My store khans of tarkir league is going to start and i have to build a deck with these 7 booster packs (that will then be improved with 1 new pack each week). I'm posting my pool looking for some advices because i don't have a lot of experience with multi colored formats.
So there's 3 more spells in the maindeck than you can have, plus 3 more bombs we'd like to find some room for. I think we can afford to reduce our splash cards in 2 Ponyback Brigade, which also lets us cut back on Hooting Mandrills and Seek the Horizon. From there if we cut 2 Highland Game we can include all of the bombs.
7 U sources
7 G sources
5 W sources
3 R sources
1 B source
plus of course the ability to search up basics with Embodiment of Spring. You will probably want to get red first, and then black, since you have lots of red removal, and black bomby creatures.
Ken, if you could elaborate a bit more i would be grateful... but i'm not sure i will be able to blitz my opponents with a small aggro deck.
Magicmerl : probably i'm misunderstanding something, but the first list you posted has 43 cards ( i don't know if that was meant to be a deck or just a list of playable cards.
Anyway, i agree about the potential of a U/G base and i have to admit i didn't consider 3 embodiment of springs very good at first glance.
I think though that the final deck you posted has a bit of tension between wanting to play a lot of bombs and wanting to play a proactive beatdown plan. Just to clarify... why run smoke teller, jeskai windscout and 2 x force away in a deck that is anyway going to be slow? (bounce spells are notoriously bad when your plan is not to tempo out your opponent). I think i would rather play the 2 parapet archers (great blockers that double as finishers), and also the ponyback brigades you cut. Or, if you want to have a more aggressive plan, i would run less bombs and try to fit in the 2 alpine grizzlies.
Another potential problem is that i would run 18 lands and 3 embodiments of spring... i fear i could flood out too much, but maybe this is not a real problem if i want to play the long game.
Magicmerl : probably i'm misunderstanding something, but the first list you posted has 43 cards ( i don't know if that was meant to be a deck or just a list of playable cards.
Yeah, that was just a rough sketchlist, it isn't meant to be the deck you play.
Anyway, i agree about the potential of a U/G base and i have to admit i didn't consider 3 embodiment of springs very good at first glance.
I think though that the final deck you posted has a bit of tension between wanting to play a lot of bombs and wanting to play a proactive beatdown plan. Just to clarify... why run smoke teller, jeskai windscout and 2 x force away in a deck that is anyway going to be slow?
Because 'being slow' isn't actually a thing. What you actually want to do is 'be powerful', and the ramping cards and powerful bombs are definitely a part of that, but playing creatures in the intervening turns so that you don't die is also a big consideration. Limited decks are basically always going to be able curving out with creatures (barring exceptional things like Dampen Thoughts or Pack Rats). Your deck is no exception. You MUST have a curve, or the opponent will just beat you by playing a 2/1, then a 2/2, then a 3/3 on turns 2-4. That's hardly an exceptional draw on their part.
(bounce spells are notoriously bad when your plan is not to tempo out your opponent). I think i would rather play the 2 parapet archers (great blockers that double as finishers), and also the ponyback brigades you cut. Or, if you want to have a more aggressive plan, i would run less bombs and try to fit in the 2 alpine grizzlies.
You're right, and it wouldn't be a mistake to run archers or ponies or even the alpines (although then I would be thinking hard about running a different deck).
Another potential problem is that i would run 18 lands and 3 embodiments of spring... i fear i could flood out too much, but maybe this is not a real problem if i want to play the long game.
Yes, that looks like a problem, but flooding out is much less of a problem in this format simply because morph provides it's own built in mana sink. My list has 5 'big' morphs, and if you add the ponies back in that total goes to 7. In addition, you have a Treasure Cruise to gas up with.
Magicmerl : probably i'm misunderstanding something, but the first list you posted has 43 cards ( i don't know if that was meant to be a deck or just a list of playable cards.
Yeah, that was just a rough sketchlist, it isn't meant to be the deck you play.
Anyway, i agree about the potential of a U/G base and i have to admit i didn't consider 3 embodiment of springs very good at first glance.
I think though that the final deck you posted has a bit of tension between wanting to play a lot of bombs and wanting to play a proactive beatdown plan. Just to clarify... why run smoke teller, jeskai windscout and 2 x force away in a deck that is anyway going to be slow?
