It actually comes from nothing pretty much. I came up with it to follow the tradition of naming decks after breakfast food, all the while managing to sneak my initials (PorousBoat - PB) in there.
Sram is an easier to cast Puresteel Paladin that can draw a card even against removal. Not sure about the leonins in the sideboard, but I never really needed the 3-4th Dispatchs and Firewalkers, so they're there for now.
I haven't tried Sram myself (no Magic in a long time due to real-life stuff :c), but I have tried the Exemplars. My results tell me that the best way to use the Exemplars is to go balls to the wall blazing speed with it. Cut EVERYTHING that costs more than 2 mana or is too slow and hope for the best pretty much. The problem with him in normal builds is that there's no room for him. We already have an abundance of cards to choose from, and he fights for slots that just don't exist, especially with Sram in the picture.
Greetings! I've been watching this deck evolve and just got my hands on a physical copy. So far, I've had it go up against Jund, a Gruul Ramp agroo deck, a Boros soldier deck, America Control, a FRIGHTENING Eldrazi ramp deck (talking 2 10/10s on turn 3 or 4 XP) and some other decks. Against the Agroo decks, this deck is amazing. Wins pretty quickly and with rarely an issue. The Eldrazi deck, depending on the draws, can go back and forth, but this deck has enough answers to grind out a victory most games. Control though, I seem to be having a harder time of it, though the Jund Deck is roughly 50/50, slightly in Jund's favor.
I do have two questions though for the deck builders here.
1st, Why Fragmentize over something like Disenchant? I would think the instant speed and guarantee to hit ALL enchantments or artifacts is worth the additional mana. Perhaps you all can enlighten me on the reasoning.
2nd, We have Kor Firewalker in the sideboard as an answer to red and burn decks in general. Would Auriok Champion be a better card? It has the protection against two the more removal happy colors, as well as giving us some life gain against tokens/weene decks. Just seems to be a more flexible answer. Thought HORRIBLY more expensive.
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"Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!"
This deck doesn't have that much mana to spare, so Fragmentize costing one less is a massive help. In addition, we don't really care about any artifacts or enchantments that cost more than four (except for Wurmcoil, which Disenchant sucks against).
As for the Champion, the main problem I see with it are its low stats. It can't kill any of Burn's creatures by itself, and provides a worse clock than Firewalker. Also, it isn't guaranteed to heal you for much, whereas Firewalker will almost always prevent at least a bolt's worth of damage, and the decks that it would gain life against wouldn't care too much about it. The pro black is enticing, but I'm not sure if it would be worth siding in against those types of decks (mainly decks running Shadow or Push).
Changes I'm considering making: replacing Rest in Peace with Relic of Progenitus or Wheel of Sun and Moon and upping the Flagstones of Trokair to 4. I've never liked how RiP nonbo's with our card draw from Stone Haven Outfitter. Relic has the advantages of being an artifact, costing 1 cmc, and getting us a card draw. The downside is that opponents can choose which cards they exile and it doesn't hit certain archetypes anywhere near as hard as RiP. Wheel of Sun and Moon performs similarly to RiP but is harder to cast and doesn't exile the GY upon entering. I definitely feel that the card draw from Outfitter is a significant advantage to us and being able to minimizing the number of situations where having a Ghost Quarter out makes Puresteel Paladin and other WW cards difficult to cast is important.
@Parendhil_Sang
There's almost never a situation where Disenchant performs better than Fragmentize. The only card I'd ever replace Fragmentize with is Aura of Silence but Affinity isn't a hard enough matchup for us.
If Auriok Champion were better than Kor Firewalker, other decks would run it. The lifegain is extremely effective and Burn is only running 12-14 creatures currently. Kor Firewalker also has synergy with Auriok Steelshaper.
After testing I believe dropping Rest in Peace and going up to 4 Flagstones of Trokair is the best move as Dredge is only lower tier 2 . My math may be wrong but here we go: 2 Darksteel, 0 Flagtones -> P(Able to mana fix by turn 2|Ghost Quarter in opening hand) = approx. 25% 2 Darksteel, 2 Flagtones -> P(Able to mana fix by turn 2|Ghost Quarter in opening hand) = approx. 45% 2 Darksteel, 4 Flagtones -> P(Able to mana fix by turn 2|Ghost Quarter in opening hand) = approx. 60%
One of this deck's biggest weaknesses is its inconsistent mana base (we should ideally be running 20 lands that can produce W). Additionally, any painless thinning is good, regardless of how tiny the advantage is, since we do not want to be topdecking lands midgame. It also makes the rare land destruction matchup slightly better.
