I'm hoping you guys could give me some advice.
So my wifey had asked me to give her old Defender deck a bit of attention. I'd completely forgotten about it... conveniently maybe?
Anyway; here's what I'm considering before I buy anything.
It's not 60 cards, numbers will change, just a concept so far. I'm not totally decided on Doran colours.
Tower Defense I'm not sure about. This deck kinda needs a bump to get the damage through, but it's no Overwhelming Stampede.
Thoughts on this card?
I also need some card draw options. Mentor of the Meek is a card we own, but it's not very durable.
Huh. I didn't even know about these cards, not an archetype I've even thought about for an age.
Whilst it's 4-cmc, it seems like a direct upgrade to Doran, the Siege Tower. Blue has some pretty good defenders to consider too. Looks like I might be dropping Doran...
Thoughts;
Sunscape Familiar is a given, with only 8 mono-white cards and so many 2-drops.
Other cards I like that I've been playing around with:
Considering 8x Overgrown's (for Colossus), I might chuck in some Rite, maybe even Hydra Broodmaster. Dusk // Dawn, Wall of Tears, Retribution of the Meek, Aura Shards, Ensnaring Bridge, Meekstone & Noetic Scales explain themselves. Of these, I like the Dawn side for recovery post-wipe, given it works well with Commune.
Otherwise I'm considering singletons that work with Commune & Time.
Yep, I did consider Spellskite (& Tanglecord), both being 2-drops. Sunscape Familiar doesn't reduce either, and my playgroup doesn't play much targeted removal, preferring sweepers & Control Magic-types.
I'll see how I go. If stealing Colossus becomes a routine problem I'll probably chuck in some Spellskite.
Late to the party...
I ran Veteran Bodyguards and some recurral in my Doran variants.
Probably just for nostalgic reasons.
Still, it is fun seeing them hit for five.
Good luck to the missus!
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In magic there's Harry Dresden, Fizban, Sethra Lavode, Dorotea Senjak and me...
My meta: 3 or 4 player free for all, anything goes but boring games or broken decks cause a vote to end that game.
I'm late to the party as well (& rusty as all heck too! Been playing too much CoC for a while now)
In any case, it's always hard for me to not (at least) splash R in these decks, as cards like Vent Sentinel can get very scary if they get going.
In your original deck, I loved the inclusion of Wall of Souls, as he is often a, "GO AWAY!" for ground attackers into you, which is hard to not be a good thing. Unfortunately, it now appears you are not running R or B.
Since your playing U, one, "GO AWAY" wall might be Wall of Frost. Wall of Tears is a sweet, "GO AWAY!" card, but he doesn't have the resiliency that Wall of Frost does, nor does he become as beastly once your combo card comes into play
Dazzling Ramparts is also potentially nice. Tapping a creature can be helpful
I've found that Perimeter Captain to be a really nice inclusion. He's cheap, early (ground) defender and is another, "GO AWAY!" card that makes your opponents pause before attacking you. For me, this is almost an auto-include. But including, say, Wall of Essence can also work
Drift of Phantasms can be really sweet, especially if your deck is loaded with 3 cmc cards.
If running U and W, I struggle to not include Plumeveil. Flash is usually nasty here, results in an instant death of...some creature and it blocks Flying. I don't know your meta, but that would be a red flag in mine (i.e. can't block flying creatures).
Another red flag would be that you have no way to deal with potentially nasty creatures/artifacts/enchantments. No need to include, say, Oblivion Ring (Detention Sphere is even better here) or Beast Within or whatever?? You mention it as a possibility above and my answer, especially in my meta, is a resounding yes. Your suggestions, however, cover a wide range of ways to deal with those threats
Along those lines, how can you not be playing with Wall of Denial here? That thing is beastly and, again, blocks (& attacks) Flying. An "8/8" Flying, Shrouded creature for 3 is just...wow
Or, how about even Hover Barrier? He's strictly worse than Wall of Denial here, but still nothing to sneeze at
Since you are running G, is Tree of Redemption a possibility? That can be beastly and, perhaps, save your bacon in time of need.
I'm actually not a fan of the direction of the deck. It appears you want to ramp into fatties and/or make them Unblockable, but why? In my mind, I'd slow-roll at the beginning, playing defensive cards that are cheap, but nice and defensive. But, once you get one of your "Toughness switch from Power" cards onto the battlefield, you get to abuse the cheap cards noted above and they they automatically become something to seriously recon with. I played a version way back when (when Doran, the Siege Tower was the only/primary way to do this) & I had to keep him in play. That particular game swung back and forth as he was in play. Here, however, you have a boatload of solid options to keep that going. The drawback is that more than 1 isn't cumulative, but that's okay, it's usually important enough to have extra, as those cards will get torched once people see what you are up to.
