I opened my pool at a sealed GPT for GP Atlanta. I ended up running a RG midrange deck that I thought underperformed (2-3) mostly due to some pretty bad misplays. Is there an aggressive GW humans deck here with low drops and Heron's Grace Champion that is better? Did I mess up building my RG deck?
(emerge creatures are listed under their emerge color)
Crossroad Consectator is generally not a great card, but I think he's actually good in this deck which is all about just steamrolling your opponent with a super-aggressive curve backed by reasonable removal and tricks and everything is Human. I still cut one just because you have better and you don't want to tie up your mana too much holding for that effect. The hardest cut for me was actually figuring out which 4-drops to leave out. I like them all. Ultimately I decided the Survivalists was doing the least, but reasonable minds can differ there. It's possible he's better than the Faithbearer Paladin, though I like the Paladin just as another way to flip the Lone Rider. Not two Paladins though. I'm also not even sure it's right to not play the second Cathar over another 4 drop. It would make the curve even prettier, but your 4-drops are so good.
Your G/R deck isn't terrible. But I think it looks slow with almost too much top end.
Your curve is:
1: SSSS
2: CCSS
3: CCC
4: CCCCC
5: CCCS
6: CC (counting the emerge guy as essentially a 6-drop)
Ambush Krotiq makes me laugh so much. I keep rereading the card and it keeps not having Flash. In what sense is this an ambush again? I just have visions of this huge Krotiq poorly concealed in some bushes, feeling slightly sad that his carefully planned ambushes never seem to work.
I can't see myself playing anything but green/white with this pool.
Though I wouldn't go out of my way to try and make lone rider flip. Cultist's staff should be in the deck. And both copies of steadfast cathar and faith bearer paladin should be played
Yeah, the GW deck feels a lot more cohesive than the RG deck. Using Axelrod's suggestions as a base, I would do something like:
-1 Extricator of Sin
-1 Fiend Binder
+1 Steadfast Cathar
+1 Backwoods Survivalists
I think it's important to think of Sigardian Priest as a spell and not a creature (since it's body is worthless and you're playing it to tap stuff down, which is basically a spell), which means that you only have 3 2 drop creatures, which is low for a deck that wants to be relatively aggressive. Extricator of Sin is pretty terrible in non-delerium decks and bad in aggro, and this deck is both! Between Fiend Binder and the Survivalists, I think the deck values the extra power and health a lot more than the ability to tap down their guy. Fiend Binder is just a lot worse if you aren't winning, whereas the survivalists is generally more consistent and works better at surviving with a combat trick, or prey uponing people to death.
One final suggestion that I'm not sure about - Cultist's Staff over Blessed Alliance. The alliance has been immensely underwhelming in decks that want to be remotely aggressive, and this deck is very aggressive. The staff gives you a way to make your random dorks relevant late game, and is also an enabler for the lone rider in a way.
Those builds definitely feel stronger than my RG list. I like having two steadfast cathar, and I agree that extricator of sin feels mediocre. I felt like the four drop slot was closely contested. The curve is pretty low, so it felt like geist fueled scarecrow could be strong in the 4 slot even though it's a non-human, because it's so big.
I had discounted faithbearer paladin, but it has some nice synergies here.
@Northern Polarity: I'd put Fiend Binder sooner than the staff. Spending 4 mana to add 3 power to your board is more aggressive than spending 5 to add 2... I know it's much more complex than that, but without many fliers to carry the staff and with the promise of some dream curves beating through only one blocker here I feel like the Binder is better.
Spending both turns 2 and 3 adding stats to a 1 drop counts as missing curve, to me, more so than drawing the Fiend Binder and missing either the turn 2 or turn 3 drop.
@Northern Polarity: I'd put Fiend Binder sooner than the staff. Spending 4 mana to add 3 power to your board is more aggressive than spending 5 to add 2... I know it's much more complex than that, but without many fliers to carry the staff and with the promise of some dream curves beating through only one blocker here I feel like the Binder is better.
Spending both turns 2 and 3 adding stats to a 1 drop counts as missing curve, to me, more so than drawing the Fiend Binder and missing either the turn 2 or turn 3 drop.
