I am currently testing Anger, Knight of the Reliquary and Goblin Bombardment. While they are really good I am still having trouble finding a place for them here or if the have a place here at all. But I will continue to test them.
Omnath cost too much and has low impact when he hits the battlefield.
Anger is far better than Urabrask as he works great with Survival and Evolutionary Leap and the other ability Urabrask hasn't really helped a whole lot.
Wurmcoil Engine has become mediocre at best in recent games.
Xenagos works better a lot of high power creatures and now has become almost useless now that I am removing a lot of recently.
Kodama's Reach is a second cultivate that is not really needed at this point in time as I am adding a lot more draw cards to the deck.
Overall I decided to cut a lot of the useless fat of the deck and went for more faster and more usable cards that work well with Marath and other cards still in the deck.
So I found out my local game store is starting a Commander League and I would like my Marath deck to be my main deck. Ergo the following changes have been made.
I feel like cutting Sol Ring is usually the wrong call in nearly every one of my decks. I applaud your bravery - but I have to question whether there's not a better card to cut than sol ring.
Is the land-in-hand for (a net cost) of 2 more worth the cost of Reach over something like Nature's Lore ? Reach is the same cost as Marath - and although Reach is card advantage, Lore reliably fixes you into 4 mana on 3rd turn.
Also, Knight of the Reliquary has been a stellar Chasm and Cradle-fetcher in my Marath build. I highly recommend trying it out.
Like I said Mana Crypt may return to Sol Ring depending how it preforms, I just happen to have a one lying around after I dismantled a deck I no longer wish to play. So I want to test it out. I have found that its just a matter when you play it (which I guess holds true for any card).
I will have to test Nature's Lore as I have never thought of using it as I chose to run Farseek instead... But it never crossed my mind to try both. I will test it out and see how it goes.
I have yet to find space for Knight of the Reliquary, but once I do he's in as previous testing with him turned out really well, and now that I am starting this league soon the faster this deck is the better (I may cut Kodama's Reach for it rendering the whole Kodama's Reach/Nature's Lore thing moot). I will take another long look at things when I find more time as I am typing this while at work :wink:.
I got to play a bunch of games with my friends and again we talked about what we can do to make our decks better. When it came to Marath... Here are the changes.
We talked how my top end of my curve was getting a bit too big and there is no real reason Kiki-Jiki should still be in the deck and his removal allows me to cut the number of Mountains I was using in half. I have also started to dislike creature ramp unless it can grab a land and puts it into play (mostly due to a lot of wrath cards my friend and people at my LGS play).
And I have decided to go with a Aggro/Combo/Control style deck like my Grimgrin deck is. As such I decided to add Kismet to the deck (over Blind Obedience due to the fact it hits lands). Knight of the Reliquary takes its rightful place in the deck at last and Mana Reflection makes it way back in as I often found myself missing/needing its effect when I have Gaea's Cradle and/or Serra's Sanctum in play.
We also discussed Nature's Lore over Kodama's Reach and I decided to stay with Kodama's Reach for the time being.
Just as Anger was when it was in the deck, Genesis has become relentlessly targeted, therefore I don't get much if any benefit off from it. While I haven't done any testing with Vizier of the Menagerie as of yet, but I have done some research and it seems like a really great card for this deck (plus I managed to get one in a draft :D).
-1 Siege-Gang Commander +1 Ivy Lane Denizen
-1 Chaos Warp +1 Austere Command
-1 Martial Coup +1 Shamanic Revelation
Ivy Lane Denizen while it can go infinite I have no way to get infinite mana. It just bonkers with Marath in play.
Austere Command is very versatile and is a overall strict upgrade over Martial Coup.
Shamanic Revelation is much needed card draw. I can't be over reliant on Skullclamp alone anymore.
I am currently testing Anger, Knight of the Reliquary and Goblin Bombardment. While they are really good I am still having trouble finding a place for them here or if the have a place here at all. But I will continue to test them.
UB Grimgrin, Corpse-BornUB
WRG Marath, Will of the Wild GRW
RGOmnath, Locus of RageGR
WBTeysa, Orzhov ScionBW
URThe Locust GodRU
W(W/R)RAkiri, Line-SlingerW(W/R)R
-1 Urabrask the Hidden +1 Mentor of the Meek
-1 Wurmcoil Engine +1 Evolutionary Leap
-1 Xenagos, God of Revels +1 Greater Good
-1 Kodama's Reach +1 Chord of Calling
Omnath cost too much and has low impact when he hits the battlefield.
Anger is far better than Urabrask as he works great with Survival and Evolutionary Leap and the other ability Urabrask hasn't really helped a whole lot.
Wurmcoil Engine has become mediocre at best in recent games.
Xenagos works better a lot of high power creatures and now has become almost useless now that I am removing a lot of recently.
Kodama's Reach is a second cultivate that is not really needed at this point in time as I am adding a lot more draw cards to the deck.
Overall I decided to cut a lot of the useless fat of the deck and went for more faster and more usable cards that work well with Marath and other cards still in the deck.
UB Grimgrin, Corpse-BornUB
WRG Marath, Will of the Wild GRW
RGOmnath, Locus of RageGR
WBTeysa, Orzhov ScionBW
URThe Locust GodRU
W(W/R)RAkiri, Line-SlingerW(W/R)R
I still play this deck a lot and it has been running really great.
