I'm on more of D90Dennis14's build. Spell Quellers are fun.
I'm in a rut against more all-in control decks, esp this on Esper control deck that Path-Snapcaster-Path's quite frequently. I usually need another Siege Rhino to close out a game (I had him down to 1 life today but couldn't finish him). Is there something at the top end I could sideboard in against more control decks. Geist on the ground doesn't seem to do enough and my Voices do nothing against Paths. Almost considering just a top with Rune-Scarred Demon to tutor for that right card (Siege Rhino) when I need it.
EDIT: so I'm research here creatures that refer to "creature cards". Keeping in the mana base of multicolor creatures, there's Baloth Null, Sedris, the Traitor King (resurrecting hasty Siege Rhinos seems awesome), or Underworld Cerberus (hoses Snapcasters woo.
I've been slotting 3+ Relic of Progenitus for that reason plus to deal with Dredge. The best strategy with a control player is to just keep dumping threats on the board and forcing them to respond to them until they have nothing left. What's so great about our deck is that our threats need to be dealt with immediately or we run away with the game (especially in a more aggro focused build). Plus, it's not often we run out of gas. Even if your conservative with playing creatures, you should still be running through people fairly consistently.
There are also 2x Reflector Mage in the main which I'm not sure that are necessary as we outclass most other creature decks anyway and have 7x creatures with "vigilance" in this build.
There are also 2x Reflector Mage in the main which I'm not sure that are necessary as we outclass most other creature decks anyway and have 7x creatures with "vigilance" in this build.
I feel like Reflector Mage is good in 5C Aggro, because it puts Infect and Suicide Zoo way behind. 5C aggro wants to be attacking, not blocking.
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I find it really nice against Jund, because it makes sweepers self destructive. A lot of the creatures in the deck have toughness 3, which makes Anger a harsh sweeper.
Private Mod Note
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Pauper: UB Wight Phantasm RB Burn UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
It can be cleanly answered by Terminate and Damnation so they can handle it, and there is always Thoughtseize as casting it quickly enough isn't likely.
I was playing around with this deck and had a few points of input.
I think a basic Plains is great here in addition to the basic Forest. It casts everything besides your dorks and Abrupt Decay, which adds up to more cards than Pillar of the Paruns, for example.
Gemstone Mine has been really bad. I don't even want the first one, and it is easily the first card I'd cut. City of Brass is certainly the best replacement and perhaps warrants 3-4 spots over some of the other lands, like all the Mines and some number of Pools or Pillars. I know it hurts our % against linear aggro, but it increases our % against everything else.
Keranos is an amazing sideboard card against anything fair. Card advantage and reach are two holes in this strategy. Siege Rhino has some reach, so when that effect is good, more sounds great.
Adding spot removal has a real cost to a deck already playing 8 mana dorks. Path is obviously perfect for the deck, and should never go below 4 imo, but Abrupt Decay is much more questionable. At times I wish it were attached to a body, like Reflector Mage for example. I could see Decay being in the sideboard. Or what is it specifically in the deck to do? If anyone knows, I'm interested. Since we have 4 Path already, it would be intuitive that Decay is for the cards Path can't hit, but that seems like it occupies the same deck space as Pridemage, and to a lesser extent, Sculler and Queller.
Lightning Angel hasn't held a candle to Falkenrath Aristocrat. A huge part of Aristocrat is its activated ability. We can insulate ourselves against Wrath effects with a powerful threat, which is very strong. While it's usually going to be just cute, Aristocrat opens you up to interesting plays with Queller's and Sculler's abilities, should that be deemed necessary.
I've been testing this deck on xMage lately and it has been a lot of fun to play as many have stated. I have made a few tweaks to the sideboard but have not had enough reps in to really tell If they're worthwhile yet. One card in particular I've been trying is [[Mystic Snake]] . Unfortunately I have yet to cast it but I wanted to see if anyone else has considered this or played it their self. I know we have [[Spell Queller]] which does something very similar for one less mana but I felt like the hard counter might be better in some situations. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
I would rather use Meddling Mage (and Tidehollow Sculler) against combo decks, sure some can remove it ("Ad Nauseum" usually doesn't pack removal though) but it comes down earlier and can beat down and this deck has a rather fast clock anyway so buying a turn (or two) should usually be enough.
