Hey guys!
I really have an headache of thinking what version is better to run with in a PTQ tournament I will compete, the Mikaeus, the Unhallowed in the 6cc slot or Sun Titan? mikaeus does great job cuz he roles like melira and finks/seer/metamorph with undying it's not bad + his intimidate vs some decks also good, but titan is a mass recursion for the combo. what do u prefer?
What do you think of runing Sheoldred with mikaeus to get both effects? someone tested that?
tnx for help!
I haven't tested Sun Titan, but I would assume Mikaeus is better. He helps with your combo in a similar fashion to Titan, and he provides additional bonuses to your other creatures. Plus, he has semi evasion with Intimidate. Lol, he even kills Delver after it damages you :p. While Titan may be slightly better at assembling your combo, Mikaeus is better facilitating the beat down plan.
It would be interesting to hear from people who have tested both though...
Sun titan is better on an empty board than Mikaeus, and in the matchups where I end up playing him, that is the situation that it normally ends up as. most of the stuff has already died, so you get immediate value of of your sun titan. Mikaeus gets hit harder by grafdigger's cage, and is better in a more all in combo version of the deck. He is also better against one of pod's worst matchups, tron. Right now I am starting sun titan main, and having Mikaeus in the sideboard if I need him.
Hello all. I recently sleeved up this deck after dabbling in it after a while online. Bought my shocks, bought my fetches. Its great. My list was actually really crappy. My list and had at least 10 cards it shouldn't have had (who would have thought there was a white deck that didn't want/need 4x Path to Exile) and was too light on 2drops, but I still got top 8 at a tourny of around 30 people. I went against Tron (won), Through the Breach Ramp (won), Affinity (lost), Jund (won), Jund (lost).
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I've found dismember to work better than path. The fact that you can use all your mana on your turn and still use a wall of roots to kill a guy by surprise has proven useful. It's also better against dark confidant, and letting a bob live is the best way to lose to Jund.
You really need to add Chord of Calling since it improves the consistency of combo. You often will not have mana open to use Mana Leak and even when you do, you often are saving that mana for Chord.
You also are missing Ranger of Eos and Reveilark--both of which improve consistency + are primary reasons to have White as opposed to Blue in a Pod deck.
Is anyone else playing a 5c pod list still? I just refuse to cut blue, Phantasmal Image and Body Double have won me so many games that I didn't deserve, I can't bring myself to cut them.
The closest I've seen to 5c Pod is Twin Pod splashing white and black for Melira Pod's goodies (like hand disruption and hate bears). I've seen some Twin Pod lists with Melira in them.
Red nets you Magus of the Moon (a horrid idea in a 5c deck), Huntmaster of the Fells (fine Obstinate Baloth alternative, has better synergy with Elesh Norn), Grim Lavamancer (fun times), Bolt, the ability to hardcast Realm Razer (yes, this deck needs to go overboard on its Tron hate), and the Exarch Twin combo. ...Okay, red doesn't give this deck much, and probably the most attractive options are Lavamancer and hardcasting the Razer.
The closest I've seen to 5c Pod is Twin Pod splashing white and black for Melira Pod's goodies (like hand disruption and hate bears). I've seen some Twin Pod lists with Melira in them.
Red nets you Magus of the Moon (a horrid idea in a 5c deck), Huntmaster of the Fells (fine Obstinate Baloth alternative, has better synergy with Elesh Norn), Grim Lavamancer (fun times), Bolt, the ability to hardcast Realm Razer (yes, this deck needs to go overboard on its Tron hate), and the Exarch Twin combo. ...Okay, red doesn't give this deck much, and probably the most attractive options are Lavamancer and hardcasting the Razer.
A red splash seems better for a singleton Razer since you realistically want to fetch your Junk colors first with this deck + using Lavamancer's mana sink ability hinders instant speed Chord + may prevent us from recurring things with Witness/Reveilark. I'm thinking maybe a Stomping Grounds or 2.
Red is for fullminator mage and ancient grudge out of the side. It's the only artifact hate that deals with dampning matrix, cage and torpor orb. Just a singleton Stomping Grounds. Also you can play mogg fanatic side for the reveilark combo and a tutorable answer to dark confidant.
