I have not seen much in Delver terms- as a board card Ratchet bomb appeals for flexibility. Really that lifelink on the Charioteers and 4 toughness is what made me include the card in the first place- riftwatcher also gains life and blocks Delver but is boltable albiet for more life, we have few flying choices of quality. Try the Charioteers out and see how they go perhaps, Grunts shrink Goyf and Mongoose and put some pressure on if you ant to go back to old tech, and containment priest stops tokens although is a non soldier. Kor firewalker is a solider too if you want board options, but it is not doing much vs the green guys or Delver.
I do not see what is wrong with running Ghostly or Holy Light in the board if the deck is prevalent, but Ghostly is less narrow and more in keeping/synergistic with mana restriction and tax subthemes. I have seen some lists use the 3 mana metalcraft soldier with protection- if you can get enough artifacts he could be a pain for them to remove and hold the ground while you win the air. We don't get many flying soldiers, there are a couple of 4 tougness 4 mana ones but not 3 mana ones with 4 toughness.
Yeah, it turns out that the 2/4 Flying Lifelink is very good in this format. With one Daru in play he is safe from Dismember. The card has won me over, and so now I have 2 in the sideboard. I couldn't find any cards that I wanted to remove from the mainboard. I've cut Gustcloak Savior before but that card is just insanely good against any creature decks, so I always put it back in. I was thinking of Jotun Grunt, as a 1 of. Reason being that I don't mind having it in a lot of matchups. Any deck running DRS, Goyf, Snapcaster, Lingering Souls, Dredge, Reaminator, Loam, Punishing Fire, it's just a very flexible hate card with a big body.
The reason I don't like Prison, it doesn't help vs decks that are fine swinging with 1 or two creatures for the win. Like any deck running True-Name. Holy Light kills a lot of stuff, including True-Name, and can be used as a combat trick to kill more stuff. And Ratchet Bomb is also is more flexible. So while Prison may look like it is more flexible, I think it is actually less effective than the other two. Also Crovax, Ascendant Hero is interesting but probably too expensive. The fact that it's basically impossible to get rid of and can be powered into play with Cavern is very appealing though.
Current List: I'm happy with the way this has been performing. I like my sideboard a lot right now.
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Hurrah for Charioteers! Don't let the guys above know....:) Still, in all seriousness I have one board and a couple main for my meta which is heavy in D N T and burn, a more delver/shardless heavy meta should still be enough for inclusion in the board. Four toughness is really good against the non cheated flyers in the format and the removal spells commonly seen. Obviously against a combo type deck most of our non main deck Thalia dudes are just bodies, nuts preeminent t1 explosions into COTW type stuff aside. The fact that Eesha and Charioteers are just 2/4s rather than better stat-wielding ground beaters is rarely that relevant as its all about landing disruption- the dudes on their own don't do it quickly enough regardless.
Well, since we have beefy first strikers, it makes battling for our opponent pretty tough. The biggest problem creature has to be True-Name Nemesis. All I have against it is Crackdown and either Holy Light or Crovax, Ascendant Hero in the sideboard. Against Menfolk when they have buffers, the only reliable one is Crackdown. I guess we also have Charioteers to help race against it. Yeah, that should be enough. Our matchup without them having True-Name seems pretty good actually. Of course I played a 3 game match against menfolk and the 2 games he won were when he was on the play and cast a True-Name. The second time he even had Phantasmal Image to copy it.
If only we had that 2/4 Flying Lifelink with a useful ability!!!!!
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
You should try SF, stompy decks need disruption, and just having Chalice and creatures is not enough. S-Field does enough work vs most decks. This deck is good, I don't think it's Tier 1, probably won't ever be, but it can win matches vs top tier decks for sure. Against the right meta, it could do well int a tourny. D&T is tough for us without Suppression Field, I imagine that matchup is very tough without Suppression Field.
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LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Charioteers, Eesha and Saviors- the "bad" part of the deck- go a long way in that match, as does first strike and O rings for Equipment. Their flyers don't like 4 toughness. Batterskull gaining them life is the issue alongside Mommy's protection- hence saviors/first strike do well, at least until Mommy hits. I use a Tower of the Magistrate that helps make their equipment drop off. If you try and build a "up em and at em" smash stompy strategy with just Chalices and Thalias as disruption then its hard, but if you get those flyers and lifelink in the mix and can remove equipment its easier. The more S Fields the better, obviously, a combination of the above produces a favourable matchup- I have had the pleasure of grinding that match for too many hours, it is a really hard match but can be a good one.
