Since The Great Aurora was spoiled I have tried to find a way to break it. There has to be some way to abuse such a wonky unique ability. Originally I played with some Banishing Light my own Sphinx's Tutelage then Aurora drawing 20 cards. That was just to slow but I got to thinking about other ways an Aurora could win and the answer seemed simple: Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle. Valakut puts us in modern so I started brewing. I started with a list looking a bit like Scapeshift but I realized several differences needed to be noted. The Great Aurora cares deeply about number of cards so ramp spells like Sakura-Tribe Elder and Search for Tomorrow do not actually net you cards for the Aurora and are not desirable. Instead cards like Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, and Nissa's Pilgrimage net 1-2 cards and are much more desirable. Also, any card that doesn't gain you a permanent or put a card in your hand is a loss when Aurora-ing. So with these rules in mind I started testing.
This is the fastest version of the deck I could muster. It usually Aurora's on turn 5-6 and wins that turn or the turn after. 2 ramp spells a Rude Awakening and an Aurora lets you Aurora on turn 5 for 12-18 cards depending on how many Khalni Garden/Young Pyromancer's you played. The deck is designed to let you Aurora multiple times and in my experience, an Aurora for around 19-23 cards will allow you win on the spot or to immediately Aurora again, especially when you are able to float mana before an Aurora. Eternal Witness lets you recast any spell, this is mainly used to get back a Rude Awakening and untap but it can also be used for any card.
I don't yet have a sideboard but this deck needs a slower game to thrive so any way to slow your opponent. Blood Moon slows down many decks and, thanks to Aurora shuffling, does nothing to interrupt our Valakut win. Root Maze may also be used to punish fetch lands for a minimal investment. Most of the answers this deck would want to bring in from the board should be in the form of permanents. Some ideas I had include Spellskite, Damping Matrix, Reclamation Sage, Choke, Kitchen Finks, Creeping Corrosion, Guttural Response Torpor Orb, and Pithing Needle. I would also want the board to include more copies of Boseiju, Kher Keep, and/or Radiant Fountain for match-up where applicable.
I would love some feedback. Maybe the deck is just too slow. Maybe Blood Moon Should be in the main. Let me know what you think!
Wow! I actually think you just cracked the code for a budget Scapeshift! But that aside this is a very innovative deck. Have you taken it to any events yet? I'm dying know.
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I just finished getting all the cards I need so no events yet but I plan on taking them to the next modern event I can attend. From what I can tell and the games I have played, quick decks have been a problem. A quick hand for burn, infect, or affinity can be unwinnable. Slow grindy decks have been much better match-ups. Our ramp spells give us so much discard fodder for Liliana. Grixis control has no real targets for their removal and Kher Keep does a good job of keeping their small number of threats at bay. I've been happy with how resilient the deck has been. It's easy to forget that The Great Aurora is a board wipe and decks that fetch up lands have trouble recovering as well. People usually bring in Blood Moon and Fulminator Mage and the deck with 29 lands and basic land searching doesn't really care about either. I think Spellskite and/or Anger of the Gods out of the board sures up some of the decks worst match-ups. I hope to get tournament result here as soon as possible.
Keep whoever finds this thread posted! Have you ever considered the manlands? Yes, they do enter tapped, which is a huge drawback, but they also can be hit off of The Great Aurora. On a clear board, that can just mean GG and is great way to win if Valakut doesn't kill to them. It's worth testing to say the least. Maybe I'll proxy this up and see what we can't find. The deck looks incredibly fun to play!
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Lands entering tapped is a huge downside. The deck wants to be able to chain Auroras and tapped lands don't let that happen. If you want another incidental win-con entwined Rude Awakening is what you are looking for. I've ended games after just ramping 3-4 times then swinging in with 8 lands.
And if you do proxy it up and test it out please let me know your findings.
I'm definitely considering this as my next Modern deck! My only question is what's the deal with Empty the Warrens? Sure, it adds to our permanent count, but I feel like most of the time it's going to be 4 mana for 2 goblins, which just makes Hordeling Outburst better for our mana.
If you're ever able to cast an empty the warrens after 2+ spells, your next aurora will be lethal. Also, its nice to just go turn 5, Rude Awakening, Aurora, 1-2 random spells, then Empty for 8-10 goblins, you have a very short clock. That being said, I think it is one of the least important cards in the deck. I have been looking for ways to slow other decks down and every time I go it to make room, empty is the first card I take out.
