I don't think that thopter-sword would be 'popular', at least not like eldrazi the combo falls against a lot of hate, and this deck has plenty tools to deal with it and to fight the decks that play it.
Regarding Ancestral Visions and control decks, there isn't much we can do... They are going to draw the cards, and our clock is not that fast to punish the waiting. The best thing we can do is make the cards they draw worthless. Thrun and Choke hit them hard (almost game?), Smiter, Voice, Arbiter, Scooze and Thalia give them lots of troubles. I would add Stirring Wildwood to that list. If they are less control (like Jeskai) and play more creatures (like Grixis), that means they run less removal/answers, so our goods cards hit them harder.
edit: Finks and the flyers are nice against anything controlish.
I believe WoTC's new policy is to make sure that every color can enjoy the exciting gameplay mechanic of making undercosted dudes and then turning them sideways. Clearly the future of magic.
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Quote from "Disco Stu" »
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Not sure how relevant this will be, but I figured I would bring up some interesting tech against AV, namely: Riftsweeper.
It's a bear, and thus has all the great qualities that a bear has (rips off Company if you play it, fine turn-2 play against a turn-1 AV, plays well with Aether Vial, beats for 2, etc.)
The obvious problem is that it is only good against this particular card and similar cards that aren't really represented in Modern (like Greater Gorgadon). Then there is the question of whether or not the existing, more well-rounded Hatebear tools are enough to do the job against the card advantage gained from AV, whether it's worth dedicating slots in the sideboard for this particular interaction, and whether we really care that much about AV.
But I figured it would be worth pointing out nonetheless
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Playing with proxied cards at sanctioned events is good, actually.
I think we would be much better served running eidolon of rhetoric or spirit of the labrynth if AV ends up being a problem. So like eidopon a but better because its also hate against other decks. Our hate is meant to be very broad so that we can always have something relevant against each deck.
Riftsweeper is good vs Ancestral Visions (and other suspend cards that nobody really plays besides Lotus Bloom and Rift Bolt), but that logic is card vs card. You don't win the match if they fail to resolve an AV. We need to face it as a whole. Bringing Melira may work against something like Infect (or Kor Firewalker vs Burn), but Control/Tempo decks have plenty of ways to deal with a 2/2,... and even if they don't know we side Riftsweeper, they will bring removal/sweepers to deal with our deck anyway. That's why Choke is good, it fights in another axis.
I believe WoTC's new policy is to make sure that every color can enjoy the exciting gameplay mechanic of making undercosted dudes and then turning them sideways. Clearly the future of magic.
Quote from "Kakaroto" »
Quote from "Disco Stu" »
Podríamos hacer un topic donde marquemos los peores horrores de ortografía.
I finally get to play at FNM tonight for the first time in over a month, feeling like rebuilding my deck and trying out some cards from the newer sets. Got to play a few casual games with this list last night.
In the games I played, Tireless Tracker put in a bunch of work putting out Clues so I could draw. Den Protector let me recycle Path/Quarter/planeswalkers. The biggest use I got out of Arlinn was her transformed +1/+1 and trample buff, Ajani's was his -2. If I had a Nahiri I'd remove an Arlinn for her to see how she does. Overall I personally like Tracker and Protector over Finks and Thalia.
EDIT: Didn't get to play after all because work decided my 4 hour shift was going to suddenly become a 12 hour shift. **** Domino's.
It came down to Sacred Foundry, Stomping Ground, or Game Trail. I wanted something that wouldn't burn me on entering play or over time like Horizon Canopy. The only purpose of the R/G land is to provide a way to cast Arlinn and Ajani without relying on having Oath on field.
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Collecting Timbermare, hit me up if you have any for trade
Copperline Gorge? But I highly dislike what you have done with the splash I would rather be playing full midrange/3 colors than Hatebears with a minor splash (I tested something called Zoolution, you can figure out how it was).
How about Eternal Witness over Den Protector?
PS: don't you have a labor union? I'm asking seriously, I don't know how is it there in the US.
I believe WoTC's new policy is to make sure that every color can enjoy the exciting gameplay mechanic of making undercosted dudes and then turning them sideways. Clearly the future of magic.
Quote from "Kakaroto" »
Quote from "Disco Stu" »
Podríamos hacer un topic donde marquemos los peores horrores de ortografía.