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Meh, I've played this deck a lot, against all matchups. You'll find that Palace Jailer is not a good card, especially as a 2 of. If you're behind on board he's a liability. As I've always said, CotW is not castable reliably, especially vs any deck running Wasteland. Definitely bad in my opinion, it only looks good because of those games in which you got one in with Captain on turn 2, that won't happen often. 4 Suppression Field is necessary, it does so much and is fine in multiples, even better much of the time, plus you can pitch one to Chrome if need be.
Faerie Macabre is cool, because you get the effect without have to cast it, but not being able to cast it could be an issue. Cards like Containment Priest are just better at doing what they do, and would be used for the same decks. The only thing about Containment Priest is that it's a nonbo with Captain, but that's fine when landing one on the battlefield wins us the game.
You'll also find that there will be instances in which you can't attack with your Captain without feeding it away to a fatty, so having Gustcloack Savior is a must. It has a good body and allows you to swing with the entire team every combat without fear. It even gives you blockers! The card is nuts.
I would only put Swords in vs Eldrazi. Landing an early Chalice still can slow down D&T enough to make it worth it, and if they can't find a Flickerwisp quickly we're in good shape. All in all it seems like a waste of a slot, but if it does happen to be better, and the Meta is all D&T and Eldrazi, I could envision it's inclusion.
I like the Cloudchaser though...I might try to include that in my side.
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LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I see your reasoning behind Faerie Macabre, and yes, it CAN be better than Containment sometimes, so I'll put 1 in my side.
I've been using Crackdown for your Swords to Plowshares slot, except I only run a couple of them, and I think the card is very good vs all decks except D&T. It it ridiculous with Thalia 2.0 in play.
Do you really think it's worth taking Chalice out against Shardless BUG and BUG Delver decks? It still stops a lot of cards and at the very least they might have to use an Abrupt Decay on it instead of a creature. It's certainly not great, but it's not useless like it is vs Eldrazi. Crackdown shines in this matchup although it does die to Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom pulse as well. I don't know, I'm not sold on the sideboard Swords yet, but I suppose I will test it out. They only have so many Decays and Pulses. The thing with Crackdown is that sometimes it can be a bad draw later in the game when they are setting up for the alpha strike.
As for Palace Jailer, I will test him out again, but I did not like how that card performed much of the time before.
I will also try 2 of CotW, partially because I never really got the chance to smash someone with a turn 2 CotW, and that sounds fun. But I'm also definitely not sold on this card. I tried it in my deck before, and as soon as I had a couple games in which I couldn't cast it, I removed it with no regrets.
And I think it might be a mistake not running a Revoker mainboard. Sure, if we have enough removal then we don't need to name an equipment, especially since Flicker wisp can just bounce him, and they equip and the card is not useless and then we die. But I just like having that effect and I pretty much always find a use for it in every game.
You don't have any artifact destruction, so I would recommend adding a Leonin-Relic Warden just to have that answer. Not being able to beat Ensnaring Bridge is not ok with me.
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
not sure how you play this deck, but I personally think it's necessary to play disruption cards like Suppression Field and Chalice first. Against most decks, I want to get out a Suppression Field as it will slow them down, then once I feel like I've established enough control cards I can drop creatures. Sure, I've reduced my aggro clock, but that is kind of negated by the fact that I've severely inhibited my opponent from playing magic. I think that's the best way to play this deck. Sometimes it's hard deciding whether or not to drop a Thalia or a Captain first, and sometimes I'll definitely drop Thalia's first, especially vs decks casting mostly non-creature spells.
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
@Phyrexian Metamorph: that's actually a really interesting card, it does copy equipments which could be huge. Also, it's amazing vs Sneak and Show. They play Show and Tell, you copy Emmy and attack first... Seems great.
@Crackdown: this card is also great with a Thalia 2.0 out vs Show and Tell for what that's worth. No Emmy attacks at all. I just won game in which Emmy attacked once. Thalia 2.0 alone is pretty good vs Sneak and Show.
