin and aurelia infinite combat combo(conjurer's closet) it works as long as they don't kill the paladin, you gain 12 life either way, and if they can't kill aurelia/ spark trooper/ paladin, infinite life!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the definition of overkill:tongue:

Quote from soulbanana

almost forgot, spark trooper combos with siverblade paladin and aurelia infinite combat combo(conjurer's closet) it works as long as they don't kill the paladin, you gain 12 life either way, and if they can't kill aurelia/ spark trooper/ paladin, infinite life!!!!!!!!!!!!

The exile from Conjurer's Closet happens at the beginning of the end step, and Aurelia's second combat phase happens after the first combat phase. Am I missing something, or is this just not an infinite?

Quote from jazzrage

This is the definition of overkill:tongue:

i have always been a fan of it:D
after all, all my EDH are overkill, thromok sacs 12 tokens for a 144 that i fling/ give trample, sharrum affinity combos with stuff that makes artifacts dirt cheap(semblance anvil) and combos with vendalken archmage, and mimeoplasm tempo dredges my deck via mirror mad phanthasm, then exile anything to kill opponent (putrefax and death's shadow, triskelon and krosan cloudscraper ect)
back to matter at hand, battalion was meh in limited unless you had a good pool, but it may be good in constructed, who knows???????
Simic was utterly lame in sealed, suuuuuper slow(my experience against simic, if you've had other experiences against/ with simic, please tell me), but very potent in modern as a turbo fog deck with tempo.
Dimir failed me in Sealed cuz my pool sucked(the only rares i could use were the promo and alms beast, mythics were useless in limited; domri raid and aurelia's fury, meh naya pool in general). good if you build a dedicated mill deck or unblockable cipher deck.
gruul looks fun, both in limited and constructed(inspired me to make werewolf tribal)
orzhov is a really grindy deck, requires a bunch of powerful blockers for it to work(why deathpact angel exists, ressurects and kills small threats :D) exort is still a fun mechanic though:tongue:

yeh, it's not that infinite, what you need to do is animate iscron sceptre, cloudshift aurelia, and do the combo.
if you want to stick to not such complicated maneuvre, splash blue for nephalia smuggler and get creatures that generate mana.
or deadeye navigator.