I'm having this still rather vague deck idea going in my head for quite a while, where I use Solemnity to play really undercosted fatties, because those would normally enter the battlefield with undesirable counters, like -1/-1 counters. The initial thought, however, was about time counters and vanishing. Vanishing's sacrifice clause only triggers when you remove the last time counter, so if the creature has no time counters to begin with, this clause is nullified, making it possible to get a 6/6 for just 3 mana without any drawbacks for example (Ravaging Riftwurm). Calciderm is good all on its own, but so much better without that hanging over its head. The most combolicious idea in that regard however is Chronozoa, since all you need is a sacrifice outlet to get an arbitrariliy large number of 3/3 flyers. I don't want an actual combo deck, though, because I have been pondering ideas about abusing perist and undying for years, and that makes this approach quite boring to me at the momnent. But the Timmy in me would really like to see the idea of those early fatties in action.
So I went looking for more creatures that would be really big without their counters, and found the Eventide Hatchling cycle (eg. Belligerent Hatchling), which are all 6/6 with an additional beneficial ability for just 4 mana, IF they enter the battlefield without counters. Of course, they can also grow to that size by themselves, but that takes a while. Nevertheless, that means they don't have to rely on Solemnity. And the biggest find was Etched Monstrosity. Who doesn't like a 10/10 for just 5 mana? And it, too, doesn't have to have Solemnity around to get that big by itself. I'm almost sold on the deck being at least three colors, so splashing two more, even if just through Birds of Paradise isn't much of an issue. I plan to use some mana dorks anyway.
The biggest problem I see right now is that I have to get Solemnity to make this gimick work. So having creatures that don't rely entirely on it are welcome, like the Hatchling cycle. I have another synergistic idea regarding those vanishing creatures, especially the ones with low vanishing counts. They die fast, so my graveyard will soon have a bunch of creature cards in it. Enter Nemesis of Mortals and maybe even Ghoultree to build of of that. Add some Death Denied to get those creature cards back.
This is as far as I have gotten with the idea, there is still a lot to consider, like removal and if W/B/G is the right color combination. Right now, I only really need white, and green seems to offer the best creatures to abuse along with its mana dorks.
So, does anyone have any ideas on how to make this into an actual working deck? Or something to drive this madness even further? For convenience's sake, lets keep it within Modern, because my collection consists mostly of Modern legal cards anyway. My land base should not be a problem, I have some allied fetches and an almost complete set of shock lands plus some other duals and multis available.
Thanks for any input
edit:
I probably should put the above into some semblence of a deck list. Makes it easier to grasp. The 1s are just placeholders, the 4s are what I think are nessessary playsets.
Unfortunately, Wall of Roots cannot be activated at all with Solemnity out, becasuse the very action of putting a counter on it is impossible, so you cannot pay the activation cost. And then it's just a 0/5 wall.
Ravaging Riftwurm (and Waning Wurm) have very low vanishing counts. And really, all I need to make Nemesis of Mortals into an undercosted fatty are two creature cards in the yard. And I suspect my opponent to take every possible shot at an early 6/6 in order to stabilize. Getting two or more creature cards into the yard should not need any further help.
I like the idea of Commune with the Gods to find Solemnity and the fact that it can also get me another of my fatties. It should always get me something I want. Filling the graveyard isn't really part of the core idea, Nemesis of Mortals just was something to capitalize on the rest of the deck when Solemnity is missing. I have already built a deck focussing on filling the yard this way and then casting big hitters via delve. I don't want this deck to be too similar to that. I'm also quite aware, that Solemnity will hinder Monstrosity, so the Nemesis may not be the best approach to that.
edit:
Just got another idea to make not lasting creatures more useful: Eldritch Evolution. If I am going to lose a Riftwurm anyway, I may just as well get me a more stable replacement. And a mana dork can easily become a Riftwurm, too.
edit2:
A diffrent thought occured to me, that I could complement Solemnity for keeping my vanishing creatures alive with instants that make the creature lose all abilities. Losing vanishing in response to the time counter removing trigger would mean, that there is no ability to trigger when the last time counter gets removed. Most of those cards are blue, so that would mean that I'd have to go for W/U/G. Dance of the Skywise, Snakeform, Turn to Frog and Gift of Tusks among others could also easily be used to as combat tricks to kill my opponent's creatures.
