Mana dorks aren't so bad of a top deck in a deck that runs having township, and they are critical to have in your opener.
He runs 3 Townships and less utility / removal. No Commands, Decays, Pulses, Charms... Different approach altogether.
Well that is the approach highlighted in the primer on the first page.
Not really, seeing as all those cards are listed in the 'utility' section. Besides, the deck has evolved quite a bit since Wilson's performance - the page number below should give you an idea of how far we've come since then.
I am legit stoked! Did a true 4-0 tonight. The place I play at averages 60+ players for modern.
ROUND 1 (w w)
Some kind of Blue/Red deck using Skred, snow covered lands, bolts, Snapcaster and Chandra. I didn't see too much. They didn't draw enough lands in game 1, and I don't remember what happened in game 2, but I think the problem was they couldn't keep up with my curve of Birds into Smiter into Liege and Rhino.
ROUND 2 (w w)
A budget Tron deck. Not sure what else is missing from it, but they don't have Karn. They run Kozilek, Ulamog and Emrakul though. I've actually played this guy before and it's basically a race. Again, the Birds into Smiter into Liege curve won me the games.
ROUND 3 (w w)
Mirror match, but they were playing the Tarmogoyf version. Lingering Souls and Gavony Township were the keys to my wins.
ROUND 4 (l w w)
Infect. He killed me on turn 4 in game 1.. yikes! In games 2 and 3 an early Thoughtseize snagged his threats, and he couldn't do anything but get beat on.
The Avacyn's Pilgrim is supposed to be a Noble Hierarch. He's worked out great as a budget replacement.
The 3 Qasali Pridemage are supposed to be 3 Voice of Resurgence. However, I haven't really been in too many situations where Voice of Resurgence would be relevant. Granted I only have 1 so it's not like I get a ton of data, but I think a better starting point would be a 2/2 split and then adjusting by your meta.
Glissa is kind of the flex slot where I can play around with things. Glissa, Anafenza, Knight of the Reliquary, etc. Right now Glissa hasn't been in any situations where she shined. The problem is that she's a 1 of and I think she'd need to be a 3 of to really see her benefit. I've played against Blue/White Eldrazi and I never saw her, and I don't think she would have mattered anyways. Plus she gets removed pretty easily unless you have a Liege out. I think she should be cut for another Green/White creature in the 3 drop or lower range (IE: Qasali Pridemage). I just don't think she brings enough to the table to warrant being a 1 of.
The Doom Blade is supposed to be an Abrupt Decay. Amusingly, it actually worked to my benefit once when I left up a Green and a Black against an Affinity player and his train of thought was, "Well, he's showing Abrupt Decay mana.. so let me attack with just the Inkmoth." Hahaha.
The 3 Abzan Charms are for the card drawing, and also to help lessen the impact of what gets taken out for them (IE: a 4th Path of Exile). I've used them a couple of times for card draw, and a couple of times for removal.. so standard stuff you'd find when using it. I talked to the Tarmogoyf Mirror Match player and he said he tried them too but was hardly ever using them for card draw. I'm still unsure about whether to leave them in or take them out.
I'm still unsure about Stirring Wildwood. The problem is looking at the big picture of whether it helps the deck more than it hurts it.
The Foothills, Delta, Mire and Sunpetal Grove are all supposed to be Verdant Catacombs. They're definitely good budget alternatives. I haven't had any issues yet getting all my colors. Might also be worth looking into dropping Overgrown Tomb down to 1. Maybe toss in Vault of the Archangel or a 3rd Township.
The Ratchet Bomb and Duress are supposed to be Engineered Explosives. Ratchet Bomb helped me win a game against Infect and this, honestly, is the two cards I REALLY want to get because there's been a couple of rounds where I really wanted to side in Engineered Explosives.
Yeah EE is amazing, I always have two in my sideboard. I urge you to consider Vault of the Archangel, I've been running it for a while and am never ever unhappy to see it (well, unless it's the only land in my opening 7). It can truly make or break matches, especially ones with seriously stalled boards.
Yeah EE is amazing, I always have two in my sideboard. I urge you to consider Vault of the Archangel, I've been running it for a while and am never ever unhappy to see it (well, unless it's the only land in my opening 7). It can truly make or break matches, especially ones with seriously stalled boards.
What does your manabase look like? I have been considering Vault, but my base is so strained already with not owning any Catacombs. I'm running two Townships. Would switching one to a Vault be advisable?
I'm on 4 Catacombs, 4 Heaths, 3 Thickets, a Gavony and a Vault. Gavony is great but horrible when you have two out... Well, unless they snipe one of course.
Still, i like having options. Gavony doesn't always boost our creatures enough, but Vault can be a huge deterrent to an aggressive opponent and a lifesaver when you're running low on life or facing creatures that really need to go. Nice synergy with DCommand as well.
Try one out over Gavony. If you're running KOTR having the choice to grab either in a pinch is a hell of a bonus.
I'll definitely give that a shot. Thanks! Breaking through board stalls is the biggest issue I'm currently having, hence the addition of Gideon to my board. This is my current build:
// Lands
1 Marsh Flats
4 Forest
2 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Swamp
2 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Woodland Cemetery
It has been okay so far. My meta has a lot of aggressive creature-based decks, so the Lifelink he provides is generally enough to make opponents think twice about attacking. If I do go the Vault route, I'll probably switch it up to something else.
I think I'm going to take out Glissa, put back in Knight of the Reliquary, and take out an Overgrown Tomb and put in a Vault of the Archangel. Next up I guess would be determining if I should take out the Wildwood to put back in the 2nd Tomb.
I tried Stirring Wildwood for a while and was generally unimpressed with it. A lot of the time I found myself choosing between holding up a Path or Decay or activating the Wildwood.
Just curious, but does anyone have a Knight of the Reliquary list handy? I'm curious in seeing what it looks like. I tried using Google, but didn't get decent results.
Yeah KOTR just takes one Smiter slot if your meta is light on disruption and control. Taking out a shockland for Vault sounds risky, I'd ditch the Wildwood.
This was originally Jacob Wilson's list (http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=9064&d=251636&f=MO) I made some budget cuts and reworked the mana base to be less painful (she doesn't like paying life) the unmaking is in there for after soi release.
I'd rather have a 4th Path to Exile than 1 Anguished Unmaking. Your mana is expected to be tight in the first 2 turns, and against several popular decks now, you need to be able to deal with tons of creature based insanity in those first 2 turns. CoCo-Abzan, Eldrazi aggro, Affinity, Burn are decks where you need answers before turn 3 and are really popular. So if you're trying to make a budget consideration in place of the 4th Path to Exile, I would rather play Dismember. Your wife may not like paying life, but I'd rather pay life to be rid of a problem than pay life when the problem hits me in the face. I am also not a fan of Thoughtseize anywhere in my 75. The only matchups where it helps are all going to be pure combo, such as Storm and possibly the Knightfall deck (but I haven't tested against it). So if you see combo, then go for it. Otherwise I feel the 2 in the main and the 2 in the sideboard are wasted slots. I also would play a different mana producer than Sylvan Caryatid because having defender is a liability in an aggro/midrange deck. It's cool that it can't be targeted, but not being able to attack is a huge downside. Sometimes, I beat people down with mana dorks that have been boosted by Gavony Township. With that in mind, I feel like any number of 1-CMC mana dork would just be better (Avacyn's Pilgrim, Llanowar Elves, etc.). All that said, your deck does lose a lot of power against the field without Noble Hierarch's exatled trigger and Voice of Resurgence's ability to force control players to do things at worse timings. Even so, you just want to keep presenting threats on every turn possible.
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He runs 3 Townships and less utility / removal. No Commands, Decays, Pulses, Charms... Different approach altogether.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Well that is the approach highlighted in the primer on the first page.
Legacy: Maverick
Not really, seeing as all those cards are listed in the 'utility' section. Besides, the deck has evolved quite a bit since Wilson's performance - the page number below should give you an idea of how far we've come since then.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
ROUND 1 (w w)
Some kind of Blue/Red deck using Skred, snow covered lands, bolts, Snapcaster and Chandra. I didn't see too much. They didn't draw enough lands in game 1, and I don't remember what happened in game 2, but I think the problem was they couldn't keep up with my curve of Birds into Smiter into Liege and Rhino.
ROUND 2 (w w)
A budget Tron deck. Not sure what else is missing from it, but they don't have Karn. They run Kozilek, Ulamog and Emrakul though. I've actually played this guy before and it's basically a race. Again, the Birds into Smiter into Liege curve won me the games.
ROUND 3 (w w)
Mirror match, but they were playing the Tarmogoyf version. Lingering Souls and Gavony Township were the keys to my wins.
ROUND 4 (l w w)
Infect. He killed me on turn 4 in game 1.. yikes! In games 2 and 3 an early Thoughtseize snagged his threats, and he couldn't do anything but get beat on.
LOVING this deck!
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
3 Birds of Paradise
2 Noble Hierarch
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Voice of Resurgence
3 Qasali Pridemage
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Glissa, the Traitor
4 Loxodon Smiter
3 Wilt-Leaf Liege
4 Siege Rhino
Sorceries
1 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Lingering Souls
Instants
3 Path to Exile
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Doom Blade
3 Abzan Charm
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
3 Razorverge Thicket
2 Gavony Township
1 Stirring Wildwood
4 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Marsh Flats
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
4 Thoughtseize
2 Stony Silence
1 Fracturing Gust
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Rest in Peace
2 Dromoka's Command
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Duress
The 3 Qasali Pridemage are supposed to be 3 Voice of Resurgence. However, I haven't really been in too many situations where Voice of Resurgence would be relevant. Granted I only have 1 so it's not like I get a ton of data, but I think a better starting point would be a 2/2 split and then adjusting by your meta.
Glissa is kind of the flex slot where I can play around with things. Glissa, Anafenza, Knight of the Reliquary, etc. Right now Glissa hasn't been in any situations where she shined. The problem is that she's a 1 of and I think she'd need to be a 3 of to really see her benefit. I've played against Blue/White Eldrazi and I never saw her, and I don't think she would have mattered anyways. Plus she gets removed pretty easily unless you have a Liege out. I think she should be cut for another Green/White creature in the 3 drop or lower range (IE: Qasali Pridemage). I just don't think she brings enough to the table to warrant being a 1 of.
The Doom Blade is supposed to be an Abrupt Decay. Amusingly, it actually worked to my benefit once when I left up a Green and a Black against an Affinity player and his train of thought was, "Well, he's showing Abrupt Decay mana.. so let me attack with just the Inkmoth." Hahaha.
The 3 Abzan Charms are for the card drawing, and also to help lessen the impact of what gets taken out for them (IE: a 4th Path of Exile). I've used them a couple of times for card draw, and a couple of times for removal.. so standard stuff you'd find when using it. I talked to the Tarmogoyf Mirror Match player and he said he tried them too but was hardly ever using them for card draw. I'm still unsure about whether to leave them in or take them out.
I'm still unsure about Stirring Wildwood. The problem is looking at the big picture of whether it helps the deck more than it hurts it.
The Foothills, Delta, Mire and Sunpetal Grove are all supposed to be Verdant Catacombs. They're definitely good budget alternatives. I haven't had any issues yet getting all my colors. Might also be worth looking into dropping Overgrown Tomb down to 1. Maybe toss in Vault of the Archangel or a 3rd Township.
The Ratchet Bomb and Duress are supposed to be Engineered Explosives. Ratchet Bomb helped me win a game against Infect and this, honestly, is the two cards I REALLY want to get because there's been a couple of rounds where I really wanted to side in Engineered Explosives.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
What does your manabase look like? I have been considering Vault, but my base is so strained already with not owning any Catacombs. I'm running two Townships. Would switching one to a Vault be advisable?
Still, i like having options. Gavony doesn't always boost our creatures enough, but Vault can be a huge deterrent to an aggressive opponent and a lifesaver when you're running low on life or facing creatures that really need to go. Nice synergy with DCommand as well.
Try one out over Gavony. If you're running KOTR having the choice to grab either in a pinch is a hell of a bonus.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
// Lands
1 Marsh Flats
4 Forest
2 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Swamp
2 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Woodland Cemetery
// Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Kitchen Finks
3 Loxodon Smiter
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
4 Siege Rhino
4 Voice of Resurgence
3 Wilt-Leaf Liege
// Instants
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Dromoka's Command
4 Path to Exile
// Sorceries
4 Lingering Souls
// Planeswalkers
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
// Sideboard
SB: 1 Choke
SB: 2 Dismember
SB: 1 Ghostly Prison
SB: 1 Gideon Jura
SB: 2 Kor Firewalker
SB: 2 Rest in Peace
SB: 1 Rule of Law
SB: 2 Stony Silence
SB: 2 Thoughtseize
SB: 1 Worship
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
I don't think there really is a Knight of the Reliquary list.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
3x Forest
2x Gavony Township
2x Godless Shrine
1x Isolated Chapel
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Plains
3x Razorverge Thicket
1x Swamp
2x Temple Garden
1x Vault of the Archangel
4x Windswept Heath
2x Wooded Bastion
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Dauntless Escort
3x Kitchen Finks
4x Loxodon Smiter
2x Qasali Pridemage
2x Scavenging Ooze
4x Siege Rhino
2x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Wilt-Leaf Liege
Instant (4)
1x Anguished Unmaking
3x Path to Exile
Sorcery (6)
4x Lingering Souls
2x Thoughtseize
1x Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
2x Anguished Unmaking
2x Fracturing Gust
1x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Rule of Law
1x Slaughter Pact
2x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1x Stony Silence
2x Thoughtseize
1x Zealous Persecution
This was originally Jacob Wilson's list (http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=9064&d=251636&f=MO) I made some budget cuts and reworked the mana base to be less painful (she doesn't like paying life) the unmaking is in there for after soi release.
4c Gifts Deck Stats: https://bit.ly/2XMPrlY
https://pucatrade.com/invite/gift/120495