Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like we got much to look forward to this block. Hopefully, we'll get something out of Kaladesh, but it takes a pretty specific type of set to really give this deck new cards.
One of the guys in my meta started playing Lovisa recently. He added Bedlam and Goblin War Drums which I suggested in both cases. They seem like interesting cards to consider for an aggressive build like this.
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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.
Im currently looking at Hanweir Garrison, Hanweir battlements, and Furyblade Vampire. The battlements themselves are worth it to me as it helps push a few of our fighters through and while Garrison isn't a warrior, barbarian, or berserker, it does provide a Hero of Bladehold effect which with all of our boosts could be very effective.
Furyblade Vampire with all of our multiattack step effects felt like a needed include especially as I often have several lands in hand I can't play towards the later game.
From Shadows I felt that Skeleton Key and Haunted cloak were good enough to test. My results were Skelton Key when on Falkenrath Marauders and the other +1/+1 counter vamps as they just keep pushing throguht and the Loot effect helped with my overly landy hands. However when not on the right dude it felt kinda awkward but Im still messing with it.
Haunted Cloak was one that I love almost always as it adds 3 very effective key words.
I was waiting to gauge the Commander 2016 spoilers, to see if there were potentially any new goodies for this list, but with the set that we're on right now as far as the standard rotation is concerned, I don't really forsee getting anything new for a while aside from hopefully a utility card out of AEther Revolt.
As predicted, this block hasn't really been interesting for a warrior tribal deck, though we did get twp potential adds: Lightning Runner. Double strike and occasional extra combat steps are always good, the biggest issue here is the mana cost. I'll likely pick one up and see if I can find a fit for it. The other is Metallic Mimic (and I'll be testing Adaptive Automaton, in that vein as well). The downside to these is that I am split across three creature types, which dilutes it's value a bit, but I do have a pretty heavy concentration of warriors.
I've also been looking at potentially adding Chandra, Torch of Defiance, though I'll likely be waiting on her to rotate out of standard and (hopefully) drop in price before I go for it.
This deck does have a new addition, however, as soon as I decide what to cut for it! Conqueror's Flail. You get almost nothing from the pump, but preventing opponents from interacting on your turn is a huge boon for a two mana equipment.
There's a card I saw a local Red player toy around with and it seems pretty potent in aggressive decks: Uphill Battle. Yes, it's just half an Urabrask but less vulnerable and much more innocent looking...until your army suddenly cannot be blocked by opponent's throwing out a small army in desperation. Dunno if it'd work for you, but it's a fun thought. Especially since just about all your stuff has haste too, so the Urabrask-haste bit gets easily fulfilled anyway.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
There's a card I saw a local Red player toy around with and it seems pretty potent in aggressive decks: Uphill Battle. Yes, it's just half an Urabrask but less vulnerable and much more innocent looking...until your army suddenly cannot be blocked by opponent's throwing out a small army in desperation. Dunno if it'd work for you, but it's a fun thought. Especially since just about all your stuff has haste too, so the Urabrask-haste bit gets easily fulfilled anyway.
Hmm. It's an interesting idea, though I think I'd still prefer Urabrask if I were going for that kind of effect, because I get the body to swing with, in addition to the effect, and haste if Lovisa isn't sticking around, for some reason.
I'll have to think on it and see if I can find one to play around with it vs. Urabrask to see if I want either effect in the deck.
Any thoughts on the new Amonkhet set? I am 100% going to find a spot for Combat Celebrant. I've been running and tuning an warriors only Cold Eyes deck for about 2 years now and this card is a new addition I'm fairly excited for
okay With the amonket block the cards Im looking to add currently: neheb, the eternal, Ahn-Crop Crasher and Bloodlust Inciter. Combat Celebrat seems cool but I havent had any testing with him yet so idk if he makes the cut. Airi Im curious to see what you have been testing.
okay With the amonket block the cards Im looking to add currently: neheb, the eternal, Ahn-Crop Crasher and Bloodlust Inciter. Combat Celebrat seems cool but I havent had any testing with him yet so idk if he makes the cut. Airi Im curious to see what you have been testing.
