Chalice of the void on 1 when youre on the play on turn 1, is absolutely amazing against most decks if they dont have a force of will for it, usually seems like a safe bet when you dont know what youre playing against.... The only thing ive had a lot of trouble with is sneak and show.... Miracles seems like a pretty great match and so does any blue heavy decks
Kor Hookmaster is good vs Sneak and Show (hitting Emmy if they show it), Loxodon gatekeeper is good vs it (delaying Sneak the turn it resolves by making Emmy CIP tapped they have to wait till at end of turn effects have stacked). O ring hits Emmy or Sneak, which is fine as long as they can't pop an extra red that turn.
Their deck hates a resolved Chalice and Thalia. Having a Captain otw down is often enough to make you survive an Emmy Swing, providing you are greater than 15 life. Phyrexian revoker works a treat too, Karakas can do some work if they just have one red. It is one of the easier matches, being blue heavy and killing with creatures that are Karakas-able. Miracles isf anything is harder.
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I guess it depends on how much aggro you see (I do not see much) as to how good Squad is. I can see it is good in those matches. It is not a bad card, it is just that we tend to beat goblins and fish anyway by being quicker and having more men, plus dodging fishes' forces/hitting the vials with Chalice etc.
Grunt is very good.
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What if we played Tower of the Magistrate maindeck? as Lands #19 and #20 instead of some Soldiers? Having a land that basically says "Counter or Destroy target Stoneforge Mystic" would shore up alot of matches.
Seeing as how this deck is basically favored vs. Sneak Combo, Storm Combo, and Miracles... and that it struggles against Stoneforge Mystic decks... might be a powerful tool to have in the main deck.
Oh and second the statement about Jotun Grunt - he's awesome in this deck and I'm going to be playing 2 of him MD for the foreseeable future.
What if we played Tower of the Magistrate maindeck? as Lands #19 and #20 instead of some Soldiers? Having a land that basically says "Counter or Destroy target Stoneforge Mystic" would shore up alot of matches.
Seeing as how this deck is basically favored vs. Sneak Combo, Storm Combo, and Miracles... and that it struggles against Stoneforge Mystic decks... might be a powerful tool to have in the main deck.
Oh and second the statement about Jotun Grunt - he's awesome in this deck and I'm going to be playing 2 of him MD for the foreseeable future.
Short answer- yes, play one as land 20/1.
If you run Eesha you are not as worried by batterskull/F and I, unless they are running true name, which Tower won't help, but I think in general Tower is utility. I run one main deck O ring, so am not quite as in need of Tower but will consider it.
I am currently looking at better kill for the deck vs TNN and Infect. My board has developed somewhat, and Holy Light is now on the agenda, along with Council's Judgement and a Runed Halo
Am sold on a charioteer main too.
Looks like soldiers finally got a new creature, but I'm not sure sure if it's good enough to see play. How do people feel about the new anafenza? She could be pretty good, though maybe not. Is the lack of immediate board impact going to remove her from being played? I suspect that is likely the case since she is dependent upon others entering after her.
I think the deck is looking for soldiers that hinder enemy plans. It is why this was the last of the stompy chalice decks to get going....until Thalia this deck was a non starter. We have enough great pumpers, we have Caverns, we have some good interference, but need another Soldier in the Thalia style. We have enough power, and interference to give grindy and delver decks a very good game. We lack enough interference to beat control decks like pox and some critter based combo decks like elves and infect can be too fast. With tweaking you can beat ST, reanimators etc., but we have to play specific soldiers that don't help other matches. A general four of that often hinders enemies could push the deck on. This new one does not.
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Hi so I took your list for a spin on xmage today. Played your list khamul and it went very well. i usually play this list http://magic-ville.com/fr/decks/showdeck.php?388417 and i just copied the sideboard over.
my reason for posting was when i was playing against merfolks, how do we deal with TNN? thankfully i didn't see TNN game 2 or 3 but i got beat down by 2 5/3 TNNs and that was really brutal. seems like our chances are using council's judgement and runed halo.
