I took a break from Cheerios for a bit to play affinity a little more but when I saw sigarda's aid spoiled, I knew I needed to play Cheerios again lol. It's more centered around the aid than paladin which is why some choices may seem weird:
Some choices:
4 aids: I want the t1 aid more in my build than most. I am ok with the downside of drawing two in a hand if I have either t1 aid into t2 paladin with protection from bolt; or t1 gavaleer t2 aid swing for a ton with the cheers.
Boots: I like the miser Swiftfoot boots for decks with terminate, decay, or path.
Cranial plating: because swinging with a plating'd gavaleer is obnoxious.
Glint hawk for early pressure if you don't have paladin or is removed, or can reflash a cheer in and equip
Sb'd basilisk collar and dispatch to measure up with Goyf
Theres a modern event at my lgs tomorrow and I will post results then. Any constructive advice is welcomed
I took a break from Cheerios for a bit to play affinity a little more but when I saw sigarda's aid spoiled, I knew I needed to play Cheerios again lol. It's more centered around the aid than paladin which is why some choices may seem weird:
Some choices:
4 aids: I want the t1 aid more in my build than most. I am ok with the downside of drawing two in a hand if I have either t1 aid into t2 paladin with protection from bolt; or t1 gavaleer t2 aid swing for a ton with the cheers.
Boots: I like the miser Swiftfoot boots for decks with terminate, decay, or path.
Cranial plating: because swinging with a plating'd gavaleer is obnoxious.
Glint hawk for early pressure if you don't have paladin or is removed, or can reflash a cheer in and equip
Sb'd basilisk collar and dispatch to measure up with Goyf
Theres a modern event at my lgs tomorrow and I will post results then. Any constructive advice is welcomed
I've been considering 4 Aid as well, but running 3. I'm looking forward to your feedback. I could see Plating being good on a hawk as well with a Paladin suited up with several equips.
I want to try out the Collar. I fired my boots because they were usually just too hard to cast at 2 mana, and I wanted another slot, but I could see playing the SB Collar since it's only one mana and giving a Gaveleer deathtouch is just silly, or maybe Boots for Terminate/Dismember/Path to Exile matchups.
I went 2-2 in a small Modern tourney tonight, almost going 3-1 but I drew horribly against Suicide Zoo and got blown out 2-0 in that match. It's past midnight now so to try to be somewhat brief what I want to talk about is the discipline needed in the Kiki Chord matchup. This was my last match of the night and I really had to hump to win it 2-1.
I won game 1 by Repealing his Bird of Paradise on his end step T4 and swinging in to put him on the defensive. He tells me afterward I die to Kiki T5 if I don't do that and I smile at him and say, "Oh? I just wanted to draw a card." I sided out the 4 Sigarda's Aid for 4 Silence. Game 2 I got a Mentor and 4 tokens going hell bent and he Path'd my Mentor and then dropped a couple of Voice of Resurgence and the board was very clogged. With 10 minutes left in the round I resigned game 2 so one of us could try to win the match.
In game 3 I kept 2 Silence, Goblin Gavaleer, Retract, Heath, Accorder's Shield & Paradise Mantle. T1 I crack the Heath for Foundry and play Gavaleer. T2 I draw another Paradise Mantle so I play one, equip it the Gavaleer and on his upkeep tap the Gavaleer to play Silence. He looks very annoyed. T3 I draw a Paladin and draw into bunch of gas but no Opal but I do get to make a land drop. Now let's flash forward to turns... Turn 0 I get a second Paladin in play and pass the turn tapped out. My end step he Chords for Kitaki and now on my next upkeep I have to pay 1 mana each for 5 equipments and 1 Opal, with four lands in play. I had made grave errors the prior turn, equipping everything to Gavaleer to swing with trample and getting him to sac a lot of his growing board, but I forgot to redistribute my equipment after attacking and I forgot to make a land drop. I have 3 Mantles but they are all still on the Gavaleer! I have 2 Gavaleers and 2 Paladins in play at this stage, so T2 of turns upkeep I tap 1 Gavaleer, tap my 4 lands and the Opal to save my artifacts, draw my card, play a land and move the 3 Mantles to the other 3 creatures, play a 3rd Paladin and pass the turn, telling him I will respond to his upkeep. He says, "You shouldn't have waited to cast Silence. On your end step I will attempt to resolve a Resto Angel." Then on his turn, turn 3 of turns, I cast Silence and he attacks me for 5 in the air with Resto and a Bird with a +1 counter putting me at 6 life. I untap on T4 much better equipped to pay for all of my artifacts and I have an Opal in reserve. I proceed to go off, Retracting twice and Grapeshot for 22. In response he sacs a Burrenten Forge Tender to prevent one damage, pulls some shenanigans with Scavenging Oozes to gain 4 life, where he will now got to -2, and then he attempts to Chord for 2 for Lone Missionary, which will gain him 4 life and allow him to live and kill me on T5. I had Muddle the Mixture and Mox Opal in my large hand of cards. I could not play Mox Opal in response but I had one land untapped and while I had stupidly equipped everything to a Palladin after the last Retract, I was able to tap him for Muddle and counter the Chord so that he didn't live and kill me with Kiki on T5.
