the extra untaps does work in a way where you can use tap effects and using skills like Izzet Staticaster
also funky with Inspired Creatures that does give you life or more creatures when they untap
PS: if you have things that does tap this inspired creatures like Crackleburr they are even more funky
or if the Inspired Creatures are enchantend with Arcane Teachings or Hypervolt Grasp or Lightning Prowess
hm i already get a funky idea for a Jeskai Inspired Deck with using Inspired Creatures, tap auras like Hypervolt Grasp and Jeskai Ascendancy
and for more non-creature spells some rebound stuff.
Not a great deck - but the scenario where you get out Zada out turn 4 or even turn 3 and "combo off" is actually pretty reliable. Also - once you get Zada out - you are immune from removal since you all the cantrips (and pump and snapcaster) are all instant speed.
A turn 3 kill that is probably uncommon but happened once already in a goldfish was
1) Forest - Hierarch
2) Fetch - Sac - Dryad Arbor - Elvish Mystic - Elvish Mystic
3) Fetch - Stomping Ground - Zada - Viridescent Wisps - Draw 5 - Cerulean wisps - Draw 5 - Viridescent Wisps - Draw 5 - Snap Caster mage - flashback Cerulean Wisps - Draw 6 - Crimson Wisps - Draw 6 - repeat till draw deck and cast all snap casters + give them each haste (careful you could kill yourself with draw) and cast become immense once or twice. Attack.
Note: It is still not a good deck - even though it kills at instant speed once Zada is out - your opponenet can always use creature kill on your mana dorks in response to you casting Zada.
[quote from="ummmmerrrr »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/the-rumor-mill/new-card-discussion/630937-zada-hedron-grinder?comment=5"]
Run a bunch of dorks, snaps, Zada, the red, green, and blue wisps, a 1-of of refocus, and become immense as a finisher. I've been goldfishing it on tappedout, and it pretty much always gets a kill condition on turn 4 (with a small amount of variance between turn 3 and turn 5). It seems really really fun
I'm envisioning a Standard Zoo Deck with Defiant Strike, Temur Battle Rage, feat of resistance, and might of the masses with a bunch of inexpensive creatures (elvish visionary, abbot of keral keep, monastery swiftspear). In one test game was had abbot, visionary, and zada on board, and cast defiant strike, might of the masses, and then feat of resistance. It seems good. It feels like this card is just waiting to be broken with some combo.
RE the above combo deck. . . I had a suggestion posed to me about Ink-treader nephilim. He is also modern legal - and does seem faster than time of need! Casting it shouldn't be that much harder since you have BOP, Nobel and Fetches. We do have to work out the mana base though . . . BUT if we work out the mana properly then the turn 3 win percentage of the deck should go way up.
Still a glass cannon - but if we can tweak it to go off reliably by turn 3 then I think it would be at least playable in Modern which is a turn 4 format.
Note: It is still not a good deck - even though it kills at instant speed once Zada is out - your opponenet can always use creature kill on your mana dorks in response to you casting Zada.[/quote]</blockquote>
what about running a pact of negation or two? Maybe even three. It sounds like this play is a gambit anyways, might as well go all out
Sad that he's an ally but doesn't really play with them other than rewarding you for playing lots of creatures. He'd really be better in a token deck than an ally one.
Why is it "sad" that he's an ally? Why is it a didsapointment? Does he cost more to cast because he's an ally? No. Does he now synergize with more cards in the set and in previous sets by triggering ally etbs, and generally have all the benefits of being an ally? Sure looks like it. Is there anything with protection from allies? Pretty positive that's a no. Hmm you said he would only benefit from lots of creatures and tokens, and it seems like allies like to play lots of creatures. And it looks like gideon likes to make tokens, that are so allies, and with some cantripping pump cards it looks like you can fill the gap between the two! Or heroic creatures! That's amazing! It's almost as if being an ally is only beneficial to him! But I guess in the end it's sad.