@ PTQ in Prague (120 in attendance w. Lukas Blohon as a spectator) 6 ppl I knew ran Pod (3 of them AFAIK were 5c Pod).. 2 Pod decks went 3-4, 3-4, rest were 4-2-1, 5-1-1, 6-1 and 7-0. Their were more ppl playing Pod but I don't know how they did..
the 3 5c Pod decks made the top 8. 1 lost to Aggro Loam in playoffs and the other 2 lost to Twin. All 3 pilots were very good (one, Tomas Vanek was in the finals @ PTQ Vienna).
Top-8 breakdown was: 3 x 5c-Pod, 2 x Twin, 1 x Aggro Loam, 1 x White Weenie (really interesting brew that went 6-1 made and piloted by Petr Sochurek), 1 x Affinity (winner of PTQ Prague and piloted by a 12 year old who looks like he's 8.. but he's a good player)... 9th place that was also 5-1-1 but didn't make the cut was Jund (was a -very- wide field of decks)
Hi guys, i went to a ptq last sunday, 180 players, 6-1-1 10th for rating...
I had a great time playing this deck and now i want to share with you some thoughts:
1)
what do you think guys of Nest Invader in replacement of wall of roots?
Benefits: nest does a 2x1, gives 2 different targets for pod getting two differents pieces of the combo (viscera and finks), it's great with chords (convoke for 3!), strong with township.
It's not a great blocker as the wall but in case it can grants 2 chumblocks
I think all these pluses justify a test.
2)
Common lists of this deck are very light against graveyard-based decks (i saw mostly Withered Wretch and that's all). I think we need something better as, for example, stonecloaker.
It's a great beater, can be used multiple time, can save a piece of our combo, it's good on kitchen finks, cap, reveillark!, shriekmaw, sliver, witness, refills wall of roots (or can be used on a nest invader's token). In an allucinated scenario can save our combo from surgical extraction removing the target I think it deserves a maind deck slot.
In sb i would add Loaming Shaman as complement to an anti-graveyard strategy: while stonecloaker works as spot removal, shaman sweeps all the gy and it's tutorable.
Putrefy it's a great sideboard card (better than pulse in my opinion because can answer to vedalken in eot) because answers to all the nasty artifacts and to linvala.
Nice finish but it seems you messed up break math/got greedy/or had an early draw, none of which are good things
to your questions
1)
First I would like to point out Nest Invader only adds 2 to your chord not 3, its the same amount as wall of roots, you cannot sack the eldrazi spawn and tap it for convoke costs because i believe paying the convoke must be done in addition to the mana available when you convoke.
Secondly nest invader doesn't really benefit podding for your combo. if you can afford 2 pod activations (2into 3, 0 into1) (assuming you naturally draw the invader) you could just as easily go 2 into 3 into 4 to get ranger (or metamorph) and be much closer to your combo. podding 0 into 1 is not a very strong or pressure filled play. Generally if your opponent isn't able to stop multiple pod activations, get to 4, metamorphing (copying persist then persist copying) a pod or rangering for everything are just stronger plays.
I almost put a nest invader into my list because of township but i realized that having the more constant mana source of wall of roots over the one shot eldrazi spawn was way more important. This deck uses its mana super efficiently and wall of roots is much better for that job than invader. I can see it working in my build but i have trouble justifying it over wall of roots.
2)
The question here is what are the graveyard based decks and what is your plan? The decks you need graveyard hate against are loam, us, and maybe gifts decks, and the fringe strategies like vengevine/dredge/living end
In all these cases podding for wretch is easier (depending on build i guess, but you dont have to return a creature) and wretch provides a lasting threatening impact against loam and this deck. The problem with stonecloaker once again comes down to mana efficiency. stonecloaker costs 3 when you want to remove a card and against all of these decks you want to be removing a lot of cards at a time and you can't afford to sink your mana doing nothing for your board.
