The annoying part of the Astral Slide decks of yore was always taking up your mana to pay for the payoffs and not having mana for cycling afterwards...
Now we have a better slide, and a way to cheat on mana!
Personally, I would cut Red entirely and remove the Exalted Angels and Decree of Justices. White and Black have better removal options and Fires gives the deck too many engines. The best way to build these decks is with cards like Containment Priest and Wasteland Strangler that "kill" opposing creatures that you exile with Astral Drift and Flickerwisp. Going turn 2 Containment Priest, turn 3 Astral Slide means that every single one of your cyclers becomes a cantripping Swords to Plowshares which is obviously bonkers given that Life from the Loam enables you to draw + cast 3 of them every turn. It's nutty. So that's the "good" way to build these decks if you want something that'll smash people.
You won't need 4 Priests and Stranglers since that's overkill. I'd start with Priests and add Stranglers as needed. I'd also add at least 2x Astral Slide for redundancy on that effect. I wouldn't even bother with Painful Truths because Loam and Drift are your primary card advantage engines.
One "trick" that I want to highlight, especially if you play the deck in duels, is that you often want to sit on Containment Priest for as long as possible. What I'll often do is turn 3 Astral Drift and then on turn 4 I'll cycle 1-2 lands or w/e and exile 1-2 of their threats. If I'm not worried about my life total I'll even let them attack first and do this on their second main phase after they pass back to me. Then at EOT with the return triggers on the stack I'll Flash in Containment Priest. They can't use Sorceries to kill her and even if they do have removal they A) have to use mana on their turn and B) couldn't have used their mana already.
If I have multiple slides, will I be able to blink my guys and the containment priests?
Yes. You can choose how the triggers are stacked at EOT to ensure that the ETB creatures re-enter before the Priest does. Stack the Priest first, then everything else, everything else will ETB and then finally the Priest will come back in. Also works with Flickerwisp.
Note that if you're also exiling opposing threats you want to stack like:
Would you include any heavy hitter blink targets like ashen rider / angel of serenity or is Siege Rhino likely enough to go over the top.
I almost always include a 7+ CMC bomb in my decks so yeah, I would. I'm not saying that it's right/necessary/needed but MP games typically go long and I find that I'm routinely able to cast them.
Is Eternal Witness necessary if my primary engine is Loam?
I find E.Witness to be a supremely overrated Magic card and I rarely play her outside of EDH. I especially hate her in decks w/o Fetches because I find that her most common mode is as a Borderland Ranger on turn 3. Personally I wouldn't bother with her, but she's obviously a fine Magic card in blink decks so you could do worse. I prefer Flickerwisp in Slide though.
For anyone else looking to build the deck I'll stress that it still works with Wasteland Strangler because with Loam you can often set up scenarios where you're Sliding a Strangler and 1-2 other threats every turn and you can stack it so that a small creature comes back first, then your Strangler and then you use your Strangler to "eat" the third threat while it's still in exile in order to kill the first creature that came back.
So, I built a very similar deck to this, so far it's still only green and white. I have a couple of questions and would appreciate opinions:
1.) What does a good manabase look like in terms of non-basics, especially the cycle lands? Are the new dual cycle lands that cost 2 to cycle good? Should I just stick with the single-mana cycle lands? If yes, how many?
2.) Is it really worth going tricolor for the siege rhinos and the wasteland stranglers alone? I feel like I have a lot of removal and lifegain in options like Knight of Autumn already.
I am currently playing a G/W version something similar to this:
This is roughly what your manabase should look like. Swap Black to Red or Blue as needed. Or just cut down to straight Selesnya. Cut your Burgeonings for actual lands. I usually play around 28 in these shells. It's imperative that you "flood" in this archetype because if you only draw 4 lands then you'll need them to cast your spells and you'll have nothing to cycle. So even though you have 28 lands it's more like 24 lands + 4 "spells" that you'll need for your engines.
Adding Black for Stranglers and Rhino isn't 100% necessary but Strangler + Drift is a fantastic removal engine and Rhino means that you never have to enter the Red Zone in order to win. Both are solid additions. I've always played this as 3+ colors so I don't have any experience with straight Selesnya but I like what Black and Red offer in terms of removal.
Scattered Groves is mostly there to give you a solid turn 1 play that still has value later on. It's not a card that I'm looking to cycle, my goal is to play it as a land, but if/when I do see them later on I like how they fuel my engines. So think of it as a Selesnya Guildgate moreso than a Tranquil Thicket.
This is roughly what your manabase should look like. Swap Black to Red or Blue as needed. Or just cut down to straight Selesnya. Cut your Burgeonings for actual lands. I usually play around 28 in these shells. It's imperative that you "flood" in this archetype because if you only draw 4 lands then you'll need them to cast your spells and you'll have nothing to cycle. So even though you have 28 lands it's more like 24 lands + 4 "spells" that you'll need for your engines.
Adding Black for Stranglers and Rhino isn't 100% necessary but Strangler + Drift is a fantastic removal engine and Rhino means that you never have to enter the Red Zone in order to win. Both are solid additions. I've always played this as 3+ colors so I don't have any experience with straight Selesnya but I like what Black and Red offer in terms of removal.
Scattered Groves is mostly there to give you a solid turn 1 play that still has value later on. It's not a card that I'm looking to cycle, my goal is to play it as a land, but if/when I do see them later on I like how they fuel my engines. So think of it as a Selesnya Guildgate moreso than a Tranquil Thicket.