Allies seem to be based specifically around helping other allies. This guy doesn't particularly care whether you're playing allies or not, and if you want to maximize his ability you would be better off playing him in a token deck instead of an ally deck. Synergy with Gideon, one other card, doesn't make it significantly better. He really feels like a card that has ally tacked on because allies are in this set, which feels like a waste. Also lol calm down with that sarcastic tone.
Note: It is still not a good deck - even though it kills at instant speed once Zada is out - your opponenet can always use creature kill on your mana dorks in response to you casting Zada.
Without time of need and with the inclusion of arbor elves over llanowar elves - it goes off more consistently on turn 3. Still no protection, but fooling around with the numbers I think it might be one of the most consistent turn 3 combo decks in modern.
So this is a budget (relatively speaking, I suppose) thing I just threw together, after I just couldn't get my inital plan to work in Standard. It basically consists of three parts. Part 1: get two creatures besides Zada on battlefield. Part 2: Get up a damage prevention effect, be it Riot Control or Personal Sanctuary. Part 3: Make creatures indestructible, cast Arcbond, then sac a creature targeting one of your other creatures. Is it good? Who knows, but probably not. No clue about sideboard except for probably including Gut Shot.
The best thing I like about this guy is the wording. It is worded in a way that responding with removal does not stop the effect. There is no risk involved.
Sad that he's an ally but doesn't really play with them other than rewarding you for playing lots of creatures. He'd really be better in a token deck than an ally one.
Why is it "sad" that he's an ally? Why is it a didsapointment? Does he cost more to cast because he's an ally? No. Does he now synergize with more cards in the set and in previous sets by triggering ally etbs, and generally have all the benefits of being an ally? Sure looks like it. Is there anything with protection from allies? Pretty positive that's a no. Hmm you said he would only benefit from lots of creatures and tokens, and it seems like allies like to play lots of creatures. And it looks like gideon likes to make tokens, that are so allies, and with some cantripping pump cards it looks like you can fill the gap between the two! Or heroic creatures! That's amazing! It's almost as if being an ally is only beneficial to him! But I guess in the end it's sad.
Allies seem to be based specifically around helping other allies. This guy doesn't particularly care whether you're playing allies or not, and if you want to maximize his ability you would be better off playing him in a token deck instead of an ally deck. Synergy with Gideon, one other card, doesn't make it significantly better. He really feels like a card that has ally tacked on because allies are in this set, which feels like a waste. Also lol calm down with that sarcastic tone.
Look at Grovetender Druids or Veteran Warleader. Neither of them specifically gives an interaction to any other allies by granting additional bonuses. Yeah, they both require allies to activate their abilities, but that's just a restriction on their abilities. Zada's being an Ally literally does nothing but contribute to her synergizing with the rest of the block, which is my point. Her costing isn't increased because she's an ally, and currently there's no in-game-interactions that detract from it. Also, in a way, you could argue that her ability is flavorfully that of an ally. Look at Hero of Goma Fada, or Lantern Scout. The new allies, whenever another ally etbs to join their cause, their effect will benefit all of the creatures that you control. Zada, when YOU target her (most likely with a buff of some kind) it will benefit all of the creatures you control. It's the same mechanic interaction but with a targeted spell being required rather than an ally entering.
Note: It is still not a good deck - even though it kills at instant speed once Zada is out - your opponenet can always use creature kill on your mana dorks in response to you casting Zada.
Without time of need and with the inclusion of arbor elves over llanowar elves - it goes off more consistently on turn 3. Still no protection, but fooling around with the numbers I think it might be one of the most consistent turn 3 combo decks in modern.
I tried building your deck, and it has 64 cards in it. I'm not 100% sure what to cut, although I suspect that cutting Snapcaster/Become Immense/Nephilim/land/Mana Elf in some combination is probably best.
So this is a budget (relatively speaking, I suppose) thing I just threw together, after I just couldn't get my inital plan to work in Standard. It basically consists of three parts. Part 1: get two creatures besides Zada on battlefield. Part 2: Get up a damage prevention effect, be it Riot Control or Personal Sanctuary. Part 3: Make creatures indestructible, cast Arcbond, then sac a creature targeting one of your other creatures. Is it good? Who knows, but probably not. No clue about sideboard except for probably including Gut Shot.
