WGR . DRAGONS IN WOLF CLOTHING . RGW - - - - - ft. Marath, Will of the Wild - - - - -
- INTRODUCTION -
Welcome to my Marath Commander deck thread, here I'll keep track of the deck and the changes it has been going through as well as look for suggestions and other input to make this deck better. I do have to note that I am limited in my budget so some changes I simply can't afford at this time, not to mention that my main goal is to keep the deck fun and not to turn it into a money pit.
- BRIEF HISTORY -
When I started building this deck, it was pretty much the first Commander deck I've ever put together and thus the initial pile of cards I ended up with was far from perfect. The initial idea was to run with some of my favorite flavor cards, being the Innistrad Werewolves, and build a deck around them and including some regular wolves to fill things out. Obviously flipping them was an issue and in terms of a themed deck it lacked a fitting Commander, that said I did end up with Marath, Will of the Wild as it felt like a Commander that could support the deck rather well.
Learning from those initial flaws I tried to evolve the deck towards being more challenging to play against, so I included the fight aspect as a way to have some 'removal' and build a better ramp package to support my cards. The changes did make the deck a whole lot better but it was severely hampered by the fact that I was a slave to a theme. Something which can be quite an issue I learned when building your first deck.
After getting more advice and knowledge towards building a deck, I decided to switch up the way I constructed the deck. I unsleeved everything and then began putting cards back in based on their purpose and me needing them, instead of me wanting them for flavor. Add in the release of Dragons of Tarkir and a bit of Dragon flavor slipped in as well, since I didn't limit myself to wolves that much anymore. I didn't abandon my old strategy completely but used them to illustrate the evolution of the deck, going from wolves to dragons, which ultimately got brought to life by a key card in this deck: Descent of the Dragons. Which has brought the deck to what it is now and how it's listed below.
- DECK LIST -
The list below features the deck as it is currently sitting in my sleeves. It runs 37 lands along with several other ways to fix my mana, with the colors being represented in roughly even numbers so to make sure I can cast my Commander regularly. As the list shows the mana curve is in my opinion fairly steep with the converted mana cost averaging about 3.8 mana.
- CARDS & STRATEGIES -
This is a list of all the cards sorted by their purpose in this deck, as well as a brief description on how it would serve that purpose in the 'perfect world'.
After all, every neat interaction and/or planned strategy can be foiled easily, but that's part of the fun.
Marath, Will of the Wild
- - - Marath is our dear Commander, one whom rather supports the troops than to be the first to be charging in. He'll be mainly used to provide spot removal for threats that might get in our way, whether it's through burning them or providing
- - - just enough pump to get the job done. He can also burn an opponent, but you preferably use this only to finish an opponent off. You're not going to be making tokens with Marath that often, as it is only used in a few of the decks combos.
Hardened Scales
- - - More counters on our Commander, means he can do his things more effectively. It does only add a single extra counter which perhaps for Marath when it's summoned to the battlefield, but adds one for every counter you move
- - - to one of your creatures. And seeing we have more ways to get counters on our creatures, this will quickly add up.
Cathars' Crusade
- - - Another of our counter increasers for Marath, adding them whenever a creature hits the board and not just to Marath. And once Hardened Scales is also in play this becomes pretty much double as effective,
- - - growing our creatures rather quickly into big threats.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
- - - Kamahl will more often than not be providing trample for our pumped up creatures, but his best work comes when he joins forces with our Commander.
- - - Just turn an opponent's land into a 1/1 creature and have Marath ping it away for you.
Cathars' Crusade
- - - Another of our counter increasers for Marath, adding them whenever a creature hits the board and not just to Marath. And once Hardened Scales is also in play this becomes pretty much double as effective,
- - - growing our creatures rather quickly into big threats.
Knotvine Mystic
- - - With the Mystic we can fix our way into any color we need, which is obviously nice. It's casting cost means you're likely getting it out a tad later than you want, but turning one mana into three is still a good thing in this deck.
Skyshroud Elf
- - - Another creature that allows us to filter our mana into other colors, only this elf can do it multiple times and even do it for the mana it generates itself.
Sakura-Tribe Elder
- - - Just sacrifice and get a basic land out your deck and onto the field tapped, nothing wrong with that. Besides even in the graveyard it still has uses in this deck.
Yavimaya Elder
- - - Much like the other Elder in our deck, only this puts two basic lands into our hand instead.
Garruk Wildspeaker
- - - Mainly used to untap two of your lands, basic and non-basic. Though his other abilities are not to be underestimated either, a token on the board will trigger enough and that last ability will help you smash in even harder late game.
Atarka Monument
- - - Efficiency would likely favor other fixers over the Monuments, but their little dragon upside fits flavor wise quite well in this deck.
Selesnya Keyrune
- - - Pretty much in the same category as the Monument, just cheaper activation and gives a temporary wolf instead.
Obelisk of Naya
- - - Might not turn into a dragon, but does give me access to all three of my Commander's colors.
Sol Ring
- - - Pretty much a staple ramp card for any deck with high CMC creatures.
Perilous Forays
- - - With our tokens you'll have enough to sacrifice to get those lands into play and out of our deck.
Reap and Sow
- - - Either fetch that land you need or remove one of your opponents, or better do both.
Crop Rotation
- - - Simply turn one of your lands into a land you need more. Good to get your utility lands out and filter your deck a little.
Cultivate & Kodama's Reach
- - - Both dig up two basic lands from your library and get one of the out on the battlefield.
Kessig Cagebreakers
- - - The Cagebreakers are one of the bigger ways to get our wolf tokens on the board, it is conditional though but they aren't conditions that should provide problems. With our ramp package you are going to have a few creatures for
- - - sure in your graveyard and while the forced attacking might put things at risk there is still benefits to be gained.
Wolfbriar Elemental
- - - Generally the later you can cast it, the better it will be since it will let you kick it more for even more wolves. And should you be able to get it onto the battlefield multiple times, you'll soon have a nice pack of wolves going.
Master of the Wild Hunt
- - - Adds a wolf token to the pack every turn it's in play and if need be it can lead your wolves into taking care of threats with it's other ability.
Huntmaster of the Fells
- - - Enters the battlefield with a wolf companion and as a nice little bonus gives you some life. Like Cagebreakers a nice target for Mimic Vat, though it is also good at playing some political games since it has an upside for when
- - - one of our opponents doesn't cast a thing during their turn.
Foe-Razer Regent
- - - The Regent feeds off what we want to do, picking fights and grows bigger in the process. While the fight effects might be limited in how many there are in this deck, things like Hardened Scales will make sure that this dragon will grow nicely.
