In my search for more and better Card Advantage Engines, a friend remarked that maybe I should just run better interaction so I don't need to try to outvalue my opponents. This doesn't just apply to my Trostani deck but my deckbuilding in general. With that in mind, I cut Greater Good because it wasn't that good for the deck. I have a surprising amount of 3 Power Creatures, which didn't make Greater Good feel great. Even 4 power is barely above pariety, I think Good needs to sac at least a six drop to get true value and this deck doesn't have those on demand. We'll see if additional Answers will outweight that engine.
Doesn't mean I completely gave up on Engines, with Nissa turning into a "Green Phyrexian Arena". Will Kodama's Reach is Ramp, the deck is continually looking to draw. In fact, a lot of the time I lose because I run out of cards, that's oddly the metric the deck uses for health and not my life total.
With that in mind, I added Parallel Lives for possible Quad power with Anointed Procession. Crusade and Monument are fine at making the deck go tall but that's not what I want and hence their replacement with quality answers.
Qasali Slingers might just replace my Acidic Slime. While I like the Slime's Deathtouch, it doesn't bring as much as these Cats. Their trigger means copies will destroy more and more board. Also, Card Advantage is necessary for the deck. I need draw engines, which is why I've made the changes I've made lately. Their 3 power means that Garruk's Packleader and Elemental Bond trigger to draw me cards. Their 5 toughness over the Slime's 2 means I gain more life off of these guys. Also, they have Reach with protects me from Flying Commanders who are trying to make my life total irrelevant by counting to 21.
I have doubts about the Slingers replacing Acidic Slime. The slime is an excellent blocker (due to deathtouch) and more importantly, can hit lands. I haven't counted, if you have lots of cats that's great. Otherwise, I fear this won't work out, as you only have three cards that could possible make copies of it in the first place (Seance, Blade of Selves and Mirrorpool).
Just a suggestion, but if you add Ramunap Excavator and/or Life from the Loam (I believe Crucible of Worlds was outside the budget) + Buried Ruin, it would give you a lot of recursion options for Blade of Selves and Mirrorpool, which are your key token generation cards to get you running. And if you do, you would replace Saltcrusted Steppe with Grasslands to give you an additional fetch to ramp later in the game. All this does not cost you a lot of room in the deck but would add a lot of resilience imo.
Since you already gain a lot of life but can never have enough answers, I think Angel of Sanctions would be a good replacement for Wingmate Roc.
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You might be right. I was looking at the deck after adding a lot more of a draw suite without getting more play in. The draw is a lot more consistent, perhaps I should keep the Slime for Deathtouch even if I like the Cat's Reach. I lived the dream the other night and landed a turn two Sylvan Library, I proceeded to lose at least 4 life for the rest of the game but it didn't matter because Trostani just kept me afloat, especially once I got my Blade of Selves out and Herald of the Host - during one glorious turn, I had Herald wearing the Blade. Unfortunately, the game ended before I live the true dream of Blade of Selves on a Thragtusk.
Saltcrusted Steppe is another way to activate Mirrorpool. I realized the other day that not every single one of my decks that is multicolored is running a Command Tower. Considering how much Basic Land/Forest fetch this deck has, I'm not sure if I should include it. I don't really have mana problems, except making sure my Mirrorpool can be activated at will. I'm running into the wall of how many more nonbasics I can comfortably fit in the deck, as a rule of thumb I never drop below 12 in case someone runs serious MLD or Nonbasic hate. I was hoping for a Brushland reprint to drop its price in the C17 Cat deck but alas, might have to shell out for it.
While cute, I'm not sure if I have enough room to spare for a Ramunap Excavator package, while I could also recur my Blighted Woodland, Krosan Verge, Myriad Landscape, and the two Manlands Grove of the Guardian and Gargoyle Castle. Though typing it out like that, it does sound very desirable. Another land I've been considering is Scavenger Grounds but I'm hesitant because of how much this deck incidentally relies on its own Graveyard with Eternal Witness and Séance. I guess I should just throw a copy in because it helps activate Mirrorpool but hurts all of the GY intensive decks a lot more. But I've also noticed an uptick where I didn't have WWGG on Turn 3/4 for Trostani from all of the nonbasics I do run, hence the Commander Tower consideration.