Don't have Copperline Gorge anymore or I'd have tried them, did remind me that I didn't try Jungle Shrine or any of the Vivid lands. EWit does have the same grave recursion, but Den Protector is a lower mana cost (ignoring facedown into Megamorph) and has the psuedo "unblockable" ability that makes it pair very nicely with Exalted triggers and Liege/Arlinn buffs. Also I can now afford to replace my set of Birds with Hierarchs so that will be a nice boost.
As for labor unions there are in the US but Domino's doesn't have one. Night manager ignored instructions left by general manager to let me leave at a certain time because she doesn't like me and I don't like her. Don't think I'm long for the job but its not MTG related so I won't speak further on it.
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Collecting Timbermare, hit me up if you have any for trade
Don't have Copperline Gorge anymore or I'd have tried them, did remind me that I didn't try Jungle Shrine or any of the Vivid lands. EWit does have the same grave recursion, but Den Protector is a lower mana cost (ignoring facedown into Megamorph) and has the psuedo "unblockable" ability that makes it pair very nicely with Exalted triggers and Liege/Arlinn buffs. Also I can now afford to replace my set of Birds with Hierarchs so that will be a nice boost.
Keep in mind, Swapping BoPs for Hierarchs does loose you some red sources for your 'walkers. You might have to up the number of Game Trails to compensate.
Copperline Gorge? But I highly dislike what you have done with the splash I would rather be playing full midrange/3 colors than Hatebears with a minor splash (I tested something called Zoolution, you can figure out how it was).
How about Eternal Witness over Den Protector?
PS: don't you have a labor union? I'm asking seriously, I don't know how is it there in the US.
I'm also not a fan. Reminds me a bit of big zoo, but without the explosiveness. But I'd love to be proven wrong!
Also, regarding labor unions: service industry jobs in the US are woefully unorganized (although this is certainly changing with Fight for 15 and similar initiatives). Not only are workers unorganized, but there are also practical roadblocks for union organization depending on where you live. For example, my brother works at Pizza Hut in Texas (essentially the same thing as Domino's, in case you're unfamiliar), and he is explicitly forbidden from joining a union or even talking about unions at work as per his contract. This kind of contract stipulation would be unthinkable in many other places in the world.
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Playing with proxied cards at sanctioned events is good, actually.
Havent Posted in a while but figured i will. Im going to an event tomorrow and going to try a different approach. I'll post the results afterwards. The decklist is not yet final but it will be something like this:
I am unsure about the Thalia'a and Commands at the moment they are the flex cards. Still finishing up the board, but so far the additions pack quite the punch.
Interesting list. How'd the event go for you? I think I would cut the Leonin Arbiter's for Aven Mindcensor's. The Flash is really good for those opponent who fetch. Also, how'd you like the Thought-Knot Seer?
Anyway, I come from playing Death and Taxes and thinking about trying out this build. Not sure if I want Oath of Nissa or Collected Company in this deck.
You want CoCo over oath, but what you actually want is vial. If you do get vials I'd cut the birds since the vial works as acceleration. I'd also reccomend some number of smiters. I like them a lot more than finks. Being a 4/4 puts smiter so far ahead of most creatures in modern. Then with leige he gets insane. The can't be countered clause is great. The discard clause never gets used but it makes gbx decks really afraid if using lili which is a win.
Last night was my 4th time playing Hatebears, 1st time playing with Displacer. Lost to affinity in 3 which I find to be a very tough match up. Lost in turns to Abzan company after he found an answer to my scooze, and Esper gifts after he beat me down with Iona. Beat Merfolk so at least I have that going for me. Which is nice.
Most of the people at my lsg tend to bring something different every week except for Affinity where there is always at least 2.
I wonder if other people are having the same problem that I'm having with GW Hatebears: I have a hard time getting through chump blockers, and my opponent often stabilizes in the midgame with about 2-8 life.
I'm not too keen on bringing in something like Rancor. I'm wondering if it might make sense to bring a few Flickerwisps back in the mix to blink out or go over blockers? Or should I just maindeck a couple mindcensors?
But then what would I even cut? Scavenging ooze? (It often feels too slow, but GY hate is nice.)
@ProfoctorZ
That is an ongoing limitation of the deck and the reason that many people are excited about the BW Eldrazi and Taxes deck, since it generates a metric ton of recurrable removal.