Gotcha. I'm definitely underestimating how deep we can dig into our deck. You're not in colors that can slow your opponent down, so you just have to speed yourself up. Have you considered Summer Bloom? Seems like a no-brainer here. Alright, enough suggesting new cards, now I gotta see how much damage I can do!
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I've been playing around with putting some roadblocks in the main deck. I have found that spellskite is very good against a very large number of decks but the card I have actually really been liking is Courser of Kruphix. She gains us quite a bit of life, blocks well, but above all, gives us card advantage. It can also help when determining what to cast when. Also been trying a main deck Primeval Titan or two. Titan seems much better in game two when removal is taken out so I'll probably cut them in the main deck. I've also been thinking about Avenger of Zendikar as an alternate wincon. Not sure how I like it. Current iteration I've been working with:
This deck seems sick! I've always been thinking there's something broken that Riftsweeper could enable. Turns out chaining the green mythic is what I've been looking for. I will almost exclusively be testing this for modern on Xmage now.
Right now The Great Aurora is glitched so the lands don't enter untapped, so I haven't been able to have any real combo turns outside of when I can float a ridiculous amount beforehand (so I can hit awakening right after), which honestly has been fine-ish. Just annoying.
The fact that Aurora wraths is just so good. You get ahead on permanents from that usually, then you can play more and get even more ahead, or just awakening for lethal right there. Rude Awakening should totally give the lands haste :).
INITIAL THOUGHTS
I've been thinking that Explore is just the best card in the deck and that you probably want 4-of. I played back when ZEN/WWK was standard, and I was all-in on Landfall synergies, so I'm well aware of how the card performs. One of the problems it had was that you get tempted to take a line where you gamble on a land being your draw and whiff sometimes. Running 29 land I've found that almost never to be the case. If you really aren't hitting a land with this, you are just unlucky. Most times you just chain them together to ramp a few turns ahead. I really think it's far and away the best card in the deck.
Nissa's Pilgrimage hasn't impressed me too much, I might shave on that. Although casting it with spell mastery is pretty great, the lack of 1-2 mana instant/sorcery kind of infringes on that. The times that you go +2 from it seem few and far between enough that I'd like to test something else.
Magmatic Insight is a card I'm pretty interested in, although I'm concerned how it would affect our combo turns, since it bins a few lands. It might make us fast/consistent enough that it won't matter, and you are +0 from it, which might be the breaking point on running the card. You really want to be up on permanents/cards in hand and +0 in that regard (with a virtual minus concerning combo turns) may not be up to snuff. Maybe in a version that is more "all-in" and tries to be blisteringly fast at the expense of having worse combo turns?
Oracle of Mul Daya doesn't pass the bolt test, but could see play in a version that just tries to go over the top. I always remember how bad the card is when it's bad, but this deck might not care because of how fast it is.
WE REALLY NEED TO LIVE
As far as roadblocks go, I feel like there is a perfect card for us to test that I haven't thought of yet. I just KNOW something is right there, but I can't put my finger on it. Don't get me wrong, Courser of Kruphix is awesome, does everything you want it to, but she needs a friend for this deck to really get there. Sylvan Caryatid doesn't pass the card advantage test, but might save us enough life that she's worth it. She seems bad on combo turns though, Magmatic Insight problems all over again. That's a theme with me, I like cards that help you get there but don't help on the finishing turns. Might be what we need to get this deck to a more even position with the meta so aggressive.
Prime Time seems too good not to run in the main. The games where you get to cast him, fetch two Khalni Garden, then fetch two more on the attack and combo for the win are just so outrageous! The real problem with him is getting to six fast enough. Once we solve that and/or the living against aggro problem, I think he'll be a mainstay of value.
Aside from aggro, I've thought about how a tron game would play out, and it seems kind of brutal for us. Karn seems like such a problem, you really need to have 3-1 against him with token generators and such. Avenger seems like a natural fit here, as you end up with tokens to fight him off, but then they just O-Stone or Ugin -X your board and it's very awful. Tron might just be a bye, I really think it would be that bad.
