MTG Salvation

No updates or games in a while, just a few more interresting cards from the new set:
Mirror Mockery can be good and can target opponents good ETB-creatures as well.
Profaner of the Dead is a mix between an overloaded Cyclonic Rift and Lavinia of the Tenth. It has lower CMC and gets rid of tokens, but does not detain noncreature permanents as Lavinia does.

I don't know of there's room for either in my list, but I might pick them up and try them a few games if I come across them when trading.

This a great list, I love it! Please don't stop updating. Once I tweak my Roon build this weekend and play some games I'll add some discussion.

I'm really glad that you like it. If you have any questions at all - or a lot - feel free to ask

Big update to the original post. I'm changing the formatting and layout of the entire post. It's far from complete, and the biggest part - individual card choices and synergies - will take a lot of time to write. If you're interrested in the process as I go along, choose Tools and then Subscribe.

Replying to your post in the commander forum, as suggesting cuts is a vital part of suggesting additions to your deck.

• As I indicated, Gilded Drake is a powerhouse, and low on the mana curve to boot. He's pricy, yes, but he's awesome in the deck. If you pick one up, I'd consider cutting Fiend Hunter for him.
• Venser, Shaper Savant is incredibly powerful, in that he doubles and counter magic AND permanent removal. He's also pricy, but he's incredibly versatile and powerful. If you pick one up, I'd consider cutting Desertion for him.
• Filter lands are powerful, no doubt about it. Your mana base and ramp/fixing seems solid already, but those painlands could become filter lands pretty nicely. I'd hold off here, they might get reprinted in MM15.
• Qasali Pridemage is great in my deck, as it's one of only a few ways to deal with a resolved Torpor Orb in my list. He's also recurrable with your Sun Titan, Reveillark...pretty much all of your recursion engines. He's been printed quite a bit too, so he's pretty cheap. I know you're a big proponent of Sea Gate Oracle, but he'd be on my short list of what to chop off for the pridemage.
• Path to Exile - I'm a fan of cheap spot removal, and this is one of the best. Probably depends on your meta regarding whether the land you give your opponent is too big of a drawback. This will also be a promo card in June, not sure if that will affect the price. Your removal is solid, I'd probably consider cutting Bant Charm, as I think it lost some power with the commander tuck rule change.
• Duplicant is one of my few creature-based removal sources in my deck, and it's exile, which I appreciate. I know you use Ixidron and Angel of Serenity, which are great as well, but I use Birthing Pod and I wanted a way to deal with opposing creatures at every mana cost. I'd probably remove whatever card I like least from your list, I know you listed Champion of Lambholt as one that's on the chopping block - I'd probably do that trade.
• Austere Command is just more versatile than the other sweepers. I know you only have Day of Judgment, and I'd consider replacing that with either Austere Command or Supreme Verdict for the added versatility. The command cycle also looks like they'll be printed again in MM15, which should further keep this a budget-friendly pick.
• I haven't picked up a Minamo, School at Water's Edge yet, but it would go straight into the deck.

Thanks for taking the time to suggest what to cut.

My own thoughts on cuts:
Arbor Elf will probably be cut for Birds of Paradise.
Fiend Hunter might be a combo-piece, but probably not. Gilded Drake would be a good substitute.
Conjurer's Closet for a Progenitor Mimic. This combo looks fun: http://i.imgur.com/NlCtapt.jpg
Curse of the Swine for something. It's a fun spell, but sorcery-speed is a bummer.
Champion of Lambholt, as mentioned.
Leyline of Anticipation. Not sure how often I want to draw this.

I bought 6 new cards today. Here's the changes I'll probably make to my decklist:
Arbor Elf for Birds of Paradise.
Leyline of Anticipation for Parallax Wave.
Champion of Lambholt for Gilded Drake. I like the Champion a lot, but it requires some setup / token-making before it's great.