Eldrazi Displacer is one answer, albeit a little expensive, since you can bounce opponent's cards and they come back in tapped. Great against tokens, not so great against cards with powerful ETB effects.
If you want trample in this deck, Primal Rage maybe as a 1 or 2-of? Not sure how you fit it in and how often you get it, but no one will expect it.
EDIT:
This is what I will be playing when I am back to competing next week (I took a couple weeks off because my "I only smoke at Magic events" was becoming "I can't wait to go to Magic so I can smoke.")
The mana is largely very consistent and ramp or Vial is reasonably constant, allowing for a lot of turn 2 Arbiter into GQ, have a nice day. I find it more disruptive than WW (as is BW) and my creatures are better finishers.
It brings the following weapons to match-ups:
vs. Abzan CoCo: H-Wing Gryff (shutting off ETB triggers shuts off most of their deck and their only real removal are the same 4 Path we run); Scooze (eat stuff hitting the graveyard, but also making a strong creature.); Mindcensor, Arbiter, Teeg, Cage to attack CoCo and Chord; Mindcensor, Arbiter, and land destruction to tax their mana; Linvala to shut off their activated abilities.
vs. Scapeshift: land destruction and fetch hate; Gaddock Teeg to simply shut off their best spells; WLL puts teeg out of range for any single burn spell; thalia to make them need more mana; Choke for RUG.
vs. Affinity: a lot of bodies, Pridemage, but mostly a post-board game.
vs. UW Thopter: Graveyard hate; Teeg to stop their mass removal; mana denial; Gryff shuts off Thopter Foundry; Choke...
vs. Burn: Lifegain, creature quality. I have never lost to Burn with this build.
vs. Infect: lots more flyers than the average Hatebears, most of it flash, Post-board EE, Marrow Shards (so good), Choke.
vs. Jund: Graveyard hate, land hate, creatures that get around most of their removal, forcing 2-for-1's, "Please play Lili! Please, oh please." Still a rough match.
vs. Mardu: see Jund, but slightly better.
vs. Merfolk: its a War of the Lords, until I bring in EE. My Gryffs also turn off their bouncer and their draw spell. I know because Merfolk is my other main Modern deck.
vs. Tron: I'm not going to say it's easy, but the mana denial, fetch hate, and artifact locking is real. Another match I have yet to lose, but then again I haven't played against Joe Losset.
vs. BW Eldrazi and Taxes: Literally every effect that matters in the deck is an ETB trigger and my creatures get much larger than 3/3 frequently. But I haven't played it yet, so we shall see. I can certainly see games where the Displacer-Strangler-Wisp with 6 mana locks anyone out of a game because you displace wisp, exile something annoying then displace Strangle and process it. Worst case scenario, you are killing one thing a turn. If you have not watched Nikachu on Youtube, go see his video playing Merfolk against BW Eldrazi and Taxes. He gets destroyed, and he is a very solid Merfolk player (keeping in mind that Abzan CoCo is played almost not at all online because MTGO doesn't manage the combo quite right.)
Vs. Elves (just to make a point): Gryff, Linvala, EE, Cage.
vs. Any Uxx Control: Gryff shuts off Snapcaster Mage; Land destruction is awesome and Thalia is a beast; My best creature is uncounterable; Teeg is a beating.
I know there are other decks, but I wanted to give you a sense of why I think this build is very strong.
That said, this deck has definite issues.
1) Nothing has trample and Lingering Souls can hamper us until we lose.
2) Very little card selection, no "filter through six cards, play the best two you found" nonsense. It's not a combo deck in a format dominated by combo or super-fast aggro.
3) In a top-deck war against Jund and Mardu, they can just have the nut kill everything hand and then play Tarmogoyf.
4) I don't play any Voice of Resurgence because i think it is a mediocre card in this variant. It is a great card in aggro GW Hatebears and believe me, I wish I had room, but Voice doesn't beat Abzan CoCo, Gryff does.
I am on the fence about the 3rd and 4th Gryff. I actually think I would like to have room for 2 Mirran Crusader, just because they are so good against Jund and Coco, which each only have 4 cards that can remove him and no real ways to attack through him.
The Teeg is main in my deck because of my locals: lots of CoCo, Elves, Scapeshift, so I get a lot of value out of him Game 1. At a bigger event, probably would start him in the side. Maybe with him main, I can afford to drop on the Gryffs.
