So, this is my take on Dragonlord Silumgar. I went with a theft and sacrifice based plan. The advantage in this direction is that you can sacrifice your stolen goods if someone moves to kill your theft outlet. It has some reanimator spliced in as well but I tried keeping it a little more on the backburner.
Also, how does this guy have like... zero love for him? It seems sort of baffling which is part of why I wanted to look into building this.
Also, I've always liked Nezumi Graverobber better than Withered Wretch. The effect costs more, but Nezumi potentially does way more.
Also also, don't forget that if you steal something, and give it Persist or Undying, it will then return under its owner's control. That could make Mikaeus, the Unhallowed bite you in the ass from time to time.
This guy just frustrates me so much, he's about 1 mana overpriced from being awesome.
Some comments:
* I think Chainer is a bit too mana intensive given the number of things you're going to want to cast on your turn with all those dudes
* Reef wurm just seems kinda like good stuff and not like it really belongs
* I think Disciple of Griselbrand should probably be Grim Haruspex who absolutely belongs in the deck
* I don't think Crystal Shard interaction is all that good, especially if ETB creatures are running on the loose. Probably a card that'll be durdly donothing most games. Be better as either another sac outlet or some more counterspell.
* Unstable Obelisk seems like it could go, or be Spine of Ish Sah if you really think you need it.
* Profaner of the dead seems like maybe a little expensive and slow and dangerously likely to blow you out with their ETB critters. Sorcery speed mass bounce is not good in my opinion.
One card I think you're probably missing is Cabal Coffers. No reason not to run it with Urborg and multiple ways to tutor up lands.
Also, I've always liked Nezumi Graverobber better than Withered Wretch. The effect costs more, but Nezumi potentially does way more.
Also also, don't forget that if you steal something, and give it Persist or Undying, it will then return under its owner's control. That could make Mikaeus, the Unhallowed bite you in the ass from time to time.
Disciple of Griselbrand - I have personally enjoyed him quite a bit. With the deck's theft the idea was that I could steal someone else's creature and sacrifice that as well which seems fun. He works best in creature based decks but with the bit of reanimation and what not I have in here I think he seems like a good contendor for this type of deck.
Nezumi Graverobber vs Withered Wretch - graveyard abuse is really out of hand in my meta. I like the versatility of the graverobber but I picked the wretch because I strictly want to just power eat my opponents graveyards. I honestly have not played with the Wretch myself but someone else got one vs me the other day and it hurt a lot that it was the wretch and not the graverobber. Something like 30-40% of the decks in my meta seem to rely somewhat heavily on their graveyards which tends to be something like one deck every game. I cant really defend this choice right this moment because like I said I have not played with it but I have seen it do a ton of work already in my meta.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - I noticed that. I don't know what my plan is yet against that. Ideally I am stealing creatures that are not just random ETB monsters so if it comes to that I can potentially steal them again with my own ETB theft effects. Offhand he seems like something I would want to strategically drop. I think he is powerful enough though that I am interested to see what he can do. He isn't perfect for this deck offhand but he has so much power that I think if I am careful in what I am doing it should be fine and if its not ok for him to be in play I run a lot of sac outlets and I can probably drop him then.
This guy just frustrates me so much, he's about 1 mana overpriced from being awesome.
Some comments:
* I think Chainer is a bit too mana intensive given the number of things you're going to want to cast on your turn with all those dudes
* Reef wurm just seems kinda like good stuff and not like it really belongs
* I think Disciple of Griselbrand should probably be Grim Haruspex who absolutely belongs in the deck
* I don't think Crystal Shard interaction is all that good, especially if ETB creatures are running on the loose. Probably a card that'll be durdly donothing most games. Be better as either another sac outlet or some more counterspell.
* Unstable Obelisk seems like it could go, or be Spine of Ish Sah if you really think you need it.
* Profaner of the dead seems like maybe a little expensive and slow and dangerously likely to blow you out with their ETB critters. Sorcery speed mass bounce is not good in my opinion.
One card I think you're probably missing is Cabal Coffers. No reason not to run it with Urborg and multiple ways to tutor up lands.
Chainer, Dementia Master - he tends to be a lategame plan. He is really heavy on the black mana which could be an issue potentially. He wont be as good in a 2 colored deck as in my mono black deck but I figured I am still just on 2 colors so I figured I wanted him. He is really versatile with sac outlets as I can use him as grave hate as well which is amusing to me. I have found him worth playing still in the past in 2 color black decks so I guess I will see is about all I can say right now.
Reef Worm - the idea was that with all of the sac outlets it generates a lot of sacrifice triggers. It can also do silly things with Corpse Dance + a mana alter as it can chain into a lot of 9/9s very quickly. When you look at abusing it with Nim Deathmantle, Mikaeus, Corpse Dance, Mimic Vat, Skullclamp is when it gets really interesting personally. The idea behind it is more or less a lot of sacrifice triggers at my control for very little mana. I also considered something like Reassembling Skeleton instead but the difference in my mind was that the wurm was better with reanimation tricks where as the skeleton is just sort of decent on its own in a deck like this.
Disciple of Griselbrand - I don't know where I am for having enough free and or cheap sac outlets as it stands. Its hard to judge how many is too many when you put some priority in having one. I am not overly fond of the fact that it requires mana to activate but its cheap to drop and cheap to activate with a fairly solid trigger. I will keep him in mind but I want to play with the list before I make a call as to how many sac outlets I have.
Grim Haruspex I will see if I can get it added. It was one I did look back at several times and I think its a good call to try to add it.
Crystal Shard - yea... I originally put it in to try to bounce my commander out but I dont think its as good as I originally wanted it to be. I will probably cut it for Grim Haruspex.
Unstable Obelisk - I wanted it more to cover the fact that I don't have that much ramp. Its early game ramp and late game its a potential spine effect. I think its better in decks that don't always need Spine but want to have access to it in case. I personally think that Spine of Ish Sah is better in sort of a dedicated artifact deck.
Profaner of the dead - its more of a token defense in my opinion. I don't encounter a ton of ETB goodstuff decks in general. In a deck where creatures are relevant to the deck's plan I tend to prefer putting effects into creature form. Once I have him in play I can potentially sacrifice him and or loop him when I want which is powerful. I have seen him put to fairly good use in my cube and am sort of interested in how he would do in this deck. I don't have much for results to really defend him with offhand so much as just finding him interesting and I feel like he fits this deck's game plan offhand.