I just played a match with the updated list vs D&T. The first game they scooped fast as I played a turn 1 Suppression Field to their turn 1 Vial and developed my board and they couldn't do much. They may have even missed a land drop to warrant the surrender.
Second game was more of a grinder, I landed a Jailer exiling the only other creature on the battlefield and was feeling very comfortable. I drew about 2-3 extra cards off him, but then my opponent starting dropping creatures and found removal from Jailer. Then they stole the Monarchy and proceeded to also draw about 3 cards from it. I was sure I had lost at this point, but I drew the right creatures and managed to get some beefy first strikers to win combat and regain the Monarchy. At that point he just scooped again, a bit prematurely but my opponent was obviously impatient and frustrated.
@Faerie Macabre: I would only imagine boarding this in vs Reanminator and Dredge and Reanimator is no very popular at the moment. So it seems kind of narrow. Containment Priest is good vs Show and Tell in addition to the aforementioned decks. Sideboard slots are hard to find, and we already have the best GV hate in the game with RIP. I guess I'll cut one sideboard Thorn of Amethyst for it, but that seems kind of bad tbh. I suppose I could cut Leonin-Relic Warden, but in a big tournament with a lot of variance, this guy could save our asses.
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Quick point re farie macabre- suppression field on the discard makes the ability cost 2 more.
Quick point- metas are very important here- 5/6 critter removal cards might be right for one meta, not for another. Palace Jailer gets a hell of a lot better/less risky in low critter environments, COTW gets better in environs where people try to combo win as he makes the clock off pre-eminent hugely faster- T1 preeminent, t2 S Field, Chalice or Thalia + a captain off the Preeminent is probably game against a lot of decks, especially if t3 adds to the disruption.
I really need to grab a crackdown!
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I think that Trinisphere might be necessary. Goblin Stompy has 15 static disruption effects between Chalice, Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon and 3 trinisphere. That plays a huge part into that decks success. Sure our creatures also offer static disruption, but it's not as effective as a Blood Moon effect most of the time. I'm think about adding 2-3 Trinishpere's even though I don't want to get rid of creatures. I did cut a single Chrome Mox because drawing more than 1 in a game is horrible. Even drawing 1 after turn 3-4 is usually awful.
I really wish there was white Simian Spirit Guide that was also a soldier. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the next set.
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
So I saw this this W/R Death and Taxes list that did well at a recent SCG Open that I've never seen before. It runs red for ONLY 2 copies of Magus of the Moon mainboard, and two copies of Recruiter to fetch it. It also has a single Goblin Sharpshooter sideboard and Sudden Demise, but these cards are incidental and not worth splashing on their own, although they are great additions if the deck is already going red. We can't play these cards, not even Magus of the Moon as a one-of because we can literally only cast it off of Cavern of Souls. This goes to show how strong that effect is, that a D&T deck will splash basically just for this card, and it successful.
Unfortunately, we can't splash this card, even with Simian Spirit Guide's, and I've though about including them as like a three-of anyways.
Hopefully they will make a Magus of the Sun that turns all all non-basics into Plains, and it's also a soldier alongside a printing of a white soldier SSG, and then this deck would be the best deck in the format and I would literally soil myself upon seeing these printed.
I mean, it's not so far-fetched that Magus of the Sun could exist, it's seems the rightful reciprocal to Magus of the Moon. The whole Sun and Moon thing going on, I think this is meant to be a two card series. Although, it would probably actually turn non-basics into Forest as this new "Magus" would be based off of a new reciprocal of Blood Moon called Green Sun. Seeing as the word "Blood" turns what should otherwise be a black card into a red card, as the word "Moon" in magic is usually associated with Black cards, and "Green Sun" has already existed in magic lore, then it is most likely that a new Blood Moon would be a Green version......
ANYWAYYSSSS... I will hope the flavor gods are in our favor and a white version is printed, preferably just the creature version.
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
If they print SSG or Magus type cards they will be in supplemental products aimed at commander players.
For Standard they hate fast mana, decent discrard, counters, landkill or mana restriction/messing.
As for infect there are few other mediocre to ok options in holy light type territory.
Fog effects work really quite well.
Runed halo is ok in that it does not target and is flexible (can stop other combos involving Helm, Grindstones, Griselbrand etc.). Spellskite is always strong as they don't prepare for it unlike Modern.
