MTG Salvation

Versing Affinity I would generally side like this:

Out
2x Chord of Calling
1x Sin Collector
2x Courser of Kruphix
1x Eternal Witness
1x Wall of Roots
1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

In
2x Stony Silence
1x Shatterstorm
2x Engineered Explosives
2x Fulminator Mage
1x Extirpate

How correct this is, i'm not exactly sure. If i had Zealous Persecution or Orzhov Pontiff in the sideboard i would probably use them too

I board like this against affinity

+ 2 fiery justice
+ 2 stoney silence
+ 1 fulminator
+ 1 reclamation sage
+ 1 ancient grudge

- 2 voice
- 2 chord
- 1 kiki
- 2 wall of omens

I think part of my mistake is not siding in Fulminator Mage.

I side this.
In - 2 Stony Silence
2 Fiery Justice
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Worship
Out - 1 Wall of Roots
2 Wall of Omens (or 1 Wall of Omens and 1 Courser of Kruphix)
1 Voice of Resurgence
1 Chord of Calling
1 Kiki-Jiki Mirror Breaker
1 Sin Collector

Sin Collector could be wrong because it could nab Thoughtcast, despite Galvanic Blast being played out fairly easily. For Thoughtseize out of the board, Sin Collector is probably slow. Affinity doesn't have many ground creatures, so our ground creatures don't do much. We have to keep some number of Walls for the Worship.

The only thing I don't like about worship here is that sometimes infect damage just gets you, but if you can hold off the inkmoths worship is basically unbeatable

I side in: 3 worship 3 stony silence 1 fulminator mage 1 spellskite 1 reclamation sage

Out: 4 voice 3 wall of omens 1 wall of roots 1 sin collector


Voice is a vanilla 2/2 and the walls sit there unable to block while the sin collector has barely any targets. This board plan has worked tremendously well for me as they cant beat a worship just save your paths and mages for inkmoth and you literally stall the combo.

Played against Ad Nauseam for the first time at the LGS today. Opponent mulled to 5 in game 1, still managed to kill me on T4 after I was a turn away from doing the same to him - so close! He topdecked one of the 2 pieces that turn. Sideboarding was tricky - I brought in 9 cards! Talk about a transformation. Not sure if these were right at not, but this is what I think I did:

-1 Courser
-2 Ooze
-1 Pia and Kirin
-1 Lightning Helix
-4 Path

+1 EE
+1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
+1 Rec Sage
+1 Sin Collector
+1 Spellskite
+1 Fulminator
+3 Stony Silence

Really, I just wanted to play 1 or 2 disruption cards, and try to combo as fast as possible. G2 I mulliganed into a pretty mediocre hand, but scry a Sin Collector to the top that took out a Spoils from his hand T2 after a T1 Bird. I then had a timely Rec Sage for a Phyrexian Unlife, and when I thought he might be close to going off again, he casts another. I topdeck a Kiki, make a Rec Sage copy, blow it up, and he scoops. He flipped the top card of his deck...Ad Nauseam. That close!

Game 3 I keep a 6 card hand with no Bird, no real pressure, but a few walls and a Chord for the most important card in the matchup - Eidolon of Rhetoric. I EE for 3 to deal with his first Unlife, and then with just a Chord in hand, I slowly and safely start to build a board. 2 consecutive EOT Chords for Witness, with a Stony Silence making sure he doesn't have the mana to kill me at instant speed before I untap with Chord in hand. Once he finally does get to 6 mana, I have a tricky decision. I can attack him to 5 with 2 Witnesses and an Angel, passing the turn with a Chord in hand, or I can go for the combo to finish him off. I choose the former - with all that mana up, it just didn't make sense to go for the win against him and a possible Angel's Grace, Slaughter Pact, or even Darkness (the black Fog that these decks tend to play). I put him to 5, and pass the turn. He casts Sleight of Hand, then Angel's Grace, then Spoils of the Vault, to which I respond with a Chord for Eidolon. Everyone else was watching at this point, and it drew quite the reaction. He thinks through his deck to see what card to name, and chooses Angel's Grace, but died at the end of his turn, as the card was too far down. GG.

Still going through the turns, and wondering if I played it correctly. I came to the conclusion that going for it wasn't correct - he did actually have Slaughter Pact in hand - but was wondering if he had a different set of cards (a Pact of Negation, per se), I could have lost a bit earlier. Is it better to Chord for the Eidolon the turn they go off, or try to stick it in advance, then combo off yourself under its protection? Was also wondering if I sideboarded correctly, as I didn't really have any dedicated hate to the deck, but I brought in anything that might have been relevant, and ended up using everything - Rec Sage and EE to blow up Unlife in G2 and G3, Sin Collector to nab a Spoils G2, Spellskite to absorb a path G3 (before casting Stony Silence), Fulminator to blow up a land T2 in G3, Stony Silence to lock down his mana in G2, and Eidolon for the win in G3. So, I guess they worked? It was better than drawing 2 Paths in G1. Spellskite might not be at it's best though, because he can just discard lands to keep redirecting the storm to my face. Drew in R4 for a 3-0-1 finish, pushing my total record with the deck to 15-2-2, with my two losses coming to Grixis Twin (went 4-0 in games vs Grixis Twin on Thursday) and a GBu midrange deck running Profane Command, along with 4 of the new Jace, a loss I avenged today in R2. Really liking the deck so far.

