@Emzed: Thanks for the tips! I was considering Tracker as I seem to flood out with this deck pretty often. Should be playing the deck again on Friday so I'll keep this all in mind.
Been playing this deck every chance I can over the last few weeks. I made some changes based on feedback from my list, and am pretty happy with it. List I'm running is the Cobra variant.
So far I like our matchup against a lot of the field but I can't seem to beat Death's Shadow. Any tip for sideboarding or the matchup in general?
What are your best sideboard cards against blue bolt decks (blue moon/jeskai?) I'm really having a bad time beating the deck. Tips and tricks. What to board out
After playing some more I think that 3x Felidars is the most awkward number of Felidars. If you want to run a value midrange list (which it looks like you do) I think 1-2 Felidars (with 2-3 Evo) makes sense. If you want to push the combo then 4 Felidars with 4 Evos and Kiki is the way to go, IMO.
Yes. I usually run 2 Cats. However this is also because I run the Kiki-Resto package as overlap. For those who do not want to run the Kiki-Resto package, 3 Cats is max you want to go unless you want to go all in on the combo.
Has anyone tried beastcaller savant in place of lotus cobra?
Or Sylvan Caryatid?
Beastcaller Savant can't cast Saheeli, which is highly relevant, and a 2cmc creature that only makes 1 mana is probably not good enough for Modern anyway. Sylvan Caryatid is better, but still seems underpowered compared to 1cmc accelerators and Lotus Cobra. Hexproof is neat, but not a big deal (unless you have Worship out, then it can be quite good), and the 0/3 body isn't spectacular either.
What are your best sideboard cards against blue bolt decks (blue moon/jeskai?) I'm really having a bad time beating the deck. Tips and tricks. What to board out
Those decks are some of the hardest to sideboard against. It's not easy to swing these matchups with a handful of cards, rather you need a critical mass of cards that generate additional value, like Voice, Rallier, Tireless Tracker, Pia and Kiran, Sun Titan and Felidar blinking Oath. Try to set up a turn where you cast two of those spells to overload their countermagic. As for sideboarding, take out a few Lotus Cobras and Evolutions, both cards are very vulnerable to their interaction. If you are certain that they don't have access to Platinum Emperion or Spell Queller, taking out removal like Reflector Mage and Path to Exile is also a good idea. If you specifically want to beat UR decks, Thrun or Keranos might be good for your sideboard, but Gaddock Teeg, Selfless Spirit, Reclamation Sage and any form of countermagic are usually good too.
Only game i dropped was to Adnauseum, kept a mediocre 6 because it had birds, oath, rallier, and one plains.... and just needed a single fetch land to sustain it, sadly missed 2nd land drop.and cost me the game. Took 3rd overall
Just got another 5-0 with good ol 4C Saheeli, this time without Bloodbraid Elf (too much variance).
Round 1: 2-0 vs Abzan Midrange
Round 2: 2-0 vs RW Burn (Got to surprise-block Goblin Guide with Qasali Ambusher game 2, then untap and Evolution into Thragtusk :D)
Round 3: 2-0 vs UR Storm (Got back Gaddock Teeg 2 times from gy with Rallier to seal the deal)
Round 4: 2-0 vs UW Planeswalkers Control
So, 8-0 in games before the final match... where I face the mirror (Opponent was 2-0 though). We both comboed off turn 3-4 with Cobra each game, so my only game loss was vs the mirror
I've been playing this deck since GP Copenhagen last year and I still find new ways to win in almost impossible spots. It takes A LOT of practice to fully master this deck and I still feel I have more to learn.
For bonus fun I'm attaching a screenshot from game 3 in the finals. I mulliganed to 6 and kept a one lander and scryed a Birds of Paradise on top. In opponent's turn 3 they cast Acidic Slime to blow up my only land (screenshot taken here). When it's my draw step I draw a card and after some thinking I'm able to win that very turn.
Glad you got to live the dream with Ambusher vs Burn. Did Ambusher come up in any other games? How did mainboard Thrun do?
