Hi all! Now that Cloud of Faeries is gone, the format is going to have a pretty good shakeup, decks will rise and fall, but more important: new brews will have some breathing room thanks to Familiars gone and the Blue menace heavily neutered. This deck boasts a natural resiliency against removal and ways to grind out the opponent with it's resources, and it's also strong against counterspells, on top of having lifegain, removal and dsruption of it's own against aggro, all of which makes it well poised to combat the current metagame. And with the Shadows over Innistrad bringing us more Spirit support, the deck can only go up. Here's the core of the deck:
This is the cornerstone of the deck, the engine that makes it tick. Both Elder Pine of Jukai and Thief of Hope have very potent abilities that reward you when you cast (meaning that if it's get countered, you still get to do the effect) a Spirit or Arcane spell. Elder lets you accumulate obscene card advantage for each spell you cast by giving you lands to replay Retrace spells or ramp into something, while Thief starts slowly draining your opponent. Nameless Inversion even adds to the plan by being a removal that triggers both abilities. But that's not where this engine ends. Thief and Elder's second ability means that they automatically 2-for-1 anything that's not a counter, no matter what. Once they eat removal or trade with a creature, they will return a Spirit with 2 CMC or less, and that includes Nameless Inversion to kill another creature. Finally, Unearth is a pretty solid card all around that will not only act as insurance when removal inevitably hits Thief or Elder, but will also gain us a ton of value by virtue of Soulshift triggering two times.
But how do we support this? Well, since the engine asks for Spirits, it's obvious that we're going to play a good number of them. GB is also grounds for a Sacrifice theme, so it's only natural that we include this package:
While Carrion Feeder has the advantage over Plagued Rusalka that it's a free sacrifice outlet, Rusalka can be brought back by Soulshift and also triggers the engine, on top of acting as repeatable removal on a stick. The Zubera might seem lackluster at first sight, but they're a decent 2-drop on their own: they trigger the engine, they can be brought back by Soulshift, and they also force a 2-for-1 in their own way. But their effects really start to pay off when there's 2-3 of them on the battlefield at once, by shredding any opponent's hand and creating a myriad of tokens. Since the payoff is exponential, you don't need that much of them to be good. Finally, Devouring Greed acts as both sac outlet and finishing strike: with all the draining done by Thief of Hope, a few spirits fed to it will finish games quickly. It also replenishes our health against Aggro decks, so it's not dead in multiples at all.
The rest of the deck should be filled with ways of exploiting Elder Pine of Jukai's ability to grant you a lot of land: Retrace cards or big cards. At the moment I'm just running Raven's Crime as a 2-of to grind opponents down and 21 lands, so I have 6 flex spots left that I'm wanting to dedicate mostly to abuse the amount of land I'll be drawing. Since 6 is obviously a lot, I think I will be going with 3 Chainer's Edict (more or less abuses the lands by making it possible to pay it's Flashback cost) and maybe 3 fatties or something like Death Denied. Here's the final decklist:
Sweet decklists-I'm really liking the synergy between the cards. Devouring Greed seems like the best win-con and I don't think this this type of deck should be running less than 3. Syphon Life could be included as a 1 or 2-of to add some more life drain late game.
-For me experence Ancestor/Pine/Thief are Stapled and same for Invesion/Rend
-I think if played Arcane Soulless Revival is better than Unearth and can get infinite pair Hana Kami and any to Splice (For those I had cheap Might also is god pair Shinen)
I think Rend is too pricy to warrant a spot, even with the interactions. Chainer's Edict kills Bogles dead and is always a 2 for 1. Interesting Hana Kami tech though - I was thinking about what could go infinite with it. Kodama's Might seems a bit overboard, and Soulless Revival, although an Arcane, is more pricy than Unearth and doesn't put the card in the battlefield. I think if we're to follow the Hana Kami path, it would be best paired with Death Denied which can bring back multiple guys, including Kami itself for another round of revival.
I'm curious about Disowned Ancestor. Why do you consider it a staple? Is being a wallbrick to Aggro and not dying to Lightning Bolt enough to warrant spots? Outlasting as a sorcery is what kills it for me.
I'd really like to fit red in there for Glitterfang, triggering Pine/Thief every time for R . Red also brings Glacial Ray to the table, though it requires quite a bit of support. I'm happy to see the arcane/spirit mechanic getting some love. I always thought it sucked so much in draft I didn't bother testing in constructed, but I was wrong - in peasant, the arcane version of high tide combo is often considered superior to the CoF/Flicker version. I think there's power to tap here, is what I'm saying.