I was finally able to get some testing in with Mystic Snake and it was actually against Breach Titan and it ended up just flat out winning the game. I played 2 snakes in the SB and brought them in games 2 & 3 and it was great. Game 1 I had my Spell Quellers and they were just fine except he was running bolt so he got to resolve his stuff regardless. I see an argument for both. I guess from my limited testing he's pretty good. I think the fact he permanently counters a spell is reason enough to play him. Yes he costs 4 but with 8 mana dorks were probably playing him turn 3 if we want a majority of the time and the decks that we would want him as an answer for probably aren't focusing on killing our dorks in the first place. I will continue testing Snake and report back periodically.
I would rather use Meddling Mage (and Tidehollow Sculler) against combo decks, sure some can remove it ("Ad Nauseum" usually doesn't pack removal though) but it comes down earlier and can beat down and this deck has a rather fast clock anyway so buying a turn (or two) should usually be enough.
Ad Naus runs boomerang effects specifically for things like Mage, Gaddock Teeg, etc.
The 10 I just checked on mtgtop8 run either Slaughter Pact or Echoing Truth or both in the sideboard.
I've been posting ---> here for awhile with my tournament reports for the past year and a half developing an all creatures version of the deck. The link will take you to my last post (Part 1 of this Part 2). I have another 5 reports before that (including testing with Mystic Snake)
Part Two:
A few weeks ago my youngest and I went to Game Swap in Mason, OH. They have standard and modern FNMs on a regular basis so we decided to try the modern event. Here’s what I played:
The switch from Fiend Hunter to Reflector Mage was to gain tempo. Many times I would play the hunter and it would be destroyed at the most inopportune time. With Reflector Mage I can make sure that creature doesn’t come back for a turn and it gives me more time to beatdown. I added in the Lavamancers as a test to gain a little more reach in the game and utilize my graveyard somewhat.
In the sideboard I felt one more Firewalker was needed to help against red decks and decided to completely take out the Meddling Mages for what was supposed to be Shriekmaws, but I wasn’t able find them, so I used Nekrataals. The mana is more difficult, but they are a ‘human’ assassin so there was that benefit
The tournament was 5 rounds:
R1: Mono-Green Stompy 2-1
He was playing Obstinate Baloth, Kalonian Tusker, and few other random green dudes and pump spells (Rancor, Vines of Vastwood, etc.). His deck ran fine, but once I was able to get my roadblocks up, he kind of stumbled. I still lost the first game and unfortunately by my own hand. I had a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben on the board at 14 life. He goes to attack with a couple of 5/5s and had two mana available. I didn’t block because I could have gotten him on the crackback. He played a kicker’ed Vines and I scooped. Right after I did that it hit me that he wouldn’t have been able to pay for the kicker and the spell with only two mana. Durh. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. Fortunately, I took the next two games with some appropriate pressure, Siege Rhino, and Reflector Mage’ing some Rancor’ed creatures. I did side in the Nekrataals, but never drew them.
R2: Ad Nauseam 2-0
Not much to see here. I played Meddling Mage on turn 2 both games naming Ad Nauseam and he was stuck while I beat down. (second game I mulled down to 5, not to get the mage, but because the other hands were junk. I just got lucky). His only outs were the one burn spell they play and a Slaughter Pact, but drew neither. I imagine without the mage it would be a harder match-up and you’d really have to put aggressive pressure on them.
R3: Naya Burn 2-1
This was a hard match. I’ve known my opponent for quite a while and he’s a very competent player. In the first game, I did try a little fun move where he suspended a Rift Bolt on his first turn and right after on my second turn I played Meddling Mage naming Rift Bolt. Unfortunately, (yet, expected) he had a Lightning Bolt to free up the Rift Bolt, but it was a good try). He did what burn does; Goblin Guide, bolt, Monastery Swiftspear, Atarka's Command. I somewhat stabilized at 7 with a couple of Siege Rhinos and of course he then draws the Lightning Bolt & Boros Charm to do me in. Game 2 I slammed a turn 2 Kor Firewalker down (which he was surprised to see) and then watched it take a Path to Exile (which he brought in for the Rhinos). It did open the way for a rhino and with a little back and forth I took the game. I was able to take the third game pretty well since he was stuck on two lands for a few turns. He did get me to 7 and drew his third land, but at that time I had a Firewalker in play and a board advantage that he wasn’t getting out of. He might have been able to do something if he had the fourth land (I believe he had Atarka's Command and another burn spell, but not enough mana). With more creatures, I had the better long game and could use my guys to absorb his small creature advantages, but have to stay at a healthy life total.