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Legacy:
Pox (BG Chalice Depths and Rack Pox)
Soldier Stompy
EDH:
Darien, King of Kjeldor Soldier Tribal EDH
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant Zombie tribal EDH
Sigarda, Host of Herons enchantress French EDH
Griselbrand monoblack control French EDH
Hello there, I'm back! I hope you won't mark me as a heretic, but I'd like to discuss some ideas that weren't spoken of that often in this thread:
During the Treasure Cruise Era, there was a MTGO player (I think his username was DaPokPok), who made 3-1s and 4-0s very frequently. I've copied his list and testet it a lot, making some tweaks a time.
I was also testing Angel Stompy with Stoneforge and Nahiri, the Lithomancer (yes, she's good), but the Deck was too inconsistent to me, so I wanted to settle back to the good old Soldiers. But I really missed Stoneforge Mystic - it's too much of a nonbo in Soldier Stompy, because of Suppression Field.
I also played Vial Soldiers (cheap curve, no Preeminent or Enlistment Officer) and really liked Catapult Squad in this Deck. And again, it's a nonbo because of Suppression Field.
Thalia really likes Wasteland, but Wasteland and S-Field are a nonbo too.
So, I came to the conclusion that it might be time to ditch Suppression Field to be able to play the "better" cards we could run, and see how that works out. In my testing, I've come to the following list (still working on Sideboard):
Trini over S-Field still punishes many Decks, and Stoneforge into Jitte just works wonders against opposing Batterskulls. Block with First Strike Creature, get Counters in First Strike Combat Step, use counters to kill the Germ - Profit! If you remember correctly, this Slot was occupied by Aven Mindcensor in DaPokPoks list. I think she's better, and you still get a Soldier Count of 24, which I think is the minimum.
I remember this Deck playing Longbow Archer and High Sentinels of Arashin, just to have some answers against Delver. Catapult Squad does this very well too, and it's great utility in Combat. And Captain of The Watch breaks them
Maybe you could cut the Captain otW and Warchief for something like High Sentinels of Arashin, Commander Eesha or Gustcloak Savior, but Captain otW is still the highest impact-Soldier of the Deck. And Daru Warchief greatly lessens the impact of sweepers like Massacre, Golgari Charm, pumps your creatures and also makes an opposing Jitte a lot less threatening.
Overall, I've pushed the curve down slightly and still retain a high Soldier count (I don't want to go below 24). Stoneforge and CSquad make Delver MUs a lot easier, while we still retain our powers against Combo.
As I've said many times, I believe that Soldier Stompy is one of the best Stompy Decks, because it doesn't lose to itself that often and can survive the Midgame through Card Advantage. Now we should play it to its strengths and see if it's gonna be competitive at last
I am on 2 field at the moment. I have never felt it was an integral part of the deck- a good card, hurting most decks more than us. Not undroppable though. SFM is a fine addition to the deck, obviously class, although I don't run it myself, as I already have traditional D and T and Maverick lists and don't want to just drop the same old packages in.
On TNN- never had much issue with him- Holy Light, Halo, C Judgement in the board are options, a bit of lifelink to race main is great, and the fact that a TNN is not much match for a 5-8 3/3 first stikers alpha attacking. It is only when Jitte etc is down it becomes an issue, and that is probably where S Field shines.
On your last comment- I don't think we will ever be "competitive" in most peoples' eyes even if we are competitive. A nice analagy is with modern and the Martyr Proc list that Top8'd a GP.
Post reorganisation of the thread the deck was in "Tier 2". A couple of months later "Developing Competitive". The deck had not gotten any worse, it had featured on SCG, was being played to death on MTGO by one player who was doing excellently with it, and yet it still dropped off. The thing is we needed more than a good SCG or GP to get a deck "competetive" in Modern- we needed numbers playing it to be high. I am not sure what the metric is for Legacy- some "established" decks are rare- Stax, Lands and Pox being examples- and I admit they do hit some SCG results every now and then, but Infect is far more likely to be played and is in "Developing" last I looked. For some people a deck will only be competitive if it is reguarly winning SCG events, and on numbers alone we will never get that many people playing our deck until it is clearly a better choice than D and T or Maverick, which is unlikely to me; one of our key cards that set us apart from those decks is Chalice and Decay hurts it often, and if they print a great white critter it can go into any of the above shells shell. Our other big strength unique to our decks is the soldier pumps/Cavern, and of of course they are great, but enough to be a better choice than D and T- hard to see it at the moment
For any big event in an unknown field, especially in the US, a blue deck will be the default choice. I am sure the deck will pop up more often as Soliders are a very supported archetype- Thalia has pushed the deck to the level where it is a valid choice to play- but it will never been seen as competitive in some people's eyes as it neither combos or runs blue.