Rebuying creatures is cute, but not as good as it once was (damage stacking yata yata getting old). The probelm with the idea of rebuying creatures is you almost certainly need to proactively DRAW your 1 of, something you don't really want to do. The 1 ofs shine by being strong when you tutor for them and doing their job well when you get them. Stonecloaker neither does its job the best or can be tutored for value/efficiently. Loaming shaman is better cause it really hits the graveyard efficiently for a sideboard answer. But this is only if you think graveyard attrition strategies are a problem/to common. It does nothing against gifts, and nothing against this deck unless you chord for it, and even then it seems worse than wretch after a turn of mana dump. (wretch also plays well with wall of roots)
3)
Have 3 answers to artifacts/enchantments in your deck postboard if you think cage. All hate can be played around, its a matter of preference as to how you beat the hate but in general if they are adding specific hate cards they are diluting their primary strategy at the same rate we are but we have a more efficient way to get answers. The three answers are a matter of personal preference.
All graveyard hate can be beaten by having more persist creatures than they have graveyard hate cards. Relic often only slows us down by 1 turn, surgical is a little trickier but you only need to combo when you really need to, you can wait until you have 2 persist creatures (to combo off again in response to the graveyard hate)
4)
I think sweepers are mediocre against this deck, especially if township is online making your persist creatures basically unkillable. If a deck is playing sweepers that means its probably a "fair" deck. At which point you can just value them to death with persist reveillark and sun titan, never really allowing sweepers to matter.
Basically in games 2 and 3 (against decks that would bring in hate) i focus less on the combo becuase i know thats what my opponents are focusing on and they become less good against the random beatdown/attrition game this deck can play.
Having played the deck for some time now, i can say it is probably the deck's worst matchup. The card that matters most from them is Elesh Norn, so your priority should be on getting a clock and then stopping her. Thoughtseize and Entomber Exarch are great choices, although I'm not really sold on nihil spellbomb.
My best advice is to be aggressive. Board out your 6-drops, some walls, and some (2?) pods (which i take out in a lot of combo matchups as well). Finks also isnt great because gaining infi life doesn't mean you win.
I usually just bring in all the 2-drops (in my case, pridemage and kataki - who happens to be awesome against their signets, and if you can stick it on the play after they drop a map, they pretty much can't win) and ATTACK!
I guess I will address some things, a lot of the 1 of cards are personal preferance
2)
I can see the point but stonecloaker can save himself from sorcery speed removals (i'm thinking to aggro loam) while wretch dies from everything.
Stonecloaker allows techy plays while wretch doesn't.
Stonecloaker saves one sb slots 'cause it's good in general (and better for the aggro plan) while wretch isn't.
I think we can afford one mana extra for all these benefits.
I don't think the bounce effect can represent a problem for this deck since we have almost 7-9 accelerators that can be traded if we want stonecloaker in play.
As for nest invader i would like to test it.
Nest Invader is a style preferance, wall or roots has fit how I play the deck and needing multiple mana activations since I only run 22 lands in my build. One eldrazi spawn use isn't going to cut it most of the time.
Stonecloaker, while I've never tested it in this deck I spoke how I felt about it as a hate card in general (its first pass through standard, and in my Saffi EDH), it may have merit but I think its to costly. And what sorcery speed removal is there in this format because flame jab certainly doesnt kill wretch and edict effects are the only other thing I can think of. Stonecloaker's return ability is very low impact since you have to reinvest mana in whatever you bounce, its not even an "effective 3" drop.
So don't you play artifact hate md? you have replica, qsali and sliver in sb?
I believe running 1 hate card md is worth it. Originally it was harmonic sliver, but it continued to dissappoint when I drew it (not a may) so i switched to sylvok replica as my maindeck artifact/enchanment answer (which conveniently survives elesh norn and can be podded into metamorph to kill the thing giving marginally more outs to the card, and can instant speed destroy things as well as get etched champion)
In any case the notes about my build and why I oppose stonecloacker, and to a lesser extent invader (he may be worth it, i may run a split), I run 7 1 drops, 22 lands, 2 wall of roots (may be worth a roots/invader split), my build when i won was posted a few pages back and on scg but I would probably change it a bit looking back on it. (after discussion pilgrim-> hierarch, inq->thoughsieze, aven mindcensor finagled into the sb, and a few other things)
I played in a PTQ yesterday with my Pod deck. I went 3-2 and dropped after the 5th round. I played pretty well and the deck performed good in nearly every match up. Beat some good decks with good pilots and then hit some mana issues in the 3rd and 4th rounds.