CLOSING/OTHER DIRECTIONS
Overall I really like the deck. Just playing your initial lists feels really good, and I think we can take it in all sorts of interesting directions. I would be very interested in an alternate list that focused on a more controlling game, but it would be hard to become answer based while still performing well on the permanent based metric, just from a game theory standpoint. I remember just off the top of my head from Rise of the Eldrazi the card Reality Spasm being involved in some infinite combos, so that might be a jumping off point for a list more aimed at blue. Valakut is really important, but a list like that would likely stay U/G and look more at locking people out anyways. If we go too far we might just end up with Green's Sun's Zenith, a combo deck that mills them out with a huge Blue Sun's Zenith, using green for the mana ramp. Or we might just wander over to their thread for some crossplay, they seem like a deck with a similar game-plan: pour an insane amount of mana into a game-winning spell. Plus, you have lines like Zenith for 6 eot, hit an Aurora and steal a game.
EMERGENCY EDIT: After my "mainstay of value" comment, it clicked for me the card I was thinking of for courser to pair with: Swagtusk. He's outrageously good at keeping you alive when you really shouldn't be, he trades for some of the most oppressive cards in the format (Tas, Rhino, Angler), AND he leaves behind a body. If we look at our Card Advantage metric, he's off the charts, at times going 4-1 and 5-1 when we consider our opponents investment. The best part, you can cast him off a hand with 3 lands and a Cultivate, so he really stands on his own in this deck especially. Seriously looking over the list to jam him in there. If we can get enough value out of cards like him, we might be able to shave the advantage in other areas to be faster.
I hate double posting, but I have a huge wall up here. I'm just going to throw up a little summary of cards and functions that I think are interesting. My thoughts repeat from the wall, but some people just don't read those. A lot of this you will already know, but I feel like restating things will help me process my thoughts better.
I accidentally my thoughts into a Primer
Speed
These cards get you turns ahead and allow for explosive starts.
Explore - Gotta say it again, best card in the deck.
Magmatic Insight - Interesting option for raw speed, can really help plow through the deck as you always have 3-4 lands in hand.
Nest Invader - The earliest speedbump option we won't feel bad to trade off, as he leaves behind a friend. We can also cash in the spawn to speed up a turn. Might not be enough as a creature-based option.
Sylvan Caryatid - An interesting option as a hexproof roadblock. Bad on combo turns.
Mr. No Eyes - He might actually be enough of a speedbump and ramp spell combined that he makes the Maindeck. All-Star in BFZ limited. He takes you from 4 to 6, so you can get right to Prime Time, who I will suspect becoming a lynchpin of the deck's success.
Oracle of Mul Daya - I really don't like suggesting this, because I feel like once you hit 4+ mana, you really need to be getting a lot of cards out of the deal, and she just dies to everything and doesn't leave anything else behind. In other words, she fails the "Bolt Test".
Primeval Titan - If Mr. No Eyes takes you from 4 to 6 and saves you some life, this guy takes you from 6 to 9 and is a huge stop sign. You never feel bad if he resolves because you get anywhere from 2-4 permanents off one trigger. If he gets to attack you generally win.
Efficiency
These cards are just raw card advantage and help push you over the top for Aurora.
I feel Eyeless Watcher and Big Daddy belong here as well. They are pretty flexible and just put you ahead.
Courser of Kruphix - She gets you life and is just pretty irreplacable. Playing lands from the top of your library just feels really good, and helps you know when to pull the trigger.
Harmonize - You just go +2 for 4 mana, which is peanuts in a green deck. Very important here as you just keep going on Aurora combo turns.
Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Nissa's Pilgrimage - It feels kind of weird to view these cards as strictly card advantage, but since Green Wrath of God counts lands in play, they really are. You go +1 from a Cultivate or Reach, or +2 off a Pilgrimage (though sometimes you run out of forests for it). Very decent here. I'm wondering if a build might top out on these, but it's probably the wrong play. Speaking of the wrong play, this next card might make you cringe.
Make a Wish - A card that saw little play even in Innistrad limited, Make a Wish has yet to see play pretty much anywhere. It is similar enough to Restock that I'm interested in testing it. I also just want to try it out, even though it might be horrible. Getting cards in hand is never bad in this deck though, and it does put you up +1. If there's nothing bad in your graveyard, then it's pure gravy for 4 mana.
Thragtusk - He dominated Standard and saw modern play before Rhino got printed. He gets you back precious life you lost to aggressive starts, trades with extremely relevant creatures, and leaves behind a body. Probably the best deal we are going to get for five mana.
Greenwarden of Murasa - A card many Commander players are calling "Super Witness", he's huge and get gets two things. Might be very powerful here.
Win Condition
You can win games by beating down with value guys, but really you want to cast these bombs to combo and end the game on the spot.