Enduring Scalelord
- - - Counters will be flying around frequently in this deck and this little dragon benefits greatly from that, put it next to a few of our other dragons and he'll be hard hitting.
Dromoka, the Eternal
- - - Marath likes counters and so does Dromoka, her bolster ability will help boosting our weakest creatures to make sure they can keep up with the rest.
Atarka, World Render
- - - As if big dragons aren't a threat enough, once Atarka hits the battlefield all our dragons will be smashing in for double the power.
Forgestoker Dragon
- - - This big dragon will make sure our herd can charge in without having to worry about certain threats our opponents might have on the field, just swing, tap and put on the hurting.
Hoard-Smelter Dragon
- - - Dragons are nice and artifact removal is nice, but this guy has both and enjoys it so much he gets pumped due to it.
Descent of the Dragons
- - - A novelty card to some, but the key flavor card in this deck. It will turn all your little wolf tokens into big bad dragon ones, though other tokens can be used as well for more dragon fun.
Warstorm Surge
- - - Turns every creature that enters the battlefield into a burn spell.
Stalking Vengeance
- - - Nice punishment for when they remove our creatures, or makes for additional burn when we sacrifice a creature.
Requiem Angel
- - - Mass removal will become mass spirits and doesn't leave you defenseless when you go sacrificing a few creatures. Not to mention, a good combo with the two cards listed above.
Anger
- - - Grants haste to our creatures once its in the graveyard, something that can be done easily enough.
Mirror Entity
- - - Can turn our weaker wolf tokens into much bigger threats, but most importantly is giving our creatures all creature types.
Shared Animosity
- - - Perhaps a 'Win More' card, but since we're themed around wolves and dragons it does a good job at pumping our creatures. Goes bonkers once you have Mirror Entity going and trample enabled.
Stampeding Elk Herd
- - - Formidable will get enabled quite quickly in this deck, so just pick your moment and swing to trample your opponents.
Anger
- - - Grants haste to our creatures once its in the graveyard, something that can be done easily enough.
Rhys the Redeemed
- - - Can get us a few Elf tokens if needed, though ideally it doubles our wolves and dragon tokens. More often then not it will serve as removing removal spells from our opponent's hands.
Gahiji, Honored One
- - - Will tempt opponents to attack each other for more damage, and makes our wolves be better when they charge in.
Lurking Predators
- - - Potentially gets creatures out on the field for free, which in a high CMC deck can be quite nice towards building a good board state.
Garruk's Horde
- - - Let's us play creatures off the top of our Library. Also to force opponents to reconsider casting spells when we also have Lurking Predators out on the field.
Domri Rade
- - - The scrying for creatures is nice, but Domri really wants to make your creatures fight and so does Foe-Razer Regent. Don't expect it to ultimate, even if it does so fairly nicely for this deck.
Setessan Tactics
- - - Like Domri this will let you pick quite a few fights if you have your mana, much to a certain dragon's pleasure.
Dromoka's Command
- - - Another means to pick a fight, but you also get to pick something additional to have fun with.
Song of the Dryads
- - - Turns any big threat into a lovely land, ripe for the picking of Kamahl and Marath.
Oblivion Ring
- - - Just a good way to get threats and annoyances out of the way.
Intimidation Bolt
- - - Gives you three damage to deal with one creature, while keeping the others from coming at you. The best defense is a good offense.
Punishing Fire
- - - Burn your opponent or his creature for two points and get it back if they try to make up for the life loss.
Squall Line
- - - Not only does it pack a potential punch, it can clear the skies for when you are ready to make your Descent.
Bow of Nylea
- - - Makes all creatures lethal and has enough other nice interactions to offer along side it.
Acidic Slime
- - - A good removal with a high chance of being a two for one.
Aura Shards
- - - A good way to clear all those enchantments and artifacts your opponents has, just pump out tokens and pick which one goes next.
Ancient Grudge
- - - There to deal quickly with artifacts without worrying. you can use it again after all.
Rootborn Defenses
- - - Let's you swing or chump without the risk of losing your creatures in combat and on top of it you'll get a token out of it as well.
Boros Charm
- - - Mainly used to protect all your creatures with indestructibility, though granting double strike to an unblocked creature can be nice and can also serve as a finisher to eliminate an opponent.
Ring of Evos Isle
- - - A poor mans Darksteel Plate, but if you have the mana for it you can protect your creatures quite well with it.
Naya Charm
- - - Get's you back any card you need from the graveyard or opens up the way for a nice all out assault. Or if need be just blast a creature for three.
Charmbreaker Devils
- - - These Devils can be tricky to keep alive, since they do enable you to get back those lovely instants and sorceries.
Sunforger
- - - Let's us dig up important instants from our deck, without having to hope for a lucky draw.
Deathrender
- - - Stick on a creature you want to sacrifice and get to cast a creature for free from your hand.
Mimic Vat
- - - Enables you to replay creatures you lost over and over again, with no worries about losing the tokens. Even snatches creatures from opponents.
- CHANGES -
The deck has gone through many changes since it was first sleeved up, especially seeing it's currently in it's third incarnation. I decided not to list all the changes it went through in it's previous versions since it has gone through some extensive overhauling, instead I've listed those changes I've made since adopting the current strategy and game plan.
May 12th
Plains - - - Windbrisk Heights
- - - Dragons are rather high on the mana curve, so the hideaway ability can potentially bring out a big creature quite early.
Sundering Growth - - - Rhys the Redeemed
- - - Have already a few ways to remove artifacts and enchantments, so Rhys makes a nice cheap creature which can double my tokens easily if it doesn't draw removal.
Ancient Hellkite - - - Enduring Scalelord
- - - The triple red can be challenging to get, often making the Hellkite a dead card in hand for some time. Scalelord is easier to cast and synergizes better with the deck.
Naya Battlemage - - - Ring of Evos Isle
- - - The battlemage's tapping and pumping abilities are nice, but this slot can be utilized better in my opinion. The Ring offers much needed protection to the deck until I can afford a Darksteel Plate.
Shared Animosity - - - Charmbreaker Devils
- - - Though effective, Shared Animosity is a Win-More card in this deck, so taking it out for now and bringing in the Devils to aid with some recurring needs.
May 15th
Juniper Order Ranger - - - Aura Shards
- - - The Ranger is out performed by Cathars' Crusade and higher on the curve as well. Shards is cheaper and can do far more damage that it, especially with our ability to generate a lot of tokens.