How do you guys side vs Ad Nauseam? For those who play it I'd imagine Worship is pretty darn good here, but I think my makeshift board managed quite well otherwise.

I don't think I would board EE here, as it's pretty slow and doesn't answer so many things, always at sorcery speed and costing you more man than what you killed. Sure you'll sometimes get a unite, for 5 mana, doesn't seem so hot. I would rather keep Courser, you don't care about the life gain here but the card advantage can be really important, and you said you want to combo as fast as possible, removing lands from the top to draw spells helps that.

Worship is actually pretty bad vs them, as they usually side the spell that let them destroy all enchantments for free (forgot the name, patriarch something I think).

Well, you've some dedicated hate, as Eidolon is the best card vs them. Apart that bringing as many annoying card as possible vs them is usually enough, I actually kinda like the matchup, not always easy for them to get 5 mana in time + keep the 2 card combo (but I play many collectors, it helps). It's tough to see without seeing the whole game, but I think I would try to play the eidolon a bit earlier, rather than need to slow myself so much to be able to chord for it at any time.

Havnt tried retreat here but ive found the card to be extremely playable in other shells. So give it a shot and let us know what you think. I cant really knock it till ive tried it myself. Retreat seems like it plays nice with mana dorks and kiki, but seems subpar by adding some maybe unneeded colour requirments to the deck. I generally dislike adding a colour to the deck for only a single card

Guys reality is I value consistency and this five color isnt it to me. The power ceiling is there but you lose the midrange beatdown and versatility. I dont want to lose hardcore to blood moon either and our fetches get awkward. Honestly retreat in my opinion is a mediocre card on its own. It provides little pressure and the scry isnt as valuable lategame as other creatures that pressure you. Also the whole strength of the deck in my experience is the instant speed and because BTL is sorcery I dont want it here. Granted its amazing in the long game, we already grind out supremely well. If you guys dont value consistency and want more power I say go for it, but blood moon is on the rise and I aim to win as much as possible against as many decks as possible which requires as much consistency as I can (angel pod showed me the importance of good mana contributing to consistency)

Having Knight Retreat in the Kiki shell seems pretty spicy. I noticed several similarities when playing against the Bant Retreat deck, so this is not too much a stretch. I do agree with Emracool that it hurts consistency however and you are taking out some silver bullets or card advantage engines to put in the combo. The mana base seems the toughest to me since Knight Retreat must play a certain number and type of lands they need to be able to do turn 3 lethal off Dork, Knight, Retreat, and 2 lands.

Just thinking maybe there is something in bring to light. reduces the whole chord effect of "kiki-chord" but you could go 5 colour, casting BTL off the backs of birds and even sylvan caryatid. what you'd have access to basically the best of the best in cards, rhinos, angels, kiki, karanos, coursers, and then probably goyfs (since the deck than naturally includes , lands, creatures, enchantments, sorcery, instants) I don't know might be crazy but 5 colours has lots of options. and just except you lose to blood moon every time

Has anyone tinkered with a list that features all 5 of kiki, resto, coralhelm, kotr and dryad arbor? Seems very doable in a list splashing blue instead of black. We.also get to play b2l.

I completely agree with being able to cast kiki. The splash is not something I will personally advocate for at all. Its risky enough for me to be playing a couple of black cards when I only have a single overgrown tomb for them

Just curious, what sort of matchup do you see this version being better in than any of the previous versions? The sketchy mana base leaves you more open to be punished by aggro, your combo not being instant speed leaves you to struggle to execute it against control, and the lack of Sin Collectors doesn't help your already rough combo matchup. Sure, your midrange matchup might be better, but considering that's already the best matchup for the deck, is it really worth it?

It wont it makes others worse. Thats my problem

In my opinion, doing Knight Retreat in Kiki Chord is something like putting Twin in Living End. The deck idea seems pretty sweet and can be fun to play, but overall you're going to give up some consistency. I think the main problem with Kiki Chord and Knight Retreat is that the lands in Knight Retreat have to be a certain kind, while still trying to take as little damage from lands as possible, but still able to turn 3 kill. (while usually a later kill will be necessary to work towards) I actually think the Twin combo is easier to incorporate in Living End than Knight Retreat here.

I agree somewhat, but Living Twin gets away with what it does because it doesn't have a midrange plan so its basically the backup plan to have a second combo. Also the entire deck is the combos and card draw, meaning it can get away with doing it because it is consistent enough in nature.

Kiki Chord has one combo and is primarily midrange, similar to actual twin. This means we don't need to lower our consistency of the midrange plan to add a combo when we don't have a deck of solely card draw and combo pieces. This makes us a stronger deck the more consistent we are. Thus, I firmly advocate consistency over spicy (unless you don't want to be competitive)

Quote from daviusminimus »

I had a bring to light fetch a kiki on 4

Unless you had 5 mana of different colors, you can't do that.

Davius, do you have a list you've been working with?

I will test a list when I see one