Ideally, it'll soak up a couple of hits before getting the card draw flowing with Secret Plans and/or Hystrodon, then flood the board with cheap morphs via Obscuring Aether. Ixidron is meant more as a pseudo-sweeper than a big beater, though it also allows me to reuse morph abilities and synergizes with Secret Plans for more card draw.
Right now I only have single copies of Stratus Dancer and Temple of Mystery; I'll add more as they become available. I'm feeling iffy about Silumgar Spell-Eater, as by the time it's late enough in the game that I can afford to keep mana back to use it, my opponent may have enough lands to pay the cost. Maybe I should swap it out for Voidmage Apprentice, or maybe for something completely different.
Obscuring Aether does have some minor fringe benefits (stackability, pseudo-haste, immunity to creature removal, turns into a 2/2+), so while it's probably worse on the whole, it's close enough that I shouldn't feel bad about playing it. And in a synergy-based Johnny theme deck, that's important.
Deathmist Raptor and Den Protector look great! Unfortunately, they're a bit outside my budget right now. I'll keep my eye out for both; hopefully there will be a bit of a price dip once they rotate out of Standard, or at least increased trade opportunities.
Temur War Shaman and Whisperwood Elemental are tempting! On the other hand, we play at a bar, and I'm not sure I want to spend my limited Magic playing time explaining the difference between morph and manifest to my slightly intoxicated opponents. They also synergize poorly with Ixidron.
Vesuvan Shapeshifter... why didn't I think of that? I already have a playset gathering dust. I'll swap it in for Silumgar Spell-Eater and see how that shakes out.
Played my first game with the deck tonight, against a BR vampire deck. It performed well!
Icefeather Aven was the MVP, saving my bacon in the early game by bouncing my opponent's one flying vampire, then trading with it two turns later after he played it again. That and a flipped Hystrodon let me stabilize at ~10 life while I got my engine online. Two Obscuring Aethers and a Secret Plans let me put out a steady stream of morphs to keep his vampires stalemated. Then I got an Ixidron out, and he scooped.
One game isn't enough to draw many conclusions, but it shows that the deck is viable in my meta, at least in principle. I suspect it needs more removal, though. I'd be tempted to splash white for Hidden Dragonslayer if I thought I could make the manabase work. Normally I'd try Lignify, which is at least somewhat thematic. Unfortunately, most of my creatures lack the 4 power needed to break through the lignified creature's toughness.
I suspect that people would just stop playing against me if I did that. :-D
Played the deck again last Saturday. Won a two-player game (one opponent BR, the other UB) where both opponents ganged up on me from the word go. I probably would have lost if they hadn't started squabbling over the spoils before they made sure I was dead—they had me down to one life before I turned it around—but even so, it was a good result.
Ixidron is still a winner. I effectively played four copies (two of the real thing, two Vesuvan Shapeshifters) to shut down Olivia, both versions of Kalitas, and various other gribblies.
Icefeather Aven remains an all-star, both as a bouncer and as the deck's sole flier. Ixidron also helps deal with fliers, but I might want to look for an additional source of anti-flying juju.
Salt Road Ambushers finally proved useful, allowing me to win the endgame deadlock. It's pretty expensive, though, compared to the more directly effective Ixidron; four copies may be excessive.
4 Ainok Survivalist (2)
4 Hystrodon (5)
4 Icefeather Aven (2)
4 Ixidron (5)
4 Rattleclaw Mystic (2)
4 Salt Road Ambushers (4)
4 Silumgar Spell-Eater (3)
1 Stratus Dancer (2)
4 Obscuring Aether (1)
4 Secret Plans (2)
LANDS
6 Forest
4 Island
1 Temple of Mystery
4 Thornwood Falls
4 Yavimaya Coast
4 Zoetic Cavern
Ideally, it'll soak up a couple of hits before getting the card draw flowing with Secret Plans and/or Hystrodon, then flood the board with cheap morphs via Obscuring Aether. Ixidron is meant more as a pseudo-sweeper than a big beater, though it also allows me to reuse morph abilities and synergizes with Secret Plans for more card draw.
Right now I only have single copies of Stratus Dancer and Temple of Mystery; I'll add more as they become available. I'm feeling iffy about Silumgar Spell-Eater, as by the time it's late enough in the game that I can afford to keep mana back to use it, my opponent may have enough lands to pay the cost. Maybe I should swap it out for Voidmage Apprentice, or maybe for something completely different.
I welcome your advice!
Deathmist Raptor and Den Protector look great! Unfortunately, they're a bit outside my budget right now. I'll keep my eye out for both; hopefully there will be a bit of a price dip once they rotate out of Standard, or at least increased trade opportunities.
Mastery of the Unseen and Hidden Dragonslayer look cool, but they're also out-of-color, and I don't want to splash a third color. (Except maybe red, because of Rattleclaw Mystic.)
Temur War Shaman and Whisperwood Elemental are tempting! On the other hand, we play at a bar, and I'm not sure I want to spend my limited Magic playing time explaining the difference between morph and manifest to my slightly intoxicated opponents. They also synergize poorly with Ixidron.
Vesuvan Shapeshifter... why didn't I think of that? I already have a playset gathering dust. I'll swap it in for Silumgar Spell-Eater and see how that shakes out.
Thanks for the advice, Xyx!
Icefeather Aven was the MVP, saving my bacon in the early game by bouncing my opponent's one flying vampire, then trading with it two turns later after he played it again. That and a flipped Hystrodon let me stabilize at ~10 life while I got my engine online. Two Obscuring Aethers and a Secret Plans let me put out a steady stream of morphs to keep his vampires stalemated. Then I got an Ixidron out, and he scooped.
One game isn't enough to draw many conclusions, but it shows that the deck is viable in my meta, at least in principle. I suspect it needs more removal, though. I'd be tempted to splash white for Hidden Dragonslayer if I thought I could make the manabase work. Normally I'd try Lignify, which is at least somewhat thematic. Unfortunately, most of my creatures lack the 4 power needed to break through the lignified creature's toughness.
Played the deck again last Saturday. Won a two-player game (one opponent BR, the other UB) where both opponents ganged up on me from the word go. I probably would have lost if they hadn't started squabbling over the spoils before they made sure I was dead—they had me down to one life before I turned it around—but even so, it was a good result.
Ixidron is still a winner. I effectively played four copies (two of the real thing, two Vesuvan Shapeshifters) to shut down Olivia, both versions of Kalitas, and various other gribblies.
Icefeather Aven remains an all-star, both as a bouncer and as the deck's sole flier. Ixidron also helps deal with fliers, but I might want to look for an additional source of anti-flying juju.
Salt Road Ambushers finally proved useful, allowing me to win the endgame deadlock. It's pretty expensive, though, compared to the more directly effective Ixidron; four copies may be excessive.