I'm not entirely sure what you're going for so I'll just toss a few idea out I haven't seen anyone toss yet.
Dark Depths drops a 20/20 for free as long as Solemnity is hanging around. I generally only play one and dig for it when I pull Solemnity. It's kind of a nuts card though and draws a lot of hate.
Many cards with cumulative upkeep become a little more sinister. Ancestral Knowledge becomes a pseudo scry 10. Brand of Ill Omen brings back old Magic. Infernal Darkness becomes a Black Blood Moon. Or Reality Twist to change the game entirely (good for laughs). I know you don't want combos but I'm sure you can find something in the cumulative upkeep category that's interesting. Like [c]Sheltering Ancient[c/], a trampling 5/5 for 2cmc that guarantees a target on its head. Many cards still offer a short term benefit if you can foot the bill on upkeep or find their way into the graveyard faster.
Dark Depths is out of my price range, unfortunately.
Cumulative upkeep is an interesting idea. I want to stay in Modern for now, though, so Coldsnap cards are the only options. Sheltering Ancient and Phyrexian Soulgorger sure are as big as I could hope for.
As for what I want to acheive with the deck, really quite simple: Get really big creatures out really early and start punching face. Creatures that usually have heavy detrimental drawbacks, that are nullified by Solemnity. The bigger the better, the faster the better.
Oh alright, that's what I wasn't sure about. I don't have a large Modern pool so I play Legacy or Casual. Obviously, my budget tends to be slightly higher as well so Dark Depths price isn't out of my range but I completely understand.
It took a while for the cumulative upkeep thing to click. Once it did I've been going bonkers doing a bunch of Casual brews with my Ice Age stuff to see how decks play out.
Interestingly, when I play Solemnity, I find I'm using it defensively more than I planned. It slows down Infect and stops Energy for example. I'm sure there's a viable win strategy hidden in there, I just haven't quite worked it what.
This is not a full deck, but more like a refined list of possible inclusions with more appropriate numbers of copies, a tool to help me visualize it. I actually reduced the deck to a W/G build for now, but a third color may still be included. I decided against cumulative upkeep shenanigans, because without Solemnity (and right now not having it early is quite likely), even a single age counter before it comes down might take its toll. The idea is still on the table, though, especially wit my added flicker tools. Already too many cards, but the deck is slowly taking shape.
edit1: I'm including some black options now, and also removed some all flicker tools (Restoration Angel and Eldrazi Displacer) to keep somewhat close to the 60 cards that hopefully will become a deck soon.
Of the Hatchlings, I think, Belligerent Hatchling is the least useful (besides Noxious Hatchling of course, which is antithetical to the deck, since Solemnity neutralizes wither and therefore the creature's combat damage to creatures altogether). The other two have a higher probability to grow to their full size due to more spells being able to trigger the counter removing abilities. And obviously, I will have to cut into the 4-drop creatures quite a bit.
edit2:
Time to make some serious cuts to get this going. I'm taking out all Calciderms, for being too color intensive and the Snakeform tech not working on it due to shroud. I'm also cutting down to three copies of each remaining Hatchling. Removing Sun Titan as it is late game recovery, but if things work out well enough, there's no need for that. At least for now, lets see how it goes without it.
edit3:
With 8 pieces each of anti counter tech for -1/-1 counters and time counters, I think, I can leave out Commune with the Gods in an early test version. And Waning Wurm is a poor imitation of Ravaging Riftwurm, but I want some time counter shenanigans to occur, so I'm not cutting it completely but will run less copies. Exemplar of Strength is kinda small in comparision, but I need some 2-drops. I should be able to afford one less, though. If the deck can function with 22 lands, then I'm finally down to 60. But I will do some goldfishing with a 61 card deck with 23 lands first.
