I guess my view on this is fundamentally different but the amount of removal makes any card that does not have the potential of immediate impact that costs more than 3 almost useless. 4 cmc is this flex point where you are sort of forced into playing some stuff like that but you don't really have much of choice. A few things to take into consideration:
1. Value is all derived off stay in play and dump more mana in effects or conditional turn to turn effects. ETB's are not great generally unless they promote devotion. This means Haste, Regeneration, Flash, whatever you want to call Voice's ability are the only way to really fight with that immediacy. Jund Monsters is one of the few decks in the format trying to fight on pure quality of Threat density but it's barely over threshold.
2. In order to keep devotion in check without making it not viable there is an incredible amount of 1 for 1 removal. It is pretty hard to just play good threats turn after turn and hope to win unless they are of the type mentioned above. Basically even if manage to land something big and swingy that doesn't have the above it basically has one turn to do work. Ever wonder why Brimaz a seemingly great card hasn't seen nearly as much play as it should. It isn't swingy enough. Atleast Polukranos can conceptually untap take out a little guy and get in for 7.
3. Using above basically no creature itself or no direct combination of cards is worth investing mana into. I'm basically saying Monstrous and Heroic are really awkward mechanics unless they let you set up a board state where you can just one time the opponent. Similarly any sort of equipment that you can't play and equip in one turn by say T4 is a waste of time. However, if that means playing 1 drop, 2 drop, equipment, equip.. I'm pretty sure that is a waste of time.. If it was 1 drop, 3 drop, Equipment + Equip (or even Equipment, Equip + 3 drop) it might be ok. The best way to fight this no single threat matters is to play a tempo game. Expect every creature doing anything relevant to die, but that they might not be able to keep it all down or kill the last one.
Admittedly with all 3 sets out now the format as got just a tiny bit stronger. Maybe enough to flex some of these constraints, but it means stuff like expensive Equipment that doesn't protect the creature equipped with it, or vanilla creatures or effects that do nothing to the board over 4 mana are a waste of time if untapping with them doesn't basically mean I win the game. Unfortunately in an aggressive midrange shell you probably have to play atleast a handful of these creatures but I think you have to prioritize them in a way that the one that can do the most work if it survives one turn. By that ordering of 4 drops it's clear why Polukranos usually takes precedence. Advent is actually up there because it's time window works out generally to 2 attacks unlike the others (EoT Flash is almost like psuedo haste) or possibly a surprise block. Even something as terribly awkward as Reaper of the Wilds usually is pretty good if you can untap with it since it means it's generally hard to kill and is good for 4 damage a turn or it's going to take out something bigger and scry. Ghor Clan Rampager as cast isn't quite good enough, but the Bloodrush makes it atleast have a haste throw away value. Xenagos, the Reveler atleast has value with splitting where the removal/damage goes if a 2/2 is reasonable rate. I suspect Deadbridge Goliath is more playable than Gideon. The biggest benefit of Gideon right now is that it dodges both Lifebane Zombie and Abrupt Decay which gives it a slight edge over say Advent (which gets killed by Decay, but let's face it that's one less decay of Banishing Light and they should be running those out at your 1 to 3 drops before that point). I like that it's kind of awkward for say burn, but playing against any aggressive deck if you don't have a a mass way to approach it basically either a fog for a turn not of your choosing (a huge difference from old Gideon) or the abyss for a turn or 2. Admittedly being the Abyss has been good enough for Desecration Demon an otherwise usually pretty lackluster card but that's in a deck chalk full of removal. There is a reason proactive decks have a hard time supporting Demon.
--------------------------
Gods Willing and Brave.. Those are good right now because of the push for tempo but only in decks that can leverage them. Mind you in generally I think they are good enough to atleast look playing a couple regardless right now. Brave is probably better in these decks but they might be just a touch too big and not tricky enough to really warrant it's play. Brave works best when you have 9 power in play on T3 pretty much every game. This deck is close, but one removal spell can bottleneck it.. It's better in the 12 1 drop type of decks that don't really look to do much more than that. GW Aggro has more game than that but it's at the cost of a card like Brave not quite doing enough. Basically if you are willing to play 4 drops Brave isn't really as much in your wheelhouse. Especially if the 4 drop isn't white. A curve topper like Hero of Bladehold would be a completely different story. Still I think it is uniquely good enough due to the metagame that it's worth pursuing right now.