EE is for fast decks and swarms. I don't want to wait until turn 4 or 5, I want it on 0 or 1 against Affinity, 2 vs. Merfolk and then let it sit there and dare them to play more cards into it, 1 or 2 for Infect, etc.
Smiter and Liege is something I go back and forth on. I love Liege even when it only pumps my creatures +1/+1. All my Angry Birds are then out of -1/-1 range and with 1 Exalted trigger, trade with a Restoration Angel. I do want the 4th Smiter.
@Everyone
Also, Ari Lax taking the piss on DnT (which I assume also broadly means Hatebears as well), though I think he is quite right that you won't beat Abzan CoCo with Thalia + Arbiter. You need other tools for sure.
If the battlefiled is crowded, you can always fly over it, force chumpblock with a large exalted dude (or a giant Scooze), or pump everything with Liege. Gavony Township is also an option.
Voice is not mediocre in a variant of the deck, but it can be mediocre in certain metagames. If you are fightning a lot of Grixis and Jund, it's great.
I believe WoTC's new policy is to make sure that every color can enjoy the exciting gameplay mechanic of making undercosted dudes and then turning them sideways. Clearly the future of magic.
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chupame la pija !
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Regarding Ancestral Visions and control decks, there isn't much we can do... They are going to draw the cards, and our clock is not that fast to punish the waiting. The best thing we can do is make the cards they draw worthless. Thrun and Choke hit them hard (almost game?), Smiter, Voice, Arbiter, Scooze and Thalia give them lots of troubles. I would add Stirring Wildwood to that list. If they are less control (like Jeskai) and play more creatures (like Grixis), that means they run less removal/answers, so our goods cards hit them harder.
edit: Finks and the flyers are nice against anything controlish.
It's a bear, and thus has all the great qualities that a bear has (rips off Company if you play it, fine turn-2 play against a turn-1 AV, plays well with Aether Vial, beats for 2, etc.)
The obvious problem is that it is only good against this particular card and similar cards that aren't really represented in Modern (like Greater Gorgadon). Then there is the question of whether or not the existing, more well-rounded Hatebear tools are enough to do the job against the card advantage gained from AV, whether it's worth dedicating slots in the sideboard for this particular interaction, and whether we really care that much about AV.
But I figured it would be worth pointing out nonetheless
Blue lives don't matter in the slightest.
3 Horizon Canopy
3 Forest
3 Plains
3 Temple Garden
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Gavony Township
1 Game Trail
3 Loxodon Smiter
3 Voice of Resurgence
3 Leonin Arbiter (Cant find my 4th)
3 Tireless Tracker
3 Wilt-Leaf Liege
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Den Protector
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Archangel Avacyn
4 Oath of Nissa
2 Arlinn Kord
1 Ajani Vengeant
In the games I played, Tireless Tracker put in a bunch of work putting out Clues so I could draw. Den Protector let me recycle Path/Quarter/planeswalkers. The biggest use I got out of Arlinn was her transformed +1/+1 and trample buff, Ajani's was his -2. If I had a Nahiri I'd remove an Arlinn for her to see how she does. Overall I personally like Tracker and Protector over Finks and Thalia.
EDIT: Didn't get to play after all because work decided my 4 hour shift was going to suddenly become a 12 hour shift. **** Domino's.
Blue lives don't matter in the slightest.
How about Eternal Witness over Den Protector?
PS: don't you have a labor union? I'm asking seriously, I don't know how is it there in the US.
As for labor unions there are in the US but Domino's doesn't have one. Night manager ignored instructions left by general manager to let me leave at a certain time because she doesn't like me and I don't like her. Don't think I'm long for the job but its not MTG related so I won't speak further on it.
Keep in mind, Swapping BoPs for Hierarchs does loose you some red sources for your 'walkers. You might have to up the number of Game Trails to compensate.
I'm also not a fan. Reminds me a bit of big zoo, but without the explosiveness. But I'd love to be proven wrong!
Also, regarding labor unions: service industry jobs in the US are woefully unorganized (although this is certainly changing with Fight for 15 and similar initiatives). Not only are workers unorganized, but there are also practical roadblocks for union organization depending on where you live. For example, my brother works at Pizza Hut in Texas (essentially the same thing as Domino's, in case you're unfamiliar), and he is explicitly forbidden from joining a union or even talking about unions at work as per his contract. This kind of contract stipulation would be unthinkable in many other places in the world.
