I had previously done mass creatures with the intent of having defense for Chandra, but the net impact on a multiplayer board was insignificant. This design is more of a late-game big x-spell deck, using Chandra as an early nuisance and/or to appear underwhelming so that I get less attention at the table.
But to be honest she is pretty terrible in traditional EDH. The best thing about her is that simple fact that she looks underwhelming. Just about any other mono-red general can make a better impact on the board.
I have also playtested enough with Pyromaner's Goggles and Pyromancer's Gauntlet to see that, while very flavorful, their impact is also very insignificant. I have although chosen to re-include the Pyromacner's Gauntlet as it aided in a sort of red-herring to make Chandra look threatening and warrant removal while I build up more mana for a different offense. The goggles although, in my meta, are just too slow to be practical (vulnerable if cast when not able to use immediately, takes up too much mana when cast with intent of using to follow-up with a big spell worth copying).
Rings of Brighthearth although are the best tech I've been able to use with Chandra, getting double emblems in two different games has made for a very nice swing in life totals. The issue is that there is just no follow-up to this sort of play.
Most of these cards were pulled from a few previous decks, and as a mono-red fanboy I will always be improving my collection of mono-red "staples." One can track my deck pimpage here.
What do you all think? Is there any tech or unrealized potential that I'm missing with Chandra here? Is there any cards that you all would like me to playtest with and see how they work out?
Change Log and card testing
8/14/2015 - Flametongue Kavu came out in favor of Volcanic Visions after playtesting. Visions is a situational recovery spell but has proven to be fantastic.
8/19/2015 - Added Boseiju, Who Shelters All as well as re-adding Ancient Tomb (replacing two basic's). I had taken the tomb out as I didn't have many reasons for an explosive start, but chose to re-add it because having an odd # of basics agitated me.
8/22/2015 - Removing magmaquake per Kolmogorov's advice in favor of molten disaster. Potential split-second makes for a very nice effect in this deck when it comes to a game-ending spell.
8/28/2015 - removed Mindclaw Shaman in favor for Ravaging Blaze. While I do love Mindclaw, the functionality of this deck doesn't really have room for a card that may backfire so terribly. Mindclaw fits better in my kiki build than it does here.
Cards reserved for testing/needs
Cards being tested; Arcbond - potentially a 3cmc post-combat board wipe. Plays well with Nicol Bolas, but the mana-to-results potential might make it a meaningful staple for mono-red.
This is less specific to chandra, and just more of a general mono-red thing:
If you want to end the game with a combo, Mana Geyser and Reiterate make infinite mana with an X-spell. Dualcaster Mage and Twinflame make infinite 2/2 hasty tokens ala splinter-twin.
Stranglehold is a card I believe should be in every red EDH deck. It doesn't add up to much, but making your mountains snow covered allows you to run SkredScrying Sheets and gives Extraplanar Lens less chance of benefitting your opponents.
@Stormflower - If this were for 1v1 then I would absolutely include extraplanar lens, but at my multiplayer table I worry about having it bounced/destroyed early, as the 1-land setback can make me fall behind against some fairly strong opponents. Holding it back in hand for a possible late-game play sounds like the right thing to do. Skred & Scrying Sheets with snow-covered lands would be a great upgrade.
In this particular design I'm actually excluding Stranglehold, as well as blood moon and torpor orb as they are often times too situational with 3+ opponents. Against specific decks and 1v1 these cards are extremely powerful and they can really lock down a game, but if there are multiple opponents, resolving one of these effects typically stops just one opponent, letting the other opponents get ahead, all while I've spent a card slot that essentially makes that one neutered opponent pay more attention to me and my board
@Kolmogorov One would think magmaquake would be counteractive, but to be honest, in my meta most of my walkers won't survive for a second turn to make use of them twice. Ugin will board wipe, Karn will exile something necessary, Koth will be a massive seething song/ritual for some late game play/burn spell. Chandra, Pyromaster is the only one that I really want to protect for her access to extra cards. Chandra, Roaring Flame is the exception as she doesn't typically warrant removal.