You drew a Fetch to essentially play a version of the T2 combo sequence: you play and crack the fetch (GWX mana), tap Bird for floating mana then Evolve Bird into Rallier, Rally back Fetch (URX mana), cast Saheeli, -2 clone Rallier, Rally back Fetch (WXX mana), you then had 4 mana to cast Felidar with the Bird’s floating mana.
Glad you got to live the dream with Ambusher vs Burn. Did Ambusher come up in any other games? How did mainboard Thrun do?
Didn't sideboard in Ambusher vs any other decks, but it should definitely be a game changer vs Affinity, Hollow One and Humans.
Never drew Thrun vs UW or Abzan which were the matches I kept Thrun in mainboard after sideboard so can't really evaluate him. But with Jeskai Control rising in popularity he should be decent to have in mainboard. But have to evaluate more.
Didn't sideboard in Ambusher vs any other decks, but it should definitely be a game changer vs Affinity, Hollow One and Humans.
With Affinity, Hollow One, Humans, and Burn being half of the top 8 meta decks it certainly might be Ambusher's time to shine.
My biggest reservation with Ambusher vs Humans is that it doesn't necessarily help combo out once they've landed their (Turn 2!) combo-hate cards -- Meddling Mage or Auriok Champion. With that in mind I'd rather have more copies of Reflector Mage, Explosives, Fiery Justice, Abrade, etc, which restore the combo route vs Humans and can have additional application vs Midrange, Lantern, and creature-based combo like Counters Co, Elves, and Storm. Granted, those latter decks have less individual representation in the current meta but together still make up a good chunk of it. With that said having a free 3-drop to accelerate Evo is still powerful, and as you've demonstrated in your Burn matchup when Ambusher is good it's really good...
When deciding between Ambusher and more removal I guess it comes down to how much you want to spike the most common matchups vs taking a more generalist approach. I'd appreciate you sharing more Ambusher data as you continue to play matches.
hello guys. Im new here. And i just started playing saheeli evolution in mtgo. Great thread. I learned a lot already. I just want to ask why we are not playing aether vial anymore? Thanks guys!
@ Koopa: I've recently been running a very similar list with respect to Birds, Cobras and lands, and I've found myself with Kiki-Jiki stuck in my hand several times. When my accelerators get killed, the inability to find 3 red sources via lands really annoys me. I've come to the conclusion that I need another red land, probably a second Stomping Ground or even a basic Mountain or Steam Vents. Since you are essentially running the same deck, maybe that's a consideration for you too.
Also, your list has zero removal in the maindeck (Huntmaster doesn't really count since it only deals 2 and requires set-up). I like having at least a single copy of Reflector Mage (or something else, like Glorybringer), since that turns all the Evolutions into potential Reflector Mages, which you can then blink or copy. In the current meta, that seems like a good tool to have.
I was also thinking of the Bridge sideboard plan in Burn, which can be difficult to beat/race,
Actually, Reflector Mage can solve this problem. They usually have a few creatures on the board, so you can probably put a card into their hand and win via combo (unless they play around this exact scenario by keeping up removal for their own creature, which will usually be in the form of Grim Lavamancer).
Btw I agree that Glorybringer isn't really great right now, I would rank it slightly behind Kiki, Shalai, P&K, Acidic Slime and old Sigarda in the "4-5cmc utility creature" category. Between Jace, Teferi and Karn, we have a bunch of new planeswalkers in the format that the Dragon can usually not kill right away, whereas Grim Flayer, Thought-Knot Seer and Eldrazi Displacer, which are some of the sweetest creature to kill by dealing 4 damage, aren't popular right now.
Any tips/opinion on my build? would appreciate any criticism. thanks:)
Looks pretty good, but I don't like that you only have 15 green lands, counting the fetchlands. You absolutely need one in every opening hand, so you should probably have a few more (I have 19 in my list). At the same time, six shocklands are too many for my taste, I don't think you need all three blue ones. Consider cutting one or two of the non-green lands (preferably a Ghost Quarter, Plains or Hallowed Fountain) for another Forest and/or 1-2 Horizon Canopy.
Having played a few very different versions of this deck, I noticed your list has a high density of creatures that enable Evolution well between Voice, Cobra, Rallier and Finks. Why not lean into that and run the full four Evos? It will certainly help you in matchups where you just want to assemble a quick combo, and also when you need to find match-up specific silver bullets.