Nice to see some action on this thread. Good luck with your list.
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Hi, about your lands, for your list the 5 sol 4mox worked well.
I'm honestly liking Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit cause she pairs well with the High Sentinels of Arashin. I am thinking of putting Azorius Arrester in this slot and seeing what he does as with my limited experience seems I have been having trouble with BUG midrange decks having big tarmos.
Thanks again for the insight
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Legacy:
Pox (BG Chalice Depths and Rack Pox)
Soldier Stompy
EDH:
Darien, King of Kjeldor Soldier Tribal EDH
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant Zombie tribal EDH
Sigarda, Host of Herons enchantress French EDH
Griselbrand monoblack control French EDH
Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit is a very nice combo with High Sentinels of Arashin, but is this what the deck needs? Grizzly Bears that can pump themselves and others?
I was playing High Sentinels of Arashin for a while (especially during the Treasure Cruise era) but moved back to playing Gustcloak Saviors as a 3-of and Commander Eesha 1-of maindeck in their place. Why? Because the utility provided by Gustcloak Saviors and Commander Eesha is more important in a diverse Legacy metagame than simply fat bodies.
Creatures in this deck really need to provide some kind of value in addition to merely their bodies. Gustcloak Savior is crucial to beating Stoneforge Mystics and Tarmogoyfs because it allows your soldiers to attack into bigger blockers. Commander Eesha is important to stalemate big creatures and stop things like Griselbrand (Sneak and Show / Reanimator) and Marit Lage (Lands).
I will test Anafenza a bit but I can already tell that it probably just doesn't offer enough for this deck. At best it's like a mini-lord, and at worst it's a Grizzly Bears topdecked mid-game.
MTG-Fan would you mind posting what your lastest list looks like? Do you still run winter orb?
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Legacy:
Pox (BG Chalice Depths and Rack Pox)
Soldier Stompy
EDH:
Darien, King of Kjeldor Soldier Tribal EDH
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant Zombie tribal EDH
Sigarda, Host of Herons enchantress French EDH
Griselbrand monoblack control French EDH
I went 6-3 narrowly missing top-16 by ONE match (there was a cut to the top-16 playoff, where top-16 battled it out instead of just top-8).
Here's what I played against:
R1 - 2-1 vs UR Delver
R2 - 2-0 vs Mono Blue Stiflenaught
R3 - 2-1 vs UR Delver
R4 - 1-2 vs Sneak n Show
R5 - 1-2 vs Dark Maverick
R6 - 0-2 vs Lands
R7 - 2-0 vs Dredge
R8 - 2-1 vs UWB Stoneblade
R9 - 2-1 vs Mono Red Burn
The deck did pretty well for me all day but the sideboard needs a ton of work.
Containment Priest cost me Round 4 in Game 3 vs the Sneak n Show player. I had Priest in hand and Ancient Tomb in play when he cast Show and Tell turn 2. He put in Griselbrand and won from there. In the past, I had Oblivion Ring or Intrepid Hero in that sideboard slot and that would have probably won me the game if I had put one of those cards into play off the Show and Tell.
In Round 6 I had Chalice @ 1 and Thalia in play vs the Lands player that had nothing but Rishadan Port and some lands in play. He assembles the Dark Depths + Thespians Stage combo in hand without tutoring for anything and I dont have an answer to Marit Lage.
These two losses basically highlight to me that I need more answers to those Legendary Creatures. Despite playing 2 Karakas MD it's not enough, and Containment Priest is not as good as I thought it would be. It does nothing against the Lands combo and might not be as good as Oblivion Ring / Intrepid Hero vs. Sneak and Show.
Going forward I am going to go up to 3 Karakas MD and possibly even put a 4th on in the sideboard. Additionally, someone recommeneded to me to play Preacher as sideboard hate for Sneak and Show and I like the idea of it. It also can answer Marit Lage tokens better than the other options.
