Ramosgay - You're right that Gideon does not help us against our weaknesses, but he certainly plays to our strengths. His status as a curve-topper puts him in direct competition with CoCo. The latter is far superior in my kind of build. I rely on my 27 available creatures to flood the board, and that number reduces the chances of a whiff from CoCo.
However, I don't think any new Battle allies operate on the +1/+1 counter mechanic that I'm exploiting. A list that runs a conservative 20 allies alongside 4 Gideonswill leave plenty of room (up to 13 slots) for protection spells and fog effects.
I think he would wreck in a build featuring Lantern Scouts, Kabira Evangels and other allies that don't depend on the type of level-up counter increase that I have built. We all know that a playset of Gideon is virtually required, as you can cash out a current Gideon for an indestructable anthem anytime, then drop a second and immediately get a free trigger for the army. He's a great tool if anyone is trying to morph this aggro deck into a midrage staple.
I'm currently playing this list. Contemplating to swap out 4x Aether vials for 3 Path to exiles and 1 more hardened scales. But at the moment, this list seems viable.
In the second and third games ours Colected Company are being diluited due to we introduce a lot of non creature spells, I think we have to make a SB with some hatebears.
If you read my post earlier in the thread you will see that I already posted a list of sideboard cards that consist mostly of hatebears
Stellar logic. All decks that will ever be tier 1 or 2 have already been discovered. Might as well lock up the forum here and stop brewing everyone. Format solved.
Can someone weigh in on this? I'm kinda starting from scratch. I also wonder if Harabaz Druid is worth including? The card seems like it can get extra silly with Expedition Envoy (turn 3 CoCo with Cloudshift backup)
I'm building the naya version with CoCo and Vials and i'm stuggling in deciding if including Envoy or not as I believe I would rather have a certain amount of kor bladewhirl and Lantern scout in the main deck.
What do you think of having Gideon in the sideboard for example against attrition matchups like BGx? I'm usued to playing merfolk and we constantly side out vials against these kind of decks in favour of getting more theats in each of our draws due to their high removal count.
The Envoy is generally considered decent as its a one mana ally, and a very cheap enabler. Gideon is something people are on the fence about. I think he'd be decent side but he needs to be tested.
My big thing is recovering from a wipe of some sort, what would you guys think of lead the stamped? Green is a support color as it is, only really here for CoCo. Another card draw would be decent and if you hit a few allies they all go to your hand.
Some lists go for the CoCo + Hardened scales variant or Coco+vial, I think builds with Aether vial are more viable for Lead the stampede as it benefits from the refill of allies to flash into the battlefield, the problem is that if that's the case then you would have to trim CoCo to maintain the creature count. Now the question is, would you rather have CoCo or lead the stampede?
It's not a bad idea, you should test it out and compare to the results. I'd like to hear it.
If wipes are the problem depending on the colors you're on you can always side in boros charm, inspiring call or similar cards.
Some lists go for the CoCo + Hardened scales variant or Coco+vial, I think builds with Aether vial are more viable for Lead the stampede as it benefits from the refill of allies to flash into the battlefield, the problem is that if that's the case then you would have to trim CoCo to maintain the creature count. Now the question is, would you rather have CoCo or lead the stampede?
It's not a bad idea, you should test it out and compare to the results. I'd like to hear it.
If wipes are the problem depending on the colors you're on you can always side in boros charm, inspiring call or similar cards.
IMO Coco is superior to lead the stampede. It's an instant, it's a 2 for 1 and also triggers ETB abilities. If you don't have an active vial, lead the stampede is really bad, while company works on its own.
I've been playing ally builds with a varying mix of Coco, aether vial, and hardened scales for a little while now. I don't think lead the stampede is where we want to be. It's mostly viable in elf decks because they can generate immediate value or combo off by throwing a bunch of dorky 1-drops into play with Heritage Druid and Nettle Sentinel. The only way we'll be able to dump our hand after a Lead the Stampede is with an already full board and Harabaz, or a field full of vials with counters.
I also don't think Collected Company's instant speed should ever be undervalued. A sorcery speed way to cheat our dudes in takes away a lot of the power of Kabira Evangel and Kor Bladewhirl. Lead the Stampede is probably playable, but Collected Company is the more powerful card for what Allies is trying to do.