Cabal Coffers it might still happen. I did think about putting it in here but I feel that without Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, its a do nothing card in this deck. I don't like it more because it requires the other land to be functional at all and I could see myself drawing it early when I cant really use it. Its still in the realm of possibilities but I did not include it offhand because I felt it was too reliant on getting Urborg to function.
Poor Silumgar, if only he kept his Hexproof from the past. Some dragonlord if he can't even keep the toys he steals.
I think you're missing Academy Ruins to recur your artifacts, strix, hart, solemn, and metamorph.
Also, Reins of Power is definitely better than Domineering Will. If it won't replace it then it should probably be ran along side.
I think it would have added like 2-3 mana to have made him hexproof offhand. I think they also likely would have removed the deathtouch if he had hexproof. It would have been cool but I think it also makes a more interactive game to allow him to be targeted which I guess I am fine with. I do wish he cost a little less mana but he is also a responsive commander so its not necessarily a thing for me to always be casting him on curve.
Academy Ruins - oooops. Yea I meant to have added that. I will fix that asap.
Reins of Power - I had it in my list at first but then I sort of noticed that I had a bit much for creature sac outlets and creatures in general. I felt that it was a bit awkward as well because if I donate my commander I permenantly loose track of whatever I stole. There were just a few more issues with Reins than I was expecting at first. I shifted to the Domineering Will because it seems like it gives me less issues in general. I would have to sacrifice my sac outlet creatures before I did a Reins of Power which seemed awkward especially with some of them like Grimgrin, Corpse-Born who cannot self sacrifice. I agree that Reins of Power is the stronger effect but based on how the commander's theft works as well as how a lot of my sac outlets are creatures I felt awkward handing over my creatures to pull it off. I like it a lot more in a creature light strategy to be totally honest.
I could still possibly buff my counterspells in this list. I really only have like the two creature version counters but my goal is more to build a creature based deck. That said, I could see myself adding a few counters to the spell list still. I have a lot I am trying to do right now though so I figured I would worry about that more after I get some testing in.
DECK CHANGES:
Crystal Shard -> Grim Haruspex the shard has always been a little awkward for me because of the fact that it involves recasting the creatures. I think Grim Haruspex has a lot of potential in a deck like this which involves a lot of creatures in the list and heavy on sacrifice outlets.
You have urborg listed there (duh, you meant it's only good when urborg is out, true true! although it'll commonly ramp you one or two if not) and adding Tolaria West and Cabal Coffers seems like a match made in heaven
Being able to West for High Market is enough of a reason to be running it probably.
You have urborg listed there (duh, you meant it's only good when urborg is out, true true! although it'll commonly ramp you one or two if not) and adding Tolaria West and Cabal Coffers seems like a match made in heaven
Being able to West for High Market is enough of a reason to be running it probably.
Tolaria West actually is a good suggestion here because there are so many lands I potentially want to get my hands on in here. I am still not 100% convinced on Cabal Coffers in here but I will make sure to put some time into testing it. As it stands, I feel like its still a lot of work considering it needs to be set up with Urborg to be usable really at all here. I am not ruling it out, I am just not really convinced of it being worth trying to set up based on how the deck looks right now.
DECK CHANGE:
Swamp -> Tolaria West I am still a little concerned about cutting too many islands for Vedalken Shackles to work but for now I will see if the shackles can prove themselves before I bother building with them in mind. I am cutting a swamp here in part because I have a few black producing nonbasics in the list so I want my island count a little higher than my swamp count.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I am really excited to hear about how you find Shackles, it's a card that's been on my radar that I don't own (and annoyingly I'll probably have to pick up a playset if I like it, because it might go in my modern monoU Tron deck sideboard as well :P).
I am still trying to get my list to 100 cards so I had to decide on some cuts.
CUTS:
Withered Wretch I still want to test him but for now, he doesn't really interact with my own gameplan and I still have two other strong graveyard hate effects in the deck. Its unfortunate as I think he is really a monster but I would need to run him over Nihil Spellbomb or find something else I dont want right now to keep him in. I guess he can be on the wishlist for now.
Disciple of Griselbrand I need to make some cuts and of my sac outlets this one requires mana to activate which is unfortunate. Due to that, I am cutting him for now.
Kokusho, the Evening Star he unfortunately doesn't really fit anything the deck is doing other than that he sacrifices well. I do enjoy him but unfortunately I dont see that much synergy with him and the deck right now. Its possible to kill chain him but since the rest of this list isn't really a siphon life plan it makes koko puff less impressive.
That gets me to 100 cards at least. When I first built this I think I was at like 120 cards so its been rough pulling the last few to make it 100 cards.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
So, I got this deck sleeved up (hooray I haven't gone through with fully building an EDH deck in like 2 months lol). I had a few adjustments I made at the last second with some additional cards sort of on my watch list. It seems like there are a ton of cards I want to get in here which is a good feeling.
DECK CHANGE:
Forbidden Alchemy -> Pact of Negation of my draw, I was just not as excited for the alchemy even though its decent. I had really wanted to make room for pact in here to have a counter I can fetch off of both Mystical Teachings and Tolaria West. I think the Alchemy is decent but I felt that there was some benefit in having at least one traditional counter in deck and I like the ease of use of pact. I might try to make room for a few more if I can make room which seems to be hard at the moment.
Unstable Obelisk -> Oblivion Stone I dont really need a 3 mana single mana producing stone right now. I do on the other hand have very few ways to interact with non creatures so I found myself just wanting to have a stone in deck. I have plenty of tutors to go get it so I think its justifiable to have.
My consideration list seems to keep growing as I think of other things. I will just sort of keep heaping them together and see how the deck plays tonight as I assume I will get some testing and move things around again.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I just started doing this deck, but my list will be a little different, less competitive, more "fun" with everything I can find to steal my opponent's permanents!
I wanted something that changes completely my gameplan according to my opponents' decks.
As soon as I find some time to do a complete list I will post it!
I just started doing this deck, but my list will be a little different, less competitive, more "fun" with everything I can find to steal my opponent's permanents!