While I do want to find room for Angel of Sanctions, I'm not sure Wingmate Roc is the choice. I do have a few wincons tied into my life: Felidar Guardian, Aetherflux Reservoir and Phyrexian Processor. In addition to the value of taking crackbacks without a care and how well it feeds Sylvan Library. Perhaps this Angel should be going in from Acidic Slime instead of the cats due to its versatility but I'm not sure if that's just my brain turned it into a meme of "You've decided to cut Acidic Slime, there are no other options!"
Regarding the Lands, I realize most utility is better for Hour of Promise so I added Scavenger Grounds and Buried Ruins. I realized that while the Grounds could hurt me, I could decide to use it or not; however, if it'll ever hurt another player more than me, then I can decide to pull the trigger. If I don't have it, I can't even make the choice and if I don't want to, it'll always power Mirrorpool. Regarding Buried Ruin, some of my Artifacts come with targets on their heads, like Aetherflux Reservoir or my much needed Blade of Selves. Commander Tower is theoretically superior to Basics, I question a bit because I have so many Lands than search for nonbasics. I don't think I could have my nonbasic count go any higher.
With Ertai Planeswalker suggesting Ramunap, I thought it was indeed a lot of value at very little cost to myself. I tried to think of a card that has been disappointing and that's been Champion of Lambholt. I don't really care about punching through and I've moved the deck into quality instead of quantity. This meant that Champ rarely got a lot of +1/+1 counters so she didn't really get me that evasion. Also, she isn't such good utility that I'd want to repeatedly copy the crap out of her.
To further my belief that Champion is no good, I cut Avenger of Zendikar. I did this to lower my curve but also because in a vacuum, Trostani doesn't get much by Cloning a plant. Sure, Avenger can get crazy if I start Copying him over and over again if I have one of my means but I'm moving more towards cards that are good in a vacuum. By the time I played Avenger, I had already blown my Ramp cards so it isn't like these Plants got beefy. Angel of Sanctions is good by itself and cheaper, when I do Embalm it it does cost as much as Avenger and I don't have to jump through hoops to keep Cloning it. Also, if I do get one of my Copy Factories going, the Angel keeps solving problems for me and that's before repeating the process again when its Embalmed. Flying is also nice to protect my face from those flying Commanders.
Wurmcoil has been disappointing. Sure, it's got solid stats and provides tokens but it doesn't do so immediately or let me get exponential like with Herald of the Host. I was even thinking of replacing Engine with Caller of the Pack who was the original inspiration for the deck. Unfortunately, by being over Caller can't go in and Wurmcoil goes out. I'm sure it'll find a place somewhere in my collection or trade bait.
Ezuri's Predation is a card that I felt like that I only cast when I was ahead and proceeded to go way ahead. I gain a lot of life and kill a lot of the table. In the end, I decided it was a win-more. I also am not in the habit of cutting inexpensive cards over expensive ones, so while I may be unhappy with other cards, their lowered CMC spared them the axe.
The Ramunap package has been working wonders. It is giving me a lot of extra options, especially when I can freely play more land ramp lands like Myriad Landscape or Blighted Woodland.
Heroic Intervention has been making its rounds in my meta and has been resulting in some pretty savage blowouts. I needed to get in on that and that's when I realized that the deck doesn't need 5 mana ramp spells. It's not like I'm playing Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Coffers, which would be one hell of a reason to run such a fetch spell. I don't, I just play mostly generic lands that sometimes have activated abilities that are useful. So far Buried Ruin hasn't shown itself to be worthy, but I'll give it time. The Ramunap half of the equation has been doing well.
Kor Cartographer did have a place in the deck, but as the deck got more streamlined, a lot of my 4 drops aren't '4 drops'. A great many of them are played with mana open, because I intend to benefit from Trostani's Populate Activated Ability. This meant that I would always cast Trostani whenever I had 4 mana available, and when I did have 4 mana to spare it would not be towards a single Plains but either a token doubler or generator.
