Alright, I gave it some time to sort of float about and I keep running into the same problem of not having enough grave hate. I liked the functionality of the Ooze over the Shaman a lot more and while there is the restriction of needing green mana to activate the ooze, I have an amazing manabase in this deck and I cant think of a time I have dropped the ooze without the ability to use it 3-4 times yet that turn. While it is not all encompassing I like it a lot more.
So going to changes, I am going forward with the following:
I like Preordain still but after some testing it is obvious that with so many shuffle effects Brainstorm blows it out of the water. I have used brainstorm when I have a halfway decent hand and it just makes it so much better like every time. Preordain is a small scale filter / draw and while I like it, I am not having issues with my card draw in this deck I am having an issue with opposing graveyards. I like the fact that it gives Tezzeret and Trinket Mage another target, it can be rezed off of Academy Ruins and Sun Titan and it is a fast effect that requires no mana to activate that sweeps all of the cards in that graveyard away. While I like Phyrexian Furnace due to its ability to draw a card when it is sacrificed I think I just need a strong removal in this spot rather than another card drawing mechanic. I think the Furnace is decent and could work in a pinch but I just need to hit graveyards hard and not give them the opportunity to tutor back into that stuff through means of Buried Alive and such.
- I will touch on the DKA spoiled cards in 2 weeks when they get close to getting everything spoiled.
EDIT: Also I suppose I will touch on another thing. The change of Sword of Light and Shadow to Sword of Feast and Famine a while back has been a great success. I like how it works as ramp in the early game and it gets online much sooner. I used to opening hand Light and Shadow and sort of sit on it for some time. I dont really notice the loss of the extra rez effect however the extra ramp has been great. I love strapping the sword to Jenara as well. I had a silly hand the other day with 4 land, Top, and both swords that was just stupid for me lol.
EDIT 2: I got everything updated now. I must have forgotten to update the deckstats when I pulled the Ooze out last time as he was still in lol. Ohh well got it correct now.
Nothing so far from DKA that I want to add. Thalia is good if your meta is combo heavy, but otherwise there's not much. Luckily we have a lot left to be spoiled.
Been thinking about swapping my Light and Shadow for Feast and Famine for a while now. Also have been wanting to put crpyt in, and I need to get my hands on a loaming shaman. I'm truly surprised I have yet to lose a game with this deck considering my rendition has 0 grave hate whatsoever at current.
Nothing so far from DKA that I want to add. Thalia is good if your meta is combo heavy, but otherwise there's not much. Luckily we have a lot left to be spoiled.
You are correct that so far there is nothing that is even close to being include worthy in Jenara. I will stay optimistic though and wait until something really noteworthy is spoiled or the whole set is spoiled to sort of go through what came out for this list. I think that it is probably a good thing that we don't turn our decklist over with each set release. It sort of makes a statement that the list is working quite well. Snapcaster Mage was sort of an expensive add with last set so I don't want to see $30+ cards every set that I have to obtain for this list. Luckily I still play standard and I like playing bant combination colors so it doesn't really bother me obtaining the good cards for my Jenara deck anyways.
I played 2 games of heads up last night with my Jenara list... It was just me murdering my buddy it was fun
Been thinking about swapping my Light and Shadow for Feast and Famine for a while now. Also have been wanting to put crpyt in, and I need to get my hands on a loaming shaman. I'm truly surprised I have yet to lose a game with this deck considering my rendition has 0 grave hate whatsoever at current.
The big component I will give for swapping the swords arround is that Light and Shadow is a lot slower to get going. Both are quite good in the late game but Feast and Famine sort of gets online sooner. I dont think the swap is manditory though as I really did like Light and Shadow as well so I dont think it is a you have to do it sort of thing but overall I think I have liked the swap to F&F.
As for grave hate, it is largely a meta decision. If your meta runs more grave abuse then run more grave hate. Unless you have problems with decks that regularly abuse the gave I wouldn't bother loading up on it. Having one tutorable target is probably a good idea though. I dont think it is really needed unless someone is just continuously abusing the graveyards like Mimeoplasm, Chainer, Geth, Balthor, Sharuum, etc.
EDIT: BTW congrats on your success so far Jason. It sounds like you are doing quite well with the list.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I do wish they would print a creature card which read sacrifice <creature>: exile all opponents' graveyards.