After some goldfishing, I tinkered with the lands a bit. Tried the trilands, but entering tapped proved quite the bummer. Going down to 22 lands is probably a bad idea, even 23 might not be enough. I still have too many creatures, but the goal is to play lots of big stuff for cheap, so I probably don't want less than 24. I changed a Sturdy Hatchling into a Voracious one, since it seems easier to trigger the counter removing ability if one is present as a playset. Also, 6/6 lifelink for 4 feels awesome, more so than a 6/6 that can get shroud (also makes it more like a 6/6 for 5 mana which is less exciting). Rishkar's Expertise feels fantastic with large bodies on the field and large bodies to cast off it, I may want a third. The vanishing shenanigans work, but have maybe not enough support. I should probably take out took out another Waning Wurm. And of course, I still don't have any direct removal, only Snakeform as a combat trick.
I decided to cut the Waning Wurms entirely. Ravaging Riftwurm is so much better, and I still have a little too much vanishing 2. It works fine if Solemnity comes down early, but if it doesn't, I have to rely on Snakeform to keep the creature alive, and that doesn't come to pass as reliably as I'd like.
I included Yahenni's Expertise (3 copies to better test it, going up to 61 cards) as a means to deal with early aggro. Most of my creatures can survive it, and I'm even able to cast some of my fatties of of it. Alternatively, I could run some copies of Anguished Unmaking as a very universal and versatile removal option.
edit:
Oh, and does anyone have other ideas on how to make use of the fact, that my creatures are big yet cheap?
Maybe one of my pet cards, Kin-Tree Invocation, could finally fnd a home in this deck? It could easily be a 6/6 for 2 mana after all.
I just had another idea on how to get my creatures to enter without those undesirable counters: manifest. It would also allow me to get more creatures out of my excess lands and superflous copies of Melira, Birds and Solemnity. So I went and looked up potential candidates in gatherer. The cards that seem most useful to me are Wildcall, Whisperwood Elemental, Lightform, and Ethereal Ambush. I think, I will try the Ambush in place of Rishkar's Expertise, because it serves a similar function (getting more cards) and can work as a combat trick due to being an instant.
A while ago, I also pondered using Spitting Image to make more fatties and get more value out of useless lands. I replaced the last remaining Sturdy Hatchlings with two copies. And I went down to 3 copies of Snakeform.
Hm, it seems, my cheap-fatties deck is having less and less cheap fatties.
edit:
Well, the Ambush was short lived. I tried a few goldfishes, and the card turned up often enough, but I need more color fixing to get blue, and I think, that is pushing it too far. So let's try something else. I keep Rishkar's Expertise out for now, and add a third Image. I also add 2 copies of Wildcall, which I count as creatures in my list.
edit: Updated the list to the most recent version with Sun Titans and painlands.
I am trying it out in a Soul Sisters deck and have been quite happy with it. Early game, it can generate extra blockers if you need one in a pinch. Lategame, it becomes something to sink all your extra mana into...often, you will just bury them.
If you're going to be running Manifest, might I suggest some number of Temur Sabertooth? It's a decent enough beater on its own while being, practically, immune to spot removal that can get you cards that were manifested that you may need.
I have done some goldfishing with Mastery of the Unseen, but so far it doesn't seem to do as well as I had hoped, and it often did manifest cards that I would rather have had in my hand. The Sabertooth would be good enough even without manifest, though, since it can get my vanishing Wurms back into my hand before I have to sacrifice them (there probably will be many occasions, where I want to play a Wurm even without a Solemnity out).
I think, I'm reaching the end of what theorycrafting can do, and will hopefully have some opportunity to test the deck in actual games soon. Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions.
Have you gotten to play the deck yet? I would be interested in how it performed.
