MTG Salvation

Unless you are blue heavy, I'm thinking the fetches should be 4 Wooded Foothills 4 Windswept Heath. This is probably where I will start.

Wouldn't a land base like this be just as good as the current one. The reason I am asking is mainly the fact that the price of a misty & arid are still way higher than the preorder prices of Flooded & Foothils. Like with both your fetchs still get every colour, and they all get T1 Green source

• Lands
  
• 4x Wooded Foothills
  
• 4x Flooded Strand
  
• 4x Grove Of The Burnwillows
  
• 1x Stomping Ground
  
• 1x Breeding Pool
  
• 1x Temple Garden
  
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
  
• 1x Sacred Foundry
  
• 1x Steams Vents
  
• 1x Forest
  
• 1x Plains
  
• 1x Gavony Township
  
• 1x Flooded Grove
  

I feel like you're missing either a second Township, or a second Stomping Grounds. I like having my colors fixed, so I'd rock at least one more land, maybe even a basic Island if you're blue heavy.

I do have to agree with Beano0 though, Misty seems much better here. Maybe 4 Foothills, 2 Misty, 2 Strand?

As a 2 year Kiki Pod player, I thought about this for a long time, and I actually concluded that Kiki Pod in it's current form works best with the currently used Misty Rainforest and Arid Mesa. Allow me to explain:

First of all, as few different kinds of fetchlands should be used, so as to maximise consistency across games. This is opposed to, for example, playing 3 of one kind, 2 of another, 2 of something else and 1 of a fourth kind. If the 4 card limit didn't exist, the best avenue would probably be 7-8 Windswept Heath (and simply exclude Steam Vents). With a maximum of 4 of the same land, we should do the next best thing, which is playing 4 of one and 3-4 of another.

All four colors need to be represented (as opposed to playing double green with Windswept Heath + Wooded Foothills for example). All fetchlands are five color lands in theory (or four color in this case), so doubling up on any color is unessesarily redundant. Too many Grove of the Burnwillows', and sometimes Fire-Lit Thickets, are played for stacking green or red to be a good idea, and having 7-8 white or blue fetchlands also isn't very necessary. Simply put, it's wrong to assume that since the distribution of mana costs in the deck is uneven, the fetchlands should therefore be proportionally uneven. This is traditionally true in Magic, but it isn't true with Fetchlands. The job of fetchlands is to have provide the player with maximum choice in what kind of land to fetch, especially in 4 or 5 color decks with double and triple symboled cards.

The two different kinds of fetchlands should compliment each other, rather than using the best possible one (Windswept Heath), and then using another for the "leftovers" (Scalding Tarn). The two most used colors, green and white, should be on separate fetchlands if multiple copies are being played (in other words, we shouldn't use Windswept Heath, because then we would need to use Scalding Tarn which isn't optimal for the deck).

There are then two possibilities, Misty Rainforest + Arid Mesa, or Wooded Foothills + Flooded Strand.

Now we need to recognize that certain shocklands are fetched for more often and earlier in the game. Stomping Ground and Temple Garden are the most used because green is usually needed turn 1, and often followed up by white, while red needs to be stockpiled in case Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker needs to be casted from the hand.

Since both Misty Rainforest and Arid Mesa can each fetch for Stomping Ground and Temple Garden, whereas Flooded Strand cannot fetch for Stomping Ground, Misty Rainforest + Arid Mesa is the better pair.

It's big news that the original fetchlands are making a debut in modern, expect a lot of new decks to show up. Surprisingly however, after some thought, this isn't very big news for the Kiki Pod's manabase. With that said, it goes without saying that the modern metagame changes, and with it this deck. In the future, as the deck evolves, other fetchlands might be better, but for now 4 Misty Rainforest and 3-4 Arid Mesa are the best fetchlands to play.

If you for some reason want to play more than eight fetchlands, Windswept Heath would be the ninth.

TL;DR: The optimal combination of fetchlands for Kiki Pod as we know it is 4 Misty Rainforest, and 3-4 Arid Mesa.

Since KTK fetches will probably be the cheapest, I would recommend that players who are on a budget (and don't already own fetchlands) get Windswept Heath and Wooded Foothills. Your deck will be way heavier on green than it needs to be, but will cost quite a bit less.

