I dont think you ever really want to rely on counters in a deck that wants to tap out as much as this one. Maybe daze. but I dont think I would want Force in here
Well, I'm assuming it would be side-boarded in, and if you're facing a combo at that point, you need to get through it, so very likely that is when you'd have the counterspell suite, if any, brought in. Remember that often enough, this deck doesn't bring the pressure to accompany a canonist that a normal aggro deck does so they will eventually answer it.
What do you think about Standstill in Main deck? Turn 1 Judge's Familiar, turn 2 Standstill seems amazing vs most decks. If they choose to stall, you get free cards, and eventually 1/1s
Been trying out mother of runes in the mainboard. They seem to help a lot when it comes to keeping equipment on a creature and for the sideboard games where your trying to protect a couple hatebears like meddling mage. Plus damage can get out of hand quickly if it isn't disrupted.
To me angry birds seems like a hybrid of merfolk and D&T. Not quite as much hate as D&T, especially in terms of mana denial because of two colours but a lot more evasion, faster damage and tempo. Quite reasonable trade offs if you ask me.
Fourth22, I have never tried Mom in here but I like the idea immediately. This deck has needed another solid one-drop, IMHO and it certainly seems worth trying out. The Legacy scene has been dying out in my area, unfortunately, so I haven't had many opportunities to continue testing but I will give this a try and see how it goes. Do you have a list you'd be willing to share?
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Force of Will is kind of like duct tape. Stick it in a deck and it will fix all your problems.
What would a game of Magic between Harry Potter and Voldemort look like?
The mainboard I find to be quite solid against fair decks. Really Mother of runes fills a similar role as island sanctuary except when facing elves plus it helps against removal and doesn't carry a large drawback. Toughest matchups are probably painter and elves but they aren't unwinnable by any means. Before sideboard any combo deck can be quite difficult unless they end up getting slower draws and you can get a turn 4 or 5 kill. Cloudfins definitely play a large part in the speed of the deck but I could see them being a potential flex spot for more mainboard combo hate.
I read through some of the other pages and saw that it's mentioned, but I run it with a set of Keepers and it's pretty strong.
Also, it could help this deck move to modern. Solitary would replace the Sanctuaries.
Seems like everything else in some of the original builds but the Umezawa's Jitte would be playable in modern.
I'm not gonna be able to fork over the $40 each for a set of Jitte's so I'm trying to find something else to use. Seems like the Keepers work well to add more control, and I could use empyrial plate if needed for buffing.
What do you guys think about birds with no Jitte? How required is it?
First of all I just want to say that I love this deck. A bird tribal deck was one of my very first decks. Being so new to the game I couldn't make it very competitive. After seeing this primer, it appears that Angry Birds is the deck I always wanted my terrible bird deck to become. Thanks for reintroducing me to my first love!
What are your thoughts about using brainstorm and fetches in this deck? The card advantage with Squadron Hawk seems good.
Also, could Hypnotic Siren find it's way into the deck? The bestow ability seems to prevent the card from being a dead draw in many circumstances.
I am finding Mother of Runes to be a better replacement for island sanctuary or something like solitary confinement. Mom does the same thing, winning combat while also protecting against targeted removal. Much less of a draw back as well.
I would say Jitte is pretty important. An active Jitte can lock a number of decks out of the game or greatly increase the clock. 1/1s on their own are too slow. Basically the deck needs a way to turn those small creatures into threats. Jitte is one of the stronger options for that role.
Now brainstorm and fetches is great for fixing card draw. Though I have noticed a couple merfolk decks have opted not to use brainstorm and function just as well without it. Fixing is great at finding reactive cards but I find birds are more of a critical mass deck similar to merfolk where it is less about finding specific cards and more about having each card being an offensive threat or have a wide range of applications. I can see brainstorm being a big help post sideboard when searching for more disruption to combo decks though. I can't say I have tested it as I am not sure where in my list I would fit it in.
Deck Tech? I don't play online or I would. I am getting ready to sleeve up one of my versions for my local legacy meta and will provide matchups with how that goes.
I just wanted to say thanks to the OP for throwing this Primer together! I've really liked the list for a while and finally got the chance to play it. I wasn't sure how this deck would fair against the stronger "unfair" decks of Legacy, but I actually managed to go 2-1 over Reanimator the other day. I was really surprised by the synergy and card advantage this list can create.
