MTG Salvation

I'm busy trying to make my Talrand, Sky Summoner as fierce as possible, and snooping around the internets I noticed a lot of lists include Proteus Staff.

The synergy is definitely good: lots of Drakes about to sac for value, and it allows us to fish out some of the most synergistic creatures for Talrand: Tidespout Tyrant, Consecrated Sphinx, and Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur being obvious ones, but Stormtide Leviathan, Blightsteel Colossus, even Eldrazi might all work as finishers, which Talrand is a little short of.

On the other hand, it also means stripping ones deck of many small-scale utility creatures so their ETB effect isn't sad trombone. Augur of Bolas, Archaeomancer, Vendilion Clique, and most of all, Snapcaster Mage, come to mind in this light. Diluvian Primordial comes down somewhere in between, being almost always solid mid-to-late game, but with an unplanned entrance easily a dud.

What do you folks think? Worth the trade? If you've tried Proteus Staff in Talrand, did it work for you?

I have a friend who ran Talrand with a Proteus Staff package and it certainly seemed worth it. Turning your drakes into threats is fantastic and turning your opponents' threats into dorks is equally satisfying. He also ran Polymorph, and whatever the new rebound one is, along with Eldrazi titans, Blightsteel, Darksteel, and Jin-Gitaxias. He kept the creature package pretty tight so as to only be flipping real threats (and in the case of eldrazi/blightsteel/darksteel, threats that shuffle back into the library). The rest of the deck was pretty much board wipes/spot removal/tutors/counters/cantrips/mana doublers.

I've only seen people play the staff in creatureless decks, since it allows you to completely change the order of your deck and find combo pieces.

Using it for its intended purpose seems pretty fair to me, if your intent is to be as cutthroat as possible. It would certainly be powerful enough if you built your deck to always get Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, but then you'd be ignoring so many great cards.

I've been considering a Proteus Staff/Polymorph/Mass Polymorph package for my Talrand deck as well, and I figured that about 5-6 targets is right about the sweet spot based on other Talrand decks I've faced and talking about it with other people. Consecrated Sphinx, Tidespout Tyrant, Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, Stormtide Leviathan, Blightsteel Colossus, and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre are what I would run. This gives the deck the added dimension of not only "going wide" with 2/2 Drakes, but "going big" with a huge monster threat. Another option is Kederekt Leviathan which has the unfortunate drawback of killing all your Drakes (not to mention, it's a non-bo with Mass Polymorph) but it makes a nice reset button.

I don't think you need to cut that many things to make it worthwhile. I mean, even a random ETB value dude is going to be better than a drake. Sure, Snapcaster Mage is worse than a Blightsteel, but turning a drake into a 2/1 that gives you another spell and therefore another drake is still value.

Quote from Diaochan_is_bawse »

I have a friend who ran Talrand with a Proteus Staff package and it certainly seemed worth it. Turning your drakes into threats is fantastic and turning your opponents' threats into dorks is equally satisfying. He also ran Polymorph, and whatever the new rebound one is, along with Eldrazi titans, Blightsteel, Darksteel, and Jin-Gitaxias. He kept the creature package pretty tight so as to only be flipping real threats (and in the case of eldrazi/blightsteel/darksteel, threats that shuffle back into the library). The rest of the deck was pretty much board wipes/spot removal/tutors/counters/cantrips/mana doublers.

Blessed Reincarnation only works on your opponent's creatures

I am running a fairly small package of Proteus Staff, Polymorph, Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Windreader Sphinx. It draws a fair bit of hate once staff hits, but the deck generally has counter backup and some drakes for protection. Sphinx was a bit low-impact last time I played, might consider adding another couple bosses, probably Blighty and Stormtide.
I mainly like it because it adds another angle to a fairly one-dimensional deck, and also helps end games one way or the other. Can't really speak to how competitive it is, but it is fun.

I run it with Windreader Sphinx, Tidespout Tyrant, Patron of the Moon and Prescient Chimera. If available, I highly recommend running Tezzeret the Seeker with it.

Quote from Taco_Tuesday »

I run it with Windreader Sphinx, Tidespout Tyrant, Patron of the Moon and Prescient Chimera. If available, I highly recommend running Tezzeret the Seeker with it.

Oh right, tutors. I am running fabricate, but wasn't sure 5 cmc permanent was really what this deck wanted with Tezzeret. I also don't run enough artifacts to really make the +1 or -5 much use, but the tutor is obviously great. You don't find him getting jammed up in your hand too much?

edit: just thinking about some other tutor options for staff. Mystical Tutor (which I run) and Personal Tutor (which I don't, but might) to go get fabricate are probably the next best options. Oh, and also Long-Term Plans, which I am also running.

I run it with a package of Consecrated Sphinx, and Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur. That way you are sure to get a CA engine that is independent of having a horde of drakes. Once you hit those two targets you can stack your whole deck with it. It was better before the change in tuck rules when you could use it to tuck opposing commanders.

Quote from Taco_Tuesday »

I run it with Windreader Sphinx, Tidespout Tyrant, Patron of the Moon and Prescient Chimera. If available, I highly recommend running Tezzeret the Seeker with it.

Are you running Jace's Sanctum? I feel like Prescient Chimera is a really underwhelming polymorph target, and the Sanctum does the same thing for cheaper

Jin and Tyrant (and maybe Ulamog) are the only ones that seem worth it to me. I ran it in Talrand for a long time but utimately felt the deck was better without it.