Gods Willing is better in a deck that has threats worth protecting. And enough of them that you can't actually afford to play more of them for curve concerns or because you intend to pile on in rapid succession. As a miser's 1 or 2 of it's quite effective at building tempo but you need really swingy effects. Like Willing your Advent with Ajani is swingy. But you need more than that. Think Brave Naya swingy... mind you since that deck is mostly white creatures it actually is a deck that wants Gods Willing but can fully leverage Brave which is the best of both worlds for it.
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@Ryansolid:
Most of what you said is true, but the idea that a card needs to be good in the first two turns it is out or be really hard to remove has been true for a while now (pretty much since Delver). It is actually less true this Standard than in previous ones. It isn't the fact that current removal is so good (it is solid, but not really amazing), it is simply the fact that aren't many creatures that are any good by that standard. Last year had better removal than this year (with the exception of Downfall, making it roughly equal). The difference is that 1-for-1 removal can be effective because there are so few value creatures. There are no Thragtusks, Huntmaster, RestoAngel, or undying creatures that turn
1-for-1 removal into 1-for-1/2. The same standards for evaluating creatures should be used, we just have to set the bar much lower. That is where I think Gideon fits, as a creature who is harder to remove. I would not play Gideon if we had any decent 4-drop creatures with a good ETB, a better 4cmc walker, or a decent god. Nylea doesn't fit in this deck, Karametra is awful. I had Heliod where Gideon is now but was disappointed with him every time I drew him (excluding a single match where the opponent was playing Dictate of Karametra). I really just think we need a hard-to-remove/value creature in the four drop, and Gideon, while not ideal, is the only one we've got.
Hey,
I have been playing GW Aggro since the beginning of Theros.
I stopped playing it when BNG was released, but with Mana Confluence out I have picked it up again.
I just played the following at states and was pretty happy with it.
Let me know what you all think and what changes you might make!
Find room for 4x Advent main. It is that good. I would cut Militant, it just doesn't do much. 3x Ajani has always felt like too many for me - Ajani isn't a walker the opponents remove immediately, and the times when you're trying to top deck another threat outweigh the times when you're digging for Ajani to doublestrike something and finish the game. Scooze can be a solid choice in some metas (I maindeck 1 right now for the life gain and graveyard hate), but it is less aggro than the rest of your deck. 4x Smiter can be OK, but I found Smiter to be slow and smaller than other deck's 4 and 5 drops, making it of limited use. I much prefer Boon Satyr, especially since you can bestow it in a pinch. I am also not a fan of Hunt the Hunter because it generally means the death of your much smaller creatures.
Hey,
I have been playing GW Aggro since the beginning of Theros.
I stopped playing it when BNG was released, but with Mana Confluence out I have picked it up again.
I just played the following at states and was pretty happy with it.
Let me know what you all think and what changes you might make!
@Ryansolid:
Most of what you said is true, but the idea that a card needs to be good in the first two turns it is out or be really hard to remove has been true for a while now (pretty much since Delver). It is actually less true this Standard than in previous ones. It isn't the fact that current removal is so good (it is solid, but not really amazing), it is simply the fact that aren't many creatures that are any good by that standard. Last year had better removal than this year (with the exception of Downfall, making it roughly equal). The difference is that 1-for-1 removal can be effective because there are so few value creatures. There are no Thragtusks, Huntmaster, RestoAngel, or undying creatures that turn
1-for-1 removal into 1-for-1/2. The same standards for evaluating creatures should be used, we just have to set the bar much lower. That is where I think Gideon fits, as a creature who is harder to remove. I would not play Gideon if we had any decent 4-drop creatures with a good ETB, a better 4cmc walker, or a decent god. Nylea doesn't fit in this deck, Karametra is awful. I had Heliod where Gideon is now but was disappointed with him every time I drew him (excluding a single match where the opponent was playing Dictate of Karametra). I really just think we need a hard-to-remove/value creature in the four drop, and Gideon, while not ideal, is the only one we've got.
You mull once a tournament with a 22 land deck that runs 4x Mutavault. And you claim you need 2x colored lands to go for it. I don't know the exact figures, but running only 22 lands means you'll get quite a few one landers/no landers and running 4x mutavault means you'll often get 2 landers where one is a mutavault. You claim you only lost once at a PTQ. So you Top 8'd?
