Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Damn, 3 Fiery Justice? You really hate the pod matchup, huh? I always feel favored in it. 3 Fiery Justice seems like overkill.
There seems to be three schools of thought on creating KikiPod right now. The more aggressive beatdown with combo as a secondary win (Brian Liu), the streamlined combo one (basically what Ari Lax played in that last video), and the one tuned to grindier match-ups with Domri and Courser (the one our own FabeRox has been championing).
Going into GP Worcester this weekend, I'm still not sure which build I want to use. I was hesitant to buy into FabeRox's choices because they didn't seem great on first blush, but after trying them out he was right that more grindy matchups his build is superior. I was surprised at how good Courser of Kruphix was in these matches. If you expect to see any Anger of the Gods his build is able to deal with it much more easily. I was a little more underwhelmed with Domri Rade, though I have a smaller sample size of playtesting than FabeRox, so I'm still hesitant about losing out on the Chord of Callings which can win the game on their own.
Ari Lax's build is probably the best going into a blind metagame as it is the fastest combo kill, with built in redundancy and the ability to go off from Phantasmal Image, something which seems important if you'll be facing Tron or Scapeshift. It also seems the least refined, in that it's pretty much pure stock and there is no innovation there. Someone who has been preparing will have an advantage over you because they know exactly what you have in your 75.
Brian Liu's version might be my favorite to play, because it keeps the opponent on the back foot while still being rather combo viable, but it is incredibly weak to decks packing Bolt and Anger of the Gods.
So, after all the testing I did this week, I still have no idea what to do. What are people's thoughts?
For finding cuts in siding, I think it's more useful to say why and when cards are bad then give a list of what to side in each match-up. Definitely try to play some friendly games and talk with your opponent about both sides of the match-up and pay attention to when cards don't seem to be doing much. Experience beats out a sideboarding list.
1. Obviously, take out anything completely irrelevant. Tron doesn't care about Murderous Redcap. Linvala does nothing against creatureless combo (storm, eggs) or vanilla beaters (bogles, tokens, merfolk). I don't expect you're having trouble with these.
2. The most important question is, "Is this a combo match-up?" If they're removal heavy like Jund or UWR, you probably have to win the fair way. Tron you need to get it over with as fast as possible, so you're on combo. Merfolk and Affinity your creatures lose; disrupt and combo. If you're not comboing, consider cutting back to 0 image (if you run it), 1 deceiver, 1 kiki. If you are on combo, cut things that are there for beats.
3. Which of your combat creatures are bad? Against Scooze, finks becomes a lot worse: I usually go down to 1 against Jund (keeping one finks for podding). Against affinity, scooze is often too slow. Against either pod, Voice and finks can't usually get through on the ground. Against counterspell, Voice is an allstar and scooze beats snapcaster.
4. Chord is often a good card to consider. Is an overcosted bullet going to be better than an average creature? If it's affinity or storm, definitely. If it's jund or UWR, probably not. Dropping them completely can also open up shaving wall of roots usually I can find other cuts to make first though.
5. Redcap or Glen Elendra? Often good to cut one or the other to lower the curve (never both, you want a 4 drop persist). Are you worried about spells or creatures? How many fliers do they have (Tokens, Affinity)?
6. Don't neglect the toolbox. Keep a finks, keep a 4cmc persist, keep a wall of roots, keep a zealous. Even in match-ups where they're bad, the board state may call for it.
7. For game 3, what hate did you see? What hate are you expecting? Spellskite signals maybe Linvala should come back in. Maybe you want pridemage back. Don't be afraid to bring cards back in.
Core of the deck that always stays postboard for me is:
* 23 Lands
* 8 Dorks
* 1 Wall of Roots
* 1 Finks
* 1 Deceiver Exarch
* 1 Eternal Witness
* 2 Restoration Angel
* 1 4cmc persist
* 1 Kiki
* 1 Zealous Conscript
* 4 Pod
@solnox: I think you may be over-preparing for affinity. pridemage, reclamation, 3 path, 3 fiery, kataki, 2 grudge is a lot to fit in. You can probably free up some of those slots for other match-ups.