Adding graveyard hate just slows down my deck. Yet I can't live without it mid-late game. I'm at my wit's end dealing with 2xMimeo decks. Hopefully they print my creature soon
On another note what do you think of Holistic Wisdom with some kind of card draw engine like Sphinx or Hunter's Insight?
Hey sorry for taking so long to reply but I knew I was going to have some free time coming up so I pushed off answering until I had more time to do it a bit more in depth.
1) I myself recently moved my own graveyard hate configuration to deal with The Mimeoplasm and Chainer, Dementia Master. I currently am back to running Scavenging Ooze + Tormod's Crypt. Both of these options can be utilized at instant speed which I really like over the Loaming Shaman. I think graveyard hate is sort of a meta dependance in a deck like this. I would be reluctant to go up to three cards in the list unless the grave hate is really really heavy. I can creature tutor into both the ooze and the crypt through means of Trinket Mage which I really like and we can reuse the crypt and ooze through multiple means. I don't like Tormod's Crypt much when against grave light lists however I feel like having it is probably better than not having it. Again graveyard hate is probably sort of meta game dependent.
2) Lurking Predators is intended to be strictly a value generating engine. Even if the next cast from our opponents kills the predators it will trigger for us at least once. I like it as it is a fire and forget sort of card. It generates free bodies and while sometimes it will flip things at inopportune times generally speaking I like free CA. I don't think the card has to be in the list but currently I think it is a fine card. It is one of those cards that you hope nobody answers right away as if it goes a whole turn cycle then it has done fantastic. If it goes beyond that it is amazing.
3) Scroll Rack it is a fine card and I used it way back in some of my original lists. What I didnt like so much about it was mainly that it costs mana to activate. I dont think I was as good with my list back then though it would be interesting to try this out again. I might have to consider it again but I didnt like running all 3 of these effects as it felt clunky having this + top or library in play together. If it works for you that is fine it is a good card.
4) Baneslayer Angel, cut it for somethign else. If I personally were to cut Akroma I guess I would consider Avenger of Zendikar or a Time Warp in her place currently. There are a lot of options though so it is hard to say what else it could turn into. I personally really enjoy Akroma.
5) I would say that Sword of Fire and Ice is solidly better than Sword of Light and Shadow. While I like the protections of Light and Shadow a lot more the draw + removal of Fire and Ice is so far above and beyond Light and Shadow. The fact that it is usable right away in the game is also big plus as well. One of my big complaints about light and shadow is that it tends to be a better late game equipment. It really sort of sucks to have in an opening hand whereas the feast and famine and fire and ice feel a lot better in early game. Late game I would say all three are all good options but the lack of a good early game sort of sunk Light and Shadow for me once I had tried out Feast and Famine in here.
Good luck with the list I am glad to see you are still here Sherlock.
So.....Grafdigger's Cage. I'm actually not gonna try it after thinking about it. Too many shenanigans in this deck that this card hoses.
I also sort of eyed that card a bit. It will be an interesting card to possibly try out as another Trinket Mage target. I like the card as graveyard hate but it also hinders us some. I sort of view it as an option to hate on graveyards as well but I cant say for sure if I am planning on running it or not. I am probably leaning more away from running it but I will have to think about it more before I can say for certain.
EDIT: I will keep thinking on Grafdigger's Cage. Honestly it has a lot more depth to what it stops than I originally was thinking about. It does jack up our Green Sun's Zenith and Wargate into a creature. It is still an incredible card that I will definately think more about. I don't think I can really give it a fair final verdict right now. It could be something that I will just need to play to really fairly give it a good assessment.
The problem I often find with Lurking Predators is how much attention it draws. People are so afraid of you getting free creatures that they typically come slamming after you. I feel the most opportune time to play this would be after a board wipe so that you could bounce back and build up defenses with it. However I don't run it in my list because I feel best not drawing attention with a deck this powerful.
I agree that Lurking Predators isn't perfect for the deck. It is a high profile card that should be answered quickly and this deck runs a lot of sort of small guys that dont add up quickly for how flashy the enchantment is. I like Birthing Pod and Skullclamp more as obviously I can control how they operate right away for some known results where as Lurking Predators is largely an unknown effect to just sort of hope to generate value. I have had a good share of times where Lurking Predators just flips a single card due to the next thing blowing it away.