I'm not a huge fan of Tormod's Crypt. I feel like hitting both graveyards is important in BGx matchups. Further, I am a huge fan of the card draw + slow removal when total removal isn't urgently needed. I'd argue that if Dredge is big in your meta, use Wheel of Sun and Moon. If not, use Relic of Progenitus.
Alright people, the time for a new set release has come upon us again! This one is a bit of a dry spell for us with only a single sad piece of equipment in the entire set. Despite this, I have, after looking through the spoilers, found three cards I think might have a spot in this deck. They are as following:
Sacred Cat seems like a great option against burn or other variants of "kill you ASAP". This feline friend also slots right in against 1-for-1 heavy decks such as Jund or Junk thanks to the amazing embalm cost. I'm really excited to see if this is worth looking into as an alternative to Kor Firewalker.
Djeru's Resolve might make the cut. I know, I know, combat tricks are bad bla bla bla... This has cycling though! That alone makes it better than pretty much all the alternatives! I will definitely give this a shot to see if spells like these are still awful.
Dusk. They're just giving us a bunch of tools against midrange this time around, eh? Even though this card is pricey, I can see it making huge swings in games against decks like Jund or Junk. They don't get to return anything (almost) while we get every single guy back. They can't counter it either because they don't play blue. This is the cutest one out of the three, but I'm curious to see if there are sideboard slots for this card in some metas.
What are your thoughts? Did I miss anything? Please let me know!
I like the cat in a split with Kor Firewalker. It's lighter on the manabase and curves well into a T2 Bonesplitter.
I don't really see many situations where Resolve would be better than Strength of Arms. I would probably play it if the cycling cost was zero, but as it is, two mana is just too clunky for make up for its narrowness.
As for Dusk, I'm don't think that it's worth playing in our deck.
It's expensive. It's pretty hard to reach four mana with this deck, and it's even more challenging to get to five.
Dusk will kill our own equipped creatures most of the time, preventing us from taking full advantage of the board wipe.
Dawn doesn't return our creatures to the board. As I said before, it's gonna take a while to get to five mana. Having to spend an additional turn actually playing our creatures doesn't help things.
You raise valid points there. I realize that I actually misread Dusk - I thought that it returned the creatures to the board. Resolve I'm still very much on the fence about. I, as you probably know, love Strength of Arms and would rather not replace it if I can avoid it.
The cat is the most promising out of the three no doubt. I actually think it's a huge deal that we've been given better tools to deal with midrange decks seeing how that is one of the deck's most prominent issues at the moment.
You should remove the Godsends and one each of the Swords in favor of three Flayer Husk and two Mortarpod (you'd have to cut one more card, probably a Vault Skirge or Auriok Steelshaper?). 18 lands aren't enough to run six 3-drops, and the synergy that Husk and Pod have with our equipments matter cards are just too good to pass up.
They're not finishers (well, Mortarpod can be one). We don't really need much in the way of finishers since our deck does a lot of damage and takes longer than other aggro decks to run out of steam (card draw and equipments). Reach cards would be nice, but the swords are too expensive to run as a playset and white doesn't have access to direct damage.
I like to play around with white-weenie/equipment concepts and two of my favorite combos have not been mentioned, mind you it adds to cost of the deck: 1. Add 2-3 Aether Vial and a combination of your choosing of 3-4 Taj-Nar Swordsmith and/or Ranger of Eos depending on how you're looking to finish the game.
A second card that drastically changes what you can do is Serra Ascendant. This is a card that is just as comfortable in this deck as it is in Sisters with some slight considerations for life gain.
Has anyone tried Grafted Wargear or Cranial Plating maybe to replace the Sword? I am thinking because the Sword is a late game card to by then the plating would have lots of beef up or even the wargear
I like to play around with white-weenie/equipment concepts and two of my favorite combos have not been mentioned, mind you it adds to cost of the deck: 1. Add 2-3 Aether Vial and a combination of your choosing of 3-4 Taj-Nar Swordsmith and/or Ranger of Eos depending on how you're looking to finish the game.
A second card that drastically changes what you can do is Serra Ascendant. This is a card that is just as comfortable in this deck as it is in Sisters with some slight considerations for life gain.
Turning the deck into a more midrange style deck that tries to out attrition opponents with the constant threat of equipment could be a good idea, though I'm pretty sure just adding land would be better than Aether Vial if we go with Ranger.
As for Serra Ascendant, the card feels kind of... win more? The soul sisters don't really fit in this deck, so lifelink is probably our best option. Ascendant would need 10+ damage to activate, and that point we're already winning. It is really good at ending board stalls, however, so I could see adding some in a Ranger version of the deck. I have no idea how to actually go about building that, though.