There seems to be three schools of thought on creating KikiPod right now...
I think your analysis is right on. I think I'm happy with my list (more or less, Brian Liu with double exarch) for Worcester but I still have some testing to do. Porting their lands and tapping blockers is not at odds with the aggressive strategy! My board is heavier on grindy cards (Thrun, Sigarda and Obstinate Baloth) to compensate (also because I find them the most miserable match-ups to lose ). This will be my first really big event; I'm aware that endurance could potentially be an issue. Chord leads to more blow-out thoughtless wins (Kataki, Eidolon) and I don't have experience with the top-deck maintenance of Courser+Domri. At the same time, chord could be the more taxing card to be holding on to.
My points of testing are Reclamation Sage (main, side, at all?) and Cunning Sparkmage/Vendilion Clique in the side (over 2nd combust/2nd negate).
Do you guys think Kataki is necessary? The card is basically only good against 1 deck (and it's not even the stone cold). With how diverse the format currently is, I'd think that you would want your SB slots to cover multiple matchups.
Do you guys think Kataki is necessary? The card is basically only good against 1 deck (and it's not even the stone cold). With how diverse the format currently is, I'd think that you would want your SB slots to cover multiple matchups.
Affinity still makes up 10% of the meta according to mtgtop8 and 8% according to mtggoldfish. 6.66% of the sideboard seems fair.
It's also a deck that loses to cards not decks. I think it's just one of those concessions you need to make in modern like dredge is (was) in legacy. They rely on winning game one with very high probability and then taking one game despite the hate. It's definitely reasonable to swap Kataki for another Ancient Grudge but having a tutorable answer is quite valuable. You're right in that it's not stone cold, but it's also only 2 mana for what is typically a 2-3 for 1 and some mana denial.
You played JESUS?!?! I heard none of his guys stay in the graveyard, and once you think you have him beat he ALWAYS comes back to win within three turns. I like...WORSHIP him.
so this video shows playing 4 wall of omens. which seems great!!. wall of omens is resilient to anger of gods and gets value on etb which is always great, and is a good blocker and is fodder to pod. explains in the deck tech his card choices.
i must say i win a lot more games by combo then beatdown. however the beatdown/value plan is a lot safer and reliable against the midrange/tempo/control decks. the only thing is you come across scapeshift and the uwr kiki where you try to play safe but then out of no where is a scapeshift or kiki jiki and you lose. so i think maybe its better to trim the beatdown cards and go for cards that focus the combo. and i think this video shows a perfect balance of trimming the beatdown while also adding cards like wall of omens that help the combo.
So today, I went 3-1 at my LGS modern tournament. I could have won, but I made a ton of misplays as I'm not used to the deck yet. I have a bad memory, but I'll write what I remember as a summary:
Round 1: Living End:
Game 1, I had accidentally shuffled a card from my sideboard into my maindeck. It turns out it was Eidolon of Rhetoric. It was also in my opening hand. I won pretty handily.
Game 2, I had a negate in my opening hand, and played very defensively with it to counter a living end, but then he blew up my lands and used 2 cascade spells and I lost.
Game 3, I opened with a Scooze in my opening hand, and just exiled all his stuff. At one point, he cast a living end just to destroy my creatures, but I pulled through and won.
Round 2: UR Delver
Game 1: I just beat face with Voices while gaining life from Finks and he couldn't handle it.
Game 2: I had a Voice, Purphuros, and a Noble Hierarch in play, with a Resto angel in hand. He has 2 flipped delvers with at least a lightning helix in hand. I'm at 7, he's at 6. At end of turn, he fetches a land and searing blazes the noble hierarch. Voice triggers, Purphuros triggers, he takes 2. Resto angel, blink Voice, Purphuros triggers twice, he takes 4 more. That was awesome.
Round 3: Affinity (where the misplays begin)
Game 1: He taps out for an Etched Champion, where I then combo off with a finks and Voice. I was only at 7, so it was close.
Game 2: I mull down to 5, don't get anything good really, and lose to an Etched Champion with 6 counters on it.