Any tips/opinion on my build? would appreciate any criticism. thanks:)
Looks pretty good, but I don't like that you only have 15 green lands, counting the fetchlands. You absolutely need one in every opening hand, so you should probably have a few more (I have 19 in my list). At the same time, six shocklands are too many for my taste, I don't think you need all three blue ones. Consider cutting one or two of the non-green lands (preferably a Ghost Quarter, Plains or Hallowed Fountain) for another Forest and/or 1-2 Horizon Canopy.
Having played a few very different versions of this deck, I noticed your list has a high density of creatures that enable Evolution well between Voice, Cobra, Rallier and Finks. Why not lean into that and run the full four Evos? It will certainly help you in matchups where you just want to assemble a quick combo, and also when you need to find match-up specific silver bullets.
Thanks @emzed
The thing is.. horizon canopy is so expensive. So i chose G. Quarter for the mean time. I might cut steam vents for a 2nd stomping ground maybe. I was actually having doubts on that 1-off finks. U thibk i should cut it and run full evo for more combo-isk approach? Thanks again.
Went 2-2 at another 20 person FNM tonight. Decklist was similar to last time except for -1 Fiery Justice, -1 Worship in the side for +1 Abrade, +1 Qasali Ambusher.
R1 - Humans G1 I'm on the play so I get under his disruption and combo out T3 G2 Opponent leads with T1 Champion of the Parish, T2 Champion of the Parish, Gut Shot-ing my T1 Hierarch. Ouch. I play Wall of Omens T2 and pass. He bounces Wall with Reflector Mage (interesting choice) and swings in for 5. T3 I play Cobra into Fiery Justice, clearing both of his Champions. Next turn I play Worship and he flashes in Staticaster to clear Cobra. We both draw-go for a couple turns as I try to dig down to the combo and he looks for answers to Worship. Before I can find anything he cracks Canopy into Reflector Mage, bounces my lone Wall, and swings in for lethal. G3 Is a little fuzzy. By the late game I had three Felidars and an Oath while he had Staticaster, Phantasmal Staticaster, Malcontents, Meddling Mage on Saheeli, and a couple Freebooters (exiling Oath & Saheeli). I kept flickering Oath but ended up digging past an Evo at one point and didn't hit anything else while his Freebooters hit me for 2 dmg / turn for 3-4 turns. After the match I looked and my next out was 15+ cards down. Sometimes it isn't meant to be. (1-2 games, 0-1 matches)
R2 - Ponza G1 and G2 were similar. He lead with T1 Arbor Elf, T2 Stone Rain'd my first land, while I played T1 Dork, T2 Cobra. Both games I recovered on mana quickly after the Stone Rain and combo'd out ~T4. (2-0 games, 1-1 matches)
R3 - GW Elves G1 I combo out T3 with a silly sequence of T1 Bird, T2 Cobra, T3 Cobra, Rallier to rally back Fetch, Felidar blink Rallier to return the Fetch again, Evolve Rallier into Kiki. G2 I keep him off the druid combo by bouncing his T2 Druid with my Reflector Mage, Fiery Justice away his Ezuri, and play Gaddock but a few turns later he's able to hardcast another Ezuri and Vizier to combo out. G3 T1 Bird, T2 Saheeli, T3 Clone Bird, play Gaddock, Evolve into Felidar to combo out (2-1 games, 2-1 matches)
R4 - Mardu Reveler G1 I stick a T3 Saheeli with Oath on board and two Felidars in hand. Unfortunately my fetches weren't white so I couldn't get a Plains. He kills my Bird and plays Blood Moon, locking me out of casting the two Felidars and the Wall that I proceed to topdeck. I draw another Felidar. I draw another Bird, cast and clone it to get the Wall out (not enough mana for Felidar), draw into nothing useful/castable. I durdle around for a while while he takes over with a Pyro. G2 I had to mull down to a 4 of 2 Fetches, Bird, and Wall. He Inquisitions away the wall. I work my way back into the game for a while thanks to some good topdecks of Shalai, Thragtusk, and Slime. Things start to look good when I topdeck Saheeli and clone Thragtusk, but he starts stabilizing with Pyro + Elemental & Spirit tokens, sealing the deal with Liliana of the Veil to slowly pick off my creatures, finally finishing the game with a Reveler. (0-2 games, 2-2 matches)
Thoughts:
Despite going 2-2 I'm still pleased with the overall performance of the deck and I feel like we are honing in on an increasingly optimized core.