All in all I would probably be for replacing Lurking Predators eventually with something else but I don't really know of anything I think is strictly better that we aren't already using. It is a decent card at the least but not something that is mandatory in the list.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I've been having an absurd amount of luck with Mystic Snake with the deck as of late. Absolutely love it. Personally, I'd run that over predators. Especially since it can be tutored for by multiple things and then flashed into play with the tutor at instant speed, or afterwards. I know I've mentioned it before, but I figured I'd bring it up again.
Also after looking at a Karador deck that was running 6 plains and then 4 duals and mistveil to get Emeria online. I figure with all of the ramp / land searching in this deck it may be another solid alternate win condition. Considering your deck runs 8 plains, you could possibly cut flagstones (never much saw the purpose) for Emeria or another plains? I wouldn't necessarily count on it every game but like I said. Certainly another win con.
I've been having an absurd amount of luck with Mystic Snake with the deck as of late. Absolutely love it. Personally, I'd run that over predators. Especially since it can be tutored for by multiple things and then flashed into play with the tutor at instant speed, or afterwards. I know I've mentioned it before, but I figured I'd bring it up again.
Also after looking at a Karador deck that was running 6 plains and then 4 duals and mistveil to get Emeria online. I figure with all of the ramp / land searching in this deck it may be another solid alternate win condition. Considering your deck runs 8 plains, you could possibly cut flagstones (never much saw the purpose) for Emeria or another plains? I wouldn't necessarily count on it every game but like I said. Certainly another win con.
I had been giving Mystic Snake a bit more thought just the other day actually and I think it could be a good add to the list. I had sort of been wanting to include it for another creature based counterspell as the archmage while being amazing doesn't always cover my needs.
As a side note once the snake has been used Winding Canyons can be used to flash in a clone of it which would be a really bad ass move. I will think about this a bit more but I might also give it some gametime. It is something that has sort of interested me more of late.
As for Emeria... I dont even know what to say I hadn't really considered it before now. I also didnt have the full original dual land manabase until like 2 or 3 months ago but now that I do have it I could see it actually working. The downside to Emeria is it almost never goes off as it is a huge threat. I could possibly see adding it but at the same time I would want some sort of land recursion if I were to really bank on it doing anything. As of currently my meta runs a lot of land removal with not a whole lot of targets that must be removed. It is an interesting idea but our current meta removes coffers in about a half of a turn consistently so I don't think it would really work for me as just a singleton land. The thought of adding Emeria to a 3 colored deck is an interesting one but with all the ramp that this deck has I could see it working.
As a side note... Helvault(DKA Spoiled) intrigues me. I don't know if it comes close to being something that will be added but it is the closest card to being something usable for this deck so far. A big downside is that obviously if it leaves play by being tucked / exiled / bounced it does jack ****. So it might not be good enough but it got me thinking...
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
The first card I thought of when I saw Hellvault was Portcullis. There's some noticeable differences of course but overall I think Portcullis is a better card because there is no additional mana investment.
The first card I thought of when I saw Hellvault was Portcullis. There's some noticeable differences of course but overall I think Portcullis is a better card because there is no additional mana investment.
Portcullis is an interesting card to mention. Unfortunately this deck uses creatures to do a lot of things and I think that Portcullis might screw with my own deck a bit too much. With Hellvault I can stow away creatures as they would have died. I like how I would go about unlocking my own creatures as well with this card:
EX: Terastodon comes down targeting Hellvault + 2 targets. I activate Hellvault tucking away Terastodon in response to his ability. Hellvault dies and brings back Terastodon and his friends triggering the destroy 3 targets yet again + any ETB effects on things I tucked away.
Even if I were to use my slime or sliver to blow up the Hellvault it still gives me the option of removing another target in play. I like the ability to play with it as I want. Portcullis makes it hard for me to do blocks. If another deck wraths and drops a problematic commander like Uril I would have trouble working with my own Portcullis at that point to set up my blockers. I think that Portcullis has some similarities to Hellvault but I think in this particular list I would use Hellvault over Portcullis.
Interesting analogy to Portcullis though, I hadn't thought about it in here until you mentioned it.
EDIT: In addition Hellvault has the bonus of being able to be rezed off of Sun Titan.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Portcullis will do pretty much the same thing with Terastodon. Additionally it can be highly annoying for opponents to play against (imagine piloting Edric or Marton Stromgald with this in play). What I dislike about Hellvault is that it's pretty slow since it requires a tap ability so it's much less abusable than Portcullis. It also gets hosed by bounce and exile effects which is very troubling if you don't have access to a sac outlet.