Game 3: Misplay city. The whole game, I'm in control. I'm sitting with 2 poison counters and 17 life, with a Voice, Reclamation Sage, and Noble Hierarch out. He's at around 12. He has 2 Inkmoth Nexus, ornithopter, and vault skirge out. He topdecks a cranial playing, attaches it to an inkmoth nexus, and swings for lethal. I have a resto angel in hand. I blink reclamation sage, and for some reason, forget about the other inkmoth nexus, and decide to blow up the attacking one, and not the cranial playing. The next turn, I decide to attack with the resto angel, and not keep it for blocking. Next turn, he topdecks an artifact that he needed for lethal with Inkmoth nexus. Awful.
Round 4: BW control I was playing my friend, with me lending the deck to him.
Game 1: He gets 3 O-rings, and just locks me away, I don't draw enough gas, and he gets me.
Game 2: I wait for him to tap out, then I go infinite with a persist 4 drop and pod.
Game 3: A long, grindy game. He gets 2 suppression field early on, but I draw enough gas and beat him to death with a Sigarda and Thrun.
Here's my decklist, for reference. The one card I was not sure about was Purphuros, but man, you can squeeze a lot of damage out of him between angels, voice, pod, and persist creatures.
So I went to a PTQ on Saturday and here's my report
R1: Melira Pod 2-1
G1: I T1 Dork into T2 Finks. T3 Beats +Pod into Redcap to kill his dork. He got stuck on 2 lands and tapped out. Killed him next turn with Conscripts/Kiki
G2: I got beat to death by reveilark and shriekmaw which killed my scavenging ooze. Did not see pod and was denied mana by redcap killing my dokr
G3: Got super lucky and ripped land off the top after his dismembering of my Wall of Roots on a 1 lander. Comboed off with Redcap into Conscripts/ Kiki again. It helped he drew 4 birthing pods
R2: GW Midrange/ Hatebears? 2-0
G1: He leads off with a Horizon Canopy into Steelshaper's Gift for a Sword of Feast of Famine. I drop my dorks and play value creatures while he beats down with qasali pridemages. He taps out and I land a pod and combo off.
G2: I T1 Dork into T2 Double dork+Gavony Township. Proceed to race him. He equipped his scooze with 2 swords but a timely Deceiver Exarch tapped it down and chumped like a champ until I beat him to death with 4/5 mana dorks
R3: The Rock 1-2
G1: I t3 Redcap with a pod on board but he putrefies it :(. I go into beat down mode and hardcast kiki jiki and keep copying Redcap
G2: Drown In Sorrow too strong with a 4 for 1. Cannot possibly come back.
G3: Another on time Drown in Sorrow wrecked me followed by Scooze and Goyf Beats.
R4: Affinity 0-2
G1: I keep a slightly slower hand OTD and he wrecks me with Ensoul Artifact on an ornithopter. I see 0 mana dorks and pods
G2: I see 0 dorks and try to stabilize and destroyed a plating with a pridemage but he drew 2 more and an etched champion to end it.
R5: Jund
G1: Too much Bolts and Anger. I see 0 Dorks Again.
G2: I see 1 Dork 8 turns into the game. Anger too strong for me
Was pretty depressing to have pretty good hands in the first two rounds and then proceed to see 0 mana dorks and maybe 1 pod in the final 2 matches
Will need a way to deal with Etched Champion. Maybe shatterstorm
I think this list(and most pod lists) is just incredible against most of the random stuff you'll encounter that isn't tier 1.
This is exactly my sentiment after playing pod for ~2 years. I genuinely believe that Pod is the worst deck of the best decks, but the best deck of all the decks.
Burrenton are better with chords I would imagine, but I think I would still play them against decks with Anger; unless the deck contained a high number of Wall of Omens and Coursers, making it much better against Anger anyways. Wall of Omens is on my list of cards to test, but I've a feeling that Voice will be better a large percentage of the time. Voice has a much bigger impact on the board and the way your opponent plays while it sits on the board. Nevertheless, we could focus on a more consistent combo kill with, say, 3-4 Walls, 4 Courser, 2-3 Domri, 4 Restos, 3 Kiki and just naturally draw the combo a lot more often. I would probably also cut Paths main with Domri and try to up the creature count, or maybe just 1 Path, but it will worsen game 1 against Twin I'd imagine.