The main problem is needing to survive to turn 5 without getting any pieces knocked off to combo off. Riot Control helps, but you almost need to play a RW pillow fort deck to keep your stuff intact. Maybe instead of running 12 of the 1 cost, sac damage guys, cut 4 for something like Nyx-Fleece Ram?
RE the above combo deck. . . I had a suggestion posed to me about Ink-treader nephilim. He is also modern legal - and does seem faster than time of need! Casting it shouldn't be that much harder since you have BOP, Nobel and Fetches. We do have to work out the mana base though . . . BUT if we work out the mana properly then the turn 3 win percentage of the deck should go way up.
Still a glass cannon - but if we can tweak it to go off reliably by turn 3 then I think it would be at least playable in Modern which is a turn 4 format.
I really don't like Ink-treader in the deck. It's harder to cast (4 color) and really, REALLY dangerous in comparison to Zada, because if ink treader gets targeted with a removal spell, that's it. You lose. GG. At least with Zada you can still go off with your combo and swing for the kill with your squishies.
Anyone have a standard decklist in mind? I'm trying to come up with some outrageous ideas.
I don't think Zada will be a focus in standard, the CMC is too high. Rather it will be a 2 of finisher in either Naya or Jeskai tokens. Perhaps something like
Very rough, particularly since we don't know what all the format will bring and I didn't bother to go in to heavy detail with the land base. The 3 drop space is also particularly crowded and likely needs trimmed, but you get the basic idea.
A hobby is by defenition something you're not any good at - otherwise it'd have been your work. Magic is my biggest hobby so I mustn't be very good at it.
I tried building your deck, and it has 64 cards in it. I'm not 100% sure what to cut, although I suspect that cutting Snapcaster/Become Immense/Nephilim/land/Mana Elf in some combination is probably best.
Ugh. . . totally screwed the pooch on that. I think I would take out 1 Viridian Wisps, 1 Mystic Elf, 1 Become Immense and 1 Forest
RE the above combo deck. . . I had a suggestion posed to me about Ink-treader nephilim. He is also modern legal - and does seem faster than time of need! Casting it shouldn't be that much harder since you have BOP, Nobel and Fetches. We do have to work out the mana base though . . . BUT if we work out the mana properly then the turn 3 win percentage of the deck should go way up.
Still a glass cannon - but if we can tweak it to go off reliably by turn 3 then I think it would be at least playable in Modern which is a turn 4 format.
I really don't like Ink-treader in the deck. It's harder to cast (4 color) and really, REALLY dangerous in comparison to Zada, because if ink treader gets targeted with a removal spell, that's it. You lose. GG. At least with Zada you can still go off with your combo and swing for the kill with your squishies.
It does make you vulnerable to instant speed removal in response to your wisps and other instants, but honestly if you aren't comboing off you are going to lose anyway. Ink-Treader is only to speed up the deck to have more turn 3 kills since you don't have to spend a turn with time of need. I would be okay with a slower deck, but honestly we have no protection so speed is the only answer.
Anyone have a standard decklist in mind? I'm trying to come up with some outrageous ideas.
I don't think Zada will be a focus in standard, the CMC is too high. Rather it will be a 2 of finisher in either Naya or Jeskai tokens. Perhaps something like
Very rough, particularly since we don't know what all the format will bring and I didn't bother to go in to heavy detail with the land base. The 3 drop space is also particularly crowded and likely needs trimmed, but you get the basic idea.
Hate to point this out, but Zada doesn't work well with Jeskai strategies at all. When you target Zada with a spell, he (she?) merely copies that spell and it's affect, but doesn't cast them. So Prowess would only trigger on Monastery Mentor once and Jeskai Ascendancy once if you cast only one spell targeting Zada. Wizards, for the most part, tries to insure that cards aren't too broken in conjunction with other cards and their interactions in any given format.