Being able to be recurred via Sun Titan is just a perk. Sun Titan doesn't need the help to be good so I think you're better off playing the better card. Do people actually let you get multiple triggers with this guy anyway?
The card could have interesting effects that's for sure. But for four and tap on an artifact? I'd rather run Venser / Mistmeadow Witch / Galepowder. Or hell at that point (I know we discussed this before but) Ghostway seems like it would be so much more versatile than the aforementioned card. Exile one creature with a permanent that doesn't do anything if exiled, who can all possibly be returned. Or Ghostway which solidifies your board position of a wrath occurs, or if you have a fair amount of ETB effects. And works well with the wall and Snapcaster!
Portcullis will do pretty much the same thing with Terastodon. Additionally it can be highly annoying for opponents to play against (imagine piloting Edric or Marton Stromgald with this in play). What I dislike about Hellvault is that it's pretty slow since it requires a tap ability so it's much less abusable than Portcullis. It also gets hosed by bounce and exile effects which is very troubling if you don't have access to a sac outlet.
Being able to be recurred via Sun Titan is just a perk. Sun Titan doesn't need the help to be good so I think you're better off playing the better card. Do people actually let you get multiple triggers with this guy anyway?
It is more that I tutor and reanimate the Sun Titan a lot. It is one of my favorite abuse creatures that I will clone, rez, and tutor up quite a bit.
But you might be right... Portcullis does screw with a lot of agro decks which I see a lot of. It takes out tokens like nobody's business. Perhaps I will try it out sometime soon.
It just seems like an odd card to run in an agro deck but it does some interesting utility... I will see if I can find some room to proxy it in and see how it runs.
It is more that I tutor and reanimate the Sun Titan a lot. It is one of my favorite abuse creatures that I will clone, rez, and tutor up quite a bit.
But you might be right... Portcullis does screw with a lot of agro decks which I see a lot of. It takes out tokens like nobody's business. Perhaps I will try it out sometime soon.
It just seems like an odd card to run in an agro deck but it does some interesting utility... I will see if I can find some room to proxy it in and see how it runs.
It may not be good enough but I'm pretty sure it's better than Hellvault. I've been meaning to try it out in my blink deck but I keep forgetting to get one.
Ya... it does work with ETB effects but this deck really does use a lot of the little guys as chumps and things to strap swords onto and what not. It might just jack with the deck too much to be worthwhile.
I will probably just sort of file it away as an interesting card and move on...
God the EDH usable stuff is sort of terrible in this set. They have way too much stuff for Ghave. Well... I guess I will go back to waiting for something good to be spoiled...
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Ya... it does work with ETB effects but this deck really does use a lot of the little guys as chumps and things to strap swords onto and what not. It might just jack with the deck too much to be worthwhile.
I will probably just sort of file it away as an interesting card and move on...
God the EDH usable stuff is sort of terrible in this set. They have way too much stuff for Ghave. Well... I guess I will go back to waiting for something good to be spoiled...
Yeah not very impressed from an EDH standpoint. Cube however is making out very very well (maybe that's a sign for you to design a cube :p).
Yeah not very impressed from an EDH standpoint. Cube however is making out very very well (maybe that's a sign for you to design a cube :p).
Gah I hate limited formats though... I do like deck designing and what not in general so I might like the actual designing aspects of cube but I am not much of a drafting player... Perhaps one day but man it is expensive to get into building a good cube.
Anyways. Thanks for the idea for Portcullis. I think I will probably find a way to rig Mystic Snake into my list and for now that is probably all I will change. I will wait to make any official changes to my list until I can get some testing in with the snake.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Yeah the stuff from this set has been terribly unexciting. However with all of these undying effects, I would be surprised if they didn't reprint something like swords or path. Which would probably be the most enticing card in the set for me to get. Even though I already have a ton
Lets try to keep this on topic. Please no speculation in here guys. That sort of stuff belongs elsewhere.
That being said I will be really disappointing if there isn't a single card worth testing at the least out of this set.
EDIT:Venser, Shaper Savant might also be something that I need to break down and try out in here at some point too. When compared to Mystic Snake it can function similarly to a counterspell by bouncing the spell back to hand or it can bounce a permanent in play. The big upside to him being that he can be reanimated easier and used off of Birthing Pod which the snake sort of cant nearly as well be used... It might be something I have to think about.