The big benefit of the new lands is that you can run 7-8 ways of getting Forest. Blood Moon is enough of a thing that I'd like more than four ways to get my Forest. Figuring out that mix is a bit of a challenge, though. I think you can bump up to 5-6 Forest-fetching lands and still consistently access your mana. I know I'll be packing 1-2 Heath for the moment.

I still think that Windswept Heath is better then Misty Rainforest. It fetches all our lands minus Steam Vents which is probably the worse shock in the deck and allows us to fetch Forest and Plains for Blood Moon

Assuming you play all 6 shocks all of the fetches find the same number of shocks (which is 5). With that said, we want to make sure that we are playing 4 Windswept Heath (since it fetches both Forest and Plains to play around Blood Moon). Then, we want to play another fetch that is able to fetch up Steam Vents (since Heath can't fetch it) and you want it to fetch Forest because Forest is very important against Blood Moon. Misty I think is the best option here since it only misses Sacred Foundry.

Fetching in Kiki-pod is likely one of the hardest things to do Correctly...I'm a fan of the mana base as it is with the current fetches and see no real benefit to changing to any of the ONS/Khan (that said, I already have the deck built too- so budget isn't a concern)..


Just wanting to hear some thoughts a couple other Khans Spoilers.....namely Rattleclaw Mystic (the mana dork for 1G, taps for RUG) seem plausible...and the new 'Clone' Clever Impersonator (2UU), could be a main able but likely a good SB card too.
Thoughts?

Mystic is more comparable to Lotus Cobra than Caryatid or Hierarch because of the explosive mana generation. It costs 3 to put down instead of 2 but has one extra toughness while it's face-down (matters only for Electrolyze, I think). There doesn't appear to be a strong reason to move away from Lotus Cobra if we're playing it -- except maybe that Mystic is a more consistent mana generator -- and if we aren't, Rattleclaw Mystic doesn't really have a place in the deck.

EDIT: I'm having trouble thinking of a time when I'd want to use the non-creature side of Clever Impersonator. UU can be tough to achieve, depending on the build (i.e., whether we're already running Cliques and have the mana base setup for that).

Temur charm is too much we have better sideboard cards than it. Currently the only real charm I could see playing is bant

I tend to board out 2 Pod against Burn and stuff like RG Zoo.

I never board them out. They're fantastic every step of the way and they're one of the few ways you have to outright combo someone. If you're looking for easy cuts against burn, then a Kiki and a Linvala are usually perfectly save to side out.

Quote from Subbak »

Now that we can play all-green fetches, why would you want to play a basic Plains? White is useless to cast your dorks or Reclamation Sage, which is how you get out of Blood Moon. And you want as many of your lands as possible to produce G on turn 1. The only reason I was playing a Plains before was so every fetch could get a basic if I needed the extra mana but was playing against burn or something similar.
Two basic Forests seem to be the way to go, because you still ant two basics for Path to Exile, but I could see an argument for only one maybe...

Don't forget about blood moon. With all our basics out, 2 forest would allow us to cast E.Wit under a moon. forest/plains allows us to cast resto, voice and pridemate.

Blood Moon should rarely be a surprise. Game 2/3 if you think they brought it in, get your forest whenever possible. You're going from 8 to 9 virtual forests; I just don't think it's a significant gain.

I like having some basics to be able to get them and not shock myself.
It improves burn matchups and some aggro matches.. That's why I'd have one white in addition to one or 2 green, maybe even a red, but time will tell.
It's not just for anti blood moon tech.

Quote from Luca Blight »

So i'm looking for some feedback on my deck, haven't been playing it for long but am enjoying the deck a lot. Sidenote is that no one in our LGS plays affinity so i'm not so prepared for that.