In the future I'll have to make more effort to pair Worship with a creature-heavy hand to keep Humans from getting around Worship with the removal they bring in to disrupt the combo. I didn't get to play Qasali Ambusher at all, but this experience made me feel a bit better about going to a split of 1 Worship and 1 Ambusher since they are good in most of the same matchups. More testing needed.
This is the first time I've gotten to play against a dedicated Mardu pilot, and it's also the first time I've had to actually fear an opposing Blood Moon due to the way Mardu backs Blood Moon up with a critical mass of removal to consistently clear our dorks, unlike Ponza & Red Prison.
I continue to feel very good about racing other linear decks with this build, but I may need to bolster the grind potential. Currently considering cutting the 3rd MB Reflector for the 4th Rallier, especially since Reflector is poor against Mardu & Jeskai. I'll try to jam more games vs these decks.
Hey all, just getting back into this deck after fiddling around with a bunch of other decks. Saheeli Evolution was always a blast to play but felt a bit underpowered. However, with the printing of Shalai and with newer lists jamming Lotus Cobra in addition to Coiling Oracle as well as Renegade Rallier, the deck seems to have markedly improved. It has those crazy explosive plays out of nowhere thanks to Cobra, but now it can play a better midrange and also protect the combo (and general grind plan) with Shalai.
(1) Gavony Township - yay or nay? It is less useful now with Shalai being able to do the same effect, but on a stick?
(2) Why are lists still regularly running 2 basic Plains? With the sheer amount of G T1 drops it seems like a 3:1 Forest to Plains split makes more sense than 2:2.
(3) Magus of the Moon - I'm only seeing this as an occasional 1-of maindeck. To me it seems like a no-brainer include as a silver bullet that can easily steal wins - i.e., T1 fetch a basic Forest and play a dork, T2 crack a fetch for another basic and evolve into a Magus and lock your opponent out.
(4) Kiki-Jiki - Other than the obvious "it can combo out," I see a lot of people are running it 1-of mainboard. What is the strategy behind playing it? It seems a bit risky to clog up your hand with a card with RRR in its cost.
(5) Huntsmaster of the Fells - yay or nay in this meta?
Hey all, just getting back into this deck after fiddling around with a bunch of other decks. Saheeli Evolution was always a blast to play but felt a bit underpowered. However, with the printing of Shalai and with newer lists jamming Lotus Cobra in addition to Coiling Oracle as well as Renegade Rallier, the deck seems to have markedly improved. It has those crazy explosive plays out of nowhere thanks to Cobra, but now it can play a better midrange and also protect the combo (and general grind plan) with Shalai.
(1) Gavony Township - yay or nay? It is less useful now with Shalai being able to do the same effect, but on a stick?
(2) Why are lists still regularly running 2 basic Plains? With the sheer amount of G T1 drops it seems like a 3:1 Forest to Plains split makes more sense than 2:2.
(3) Magus of the Moon - I'm only seeing this as an occasional 1-of maindeck. To me it seems like a no-brainer include as a silver bullet that can easily steal wins - i.e., T1 fetch a basic Forest and play a dork, T2 crack a fetch for another basic and evolve into a Magus and lock your opponent out.
(4) Kiki-Jiki - Other than the obvious "it can combo out," I see a lot of people are running it 1-of mainboard. What is the strategy behind playing it? It seems a bit risky to clog up your hand with a card with RRR in its cost.
(5) Huntsmaster of the Fells - yay or nay in this meta?
@TheoryCraft
im actually a newbie also on this deck. my opinion on those things are only based on what i read few pages early and some experience playing this(1week :laugh2:)
1 - I saw here that some players are taking Shalai out usually - depends on the match up. thats why some are playing township.