Has anyone tried Grafted Wargear or Cranial Plating maybe to replace the Sword? I am thinking because the Sword is a late game card to by then the plating would have lots of beef up or even the wargear
PorousBoat has tested Cranial Plating and found it underwhelming. This deck really only gets about 3-4 artifacts out on average, and that's just not a high enough payoff compared to the swords.
I've tried out Grafted Wargear before. It actually did pretty well: It's pretty bursty, and the sacrifice clause didn't come up all that often. However, it does end up being a pile of stats that can't be abused by Paladin or Steelshaper a lot of the time.
Some people recently mention that Sram, Senior Edificer is better than Puresteel Paladin . The other difference, I think is the metalcraft equip so could let you storm the opponent with the equipments.
This deck looks similar on the surface, but plays very very differently.
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
Puresteel Beats Jund?
Esper Control
Budget / Casual Below
Puresteel Weapon
Sultai Superfriends
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
4 Toolcraft Exemplar
4 Kor Duelist
3 Vault Skirge
2 Puresteel Paladin
2 Sram, Senior Edificer
4 Stone Haven Outfitter
2 Auriok Steelshaper
Instant (6)
4 Path to Exile
2 Strength of Arms
4 Bone Saw
4 Bonesplitter
3 Flayer Husk
2 Mortarpod
2 Sword of War and Peace
Lands (18)
15 Plains
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Darksteel Citadel
2 Fragmentize
2 Dispatch
2 Rest in Peace
2 Leonin Arbiter
2 Leonin Relic-Warder
2 Kor Firewalker
1 Mortarpod
1 Spellskite
Sram is an easier to cast Puresteel Paladin that can draw a card even against removal. Not sure about the leonins in the sideboard, but I never really needed the 3-4th Dispatchs and Firewalkers, so they're there for now.
Let me know if I'm wrong though!
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
I do have two questions though for the deck builders here.
1st, Why Fragmentize over something like Disenchant? I would think the instant speed and guarantee to hit ALL enchantments or artifacts is worth the additional mana. Perhaps you all can enlighten me on the reasoning.
2nd, We have Kor Firewalker in the sideboard as an answer to red and burn decks in general. Would Auriok Champion be a better card? It has the protection against two the more removal happy colors, as well as giving us some life gain against tokens/weene decks. Just seems to be a more flexible answer. Thought HORRIBLY more expensive.
As for the Champion, the main problem I see with it are its low stats. It can't kill any of Burn's creatures by itself, and provides a worse clock than Firewalker. Also, it isn't guaranteed to heal you for much, whereas Firewalker will almost always prevent at least a bolt's worth of damage, and the decks that it would gain life against wouldn't care too much about it. The pro black is enticing, but I'm not sure if it would be worth siding in against those types of decks (mainly decks running Shadow or Push).
4 Bone Saw
3 Bonesplitter
3 Flayer Husk
1 Infiltration Lens
2 Mortarpod
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
Instant (8)
4 Path to Exile
4 Strength of Arms
4 Auriok Steelshaper
4 Kor Duelist
4 Puresteel Paladin
4 Stone Haven Outfitter
3 Vault Skirge
Land (18)
2 Darksteel Citadel
2 Flagstones of Trokair
2 Ghost Quarter
12 Plains
2 Dispatch
1 Fragmentize
2 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Kor Firewalker
1 Mortarpod
2 Patrician's Scorn
2 Rest in Peace
1 Runed Halo
1 Spellskite
Changes I'm considering making: replacing Rest in Peace with Relic of Progenitus or Wheel of Sun and Moon and upping the Flagstones of Trokair to 4. I've never liked how RiP nonbo's with our card draw from Stone Haven Outfitter. Relic has the advantages of being an artifact, costing 1 cmc, and getting us a card draw. The downside is that opponents can choose which cards they exile and it doesn't hit certain archetypes anywhere near as hard as RiP. Wheel of Sun and Moon performs similarly to RiP but is harder to cast and doesn't exile the GY upon entering. I definitely feel that the card draw from Outfitter is a significant advantage to us and being able to minimizing the number of situations where having a Ghost Quarter out makes Puresteel Paladin and other WW cards difficult to cast is important.
@Parendhil_Sang
There's almost never a situation where Disenchant performs better than Fragmentize. The only card I'd ever replace Fragmentize with is Aura of Silence but Affinity isn't a hard enough matchup for us.