EDIT: I just reread this and I had an untapped Gavaleer, so even if he resolves the Chord I just suit up the Gavaleer and attack for a zillion. It certainly seemed urgent to counter it at the time. Lol!
Whew!! Anyway I'm tired so hopefully that isn't completely incoherent. The point is that being disciplined when comboing off is so important. Slow things down. Yea, I can try to Grape Shot for the win now, but before I do that: Do I have equipments where I want them? Have I made a land drop yet? Is there any reason I should play an untapped Mox Opal now? (I often don't consider that because I'm greedy and I want the tapped Opal back on my next Retract, but all options should be considered.) Asking these questions before passing the turn will also save you some games. Also, against Kiki Chord, if you're close to the win and they have 4 lands in play be wary. I had two Silences in hand late game and in hindsight I wish I had played one at the end of my second main and another on the opponents upkeep. It's really hard to play around things in that matchup because there are seemingly endless permutations to what they can do.
Note: tonight I went with one Mentor and one Myth Realized and I had a Christmas game where I got them both going with a Paladin on board and drew into Mass Hysteria. Keeping track of storm count, Myth counters and Mentor tokens was hilarious and my good natured opponent really enjoyed what the deck can do.
My list changed from the list I posted by taking a hallowed fountain and it becoming a sacred foundry and in the board I turned the recalls into wear//tear, and the silences became 2 leonin elder.
Game 1: stalled out after a decent opener with the t1 aid. He didn't keep the most explosive hand. Ended up slowly trying to win with glint hawk which he tried to kill after swinging for 7 with a main phase goryo's vengeance bringing back borborygmos enraged, but I flashed in a net. I drew blanks though and later he drew the through the breach and killed me with worldspine wurm.
Game 2: had paladins but no aid and only one cheer. Turn 2 paladin pass. He passes back and I slam the 2nd and draw about 18 cards through a couple Hawks, play a Gaveleer and suit him up. After he passes back I play another Gaveleer boots him up and crack face
Game 3: turn 1 relic turn 2 aid Gaveleer which got axed. I have paladin but wanting to dodge another axe I pass. He plays engineered explosives for 2 and I flash in boots to bait the activation but he didn't bite. After him passing I draw an equip and play paladin and pass, which does bait the EE crack, but I chain 4 cards with paladin before letting him and the boots die. He has nothing in hand though so he goes ritual into hardcasting simian spirit guide. After a couple turns I draw a hawk and pick up a shield and equip end of his turn. I start swinging with a vigilant hawk. I top the grapeshot and start seeing if I have lethal in my hand if he doesn't have the nourishing shoal and worldspine. After seeing I do, I swing for 2 with hawk, then play the last equip in my hand, then recycle the 5 equips with my 2 retracts and then playing grapeshot for 16.
2-1, 1-0
Round 2: u/r delver
Game 1: he flips a delver t3 to my glint hawk. I play a paladin to bait the mana leak but he doesn't have it. Chain 5 cards which draws me a retract and a second paladin. I have the mana for both and he concedes.
Game 2: he had the perfect answers for my dudes and flipping a delver on a bolt is always a bad sign.
Game 3: kept a risky hand but I got rewarded, 2 lands Erayo and equips. I go land pass. He plays serum visions t1 and my eyes widen as far as they can go as I dump my hand into an Erayo flip holding a wear/tear and an extra equip. As soon as I passed and 2 other times during the duration of this game, he had to call a judge to see an interaction with erayo's essence, mainly if sudden shock gets countered, which it definitely does. I was laughing inside as he keeps calling the judge and that everyone watching the match is wondering what the hell is going on. He cast slip through space to make a swiftspear resolve. Then I rip forge-tender to wall the swiftspear. After wasting burn cards to resolve a delver and a smash to smithereens respectively, I rip a paladin and draw into aether grid to kill him to avoid having to find the grapeshot.
The best part of the night happens in the middle of rounds 2 and 3 when I'm having a cigarette, the judge comes up to me and just starts laughing about how entertaining that game 3 was. Fun times.