I found reverent mantra is quite useful at stopping targeted pump and is not completely useless for us as it breaks grinds against other go wide decks Juntu Stakes stops their dudes untapping.
Yes Crackdown is also very good but most of the time it shines only vs Eldrazi and decks like Merfolk or RUG - speaking of Tempo Decks i don't like to have more cards that run into Spell Pierce, Daze if they also use Wastelands - i think you get what i mean. Swords is simply fine in most cases. So if your Meta is full of Eldrazi the Thalia 2.0 + Crackdown Combo can be quite good. If you face lots of different decks i think Swords is the generic better card.
@Chalice vs BGx: Yes you can lock some cards, even Jund has stuff like Deathrite or Bolt but compared to other Tempo decks BUG has a much higher curve and plays 4 Decay Maindeck to deal with chalice if needed. If they start with Deathrite before you can deploy Chalice you are also behind and have no pressure on the field. Overall i don't like boarding out to many Soldiers for Sideboard-Cards, so locking at Chalice, SField etc. is good for me to keep the full tribal support including drawing cards (means Soldier) with Officer.
Another tactic can be to overload Decay with enough Targets but in this case it means more non-creature permanents that may be do not enough and overall can't beat your opponent.
@Revoker: With SField (yes only 3) i feel Revoker isn't needed (I have 1 Side) in most cases it should also be fine to tutor other cards like Daru Warchief or Palace Jailer. If i would fear Equipment i would tutor for a Phrexian Metamorph since he can also copy our nice EtB Soldiers.
@CotW: It is not only about T2 play, as i said he can also be very good after a sweeper it is simply a good topdeck and thanks to sollands castable without 6 lands.
@Artifact-Removal: Yes you are right, but Ensnaring Bridge is the only card that can be problematic since other stuff can be shut down with SField, Revoker or simply with Removal/Overrun. If Bridge is a problem for you than it is totally fine to talk about stuff like Leonin-Relic Warden, Mangara or Disenchant.
I think O ring main is a good bridge insurance...I am always concerned when I see lists running 4 critter removers and no o ring- I would say I hit dudes with my orings less than 50% of the time.
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LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Stakes is terrible on its own- I did not say it was good...:) If you can stop their first pumped attack it might do a permanent keep-them-out job with Thalia to make them come in tapped and SFs/Eesha for Nexus. But yeah, not exactly stellar.
I used Runed halo and Mantra myself for a while when Infect was common here. HL was good for me as it could also kill a TNN, but in reality TNN was not a good card outside of Merfolk and once people realised that and other things came along in those USA and RUG decks I dropped HL, which covered less of the meta here than Halo.
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If you can win a 20 man with this deck I think it proves this deck has potential, because I do not like this decklist. I'm not surprised you have to Mulligan a lot, with 4x Balleyrey and 4x Chrome Mox and 4x Captain of the Watch.
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LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I mostly posted on the source in te Thalia Stompy thread and wanted to come back to a point that seems important to me: Why play Soldiers over Thalia Stompy:
In the comparison some posts ago I think there were some things forgotten and some points wrong:
I've tried the Thalia + eldrazi deck and it might be objectively more powerful than this one, however, there are a few things that Soldiers have going for them over that deck:
- Preeminent Captain is more powerful than any single Eldrazi. The tempo advantage you get from simply attacking with Captain is greater than almost anything else in Legacy. And now that Palace Jailer and Fairgrounds Warden have been printed, you no longer have to worry about fat blockers stopping you from attacking with this guy quite as often as you did in the past.
Very true - I think that is the most important selling point of Soldiers! The Captain is a very weird creature but now that the deck has lots of removal on a stick you can happily attack into blockers.
- Chrome Mox is better than Mox Diamond in this type of deck that lacks land recursion (such as Life from the Loam). Chrome Mox is actually even better than Lotus Petal or Simian Spirit Guide (which the other Eldrazi lists play). Chrome Mox is perfectly suited for this deck because the 4 Enlistment Officers often allow you to recoup the card disadvantage incurred by playing Chrome Mox. This deck can obviously play Chrome Mox due to the high white card count whereas Eldrazi and even Eldrazi+Thalias cannot play them quite as easily due to too many "colorless" cards.