Omnitell seems like a rough matchup for this deck no matter what you do.
Fortunately in real life events, there is very little Omnitell. Around where I live in the Northeast US area, almost nobody plays Omnitell, but there are quite a few Sneak n Show players.
I take it that Omnitell is more of a problem for people trying to play on MTGO... I do not use MTGO whatsoever so I rarely play against it.
Gustcloak Saviors go along way to helping the Stoneforge matchup. Additionally, first strike soldiers blocking are crucial.
I tried 2 Towers MD in one tournament and it was a disaster. You can't afford to play colorless lands that don't tap for 2 or more mana just to help a few matchups because when there isn't a Stoneforge Mystic in play, a land that just taps for one colorless mana is far worse than a Plains.
The general rule of thumb for this deck, I think, is lands in the main deck have to either a.) Tap for white mana or b.) If they only tap for colorless, tap for 2 or more colorless mana. That's one of the reasons why I would never play Wasteland in this deck.
These soldiers that Wizards keeps printing are in the realm of "just, almost, playable". It's frustrating. His ability is nice, but 3WW is probably just too much for something that you want to hardcast all the time. If his ability triggered simply as an ETB, so you could get it off a Captain (and his ability exiled, say, blocking creatures too), then he'd be very playable. If he cost 2W or even 2WW, he'd be playable. But 3WW for something that needs to be hardcast is stretching it.
Solid list over all. Meta seems fairly red heavy, seeing that COP-Red in the board. Changeling Hero could be Ghostcloak Savior, but a 4/4 with lifelink is big game against aggro. Overall, really nice and consistent list-Turn 1 Thalia off of cavern seems busted.
Not bad, Wizards, not bad! It looks like we might have something playable here. A 2/1 one-drop (We can play one-drops into Chalice @ 1 because of Cavern) that turns into a planeswalker for no extra mana if some... conditions... are met. That planeswalker is then a 4/4 Soldier or a psuedo-control element that dodges some removal by virtue of being a planeswalker most of the time and only a creature when you want it to be a creature.
The problem really is with triggering the flip. How often can we afford to be attacking with this guy plus two others? More than in most other decks, but it's still a strict requirement.
The question for me is - if you put him into play tapped and attacking off a Preeminent Captain, and there was one other creature additionally attacking, then will he flip? If so, then it increases the chances that he's playable in this deck. If I can only flip him if he formally "attacked" this turn, then he's much weaker.
Yes, he will flip off Captain. The trigger happens at end of combat, not when you attack with him, so it doesn't matter if he was on the battlefield when attackers were first declared. You need Captain + 1 other creature already on the field, but that is not completely unreasonable.
Is the Planeswalker good enough compared to other white walkers to bother trying to flip into? Unsure.
If you guys are seeing success with Dawnbringers (which you are only even using for about half its value), there must be some other efficient answer for Delvers. Is the lifelink really better than just playing Commander Eesha (answer to more diverse threats) or High Sentinels of Arashin (easier manacost and grows bigger as win condition)? If the life is so valuable, why not Aven Riftwatcher? Dies to Bolt, but if trading with a Bolt or Delver you win the exchange up 4 life.
Unfortunately, several people have confirmed to me that his trigger will not work if he is put into play off the Captain, because Captain puts creatures into play "attacking" but for the purposes of the game and these kinds of triggers, they never "attacked".
That's a shame, because it makes him significantly weaker in this deck. Regardless, I think I will still test him out, but I don't really anticipate him being consistent enough to make the cut as a new staple.
Re: Delver answers... my favorite answer is probably Kor Skyfisher. 2/3 flier for 1W that can play tricks with Enlistment Officer and Sol-lands. I also don't mind Longbow Archer as an answer, and in the red splash version I am using Goblin Legionnaire as another answer to Delver. Additionally, playing Commander Eesha and High Sentinels of Arashin or Gustcloak Saviors helps, even if they are more expensive and come down later.