Kailya - How much do you mull? I run 23 lands and I am forced to mulligan a lot because I draw no/1 land hands. If that 1 land was a Mutavault or if I had a basic + mutavault, that would certainly turn it into a tosser. I just don't see how you can get away with running 22 lands and 4x Mutavault unless it's a mono colored deck or just a splash of another color, which this deck is absolutely not, not when you reliably want green AND white turn 1 for your 1 drops.
I am also very against Courser in this deck. We don't need the extra fixing and we don't need fat butts to chump when we're trying to run over the other team. Can be decent against burn but T3 is a little late to be dropping a butt and gaining a life T4. I don't see the point. Boon Satyr would be much better because you can flash it in on Control and also bestow it on a Monstrous'd Fleecemane.
I'll have to agree with you on the Boon Satyr's uses. He's very good, I just never cared for him.
As for mulliganning, I mull once a tournament on average. Of course, I only mulled then because I had 6 lands in hand. If I have 2 color lands in my opening hand I don't care. I'll run it unless I don't have any 1 or 2 drops.
As for Courser, my experience with him has not been as only a "fat butt" but also as a way to make sure I get more lands on the board or get rid of lands in the way. So the life gain is nominal, what matters most is getting lands out of the way. Boon Satyr is good, but from every experience Courser works best in my meta in my deck.
Everyone's meta is different. Maybe where you're from everyone's trying to be hyper competitive and are all Pro Tour players trying to make it to Worlds to be World Champion, it sure sounds like that with the way you talk about PTQs. But here, there's at least 10 really good players and I am among those 10. Of course, Vargis came from here too, and I have my own opinions about him as a person. Arrogant piece of dirt. He left this area on very bad terms with every player here that knows him and we love seeing him dumped on his butt in any tournament he plays in. When he was here he'd actually gloat and put down everyone here. And then when he lost he'd try to act as if the other player was just lucky or if the player somehow cheated. I don't know what he's been like since he left here but a lot of us in the area is glad he's gone. We'd often make decks just to hate him out of even the top 8. He destroyed the modern and legacy scene here, singlehandedly. There's only 5 players that play modern anymore. I have 8 rack, naya zoo, and gr tron. He'd play stupid things like Combo decks like Pod or kikki control. Now I have met Finkel and Kibler, both super nice people. Vargas? Feh, good riddance to him.
For another, some people like me doesn't have time for going pro. For those of us we will be competitive in our own meta. I do go out to other places, but I prefer it here. People are super nice and if we lose we lose. There's close to a dozen people that plays black of one sort or another and I have never lost to a black deck except for B/g devotion. Only control decks to give me problems is UWR control. Since that is the only control deck that gives me problems. Which is anothe reason why I run courser. a 4 toughness can deal with Anger quite nicely and force them to use other removal clearing the way for Brimaz or Ajani. to give them more headaches.
Here's my meta, say there's around 15 really good players, 40 in the average, and another 25 who are new or on a budget.
Out of those I will point out the 15 players.
There's 3 of us who plays Selesnya. 5 playing mono black. And another 5 play control. The last two plays Jund.
And that gets better as I add in 20 more players that plays mono blue, control, white weenie, hexproof, bw humans, and more mono black.
Out of 80 people here, 10 of us play one form of Selesnya or another. I have seen what they do. And Nicol Bolas, none of us play Gideon, not even the bad players. He's just not that great in Selesnya, and at best he's good in control only as sideboard material. In fact in the last year I saw Gideon played maybe a half dozen times and always against an aggro deck. Heck, I listed Garruk, both Ajanis, and Elspeth in the primer, and I totally missed Gideon. By design? Maybe. Or maybe because he's a non-entity in Selesnya.
So finally back to Quacker, Out of the 3 Selesnya players constantly in the top 8 of any tournament, one plays midrange and he's really good. (Nicol Bolas, I think he'd disagree with you about Gideon too) The other is an aggro player that runs Boon Satyrs and he's good too, but he believes my list is a bit stronger.
I don't always play with the same deck, and I am constantly changing my deck around, tweaking it here and there. Dropping 2 coursers, 2 mutavaults (putting 1 plains and forest in place), 2 unflinching courage, and 2 Mentor with 2 Skylasher to place in another mistcutter, 3 deicide, 4 brave, and 2 spears. I still went 4-0 last night (against jund, mono black devotion, mono black aggro, and white weenie). So in other words, it really depends but I think that the deck performs quite well with 22 lands. My only loss in the PtQ last weekend was due to a mana screw then mana flood.