Not really true, as with the added lands in the Thalia Deck aou also have 4 Wastelands so as a consequence of playing Mox Diamond your mana denial becomes a lot better. You give no proof of why Chrome mox should be better than Mox Diamond - It isn't as e.g. Mox Diamond allows you to play Dismember and from time to time pay black mana.
- Enlistment Officer is a great source of raw card advantage that neither Eldrazi+Thalias nor straight Eldrazi has. One of the problems I ran into playing Eldrazi lists was that they would "run out of gas" often, so that if you didn't develop a winning board state early in the game (even though the deck was good at doing so), you would often lose the late game to decks that could generate card advantage. With Enlistment Officer, Soldiers has the ability to a.) come back from sweepers and b.) win the late-game card advantage race.
Very true and another reason to play Soldiers over Thalia Stompy.
Thing is that now some Thalia Stompy decks play Smuggler's Copter and Copter & Thought-Knot Seer (& Displacer) are already on the way of producing card advantage.
- Eldrazi+Thalias can play both Palace Jailer and Fairgrounds Warden, but Soldiers has the ability to make them more consistently uncounterable, and cheat them into play for free with Preeminent Captain, *and* draw them with Enlistment Officer or fetch them with Recruiter of the Guard. I like having access to spot removal whenever I need it, and Soldiers gives you access to these guys more readily than any other deck.
Partially true - I think mainly this deck has more cretures and thus will lose monarch less. Thalia Stompy plays 4 Caverns too and will often set them to human first as the white for Thalia/Sanctum Prelate makes that necessary. I think uncounterable is less important than the Captain that brings removal with every attack.
- A point you haven't mentioned and which i think is important: Suppression Field
With Suppression field and Thalia2 you really hose fetchland manabases. Also (this has been mentioned before) Suppression field is very good against 3 of the defacto decks to beat: Miracles, Lands and D&T.
Now, the reasons I'd play Eldrazi+Thalias over Soldiers come down to two things basically:
- Thought-Knot Seer is incredibly good
- Eldrazi Displacer is situationally good
You can't really find a corollary for Soldiers with the first point, but I can give up playing Displacer more easily now that I have access to Fairgrounds Warden and Palace Jailer.
If you have ever played with displacer you know that it is way better tha situationally good, as its ability is instant speed and thus it cannot be compared to things like Fairground Warden/Palace Jailer. It is basically able to handle EOT Marit Lage, Inkmoth Nexus (any Manland really) and due to the fact that it taps and you can activate its ability mutiple times you can over 2 turns tap your opponents board and alpha strike.
- A point you haven't mentioned and which i think is really important: Thalia Stompy plays 4 Wasteland
TL DR: Preeminent Captain is the most important feature of this deck and if there were a way to play Wastelands in this deck, it could become even better.
My favorite part about the Sam Black list is the Aven Mindcensor, sure it's not a Soldier, but it's ridiculously powerful. Yet more land mana disruption to stack in addition to dealing damage in other ways.
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LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
My favorite part about the Sam Black list is the Aven Mindcensor, sure it's not a Soldier, but it's ridiculously powerful. Yet more land mana disruption to stack in addition to dealing damage in other ways.
I absolutely agree with you. It is really impressive and epic!
I like this list better. The Recruiter makes the sideboard much better because we have multiple sources of 1-of cards. Also, we now have 4 sources for Palace Jailer. Ballyrush Banneret seems really bad. It's a weak card on it's own, and it's not what I want to be playing early anyways. My first few turns I want to be casting Suppression Field or Thalias or Preeminent Captain. I can lessen the amount of Soldier's with removal abilities because Captain of the Watch overpowers the battlefield.
I'm wondering if I should just play Jailer's and no Fairgrounds Warden's at all.
LEGACY: Soldier Stompy WW // Blue Stompy UU // Fit Variants BGRW // Sol Land Brews BGRUWC MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I totally agree with you on Banneret. For me your early turns must be disrupting- Chalice, Thalias, Field or, at a push a Preminent t1 that promises double disruption t2 or just the two turn clock. You can't afford to cast a banneret early. It would work if it came down t1 and allowed two relevant plays the turn after that both crippled the opponent, but since Thalia is Legendary that is unlikely to happen.
I have not got Warden because I run more of the crummy-but-oddly good flyers main, so I do not feel the need to run as much removal. I think your list needs the removal main, although I think you could try cutting the warchiefs a bit, maybe trying the odd flyer to help the infect match- Eesha is in some ways pseudo removal- it blocks anything, almost.