The Great Aurora - The reason we are playing the deck. Definitely not a budget Scapeshift, I think it's better.
Rude Awakening - A central combo piece, and can also win you the game on the spot. Nice that we have redundancy.
Avenger of Zendikar - Etb trigger that generates a huge mess of bodies, and he can just be game. Easier to deal with than the other two, but also one mana cheaper at 7.
Utility
An area we really haven't spent much ground on since the idea for the deck is so new, but I feel will be a key in carving out a spot in the metagame.
Eternal Witness - A key combo piece on turns where important cards are in the grave, and can help you just keep ramping. She would go in efficiency, but she only literally goes 1-1, and then afterward more when you cast your card advantage spells again. A key spell, but I could see builds that forgo her for other options.
Primal Command - A very good card in mono green builds, a swiss army spell of utility. It can help us live, grab a win condition or stabilization spell, deal with a random problem thing, or shuffle lands back in if we've Insighted them away. You probably want one somewhere in your 75.
Beast Within - A deck like this typically doesn't run much interaction, and probably wouldn't even run these in the main. But it's one of the few instant speed options I could think would be worth it.
Gutteral Response - Funnily enough, we actually have a decent match against control decks game one with mainboard Boseiju, but I could see this in the side if your meta has a lot of twin, or anything that runs Cryptic Command. Answering their spells that get them up on cards is yet another way we are ahead after an Aurora.
That went on way too long, but I really want to get all my thoughts out in the open.
Awesome! I'm so glad you've been playing and enjoying the deck. I would love to see the 75 you're currently playing. Swagtusk seems perfect and I have been enjoying resolved Prime Times. I could definitely see Mr No Eyes and magmatic insight doing very well in the deck. Not sure I can get behind make a wish or Greenwarden as their effect just isn't big enough or efficient enough. But more than anything I appreciate the feedback. Seeing someone playing and enjoying the deck makes me beyond excited.
It's a great deck, who wouldn't love winning with The Great Aurora? Freaking sweet card. I saw that almost no one was talking about it when Origin's dropped, so I was thrilled to see someone already trying to make it work.
The card will be fixed on the next update to the Xmage client, so unfortunately my testing will be greatly hindered until then (not having real combo turns). Of course I can still get lots of experience with the deck, since the main purpose of the testing will be to see what we need to do in order to live. But I won't know what cards really pull everything together until I can see how they affect you going off.
I'm really into this deck, but I haven't played it yet but I really want to, I've only goldfished it. I do have some concerns, and questions. First off, pyromancer feels bad without cheap cantrips. The mountain count is so high, hitting double green with untapped lands on turn 3 for Courser was hard. If I wanted to cut mountains, add fetchlands, then the Great Aurora resolution is gonna suck in regards to Valakut. So if I cut Valakut, that opens me to up to better mana fixing, which makes me feel like I could run Jund, for Kolaghans Command, Abrupt Decay, Pia, etc. Jund is amazing at 1 for 1's, and it has nice 2 for 1's. With that, we can keep parity and pull ahead with cards like Courser, E-Wit, Explores, for a relatively big Aurora compared to theirs. In the end, this is just speculation.
I hope it doesn't sound like I don't like the Valakut RG direction, I think it's awesome. One thought just lead to another. I'd much rather enjoy Prime Times into Great Auroras into Valakut triggers for 54 face damage than Jund.
Root maze would definitely be good. It slows everyone else done and doesn't hurt us too much. I feel like Jaddi Offshoot could be OK?
Another thing is, if were playing small spells rapidly we could run out of a hand, so stuff like Reforge The Soul and Wheel of Fate to fill us back up.
Another idea Allosaurus Rider+Fling as like 2 ofs as a win con? Reforge the Soul-Gives us gas.
I like this thread. I can't focus too much on it but I'm going to trade into it
Value is good. But Dredgevine isn't supposed to be about value. It's supposed to be about V-8; 2000 pounds of nitro boosted war vegetables. The more velocity, the better.
Modern:
DredgeVine EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima Standard:
Value is good. But Dredgevine isn't supposed to be about value. It's supposed to be about V-8; 2000 pounds of nitro boosted war vegetables. The more velocity, the better.
