Hey guys. Took my Wb Sisters to another five round Modern tourney today. Finished top four, with a four round win streak after losing in round 1. It was the most dramatic day of MtG in my life. TL;DR: Worship rules.
Round 1: 1-2 vs Mono-Green Devotion
Game 1 was a huge punt. If I had looked one turn ahead, I could have seen that the Honor in my hand plus a Path for her one remaining blocker would have been lethal. If it had been later in the day, I would have been tilted, but it was the very first game, so I forgave myself and moved on. I board in Wraths and Return. G2 I took easily with a faster development. I believe I went T1 Sister, T2 Sister + Windbrisk, T3 Spec, T4 Honor and Windbrisk out a Ranger. Her Arbor Elves and Burning-Tree Emissaries couldn't keep up. G3 she won after recurring a Sarkhan Vol with Eternal Witness. After a decisive round 1 punt, I knew I had to win every remaining round to finish in the money (free tournament, but top 4 split a $75 store credit prize. Pretty great). No pressure! 0-1
Round 2: 2-1 vs Grixis Twin
Game 1 I resolve an Auriok Champion and my opponent stops smiling for the remainder of the round. I had never seen someone take a matchup with such dejection, but the kid couldn't have been older than 14, and I know I took an L pretty hard at that age. Took G1 handily. Boarded in Pithing Needle, Leylines, Marks, and Return (I assumed he was boarding out the combo, since he seemed so convinced that my deck bricked it). He actually tried to scoop G2 after resolving Twin on Pestermite when I only had one Auriok out, but someone watching explained that he actually won. So no freebie. Still, I took game 3 after a resolved Worship to lock out the combo, and a humongous Return that left me with 3 15/15 Pridemates. My inner Timmy pooped himself. 1-1
Round 3: 2-1 vs Stompy
Another matchup where Sisters has pretty good play. My anti-fetch flavor meant nothing to him, so the Arbiters and Ghost Quarters I drew G1 were blank, but I still managed to take the game. Stompy packs no removal outside of Beast Within, so we get to really do our thing, and I was quickly gaining 6-8 life per turn, ignoring most of his attacks, and swinging over his board. Another very salty opponent who was cursing by the end of the round. Board just like Mono-G, Wraths and Return. G2 I keep a durdly mull to 6 and he gets there. I had Wrath in hand and 3 lands for about 4 turns while I cast and recurred two Lingering Souls, but gaining 6 life and chumping for 4 turns couldn't draw me my 4th land. G3 I am get beat down to 6 life by turn 4, then cast Worship. He didn't visibly react after reading the card, which made me put him on Beast Within, but he didn't have it and by turn 7 I was back up to 45 with a Serra Ascendant in play and two more in hand, thanks to a second Ranger. TYBWorship! Sweet sweet card. I began to feel a rising optimism in my chest, the kind that usually gets crushed under the feet of RG Tron or Hexproof. I might pull this off. 2-1
Round 4: 2-0 vs Affinity
I used to be afraid of Affinity, with their Inkmoths and instant-speed combaty things. But Ghost Quarter beats Inkmoths like scissors beats paper, and after the first Quarter, they become Strip Mines against Affinity, which only ever runs 1 basic. And wow do they fold to Souls/Procession. Their only out after a spirit token spell is Steel Overseer, and he didn't draw one until G2, and I had the Stony Silence. Board was Wraths, Stonies, Pithing, Return. After Stony, he played the equally hatey Torpor Orb, so it became a grindfest in which most of our cards had no text. Guess who wins that matchup? The person playing token spells and banners. I am one round away from the biggest comeback in my humble MtG career. 3-1
Round 5: 2-0 vs Hexproof
2-0 vs Hexproof. 2-0'd Hexproof. 2-0 against mamalickin' Hexproof. I was literally dancing in my chair. Beaming ear to ear. Of course, that's not how I sat down. Let's Tarantino it to the beginning of the round.
As soon as I see the pairing, I melt. I already knew what deck he was on. The hope shot out of me like an untied balloon. Had the Gods of MtG truly raised me so high, only to dash my hopes when it would be most painful? ...yep, that sounds like Magic alright. Deflated, I take my seat and start G1.
We both build up respectable boards. He has a Bogle and a Kor Spritdancer suited up with everything except lifelink. I'm gaining boatloads of life and beating down with bannered sprits. Somehow, after a Kor Spiritdancer and eventual TWO Keen Senses drawing him so many cards he needs to discard EoT, he fails to find a Coronet or Unflinching Courage. SUPER lucky for me, I take G1.