Blue lives don't matter in the slightest.
4x Noble Hierarch
3x Birds of Paradise
4x Voice of Resurgence
2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Leonin Arbiter
3x Kitchen Finks
4x Loxodon Smiter
4x Thought-Knot Seer
3x Reality Smasher
Instants:
4x Path to Exile
2x Dromoka's Command
3x Razorverge Thicket
4x Brushland
4x Ghost Quarter
3x Gavony Township
1x Horizon Canopy
2x Stirring Wildwood
3x Temple Garden
2x Forest
1x Plains
4x Stony Silence
2x Gaddock Teeg
2x Aven Mindcensor
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
1x Mark of Asylum
I am unsure about the Thalia'a and Commands at the moment they are the flex cards. Still finishing up the board, but so far the additions pack quite the punch.
Anyway, I come from playing Death and Taxes and thinking about trying out this build. Not sure if I want Oath of Nissa or Collected Company in this deck.
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Aven Mindcensor
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
Spells 8
4 Oath of Nissa
4 Path to Exile
2 Plains
3 Horizon Canopy
3 Forest
1 Gavony Township
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Razorverge Thicket
2 Stirring Wildwood
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Choke
2 Creeping Corrosion
2 Dismember
3 Stony Silence
2 Sunlance
Most of the people at my lsg tend to bring something different every week except for Affinity where there is always at least 2.
Any critique on my list would be appreciated.
2 Forest
2 Plains
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Temple Garden
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Stirring Wildwood
2 Gavony Township
1 Seagate Wreckage
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Loxodon Smiter
4 Leonin Arbiter
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Voice of Resurgence
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
3 Qasali Pridemage
2 Eldrazi Displacer
1 Aven Mindcensor
4 Path to Exile
4 AEther Vial
1 Choke
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Stony Silence
2 Dromoka's Command
1 Ratchet Bomb
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Mirran crusader
1 Crucible of Worlds
I'm not too keen on bringing in something like Rancor. I'm wondering if it might make sense to bring a few Flickerwisps back in the mix to blink out or go over blockers? Or should I just maindeck a couple mindcensors?
But then what would I even cut? Scavenging ooze? (It often feels too slow, but GY hate is nice.)
BURCruel ControlRUB
GWHatebearsWG
GWRBushwacker BlitzRWG
RUStormUR
GWTronWG
GWUBRSliversRBUWG
GWUBR"PostModern" Restore BalanceRBUWG
That is an ongoing limitation of the deck and the reason that many people are excited about the BW Eldrazi and Taxes deck, since it generates a metric ton of recurrable removal.
Eldrazi Displacer is one answer, albeit a little expensive, since you can bounce opponent's cards and they come back in tapped. Great against tokens, not so great against cards with powerful ETB effects.
If you want trample in this deck, Primal Rage maybe as a 1 or 2-of? Not sure how you fit it in and how often you get it, but no one will expect it.
EDIT:
This is what I will be playing when I am back to competing next week (I took a couple weeks off because my "I only smoke at Magic events" was becoming "I can't wait to go to Magic so I can smoke.")
The mana is largely very consistent and ramp or Vial is reasonably constant, allowing for a lot of turn 2 Arbiter into GQ, have a nice day. I find it more disruptive than WW (as is BW) and my creatures are better finishers.
It brings the following weapons to match-ups:
vs. Abzan CoCo: H-Wing Gryff (shutting off ETB triggers shuts off most of their deck and their only real removal are the same 4 Path we run); Scooze (eat stuff hitting the graveyard, but also making a strong creature.); Mindcensor, Arbiter, Teeg, Cage to attack CoCo and Chord; Mindcensor, Arbiter, and land destruction to tax their mana; Linvala to shut off their activated abilities.
vs. Scapeshift: land destruction and fetch hate; Gaddock Teeg to simply shut off their best spells; WLL puts teeg out of range for any single burn spell; thalia to make them need more mana; Choke for RUG.
vs. Affinity: a lot of bodies, Pridemage, but mostly a post-board game.
vs. UW Thopter: Graveyard hate; Teeg to stop their mass removal; mana denial; Gryff shuts off Thopter Foundry; Choke...