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Currently Playing: R8whackR WUBGAtraxa Stax-Superfriends *Under Construction*WUBG
Hey everybody. Long time no post. I've been out of MtG for about 6 months but I'm slowly coming back. I've gotten wind of a new place that regularly holds Legacy tournaments on Sundays which is great because the Legacy meta here had fallen apart. That said, I have reason to play again and I'm looking at coming back to Angry Birds. I'm actually considering selling off my Pact SI deck to buy some better cards for Birds, not because I necessarily think Birds is better but just because I have a lot more fun playing Angry Birds honestly. Plus I'm always surprised at how well Birds can hold it's own against more established decks. My current list is:
Augury Owl is probably the weak link at this point I am thinking. 2x extra Spellstutter Sprites might be nice actually, as Weltkrieg suggested. What I would like to do is start incorporating the now much cheaper fetch lands and possibly some actual duals. That would take my list beyond the range of what I would normally call a budget deck but it still wouldn't be too terribly expensive. As it stands, I like this list a lot. Fourth22 has pretty much sold me on Mom replacing Island Sanctuary. I still love Sanctuary and think it can be situationally better at times but Mom really does a lot of work for this deck by not only protecting minor attacks but also shielding birds from removal and getting them in for damage if for some reason that's actually a problem. Plus, Mom allows Sky Hussar's card advantage to actually be card advantage rather than just a way to negate the drawback of Sanctuary. I've also been playing with Sword of Fire and Ice for enough time now that I'm pretty sold on that card. Card advantage, removal and extra damage is extremely good for this deck. I'm considering upping Stoneforge to 4x, adding a Batterskull and dropping one Sword and one Jitte. I've tested Batterskull in the past and have been somewhat underwhelmed but I'd be willing to give him a try again.
As far as Deck Tech goes. I could probably do up a short deck tech video at some point to show off the list.
Weltkrieg, how did the matchups go at your local meta?
Phone, thanks for the compliments! I appreciate that. I will say you are not the first that's tried this deck out and been surprised at how good it is. Like fourth22 has said, it's kind of like a cross between D&T and Merfolk. The cards aren't crazy powerful on their own but the deck draws its strength from the synergy rather than the individual power level of the cards. It's a deck that performs better than it looks on paper, IMHO.
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Force of Will is kind of like duct tape. Stick it in a deck and it will fix all your problems.
What would a game of Magic between Harry Potter and Voldemort look like?
Soulcatcher's aerie is pretty bad. The part where they have to die is pretty well what kills it. Admittedly, you can run an 8 pack of squadron hawk/welkin hawk that do go pretty well with it, but something that like might do well in a black/white bird build, or something with black in it that has reliable sacrifice outlets rather than running a 2 mana might-have-impact-at-some-future-point rather than something like honor the pure which is a threat as soon as it hits. Madcat, I haven't played it at my local meta in a while so I don't remember the matchups. I'll resleeve it at some point soon and then bring in the results.
If someone wanted to put a couple hundred extra dollars into the deck, how would you do it? Obviously the mana base could be improved, but not counting that, what would you do?
I know this thread gets updated irregularly, but I lurk and like to keep an eye on it because it's such a neat, different deck. With Magic Origins on the way thought I would link a new card for us to consider
I would take a look back through the list and have a look at my back to basics list. It's not quite as death and taxes influenced as madcats current list, but can more than hold its own. Which reminds me...I really need up to try that list again in the current meta. It should also be relatively cheap because you can get away with a shockland or two and 4 flooded strands and lots of basics. Being a two color deck limits your vulnerability to hate like blood moon, opposing back to basics, price of progress, and wasteland. Also, my favorite equipment to run is empyrial plate over what madcat has listed. the swords and jitte are good, and give you a bit more interaction with opponents, but empyrial plate can close out a game much faster.
If you go with my empyrial plate style, fairly important. However, if you're looking for something more budget (at the time land tax was like a buck or two), then you could use gift of estates or tithe.
Holy Nikes! It's been a minute since I've been on here. I literally quit playing MtG for a couple years but I am back to playing again. I just ran a slightly modified version of my Angry Birds list above to a top four finish in a local Legacy tournament. I'll post more details soon.