G2 I board in Wraths and Flares. Okay Flares, this is why you're here. Make daddy proud. I mull a no-land and come up Wrath, Flare, Sister, and 3 other spells. No lands. Screw it. I'm playing. Scry a sister away. He plays a Bogle. I Draw a Heath. Sister go. He tosses out an umbra and and ethereal armor and swings for 5. Topdeck my second land. Shuffle it into my hand, do my best disappointed face, play the spell and pass. He attaches another Umbra, Coronet, and swings. Windmill Flare. Best Gotcha! ever. He almost claws his way back over the next few turns, with Gladecover, another Coronet and the aura that gives pro-creatures. Wrath of God. From there, it's a quick beatdown and I take the round.
Best I've ever felt after a game of Magic. I got SO lucky both matches, and just like any successful player, my combination of luck, skill, and preparation took me to a career personal best in a Modern tournament AND biggest comeback. What a day. I hope you enjoyed the report, and please let me know if I'm omitting any information you might find useful.
Awesome report and well-written! I like the talk about some of your sideboard cards. Curious how the Arbiter worked out for you. I like how you played against Hexproof... would you consider Spellskite instead? It has a bit more utility in more matchups, including Infect... but if you're comfortable I can see why.
It's always great to see someone enjoy some success with this deck.
Worship seems interesting. I saw an article on it this week and, like all of us, I weighed whether or not I should have it in the deck. I wondered about it as a mainboard card, but I feel like I would have to do a *****load of playtesting just to see if it works for me.
Thanks! I've tested Arbiter in about 17 matches and I'm starting to believe. He does hit my 4 fetchlands, and Rangers, but knowing about it makes it relatively simple to play around, so it hits my opponents a lot worse than it hits me (when they're not playing Stompy or Fish). Disrupting myself a little and my opponent a lot means I get to spend a couple extra turns to develop my board. The midrange version I run loves this, as the synergies get me to a winning board state, and I get more time to draw into OP white sideboard hate in G2/3.
Skite is probably the correct choice, maybe replacing Surgical Extraction, which seems like an ambitious card. It does hit Infect, another tough matchup. I'll probably bring it next weekend. I don't really like Wrath against Hexproof, since it doesn't get around umbras, but it's better than our mostly dead Paths.
The Modern Nexus article was what inspired me to run Worship. I was aware of the card before, but it made me really consider why I wasn't running it, and I didn't have a good reason. We basically always have creatures, and it locks out nearly everything. I put it in my list's fun-of slot that I rotate pretty frequently, with Return to the Ranks and Mana Tithe being recent examples. BTW Tithe is so much fun to cast. Absolutely no one is ever ready for the white Force Spike. Cast it once and watch them writhe and play around it for the rest of the round. It's the Splinter Twin effect! They'll never tap out again. However, it's pretty bad against big mana decks, which seem pretty common in my local meta. But as for Worship, it seems like a really big gamble. If they have enchantment removal, it's easy to get into a situation where you punt the game. If I ever cast it G1 against a deck with access to Wear/Tear or Seal of Primordium, I'd probably board it out, unless I was bringing my SB enchantments and could likely overwork their removal.
I put this in the OP, but I have been given permission to take over this Primer! I'll be going section by section with my edits, trying to complete a section a day with the end goal to finish by the first week of December. I should have an outline up by the end of day. So, if there's anything you want in the primer, let me know. I plan on including match up breakdowns, a section to discuss splashes, model decklists for each version and an updated discussion of the history, strategy and card choices. Looking forward to hearing your feedback!
Also - does Phyrexian Arena give us the Bob effect we want without having to cut Spectral Processions or Archangels? Seems nice in the black splash.
How hard is it to hit WBB on turn three? Assuming you want something like Warden, Pridemate, Arena.
Is the black splash inevitable at this point? (Assumung, as I think jex has pointed out, that WotC doesn't print some kind of W bomb that elevates the deck.)
I ask because I've been slowly building up a budget Sisters the last couple months, and just yesterday pulled a Marsh Flats in the first BFZ pack I've ever opened. It's on color for a Wb deck, but dollar for dollar, could be tradeable for 4x Serra Ascendant and a pair of Archangel of Thune, leaving me short only the Auriok Champions with Suture Priest / Kor Firewalker in their place.