Commune with Lava doesn't show its power unless you have a mana-doubling effect out. Even without a mana-doubling effect I think it is still a strong card (often times better than act on impulse), since it can even be used early to help landfall for two turns.
I like your decklist in your signature. I'd be interested in hearing how it plays vs different opponents. Since you have more creatures you might like Skullclamp to go with that Shard Phoenix and Young Pyromancer.
In my own mono-red, I went crazy with artifact hate to help keep my opponents in check.
Does your meta seem conducive to that?
As far as Chandra as general.. I don't really see it. Even if she is flipped, it still seems like a tough road. Now, if Tiny Leaders is a thing where you are, I've seen some nice lists for that.
The nekusar player ran out an early damnation after having his own nekusar removed by marchesa, which essentially cleared the way for me to land Koth & Karn and go nuts with the rings of brighthearth for about 5 turns (sending 2x 5/5 mountains and exiling 2x with karn). With all of my creature answers the opponents couldn't answer karn other than bouncing him a few times, and the swing in advantage was enormous.
Like all games with this deck Chandra did come out a few times. She was allowed to flip twice and spent a few turns double-shocking opponents using my rings, but my board was bounced numerous times during the game by the 3x blue decks. She never did have any serious impact other than netting extra damage to the opponents. Technically she did lower then enough for me to do my disintegrate+radiate win, but many other generals could have done more damage faster and more reliably so.
The luck-sack start with sol ring and running into a double burnished hart sac' put me too far ahead. The lack of interruption in the first 4 turns was most likely the only reason I was able to win.
The only changes I had made before tonight was to give Volcanic Vision a test in place of Flametongue Kavu. It helped me recover and reuse an earthquake during the game, which helped me whittle everyone down even lower, but with that high of a cmc I'm not sure if it is really worth an inclusion over something like anarchist. I had tested it in a casual game earlier and was able to cast anger of the gods and then volcanic vision to recover anger in the same turn, exiling an entire board. Will have to give it some more play.
Do you use a sideboard? Most people don't realize/remember you get a 10 card sideboard. Against 3 blue decks I would want stranglehold in my deck at least. Boseiju, Who Shelters All could also be a land worth testing. Volcanic Offering is also another card you could test, with the copy/rebuy effects you have.
No one in my area makes use of the sideboard rule. The majority of edh games I play occur outside of our lgs. I have a feeling that if I were to sit down at another fnm hosted game and observe my opponents decks and pick up a sideboard I might get some pre-game hate lol.
I did run volcanic offering for a while. I really liked the effect if I'm not already considered a threat, otherwise the opponent(s) would just choose the same targets and retaliate. If the 7 damage could also target a player then I would keep it maindecked until the end of time. I'll slip it in the next time I go against a few opponents that don't know what my deck is trying to do
Have you tried Stuffy Doll? Seems like it would go great with all your damage based board wipes, as it would stack the damage up on an opponent and its indestructability would keep it on the field.
Also, since you're running mostly basic lands I wholeheartedly recommend you include Price of Progress, it has a CMC of 2, it's instant speed and can end games.
Steel Hellkite is a staple of many commander decks for the ease with which it can wipe your opponents. Mizzium Mortars is an excellent one-sided wrath. Chandra's Ignition is another wrath that can also flip Chandra, should you choose to use her as the damage-dealing creature. Basilisk Collar turns Chandra into a ferocious removal + lifegain engine, especially in tandem with Thornbite Staff. Heartless Hidetsugu is a red card that definitely makes an impact in Commander.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Sadly chandra's tap ability only hits a player, so we would actually require the thornbite staff for its pay-to-burn ability just to have her hit a creature. Why development chose to have her only poke at a player in her creature form I honestly do not know.