I don't like the "Vanishing" drawback of Riftwatchers at all, If you play it fair-and-square, you get two attack steps before it kills itself. If you play it off a Captain, you get three. The fact that it kills itself is just really bad for a 2W 2/3, in my opinion. Now, if you are playing it solely to block a Delver, then you don't care, but Delver isn't the only deck you will ever play against, and even against Delver sometimes you just want to attack and not block.
Renown 1 (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, if this creature is not renowned, put a +1/+1 counter on it becomes renowned)
When Relic Hunter becomes renowned, you may search your library for an Equipment card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
2/2
Ooooo.... So this guy is pretty interesting. All I have to do is hit the opponent? Seems like something I would love to bring into play with Preeminent Captain and then just grab a Jitte or a Sword. This set is certainly going to make me do alot of testing in the coming months!
edit: and... it synergizes well with those builds that are playing Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit and High Sentinels of Arashin!
What about Kytheon's Irregulars? They're Soldiers, and that activated ability is really spicy. Shame that IS an activated ability, as it then costs 2WW to tap one guy, but I've heard this deck has trouble with Batterskull (tapping the Germ every turn should be fun), and tapping Emrakul every turn has to sound awesome.
I've been testing both Kytheon and Relic Hunter in this deck recently and Kytheon has been surprisingly pleasant. The deck actually benefits from having an aggressive 1-drop when you don't have an explosive Tomb/City/Mox start, and it just lets you curve out much more effectively. In a build with 3 Karakas, too, Kytheon is really hard to deal with because bouncing+replaying him is just so cheap, that any removal that opponent wastes on Kytheon is likely a tempo loss for them.
I have yet to flip him in testing though, but I'm sure that will come.
I think that what we wanted was Vryn as a soldier. Not impressed with the others, and certainly don't fancy the relic seeker with Thalia making equipment unatttractive without SFM.
I like Eesha and chrarioteers, but I also run Kor Hookmaster- a brilliantly flexible tempo card that beats tempo delver at its own game. As a rule with delver Cavern of souls is key- get that down and you get those blockers out or those Hookmaster.
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The problem with Hookmaster is that he's a 2/2 for 2W if his ability isn't being used. And that's basically garbage, so to justify his inclusion his ability has to be very useful most of the time. His ability is essentially a blank against Miracles, Omnitell, Lands, and Storm.
And even against creature decks, his ability basically just stalls for a little bit. I've tested him before and was very unimpressed. I feel as if the way to beat the creature decks AND the non-creature decks is to just go bigger and/or go over the top. Playing 2/2s for 2W will not do it.
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Kor Hookmaster is good vs Sneak and Show (hitting Emmy if they show it), Loxodon gatekeeper is good vs it (delaying Sneak the turn it resolves by making Emmy CIP tapped they have to wait till at end of turn effects have stacked). O ring hits Emmy or Sneak, which is fine as long as they can't pop an extra red that turn.
Their deck hates a resolved Chalice and Thalia. Having a Captain otw down is often enough to make you survive an Emmy Swing, providing you are greater than 15 life. Phyrexian revoker works a treat too, Karakas can do some work if they just have one red. It is one of the easier matches, being blue heavy and killing with creatures that are Karakas-able. Miracles isf anything is harder.
Grunt is very good.
What if we played Tower of the Magistrate maindeck? as Lands #19 and #20 instead of some Soldiers? Having a land that basically says "Counter or Destroy target Stoneforge Mystic" would shore up alot of matches.
Seeing as how this deck is basically favored vs. Sneak Combo, Storm Combo, and Miracles... and that it struggles against Stoneforge Mystic decks... might be a powerful tool to have in the main deck.
Oh and second the statement about Jotun Grunt - he's awesome in this deck and I'm going to be playing 2 of him MD for the foreseeable future.
Short answer- yes, play one as land 20/1.
If you run Eesha you are not as worried by batterskull/F and I, unless they are running true name, which Tower won't help, but I think in general Tower is utility. I run one main deck O ring, so am not quite as in need of Tower but will consider it.
I am currently looking at better kill for the deck vs TNN and Infect. My board has developed somewhat, and Holy Light is now on the agenda, along with Council's Judgement and a Runed Halo
Am sold on a charioteer main too.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
my reason for posting was when i was playing against merfolks, how do we deal with TNN? thankfully i didn't see TNN game 2 or 3 but i got beat down by 2 5/3 TNNs and that was really brutal. seems like our chances are using council's judgement and runed halo.