I wanted something that changes completely my gameplan according to my opponents' decks.
As soon as I find some time to do a complete list I will post it!
Good to hear. I got around to playing it some last night and it was a lot of fun. Let me know when you get a list together and I will try to take a look at it.
So, I played two games last night with this deck. We ended up with 6 players both times so we played games of 3 team 2HG as it seems to be the favored way to play 6 players.
Early game, both Borborygmos and Dromoka had really fast mana starts and started with a Heroes' Bane from Borborygmos. They dropped some early game threats that were going to add up quickly to which I defended us with a Reef Worm. Rasputin put down a Propaganda effect trying to defend them but given the options Borborygmos decided he liked paying 2 mana than eating through my 4 blockers.
We got off to a slow start but we ended up sort of putting a kabosh to a lot of the aggro decks via a Dictate of Erebos from myself which just slowed the game to a crawl. The red player got a Daretti, Scrap Savant up to 11 counters at which point I first dropped my commander into play and stole his walker and ulted him (mostly to steal it lol). Nobody else remembered that he stole walkers so I found it really funny. A few turns later someone played a Karn Liberated to take out my Mimic Vat which was being rather robust due to the ult. I had also been sitting with a Dualcaster Mage on it for a while and I later put a Gilded Drake on it which got fun fast except that it got answered by Karn. I ended up sacing and recasting my commander to steal Karn and punt off a Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle that was harassing my teammates board.
This game was sort of slow in general in part due to my ability to steal and the edicts. I had tutored for a Notion Thief which I had sat behind for some time in this game but the turn I tapped down to steal Daretti's ult the red player wheeled
We pushed an eldrazi and some attacks around with a pair of Mystic Barrier that I copied from Rasputin. I aimed his eldrazi at the other team who proceeded to steal the eldrazi and try to swing it at us. We got pushed down to the 20 life area but the eldrazi died before attacking via a combination of us trying to bounce it and the other team using spot removal to kill it instead of letting it be recast and still a problem.
The team after us build up a token army to have it crushed by a wrath. About here, our opponents got annoyed and mutually agreed to concede the game that seemed to never go anywhere.
SECOND GAME:
I was playing with a partner playing Dromoka, the Eternal which is sort of an odd ramp heavy dragon GW deck.
This game was really terrible. It went on for 2.5 hours and then as I was leading the game I decided I just really needed to leave because it was late lol. I will try to recap it though regardless.
Borborygmos got a fast start again but I laid down early game Baleful Strix + Reef Worm which slowed him from attacking us much. Heliod ended up being a very heavy removal based deck so his response to a lot of things seemed to be removal.
Riku set up a Birthing Pod which fectched him into Prophet of Kruphex. Heliod tried removing it with Luminate Primordial catching my Reef Worm with no sac outlets in the meantime. Riku flashed a clone of prophet it in response. We attacked the prophet player who overloaded a Cyclonic Rift and then we wrathed him. I set up a Glen Elendra Archmage + Grim Haruspex and started a draw engine. The next turn I used a Puppeteer Clique to rez a clone who I made a copy of Borborygmos Enraged and swung out with him. I finished the turn by throwing three lands to kill the opposing Borborygmos + riku and then hitting a Diabolic Intent on the clique to draw more cards and tutor up a Burnished Heart to ramp a bit more.
My opponents got sick of my Grim Haruspex draw engine and Heliod exiled it.
We got to the point of sort of slow rolling threats. I stole a big dragon, then someone tried doing a Death by Dragons which I used a Pact of Negation on but Riku used a Reiterate with buyback to cast it anyways. It wasn't as bad though as Borborygmos was trying to turn all of Heliod's tokens into dragons where as Riku just used it as a bit of an answer to things I mostly didn't care about.
I saced my creatures and undied them all (except mikaeus and the humans). I then swung for like 17 damage. I then left because I was expected elsewhere lol. I think with the direction it was going though I had the game (it was just a matter of time).
In general, I felt like I had a bit too much for wraths even though a lot of them are not quite as traditional. I really found myself needing more draw most of the time. I might also get something out of having some cheap creatures and or token generation so I might delve into that a little.
DECK CHANGES:
Profaner of the Dead -> Trinket Mage I was a little heavy on sweeper effects and light on draw and ramp. I happen to have Sol Ring + Skullclamp as options to fix both of those problems so it seems like a good swap.
Attrition -> Bitterblossom while it is unfortunate to be cutting a sac outlet, I actually dont think the utility that it lends in this deck to be as impressive. People are really sort of scared of my commander and so the threat of Attrition is sort of less good given that they are already playing around me based on what my commander does. I also found in a lot of cases I just wanted some cheap bodies to use for things which I think this does well with.
Conjurer's Closet -> Teferi, Temporal Archmage I looked closer and honestly the closet doesn't interact with as much as I had first thought. Its funny with my commander because I can flicker the creature and then my commander to steal again but that's a lot of work for not a ton of reward. The closet also draws a lot of attention and generally doesn't trigger much before dying. Teferi interests me because he has card draw / select as well as ramp / vigilance to him. I haven't ever really considered him in the 99 before but I am intrigued to see what he can do in a deck so defensively built.
Offhand, I have a lot more testing to do. I have a somewhat large consideration list that I am looking at and I want to test a lot more things. In general the games went as long as they did in part because it mostly felt like everyone was playing control decks. I have a lot of cards on my watch list right now as well as a lot of cards in consideration. For the time being I just thought I would move on some that I had wished I had and or wished I had not had lol.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Just one small change. I have an ever growing list of cards I am thinking about for this list. I really like the change of pace in how the deck plays so far. I need to work a little on moving cards yet and my ability to close out games.
DECK CHANGE:
Necromancy -> Raven Familiar this might seem like an odd change but I want to reduce my graveyard dependance and increase my draw currently. I really like my graveyard effects but I felt I was a little heavier than I wanted to be with them. I want them to crop up occasionally and be very powerful but they dont need to be always popping up. The Raven seems really good with a heavy focus on sacrificing as I generate a lot of value out of creatures on sacrifice so while it has that echo effect, it seems like I could just drop it as I need a blocker or put it on something like Skullclamp or Nim Deathmantle or drop it into a Mimic Vat. It seems like it greases the wheels so to say in a way I seem to need right now.