Round 1: Jund
This guy seemed like a pretty serious player. I did not notice him making any mistakes during the game. I came out quickly during game 1 and had him down to 8 before he stabilized. Meanwhile I was at 25+ life thanks to Kitchen Finks and I pod into Thrun to finish him off. Game 2 started similarly except with my opponent playing Grafdigger's Cage turn 1. Kitchen Finks recoups life loss from fetch and duel lands. I eventually ran out of steam and got beat down by a Goyf and multiple Bloodbraid Elves. Game 3 is a battle that nearly goes to time. I was barely able to sneak past with Revilliark. Eternal Witness saved the day with a chump block that bought me a turn and got back Revilliark after I lost it to removal. Lark gets the job done. 1-0
Round 2: UW Tron
In game 1 I take him down to 7 quite quickly, but was unable to disrupt him from going off. He had all 3 tron pieces + signet by turn 4. Unburial Rights + Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite shut me down. Game 2 I come out swinging hard. Hit him with a Thoughtseize and saw a lot of land + signet and expedition map. The game quickly ends in my favor. Game 3 I was able to disrupt him again and eventually pod a Finks into Thrun. Withered Wretch keeps him from using his Unburial Rights. At one point he gifts and I let him keep something and a Wurmcoil Engine, which I remove with Path to Exile. 2-0
Round 3: Dark Boros
This was a weird deck that I was not quite sure what it was doing. He must have been lucky not to face any aggro decks, as his deck was built around killing himself. He was using Death's Shadow and Faith's Shield after using Gitaxian Probe, Street Wraith fetch/shock lands to drop his life. He runs Steppe Lynx and Kiln Fiend as well, which sort of confused me. I thought it might have been a boros deck with a storm back up plan at first. Game 1 ends with me winning somehow, but I can't remember the circumstances. Game 2 he comes out hard and swinging while I struggle to get past 2 mana. He manages to get me down to 10 when he flings a Death's Shadow at me (he was at 3 life). Game 3 goes pretty much the same, except that I found the rest of my land and not much else. I scoop when I am at 7 and am staring 2 11/11 Death's Shadows. 2-1
Round 4: Zoo
This guy was running what you might expect a Zoo deck to look like without blue. Goblin Guide, Loam Lion, Kird Ape, Goyf, KotR, Bolt and Lightning Helix did enough damage after I lose life for fetch/duel lands and Thoughtseize. I lost both games, the first of which I get stuck without white mana while sitting on a Path to Exile and Reveillark. Game 2 I manage to get him down to 5, but can't seem to finish it. At one point I am at 10 and he swings with a Mirran Crusader. I had a Baneslayer out and decide to block since I was unsure if he had the double bolt/helix in hand and I wanted to gain some life. He bolts the Baneslayer for the extra 3 damage. I get Mikeaus out the following turn, but it isn't enough. 2-2
Round 5: RDW (green splash)
I feel really bad about how this round went. In both games my opponent took me to 3 or less, but can't draw a bolt for the life of him. I manage to stabilize with Kitchen Finks in game 1 and buy enough time to make the come back. Game 2 goes the same way, except the boarded in Obstinate Baloth saves the day bringing me back up to 7. He drops me to 1 the following turn, but I manage to top deck a Kitchen Finks, play it and then pod it to get Thrun. Thrun and Baloth keep me protected long enough to get out a Baneslayer. 3-2
I dropped after the 5th round because I was not likely to place at that point and my other friend who was playing in the tournament was not doing very well either. We decided to ditch out early and go kick it with some friends.
There are a few things for me to mention regarding the deck. I found Harmonic Sliver to be useless every time I saw him. Usually the only thing out to blow up was my own Birthing Pod. Maindeck Thoughtseize also seemed to hurt. On top of fetches and shocks, the extra damage hurt me and caused me to make different plays than I probably would have otherwise. Also there were times when I wished I had another 1-2 Noble Hierarch to grab with Ranger of Eos.
Besides that, Thrun was a champ and probably my MVP. After I beat the Jund player in Round 1 I overheard him scoffing at my choice to run him main deck. It beat him and I found him to be great pretty much whenever I drew him. I doubt I will take him out of the mainboard anytime soon.
The deck plays well, but seems inconsistent sometimes. The real strength is how versatile the deck is.
EDIT: I wanted to point out that I didn't win a single game via combo. Part of me wants to take Melira and the Seers out after game 1.
After much testing... I have determined that a 1/2-3 split of nest invaders/wall of roots is superior to running no nest invaders at all.
1) It gives the same amount of mana, even for chord.
2) The token can block Etched Champion, which is extrememly relevant when a cranial plating is on the board (or if they just happen to be aggroing you out of the game). It can buy you that one turn you need.
3) Nest Invader can trade.
4) The token can allow you to search for Viscera Seer with Pod.
5) Nest Invader gives you TWO pod targets as opposed to the one you get with Wall of Roots.
6) When blocking with Nest Invader it is possible to trade with the majority of the creatures in the format, Wall of Roots trades with nothing in blocking. Sometimes you just need that creature dead.
7)Nest Invader can help out when you need to push through damage. Wall of Roots can not.
8) Running a split still allows you access to Wall of Roots, which can be a superior blocker in cases where you don't need to trade, or have special conditions met for blocking, or where you need the blocker to survive.
Nest Invader gives this deck a maragin of versatility it wouldn't have otherwise at 0 cost.
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@Unkyunk: The biggest reasons I can see to run Wall over Nest Invader are:
1. Ability to produce green. I often play Wall, add counter -> Birds/Hierarch
2. Being able to use the wall for mana multiple times
I am not saying I would not use Nest Invader. It seems pretty good if you are running Gavony Township. I like the idea of using the token for Pod -> Viscera Seer, and will see about fitting in one main deck.
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I haven't tested Sun Titan, but I would assume Mikaeus is better. He helps with your combo in a similar fashion to Titan, and he provides additional bonuses to your other creatures. Plus, he has semi evasion with Intimidate. Lol, he even kills Delver after it damages you :p. While Titan may be slightly better at assembling your combo, Mikaeus is better facilitating the beat down plan.
It would be interesting to hear from people who have tested both though...
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WURDelver
[/MANA]MANA]R[/MANA]GTron
WDeath and Taxes
WSoul Sisters
RWG Pod Combo
URSplinter Twin
URStorm
RBurn
You also are missing Ranger of Eos and Reveilark--both of which improve consistency + are primary reasons to have White as opposed to Blue in a Pod deck.
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Red nets you Magus of the Moon (a horrid idea in a 5c deck), Huntmaster of the Fells (fine Obstinate Baloth alternative, has better synergy with Elesh Norn), Grim Lavamancer (fun times), Bolt, the ability to hardcast Realm Razer (yes, this deck needs to go overboard on its Tron hate), and the Exarch Twin combo. ...Okay, red doesn't give this deck much, and probably the most attractive options are Lavamancer and hardcasting the Razer.
A red splash seems better for a singleton Razer since you realistically want to fetch your Junk colors first with this deck + using Lavamancer's mana sink ability hinders instant speed Chord + may prevent us from recurring things with Witness/Reveilark. I'm thinking maybe a Stomping Grounds or 2.
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Is it possible to get a list of this 5C pod ?
Nice finish but it seems you messed up break math/got greedy/or had an early draw, none of which are good things
to your questions
1)
First I would like to point out Nest Invader only adds 2 to your chord not 3, its the same amount as wall of roots, you cannot sack the eldrazi spawn and tap it for convoke costs because i believe paying the convoke must be done in addition to the mana available when you convoke.