I'll make the final changes tomorrow. The other cards I got:
Lotus Cobra: Exciting card. Not really sure what I'll swap for this.
Bloom Tender: Exciting card as well. Not really sure what I'll swap for this.
Qasali Pridemage: Mostly a sideboard card if Torpor Orb suddenly show up in my meta.

Played a game yesterday against my buddy's Mayael. Conjurer's Closet was the best card in the game and especially good after Ixidron. He plays a lot of board clear and was able to handle my 80 0/1 tokens from Avenger of Zendikar and reset the board twice, but I got him in the end.

Played two games yesterday:
Game 1: Mayael the Anima, Shattergang Brothers, Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath (slightly upgraded precon) and my 75% Nath deck. We played a left+right is teammates (Mayael and Shattergang for me) and everybody else is opponents-variation, trying to kill your opponents while keeping your teammates alive. Lots of politics. The game ended with Nath elimination two players - including me - with a horde of forestwalking elves, setting up the win for Ob Nix.

Game 2: Same pool, free for all. I blew up 4 lands with Deadeye Navigator + Acidic Slime and gaining some hate, almost dying, but was able to stabilize with a Hornet Queen. Followed up with Sower of Temptation (Grave Titan from Ob Nix), Ephara, God of the Polis, Angel of Serenity and several activations of -1-ing Venser, the Sojourner. Won by eliminating two players, swinging for 32 on my last turn.

I drew Mana Vault in both games, but after setting up a big play by the first 3 turns in both games it just remained tapped and dealt me a lot of damage. I ended up destroying it myself with Aura Shards game 1 and sacrificing it to Shattergang Brothers game 2. Not sure if the 3 mana for 6-7 damage was worth it in either game. I also felt I was lacking draw in both games.

Magic: Origins update:
No planned changes.

Nissa, Wastwood Seer is on my wishlist, but not a priority unless I get one on my prerelease.
Woodland Bellower could be good in other decks, but has few good targets in my build.
Mizzium Meddler might be good as a reusable counterspell, but I'm quite happy with my countersuite at the moment.

Pardon me if I'm late to the party or this was already considered and rejected, but Whisperwood Elemental.

Was throwing Roon together last night, ran across this card from my FRF pulls, and suddenly the light bulb went off. If you're anything like me, you're running a deck of mostly permanents. Well, between Roon, Conjurer's Closet, Mistmeadow Witch and other blinkers, this is basically "cast one card off the top of your deck for free each turn." ! See, you blink the manifested card, and whatever it is comes back down face up. So far I've tested it and it's hilariously good.

I've seen some having similar opinions of the card, but unfortunately I don't own one and haven't had the opportunity to try it out for myself.

Thanks for having a look at my deck. If you have any other suggestions or questions, just let me know.

3 games tonight.

• Game 1: Sliver Overlord, Wrexial, the Risen Deep and Shattergang Brothers. Miserably long game with 1-2 activations of the Overlord per turn cycle. Had a bad draw + mana screwed and didn't do much all game. Loss.
• Game 2: Zurgo Helmsmasher, Mayael the Anima and Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge. All decks quite casual. Explosive start with T2 Mana Vault into Oracle of Mul Daya, got a massive mana- and card advantage and went beatdown with Deadeye Navigator + Thassa, God of the Sea + 5x Sun Titan (from Rite of Replication). Untypical game since I didn't have use for any ETB-effects. Win.
• Game 3: Zurgo Helmsmasher and Nekusar, the Mindrazer. Had good control and divided damage between opponents, but got smashed with my own army after a resolved Insurrection. 1-2 turns later the Nekusar-player milled out Zurgo with Mind Grind for 13. Fun game. Loss.

Roon was only used a few times during all games and wasn't really relevant. Mana Vault was really good in two games, I'll remove it from my mental chopping block. An early game Oracle of Mul Daya or Prophet of Kruphix really justifies it some games.

The decklist is slightly different from the first page, but I don't have the time to update it in a while.

I just put together a Roon deck but I am not sure if I can provide suggestions due to the fact that I decided against building for his flicker and instead went an enchantress route utilizing his impressive combat abilities with a side order of blinking when required.

