MTG Salvation

About This Deck
This deck is all about being fast and getting value for your counters, extra turns, and cantrips. Using rocks like Mox Diamond, Sol Ring, and Chrome Mox you try to get a turn 2 or turn 3 Noyan Dar. Although it is possible, although likely to land him turn 1. From then on you protect him using counters while incrementally getting value on lands. Most of the time you'll be placing these counters on one land (preferably Inkmoth Nexus or Darksteel Citadel, although basics are harder to hate out). While also using mana you didn't spend on counters to cantrip and gain more value.
You would enjoy this deck if

• You like playing an interactive deck
• You like playing at instant speed
• You like beating face with lands
• You like having few creatures, but one big beater

You would hate this deck if

• You don't like a deck centered around its commander
• You like going wide (While possible, it's not great in this deck)
• You like to combo
• You don't like the idea of your opponents Pathing your land.
• You like to play infinite combos
• You like to play a creature focused deck
My Current List

Notable Card Inclusions or Exclusions from my list
Talarand - I excluded it because every time I drew it, I never wanted to cast it. I just wanted to keep cantripping and countering.
Whispers of the muse - This is a personal favorite of mine. While 1 mana to draw a car dis normally terrible. It's a mana sink when you have nothing else. If you were holding up mana to counter soemthign and you didn't, it's 6 mana to repeatably draw a card and pump your land by 3.

I know it's inferior to various other versions of the same effect, but I'd add a Time Reversal in here as well. It's an extra way to refuel, so it's far from a poor card in this deck.
Have you considered Darksteel Garisson? Turning any of your lands into an indestructible tool for Noyan to work with isn't a bad deal and it has a small bonus too in that it grants itself +1+1 whenever attacking.
Wouldn't Windfall work here as well? In case you end up running out of gas, and maybe as a disruptive piece as well. Fact or Fiction is the final card I'd consider, I'm sure no explanation needs be had about that..

• Time Reversal is definitely a card I have considered and still am considering. The problem is this deck likes cheap spells, spells that replace themselves/ or are 'free', and instant speed. Time reversal is none of these. However, I'm still ont he fence because it is a very powerful effect.
• Darksteel Garrison isn't good. I got one when I first saw the deck, but it costs 5 mana for a card that doesn't do much. Sure indestructibility is nice, but it's hard to not sit down at a table that doesn't have Path To Exile or Swords to Plowshares
• Windfall again is another card that could be considered but being sorcery speed is a killer again, because it is very hard to cut instants from this list.
• Fact or Fiction is already in the list.

How about Leyline of Anticipation and / or Vedalken Orrery? You have a fair amount of stuff that would benefit.

I can see leyline, however I really don't want to spend turn 3/4 casting something that wouldn't help immediately.

Can't let the thread go too far without mentioning Shields of Velis Vel and Griffin Canyon! I'll never stop suggesting ways to get Griffin Canyon into decks.

Quote from reltastic »

Can't let the thread go too far without mentioning Shields of Velis Vel and Griffin Canyon! I'll never stop suggesting ways to get Griffin Canyon into decks.

What decks do you put those in

Any deck they can fit in

Honestly, I don't have them in any deck. But, if I were to actually do it, it would be with Noyan Dar. His whole thing is making lands into creatures, so it actually fits without really taking up slots from other, better cards. The only things you need are pretty reasonable cards anyway. Noyan Dar? Check. An instant or sorcery to animate Griffin Canyon with? Check. Something to make it a griffin? Mirror Entity would be a good include in this list anyway, just to have an overrun effect for your animated lands.

It's a ridiculous, silly combo, and I love it.

Quote from SengirVampire »

That is so janky and beautiful that I might actually try it out in my own Noyan deck. There's also Wings of Velis Vel for redundancy, but I can't run entity or amoeboid changeling because they'd mess up my Polymorph engine.

By the way, Griffin Canyon is pretty awesome in my Mistform Ultimus voltron deck.