I started with a Sol Ring in hand from my partial mulligan. I ended up tutoring for Phyrexian Arena which I dropped on turn 3. My ally ended up starting with some ramp dork and setting up into a somewhat early Flameblast Dragon which ended up getting hit by a Beast Within. Turn 4 I dropped and popped a Burnished Heart giving me some decent lands to work with.
Dromoka early ramped into his commander and started swinging (mostly at us) but I think he only ever got to 10-15 commander damage by the end. Riku was pushing around a Proteus Staff for a while so I joined him with a Cleaver Impersonator (my flips were mostly bad lol).
We end up getting beat up for a while from an Akroma, Angel of Wrath while we hijack commanders and such with fun tricks with my commander + a Flamerush Rider from my partner he is able to pump just enough to keep it from dying. I spend time polymorphing his theft triggers to give free value and he manages to find a Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger which just slows our opponents way down since I have a Pact of Negation + Venser, Shaper Savant in hand. For some reason I completely forget that I can Proteus Staff the Akroma that is face smashing us turn after turn as we are at about half starting life by now.
I manage to set up Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Visera Seer which allows me to cycle my commander back into play when the Sliver player tries dropping mass shroud for his guys. My partner shoots with his commander to kill a Constricting Sliver as well when the sliver player tries casting his shroud guy to take out the Vorinclex. I sort of stall the other team with my counter magic and bounce a Krenko, Mob Boss in response to two triggers being put on the stack thanks to a Rings of Brighthearth which stops all tokens and makes him recast and have summoning sickness again.
I draw and drop a Grave Pact on my turn and we activate the Shaman of Forgotten Ways my partner has been sitting on for like 3 turns. In response to it I chain through a bunch of guys (I have Mikaeus + Reef Worm) which eats through essentially everyone else's boards and they auto die to having 0 HP.
GAME 2:
We had a 7th player show up soon after we got started so we split into two games. I was in the game of 4 players. My opponents are Jhoira of the Ghitu (out of town guy playing MLD and Spegetti Monsters), Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, and Mistform Ultimus.
My own game starts off a bit slow. I drop a Raven Familiar to block for me (right before he drops his trample sword). I pay the echo anyways because I don't have anything better to do offhand. I drop a clone of a Mulldrifter and fail to find lands. Alesha drops a wheel effect and manages to rez a Duplicant to eat the Mistform. I drop a Phyrexian Arena in and just sit back with a few blockers. Jhoira plays a Paradox Haze to speed up his suspend clock when he gets going.
Jhoira drops his commander in with some mana up to suspend some things. I play sort of defensively arround this and hold mana to see what he does. He ends up putting a Devastation + It That Betrays on the suspend stack at end step. On his turn they tick down and there is only one more turn before they go off. Alesha sort of panics and swings some damage at him plus hits him with a Blinding Angel which is a huge plus as it stalls his eldrazi swing. Mistform sets up to carry his commander through with his samurai sword. I flash in a Dictate of Erebos at the end step. On my turn I Diabolic Intent off of my raven to fetch up Bitterblossom which will live through the MLD effect. I cast it and pass turn.
Devastation goes off (I have a Pact of Negation in hand but allow it). The eldrazi comes in and cant attack due to Blinding Angel. We all go and drop our lands. I am down to like 24 life at this point and am being siphoned two life a turn between Phyrexian Arena + Bitterblossom but it looks like the gain in performance will be worth it. When Jhoira goes to attack I have a token + a Nihil Spellbomb that I am totally willing to drop to his annihilate so he instead swings at Mistform who kept a Sol Ring and some equipment through the wrath. He ends up getting two equipment from him.
Mistform ends up getting to two lands and uses a Wipe Away at my end step to stop the eldrazi from allowing him to play. This positions me very well at this point. Alesha ends up having a good curve of lands and creatures post wrath with an Ashling the Pilgrim. I get a Burnished Hart into play on curve after the MLD effect which I pop the following turn. The turn after that I drop a Dimir House Guard which turns on my Dictate cannon. Jhoira doesn't realize this and plays his commander out without mana to activate. I eat it with my dictate at his end step to get rid of Ashling. I start swinging out at people for like 5 at a time with the tokens which is adding up since everyone is in the 20 life range for the most part. Mistform ends up dropping and using a Proteus Staff on my Dimir House Guard to which I respond with a Lim-Dûl's Vault as a psudo Worldly Tutor to get anything I want into play lol. He gets annoyed by this and concedes. Ashling follows suit and Jhoira isn't really situated to take me on alone.
So... oddly enough I was 2 for 2 last night. It was sort of funny since nothing I actually did ended up actually killing anyone so much as just showing that they were not well positioned to recover. I guess my edicts did more or less directly kill our opponents game one but my partner had some lands in hand and probably could have killed one to two on demand as he wanted after that.
Raven Familiar I saw it both games. In general I really liked the utility it gave me as its sort of versatile when you look at looping it or clamping it. I really do like my sac effects as well so in all it felt fairly nice to have. It was cheap enough to drop and it was nice that it buries the rest of the cards unlike something like Brainstorm.
Bitterblossom it was good in the situation that was created. I want to keep testing it to see what my thoughts are but it seems good so far. The tokens give me cheap blockers and cheap sacrifices.
All in all they went well. I like the increase in draw so far but I still occasionally feel like its too hard for me to find edict effects. I might go back through and see what I have for options as I could see having another outlet being useful in deck.
Have to u consider slotting in Keiga, the tide star in your deck? Flying body with a great trigger when it hits the graveyard.Plays well with sac outlet.
Have to u consider slotting in Keiga, the tide star in your deck? Flying body with a great trigger when it hits the graveyard.Plays well with sac outlet.
I played with the idea for a bit but there is a problem which is that its a single shot effect and not very cheap to use. I have actually been feeling like I might be running a little more theft than I really need but I am trying to get a feel for what I could use instead. This deck has a problem which is that if nothing is being played it responsively does very little. It can be very hard to come by good targets for theft sometimes when your commander is a theft effect as people tend to play a little differently.
Last time I played this deck, I curved into a T5 Silumgar right behind someone casting a Grenzo, Dungeon Warden and he scooped in response. Playing a 6 mana commander and killing someone is fairly good but I would have much preferred being able to use his commander.