I've noticed an increase in my inability to cast Trostani when I hit 4 mana because one of my utility lands that only produces colorless was placed down. The Ranger should combat this by grabbing the appropriate Plains or Forest so that I can ensure a Turn 4 Trostani due to her WWGG requirement.
Hmm... Interesting idea. I am not too fond of any Rocks when I have access to Green because I can just ramp. I think I like the Ranger still due to being able to grab the appropriate color than hoping that a filter will do the job. I lose tempo but gain a more resilient mana base which I think is important for this midrange style of deck.
I've also found that just having a dork steers away aggression, especially when they see you really don't care about chumping or trading. It's nice to have players not attack you as they tend to develop a habit to do so.
The Expertise didn't really draw me that much and my Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord was looking at it. I cut Expertise for another way to protect my board state. I have my own Wraths but it's also nice blowing out someone's expectations when they think my board state is supposed to go away.
Hmm... Interesting idea. I am not too fond of any Rocks when I have access to Green because I can just ramp. I think I like the Ranger still due to being able to grab the appropriate color than hoping that a filter will do the job. I lose tempo but gain a more resilient mana base which I think is important for this midrange style of deck.
While I liked Fumigate for fueling my life total, which as resulted in wins with Aetherflux Reservoir or Felidar Sovereign, I want more options. I usually leave a lot of my mana open for Trostani's Populate but that has been trasnlating into moving more cards into Instant Speed. I put down a token threat and grow it, then use various Instants to resolve problems as they crop up. It'll also be fun if I ever use Rootborn Defenses or Heroic Intervention on my own Instant Speed Rout to attack a cleared out board.
Glad to hear that the Angelic Accord/Crested Sunmare effects are working for you. I have been considering them as well, especially the indestructible horseys. EDIT: I recently added Courser of Kruphix to my list after he rotated and became very cheap. Since you are running the Accord package, this would probably be a very low-effort, subtle way to ensure that they trigger often.
I don't think Courser of Kruphix would add too much to my deck. Angelic Accord asks for 4 life. How I usually trigger that is I cast a Creature on my turn and then Populate an Angel on another person's turn, so by the time it gets back to me I have 2 more Angels. Sunmare has a lot less hoops to jump through, which is nice.
Angel of Sanctions has been a solid way to deal with problem permanents. I haven't started a Cloning chain with it yet but that should be fun. I think it's more of a suite of solutions. I have a lot of Instants that deal with problems, so it's just another body in my ability to solve problems.
I initially dismissed God-Pharaoh's Gift because I didn't think the deck could support such an expensive card. I've been proven incorrect in those regards. I was also concerned about how small Gift would make my Creatures, but I've been cutting back on bigger Creatures and so this is actually a net positive with only three Creatures shrinking after getting Eternalized. Lastly, with the addition of Ramunap Excavator I'll be able to recycle utility lands, such as Buried Ruin. This gives me more inevitability with my deck as I'm able to rebuild after Wraths or spot removal. Turning the majority of my Creatures into 4/4s also means that I can close out the game faster.
I ran a bunch of goldfish games over the past couple of days, and I realized something about this deck: a lot of the lands are the kind that doesn't produce colored mana very well. I found myself staring at a lot of hands that hand Plains + Mirrorpool, or Forest + Ghost Quarter, or the like. Furthermore, a lot of the non-basic lands in this deck are coming in tapped, which makes the first few turns even more clunky. When your commander costs exactly GGWW, having lands that don't contribute to that cost can be pretty tough.
Disclaimer: I too scoured my collection for the Gardener, only to realize that I didn't own a random copy, and the local stores didn't carry such an obscure single, so I had to pony up the cash online and wait for it to be shipped out and whatnot. Yes, it does appear to have a lot of keywords that this deck really wants to read/hear/say. Hear me out.
The Gardener is not a two drop. It's not like Rampant Growth where you can just automatically run it out on turn two, or whenever you draw it. It's really only good in the late game IF you manage to have multiple lands in hand, which is rare. It's also rare that you have nothing better to do with the ten lands required to flip it.