While we were at the mod get-together, I picked up an Oketra's Monument from Bob because I somehow didn't realize it makes warrior tokens.
I will 100% be needing a Neheb, and I'm kind of interested in Hazoret's Undying Fury and potentially Mirage Mirror out of what's been spoiled so far.
Essentially, I'm cutting out some of the more vanilla effects for either high impact cards (like Etali), or a bit more versatility (like Chainwhirler or the Flail.
I really like Oketra's Monument here. I also think Bontu's Monument can do some work, I have it currently slotted in Lovisa but haven't gotten to play. The extra reach just seems nice. My deck is a bit slower than yours though.
The biggest problem I have with Bontu's monument, personally, is that I don't really play a lot of consecutive creatures. Even if I dump my hand, there's usually a hard cap to how much I can really abuse it. I'd like it more if it didn't rely on a cast trigger.
I figured I would check to see what your list looks like these days and give a little feedback based on when I used to play her. It has been a while for me now since I played her but I still see a few things that seem a bit odd to me.
Gauntlet of Power / Gilded Lotus / Caged Sun - my issue with all three of these is I feel like they are ramp that is played after you have curved your hand. Its great if you can get some draw going I guess but my biggest concern is that you play all of your creatures, commander, and then are faced with playing these after you have played your hand. I feel like I would rather have The Immortal Sun than any of these three and I would likely also want Mind's Eye as well over any of these three.
Etali, Primal Storm - I guess I question this guy from the standpoint that you have almost no haste / flash outlets in this deck. He is not something that fits the themes and he feels suuuuuuper random. I feel like this could just as easily have been like.... any card advantage option and I am just wondering how it has been performing for you as I question it a lot when not building some sort of red deck that adds haste to him.
Conqueror's Flail - It seems a little expensive for what it does to me. What about Defense Grid, Price of Glory, or War's Toll? The buff just seems incredibly small and the cost to cast + equip isn't that great plus there is still the issue that someone could spot remove your stuff right before your turn. I just think the Flail is a little questionable as both defense as well as a buff.
Sword of Feast and Famine - I often like this sword the most when I have mana dumps and or heavy draw focuses. I am not sure that I really like it in a mono red aggro list like this. The biggest thing I guess might be the evasion but I am not sure if its worth running for that. In the past the strongest element of this card for me has always been the ability to untap my lands.
Godo, Bandit Warlord (is a 6 drop not 5 in OP) I totally agree on running him I just figured I would correct the cost since I noticed it was wrong.
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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.
Gauntlet of Power / Gilded Lotus / Caged Sun - my issue with all three of these is I feel like they are ramp that is played after you have curved your hand. Its great if you can get some draw going I guess but my biggest concern is that you play all of your creatures, commander, and then are faced with playing these after you have played your hand. I feel like I would rather have The Immortal Sun than any of these three and I would likely also want Mind's Eye as well over any of these three
I generally like the doublers because they also provide a small pump to all of my dudes, but generally Gilded Lotus will eventually be cut, whenever I find a card I'd like to include in it's place.
Etali, Primal Storm - I guess I question this guy from the standpoint that you have almost no haste / flash outlets in this deck. He is not something that fits the themes and he feels suuuuuuper random. I feel like this could just as easily have been like.... any card advantage option and I am just wondering how it has been performing for you as I question it a lot when not building some sort of red deck that adds haste to him.
I'd be a liar if I didn't say that a large motivation for including this was simply because I think that Etali is one of the coolest mono red cards ever printed. It's actually been doing pretty well though. Sometimes, she does bite the dust before I can swing, but generally I'm pretty low on threat priority.
Conqueror's Flail - It seems a little expensive for what it does to me. What about Defense Grid, Price of Glory, or War's Toll? The buff just seems incredibly small and the cost to cast + equip isn't that great plus there is still the issue that someone could spot remove your stuff right before your turn. I just think the Flail is a little questionable as both defense as well as a buff.
