MTG Salvation

Wouldn't the tempo lost over playing the Throne actually cause you to take longer to win?

Quote from umtiger »

Wouldn't the tempo lost over playing the Throne actually cause you to take longer to win?

The throne only costs 2. So you'd miss at most two 1-drops. The next turn you're practically doubling damage. That's no loss of tempo.

Except it's not "doubling damage" like double strike (i.e. drawing double the cards). Edric.dec does not win from opponents losing life.

Losing out on 2 one-drops is a devastating loss of tempo, especially turn 2. You miss out on drawing two cards next turn. Edric wins by snowballing cards. In the mid-game, drawing this instead of time-magic or pumps or protections just stinks.

You also lose 2 mana for holding up counter(s) for protection.

2 mana is a lot in this deck. But honestly, the effect doesn't even seem worthwhile. Play different bounce spells or removal if you play versus pillow fort.

I was just thinking that Kefnet could be a nice beater because its easy or us to have 7 cards in hand

We don't need big creatures, we need more. The mana spent to cast him can cast two-three dudes which will draw you that many more cards.

What about Harvest Season? Seems good with our extreme attack and allows for early extra turns?

Quote from leenirvanatran »

What about Harvest Season? Seems good with our extreme attack and allows for early extra turns?

Well, the only thing I can see it being useful for is for thinning the deck of lands. And it only costs 2G. However, what could possibly be cut for it?

New auto include for Edric, Spymaster of Trest. It's a rouge too!

Honor Basquiat beat me by 10 mins!

Quote from Honor Basquiat »

New auto include for Edric, Spy Master of Trest. It's a rouge too!

Quote from Beralt »

Honor Basquiat beat me by 10 mins!

Ah! You both beat me to it! Another unblockable rogue that costs 1! Sign me up!

No Harvest Season. The excessive ramp is unnecessary, imo. Plus I wouldn't want to spend half of an extra turn's mana on something that isn't going to give me another turn.

Open into Wonder (alt link) MIGHT be okay if we've lost Edric a time or two, but if we're there then we're probably not winning anyway.

I don't know, I might try harvest season instead of like a counter spell because I feel like it has potential. Plus it ramps really hard especially since we're playing weenies. But that might just be me.

The issues are you don't really want it early because it either means you (usually) don't have counterspell mana up and you're not playing dudes that draw you cards, and you don't want it late because you are casting your extra turn cards. After you start chaining them then you're running away with the game and winning already and have been hitting your land drops every turn already so it becomes excessive. By all means feel free to test it though, though I'm guessing you'll find it unneeded.

I agree with Magnivore re Harvest Season - it'll get a whole ton of lands but at a point where you're probably better off doing something else/don't need them. worth testing tho maybe.

How do people feel about Signal Pest in this deck?

I use Signal Pest in the deck and love it. My build is more battle oriented and the cards I draw with Edric are to protect my army.

EDIT:
Here's my deck, for reference:

Thanks DementedKirby, that's actually a really helpful list. I've been trying not to go too heavy into extra turns in my edric-style deck and I'm glad to see that someone is having success with a build that doesn't hit that button extra hard.

How do you feel about Curse of the Swine? I ended up cutting it, but it did seem like a solid card.

Quote from aslidsiksoraksi »

Thanks DementedKirby, that's actually a really helpful list. I've been trying not to go too heavy into extra turns in my edric-style deck and I'm glad to see that someone is having success with a build that doesn't hit that button extra hard.

How do you feel about Curse of the Swine? I ended up cutting it, but it did seem like a solid card.

The thing is, I like to have responses for things that may make my victory too difficult. Curse of the Swine is broken when you have a lot of mana available thanks to Gaea's Cradle and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Though I have a ton of counters, they're there to prevent me losing the game or losing my army. Any creature that makes it into play that I don't like I use Pongify or Rapid Hybridization on it. Or, Curse of the Swine. Back to Nature and Cyclonic Rift are also great ways to free the board from annoyances. Constant Mists is also great at keeping you alive against other hordes.

Besides the counters I also run ways to regenerate my army or give them indestructible and/or hexproof. I also run cards that exile spells because Supreme Verdict and Obliterate are a thing. Teferi's Veil is also some amazing tech. I attack with everything and they phase out until the beginning of my next turn. So my creatures are safe from everything.

Edric is pretty frowned upon as it is but opponents try to take advantage of it early game so I'm not the first target. That gives me time to stock up my hand. I discard a lot of lands and then recover them with Splendid Reclamation. I try to use Reliquary Tower only when I have a lot of responses in my hand. Elixir of Immortality is also great for after I've discarded and drawn quite a bit into my deck. It helps me survive a bit longer from decking myself.

Cards that almost always win the me the game outright are Notorious Throng, Beastmaster Ascension, and Triumph of the Hordes. So I've felt that time magic is just overkill. That being said, the deck could be a bit more efficient. I run Bident of Thassa and Coastal Piracy on the offchance that I can no longer use or access Edric (for whatever reason) although it's mixed feelings for me. They're either amazing when I draw into them and put them in play or they're dead draws. Either way, when you're drawing ~10 cards per turn, having one of them be dead is no real biggie.

I run more 2-drops than most Edric players are comfortable running. However, these 2-drops are pretty much guaranteed to get some damage in. So I'm really going for maximum combat with the deck. This in turn gives me maximum card draw. When I'm pitching too many cards to the graveyard I can always recover them later on. Aluren also helps me put creatures into play for free and at instant speed. Aluren also helps me cast Edric for just its command zone tax cost. When more useful 1-drops appear (like with Triton Shorestalker, Gudul Lurker, and Slither Blade) I definitely try to make room for them. I'll possibly cut out one of either Coastal Piracy or Bident of Thassa in order to fit in Wingcrafter. It gets flying easily and is also a great way to give Edric flying.

A lot of good points. I might drop curse of the swine back into my list. It's at least better than reins of power which i don't know why i kept around except that if you get wrathed now you have a weird tricksy play?

I think the Summary Dismissal idea is a good one, counters the uncounterable and also messes up planeswalker ults or whatever other abilities people are trying to pull off. Not totally sold on Mindbreak Trap since it seems less flexible in that regard and mana is at a premium (for me at least), but it could be worthwhile. I also like the 2cc strictly unblockable guys as I've found relying on flying as your main form of evasion can be a little too easy to disrupt, especially since our fliers are such small nobodies.

I've noticed you don't run Empyrial Plate or Bonehoard (and neither does anyone else i see, for that matter). Are they just too slow for you, and you have better options? I've found that late game after discarding a ton of creatures Bonehoard just kills people outright and Empyrial Plate adds a lot of damage to each swing (arguably more than Signal Pest in a lot of situations, though admittedly for more mana). And as equipment they help you recover from a wrath pretty fast. They've been solid for me, but my meta is probably slower.

PS. Just a disclaimer: I actually run Tymna the Weaver with a blue partner as a psuedo-Edric style thing so you can take everything i say with a grain of salt, but the deck style is almost identical. Drop dweebs, swing and draw cards, and hope that the card draw lets you protect the dweebs until they win you the game. In Esper there are even more 1cc unblockables too, though I might add a couple of your 2cc ones (the bestow guy caught my eye).

Quote from aslidsiksoraksi »

A lot of good points. I might drop curse of the swine back into my list. It's at least better than reins of power which i don't know why i kept around except that if you get wrathed now you have a weird tricksy play?

I think the Summary Dismissal idea is a good one, counters the uncounterable and also messes up planeswalker ults or whatever other abilities people are trying to pull off. Not totally sold on Mindbreak Trap since it seems less flexible in that regard and mana is at a premium (for me at least), but it could be worthwhile. I also like the 2cc strictly unblockable guys as I've found relying on flying as your main form of evasion can be a little too easy to disrupt, especially since our fliers are such small nobodies.