I had been playing Selesnya Aggro in the first half of Theros Standard and abandoned it when MUD, BB of Vizkopa and Pack Rat became more successful. Until lately I've been playing Naya Midrange (non-Domri) over GW, mainly for the Removal.
With Banishing Light in I decided to pick up GW again and tested a few lists/matches. Banishing Light is good, as expected, but Holy Smokes, Setessan Tactics buries MUD! Everything we play fights some MUD creatures for value! Soldier and Voice at least trade with, and everything that has 3 or more Power just kills every creature they play except for Thassa! I'll run 2-3 SB...
Also, Setessan Tactics on an Advent Token spells death for pretty much everything that is played in Standard right now... Blood Baron, Obzedat, Stormbreath, Polukranos, you name it...
I had been playing Selesnya Aggro in the first half of Theros Standard and abandoned it when MUD, BB of Vizkopa and Pack Rat became more successful. Until lately I've been playing Naya Midrange (non-Domri) over GW, mainly for the Removal.
With Banishing Light in I decided to pick up GW again and tested a few lists/matches. Banishing Light is good, as expected, but Holy Smokes, Setessan Tactics buries MUD! Everything we play fights some MUD creatures for value! Soldier and Voice at least trade with, and everything that has 3 or more Power just kills every creature they play except for Thassa! I'll run 2-3 SB...
Also, Setessan Tactics on an Advent Token spells death for pretty much everything that is played in Standard right now... Blood Baron, Obzedat, Stormbreath, Polukranos, you name it...
My problem with Tactics is that it is only good if your creatures are already as big as the opponent's. The place where I really want removal is against Desecration Demon and Stormbreath Dragon. Tactics only kills Stormbreath if you have Polukranos out already, and only favorably kills Demon with a Monstrous Polukranos or Polkranos and another creature that can win a fight with another of their creatures (if the fight is a trade, it is card disadvantage, but if you kill another creature too it becomes a 2-for-2).
The lack of removal besides Selesnya Charm and Banishing Light still make it worth using, especially against aggro, but it just isn't good enough when we need it most.
My problem with Tactics is that it is only good if your creatures are already as big as the opponent's. The place where I really want removal is against Desecration Demon and Stormbreath Dragon. Tactics only kills Stormbreath if you have Polukranos out already, and only favorably kills Demon with a Monstrous Polukranos or Polkranos and another creature that can win a fight with another of their creatures (if the fight is a trade, it is card disadvantage, but if you kill another creature too it becomes a 2-for-2).
The lack of removal besides Selesnya Charm and Banishing Light still make it worth using, especially against aggro, but it just isn't good enough when we need it most.
Setessan Tactics isn't meant to handle big guys, unless those big guys have pro W.
Desecration Demon and Polukranos are a job for Selesnya Charm and Banishing Light, so Tactics doesn't come in vs MBD or Big Gruul. As for Stormbreath, White can't touch him and green has no removal for him outside of Tactics (unless you run Plummet, which is a very narrow SB card right now).
Setessan Tactics is meant to clean up against faster, smaller Aggro decks (like mono U). Trading something against a Madcap-Skilled heroic-dude is a 2v2, 2v3 if you pay the strive for another one of their dudes, fighting a Precinct Captain with anything but Soldier is good, etc., but killing a Master of Waves is the best thing Tactics can do, IMO
You mull once a tournament with a 22 land deck that runs 4x Mutavault. And you claim you need 2x colored lands to go for it. I don't know the exact figures, but running only 22 lands means you'll get quite a few one landers/no landers and running 4x mutavault means you'll often get 2 landers where one is a mutavault. You claim you only lost once at a PTQ. So you Top 8'd?
I ran 23 lands, and I drew too many lands. 21 lands and I got mana screwed. 22 is perfect for me. May not be for you, but it is for me.
Event Type: Magic Grand Prix Trial
Event Multiplier: x 3
Players: 39
Participation Points: 3
Format: Standard
Location: Manteca, California, United States
Place: 3
Sanctioning Number: 14-05-5054437
Match History:
1 Bye (+9)
2 Win (+9) Corren, Nate
3 Win (+9) Burall, Joshua
4 Win (+9) brewer, robert
5 Win (+9) Bowers, Kenny
6 Loss (+0) Garibay, Rogelio
Planeswalker Points Earned:
Seasonal: 48
Lifetime: 48
My problem with Tactics is that it is only good if your creatures are already as big as the opponent's. The place where I really want removal is against Desecration Demon and Stormbreath Dragon. Tactics only kills Stormbreath if you have Polukranos out already, and only favorably kills Demon with a Monstrous Polukranos or Polkranos and another creature that can win a fight with another of their creatures (if the fight is a trade, it is card disadvantage, but if you kill another creature too it becomes a 2-for-2).