Because 'being slow' isn't actually a thing. What you actually want to do is 'be powerful', and the ramping cards and powerful bombs are definitely a part of that, but playing creatures in the intervening turns so that you don't die is also a big consideration. Limited decks are basically always going to be able curving out with creatures (barring exceptional things like Dampen Thoughts or Pack Rats). Your deck is no exception. You MUST have a curve, or the opponent will just beat you by playing a 2/1, then a 2/2, then a 3/3 on turns 2-4. That's hardly an exceptional draw on their part.
You could arguably cut the Smoke Teller. I just included it over a pony to go for 4 creatures that cost less than 3. Otherwise you risk drawing awkward hands with nothing to do before you play a morph.
(bounce spells are notoriously bad when your plan is not to tempo out your opponent). I think i would rather play the 2 parapet archers (great blockers that double as finishers), and also the ponyback brigades you cut. Or, if you want to have a more aggressive plan, i would run less bombs and try to fit in the 2 alpine grizzlies.
You're right, and it wouldn't be a mistake to run archers or ponies or even the alpines (although then I would be thinking hard about running a different deck). I still think that it can be an amazing answer to green pump spells, and even just negating a big unmorph (when it would eat your blocker) can be an amazing play). Basically, i think that tempo is still a thing that matters.
Another potential problem is that i would run 18 lands and 3 embodiments of spring... i fear i could flood out too much, but maybe this is not a real problem if i want to play the long game.
Yes, that looks like a problem, but flooding out is much less of a problem in this format simply because morph provides it's own built in mana sink. My list has 5 'big' morphs, and if you add the ponies back in that total goes to 7. In addition, you have a Treasure Cruise to gas up with.
Of course i understand i need to have a decent mana curve. Basically i just prefer to run 2 parapet archers instead of 2 highland games, and something else instead of the bounce spells. This is just because since i will be running a lot of big morphs or bombs, in the early game i'm more worried about blocking than attacking.
if i were to run all the "aggressive" 2 drops and bounce spells, i would add also the grizzlies and the deck would basically be temur tempo. I will post my final build when i have some more time so that you can tell me if it's at least reasonable
Well, the thing is, if the opponent is attacking you with an x/2 creature, your Highland Games can act as a removal spell while blocking, but it can also be part of a sequence where your opponent stumbles on mana (maybe they play nothing on t2, then a tap-land on turn 3) and you can just curve out smoothly with 2-drop, 3-drop, 4-drop and plow them over without raising a sweat. I like to take free wins whenever the opportuntity presents itself, and being able to actually attack my opponent with creatures is valuable.
Your deck already has the ability to block without taking damage (Embodiment of Spring) so having the option to trade or even attack back is kinda nice.
You are probably right, and i was also thinking that too many 0 power creatures would make my flying crane technique look silly sometimes....
If i focus too much on on walls/defending maybe i could also play that villainous wealth as a finisher rather than technique... but i will start with the setting you suggested at first and see how it goes.
This is just my opinion so I could be wrong, but I feel like Embodiment of Spring is a poor card. The problem with it is the card itself and the mana base that magicmerl suggested. It's only good as a 1 drop, with 3 I think you can feel comfortable you'll see it in your opening hand. However, with all the 'come into play tapped' lands, you only have 4 islands. In addition, you need to have G on your second turn which further limits it (it's acting like a gold card and magicmerl 's build only had 4 forests I think). Plus you have to tap it to sacrifice it. Thus, say you don't play it turn 1 because you play a 'comes into play tapped' land, so you play it turn 2, but you still won't be able to activate it until turn 3, and unless you're playing a one drop, you won't really play anything meaningful until the turn after. It's unfortunate though cause I think at first glance the pool is a little weak. Hope this helps, just offering my opinion, good luck in your league!
Yeah, it's not a perfect fit for this deck. But then, nothing is.
Please note that it's perfectly fine to play it on turn 2 and then use it to block morphs for the next few turns while you play morphs of your own. And you can block/sac it in their combat step.