Now, could you imagine this card with Goblin Rabblemaster in the same Standard format? Shenanigans abound! I'm still lamenting the fact that Rabblemaster is leaving Standard in a couple of weeks. I don't play Modern, but I could see a sufficiently strong goblin deck there with Zada and Rabblemaster. I also see a strong goblin deck in Standard (which I plan to build, I already have most of the deck pieces). Until all of BFZ is spoiled, I would run something like this:
Not a great deck - but the scenario where you get out Zada out turn 4 or even turn 3 and "combo off" is actually pretty reliable. Also - once you get Zada out - you are immune from removal since you all the cantrips (and pump and snapcaster) are all instant speed.
A turn 3 kill that is probably uncommon but happened once already in a goldfish was
1) Forest - Hierarch
2) Fetch - Sac - Dryad Arbor - Elvish Mystic - Elvish Mystic
3) Fetch - Stomping Ground - Zada - Viridescent Wisps - Draw 5 - Cerulean wisps - Draw 5 - Viridescent Wisps - Draw 5 - Snap Caster mage - flashback Cerulean Wisps - Draw 6 - Crimson Wisps - Draw 6 - repeat till draw deck and cast all snap casters + give them each haste (careful you could kill yourself with draw) and cast become immense once or twice. Attack.
Note: It is still not a good deck - even though it kills at instant speed once Zada is out - your opponenet can always use creature kill on your mana dorks in response to you casting Zada.
[quote from="ummmmerrrr »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/the-rumor-mill/new-card-discussion/630937-zada-hedron-grinder?comment=5"]
Run a bunch of dorks, snaps, Zada, the red, green, and blue wisps, a 1-of of refocus, and become immense as a finisher. I've been goldfishing it on tappedout, and it pretty much always gets a kill condition on turn 4 (with a small amount of variance between turn 3 and turn 5). It seems really really fun
I originally had it as RUG with hangarback, delver, and cerulean wisps, but I found the deck to be more aggressive and focused without the blue. I think lotus cobra is a better accelerator than the birds.
Anyone have a standard decklist in mind? I'm trying to come up with some outrageous ideas.
I don't think Zada will be a focus in standard, the CMC is too high. Rather it will be a 2 of finisher in either Naya or Jeskai tokens. Perhaps something like
Very rough, particularly since we don't know what all the format will bring and I didn't bother to go in to heavy detail with the land base. The 3 drop space is also particularly crowded and likely needs trimmed, but you get the basic idea.
Hate to point this out, but Zada doesn't work well with Jeskai strategies at all. When you target Zada with a spell, he (she?) merely copies that spell and it's affect, but doesn't cast them. So Prowess would only trigger on Monastery Mentor once and Jeskai Ascendancy once if you cast only one spell targeting Zada. Wizards, for the most part, tries to insure that cards aren't too broken in conjunction with other cards and their interactions in any given format.
Now, could you imagine this card with Goblin Rabblemaster in the same Standard format? Shenanigans abound! I'm still lamenting the fact that Rabblemaster is leaving Standard in a couple of weeks. I don't play Modern, but I could see a sufficiently strong goblin deck there with Zada and Rabblemaster. I also see a strong goblin deck in Standard (which I plan to build, I already have most of the deck pieces). Until all of BFZ is spoiled, I would run something like this:
I already knew that, and don't particularly mind that it only triggers prowess once. The important bit is just that it naturally makes a lot of tokens and Zada supports them as a finisher. Again the point was that Zada wasn't the focus, just a compliment to an exisiting archetype. I chose Jeskai Tokens as that's the go wide standard strategy I'm most familiar with right now, but I imagine Atarka Red would be equally viable, as you pointed out. Is it super bananas bonkers? Not necessarily, but it doesn't need to be, it just needs to be good enough to win games.
As for your build, I don't think I would ever run 4 copies of Zada, 4 cmc is really heavy in the go wide shell that she demands. I would cut 2 copies and perhaps a few other things to make room for things like Tormenting Voice and Magmatic Insight a little card draw never hurt anybody after all.
I have been playing around with a r/g/w build. The only creatures are 4 Hangerback Walkers and 4 Zada. I am playing around with evolutionary leap to get Zada faster. With eight cards that create tokens and then the rest pump effects it has been suprising people at my LGS where we are testing with proxies. May cut the white altogether. I will post a decklist later on my break.
