MTG Salvation

I play a similar deck and I am definitely finding room for a couple Eldritch Evolution. My deck relies a little heavier on Geralfs Messenger, so being able to tutor him up will be nice. And probably gonna have to test out that m21 draw spell, too. Good stuff.

I play Hardened Scales so that I can machine gun people with Geralfs Messenger (it makes it so the Meesenger can kill itself with retribution of the ancients, thus dealing 2 damage for every 1 black mana you have available). Surely not the most competitive version of the deck, but it’s an out of left field combination that I enjoy. People are confused at first, but then they....get the...message.

Sorry, I’ll see myself out.

I’ve never messed around with Nightsky Mimic, but it does seem like a fun build around. Here’s some cards that might be worth testing.

Hidden Stockpile-Doubt this makes the cut, but getting at least a little value from your other sacrifices might be nice (sadly doesn’t synergize all that well with doom foretold on its own). And the card filtering from the scry ability seems like something the deck could use.

Athreos, God of Passage-This dude needs to find a home in your deck. Combos nicely with just about every aspect of it.

Pillory of the Sleepless- a little costly as creature control, perhaps, but if you do end up running Athreos, the devotion could be nice.

Sin Collector- I think you’ve got plenty of creature control built into the deck. Maybe this guy instead of Wasteland Strangler?

Teysa, Orzhov Scion- Maybe a little better than Hidden Stockpile as a way to recoup some value from your sacrifices. Perhaps a little too expensive for no immediate impact, though.

Deathbringer Liege- not sure how often you make it to 5 mana, but this guy seems pretty sick. Literally sick. Like leprosy or something.

I think it’s an anomaly. There’s almost nothing new in the list you linked, with the exception of Curious Obsession. That said, I haven’t been playing, so maybe the current metagame is favorable to a tempo/control based list. I mean, if you’ve got the cards sleeve it up, but I wouldn’t invest based on the fact that it spiked a small tournament. Glad to see Tallowisp hanging in there, though!

Quote from jshrwd »

What did you decide to run from these options, EggShen?

So, after playing a whole bunch of Allegiance drafts in order to accumulate some of the needed cards and a few more wildcards, I actually put both of them together (but with shaky manabases as I didn't have enough rare wildcards for the necessary lands). Both have issues.

With the Teysa/Priest build, I always felt like I was barely hanging on. The individual cards are fairly weak, so it only gets going when certain card combinations are present. It needs to find ways to increase consistency and/or card draw. This is normal for synergy decks like this, and I haven't put a whole lot of thought into how to fix it. I did add a Midnight Reaper to the mix, which might increase the velocity.

Additionally, I didn't always have enough fodder for the Priest to sacrifice. Hero of Precinct One is a prime target for enemy creature-control spells, and she hits the yard frequently. Without the Hero, I'm not generating enough tokens. I went up to 4 Reassembling Skeletons to help with this.

I only played a handful of games with this. Lost a couple to mana issues, which I'm not really counting as the lands aren't right. Of the non-mana-issue games, i think I won 2 and lost 4. I may try a B/W/r version with Judith, the Scourge Diva at some point.

The Kaya deck does what it's supposed to do with much more consistency, and seems brutal to play against for the first 5 or 6 turns. However, it currently lacks a good way to finish off the game in a timely manner. Particularly if the opponent isn't playing any good creatures to steal with Hostage Taker. So eventually they start finding ways to get their cards back, and the pendulum swings their way. I don't love any of the equipment available, nor are any of the vehicles all that wonderful, so I need to brainstorm a way to close out games quickly. Or maybe I just need card draw to continue the control aspects a little longer. Not sure.

Deadeye Tracker got taken out almost immediately. With all the exiling, there just isn't enough stuff in the graveyard to exile. Etrata also got removed once I actually read the card and realized that it gets shuffled back into my library every time I make contact with it. Lame. I added a few Opt, but I really need a powerful finisher. Open to suggestions. I think I won 3 and lost 5 with this deck (not counting losses due to mana issues, which were a couple more).

I had just enough rares and mythics left over to put together a 3rd brew, which is performing much better.



Still toying around with cards. Basically, the games where Growth Chamber Guardian come on early and don't get answered are usually quite favorable. The card is really good and gets gnarly with Reclamation. Or getting a turn 3 or 4 Wilderness Reclamation with Frilled Mystic in hand usually feel pretty good as well. Originally, Pteramander was a 4-of, but it just wasn't doing that great. I wasn't adapting it all that often. Biogenic Ooze and Shaper of Nature get pretty sick with a Wilderness Reclamation on the field.

I've played quite a few games with it and I'm probably 50/50 right now, maybe a little better.

Quote from Axlotol »

Mardu has way more potential, there are some competitive deck lists running around with that archetype. I would have a look at those and see which cards are being used the most. Seems like you're on the right track.

I assume you're suggesting B/W/R as a replacement for the second deck I posted? I contemplated mardu for Judith, the Scourge Diva. Abrupt Decay could easily become Bedevil. In the end, the mardu scheme might be as good or better, but Teysa Karlov is really the card I'm interested in jamming, and she and Judith have some conflicting strategies. One not working with tokens, and the other wanting you to have tokens on the field to get max value.

With Poison-Tip Archer, I can get a similar effect without triggering my anti-synergy OCD. Judith being able to ping creatures/planeswalkers is very alluring, though. Because the two decks likely share quite a few cards, I could eventually try out a Mardu version and see how the two legendary ladies get along in practice. Perhaps the double-trigger from Teysa is strong enough that the token buff doesn't matter all that much. Or maybe being able to ping creatures with Judith and the team-buff is strong enough that missing out on triggers from tokens/opposing creatures dying is negligible.