May 17th
Tyrant's Familiar - - - Anger
- - - The familiar has high value once our Commander is out, but pricey on the mana curve as well. Anger will just do more for the deck and is cheaper to cast, it's condition is fairly easy to achieve.
May 24th
Hurricane - - - Bow of Nylea
- - - With Squall Line at instant speed to grab with Sunforger, Hurricane is a bit obsolete. Bow turns even our tiniest wolves into big threats with deathtouch and offers other versatility to the deck as well.
May 30th
Pit Fight - - - Dromoka's Command
- - - Command is pretty much a better version of Pit Fight and can do more than just fighting.
Ulvenwald Tracker - - - Domri Rade
- - - Domri might be a bigger target than the tracker, but it also helps with card draw and if it ever ultimates the deck will benefit greatly.
Thunderfoot Baloth - - - Garruk Wildspeaker
- - - Baloth's ability is heavily depending on whether our Commander is in play, which in this deck is quite variable. Garruk sits lower at the curve and helps with our mana, with Overrun there to ramp it up completely.
June 7th
Stonebrow, Krosan Hero - - - Shared Animosity
- - - Stonebrow's pump is a bit obsolete, since most trample enablers in this deck pump along with it and only works on attacks. Shared Animosity feeds more of the deck's theme and will trigger far more often and for more.
Artisan of Kozilek - - - Requiem Angel
- - - Artisan's mana cost is just too high for what it does and more often than not is a dead card in hand. Requiem Angel just works better in the deck as it combos with a few other cards, unlike the Artisan.
Zealous Conscripts - - - Mirror Entity
- - - The Conscripts are also high on the mana curve and despite doing a lot of fun things, I replaced it with Mirror Entity to balance out the curve as well as smoothen out my deck's theme/flavor.
Ogre Battledriver - - - Warstorm Surge
- - - Getting haste is nice, but the Battledriver just doesn't last long enough on the field to get value off of it. Surge was put in to increase the chances of pulling off a win, by turning creatures into burn.
Village Bell-Ringer - - - Wolfbriar Elemental
- - - I did enjoy the Bell-Ringer in this deck, but I need to do more of what I want to do and that is getting wolf tokens out. So the Elemental is making a return to the deck.
June 12th
Dromoka Monument - - - Selesnya Keyrune
- - - Trying the Keyrune over the Monument, because it can be activated for less mana. Making it easier to enable both the Monument and Keyrune in case of a wipe.
July 22nd
Cultivate - - - Nissa's Pilgrimage
- - - Just a bit of an upgrade to Cultivate, though Kodama's Reach could have been replaced with it just as easily.
Squall Line - - - Flameshadow Conjuring
- - - Squall Line often did me more harm than good, while Flameshadow can add interesting interactions with this deck.
- FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS -
Like many decks there is always room for a deck to be improved or to include cards when newer sets come out, but in general for a budget deck there is usually far more room for improvement once budget allows it. This section I use to mark down cards I intend to add for general improvement of the deck, or just ones I want to try out because they potentially add fun interactions. Obviously, the biggest improvements can be done to the mana base but since I haven't looked into that too much yet, I've yet to add considerations to the list below.
Wanted Cards Darksteel Plate
- - - To upgrade my Ring of Evos Isle into a better means of protecting a creature.
Birds of Paradise
- - - To upgrade my Druid of the Anima. Cheaper on the curve and a flyer.
So after a bit more play testing I made the following changes to the deck:
- Windbrisk Heights brought in for Plains
The hideaway will potentially bring out one of my bigger threats quicker, while potentially filtering other cards to the bottom.
- Enduring Scalelord brought in for Ancient Hellkite
The triple red can be challenging on the Hellkite, the Scalelord balances my colors a bit better and synergies well with my counter production.
- Charmbreaker Devils brought in for Naya Battlemage
Just a nice way to get my instants back to reuse, which likely will be more useful than the Battlemage's abilities, since they done little for me in the games I played.
- Ring of Evos Isle brought in for Shared Animosity
Taking out the Shared Animosity is a slight experiment, it does feel a bit as a win-more card in the deck than being that useful. The ring will help be protect my Stalking Vengeance or the Charmbreaker Devils, serving as a budget version of Darksteel Plate for me.
Since I'm toying a bit with tokens in this deck I am considering slotting in a Rhys the Redeemed for the Sundering Growth, it being a nice low drop and capable of both producing tokens itself as well as doubling them.
I decided to go ahead with the switch of Sundering Growth for Rhys and see if it can spice up the deck a little when it comes to adding token wolves and dragons (and potentially elves from Rhys himself as well as the elementals from Marath)
Going through my binder once more I came across my Sunscorch Regent, which could feed nicely off the dragon synergies and with Hardened Scales. Though so far I'm not sure where I'd slot it in. It could potentially be switched out with the Juniper Order Ranger, though I feel that the Ranger benefits my deck currently more. Opinions on this would be appreciated and so would other suggestions, whether it's a different card to side out for the Regent or just a whole different suggestion on it's own.
If possible, I'd look in to adding some of the synergistic cards with Marath. I'm not site what you're considering to be budget, so I'll try to aim low and apologize if I suggest something too expensive.
Aura Shards, if you can get a copy is a really strong source of removal. Nullmage Shepard does have value as a budget replacement if Aura Shards is too expensive, though is much less cost efficient.
Deathtouch is extremely strong with Marath, it provides cheap spot removal for most creatures. Budget options from of the top of my head would be Gorgon's Head and Nightshade Peddler.
Had some more time today, so I went and made a more elaborate opening's post to hopefully clarify a bit more when it comes to the thoughts around this deck.
While additional card draw could be nice, fitting them in would be a bit trickier. Cutting down on the removal is not a real option, since I do need that. So I would need to cut into my creature base for it and when it comes to that I'd have to consider taking out the Foe-Razer Regent with the cards that compliment it. Perhaps something worth considering, but also would mean cutting away one of the few remaining bits of the original concept I started with when I began making my deck. I'll have to try it out and see what I end up liking more, I guess.
Nullmage Shepherd is not a real option for me, my deck is mainly geared towards being aggro so tapping down four creatures might be a bit too costly. That said, I do have an Aura Shards around somewhere I think. If I make the aforementioned changes and take out the Regent, I could potentially slot it in there... but currently not sure what I would replace if I'd only were to add the shards to the deck.
Went and switched out Juniper Order Ranger and added Aura Shards in it's place to see how it will hold up. The shards sits lower on the mana curve, something which my deck can use, and on top of that the Order Ranger is a tad bit redundant with the much more effective Cathars' Crusade.