If Auriok Champion were better than Kor Firewalker, other decks would run it. The lifegain is extremely effective and Burn is only running 12-14 creatures currently. Kor Firewalker also has synergy with Auriok Steelshaper.
WRGBurnGRW
RBGJund Shadowvine[/mana]gbr[/mana]
RGTooth & NailGR
Standard:
BGBG Energy ConstrictorGB
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
2 Darksteel, 0 Flagtones -> P(Able to mana fix by turn 2|Ghost Quarter in opening hand) = approx. 25%
2 Darksteel, 2 Flagtones -> P(Able to mana fix by turn 2|Ghost Quarter in opening hand) = approx. 45%
2 Darksteel, 4 Flagtones -> P(Able to mana fix by turn 2|Ghost Quarter in opening hand) = approx. 60%
One of this deck's biggest weaknesses is its inconsistent mana base (we should ideally be running 20 lands that can produce W). Additionally, any painless thinning is good, regardless of how tiny the advantage is, since we do not want to be topdecking lands midgame. It also makes the rare land destruction matchup slightly better.
I'm not a huge fan of Tormod's Crypt. I feel like hitting both graveyards is important in BGx matchups. Further, I am a huge fan of the card draw + slow removal when total removal isn't urgently needed. I'd argue that if Dredge is big in your meta, use Wheel of Sun and Moon. If not, use Relic of Progenitus.
WRGBurnGRW
RBGJund Shadowvine[/mana]gbr[/mana]
RGTooth & NailGR
Standard:
BGBG Energy ConstrictorGB
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
Sacred Cat seems like a great option against burn or other variants of "kill you ASAP". This feline friend also slots right in against 1-for-1 heavy decks such as Jund or Junk thanks to the amazing embalm cost. I'm really excited to see if this is worth looking into as an alternative to Kor Firewalker.
Djeru's Resolve might make the cut. I know, I know, combat tricks are bad bla bla bla... This has cycling though! That alone makes it better than pretty much all the alternatives! I will definitely give this a shot to see if spells like these are still awful.
Dusk. They're just giving us a bunch of tools against midrange this time around, eh? Even though this card is pricey, I can see it making huge swings in games against decks like Jund or Junk. They don't get to return anything (almost) while we get every single guy back. They can't counter it either because they don't play blue. This is the cutest one out of the three, but I'm curious to see if there are sideboard slots for this card in some metas.
What are your thoughts? Did I miss anything? Please let me know!
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
I don't really see many situations where Resolve would be better than Strength of Arms. I would probably play it if the cycling cost was zero, but as it is, two mana is just too clunky for make up for its narrowness.
As for Dusk, I'm don't think that it's worth playing in our deck.
The cat is the most promising out of the three no doubt. I actually think it's a huge deal that we've been given better tools to deal with midrange decks seeing how that is one of the deck's most prominent issues at the moment.
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
4 Kor Duelist
4 vault Skirge
4 Puresteel Paladin
4 Auriok Steelshaper
4 Stone Haven Outfitter
4 Strength of Arms
4 Path to Exile
Artifacts- 14
4 Bone Saw
4 Bonesplitter
2 Sword of War and Peace
2 sword of feast and famine
2 mortapod
2 Darksteel Citadel
2 Ghost Quarter
14 Plains
I know it's simular to the main deck, but I wanted to use both swords, did I butcher it?
A second card that drastically changes what you can do is Serra Ascendant. This is a card that is just as comfortable in this deck as it is in Sisters with some slight considerations for life gain.
Turning the deck into a more midrange style deck that tries to out attrition opponents with the constant threat of equipment could be a good idea, though I'm pretty sure just adding land would be better than Aether Vial if we go with Ranger.
As for Serra Ascendant, the card feels kind of... win more? The soul sisters don't really fit in this deck, so lifelink is probably our best option. Ascendant would need 10+ damage to activate, and that point we're already winning. It is really good at ending board stalls, however, so I could see adding some in a Ranger version of the deck. I have no idea how to actually go about building that, though.
PorousBoat has tested Cranial Plating and found it underwhelming. This deck really only gets about 3-4 artifacts out on average, and that's just not a high enough payoff compared to the swords.
I've tried out Grafted Wargear before. It actually did pretty well: It's pretty bursty, and the sacrifice clause didn't come up all that often. However, it does end up being a pile of stats that can't be abused by Paladin or Steelshaper a lot of the time.
Some people recently mention that Sram, Senior Edificer is better than Puresteel Paladin . The other difference, I think is the metalcraft equip so could let you storm the opponent with the equipments.
What do you all think?
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~