I originally started with Monastary Swiftspear but found that i needed a way to find Zada better and decided on the evolutionary leap. However, I hated leaping into a swiftspear. Enter Hangarback. I really don't mind hitting him with the leap as he will just be more tokens for the next leap.
You do need to wait till you have 5 mana before casting zada against any deck with elimination in it. One of the best moves I have found is to cast Titan's strength during you upkeep for multiple scry's until you find a battle rage or another pump spell. Defiant strike will do the same with great card draw.
Still working on a side board. Definately Valorous Stance and possibly Feat of Resistance. I think Aggro will be the hardest matchup so need to factor that in. Thinking about Goblin Piledriver for the control matchup.
Still working on a combo version of this deck (Zadastorm!)
And currently I have the following theory craft:
Just thinking about how many "wisps" you actually need to go off by turn 4 . . . you need the [Untap Target + Cantrip] in your first 10 cards. . . so you need at least 6 of them. You definitely need to draw into one after your first Snap Caster mage . . . but by then you drew 16 cards. So you need 2 [Untap Target + Cantrip] in your first 26 cards. Technically this means you only need 5 in the deck but considering that you need 6 to start off with, I actually think this means that you only need 6 in total in the deck. The [Haste Target + Cantrip], you really only need to smooth into the draws, and one in the end of the chain - 4 is enough, since you should draw into one after the first [Untap Target + Cantrip]. So really we can take out the green wisp and just have the following as the "combo pieces."
However, if we're also treating Wisps as cantrips then we see 10 cards + X where X is any wisp that isn't the "go-off wisps" - We cannot count snapcaster mage as a wisp at this point as it supposes that we cast a wisp previously (off course we can then count it as a second purely cantrip wisp). We are only running 14 "wisps" - 4 of them are Snapcasters and 6 of them are "Go-Off" - which only leaves 4 "cantrip wisps" - only by running 2 extra "cantrip wisps" may we use the x5 multiplier instead [since then we are guaranteed to see 11 cards or more)
leaving us 5 "extra" spots. The "wisp" + "cantrip wisp" include 4 Cerulean Wisps, 4 Crimson Wisps, 2 Refocus, which means that the "free spots" include 4 Snapcaster and 2 Become Immense. They must also include 2 extra "cantrip wisps" as discussed above.
Which leaves 7 spots left for protection.
15 Lands
13 Dorks
2 Arbor
4 Zada
1 Ink-Treader/Time of Need
4 Cerulean Wisps
4 Crimson Wisps
2 Viridian Wisps
2 Refocus
4 Snap Caster
2 Become Immense
7 Protection
The questions are 1) What do we want those 7 protection spells to be and 2) Is a deck that can reliably combo off turn 4 but only has 7 protection spells - worth it?
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also funky with Inspired Creatures that does give you life or more creatures when they untap
PS: if you have things that does tap this inspired creatures like Crackleburr they are even more funky
or if the Inspired Creatures are enchantend with Arcane Teachings or Hypervolt Grasp or Lightning Prowess
hm i already get a funky idea for a Jeskai Inspired Deck with using Inspired Creatures, tap auras like Hypervolt Grasp and Jeskai Ascendancy
and for more non-creature spells some rebound stuff.
(Calling it Zadastorm ;))
4 Birds of paradise
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Llanowar elves
4 Zada, Hedron Grinder
4 Snapcaster mage
4 Cerulean Wisps
4 Crimson Wisps
4 Viridescent Wisps
1 Refocus
3 Become Immense
4 Time of Need
3 Breeding Pool
3 Stomping Ground
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Mountain
Not a great deck - but the scenario where you get out Zada out turn 4 or even turn 3 and "combo off" is actually pretty reliable. Also - once you get Zada out - you are immune from removal since you all the cantrips (and pump and snapcaster) are all instant speed.