I've also played Boros Charm has a hedge against Anger and it's been ok, but Burrenton should be better.
As for best/worse matchups:
I'm pretty sure Scapeshift is the most difficult matchup; you'll want Eidolon, Aven, Magus, Thrun, and 1-2 Burrenton probably. I miss Glen the most here. I suppose you could try Avalanche Riders in the board, but I'm not even sure it'll increase the win % drastically.
BGx decks are still tough; I'm sure I've the lowest win percentage against these deck. Probably in the 40-50% range(at least againt BGr), but this is without Sigarda who is a recent addition, I'm hoping it helps. BGw is better for you than BGr, I'm imagining the Wall/Courser/Domri version would be much better suited against BGr, but this might not even be true. Voice and Finks can buy more time against Tarm and most of BG's removal(that isn't Anger). And while Huntmaster also dies to Anger, I've started playing it main mostly for these matchups.
Game-1's against Twin can be a little rough, but are fine post-board.
Affinity feels favorable; burn feels favorable; Infect hinges almost solely on spellskite, sparkmage, and paths; matchup seems better than 50.
The different flavors of tron, R/G and blue I think are both favorable, but play out differently. Against R/G(the harder matchup) play less disruption
and stick with a large board or fast combo plan. For blue tron, bring in a lot of disruption--Magus can just get 'em.
Melira Pod is favorable.
UWR is close, but I think the 3 Voice give a small edge here. Ooze and Magus protected by Spellskite/Burrenton can also help, but can be more difficult to set-up. I keep in the chords(some might side them out because they're worse against counter-magic) so I can play on their end-step more often.
I've had no games against storm. I don't imagine it's a good matchup.
Living End is a strange matchup, and I'm not really sure who's better. I feel like they are, but I've won at least half my games against them. Eidolon is your most important sideboard card. If you see this in your meta, just up the Ooze count.
I think this list(and most pod lists) is just incredible against most of the random stuff you'll encounter that isn't tier 1.
hi, thanks for your list and your comments, i'm deciding to switch to naya and leave the blue behind, i already left staticaster for cuning sparkmage (which i find wonderfull) and i'm already playing without phantasmal image (hich i never missed it), i'm ready to cut exarch but i'm really afraid cutting glen elendra, it wins me too many games against jund uwr and combos like twin. But i really wants to cut blue so i'm ready i think 1x voice of resurgence, 1 reveillark, magus of the moon, sigarda and burrenton can change a lot the matchup against jund and uwr so i wont cry against those, but against twin? path and combust are nice but are there other answers?
how is huntmaster of the fells? ever thought to play knight of reliquiary + horizon canopy (and ofc gavony?)
I don't think you can drop Glen Elendra. That card is legitimately one of the best cards in the deck, because it's a "hate card" that also protects your combo, enables your combo, and reasonable on the midrange plan. It's borderline good enough to splash in Melira, although that's probably a bad idea, since you have hand disruption.
Combust is just the one of the best cards to play against Twin and UWR. I run 2 copies. Play 3 paths for your other matchups. Fiery Justice is hilariously good against weenies (pod, affinity, hatebears) and kills Tarmogoyf.
I don't understand what you're saying marta, you think the creatures in Melira Pod are more impactful on their own than the ones in Kiki? That's the exact opposite of the general consensus.
Without a combo Melira is a Grizzly Bear and Viscera Seer a 1/1 that gets you a tiny bit of value of your guys are dying anway. Izzet Staticaster or Exarch and especially Archmage are all much better as cards standing on their own. That's half the reason to play this deck over Melira Pod.
I've been playing this deck a lot over the past couple of weeks. Started out with a list similar to the one FabeRox posted, but doing lots of experimenting. I'm still toying with my list, so I don't think it's worth posting yet. What I've learned is probably not too concrete, but here are some things I've found:
Path to Exile seems good in the main with the MTGO meta-game. I'll happily run 2-3.