I've noticed you don't run Empyrial Plate or Bonehoard (and neither does anyone else i see, for that matter). Are they just too slow for you, and you have better options? I've found that late game after discarding a ton of creatures Bonehoard just kills people outright and Empyrial Plate adds a lot of damage to each swing (arguably more than Signal Pest in a lot of situations, though admittedly for more mana). And as equipment they help you recover from a wrath pretty fast. They've been solid for me, but my meta is probably slower.

PS. Just a disclaimer: I actually run Tymna the Weaver with a blue partner as a psuedo-Edric style thing so you can take everything i say with a grain of salt, but the deck style is almost identical. Drop dweebs, swing and draw cards, and hope that the card draw lets you protect the dweebs until they win you the game. In Esper there are even more 1cc unblockables too, though I might add a couple of your 2cc ones (the bestow guy caught my eye).

The thing that Edric has over Tymna the Weaver is that I can draw cards basically for each creature I have. In order for me to draw 10 cards with Tymna I need to have 10 opponents. Edric would have to be one of the 98 in order for it to be worthwhile. Even then, you'd have to have more support for it to make it worth while. I prefer Edric because it's clean and to the point.

As for the equipment, I don't use them because Triumph of the Hordes and Beastmaster Ascension are way better than those two. So you can just run them instead. I feel that dropping them and then equipping them for only a single creature to have the benefit is a bit underwhelming in comparison to better cards. Hell, even a Biomass Mutation of X=2 (which is Empyrial Plate's casting cost + equip cost) could do more damage. Speaking of which, Biomass Mutation has also helped me win out of nowhere. People don't mind getting hit by 9 or 10 1/1's until you tap Gaea's Cradle and make them into 9 7/7's or 10 8/8's. Then it's game over.

Did this just get banned in MTGO?

Yes, but they are developing a new 1v1 format online, it does not effect paper multiplayer at all, and need not effect paper 1v1 unless your store/friends opt in to the WotC banlist

I am curious about a UGBW version of this deck. Tymna the Weaver + Thrasios, Triton HeroBW gives us better removal like Swords to Plowshares, Snuff Outand access to better unblockable creatures. I would bet on average Prickly Boggart is better than Flying Men and we also get Judge's Familiar, Topplegeist, Serra Ascendant, Tormented Soul, and Soltari Foot Soldier, as well as better mana dorks in Noble Hierarch, and Deathrite Shaman. We also get better defense in Grand Abolisher, Dryad Militant, Beckon Apparition, Selfless Spirit,
Silence, Proclamation of Rebirth and Golgari Charm Charm. We also get access to awesome black tutors and more efficient win conditions like Medomai the Ageless.

The downside is you do not have Edric, Spymaster of Trest in the command zone, and are relying on Tymna the Weaver in the early game to get you where you need to go. You are sacrificing raw card advantage for the opportunity to play much stronger cards. You are also much weaker to non-basic hate, and stax. The upside is you have much stronger protection spells, removal, more reliable creatures, and have half your deck scoop to a stupid reach creature. I also feel that Tymna is not as much a target as Edric, as people typically know what that guy is up to.

Ok, thought about it too much, gotta commit now. Gonna try it out. Will report back with results.

Quote from akroma44 »

I am curious about a UGBW version of this deck. Tymna the Weaver + Thrasios, Triton Hero

I actually run something like what you're talking about, check my sig for a tymna version of the edric strategy. I don't run green because I felt that in 4colors it would be hard to pull off the right colors all the time when you have so many cards that need colored mana. i'd say it's not as explosive and good at ending games as edric, but it's been doing decently well in my more casual playgroup

interested to hear your results!

Anyone end up testing Throne of the God Pharaoh?

I still vote for not playing it. While making everyone else lose handfuls of life a turn seems fine you're not drawing cards off of it which is what you want to be doing. It doesn't replace a dude or a counterspell or removal or a Time Walk effect. If for some reason you can't spring for even all the cheaper Time Walk cards then you could play it to kill people faster, but it's not actually doing anything for you. Yes, it's making people lose life without a doubt, but the only life point that matters is the last one.

My 1.5 cents.