So far the addition of Rhys has been pretty decent, though he is a removal magnet once he hits the board at a later stage.
In an attempt to lower my curve slightly, I've taken out my Tyrant's Familiar and replaced it with Anger. Of course, the goal will be to get it into the graveyard as quickly as possible, so to enable it's haste effect. It would combo off nicely with the Descent of the Dragons and can also be sacked to Perilous Forays.
The familiar though nice is higher on the curve and fairly depending on my commander being in play, when it is he's a nice source of removal and though he works nicely with Dromoka and Atarka, I've not been able to get too much use out of it. The flying and haste is nice to have though
So time to make a few final tweaks to the deck, at least ones for when I go to the GP in Utrecht. For curve purposes I am keeping in the Anger for now, it's been fairly easy to get it into the graveyard and with the dragons it's simply better to get the haste effect going. Ogre Battledriver helps here as well, but this just ups the chance of me actually getting one of them out there, since tutors are simply too expensive for me.
Another change I decided to make was to finally board in that Bow of Nylea, I have yet to play it in this deck but since I am potentially playing this deck outside my usual play groups it might need that edge to challenge decks that are made with far bigger budgets. I contemplated between taking out Pit Fight and Hurricane for it, deciding to cut the latter for it. Pit Fight does work with Deathtouch so that goes well with the bow, also Sunforger can dig up the Pit Fight. Hurricane is a nice burn and mass removal spell, but chances are it will wipe a good deal of my flyers as well, which with Stalking Vengeance isn't always that bad but does set me back. Even more so since I'm running Squall Line as well for the same effect. So I felt a potential cut could be made here and decided that keeping the instants would be better than the sorcery, hence why the Hurricane was boarded out.
That said, I am fairly happy with how the deck has been playing so far. It is obviously not as smooth as a competitive deck since there are times when you might have dead cards in your hand, but I'm okay with sacrificing a little of that to have just some fun effects in the deck. I get the most joy out of seeing those combos, which you picture when making the deck, actually work out even if it happens scarcely.
But with the GP coming up and me intending to bring the deck along, I am looking for those final tweaks for that event. Time and budget are now a bit of an issue but am open to suggestions, as I will keep tweaking the deck even after the GP. I would like some feedback on whether I should bring back in Shared Animosity and the Tyrant's Familiar, but also the potential inclusion of Warstorm Surge. And if in your opinion I should run them or other cards, let me know which cards you would consider cutting to board them in.
Tomorrow will be the final day for me to potentially order cards to tweak the deck. I already plan on getting a Stonecloaker to experiment with in the near future, but am looking for any last minute cards I could consider in this deck, as well as opinions on the cards that I have been considering so far.
Did have some good fun with this deck at the GP yesterday and been trying some different cards as well to build on the deck I've got going so far, will be doing a few more games today and then will update my list here to include the change I decided to keep around.
That said, been also doing some brainstorming and do feel that perhaps I do need to tune down some of the aggro 'reward' concept. This are changes I'm planning to make after today's games at the GP, but obviously would love input on these changes. First of all, I'm planning on taking out Thunderfoot Baloth, he's good but with what I do with my Commander his Lieutenant ability becomes more situational. Instead of it I want to bring in Mirror Entity, it does sit lower on the curve than the Baloth though I will have to see how the X/X part plays out in this deck even more so as it would be a mana sink. The reason why I want to test it out in the deck will be because I want to bring back Shared Animosity along with it. I initially thought about taking out Stonebrow, Krosan Hero for it but Gahiji, Honored One might be a better choice in that regard.
I'll be updating the starting post later on, since I am in the process of rewriting it quite a bit, but for now I'll give an update on the changes made to the deck over the weekend.
Both cards pretty much are an upgrade for the cards they replaced. Though adding in the Planeswalker definitely changed things a bit, considering this is a more aggressive styled deck and thus defending them can be tricky. That said it hasn't been the only Planeswalker to be added in.
Though the Baloth is powerful, his ability is a bit situational, even more so since I want to put the counters on my Commander to use. Garruk Wildspeaker sits also lower on the curve and his untap ability does help me with my other bigger creatures, his overrun ability makes up for the loss of the ability of the Baloth.
While I had more time to think about adding the Mirror Entity/Shared Animosity combo to the deck, I'm not yet decided on it. I do see Mirror Entity as being a potential win condition though, pretty much being an alternative to Descent of the Dragons, turning 2/2 wolves into bigger threats. Opinions on adding these cards is still appreciated and if you would add them, which cards would you cut for them?
The rewrite is still a work in progress but that is part due to me trying to smoothen out the deck a bit more as well. I've been enjoying how it played so far, but been wanting to tweak it a little to have it do more of what I want to do.
So for the next batch of changes:
Wolfbriar Elemental went back in and replaced Artisan of Kozilek While the recursion is nice, it just doesn't do enough for me and is more often than not a dead card in my hand. So, seeing I want to bump up my wolf token generation a little, I brought Wolfbriar Elemental back in for another go.
Mirror Entity went in and replaced Zealous Conscripts I do like the conscripts a lot but it does have a fairly high CMC, it works best when it combos with Mimic Vat though. Mirror Entity on the other hand synergizes a lot more with the deck, allowing smaller creatures to become bigger threats. There is a chance of it downsizing some of our bigger creatures, but I do feel the Changeling effect will make up for it.
Shared Animosity went back in and replaced Village Bell-Ringer
Instant untap is nice but you need it in your hand or under Mimic Vat to make it work. Shared Animosity might be a win more card, but since I have a rough theme of wolves and dragons it can do nicely. The main reason it made a return is to work together with Mirror Entity.
Requiem Angel went in and replaced Ogre Battledriver
Haste and pump is nice, but it has rarely lasted long enough to pull it's weight so far. Requiem Angel was brought in to feed off of sacrifice effects, to get more counters going and to help a bit with the fact that Kessig Cagebreakers forces those wolf tokens to attack. It will let you still have tokens, just with flying this time. Also good for board wipes.
Warstorm Surge went in and replaced Sarkhan's Triumph
To be honest, I am not too sure about cutting the Triumph as do have enough dragons around to make good use of it. However, I did want to give Warstorm Surge a try in the deck and thus a cut had to be made. With token generation this has the chance to do quite a bit of damage, hence why I decided to try it over a Impact Tremors even if Tremors sits lower on the curve.
I still might see about finding a spot to put the Triumph back in, but not sure yet which other card I should take out for it.
Edit: Actually, shuffling through my deck for a bit, I decided to take out Stonebrow, Krosan Hero in favor of the Triumph. The pump he gives is nice, but its attack depending and most my trample enablers already give a pump on their own.