Pox (BG Chalice Depths and Rack Pox)
Soldier Stompy
EDH:
Darien, King of Kjeldor Soldier Tribal EDH
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant Zombie tribal EDH
Sigarda, Host of Herons enchantress French EDH
Griselbrand monoblack control French EDH
Modern:
G/W Enchanted Bogles
BGW Treefolk Tribal
Standard:
Villainous Wealth
I am on 2 field at the moment. I have never felt it was an integral part of the deck- a good card, hurting most decks more than us. Not undroppable though. SFM is a fine addition to the deck, obviously class, although I don't run it myself, as I already have traditional D and T and Maverick lists and don't want to just drop the same old packages in.
On TNN- never had much issue with him- Holy Light, Halo, C Judgement in the board are options, a bit of lifelink to race main is great, and the fact that a TNN is not much match for a 5-8 3/3 first stikers alpha attacking. It is only when Jitte etc is down it becomes an issue, and that is probably where S Field shines.
On your last comment- I don't think we will ever be "competitive" in most peoples' eyes even if we are competitive. A nice analagy is with modern and the Martyr Proc list that Top8'd a GP.
Post reorganisation of the thread the deck was in "Tier 2". A couple of months later "Developing Competitive". The deck had not gotten any worse, it had featured on SCG, was being played to death on MTGO by one player who was doing excellently with it, and yet it still dropped off. The thing is we needed more than a good SCG or GP to get a deck "competetive" in Modern- we needed numbers playing it to be high. I am not sure what the metric is for Legacy- some "established" decks are rare- Stax, Lands and Pox being examples- and I admit they do hit some SCG results every now and then, but Infect is far more likely to be played and is in "Developing" last I looked. For some people a deck will only be competitive if it is reguarly winning SCG events, and on numbers alone we will never get that many people playing our deck until it is clearly a better choice than D and T or Maverick, which is unlikely to me; one of our key cards that set us apart from those decks is Chalice and Decay hurts it often, and if they print a great white critter it can go into any of the above shells shell. Our other big strength unique to our decks is the soldier pumps/Cavern, and of of course they are great, but enough to be a better choice than D and T- hard to see it at the moment
For any big event in an unknown field, especially in the US, a blue deck will be the default choice. I am sure the deck will pop up more often as Soliders are a very supported archetype- Thalia has pushed the deck to the level where it is a valid choice to play- but it will never been seen as competitive in some people's eyes as it neither combos or runs blue.
Nice to see some action on this thread. Good luck with your list.
I'm honestly liking Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit cause she pairs well with the High Sentinels of Arashin. I am thinking of putting Azorius Arrester in this slot and seeing what he does as with my limited experience seems I have been having trouble with BUG midrange decks having big tarmos.
Thanks again for the insight
Pox (BG Chalice Depths and Rack Pox)
Soldier Stompy
EDH:
Darien, King of Kjeldor Soldier Tribal EDH
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant Zombie tribal EDH
Sigarda, Host of Herons enchantress French EDH
Griselbrand monoblack control French EDH
Modern:
G/W Enchanted Bogles
BGW Treefolk Tribal
Standard:
Villainous Wealth
I was playing High Sentinels of Arashin for a while (especially during the Treasure Cruise era) but moved back to playing Gustcloak Saviors as a 3-of and Commander Eesha 1-of maindeck in their place. Why? Because the utility provided by Gustcloak Saviors and Commander Eesha is more important in a diverse Legacy metagame than simply fat bodies.
Creatures in this deck really need to provide some kind of value in addition to merely their bodies. Gustcloak Savior is crucial to beating Stoneforge Mystics and Tarmogoyfs because it allows your soldiers to attack into bigger blockers. Commander Eesha is important to stalemate big creatures and stop things like Griselbrand (Sneak and Show / Reanimator) and Marit Lage (Lands).
I will test Anafenza a bit but I can already tell that it probably just doesn't offer enough for this deck. At best it's like a mini-lord, and at worst it's a Grizzly Bears topdecked mid-game.