I was never excited to draw a Wall of Omens. I've cut them from my list.
Chord of Calling is a recent addition to my list, since i wanted to test it out. It feels worthless a lot of the time. Maybe if it wins me a game or two I would be more excited about it. Or, maybe if I ran more than 1 Wall of Roots, it would be a better card.
Domri + Courser felt just okay when I played them them, even with both on the board. Sometimes the land off the top doesn't have the color you need this turn, oftentimes there's no good fight, sometimes you want to fight when you know you can draw a creature (because Courser is on the board), etc. I'll probably put them back in my list sometime to give them another try, now that I'm more familiar with the deck and the format.
I love having a lot of Kitchen Finks. I was running 1 before and that wasn't enough for my taste. I'm running 3 now, but I might drop 1 in the future.
Based on what everyone is saying, I get the feeling I'm not podding for Glen Elendra enough. I guess she's a silver bullet against combo decks, including Scapeshift.
I miss having 2x Exarch (down to 1 in my current list) and a Phantasmal Image for "full" access to the combo, but it's hard to make room. I really don't want to cut any of my 2x ooze or 2x voice.
Even after 20+ hours playing with the deck, I still feel very much like a noob. I make mistakes due to unfamiliarity with the format and misplays because I just haven't played the deck enough. But I win a lot more now than when I started.
Knowing when to mulligan and when to keep is one of the tougher aspects of playing this deck for me. Some hands are easy keeps or easy mulligans, but when you're down to 5 cards with 1 land it's tricky. I (stupidly) went down to 1 card yesterday in G1. My 7 was an easy mull, 6 and 5 both had 1 land, and 4/3/2 had 0 lands. (I ended up winning the match despite that game, but almost got gunshy about sending back my weak 7 in the second game.)
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http://www.starcitygames.com/article/28865_The-Art-Of-Podding-People.html
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)VS Melira Pod
-2 Voice of Resurgence
-2 Kitchen Finks
-1 Glen Elendra
-1 Chord
-1 Wall of Roots
+3 Fiery Justice
+3 Path to Exiles
+1 Combust
VS UWR
+1 Thrun
+1 Combust
+1 Avalache Riders
-1 Linvala (unless Kiki Variant)
-1 Redcap
-1 Chord
Vs Twin
-2 Finks
-1 Redcap
-1 Chord
+3 Path to Exile
+1 Combust
There seems to be three schools of thought on creating KikiPod right now. The more aggressive beatdown with combo as a secondary win (Brian Liu), the streamlined combo one (basically what Ari Lax played in that last video), and the one tuned to grindier match-ups with Domri and Courser (the one our own FabeRox has been championing).
Going into GP Worcester this weekend, I'm still not sure which build I want to use. I was hesitant to buy into FabeRox's choices because they didn't seem great on first blush, but after trying them out he was right that more grindy matchups his build is superior. I was surprised at how good Courser of Kruphix was in these matches. If you expect to see any Anger of the Gods his build is able to deal with it much more easily. I was a little more underwhelmed with Domri Rade, though I have a smaller sample size of playtesting than FabeRox, so I'm still hesitant about losing out on the Chord of Callings which can win the game on their own.
Ari Lax's build is probably the best going into a blind metagame as it is the fastest combo kill, with built in redundancy and the ability to go off from Phantasmal Image, something which seems important if you'll be facing Tron or Scapeshift. It also seems the least refined, in that it's pretty much pure stock and there is no innovation there. Someone who has been preparing will have an advantage over you because they know exactly what you have in your 75.
Brian Liu's version might be my favorite to play, because it keeps the opponent on the back foot while still being rather combo viable, but it is incredibly weak to decks packing Bolt and Anger of the Gods.
So, after all the testing I did this week, I still have no idea what to do. What are people's thoughts?
1. Obviously, take out anything completely irrelevant. Tron doesn't care about Murderous Redcap. Linvala does nothing against creatureless combo (storm, eggs) or vanilla beaters (bogles, tokens, merfolk). I don't expect you're having trouble with these.
