Has anyone attempted to build a deck that combos evolve with evoke? its seems pretty straight forward to throw down some evolve creatures, use the evoke creatures for their ETB abilities while pumping the evolve creatures already down, then when u get enough mana play your evoke for full price. i made a quick mock up once i thought of this but havnt gotten to testing it yet
This is an interesting idea. I haven't seen anyone try these two mechanics together.
Have you tested the list against other decks yet? How does it do?
I definitely like Walker of the Grove since it can activate Evolve twice when you Evoke it and if you can bounce it you'll get more tokens.
Bioshift could be some really good tech to pull off some great combat tricks!
One thing that I see is bad would have to be your mana base. Running 4 Guildgates along with the Karoo land seems like it will slow you down. I would probably change it to:
Maybe Giantbaiting could use a spot in the deck? With conspire it can trigger evolve twice (and 2 4/4s on the attack as soon as turn 3 sounds pretty good).
Also, I would definitely consider cutting some flicker effects. 11 is just too many for a card that does nothing by itself.
Really interesting idea for a deck, the bounce effects don't do a lot for you, though. Here's a decklist I quickly threw together, but I still need to test it.
I've tested the deck a little these past days and one of the biggest problems I've faced is that you reach (very quickly) the point where your creatures can't "evolve" any further, effectively reaching that only Walker of the Grove can up. Luckily, there are two cards that are VERY useful solving this:
Bioshift: Someone mentioned it before and I have to agree. Bioshift just does too much: it lets you pump your raptors or Battering Krasis (which have evasion), it allows to do combat shenanigans (which we all love, don't we?), it recicles counters from doombladed or snapped creatures and it let's you shrink creatures so they can evolve again.
The other card is Scarscale Ritual. Most of the time it just removes a +1+1 counter in a creature that was already capped, so you can evolve it the same turn. In fact, I'd go as far to say that it's better than mulldrifter in this deck (seriously, Crocanura, as a 1/3 is a much better evolver than a 2/2).
The other change I've made is to maindeck 4 Dispel, since it allows to survive most removal. I'm not sure if it is the better counterspell, but it has worked so far.
Hmmm... Further testing has showed that evoking creatures just doesn't cut it: they are just too expensive, so I definitely cut them out.
Instead, I upped the Giantbaitings to 4, since even without conspire they are pretty good, and found out that Dream Stalker allows for some insane plays: it has 5 toughness (so it goes even further than Giantbaiting evolves), it's a good wall that can be targeted with Scarscale Ritual, and it can bounce itself for many evolve triggers in the same turn.
Also added Rancor, because I feel guilty playing green without it.
Adding Dispel allow you to play creatures without worrying about counters against blue or killspells in black, which is the only way you can stand a chance against MUC and MBC. In fact, I was wondering if maybe I could fit a couple of Disrupt too.
Hmmm... Further testing has showed that evoking creatures just doesn't cut it: they are just too expensive, so I definitely cut them out.
Instead, I upped the Giantbaitings to 4, since even without conspire they are pretty good, and found out that Dream Stalker allows for some insane plays: it has 5 toughness (so it goes even further than Giantbaiting evolves), it's a good wall that can be targeted with Scarscale Ritual, and it can bounce itself for many evolve triggers in the same turn.
Also added Rancor, because I feel guilty playing green without it.
I like the direction you took the deck! Scarscale Ritual is really great for this deck since it's card advantage without a downside in this deck. Why isn't Steady Progress in the updated list? Was it simply cut to make space for Rancor?
It's good that you took out the Evoke creatures and decided to just focus on Evolve. The evoke creatures had good abilities, but they take up to much spell space to try and add in blink effects to help them along.