The lack of removal besides Selesnya Charm and Banishing Light still make it worth using, especially against aggro, but it just isn't good enough when we need it most.
Setessan Tactics isn't meant to handle big guys, unless those big guys have pro W.
Desecration Demon and Polukranos are a job for Selesnya Charm and Banishing Light, so Tactics doesn't come in vs MBD or Big Gruul. As for Stormbreath, White can't touch him and green has no removal for him outside of Tactics (unless you run Plummet, which is a very narrow SB card right now).
Setessan Tactics is meant to clean up against faster, smaller Aggro decks (like mono U). Trading something against a Madcap-Skilled heroic-dude is a 2v2, 2v3 if you pay the strive for another one of their dudes, fighting a Precinct Captain with anything but Soldier is good, etc., but killing a Master of Waves is the best thing Tactics can do, IMO
I find I don't need the help in most aggro matches, as simply having bigger guys is often enough. I typically only lose to aggro when they get excellent draws including several Ghor-Clan Rampager. I think Tactics was originally suggested as a mainboard card. As a sideboard for MUD it is excellent, I just don't need the help there very much. Mistcutter is enough and good vs control as well. If RG monsters gets more popular around me I will definitely start playing it. There are only two people who play it at my lgs, they both have Sormbreath in their deck, but neither is particularly successful (one is just not very good and the other is slightly below a 50% win rate vs MBD, the most common deck in my meta
Sixth round, 1-2. Mono Black splash green. First game was over so quickly, he downfalled a voice with a +1/+1 counter on my turn (I would have taken him out with lethal damage but I think he did the downfall to try and stall to get an answer). Three elemental tokens made. Side out 2 Godsend, side in 2 Ajani, Mentor. Game 2, mana screw, sat on 1 land the entire game. Game 3, I kept a 4 land hand and drew 4 more lands before I played Ajani Mentor and even there Ajani bricked me with 4 land clump. If I didn't get flooded out game 3 I think I would have won. 4 lands, Brimaz, Voice, and Mentor in opening hand. Only answers he had were downfalls, Abrupt Decay, no Thoughtsiezes or anything. That game was decided very quickly when all I could do was draw land after land.
However, he lost to a Selesnya midrange deck in the final match. Was awesome to see another GW deck go to top 4 and win it all. Even better, I beat him in round 4. So yeah, goes to show that the decks do perform. I took 3rd, Rogello was 2nd, and Robert with GW midrange took 1st.
Why did you keep the 1-lander in g2? The 4 land in g3 was risky, but with good threats for the others and after a game stuck on one it is understandable. Also, do you know if the winning GW list is posted somewhere?
Why did you keep the 1-lander in g2? The 4 land in g3 was risky, but with good threats for the others and after a game stuck on one it is understandable. Also, do you know if the winning GW list is posted somewhere?
I kept the 1 lander because I had 2 Voices, a banishing Light, Ajani, Advent, and an Experiment One. It looked like a perfect nut draw. All except I had 1 land.
2nd, @Quaker.
Advent is too slow for g1 and shines the most postboard when games get slower, you inevitably hit your 4th land and your opponent has cards like lifebane zombie and verdict.
Dryad Militant is important for tempo and Ajani gives reach. In the matchups where they are bad, they are still fine g1 and then you board them out.
Scooze fills a spot on the curve when you are beating down against control and is insane vs other aggressive decks.
Smiter is easy to cast and is bigger than everything else at 3 mana. The text isn't great, but it isn't irrelevant either. The most important thing is to have a creature on 1, 2 and 3.
Boon Satyr is fine, I used to play more copies, but it usually isn't very good on 3 mana. It is best when bestowed, and I really don't want many, if any 5 mana spells in a 23 land deck.
Hunt the Hunter is an insane sideboard card vs other green creature decks and your creatures don't stay smaller for long when you give them +2/+2. If you 2-for-1 yourself, something else is wrong.
3rd, about Setessan Tactics.
This card is best vs non-black devotion strategies.
Keep your creature count high.