It was suggested to me that I should consider Tireless Tracker so I have added it to my cards being considered list.
Other than that there is not much else to say.
Laters.
UB Grimgrin, Corpse-BornUB
WRG Marath, Will of the Wild GRW
RGOmnath, Locus of RageGR
WBTeysa, Orzhov ScionBW
URThe Locust GodRU
W(W/R)RAkiri, Line-SlingerW(W/R)R
UB Grimgrin, Corpse-BornUB
WRG Marath, Will of the Wild GRW
RGOmnath, Locus of RageGR
WBTeysa, Orzhov ScionBW
URThe Locust GodRU
W(W/R)RAkiri, Line-SlingerW(W/R)R
-1 Tireless Tracker +1 Greater Good
Players in my local shop have relentlessly targeted Anger whether hes in the yard or in play so Fires of Yavimaya comes in to take his place.
Tireless Tracker while a good card I found that I was missing the massive amount of cards Greater Good can accumulate.
UB Grimgrin, Corpse-BornUB
WRG Marath, Will of the Wild GRW
RGOmnath, Locus of RageGR
WBTeysa, Orzhov ScionBW
URThe Locust GodRU
W(W/R)RAkiri, Line-SlingerW(W/R)R
-1 Mina and Denn, Wildborn +1 Dragonlord Dromoka
-1 Sol Ring +1 Mana Crypt
-1 Mana Reflection +1 Earthcraft
-1 Parallel Lives +1 Mana Echoes
-1 Primal Vigor +1 Kodama's Reach
-1 Boros Charm +1 Triumph of the Hordes
Depending how it turns out Sol Ring and Mana Reflection might be swapped in/out for Mana Crypt and Mirari's Wake.
Dragonlord Dromoka is another Grand Abolisher like effect that can lay on some mid/later game beats
Mana Crypt makes the deck much faster and gives me a chance to cast turn one Cultivate/Kodama's Reach
Earthcraft and Mana Echoes are pretty self explanatory.
Kodama's Reach I always find myself needing more mana so it goes back in (probably shouldn't have removed it anyways).
Triumph just wins games outright
UB Grimgrin, Corpse-BornUB
WRG Marath, Will of the Wild GRW
RGOmnath, Locus of RageGR
WBTeysa, Orzhov ScionBW
URThe Locust GodRU
W(W/R)RAkiri, Line-SlingerW(W/R)R
Is the land-in-hand for (a net cost) of 2 more worth the cost of Reach over something like Nature's Lore ? Reach is the same cost as Marath - and although Reach is card advantage, Lore reliably fixes you into 4 mana on 3rd turn.
Also, Knight of the Reliquary has been a stellar Chasm and Cradle-fetcher in my Marath build. I highly recommend trying it out.
I will have to test Nature's Lore as I have never thought of using it as I chose to run Farseek instead... But it never crossed my mind to try both. I will test it out and see how it goes.
I have yet to find space for Knight of the Reliquary, but once I do he's in as previous testing with him turned out really well, and now that I am starting this league soon the faster this deck is the better (I may cut Kodama's Reach for it rendering the whole Kodama's Reach/Nature's Lore thing moot). I will take another long look at things when I find more time as I am typing this while at work :wink:.
UB Grimgrin, Corpse-BornUB
WRG Marath, Will of the Wild GRW
RGOmnath, Locus of RageGR
WBTeysa, Orzhov ScionBW
URThe Locust GodRU
W(W/R)RAkiri, Line-SlingerW(W/R)R
-1 Birds of Paradise +1 Knight of the Reliquary
-1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight +1 Kismet
-1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker +1 Mana Reflection
-1 Mountain +1 Forest
-1 Mountain +1 Plains
We talked how my top end of my curve was getting a bit too big and there is no real reason Kiki-Jiki should still be in the deck and his removal allows me to cut the number of Mountains I was using in half. I have also started to dislike creature ramp unless it can grab a land and puts it into play (mostly due to a lot of wrath cards my friend and people at my LGS play).
And I have decided to go with a Aggro/Combo/Control style deck like my Grimgrin deck is. As such I decided to add Kismet to the deck (over Blind Obedience due to the fact it hits lands). Knight of the Reliquary takes its rightful place in the deck at last and Mana Reflection makes it way back in as I often found myself missing/needing its effect when I have Gaea's Cradle and/or Serra's Sanctum in play.
We also discussed Nature's Lore over Kodama's Reach and I decided to stay with Kodama's Reach for the time being.
UB Grimgrin, Corpse-BornUB
WRG Marath, Will of the Wild GRW
RGOmnath, Locus of RageGR
WBTeysa, Orzhov ScionBW
URThe Locust GodRU
W(W/R)RAkiri, Line-SlingerW(W/R)R
-1 Genesis +1 Vizier of the Menagerie
Just as Anger was when it was in the deck, Genesis has become relentlessly targeted, therefore I don't get much if any benefit off from it. While I haven't done any testing with Vizier of the Menagerie as of yet, but I have done some research and it seems like a really great card for this deck (plus I managed to get one in a draft :D).
UB Grimgrin, Corpse-BornUB
WRG Marath, Will of the Wild GRW
RGOmnath, Locus of RageGR
WBTeysa, Orzhov ScionBW
URThe Locust GodRU
W(W/R)RAkiri, Line-SlingerW(W/R)R