Mono blue devotion is probably the worst matchup for me, as I'm currently on White Weenies with a red splash for Boros Charm and Mizzium Mortars. It's just awful for a matchup due to the following:
-Removal that gets around your protection spells (Cyclonic Rift stopping Boros Charm, Frontline Medic, etc).
-Thassa, God of the Sea making it impossible to block anything. It is really hard to deal with, especially when your combat revolves around giving your creatures protection. Not to mention you do not have a way to get rid of Thassa once it becomes a creature, outside of Banisher Priest.
-Master of Waves off of Nykthos. You're not going to outrace them once they get the Master online, at least I haven't been able to.
Esper used to be the worst, but once I acquired a set of Ajani, Caller of the Pride and did some reworking, it's worked out a lot better (though it is still an uphill battle). Mono Red is faster and Mono Black has a better late game, but they are still very much winnable. Junk, GW, and Gruul are all winnable for the most part.
The reason for the off colored creatures is that they offer such amazing bonuses when reanimating them with whip that it's worth it. This is more of a "toolbox" reanimator build rather then just a "reanimate a huge creature and go" kind of build. And there are enough ways to get those creatures into your yard that you shouldn't have to rely off of Caryatid.
You need the red for Boros Charm. White Weenie does not have the speed or firepower of mono-red, so the advantage comes in more creatures and protection for those creatures. Without Boros Charm, the deck is way too vulnerable to Supreme Verdict.
Since it was spoiled, I've been tinkering around with a reanimator list based around Whip of Erebos. Now, I finally have a full seventy five card list.
The deck is designed to take advantage of creatures with either phase-based triggers, enter the battlefield triggers, or attacking. It's meant to function as a toolbox deck, not simply as a way to cheat out a fatty. To back the player up, the deck has a removal suite to kill creatures, enchantments, and planeswalkers.
I'm looking to brew up a deck around Threaten/Act of Treason and Mind Control effects. Trouble is, I can't seem to pinpoint a commander. I've looked at Melek, Izzet Paragon as the commander, as the colors lend themselves well and Melek's twin casting ability seems like it would be awesome threaten style effects. Anyone have any other suggestions for a potential commander for a threaten/permanent theft style kind of deck other then Melek?
Is it me, or is this guy worth it in reanimator? Reanimating this after reanimating Griselbrand and even an Ashen Rider seems like it's a huge swing. Is it worth testing out?
I've brewed a few lists up, and Xenagos usually ends up in the sideboard. Really the only monstrous card I'm bothering with is Stormbreath Dragon, so Xenagos's first ability doesn't do anything. He's usually sided in when other planeswalkers need to be dealt with, IE in the Gruul mirror match-up and against GW and UW using the new Elspeth.
Trust me when I say that Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker is not playable in standard. Are you really going to sink 3UB into a card that gets successfully blocked (not even chump blocked) by a Vampire Nighthawk or a Desecration Demon? Mirko's place is in limited. In standard, he flat out isn't good enough.
Really depends on how fast you want to play the deck. Here's some suggestions:
1. Drop Slaughterhorn for Wasteland Viper. If you really want something you bloodrush for G, the Viper is always better because you're at least guaranteed to take whatever blocks your attacker down with it.
2. Zhur Taa Druid is really overrated in all honesty. The fact you need GR to play a mana dork that won't tap until turn three really hurts it. The one burn damage you'll do doesn't help. If you really want a mana dork, go with Avacyn's Pilgrim.
3. Pyrewild Shaman is neat, but not as potent as I thought it would be. Bloodrush cards that are good really have to give more then just a power/toughness bonus, they have to give an ability to. Repeatable bloodrush, as cool as that sounds, isn't good enough. You'd rather sink your mana into a Wolf Run
5. Domri Rade as a singleton is, as a previous post mentioned, not powerful enough. That's definitely a planeswalker you want multiples of.
6. Alpha Authority isn't really necessary, especially since you don't have anything other then the Raiders and Ruric Thar that can or will be huge.
7. Drop Spire Tracer for Experiment One, Vexing Devil, or Stromkirk Noble. I'm personally not that big of a fan of the Noble as some people are, but it will allow you to consistently get in damage against both the aristocrats and naya humans. Legion Loyalist is also pretty rad, though it doesn't protect itself as well as Experiment One and the Noble will.
8. Flinthoof Boar is a must. It's a great play off of Burning Tree Emissary.
9. Frontline Medic is a must. That battalion trigger is too good to pass up, and yes, the X spell thing is really good. It can almost guarantee you a win when necessary.
I do not think so. Esper right now seems to be doing poorly in the meta and watering the deck down to play with your graveyard more does not seem like the right way to go about it
That isn't true. The last few SCG opens and a pro tour had top fives with at least one Esper Control build in it. I think the deck has leapfrogged Naya blitz and only sits behind Reanimator (which is slowly falling out of favor), the aristocrats, and Jund by my estimates.
Am I the only one who loves this guy? Such an awesome and very much black ability slapped onto a 5/4 flyer, and an ideal target for Heartless Summoning as well. I mean, what's not to like?
All of those cards you listed below are kind of "win more", except for Fleshbag Marauder.