EDIT:Venser, Shaper Savant might also be something that I need to break down and try out in here at some point too. When compared to Mystic Snake it can function similarly to a counterspell by bouncing the spell back to hand or it can bounce a permanent in play. The big upside to him being that he can be reanimated easier and used off of Birthing Pod which the snake sort of cant nearly as well be used... It might be something I have to think about.
I highly recommend trying out Venser. This guy is my favorite creature in Magic because he's so versatile. It's hard to describe exactly why he's so good so I'll just say I value versatile cards very highly in this format and Venser's about as versatile as a 4 mana creature gets.
I have been thinking that Venser probably needs some testing for a while now. It isn't perfect for every situation but he is extremely versatile. I will see if I cant work him into the list.
The top 3 GY haters I would put in are the Ooze, Stonecloaker and Phyrexian Furnace. They are all tutorable and can be ressed by Titan.
So going to changes, I am going forward with the following:
Loaming Shaman -> Scavenging Ooze
Preordain -> Tormod's Crypt
I like Preordain still but after some testing it is obvious that with so many shuffle effects Brainstorm blows it out of the water. I have used brainstorm when I have a halfway decent hand and it just makes it so much better like every time. Preordain is a small scale filter / draw and while I like it, I am not having issues with my card draw in this deck I am having an issue with opposing graveyards. I like the fact that it gives Tezzeret and Trinket Mage another target, it can be rezed off of Academy Ruins and Sun Titan and it is a fast effect that requires no mana to activate that sweeps all of the cards in that graveyard away. While I like Phyrexian Furnace due to its ability to draw a card when it is sacrificed I think I just need a strong removal in this spot rather than another card drawing mechanic. I think the Furnace is decent and could work in a pinch but I just need to hit graveyards hard and not give them the opportunity to tutor back into that stuff through means of Buried Alive and such.
- I will touch on the DKA spoiled cards in 2 weeks when they get close to getting everything spoiled.
EDIT: Also I suppose I will touch on another thing. The change of Sword of Light and Shadow to Sword of Feast and Famine a while back has been a great success. I like how it works as ramp in the early game and it gets online much sooner. I used to opening hand Light and Shadow and sort of sit on it for some time. I dont really notice the loss of the extra rez effect however the extra ramp has been great. I love strapping the sword to Jenara as well. I had a silly hand the other day with 4 land, Top, and both swords that was just stupid for me lol.
EDIT 2: I got everything updated now. I must have forgotten to update the deckstats when I pulled the Ooze out last time as he was still in lol. Ohh well got it correct now.
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[Modern] Allies
UWU/W BlinkUW
BMono-Black ControlB
Commander:
GWUJenaraGWU
BGeth MBCB
RGXenagosRG
WUBSharuumWUB (retired)
Modern:
xAffinityx (starting)
Standard:
Ha! That's a good one.
You are correct that so far there is nothing that is even close to being include worthy in Jenara. I will stay optimistic though and wait until something really noteworthy is spoiled or the whole set is spoiled to sort of go through what came out for this list. I think that it is probably a good thing that we don't turn our decklist over with each set release. It sort of makes a statement that the list is working quite well. Snapcaster Mage was sort of an expensive add with last set so I don't want to see $30+ cards every set that I have to obtain for this list. Luckily I still play standard and I like playing bant combination colors so it doesn't really bother me obtaining the good cards for my Jenara deck anyways.
I played 2 games of heads up last night with my Jenara list... It was just me murdering my buddy it was fun
The big component I will give for swapping the swords arround is that Light and Shadow is a lot slower to get going. Both are quite good in the late game but Feast and Famine sort of gets online sooner. I dont think the swap is manditory though as I really did like Light and Shadow as well so I dont think it is a you have to do it sort of thing but overall I think I have liked the swap to F&F.
As for grave hate, it is largely a meta decision. If your meta runs more grave abuse then run more grave hate. Unless you have problems with decks that regularly abuse the gave I wouldn't bother loading up on it. Having one tutorable target is probably a good idea though. I dont think it is really needed unless someone is just continuously abusing the graveyards like Mimeoplasm, Chainer, Geth, Balthor, Sharuum, etc.
EDIT: BTW congrats on your success so far Jason. It sounds like you are doing quite well with the list.
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Adding graveyard hate just slows down my deck. Yet I can't live without it mid-late game. I'm at my wit's end dealing with 2xMimeo decks. Hopefully they print my creature soon
On another note what do you think of Holistic Wisdom with some kind of card draw engine like Sphinx or Hunter's Insight?