Your list independently is quite close to mine, which is good to see for me. Where you differ I can see why you differ as it were.
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I do not see what is wrong with running Ghostly or Holy Light in the board if the deck is prevalent, but Ghostly is less narrow and more in keeping/synergistic with mana restriction and tax subthemes. I have seen some lists use the 3 mana metalcraft soldier with protection- if you can get enough artifacts he could be a pain for them to remove and hold the ground while you win the air. We don't get many flying soldiers, there are a couple of 4 tougness 4 mana ones but not 3 mana ones with 4 toughness.
The reason I don't like Prison, it doesn't help vs decks that are fine swinging with 1 or two creatures for the win. Like any deck running True-Name. Holy Light kills a lot of stuff, including True-Name, and can be used as a combat trick to kill more stuff. And Ratchet Bomb is also is more flexible. So while Prison may look like it is more flexible, I think it is actually less effective than the other two. Also Crovax, Ascendant Hero is interesting but probably too expensive. The fact that it's basically impossible to get rid of and can be powered into play with Cavern is very appealing though.
Current List: I'm happy with the way this has been performing. I like my sideboard a lot right now.
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Flagstones of Trokair
2 Karakas
3 Plains
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
Artifacts:
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
Enchantments:
4 Suppression Field
4 Preeminent Captain
4 Enlistment Officer
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Daru Warchief
4 Fairgrounds Warden
2 Recruiter of the Guard
2 Gustcloak Savior
1 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Rest in Peace
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Containment Priest
2 Sanctum Prelate
1 Leonin Relic-Warder
1 Aegis of the Gods
2 Crackdown
2 Dawnbringer Charioteers
1 Crovax, Ascendant Hero
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
If only we had that 2/4 Flying Lifelink with a useful ability!!!!!
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Faerie Macabre is cool, because you get the effect without have to cast it, but not being able to cast it could be an issue. Cards like Containment Priest are just better at doing what they do, and would be used for the same decks. The only thing about Containment Priest is that it's a nonbo with Captain, but that's fine when landing one on the battlefield wins us the game.
You'll also find that there will be instances in which you can't attack with your Captain without feeding it away to a fatty, so having Gustcloack Savior is a must. It has a good body and allows you to swing with the entire team every combat without fear. It even gives you blockers! The card is nuts.
I would only put Swords in vs Eldrazi. Landing an early Chalice still can slow down D&T enough to make it worth it, and if they can't find a Flickerwisp quickly we're in good shape. All in all it seems like a waste of a slot, but if it does happen to be better, and the Meta is all D&T and Eldrazi, I could envision it's inclusion.
I like the Cloudchaser though...I might try to include that in my side.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I've been using Crackdown for your Swords to Plowshares slot, except I only run a couple of them, and I think the card is very good vs all decks except D&T. It it ridiculous with Thalia 2.0 in play.
Do you really think it's worth taking Chalice out against Shardless BUG and BUG Delver decks? It still stops a lot of cards and at the very least they might have to use an Abrupt Decay on it instead of a creature. It's certainly not great, but it's not useless like it is vs Eldrazi. Crackdown shines in this matchup although it does die to Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom pulse as well. I don't know, I'm not sold on the sideboard Swords yet, but I suppose I will test it out. They only have so many Decays and Pulses. The thing with Crackdown is that sometimes it can be a bad draw later in the game when they are setting up for the alpha strike.
As for Palace Jailer, I will test him out again, but I did not like how that card performed much of the time before.
I will also try 2 of CotW, partially because I never really got the chance to smash someone with a turn 2 CotW, and that sounds fun. But I'm also definitely not sold on this card. I tried it in my deck before, and as soon as I had a couple games in which I couldn't cast it, I removed it with no regrets.
And I think it might be a mistake not running a Revoker mainboard. Sure, if we have enough removal then we don't need to name an equipment, especially since Flicker wisp can just bounce him, and they equip and the card is not useless and then we die. But I just like having that effect and I pretty much always find a use for it in every game.
