Rough draft for a Junk deck. Main game plan is to get a large creature in play, then bestow Herald of Torment onto them and beatdown in the air.
Some thoughts:
Does the list need more mana dorks, either Voyaging Satyr or Elvish Mystic?
Is Satyr Wayfinder another option to ensure land drops? Possibly trim a Voice and something else?
Should I be playing 4 Brimaz?
Too much removal, or not enough?
Can the mana base be better? How?
Is this even good?
It looks like BNG is the pack to get all your heroic spells and tricks in, while THS is where you get the actual dudes. Prioritizing that, I take Rise to the Challenge
Answer to Blood Baron of Vizkopa = Renounce the Guilds also stops detention sphere
I'd only consider Renounce the Guilds as an option if I weren't running Reckoner, and frankly, Reckoner is just too good not to play. Celestial Flare gets the job done just as well, and is decent against other big creatures like Descration Demon and Kalonian Hydra, which other then Banisher Priest or Pacifism we really can't interact favorably with.
I feel that it's between Pharika's Cure and Feral Invocation. A 1/3 for six that at worst makes 2 1/1's does not excite me. If you manage to get a huge trigger off of the Evangel, then you're already winning anyway.
Pharika's Cure is removal, which is good, but it's frankly not great removal and the color commitment is concerning as Pick 1.
Feral Invocation, my pick, is a combat trick that helps your creature break through, not to mention triggering Heroic.
I like Heliod for his vigilance and mana sink. I see him as running the same role as Slayer's Stronghold, granted with differences. Attacking with a vigilant Fiendslayer Paladin with an anthem in play ought to lead to a quick victory, especially if i'm slamming 3/2's each turn.
I'm currently iffy on Heliod, Path of Bravery and Cartel Aristocrat. Heliod doesn't feel like he does enough (Hero of Bladehold spoiled me), Path has been mediocre in the current Standard season, and Cartel Aristocrat is just a bear with marginally relevant text that dies to the sideboard Renounce the Guilds. The mana base looks sketchy as hell to me too, but my experience with Precinct Captain, Fiendslayer Paladin, and Banisher Priest makes me want it to work, dammit.
Renounce the Guilds has proven amazing for me since Wescoe's Boros Humans at Worlds. I see that card going places and surprising a lot of decks with it's efficiency. Banisher Priest is solid to get rid of better creatures. Glare of Heresy is my hedge against the inevitable GW decks playing Voices, Smiters and Fleecemane Lions. Thoughtseize and Sin Collector are for the decks that try to draw a million cards and play Wraths/Mizzium Mortars.
I really like the art for (most) of the Nymph cycle. I rate them as Black being slightly better then Red, followed by White not too far behind Red, but with Green and Blue significantly worse then the rest.
There are few card arts that I see and think "I want that on my wall", the Black and Red Nymphs are ones that I would very much like to have.
Blind Obedience is an extort source with upside. Imposing Sovereign prevents blockers with the more significant upside of being a creature that beats down. They may look similar, but they are very different cards for two different types of decks.
Taking a staff over Trollhide just feels so, so wrong. You probably aren't going to play either card, but Trollhide is something I'd rather not play against if I can help it.
Shock. Tusker has never impressed me. Shock kills things, and is probably a stronger signal then Tusker. We've also passed a ton of better green then this guy, but really only 2 red cards. We ought to be getting passed some good red pack 2.
Examples cards I've found in M14 with sweet, sweet flavor text: Pillarfield Ox: The best part about Pillarfield Ox's flavor text is the continuation of it.
It starts with Zendikar: These stubborn and unpredictable oxen inspire the plains nomads' most colorful curses;
...continues with M13: "May starving fleas birth a thousand generations on your stubborn hide, cow!" —Bruse Tarl, Goma Fada nomad;
...and keeps continuing with M14: "You old, immobile clod! If I could stuff your doltish head with knowledge; I'd do it just so someone else could fully comprehend what your stubbornness has cost me!"-Bruse Tarl, Goma Fada nomad. I look forward to the reading more of the nomad's curses.
Lava Axe: Arguably not as good as some iterations of previous versions of the card's flavor text, I think you'll agree that this one is "strictly better". A strict upgrade over the cinder hatchet.
Spell Blast continues the trend of cool text on counterspells. "Perhaps you could try throwing a rock? That might be better suited to your intellect."
I've found that I enjoy some of the new sliver flavor texts. For example, Steelform Sliver says: "Though the slivers may sometimes resemble us, they are not human. Anyone who fights them must remember this."-Sarlena, paladin of the Northern Verge; and Predatory Sliver has: No matter how much the slivers change, their collective might remains. The first directly mentions the new sliver appearance on a card; the second brings to mind sliver decks of old while mentioning the changes slivers have seen in this set.
I enjoyed the set of cards- both old and new- with planeswalker quotes on them. Extra points to reprints getting new text. Planeswalkers we haven't seen printed in a while (or at all like Dack) getting quotes on cards is neat. My biggest gripe about planeswalkers is that the planeswalker cards don't get flavor text; this is a good way of giving the walkers an identity.