BRGrenzo, Dungeon Warden EDH
GAzusa, Always in a Rush EDH
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Warlord EDH
Trade thread on MOTL
UWU/W BlinkUW
BMono-Black ControlB
Commander:
GWUJenaraGWU
BGeth MBCB
RGXenagosRG
WUBSharuumWUB (retired)
Modern:
xAffinityx (starting)
Standard:
Ha! That's a good one.
1) I myself recently moved my own graveyard hate configuration to deal with The Mimeoplasm and Chainer, Dementia Master. I currently am back to running Scavenging Ooze + Tormod's Crypt. Both of these options can be utilized at instant speed which I really like over the Loaming Shaman. I think graveyard hate is sort of a meta dependance in a deck like this. I would be reluctant to go up to three cards in the list unless the grave hate is really really heavy. I can creature tutor into both the ooze and the crypt through means of Trinket Mage which I really like and we can reuse the crypt and ooze through multiple means. I don't like Tormod's Crypt much when against grave light lists however I feel like having it is probably better than not having it. Again graveyard hate is probably sort of meta game dependent.
2) Lurking Predators is intended to be strictly a value generating engine. Even if the next cast from our opponents kills the predators it will trigger for us at least once. I like it as it is a fire and forget sort of card. It generates free bodies and while sometimes it will flip things at inopportune times generally speaking I like free CA. I don't think the card has to be in the list but currently I think it is a fine card. It is one of those cards that you hope nobody answers right away as if it goes a whole turn cycle then it has done fantastic. If it goes beyond that it is amazing.
3) Scroll Rack it is a fine card and I used it way back in some of my original lists. What I didnt like so much about it was mainly that it costs mana to activate. I dont think I was as good with my list back then though it would be interesting to try this out again. I might have to consider it again but I didnt like running all 3 of these effects as it felt clunky having this + top or library in play together. If it works for you that is fine it is a good card.
4) Baneslayer Angel, cut it for somethign else. If I personally were to cut Akroma I guess I would consider Avenger of Zendikar or a Time Warp in her place currently. There are a lot of options though so it is hard to say what else it could turn into. I personally really enjoy Akroma.
5) I would say that Sword of Fire and Ice is solidly better than Sword of Light and Shadow. While I like the protections of Light and Shadow a lot more the draw + removal of Fire and Ice is so far above and beyond Light and Shadow. The fact that it is usable right away in the game is also big plus as well. One of my big complaints about light and shadow is that it tends to be a better late game equipment. It really sort of sucks to have in an opening hand whereas the feast and famine and fire and ice feel a lot better in early game. Late game I would say all three are all good options but the lack of a good early game sort of sunk Light and Shadow for me once I had tried out Feast and Famine in here.
Good luck with the list I am glad to see you are still here Sherlock.
I also sort of eyed that card a bit. It will be an interesting card to possibly try out as another Trinket Mage target. I like the card as graveyard hate but it also hinders us some. I sort of view it as an option to hate on graveyards as well but I cant say for sure if I am planning on running it or not. I am probably leaning more away from running it but I will have to think about it more before I can say for certain.
EDIT: I will keep thinking on Grafdigger's Cage. Honestly it has a lot more depth to what it stops than I originally was thinking about. It does jack up our Green Sun's Zenith and Wargate into a creature. It is still an incredible card that I will definately think more about. I don't think I can really give it a fair final verdict right now. It could be something that I will just need to play to really fairly give it a good assessment.
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All in all I would probably be for replacing Lurking Predators eventually with something else but I don't really know of anything I think is strictly better that we aren't already using. It is a decent card at the least but not something that is mandatory in the list.
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[Modern] Allies
Also after looking at a Karador deck that was running 6 plains and then 4 duals and mistveil to get Emeria online. I figure with all of the ramp / land searching in this deck it may be another solid alternate win condition. Considering your deck runs 8 plains, you could possibly cut flagstones (never much saw the purpose) for Emeria or another plains? I wouldn't necessarily count on it every game but like I said. Certainly another win con.
I had been giving Mystic Snake a bit more thought just the other day actually and I think it could be a good add to the list. I had sort of been wanting to include it for another creature based counterspell as the archmage while being amazing doesn't always cover my needs.