4th, @Kaiyla
I would keep that hand only on the draw and if it was a dual land. On the play it is way too risky.
Also, with all the expensive spells you need to hit a running lands which is really improbable.
Find room for 4x Advent main. It is that good. I would cut Militant, it just doesn't do much. 3x Ajani has always felt like too many for me - Ajani isn't a walker the opponents remove immediately, and the times when you're trying to top deck another threat outweigh the times when you're digging for Ajani to doublestrike something and finish the game. Scooze can be a solid choice in some metas (I maindeck 1 right now for the life gain and graveyard hate), but it is less aggro than the rest of your deck. 4x Smiter can be OK, but I found Smiter to be slow and smaller than other deck's 4 and 5 drops, making it of limited use. I much prefer Boon Satyr, especially since you can bestow it in a pinch. I am also not a fan of Hunt the Hunter because it generally means the death of your much smaller creatures.
Hey,
I have been playing GW Aggro since the beginning of Theros.
I stopped playing it when BNG was released, but with Mana Confluence out I have picked it up again.
I just played the following at states and was pretty happy with it.
Let me know what you all think and what changes you might make!
About Setessan Tactics: The card is better when your deck is still mostly creatures, so don't overboard on removal. In an archetype like, this you really want to run a minimal amount of removal. You should really only need a little to clear their first big blocker, but you might need a little more vs a deck with a powerful engine like U, G or R devotion decks.
You understand Lifebane Zombie is a stone cold blank when you have Advent in hand? And while G/W is quick, it is not so quick that a 4 drop is unplayable. And you do understand that Advent is the ultimate Verdict hoser? You hold until they play verdict and then EOT Wurm. Then attack. Then kill them. I mean really?
2nd, @Quaker.
Advent is too slow for g1 and shines the most postboard when games get slower, you inevitably hit your 4th land and your opponent has cards like lifebane zombie and verdict.
Dryad Militant is important for tempo and Ajani gives reach. In the matchups where they are bad, they are still fine g1 and then you board them out.
Scooze fills a spot on the curve when you are beating down against control and is insane vs other aggressive decks.
Smiter is easy to cast and is bigger than everything else at 3 mana. The text isn't great, but it isn't irrelevant either. The most important thing is to have a creature on 1, 2 and 3.
Boon Satyr is fine, I used to play more copies, but it usually isn't very good on 3 mana. It is best when bestowed, and I really don't want many, if any 5 mana spells in a 23 land deck.
Hunt the Hunter is an insane sideboard card vs other green creature decks and your creatures don't stay smaller for long when you give them +2/+2. If you 2-for-1 yourself, something else is wrong.
3rd, about Setessan Tactics.
This card is best vs non-black devotion strategies.
Keep your creature count high.
4th, @Kaiyla
I would keep that hand only on the draw and if it was a dual land. On the play it is way too risky.
Also, with all the expensive spells you need to hit a running lands which is really improbable.
Find room for 4x Advent main. It is that good. I would cut Militant, it just doesn't do much. 3x Ajani has always felt like too many for me - Ajani isn't a walker the opponents remove immediately, and the times when you're trying to top deck another threat outweigh the times when you're digging for Ajani to doublestrike something and finish the game. Scooze can be a solid choice in some metas (I maindeck 1 right now for the life gain and graveyard hate), but it is less aggro than the rest of your deck. 4x Smiter can be OK, but I found Smiter to be slow and smaller than other deck's 4 and 5 drops, making it of limited use. I much prefer Boon Satyr, especially since you can bestow it in a pinch. I am also not a fan of Hunt the Hunter because it generally means the death of your much smaller creatures.
Hey,
I have been playing GW Aggro since the beginning of Theros.
I stopped playing it when BNG was released, but with Mana Confluence out I have picked it up again.
I just played the following at states and was pretty happy with it.
Let me know what you all think and what changes you might make!
About Setessan Tactics: The card is better when your deck is still mostly creatures, so don't overboard on removal. In an archetype like, this you really want to run a minimal amount of removal. You should really only need a little to clear their first big blocker, but you might need a little more vs a deck with a powerful engine like U, G or R devotion decks.
That isn't a PTQ and while I congratulate you on your decent placement, this was a 6 round tournament smaller than most FNMs. Running 22 lands with 4 Mutavault in this deck is just not a solid plan for the long run. You can say it works fine for you, that's great, but I guarantee you that if you play enough matches you will also get color screwed more than those Mutavaults prove useful.