Here is the list



I realize it would probably work better as Rafiq or Derevi but I like the Rhino a lot.

Enchantress is a theme I've considered myself, cool to see that somebody actually built it. Too bad cards like Karametra, God of Harvests, Mesa Enchantress and Verduran Enchantress is a nonbo with Roon's ability since the cards aren't cast. You have a few lockdown / pillowfort cards like Blind Obedience, Sphere of Safety and Stony Silence. Propaganda, Ghostly Prison and Norn's Annex all fit your enchantment-theme. I'd also find room for Khalni Heart Expedition.

Instead of enchantments I know some people go a beatdown-route with equipment, and it can be really powerful. With Roon's ability your opponents need at least two blockers since you can just blink away one of them.

If I were to rebuild this deck I'd no doubt build a dedicated prison-deck. I believe it could be the most powerful Roon-build for competitive play.

One game on sunday versus Mayael the Anima (fatties) and Anafenza, the Foremost (counters and hydras), and Roon functioned like a well-oiled machinery. Landed Prophet of Kruphix T4 and controlled the board with Spike Weaver and Gilded Drake. Stole two big dragons, pumped my guys with Weaver and beat both opponents to death in a few turns. It was almost too powerful, and I played the next 3 games with my Nath of the Gilt-Leaf elfball/discard-deck instead.

One minor change to the deck:
- Island
+ Mana Confluence

I just got a Profaner of the Dead and I'm looking for a Bane of Progress in trade. Any advice on what to cut to make room for them appreciated.

I cut Acidic Slime for Bane of Progress shortly after he released (I ran Slime and Reclamation Sage). I never found myself destroying lands with the Slime because I disliked destroying half of somebody's mana base in one turn to get back at them for something they tried to do, etc.. I discovered that, most of the time, the reason I'd want to destroy someone's lands is to prevent them from reaching 10 mana and casting Sanguine Bond/Exquisite Blood in the same turn and then winning, so Bane with flash off of Teferi or Prophet basically took care of that for me, and I found myself wanting to cast the Slime less and less.

If you have problematic lands like Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, Gaea's Cradle, etc., then you should probably keep Acidic Slime in. If not, though, I see no reason not to drop Slime for Bane of Progress.

Quote from Indigoindigo »

-snip-
I just got a Profaner of the Dead and I'm looking for a Bane of Progress in trade. Any advice on what to cut to make room for them appreciated.

I think Trostani's Summoner would be my choice to cut in favor of Profaner of the Dead. I like your other 7 drops much more than him, and I like your other token makers more than him as well.

A slightly bigger update, but I've played with this for a long time and forgot to update my decklist:

• Arbor Elf for Birds of Paradise.
• Leyline of Anticipation for Parallax Wave. Leyline wasn't that good post opening hand, and Parallax is a great effect.
• Champion of Lambholt for Gilded Drake. The drake is good immediately, while Champion took some setup to be good.
• Island for Mana Confluence.

Some cards I own and would like to find room for:

• Bloom Tender and/or Lotus Cobra. Good ramp, low cost.
• Stonecloaker / Loaming Shaman. Gravehate or grave-protection. The former serves double-duty as protection from removal.
• Slithermuse / Recurring Insight. More draw is always nice.
• Gift of Immortality is a pet card I'm always looking to put back in. It blinks, avoids commander-tax and ramps a lot with Sakura-Tribe Elder
• Luminate Primordial and Tragic arrogance for more removal.

I like the Bane of Progress for Acidic Slime-suggestion, LD is generally frowned upon in my meta. Trostani's Summoner has been too good for me so far to cut and 1-2 blinks is usually game.

The card on top of my chopping block is Solemn Simulacrum, I think it's suboptimal for both ramp and draw. It's probably a good spot for Profaner of the Dead since the tempo loss for each opponent is bigger than the advantage I get from Simulacrum. Sakura Tribe-Elder isn't optimal in my list either, but it can ramp and block early and draw with Skullclamp later. Maybe sub with Bloom Tender / Lotus Cobra.