2. The most important question is, "Is this a combo match-up?" If they're removal heavy like Jund or UWR, you probably have to win the fair way. Tron you need to get it over with as fast as possible, so you're on combo. Merfolk and Affinity your creatures lose; disrupt and combo. If you're not comboing, consider cutting back to 0 image (if you run it), 1 deceiver, 1 kiki. If you are on combo, cut things that are there for beats.
3. Which of your combat creatures are bad? Against Scooze, finks becomes a lot worse: I usually go down to 1 against Jund (keeping one finks for podding). Against affinity, scooze is often too slow. Against either pod, Voice and finks can't usually get through on the ground. Against counterspell, Voice is an allstar and scooze beats snapcaster.
4. Chord is often a good card to consider. Is an overcosted bullet going to be better than an average creature? If it's affinity or storm, definitely. If it's jund or UWR, probably not. Dropping them completely can also open up shaving wall of roots usually I can find other cuts to make first though.
5. Redcap or Glen Elendra? Often good to cut one or the other to lower the curve (never both, you want a 4 drop persist). Are you worried about spells or creatures? How many fliers do they have (Tokens, Affinity)?
6. Don't neglect the toolbox. Keep a finks, keep a 4cmc persist, keep a wall of roots, keep a zealous. Even in match-ups where they're bad, the board state may call for it.
7. For game 3, what hate did you see? What hate are you expecting? Spellskite signals maybe Linvala should come back in. Maybe you want pridemage back. Don't be afraid to bring cards back in.
Core of the deck that always stays postboard for me is:
* 23 Lands
* 8 Dorks
* 1 Wall of Roots
* 1 Finks
* 1 Deceiver Exarch
* 1 Eternal Witness
* 2 Restoration Angel
* 1 4cmc persist
* 1 Kiki
* 1 Zealous Conscript
* 4 Pod
@solnox: I think you may be over-preparing for affinity. pridemage, reclamation, 3 path, 3 fiery, kataki, 2 grudge is a lot to fit in. You can probably free up some of those slots for other match-ups.
I think your analysis is right on. I think I'm happy with my list (more or less, Brian Liu with double exarch) for Worcester but I still have some testing to do. Porting their lands and tapping blockers is not at odds with the aggressive strategy! My board is heavier on grindy cards (Thrun, Sigarda and Obstinate Baloth) to compensate (also because I find them the most miserable match-ups to lose ). This will be my first really big event; I'm aware that endurance could potentially be an issue. Chord leads to more blow-out thoughtless wins (Kataki, Eidolon) and I don't have experience with the top-deck maintenance of Courser+Domri. At the same time, chord could be the more taxing card to be holding on to.
My points of testing are Reclamation Sage (main, side, at all?) and Cunning Sparkmage/Vendilion Clique in the side (over 2nd combust/2nd negate).
Affinity still makes up 10% of the meta according to mtgtop8 and 8% according to mtggoldfish. 6.66% of the sideboard seems fair.
It's also a deck that loses to cards not decks. I think it's just one of those concessions you need to make in modern like dredge is (was) in legacy. They rely on winning game one with very high probability and then taking one game despite the hate. It's definitely reasonable to swap Kataki for another Ancient Grudge but having a tutorable answer is quite valuable. You're right in that it's not stone cold, but it's also only 2 mana for what is typically a 2-3 for 1 and some mana denial.
So far, I love the phantasmal image package. it's just insane and opponent can't tapout.
My combo package :
2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Restoration Angel
1 Zealous Conscripts
The idea is having a +1 of required combo card, except conscript, which, well, not that usual to combo with (at least when I played it - just 2-3x)
Wall of roots also nice, but I only play 2 currently.
The rest are pretty much the same.
My 180 Modern Bordered Only Cube
Here in Brazil I will play against a lot of:
Affinity, UR Storm, Monored, Jund, BG, infect, Auras, Twin, Scapeshift and POD.
I guess the card chose I made is the best for this scenario.