2 - personally playing 3:1 now
3 - M. Moon is fragile compared to Blood Moon according to some.
4 - P&K and Huntmaster are basically same. there are pros and cons on playing either. But personally i go for P&K thopters can block inkmoths
again, im just a newbie on this as well so hopefully we will hear stuff from those experts here.
Can you give some concrete examples for matchups where Magus of the Moon is a creature you would tutor for? I've played the card on and off, but rarely been impressed. It requires set-up (get basic lands in play, optimally both a Forest and a Plains) and if you want to Evo it into play quickly, you will probably need to sac a mana dork, which is the exact kind of creature you actually want to have with Magus in play. At the same time, Magus dies to everything (maybe not to Fatal Push because Revolt gets harder to achieve) and makes our Cobras and Ralliers a good deal worse. It can certainly dominate games, but there are also a lot of scenarios where it underperforms, especially if the opponent is aware of the card.
Concerning Kiki: It's in the deck to allow us to use Evolution for a combo piece once we already have Felidar Guardian. Just having one Kiki to tutor for really increases our consistency at assembling a combo quickly. Cobra makes casting it a reasonable plan, but I've also had it stuck in hand more often than I'd like. As maniospas stated, you have to build and especially play with Kiki in mind. When in doubt, fetch another red land!
As for P&K vs Huntmaster: They play a similar role, and are close in power level in my opinion. P&K shines vs Affinity, whereas Huntmaster gets the nod vs Burn.
I like P&K a little better, but its mana cost is also noticably tougher. Though once you have Kiki in your deck, might as well play P&K too.
Since I'm writing about all red cards anyway, I'm currently watching the Pro Tour top 8 (Standard), and Goblin Chainwhirler is totally dominating that tournament (28 out of 32 possible copies in the top8 decks). While the mana cost seems like a huge (!) stretch, the card has potential to be great in our deck too. It's similar to Orzhov Pontiff, which has been a solid role player in Modern for years, but the body is so much better, and pinging planeswalkers can be a very useful bonus (remember the days when Saheeli did that for us?). Nevertheless, is it at all possible to make the mana work? And would the card even be worth the effort? Both seem unlikely, but what do you guys think?
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Been playing this deck every chance I can over the last few weeks. I made some changes based on feedback from my list, and am pretty happy with it. List I'm running is the Cobra variant.
So far I like our matchup against a lot of the field but I can't seem to beat Death's Shadow. Any tip for sideboarding or the matchup in general?
Thanks!
Or Sylvan Caryatid?
Yes. I usually run 2 Cats. However this is also because I run the Kiki-Resto package as overlap. For those who do not want to run the Kiki-Resto package, 3 Cats is max you want to go unless you want to go all in on the combo.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
Beastcaller Savant can't cast Saheeli, which is highly relevant, and a 2cmc creature that only makes 1 mana is probably not good enough for Modern anyway. Sylvan Caryatid is better, but still seems underpowered compared to 1cmc accelerators and Lotus Cobra. Hexproof is neat, but not a big deal (unless you have Worship out, then it can be quite good), and the 0/3 body isn't spectacular either.
Those decks are some of the hardest to sideboard against. It's not easy to swing these matchups with a handful of cards, rather you need a critical mass of cards that generate additional value, like Voice, Rallier, Tireless Tracker, Pia and Kiran, Sun Titan and Felidar blinking Oath. Try to set up a turn where you cast two of those spells to overload their countermagic. As for sideboarding, take out a few Lotus Cobras and Evolutions, both cards are very vulnerable to their interaction. If you are certain that they don't have access to Platinum Emperion or Spell Queller, taking out removal like Reflector Mage and Path to Exile is also a good idea. If you specifically want to beat UR decks, Thrun or Keranos might be good for your sideboard, but Gaddock Teeg, Selfless Spirit, Reclamation Sage and any form of countermagic are usually good too.