Other cuts that might happen at some point:

• Thassa, God of the Sea for Retreat to Coralhelm. Thassa has some merits, especially being an indestructible blocker, but untapping Roon could be better. Retreat makes a late-game Burgeoning or Exploration better.
• Conjurer's Closet + Venser, the Sojourner for Momentary Blink + Ghostly Flicker. Lower CMC, instant speed and counter to removal.

A lot of new decks are headed into my meta: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV tax/lockdown, Anafenza, the Foremost counters+hydras, Tajik, Blade of the Legion soldier token aggro, Sliver Overlord, Zada, Hedron Grinder, Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath (precon), Wrexial, the Risen Deep (casual) and Narset, Enlightened Master (casual). Other decks I play is against my own Nath and Sidisi-lists (see signature), Mayael the Anima and Shattergang Brothers (goblins). I'll see if any of these triggers any changes to my list.

3 games today against Narset, Enlightened Master (a very casual build) and 5C Superfriends control.

Game 1: Narset attacked with haste on turn 3, took a lot of extra combat steps and steamrolled us. We didn't stand a chance. Loss.
Game 2: Early game hate towards the Narset-player, but he stabilized. I spent most of the game with an empty hand in topdeck-mode, doing nothing. Loss.
Game 3: Long game. Almosted finished the game with massive card advantage from Hornet Queen + Skullclamp and an Avenger of Zendikar, but had to stop the game after about 3 hours of total play (over the 3 games). Draw.

All games went quite well ramp-wise, but I seriously missed more draw. Two of the games started with T1 Burgeoning, emptying my hand turn 2-3, and then spending a lot of time in topdeck-mode. My deck felt a lot like it provided a few alternatives now and then, but it didn't really do anything to threaten my opponents or secure my path to victory.

On a sidenote, Narset is incredibly easy to break, and you're able to wreck face T3-5 on a $50 budget.

I'm not sure if it violates the 75% spirit of deck building, but if you're still missing draw (and you look like you should have enough), you could consider Consecrated Sphinx. I'm not wild about it in my Roon list, but there are definitely good arguments in its favor.

One game tonight, piloted by a friend of mine:


T2 Sakura-Tribe Elder, T3 Wood Elves, T4 Roon and blinking of Wood Elves the following turn. Rite of Replication on Sun Titan + Avenger of Zendikar with Exploration in play ended the game.

As usual the deck ramped really hard, but didn't draw optimally. Consecrated Sphinx is absolutely on my wishlist and one of the few cards I feel the deck is lacking, but a bit out of my Magic-budget right now.

Changes after prophet ban + mulligan change:
Prophet of Kruphix -> Murkfiend Liege.
Solemn Simulacrum -> Slithermuse.

I believe that untapping Roon of the Hidden Realm several times each turn cycle is really important, and a way of negating Roon's weaknesses (especially not being able to use his ability the turn he's cast). The prophet-ban is a heavy hit to the deck, as it's one of the best wincons for me. Including Murkfiend Liege might lead to a reworking of the ramp, adding more dorks.

2 games yesterday.

Game 1: vs Ezuri, Claw of Progress and Omnath, Locus of Rage. Venser, the Sojourner was an MVP this game. After ultimating him my opponents conceded, even though I wouldn't be able to deal much damage the following turns. Win.
Game 2: vs Ezuri, Claw of Progress and Sidisi, Brood Tyrant (my deck, see signature). Really close game. I stole a Champion of Lambholt and dealt a lot of damage, but in the end I couldn't hold off a Splinterfright enchanted by Nighthowler. Loss.

So far I'm not a big fan of the Vancouver Mulligan. In both games yesterday I had decent hands with a few land and some ramp, but also some high CMC-cards that I didn't need at all. Will play more today.