1 Hooting Mandrills
1 Become Immense
1 Hardened Scales
1 Feed the Clan
1 Naturalize
1 Smoke Teller
2 Highland Game
2 Alpine Grizzly
2 Archer's Parapet
1 Awaken the Bear
1 Seek the Horizon
1 Sagu Archer
2 Jeskai Student
1 Mardu Hateblade
1 Abzan Battle Priest
1 Ainok Bond-Kin
1 Take Up Arms
1 Mardu Hordechief
1 Smite the Monstrous
1 Brave the Sands
2 Erase
1 Defiant Strike
1 Rush of Battle
1 watcher of the Roost
1 Jeering Instigator
1 Bring Low
1 Trumpet Blast
1 Bloodfire Expert
1 Monastery Swiftspear
1 Tormenting Voice
1 Swift Kick
1 War-Name Aspirant
2 Arrow Storm
1 Burn Away
1 Arc Lightning
1 Canyon Lurkers
1 Sidisi's Pet
1 Bellowing Saddlebrute
1 Throttle
1 Debilitating Injury
1 Unyielding Krumar
1 Rite of the Serpent
1 Rakshasa's Secret
1 Bitter Revelation
1 Molting Snakeskin
1 Rotting Mastodon
1 Dead Drop
1 Kheru Dreadmaw
1 Mistfire Weaver
1 Monastery Flock
1 Crippling Chill
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Jeskai Windscout
1 Taigam's Scheming
1 Cancel
1 Disdainful Stroke
3 Embodiment of Spring
1 Waterwhirl
2 Force Away
1 Winterflame
1 Ride Down
1 Flying Crane Technique
2 Warden of the Eye
2 Ponyback Brigade
2 Snowhorn Rider
1 Armament Corps
1 Siege Rhino
1 Abzan Guide
1 Rakshasa Vizier
1 Villainous Wealth
1 Abomination of Gudul
1 Ghostfire Blade
1 Cranial Archive
1 Briber's Purse
1 Lens of Clarity
1 Temur Banner
2 Sultai Banner
1 Abzan Banner
1 Frontier Bivouac
1 Wind-Scarred Crag
1 Blossoming Sands
1 Thornwood Falls
1 Scoured Barrens
1 Rugged Highlands
1 Tranquil Cove
All the help will be appreciated.
1 Smoke Teller
2 Highland Game
1 Jeskai Windscout
1 Mistfire Weaver
1 Monastery Flock
1 Sagu Archer
1 Abomination of Gudul
2 Ponyback Brigade
2 Snowhorn Rider
1 Abzan Guide
1 Hooting Mandrills
2 Force Away
1 Arc Lightning
1 Winterflame
1 Bring Low
1 Seek the Horizon
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Frontier Bivouac
1 Wind-Scarred Crag
1 Blossoming Sands
1 Thornwood Falls
1 Scoured Barrens
1 Rugged Highlands
1 Tranquil Cove
11 basic lands
1 Flying Crane Technique
1 Siege Rhino
1 Armament Corps
So there's 3 more spells in the maindeck than you can have, plus 3 more bombs we'd like to find some room for. I think we can afford to reduce our splash cards in 2 Ponyback Brigade, which also lets us cut back on Hooting Mandrills and Seek the Horizon. From there if we cut 2 Highland Game we can include all of the bombs.
1 Smoke Teller
1 Jeskai Windscout
1 Mistfire Weaver
1 Monastery Flock
1 Sagu Archer
1 Abomination of Gudul
2 Snowhorn Rider
1 Abzan Guide
1 Siege Rhino
1 Armament Corps
2 Force Away
1 Arc Lightning
1 Winterflame
1 Bring Low
1 Flying Crane Technique
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Frontier Bivouac
1 Wind-Scarred Crag
1 Blossoming Sands
1 Thornwood Falls
1 Scoured Barrens
1 Rugged Highlands
1 Tranquil Cove
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Forest
4 Island
Curve
1 cccs
2 css
3 ccccccccss
4 cs
5 c
6+ss
7 U sources
7 G sources
5 W sources
3 R sources
1 B source
plus of course the ability to search up basics with Embodiment of Spring. You will probably want to get red first, and then black, since you have lots of red removal, and black bomby creatures.
If Flying Crane Technique is too hard to cast then add Highland Game back in.
RBGLiving EndRBG
EDH
UFblthpU
BRXantchaRB
BGVarolzGB
URWZedruuWRU
Ken, if you could elaborate a bit more i would be grateful... but i'm not sure i will be able to blitz my opponents with a small aggro deck.
Magicmerl : probably i'm misunderstanding something, but the first list you posted has 43 cards ( i don't know if that was meant to be a deck or just a list of playable cards.