2-1, 2-0
Round 3: burn
Game 1: t1 swiftspear t2 swiftspear suspend rift bolt. Made short work of me here
Game 2: a lot closer although it was uphill the entire way. T1 aid t2 forge-tender into leonin elder to his double swiftspear and his goblin guide. He then rips eidolon of the great revel. I take 2 to play a second forge-tender but it's not enough since he draws another guide. Get 2 lands(lol) from guide triggers and have a swiftspear eat my elder and the forge-tenders eat the guide. I pass whiffing on anything relevant because of eidolon. He attacks putting me to 4. Whiff again so I pass. He rift bolts me to 1 and swing and I block 2 and give up a tender to not die to the open attacker. Drawing a paladin I know my only out is to sac the tender to negate eidolon. So I do that and I go 5 or 6 deep with the chains but it's not enough since I couldn't find a basic land, opal, or retract.
0-2, 2-1
Round 4: elves
Game 1: awkward hand I end up keeping a mull of 3 cheers Opal gavaleer and paladin. T1 dump into Opal and play gavaleer. He plays a mystic and passes. I rip a plains and play the paladin and draw an extra, whiffing on other equips, suit up gavaleer and beat face for 6. He plays spellskite and nettle sentinel. I draw another Gaveleer and play it swing with the first for 6, eating skite. Equip the second with one shield and pass. Plays archdruid and passes. I draw a third Gaveleer. Swing with the first 2 bringing him to 4. Play the third Gaveleer and grapeshot the elvish archdruid and he concedes.
Game 2: t1 sigarda's aid t2 paladin meets against t1 mystic t2 archdruid. I only have one equip so I go play it, glint hawk it, play it again, repeal it, and then replay it a third time. no other equips. I attempt to swing to try and get something started with paladin but he had 1 card being collected company and I got blown out, hitting a second archdruid. Never attacking with paladin again lol. Onto game 3
Game 3: had lands and equips so I mull to 6. No lands. Mull to 5. Double glint hawk 1 land equips I keep since going to 4 is suicidal imo. Play t1 hawk and t2 hawk bouncing the same equip. t1 mystic t2 mystic nettle sentinel. T3 archdruid and attacks. T4 ezuri kills me lol. Fun times.
All in all it was tons of fun to pilot this deck again, and except for one game(not even a full match) the whole night I never felt like I was out of a game. That being said, there's always the room for improvement. I might take out plating and maybe one aid. I don't like elder in this build since there's not as many equips. I'm not sure what to put in though, maybe silence.
Through the matches, Goblin Gaveleer was the real deal. Almost to the point where he may be my main win condition over paladin into grapeshot. Glint hawk was hit or miss. There were times it was absolutely amazing and others it was underwhelming. For now though, I will continue to advocate it. Out of the board, Erayo is a powerhouse. She stonewalls any controlling deck or decks that like to play multiple spells. Burrenton forge-tender is also great. It stops so much on the ground and it stops you from dying to random eidolon of the great revels, or random bolts to your paladin. I never got to play it, so for now I'll keep in basilisk collar. However, for decks that like to punish my life, the lifelink may be relevant. A funny sidenote, I almost always saw myself siding out repeal before any other card. Not trying to say it's not good because I can vouch that it's a great card, but it seemed to be the clunkiest card in most matchups, I found that funny now that I'm looking back. I'm looking forward to playing this a lot more in the future now
If you don't find Cranial Plating and Swiftfoot Boots performing, maybe put them in the sideboard for a Muddle and a Nox and goldfish and see if it seems more consistent.
I hear you on Repeal. I have 3 in my main deck right now, and the are the second thing I typically find myself wanting to side out after Sigarda's Aid, which I will always run main but I find isn't needed in matchups that don't run hate, like Suicide Zoo and Kiki Chord, both of which I faced tonight.
My list changed from the list I posted by taking a hallowed fountain and it becoming a sacred foundry and in the board I turned the recalls into wear//tear, and the silences became 2 leonin elder.
Game 1: stalled out after a decent opener with the t1 aid. He didn't keep the most explosive hand. Ended up slowly trying to win with glint hawk which he tried to kill after swinging for 7 with a main phase goryo's vengeance bringing back borborygmos enraged, but I flashed in a net. I drew blanks though and later he drew the through the breach and killed me with worldspine wurm.