WGR . DRAGONS IN WOLF CLOTHING . RGW
- - - - - ft. Marath, Will of the Wild - - - - -
- INTRODUCTION -
Welcome to my Marath Commander deck thread, here I'll keep track of the deck and the changes it has been going through as well as look for suggestions and other input to make this deck better. I do have to note that I am limited in my budget so some changes I simply can't afford at this time, not to mention that my main goal is to keep the deck fun and not to turn it into a money pit.
- BRIEF HISTORY -
When I started building this deck, it was pretty much the first Commander deck I've ever put together and thus the initial pile of cards I ended up with was far from perfect. The initial idea was to run with some of my favorite flavor cards, being the Innistrad Werewolves, and build a deck around them and including some regular wolves to fill things out. Obviously flipping them was an issue and in terms of a themed deck it lacked a fitting Commander, that said I did end up with Marath, Will of the Wild as it felt like a Commander that could support the deck rather well.
Learning from those initial flaws I tried to evolve the deck towards being more challenging to play against, so I included the fight aspect as a way to have some 'removal' and build a better ramp package to support my cards. The changes did make the deck a whole lot better but it was severely hampered by the fact that I was a slave to a theme. Something which can be quite an issue I learned when building your first deck.
After getting more advice and knowledge towards building a deck, I decided to switch up the way I constructed the deck. I unsleeved everything and then began putting cards back in based on their purpose and me needing them, instead of me wanting them for flavor. Add in the release of Dragons of Tarkir and a bit of Dragon flavor slipped in as well, since I didn't limit myself to wolves that much anymore. I didn't abandon my old strategy completely but used them to illustrate the evolution of the deck, going from wolves to dragons, which ultimately got brought to life by a key card in this deck: Descent of the Dragons. Which has brought the deck to what it is now and how it's listed below.
- DECK LIST -
The list below features the deck as it is currently sitting in my sleeves. It runs 37 lands along with several other ways to fix my mana, with the colors being represented in roughly even numbers so to make sure I can cast my Commander regularly. As the list shows the mana curve is in my opinion fairly steep with the converted mana cost averaging about 3.8 mana.
3 Marath, Will of the Wild
Creatures
1 Rhys the Redeemed
2 Druid of the Anima
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Skyshroud Elf
3 Knotvine Mystic
3 Mirror Entity
3 Yavimaya Elder
4 Anger
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Master of the Wild Hunt
4 Wolfbriar Elemental
5 Acidic Slime
5 Dromoka, the Eternal
5 Gahiji, Honored One
5 Kessig Cagebreakers
5 Stampeding Elk Herd
6 Charmbreaker Devils
6 Enduring Scalelord
6 Forgestoker Dragon
6 Hoard-Smelter Dragon
6 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
6 Requiem Angel
7 Atarka, World Render
7 Foe-Razer Regent
7 Garruk's Horde
7 Stalking Vengeance
3 Domri Rade
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
Artifacts
1 Sol Ring
2 Ring of Evos Isle
3 Atarka Monument
3 Mimic Vat
3 Obelisk of Naya
3 Selesnya Keyrune
3 Sunforger
4 Deathrender
Enchantments
1 Hardened Scales
3 Aura Shards
3 Bow of Nylea
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Shared Animosity
3 Song of the Dryads
4 Flameshadow Conjuring
5 Cathars' Crusade
5 Perilous Forays
6 Lurking Predators
6 Warstorm Surge
Instants
1 Crop Rotation
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Boros Charm
2 Dromoka's Command
2 Punishing Fire
2 Reprisal
2 Setessan Tactics
3 Intimidation Bolt
3 Naya Charm
3 Rootborn Defenses
3 Sarkhan's Triumph
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Nissa's Pilgrimage
4 Reap and Sow
6 Descent of the Dragons
Land Base
8 Forest
8 Mountain
5 Plains
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Windbrisk Heights
1 Boros Garrison
1 Gruul Turf
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Rith's Grove
1 Naya Panorama
1 Opal Palace
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Encroaching Wastes
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Skarrg, the Rage Pits
1 Slayers' Stronghold
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
- CARDS & STRATEGIES -
This is a list of all the cards sorted by their purpose in this deck, as well as a brief description on how it would serve that purpose in the 'perfect world'.
After all, every neat interaction and/or planned strategy can be foiled easily, but that's part of the fun.
- - - Marath is our dear Commander, one whom rather supports the troops than to be the first to be charging in. He'll be mainly used to provide spot removal for threats that might get in our way, whether it's through burning them or providing
- - - just enough pump to get the job done. He can also burn an opponent, but you preferably use this only to finish an opponent off. You're not going to be making tokens with Marath that often, as it is only used in a few of the decks combos.
- - - More counters on our Commander, means he can do his things more effectively. It does only add a single extra counter which perhaps for Marath when it's summoned to the battlefield, but adds one for every counter you move
- - - to one of your creatures. And seeing we have more ways to get counters on our creatures, this will quickly add up.
Cathars' Crusade
- - - Another of our counter increasers for Marath, adding them whenever a creature hits the board and not just to Marath. And once Hardened Scales is also in play this becomes pretty much double as effective,
- - - growing our creatures rather quickly into big threats.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
- - - Kamahl will more often than not be providing trample for our pumped up creatures, but his best work comes when he joins forces with our Commander.
- - - Just turn an opponent's land into a 1/1 creature and have Marath ping it away for you.
Cathars' Crusade
- - - Another of our counter increasers for Marath, adding them whenever a creature hits the board and not just to Marath. And once Hardened Scales is also in play this becomes pretty much double as effective,
- - - growing our creatures rather quickly into big threats.
- - - With the Mystic we can fix our way into any color we need, which is obviously nice. It's casting cost means you're likely getting it out a tad later than you want, but turning one mana into three is still a good thing in this deck.
Skyshroud Elf
- - - Another creature that allows us to filter our mana into other colors, only this elf can do it multiple times and even do it for the mana it generates itself.
Sakura-Tribe Elder
- - - Just sacrifice and get a basic land out your deck and onto the field tapped, nothing wrong with that. Besides even in the graveyard it still has uses in this deck.
Yavimaya Elder
- - - Much like the other Elder in our deck, only this puts two basic lands into our hand instead.
Garruk Wildspeaker
- - - Mainly used to untap two of your lands, basic and non-basic. Though his other abilities are not to be underestimated either, a token on the board will trigger enough and that last ability will help you smash in even harder late game.