Special K, I agree. Island Sanctuary plus Sky Hussar has amazing synergy. I am actually running some Sanctuaries in my side board which I board in against creature decks in addition to the Moms. Sanctuary is a beautiful thing and is definitely still strong in the right situations; I just think it's not currently something I want in my mainboard.
Currently, I am a bit intrigued by Hour of Need. Despite the cost of losing a creature, getting a 4/4 flier for three is great. The fact that this flier has flash, could actually be two 4/4s in the late game if you spend a little more and can also double as really bad removal in an absolute pinch only seems like icing on the cake. I haven't done any testing with it or anything but I am intrigued by it.
Other new cards that seem like they are at least worth testing/brewing with are Vryn Wingmare and Illusory Angel.
I am convinced that Augury Owl is the worst card in the deck and desperately needs to be replaced, most likely for a full playset of Spellstutter Sprite
So stay tuned because I am slowly going to begin updating the primer! In the mean time, here is a decidedly less budget but pretty awesome Angry Birds list I've been play testing with recently:
Making the mana base cheaper brings down the cost quite a bit without significantly reducing the power of the deck. Any thoughts from others on this list?
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Force of Will is kind of like duct tape. Stick it in a deck and it will fix all your problems.
What would a game of Magic between Harry Potter and Voldemort look like?
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
To me angry birds seems like a hybrid of merfolk and D&T. Not quite as much hate as D&T, especially in terms of mana denial because of two colours but a lot more evasion, faster damage and tempo. Quite reasonable trade offs if you ask me.
BGSpanish InquisitionGB
GFood Chain ElvesG
WUAngry BirdsUW
BUThe Four Horsemen (RIP)UB
4 Aven Mimeomancer
3 Cloudfin Raptor
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Judge's Familiar
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Pride of the Clouds
2 Sky Hussar
2 Aven Mindcensor
3 Mother of Runes
Artifacts and Enchantments 11
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Honor of the Pure
1 Standstill
1 Batterskull
3 AEther Vial
2 Soulcatchers' Aerie
1 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Karakas
2 Mutavault
2 Cavern of Souls
3 Island
3 Plains
4 Meddling Mage
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Rest in Peace
1 Manriki-Gusari
2 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Swan Song
The mainboard I find to be quite solid against fair decks. Really Mother of runes fills a similar role as island sanctuary except when facing elves plus it helps against removal and doesn't carry a large drawback. Toughest matchups are probably painter and elves but they aren't unwinnable by any means. Before sideboard any combo deck can be quite difficult unless they end up getting slower draws and you can get a turn 4 or 5 kill. Cloudfins definitely play a large part in the speed of the deck but I could see them being a potential flex spot for more mainboard combo hate.
I read through some of the other pages and saw that it's mentioned, but I run it with a set of Keepers and it's pretty strong.
Also, it could help this deck move to modern. Solitary would replace the Sanctuaries.
Seems like everything else in some of the original builds but the Umezawa's Jitte would be playable in modern.
I'm not gonna be able to fork over the $40 each for a set of Jitte's so I'm trying to find something else to use. Seems like the Keepers work well to add more control, and I could use empyrial plate if needed for buffing.
What do you guys think about birds with no Jitte? How required is it?
What are your thoughts about using brainstorm and fetches in this deck? The card advantage with Squadron Hawk seems good.
Also, could Hypnotic Siren find it's way into the deck? The bestow ability seems to prevent the card from being a dead draw in many circumstances.
I would say Jitte is pretty important. An active Jitte can lock a number of decks out of the game or greatly increase the clock. 1/1s on their own are too slow. Basically the deck needs a way to turn those small creatures into threats. Jitte is one of the stronger options for that role.
Now brainstorm and fetches is great for fixing card draw. Though I have noticed a couple merfolk decks have opted not to use brainstorm and function just as well without it. Fixing is great at finding reactive cards but I find birds are more of a critical mass deck similar to merfolk where it is less about finding specific cards and more about having each card being an offensive threat or have a wide range of applications. I can see brainstorm being a big help post sideboard when searching for more disruption to combo decks though. I can't say I have tested it as I am not sure where in my list I would fit it in.
U Mono U Tron
WR Boros Burn with one Stomping Ground
UR Storm
C Eldrazi Powder
G Mono Green Tron
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
R8whackR
WUBGAtraxa Stax-Superfriends *Under Construction*WUBG
2x Augury Owl
4x Cloud of Faeries
4x Judge's Familiar
3x Lyev Skyknight
3x Mother of Runes
4x Pride of the Clouds
3x Sky Hussar
2x Spellstutter Sprite
4x Squadron Hawk
3x Stoneforge Mystic
4x Adarkar Wastes
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Island
7x Plains
2x Seaside Haven
Artifact (4)
2x Sword of Fire and Ice
2x Umezawa's Jitte
4x Swords to Plowshares
Augury Owl is probably the weak link at this point I am thinking. 2x extra Spellstutter Sprites might be nice actually, as Weltkrieg suggested. What I would like to do is start incorporating the now much cheaper fetch lands and possibly some actual duals. That would take my list beyond the range of what I would normally call a budget deck but it still wouldn't be too terribly expensive. As it stands, I like this list a lot. Fourth22 has pretty much sold me on Mom replacing Island Sanctuary. I still love Sanctuary and think it can be situationally better at times but Mom really does a lot of work for this deck by not only protecting minor attacks but also shielding birds from removal and getting them in for damage if for some reason that's actually a problem. Plus, Mom allows Sky Hussar's card advantage to actually be card advantage rather than just a way to negate the drawback of Sanctuary. I've also been playing with Sword of Fire and Ice for enough time now that I'm pretty sold on that card. Card advantage, removal and extra damage is extremely good for this deck. I'm considering upping Stoneforge to 4x, adding a Batterskull and dropping one Sword and one Jitte. I've tested Batterskull in the past and have been somewhat underwhelmed but I'd be willing to give him a try again.
As far as Deck Tech goes. I could probably do up a short deck tech video at some point to show off the list.
Weltkrieg, how did the matchups go at your local meta?
Phone, thanks for the compliments! I appreciate that. I will say you are not the first that's tried this deck out and been surprised at how good it is. Like fourth22 has said, it's kind of like a cross between D&T and Merfolk. The cards aren't crazy powerful on their own but the deck draws its strength from the synergy rather than the individual power level of the cards. It's a deck that performs better than it looks on paper, IMHO.
BGSpanish InquisitionGB
GFood Chain ElvesG
WUAngry BirdsUW
BUThe Four Horsemen (RIP)UB
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
(+'.'+) This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your profile to help him gain world domination.
(")_(") (yes I found this on another profile)
Thunderclap Wyvern
In case card linking isn't working yet for this new card, I've attached an image. Thoughts?
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
Special K, I agree. Island Sanctuary plus Sky Hussar has amazing synergy. I am actually running some Sanctuaries in my side board which I board in against creature decks in addition to the Moms. Sanctuary is a beautiful thing and is definitely still strong in the right situations; I just think it's not currently something I want in my mainboard.
Currently, I am a bit intrigued by Hour of Need. Despite the cost of losing a creature, getting a 4/4 flier for three is great. The fact that this flier has flash, could actually be two 4/4s in the late game if you spend a little more and can also double as really bad removal in an absolute pinch only seems like icing on the cake. I haven't done any testing with it or anything but I am intrigued by it.
Other new cards that seem like they are at least worth testing/brewing with are Vryn Wingmare and Illusory Angel.
I am convinced that Augury Owl is the worst card in the deck and desperately needs to be replaced, most likely for a full playset of Spellstutter Sprite
BGSpanish InquisitionGB
GFood Chain ElvesG
WUAngry BirdsUW
BUThe Four Horsemen (RIP)UB
4x Cloud of Faeries
3x Judge's Familiar
3x Mother of Runes
4x Pride of the Clouds
4x Sky Hussar
4x Spellstutter Sprite
4x Squadron Hawk
4x Stoneforge Mystic
2x Hour of Need
4x Swords to Plowshares
Land (21)
1x Adarkar Wastes
4x Flooded Strand
4x Island
2x Moorland Haunt
5x Plains
2x Karakas
3x Tundra
1x Batterskull
1x Manriki-Gusari
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Umezawa's Jitte
Making the mana base cheaper brings down the cost quite a bit without significantly reducing the power of the deck. Any thoughts from others on this list?
BGSpanish InquisitionGB
GFood Chain ElvesG
WUAngry BirdsUW
BUThe Four Horsemen (RIP)UB