vs. Burn: Lifegain, creature quality. I have never lost to Burn with this build.
vs. Infect: lots more flyers than the average Hatebears, most of it flash, Post-board EE, Marrow Shards (so good), Choke.
vs. Jund: Graveyard hate, land hate, creatures that get around most of their removal, forcing 2-for-1's, "Please play Lili! Please, oh please." Still a rough match.
vs. Mardu: see Jund, but slightly better.
vs. Merfolk: its a War of the Lords, until I bring in EE. My Gryffs also turn off their bouncer and their draw spell. I know because Merfolk is my other main Modern deck.
vs. Tron: I'm not going to say it's easy, but the mana denial, fetch hate, and artifact locking is real. Another match I have yet to lose, but then again I haven't played against Joe Losset.
vs. BW Eldrazi and Taxes: Literally every effect that matters in the deck is an ETB trigger and my creatures get much larger than 3/3 frequently. But I haven't played it yet, so we shall see. I can certainly see games where the Displacer-Strangler-Wisp with 6 mana locks anyone out of a game because you displace wisp, exile something annoying then displace Strangle and process it. Worst case scenario, you are killing one thing a turn. If you have not watched Nikachu on Youtube, go see his video playing Merfolk against BW Eldrazi and Taxes. He gets destroyed, and he is a very solid Merfolk player (keeping in mind that Abzan CoCo is played almost not at all online because MTGO doesn't manage the combo quite right.)
Vs. Elves (just to make a point): Gryff, Linvala, EE, Cage.
vs. Any Uxx Control: Gryff shuts off Snapcaster Mage; Land destruction is awesome and Thalia is a beast; My best creature is uncounterable; Teeg is a beating.
I know there are other decks, but I wanted to give you a sense of why I think this build is very strong.
That said, this deck has definite issues.
1) Nothing has trample and Lingering Souls can hamper us until we lose.
2) Very little card selection, no "filter through six cards, play the best two you found" nonsense. It's not a combo deck in a format dominated by combo or super-fast aggro.
3) In a top-deck war against Jund and Mardu, they can just have the nut kill everything hand and then play Tarmogoyf.
4) I don't play any Voice of Resurgence because i think it is a mediocre card in this variant. It is a great card in aggro GW Hatebears and believe me, I wish I had room, but Voice doesn't beat Abzan CoCo, Gryff does.
GW Hatebears
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Horizon Canopy
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Temple Garden
2 Stirring Wildwood
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Plains
1 Forest
CREATURES 30
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Leonin Arbiter
4 Hushwing Gryff
3 Loxodon Smiter
3 Wilt-Leaf Liege
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
4 Path to Exile
4 Æther Vial
3 Stony Silence
2 Kor Firewalker
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Rest in Peace
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Choke
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Marrow Shards
Oh yeah, if I could, in this format, I would run 10 Torpor Orbs/Hushwing Gryffs.
Tempo
Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison
Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
Thanks for the detailed reply.
I am on the fence about the 3rd and 4th Gryff. I actually think I would like to have room for 2 Mirran Crusader, just because they are so good against Jund and Coco, which each only have 4 cards that can remove him and no real ways to attack through him.
The Teeg is main in my deck because of my locals: lots of CoCo, Elves, Scapeshift, so I get a lot of value out of him Game 1. At a bigger event, probably would start him in the side. Maybe with him main, I can afford to drop on the Gryffs.
EE is for fast decks and swarms. I don't want to wait until turn 4 or 5, I want it on 0 or 1 against Affinity, 2 vs. Merfolk and then let it sit there and dare them to play more cards into it, 1 or 2 for Infect, etc.
Smiter and Liege is something I go back and forth on. I love Liege even when it only pumps my creatures +1/+1. All my Angry Birds are then out of -1/-1 range and with 1 Exalted trigger, trade with a Restoration Angel. I do want the 4th Smiter.
Hero of Bladehold is a very interesting idea.
@Everyone
Also, Ari Lax taking the piss on DnT (which I assume also broadly means Hatebears as well), though I think he is quite right that you won't beat Abzan CoCo with Thalia + Arbiter. You need other tools for sure.
Tempo
Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison
Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
Voice is not mediocre in a variant of the deck, but it can be mediocre in certain metagames. If you are fightning a lot of Grixis and Jund, it's great.