Conversely, the Signet is a great way to smooth out those clunky draws and turn that colorless mana into something useful. You absolutely want it on turn two, and it's not the worst on any other turn, either.
Along that same line, I never found myself wanting to activate Buried Ruin. My list runs a total of 9 artifacts (including the Signet), and there are plenty of other ways to bring them back. Conversely, Horizon Canopy comes in untapped, provides both colors, and can be cashed out later on for extra value (I still run the Life from the Loam/Knight of the Reliquary package). If you don't have a Canopy, Brushland would be another fine choice, or Wooded Bastion.
I would definitely be interested in picking up a Horizon Canopy after Iconic Masters crashes its price. Even then, it might be too rich for my blood. The other lands you've mentioned are also expensive. Perhaps I should toss in a City of Brass to guarantee my mana.
I really like the Budoka Gardener because he's so dangerous people use removal on him. I don't really see him as a 2 drop either; in fact, I'm thinking of cutting Burgeoning because I don't have enough lands in hand at any point to really take advantage of the extra land drops. The problem I am currently having is asking myself what card to add. I do have a Worldly Tutor which is just collecting dust. My main point is that he is a late game finisher that has 'answer or lose' on his forehead and I like that.
Buried Ruin save my bacon the other day by recurring my Blade of Selves so I could restart my value train.
I definitely acknowledge that my Trostani is now having colorless problems, perhaps I should cut back on colorless lands but I don't know which ones. I am fine with a little inconsistency because I've placed this in my more casual pantheon of decks. It wins slowly and fairly, with only a few surprises. As it isn't one of my top tier decks, I am willing to put up with a little inconsistency instead of rooting it out.
I definitely acknowledge that my Trostani is now having colorless problems, perhaps I should cut back on colorless lands but I don't know which ones.
Besides the aforementioned Buried Ruin, I could see cutting any of the following:
- Gavony Township: Not sure how your list runs, but my list doesn't need this effect for the cost (although I see you don't yet have Archangel of Thune, which has elevated herself to a staple in my list).
- Kor Haven: Trostani does two things very well: make bodies and gain life. So, unless you face a lot of evasive voltron guys, you probably don't need this effect. I routinely shrug off combat damage of 5 or more every turn because I know I'll get it back in spades.
- Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: because tokens don't count for devotion.
- Scavenger Grounds: Maybe it's my Knight/Loam package, or my pet love of Sun Titan, but I would not run this kind of effect.
Besides the aforementioned Buried Ruin, I could see cutting any of the following:
- Gavony Township: Not sure how your list runs, but my list doesn't need this effect for the cost (although I see you don't yet have Archangel of Thune, which has elevated herself to a staple in my list).
- Kor Haven: Trostani does two things very well: make bodies and gain life. So, unless you face a lot of evasive voltron guys, you probably don't need this effect. I routinely shrug off combat damage of 5 or more every turn because I know I'll get it back in spades.
- Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: because tokens don't count for devotion.
- Scavenger Grounds: Maybe it's my Knight/Loam package, or my pet love of Sun Titan, but I would not run this kind of effect.
Saltcrusted Steppe just provides colorless and a possible mana battery. That is less valuable than Scavenger Grounds' ability to hate on a graveyard interaction. Since I do gain a lot of life, Kor Haven does stop one of the deck's weakness of voltron. Gavony Township helps me close out the games or stall out locked boards which tends to go in my favour. As for Nykthos, I do find it provides me with a ton of mana - tokens do have mana symbols if the copy has mana symbols, which is the entire purpose of this deck: make my Creatures into tokens and then Populate them. In the end, I want more Green so I put in a basic Forest because its inexpensive compared to finding another nonbasic. Plus many of my cards fetch only basics.
I cut Burgeoning because I felt like I didn't draw enough cards to justify its existence. Without being able to justify it due to lack of card draw, I decided to put in a Creature that would help me draw and the Tireless Tracker fits the bill. Its natural power of 3 means it would trigger draws off of Elemental Bond and Garruk's Packleader. I usually keep my mana open, so I can decide to Populate or crack to draw more cards. The clues also synergize with the token doublers for more draw potential. If I do start a Clone army, they would all make many clues and each crack would cause them to get very large. Lastly, the deck has a variety of ways of putting lands into play, which helps accelerate my draw.
I love Adephage but it causes me a lot of problems, its cause usually means that I don't have enough mana open for interaction, whether that is Trostani's Populate or this deck's Instants. It also gives me grief because it is continually the target of being stolen or killed but then I take damage to its power or some other effect. Essentially, it's cost is too burdensome for its effect. With the Archangel of Thune's price bottoming out with its reprint, I've added it to the deck. The deck wins by grinding out value and the Archangel will help with that grind, especially if it gets into my Clone train.
Ghost Quarter hasn't been pulling its weight and I want more draw power at low opportunity cost so Arch replaces it.
I initially dismissed Tendershoot Dryad from consideration as the deck wants to make interesting tokens over copying generic tokens; however, the sheer amount of bodies the Dryad puts out is what makes it useful. The Dryad also confirms the City's Blessing ridiculously easily. And if the Dryad gets on the Clone train, then those Saprolings are going to be more numerous and larger which will help close out games. Whether that's from fueling a win for Aetherflux Reservoir, Felidar Sovereign or just smash face.
I am very fond of Budoka Gardener, mostly because I liked the Kamigawa set and the flip mechanic is just so strange that it causes players to scratch their heads. I was finally honest with myself and acknowledged that it had been some time since the Gardener pulled his own weight. Once I acknowledged that, I knew where to make room for my most recent addition. There has been an untick of losses for this deck from someone milling me out. I can recall at least three games in the last ten that ended with me losing because of mill. It's time I put a close to that weakness.
While the Mistveil Plains might help me recycle cards in my 'yard, the primary purpose is so that I can put Gaea's Blessing back into my deck if I come across a mill deck.
Huatli is a lot better than Elemental Bond, especially since I can stack the Ultimate to keep a draw engine. Many Creatures in this deck miss the 3 power cut off, but more importantly, Huatli's Ultimate is optional while Bond is not. I have been decked by an opponent using Parallel Evolution on me. And if I need to kill a player, Huatli's -1 can do so, even with Commander damage if Trostani needs to get in there. Elemental Bond was one of the cards I was less than delighted with, so when I saw Huatli get spoiled I earmarked the switch.
1 Return to Dust
1 Sylvan Reclamation
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 Parallel Lives
1 Cathars' Crusade
1 Greater Good
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Eldrazi Monument
Doesn't mean I completely gave up on Engines, with Nissa turning into a "Green Phyrexian Arena". Will Kodama's Reach is Ramp, the deck is continually looking to draw. In fact, a lot of the time I lose because I run out of cards, that's oddly the metric the deck uses for health and not my life total.
With that in mind, I added Parallel Lives for possible Quad power with Anointed Procession. Crusade and Monument are fine at making the deck go tall but that's not what I want and hence their replacement with quality answers.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Just a suggestion, but if you add Ramunap Excavator and/or Life from the Loam (I believe Crucible of Worlds was outside the budget) + Buried Ruin, it would give you a lot of recursion options for Blade of Selves and Mirrorpool, which are your key token generation cards to get you running. And if you do, you would replace Saltcrusted Steppe with Grasslands to give you an additional fetch to ramp later in the game. All this does not cost you a lot of room in the deck but would add a lot of resilience imo.
Since you already gain a lot of life but can never have enough answers, I think Angel of Sanctions would be a good replacement for Wingmate Roc.
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Saltcrusted Steppe is another way to activate Mirrorpool. I realized the other day that not every single one of my decks that is multicolored is running a Command Tower. Considering how much Basic Land/Forest fetch this deck has, I'm not sure if I should include it. I don't really have mana problems, except making sure my Mirrorpool can be activated at will. I'm running into the wall of how many more nonbasics I can comfortably fit in the deck, as a rule of thumb I never drop below 12 in case someone runs serious MLD or Nonbasic hate. I was hoping for a Brushland reprint to drop its price in the C17 Cat deck but alas, might have to shell out for it.