Modern:
DredgeVine EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima Standard:
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2 Riftsweeper
1 Wood Elves
3 Young Pyromancer
2 Cultivate
2 Kodama's Reach
2 Nissa's Pilgrimage
2 Explore
4 Harmonize
4 Rude Awakening
4 The Great Aurora
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Kher Keep
4 Khalni Garden
2 Radiant Fountain
2 Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle
4 Stomping Ground
4 Cinder Glade
6 Forest
5 Mountain
This is the fastest version of the deck I could muster. It usually Aurora's on turn 5-6 and wins that turn or the turn after. 2 ramp spells a Rude Awakening and an Aurora lets you Aurora on turn 5 for 12-18 cards depending on how many Khalni Garden/Young Pyromancer's you played. The deck is designed to let you Aurora multiple times and in my experience, an Aurora for around 19-23 cards will allow you win on the spot or to immediately Aurora again, especially when you are able to float mana before an Aurora. Eternal Witness lets you recast any spell, this is mainly used to get back a Rude Awakening and untap but it can also be used for any card.
I don't yet have a sideboard but this deck needs a slower game to thrive so any way to slow your opponent. Blood Moon slows down many decks and, thanks to Aurora shuffling, does nothing to interrupt our Valakut win. Root Maze may also be used to punish fetch lands for a minimal investment. Most of the answers this deck would want to bring in from the board should be in the form of permanents. Some ideas I had include Spellskite, Damping Matrix, Reclamation Sage, Choke, Kitchen Finks, Creeping Corrosion, Guttural Response Torpor Orb, and Pithing Needle. I would also want the board to include more copies of Boseiju, Kher Keep, and/or Radiant Fountain for match-up where applicable.
I would love some feedback. Maybe the deck is just too slow. Maybe Blood Moon Should be in the main. Let me know what you think!
And if you do proxy it up and test it out please let me know your findings.
2 Riftsweeper
3 Courser of Kruphix
3 Young Pyromancer
3 Cultivate
2 Nissa's Pilgrimage
3 Explore
3 Harmonize
4 Rude Awakening
4 The Great Aurora
1 Kher Keep
4 Khalni Garden
2 Radiant Fountain
2 Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle
4 Stomping Ground
4 Cinder Glade
6 Forest
5 Mountain
2 Pithing Needle
2 Obstinate Baloth
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Shatterstorm
2 Spellskite
2 Primeval Titan
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
I've also been getting better at determining when to just entwine a Rude Awakening instead of going for the combo. Still working on the sideboard.
I hate to do this but I need some feedback, could anyone check out my deck? It's a super fun R/G Eldrazi Swarm deck.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/642233-r-g-eldrazi-swarm
-Rat, Pearls Before Swine
Right now The Great Aurora is glitched so the lands don't enter untapped, so I haven't been able to have any real combo turns outside of when I can float a ridiculous amount beforehand (so I can hit awakening right after), which honestly has been fine-ish. Just annoying.
The fact that Aurora wraths is just so good. You get ahead on permanents from that usually, then you can play more and get even more ahead, or just awakening for lethal right there. Rude Awakening should totally give the lands haste :).
INITIAL THOUGHTS
I've been thinking that Explore is just the best card in the deck and that you probably want 4-of. I played back when ZEN/WWK was standard, and I was all-in on Landfall synergies, so I'm well aware of how the card performs. One of the problems it had was that you get tempted to take a line where you gamble on a land being your draw and whiff sometimes. Running 29 land I've found that almost never to be the case. If you really aren't hitting a land with this, you are just unlucky. Most times you just chain them together to ramp a few turns ahead. I really think it's far and away the best card in the deck.
Nissa's Pilgrimage hasn't impressed me too much, I might shave on that. Although casting it with spell mastery is pretty great, the lack of 1-2 mana instant/sorcery kind of infringes on that. The times that you go +2 from it seem few and far between enough that I'd like to test something else.
Magmatic Insight is a card I'm pretty interested in, although I'm concerned how it would affect our combo turns, since it bins a few lands. It might make us fast/consistent enough that it won't matter, and you are +0 from it, which might be the breaking point on running the card. You really want to be up on permanents/cards in hand and +0 in that regard (with a virtual minus concerning combo turns) may not be up to snuff. Maybe in a version that is more "all-in" and tries to be blisteringly fast at the expense of having worse combo turns?
Oracle of Mul Daya doesn't pass the bolt test, but could see play in a version that just tries to go over the top. I always remember how bad the card is when it's bad, but this deck might not care because of how fast it is.