R4: U/W Thing 2-0
I came out of the gates with a T1 Champion, T2 Lieutenant, T3 Reflector Mage on his Thing in the Ice, and T4 Mantis Rider. He couldn’t counter anything with my T1 Cavern of Souls naming human. He then proceeded to scoop phase. The second game was quite a bit tougher when he played his Vedalken Shackles. He got three TiTIs in play, yet didn’t draw a lot of spells to trigger them. After a few turns, I had a 5/5 Champion, 2 Rhinos, and a few other creatures going back and forth with him stealing one, me attacking, him chumping with my guy, me playing another creature, and so on. He did get a couple of his TiTIs to one counter left and could have flipped them, but by that time I was still at 20 and be able to play a Rhino for the win if he did (he was at 2).
R5: R/G Tron 0-2
At this point it was somewhat late and I promised my wife I wouldn’t keep my youngest out late like the last time (3am isn’t when you want your wife to wake up and realize no one else but the dog is home). I was the only 4-0 player so I was paired down against a 3-1 and we decided to split and play the match for fun. He got out the turn 3 Tron and then played Ugin, the Spirit Dragon the following turn to wipe my board. I did get him down to 3 or 4, but that’s as far as it went. I did keep him from playing Karn Liberated with a Meddling Mage (He Ancient Stirrings’d for him).
He ended up winning the second game, but I was ready to go I played pretty loose. I got him down to 2 and forgot to attack him with my Avalanche Riders earlier, so I did have the win, but played it after I attacked for no reason (I had a Spell Queller on a Sylvan Scrying). I also Meddling Mage’d the Wurmcoil Engine he searched for, but it was a bad call. He ended up having 2 Oblivion Stones in hand. I was thinking of blind calling them out, and should’ve since I had a quick clock, but choose poorly. After the game, I was discussing my sideboarding with my opponent and the one thing he disagreed with was taking out the Anafenzas. He felt that she would have put more pressure on him if in play and he’s probably right.
I’m still not sure about the two main new changes; Grim Lavamancer and Shriekmaw/Nekrataal. Probably due to the mana base and being able to cast it for the evoke cost I’ll more than likely switch to the Shriekmaw. I’ll keep the Lavamancers for the time being, just to see if they’ll be of use. I’ve liked every other card in the main and have been able to use them (I didn’t really use the Reclamation Sages, but I like to have one main in case a Blood Moon gets past the Quellers). I’ll be taking out Lavinia since lately she hasn’t been very relevant. Never had a problem with her cost, just I haven’t run into a lot of sweep the board creature decks (Merfolk, Elves, etc.). Otherwise I’d leave her in. I do plan on putting the third Meddling Mage back in the sideboard. With the different combo decks, he just stops them cold.
I'm taking this deck to my first Modern event in years. I fell in love with the deck and I'm very excited to play it. I've done a lot of goldfishing, but no other testing. Is there anything I should know about the deck or watch out for? Thanks in advance! I hope Fatal Push doesn't cripple this deck before I even get started with it.
I put this deck together and I really want to make it competetive. I have been having some trouble with Tron. It's not fast enough to finish before tron is assembled, and Ugin exiles everything. So falkenrath aristocrate going indestructable doesnt help. Im considering dreadbore for Ugin/Karn.
i'm also finding that the deck runs out of steam in longer games. Im considering Congregation at Dawn to ensure the right creatures late game. I imagine it would also help to pull out the right utility creatures when needed. Im interested to hear if anyone else found ways to succeed in the late game.
You could try a couple copies of Ceremonious Rejection in the side of you have enough blue support in your manabase. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is great against Tron, too.
I'm in a rut against more all-in control decks, esp this on Esper control deck that Path-Snapcaster-Path's quite frequently. I usually need another Siege Rhino to close out a game (I had him down to 1 life today but couldn't finish him). Is there something at the top end I could sideboard in against more control decks. Geist on the ground doesn't seem to do enough and my Voices do nothing against Paths. Almost considering just a top with Rune-Scarred Demon to tutor for that right card (Siege Rhino) when I need it.
EDIT: so I'm research here creatures that refer to "creature cards". Keeping in the mana base of multicolor creatures, there's Baloth Null, Sedris, the Traitor King (resurrecting hasty Siege Rhinos seems awesome), or Underworld Cerberus (hoses Snapcasters woo.