I need to make some adjustments to my list yet but I just wanted to get some more games in to figure out where they need to be right now.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I generally don't intentionally run infinite combos. If I feel that a card is worth including on its own merrit I will add it in but the combo interactions of a card are something I tend to ignore because I will generally try not to combo off even if I set one up in play.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I have in the past considered making a BR steal & sac deck. The downside with that tactic is that its more of just removal than being theft in that case since you cant hold onto them very long. I like that blue gives me the option to try to hold onto their commanders and creatures which both deprives them of the threat as well as giving me the threat.
Cauldron of Souls + Willbreaker - I have put some thought into the Cauldron but I think there are too few situations in the deck still where willbreaker would be a positive asset. Most things that can target opponents creatures in this format usually remove them.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Almost like you, at one point the deck was a UBR steal and sacrifice deck, led by Lord of Tresserhorn (life doesn't matter, sacrifice from theft and Notion Thief for draw), but it felt like it tried to do too many things because of its colors, so eventually I decided to drop the red.
It's true that Willbreaker does need more "building around". When it was previewed, it immediately filled the "subpar, but multi-theft" slot I had considered for Beguiler of Wills. Also, "any number of target creature" removal spells like Curse of the Swine and Descent of the Dragons (when the deck still had R in planning) become a lot better (1-sided) with Willbreaker.
Also, how does this guy have like... zero love for him? It seems sort of baffling which is part of why I wanted to look into building this.
1 Dragonlord Silumgar
CREATURES (27)
1 Viscera Seer
1 Baleful Strix
1 Gilded Drake
1 Burnished Hart
1 Grim Haruspex
1 Raven Familiar
1 Trinket Mage
1 Aura Thief
1 Clever Impersonator
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Disciple of Bolas
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Notion Thief
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Reef Worm
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Body Double
1 Chainer, Dementia Master
1 Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
1 Kagemaro, First to Suffer
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1 Roil Elemental
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Grim Monolith
1 Nim Deathmantle
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Mimic Vat
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Helm of Possession
ENCHANTMENT (5)
1 Bitterblossom
1 Necropotence
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Grave Pact
1 Dictate of Erebos
INSTANT (10)
1 Pact of Negation
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Lim-Dûl's Vault
1 Wake the Dead
1 Corpse Dance
1 Domineering Will
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Memory Plunder
1 Mystical Teachings
SORCERY (5)
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Intent
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Bribery
1 Living Death
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Teferi, Temporal Archmage
LAND (38)
1 Academy Ruins
1 Arcane Lighthouse
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Command Tower
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Flooded Strand
1 High Market
9 Island
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Strip Mine
7 Swamp
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Tolaria West
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Watery Grave
1 Eldrazi Monument
1 Cauldron of Souls
1 Butcher of Malakir
1 Karn Liberated
1 Blatant Thievery
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Mindslicer
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Bloodghast
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1 Pawn of Ulamog
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[Modern] Allies
Also, I've always liked Nezumi Graverobber better than Withered Wretch. The effect costs more, but Nezumi potentially does way more.
Also also, don't forget that if you steal something, and give it Persist or Undying, it will then return under its owner's control. That could make Mikaeus, the Unhallowed bite you in the ass from time to time.
As for more ramp, you should probably/definitely add Talisman of Dominance and/or Dimir Signet.
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Current Commanders: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (coming soon) | [Primer] Sedris, the Traitor King | Maelstrom Wanderer | Najeela, the Blade Blossom | Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
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Retired Commanders: [Primer] Jenara, Asura of War | [Primer] Ghave, Guru of Spores | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury | Saskia the Unyielding | Sydri, Galvanic Genius
Some comments:
* I think Chainer is a bit too mana intensive given the number of things you're going to want to cast on your turn with all those dudes
* Reef wurm just seems kinda like good stuff and not like it really belongs
* I think Disciple of Griselbrand should probably be Grim Haruspex who absolutely belongs in the deck
* I don't think Crystal Shard interaction is all that good, especially if ETB creatures are running on the loose. Probably a card that'll be durdly donothing most games. Be better as either another sac outlet or some more counterspell.
* Unstable Obelisk seems like it could go, or be Spine of Ish Sah if you really think you need it.
* Profaner of the dead seems like maybe a little expensive and slow and dangerously likely to blow you out with their ETB critters. Sorcery speed mass bounce is not good in my opinion.
One card I think you're probably missing is Cabal Coffers. No reason not to run it with Urborg and multiple ways to tutor up lands.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
I think you're missing Academy Ruins to recur your artifacts, strix, hart, solemn, and metamorph.
Also, Reins of Power is definitely better than Domineering Will. If it won't replace it then it should probably be ran along side.
Disciple of Griselbrand - I have personally enjoyed him quite a bit. With the deck's theft the idea was that I could steal someone else's creature and sacrifice that as well which seems fun. He works best in creature based decks but with the bit of reanimation and what not I have in here I think he seems like a good contendor for this type of deck.
Nezumi Graverobber vs Withered Wretch - graveyard abuse is really out of hand in my meta. I like the versatility of the graverobber but I picked the wretch because I strictly want to just power eat my opponents graveyards. I honestly have not played with the Wretch myself but someone else got one vs me the other day and it hurt a lot that it was the wretch and not the graverobber. Something like 30-40% of the decks in my meta seem to rely somewhat heavily on their graveyards which tends to be something like one deck every game. I cant really defend this choice right this moment because like I said I have not played with it but I have seen it do a ton of work already in my meta.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - I noticed that. I don't know what my plan is yet against that. Ideally I am stealing creatures that are not just random ETB monsters so if it comes to that I can potentially steal them again with my own ETB theft effects. Offhand he seems like something I would want to strategically drop. I think he is powerful enough though that I am interested to see what he can do. He isn't perfect for this deck offhand but he has so much power that I think if I am careful in what I am doing it should be fine and if its not ok for him to be in play I run a lot of sac outlets and I can probably drop him then.
I think it would have added like 2-3 mana to have made him hexproof offhand. I think they also likely would have removed the deathtouch if he had hexproof. It would have been cool but I think it also makes a more interactive game to allow him to be targeted which I guess I am fine with. I do wish he cost a little less mana but he is also a responsive commander so its not necessarily a thing for me to always be casting him on curve.