I see Cultist's Staff more as something to do turn 5+ once your early creatures start to get outscaled. The deck doesn't have too many 5+ drops, so it seems like there's room to fit a staff on a Steadfast Cathar turn 5 or something - Think True Faith Censer in SoI. Granted, the best case for Fiend Binder is way better, but at the same time, the staff seems slightly more consistent. In either case, I'm guessing Blessed Alliance is still the better card, even though it's not great in this type of deck.
Yeah, the GW deck feels a lot more cohesive than the RG deck. Using Axelrod's suggestions as a base, I would do something like:
-1 Extricator of Sin
-1 Fiend Binder
+1 Steadfast Cathar
+1 Backwoods Survivalists
I think it's important to think of Sigardian Priest as a spell and not a creature (since it's body is worthless and you're playing it to tap stuff down, which is basically a spell), which means that you only have 3 2 drop creatures, which is low for a deck that wants to be relatively aggressive. Extricator of Sin is pretty terrible in non-delerium decks and bad in aggro, and this deck is both! Between Fiend Binder and the Survivalists, I think the deck values the extra power and health a lot more than the ability to tap down their guy. Fiend Binder is just a lot worse if you aren't winning, whereas the survivalists is generally more consistent and works better at surviving with a combat trick, or prey uponing people to death.
One final suggestion that I'm not sure about - Cultist's Staff over Blessed Alliance. The alliance has been immensely underwhelming in decks that want to be remotely aggressive, and this deck is very aggressive. The staff gives you a way to make your random dorks relevant late game, and is also an enabler for the lone rider in a way.
Blessed alliance is almost always good in sealed. Even if your deck is agressive, you can't garantee that you'll be the aggressor all the time. An agressive deck uses BA to be able to stay on the offensive while covering themselves, since you can untap two creatures to block out of nowhere, on top of remivong an attaker. Most decks trying to race you can't recover from that. I can't see any reason you wouldn't want to include it.
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(emerge creatures are listed under their emerge color)
1 Chaplain's Blessing
1 Strength of Arms
1 Thraben Standard Bearer
1 Thraben Inspector
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Lone Rider
1 Sigardan Priest
2 Steadfast Cathar
1 Unruly Mob
1 Angelic Purge
1 Drogskol Shieldmate
1 Extricator of Sin
1 Pious Evangel
1 Fiend Binder
1 Tenacity
2 Faithbearer Paladin
1 Subjugator Angel
Blue
1 Mausoleum Wanderer
1 Spontaneous Mutation
1 Contingency Plan
1 Take Inventory
1 Unsubstantiate
1 Vessel of Paramnesia
1 Chilling Grasp
1 Niblis of Dusk
1 Niblis of Frost
1 Enlightened Maniac
1 Docent of Perfection
1 Wretched Griff
1 Strange Augmentation
4 Cemetery Recruitment
1 Graf Rats
1 Macabre Waltz
1 Olivia's Dragoon
1 Alms of the Vein
1 Behind the Scenes
1 Stallion of Ashmouth
1 From Under the Floorboards
1 Abundant Maw
Red
2 Bold Impaler
2 Galvanic Bombardment
1 Otherworldly Outburst
1 Deranged Whelp
1 Ember-Eye Wolf
1 Falkenrath Reaver
1 Furyblade Vampire
1 Thermo-Alchemist
1 Brazen Wolves
1 Ulrich's Kindred
1 Mad Prophet
1 Pyre Hound
1 Reduce to Ashes
1 Vildin-Pack Outcast
1 Assembled Alphas
1 Confront the Unknown
2 Crossroads Consecrator
1 Prey Upon
1 Primal Druid
1 Rabid Bite
1 Veteran Cathar
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Backwoods Survivalists
1 Equestrian Skill
1 Intrepid Provisioner
1 Might Beyond Reason
1 Solitary Hunter
1 Swift Spinner
1 Cult of the Waxing Moon
1 Somberwald Stag
1 Mockery of Nature
Multicolor
1 Heron's Grace Champion
Artifact
1 Cultist's Staff
2 Field Creeper
1 Geist-Fueled Scarecrow
Land
1 Nephalia Academy
1 Deranged Whelp
1 Veteran Cathar
1 Brazen Wolves
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Ulrich's Kindred
1 Backwoods Survivalists
1 Geist-Fueled Scarecrow
1 Intrepid Provisioner
1 Mad Prophet
1 Solitary Hunter
1 Cult of the Waxing Moon
1 Somberwald Stag
1 Vildin-Pack Outcast
1 Assembled Alphas
1 Mockery of Nature
2 Galvanic Bombardment
1 Confront the Unknown