4 Cloudfin Raptor
4 Shambleshark
2 Crocanura
4 Battering Krasis
EVOKE
4 Mulldrifter
3 Walker of the Grove
3 Æthersnipe
4 Turn to Mist
4 Ghostly Flicker
3 Wormfang Drake
STALLING
3 Gnaw to the Bone
LAND
4 Simic Guildgate
4 Simic Growth Chamber
7 Forest
7 Island
Have you tested the list against other decks yet? How does it do?
I definitely like Walker of the Grove since it can activate Evolve twice when you Evoke it and if you can bounce it you'll get more tokens.
Bioshift could be some really good tech to pull off some great combat tricks!
One thing that I see is bad would have to be your mana base. Running 4 Guildgates along with the Karoo land seems like it will slow you down. I would probably change it to:
4 Simic Guildgate
2 Evolving Wilds
6 Forest
10 Island
Also, I would definitely consider cutting some flicker effects. 11 is just too many for a card that does nothing by itself.
4 Cloudfin Raptor
4 Shambleshark
4 Battering Krasis
2 Crocanura
Evolve triggers
4 Mulldrifter
3 Æthersnipe
2 Walker of the Grove
2 Giantbaiting
2 Steady Progress
2 Gnaw to the Bone
Counterspell
4 Counterspell
3 Daze
2 Mana Leak
Land
10 Snow-Covered Island
6 Snow-Covered Forest
4 Simic Guildgate
2 Evolving Wilds
4 Piracy Charm
4 Blue Elemental Blast
3 Intervene
2 Capsize
2 Annul
I decided to go with a more aggro-control idea with this. I put in Steady Progress since I think Proliferate could do a lot in an Evolve deck.
Bioshift: Someone mentioned it before and I have to agree. Bioshift just does too much: it lets you pump your raptors or Battering Krasis (which have evasion), it allows to do combat shenanigans (which we all love, don't we?), it recicles counters from doombladed or snapped creatures and it let's you shrink creatures so they can evolve again.
The other card is Scarscale Ritual. Most of the time it just removes a +1+1 counter in a creature that was already capped, so you can evolve it the same turn. In fact, I'd go as far to say that it's better than mulldrifter in this deck (seriously, Crocanura, as a 1/3 is a much better evolver than a 2/2).
The other change I've made is to maindeck 4 Dispel, since it allows to survive most removal. I'm not sure if it is the better counterspell, but it has worked so far.
So, with that in mind, this is my current list:
10 Island
6 Forest
4 Simic Guildgate
2 Evolving Wilds
Creatures:
4 Cloudfin Raptor
4 Shambleshark
3 Battering Krasis
3 Crocanura
2 AEthersnipe
2 Walker of the Grove
3 Giantbaiting
2 Steady Progress
2 Daze
4 Dispel
3 Scarscale Ritual
3 Bioshift
3 Snakeform
4 Piracy Charm
4 Blue Elemental Blast
3 Annul
2 Gnaw to the Bone
2 Vines of Vastwood
Instead, I upped the Giantbaitings to 4, since even without conspire they are pretty good, and found out that Dream Stalker allows for some insane plays: it has 5 toughness (so it goes even further than Giantbaiting evolves), it's a good wall that can be targeted with Scarscale Ritual, and it can bounce itself for many evolve triggers in the same turn.
Also added Rancor, because I feel guilty playing green without it.
This is my playlist so far:
10 Forest
9 Island
4 Cloudfin Raptor
4 Shambleshark
3 Battering Krasis
4 Crocanura
4 Dream Stalker
3 Bioshift
4 Giantbaiting
3 Rancor
4 Dispel
4 Piracy Charm
3 Blue Elemental Blast
4 Annul
2 Gnaw to the Bone
2 Vines of Vastwood
I like the direction you took the deck! Scarscale Ritual is really great for this deck since it's card advantage without a downside in this deck. Why isn't Steady Progress in the updated list? Was it simply cut to make space for Rancor?
It's good that you took out the Evoke creatures and decided to just focus on Evolve. The evoke creatures had good abilities, but they take up to much spell space to try and add in blink effects to help them along.