I could still possibly buff my counterspells in this list. I really only have like the two creature version counters but my goal is more to build a creature based deck. That said, I could see myself adding a few counters to the spell list still. I have a lot I am trying to do right now though so I figured I would worry about that more after I get some testing in.
DECK CHANGES:
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[Modern] Allies
Being able to West for High Market is enough of a reason to be running it probably.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Tolaria West actually is a good suggestion here because there are so many lands I potentially want to get my hands on in here. I am still not 100% convinced on Cabal Coffers in here but I will make sure to put some time into testing it. As it stands, I feel like its still a lot of work considering it needs to be set up with Urborg to be usable really at all here. I am not ruling it out, I am just not really convinced of it being worth trying to set up based on how the deck looks right now.
DECK CHANGE:
Swamp -> Tolaria West I am still a little concerned about cutting too many islands for Vedalken Shackles to work but for now I will see if the shackles can prove themselves before I bother building with them in mind. I am cutting a swamp here in part because I have a few black producing nonbasics in the list so I want my island count a little higher than my swamp count.
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[Modern] Allies
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
CUTS:
Withered Wretch I still want to test him but for now, he doesn't really interact with my own gameplan and I still have two other strong graveyard hate effects in the deck. Its unfortunate as I think he is really a monster but I would need to run him over Nihil Spellbomb or find something else I dont want right now to keep him in. I guess he can be on the wishlist for now.
Disciple of Griselbrand I need to make some cuts and of my sac outlets this one requires mana to activate which is unfortunate. Due to that, I am cutting him for now.
Kokusho, the Evening Star he unfortunately doesn't really fit anything the deck is doing other than that he sacrifices well. I do enjoy him but unfortunately I dont see that much synergy with him and the deck right now. Its possible to kill chain him but since the rest of this list isn't really a siphon life plan it makes koko puff less impressive.
That gets me to 100 cards at least. When I first built this I think I was at like 120 cards so its been rough pulling the last few to make it 100 cards.
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[Modern] Allies
DECK CHANGE:
Forbidden Alchemy -> Pact of Negation of my draw, I was just not as excited for the alchemy even though its decent. I had really wanted to make room for pact in here to have a counter I can fetch off of both Mystical Teachings and Tolaria West. I think the Alchemy is decent but I felt that there was some benefit in having at least one traditional counter in deck and I like the ease of use of pact. I might try to make room for a few more if I can make room which seems to be hard at the moment.
Unstable Obelisk -> Oblivion Stone I dont really need a 3 mana single mana producing stone right now. I do on the other hand have very few ways to interact with non creatures so I found myself just wanting to have a stone in deck. I have plenty of tutors to go get it so I think its justifiable to have.
My consideration list seems to keep growing as I think of other things. I will just sort of keep heaping them together and see how the deck plays tonight as I assume I will get some testing and move things around again.
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[Modern] Allies
I just started doing this deck, but my list will be a little different, less competitive, more "fun" with everything I can find to steal my opponent's permanents!
I wanted something that changes completely my gameplan according to my opponents' decks.
As soon as I find some time to do a complete list I will post it!
Good to hear. I got around to playing it some last night and it was a lot of fun. Let me know when you get a list together and I will try to take a look at it.
So, I played two games last night with this deck. We ended up with 6 players both times so we played games of 3 team 2HG as it seems to be the favored way to play 6 players.
First Game:
I was playing with a teammate playing Azami, Lady of Scrolls. Our opponents this game were: Borborygmos Enraged and Dromoka, the Eternal and the final team of Feldon of the Third Path and Rasputin Dreamweaver.
Early game, both Borborygmos and Dromoka had really fast mana starts and started with a Heroes' Bane from Borborygmos. They dropped some early game threats that were going to add up quickly to which I defended us with a Reef Worm. Rasputin put down a Propaganda effect trying to defend them but given the options Borborygmos decided he liked paying 2 mana than eating through my 4 blockers.
We got off to a slow start but we ended up sort of putting a kabosh to a lot of the aggro decks via a Dictate of Erebos from myself which just slowed the game to a crawl. The red player got a Daretti, Scrap Savant up to 11 counters at which point I first dropped my commander into play and stole his walker and ulted him (mostly to steal it lol). Nobody else remembered that he stole walkers so I found it really funny. A few turns later someone played a Karn Liberated to take out my Mimic Vat which was being rather robust due to the ult. I had also been sitting with a Dualcaster Mage on it for a while and I later put a Gilded Drake on it which got fun fast except that it got answered by Karn. I ended up sacing and recasting my commander to steal Karn and punt off a Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle that was harassing my teammates board.
This game was sort of slow in general in part due to my ability to steal and the edicts. I had tutored for a Notion Thief which I had sat behind for some time in this game but the turn I tapped down to steal Daretti's ult the red player wheeled
We pushed an eldrazi and some attacks around with a pair of Mystic Barrier that I copied from Rasputin. I aimed his eldrazi at the other team who proceeded to steal the eldrazi and try to swing it at us. We got pushed down to the 20 life area but the eldrazi died before attacking via a combination of us trying to bounce it and the other team using spot removal to kill it instead of letting it be recast and still a problem.
The team after us build up a token army to have it crushed by a wrath. About here, our opponents got annoyed and mutually agreed to concede the game that seemed to never go anywhere.
SECOND GAME:
I was playing with a partner playing Dromoka, the Eternal which is sort of an odd ramp heavy dragon GW deck.
This game was really terrible. It went on for 2.5 hours and then as I was leading the game I decided I just really needed to leave because it was late lol. I will try to recap it though regardless.
Borborygmos got a fast start again but I laid down early game Baleful Strix + Reef Worm which slowed him from attacking us much. Heliod ended up being a very heavy removal based deck so his response to a lot of things seemed to be removal.