Atarka Monument
- - - Efficiency would likely favor other fixers over the Monuments, but their little dragon upside fits flavor wise quite well in this deck.
Selesnya Keyrune
- - - Pretty much in the same category as the Monument, just cheaper activation and gives a temporary wolf instead.
Obelisk of Naya
- - - Might not turn into a dragon, but does give me access to all three of my Commander's colors.
Sol Ring
- - - Pretty much a staple ramp card for any deck with high CMC creatures.
Perilous Forays
- - - With our tokens you'll have enough to sacrifice to get those lands into play and out of our deck.
Reap and Sow
- - - Either fetch that land you need or remove one of your opponents, or better do both.
Crop Rotation
- - - Simply turn one of your lands into a land you need more. Good to get your utility lands out and filter your deck a little.
Cultivate & Kodama's Reach
- - - Both dig up two basic lands from your library and get one of the out on the battlefield.
- - - The Cagebreakers are one of the bigger ways to get our wolf tokens on the board, it is conditional though but they aren't conditions that should provide problems. With our ramp package you are going to have a few creatures for
- - - sure in your graveyard and while the forced attacking might put things at risk there is still benefits to be gained.
Wolfbriar Elemental
- - - Generally the later you can cast it, the better it will be since it will let you kick it more for even more wolves. And should you be able to get it onto the battlefield multiple times, you'll soon have a nice pack of wolves going.
Master of the Wild Hunt
- - - Adds a wolf token to the pack every turn it's in play and if need be it can lead your wolves into taking care of threats with it's other ability.
Huntmaster of the Fells
- - - Enters the battlefield with a wolf companion and as a nice little bonus gives you some life. Like Cagebreakers a nice target for Mimic Vat, though it is also good at playing some political games since it has an upside for when
- - - one of our opponents doesn't cast a thing during their turn.
- - - The Regent feeds off what we want to do, picking fights and grows bigger in the process. While the fight effects might be limited in how many there are in this deck, things like Hardened Scales will make sure that this dragon will grow nicely.
Enduring Scalelord
- - - Counters will be flying around frequently in this deck and this little dragon benefits greatly from that, put it next to a few of our other dragons and he'll be hard hitting.
Dromoka, the Eternal
- - - Marath likes counters and so does Dromoka, her bolster ability will help boosting our weakest creatures to make sure they can keep up with the rest.
Atarka, World Render
- - - As if big dragons aren't a threat enough, once Atarka hits the battlefield all our dragons will be smashing in for double the power.
Forgestoker Dragon
- - - This big dragon will make sure our herd can charge in without having to worry about certain threats our opponents might have on the field, just swing, tap and put on the hurting.
Hoard-Smelter Dragon
- - - Dragons are nice and artifact removal is nice, but this guy has both and enjoys it so much he gets pumped due to it.
Descent of the Dragons
- - - A novelty card to some, but the key flavor card in this deck. It will turn all your little wolf tokens into big bad dragon ones, though other tokens can be used as well for more dragon fun.
- - - Turns every creature that enters the battlefield into a burn spell.
Stalking Vengeance
- - - Nice punishment for when they remove our creatures, or makes for additional burn when we sacrifice a creature.
Requiem Angel
- - - Mass removal will become mass spirits and doesn't leave you defenseless when you go sacrificing a few creatures. Not to mention, a good combo with the two cards listed above.
Anger
- - - Grants haste to our creatures once its in the graveyard, something that can be done easily enough.
Mirror Entity
- - - Can turn our weaker wolf tokens into much bigger threats, but most importantly is giving our creatures all creature types.
Shared Animosity
- - - Perhaps a 'Win More' card, but since we're themed around wolves and dragons it does a good job at pumping our creatures. Goes bonkers once you have Mirror Entity going and trample enabled.
Stampeding Elk Herd
- - - Formidable will get enabled quite quickly in this deck, so just pick your moment and swing to trample your opponents.
Anger
- - - Grants haste to our creatures once its in the graveyard, something that can be done easily enough.
Rhys the Redeemed
- - - Can get us a few Elf tokens if needed, though ideally it doubles our wolves and dragon tokens. More often then not it will serve as removing removal spells from our opponent's hands.
- - - Will tempt opponents to attack each other for more damage, and makes our wolves be better when they charge in.
Lurking Predators
- - - Potentially gets creatures out on the field for free, which in a high CMC deck can be quite nice towards building a good board state.
Garruk's Horde
- - - Let's us play creatures off the top of our Library. Also to force opponents to reconsider casting spells when we also have Lurking Predators out on the field.
- - - The scrying for creatures is nice, but Domri really wants to make your creatures fight and so does Foe-Razer Regent. Don't expect it to ultimate, even if it does so fairly nicely for this deck.
Setessan Tactics
- - - Like Domri this will let you pick quite a few fights if you have your mana, much to a certain dragon's pleasure.
Dromoka's Command
- - - Another means to pick a fight, but you also get to pick something additional to have fun with.
Song of the Dryads
- - - Turns any big threat into a lovely land, ripe for the picking of Kamahl and Marath.
Oblivion Ring
- - - Just a good way to get threats and annoyances out of the way.
Reprisal
- - - Big threats go bye bye card.
Intimidation Bolt
- - - Gives you three damage to deal with one creature, while keeping the others from coming at you. The best defense is a good offense.
Punishing Fire
- - - Burn your opponent or his creature for two points and get it back if they try to make up for the life loss.
Squall Line
- - - Not only does it pack a potential punch, it can clear the skies for when you are ready to make your Descent.
Bow of Nylea
- - - Makes all creatures lethal and has enough other nice interactions to offer along side it.
Acidic Slime
- - - A good removal with a high chance of being a two for one.
Aura Shards
- - - A good way to clear all those enchantments and artifacts your opponents has, just pump out tokens and pick which one goes next.
Ancient Grudge
- - - There to deal quickly with artifacts without worrying. you can use it again after all.
- - - Let's you swing or chump without the risk of losing your creatures in combat and on top of it you'll get a token out of it as well.
Boros Charm
- - - Mainly used to protect all your creatures with indestructibility, though granting double strike to an unblocked creature can be nice and can also serve as a finisher to eliminate an opponent.
Ring of Evos Isle
- - - A poor mans Darksteel Plate, but if you have the mana for it you can protect your creatures quite well with it.
Naya Charm
- - - Get's you back any card you need from the graveyard or opens up the way for a nice all out assault. Or if need be just blast a creature for three.
Charmbreaker Devils
- - - These Devils can be tricky to keep alive, since they do enable you to get back those lovely instants and sorceries.