http://decks.deckedbuilder.com/d/2018-05-29/Knn7Ts22VkqBKAeblEmCxg==
Only game i dropped was to Adnauseum, kept a mediocre 6 because it had birds, oath, rallier, and one plains.... and just needed a single fetch land to sustain it, sadly missed 2nd land drop.and cost me the game. Took 3rd overall
Round 1: 2-0 vs Abzan Midrange
Round 2: 2-0 vs RW Burn (Got to surprise-block Goblin Guide with Qasali Ambusher game 2, then untap and Evolution into Thragtusk :D)
Round 3: 2-0 vs UR Storm (Got back Gaddock Teeg 2 times from gy with Rallier to seal the deal)
Round 4: 2-0 vs UW Planeswalkers Control
So, 8-0 in games before the final match... where I face the mirror (Opponent was 2-0 though). We both comboed off turn 3-4 with Cobra each game, so my only game loss was vs the mirror
Here's the decklist I played (EDIT: Now up on Wizards site as well: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/competitive-modern-constructed-league-2018-06-01)
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Noble Hierarch
4 Lotus Cobra
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Coiling Oracle
4 Saheeli Rai
3 Eldritch Evolution
2 Reflector Mage
2 Renegade Rallier
2 Felidar Guardian
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Thragtusk
1 Acidic Slime
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
2 Flooded Strand
2 Forest
2 Plains
1 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Breeding Pool
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Gavony Township
2 Stony Silence
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Lone Missionary
2 Qasali Ambusher
2 Blood Moon
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Domri Rade
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
For bonus fun I'm attaching a screenshot from game 3 in the finals. I mulliganed to 6 and kept a one lander and scryed a Birds of Paradise on top. In opponent's turn 3 they cast Acidic Slime to blow up my only land (screenshot taken here). When it's my draw step I draw a card and after some thinking I'm able to win that very turn.
What's the card and how do I win?
11-3-1 @ GP Copenhagen: Top Stories of Grand Prix Copenhagen
Glad you got to live the dream with Ambusher vs Burn. Did Ambusher come up in any other games? How did mainboard Thrun do?
Never drew Thrun vs UW or Abzan which were the matches I kept Thrun in mainboard after sideboard so can't really evaluate him. But with Jeskai Control rising in popularity he should be decent to have in mainboard. But have to evaluate more.
11-3-1 @ GP Copenhagen: Top Stories of Grand Prix Copenhagen
My biggest reservation with Ambusher vs Humans is that it doesn't necessarily help combo out once they've landed their (Turn 2!) combo-hate cards -- Meddling Mage or Auriok Champion. With that in mind I'd rather have more copies of Reflector Mage, Explosives, Fiery Justice, Abrade, etc, which restore the combo route vs Humans and can have additional application vs Midrange, Lantern, and creature-based combo like Counters Co, Elves, and Storm. Granted, those latter decks have less individual representation in the current meta but together still make up a good chunk of it. With that said having a free 3-drop to accelerate Evo is still powerful, and as you've demonstrated in your Burn matchup when Ambusher is good it's really good...
When deciding between Ambusher and more removal I guess it comes down to how much you want to spike the most common matchups vs taking a more generalist approach. I'd appreciate you sharing more Ambusher data as you continue to play matches.
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Lotus Cobra
4x Renegade Rallier
4x Voice of Resurgence
2x Felidar Guardian
2x Reflector Mage
1x Huntmaster of the Fells
1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1x Noble Hierarch
1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1x Thragtusk
1x Tireless Tracker
Spells(12)
4x Eldritch Evolution
4x Oath of Nissa
4x Saheeli Rai
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Windswept Heath
3x Flooded Strand
2x Horizon Canopy
2x Forest
2x Plains
1x Breeding Pool
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
2x Fiery Justice
2x Stony Silence
2x Unified Will
1x Blood Moon
1x Eidolon of the Rhetoic
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Lone Missionary
1x Magus of the Moon
1x Obstinate Baloth
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Scavenging Ooze
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
Also, your list has zero removal in the maindeck (Huntmaster doesn't really count since it only deals 2 and requires set-up). I like having at least a single copy of Reflector Mage (or something else, like Glorybringer), since that turns all the Evolutions into potential Reflector Mages, which you can then blink or copy. In the current meta, that seems like a good tool to have.
@manios: I had a Pridemage and maybe I could trim a card for him. That said, Lantern is on the decline.