Conqueror's Flail is actually probably the best card I've added in a really, really long time. Namely, people just don't care about Price of Glory in my group, so I was getting stopped at really poor times. Even though they'd lose the lands for it, I wasn't really able to recover well. I still might add War's Toll and Price back in to the list at some point, but it'd be in addition to not instead of. I'm generally not a huge fan of Defense Grid personally, so I would probably not run it.
Sword of Feast and Famine - I often like this sword the most when I have mana dumps and or heavy draw focuses. I am not sure that I really like it in a mono red aggro list like this. The biggest thing I guess might be the evasion but I am not sure if its worth running for that. In the past the strongest element of this card for me has always been the ability to untap my lands.
It's included first to get damage through, and second because it does feed in to winning with Aggravated Assault. I do like having the option for it as a part of an equipment package.
Godo, Bandit Warlord (is a 6 drop not 5 in OP) I totally agree on running him I just figured I would correct the cost since I noticed it was wrong.
Oops. I mean, I have no idea what you're talking about (it's fixed).
I generally like the doublers because they also provide a small pump to all of my dudes, but generally Gilded Lotus will eventually be cut, whenever I find a card I'd like to include in it's place.
The others make sense but this one I still don't understand. The Immortal Sun gives the same bump that Caged Sun gives for the same mana. The difference is that you get to draw cards each turn and opponents planeswalkers get shut down.
The reason to run Caged Sun would be if you have a lot of mana dumps, x mana spells, or heavy draw which I don't see this deck achieving. Its superior to have some draw and shut down planeswalkers for an aggro deck like this.
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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.
So far we're still in a mono red warrior drought, so there's not a ton I'm super interested in adding, but Goblin Cratemaker has some interesting potential.
I have not picked up an Immortal Sun to test out yet, as I've been caught in the process of moving, but I do hope to get that rolling soon.
I ended up liking Banner as a better 'on cast' effect over Oketra's Monument, just due to how much straight card draw is needed in this deck, as good as monument can be. Adding a lord effect on top of that makes the card too good to pass up. As for Commune with Lava, it is being cut because it is a high risk card. You risk losing high value cards to exile based on your mana situation as well as potentially over committing to the board to avoid exiling cards. Cutting it for Combat Celebrant, which I've been looking to include for a long while, seemed like a no-brainer.
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
Furyblade Vampire with all of our multiattack step effects felt like a needed include especially as I often have several lands in hand I can't play towards the later game.
From Shadows I felt that Skeleton Key and Haunted cloak were good enough to test. My results were Skelton Key when on Falkenrath Marauders and the other +1/+1 counter vamps as they just keep pushing throguht and the Loot effect helped with my overly landy hands. However when not on the right dude it felt kinda awkward but Im still messing with it.
Haunted Cloak was one that I love almost always as it adds 3 very effective key words.
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
As predicted, this block hasn't really been interesting for a warrior tribal deck, though we did get twp potential adds: Lightning Runner. Double strike and occasional extra combat steps are always good, the biggest issue here is the mana cost. I'll likely pick one up and see if I can find a fit for it. The other is Metallic Mimic (and I'll be testing Adaptive Automaton, in that vein as well). The downside to these is that I am split across three creature types, which dilutes it's value a bit, but I do have a pretty heavy concentration of warriors.
I've also been looking at potentially adding Chandra, Torch of Defiance, though I'll likely be waiting on her to rotate out of standard and (hopefully) drop in price before I go for it.
This deck does have a new addition, however, as soon as I decide what to cut for it! Conqueror's Flail. You get almost nothing from the pump, but preventing opponents from interacting on your turn is a huge boon for a two mana equipment.
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
I'll have to think on it and see if I can find one to play around with it vs. Urabrask to see if I want either effect in the deck.
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
I will 100% be needing a Neheb, and I'm kind of interested in Hazoret's Undying Fury and potentially Mirage Mirror out of what's been spoiled so far.