Sunforger
- - - Let's us dig up important instants from our deck, without having to hope for a lucky draw.
Deathrender
- - - Stick on a creature you want to sacrifice and get to cast a creature for free from your hand.
Mimic Vat
- - - Enables you to replay creatures you lost over and over again, with no worries about losing the tokens. Even snatches creatures from opponents.
- CHANGES -
The deck has gone through many changes since it was first sleeved up, especially seeing it's currently in it's third incarnation. I decided not to list all the changes it went through in it's previous versions since it has gone through some extensive overhauling, instead I've listed those changes I've made since adopting the current strategy and game plan.
Plains - - - Windbrisk Heights
- - - Dragons are rather high on the mana curve, so the hideaway ability can potentially bring out a big creature quite early.
Sundering Growth - - - Rhys the Redeemed
- - - Have already a few ways to remove artifacts and enchantments, so Rhys makes a nice cheap creature which can double my tokens easily if it doesn't draw removal.
Ancient Hellkite - - - Enduring Scalelord
- - - The triple red can be challenging to get, often making the Hellkite a dead card in hand for some time. Scalelord is easier to cast and synergizes better with the deck.
Naya Battlemage - - - Ring of Evos Isle
- - - The battlemage's tapping and pumping abilities are nice, but this slot can be utilized better in my opinion. The Ring offers much needed protection to the deck until I can afford a Darksteel Plate.
Shared Animosity - - - Charmbreaker Devils
- - - Though effective, Shared Animosity is a Win-More card in this deck, so taking it out for now and bringing in the Devils to aid with some recurring needs.
May 15th
Juniper Order Ranger - - - Aura Shards
- - - The Ranger is out performed by Cathars' Crusade and higher on the curve as well. Shards is cheaper and can do far more damage that it, especially with our ability to generate a lot of tokens.
May 17th
Tyrant's Familiar - - - Anger
- - - The familiar has high value once our Commander is out, but pricey on the mana curve as well. Anger will just do more for the deck and is cheaper to cast, it's condition is fairly easy to achieve.
May 24th
Hurricane - - - Bow of Nylea
- - - With Squall Line at instant speed to grab with Sunforger, Hurricane is a bit obsolete. Bow turns even our tiniest wolves into big threats with deathtouch and offers other versatility to the deck as well.
May 30th
Pit Fight - - - Dromoka's Command
- - - Command is pretty much a better version of Pit Fight and can do more than just fighting.
Ulvenwald Tracker - - - Domri Rade
- - - Domri might be a bigger target than the tracker, but it also helps with card draw and if it ever ultimates the deck will benefit greatly.
Thunderfoot Baloth - - - Garruk Wildspeaker
- - - Baloth's ability is heavily depending on whether our Commander is in play, which in this deck is quite variable. Garruk sits lower at the curve and helps with our mana, with Overrun there to ramp it up completely.
June 7th
Stonebrow, Krosan Hero - - - Shared Animosity
- - - Stonebrow's pump is a bit obsolete, since most trample enablers in this deck pump along with it and only works on attacks. Shared Animosity feeds more of the deck's theme and will trigger far more often and for more.
Artisan of Kozilek - - - Requiem Angel
- - - Artisan's mana cost is just too high for what it does and more often than not is a dead card in hand. Requiem Angel just works better in the deck as it combos with a few other cards, unlike the Artisan.
Zealous Conscripts - - - Mirror Entity
- - - The Conscripts are also high on the mana curve and despite doing a lot of fun things, I replaced it with Mirror Entity to balance out the curve as well as smoothen out my deck's theme/flavor.
Ogre Battledriver - - - Warstorm Surge
- - - Getting haste is nice, but the Battledriver just doesn't last long enough on the field to get value off of it. Surge was put in to increase the chances of pulling off a win, by turning creatures into burn.
Village Bell-Ringer - - - Wolfbriar Elemental
- - - I did enjoy the Bell-Ringer in this deck, but I need to do more of what I want to do and that is getting wolf tokens out. So the Elemental is making a return to the deck.
June 12th
Dromoka Monument - - - Selesnya Keyrune
- - - Trying the Keyrune over the Monument, because it can be activated for less mana. Making it easier to enable both the Monument and Keyrune in case of a wipe.
July 22nd
Cultivate - - - Nissa's Pilgrimage
- - - Just a bit of an upgrade to Cultivate, though Kodama's Reach could have been replaced with it just as easily.
Squall Line - - - Flameshadow Conjuring
- - - Squall Line often did me more harm than good, while Flameshadow can add interesting interactions with this deck.
- FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS -
Like many decks there is always room for a deck to be improved or to include cards when newer sets come out, but in general for a budget deck there is usually far more room for improvement once budget allows it. This section I use to mark down cards I intend to add for general improvement of the deck, or just ones I want to try out because they potentially add fun interactions. Obviously, the biggest improvements can be done to the mana base but since I haven't looked into that too much yet, I've yet to add considerations to the list below.
Darksteel Plate
- - - To upgrade my Ring of Evos Isle into a better means of protecting a creature.
Birds of Paradise
- - - To upgrade my Druid of the Anima. Cheaper on the curve and a flyer.
- Windbrisk Heights brought in for Plains
The hideaway will potentially bring out one of my bigger threats quicker, while potentially filtering other cards to the bottom.
- Enduring Scalelord brought in for Ancient Hellkite
The triple red can be challenging on the Hellkite, the Scalelord balances my colors a bit better and synergies well with my counter production.
- Charmbreaker Devils brought in for Naya Battlemage
Just a nice way to get my instants back to reuse, which likely will be more useful than the Battlemage's abilities, since they done little for me in the games I played.
- Ring of Evos Isle brought in for Shared Animosity
Taking out the Shared Animosity is a slight experiment, it does feel a bit as a win-more card in the deck than being that useful. The ring will help be protect my Stalking Vengeance or the Charmbreaker Devils, serving as a budget version of Darksteel Plate for me.
Since I'm toying a bit with tokens in this deck I am considering slotting in a Rhys the Redeemed for the Sundering Growth, it being a nice low drop and capable of both producing tokens itself as well as doubling them.
Going through my binder once more I came across my Sunscorch Regent, which could feed nicely off the dragon synergies and with Hardened Scales. Though so far I'm not sure where I'd slot it in. It could potentially be switched out with the Juniper Order Ranger, though I feel that the Ranger benefits my deck currently more. Opinions on this would be appreciated and so would other suggestions, whether it's a different card to side out for the Regent or just a whole different suggestion on it's own.
Skullclamp and Mentor of the Meek both provide ways to draw cards with only Marath's ability.