Game 2: had paladins but no aid and only one cheer. Turn 2 paladin pass. He passes back and I slam the 2nd and draw about 18 cards through a couple Hawks, play a Gaveleer and suit him up. After he passes back I play another Gaveleer boots him up and crack face
Game 3: turn 1 relic turn 2 aid Gaveleer which got axed. I have paladin but wanting to dodge another axe I pass. He plays engineered explosives for 2 and I flash in boots to bait the activation but he didn't bite. After him passing I draw an equip and play paladin and pass, which does bait the EE crack, but I chain 4 cards with paladin before letting him and the boots die. He has nothing in hand though so he goes ritual into hardcasting simian spirit guide. After a couple turns I draw a hawk and pick up a shield and equip end of his turn. I start swinging with a vigilant hawk. I top the grapeshot and start seeing if I have lethal in my hand if he doesn't have the nourishing shoal and worldspine. After seeing I do, I swing for 2 with hawk, then play the last equip in my hand, then recycle the 5 equips with my 2 retracts and then playing grapeshot for 16.
2-1, 1-0
Round 2: u/r delver
Game 1: he flips a delver t3 to my glint hawk. I play a paladin to bait the mana leak but he doesn't have it. Chain 5 cards which draws me a retract and a second paladin. I have the mana for both and he concedes.
Game 2: he had the perfect answers for my dudes and flipping a delver on a bolt is always a bad sign.
Game 3: kept a risky hand but I got rewarded, 2 lands Erayo and equips. I go land pass. He plays serum visions t1 and my eyes widen as far as they can go as I dump my hand into an Erayo flip holding a wear/tear and an extra equip. As soon as I passed and 2 other times during the duration of this game, he had to call a judge to see an interaction with erayo's essence, mainly if sudden shock gets countered, which it definitely does. I was laughing inside as he keeps calling the judge and that everyone watching the match is wondering what the hell is going on. He cast slip through space to make a swiftspear resolve. Then I rip forge-tender to wall the swiftspear. After wasting burn cards to resolve a delver and a smash to smithereens respectively, I rip a paladin and draw into aether grid to kill him to avoid having to find the grapeshot.
The best part of the night happens in the middle of rounds 2 and 3 when I'm having a cigarette, the judge comes up to me and just starts laughing about how entertaining that game 3 was. Fun times.
2-1, 2-0
Round 3: burn
Game 1: t1 swiftspear t2 swiftspear suspend rift bolt. Made short work of me here
Game 2: a lot closer although it was uphill the entire way. T1 aid t2 forge-tender into leonin elder to his double swiftspear and his goblin guide. He then rips eidolon of the great revel. I take 2 to play a second forge-tender but it's not enough since he draws another guide. Get 2 lands(lol) from guide triggers and have a swiftspear eat my elder and the forge-tenders eat the guide. I pass whiffing on anything relevant because of eidolon. He attacks putting me to 4. Whiff again so I pass. He rift bolts me to 1 and swing and I block 2 and give up a tender to not die to the open attacker. Drawing a paladin I know my only out is to sac the tender to negate eidolon. So I do that and I go 5 or 6 deep with the chains but it's not enough since I couldn't find a basic land, opal, or retract.
0-2, 2-1
Round 4: elves
Game 1: awkward hand I end up keeping a mull of 3 cheers Opal gavaleer and paladin. T1 dump into Opal and play gavaleer. He plays a mystic and passes. I rip a plains and play the paladin and draw an extra, whiffing on other equips, suit up gavaleer and beat face for 6. He plays spellskite and nettle sentinel. I draw another Gaveleer and play it swing with the first for 6, eating skite. Equip the second with one shield and pass. Plays archdruid and passes. I draw a third Gaveleer. Swing with the first 2 bringing him to 4. Play the third Gaveleer and grapeshot the elvish archdruid and he concedes.
Game 2: t1 sigarda's aid t2 paladin meets against t1 mystic t2 archdruid. I only have one equip so I go play it, glint hawk it, play it again, repeal it, and then replay it a third time. no other equips. I attempt to swing to try and get something started with paladin but he had 1 card being collected company and I got blown out, hitting a second archdruid. Never attacking with paladin again lol. Onto game 3
Game 3: had lands and equips so I mull to 6. No lands. Mull to 5. Double glint hawk 1 land equips I keep since going to 4 is suicidal imo. Play t1 hawk and t2 hawk bouncing the same equip. t1 mystic t2 mystic nettle sentinel. T3 archdruid and attacks. T4 ezuri kills me lol. Fun times.
All in all it was tons of fun to pilot this deck again, and except for one game(not even a full match) the whole night I never felt like I was out of a game. That being said, there's always the room for improvement. I might take out plating and maybe one aid. I don't like elder in this build since there's not as many equips. I'm not sure what to put in though, maybe silence.