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
Well, it's here. The update I've been putting off forever because I didn't want to cut my pet card.
Out
Jeska, Warrior Adept
Balthor the Stout (RIP)
Ash Zealot
Shared Animosity
Reforge the Soul
Faithless Looting
In
Oketra's Monument
Neheb, the Eternal
Etali, Primal Storm
Helm of the Host
Goblin Chainwhirler
Conqueror's Flail
Essentially, I'm cutting out some of the more vanilla effects for either high impact cards (like Etali), or a bit more versatility (like Chainwhirler or the Flail.
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
Gauntlet of Power / Gilded Lotus / Caged Sun - my issue with all three of these is I feel like they are ramp that is played after you have curved your hand. Its great if you can get some draw going I guess but my biggest concern is that you play all of your creatures, commander, and then are faced with playing these after you have played your hand. I feel like I would rather have The Immortal Sun than any of these three and I would likely also want Mind's Eye as well over any of these three.
Etali, Primal Storm - I guess I question this guy from the standpoint that you have almost no haste / flash outlets in this deck. He is not something that fits the themes and he feels suuuuuuper random. I feel like this could just as easily have been like.... any card advantage option and I am just wondering how it has been performing for you as I question it a lot when not building some sort of red deck that adds haste to him.
Conqueror's Flail - It seems a little expensive for what it does to me. What about Defense Grid, Price of Glory, or War's Toll? The buff just seems incredibly small and the cost to cast + equip isn't that great plus there is still the issue that someone could spot remove your stuff right before your turn. I just think the Flail is a little questionable as both defense as well as a buff.
Sword of Feast and Famine - I often like this sword the most when I have mana dumps and or heavy draw focuses. I am not sure that I really like it in a mono red aggro list like this. The biggest thing I guess might be the evasion but I am not sure if its worth running for that. In the past the strongest element of this card for me has always been the ability to untap my lands.
Godo, Bandit Warlord (is a 6 drop not 5 in OP) I totally agree on running him I just figured I would correct the cost since I noticed it was wrong.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
I'd be a liar if I didn't say that a large motivation for including this was simply because I think that Etali is one of the coolest mono red cards ever printed. It's actually been doing pretty well though. Sometimes, she does bite the dust before I can swing, but generally I'm pretty low on threat priority.
Conqueror's Flail is actually probably the best card I've added in a really, really long time. Namely, people just don't care about Price of Glory in my group, so I was getting stopped at really poor times. Even though they'd lose the lands for it, I wasn't really able to recover well. I still might add War's Toll and Price back in to the list at some point, but it'd be in addition to not instead of. I'm generally not a huge fan of Defense Grid personally, so I would probably not run it.
It's included first to get damage through, and second because it does feed in to winning with Aggravated Assault. I do like having the option for it as a part of an equipment package.
Oops. I mean, I have no idea what you're talking about (it's fixed).
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
The others make sense but this one I still don't understand. The Immortal Sun gives the same bump that Caged Sun gives for the same mana. The difference is that you get to draw cards each turn and opponents planeswalkers get shut down.
The reason to run Caged Sun would be if you have a lot of mana dumps, x mana spells, or heavy draw which I don't see this deck achieving. Its superior to have some draw and shut down planeswalkers for an aggro deck like this.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
I have not picked up an Immortal Sun to test out yet, as I've been caught in the process of moving, but I do hope to get that rolling soon.
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
Out
Commune with Lava
Oketra's Monumement
In
Vanquisher's Banner
Combat Celebrant
I ended up liking Banner as a better 'on cast' effect over Oketra's Monument, just due to how much straight card draw is needed in this deck, as good as monument can be. Adding a lord effect on top of that makes the card too good to pass up. As for Commune with Lava, it is being cut because it is a high risk card. You risk losing high value cards to exile based on your mana situation as well as potentially over committing to the board to avoid exiling cards. Cutting it for Combat Celebrant, which I've been looking to include for a long while, seemed like a no-brainer.
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf