MTG Salvation

Quote from damadczar

I was also thinking of removing a color, but blue instead of red.

My main reason for this is due to the fact that I don't have any Noble Hierarchs.
So if you substitute Avacyn's Pilgrim for Nobles, that limits your blue.

It's pretty much a 1-for-1 swap to Village Bell Ringer for Deceiver Exarch.

Subbing Archmage is tougher. Grand Abolisher does the job, but doesn't fit the pod chain (but you can pod it out much quicker or chord for it cheaply, so maybe that's a good thing?)

The Spellskite is worth keeping (and since you still need lots of G, keep the Misty's in to search up your Breeding Pool or Steam Vents). I'd ditch the Hallowed Fountain then and maybe add a Razorverge Thicket instead.

You don't mess up your SB this way, and giving up Blue is pretty much a no brainer to me really. I'm doing it for budget reasons, but there's no reason why you shouldn't. Or were you more talking about getting rid of red, and being primarily GW with a splash or Blue? That's also an intriguing possibility. Ditch both UR and worry about tricking in Kiki for the combo. You'd want to go up to 4 chords I think to do that (or at minimum stay at 3).

as this is not a splinter twin deck, it's not a simple issue of swapping deceiver exarch for village bell ringer. Lots of your chains involve using the exarch to untap pod sometimes multiple times in one turn, which is something that bell ringer can not accomplish.

Quote from damadczar

I was also thinking of removing a color, but blue instead of red.

My main reason for this is due to the fact that I don't have any Noble Hierarchs.
So if you substitute Avacyn's Pilgrim for Nobles, that limits your blue.

It's pretty much a 1-for-1 swap to Village Bell Ringer for Deceiver Exarch.

Subbing Archmage is tougher. Grand Abolisher does the job, but doesn't fit the pod chain (but you can pod it out much quicker or chord for it cheaply, so maybe that's a good thing?)

The Spellskite is worth keeping (and since you still need lots of G, keep the Misty's in to search up your Breeding Pool or Steam Vents). I'd ditch the Hallowed Fountain then and maybe add a Razorverge Thicket instead.

You don't mess up your SB this way, and giving up Blue is pretty much a no brainer to me really. I'm doing it for budget reasons, but there's no reason why you shouldn't. Or were you more talking about getting rid of red, and being primarily GW with a splash or Blue? That's also an intriguing possibility. Ditch both UR and worry about tricking in Kiki for the combo. You'd want to go up to 4 chords I think to do that (or at minimum stay at 3).

Going Naya has also been on my mind. But Glen has won me so many games, games I would otherwise lose. And it's not so much protecting the combo it's her ability to stop anything unfair cold (plus Anger). I call her "the über bear".

I'm actually thinking on more than a blue splash, I'm thinking on throwing in a couple of Cliques (now that red is gone I can proabably afford it). Having some main deck Sin Collectors seem spicey against the tough matchups. Also going T2: Clique, untap and play Pod seems like a strong play and also helps in the beat down department (plus they can cycle Kiki and other silverbullets back into the deck).

Probably going too deep though.

Hehe so I talked myself into it (probably turns out to be a terrible idea)

This is what I'm gonna start with:



19 green sources as opposed to Brian's 15. I really like that. And I'm looking forward to see how well Clique fares. Only 14 blue sources that might turn out to be a problem if I wanna go T2 Clique consistently. If only they've printed Scars lands in enemy colors.

Quote from billyofcourse

Quote from damadczar

I was also thinking of removing a color, but blue instead of red.

My main reason for this is due to the fact that I don't have any Noble Hierarchs.
So if you substitute Avacyn's Pilgrim for Nobles, that limits your blue.

It's pretty much a 1-for-1 swap to Village Bell Ringer for Deceiver Exarch.

Subbing Archmage is tougher. Grand Abolisher does the job, but doesn't fit the pod chain (but you can pod it out much quicker or chord for it cheaply, so maybe that's a good thing?)

The Spellskite is worth keeping (and since you still need lots of G, keep the Misty's in to search up your Breeding Pool or Steam Vents). I'd ditch the Hallowed Fountain then and maybe add a Razorverge Thicket instead.

You don't mess up your SB this way, and giving up Blue is pretty much a no brainer to me really. I'm doing it for budget reasons, but there's no reason why you shouldn't. Or were you more talking about getting rid of red, and being primarily GW with a splash or Blue? That's also an intriguing possibility. Ditch both UR and worry about tricking in Kiki for the combo. You'd want to go up to 4 chords I think to do that (or at minimum stay at 3).

as this is not a splinter twin deck, it's not a simple issue of swapping deceiver exarch for village bell ringer. Lots of your chains involve using the exarch to untap pod sometimes multiple times in one turn, which is something that bell ringer can not accomplish.

Ah. Good point. I was just quickly subbing for the same cost and untap creature effect. The untap a Pod to go twice is crazy relevant. Thanks for the insight.

I got my interview with Brian Liu typed up and posted - here it is!

Interview with Brian Liu, winner of GP: Richmond

I've been running a list close(expect I run 1 Ph. image and 1 scooze MB, with 1 scooze SB) to Brian Liu's...and finally have started to figure out how to win with kiki-pod (so much fun!)...the biggest challenge I still have however is the transition from MB to SB. I generally have a good idea of what to bring in, but boarding out is tough- so often when boarding I'm looking at the deck thinking it all looks good as it is, why am I boarding anything...but knowing I the deck I'm facing certain cards are important to bring>>>> But what goes OUT?

- have read up as much as I can find...and sounds like always keep in all:: Pods, dorks, some number of chords(or all?), E.wit, P.image(?), resto/finks, redcap or Glen is that generally correct?

Flex spots seem to be: Roots(some#), Voice (non-blue MU), 1 or 2 persist dudes, 1 kiki, linvala(MU dependent), spells kite

BG Rock/Jund

IN: 3x path, Scooze, Fiery Justice-
Option B's: Thrag, negate, riders

OUT;??? 1 kiki, Voice, redcap....

Tron

IN: Grudge, Sowing, Riders, Negate

Out: Linvala, voice(ex. U or WU)....???

Affinity:

IN: Grudge, fiery, path's, kataki, harmonic, EExplosives

out: zealous, voice, 1 kiki, root (1)


Combo(melira, storm, scapeshift, twin)

IN: path, combust, fiery justice, canonist,scooze, aven, negate

Out: roots, 1 kiki?, 1 resto?....


Thank in advance for any feedback from experienced Kiki mages!

What do you think are the pros and cons of using Harmonic Sliver over Ancient Grudge

Grudge:
Stops Torpor Orb
Is resilient to countermagic and discard
Can take down two targets (relevant against Affinity)

Sliver:
Can be fethed with Pod and Chord
Can take down multiple targets with Resto blink shenanigans
Kills enchantments too (like Stony Silence, Rest in Peace and Ghostly Prison)
Leaves a body on the table you can Pod away, Conspire or just chump block with

Sliver has been really good to me so far so I wouldn't cut it, I'd rather look at adding Grudge if you want more answers.

Its never going to happen. I'll call it right now.

Not even close to playable.

This is going back a bit, but I think I have some relevant thoughts.

Quote from Badabingbadabum

All right so I picked up Brian Liu's deck from Richmond (with small changes) and have played it in a couple of 8-mans/Daily/Premium Events.

First of all I have never had so much fun playing magic, second of all the deck feels extremely powerful and third the mana base sucks big donkeys' ass. No I mean really! I have lost more games to being color screwed or mulliganning into oblivion because of no green sources than I've lost to what my opponent was doing. I'm thinking switching to Melira because they have it all smooth and clean. But then again I'm thinking on a second posibility: cutting red. Giving up the ability to hard cast Kiki and just rely on Pod and Chord to find him.

First of all I've already cut Redcap. He's big, dumb, ugly, clunky and clumpsy and lacks relevant targets (Electromancer, Mindcensor and Leonin Arbiter are the only ones I can think of). Some Melira decks have moved him to the sideboard and that speaks in high volumes to me as it's their actual win condition! So that leaves me with 2x Kiki-Jikis and one Conscripts. Looking at Kiki Pod lists I can't help but to think that it's kinda those drafts where you go into U/W and then open a Garruk, Primal Hunter in the 3rd pack and decide to "splash" him by adding 6 forests. Sure if you draw him you probably win the game, but is it worth it? If it was a Thragtusk I could understand the splash as it would be an actual splash and not a heavy commitment. Or better yet it reminds me of a Polymorph deck that decides to run a Tron mana base so that they can hardcast one of their two copies of Emmy in case they draw them (ok so maybe I'm being hyberbolic here)

But that's not what bothers me the most. What bothers me the most is that even when you do draw Kiki you're not always able to cast him, because fetching tripple red is a decision you need to make early on in the game. Fetching triple mountain is not always the right move so you have to do a lot of guess work. Sometimes you go for it and the opponent cuts you off of blue or white by burning your dorks and tec edging your lands and you never draw him. Sometimes you shock youself to death for no reason because you don't end up drawing him and sometimes you take the cautious route and end up drawing him at a time when he would win you the game on the spot. The deck only runs 23 lands and 7 fetches so fetching one land or the other makes a huge difference, especially when you keep a mana light hand.

Losing some sweet side board cards would obviously hurt, but we could still keep in a singleton Stomping Ground and keep those bad boys in.

I don't know as I said I'm new with this deck so I might talk nonsense. But have other more experient pilots thought the same?

PS: and yes I've dropped out of 4 out of 5 tournaments so far solely because of being color screwed so that's probably why I'm a bit frustrated. It could just be variance though.

Could you post your mana base? I don't have quite all the lands that Brian did, but my mana base has been very consistent. Redcap has been very useful to me, whether I'm killing Bob, Liliana, or just using him as a 4-to-win creature. He and Archmage are your quick targets to set up a win next turn with Pod->Conscripts->Pod->Kiki. You can also use him to disrupt opposing combos at instant speed with Restoration Angel.
As he said, don't always try to force out the combo. Play a more controlling role, but be ready to strike as soon as you get a clear opening. Do a lot of podding Finks into Angel. Remember that this build should be played as a creature-based control deck with a combo finish. This isn't storm where you rush for the win as soon as you can.

Here's the lands I've been running. I don't have quite all the lands I'd like, but it is still very consistent.

Quote from damadczar

I was also thinking of removing a color, but blue instead of red.

My main reason for this is due to the fact that I don't have any Noble Hierarchs.
So if you substitute Avacyn's Pilgrim for Nobles, that limits your blue.

It's pretty much a 1-for-1 swap to Village Bell Ringer for Deceiver Exarch.

Subbing Archmage is tougher. Grand Abolisher does the job, but doesn't fit the pod chain (but you can pod it out much quicker or chord for it cheaply, so maybe that's a good thing?)

The Spellskite is worth keeping (and since you still need lots of G, keep the Misty's in to search up your Breeding Pool or Steam Vents). I'd ditch the Hallowed Fountain then and maybe add a Razorverge Thicket instead.

You don't mess up your SB this way, and giving up Blue is pretty much a no brainer to me really. I'm doing it for budget reasons, but there's no reason why you shouldn't. Or were you more talking about getting rid of red, and being primarily GW with a splash or Blue? That's also an intriguing possibility. Ditch both UR and worry about tricking in Kiki for the combo. You'd want to go up to 4 chords I think to do that (or at minimum stay at 3).

I don't have Hierachs either, so I've been running Pilgrims instead. I haven't had trouble with Exarch or Archmage. Normally you are podding them in anyway. One key is to really think through each fetchland activation. Early game, go for green/white lands. Once you have 1 or 2 of those, pick up blue and red. Consider which colors are going to matter 2 turns from now.

Aranthar:

This is Brian Liu's manabase which I've been running:




Pretty similar to yours. Both have 15 ways to land a T1 mana dork. I've found that to be unreliable. Especially since
a) the deck has pretty high starting hand requirements
b) the deck doesn't seem to mulligan all that well
(at least in my experience).
Storm runs around 16 lands and can get away with it since they don't need much of a starting hand to get things started. We need a mixture of a lot of specific cards to be able to do anything the first couple of turns so shipping back all hands that doesn't contain one of the 15 green mana sources seems too much of a liability to me.

This is the mana base I'm running now:


Pretty similar to the Melira mana base. And I went from dropping out round 1 of every single 8-man/daily event (round 2 of the latter) constantly getting color screwed to being up 40 tix with the new build. Again it could be variance or me taking better mulligan decisions or both but having a smooth and stable mana base just feels so right. Especially since the lack of ability to hard cast Kiki hasn't been something I've lost any games because of yet(knocks on wood). I mean even when you have a Resto on the table and a Kiki in hand, tapping out and turning the opponents Bolt into a Time Walk isn't always the right move. Between Township, Ooze, Chord and Pod the deck has a lot of mana sinks.

Also Clique has turned out to be a beast. I haven't kept track of how many Anger of the God I've stripped from the opponent's hands but it does happen a lot.

To be fair I never gave the original deck a fair chance but I'm liking the Bant approach too much to turn back from it any time soon.

Looks pretty sweet.

I haven't been impressed with Chord either. Especially when playing against removal heavy decks where the conspire side of the card never comes up.

Funny, after reading your post I just got paired up with uB Faeries running a couple of Sowers and they were insane against me, so I immediatly bought one and am gonna test it now. Also gonna try the Sea Gates (maybe instead of Chord).

How is the combo matchups? The deck looks on the slow side (at least beat down wise) and doesn't pack much disruption (no Ooze)

(by the way, looking forward to steal a 3-drop with Sower, sack it to Pod, get Resto and blink Sower and steal a new creature. Oh the blow out)

Has anyone tried running some number of Splinter Twin? A list with Twin would be much less weak to Anger, and have a good backup plan in case you don't draw Pod. I'm new to Kiki Pod, but it seems like this deck loses a lot to just not drawing Pod. You'd run Twin over Chord, and maybe cut a Resto for an Exarch.