Through the matches, Goblin Gaveleer was the real deal. Almost to the point where he may be my main win condition over paladin into grapeshot. Glint hawk was hit or miss. There were times it was absolutely amazing and others it was underwhelming. For now though, I will continue to advocate it. Out of the board, Erayo is a powerhouse. She stonewalls any controlling deck or decks that like to play multiple spells. Burrenton forge-tender is also great. It stops so much on the ground and it stops you from dying to random eidolon of the great revels, or random bolts to your paladin. I never got to play it, so for now I'll keep in basilisk collar. However, for decks that like to punish my life, the lifelink may be relevant. A funny sidenote, I almost always saw myself siding out repeal before any other card. Not trying to say it's not good because I can vouch that it's a great card, but it seemed to be the clunkiest card in most matchups, I found that funny now that I'm looking back. I'm looking forward to playing this a lot more in the future now
Your report is terrific. I need to improve in that area. Do you take a lot of notes while playing or is your memory just great?
I have a playset of LoS in my sideboard but have yet to face a matchup where I've used them...since I started running Sigarda's Anyway. I'll post my full list tomorrow.
Well it's a little of both honestly. I wrote down my report through the night on my phone but it's hard to forget some games when your opponent just goes "what does that do?" Every turn lol. I may test revival again in the future since it always was a good card for me. I'm on the fence about muddle, only because 3 mana, including UU, is hard to sometimes get to with only 13-15 lands. Ill look into fitting the boots in the board though. Thanks
I agree playing the 4th Goblin in correct, but what about the second Mentor? I'm only playing one right now, with two more in the board until I get Geists. I'm for sure finding room for a couple Forge Tenders in the board now though. I've actually been thinking of firing the Leylines, since I never seem to want them. Might play some Silence again. Maybe something like this?
Recently I have been looking for alternate win conditions in this deck since I've been dissatisfied with grapeshot or mass hysteria.
I discovered a combo using solely equipment with [Puresteel paladin][/Puresteel paladin] on the field which is assumed for you to draw through the deck.
The combo:
[Avacyn's Collar][/Avacyn's Collar] with [Mortarpod][/Mortarpod] and [Runed Stalactite][/Runed Stalactite]
Play mortarpod and then equip the stalactite and collar sac then equip everything to the spirit rinse and repeat for infinite damage.
Pros:
All combo pieces are equipment meaning they can be used to draw with paladin
Combo pieces can gain value without going infinite
Cons:
costs 4 mana to combo
Worse versus counterspells since all parts must be in play
I think this loop may make the deck slightly more consistent, but I only recently picked up the deck so I'm sure most of you are better with the deck than I am.
There are four more big Modern tourney's in my area in August, so I'm going put my energy back into Jeskai Nahiri to prepare to play in them. I'll be keeping up with the forum though and I'll certainly come back to Cheerios!
I might end up playing in a modern FNM tonight. Do you think it's worth playing the deck without Sigarda's Aid, or should I just play something else?
As for Relic, it's good against Gifts, Dredge, Bubble Hulk, 8 Rack, Nahiri, Living End, Melira-Pod, Tarmogoyf, and Goryo's Vengeance. Is it worth bringing in against those decks rather than trying to just beat them? I don't know. I previously had two RIPs in my board, but I think Relic is better, since it can draw a card and only costs 1 mana.
Smash, sigarda's aid is way too good not to play. It allows you to make your equipment pseudo-protection spells for your paladin or other creatures.
On another note, has anyone tried a build with stone haven outfitter? I feel a 2-of this may make it more resilient to hard removal spells, since if they rip the removal for the paladin, you're replacing the card. Just a thought for another route of action
Oh I'm sorry I misunderstood the question. Sigarda's aid is great for the deck, but the deck can be played without it. Just makes the deck go in a more combo direction without aid. With aid, the deck just gains value from your creatures being on board.
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4 flooded strand
2 windswept Heath
3 hallowed fountain
1 sacred foundry
1 cavern of souls
3 plains
Creatures:12
4 goblin Gaveleer
4 glint hawk
4 Puresteel paladin
Artifacts:22
4 Mox opal
4 cathar's shield
4 Accorder's shield
4 kite shield
4 Spidersilk net
1 Swiftfoot boots
1 cranial plating
4 retract
4 sigarda's aid
3 repeal
1 grapeshot
2 Hurkyl's recall
2 relic of progenitus
2 Erayo, Soratami ascendant
1 ghirapur aether grid
3 burrenton forge-tender
2 dispatch
1 basilisk collar
2 silence
Some choices:
4 aids: I want the t1 aid more in my build than most. I am ok with the downside of drawing two in a hand if I have either t1 aid into t2 paladin with protection from bolt; or t1 gavaleer t2 aid swing for a ton with the cheers.
Boots: I like the miser Swiftfoot boots for decks with terminate, decay, or path.
Cranial plating: because swinging with a plating'd gavaleer is obnoxious.