Ah, I forgot about the player-only burn. ^^; Probably because of reasons like the Collar + Staff combo. A collared Goblin Sharpshooter is ridiculous field control in red. And Gorgon's Head will still be in Standard for a while. If you want to use a third piece, Viridian Longbow grants the Tim ability to any creature, and is certainly easy to play in Commander. Titan of Eternal Fire grants the Tim ability to all of your Humans, including Chandra, and Furystoke Giant gives you a one-turn Tim+1. Livewire Lash provides a more passive burn that works well with spells like Chandra's Ignition and discourages targeted removal.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
We ran her again last night while pushing for more serum visions, but not for the preliminary game. The inclusion of Boseiju, Who Shelters All had made for a fantastic turn-around.
An opening hand of ancient tomb + mountain + jouneyer's kite felt like a great passive start to pull some lands, but I actually got flooded the entire game. When I drew into an expedition map I elected to fetch up and start using terrain generator as soon as possible. I was able to land a turn-3 Chandra, Pyromaster and continued to rip mountain after mountain off my deck with her, using it as a visual crutch to deflect attention away from me.
All of my deflection wasn't really necessary as two of the opponents were pretty much terrified of the inevitable memnarch deck's potential. This guy had proven in many games how ridiculous his deck is, with just earlier in that same night landing a blightsteel + kozi w/ haste on t-5.
The game was grinding very slow with most people afraid to land permanents, except for the group-hug guy landing global effects. Things started going stupid once he landed Dictate of Karametra, and within a turn memnarch had taken every useful/threatening permanent, and was about to just start taking lands after resolving a cyclonic rift. He had essentially locked himself in for victory with his darksteel forge+mycosynth lattice and a grip of counterspells.
Politics ensue, I ask for counter-backup in case memnarch has a venser in his hand (which he doesn't), and I end up tapping out to try and banefire the memnarch player getting him down to 3 life, and the keranos player finished him off with a molten disaster (a card that I'm now very much interested in including myself). We get all of our permanents back and continue.
With memnarch out of the way and everyone being less than 18 life thanks to the molten disaster, derevi untaps and re-plays his dictate of karametra and a few other things then passes to me.
I untap and resolve the gauntlet of might that I had been sandbagging. With lots of math I see that I have enough to make use of the disintegrate in my hand, and reuse the banefire in my 'yard with recoup from hand, keeping two of the spells safe since the dictate of karametra made Boseiju, Who Shelters All tap for 2. After a rules check it appears that I was incorrect in this being that mana reflection is the only way to make Boseiju give two spells uncounterable, but at this time in this match it didn't mater.
While it didn't get countered, the control player did stop my first disintegrate spell from killing him with a safe passage, but the effect from the flash-back'ed banefire got him, and the flash-back'ed recoup'd flash-back'ed disintegrate got keranos.
TLDR - global mana-doublers in mulit-player with a burn deck = stupid things happen. Chandra came out and ping'ed a few players, but essentially helped me politic myself into victory as the "weak deck." I don't think using her like this is going to be a reliable thing - eventually the opponents will see the pattern.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All is a card I had overlooked in many previous decks simply due to the CIPT effect. I loathe lands that come in to play tapped unless they make a tremendous impact. Boseiju is going to stick around and I'll need to pick up another copy for my Latulla, Keldon Overseer deck as well.
I had added Arcbond to the list wanting to see how it worked out, but in the few games I've played Chandra with in the past week haven't drawn into it once. I'm looking to add more mass creature removal, and am looking to make a cut for either Mizzium Mortars or molten disaster.
edit; After reconsidering Kolmogorov's comment about magmaquake I think that molten disaster would be the ideal replacement for this card. Loosing instant speed hurts, and I haven't ran into the situation of hurting my own walkers w/ quake, but it is possibility, so we might as well make sure it doesn't happen.
The issue was that I didn't want to politic my friend playing the kiki deck since she was very new to the game. For example when things like tuktuk scrapper came out I helped her understand the legitimate targets, and I ended up being fairly neutered.