MrLhurgoyf's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Lands:23 4 Misty Rainforest 3 Arid Mesa 2 Gavony Township 4 Grove of the Burnwillows 1 razorverge thicket 1 Forest 1 Plains 1 Temple Garden 1 Breeding Pool 1 Steam Vents 1 Sacred Foundry 1 Hallowed Fountain 1 Stomping Ground 1 fire-lit thicket Spells: 6 4 Birthing Pod 2 Chord of Calling	Creatures: 31 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Noble Hierarch 2 Wall of Roots 2 Voice of Resurgence 2 Scavenging Ooze 1 Spellskite 1 Qasali Pridemage 1 Phantasmal Image 2 Kitchen Finks 2 Deceiver Exarch 1 Eternal Witness 3 Restoration Angel 1 Murderous Redcap 1 Glen Elendra Archmage 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence 2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker 1 Zealous Conscripts		Sideboard: 2 Combust 3 Path to Exile 2 Negate 1 Avalanche Riders 1 Fiery Justice 1 Izzet staticaster 1 Thrun, the Last Troll 1 Reclamation Sage 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric 1 Thragtusk 1 Keranos, God of storms

I really like having the Phantasmal image and 2 Deceiver exarch to be able to combo from more board states!

Edit: as for KtK, my fetches will probably be 4 windswept heath and 3 wooded foothills

The only thing I'd change to your list is -1 Exarch, -1 Ooz +1 Voice, +1 Finks. I'd also change the board a bit.

One more question, if Pridemage is a card we use to.kill Torpor Orb, wouldn't Maindeck Sliver/Reclamation be better for game 1s and game 2s both or Pridemage?

4-0 at FNM tonight. Played against Hatebears, BG Rock, Affinity and RUG Monsters (ported from Standard so irrelevant).

I had Keranos on the board. Never went to get it. I suppose it's there for UWR but it's so awfully slow anyway.

I had a Reveillark maindeck and I never wanted it or got value from it.

I won every single game from the combo.

I cut all the Coursers to go back to boring old Finks and that felt right.

I had a Cunning Sparkmage maindecked and an Izzet Staticaster on the board. Will go to just straight Staticasters, probably, but having a maindeck pinger is glorious. I killed a bunch of Thalias, soldier tokens and a Mirran Crusader with Restoration Angel.

I cut Pridemage and did one Restoration Sage main, two on the board. I realize only now that I was blank to Torpor Orb. Three Sages was amazing, though. Much better than Ancient Grudge tends to be.

Birthing Pod is your best chance of winning. The games where you have it, you win a lot. The games where they have Stony Silence, you still Chord up a Sage/Pridemage and kill it and win. I'd rather bring in a second Sage against Stony Silence than board out Pod. There's little sense in trying to next-level people on dead cards.

Taking Kiki out: I do it now and then if they have Bolt, Helix and Electrolyze handy. Otherwise I don't remove it. They've got to have a really hateful deck to make me want to remove a copy. I keep two in against Burn because your best method of winning is still combo killing them, and copying a Kitchen Finks is still a brutal move.

I ran three Reclamation Sages (should have been 2 sage 1 mage) and it was stellar. Way better than Ancient Grudge.

Thalia is a huge do-nothing. If you want that effect, Eidolon is just a better stopper.

The best way of picking bullets for Pod decks is to remember that you might not ever get to tutor for them, so they better be game-breaking when you get them. Spellskite, Linvala, Pridemage, Archmage, Avalanche Riders all break the game open. Thalia, Mindcensor, etc., do not.

I have not had a resolved Mindcensor do a thing vs. Scapeshift. It's folly to assume that they'll Shift and not have a Remand or something else to back it up. Also, the sacrifice is part of the resolution, so they can choose to lose no lands.

Magus of the Moon screws Tron, but Avalanche Riders does it too and it gets really cute with Restoration Angel.

Linvala is good vs. Twin and Pod, and when I say "good," I mean that it nearly wins the game against them on her lonesome. It's a stopper that really does merit playing main. The body is pretty decent on its own. At four mana, you can go turn 1 Birds, turn 2 Pod, turn 3 2-drop into Exarch into Linvala, so she isn't too hard to get out. I just wish there were more truly devastating cards like Linvala in Modern.

Does anyone have a general sideboarding guide for Kiki Pod vs. Other Top Tier?

I don't have a list since I'm getting my deck from a friend tomorrow, but a general sb strategy for each matchup would be good to know.