Secondly nest invader doesn't really benefit podding for your combo. if you can afford 2 pod activations (2into 3, 0 into1) (assuming you naturally draw the invader) you could just as easily go 2 into 3 into 4 to get ranger (or metamorph) and be much closer to your combo. podding 0 into 1 is not a very strong or pressure filled play. Generally if your opponent isn't able to stop multiple pod activations, get to 4, metamorphing (copying persist then persist copying) a pod or rangering for everything are just stronger plays.
I almost put a nest invader into my list because of township but i realized that having the more constant mana source of wall of roots over the one shot eldrazi spawn was way more important. This deck uses its mana super efficiently and wall of roots is much better for that job than invader. I can see it working in my build but i have trouble justifying it over wall of roots.
2)
The question here is what are the graveyard based decks and what is your plan? The decks you need graveyard hate against are loam, us, and maybe gifts decks, and the fringe strategies like vengevine/dredge/living end
In all these cases podding for wretch is easier (depending on build i guess, but you dont have to return a creature) and wretch provides a lasting threatening impact against loam and this deck. The problem with stonecloaker once again comes down to mana efficiency. stonecloaker costs 3 when you want to remove a card and against all of these decks you want to be removing a lot of cards at a time and you can't afford to sink your mana doing nothing for your board.
Rebuying creatures is cute, but not as good as it once was (damage stacking yata yata getting old). The probelm with the idea of rebuying creatures is you almost certainly need to proactively DRAW your 1 of, something you don't really want to do. The 1 ofs shine by being strong when you tutor for them and doing their job well when you get them. Stonecloaker neither does its job the best or can be tutored for value/efficiently.
Loaming shaman is better cause it really hits the graveyard efficiently for a sideboard answer. But this is only if you think graveyard attrition strategies are a problem/to common. It does nothing against gifts, and nothing against this deck unless you chord for it, and even then it seems worse than wretch after a turn of mana dump. (wretch also plays well with wall of roots)
3)
Have 3 answers to artifacts/enchantments in your deck postboard if you think cage. All hate can be played around, its a matter of preference as to how you beat the hate but in general if they are adding specific hate cards they are diluting their primary strategy at the same rate we are but we have a more efficient way to get answers. The three answers are a matter of personal preference.
For refereance in my build (the 3 disenchant creatures are always in postboard for cage)
pridemage/sylvok replica match up against torpor orb
harmonic sliver against dampening matrix
phyrexian metamorph/shriekmaw against linvala
All graveyard hate can be beaten by having more persist creatures than they have graveyard hate cards. Relic often only slows us down by 1 turn, surgical is a little trickier but you only need to combo when you really need to, you can wait until you have 2 persist creatures (to combo off again in response to the graveyard hate)
4)
I think sweepers are mediocre against this deck, especially if township is online making your persist creatures basically unkillable. If a deck is playing sweepers that means its probably a "fair" deck. At which point you can just value them to death with persist reveillark and sun titan, never really allowing sweepers to matter.
Basically in games 2 and 3 (against decks that would bring in hate) i focus less on the combo becuase i know thats what my opponents are focusing on and they become less good against the random beatdown/attrition game this deck can play.
Having played the deck for some time now, i can say it is probably the deck's worst matchup. The card that matters most from them is Elesh Norn, so your priority should be on getting a clock and then stopping her. Thoughtseize and Entomber Exarch are great choices, although I'm not really sold on nihil spellbomb.
My best advice is to be aggressive. Board out your 6-drops, some walls, and some (2?) pods (which i take out in a lot of combo matchups as well). Finks also isnt great because gaining infi life doesn't mean you win.
I usually just bring in all the 2-drops (in my case, pridemage and kataki - who happens to be awesome against their signets, and if you can stick it on the play after they drop a map, they pretty much can't win) and ATTACK!
Nest Invader is a style preferance, wall or roots has fit how I play the deck and needing multiple mana activations since I only run 22 lands in my build. One eldrazi spawn use isn't going to cut it most of the time.