WE REALLY NEED TO LIVE
As far as roadblocks go, I feel like there is a perfect card for us to test that I haven't thought of yet. I just KNOW something is right there, but I can't put my finger on it. Don't get me wrong, Courser of Kruphix is awesome, does everything you want it to, but she needs a friend for this deck to really get there. Sylvan Caryatid doesn't pass the card advantage test, but might save us enough life that she's worth it. She seems bad on combo turns though, Magmatic Insight problems all over again. That's a theme with me, I like cards that help you get there but don't help on the finishing turns. Might be what we need to get this deck to a more even position with the meta so aggressive.
Prime Time seems too good not to run in the main. The games where you get to cast him, fetch two Khalni Garden, then fetch two more on the attack and combo for the win are just so outrageous! The real problem with him is getting to six fast enough. Once we solve that and/or the living against aggro problem, I think he'll be a mainstay of value.
Aside from aggro, I've thought about how a tron game would play out, and it seems kind of brutal for us. Karn seems like such a problem, you really need to have 3-1 against him with token generators and such. Avenger seems like a natural fit here, as you end up with tokens to fight him off, but then they just O-Stone or Ugin -X your board and it's very awful. Tron might just be a bye, I really think it would be that bad.
CLOSING/OTHER DIRECTIONS
Overall I really like the deck. Just playing your initial lists feels really good, and I think we can take it in all sorts of interesting directions. I would be very interested in an alternate list that focused on a more controlling game, but it would be hard to become answer based while still performing well on the permanent based metric, just from a game theory standpoint. I remember just off the top of my head from Rise of the Eldrazi the card Reality Spasm being involved in some infinite combos, so that might be a jumping off point for a list more aimed at blue. Valakut is really important, but a list like that would likely stay U/G and look more at locking people out anyways. If we go too far we might just end up with Green's Sun's Zenith, a combo deck that mills them out with a huge Blue Sun's Zenith, using green for the mana ramp. Or we might just wander over to their thread for some crossplay, they seem like a deck with a similar game-plan: pour an insane amount of mana into a game-winning spell. Plus, you have lines like Zenith for 6 eot, hit an Aurora and steal a game.
EMERGENCY EDIT: After my "mainstay of value" comment, it clicked for me the card I was thinking of for courser to pair with: Swagtusk. He's outrageously good at keeping you alive when you really shouldn't be, he trades for some of the most oppressive cards in the format (Tas, Rhino, Angler), AND he leaves behind a body. If we look at our Card Advantage metric, he's off the charts, at times going 4-1 and 5-1 when we consider our opponents investment. The best part, you can cast him off a hand with 3 lands and a Cultivate, so he really stands on his own in this deck especially. Seriously looking over the list to jam him in there. If we can get enough value out of cards like him, we might be able to shave the advantage in other areas to be faster.
I accidentally my thoughts into a Primer
Speed
These cards get you turns ahead and allow for explosive starts.
Explore - Gotta say it again, best card in the deck.
Magmatic Insight - Interesting option for raw speed, can really help plow through the deck as you always have 3-4 lands in hand.
Nest Invader - The earliest speedbump option we won't feel bad to trade off, as he leaves behind a friend. We can also cash in the spawn to speed up a turn. Might not be enough as a creature-based option.
Sylvan Caryatid - An interesting option as a hexproof roadblock. Bad on combo turns.
Mr. No Eyes - He might actually be enough of a speedbump and ramp spell combined that he makes the Maindeck. All-Star in BFZ limited. He takes you from 4 to 6, so you can get right to Prime Time, who I will suspect becoming a lynchpin of the deck's success.
Oracle of Mul Daya - I really don't like suggesting this, because I feel like once you hit 4+ mana, you really need to be getting a lot of cards out of the deal, and she just dies to everything and doesn't leave anything else behind. In other words, she fails the "Bolt Test".
Primeval Titan - If Mr. No Eyes takes you from 4 to 6 and saves you some life, this guy takes you from 6 to 9 and is a huge stop sign. You never feel bad if he resolves because you get anywhere from 2-4 permanents off one trigger. If he gets to attack you generally win.
Efficiency
These cards are just raw card advantage and help push you over the top for Aurora.
I feel Eyeless Watcher and Big Daddy belong here as well. They are pretty flexible and just put you ahead.
Courser of Kruphix - She gets you life and is just pretty irreplacable. Playing lands from the top of your library just feels really good, and helps you know when to pull the trigger.
Harmonize - You just go +2 for 4 mana, which is peanuts in a green deck. Very important here as you just keep going on Aurora combo turns.
Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Nissa's Pilgrimage - It feels kind of weird to view these cards as strictly card advantage, but since Green Wrath of God counts lands in play, they really are. You go +1 from a Cultivate or Reach, or +2 off a Pilgrimage (though sometimes you run out of forests for it). Very decent here. I'm wondering if a build might top out on these, but it's probably the wrong play. Speaking of the wrong play, this next card might make you cringe.
Make a Wish - A card that saw little play even in Innistrad limited, Make a Wish has yet to see play pretty much anywhere. It is similar enough to Restock that I'm interested in testing it. I also just want to try it out, even though it might be horrible. Getting cards in hand is never bad in this deck though, and it does put you up +1. If there's nothing bad in your graveyard, then it's pure gravy for 4 mana.
Thragtusk - He dominated Standard and saw modern play before Rhino got printed. He gets you back precious life you lost to aggressive starts, trades with extremely relevant creatures, and leaves behind a body. Probably the best deal we are going to get for five mana.
Greenwarden of Murasa - A card many Commander players are calling "Super Witness", he's huge and get gets two things. Might be very powerful here.
Win Condition
You can win games by beating down with value guys, but really you want to cast these bombs to combo and end the game on the spot.
The Great Aurora - The reason we are playing the deck. Definitely not a budget Scapeshift, I think it's better.
Rude Awakening - A central combo piece, and can also win you the game on the spot. Nice that we have redundancy.
Avenger of Zendikar - Etb trigger that generates a huge mess of bodies, and he can just be game. Easier to deal with than the other two, but also one mana cheaper at 7.
Utility
An area we really haven't spent much ground on since the idea for the deck is so new, but I feel will be a key in carving out a spot in the metagame.
Eternal Witness - A key combo piece on turns where important cards are in the grave, and can help you just keep ramping. She would go in efficiency, but she only literally goes 1-1, and then afterward more when you cast your card advantage spells again. A key spell, but I could see builds that forgo her for other options.
Primal Command - A very good card in mono green builds, a swiss army spell of utility. It can help us live, grab a win condition or stabilization spell, deal with a random problem thing, or shuffle lands back in if we've Insighted them away. You probably want one somewhere in your 75.
Beast Within - A deck like this typically doesn't run much interaction, and probably wouldn't even run these in the main. But it's one of the few instant speed options I could think would be worth it.
Gutteral Response - Funnily enough, we actually have a decent match against control decks game one with mainboard Boseiju, but I could see this in the side if your meta has a lot of twin, or anything that runs Cryptic Command. Answering their spells that get them up on cards is yet another way we are ahead after an Aurora.
That went on way too long, but I really want to get all my thoughts out in the open.
The card will be fixed on the next update to the Xmage client, so unfortunately my testing will be greatly hindered until then (not having real combo turns). Of course I can still get lots of experience with the deck, since the main purpose of the testing will be to see what we need to do in order to live. But I won't know what cards really pull everything together until I can see how they affect you going off.
I hope it doesn't sound like I don't like the Valakut RG direction, I think it's awesome. One thought just lead to another. I'd much rather enjoy Prime Times into Great Auroras into Valakut triggers for 54 face damage than Jund.
Awakening Zone- Spits out small permanents/blockers
Root maze would definitely be good. It slows everyone else done and doesn't hurt us too much. I feel like Jaddi Offshoot could be OK?
Another thing is, if were playing small spells rapidly we could run out of a hand, so stuff like Reforge The Soul and Wheel of Fate to fill us back up.
Another idea
Allosaurus Rider+Fling as like 2 ofs as a win con?
Reforge the Soul-Gives us gas.
I like this thread. I can't focus too much on it but I'm going to trade into it
Modern:
DredgeVine
EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima
Standard:
the lands will have summoning sickness after casting the great aurora
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters all
3 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Khalni Garden
2 Radiant Fountain
4 Cinder Glade
4 Stomping Grounds
6 Forest
5 Mountain
3 Courser of Kruphix
3 Young Pyromancer
2 Riftsweeper
2 Eternal Witness
1 Thragtusk
Enchantments(4):
4 Root Maze
3 Cultivate
2 Nissa's Pilgrimage
4 Explore
2 Harmonize
4 Rude Awakening
4 The Great Aurora
Just testing stuff, I'll update it as I find out stuff.
Modern:
DredgeVine
EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima
Standard: