There are some great cards in the Ajani vs. Nicol Bolas Duel Deck. I recently bought a few to get my hands on those shiny Planeswalkers inside, but why let the other cards go to waste, right?
In my playgroup, free-for-all and multiplayer games can go on forever. I figure if we're going to take it up to turn twenty, I might as well be gaining life for each of those turns. The deck below is slower than most I've played. However, given the environment I'll be playing in, it's not much of a problem. I added some Birds to the sideboard, just in case I need to speed things up. (And the Feldon's Cane is there just to round off the 15 cards. I doubt I'd ever use it here.)
I like the Searing Meditation + Tamanoa combo, that's really cool. May have to build a deck around that myself.
You probably don't need 4 Behemoth Sledge, I'd drop it to 3 at max.
Same goes for Deep Reconnaissance, because it has flashback, it's already 2 spells in 1. You could safely go to 2 copies.
Thanks, Peter. And if you build a deck around the combo, let me see it too. I'd love to see your take on it. Maybe it'll give me some more ideas for this deck.
Removing the one Behemoth Sledge, four Sylvan Bounty and two Deep Reconnaissance would certainly open my deck for more useful cards. However, I worry about mana problems. Not that I won't have enough, but rather that I won't have the right kind. Perhaps what I can do is throw some pain lands in there. With all the life gain, taking one damage when I tap won't be such a big deal. And like you said, Terramorphic Expanse is an option too.
I think the pain lands are your best bet, because their drawback will be negligible. The Ravnica duals would be better though, because you can tutor for them with fetchlands.
Looks fun, Vitu-Gazi seems expensive, essentially reading 2WG: Put a 1/1 Saproling token onto the battlefield, gain 1 life" Have you tested Sapseep Forest? it'll be a cheaper way to activate Searing Meditation basically reading 2G: gain 1 life, deal 2 damage to target creature or player.
Oh! What about a couple copies of Brion Stoutarm? He won't trigger Tamanoa, but he still has Lifelink.
Thanks to your suggestions I was able to playtest this deck lots and continue to improve it. Last night, it really shined. Check the images to see just how bright this deck burned. Here's it's latest incarnation. (And most likely the one I'll be running for a while.) Not bad for a retooled Ajani Duel Deck, hmm?
In my playgroup, free-for-all and multiplayer games can go on forever. I figure if we're going to take it up to turn twenty, I might as well be gaining life for each of those turns. The deck below is slower than most I've played. However, given the environment I'll be playing in, it's not much of a problem. I added some Birds to the sideboard, just in case I need to speed things up. (And the Feldon's Cane is there just to round off the 15 cards. I doubt I'd ever use it here.)
Any other ideas for how I can improve?
6 Forest
4 Jungle Shrine
2 Mountain
4 Plains
4 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
// Creatures
4 Ajani's Pridemate
4 Essence Warden
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tamanoa
4 Ajani's Mantra
4 Behemoth Sledge
4 Deep Reconnaissance
4 Searing Meditation
4 Sylvan Bounty
4 Vines of Vastwood
3 Ageless Entity
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Feldon's Cane
3 Firemane Angel
4 Recumbent Bliss
You probably don't need 4 Behemoth Sledge, I'd drop it to 3 at max.
Same goes for Deep Reconnaissance, because it has flashback, it's already 2 spells in 1. You could safely go to 2 copies.
I would drop the Sylvan Bounty for something like Lightning Helix or another form of removal. It's basic landcycling can be replaced with Terramorphic Expanse or Evolving Wilds.
Just some thoughts.
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
Removing the one Behemoth Sledge, four Sylvan Bounty and two Deep Reconnaissance would certainly open my deck for more useful cards. However, I worry about mana problems. Not that I won't have enough, but rather that I won't have the right kind. Perhaps what I can do is throw some pain lands in there. With all the life gain, taking one damage when I tap won't be such a big deal. And like you said, Terramorphic Expanse is an option too.
Decisions, decisions...
Painland: Underground River
Ravnica dual: Hallowed Fountain
Fetchland: Bloodstained Mire
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
Do you have any room for Manabarbs in there?
Moderator Help Desk
Sales Thread
Here's the revised deck.
2 Brushland
3 Forest
4 Jungle Shrine
2 Karplusan Forest
3 Mountain
3 Plains
3 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
// Creatures
4 Ajani's Pridemate
4 Essence Warden
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tamanoa
4 Ajani's Mantra
3 Behemoth Sledge
2 Deep Reconnaissance
4 Lightning Helix
3 Recumbent Bliss
4 Searing Meditation
4 Vines of Vastwood
3 Ageless Entity
3 Firemane Angel
1 Recumbent Bliss
4 Sylvan Bounty
4 Terramorphic Expanse
Oh! What about a couple copies of Brion Stoutarm? He won't trigger Tamanoa, but he still has Lifelink.
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
3 Forest
4 Jungle Shrine
3 Mountain
5 Plains
2 Rootbound Crag
2 Sunpetal Grove
3 Terramorphic Expanse
// Creatures
4 Ajani's Pridemate
4 Essence Warden
2 Firemane Angel
4 Tamanoa
4 Ajani's Mantra
4 Beast Within
4 Lightning Helix
4 Recumbent Bliss
4 Searing Meditation
4 Vines of Vastwood
4 Loxodon Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
4 Woolly Thoctar
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
450-Card "Artificer's Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/artificer
Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!