On the one hand, I should be able to hit a respectable mono-white version before the new year and be much more competitive. But long-term, I know the Marsh Flats has lots of value for this and other decks...odd pickle to be in. If it were almost any other fetch, I think I'd be worry free about trading it for immediate gains.
I don't think B/W is mandatory just yet, but it's really close. The big problem it's trying to fix is the lack of interaction, which might be solved by oblivion ring, Wraths or other interactions.
Knight of the White Orchid has the better body, but Weathered Wayfarer might work better in that role, since it's fetchable with Ranger of Eos and the effect is repeatable. Card's a house in Martyr/Proc
Here's Reid Duke wrecking some creature decks with a mono-white build on MTGO. Mono-W is totally viable. The first version I built was the aggro build with Squawks and Martyrs, which was explosive when it worked, but lacked consistency and late-game power. The T1 Ascendant into T2 Martyr for 10+ life feels pretty great when it happens, but getting that nut draw while avoiding T1 removal like Bolt happened maybe 10% of the time in my experience. I'm not writing it off, but I prefer the midrange option that Duke plays. If I were in your shoes, I'd cash in that Marsh Flats for playsets of Auriok Champions and Archangels of Thune.
Phyrexian Arena certainly has potential, especially considering the lack of enchantment removal I've been noticing lately. We can afford the life loss in a way no other deck can. However, I think the strength of the splash for black is that we only need one black, turn 4 at the earliest. This allows us to run 4 Ghost Quarter in the main, and run enough plains to be pretty unaffected by Blood Moon. If we need T1 W, T2 WW, T3 1BB or WWW, we'd probably need to trim most to all of our utility lands. Less Ghost, probably no interesting 1-ofs like Vault or Pendelhaven. We already have pretty good game against the matchups where Arena would help us, so I'd rather keep 4 Ghosts to help the matchups that are more of a problem.
Side question: what's particularly good about Mirran Crusader? The card seems great in a vacuum, but the decks I imagine bringing it in against (BGx, Grixis) all run Bolt or Path. What am I not noticing?
So there will be a big modern event, Mana Deprived, coming in two weeks in my city. My friend asked me if I wanted to attend to the event. Since I've started playing MTG, I never thought of going to big events like this. My goal was just to have fun and win FNMs. But now that my friend asked me and since the metagame is quite Aggro (which I find Soul Sisters are good against), I'm really wondering if I should take a shot at it. If I go, it will be my first big event. The entry fee is 30$ and I really don't want to go there just to lose and waste my money.
So as you guys can see, there is one key card that I'm missing. It's Auriok Champion, which I can't afford and replaced it with Suture Priest. Is there anything/something I should tweak or consider of replacing?
I'm mostly scared of TRON, so I've considered putting a 4th one(GQ is sooo good against TRON)... but even with 3 GQs... it does occasionally hurt me when I want to cast Spectral Procession.
I've also considered putting a beater like Archangel of Thune, but I find that it's more of a win-more card.
Also thought of putting Brave The Elements in the SB since I have no Auriok Champions.
So is it worth a shot ? Because I know I don't have the best version of this deck. What do you guys think ?
I would consider maindecking Brave the Elements or Return to the Ranks, as Suture Priest is almost irrelevant in a major tournament. You could also go old school and run a few Martyr of Sands, since you're going with the full 4 Rangers. That could just give you a few "Oops, I win!" draws with Serra into Martyr.
I think you're definitely going to hurt from not having the Champions and the Thunes, but I think your deck could do very well in an aggro heavy meta if you're familiar enough with it to make the $30 worthwhile. You could just hit into Burn and Zoo decks all day and get there, or just have great draws against stuff like Twin and Affinity.
In other news, RogueDeckBuilder just posted a 4-round daily using a G/W build using Serene Steward and Collected Company and it looked ... bad. Serene Steward was mostly a non-factor for all but one match up (where it pumped a Serra Ascendant against Jund.) and he bricked a lot with Collected Company, despite finding room for Qasali Pridemage and Scavening Ooze in the main with 11 one-drop sisters (3 Essence Warden). He had Auriok Champion in the side. I think he hit some bad luck and ran way too many lands that didn't tap for white to power Serene Steward, but the deck just looked like it was trying to do too much and Serena Steward was often just a bear. Here's the playlist (L to Blue Moon, W over Jund, L to Zoo, L to U/R Twin.)