You don't have any artifact destruction, so I would recommend adding a Leonin-Relic Warden just to have that answer. Not being able to beat Ensnaring Bridge is not ok with me.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
@Crackdown: this card is also great with a Thalia 2.0 out vs Show and Tell for what that's worth. No Emmy attacks at all. I just won game in which Emmy attacked once. Thalia 2.0 alone is pretty good vs Sneak and Show.
I just played a match with the updated list vs D&T. The first game they scooped fast as I played a turn 1 Suppression Field to their turn 1 Vial and developed my board and they couldn't do much. They may have even missed a land drop to warrant the surrender.
Second game was more of a grinder, I landed a Jailer exiling the only other creature on the battlefield and was feeling very comfortable. I drew about 2-3 extra cards off him, but then my opponent starting dropping creatures and found removal from Jailer. Then they stole the Monarchy and proceeded to also draw about 3 cards from it. I was sure I had lost at this point, but I drew the right creatures and managed to get some beefy first strikers to win combat and regain the Monarchy. At that point he just scooped again, a bit prematurely but my opponent was obviously impatient and frustrated.
@Faerie Macabre: I would only imagine boarding this in vs Reanminator and Dredge and Reanimator is no very popular at the moment. So it seems kind of narrow. Containment Priest is good vs Show and Tell in addition to the aforementioned decks. Sideboard slots are hard to find, and we already have the best GV hate in the game with RIP. I guess I'll cut one sideboard Thorn of Amethyst for it, but that seems kind of bad tbh. I suppose I could cut Leonin-Relic Warden, but in a big tournament with a lot of variance, this guy could save our asses.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Quick point- metas are very important here- 5/6 critter removal cards might be right for one meta, not for another. Palace Jailer gets a hell of a lot better/less risky in low critter environments, COTW gets better in environs where people try to combo win as he makes the clock off pre-eminent hugely faster- T1 preeminent, t2 S Field, Chalice or Thalia + a captain off the Preeminent is probably game against a lot of decks, especially if t3 adds to the disruption.
I really need to grab a crackdown!
My sideboard:
I have answers to every deck.
I think that Trinisphere might be necessary. Goblin Stompy has 15 static disruption effects between Chalice, Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon and 3 trinisphere. That plays a huge part into that decks success. Sure our creatures also offer static disruption, but it's not as effective as a Blood Moon effect most of the time. I'm think about adding 2-3 Trinishpere's even though I don't want to get rid of creatures. I did cut a single Chrome Mox because drawing more than 1 in a game is horrible. Even drawing 1 after turn 3-4 is usually awful.
I really wish there was white Simian Spirit Guide that was also a soldier. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the next set.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
Unfortunately, we can't splash this card, even with Simian Spirit Guide's, and I've though about including them as like a three-of anyways.
Hopefully they will make a Magus of the Sun that turns all all non-basics into Plains, and it's also a soldier alongside a printing of a white soldier SSG, and then this deck would be the best deck in the format and I would literally soil myself upon seeing these printed.
I mean, it's not so far-fetched that Magus of the Sun could exist, it's seems the rightful reciprocal to Magus of the Moon. The whole Sun and Moon thing going on, I think this is meant to be a two card series. Although, it would probably actually turn non-basics into Forest as this new "Magus" would be based off of a new reciprocal of Blood Moon called Green Sun. Seeing as the word "Blood" turns what should otherwise be a black card into a red card, as the word "Moon" in magic is usually associated with Black cards, and "Green Sun" has already existed in magic lore, then it is most likely that a new Blood Moon would be a Green version......
ANYWAYYSSSS... I will hope the flavor gods are in our favor and a white version is printed, preferably just the creature version.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
For Standard they hate fast mana, decent discrard, counters, landkill or mana restriction/messing.
As for infect there are few other mediocre to ok options in holy light type territory.
Fog effects work really quite well.
Runed halo is ok in that it does not target and is flexible (can stop other combos involving Helm, Grindstones, Griselbrand etc.). Spellskite is always strong as they don't prepare for it unlike Modern.
I found reverent mantra is quite useful at stopping targeted pump and is not completely useless for us as it breaks grinds against other go wide decks
Juntu Stakes stops their dudes untapping.
I think O ring main is a good bridge insurance...I am always concerned when I see lists running 4 critter removers and no o ring- I would say I hit dudes with my orings less than 50% of the time.
Juntu Stakes is awful, as sometimes they only need 1 attack to win and it's useless vs any other deck.