While cute, I'm not sure if I have enough room to spare for a Ramunap Excavator package, while I could also recur my Blighted Woodland, Krosan Verge, Myriad Landscape, and the two Manlands Grove of the Guardian and Gargoyle Castle. Though typing it out like that, it does sound very desirable. Another land I've been considering is Scavenger Grounds but I'm hesitant because of how much this deck incidentally relies on its own Graveyard with Eternal Witness and Séance. I guess I should just throw a copy in because it helps activate Mirrorpool but hurts all of the GY intensive decks a lot more. But I've also noticed an uptick where I didn't have WWGG on Turn 3/4 for Trostani from all of the nonbasics I do run, hence the Commander Tower consideration.
While I do want to find room for Angel of Sanctions, I'm not sure Wingmate Roc is the choice. I do have a few wincons tied into my life:
Felidar Guardian, Aetherflux Reservoir and Phyrexian Processor. In addition to the value of taking crackbacks without a care and how well it feeds Sylvan Library. Perhaps this Angel should be going in from Acidic Slime instead of the cats due to its versatility but I'm not sure if that's just my brain turned it into a meme of "You've decided to cut Acidic Slime, there are no other options!"
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
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My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
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1 Angel of Sanctions
1 Ramunap Excavator
1 Command Tower
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Buried Ruin
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Champion of Lambholt
1 Plains
2 Forest
With Ertai Planeswalker suggesting Ramunap, I thought it was indeed a lot of value at very little cost to myself. I tried to think of a card that has been disappointing and that's been Champion of Lambholt. I don't really care about punching through and I've moved the deck into quality instead of quantity. This meant that Champ rarely got a lot of +1/+1 counters so she didn't really get me that evasion. Also, she isn't such good utility that I'd want to repeatedly copy the crap out of her.
To further my belief that Champion is no good, I cut Avenger of Zendikar. I did this to lower my curve but also because in a vacuum, Trostani doesn't get much by Cloning a plant. Sure, Avenger can get crazy if I start Copying him over and over again if I have one of my means but I'm moving more towards cards that are good in a vacuum. By the time I played Avenger, I had already blown my Ramp cards so it isn't like these Plants got beefy. Angel of Sanctions is good by itself and cheaper, when I do Embalm it it does cost as much as Avenger and I don't have to jump through hoops to keep Cloning it. Also, if I do get one of my Copy Factories going, the Angel keeps solving problems for me and that's before repeating the process again when its Embalmed. Flying is also nice to protect my face from those flying Commanders.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Ezuri's Predation
Ezuri's Predation is a card that I felt like that I only cast when I was ahead and proceeded to go way ahead. I gain a lot of life and kill a lot of the table. In the end, I decided it was a win-more. I also am not in the habit of cutting inexpensive cards over expensive ones, so while I may be unhappy with other cards, their lowered CMC spared them the axe.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Made the following change:
1 Heroic Intervention
1 Hour of Promise
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Sylvan Ranger
1 Kor Cartographer
I've noticed an increase in my inability to cast Trostani when I hit 4 mana because one of my utility lands that only produces colorless was placed down. The Ranger should combat this by grabbing the appropriate Plains or Forest so that I can ensure a Turn 4 Trostani due to her WWGG requirement.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
I've also found that just having a dork steers away aggression, especially when they see you really don't care about chumping or trading. It's nice to have players not attack you as they tend to develop a habit to do so.
I've made another change:
1 Rootborn Defenses
1 Rishkar's Expertise
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
1 Rout
1 Fumigate
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
How well has Angel of Sanctions worked for you?
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
Angel of Sanctions has been a solid way to deal with problem permanents. I haven't started a Cloning chain with it yet but that should be fun. I think it's more of a suite of solutions. I have a lot of Instants that deal with problems, so it's just another body in my ability to solve problems.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 God-Pharaoh's Gift
1 Séance
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
To that end, I made a couple of tough changes that really helped to smooth things out:
+ Selesnya Signet, - Budoka Gardener
+ Horizon Canopy, - Buried Ruin
Disclaimer: I too scoured my collection for the Gardener, only to realize that I didn't own a random copy, and the local stores didn't carry such an obscure single, so I had to pony up the cash online and wait for it to be shipped out and whatnot. Yes, it does appear to have a lot of keywords that this deck really wants to read/hear/say. Hear me out.