Great, thanks for your insights! I will think about adding black as a third color, unfortunately I don't have any Verdant Catacombs and they are super expensive right now. Any idea about replacing those? I have G/W fetches and the rest of the manabase.
Now we have a better slide, and a way to cheat on mana!
Im thinking a shell of:
4 Lightning Rift
4 Fires of Invention
4 Life from the Loam
4 Wrath of God
2 Decree of Justice
4 Siege Rhino
3 Eternal Witness
4 Wall of Omens / Blossoms
4 Exalted Angel
23 Lands including cycle and fetches
Thoughts? Improvements?
This used to be my favorite deck, but it got outclassed pretty badly over time.
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
4 Life from the Liam
4 Containment Priest
4 Wasteland Straggler
4 Flickerwisp
4 Siege Rhino
4 Burglar Rats
4 Carpet of Flowers
4 Painful Truths
24 Lands
Any other spicy stuff that fits well in the archetype? Is the blend good here?
You won't need 4 Priests and Stranglers since that's overkill. I'd start with Priests and add Stranglers as needed. I'd also add at least 2x Astral Slide for redundancy on that effect. I wouldn't even bother with Painful Truths because Loam and Drift are your primary card advantage engines.
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
Would you include any heavy hitter blink targets like ashen rider / angel of serenity or is Siege Rhino likely enough to go over the top.
Is Eternal Witness necessary if my primary engine is Loam?
The deck will likely be used as much in duels as multiplayer for what it’s worth.
Yes. You can choose how the triggers are stacked at EOT to ensure that the ETB creatures re-enter before the Priest does. Stack the Priest first, then everything else, everything else will ETB and then finally the Priest will come back in. Also works with Flickerwisp.
Note that if you're also exiling opposing threats you want to stack like:
1) All opposing threats,
2) Containment Priest,
3) Your other threats.
Stack resolves in reverse order so you get your threats back, then your Containment Priest comes back, then their stuff stays exiled.
I almost always include a 7+ CMC bomb in my decks so yeah, I would. I'm not saying that it's right/necessary/needed but MP games typically go long and I find that I'm routinely able to cast them.
I find E.Witness to be a supremely overrated Magic card and I rarely play her outside of EDH. I especially hate her in decks w/o Fetches because I find that her most common mode is as a Borderland Ranger on turn 3. Personally I wouldn't bother with her, but she's obviously a fine Magic card in blink decks so you could do worse. I prefer Flickerwisp in Slide though.
For anyone else looking to build the deck I'll stress that it still works with Wasteland Strangler because with Loam you can often set up scenarios where you're Sliding a Strangler and 1-2 other threats every turn and you can stack it so that a small creature comes back first, then your Strangler and then you use your Strangler to "eat" the third threat while it's still in exile in order to kill the first creature that came back.
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
Here is where I’m sitting currently:
2 Astral Slide
4 Life from the Loam
4 Burglar Rats
4 Flickerwisp
2 Wasteland Strangler
4 Siege Rhino
1 Ashland Rider
1 Terastadon
Missing six slots.
1.) What does a good manabase look like in terms of non-basics, especially the cycle lands? Are the new dual cycle lands that cost 2 to cycle good? Should I just stick with the single-mana cycle lands? If yes, how many?
2.) Is it really worth going tricolor for the siege rhinos and the wasteland stranglers alone? I feel like I have a lot of removal and lifegain in options like Knight of Autumn already.
I am currently playing a G/W version something similar to this:
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
//Creature (19)
1 Acidic Slime
2 Blade Splicer
2 Containment Priest
3 Eternal Witness
2 Flickerwisp
3 Knight of Autumn
1 Restoration Angel
1 Stonehorn Dignitary
1 Sun Titan
1 Thragtusk
2 Wall of Blossoms
4 Astral Drift
2 Astral Slide
4 Burgeoning
1 Worship
//Sorcery (7)
1 Edge of Autumn
4 Life from the Loam
1 Nissa's Pilgrimage
1 Wrath of God
24 Lands
4x Windswept Heath
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Scattered Groves
3x Secluded Steppe
3x Tranquil Thicket
2x Barren Moor
2x Forest
2x Plains
1x Swamp
1x Temple Garden
1x Godless Shrine
1x Overgrown Tomb
This is roughly what your manabase should look like. Swap Black to Red or Blue as needed. Or just cut down to straight Selesnya. Cut your Burgeonings for actual lands. I usually play around 28 in these shells. It's imperative that you "flood" in this archetype because if you only draw 4 lands then you'll need them to cast your spells and you'll have nothing to cycle. So even though you have 28 lands it's more like 24 lands + 4 "spells" that you'll need for your engines.
Adding Black for Stranglers and Rhino isn't 100% necessary but Strangler + Drift is a fantastic removal engine and Rhino means that you never have to enter the Red Zone in order to win. Both are solid additions. I've always played this as 3+ colors so I don't have any experience with straight Selesnya but I like what Black and Red offer in terms of removal.
Scattered Groves is mostly there to give you a solid turn 1 play that still has value later on. It's not a card that I'm looking to cycle, my goal is to play it as a land, but if/when I do see them later on I like how they fuel my engines. So think of it as a Selesnya Guildgate moreso than a Tranquil Thicket.
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
Great, thanks for your insights! I will think about adding black as a third color, unfortunately I don't have any Verdant Catacombs and they are super expensive right now. Any idea about replacing those? I have G/W fetches and the rest of the manabase.
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