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
yeah. now i know why vial is based. i tried it and i failed bigtime.
now im trying without it and somehow feels better tbh.
Actually, Reflector Mage can solve this problem. They usually have a few creatures on the board, so you can probably put a card into their hand and win via combo (unless they play around this exact scenario by keeping up removal for their own creature, which will usually be in the form of Grim Lavamancer).
Btw I agree that Glorybringer isn't really great right now, I would rank it slightly behind Kiki, Shalai, P&K, Acidic Slime and old Sigarda in the "4-5cmc utility creature" category. Between Jace, Teferi and Karn, we have a bunch of new planeswalkers in the format that the Dragon can usually not kill right away, whereas Grim Flayer, Thought-Knot Seer and Eldrazi Displacer, which are some of the sweetest creature to kill by dealing 4 damage, aren't popular right now.
Looks pretty good, but I don't like that you only have 15 green lands, counting the fetchlands. You absolutely need one in every opening hand, so you should probably have a few more (I have 19 in my list). At the same time, six shocklands are too many for my taste, I don't think you need all three blue ones. Consider cutting one or two of the non-green lands (preferably a Ghost Quarter, Plains or Hallowed Fountain) for another Forest and/or 1-2 Horizon Canopy.
Having played a few very different versions of this deck, I noticed your list has a high density of creatures that enable Evolution well between Voice, Cobra, Rallier and Finks. Why not lean into that and run the full four Evos? It will certainly help you in matchups where you just want to assemble a quick combo, and also when you need to find match-up specific silver bullets.
Thanks @emzed
The thing is.. horizon canopy is so expensive. So i chose G. Quarter for the mean time. I might cut steam vents for a 2nd stomping ground maybe. I was actually having doubts on that 1-off finks. U thibk i should cut it and run full evo for more combo-isk approach? Thanks again.
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Noble Hierarch
4x Lotus Cobra
3x Wall of Omens
3x Renegade Rallier
3x Reflector Mage
4x Felidar Guardian
1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1x Acidic Slime
1x Sun Titan
Spells (12)
4x Oath of Nissa
4x Saheeli Rai
4x Eldritch Evolution
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
2x Misty Rainforest
1x Flooded Strand
2x Stomping Ground
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Breeding Pool
1x Temple Garden
2x Forest
2x Plains
2x Horizon Canopy
2x Stony Silence
2x Fiery Justice
1x Abrade
1x Worship
2x Gaddock Teeg
1x Selfless Spirit
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Qasali Ambusher
2x Tireless Tracker
1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1x Thragtusk
G1 I'm on the play so I get under his disruption and combo out T3
G2 Opponent leads with T1 Champion of the Parish, T2 Champion of the Parish, Gut Shot-ing my T1 Hierarch. Ouch. I play Wall of Omens T2 and pass. He bounces Wall with Reflector Mage (interesting choice) and swings in for 5. T3 I play Cobra into Fiery Justice, clearing both of his Champions. Next turn I play Worship and he flashes in Staticaster to clear Cobra. We both draw-go for a couple turns as I try to dig down to the combo and he looks for answers to Worship. Before I can find anything he cracks Canopy into Reflector Mage, bounces my lone Wall, and swings in for lethal.
G3 Is a little fuzzy. By the late game I had three Felidars and an Oath while he had Staticaster, Phantasmal Staticaster, Malcontents, Meddling Mage on Saheeli, and a couple Freebooters (exiling Oath & Saheeli). I kept flickering Oath but ended up digging past an Evo at one point and didn't hit anything else while his Freebooters hit me for 2 dmg / turn for 3-4 turns. After the match I looked and my next out was 15+ cards down. Sometimes it isn't meant to be.
(1-2 games, 0-1 matches)
R2 - Ponza
G1 and G2 were similar. He lead with T1 Arbor Elf, T2 Stone Rain'd my first land, while I played T1 Dork, T2 Cobra. Both games I recovered on mana quickly after the Stone Rain and combo'd out ~T4.
(2-0 games, 1-1 matches)
R3 - GW Elves
G1 I combo out T3 with a silly sequence of T1 Bird, T2 Cobra, T3 Cobra, Rallier to rally back Fetch, Felidar blink Rallier to return the Fetch again, Evolve Rallier into Kiki.