Pox (BG Chalice Depths and Rack Pox)
Soldier Stompy
EDH:
Darien, King of Kjeldor Soldier Tribal EDH
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant Zombie tribal EDH
Sigarda, Host of Herons enchantress French EDH
Griselbrand monoblack control French EDH
Modern:
G/W Enchanted Bogles
BGW Treefolk Tribal
Standard:
Villainous Wealth
4 Cavern of Souls
6 Snow-Covered Plains
2 City of Traitors
2 Karakas
2 Horizon Canopy
4 Chrome Mox
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Winter Orb
4 Preeminent Captain
4 Enlistment Officer
3 Ballyrush Banneret
3 Kor Skyfisher
3 Daru Warchief
3 Gustcloak Savior
2 Captain of the Watch
2 Jotun Grunt
4 Containment Priest
4 Rest in Peace
4 Damping Matrix
2 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Gustcloak Savior
I went 6-3 narrowly missing top-16 by ONE match (there was a cut to the top-16 playoff, where top-16 battled it out instead of just top-8).
Here's what I played against:
R1 - 2-1 vs UR Delver
R2 - 2-0 vs Mono Blue Stiflenaught
R3 - 2-1 vs UR Delver
R4 - 1-2 vs Sneak n Show
R5 - 1-2 vs Dark Maverick
R6 - 0-2 vs Lands
R7 - 2-0 vs Dredge
R8 - 2-1 vs UWB Stoneblade
R9 - 2-1 vs Mono Red Burn
The deck did pretty well for me all day but the sideboard needs a ton of work.
Containment Priest cost me Round 4 in Game 3 vs the Sneak n Show player. I had Priest in hand and Ancient Tomb in play when he cast Show and Tell turn 2. He put in Griselbrand and won from there. In the past, I had Oblivion Ring or Intrepid Hero in that sideboard slot and that would have probably won me the game if I had put one of those cards into play off the Show and Tell.
In Round 6 I had Chalice @ 1 and Thalia in play vs the Lands player that had nothing but Rishadan Port and some lands in play. He assembles the Dark Depths + Thespians Stage combo in hand without tutoring for anything and I dont have an answer to Marit Lage.
These two losses basically highlight to me that I need more answers to those Legendary Creatures. Despite playing 2 Karakas MD it's not enough, and Containment Priest is not as good as I thought it would be. It does nothing against the Lands combo and might not be as good as Oblivion Ring / Intrepid Hero vs. Sneak and Show.
Going forward I am going to go up to 3 Karakas MD and possibly even put a 4th on in the sideboard. Additionally, someone recommeneded to me to play Preacher as sideboard hate for Sneak and Show and I like the idea of it. It also can answer Marit Lage tokens better than the other options.
Fortunately in real life events, there is very little Omnitell. Around where I live in the Northeast US area, almost nobody plays Omnitell, but there are quite a few Sneak n Show players.
I take it that Omnitell is more of a problem for people trying to play on MTGO... I do not use MTGO whatsoever so I rarely play against it.
I tried 2 Towers MD in one tournament and it was a disaster. You can't afford to play colorless lands that don't tap for 2 or more mana just to help a few matchups because when there isn't a Stoneforge Mystic in play, a land that just taps for one colorless mana is far worse than a Plains.
The general rule of thumb for this deck, I think, is lands in the main deck have to either a.) Tap for white mana or b.) If they only tap for colorless, tap for 2 or more colorless mana. That's one of the reasons why I would never play Wasteland in this deck.
http://i.imgur.com/GiUk9E7.jpg
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/legacy-type-1-5/661941-list-of-stores-that-support-legacy
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?28892-Compilation-Of-Legacy-Streams
These soldiers that Wizards keeps printing are in the realm of "just, almost, playable". It's frustrating. His ability is nice, but 3WW is probably just too much for something that you want to hardcast all the time. If his ability triggered simply as an ETB, so you could get it off a Captain (and his ability exiled, say, blocking creatures too), then he'd be very playable. If he cost 2W or even 2WW, he'd be playable. But 3WW for something that needs to be hardcast is stretching it.
Interesting ability, though.