The game was actually going well in my favor when I had a shard phoenix on defense with a repercussions out, and all three players recognized the threat and didn't come after to attack me. Eventually the newer player saw that everyone's life totals were dropping except for my own, and really figured out my game (after everyone warned her wanting her to not copy her recently cast siege-gang commander).
After doing the match she figured she would be able to kill me no mater if I sac'ed the phoenix or not. She tried to make a copy of bogardan rager and I pulled the trigger on the phoenix, killing the grenzo player, dropping damia down to 9, kiki down to 11, and myself down to 1. It did wipe her board except for the bogardan rager, and even with me having word of seizing in hand and 5 lands open to pseudo-fog, that included an ancient tomb. I died a fair death.
The game ended very quickly after I was out. Damia was able to attack and get Kiki down to 3 with her two remaining creatures, but Kiki had been sandbaging a thundermare and spawn of thraxes in hand and took him out with ease on her next turn.
During this game Chandra did come out to play three different times. She was able to tap and do a grand total of two damage in her first outing, but after that she never survived a full turn to do anything with. Grenzo & Kiki decks full of etb-effects tend to make 2/2 creatures fairly irrelevant.
I did make another change before playing tonight by cutting mindclaw shaman out of the list. Even with this deck being designed for a multiplayer table, a 5cmc 2/2 that has a chance to wiff is too unreliable. This style of deck is very fragile in function and doesn't have room for a whimsical card that may do nothing.
I honestly do love mindclaw shaman as he does fantastic things and makes for some very entertaining plays, but for what this deck is trying to do there just isn't room for him. I've slipped in ravaging blaze to replace him, as another instant speed creature removal spell with a possible up-side wincondition seems more appropriate.
I'm still fiddling with arcbond and still have yet to draw in to it. I really want to see this card in action and have been waiting to pull it for a while now
I can recommend that you head over to this thread. It looks like your deck wants to do some of the same things as d0su's and mine (if you read through the pages). The Squee-build is more focused on big-mana (as you are too), draw-power and Inferno's. Lifegain or Glacial Chasm become keycards to survive the mayhem, but the it plays out quite well and is pretty fun too, with it's going all-in strategy.
I'n the few games I've played i found these all to be much higher impact, and easier to get off than the X spells. While a mana doubler gives you enough mana to probably one shot someone late game.
I can't reliably stick a mana doubler for more than a turn or two, so typically they mean i have to spend my turn dealing 7-10(maybe up to 20 late game which is ok) damage to something, and that's not a lot.
I prefer sandbagging a few of the burn spells mentioned above and maybe a copy spell, and killing off one or more players with a flurry of burn.
I do play any X spell that let me pay an extra mana for an extra target, out of respect of how powerful they are if i stick double mana.
-Have you considered cutting your X spells for more efficient(manawise) burn?
-Have you considered Dictate of the twin gods? the flash is what makes this card. Flash it out EOT before you go off, or in the middle of an attack that didnt get blocked because they though they would survive. Its excellent, its probably my favorite card to see in the deck.
Extra benefit: makes repercussion absurdly good. 4x damage of what you deal to a creature goes to their face
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EDH decks:
RWUNarset, jeskai burn RUB Marchesa the black rose R Daretti, reanimator goodstuff BU Vela, ninja assasin UG Ezuri, woodland critters.