As a side note once the snake has been used Winding Canyons can be used to flash in a clone of it which would be a really bad ass move. I will think about this a bit more but I might also give it some gametime. It is something that has sort of interested me more of late.
As for Emeria... I dont even know what to say I hadn't really considered it before now. I also didnt have the full original dual land manabase until like 2 or 3 months ago but now that I do have it I could see it actually working. The downside to Emeria is it almost never goes off as it is a huge threat. I could possibly see adding it but at the same time I would want some sort of land recursion if I were to really bank on it doing anything. As of currently my meta runs a lot of land removal with not a whole lot of targets that must be removed. It is an interesting idea but our current meta removes coffers in about a half of a turn consistently so I don't think it would really work for me as just a singleton land. The thought of adding Emeria to a 3 colored deck is an interesting one but with all the ramp that this deck has I could see it working.
As a side note... Helvault(DKA Spoiled) intrigues me. I don't know if it comes close to being something that will be added but it is the closest card to being something usable for this deck so far. A big downside is that obviously if it leaves play by being tucked / exiled / bounced it does jack ****. So it might not be good enough but it got me thinking...
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Portcullis is an interesting card to mention. Unfortunately this deck uses creatures to do a lot of things and I think that Portcullis might screw with my own deck a bit too much. With Hellvault I can stow away creatures as they would have died. I like how I would go about unlocking my own creatures as well with this card:
EX: Terastodon comes down targeting Hellvault + 2 targets. I activate Hellvault tucking away Terastodon in response to his ability. Hellvault dies and brings back Terastodon and his friends triggering the destroy 3 targets yet again + any ETB effects on things I tucked away.
Even if I were to use my slime or sliver to blow up the Hellvault it still gives me the option of removing another target in play. I like the ability to play with it as I want. Portcullis makes it hard for me to do blocks. If another deck wraths and drops a problematic commander like Uril I would have trouble working with my own Portcullis at that point to set up my blockers. I think that Portcullis has some similarities to Hellvault but I think in this particular list I would use Hellvault over Portcullis.
Interesting analogy to Portcullis though, I hadn't thought about it in here until you mentioned it.
EDIT: In addition Hellvault has the bonus of being able to be rezed off of Sun Titan.
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Being able to be recurred via Sun Titan is just a perk. Sun Titan doesn't need the help to be good so I think you're better off playing the better card. Do people actually let you get multiple triggers with this guy anyway?
It is more that I tutor and reanimate the Sun Titan a lot. It is one of my favorite abuse creatures that I will clone, rez, and tutor up quite a bit.
But you might be right... Portcullis does screw with a lot of agro decks which I see a lot of. It takes out tokens like nobody's business. Perhaps I will try it out sometime soon.
It just seems like an odd card to run in an agro deck but it does some interesting utility... I will see if I can find some room to proxy it in and see how it runs.
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It may not be good enough but I'm pretty sure it's better than Hellvault. I've been meaning to try it out in my blink deck but I keep forgetting to get one.
I will probably just sort of file it away as an interesting card and move on...
God the EDH usable stuff is sort of terrible in this set. They have way too much stuff for Ghave. Well... I guess I will go back to waiting for something good to be spoiled...
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Yeah not very impressed from an EDH standpoint. Cube however is making out very very well (maybe that's a sign for you to design a cube :p).
Gah I hate limited formats though... I do like deck designing and what not in general so I might like the actual designing aspects of cube but I am not much of a drafting player... Perhaps one day but man it is expensive to get into building a good cube.
Anyways. Thanks for the idea for Portcullis. I think I will probably find a way to rig Mystic Snake into my list and for now that is probably all I will change. I will wait to make any official changes to my list until I can get some testing in with the snake.
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That being said I will be really disappointing if there isn't a single card worth testing at the least out of this set.
EDIT: Venser, Shaper Savant might also be something that I need to break down and try out in here at some point too. When compared to Mystic Snake it can function similarly to a counterspell by bouncing the spell back to hand or it can bounce a permanent in play. The big upside to him being that he can be reanimated easier and used off of Birthing Pod which the snake sort of cant nearly as well be used... It might be something I have to think about.
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How...is...it...possible...to...not...like...limited...brain...hurts....
I highly recommend trying out Venser. This guy is my favorite creature in Magic because he's so versatile. It's hard to describe exactly why he's so good so I'll just say I value versatile cards very highly in this format and Venser's about as versatile as a 4 mana creature gets.
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