Bob, you are awesome, and I am glad you are running the ship for a bit!
As far as Mirran Crusader... I am probably the only person who uses that card, and I don't even think it's that good. In my meta, there is a lot of Jund and CoCo, so it has helped. When I played at a PPTQ (hosted by a store that I did not play at often), I did not pack the Mirran Crusader and did not need it. I had Linvala in the sideboard, and it was overkill the one match I brought her in against a CoCo deck. Of course, I played Affinity for the win-and-in and was mana-screwed game one with an Archangel in my hand in four lands on the board for a long time... but it happens (made me want to have Linvala in the main very, very badly).
So as far as Mirran Crusader goes... probably shouldn't use it. I would take out a Ranger for it to play with a solid three-drop instead of a four, because I would not need all the lifegain against Jund by the time I drew a Ranger... I prefer to be a bit more aggressive... and though I could grab the Ascendant against Jund, I often find myself trading damage; Goyf swings for six, I swing for four, gain some life by dropping a creature (hopefully). Thus, my reasoning for the Crusader against Jund (after they have used Lightning Bolt on Pridemate and/or another sister... which happens a lot).
CoCo can work in Sisters just like every other aggro deck, but I think this guy just probably ran into enough good situations to make something happen. That list is terribad.
Yeah, he mentioned that Serene Steward probably goes best in Mono-W, then ran into the problem we all did when we saw it spoiled: "What do we cut?"
As for CoCo, I think it works in other aggro decks because it can generate 4CMC or more when it hits (Elves can get Ezuri and an Archdruid, Zoo can get Ooze and Loxodon Smiter, Goblins can get Piledriver and other goodies, Melira can get Finks and Redcap, etc.) It rarely does that with us, and if it does, it's either Pridemate, Pridemate or Champion, Champion, neither of which is what we want it to do. Your best hope is to land Sister, Pridemate, but is that worth the 4 mana and a card that doesn't come with a body? I think Ranger is still what we want for card draw.
I do like CoCo if Squadron Hawk makes a comeback, though. CoCo'ing into Hawk and then fetching the rest of your hawks seems like pretty nice value.
I agree with you, and I think Jex said the same... no CoCo for this deck. Honor of the Pure, Spectral Procession, and Lingering Souls and/or Secure the Wastes provide far more value in this deck than CoCo can.
And how is the cookie cutter build working out for everyone? Anyone won any money? Nope. We need to brew. Throw in some Kitchen Finks and whatever else crazy comes to mind.
And how is the cookie cutter build working out for everyone? Anyone won any money? Nope. We need to brew. Throw in some Kitchen Finks and whatever else crazy comes to mind.
The thing is, we've tried brewing, but all that happens is we end up losing with different jank. This deck is not particularly good, and will never win any major tournament. The best place to go would be with some small splashes, such as green, or black. I don't like the black splash, since it adds more of the same, but my green splash build does look to be quite promising with the sideboard. May try mainboarding some green and see how Dromoka's Command works out.
I have been recently trying a somewhat standard list, but replacing Ranger of Eos with Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. I don't know if it's totally worth it, but I've been really liking it. Gideon plays out often like Honor of the Pure #5/6 (I only use two of him), but he can also be an army by himself if you need.
Also, I've been testing out a single Secure the Wastes to help mitigate mana flood (a 4-mana instant for 3 tokens is already fine, but an 8 mana instant for 7 tokens is GREAT for getting back into the game, especially if you have some anthems out).
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UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
List:
3 Soul Warden
3 Soul's Attendant
4 Serra Ascendant
3 Auriok Champion
2 Leonin Arbiter
4 Ajani's Pridemate
3 Ranger of Eos
2 Archangel of Thune
Not Creatures:
4 Path to Exile
3 Honor of the Pure
4 Lingering Souls
2 Spectral Procession
1 Worship
6 Plains
4 Windbrisk Heights
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Godless Shrine
2 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath
3 Celestial Flare
2 Stony Silence
2 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Mark of Asylum
2 Wrath of God
1 Return to the Ranks
1 Pithing Needle
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Surgical Extraction
Round 1: 1-2 vs Mono-Green Devotion
Game 1 was a huge punt. If I had looked one turn ahead, I could have seen that the Honor in my hand plus a Path for her one remaining blocker would have been lethal. If it had been later in the day, I would have been tilted, but it was the very first game, so I forgave myself and moved on. I board in Wraths and Return. G2 I took easily with a faster development. I believe I went T1 Sister, T2 Sister + Windbrisk, T3 Spec, T4 Honor and Windbrisk out a Ranger. Her Arbor Elves and Burning-Tree Emissaries couldn't keep up. G3 she won after recurring a Sarkhan Vol with Eternal Witness. After a decisive round 1 punt, I knew I had to win every remaining round to finish in the money (free tournament, but top 4 split a $75 store credit prize. Pretty great). No pressure! 0-1
Round 2: 2-1 vs Grixis Twin
Game 1 I resolve an Auriok Champion and my opponent stops smiling for the remainder of the round. I had never seen someone take a matchup with such dejection, but the kid couldn't have been older than 14, and I know I took an L pretty hard at that age. Took G1 handily. Boarded in Pithing Needle, Leylines, Marks, and Return (I assumed he was boarding out the combo, since he seemed so convinced that my deck bricked it). He actually tried to scoop G2 after resolving Twin on Pestermite when I only had one Auriok out, but someone watching explained that he actually won. So no freebie. Still, I took game 3 after a resolved Worship to lock out the combo, and a humongous Return that left me with 3 15/15 Pridemates. My inner Timmy pooped himself. 1-1
Round 3: 2-1 vs Stompy
Another matchup where Sisters has pretty good play. My anti-fetch flavor meant nothing to him, so the Arbiters and Ghost Quarters I drew G1 were blank, but I still managed to take the game. Stompy packs no removal outside of Beast Within, so we get to really do our thing, and I was quickly gaining 6-8 life per turn, ignoring most of his attacks, and swinging over his board. Another very salty opponent who was cursing by the end of the round. Board just like Mono-G, Wraths and Return. G2 I keep a durdly mull to 6 and he gets there. I had Wrath in hand and 3 lands for about 4 turns while I cast and recurred two Lingering Souls, but gaining 6 life and chumping for 4 turns couldn't draw me my 4th land. G3 I am get beat down to 6 life by turn 4, then cast Worship. He didn't visibly react after reading the card, which made me put him on Beast Within, but he didn't have it and by turn 7 I was back up to 45 with a Serra Ascendant in play and two more in hand, thanks to a second Ranger. TYBWorship! Sweet sweet card. I began to feel a rising optimism in my chest, the kind that usually gets crushed under the feet of RG Tron or Hexproof. I might pull this off. 2-1
Round 4: 2-0 vs Affinity
I used to be afraid of Affinity, with their Inkmoths and instant-speed combaty things. But Ghost Quarter beats Inkmoths like scissors beats paper, and after the first Quarter, they become Strip Mines against Affinity, which only ever runs 1 basic. And wow do they fold to Souls/Procession. Their only out after a spirit token spell is Steel Overseer, and he didn't draw one until G2, and I had the Stony Silence. Board was Wraths, Stonies, Pithing, Return. After Stony, he played the equally hatey Torpor Orb, so it became a grindfest in which most of our cards had no text. Guess who wins that matchup? The person playing token spells and banners. I am one round away from the biggest comeback in my humble MtG career. 3-1
Round 5: 2-0 vs Hexproof
2-0 vs Hexproof. 2-0'd Hexproof. 2-0 against mamalickin' Hexproof. I was literally dancing in my chair. Beaming ear to ear. Of course, that's not how I sat down. Let's Tarantino it to the beginning of the round.
As soon as I see the pairing, I melt. I already knew what deck he was on. The hope shot out of me like an untied balloon. Had the Gods of MtG truly raised me so high, only to dash my hopes when it would be most painful? ...yep, that sounds like Magic alright. Deflated, I take my seat and start G1.
We both build up respectable boards. He has a Bogle and a Kor Spritdancer suited up with everything except lifelink. I'm gaining boatloads of life and beating down with bannered sprits. Somehow, after a Kor Spiritdancer and eventual TWO Keen Senses drawing him so many cards he needs to discard EoT, he fails to find a Coronet or Unflinching Courage. SUPER lucky for me, I take G1.
G2 I board in Wraths and Flares. Okay Flares, this is why you're here. Make daddy proud. I mull a no-land and come up Wrath, Flare, Sister, and 3 other spells. No lands. Screw it. I'm playing. Scry a sister away. He plays a Bogle. I Draw a Heath. Sister go. He tosses out an umbra and and ethereal armor and swings for 5. Topdeck my second land. Shuffle it into my hand, do my best disappointed face, play the spell and pass. He attaches another Umbra, Coronet, and swings. Windmill Flare. Best Gotcha! ever. He almost claws his way back over the next few turns, with Gladecover, another Coronet and the aura that gives pro-creatures. Wrath of God. From there, it's a quick beatdown and I take the round.
Best I've ever felt after a game of Magic. I got SO lucky both matches, and just like any successful player, my combination of luck, skill, and preparation took me to a career personal best in a Modern tournament AND biggest comeback. What a day. I hope you enjoyed the report, and please let me know if I'm omitting any information you might find useful.
It's always great to see someone enjoy some success with this deck.
Worship seems interesting. I saw an article on it this week and, like all of us, I weighed whether or not I should have it in the deck. I wondered about it as a mainboard card, but I feel like I would have to do a *****load of playtesting just to see if it works for me.
Skite is probably the correct choice, maybe replacing Surgical Extraction, which seems like an ambitious card. It does hit Infect, another tough matchup. I'll probably bring it next weekend. I don't really like Wrath against Hexproof, since it doesn't get around umbras, but it's better than our mostly dead Paths.
The Modern Nexus article was what inspired me to run Worship. I was aware of the card before, but it made me really consider why I wasn't running it, and I didn't have a good reason. We basically always have creatures, and it locks out nearly everything. I put it in my list's fun-of slot that I rotate pretty frequently, with Return to the Ranks and Mana Tithe being recent examples. BTW Tithe is so much fun to cast. Absolutely no one is ever ready for the white Force Spike. Cast it once and watch them writhe and play around it for the rest of the round. It's the Splinter Twin effect! They'll never tap out again. However, it's pretty bad against big mana decks, which seem pretty common in my local meta. But as for Worship, it seems like a really big gamble. If they have enchantment removal, it's easy to get into a situation where you punt the game. If I ever cast it G1 against a deck with access to Wear/Tear or Seal of Primordium, I'd probably board it out, unless I was bringing my SB enchantments and could likely overwork their removal.
Also - does Phyrexian Arena give us the Bob effect we want without having to cut Spectral Processions or Archangels? Seems nice in the black splash.
How hard is it to hit WBB on turn three? Assuming you want something like Warden, Pridemate, Arena.
Is the black splash inevitable at this point? (Assumung, as I think jex has pointed out, that WotC doesn't print some kind of W bomb that elevates the deck.)
I ask because I've been slowly building up a budget Sisters the last couple months, and just yesterday pulled a Marsh Flats in the first BFZ pack I've ever opened. It's on color for a Wb deck, but dollar for dollar, could be tradeable for 4x Serra Ascendant and a pair of Archangel of Thune, leaving me short only the Auriok Champions with Suture Priest / Kor Firewalker in their place.
On the one hand, I should be able to hit a respectable mono-white version before the new year and be much more competitive. But long-term, I know the Marsh Flats has lots of value for this and other decks...odd pickle to be in. If it were almost any other fetch, I think I'd be worry free about trading it for immediate gains.
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Here's Reid Duke wrecking some creature decks with a mono-white build on MTGO. Mono-W is totally viable. The first version I built was the aggro build with Squawks and Martyrs, which was explosive when it worked, but lacked consistency and late-game power. The T1 Ascendant into T2 Martyr for 10+ life feels pretty great when it happens, but getting that nut draw while avoiding T1 removal like Bolt happened maybe 10% of the time in my experience. I'm not writing it off, but I prefer the midrange option that Duke plays. If I were in your shoes, I'd cash in that Marsh Flats for playsets of Auriok Champions and Archangels of Thune.
Phyrexian Arena certainly has potential, especially considering the lack of enchantment removal I've been noticing lately. We can afford the life loss in a way no other deck can. However, I think the strength of the splash for black is that we only need one black, turn 4 at the earliest. This allows us to run 4 Ghost Quarter in the main, and run enough plains to be pretty unaffected by Blood Moon. If we need T1 W, T2 WW, T3 1BB or WWW, we'd probably need to trim most to all of our utility lands. Less Ghost, probably no interesting 1-ofs like Vault or Pendelhaven. We already have pretty good game against the matchups where Arena would help us, so I'd rather keep 4 Ghosts to help the matchups that are more of a problem.
Here's what my decklist looks like:
4x Soul Warden
4x Soul's Attendant
4x Suture Priest
4x Ajani's Pridemate
4x Ranger of Eos
4x Serra Ascendant
4x Path to Exile
4x Honor of the Pure
4x Spectral Procession
3x Secure the Wastes
Lands (21)
16x Plains
2x Windbrisk Heights
3x Ghost Quarter
2x Celestial Flare
2x Wrath of God
2x Stony Silence
2x Suppression Field
2x Return to the Ranks
2x Kor Firewalker
2x Sundering Growth
1x Ghostly Prison
So as you guys can see, there is one key card that I'm missing. It's Auriok Champion, which I can't afford and replaced it with Suture Priest. Is there anything/something I should tweak or consider of replacing?
I'm mostly scared of TRON, so I've considered putting a 4th one(GQ is sooo good against TRON)... but even with 3 GQs... it does occasionally hurt me when I want to cast Spectral Procession.
I've also considered putting a beater like Archangel of Thune, but I find that it's more of a win-more card.
Also thought of putting Brave The Elements in the SB since I have no Auriok Champions.
So is it worth a shot ? Because I know I don't have the best version of this deck. What do you guys think ?
I think you're definitely going to hurt from not having the Champions and the Thunes, but I think your deck could do very well in an aggro heavy meta if you're familiar enough with it to make the $30 worthwhile. You could just hit into Burn and Zoo decks all day and get there, or just have great draws against stuff like Twin and Affinity.
In other news, RogueDeckBuilder just posted a 4-round daily using a G/W build using Serene Steward and Collected Company and it looked ... bad. Serene Steward was mostly a non-factor for all but one match up (where it pumped a Serra Ascendant against Jund.) and he bricked a lot with Collected Company, despite finding room for Qasali Pridemage and Scavening Ooze in the main with 11 one-drop sisters (3 Essence Warden). He had Auriok Champion in the side. I think he hit some bad luck and ran way too many lands that didn't tap for white to power Serene Steward, but the deck just looked like it was trying to do too much and Serena Steward was often just a bear. Here's the playlist (L to Blue Moon, W over Jund, L to Zoo, L to U/R Twin.)
As far as Mirran Crusader... I am probably the only person who uses that card, and I don't even think it's that good. In my meta, there is a lot of Jund and CoCo, so it has helped. When I played at a PPTQ (hosted by a store that I did not play at often), I did not pack the Mirran Crusader and did not need it. I had Linvala in the sideboard, and it was overkill the one match I brought her in against a CoCo deck. Of course, I played Affinity for the win-and-in and was mana-screwed game one with an Archangel in my hand in four lands on the board for a long time... but it happens (made me want to have Linvala in the main very, very badly).
So as far as Mirran Crusader goes... probably shouldn't use it. I would take out a Ranger for it to play with a solid three-drop instead of a four, because I would not need all the lifegain against Jund by the time I drew a Ranger... I prefer to be a bit more aggressive... and though I could grab the Ascendant against Jund, I often find myself trading damage; Goyf swings for six, I swing for four, gain some life by dropping a creature (hopefully). Thus, my reasoning for the Crusader against Jund (after they have used Lightning Bolt on Pridemate and/or another sister... which happens a lot).
As for CoCo, I think it works in other aggro decks because it can generate 4CMC or more when it hits (Elves can get Ezuri and an Archdruid, Zoo can get Ooze and Loxodon Smiter, Goblins can get Piledriver and other goodies, Melira can get Finks and Redcap, etc.) It rarely does that with us, and if it does, it's either Pridemate, Pridemate or Champion, Champion, neither of which is what we want it to do. Your best hope is to land Sister, Pridemate, but is that worth the 4 mana and a card that doesn't come with a body? I think Ranger is still what we want for card draw.
I do like CoCo if Squadron Hawk makes a comeback, though. CoCo'ing into Hawk and then fetching the rest of your hawks seems like pretty nice value.
The thing is, we've tried brewing, but all that happens is we end up losing with different jank. This deck is not particularly good, and will never win any major tournament. The best place to go would be with some small splashes, such as green, or black. I don't like the black splash, since it adds more of the same, but my green splash build does look to be quite promising with the sideboard. May try mainboarding some green and see how Dromoka's Command works out.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
Also, I've been testing out a single Secure the Wastes to help mitigate mana flood (a 4-mana instant for 3 tokens is already fine, but an 8 mana instant for 7 tokens is GREAT for getting back into the game, especially if you have some anthems out).