Riku set up a Birthing Pod which fectched him into Prophet of Kruphex. Heliod tried removing it with Luminate Primordial catching my Reef Worm with no sac outlets in the meantime. Riku flashed a clone of prophet it in response. We attacked the prophet player who overloaded a Cyclonic Rift and then we wrathed him. I set up a Glen Elendra Archmage + Grim Haruspex and started a draw engine. The next turn I used a Puppeteer Clique to rez a clone who I made a copy of Borborygmos Enraged and swung out with him. I finished the turn by throwing three lands to kill the opposing Borborygmos + riku and then hitting a Diabolic Intent on the clique to draw more cards and tutor up a Burnished Heart to ramp a bit more.
My opponents got sick of my Grim Haruspex draw engine and Heliod exiled it.
I spent a lot of turns following just ramping mana. I dropped and popped a Burnished Heart then proceeded to play Solemn Simulacrum twice with the help of Mikaeus, the Unhallowed who prompted a wrath.
We got to the point of sort of slow rolling threats. I stole a big dragon, then someone tried doing a Death by Dragons which I used a Pact of Negation on but Riku used a Reiterate with buyback to cast it anyways. It wasn't as bad though as Borborygmos was trying to turn all of Heliod's tokens into dragons where as Riku just used it as a bit of an answer to things I mostly didn't care about.
I cast a Wake the Dead for 8 rezing all of my creatures to play which gave me a lot of playing power with: Viscera Seer, Baleful Strix, Burnished Hart, Glen Elendra Archmage, Solemn Simulacrum, Venser, Shaper Savant, Puppeteer Clique, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed into play. I proceeded to exile all of my opponents creatures from grave, exile all creatures in play (a duplicant in grave), and scry my deck to the card I wanted (Living Death).
I saced my creatures and undied them all (except mikaeus and the humans). I then swung for like 17 damage. I then left because I was expected elsewhere lol. I think with the direction it was going though I had the game (it was just a matter of time).
In general, I felt like I had a bit too much for wraths even though a lot of them are not quite as traditional. I really found myself needing more draw most of the time. I might also get something out of having some cheap creatures and or token generation so I might delve into that a little.
DECK CHANGES:
Profaner of the Dead -> Trinket Mage I was a little heavy on sweeper effects and light on draw and ramp. I happen to have Sol Ring + Skullclamp as options to fix both of those problems so it seems like a good swap.
Attrition -> Bitterblossom while it is unfortunate to be cutting a sac outlet, I actually dont think the utility that it lends in this deck to be as impressive. People are really sort of scared of my commander and so the threat of Attrition is sort of less good given that they are already playing around me based on what my commander does. I also found in a lot of cases I just wanted some cheap bodies to use for things which I think this does well with.
Conjurer's Closet -> Teferi, Temporal Archmage I looked closer and honestly the closet doesn't interact with as much as I had first thought. Its funny with my commander because I can flicker the creature and then my commander to steal again but that's a lot of work for not a ton of reward. The closet also draws a lot of attention and generally doesn't trigger much before dying. Teferi interests me because he has card draw / select as well as ramp / vigilance to him. I haven't ever really considered him in the 99 before but I am intrigued to see what he can do in a deck so defensively built.
Offhand, I have a lot more testing to do. I have a somewhat large consideration list that I am looking at and I want to test a lot more things. In general the games went as long as they did in part because it mostly felt like everyone was playing control decks. I have a lot of cards on my watch list right now as well as a lot of cards in consideration. For the time being I just thought I would move on some that I had wished I had and or wished I had not had lol.
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[Modern] Allies
DECK CHANGE:
Necromancy -> Raven Familiar this might seem like an odd change but I want to reduce my graveyard dependance and increase my draw currently. I really like my graveyard effects but I felt I was a little heavier than I wanted to be with them. I want them to crop up occasionally and be very powerful but they dont need to be always popping up. The Raven seems really good with a heavy focus on sacrificing as I generate a lot of value out of creatures on sacrifice so while it has that echo effect, it seems like I could just drop it as I need a blocker or put it on something like Skullclamp or Nim Deathmantle or drop it into a Mimic Vat. It seems like it greases the wheels so to say in a way I seem to need right now.
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[Modern] Allies
Game 1 Report:
We ended up with 6 players so we did our usual 3 team 2HG game. I ended up with Borborygmos Enraged as a partner which was sort of nice since he had probably the most aggressive creatures at the table. My opponents were: Sliver Hivelord paired with Dromoka, the Eternal and Feldon of the Third Path paired with Riku of Two Reflections.
I started with a Sol Ring in hand from my partial mulligan. I ended up tutoring for Phyrexian Arena which I dropped on turn 3. My ally ended up starting with some ramp dork and setting up into a somewhat early Flameblast Dragon which ended up getting hit by a Beast Within. Turn 4 I dropped and popped a Burnished Heart giving me some decent lands to work with.
Dromoka early ramped into his commander and started swinging (mostly at us) but I think he only ever got to 10-15 commander damage by the end. Riku was pushing around a Proteus Staff for a while so I joined him with a Cleaver Impersonator (my flips were mostly bad lol).
Riku dropped a Prophet of Kruphix which I tried to steal with a Vedalken Shackles I dropped to steal it with but he had a Snapcaster Mage + Beast Within for me. The next turn the other team tried to kill the prophet and he bounced it with Riptide Laboratory. He recast it on his turn again. My partner layed down a Rain of Thorns taking out Riku's Proteus Staff / Riptide Laboratory and some random Frontier Siege. I dropped my commander and used Proteus Staff to make it go away. I end up getting Grim Haruspex about now.
We end up getting beat up for a while from an Akroma, Angel of Wrath while we hijack commanders and such with fun tricks with my commander + a Flamerush Rider from my partner he is able to pump just enough to keep it from dying. I spend time polymorphing his theft triggers to give free value and he manages to find a Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger which just slows our opponents way down since I have a Pact of Negation + Venser, Shaper Savant in hand. For some reason I completely forget that I can Proteus Staff the Akroma that is face smashing us turn after turn as we are at about half starting life by now.
I manage to set up Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Visera Seer which allows me to cycle my commander back into play when the Sliver player tries dropping mass shroud for his guys. My partner shoots with his commander to kill a Constricting Sliver as well when the sliver player tries casting his shroud guy to take out the Vorinclex. I sort of stall the other team with my counter magic and bounce a Krenko, Mob Boss in response to two triggers being put on the stack thanks to a Rings of Brighthearth which stops all tokens and makes him recast and have summoning sickness again.