Anyway, i agree about the potential of a U/G base and i have to admit i didn't consider 3 embodiment of springs very good at first glance.
I think though that the final deck you posted has a bit of tension between wanting to play a lot of bombs and wanting to play a proactive beatdown plan. Just to clarify... why run smoke teller, jeskai windscout and 2 x force away in a deck that is anyway going to be slow? (bounce spells are notoriously bad when your plan is not to tempo out your opponent). I think i would rather play the 2 parapet archers (great blockers that double as finishers), and also the ponyback brigades you cut. Or, if you want to have a more aggressive plan, i would run less bombs and try to fit in the 2 alpine grizzlies.
Another potential problem is that i would run 18 lands and 3 embodiments of spring... i fear i could flood out too much, but maybe this is not a real problem if i want to play the long game.
1 Ainok Bond-Kin
1 Smite the Monstrous
1 Defiant Strike
1 watcher of the Roost
1 Jeering Instigator
1 Bring Low
1 Bloodfire Expert
1 Monastery Swiftspear
1 Tormenting Voice
1 War-Name Aspirant
1 Burn Away
1 Arc Lightning
1 Monastery Flock
1 Crippling Chill
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Jeskai Windscout
1 Cancel
1 Winterflame
1 Ride Down
2 Warden of the Eye
Yeah, that was just a rough sketchlist, it isn't meant to be the deck you play.
Because 'being slow' isn't actually a thing. What you actually want to do is 'be powerful', and the ramping cards and powerful bombs are definitely a part of that, but playing creatures in the intervening turns so that you don't die is also a big consideration. Limited decks are basically always going to be able curving out with creatures (barring exceptional things like Dampen Thoughts or Pack Rats). Your deck is no exception. You MUST have a curve, or the opponent will just beat you by playing a 2/1, then a 2/2, then a 3/3 on turns 2-4. That's hardly an exceptional draw on their part.
You're right, and it wouldn't be a mistake to run archers or ponies or even the alpines (although then I would be thinking hard about running a different deck).
Yes, that looks like a problem, but flooding out is much less of a problem in this format simply because morph provides it's own built in mana sink. My list has 5 'big' morphs, and if you add the ponies back in that total goes to 7. In addition, you have a Treasure Cruise to gas up with.
Yeah, that was just a rough sketchlist, it isn't meant to be the deck you play.
Because 'being slow' isn't actually a thing. What you actually want to do is 'be powerful', and the ramping cards and powerful bombs are definitely a part of that, but playing creatures in the intervening turns so that you don't die is also a big consideration. Limited decks are basically always going to be able curving out with creatures (barring exceptional things like Dampen Thoughts or Pack Rats). Your deck is no exception. You MUST have a curve, or the opponent will just beat you by playing a 2/1, then a 2/2, then a 3/3 on turns 2-4. That's hardly an exceptional draw on their part.
You could arguably cut the Smoke Teller. I just included it over a pony to go for 4 creatures that cost less than 3. Otherwise you risk drawing awkward hands with nothing to do before you play a morph.
You could easily cut the smoke teller and Armament Forces for double Ponyback Brigade.
You're right, and it wouldn't be a mistake to run archers or ponies or even the alpines (although then I would be thinking hard about running a different deck). I still think that it can be an amazing answer to green pump spells, and even just negating a big unmorph (when it would eat your blocker) can be an amazing play). Basically, i think that tempo is still a thing that matters.
Yes, that looks like a problem, but flooding out is much less of a problem in this format simply because morph provides it's own built in mana sink. My list has 5 'big' morphs, and if you add the ponies back in that total goes to 7. In addition, you have a Treasure Cruise to gas up with.
if i were to run all the "aggressive" 2 drops and bounce spells, i would add also the grizzlies and the deck would basically be temur tempo. I will post my final build when i have some more time so that you can tell me if it's at least reasonable
Your deck already has the ability to block without taking damage (Embodiment of Spring) so having the option to trade or even attack back is kinda nice.
If i focus too much on on walls/defending maybe i could also play that villainous wealth as a finisher rather than technique... but i will start with the setting you suggested at first and see how it goes.
Please note that it's perfectly fine to play it on turn 2 and then use it to block morphs for the next few turns while you play morphs of your own. And you can block/sac it in their combat step.