Aura Shards, if you can get a copy is a really strong source of removal. Nullmage Shepard does have value as a budget replacement if Aura Shards is too expensive, though is much less cost efficient.
Deathtouch is extremely strong with Marath, it provides cheap spot removal for most creatures. Budget options from of the top of my head would be Gorgon's Head and Nightshade Peddler.
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
While additional card draw could be nice, fitting them in would be a bit trickier. Cutting down on the removal is not a real option, since I do need that. So I would need to cut into my creature base for it and when it comes to that I'd have to consider taking out the Foe-Razer Regent with the cards that compliment it. Perhaps something worth considering, but also would mean cutting away one of the few remaining bits of the original concept I started with when I began making my deck. I'll have to try it out and see what I end up liking more, I guess.
Nullmage Shepherd is not a real option for me, my deck is mainly geared towards being aggro so tapping down four creatures might be a bit too costly. That said, I do have an Aura Shards around somewhere I think. If I make the aforementioned changes and take out the Regent, I could potentially slot it in there... but currently not sure what I would replace if I'd only were to add the shards to the deck.
So far the addition of Rhys has been pretty decent, though he is a removal magnet once he hits the board at a later stage.
The familiar though nice is higher on the curve and fairly depending on my commander being in play, when it is he's a nice source of removal and though he works nicely with Dromoka and Atarka, I've not been able to get too much use out of it. The flying and haste is nice to have though
Another change I decided to make was to finally board in that Bow of Nylea, I have yet to play it in this deck but since I am potentially playing this deck outside my usual play groups it might need that edge to challenge decks that are made with far bigger budgets. I contemplated between taking out Pit Fight and Hurricane for it, deciding to cut the latter for it. Pit Fight does work with Deathtouch so that goes well with the bow, also Sunforger can dig up the Pit Fight. Hurricane is a nice burn and mass removal spell, but chances are it will wipe a good deal of my flyers as well, which with Stalking Vengeance isn't always that bad but does set me back. Even more so since I'm running Squall Line as well for the same effect. So I felt a potential cut could be made here and decided that keeping the instants would be better than the sorcery, hence why the Hurricane was boarded out.
That said, I am fairly happy with how the deck has been playing so far. It is obviously not as smooth as a competitive deck since there are times when you might have dead cards in your hand, but I'm okay with sacrificing a little of that to have just some fun effects in the deck. I get the most joy out of seeing those combos, which you picture when making the deck, actually work out even if it happens scarcely.
But with the GP coming up and me intending to bring the deck along, I am looking for those final tweaks for that event. Time and budget are now a bit of an issue but am open to suggestions, as I will keep tweaking the deck even after the GP. I would like some feedback on whether I should bring back in Shared Animosity and the Tyrant's Familiar, but also the potential inclusion of Warstorm Surge. And if in your opinion I should run them or other cards, let me know which cards you would consider cutting to board them in.
That said, been also doing some brainstorming and do feel that perhaps I do need to tune down some of the aggro 'reward' concept. This are changes I'm planning to make after today's games at the GP, but obviously would love input on these changes. First of all, I'm planning on taking out Thunderfoot Baloth, he's good but with what I do with my Commander his Lieutenant ability becomes more situational. Instead of it I want to bring in Mirror Entity, it does sit lower on the curve than the Baloth though I will have to see how the X/X part plays out in this deck even more so as it would be a mana sink. The reason why I want to test it out in the deck will be because I want to bring back Shared Animosity along with it. I initially thought about taking out Stonebrow, Krosan Hero for it but Gahiji, Honored One might be a better choice in that regard.
Dromoka's Command went in and Pit Fight went out.
Domri Rade went in and Ulvenwald Tracker went out.
Both cards pretty much are an upgrade for the cards they replaced. Though adding in the Planeswalker definitely changed things a bit, considering this is a more aggressive styled deck and thus defending them can be tricky. That said it hasn't been the only Planeswalker to be added in.
Garruk Wildspeaker went in and replaced Thunderfoot Baloth
Though the Baloth is powerful, his ability is a bit situational, even more so since I want to put the counters on my Commander to use. Garruk Wildspeaker sits also lower on the curve and his untap ability does help me with my other bigger creatures, his overrun ability makes up for the loss of the ability of the Baloth.
While I had more time to think about adding the Mirror Entity/Shared Animosity combo to the deck, I'm not yet decided on it. I do see Mirror Entity as being a potential win condition though, pretty much being an alternative to Descent of the Dragons, turning 2/2 wolves into bigger threats. Opinions on adding these cards is still appreciated and if you would add them, which cards would you cut for them?
So for the next batch of changes:
Wolfbriar Elemental went back in and replaced Artisan of Kozilek
While the recursion is nice, it just doesn't do enough for me and is more often than not a dead card in my hand. So, seeing I want to bump up my wolf token generation a little, I brought Wolfbriar Elemental back in for another go.
Mirror Entity went in and replaced Zealous Conscripts
I do like the conscripts a lot but it does have a fairly high CMC, it works best when it combos with Mimic Vat though. Mirror Entity on the other hand synergizes a lot more with the deck, allowing smaller creatures to become bigger threats. There is a chance of it downsizing some of our bigger creatures, but I do feel the Changeling effect will make up for it.
Shared Animosity went back in and replaced Village Bell-Ringer
Instant untap is nice but you need it in your hand or under Mimic Vat to make it work. Shared Animosity might be a win more card, but since I have a rough theme of wolves and dragons it can do nicely. The main reason it made a return is to work together with Mirror Entity.
Requiem Angel went in and replaced Ogre Battledriver
Haste and pump is nice, but it has rarely lasted long enough to pull it's weight so far. Requiem Angel was brought in to feed off of sacrifice effects, to get more counters going and to help a bit with the fact that Kessig Cagebreakers forces those wolf tokens to attack. It will let you still have tokens, just with flying this time. Also good for board wipes.
Warstorm Surge went in and replaced Sarkhan's Triumph
To be honest, I am not too sure about cutting the Triumph as do have enough dragons around to make good use of it. However, I did want to give Warstorm Surge a try in the deck and thus a cut had to be made. With token generation this has the chance to do quite a bit of damage, hence why I decided to try it over a Impact Tremors even if Tremors sits lower on the curve.
I still might see about finding a spot to put the Triumph back in, but not sure yet which other card I should take out for it.
Edit: Actually, shuffling through my deck for a bit, I decided to take out Stonebrow, Krosan Hero in favor of the Triumph. The pump he gives is nice, but its attack depending and most my trample enablers already give a pump on their own.