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Here is my current design;
1x Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
Creature (13)
1x Bogardan Hellkite
1x Burnished Hart
1x Dualcaster Mage
1x Duplicant
1x Hoard-Smelter Dragon
1x Inferno Titan
1x Knollspine Dragon
1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1x Shard Phoenix
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Spawn of Thraxes
1x Tahngarth, Talruum Hero
1x Thunder Dragon
Planeswalker (4)
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
1x Karn Liberated
1x Koth of the Hammer
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Instant (13)
1x Act of Aggression
1x Burn Away
1x Carbonize
1x Comet Storm
1x Commune with Lava
1x Grab the Reins
1x Radiate
1x Ravaging Blaze
1x Reiterate
1x Reverberate
1x Shattering Pulse
1x Starstorm
1x Word of Seizing
1x All Is Dust
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Banefire
1x Blasphemous Act
1x Demonfire
1x Disintegrate
1x Earthquake
1x Past in Flames
1x Molten Disaster
1x Recoup
1x Red Sun's Zenith
1x Reforge the Soul
1x Ruination
1x Vandalblast
1x Volcanic Visions
1x Wheel of Fortune
Artifact (14)
1x Caged Sun
1x Coercive Portal
1x Expedition Map
1x Gauntlet of Might
1x Gauntlet of Power
1x Journeyer's Kite
1x Mind's Eye
1x Nevinyrral's Disk
1x Pyromancer's Gauntlet
1x Rings of Brighthearth
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Sol Ring
1x Staff of Nin
1x Wayfarer's Bauble
1x Outpost Siege
1x Repercussion
Land (37)
30x Mountain
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Myriad Landscape
1x Temple of the False God
1x Terrain Generator
1x Thawing Glaciers
1x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
I had previously done mass creatures with the intent of having defense for Chandra, but the net impact on a multiplayer board was insignificant. This design is more of a late-game big x-spell deck, using Chandra as an early nuisance and/or to appear underwhelming so that I get less attention at the table.
But to be honest she is pretty terrible in traditional EDH. The best thing about her is that simple fact that she looks underwhelming. Just about any other mono-red general can make a better impact on the board.
I have also playtested enough with Pyromaner's Goggles and Pyromancer's Gauntlet to see that, while very flavorful, their impact is also very insignificant. I have although chosen to re-include the Pyromacner's Gauntlet as it aided in a sort of red-herring to make Chandra look threatening and warrant removal while I build up more mana for a different offense. The goggles although, in my meta, are just too slow to be practical (vulnerable if cast when not able to use immediately, takes up too much mana when cast with intent of using to follow-up with a big spell worth copying).
Rings of Brighthearth although are the best tech I've been able to use with Chandra, getting double emblems in two different games has made for a very nice swing in life totals. The issue is that there is just no follow-up to this sort of play.
A video of an earlier version of this deck can be seen here;
https://youtu.be/I9XmIfJ-g-A
And a newer video here;
https://youtu.be/mUmLMeqp17w
Most of these cards were pulled from a few previous decks, and as a mono-red fanboy I will always be improving my collection of mono-red "staples." One can track my deck pimpage here.
What do you all think? Is there any tech or unrealized potential that I'm missing with Chandra here? Is there any cards that you all would like me to playtest with and see how they work out?
Change Log and card testing
8/14/2015 - Flametongue Kavu came out in favor of Volcanic Visions after playtesting. Visions is a situational recovery spell but has proven to be fantastic.
8/19/2015 - Added Boseiju, Who Shelters All as well as re-adding Ancient Tomb (replacing two basic's). I had taken the tomb out as I didn't have many reasons for an explosive start, but chose to re-add it because having an odd # of basics agitated me.
8/22/2015 - Removing magmaquake per Kolmogorov's advice in favor of molten disaster. Potential split-second makes for a very nice effect in this deck when it comes to a game-ending spell.
8/28/2015 - removed Mindclaw Shaman in favor for Ravaging Blaze. While I do love Mindclaw, the functionality of this deck doesn't really have room for a card that may backfire so terribly. Mindclaw fits better in my kiki build than it does here.
Cards reserved for testing/needs
Cards being tested;
Arcbond - potentially a 3cmc post-combat board wipe. Plays well with Nicol Bolas, but the mana-to-results potential might make it a meaningful staple for mono-red.
Cards yet to tested but will be
Embermaw Hellion
Mizzium Mortars
Chandra's Ignition
Price of Progress
Ravaging Blaze
Re-re-reconsidering;
Pyromancer's Goggles. Stupid mana-cost and flavor aside the ability to copy a huge x-spell does win games.