Is there a mardu version that Kaya wants to be in?

**Decide**. . . sweet typo in the thread title.

So I haven't played Standard in forever as I felt that my money was better spent on non-rotating formats, but Arena has changed that! I'm looking to burn up some wildcards and build one of the following decks. Which one seems better and/or more fun?

So the plan for this one is to exile everything in sight then ultimate Kaya. Super rough draft below.



The next one is just so I can play a bunch of cards that seem cool to me and sacrifice a bunch of tokens or token makers for lots of value. Rough draft is...



I really want to put Journey to Eternity on an Elenda. And since saccing one to the other seems cool, I could be convinced to run more of her, but I just have lots of 4 drops already in this sucker.

Anyway, feedback and thoughts on where to invest my wildcards is appreciated. thanks.

So here is what I played.



I played against 2 very casual decks. The first was slow with no real interaction, so it was essentially solitaire. That said, the cards did their job and it felt good (for me) to snag odd cards like contagion clasp and use it to shrink a lashwrithe just enough to keep my Ashiok alive for another activation which gave me enough exiled cards to Strangle it, Wasteland style.

The other was a Thing in the Ice deck, but not the good sort. Again, it felt satisfying to snag bounce spells and use them against a Thing that just about to flip.

The interactions are pretty sick when it gets rolling. Exiling a spell with Spell Queller, and then using said exiled spell to feed a Ulamog's Nullifier feels very unfair. Same for EoT or even mid-combat Hostage Taker. Aether Vial is probably necessary for the version of the deck I was focusing on, if you want it to be competitive. I never actually cast a Thoughtpicker Witch, but based on the games I played, i wouldn't have had a lot of fodder for it. Still, it's a controlly one-drop that enables some later strategies, so probably still worth it. Just something to keep an eye on (and I'm not playing doomed traveler like the OP, of course, so that could be why).

I will say that better players will probably get a lot more mileage out of a deck like this than, well, players like me. I'm solidly average at this game and I felt my brain trying to melt down due to all the options available. So many decisions!

Based on my games, I'm going to snag a couple Restoration Angels (they're like 60 cents at the bots...). I'll for sure replace a Wasteland Strangler, and then either Hostage Taker or Ashiok. Not sure. I'd like to get the fourth Path to Exile in at some point as well. Just need more testing to see what's not pulling it's weight.

Cool idea, OP! I like it.

2nd D90Dennis14's suggestion of Hostage Taker. Never seen the card before but recently faced it on Arena limited and I immediately thought of your deck. Works well w/ Thoughtpicker Witch. I also like Wasteland Strangler, particularly if you keep some # of Nightveil Specters in. If you exile cards you can't cast due to color restrictions, you can at least get some use out of them.

Since I already have the Aether Vials, and everything else is probably dirt cheap on MTGO, I think I'll slap it together and report back.

Any mana-base experts want to help me with selecting lands for this pile?



This leaves 22 spots for lands, which seems a tad low, but in practice it works out thanks to card draw/selection in the form of Oath of Nissa, Spreading Seas, Search for Azcanta, and Eidolon of Blossoms. Can't have anything with 'Island' in the type, as the Choke will backfire.

Sideboard is expected white enchants (Stony Silence and Rest in Peace). Not sure what else to put in there just yet. Root Maze? Detention Sphere?

Any land guru advice would be welcome. Thanks.

I am of the opinion that for Boomerang/Eye of Nowhere to be effective, you need a lot of card draw. This deck gets a little more use out of them than most, thanks to Reality Acid, but without a fast clock or the ability to get up on cards, you frequently wind up getting ahead of your opponent on mana, but not having enough action left in hand to take advantage of the situation. Meanwhile, your opponent is sculpting a strong hand that will eventually come online and even up the odds.

Additionally, if they (boomerang and eye of nowhere) don’t show up early, they wind up being a little underpowered later in the game.

All that said, I’ve never combined them with Root Maze, so perhaps that makes a difference.

I also think 8 colorless lands is too many. Especially if you stick with Boomerang and Temporal Adept.

Finally, with only Spreading Seas to capitalize on it, I think Choke might be better in the sideboard to be brought in when you face blue decks.

At this point, we’re all in the brew stage, so I suggest you try your list and let us know how it goes. We need your help as much as you need ours at this point!

But top-of-the-library hate is a lot less prevalent in modern than graveyard hate.

She may not end up being good enough to play, but she impacts the game in a drastically different way than Dark Salvation. The comparison between the two is very superficial. I’d for sure test her out.

That’s pretty clever, man. Nice brewing. Don’t have much to add, just wanted to say I appreciate the combo.

I think Geralf’s Messenger could earn a spot. Works well with Nykthos, works well with Hex Parasite and Power Conduit, and works well when you need to sac something. If you explore more self sacrificing options, Dark Prophecy can draw you some cards and also works well with Nykthos. Searched for ways to abuse spare charge counters, and couldn’t find any budget friendly options that seemed worth it, which is kind of a bummer.

Seems like a fun deck. Getting Descent to work is a neat challenge, so I would personally build towards that as the payoff, at least for starters. It may end up not being where the deck’s strength truly lies, and that’s fine, but I would stick with it throughout the early iterations of the deck.

If you’re running Curio and a load of enchantments, Reality Acid is the business. I’m unable to play currently, but in sept it’ll be on my list of things to test. I’d probably only play Root Maze in the side, but am willing to try it main if it seems choke + turn your stuff to islands + destroy lands with acid isn’t constrictive enough.