Stonecloaker, while I've never tested it in this deck I spoke how I felt about it as a hate card in general (its first pass through standard, and in my Saffi EDH), it may have merit but I think its to costly. And what sorcery speed removal is there in this format because flame jab certainly doesnt kill wretch and edict effects are the only other thing I can think of. Stonecloaker's return ability is very low impact since you have to reinvest mana in whatever you bounce, its not even an "effective 3" drop.
I believe running 1 hate card md is worth it. Originally it was harmonic sliver, but it continued to dissappoint when I drew it (not a may) so i switched to sylvok replica as my maindeck artifact/enchanment answer (which conveniently survives elesh norn and can be podded into metamorph to kill the thing giving marginally more outs to the card, and can instant speed destroy things as well as get etched champion)
In any case the notes about my build and why I oppose stonecloacker, and to a lesser extent invader (he may be worth it, i may run a split), I run 7 1 drops, 22 lands, 2 wall of roots (may be worth a roots/invader split), my build when i won was posted a few pages back and on scg but I would probably change it a bit looking back on it. (after discussion pilgrim-> hierarch, inq->thoughsieze, aven mindcensor finagled into the sb, and a few other things)
Here is the list real quick:
cmc 1: 7
3x Birds of Paradise
3x Viscera Seer
1x Noble Hierarch
cmc 2: 6
3x Melira, Sylvok Outcast
3x Wall of Roots
cmc 3: 6
4x Kitchen Finks
1x Harmonic Sliver
1x Eternal Witness
cmc 4: 5
1x Murderous Redcap
1x Llinvala, Keeper of Silence
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
1x Entomber Exarch
1x Ranger of Eos
cmc 5: 2
1x Reveillark
1x Baneslayer Angel
cmc 6: 1
1x Mikeaus, the Unhallowed
4x Birthing Pod
2x Chord of Calling
2x Thoughtseize
2x Path to Exile
Land: 23
4x Verdant Catacombs
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Marsh Flats
2x Overgrown Tomb
2x Woodland Cemetery
1x Temple Garden
1x Godless Shrine
1x Golgari Rot Farm
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Horizon Canopy
3x Forest
2x Swamp
1x Plains
2x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Fulminator Mage
2x Kataki, War's Wage
2x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Murderous Redcap
1x Obstinate Baloth
1x Orzhov Pontiff
1x Path to Exile
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Shriekmaw
2x Thoughtseize
Round 1: Jund
This guy seemed like a pretty serious player. I did not notice him making any mistakes during the game. I came out quickly during game 1 and had him down to 8 before he stabilized. Meanwhile I was at 25+ life thanks to Kitchen Finks and I pod into Thrun to finish him off. Game 2 started similarly except with my opponent playing Grafdigger's Cage turn 1. Kitchen Finks recoups life loss from fetch and duel lands. I eventually ran out of steam and got beat down by a Goyf and multiple Bloodbraid Elves. Game 3 is a battle that nearly goes to time. I was barely able to sneak past with Revilliark. Eternal Witness saved the day with a chump block that bought me a turn and got back Revilliark after I lost it to removal. Lark gets the job done. 1-0
Round 2: UW Tron
In game 1 I take him down to 7 quite quickly, but was unable to disrupt him from going off. He had all 3 tron pieces + signet by turn 4. Unburial Rights + Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite shut me down. Game 2 I come out swinging hard. Hit him with a Thoughtseize and saw a lot of land + signet and expedition map. The game quickly ends in my favor. Game 3 I was able to disrupt him again and eventually pod a Finks into Thrun. Withered Wretch keeps him from using his Unburial Rights. At one point he gifts and I let him keep something and a Wurmcoil Engine, which I remove with Path to Exile. 2-0
Round 3: Dark Boros
This was a weird deck that I was not quite sure what it was doing. He must have been lucky not to face any aggro decks, as his deck was built around killing himself. He was using Death's Shadow and Faith's Shield after using Gitaxian Probe, Street Wraith fetch/shock lands to drop his life. He runs Steppe Lynx and Kiln Fiend as well, which sort of confused me. I thought it might have been a boros deck with a storm back up plan at first. Game 1 ends with me winning somehow, but I can't remember the circumstances. Game 2 he comes out hard and swinging while I struggle to get past 2 mana. He manages to get me down to 10 when he flings a Death's Shadow at me (he was at 3 life). Game 3 goes pretty much the same, except that I found the rest of my land and not much else. I scoop when I am at 7 and am staring 2 11/11 Death's Shadows. 2-1