I'm curently contemplating adding those two Sun Titans from my earlier ideas back in for some graveyard recursion, since they would also be very nice in conjunction with my Spitting Images. And I would not be as frustrated about losing an early Wurm to vanishing. Getting my discarded lands on the field would also be nice.
Not yet, it is just the initial concept and I also need to get those Phyrexian Soulgorgers.
Btw, another creature that work well with Solemnity but isn't as cheap as the ones I've picked for the deck is Etched Monstrosity (didn't seem worth the extra mana over Phyrexian Soulgorger).
It works with Melira and is better than all those 6/6's for 4-mana.
Etched Monstrosity was one of the first cards for this idea as mentioned in my first post. But since then I figured, that I'd want it to enter with its counters because of the card draw it would provide. There's little difference between a vanilla 6/6 and a vanilla 10/10 if they are the biggest dudes around. Also, while a 10/10 for 5 mana is awesome, a 6/6 for 4 mana usually comes down way earlier and has overall more impact due to that. The jump from 4 to 5 mana is where most decks struggle for some time in my experience. You simply need way too many lands and/or mana accel in the deck to get to 5 mana by turn 4-5 consistently for this to be viable for my deck, I just don't have the card slots.
About Clones and Spitting Image. You seem to miss the fact that a single copy of SI can be cast repeatedly due to retrace. Sitting at the top of the mana curve, it makes every single land I draw after the sixth into another big hitter. Being able to copy an opponent's stuff is also a big plus over the two shot Cackling Counterpart. That is worth 6 mana to me. And most other clones are not in my colors. I did consider going blue and running some clones, but in the end decided for black instead. For my deck, the most suitable one shot "copy" effects would be things like Kin-Tree Invocation since most of my critters are (french) vanilla anyway. I should have enough cheap early stuff, though, that another big cheap hitter is not really nessesary, but getting some extra power in the late game might be. That's why I had Rishkar's Expertise in the deck initially, and that card is not off the table yet. SI just took its place for the time being because it fills a similar role.
I missed my chance to test the deck (didn't feel well that day), but some more goldfishing made me question my choice of running Mana Confluence. Having a land that taps for any colored mana I need is great, but my testing had me mostly tap it for mana when any kind would do. That is quite a lot of life lost for practically colorless mana. Any ideas on how to fix my land base without that land that doesn't cost me too much life?
Edit:
I have replaced the two Mana Confluences and a Forest with painlands of each color pair, and what little goldfishing I did since then looks promising. The colors are still available in the nessessary quantities most of the time and the life loss is much less.
I'm having this still rather vague deck idea going in my head for quite a while, where I use Solemnity to play really undercosted fatties, because those would normally enter the battlefield with undesirable counters, like -1/-1 counters. The initial thought, however, was about time counters and vanishing. Vanishing's sacrifice clause only triggers when you remove the last time counter, so if the creature has no time counters to begin with, this clause is nullified, making it possible to get a 6/6 for just 3 mana without any drawbacks for example (Ravaging Riftwurm). Calciderm is good all on its own, but so much better without that hanging over its head. The most combolicious idea in that regard however is Chronozoa, since all you need is a sacrifice outlet to get an arbitrariliy large number of 3/3 flyers. I don't want an actual combo deck, though, because I have been pondering ideas about abusing perist and undying for years, and that makes this approach quite boring to me at the momnent. But the Timmy in me would really like to see the idea of those early fatties in action.
So I went looking for more creatures that would be really big without their counters, and found the Eventide Hatchling cycle (eg. Belligerent Hatchling), which are all 6/6 with an additional beneficial ability for just 4 mana, IF they enter the battlefield without counters. Of course, they can also grow to that size by themselves, but that takes a while. Nevertheless, that means they don't have to rely on Solemnity. And the biggest find was Etched Monstrosity. Who doesn't like a 10/10 for just 5 mana? And it, too, doesn't have to have Solemnity around to get that big by itself. I'm almost sold on the deck being at least three colors, so splashing two more, even if just through Birds of Paradise isn't much of an issue. I plan to use some mana dorks anyway.