In any case, even though this is the competitive subforum, your experiences with the deck are just as valid as mine. I happen to think this deck is not well placed right now. I find myself just being overpowered by Jund monsters and post board Esper can be nasty to beat. A couple of Nyx Fleece Rams will slow you down in a hurry. I'd still take it to a large event because it's a deck I know well, but I think as standard progresses other decks will arise to make this deck untenable.
You mull once a tournament with a 22 land deck that runs 4x Mutavault. And you claim you need 2x colored lands to go for it. I don't know the exact figures, but running only 22 lands means you'll get quite a few one landers/no landers and running 4x mutavault means you'll often get 2 landers where one is a mutavault. You claim you only lost once at a PTQ. So you Top 8'd?
I ran 23 lands, and I drew too many lands. 21 lands and I got mana screwed. 22 is perfect for me. May not be for you, but it is for me.
Event Type: Magic Grand Prix Trial
Event Multiplier: x 3
Players: 39
Participation Points: 3
Format: Standard
Location: Manteca, California, United States
Place: 3
Sanctioning Number: 14-05-5054437
Match History:
1 Bye (+9)
2 Win (+9) Corren, Nate
3 Win (+9) Burall, Joshua
4 Win (+9) brewer, robert
5 Win (+9) Bowers, Kenny
6 Loss (+0) Garibay, Rogelio
Planeswalker Points Earned:
Seasonal: 48
Lifetime: 48
You understand Lifebane Zombie is a stone cold blank when you have Advent in hand? And while G/W is quick, it is not so quick that a 4 drop is unplayable.
Yes, I do understand that, thats exactly why I said Advent shines post board when you know you are facing cards like Lifebane Zombie and Verdict.
Now that we have Mana Confluence and Brimaz, GW is actually so quick that a 4 drop is unnecessary. Especially g1 when people are without their anti-aggro cards.
Also, with 23 lands, you don't consistently hit your 1st four land drops.
When Advent was played by Wescoe at the block PT and Shrout top8ed the Invitational, there were not better options, the mana was clunky, and Revelation decks were a larger presence in the field. Now we have more options in the curve, better mana and the field is a lot more diverse.
Having the most streamlined curve is where you want to be for game 1, and then you sideboard Advent in when it is appropriate.
That isn't a PTQ and while I congratulate you on your decent placement, this was a 6 round tournament smaller than most FNMs.
I would wager than most FNMs are less than 39 players. I've never been to one with that many players.
He's from Nashville, which is a city of 1+ million. In cities that large there are large FNMs. I've been to a few in San Jose or San Francisco and there was an average of 80-100 people at a time. But I live in Tracy, 10 minutes from Manteca. The two cities combined have around 125k people. So a showing that large is quite nice. Here, there's an average of 30 people for FNM standard, and FNM draft there's another 30 or so people. War Torn has seating for 250 and we saw that in the Journey prereleases. States in Montclair had 143 people on Saturday, and I would have played had I not grabbed the wrong deck. D'oh! However I stayed, played EDH, Modern, a bit of Legacy. Watched people play. And I'll tell you it was sobering to see around 50 people play mono back devotion alone. Another 10 were playing some black variant. 30+ others were playing what's popular. And another 30 or so were playing GW Selesnya. It was a nice sight to see.
You understand Lifebane Zombie is a stone cold blank when you have Advent in hand? And while G/W is quick, it is not so quick that a 4 drop is unplayable.
Yes, I do understand that, thats exactly why I said Advent shines post board when you know you are facing cards like Lifebane Zombie and Verdict.
Now that we have Mana Confluence and Brimaz, GW is actually so quick that a 4 drop is unnecessary. Especially g1 when people are without their anti-aggro cards.
Also, with 23 lands, you don't consistently hit your 1st four land drops.
When Advent was played by Wescoe at the block PT and Shrout top8ed the Invitational, there were not better options, the mana was clunky, and Revelation decks were a larger presence in the field. Now we have more options in the curve, better mana and the field is a lot more diverse.
Having the most streamlined curve is where you want to be for game 1, and then you sideboard Advent in when it is appropriate.
Except Verdict is a maindeck card...Lifebane is mainboarded in mono-B Aggro and I've even had mono-B control play it mainboard when G or W based midrange or aggressive white decks were popular. If you find yourself siding things out for it often then to me that's an indicator that it's better suited mainboard.