Round 4: Zoo
This guy was running what you might expect a Zoo deck to look like without blue. Goblin Guide, Loam Lion, Kird Ape, Goyf, KotR, Bolt and Lightning Helix did enough damage after I lose life for fetch/duel lands and Thoughtseize. I lost both games, the first of which I get stuck without white mana while sitting on a Path to Exile and Reveillark. Game 2 I manage to get him down to 5, but can't seem to finish it. At one point I am at 10 and he swings with a Mirran Crusader. I had a Baneslayer out and decide to block since I was unsure if he had the double bolt/helix in hand and I wanted to gain some life. He bolts the Baneslayer for the extra 3 damage. I get Mikeaus out the following turn, but it isn't enough. 2-2
Round 5: RDW (green splash)
I feel really bad about how this round went. In both games my opponent took me to 3 or less, but can't draw a bolt for the life of him. I manage to stabilize with Kitchen Finks in game 1 and buy enough time to make the come back. Game 2 goes the same way, except the boarded in Obstinate Baloth saves the day bringing me back up to 7. He drops me to 1 the following turn, but I manage to top deck a Kitchen Finks, play it and then pod it to get Thrun. Thrun and Baloth keep me protected long enough to get out a Baneslayer. 3-2
I dropped after the 5th round because I was not likely to place at that point and my other friend who was playing in the tournament was not doing very well either. We decided to ditch out early and go kick it with some friends.
There are a few things for me to mention regarding the deck. I found Harmonic Sliver to be useless every time I saw him. Usually the only thing out to blow up was my own Birthing Pod. Maindeck Thoughtseize also seemed to hurt. On top of fetches and shocks, the extra damage hurt me and caused me to make different plays than I probably would have otherwise. Also there were times when I wished I had another 1-2 Noble Hierarch to grab with Ranger of Eos.
Besides that, Thrun was a champ and probably my MVP. After I beat the Jund player in Round 1 I overheard him scoffing at my choice to run him main deck. It beat him and I found him to be great pretty much whenever I drew him. I doubt I will take him out of the mainboard anytime soon.
The deck plays well, but seems inconsistent sometimes. The real strength is how versatile the deck is.
EDIT: I wanted to point out that I didn't win a single game via combo. Part of me wants to take Melira and the Seers out after game 1.
FREE BLOODBRAID ELF
1) It gives the same amount of mana, even for chord.
2) The token can block Etched Champion, which is extrememly relevant when a cranial plating is on the board (or if they just happen to be aggroing you out of the game). It can buy you that one turn you need.
3) Nest Invader can trade.
4) The token can allow you to search for Viscera Seer with Pod.
5) Nest Invader gives you TWO pod targets as opposed to the one you get with Wall of Roots.
6) When blocking with Nest Invader it is possible to trade with the majority of the creatures in the format, Wall of Roots trades with nothing in blocking. Sometimes you just need that creature dead.
7)Nest Invader can help out when you need to push through damage. Wall of Roots can not.
8) Running a split still allows you access to Wall of Roots, which can be a superior blocker in cases where you don't need to trade, or have special conditions met for blocking, or where you need the blocker to survive.
Nest Invader gives this deck a maragin of versatility it wouldn't have otherwise at 0 cost.
WURDelver
[/MANA]MANA]R[/MANA]GTron
WDeath and Taxes
WSoul Sisters
RWG Pod Combo
URSplinter Twin
URStorm
RBurn
1. Ability to produce green. I often play Wall, add counter -> Birds/Hierarch
2. Being able to use the wall for mana multiple times
I am not saying I would not use Nest Invader. It seems pretty good if you are running Gavony Township. I like the idea of using the token for Pod -> Viscera Seer, and will see about fitting in one main deck.
FREE BLOODBRAID ELF