Long-term needs;
Fetch + crucible package
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
If you want to end the game with a combo, Mana Geyser and Reiterate make infinite mana with an X-spell. Dualcaster Mage and Twinflame make infinite 2/2 hasty tokens ala splinter-twin.
Stranglehold is a card I believe should be in every red EDH deck. It doesn't add up to much, but making your mountains snow covered allows you to run Skred Scrying Sheets and gives Extraplanar Lens less chance of benefitting your opponents.
In this particular design I'm actually excluding Stranglehold, as well as blood moon and torpor orb as they are often times too situational with 3+ opponents. Against specific decks and 1v1 these cards are extremely powerful and they can really lock down a game, but if there are multiple opponents, resolving one of these effects typically stops just one opponent, letting the other opponents get ahead, all while I've spent a card slot that essentially makes that one neutered opponent pay more attention to me and my board
@Kolmogorov One would think magmaquake would be counteractive, but to be honest, in my meta most of my walkers won't survive for a second turn to make use of them twice. Ugin will board wipe, Karn will exile something necessary, Koth will be a massive seething song/ritual for some late game play/burn spell. Chandra, Pyromaster is the only one that I really want to protect for her access to extra cards. Chandra, Roaring Flame is the exception as she doesn't typically warrant removal.
Commune with Lava doesn't show its power unless you have a mana-doubling effect out. Even without a mana-doubling effect I think it is still a strong card (often times better than act on impulse), since it can even be used early to help landfall for two turns.
I like your decklist in your signature. I'd be interested in hearing how it plays vs different opponents. Since you have more creatures you might like Skullclamp to go with that Shard Phoenix and Young Pyromancer.
Have you ever considered or tested The Chain Veil? Has Embermaw Hellion worked out well with Chandra?
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
Does your meta seem conducive to that?
As far as Chandra as general.. I don't really see it. Even if she is flipped, it still seems like a tough road. Now, if Tiny Leaders is a thing where you are, I've seen some nice lists for that.
I had 3 opponents in Marchesa, the Black Rose, Nekusar, the Mindrazer, and Teferi, Temporal Archmage.
I had an excessively fast start with t-1 sol ring t-2 gauntlet of might t-3 missed landfall but resolved burnished hart, holding up the sac for him for a turn-4 rings of brighthearth
The nekusar player ran out an early damnation after having his own nekusar removed by marchesa, which essentially cleared the way for me to land Koth & Karn and go nuts with the rings of brighthearth for about 5 turns (sending 2x 5/5 mountains and exiling 2x with karn). With all of my creature answers the opponents couldn't answer karn other than bouncing him a few times, and the swing in advantage was enormous.
The game ended with a fairly underpaid disintegrate copied with a radiate.
Like all games with this deck Chandra did come out a few times. She was allowed to flip twice and spent a few turns double-shocking opponents using my rings, but my board was bounced numerous times during the game by the 3x blue decks. She never did have any serious impact other than netting extra damage to the opponents. Technically she did lower then enough for me to do my disintegrate+radiate win, but many other generals could have done more damage faster and more reliably so.
The luck-sack start with sol ring and running into a double burnished hart sac' put me too far ahead. The lack of interruption in the first 4 turns was most likely the only reason I was able to win.
The only changes I had made before tonight was to give Volcanic Vision a test in place of Flametongue Kavu. It helped me recover and reuse an earthquake during the game, which helped me whittle everyone down even lower, but with that high of a cmc I'm not sure if it is really worth an inclusion over something like anarchist. I had tested it in a casual game earlier and was able to cast anger of the gods and then volcanic vision to recover anger in the same turn, exiling an entire board. Will have to give it some more play.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
insurrection
Could be 2 cards to look at using.
Do you use a sideboard? Most people don't realize/remember you get a 10 card sideboard. Against 3 blue decks I would want stranglehold in my deck at least.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All could also be a land worth testing.
Volcanic Offering is also another card you could test, with the copy/rebuy effects you have.