The biggest problem I see right now is that I have to get Solemnity to make this gimick work. So having creatures that don't rely entirely on it are welcome, like the Hatchling cycle. I have another synergistic idea regarding those vanishing creatures, especially the ones with low vanishing counts. They die fast, so my graveyard will soon have a bunch of creature cards in it. Enter Nemesis of Mortals and maybe even Ghoultree to build of of that. Add some Death Denied to get those creature cards back.
This is as far as I have gotten with the idea, there is still a lot to consider, like removal and if W/B/G is the right color combination. Right now, I only really need white, and green seems to offer the best creatures to abuse along with its mana dorks.
So, does anyone have any ideas on how to make this into an actual working deck? Or something to drive this madness even further? For convenience's sake, lets keep it within Modern, because my collection consists mostly of Modern legal cards anyway. My land base should not be a problem, I have some allied fetches and an almost complete set of shock lands plus some other duals and multis available.
Thanks for any input
edit:
I probably should put the above into some semblence of a deck list. Makes it easier to grasp. The 1s are just placeholders, the 4s are what I think are nessessary playsets.
22 appropriate lands
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Ravaging Riftwurm
1 Calciderm
1 Belligerent Hatchling
1 Voracious Hatchling
1 Sturdy Hatchling
1 Etched Monstrosity
1 Nemesis of Mortals
1 Ghoultree
4 Solemnity
1 Death Denied
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
Ravaging Riftwurm (and Waning Wurm) have very low vanishing counts. And really, all I need to make Nemesis of Mortals into an undercosted fatty are two creature cards in the yard. And I suspect my opponent to take every possible shot at an early 6/6 in order to stabilize. Getting two or more creature cards into the yard should not need any further help.
I like the idea of Commune with the Gods to find Solemnity and the fact that it can also get me another of my fatties. It should always get me something I want. Filling the graveyard isn't really part of the core idea, Nemesis of Mortals just was something to capitalize on the rest of the deck when Solemnity is missing. I have already built a deck focussing on filling the yard this way and then casting big hitters via delve. I don't want this deck to be too similar to that. I'm also quite aware, that Solemnity will hinder Monstrosity, so the Nemesis may not be the best approach to that.
edit:
Just got another idea to make not lasting creatures more useful: Eldritch Evolution. If I am going to lose a Riftwurm anyway, I may just as well get me a more stable replacement. And a mana dork can easily become a Riftwurm, too.
edit2:
A diffrent thought occured to me, that I could complement Solemnity for keeping my vanishing creatures alive with instants that make the creature lose all abilities. Losing vanishing in response to the time counter removing trigger would mean, that there is no ability to trigger when the last time counter gets removed. Most of those cards are blue, so that would mean that I'd have to go for W/U/G. Dance of the Skywise, Snakeform, Turn to Frog and Gift of Tusks among others could also easily be used to as combat tricks to kill my opponent's creatures.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
Dark Depths drops a 20/20 for free as long as Solemnity is hanging around. I generally only play one and dig for it when I pull Solemnity. It's kind of a nuts card though and draws a lot of hate.
Many cards with cumulative upkeep become a little more sinister. Ancestral Knowledge becomes a pseudo scry 10. Brand of Ill Omen brings back old Magic. Infernal Darkness becomes a Black Blood Moon. Or Reality Twist to change the game entirely (good for laughs). I know you don't want combos but I'm sure you can find something in the cumulative upkeep category that's interesting. Like [c]Sheltering Ancient[c/], a trampling 5/5 for 2cmc that guarantees a target on its head. Many cards still offer a short term benefit if you can foot the bill on upkeep or find their way into the graveyard faster.
Cumulative upkeep is an interesting idea. I want to stay in Modern for now, though, so Coldsnap cards are the only options. Sheltering Ancient and Phyrexian Soulgorger sure are as big as I could hope for.