I draw and drop a Grave Pact on my turn and we activate the Shaman of Forgotten Ways my partner has been sitting on for like 3 turns. In response to it I chain through a bunch of guys (I have Mikaeus + Reef Worm) which eats through essentially everyone else's boards and they auto die to having 0 HP.
GAME 2:
We had a 7th player show up soon after we got started so we split into two games. I was in the game of 4 players. My opponents are Jhoira of the Ghitu (out of town guy playing MLD and Spegetti Monsters), Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, and Mistform Ultimus.
Thankfully, Jhoira is off to a really slow start. Mistform starts with a T1 Sol Ring T2 commander T3 Oathkeeper, Takeno's Daisho + equip and slaps me T4 Sword of Vengeance + equip and hits Jhoira.
My own game starts off a bit slow. I drop a Raven Familiar to block for me (right before he drops his trample sword). I pay the echo anyways because I don't have anything better to do offhand. I drop a clone of a Mulldrifter and fail to find lands. Alesha drops a wheel effect and manages to rez a Duplicant to eat the Mistform. I drop a Phyrexian Arena in and just sit back with a few blockers. Jhoira plays a Paradox Haze to speed up his suspend clock when he gets going.
Jhoira drops his commander in with some mana up to suspend some things. I play sort of defensively arround this and hold mana to see what he does. He ends up putting a Devastation + It That Betrays on the suspend stack at end step. On his turn they tick down and there is only one more turn before they go off. Alesha sort of panics and swings some damage at him plus hits him with a Blinding Angel which is a huge plus as it stalls his eldrazi swing. Mistform sets up to carry his commander through with his samurai sword. I flash in a Dictate of Erebos at the end step. On my turn I Diabolic Intent off of my raven to fetch up Bitterblossom which will live through the MLD effect. I cast it and pass turn.
Devastation goes off (I have a Pact of Negation in hand but allow it). The eldrazi comes in and cant attack due to Blinding Angel. We all go and drop our lands. I am down to like 24 life at this point and am being siphoned two life a turn between Phyrexian Arena + Bitterblossom but it looks like the gain in performance will be worth it. When Jhoira goes to attack I have a token + a Nihil Spellbomb that I am totally willing to drop to his annihilate so he instead swings at Mistform who kept a Sol Ring and some equipment through the wrath. He ends up getting two equipment from him.
Mistform ends up getting to two lands and uses a Wipe Away at my end step to stop the eldrazi from allowing him to play. This positions me very well at this point. Alesha ends up having a good curve of lands and creatures post wrath with an Ashling the Pilgrim. I get a Burnished Hart into play on curve after the MLD effect which I pop the following turn. The turn after that I drop a Dimir House Guard which turns on my Dictate cannon. Jhoira doesn't realize this and plays his commander out without mana to activate. I eat it with my dictate at his end step to get rid of Ashling. I start swinging out at people for like 5 at a time with the tokens which is adding up since everyone is in the 20 life range for the most part. Mistform ends up dropping and using a Proteus Staff on my Dimir House Guard to which I respond with a Lim-Dûl's Vault as a psudo Worldly Tutor to get anything I want into play lol. He gets annoyed by this and concedes. Ashling follows suit and Jhoira isn't really situated to take me on alone.
So... oddly enough I was 2 for 2 last night. It was sort of funny since nothing I actually did ended up actually killing anyone so much as just showing that they were not well positioned to recover. I guess my edicts did more or less directly kill our opponents game one but my partner had some lands in hand and probably could have killed one to two on demand as he wanted after that.
Raven Familiar I saw it both games. In general I really liked the utility it gave me as its sort of versatile when you look at looping it or clamping it. I really do like my sac effects as well so in all it felt fairly nice to have. It was cheap enough to drop and it was nice that it buries the rest of the cards unlike something like Brainstorm.
Bitterblossom it was good in the situation that was created. I want to keep testing it to see what my thoughts are but it seems good so far. The tokens give me cheap blockers and cheap sacrifices.
All in all they went well. I like the increase in draw so far but I still occasionally feel like its too hard for me to find edict effects. I might go back through and see what I have for options as I could see having another outlet being useful in deck.
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[Modern] Allies
I played with the idea for a bit but there is a problem which is that its a single shot effect and not very cheap to use. I have actually been feeling like I might be running a little more theft than I really need but I am trying to get a feel for what I could use instead. This deck has a problem which is that if nothing is being played it responsively does very little. It can be very hard to come by good targets for theft sometimes when your commander is a theft effect as people tend to play a little differently.
Last time I played this deck, I curved into a T5 Silumgar right behind someone casting a Grenzo, Dungeon Warden and he scooped in response. Playing a 6 mana commander and killing someone is fairly good but I would have much preferred being able to use his commander.
I need to make some adjustments to my list yet but I just wanted to get some more games in to figure out where they need to be right now.
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[Modern] Allies
Grave titan, wurmcoil engine, myr battlesphere, precusor golem. Oh it works with Reef worm that you have. I just think these cards start off as better creatures.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
I generally don't intentionally run infinite combos. If I feel that a card is worth including on its own merrit I will add it in but the combo interactions of a card are something I tend to ignore because I will generally try not to combo off even if I set one up in play.
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[Modern] Allies
But still, Cauldron of Souls + Willbreaker.
I have in the past considered making a BR steal & sac deck. The downside with that tactic is that its more of just removal than being theft in that case since you cant hold onto them very long. I like that blue gives me the option to try to hold onto their commanders and creatures which both deprives them of the threat as well as giving me the threat.
Cauldron of Souls + Willbreaker - I have put some thought into the Cauldron but I think there are too few situations in the deck still where willbreaker would be a positive asset. Most things that can target opponents creatures in this format usually remove them.
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[Modern] Allies
It's true that Willbreaker does need more "building around". When it was previewed, it immediately filled the "subpar, but multi-theft" slot I had considered for Beguiler of Wills. Also, "any number of target creature" removal spells like Curse of the Swine and Descent of the Dragons (when the deck still had R in planning) become a lot better (1-sided) with Willbreaker.
Anyway, how about cards that "steal directly" (besides Bribery, which you run already)? Cards like Praetor's Grasp, Treacherous Urge and Gather Specimens. Why wait?