A turn 3 kill that is probably uncommon but happened once already in a goldfish was
1) Forest - Hierarch
2) Fetch - Sac - Dryad Arbor - Elvish Mystic - Elvish Mystic
3) Fetch - Stomping Ground - Zada - Viridescent Wisps - Draw 5 - Cerulean wisps - Draw 5 - Viridescent Wisps - Draw 5 - Snap Caster mage - flashback Cerulean Wisps - Draw 6 - Crimson Wisps - Draw 6 - repeat till draw deck and cast all snap casters + give them each haste (careful you could kill yourself with draw) and cast become immense once or twice. Attack.
Note: It is still not a good deck - even though it kills at instant speed once Zada is out - your opponenet can always use creature kill on your mana dorks in response to you casting Zada.
Ha glad you liked my deck :)!!!
Still a glass cannon - but if we can tweak it to go off reliably by turn 3 then I think it would be at least playable in Modern which is a turn 4 format.
Note: It is still not a good deck - even though it kills at instant speed once Zada is out - your opponenet can always use creature kill on your mana dorks in response to you casting Zada.[/quote]</blockquote>
what about running a pact of negation or two? Maybe even three. It sounds like this play is a gambit anyways, might as well go all out
Allies seem to be based specifically around helping other allies. This guy doesn't particularly care whether you're playing allies or not, and if you want to maximize his ability you would be better off playing him in a token deck instead of an ally deck. Synergy with Gideon, one other card, doesn't make it significantly better. He really feels like a card that has ally tacked on because allies are in this set, which feels like a waste. Also lol calm down with that sarcastic tone.
Still hard to figure out what to take out for it.
Anyway the current deck that I am testing is:
4 Birds of paradise
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Arbor Elf
4 Zada, Hedron Grinder
4 Ink-treader nephilim
4 Snapcaster mage
4 Crimson Wisps
4 Viridescent Wisps
1 Refocus
3 Become Immense
2 Dryad Arbor
2 Breeding Pool
2 Stomping Ground
2 Temple Garden
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Forest
Without time of need and with the inclusion of arbor elves over llanowar elves - it goes off more consistently on turn 3. Still no protection, but fooling around with the numbers I think it might be one of the most consistent turn 3 combo decks in modern.
10 Plains
4 Duergar Assailant
4 Frostling
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Zada, Hedron Grinder
4 Valorous Stance
4 Arcbond
4 Riot Control
4 Personal Sanctuary
So this is a budget (relatively speaking, I suppose) thing I just threw together, after I just couldn't get my inital plan to work in Standard. It basically consists of three parts. Part 1: get two creatures besides Zada on battlefield. Part 2: Get up a damage prevention effect, be it Riot Control or Personal Sanctuary. Part 3: Make creatures indestructible, cast Arcbond, then sac a creature targeting one of your other creatures. Is it good? Who knows, but probably not. No clue about sideboard except for probably including Gut Shot.
Look at Grovetender Druids or Veteran Warleader. Neither of them specifically gives an interaction to any other allies by granting additional bonuses. Yeah, they both require allies to activate their abilities, but that's just a restriction on their abilities. Zada's being an Ally literally does nothing but contribute to her synergizing with the rest of the block, which is my point. Her costing isn't increased because she's an ally, and currently there's no in-game-interactions that detract from it. Also, in a way, you could argue that her ability is flavorfully that of an ally. Look at Hero of Goma Fada, or Lantern Scout. The new allies, whenever another ally etbs to join their cause, their effect will benefit all of the creatures that you control. Zada, when YOU target her (most likely with a buff of some kind) it will benefit all of the creatures you control. It's the same mechanic interaction but with a targeted spell being required rather than an ally entering.
I tried building your deck, and it has 64 cards in it. I'm not 100% sure what to cut, although I suspect that cutting Snapcaster/Become Immense/Nephilim/land/Mana Elf in some combination is probably best.
The main problem is needing to survive to turn 5 without getting any pieces knocked off to combo off. Riot Control helps, but you almost need to play a RW pillow fort deck to keep your stuff intact. Maybe instead of running 12 of the 1 cost, sac damage guys, cut 4 for something like Nyx-Fleece Ram?