1 Prey Upon
Sorcery
1 Reduce to Ashes
1 Rabid Bite
Equipment
1 Cultist's Staff
Lands
9 Forest
9 Mountain
1 Thraben Inspector
1 Lone Rider
1 Sigardan Priest
1 Steadfast Cathar
1 Veteran Cathar
1 Drogskol Shieldmate
1 Extricator of Sin
1 Pious Evangel
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Fiend Binder
1 Heron's Grace Champion
1 Intrepid Provisioner
1 Solitary Hunter
1 Faithbearer Paladin
1 Somberwald Stag
1 Subjugator Angel
1 Strength of Arms
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Rabid Bite
1 Angelic Purge
1 Tenacity
Curve:
1: CCSS
2: CCCCSS
3: CCCCS
4: CCCCS
5: CC
6: C
Crossroad Consectator is generally not a great card, but I think he's actually good in this deck which is all about just steamrolling your opponent with a super-aggressive curve backed by reasonable removal and tricks and everything is Human. I still cut one just because you have better and you don't want to tie up your mana too much holding for that effect. The hardest cut for me was actually figuring out which 4-drops to leave out. I like them all. Ultimately I decided the Survivalists was doing the least, but reasonable minds can differ there. It's possible he's better than the Faithbearer Paladin, though I like the Paladin just as another way to flip the Lone Rider. Not two Paladins though. I'm also not even sure it's right to not play the second Cathar over another 4 drop. It would make the curve even prettier, but your 4-drops are so good.
Your G/R deck isn't terrible. But I think it looks slow with almost too much top end.
Your curve is:
1: SSSS
2: CCSS
3: CCC
4: CCCCC
5: CCCS
6: CC (counting the emerge guy as essentially a 6-drop)
This is going to lead to some awkward draws.
Though I wouldn't go out of my way to try and make lone rider flip. Cultist's staff should be in the deck. And both copies of steadfast cathar and faith bearer paladin should be played
-1 Extricator of Sin
-1 Fiend Binder
+1 Steadfast Cathar
+1 Backwoods Survivalists
I think it's important to think of Sigardian Priest as a spell and not a creature (since it's body is worthless and you're playing it to tap stuff down, which is basically a spell), which means that you only have 3 2 drop creatures, which is low for a deck that wants to be relatively aggressive. Extricator of Sin is pretty terrible in non-delerium decks and bad in aggro, and this deck is both! Between Fiend Binder and the Survivalists, I think the deck values the extra power and health a lot more than the ability to tap down their guy. Fiend Binder is just a lot worse if you aren't winning, whereas the survivalists is generally more consistent and works better at surviving with a combat trick, or prey uponing people to death.
One final suggestion that I'm not sure about - Cultist's Staff over Blessed Alliance. The alliance has been immensely underwhelming in decks that want to be remotely aggressive, and this deck is very aggressive. The staff gives you a way to make your random dorks relevant late game, and is also an enabler for the lone rider in a way.
I had discounted faithbearer paladin, but it has some nice synergies here.
Spending both turns 2 and 3 adding stats to a 1 drop counts as missing curve, to me, more so than drawing the Fiend Binder and missing either the turn 2 or turn 3 drop.
I see Cultist's Staff more as something to do turn 5+ once your early creatures start to get outscaled. The deck doesn't have too many 5+ drops, so it seems like there's room to fit a staff on a Steadfast Cathar turn 5 or something - Think True Faith Censer in SoI. Granted, the best case for Fiend Binder is way better, but at the same time, the staff seems slightly more consistent. In either case, I'm guessing Blessed Alliance is still the better card, even though it's not great in this type of deck.
Blessed alliance is almost always good in sealed. Even if your deck is agressive, you can't garantee that you'll be the aggressor all the time. An agressive deck uses BA to be able to stay on the offensive while covering themselves, since you can untap two creatures to block out of nowhere, on top of remivong an attaker. Most decks trying to race you can't recover from that. I can't see any reason you wouldn't want to include it.