Glint hawk for early pressure if you don't have paladin or is removed, or can reflash a cheer in and equip
Sb'd basilisk collar and dispatch to measure up with Goyf
Theres a modern event at my lgs tomorrow and I will post results then. Any constructive advice is welcomed
I've been considering 4 Aid as well, but running 3. I'm looking forward to your feedback. I could see Plating being good on a hawk as well with a Paladin suited up with several equips.
I won game 1 by Repealing his Bird of Paradise on his end step T4 and swinging in to put him on the defensive. He tells me afterward I die to Kiki T5 if I don't do that and I smile at him and say, "Oh? I just wanted to draw a card." I sided out the 4 Sigarda's Aid for 4 Silence. Game 2 I got a Mentor and 4 tokens going hell bent and he Path'd my Mentor and then dropped a couple of Voice of Resurgence and the board was very clogged. With 10 minutes left in the round I resigned game 2 so one of us could try to win the match.
In game 3 I kept 2 Silence, Goblin Gavaleer, Retract, Heath, Accorder's Shield & Paradise Mantle. T1 I crack the Heath for Foundry and play Gavaleer. T2 I draw another Paradise Mantle so I play one, equip it the Gavaleer and on his upkeep tap the Gavaleer to play Silence. He looks very annoyed. T3 I draw a Paladin and draw into bunch of gas but no Opal but I do get to make a land drop. Now let's flash forward to turns... Turn 0 I get a second Paladin in play and pass the turn tapped out. My end step he Chords for Kitaki and now on my next upkeep I have to pay 1 mana each for 5 equipments and 1 Opal, with four lands in play. I had made grave errors the prior turn, equipping everything to Gavaleer to swing with trample and getting him to sac a lot of his growing board, but I forgot to redistribute my equipment after attacking and I forgot to make a land drop. I have 3 Mantles but they are all still on the Gavaleer! I have 2 Gavaleers and 2 Paladins in play at this stage, so T2 of turns upkeep I tap 1 Gavaleer, tap my 4 lands and the Opal to save my artifacts, draw my card, play a land and move the 3 Mantles to the other 3 creatures, play a 3rd Paladin and pass the turn, telling him I will respond to his upkeep. He says, "You shouldn't have waited to cast Silence. On your end step I will attempt to resolve a Resto Angel." Then on his turn, turn 3 of turns, I cast Silence and he attacks me for 5 in the air with Resto and a Bird with a +1 counter putting me at 6 life. I untap on T4 much better equipped to pay for all of my artifacts and I have an Opal in reserve. I proceed to go off, Retracting twice and Grapeshot for 22. In response he sacs a Burrenten Forge Tender to prevent one damage, pulls some shenanigans with Scavenging Oozes to gain 4 life, where he will now got to -2, and then he attempts to Chord for 2 for Lone Missionary, which will gain him 4 life and allow him to live and kill me on T5. I had Muddle the Mixture and Mox Opal in my large hand of cards. I could not play Mox Opal in response but I had one land untapped and while I had stupidly equipped everything to a Palladin after the last Retract, I was able to tap him for Muddle and counter the Chord so that he didn't live and kill me with Kiki on T5.
EDIT: I just reread this and I had an untapped Gavaleer, so even if he resolves the Chord I just suit up the Gavaleer and attack for a zillion. It certainly seemed urgent to counter it at the time. Lol!
Whew!! Anyway I'm tired so hopefully that isn't completely incoherent. The point is that being disciplined when comboing off is so important. Slow things down. Yea, I can try to Grape Shot for the win now, but before I do that: Do I have equipments where I want them? Have I made a land drop yet? Is there any reason I should play an untapped Mox Opal now? (I often don't consider that because I'm greedy and I want the tapped Opal back on my next Retract, but all options should be considered.) Asking these questions before passing the turn will also save you some games. Also, against Kiki Chord, if you're close to the win and they have 4 lands in play be wary. I had two Silences in hand late game and in hindsight I wish I had played one at the end of my second main and another on the opponents upkeep. It's really hard to play around things in that matchup because there are seemingly endless permutations to what they can do.
Note: tonight I went with one Mentor and one Myth Realized and I had a Christmas game where I got them both going with a Paladin on board and drew into Mass Hysteria. Keeping track of storm count, Myth counters and Mentor tokens was hilarious and my good natured opponent really enjoyed what the deck can do.