Is Inspiring Call good enough for the mainboard? It can function as an engine with enough +1/+1 creatures (an arguably better one than Lead the Stampede) and has the added bonus of the Boros Charm effect.
Inspiring Call could have some legs but also seems pretty win-more. The nuts is draw 7 and blow out combat. On an average play it draws two cards. The low side would be having an effective cmc 4-5 draw a card, which is weak.
I looked at your deck list. You could try trimming a Path and/or a Cloudshift to test a few Calls. I don't think you want to trim any creatures from your pile which restricts the flex slots to Path and Cloudshift.
I was thinking maybe -1 Lantern Scout and -1 Kor Bladwhirl or -2 Kor Bladewhirl. Thoughts?
Although I see Drana a bit overcosted for what it can do in modern, in case you want to squeeze in your deck, taking out other 3-drops would be best so you're not upping the curve. That said 3 bladewhil might be too many and you can always take out scout if your meta is not that aggresive.
I played today again an Abzan Ally deck. It made a 3-1, playing agains Melira (won), Burn (lost), RG landfall (won) and merfolks (won very, very easily).
Kalastria healer it's a great card, making a gap with every ally entering the battlefield, gives you a lot of sustain. Later I'll post the decklist to let you know what I was playing!
I'm still thinking for some sideboard improvements, so, if someone knows something, I'll receive it with gratitude.
Also, was thinking of adding Lantern scout or Ondu cleric, Mark of asylum and/or Ghostway. What are your thoughts about it?
Had a random modern fire off today at the shop that just opened here in town and I took the list I just posted. I fought a mill deck and went 2-0, Tron and went 0-2, and twin and went 2-1. ended up getting second. Main issues with the Tron matches were he either got a turn 3 tron or I got land screwed. With Twin, I didn't see the combo at all. He had it last game but didn't have the mana for it. I really feel like if we get ONE good ally from this next set we're golden.
I think you are missing 4 slots in the maindeck. But regarding de 4 color list, i've seen one that uses black for Drana, liberator of malakir. I don't know how much we can relay on kalastria healer, as the mana base hurts us a lot the lifegain is sweet but I think we have better sources of lifegain in ondu cleric and lantern scout. The reach provided can be useful though.
I am sorry about missing things. I would say add a Forest and 1 Gideon and 2 Ondu Cleric main board and you can replace the 2 Ondu Cleric in the side with Gideons or something else you may prefer like Abrupt Decay.
@Worldsaverinc Actually you are missing 4 kabira evangel. One of the core cards of these decks.
@Rakthen Thanks for the mini report! I see you don't run any removal in the main board, how often do you find that you can race combo decks before dying? I would like to know what do you run in your sideboard as well if you may.
I'll admit, I don't like decks without SOME sort of spells. Either a Path or a D.command would make me feel a lot better but I'm no sure where I'd put them in. That being said, it was only my first time playing it.
For now, I've taken out one Lantern scout and one kor bladewhirl for 2 D.Commands, Hopefully it'll work like I want it to. As far as side board goes,
Inspiring Call could have some legs but also seems pretty win-more. The nuts is draw 7 and blow out combat. On an average play it draws two cards. The low side would be having an effective cmc 4-5 draw a card, which is weak.
I looked at your deck list. You could try trimming a Path and/or a Cloudshift to test a few Calls. I don't think you want to trim any creatures from your pile which restricts the flex slots to Path and Cloudshift.
I have actually tried very little, as this deck only exists theoretically for me and I haven't had time to play tournaments. I'm trying to establish a well-rounded (budget) list on paper before I try playing FNM. What are the merits of a single Falconer?