Further, if it were me, I'd splash a few Kessig Wolf Run and just Hulk-smash through people. In that way, you really don't need a lot of ramp, can drop a bunch of your search cards (i.e. I'd just run 4, say, Rhystic Study or Mystic Remora or heck, even Concentrate and call it a day from a card-draw perspective) and tighten the deck up. Hopefully, this helps
Most playable MP creatures have powerful ETB triggers and it's a free way to re-use them. The "losingest" card that we've ever seen in our meta is Dissipation Field because anyone who's ever played it has died horribly as a result.
>Pokes head in and sees "splash red for Vent Sentinel!" as recent post.
>*facepalm
For the record i run a WRG Defensive Wall deck... no non-Wall Defenders, no ways to get the walls to attack, no ways to beef up their attacks. I can post the deck list if you'd like, but the win condition is not what people expect.
if you want to run Doran or Assault, look for more cards to pump up Defense- Spidersilk Armor, Parapet, Castle/Builder's Blessing to make your creatures tougher to kill- and in turn, pump their attacks. Asceticism will protect them from nasty spells and provide regeneration.
Wall of Nets, imo is better than Wall of Tears or Aether Barrier- it Exiles the creature. if you make the WoN harder to kill, it takes them longer to get the creature back.
SELVAXRI! King of Misfortune & Master of Rocket Launchers "Do ya feel lucky? Because you'd better start runnin' while you still can." 375 Misfortune {+3 signed AP's} & 104 Rocket Launcher (41 AQ/ 63 Rev) Edgar Rice Burroughs, forgotten legend of the word.
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I'm hoping you guys could give me some advice.
So my wifey had asked me to give her old Defender deck a bit of attention. I'd completely forgotten about it... conveniently maybe?
Anyway; here's what I'm considering before I buy anything.
It's not 60 cards, numbers will change, just a concept so far. I'm not totally decided on Doran colours.
4 Assault Formation
3 Doran, the Siege Tower
2 Wakestone Gargoyle
4 Wall of Blossoms
4 Wall of Omens
2 Wall of Nets
2 Skinshifter
4 Commune with the Gods
2 Meekstone
Others I'm considering;
Stalwart Shield-bearers, Wall of Tanglecord, Silklash Spider, Tree of Redemption, Pestilence, Wall of Glare, Wall of Junk, Sapling of Colfenor, Ensnaring Bridge, Indomitable Ancients, Collected Company
N.B. I'm aware that Bridge is better than Meekstone, but I want opponents to attack each other and open up their defence.
An alternative version of the deck I'm considering (strongly) is running Axebane Guardian & Overgrown Battlement to create massive Shifting Wall's. I was thinking Colossus of Akros (maybe even Hangarback Walker) could fit this theme, giving the deck some resistance to sweepers. Kin-Tree Invocation fits here too.
Any others I should look at?
Tower Defense I'm not sure about. This deck kinda needs a bump to get the damage through, but it's no Overwhelming Stampede.
Thoughts on this card?
I also need some card draw options. Mentor of the Meek is a card we own, but it's not very durable.
Thanks!
It's only good if you're also playing with Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive. High Alert is already good in the archetype so you may as well go Bant.
Mystic Remora, Compost, Insight, Rhystic Study, Manifold Insights, Runic Armasaur, Verity Circle, Arcades, the Strategist
Take your pick lol.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Huh. I didn't even know about these cards, not an archetype I've even thought about for an age.
Whilst it's 4-cmc, it seems like a direct upgrade to Doran, the Siege Tower. Blue has some pretty good defenders to consider too. Looks like I might be dropping Doran...
4 Commune with the Gods
3 Time of Need
3 Assault Formation
2 High Alert
3 Rhystic Study
1 Meishin, the Mind Cage
4 Wall of Omens
4 Sunscape Familiar
4 Overgrown Battlement
2 Axebane Guardian
3 Colossus of Akros
3 Arcades, the Strategist
Thoughts;
Sunscape Familiar is a given, with only 8 mono-white cards and so many 2-drops.
Other cards I like that I've been playing around with:
Considering 8x Overgrown's (for Colossus), I might chuck in some Rite, maybe even Hydra Broodmaster.
Dusk // Dawn, Wall of Tears, Retribution of the Meek, Aura Shards, Ensnaring Bridge, Meekstone & Noetic Scales explain themselves. Of these, I like the Dawn side for recovery post-wipe, given it works well with Commune.
Otherwise I'm considering singletons that work with Commune & Time.
Sunscape Familiar doesn't reduce either, and my playgroup doesn't play much targeted removal, preferring sweepers & Control Magic-types.
I'll see how I go. If stealing Colossus becomes a routine problem I'll probably chuck in some Spellskite.
I ran Veteran Bodyguards and some recurral in my Doran variants.
Probably just for nostalgic reasons.
Still, it is fun seeing them hit for five.
Good luck to the missus!