What's crazy is that it's really not that janky in this deck. It's a legit win condition, because it's super easy to set up. There are lots of ways to get Griffin Canyon (even in these colors - Expedition Map [can be got through Fabricate or Trinket Mage, of course] or Tolaria West come to mind - not to mention just drawing into it), and the whole point of the deck is animating lands by casting spells. It's really a perfect fit.

These were all things I was trying to shoehorn in to a Halfdane deck for a while, but I might just ditch the black...

Quote from SengirVampire »

Alhammarret's Archive looks crazy good with all the cantrips you're running, but I haven't personally tried it yet.

I actually run this in my mono red deck, and even there it is pretty awesome. All I'm doing in that list is looting to dig to one of my win cons, and it does a ton of work. I imagine it would be even better in a list with better card draw.

You thought about putting Talrand, Sky Summoner in here?. He could act as a pretty good backup plan.

I have a Griffin Canyon in my Dromoka tribal deck that is packed with Changelings. I am going to have to find room for an awakening card just to target the Canyon so i can go infinite.

Yes! Yes! Give in to the Dark Side!

I just started putting together a list for Noyan and I plan on using Trade Routes, Compulsion, and Planar Birth as an engine for big card advantage. Might be something to consider. And Embargo for the fun of it.

Quote from Deep_Woods »

I have a Griffin Canyon in my Dromoka tribal deck that is packed with Changelings. I am going to have to find room for an awakening card just to target the Canyon so i can go infinite.

Might I suggest Planar Outburst? It's got a good effect with or without the Awaken cost.

Bringing things back to the decklist at hand - how many actual manlands are necessary in this deck? Obviously, you get a bit more power if you put +1/+1 counters on Celestial Colonnade, but how necessary is that? I'd think the best one would be Inkmoth Nexus, for the alt infect win - I just don't know. I suppose there's no real reason not to.

Forbidding Watchtower is fine. 4/7 is a tough nut to crack. Faerie Conclave should be in there as well. Those two also tap for color mana unlike most manlands. Flagstones of Trokair is an other good land you wont mind piling stuff onto.

Also don't forget Pyramids

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! I'm definitely considering some of them.

Oh, you guys - last thing about Griffin Canyon, I promise.

Fortify it with Darksteel Garrison and you can make as many creatures as you want arbitrarily big! That's how you finish of the table in one swing. Unless I'm misunderstanding how Garrison works.

Quote from reltastic »

Oh, you guys - last thing about Griffin Canyon, I promise.

Fortify it with Darksteel Garrison and you can make as many creatures as you want arbitrarily big! That's how you finish of the table in one swing. Unless I'm misunderstanding how Garrison works.

I believe that will work if griffin canyon is animated and is a griffin.

Do you think you'll want to bother with Master of Waves? I don't see a lot of devotion to blue...

Don't forget about the other manlands in your colours: Forbidding Watchtower, Faerie Conclave and Dread Statuary.
Secret tech: Genju of the Falls, Genju of the Fields and Balduvian Frostwaker (if you go snow) ;).

I'm exceedingly sorry to have to ask this question but I'm not understanding how the Griffin Canyon + Vel Velis combo is working. Could some here take me through the process step by step?



Thanks in advance and apologies for being so stunted.

First you animate Griffin Canyon using Noyan Dar's ability. It becomes a 3/3 Creature Land - Elemental. Second, you cast either Wings of Velis Vel or Shields of Velis Vel to give the animated creature Griffin Canyon all creature types (including Griffin).

From there, you can use Griffin Canyon's tap ability on itself to make it infinitely large until EOT, since the ability also untaps the target creature.

Haha, that's fantastic. Thank You.

Oh my god, that silly griffin combo is going right in my Noyan Dar.

Don't mind infinites if they're janky and especially if they don't necessarily auto win.

What do you think of Vanish into Memory?

Quote from cyberium_neo »

What do you think of Vanish into Memory?

I play Vanish in my Noyan Dar list, it is probably the best draw spell in the deck, as it always draws a minimum of 6 cards, and sometimes also blanks removal in addition to having utility on the side.