G2 I keep him off the druid combo by bouncing his T2 Druid with my Reflector Mage, Fiery Justice away his Ezuri, and play Gaddock but a few turns later he's able to hardcast another Ezuri and Vizier to combo out.
G3 T1 Bird, T2 Saheeli, T3 Clone Bird, play Gaddock, Evolve into Felidar to combo out
(2-1 games, 2-1 matches)
R4 - Mardu Reveler
G1 I stick a T3 Saheeli with Oath on board and two Felidars in hand. Unfortunately my fetches weren't white so I couldn't get a Plains. He kills my Bird and plays Blood Moon, locking me out of casting the two Felidars and the Wall that I proceed to topdeck. I draw another Felidar. I draw another Bird, cast and clone it to get the Wall out (not enough mana for Felidar), draw into nothing useful/castable. I durdle around for a while while he takes over with a Pyro.
G2 I had to mull down to a 4 of 2 Fetches, Bird, and Wall. He Inquisitions away the wall. I work my way back into the game for a while thanks to some good topdecks of Shalai, Thragtusk, and Slime. Things start to look good when I topdeck Saheeli and clone Thragtusk, but he starts stabilizing with Pyro + Elemental & Spirit tokens, sealing the deal with Liliana of the Veil to slowly pick off my creatures, finally finishing the game with a Reveler.
(0-2 games, 2-2 matches)
(1) Gavony Township - yay or nay? It is less useful now with Shalai being able to do the same effect, but on a stick?
(2) Why are lists still regularly running 2 basic Plains? With the sheer amount of G T1 drops it seems like a 3:1 Forest to Plains split makes more sense than 2:2.
(3) Magus of the Moon - I'm only seeing this as an occasional 1-of maindeck. To me it seems like a no-brainer include as a silver bullet that can easily steal wins - i.e., T1 fetch a basic Forest and play a dork, T2 crack a fetch for another basic and evolve into a Magus and lock your opponent out.
(4) Kiki-Jiki - Other than the obvious "it can combo out," I see a lot of people are running it 1-of mainboard. What is the strategy behind playing it? It seems a bit risky to clog up your hand with a card with RRR in its cost.
(5) Huntsmaster of the Fells - yay or nay in this meta?
@TheoryCraft
im actually a newbie also on this deck. my opinion on those things are only based on what i read few pages early and some experience playing this(1week :laugh2:)
1 - I saw here that some players are taking Shalai out usually - depends on the match up. thats why some are playing township.
2 - personally playing 3:1 now
3 - M. Moon is fragile compared to Blood Moon according to some.
4 - P&K and Huntmaster are basically same. there are pros and cons on playing either. But personally i go for P&K thopters can block inkmoths
again, im just a newbie on this as well so hopefully we will hear stuff from those experts here.
Concerning Kiki: It's in the deck to allow us to use Evolution for a combo piece once we already have Felidar Guardian. Just having one Kiki to tutor for really increases our consistency at assembling a combo quickly. Cobra makes casting it a reasonable plan, but I've also had it stuck in hand more often than I'd like. As maniospas stated, you have to build and especially play with Kiki in mind. When in doubt, fetch another red land!
As for P&K vs Huntmaster: They play a similar role, and are close in power level in my opinion. P&K shines vs Affinity, whereas Huntmaster gets the nod vs Burn.
I like P&K a little better, but its mana cost is also noticably tougher. Though once you have Kiki in your deck, might as well play P&K too.
Since I'm writing about all red cards anyway, I'm currently watching the Pro Tour top 8 (Standard), and Goblin Chainwhirler is totally dominating that tournament (28 out of 32 possible copies in the top8 decks). While the mana cost seems like a huge (!) stretch, the card has potential to be great in our deck too. It's similar to Orzhov Pontiff, which has been a solid role player in Modern for years, but the body is so much better, and pinging planeswalkers can be a very useful bonus (remember the days when Saheeli did that for us?). Nevertheless, is it at all possible to make the mana work? And would the card even be worth the effort? Both seem unlikely, but what do you guys think?