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Wall of Roots
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Spellskite
2 Voice of Resurgence
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Deceiver Exarch
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Linvala Keeper of Silence
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
3 Restoration Angel
1 Zealous Conscripts
2 Kiki-Jiki Mirror Breaker
4 Birthing Pod
3 Chord of Calling
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Arid Mesa
2 Gavony Township
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Forest
1 Temple Garden
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Plains
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Sigarda
1 Avalanche Riders
1 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Path to Exile
1 Spellskite
1 Kataki War's Wage
1 Fiery Justice
2 Obstinate Baloth
http://www.quietspeculation.com/2014/04/insider-video-zwischenzug-plays-kiki-pod/
so this video shows playing 4 wall of omens. which seems great!!. wall of omens is resilient to anger of gods and gets value on etb which is always great, and is a good blocker and is fodder to pod. explains in the deck tech his card choices.
i must say i win a lot more games by combo then beatdown. however the beatdown/value plan is a lot safer and reliable against the midrange/tempo/control decks. the only thing is you come across scapeshift and the uwr kiki where you try to play safe but then out of no where is a scapeshift or kiki jiki and you lose. so i think maybe its better to trim the beatdown cards and go for cards that focus the combo. and i think this video shows a perfect balance of trimming the beatdown while also adding cards like wall of omens that help the combo.
Round 1: Living End:
Game 1, I had accidentally shuffled a card from my sideboard into my maindeck. It turns out it was Eidolon of Rhetoric. It was also in my opening hand. I won pretty handily.
Game 2, I had a negate in my opening hand, and played very defensively with it to counter a living end, but then he blew up my lands and used 2 cascade spells and I lost.
Game 3, I opened with a Scooze in my opening hand, and just exiled all his stuff. At one point, he cast a living end just to destroy my creatures, but I pulled through and won.
Round 2: UR Delver
Game 1: I just beat face with Voices while gaining life from Finks and he couldn't handle it.
Game 2: I had a Voice, Purphuros, and a Noble Hierarch in play, with a Resto angel in hand. He has 2 flipped delvers with at least a lightning helix in hand. I'm at 7, he's at 6. At end of turn, he fetches a land and searing blazes the noble hierarch. Voice triggers, Purphuros triggers, he takes 2. Resto angel, blink Voice, Purphuros triggers twice, he takes 4 more. That was awesome.
Round 3: Affinity (where the misplays begin)
Game 1: He taps out for an Etched Champion, where I then combo off with a finks and Voice. I was only at 7, so it was close.
Game 2: I mull down to 5, don't get anything good really, and lose to an Etched Champion with 6 counters on it.
Game 3: Misplay city. The whole game, I'm in control. I'm sitting with 2 poison counters and 17 life, with a Voice, Reclamation Sage, and Noble Hierarch out. He's at around 12. He has 2 Inkmoth Nexus, ornithopter, and vault skirge out. He topdecks a cranial playing, attaches it to an inkmoth nexus, and swings for lethal. I have a resto angel in hand. I blink reclamation sage, and for some reason, forget about the other inkmoth nexus, and decide to blow up the attacking one, and not the cranial playing. The next turn, I decide to attack with the resto angel, and not keep it for blocking. Next turn, he topdecks an artifact that he needed for lethal with Inkmoth nexus. Awful.
Round 4: BW control I was playing my friend, with me lending the deck to him.
Game 1: He gets 3 O-rings, and just locks me away, I don't draw enough gas, and he gets me.
Game 2: I wait for him to tap out, then I go infinite with a persist 4 drop and pod.
Game 3: A long, grindy game. He gets 2 suppression field early on, but I draw enough gas and beat him to death with a Sigarda and Thrun.
Here's my decklist, for reference. The one card I was not sure about was Purphuros, but man, you can squeeze a lot of damage out of him between angels, voice, pod, and persist creatures.