Here it is:
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Reflector Mage
3 Spell Queller
4 Mantis Rider
4 Siege Rhino
3 Lightning Angel
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Path to Exile
Lands (22)
4 Ancient Ziggurat
2 City of Brass
1 Forest
1 Gemstone Mine
4 Mana Confluence
3 Pillar of the Paruns
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Reflecting Pool
2 Anafenza, the Foremost
1 Dromoka’s Command
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Kataki, War’s Wage
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Sin Collector
2 Stony Silence
It hates more on combo with maindeck Tidehollow Sculler but loses Qasali Pridemage which I'm not sure that I agree with.
I also agree with Lightning Angel over Falkenrath Aristocrat.
There are also 2x Reflector Mage in the main which I'm not sure that are necessary as we outclass most other creature decks anyway and have 7x creatures with "vigilance" in this build.
This list managed to 5-0 a league online.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/471598
Here are some more videos with the deck:
http://www.numotgaming.com/modern-monday-five-color-creatures/
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=13515
I feel like Reflector Mage is good in 5C Aggro, because it puts Infect and Suicide Zoo way behind. 5C aggro wants to be attacking, not blocking.
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post
It is rather slow (unlike Siege Rhino which drains 3 upon EtB or Falkenrath Aristocrat/Lightning Angel which have haste) and is very hard to cast as: Noble Hierarch, Pillar of the Paruns and Razorverge Thicket can't pay for it.
Here the build I'm playing at the moment:
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Qasali Pridemage
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Rhox War Monk
4 Spell Queller
4 Mantis Rider
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
4 Siege Rhino
3 Lightning Angel
4x Path to Exile
Sorcery (2)
2x Lead the Stampede
Lands (22)
4x Ancient Ziggurat
3x Reflecting Pool
4x Mana Confluence
2x City of Brass
2x Gemstone Mine
2x Pillar of the Paruns
4 Razorverge Thicket
1x Forest
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Meddling Mage
1 Izzet Staticaster
4 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Dauntless Escort
I've tested Sedraxis Specter for a while and it was pretty good sometimes but not consistent enough as casting it was difficult.
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post
Against Anger of the Gods we have Spell Queller and Anafenza, the Foremost can buff creatures out of Anger/Bolt range.
Another good creature for this matchup can be Wilt-Leaf Liege.
I have Dauntless Escort in the SB to bring in against sweepers.
Tidehollow Sculler and Meddling Mage can at least delay if not prevent them.
I think a basic Plains is great here in addition to the basic Forest. It casts everything besides your dorks and Abrupt Decay, which adds up to more cards than Pillar of the Paruns, for example.
Gemstone Mine has been really bad. I don't even want the first one, and it is easily the first card I'd cut. City of Brass is certainly the best replacement and perhaps warrants 3-4 spots over some of the other lands, like all the Mines and some number of Pools or Pillars. I know it hurts our % against linear aggro, but it increases our % against everything else.
Keranos is an amazing sideboard card against anything fair. Card advantage and reach are two holes in this strategy. Siege Rhino has some reach, so when that effect is good, more sounds great.
Adding spot removal has a real cost to a deck already playing 8 mana dorks. Path is obviously perfect for the deck, and should never go below 4 imo, but Abrupt Decay is much more questionable. At times I wish it were attached to a body, like Reflector Mage for example. I could see Decay being in the sideboard. Or what is it specifically in the deck to do? If anyone knows, I'm interested. Since we have 4 Path already, it would be intuitive that Decay is for the cards Path can't hit, but that seems like it occupies the same deck space as Pridemage, and to a lesser extent, Sculler and Queller.
Lightning Angel hasn't held a candle to Falkenrath Aristocrat. A huge part of Aristocrat is its activated ability. We can insulate ourselves against Wrath effects with a powerful threat, which is very strong. While it's usually going to be just cute, Aristocrat opens you up to interesting plays with Queller's and Sculler's abilities, should that be deemed necessary.
It costs 4
Doesn't fly
Smaller body
Pros:
Hits any CMC.
Doesn't care if it dies later.
I could see it as a sideboard vs combo decks (Ad Naus, Titan Breach, etc) but I don't know if it's the best option.
I was finally able to get some testing in with Mystic Snake and it was actually against Breach Titan and it ended up just flat out winning the game. I played 2 snakes in the SB and brought them in games 2 & 3 and it was great. Game 1 I had my Spell Quellers and they were just fine except he was running bolt so he got to resolve his stuff regardless. I see an argument for both. I guess from my limited testing he's pretty good. I think the fact he permanently counters a spell is reason enough to play him. Yes he costs 4 but with 8 mana dorks were probably playing him turn 3 if we want a majority of the time and the decks that we would want him as an answer for probably aren't focusing on killing our dorks in the first place. I will continue testing Snake and report back periodically.