As for what I want to acheive with the deck, really quite simple: Get really big creatures out really early and start punching face. Creatures that usually have heavy detrimental drawbacks, that are nullified by Solemnity. The bigger the better, the faster the better.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
It took a while for the cumulative upkeep thing to click. Once it did I've been going bonkers doing a bunch of Casual brews with my Ice Age stuff to see how decks play out.
Interestingly, when I play Solemnity, I find I'm using it defensively more than I planned. It slows down Infect and stops Energy for example. I'm sure there's a viable win strategy hidden in there, I just haven't quite worked it what.
edit1: I'm including some black options now, and also removed
someall flicker tools (Restoration Angel and Eldrazi Displacer) to keep somewhat close to the 60 cards that hopefully will become a deck soon.Forests
Plains
Swamps
4 Temple Garden
4 Godless Shrine
4 Overgrown Tomb
Creatures (28, still too many!)
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
3 Exemplar of Strength
4 Ravaging Riftwurm
4 Ammit Eternal
3 Waning Wurm
3 Sturdy Hatchling
3 Voracious Hatchling
4 Solemnity
4 Snakeform
2 Rishkar's Expertise
Of the Hatchlings, I think, Belligerent Hatchling is the least useful (besides Noxious Hatchling of course, which is antithetical to the deck, since Solemnity neutralizes wither and therefore the creature's combat damage to creatures altogether). The other two have a higher probability to grow to their full size due to more spells being able to trigger the counter removing abilities. And obviously, I will have to cut into the 4-drop creatures quite a bit.
edit2:
Time to make some serious cuts to get this going. I'm taking out all Calciderms, for being too color intensive and the Snakeform tech not working on it due to shroud. I'm also cutting down to three copies of each remaining Hatchling. Removing Sun Titan as it is late game recovery, but if things work out well enough, there's no need for that. At least for now, lets see how it goes without it.
edit3:
With 8 pieces each of anti counter tech for -1/-1 counters and time counters, I think, I can leave out Commune with the Gods in an early test version. And Waning Wurm is a poor imitation of Ravaging Riftwurm, but I want some time counter shenanigans to occur, so I'm not cutting it completely but will run less copies. Exemplar of Strength is kinda small in comparision, but I need some 2-drops. I should be able to afford one less, though. If the deck can function with 22 lands, then I'm finally down to 60. But I will do some goldfishing with a 61 card deck with 23 lands first.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
should probably take outtook out another Waning Wurm. And of course, I still don't have any direct removal, only Snakeform as a combat trick.7 Forest
3 Plains
4 Swamp
2 Mana Confluence
2 Windswept Heath
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Rogue's Passage
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
3 Exemplar of Strength
4 Ravaging Riftwurm
4 Ammit Eternal
2 Sturdy Hatchling
4 Voracious Hatchling
4 Solemnity
4 Snakeform
3 Yahenni's Expertise
2 Rishkar's Expertise
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
I included Yahenni's Expertise (3 copies to better test it, going up to 61 cards) as a means to deal with early aggro. Most of my creatures can survive it, and I'm even able to cast some of my fatties of of it. Alternatively, I could run some copies of Anguished Unmaking as a very universal and versatile removal option.
edit:
Oh, and does anyone have other ideas on how to make use of the fact, that my creatures are big yet cheap?
Maybe one of my pet cards, Kin-Tree Invocation, could finally fnd a home in this deck? It could easily be a 6/6 for 2 mana after all.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
A while ago, I also pondered using Spitting Image to make more fatties and get more value out of useless lands. I replaced the last remaining Sturdy Hatchlings with two copies. And I went down to 3 copies of Snakeform.