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1 Changeling Hero
2 Aven Riftwatcher
2 Field Marshal
4 Ballyrush Banneret
4 Captain of the Watch
4 Daru Warchief
4 Enlistment Officer
4 Preeminent Captain
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Suppression Field
Artifacts [8]
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
Lands [18]
1 City of Traitors
2 Karakas
3 Ancient Tomb
4 Cavern of Souls
8 Plains
3 Rest in Peace
2 Aegis of the Gods
1 Changeling Hero
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Banishing Light
3 Phyrexian Revoker
2 High Sentinels of Arashin
Solid list over all. Meta seems fairly red heavy, seeing that COP-Red in the board. Changeling Hero could be Ghostcloak Savior, but a 4/4 with lifelink is big game against aggro. Overall, really nice and consistent list-Turn 1 Thalia off of cavern seems busted.
"There are no two words in the English language more harmful than 'good job'." -Terrance Fletcher, Whiplash (2014)
flips into this:
Not bad, Wizards, not bad! It looks like we might have something playable here. A 2/1 one-drop (We can play one-drops into Chalice @ 1 because of Cavern) that turns into a planeswalker for no extra mana if some... conditions... are met. That planeswalker is then a 4/4 Soldier or a psuedo-control element that dodges some removal by virtue of being a planeswalker most of the time and only a creature when you want it to be a creature.
The problem really is with triggering the flip. How often can we afford to be attacking with this guy plus two others? More than in most other decks, but it's still a strict requirement.
The question for me is - if you put him into play tapped and attacking off a Preeminent Captain, and there was one other creature additionally attacking, then will he flip? If so, then it increases the chances that he's playable in this deck. If I can only flip him if he formally "attacked" this turn, then he's much weaker.
Is the Planeswalker good enough compared to other white walkers to bother trying to flip into? Unsure.
If you guys are seeing success with Dawnbringers (which you are only even using for about half its value), there must be some other efficient answer for Delvers. Is the lifelink really better than just playing Commander Eesha (answer to more diverse threats) or High Sentinels of Arashin (easier manacost and grows bigger as win condition)? If the life is so valuable, why not Aven Riftwatcher? Dies to Bolt, but if trading with a Bolt or Delver you win the exchange up 4 life.
That's a shame, because it makes him significantly weaker in this deck. Regardless, I think I will still test him out, but I don't really anticipate him being consistent enough to make the cut as a new staple.
Re: Delver answers... my favorite answer is probably Kor Skyfisher. 2/3 flier for 1W that can play tricks with Enlistment Officer and Sol-lands. I also don't mind Longbow Archer as an answer, and in the red splash version I am using Goblin Legionnaire as another answer to Delver. Additionally, playing Commander Eesha and High Sentinels of Arashin or Gustcloak Saviors helps, even if they are more expensive and come down later.
I don't like the "Vanishing" drawback of Riftwatchers at all, If you play it fair-and-square, you get two attack steps before it kills itself. If you play it off a Captain, you get three. The fact that it kills itself is just really bad for a 2W 2/3, in my opinion. Now, if you are playing it solely to block a Delver, then you don't care, but Delver isn't the only deck you will ever play against, and even against Delver sometimes you just want to attack and not block.
1W
Creature - Human Soldier
Renown 1 (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, if this creature is not renowned, put a +1/+1 counter on it becomes renowned)
When Relic Hunter becomes renowned, you may search your library for an Equipment card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
2/2
Ooooo.... So this guy is pretty interesting. All I have to do is hit the opponent? Seems like something I would love to bring into play with Preeminent Captain and then just grab a Jitte or a Sword. This set is certainly going to make me do alot of testing in the coming months!
edit: and... it synergizes well with those builds that are playing Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit and High Sentinels of Arashin!
I have yet to flip him in testing though, but I'm sure that will come.
I like Eesha and chrarioteers, but I also run Kor Hookmaster- a brilliantly flexible tempo card that beats tempo delver at its own game. As a rule with delver Cavern of souls is key- get that down and you get those blockers out or those Hookmaster.
And even against creature decks, his ability basically just stalls for a little bit. I've tested him before and was very unimpressed. I feel as if the way to beat the creature decks AND the non-creature decks is to just go bigger and/or go over the top. Playing 2/2s for 2W will not do it.