Ad Naus runs boomerang effects specifically for things like Mage, Gaddock Teeg, etc.
The 10 I just checked on mtgtop8 run either Slaughter Pact or Echoing Truth or both in the sideboard.
I've been posting ---> here for awhile with my tournament reports for the past year and a half developing an all creatures version of the deck. The link will take you to my last post (Part 1 of this Part 2). I have another 5 reports before that (including testing with Mystic Snake)
Part Two:
A few weeks ago my youngest and I went to Game Swap in Mason, OH. They have standard and modern FNMs on a regular basis so we decided to try the modern event. Here’s what I played:
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Mantis Rider
4 Siege Rhino
4 Spell Queller
2 Meddling Mage
2 Lyev Skyknight
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Reflector Mage
2 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Grim Lavamancer
1 Reclamation Sage
4 Ancient Ziggurat
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Horizon Canopy
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Godless Shrine
2 Plains
1 Island
2 Forest
3 Kor Firewalker
2 Reclamation Sage
2 Sin Collector
2 Nekrataal
2 Avalanche Riders
2 Izzet Staticaster
1 Lavinia of the Tenth
1 Burrenton-Forge Tender
As you can see, most of it is very similar to my previous iteration with these changes:
Main:
-2 Fiend Hunter
-2 Deputy of Acquittals
+2 Reflector Mage
+2 Grim Lavamancer
SB:
-1 Reclamation Sage
-2 Meddling Mage
+2 Nekrataal
+1 Kor Firewalker
The switch from Fiend Hunter to Reflector Mage was to gain tempo. Many times I would play the hunter and it would be destroyed at the most inopportune time. With Reflector Mage I can make sure that creature doesn’t come back for a turn and it gives me more time to beatdown. I added in the Lavamancers as a test to gain a little more reach in the game and utilize my graveyard somewhat.
In the sideboard I felt one more Firewalker was needed to help against red decks and decided to completely take out the Meddling Mages for what was supposed to be Shriekmaws, but I wasn’t able find them, so I used Nekrataals. The mana is more difficult, but they are a ‘human’ assassin so there was that benefit
The tournament was 5 rounds:
R1: Mono-Green Stompy 2-1
He was playing Obstinate Baloth, Kalonian Tusker, and few other random green dudes and pump spells (Rancor, Vines of Vastwood, etc.). His deck ran fine, but once I was able to get my roadblocks up, he kind of stumbled. I still lost the first game and unfortunately by my own hand. I had a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben on the board at 14 life. He goes to attack with a couple of 5/5s and had two mana available. I didn’t block because I could have gotten him on the crackback. He played a kicker’ed Vines and I scooped. Right after I did that it hit me that he wouldn’t have been able to pay for the kicker and the spell with only two mana. Durh. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. Fortunately, I took the next two games with some appropriate pressure, Siege Rhino, and Reflector Mage’ing some Rancor’ed creatures. I did side in the Nekrataals, but never drew them.
R2: Ad Nauseam 2-0
Not much to see here. I played Meddling Mage on turn 2 both games naming Ad Nauseam and he was stuck while I beat down. (second game I mulled down to 5, not to get the mage, but because the other hands were junk. I just got lucky). His only outs were the one burn spell they play and a Slaughter Pact, but drew neither. I imagine without the mage it would be a harder match-up and you’d really have to put aggressive pressure on them.
R3: Naya Burn 2-1
This was a hard match. I’ve known my opponent for quite a while and he’s a very competent player. In the first game, I did try a little fun move where he suspended a Rift Bolt on his first turn and right after on my second turn I played Meddling Mage naming Rift Bolt. Unfortunately, (yet, expected) he had a Lightning Bolt to free up the Rift Bolt, but it was a good try). He did what burn does; Goblin Guide, bolt, Monastery Swiftspear, Atarka's Command. I somewhat stabilized at 7 with a couple of Siege Rhinos and of course he then draws the Lightning Bolt & Boros Charm to do me in. Game 2 I slammed a turn 2 Kor Firewalker down (which he was surprised to see) and then watched it take a Path to Exile (which he brought in for the Rhinos). It did open the way for a rhino and with a little back and forth I took the game. I was able to take the third game pretty well since he was stuck on two lands for a few turns. He did get me to 7 and drew his third land, but at that time I had a Firewalker in play and a board advantage that he wasn’t getting out of. He might have been able to do something if he had the fourth land (I believe he had Atarka's Command and another burn spell, but not enough mana). With more creatures, I had the better long game and could use my guys to absorb his small creature advantages, but have to stay at a healthy life total.