WBG Karador GBW
R Daretti R
RG Omnath GR
WRG Modern Burn GRW
WB Modern Tokens BW
DCI Rules Advisor as of 5/18/2015
Boseiju sounds like a perfect fit.
I did run volcanic offering for a while. I really liked the effect if I'm not already considered a threat, otherwise the opponent(s) would just choose the same targets and retaliate. If the 7 damage could also target a player then I would keep it maindecked until the end of time. I'll slip it in the next time I go against a few opponents that don't know what my deck is trying to do
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
Also, since you're running mostly basic lands I wholeheartedly recommend you include Price of Progress, it has a CMC of 2, it's instant speed and can end games.
WBG Karador GBW
R Daretti R
RG Omnath GR
WRG Modern Burn GRW
WB Modern Tokens BW
DCI Rules Advisor as of 5/18/2015
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
I do like the idea of mizzium mortars.
Sadly chandra's tap ability only hits a player, so we would actually require the thornbite staff for its pay-to-burn ability just to have her hit a creature. Why development chose to have her only poke at a player in her creature form I honestly do not know.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
For boosting Chandra's damage, Embermaw Hellion is a nice choice, especially if you can temp copy it with something like Flameshadow Conjuring.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
The opponents in this game was a izzet thematic Keranos, God of Storms, group-hug/control Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, and a really nasty Memnarch deck.
An opening hand of ancient tomb + mountain + jouneyer's kite felt like a great passive start to pull some lands, but I actually got flooded the entire game. When I drew into an expedition map I elected to fetch up and start using terrain generator as soon as possible. I was able to land a turn-3 Chandra, Pyromaster and continued to rip mountain after mountain off my deck with her, using it as a visual crutch to deflect attention away from me.
All of my deflection wasn't really necessary as two of the opponents were pretty much terrified of the inevitable memnarch deck's potential. This guy had proven in many games how ridiculous his deck is, with just earlier in that same night landing a blightsteel + kozi w/ haste on t-5.
The game was grinding very slow with most people afraid to land permanents, except for the group-hug guy landing global effects. Things started going stupid once he landed Dictate of Karametra, and within a turn memnarch had taken every useful/threatening permanent, and was about to just start taking lands after resolving a cyclonic rift. He had essentially locked himself in for victory with his darksteel forge+mycosynth lattice and a grip of counterspells.
Politics ensue, I ask for counter-backup in case memnarch has a venser in his hand (which he doesn't), and I end up tapping out to try and banefire the memnarch player getting him down to 3 life, and the keranos player finished him off with a molten disaster (a card that I'm now very much interested in including myself). We get all of our permanents back and continue.
With memnarch out of the way and everyone being less than 18 life thanks to the molten disaster, derevi untaps and re-plays his dictate of karametra and a few other things then passes to me.
I untap and resolve the gauntlet of might that I had been sandbagging. With lots of math I see that I have enough to make use of the disintegrate in my hand, and reuse the banefire in my 'yard with recoup from hand, keeping two of the spells safe since the dictate of karametra made Boseiju, Who Shelters All tap for 2. After a rules check it appears that I was incorrect in this being that mana reflection is the only way to make Boseiju give two spells uncounterable, but at this time in this match it didn't mater.
While it didn't get countered, the control player did stop my first disintegrate spell from killing him with a safe passage, but the effect from the flash-back'ed banefire got him, and the flash-back'ed recoup'd flash-back'ed disintegrate got keranos.
TLDR - global mana-doublers in mulit-player with a burn deck = stupid things happen. Chandra came out and ping'ed a few players, but essentially helped me politic myself into victory as the "weak deck." I don't think using her like this is going to be a reliable thing - eventually the opponents will see the pattern.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All is a card I had overlooked in many previous decks simply due to the CIPT effect. I loathe lands that come in to play tapped unless they make a tremendous impact. Boseiju is going to stick around and I'll need to pick up another copy for my Latulla, Keldon Overseer deck as well.
I had added Arcbond to the list wanting to see how it worked out, but in the few games I've played Chandra with in the past week haven't drawn into it once. I'm looking to add more mass creature removal, and am looking to make a cut for either Mizzium Mortars or molten disaster.
edit; After reconsidering Kolmogorov's comment about magmaquake I think that molten disaster would be the ideal replacement for this card. Loosing instant speed hurts, and I haven't ran into the situation of hurting my own walkers w/ quake, but it is possibility, so we might as well make sure it doesn't happen.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
Tonight was a strange as two out of the four of us were borrowing decks, one of which was fairly new to the game.
The opponents included a Damia, Sage of Stone reanimator deck, a Grenzo, Dungeon Warden good-stuff deck, and a friend piloting my zero-combo kiki-jiki deck.
The issue was that I didn't want to politic my friend playing the kiki deck since she was very new to the game. For example when things like tuktuk scrapper came out I helped her understand the legitimate targets, and I ended up being fairly neutered.
The game was actually going well in my favor when I had a shard phoenix on defense with a repercussions out, and all three players recognized the threat and didn't come after to attack me. Eventually the newer player saw that everyone's life totals were dropping except for my own, and really figured out my game (after everyone warned her wanting her to not copy her recently cast siege-gang commander).
After doing the match she figured she would be able to kill me no mater if I sac'ed the phoenix or not. She tried to make a copy of bogardan rager and I pulled the trigger on the phoenix, killing the grenzo player, dropping damia down to 9, kiki down to 11, and myself down to 1. It did wipe her board except for the bogardan rager, and even with me having word of seizing in hand and 5 lands open to pseudo-fog, that included an ancient tomb. I died a fair death.
The game ended very quickly after I was out. Damia was able to attack and get Kiki down to 3 with her two remaining creatures, but Kiki had been sandbaging a thundermare and spawn of thraxes in hand and took him out with ease on her next turn.
During this game Chandra did come out to play three different times. She was able to tap and do a grand total of two damage in her first outing, but after that she never survived a full turn to do anything with. Grenzo & Kiki decks full of etb-effects tend to make 2/2 creatures fairly irrelevant.
I did make another change before playing tonight by cutting mindclaw shaman out of the list. Even with this deck being designed for a multiplayer table, a 5cmc 2/2 that has a chance to wiff is too unreliable. This style of deck is very fragile in function and doesn't have room for a whimsical card that may do nothing.
I honestly do love mindclaw shaman as he does fantastic things and makes for some very entertaining plays, but for what this deck is trying to do there just isn't room for him. I've slipped in ravaging blaze to replace him, as another instant speed creature removal spell with a possible up-side wincondition seems more appropriate.
I'm still fiddling with arcbond and still have yet to draw in to it. I really want to see this card in action and have been waiting to pull it for a while now
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
Sudden impact, Acidic soil, Price of progress, Fiery confluence,Pulse of the forge
I'n the few games I've played i found these all to be much higher impact, and easier to get off than the X spells. While a mana doubler gives you enough mana to probably one shot someone late game.
I can't reliably stick a mana doubler for more than a turn or two, so typically they mean i have to spend my turn dealing 7-10(maybe up to 20 late game which is ok) damage to something, and that's not a lot.
I prefer sandbagging a few of the burn spells mentioned above and maybe a copy spell, and killing off one or more players with a flurry of burn.
I do play any X spell that let me pay an extra mana for an extra target, out of respect of how powerful they are if i stick double mana.
-Have you considered cutting your X spells for more efficient(manawise) burn?
-Have you considered Dictate of the twin gods? the flash is what makes this card. Flash it out EOT before you go off, or in the middle of an attack that didnt get blocked because they though they would survive. Its excellent, its probably my favorite card to see in the deck.
Extra benefit: makes repercussion absurdly good. 4x damage of what you deal to a creature goes to their face
RWU Narset, jeskai burn
RUB Marchesa the black rose
R Daretti, reanimator goodstuff
BU Vela, ninja assasin
UG Ezuri, woodland critters.