My meta: 3 or 4 player free for all, anything goes but boring games or broken decks cause a vote to end that game.
In any case, it's always hard for me to not (at least) splash R in these decks, as cards like Vent Sentinel can get very scary if they get going.
In your original deck, I loved the inclusion of Wall of Souls, as he is often a, "GO AWAY!" for ground attackers into you, which is hard to not be a good thing. Unfortunately, it now appears you are not running R or B.
Since your playing U, one, "GO AWAY" wall might be Wall of Frost. Wall of Tears is a sweet, "GO AWAY!" card, but he doesn't have the resiliency that Wall of Frost does, nor does he become as beastly once your combo card comes into play
Dazzling Ramparts is also potentially nice. Tapping a creature can be helpful
I've found that Perimeter Captain to be a really nice inclusion. He's cheap, early (ground) defender and is another, "GO AWAY!" card that makes your opponents pause before attacking you. For me, this is almost an auto-include. But including, say, Wall of Essence can also work
Drift of Phantasms can be really sweet, especially if your deck is loaded with 3 cmc cards.
Or Stalwart Shield-Bearers can be nasty in this as well
If running U and W, I struggle to not include Plumeveil. Flash is usually nasty here, results in an instant death of...some creature and it blocks Flying. I don't know your meta, but that would be a red flag in mine (i.e. can't block flying creatures).
Another red flag would be that you have no way to deal with potentially nasty creatures/artifacts/enchantments. No need to include, say, Oblivion Ring (Detention Sphere is even better here) or Beast Within or whatever?? You mention it as a possibility above and my answer, especially in my meta, is a resounding yes. Your suggestions, however, cover a wide range of ways to deal with those threats
Along those lines, how can you not be playing with Wall of Denial here? That thing is beastly and, again, blocks (& attacks) Flying. An "8/8" Flying, Shrouded creature for 3 is just...wow
Or, how about even Hover Barrier? He's strictly worse than Wall of Denial here, but still nothing to sneeze at
Since you are running G, is Tree of Redemption a possibility? That can be beastly and, perhaps, save your bacon in time of need.
I'm actually not a fan of the direction of the deck. It appears you want to ramp into fatties and/or make them Unblockable, but why? In my mind, I'd slow-roll at the beginning, playing defensive cards that are cheap, but nice and defensive. But, once you get one of your "Toughness switch from Power" cards onto the battlefield, you get to abuse the cheap cards noted above and they they automatically become something to seriously recon with. I played a version way back when (when Doran, the Siege Tower was the only/primary way to do this) & I had to keep him in play. That particular game swung back and forth as he was in play. Here, however, you have a boatload of solid options to keep that going. The drawback is that more than 1 isn't cumulative, but that's okay, it's usually important enough to have extra, as those cards will get torched once people see what you are up to.
Further, if it were me, I'd splash a few Kessig Wolf Run and just Hulk-smash through people. In that way, you really don't need a lot of ramp, can drop a bunch of your search cards (i.e. I'd just run 4, say, Rhystic Study or Mystic Remora or heck, even Concentrate and call it a day from a card-draw perspective) and tighten the deck up. Hopefully, this helps
Kokusho, The Evening Star, Exsanguinate and Glen Elendra Archmage have a restriction of 1 per deck.
In my experience it's the opposite. That card incites attacks.
Yeah I dunno about that one bud...
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Really? My meta hasn't. That's interesting. Why do they attack when that's in play?
Hmm, curious...why not? When bashing in with some, say, "7/7" Defender, why not just smash through? I guess I'm missing something
Kokusho, The Evening Star, Exsanguinate and Glen Elendra Archmage have a restriction of 1 per deck.
Most playable MP creatures have powerful ETB triggers and it's a free way to re-use them. The "losingest" card that we've ever seen in our meta is Dissipation Field because anyone who's ever played it has died horribly as a result.
A 100/8 Wall of Denial still only attacks as an 8/8 if you have a High Alert in play.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
>*facepalm
For the record i run a WRG Defensive Wall deck... no non-Wall Defenders, no ways to get the walls to attack, no ways to beef up their attacks. I can post the deck list if you'd like, but the win condition is not what people expect.
if you want to run Doran or Assault, look for more cards to pump up Defense- Spidersilk Armor, Parapet, Castle/Builder's Blessing to make your creatures tougher to kill- and in turn, pump their attacks.
Asceticism will protect them from nasty spells and provide regeneration.
Wall of Nets, imo is better than Wall of Tears or Aether Barrier- it Exiles the creature. if you make the WoN harder to kill, it takes them longer to get the creature back.
King of Misfortune & Master of Rocket Launchers
"Do ya feel lucky? Because you'd better start runnin' while you still can."
375 Misfortune {+3 signed AP's} & 104 Rocket Launcher (41 AQ/ 63 Rev)
Edgar Rice Burroughs, forgotten legend of the word.