4 flooded strand
2 windswept Heath
2 hallowed fountain
2 sacred foundry
1 cavern of souls
3 plains
Artifacts:22
4 Mox Opal
4 Accorder's shield
4 kite shield
4 cathar's shield
4 Spidersilk net
1 cranial plating
1 Swiftfoot boots
4 goblin Gaveleer
4 Puresteel paladin
4 glint hawk
Other spells:12
4 retract
4 sigarda's aid
3 repeal
1 grapeshot
2 Erayo, Soratami ascendant
2 relic of progenitus
2 wear//tear
1 ghirapur aether grid
2 leonin elder
3 burrenton forge-tender
2 dispatch
1 basilisk collar
Round 1: goryo's vengeance
Game 1: stalled out after a decent opener with the t1 aid. He didn't keep the most explosive hand. Ended up slowly trying to win with glint hawk which he tried to kill after swinging for 7 with a main phase goryo's vengeance bringing back borborygmos enraged, but I flashed in a net. I drew blanks though and later he drew the through the breach and killed me with worldspine wurm.
Game 2: had paladins but no aid and only one cheer. Turn 2 paladin pass. He passes back and I slam the 2nd and draw about 18 cards through a couple Hawks, play a Gaveleer and suit him up. After he passes back I play another Gaveleer boots him up and crack face
Game 3: turn 1 relic turn 2 aid Gaveleer which got axed. I have paladin but wanting to dodge another axe I pass. He plays engineered explosives for 2 and I flash in boots to bait the activation but he didn't bite. After him passing I draw an equip and play paladin and pass, which does bait the EE crack, but I chain 4 cards with paladin before letting him and the boots die. He has nothing in hand though so he goes ritual into hardcasting simian spirit guide. After a couple turns I draw a hawk and pick up a shield and equip end of his turn. I start swinging with a vigilant hawk. I top the grapeshot and start seeing if I have lethal in my hand if he doesn't have the nourishing shoal and worldspine. After seeing I do, I swing for 2 with hawk, then play the last equip in my hand, then recycle the 5 equips with my 2 retracts and then playing grapeshot for 16.
2-1, 1-0
Round 2: u/r delver
Game 1: he flips a delver t3 to my glint hawk. I play a paladin to bait the mana leak but he doesn't have it. Chain 5 cards which draws me a retract and a second paladin. I have the mana for both and he concedes.
Game 2: he had the perfect answers for my dudes and flipping a delver on a bolt is always a bad sign.
Game 3: kept a risky hand but I got rewarded, 2 lands Erayo and equips. I go land pass. He plays serum visions t1 and my eyes widen as far as they can go as I dump my hand into an Erayo flip holding a wear/tear and an extra equip. As soon as I passed and 2 other times during the duration of this game, he had to call a judge to see an interaction with erayo's essence, mainly if sudden shock gets countered, which it definitely does. I was laughing inside as he keeps calling the judge and that everyone watching the match is wondering what the hell is going on. He cast slip through space to make a swiftspear resolve. Then I rip forge-tender to wall the swiftspear. After wasting burn cards to resolve a delver and a smash to smithereens respectively, I rip a paladin and draw into aether grid to kill him to avoid having to find the grapeshot.
The best part of the night happens in the middle of rounds 2 and 3 when I'm having a cigarette, the judge comes up to me and just starts laughing about how entertaining that game 3 was. Fun times.
2-1, 2-0
Round 3: burn
Game 1: t1 swiftspear t2 swiftspear suspend rift bolt. Made short work of me here
Game 2: a lot closer although it was uphill the entire way. T1 aid t2 forge-tender into leonin elder to his double swiftspear and his goblin guide. He then rips eidolon of the great revel. I take 2 to play a second forge-tender but it's not enough since he draws another guide. Get 2 lands(lol) from guide triggers and have a swiftspear eat my elder and the forge-tenders eat the guide. I pass whiffing on anything relevant because of eidolon. He attacks putting me to 4. Whiff again so I pass. He rift bolts me to 1 and swing and I block 2 and give up a tender to not die to the open attacker. Drawing a paladin I know my only out is to sac the tender to negate eidolon. So I do that and I go 5 or 6 deep with the chains but it's not enough since I couldn't find a basic land, opal, or retract.
0-2, 2-1
Round 4: elves
Game 1: awkward hand I end up keeping a mull of 3 cheers Opal gavaleer and paladin. T1 dump into Opal and play gavaleer. He plays a mystic and passes. I rip a plains and play the paladin and draw an extra, whiffing on other equips, suit up gavaleer and beat face for 6. He plays spellskite and nettle sentinel. I draw another Gaveleer and play it swing with the first for 6, eating skite. Equip the second with one shield and pass. Plays archdruid and passes. I draw a third Gaveleer. Swing with the first 2 bringing him to 4. Play the third Gaveleer and grapeshot the elvish archdruid and he concedes.