3 more games today:
Game 1: vs Ghave, Guru of Spores(+1/+1-counters) and Nath of the Gilt-Leaf(elfball). Nath flooded the board, made the biggest threat - me - discard my Day of Judgment, and steamrolled us with a Beastmaster Ascension. Loss.
Game 2: vs Ghave, Guru of Spores, Nath of the Gilt-Leaf, Ezuri, Claw of Progress and Tajic, Blade of the Legion. Good start with Sakura-Tribe Elder, a fetchland and Eternal Witness getting back the land. Bounced Witness with Venser, dropped Avenger of Zendikar and detained the board with Lavinia of the Tenth. Great control-card in multiplayer. After a lot of back-and-forth I won by beating with my increasingly bigger plant tokensWin.
Game 3: vs Ghave, Guru of Spores, Nath of the Gilt-Leaf, Ezuri, Claw of Progress and Zurgo Helmsmasher. Incredible start with T1 Exploration, T2 Rhystic Study, T3 Mystic Remora + Sakura-Tribe Elder and a lot of land-drops and draw. Took good control early game, but became too much of a target, and with 4-vs-1 I was soon eliminated. Loss.

The deck functioned very good in all 3 games.

More decklist changes:
Out:

• Sakura-Tribe Elder. In my current list I feel dorks are a better option.
• Saffi Eriksdotter. Rarely useful.
• Sea Gate Oracle. An OK draw effect, but not good enough.
• Fiend Hunter. Only one target. A 3-mana Swords to Plowshares.
• Archaeomancer. Has few targets, expensive to utilize.
• Venser, the Sojourner. Will probably only give 1-2 activations. Swapped for Momentary Blink.
• Conjurers' Closet. There's way better ways of spending 5 mana. A slow, vulnerable and impractical way of blinking.
• Ixidron. Ixidron has been a decent card for when I've been way behind or there's a big threat (or several) that can't be dealed with by conventional sweepers / spot removal. Losing my creatures isn't a big deal. The deck often builds value by ETB-triggers, not board state. It also has synergy with Roon of the Hidden Realm or Brago, King Eternal if I can cast them next turn, flipping 1 or more of my creatures each turn. Occationally useful, but requires some very specific setup to be very good.
• Armada Wurm. Without the ability to mulligan it away in my opener this is too expensive. Has little overall synergy with the deck.

In:

• 4 dorks (Arbor Elf, Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, Avacyn's Pilgrim). Good synergy with Murkfiend Liege, cheap activations for i.e. Skullclamp and Aura Shards.
• 2 taxers (Vryn Wingmare, Lodestone Golem): I've really enjoyed Mystic Remora and Rhystic Study lately, and how early-game taxing disrupts early-game setup for my opponents. I'll probably experiment with more tax/lockdown/disruption-effects. Roon's ability is not affected by taxes or land lockdown. I've yet to see any other Roon-deck play these taxers (searching TappedOut, Deckbox, Deckstats and EDHRec).
• Momentary Blink. Instant speed, can double as protection and is useful early game.
• Profaner of the dead. His big sister, Lavinia of the Tenth, is really good and he should be too. Even if it only exploits itself this will disrupt a lot of utility-creatures. A lot of value in one card.
• From Beyond. In testing. Is good with Skullclamp and Aura Shards, and a future tutor for when I get my hands on an Eldrazi Displacer.

Avg. CMC: 3.59 to 3.37.

Other current considerations:
Trostani's Summoner has been great in almost every game it has showed up. It has synergy with Aura Shards, can be sacrificed to Skullclamp, is a great target for Reveillark and provide both blockers and beaters. This card has won me several games. However, the new mulligan changes really discourage playing high-CMC cards. It's dead in my hand at least until T4-5, and is only really good if it can be blinked 1-2 times.


1 Game thursday: vs Eight-and-a-half-tails, Ghave, Guru of Spores and Ezuri, Claw of Progress.
Slowly built value with Brago + Hornet Queen, protected from removal and sweeps with Parallax Wave (amazing card), and eliminated everybody with a kicked Rite of Replication targeting Murkfiend Liege. Win