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
I really don't like Ink-treader in the deck. It's harder to cast (4 color) and really, REALLY dangerous in comparison to Zada, because if ink treader gets targeted with a removal spell, that's it. You lose. GG. At least with Zada you can still go off with your combo and swing for the kill with your squishies.
I don't think Zada will be a focus in standard, the CMC is too high. Rather it will be a 2 of finisher in either Naya or Jeskai tokens. Perhaps something like
Creatures
4 Monastery Mentor
2 Zada, Hedron Grinder
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Enchantments
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
Spells
4 Titan's Strength
4 Defiant Strike
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Hordeling Outburst
2 Taigam's Strike
6 Burn/Bounce spells
Very rough, particularly since we don't know what all the format will bring and I didn't bother to go in to heavy detail with the land base. The 3 drop space is also particularly crowded and likely needs trimmed, but you get the basic idea.
Ugh. . . totally screwed the pooch on that. I think I would take out 1 Viridian Wisps, 1 Mystic Elf, 1 Become Immense and 1 Forest
It does make you vulnerable to instant speed removal in response to your wisps and other instants, but honestly if you aren't comboing off you are going to lose anyway. Ink-Treader is only to speed up the deck to have more turn 3 kills since you don't have to spend a turn with time of need. I would be okay with a slower deck, but honestly we have no protection so speed is the only answer.
Hate to point this out, but Zada doesn't work well with Jeskai strategies at all. When you target Zada with a spell, he (she?) merely copies that spell and it's affect, but doesn't cast them. So Prowess would only trigger on Monastery Mentor once and Jeskai Ascendancy once if you cast only one spell targeting Zada. Wizards, for the most part, tries to insure that cards aren't too broken in conjunction with other cards and their interactions in any given format.
Now, could you imagine this card with Goblin Rabblemaster in the same Standard format? Shenanigans abound! I'm still lamenting the fact that Rabblemaster is leaving Standard in a couple of weeks. I don't play Modern, but I could see a sufficiently strong goblin deck there with Zada and Rabblemaster. I also see a strong goblin deck in Standard (which I plan to build, I already have most of the deck pieces). Until all of BFZ is spoiled, I would run something like this:
4 Cinder Glade
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Forest
12 Mountain
CREATURES
4 Zada, Hedron Grinder
4 Goblin Piledriver
1 Goblin Heelcutter
4 Goblin Glory Chaser
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Dragon Fodder
1 Chandra's Ignition
1 Become Immense
3 Lightning Strike
4 Titan's Strength
4 Atarka's Command
4 Temur Battle Rage
1 Break Through the Line
2 Smash to Smithereens
3 Arc Lightning
3 Roast
1 Wild Instincts
4 Exquisite Firecraft
2 Act of Treason
Nice list. Here's my take:
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Forest
5x Mountain
4x Stomping Ground
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
2x Fauna Shaman
4x Lotus Cobra
4x Mogg War Marshal
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Zada, Hedron Grinder
4x Aggressive Urge
1x Become Immense
2x Crimson Wisps
4x Viridescent Wisps
Sorcery (8)
4x Dragon Fodder
4x Hordeling Outburst
I originally had it as RUG with hangarback, delver, and cerulean wisps, but I found the deck to be more aggressive and focused without the blue. I think lotus cobra is a better accelerator than the birds.
UBRThe MindrazerRBU
UUUSpymaster of TrestGGG
GGGThe South TreeGGG
RRRHuman AscendantRRR
I already knew that, and don't particularly mind that it only triggers prowess once. The important bit is just that it naturally makes a lot of tokens and Zada supports them as a finisher. Again the point was that Zada wasn't the focus, just a compliment to an exisiting archetype. I chose Jeskai Tokens as that's the go wide standard strategy I'm most familiar with right now, but I imagine Atarka Red would be equally viable, as you pointed out. Is it super bananas bonkers? Not necessarily, but it doesn't need to be, it just needs to be good enough to win games.