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I really like these decks. I had been working on a zubera deck earlier and I think the deck needs to run at least dark ritual. The deck is a little too slow otherwise, getting 1 guy on the ground turn 2 and turn 3.
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Pauper: UB Wight Phantasm RB Burn UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
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4 Thief of Hope
4 Nameless Inversion
4 Unearth
This is the cornerstone of the deck, the engine that makes it tick. Both Elder Pine of Jukai and Thief of Hope have very potent abilities that reward you when you cast (meaning that if it's get countered, you still get to do the effect) a Spirit or Arcane spell. Elder lets you accumulate obscene card advantage for each spell you cast by giving you lands to replay Retrace spells or ramp into something, while Thief starts slowly draining your opponent. Nameless Inversion even adds to the plan by being a removal that triggers both abilities. But that's not where this engine ends. Thief and Elder's second ability means that they automatically 2-for-1 anything that's not a counter, no matter what. Once they eat removal or trade with a creature, they will return a Spirit with 2 CMC or less, and that includes Nameless Inversion to kill another creature. Finally, Unearth is a pretty solid card all around that will not only act as insurance when removal inevitably hits Thief or Elder, but will also gain us a ton of value by virtue of Soulshift triggering two times.
But how do we support this? Well, since the engine asks for Spirits, it's obvious that we're going to play a good number of them. GB is also grounds for a Sacrifice theme, so it's only natural that we include this package:
4 Ashen-Skin Zubera
4 Dripping-Tongue Zubera
3 Devouring Greed
While Carrion Feeder has the advantage over Plagued Rusalka that it's a free sacrifice outlet, Rusalka can be brought back by Soulshift and also triggers the engine, on top of acting as repeatable removal on a stick. The Zubera might seem lackluster at first sight, but they're a decent 2-drop on their own: they trigger the engine, they can be brought back by Soulshift, and they also force a 2-for-1 in their own way. But their effects really start to pay off when there's 2-3 of them on the battlefield at once, by shredding any opponent's hand and creating a myriad of tokens. Since the payoff is exponential, you don't need that much of them to be good. Finally, Devouring Greed acts as both sac outlet and finishing strike: with all the draining done by Thief of Hope, a few spirits fed to it will finish games quickly. It also replenishes our health against Aggro decks, so it's not dead in multiples at all.
The rest of the deck should be filled with ways of exploiting Elder Pine of Jukai's ability to grant you a lot of land: Retrace cards or big cards. At the moment I'm just running Raven's Crime as a 2-of to grind opponents down and 21 lands, so I have 6 flex spots left that I'm wanting to dedicate mostly to abuse the amount of land I'll be drawing. Since 6 is obviously a lot, I think I will be going with 3 Chainer's Edict (more or less abuses the lands by making it possible to pay it's Flashback cost) and maybe 3 fatties or something like Death Denied. Here's the final decklist:
4 Plagued Rusalka
4 Ashen-Skin Zubera
4 Dripping-Tongue Zubera
4 Elder Pine of Jukai
4 Thief of Hope
4 Nameless Inversion
Sorcery (12)
2 Raven's Crime
3 Chainer's Edict
3 Devouring Greed
4 Unearth
4 Jungle Hollow
3 Mortuary Mire
2 Radiant Fountain
4 Forest
8 Swamp
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
I think Rend is too pricy to warrant a spot, even with the interactions. Chainer's Edict kills Bogles dead and is always a 2 for 1. Interesting Hana Kami tech though - I was thinking about what could go infinite with it. Kodama's Might seems a bit overboard, and Soulless Revival, although an Arcane, is more pricy than Unearth and doesn't put the card in the battlefield. I think if we're to follow the Hana Kami path, it would be best paired with Death Denied which can bring back multiple guys, including Kami itself for another round of revival.
I'm curious about Disowned Ancestor. Why do you consider it a staple? Is being a wallbrick to Aggro and not dying to Lightning Bolt enough to warrant spots? Outlasting as a sorcery is what kills it for me.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
A series of seven articles using Magic to explore the very stuff of the Universe!
"At least for those who can play cards, their present incarnation is not quite wasted."
[Click here for the articles!]
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post