R4: U/W Thing 2-0
I came out of the gates with a T1 Champion, T2 Lieutenant, T3 Reflector Mage on his Thing in the Ice, and T4 Mantis Rider. He couldn’t counter anything with my T1 Cavern of Souls naming human. He then proceeded to scoop phase. The second game was quite a bit tougher when he played his Vedalken Shackles. He got three TiTIs in play, yet didn’t draw a lot of spells to trigger them. After a few turns, I had a 5/5 Champion, 2 Rhinos, and a few other creatures going back and forth with him stealing one, me attacking, him chumping with my guy, me playing another creature, and so on. He did get a couple of his TiTIs to one counter left and could have flipped them, but by that time I was still at 20 and be able to play a Rhino for the win if he did (he was at 2).
R5: R/G Tron 0-2
At this point it was somewhat late and I promised my wife I wouldn’t keep my youngest out late like the last time (3am isn’t when you want your wife to wake up and realize no one else but the dog is home). I was the only 4-0 player so I was paired down against a 3-1 and we decided to split and play the match for fun. He got out the turn 3 Tron and then played Ugin, the Spirit Dragon the following turn to wipe my board. I did get him down to 3 or 4, but that’s as far as it went. I did keep him from playing Karn Liberated with a Meddling Mage (He Ancient Stirrings’d for him).
He ended up winning the second game, but I was ready to go I played pretty loose. I got him down to 2 and forgot to attack him with my Avalanche Riders earlier, so I did have the win, but played it after I attacked for no reason (I had a Spell Queller on a Sylvan Scrying). I also Meddling Mage’d the Wurmcoil Engine he searched for, but it was a bad call. He ended up having 2 Oblivion Stones in hand. I was thinking of blind calling them out, and should’ve since I had a quick clock, but choose poorly. After the game, I was discussing my sideboarding with my opponent and the one thing he disagreed with was taking out the Anafenzas. He felt that she would have put more pressure on him if in play and he’s probably right.
I’m still not sure about the two main new changes; Grim Lavamancer and Shriekmaw/Nekrataal. Probably due to the mana base and being able to cast it for the evoke cost I’ll more than likely switch to the Shriekmaw. I’ll keep the Lavamancers for the time being, just to see if they’ll be of use. I’ve liked every other card in the main and have been able to use them (I didn’t really use the Reclamation Sages, but I like to have one main in case a Blood Moon gets past the Quellers). I’ll be taking out Lavinia since lately she hasn’t been very relevant. Never had a problem with her cost, just I haven’t run into a lot of sweep the board creature decks (Merfolk, Elves, etc.). Otherwise I’d leave her in. I do plan on putting the third Meddling Mage back in the sideboard. With the different combo decks, he just stops them cold.
Good luck and have fun.
Turn 2 Mantis Rider into turn 3 Siege Rhino/Lightning Angel should be good again, right ?
Or is Fatal Push an another efficient answer thay will keep the deck down ?
The list is rather "stock" with the main change being more copies of Kitchen Finks and Mantis Rider and no Spell Queller
(which I think is a mistake as it is one of the best creatures in the deck).
I'm also not a fan of Falkenrath Aristocrat and prefer Lightning Angel (or even Butcher of the Horde).
Here are some gameplay videos with this version of the deck - https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/all-the-creatures-five-color-creatures-modern-stream-highlights
Has anyone else been experimenting with this type of build ?
i'm also finding that the deck runs out of steam in longer games. Im considering Congregation at Dawn to ensure the right creatures late game. I imagine it would also help to pull out the right utility creatures when needed. Im interested to hear if anyone else found ways to succeed in the late game.
For extra gas you could try Lead the Stampede.
Lead the Stampede does seem like best card draw option for the deck. especially with such a high creature density.
I'm not sure which is the best 4-drop option alongside Siege Rhino as both Lightning Angel and Falkenrath Aristocrat don't seem that great right now.
Maybe Butcher of the Horde should be the preferred creature ?
Wilt-Leaf Liege doesn't seem too bad either.