Falcolner beats out aggro and lingering souls/PKN. He's better if you're running a few champion of the parish. It'll give you some more targets for falconer, and Champ has nice synergy with the allies and thalia. You don't really need interaction with this deck game 1. As long as you're casting stuff on curve you should be winning by turn 4; the exception is against grixis/bgx, which is why return to ranks is there, to swing the game for the win. It's kind of helpful to think of the Naya deck sort of like a creature based Zoo deck with a slight tempo loss in vial. The vial helps you protect your creatures, but it's otherwise card disadvantage. I found the difference between hardened scales and vial to be insignificant (the damage scales out about the same with the counter growth because you essentially miss an attack), so I'd say hardened scales is an OK budget option over vial next to maybe some cloudshifts. I'm considering trying a version that drops vials, and fits in 4 Bolts, 3 Path and 1 Boros (or return to ranks, and 4 CoCo. I think the extra reach might swing some percentages; grindy decks often can slow allies down and stabilize with about 3 life, and fast aggro decks can either go wider/faster for the win, so we can clear up the ground and keep swinging. I've been on Twin, GrixCtrl and DnT competitively lately, but I'll do some more testing here in a couple weeks. I like this deck and think it has potential as an aggressive linear strategy. I'd be willing to claim it's as good as merfolk, just in a different way.
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However, I don't think any new Battle allies operate on the +1/+1 counter mechanic that I'm exploiting. A list that runs a conservative 20 allies alongside 4 Gideonswill leave plenty of room (up to 13 slots) for protection spells and fog effects.
I think he would wreck in a build featuring Lantern Scouts, Kabira Evangels and other allies that don't depend on the type of level-up counter increase that I have built. We all know that a playset of Gideon is virtually required, as you can cash out a current Gideon for an indestructable anthem anytime, then drop a second and immediately get a free trigger for the army. He's a great tool if anyone is trying to morph this aggro deck into a midrage staple.
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Mook's Frontier Atarka Red Primer!
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4x Ally Encampment
1x Arid Mesa
4x Cavern of Souls
1x Forest
1x Godless Shrine
2x Plains
1x Reflecting Pool
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
3x Windswept Heath
Sorcery (1)
1x Tezzeret's Gambit
1x Abzan Falconer
4x Akoum Battlesinger
2x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
4x Hada Freeblade
2x Harabaz Druid
4x Kabira Evangel
4x Kazandu Blademaster
2x Kor Bladewhirl
2x Lantern Scout
3x Oran-Rief Survivalist
Instant (4)
4x Collected Company
Enchantment (3)
3x Hardened Scales
4x AEther Vial
1x Firemantle Mage
2x Kataki, War's Wage
2x Nature's Claim
2x Ondu Cleric
2x Return to the Ranks
2x Spellskite
1x Stony Silence
3x Suppression Field
I'm currently playing this list. Contemplating to swap out 4x Aether vials for 3 Path to exiles and 1 more hardened scales. But at the moment, this list seems viable.
RIP: GWU Midrange (2012-2013) | GWR Ally (2014-2016)
If you read my post earlier in the thread you will see that I already posted a list of sideboard cards that consist mostly of hatebears
4 Akoum Battlesinger
4 Hada Freeblade
4 Kazandu Blademaster
4 Kabira Evangel
4 Oran-Rief Survivalist
3 Taurean Mauler
4 Expedition Envoy
4 Collected Company
3 Cloudshift
4 Path to Exile
Land (22)
4 Ally Encampment
4 Forest
7 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
4 Windswept Heath
I'm building the naya version with CoCo and Vials and i'm stuggling in deciding if including Envoy or not as I believe I would rather have a certain amount of kor bladewhirl and Lantern scout in the main deck.
What do you think of having Gideon in the sideboard for example against attrition matchups like BGx? I'm usued to playing merfolk and we constantly side out vials against these kind of decks in favour of getting more theats in each of our draws due to their high removal count.
My big thing is recovering from a wipe of some sort, what would you guys think of lead the stamped? Green is a support color as it is, only really here for CoCo. Another card draw would be decent and if you hit a few allies they all go to your hand.
Some lists go for the CoCo + Hardened scales variant or Coco+vial, I think builds with Aether vial are more viable for Lead the stampede as it benefits from the refill of allies to flash into the battlefield, the problem is that if that's the case then you would have to trim CoCo to maintain the creature count. Now the question is, would you rather have CoCo or lead the stampede?
It's not a bad idea, you should test it out and compare to the results. I'd like to hear it.
If wipes are the problem depending on the colors you're on you can always side in boros charm, inspiring call or similar cards.