Just posting my updated list:

Hey Germagic, thanks for posting up this list. I played against Lurgold in the finals of a daily with my Kikipod list. With Wall of Omens and Sea Gate Oracle he was always a turn faster. When I played against his list it felt much more like playing against true combo as I watched him draw and sift through his deck.

How do you feel the match ups are against Splintertwin and Storm? With his version I'm assuming you have no issues against aggros/jund/junk type decks?

So I played Kiki Pod at my LGS's Grand Prix Trial today. There weren't many people, I think 10 total. I have to put the caveat out there that I was playing sick, so I was in a semi-fog the whole day, and my playgroup pretty much just plays 8 player EDH, so I never really get a chance to practice with the deck, nor within the format. Also, this was my first attempt to play in a Modern tournament. I'm not even really sure the last time I played a duel before today. I'm not trying to make excuses, I just feel like a little back story into the pilot's state of mind would help people evaluate the results with a grain of salt.
Anyway, here's deck I played, followed by the results:





Round 1: vs. Storm
Won 2-1
Game 1: Lost to 4th turn storm combo. Game 2: Went through the whole 1 and 2 drop pod chain involving Phantasmal Image to combo out in the 5th round. Game 3: He drew too many lands and died to Birds, Spellskite, Gavony Township beats.


Round 2: vs. Skred Red
Lost 0-2
These games were slow, but he controlled the board the whole time. His wincons were Thundermaw Hellkite and Koth of the Hammer, but it was the combination of Anger of the Gods and Blood Moon that won his games for him, and pretty much locked me out of the game. The second game, I made a play mistake by not seeking out a basic forest with my first fetch. I should have seen Blood Moon coming from a mile away! (He never got it out the 1st game, but I still should have seen it coming!)

Round 3: vs. Restore Balance (Post Version)
Won 2-0
Won first game off of beats that were resilient to RB (Voice, Finks, etc). Second game I sided in my Shatterstorm, just for fun, and ended up forth turn Shatterstorming when his board was 4 Posts, so that was game there.

Round 4: vs. B/W Tokens
Lost 1-2
I made a lot of play mistakes in this match (even in the game I won). Last game, I thought I had the win via combo but, after it was too late, I realized I was 1 mana short, and lost because of the premature podgasm. I'm pretty sure I could have won this match if it weren't for the fact that I was playing in a daze.

Round 5: vs Merfolk
Lost 0-2
This deck actually kinda stomped me. First game I could have comboed out but, between land damage, and Merfolk beats, I didn't have enough life, and ended up never being able to catch up. Second game: I could've won by podding into Kiki Jiki if I hadn't sided out my second copy. I had my only copy in hand, but lacked the third red source to hardcast it. My board state at the time was Restoration Angel, Wall of Roots, and Pod. I only had one turn to top deck a red source and win because the Merfolk beats were coming too strong.


Observations:
I had fun playing the deck, even if I felt horrible all day from being sick. The manabase is definitely intense, it deals a ton of damage to you, and has a terrible time with Blood Moon. Triple red for Kiki Jiki and triple green for Chord of Calling, while also trying to support two other colors, is rough. Still, I feel like all but the Skred Red match could have been winnable if it weren't for my lack of experience with the deck (and in the format) and the fact that I was sick. It's definitely not an easy deck to just pick up and play. I felt like I could've played a much better defensive game if I were more experienced with the deck. I often found myself trying to combo more than I think was good for me because I was little lost as to how to defend. I chalk that up to the pilot more than the deck though.
Ultimately, I think the deck is still setup pretty well in the meta (although I actually didn't see many of the top decks, for which I was a little better prepared). One thing I did find was, I felt like the deck has a hard time with super fast aggro (ie Merfolk) because, once their creatures get over the top of yours, blocking loses you pod targets, and not blocking (combined with the greedy mana base) leaves you with too little life to get all the pod activations needed to combo out. Also, Anger of the Gods and Blood Moon are both awesome against us, if you have both (like Skred Red did today), it's the nuts. Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I've been reading this thread while prepping up for this tourney (I don't get to play in many because life), so I figured I might as well post my results. Thanks to everybody in this thread for the ideas while building this deck, and feedback is more than welcome.

Edit: FYI, I have no Misty Rainforests or Grove of the Burnwillows, and only own two Chords.

Tested a list with four Twin with amazing results. It provides much-needed redundancy, and Chord isn't that good anyway. Pod is still plan A because it's easier to win with, but Twin is a nice plan B.

Splinter Twin is an interesting thought, four seems like a lot, but cutting three Chords for three Twin seems like it could be a thing. This seems like it would let you combo out more consistently, but the thing is, Chord acts as both a way to setup combo, as well as fetch one of our many silver bullets if needed, this diversity, I think, trumps the bit of extra combo consistency offered by Twin. Other than hitting combo, Twin is a dead card. I could easily be wrong on this though, and may be willing to give it a whirl if I see enough people here are liking it.