7 Forest
3 Plains
3 Swamp
2 Windswept Heath
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Brushland
1 Llanowar Wastes
2 Rogue's Passage
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
3 Exemplar of Strength
4 Ravaging Riftwurm
4 Ammit Eternal
4 Voracious Hatchling
2 Sun Titan
4 Solemnity
3 Snakeform
3 Yahenni's Expertise
3 Spitting Image
Hm, it seems, my cheap-fatties deck is having less and less cheap fatties.
edit:
Well, the Ambush was short lived. I tried a few goldfishes, and the card turned up often enough, but I need more color fixing to get blue, and I think, that is pushing it too far. So let's try something else. I keep Rishkar's Expertise out for now, and add a third Image. I also add 2 copies of Wildcall, which I count as creatures in my list.
edit: Updated the list to the most recent version with Sun Titans and painlands.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
Hmmmmm...did you notice this one?
I am trying it out in a Soul Sisters deck and have been quite happy with it. Early game, it can generate extra blockers if you need one in a pinch. Lategame, it becomes something to sink all your extra mana into...often, you will just bury them.
Very nice idea, btw.
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Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
I think, I'm reaching the end of what theorycrafting can do, and will hopefully have some opportunity to test the deck in actual games soon. Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Jötun Grunt
4x Sheltering Ancient
4x Ravaging Riftwurm
4x Phyrexian Soulgorger
4x Eternal Witness
4x Path to Exile
Sorcery (4)
4x Commune with the Gods
Enchantment (8)
4x Oath of Nissa
4x Solemnity
Land (20)
4x Windswept Heath
2x Temple Garden
4x Razorverge Thicket
4x Brushland
2x Stirring Wildwood
2x Forest
2x Plains
Since the deck uses Commune with the Gods to find Solemnity I've added Oath of Nissa as a cheap cantrip (to run less lands) and Eternal Witness to use the graveyard for value.
Some other cards that help dig for Solemnity (or a creature) are:
Vessel of Nascency (might be worth playing over Oath of Nissa) and Benefaction of Rhonas.
Another undercosted 2-drop that works with Solemnity is Exemplar of Strength.
I'm curently contemplating adding those two Sun Titans from my earlier ideas back in for some graveyard recursion, since they would also be very nice in conjunction with my Spitting Images. And I would not be as frustrated about losing an early Wurm to vanishing. Getting my discarded lands on the field would also be nice.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
Btw, another creature that work well with Solemnity but isn't as cheap as the ones I've picked for the deck is Etched Monstrosity (didn't seem worth the extra mana over Phyrexian Soulgorger).
It works with Melira and is better than all those 6/6's for 4-mana.
About Spitting Image, this card seems pretty overcosted for what it does.
There are all those clones for 4-mana like: Clever Impersonator, Evil Twin, Altered Ego, Sakashima the Impostor, Vizier of Many Faces
and even Phyrexian Metamorph which can be cast for three mana.
Another cheap clone spell is Cackling Counterpart (or Rite of Replication).
I'd also go with Nimble Obstructionist (or Disallow) over Snakeform if you want to counter triggered abilities as they have more utility.
About Clones and Spitting Image. You seem to miss the fact that a single copy of SI can be cast repeatedly due to retrace. Sitting at the top of the mana curve, it makes every single land I draw after the sixth into another big hitter. Being able to copy an opponent's stuff is also a big plus over the two shot Cackling Counterpart. That is worth 6 mana to me. And most other clones are not in my colors. I did consider going blue and running some clones, but in the end decided for black instead. For my deck, the most suitable one shot "copy" effects would be things like Kin-Tree Invocation since most of my critters are (french) vanilla anyway. I should have enough cheap early stuff, though, that another big cheap hitter is not really nessesary, but getting some extra power in the late game might be. That's why I had Rishkar's Expertise in the deck initially, and that card is not off the table yet. SI just took its place for the time being because it fills a similar role.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
Edit:
I have replaced the two Mana Confluences and a Forest with painlands of each color pair, and what little goldfishing I did since then looks promising. The colors are still available in the nessessary quantities most of the time and the life loss is much less.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)