Have you considered throwing in Mortuus Strider and Midnight Recovery? Midnight assures you never run out of zombies and Mortuus Strider gives you an available sacrifice creature to keep Grimgrin happy.
I'd agree. I mean, where are you going to play Bruna? She's not an ideal reanimator target like Avacyn is. She doesn't fit in Esper decks because those decks don't use any enchantments, and Bant auras already has Ascended Lawmage, Invisible Stalker, and Geist of Saint Traft to do most of the work. Even in that deck, where Bruna's ability is maximized, she's still not much more then a "win more" card.
I'm a big fan of Dryad militant and have had nothing but positives with the card in Naya builds. But does anyone else use any of these cards in their decks or have any thoughts on them?
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-Removal that gets around your protection spells (Cyclonic Rift stopping Boros Charm, Frontline Medic, etc).
-Thassa, God of the Sea making it impossible to block anything. It is really hard to deal with, especially when your combat revolves around giving your creatures protection. Not to mention you do not have a way to get rid of Thassa once it becomes a creature, outside of Banisher Priest.
-Master of Waves off of Nykthos. You're not going to outrace them once they get the Master online, at least I haven't been able to.
Esper used to be the worst, but once I acquired a set of Ajani, Caller of the Pride and did some reworking, it's worked out a lot better (though it is still an uphill battle). Mono Red is faster and Mono Black has a better late game, but they are still very much winnable. Junk, GW, and Gruul are all winnable for the most part.
2x Giant Adephage
4x Lotleth Troll
2x Medomai the Ageless
2x Obzedat, Ghost Council
2x Shadowborn Demon
2x Sire Of Insanity
4x Sylvan Caryatid
Sorcery (4)
4x Commune with the Gods
4x Whip of Erebos
Instant (11)
3x Abrupt Decay
2x Golgari Charm
3x Grisly Salvage
3x Hero's Downfall
Land (23)
8x Forest
3x Golgari Guildgate
4x Overgrown Tomb
8x Swamp
1x Ashen Rider
1x Doom Blade
3x Garruk, Caller of Beasts
1x Golgari Charm
1x Hero's Downfall
2x Polukranos, World Eater
1x Putrefy
4x Sylvan Primordial
The deck is designed to take advantage of creatures with either phase-based triggers, enter the battlefield triggers, or attacking. It's meant to function as a toolbox deck, not simply as a way to cheat out a fatty. To back the player up, the deck has a removal suite to kill creatures, enchantments, and planeswalkers.
Feel free to give thoughts!
Trust me when I say that Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker is not playable in standard. Are you really going to sink 3UB into a card that gets successfully blocked (not even chump blocked) by a Vampire Nighthawk or a Desecration Demon? Mirko's place is in limited. In standard, he flat out isn't good enough.
1. Drop Slaughterhorn for Wasteland Viper. If you really want something you bloodrush for G, the Viper is always better because you're at least guaranteed to take whatever blocks your attacker down with it.
2. Zhur Taa Druid is really overrated in all honesty. The fact you need GR to play a mana dork that won't tap until turn three really hurts it. The one burn damage you'll do doesn't help. If you really want a mana dork, go with Avacyn's Pilgrim.
3. Pyrewild Shaman is neat, but not as potent as I thought it would be. Bloodrush cards that are good really have to give more then just a power/toughness bonus, they have to give an ability to. Repeatable bloodrush, as cool as that sounds, isn't good enough. You'd rather sink your mana into a Wolf Run
4. Rubblebelt Raiders definitely should not be a singleton.
5. Domri Rade as a singleton is, as a previous post mentioned, not powerful enough. That's definitely a planeswalker you want multiples of.
6. Alpha Authority isn't really necessary, especially since you don't have anything other then the Raiders and Ruric Thar that can or will be huge.
7. Drop Spire Tracer for Experiment One, Vexing Devil, or Stromkirk Noble. I'm personally not that big of a fan of the Noble as some people are, but it will allow you to consistently get in damage against both the aristocrats and naya humans. Legion Loyalist is also pretty rad, though it doesn't protect itself as well as Experiment One and the Noble will.
8. Flinthoof Boar is a must. It's a great play off of Burning Tree Emissary.
9. Frontline Medic is a must. That battalion trigger is too good to pass up, and yes, the X spell thing is really good. It can almost guarantee you a win when necessary.
That isn't true. The last few SCG opens and a pro tour had top fives with at least one Esper Control build in it. I think the deck has leapfrogged Naya blitz and only sits behind Reanimator (which is slowly falling out of favor), the aristocrats, and Jund by my estimates.
Have you considered throwing in Mortuus Strider and Midnight Recovery? Midnight assures you never run out of zombies and Mortuus Strider gives you an available sacrifice creature to keep Grimgrin happy.
I'd agree. I mean, where are you going to play Bruna? She's not an ideal reanimator target like Avacyn is. She doesn't fit in Esper decks because those decks don't use any enchantments, and Bant auras already has Ascended Lawmage, Invisible Stalker, and Geist of Saint Traft to do most of the work. Even in that deck, where Bruna's ability is maximized, she's still not much more then a "win more" card.
I'm a big fan of Dryad militant and have had nothing but positives with the card in Naya builds. But does anyone else use any of these cards in their decks or have any thoughts on them?