The Gardener is not a two drop. It's not like Rampant Growth where you can just automatically run it out on turn two, or whenever you draw it. It's really only good in the late game IF you manage to have multiple lands in hand, which is rare. It's also rare that you have nothing better to do with the ten lands required to flip it.
Conversely, the Signet is a great way to smooth out those clunky draws and turn that colorless mana into something useful. You absolutely want it on turn two, and it's not the worst on any other turn, either.
Along that same line, I never found myself wanting to activate Buried Ruin. My list runs a total of 9 artifacts (including the Signet), and there are plenty of other ways to bring them back. Conversely, Horizon Canopy comes in untapped, provides both colors, and can be cashed out later on for extra value (I still run the Life from the Loam/Knight of the Reliquary package). If you don't have a Canopy, Brushland would be another fine choice, or Wooded Bastion.
I can also confirm that Crested Sunmare is stupid good.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
I really like the Budoka Gardener because he's so dangerous people use removal on him. I don't really see him as a 2 drop either; in fact, I'm thinking of cutting Burgeoning because I don't have enough lands in hand at any point to really take advantage of the extra land drops. The problem I am currently having is asking myself what card to add. I do have a Worldly Tutor which is just collecting dust. My main point is that he is a late game finisher that has 'answer or lose' on his forehead and I like that.
Buried Ruin save my bacon the other day by recurring my Blade of Selves so I could restart my value train.
I definitely acknowledge that my Trostani is now having colorless problems, perhaps I should cut back on colorless lands but I don't know which ones. I am fine with a little inconsistency because I've placed this in my more casual pantheon of decks. It wins slowly and fairly, with only a few surprises. As it isn't one of my top tier decks, I am willing to put up with a little inconsistency instead of rooting it out.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Besides the aforementioned Buried Ruin, I could see cutting any of the following:
- Gavony Township: Not sure how your list runs, but my list doesn't need this effect for the cost (although I see you don't yet have Archangel of Thune, which has elevated herself to a staple in my list).
- Kor Haven: Trostani does two things very well: make bodies and gain life. So, unless you face a lot of evasive voltron guys, you probably don't need this effect. I routinely shrug off combat damage of 5 or more every turn because I know I'll get it back in spades.
- Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: because tokens don't count for devotion.
- Scavenger Grounds: Maybe it's my Knight/Loam package, or my pet love of Sun Titan, but I would not run this kind of effect.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Forest
1 Burgeoning
1 Saltcrusted Steppe
I cut Burgeoning because I felt like I didn't draw enough cards to justify its existence. Without being able to justify it due to lack of card draw, I decided to put in a Creature that would help me draw and the Tireless Tracker fits the bill. Its natural power of 3 means it would trigger draws off of Elemental Bond and Garruk's Packleader. I usually keep my mana open, so I can decide to Populate or crack to draw more cards. The clues also synergize with the token doublers for more draw potential. If I do start a Clone army, they would all make many clues and each crack would cause them to get very large. Lastly, the deck has a variety of ways of putting lands into play, which helps accelerate my draw.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Giant Adephage
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Arch of Orazca
1 Tendershoot Dryad
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Blade Splicer
I initially dismissed Tendershoot Dryad from consideration as the deck wants to make interesting tokens over copying generic tokens; however, the sheer amount of bodies the Dryad puts out is what makes it useful. The Dryad also confirms the City's Blessing ridiculously easily. And if the Dryad gets on the Clone train, then those Saprolings are going to be more numerous and larger which will help close out games. Whether that's from fueling a win for Aetherflux Reservoir, Felidar Sovereign or just smash face.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Gaea's Blessing
1 Budoka Gardener
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Plains
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Huatli, Radiant Champion
1 Elemental Bond
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs