So, seeing the full creature list you have here, I'd offer a few suggestions.
Cutting 1xWisp and 2xDisp doesn't seem like a good idea unless you have a very specific reason. Wisp plays very well with Strangler and offers the deck some much needed flyers (Restos are good too, but Resto can flicker Wisp so there's synergy there you're missing out on.) Displacer being a 3/3 is a decent body, but most importantly it offers flicker-on-demand if left alone which can seal a long game away, especially with Eldrazi Temples in main.
No Splicers can be fine, but Resto/Wisp/Disp would play nicely with them. Thraben Inspector may come down earlier, but it doesn't offer any attack potential, and very little beyond a chump-block-with-2cmc-cantrip.
I'd probably ditch the 1-drops to have 4xWisp and 3x-4xDisp. The 3xStrangler suggestion from kaosofmind is also good advice if you're too worried about that 3-drop slot being overfilled (but like my previous post stated, you should take the deck out for a spin before trying to retool the mana curve; Vial wants what it wants.)
It seems that w/o Inspector i got only 4 Vials in the 1-Drop-Slot.
That looks pretty clunky - i imagine an Opener with no Vials is pretty slow, isn't it?
Agreed. Displacer can take over a game if left unanswered. If you're going to go for E&T, that's an automatic 4-of. Inspector is spicy and I kind of like it here, but not at the expense of Wisps or Displacers, which are core E&T cards. However, trimming a Strangler is reasonably common (though I kind of like jamming another 3-drop like Thalia, Heretic Cathar in there if you do). In my opinion, E&T's creature flex spots are a debate between Blade Splicer, Restoration Angel, and Thraben Inspector, with each side having its merits.
Hi everyone, I've been on a 4 Smuggler's Copter 4 Thraben Inspector 4 Aether Vial mono W build. I've found that I get blown out games 2/3 by stony silence. I was wondering if anyone else has run into this problem and has any advice.
The obvious answer is to board out Smuggles, but I'm not sure what to bring in, smuggles does so much to smooth out the draws late game and provide a flying clock that I don't know what I can replace it with. It also becomes something of a slippery slope because without smuggles the inspectors become a lot worse.
Thanks Jendo, I'm on 3 Relic Warders in the board and I've been bringing them in for the smuggles, I've also been trying Honor of the Pure which has seemed pretty descent, if my opponent is fine playing 2 mana enchantments that don't impact the board, I can probably afford to do it as well. Sundering seems great actually, thanks for the advice!
Been out of the game for a while, but I always liked this deck and was thinking about building it and getting back in. I like the mono-white Eldrazi and Taxes version, and this was the build I was thinking of:
I've read through most of the recent posts and this seems to fit with the mono-white E&T lists I've seen posted, with a few personal tweaks. Considering replacing Restoration Angels with Thalia, Heretic Cathar if the mana curve proves to be too high. The Condemns in the board are for Death's Shadow. Any glaring weaknesses? Can mono-white be competitive, or do you have to splash a color?
So after watching a couple of Games with Eldrazi & Taxes and reading through the last couple of pages, i concluded the following (on par with most of the plaers here):
Tidehollow Sculler and Wasteland Strangler
These are the reasons to dig into Black. Sadly, Sculler is a bad card. I've played him a couple of months in BW Tokens, tried him in BW Eldrazi Processor and it shares the same problems in E&T: It costsBW which isn't available on turn 2 in many games.
Even worse, with Kolaghan's Command in the format, it's a basic 1-for-2 worsen our Matchup against Jund and Grixis.
A lot of Streams i saw he stucked in hand for a couple of turns. Without Vial it's a sorcery Thoughtseize, that can be killed.
That's quite bad. Even worse, it's a necessary evil to turn on Wasteland Strangler.
Strangler shines in a Game with Creatures and Cards in the Grave to be exiled. Sadly, the momentary Meta is a wild bunch of Ramp, Combo, Tempo and Aggro.
This leaves Wasteland Strangler as a high-variance Card. Soemtimes it's really great, sometimes a bad 3/2.
This is what i am agree with many players here. Cutting Black looks like a promising idea.
Thraben Inspector and Smuggler's Copter
I'm sorry for repeating myself, but Inspector is a promising candidate along Copter. I assume it let us cheat on a single Land because we are able to cantrip.
22 Lands is what i am aiming for.
Smuggler's Copter is kinda weird card. It's again a 1-for-2 against Kolaghan's Command, but paired with more impact.
I believe i'll dodge it for now, until i'm feeling the Meta has settled and Kolaghan's is played to a lesser extent.
Blade Splicer
Again, Kolaghan's Command, but in this case it's a simple 1-for-1 trade. It's agressiveness looks pretty nice, so it will take some spots in my list.
I'll keep you updated until my decklist is settled.
So after watching a couple of Games with Eldrazi & Taxes and reading through the last couple of pages, i concluded the following (on par with most of the plaers here):
Tidehollow Sculler and Wasteland Strangler
These are the reasons to dig into Black. Sadly, Sculler is a bad card. I've played him a couple of months in BW Tokens, tried him in BW Eldrazi Processor and it shares the same problems in E&T: It costsBW which isn't available on turn 2 in many games.
Even worse, with Kolaghan's Command in the format, it's a basic 1-for-2 worsen our Matchup against Jund and Grixis.
A lot of Streams i saw he stucked in hand for a couple of turns. Without Vial it's a sorcery Thoughtseize, that can be killed.
That's quite bad. Even worse, it's a necessary evil to turn on Wasteland Strangler.
Strangler shines in a Game with Creatures and Cards in the Grave to be exiled. Sadly, the momentary Meta is a wild bunch of Ramp, Combo, Tempo and Aggro.
This leaves Wasteland Strangler as a high-variance Card. Soemtimes it's really great, sometimes a bad 3/2.
This is what i am agree with many players here. Cutting Black looks like a promising idea.
Thraben Inspector and Smuggler's Copter
I'm sorry for repeating myself, but Inspector is a promising candidate along Copter. I assume it let us cheat on a single Land because we are able to cantrip.
22 Lands is what i am aiming for.
Smuggler's Copter is kinda weird card. It's again a 1-for-2 against Kolaghan's Command, but paired with more impact.
I believe i'll dodge it for now, until i'm feeling the Meta has settled and Kolaghan's is played to a lesser extent.
Blade Splicer
Again, Kolaghan's Command, but in this case it's a simple 1-for-1 trade. It's agressiveness looks pretty nice, so it will take some spots in my list.
I'll keep you updated until my decklist is settled.
One of the weird things about D&T is that we don't need Sculler to survive to get real value out of it. If Sculler is Bolted, that becomes one less piece of removal our opponent can aim at Thalia/Arbiter. (This is in contrast to BW Tokens which cares little about 1-for-1 removal and worries more about Sculler stealing Wrath effects.)
All the Sculler/Strangler synergy should be considered a bonus that simply raises the power ceiling of Sculler. (After all, Sculler was good for BW far before Strangler was ever printed.)
Like LtGlitter said, the decklist on the front page of the primer is fine.
Nothing core has changed, because the Strangler/Displacer/TKS package is still solid and the numbers stay stable to maximize the usefulness of Eldrazi Temple. (This is also unlikely to change until new Eldrazi are eventually printed to compete with the slots; probably some years off.)
The only (non-spicey) recent changes that you'll see are that most lists are starting to run Concealed Couryard in place of Godless Shrine (since comes-in-tapped mostly only matters for the early Sculler hardcast and the lifeloss can matter). Other than that it's just your personal choices for the few non-Eldrazi flex-slots and deciding whether or not you like Smasher as a topend.
I've been in Magic for a long time and in Modern for a few years. I started off tribal with Merfolk and Elves (and a touch of budget Tron), but found a more interesting experience in Death and Taxes. I have run the Eldrazi version to good effect for a while but have recently been intrigued with the Spirits version. I tried a variation last week but was doomed by bad draws (lost 1-2 to Living End *after* siding in Rest in Peace) so I took some cues from HugeElfBoy and made a new deck list. I'd appreciate some feedback from the community here.
Some notable changes are my addition of a single kira, great glass-spinner and a Minamo, School at Water's Edge. The first I put in because it's a solid spirit that prevents removal, but since it's double blue to cast I only added one. The second is just for some extra options with all the legendary creatures in the deck. (Yes, I borrowed both from my Merfolk experiences) I know the mana base isn't ideal but it's not really let me down yet I used to use stonecloaker myself in an older D&T deck but brought it back based on HugeElfBoy's oberservations - there are some good synergies there. I do like bouncing a spell queller while your opponent is tapped out and you have a Thalia on the field. However, there are several other reasons including protection from removal or exiling a key card from your opponent's graveyard.
I don't know how good Geist of Saint Traft is right now (might get stonewalled on the ground) but Blade Splicer is always a good option on both offense/defense and a great blink target.
I don't know how good Geist of Saint Traft is right now (might get stonewalled on the ground) but Blade Splicer is always a good option on both offense/defense and a great blink target.
That about sums it up. My experience has been that unless you're running some kind of sword package in your deck, geist is a sideboard card only. He definitely has trouble making it through against a lot of the top decks, and is too slow against many others. He's powerful against control and some slower strategies, but you can just board him in then. Blade splicer is probably better for that slot.
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I use a lot of usernames for some reason, so if you see this person, it's me: Twitch: Artificier10 MTGO and Discord: PollenProphet
So, seeing the full creature list you have here, I'd offer a few suggestions.
Cutting 1xWisp and 2xDisp doesn't seem like a good idea unless you have a very specific reason. Wisp plays very well with Strangler and offers the deck some much needed flyers (Restos are good too, but Resto can flicker Wisp so there's synergy there you're missing out on.) Displacer being a 3/3 is a decent body, but most importantly it offers flicker-on-demand if left alone which can seal a long game away, especially with Eldrazi Temples in main.
No Splicers can be fine, but Resto/Wisp/Disp would play nicely with them. Thraben Inspector may come down earlier, but it doesn't offer any attack potential, and very little beyond a chump-block-with-2cmc-cantrip.
I'd probably ditch the 1-drops to have 4xWisp and 3x-4xDisp. The 3xStrangler suggestion from kaosofmind is also good advice if you're too worried about that 3-drop slot being overfilled (but like my previous post stated, you should take the deck out for a spin before trying to retool the mana curve; Vial wants what it wants.)
It seems that w/o Inspector i got only 4 Vials in the 1-Drop-Slot.
That looks pretty clunky - i imagine an Opener with no Vials is pretty slow, isn't it?
Green @ it's best
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
The obvious answer is to board out Smuggles, but I'm not sure what to bring in, smuggles does so much to smooth out the draws late game and provide a flying clock that I don't know what I can replace it with. It also becomes something of a slippery slope because without smuggles the inspectors become a lot worse.
12 Plains
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Mutavault
1 Eiganjo Castle
Creatures: 26
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Leonin Arbiter
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Flickerwisp
4 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Restoration Angel
4 Path to Exile
Artifacts: 7
4 Aether Vial
3 Smuggler's Copter
3 Condemn
3 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Disenchant
1 Oblivion Ring
I've read through most of the recent posts and this seems to fit with the mono-white E&T lists I've seen posted, with a few personal tweaks. Considering replacing Restoration Angels with Thalia, Heretic Cathar if the mana curve proves to be too high. The Condemns in the board are for Death's Shadow. Any glaring weaknesses? Can mono-white be competitive, or do you have to splash a color?
Tidehollow Sculler and Wasteland Strangler
These are the reasons to dig into Black. Sadly, Sculler is a bad card. I've played him a couple of months in BW Tokens, tried him in BW Eldrazi Processor and it shares the same problems in E&T: It costsBW which isn't available on turn 2 in many games.
Even worse, with Kolaghan's Command in the format, it's a basic 1-for-2 worsen our Matchup against Jund and Grixis.
A lot of Streams i saw he stucked in hand for a couple of turns. Without Vial it's a sorcery Thoughtseize, that can be killed.
That's quite bad. Even worse, it's a necessary evil to turn on Wasteland Strangler.
Strangler shines in a Game with Creatures and Cards in the Grave to be exiled. Sadly, the momentary Meta is a wild bunch of Ramp, Combo, Tempo and Aggro.
This leaves Wasteland Strangler as a high-variance Card. Soemtimes it's really great, sometimes a bad 3/2.
This is what i am agree with many players here. Cutting Black looks like a promising idea.
Thraben Inspector and Smuggler's Copter
I'm sorry for repeating myself, but Inspector is a promising candidate along Copter. I assume it let us cheat on a single Land because we are able to cantrip.
22 Lands is what i am aiming for.
Smuggler's Copter is kinda weird card. It's again a 1-for-2 against Kolaghan's Command, but paired with more impact.
I believe i'll dodge it for now, until i'm feeling the Meta has settled and Kolaghan's is played to a lesser extent.
Blade Splicer
Again, Kolaghan's Command, but in this case it's a simple 1-for-1 trade. It's agressiveness looks pretty nice, so it will take some spots in my list.
I'll keep you updated until my decklist is settled.
Green @ it's best
All the Sculler/Strangler synergy should be considered a bonus that simply raises the power ceiling of Sculler. (After all, Sculler was good for BW far before Strangler was ever printed.)
Can I get a full list for the BW Eldrazi Taxes to go from?
I've tried searching TCGPlayer but all the lists I find are over three months old.
I really like Strangler and Sculler has been a favorite for years - anyone that can help out?
The mana base and the correct numbers are where I'm struggling - sideboard isn't even a thought but I'll take any suggestions there as well!
@Robo_Memer on Twitter, Twitch, Reddit, and YouTube
Feel free to PM me about Affinity decks in any format!
Nothing core has changed, because the Strangler/Displacer/TKS package is still solid and the numbers stay stable to maximize the usefulness of Eldrazi Temple. (This is also unlikely to change until new Eldrazi are eventually printed to compete with the slots; probably some years off.)
The only (non-spicey) recent changes that you'll see are that most lists are starting to run Concealed Couryard in place of Godless Shrine (since comes-in-tapped mostly only matters for the early Sculler hardcast and the lifeloss can matter). Other than that it's just your personal choices for the few non-Eldrazi flex-slots and deciding whether or not you like Smasher as a topend.
Thoughts on resto in the BW version??
@Robo_Memer on Twitter, Twitch, Reddit, and YouTube
Feel free to PM me about Affinity decks in any format!
4x Flickerwisp
2x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4x Leonin Arbiter
3x Reflector Mage
2x Selfless Spirit
3x Spell Queller
1x Spellskite
3x Stonecloaker
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4x Adarkar Wastes
1x Eiganjo Castle
4x Ghost Quarter
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Hallowed Fountain
1x Island
1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
4x Plains
4x Path to Exile
4x Aether Vial
2x Dismember
2x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Kataki, War's Wage
2x Phyrexian Revoker
3x Rest in Peace
2x Shining Shoal
1x Spellskite
Some notable changes are my addition of a single kira, great glass-spinner and a Minamo, School at Water's Edge. The first I put in because it's a solid spirit that prevents removal, but since it's double blue to cast I only added one. The second is just for some extra options with all the legendary creatures in the deck. (Yes, I borrowed both from my Merfolk experiences) I know the mana base isn't ideal but it's not really let me down yet I used to use stonecloaker myself in an older D&T deck but brought it back based on HugeElfBoy's oberservations - there are some good synergies there. I do like bouncing a spell queller while your opponent is tapped out and you have a Thalia on the field. However, there are several other reasons including protection from removal or exiling a key card from your opponent's graveyard.
Thanks in advance for any feedback!
Seachrome Coast would probably be much better than Glacial Fortress here and Moorland Haunt can be a decent utility land.
Ephara, God of the Polis seems rather situational and can be useless quite often.
Thalia, Heretic Cathar is decent but I'd probably keep her in the SB and not maindeck 2x.
I don't know how good Geist of Saint Traft is right now (might get stonewalled on the ground) but Blade Splicer is always a good option on both offense/defense and a great blink target.
Here is a recent W/U that I quite liked - https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/588228
I'd probably maindeck Selfless Spirit over Smuggler's Copter and free up those SB slots.
And here are some more lists:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/571217
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/588242
That about sums it up. My experience has been that unless you're running some kind of sword package in your deck, geist is a sideboard card only. He definitely has trouble making it through against a lot of the top decks, and is too slow against many others. He's powerful against control and some slower strategies, but you can just board him in then. Blade splicer is probably better for that slot.
Twitch: Artificier10
MTGO and Discord: PollenProphet
BWEldrazi and TaxesBW
GWUKnightfallGWU
UBRGrixis ShadowUBR
4 path to exile
Creatures 32
4 dryad militant
4 noble hierarch
4 voice of resurgence
4 Leon arbiter
2 Thalia, guardian of thraben
2 scavenging ooze
4 kitchen finks
4 loxodon Smiter
4 wilt-leaf liege
4 ghost quarter
4 razorverge thicket
4 temple garden
3 stirring wildwood
1 gavony township
4 Horizon canopy
2 plains
2 Forrest
2 spellskite
2 quasali pridemage
2 kataki, war's wage
1 scavenging ooze
1 thalia, guardian of thraben
1 Thrun, the last troll
1 Sigarda, host of herons
2 selfless spirit
1 Merila, Slyv Outkast
2 Aven mindcensor
JundBGR
RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB
I'd recommend either the GW Hatebears thread or even the Abzan-Liege thread.
WBC Eldrazi & Taxes CBW
UR Keep on Cantripin' (UR Phoenix) RU
WU Surprise! It's not UW Control! (UW Midrange) UW
BG The Rock, Straight BG
U Mono-Blue Fish U
RBW Mardu Pyromancer BWR
RG Rabble! Rabble! (GR Blood Moon Aggro) GR
Legacy
W Death & Taxes W
https://www.reddit.com/r/ModernMagic/comments/60ndio/top_8_modern_1k_report_with_eldrazi_and_taxes/