Game 2: t1 sigarda's aid t2 paladin meets against t1 mystic t2 archdruid. I only have one equip so I go play it, glint hawk it, play it again, repeal it, and then replay it a third time. no other equips. I attempt to swing to try and get something started with paladin but he had 1 card being collected company and I got blown out, hitting a second archdruid. Never attacking with paladin again lol. Onto game 3
Game 3: had lands and equips so I mull to 6. No lands. Mull to 5. Double glint hawk 1 land equips I keep since going to 4 is suicidal imo. Play t1 hawk and t2 hawk bouncing the same equip. t1 mystic t2 mystic nettle sentinel. T3 archdruid and attacks. T4 ezuri kills me lol. Fun times.
All in all it was tons of fun to pilot this deck again, and except for one game(not even a full match) the whole night I never felt like I was out of a game. That being said, there's always the room for improvement. I might take out plating and maybe one aid. I don't like elder in this build since there's not as many equips. I'm not sure what to put in though, maybe silence.
Through the matches, Goblin Gaveleer was the real deal. Almost to the point where he may be my main win condition over paladin into grapeshot. Glint hawk was hit or miss. There were times it was absolutely amazing and others it was underwhelming. For now though, I will continue to advocate it. Out of the board, Erayo is a powerhouse. She stonewalls any controlling deck or decks that like to play multiple spells. Burrenton forge-tender is also great. It stops so much on the ground and it stops you from dying to random eidolon of the great revels, or random bolts to your paladin. I never got to play it, so for now I'll keep in basilisk collar. However, for decks that like to punish my life, the lifelink may be relevant. A funny sidenote, I almost always saw myself siding out repeal before any other card. Not trying to say it's not good because I can vouch that it's a great card, but it seemed to be the clunkiest card in most matchups, I found that funny now that I'm looking back. I'm looking forward to playing this a lot more in the future now
I hear you on Repeal. I have 3 in my main deck right now, and the are the second thing I typically find myself wanting to side out after Sigarda's Aid, which I will always run main but I find isn't needed in matchups that don't run hate, like Suicide Zoo and Kiki Chord, both of which I faced tonight.
Your report is terrific. I need to improve in that area. Do you take a lot of notes while playing or is your memory just great?
I agree playing the 4th Goblin in correct, but what about the second Mentor? I'm only playing one right now, with two more in the board until I get Geists. I'm for sure finding room for a couple Forge Tenders in the board now though. I've actually been thinking of firing the Leylines, since I never seem to want them. Might play some Silence again. Maybe something like this?
2x Dispatch
2x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
2x Wear // Tear
1x Ghirapur Æther Grid
2x Silence
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Basilisk Collar
I discovered a combo using solely equipment with [Puresteel paladin][/Puresteel paladin] on the field which is assumed for you to draw through the deck.
The combo:
[Avacyn's Collar][/Avacyn's Collar] with [Mortarpod][/Mortarpod] and [Runed Stalactite][/Runed Stalactite]
Play mortarpod and then equip the stalactite and collar sac then equip everything to the spirit rinse and repeat for infinite damage.
Pros:
All combo pieces are equipment meaning they can be used to draw with paladin
Combo pieces can gain value without going infinite
Cons:
costs 4 mana to combo
Worse versus counterspells since all parts must be in play
I think this loop may make the deck slightly more consistent, but I only recently picked up the deck so I'm sure most of you are better with the deck than I am.
WUBRGCoco/Vial Slivers
WUBRGSlivers of the Void
Pioneer
WUBRGCoco Slivers
Legacy
WUBRGAll in Slivers
4 Puresteel Paladin
1 Monastery Mentor
1 Myth Realized
4 Goblin Gaveleer
Cheeri0s
4 Spidersilk Net
4 Paradise Mantle
4 Cathar's Shield
4 Accorder's Shield
2 Kite Shield
Sorceries
1 Grapeshot
Instants
1 Muddle the Mixture
4 Retract
2 Repeal
1 Noxious Revival
1 Mass Hysteria
4 Sigarda's Aid
Mana
4 Mox Opal
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Plains
2 Flooded Strand
4 Windswept Heath
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Repeal
4 Silence
3 Dispatch
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Wear/Tear
The sideboard isn't one I'd stick with but I said I would post what I played last night.
Just curious. Why the shift to geist of Saint traft in the board? Against jund?
As for Relic, it's good against Gifts, Dredge, Bubble Hulk, 8 Rack, Nahiri, Living End, Melira-Pod, Tarmogoyf, and Goryo's Vengeance. Is it worth bringing in against those decks rather than trying to just beat them? I don't know. I previously had two RIPs in my board, but I think Relic is better, since it can draw a card and only costs 1 mana.
On another note, has anyone tried a build with stone haven outfitter? I feel a 2-of this may make it more resilient to hard removal spells, since if they rip the removal for the paladin, you're replacing the card. Just a thought for another route of action