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Some thoughts:
Does the list need more mana dorks, either Voyaging Satyr or Elvish Mystic?
Is Satyr Wayfinder another option to ensure land drops? Possibly trim a Voice and something else?
Should I be playing 4 Brimaz?
Too much removal, or not enough?
Can the mana base be better? How?
Is this even good?
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Voice of Resurgence
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Loxodon Smiter
2 Alms Beast
3 Advent of the Wurm
4 Herald of Torment
Spells (13)
2 Whip of Erebos
3 Hero's Downfall
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Selesnya Charm
3 Putrefy
4 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Plenty
4 Temple Garden
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Godless Shrine
2 Swamp
1 Forest
3 Sin Collector
3 Thoughtseize
2 Dark Betrayal
2 Drown in Sorrow
2 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
2 Unflinching Courage (maybe)
March of the Machines! And an anthem!
A man can still dream.
I'd only consider Renounce the Guilds as an option if I weren't running Reckoner, and frankly, Reckoner is just too good not to play. Celestial Flare gets the job done just as well, and is decent against other big creatures like Descration Demon and Kalonian Hydra, which other then Banisher Priest or Pacifism we really can't interact favorably with.
Pharika's Cure is removal, which is good, but it's frankly not great removal and the color commitment is concerning as Pick 1.
Feral Invocation, my pick, is a combat trick that helps your creature break through, not to mention triggering Heroic.
4 Tormented Hero
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
Two Drops- 11
4 Imposing Sovereign
3 Cartel Aristocrat
4 Precinct Captain
Three Drops- 13
3 Banisher Priest
4 Fiendslayer Paladin
4 Xathrid Necromancer
2 Frontline Medic
2 Heliod, God of the Sun
Other Stuff- 5
2 Spear of Heliod
3 Path of Bravery
Lands- 21
4 Godless Shrine
4 Temple
8 Plains
3 Swamps
2 Mutavault
3 Renounce the Guilds
1 Banisher Priest
2 Glare of Heresy
3 Thoughtseize
3 Sin Collector
3 ???
Some other cards that are on my radar:
1 Brave the Elements
1 Gideon, Champion of Justice
1 Gift of Orzhova
1 Profit/Loss
1 Orzhov Charm
1 Seraph of the Sword
1 Doomblade
I'm currently iffy on Heliod, Path of Bravery and Cartel Aristocrat. Heliod doesn't feel like he does enough (Hero of Bladehold spoiled me), Path has been mediocre in the current Standard season, and Cartel Aristocrat is just a bear with marginally relevant text that dies to the sideboard Renounce the Guilds. The mana base looks sketchy as hell to me too, but my experience with Precinct Captain, Fiendslayer Paladin, and Banisher Priest makes me want it to work, dammit.
Renounce the Guilds has proven amazing for me since Wescoe's Boros Humans at Worlds. I see that card going places and surprising a lot of decks with it's efficiency. Banisher Priest is solid to get rid of better creatures. Glare of Heresy is my hedge against the inevitable GW decks playing Voices, Smiters and Fleecemane Lions. Thoughtseize and Sin Collector are for the decks that try to draw a million cards and play Wraths/Mizzium Mortars.
There are few card arts that I see and think "I want that on my wall", the Black and Red Nymphs are ones that I would very much like to have.
Pillarfield Ox: The best part about Pillarfield Ox's flavor text is the continuation of it.
It starts with Zendikar: These stubborn and unpredictable oxen inspire the plains nomads' most colorful curses;
...continues with M13: "May starving fleas birth a thousand generations on your stubborn hide, cow!" —Bruse Tarl, Goma Fada nomad;
...and keeps continuing with M14: "You old, immobile clod! If I could stuff your doltish head with knowledge; I'd do it just so someone else could fully comprehend what your stubbornness has cost me!"-Bruse Tarl, Goma Fada nomad. I look forward to the reading more of the nomad's curses.
Lava Axe: Arguably not as good as some iterations of previous versions of the card's flavor text, I think you'll agree that this one is "strictly better". A strict upgrade over the cinder hatchet.
Spell Blast continues the trend of cool text on counterspells. "Perhaps you could try throwing a rock? That might be better suited to your intellect."
I've found that I enjoy some of the new sliver flavor texts. For example, Steelform Sliver says: "Though the slivers may sometimes resemble us, they are not human. Anyone who fights them must remember this."-Sarlena, paladin of the Northern Verge; and Predatory Sliver has: No matter how much the slivers change, their collective might remains. The first directly mentions the new sliver appearance on a card; the second brings to mind sliver decks of old while mentioning the changes slivers have seen in this set.
I enjoyed the set of cards- both old and new- with planeswalker quotes on them. Extra points to reprints getting new text. Planeswalkers we haven't seen printed in a while (or at all like Dack) getting quotes on cards is neat. My biggest gripe about planeswalkers is that the planeswalker cards don't get flavor text; this is a good way of giving the walkers an identity.