For me it's either Crovax, Ascendant Hero, which is too slow vs infect, or Holy Light, and because Holy Light is cheaper, I'm going with Holy Light.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I used Runed halo and Mantra myself for a while when Infect was common here. HL was good for me as it could also kill a TNN, but in reality TNN was not a good card outside of Merfolk and once people realised that and other things came along in those USA and RUG decks I dropped HL, which covered less of the meta here than Halo.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
In the comparison some posts ago I think there were some things forgotten and some points wrong:
Very true - I think that is the most important selling point of Soldiers! The Captain is a very weird creature but now that the deck has lots of removal on a stick you can happily attack into blockers.
Not really true, as with the added lands in the Thalia Deck aou also have 4 Wastelands so as a consequence of playing Mox Diamond your mana denial becomes a lot better. You give no proof of why Chrome mox should be better than Mox Diamond - It isn't as e.g. Mox Diamond allows you to play Dismember and from time to time pay black mana.
Very true and another reason to play Soldiers over Thalia Stompy.
Thing is that now some Thalia Stompy decks play Smuggler's Copter and Copter & Thought-Knot Seer (& Displacer) are already on the way of producing card advantage.
Partially true - I think mainly this deck has more cretures and thus will lose monarch less. Thalia Stompy plays 4 Caverns too and will often set them to human first as the white for Thalia/Sanctum Prelate makes that necessary. I think uncounterable is less important than the Captain that brings removal with every attack.
- A point you haven't mentioned and which i think is important: Suppression Field
With Suppression field and Thalia2 you really hose fetchland manabases. Also (this has been mentioned before) Suppression field is very good against 3 of the defacto decks to beat: Miracles, Lands and D&T.
If you have ever played with displacer you know that it is way better tha situationally good, as its ability is instant speed and thus it cannot be compared to things like Fairground Warden/Palace Jailer. It is basically able to handle EOT Marit Lage, Inkmoth Nexus (any Manland really) and due to the fact that it taps and you can activate its ability mutiple times you can over 2 turns tap your opponents board and alpha strike.
- A point you haven't mentioned and which i think is really important: Thalia Stompy plays 4 Wasteland
TL DR: Preeminent Captain is the most important feature of this deck and if there were a way to play Wastelands in this deck, it could become even better.
I really liked the Soldier Decks that tried to play Wasteland like DaPokPoks Deck online froma long time ago: http://www.starcitygames.com/article/29737_Video-Soldiers-In-Legacy.html
The card you might be looking for is Blessed Alliance -> easier mana cost and some upsides with a lot of mana.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I absolutely agree with you. It is really impressive and epic!
My current list and why I like it better than Kikano's list
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Karakas
6 Plains
4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
Creatures: 29
4 Preeminent Captain
4 Enlistment Officer
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Daru Warchief
4 Captain of the Watch
1 Fairgrounds Warden
2 Recruiter of the Guard
2 Palace Jailer
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
Enchantment: 4
4 Suppression Field
2 Rest in Peace
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Containment Priest
1 Sanctum Prelate
1 Aegis of the Gods
2 Crackdown
2 Dawnbringer Charioteers
1 Aven Cloudchaser
2 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Holy Light
I like this list better. The Recruiter makes the sideboard much better because we have multiple sources of 1-of cards. Also, we now have 4 sources for Palace Jailer. Ballyrush Banneret seems really bad. It's a weak card on it's own, and it's not what I want to be playing early anyways. My first few turns I want to be casting Suppression Field or Thalias or Preeminent Captain. I can lessen the amount of Soldier's with removal abilities because Captain of the Watch overpowers the battlefield.
I'm wondering if I should just play Jailer's and no Fairgrounds Warden's at all.
MODERN: Pure Pili-ness GU // Red Devotion RR // Green Devotion Variants GRWUG // U/G Emerge CGU // Lots and Lots of Brews BGRUWC
I have not got Warden because I run more of the crummy-but-oddly good flyers main, so I do not feel the need to run as much removal. I think your list needs the removal main, although I think you could try cutting the warchiefs a bit, maybe trying the odd flyer to help the infect match- Eesha is in some ways pseudo removal- it blocks anything, almost.
Your list independently is quite close to mine, which is good to see for me. Where you differ I can see why you differ as it were.