IMO Coco is superior to lead the stampede. It's an instant, it's a 2 for 1 and also triggers ETB abilities. If you don't have an active vial, lead the stampede is really bad, while company works on its own.
I also don't think Collected Company's instant speed should ever be undervalued. A sorcery speed way to cheat our dudes in takes away a lot of the power of Kabira Evangel and Kor Bladewhirl. Lead the Stampede is probably playable, but Collected Company is the more powerful card for what Allies is trying to do.
Fish
0 Affinity 0
Blue Moon
I looked at your deck list. You could try trimming a Path and/or a Cloudshift to test a few Calls. I don't think you want to trim any creatures from your pile which restricts the flex slots to Path and Cloudshift.
Have you tried a singleton Abzan Falconer
Fish
0 Affinity 0
Blue Moon
4 Akoum Battlesinger
4 Hada Freeblade
4 Kazandu Blademaster
4 Kabira Evangel
4 Oran-Rief Survivalist
1 Firemantle Mage
4 Expedition Envoy
2 Lantern Scout
3 Kor Bladewhirl
4 Collected Company
4 Æther Vial
Land (22)
4 Ally Encampment
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
I was thinking maybe -1 Lantern Scout and -1 Kor Bladwhirl or -2 Kor Bladewhirl. Thoughts?
Although I see Drana a bit overcosted for what it can do in modern, in case you want to squeeze in your deck, taking out other 3-drops would be best so you're not upping the curve. That said 3 bladewhil might be too many and you can always take out scout if your meta is not that aggresive.
Kalastria healer it's a great card, making a gap with every ally entering the battlefield, gives you a lot of sustain. Later I'll post the decklist to let you know what I was playing!
4x Aether Vial
3x Harabaz Druid
4x Collected Company
2x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
4x Kalastria healer
1x Mirror entity
2x Makindi patrol
3x Kabira evangel
4x Hada freeblade
4x Kazandu blademaster
2x Path to exile
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3x Veteran warleader
3x Plains
3x Forest
2x Swamp
2x Reflecting pool
4x Ally encampment
1x Godless shrine
1x Overgrown tomb
1x Temple garden
1x Flooded strand
1x Bloodstained mire
1x Wooded foothills
1x Batterskull
1x Path to exile
2x Combust
3x Leyline of sanctity
2x Rest in peace
2x Return to the ranks
2x Kor firewalker
2x Stony silence
I'm still thinking for some sideboard improvements, so, if someone knows something, I'll receive it with gratitude.
Also, was thinking of adding Lantern scout or Ondu cleric, Mark of asylum and/or Ghostway. What are your thoughts about it?
4 Ally Encampment
4 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Temple Garden
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Stomping Ground
1 Plains
4 Aether Vial
4 Collected Company
Creatures
2 Spellskite
4 Hada Freeblade
4 Kazandu Blademaster
4 Kalestria Healer
2 Firemantle Mage
4 Expedition Envoy
2 Lantern Scout
4 Akoum Battlesinger
2 Kor Bladewhirl
3 Path of Exile
2 Spellskite
2 Ondu Cleric
1 Stony Silence
2 Chameleon Colossus
2 Return to the Ranks
2 Kataki's War Wage
I think you are missing 4 slots in the maindeck. But regarding de 4 color list, i've seen one that uses black for Drana, liberator of malakir. I don't know how much we can relay on kalastria healer, as the mana base hurts us a lot the lifegain is sweet but I think we have better sources of lifegain in ondu cleric and lantern scout. The reach provided can be useful though.
@Rakthen Thanks for the mini report! I see you don't run any removal in the main board, how often do you find that you can race combo decks before dying? I would like to know what do you run in your sideboard as well if you may.
For now, I've taken out one Lantern scout and one kor bladewhirl for 2 D.Commands, Hopefully it'll work like I want it to. As far as side board goes,
1 choke
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Stony Silence
2 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Ondu Cleric
2 Returne to the Ranks
2 Spellskite
3 Path to Exile
I have actually tried very little, as this deck only exists theoretically for me and I haven't had time to play tournaments. I'm trying to establish a well-rounded (budget) list on paper before I try playing FNM. What are the merits of a single Falconer?