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Wall of Roots
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Spellskite
1 Qasali Pridemage
3 Voice of Resurgence
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Deceiver Exarch
3 Restoration Angel
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
4 Birthing Pod
Instants: 3
3 Chord of Calling
Lands: 23
1 Mountain
1 Island
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Razorverge Thicket
2 Gavony Township
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Arid Mesa
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Stomping Ground
1 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Negate
1 Combust
3 Path to Exile
2 Ancient Grudge
R1: Melira Pod 2-1
G1: I T1 Dork into T2 Finks. T3 Beats +Pod into Redcap to kill his dork. He got stuck on 2 lands and tapped out. Killed him next turn with Conscripts/Kiki
G2: I got beat to death by reveilark and shriekmaw which killed my scavenging ooze. Did not see pod and was denied mana by redcap killing my dokr
G3: Got super lucky and ripped land off the top after his dismembering of my Wall of Roots on a 1 lander. Comboed off with Redcap into Conscripts/ Kiki again. It helped he drew 4 birthing pods
R2: GW Midrange/ Hatebears? 2-0
G1: He leads off with a Horizon Canopy into Steelshaper's Gift for a Sword of Feast of Famine. I drop my dorks and play value creatures while he beats down with qasali pridemages. He taps out and I land a pod and combo off.
G2: I T1 Dork into T2 Double dork+Gavony Township. Proceed to race him. He equipped his scooze with 2 swords but a timely Deceiver Exarch tapped it down and chumped like a champ until I beat him to death with 4/5 mana dorks
R3: The Rock 1-2
G1: I t3 Redcap with a pod on board but he putrefies it :(. I go into beat down mode and hardcast kiki jiki and keep copying Redcap
G2: Drown In Sorrow too strong with a 4 for 1. Cannot possibly come back.
G3: Another on time Drown in Sorrow wrecked me followed by Scooze and Goyf Beats.
R4: Affinity 0-2
G1: I keep a slightly slower hand OTD and he wrecks me with Ensoul Artifact on an ornithopter. I see 0 mana dorks and pods
G2: I see 0 dorks and try to stabilize and destroyed a plating with a pridemage but he drew 2 more and an etched champion to end it.
R5: Jund
G1: Too much Bolts and Anger. I see 0 Dorks Again.
G2: I see 1 Dork 8 turns into the game. Anger too strong for me
Was pretty depressing to have pretty good hands in the first two rounds and then proceed to see 0 mana dorks and maybe 1 pod in the final 2 matches
Will need a way to deal with Etched Champion. Maybe shatterstorm
This is exactly my sentiment after playing pod for ~2 years. I genuinely believe that Pod is the worst deck of the best decks, but the best deck of all the decks.
hi, thanks for your list and your comments, i'm deciding to switch to naya and leave the blue behind, i already left staticaster for cuning sparkmage (which i find wonderfull) and i'm already playing without phantasmal image (hich i never missed it), i'm ready to cut exarch but i'm really afraid cutting glen elendra, it wins me too many games against jund uwr and combos like twin. But i really wants to cut blue so i'm ready i think 1x voice of resurgence, 1 reveillark, magus of the moon, sigarda and burrenton can change a lot the matchup against jund and uwr so i wont cry against those, but against twin? path and combust are nice but are there other answers?
how is huntmaster of the fells? ever thought to play knight of reliquiary + horizon canopy (and ofc gavony?)
Combust is just the one of the best cards to play against Twin and UWR. I run 2 copies. Play 3 paths for your other matchups. Fiery Justice is hilariously good against weenies (pod, affinity, hatebears) and kills Tarmogoyf.
Huntmaster has performed poorly for me, but YMMV.
Without a combo Melira is a Grizzly Bear and Viscera Seer a 1/1 that gets you a tiny bit of value of your guys are dying anway. Izzet Staticaster or Exarch and especially Archmage are all much better as cards standing on their own. That's half the reason to play this deck over Melira Pod.
Knowing when to mulligan and when to keep is one of the tougher aspects of playing this deck for me. Some hands are easy keeps or easy mulligans, but when you're down to 5 cards with 1 land it's tricky. I (stupidly) went down to 1 card yesterday in G1. My 7 was an easy mull, 6 and 5 both had 1 land, and 4/3/2 had 0 lands. (I ended up winning the match despite that game, but almost got gunshy about sending back my weak 7 in the second game.)