As for your build, I don't think I would ever run 4 copies of Zada, 4 cmc is really heavy in the go wide shell that she demands. I would cut 2 copies and perhaps a few other things to make room for things like Tormenting Voice and Magmatic Insight a little card draw never hurt anybody after all.
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
4 Cinder Glade
4 Canopy Vista
2 Plains
2 Forest
4 Mountain
2 Secure the Waste
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Dragon Fodder
2 Become Immense
4 Might of the Masses
4 Titan's Strength
4 Temur Battle Rage
4 Defiant Strike
2 Evolutionary Leap
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Zada, Hedron Grinder
I originally started with Monastary Swiftspear but found that i needed a way to find Zada better and decided on the evolutionary leap. However, I hated leaping into a swiftspear. Enter Hangarback. I really don't mind hitting him with the leap as he will just be more tokens for the next leap.
You do need to wait till you have 5 mana before casting zada against any deck with elimination in it. One of the best moves I have found is to cast Titan's strength during you upkeep for multiple scry's until you find a battle rage or another pump spell. Defiant strike will do the same with great card draw.
Still working on a side board. Definately Valorous Stance and possibly Feat of Resistance. I think Aggro will be the hardest matchup so need to factor that in. Thinking about Goblin Piledriver for the control matchup.
Any input would be greatly appreciated
And currently I have the following theory craft:
Just thinking about how many "wisps" you actually need to go off by turn 4 . . . you need the [Untap Target + Cantrip] in your first 10 cards. . . so you need at least 6 of them. You definitely need to draw into one after your first Snap Caster mage . . . but by then you drew 16 cards. So you need 2 [Untap Target + Cantrip] in your first 26 cards. Technically this means you only need 5 in the deck but considering that you need 6 to start off with, I actually think this means that you only need 6 in total in the deck. The [Haste Target + Cantrip], you really only need to smooth into the draws, and one in the end of the chain - 4 is enough, since you should draw into one after the first [Untap Target + Cantrip]. So really we can take out the green wisp and just have the following as the "combo pieces."
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Cerulean Wisps
4 Crimson Wisps
2 Refocus
So by turn 4, on the play, you'll have seen 10 cards. What do we want those 10 cards to be:
* 3 Lands (x6 multiplier = 18)
* 3 mana dorks/arbor (x6 multiplier = 18 )
* 1 "Zada" (x6 multiplier = 6)
* 1 "Wisp" (x6 multiplier = 6)
* 2 Free Slots (x6 multiplier = 12)
However, if we're also treating Wisps as cantrips then we see 10 cards + X where X is any wisp that isn't the "go-off wisps" - We cannot count snapcaster mage as a wisp at this point as it supposes that we cast a wisp previously (off course we can then count it as a second purely cantrip wisp). We are only running 14 "wisps" - 4 of them are Snapcasters and 6 of them are "Go-Off" - which only leaves 4 "cantrip wisps" - only by running 2 extra "cantrip wisps" may we use the x5 multiplier instead [since then we are guaranteed to see 11 cards or more)
* 3 Lands (x5 multiplier = 15)
* 3 mana dorks/arbor (x5 multiplier = 15 )
* 1 "Zada" (x5 multiplier = 5)
* 1 "Wisp" (x5 multiplier = 5)
* 2 Free Slots (x5 multiplier = 10)
* 1 "cantrip wisp" (x5 multiplier = 5)
leaving us 5 "extra" spots. The "wisp" + "cantrip wisp" include 4 Cerulean Wisps, 4 Crimson Wisps, 2 Refocus, which means that the "free spots" include 4 Snapcaster and 2 Become Immense. They must also include 2 extra "cantrip wisps" as discussed above.
Which leaves 7 spots left for protection.
15 Lands
13 Dorks
2 Arbor
4 Zada
1 Ink-Treader/Time of Need
4 Cerulean Wisps
4 Crimson Wisps
2 Viridian Wisps
2 Refocus
4 Snap Caster
2 Become Immense
7 Protection
The questions are 1) What do we want those 7 protection spells to be and 2) Is a deck that can reliably combo off turn 4 but only has 7 protection spells - worth it?