I guess what I am disagreeing with mostly is the idea that this is a "fast" aggro deck. Selesnya lacks haste, removal, evasion, reach, and burn. We have cards that can pretend to be those things, but they aren't as reliable. What we do have are efficient threats that can give a good beating early on while still being able to compete in the late game. For that reason I'm not a fan of your 2 Dryads. This isn't a deck like the R, B, and W aggro decks that want 3 2-power creatures on turn 2. Looking at your decklist, you have 13 3-drops including Ajani and Banishing Light. That's not necessarily a bad thing since there are a lot of good options there, but it's not exactly the sign of a hyper-aggressive deck. Sure, with 23 lands you run the risk of having an Advent stuck in hand, and that's happened to me before, but I've won far more games off the back of a 5/5 tramply Wurm than I've lost due to uncastable Advents. It's good in every matchup, and now the mana is even better with Confluence.
The meta is still shaking out. States never defines the meta. Very few of the competitive players I know give a damn about states. Our deck can steal some wins when people are still fine tuning their decks with the new set because we're aggro and we steal wins from people that fall behind a turn. If MUD becomes dominant again, our deck will shine. Control too. If it's more like Jund Monsters everywhere, we're screwed.
I am not hopeful, but we'll see. I do like that Star City IQ list. I'm running something very similar. Also, please note no Mutavaults there either and she was running 23 lands. I think the color dilution and the chance to put yourself behind a turn on mana because you attacked with your 'Vault and they killed it are simply not worth it. Flooding out often would make Vault more attractive, but I daresay that flooding is a rarer problem then not being able to close the deal with 1 more attack from a 2/2.
That isn't a PTQ and while I congratulate you on your decent placement, this was a 6 round tournament smaller than most FNMs.
I would wager than most FNMs are less than 39 players. I've never been to one with that many players.
He's from Nashville, which is a city of 1+ million. In cities that large there are large FNMs. I've been to a few in San Jose or San Francisco and there was an average of 80-100 people at a time. But I live in Tracy, 10 minutes from Manteca. The two cities combined have around 125k people. So a showing that large is quite nice. Here, there's an average of 30 people for FNM standard, and FNM draft there's another 30 or so people. War Torn has seating for 250 and we saw that in the Journey prereleases. States in Montclair had 143 people on Saturday, and I would have played had I not grabbed the wrong deck. D'oh! However I stayed, played EDH, Modern, a bit of Legacy. Watched people play. And I'll tell you it was sobering to see around 50 people play mono back devotion alone. Another 10 were playing some black variant. 30+ others were playing what's popular. And another 30 or so were playing GW Selesnya. It was a nice sight to see.
I wholeheartedly disagree. I have never played a game where Wurm was a dead card UNLESS I don't hit the right land drop or I draw it late in the game when Ajani is my only out. That is true of every other card in my deck. A flash 5/5 trampling wurm is never a bad call. I mean, what are you playing in lieu of it? 2x Militants and Scoozes and an extra Ajani? All of that stuff was around when Shrout and Wescoe championed this list as a MUD killer. What's changed on your list besides banishing light that makes Wurm suboptimal main now? And you are still running 23 lands, which seems less than optimal if you curve out at 3.
You understand Lifebane Zombie is a stone cold blank when you have Advent in hand? And while G/W is quick, it is not so quick that a 4 drop is unplayable.
Yes, I do understand that, thats exactly why I said Advent shines post board when you know you are facing cards like Lifebane Zombie and Verdict.
Now that we have Mana Confluence and Brimaz, GW is actually so quick that a 4 drop is unnecessary. Especially g1 when people are without their anti-aggro cards.
Also, with 23 lands, you don't consistently hit your 1st four land drops.
When Advent was played by Wescoe at the block PT and Shrout top8ed the Invitational, there were not better options, the mana was clunky, and Revelation decks were a larger presence in the field. Now we have more options in the curve, better mana and the field is a lot more diverse.
Having the most streamlined curve is where you want to be for game 1, and then you sideboard Advent in when it is appropriate.
I take it that's you? Congratulations, but since you played the deck, why don't you tell us what you'd change and what you liked. Were you actually killing people on T3?
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1. Value is all derived off stay in play and dump more mana in effects or conditional turn to turn effects. ETB's are not great generally unless they promote devotion. This means Haste, Regeneration, Flash, whatever you want to call Voice's ability are the only way to really fight with that immediacy. Jund Monsters is one of the few decks in the format trying to fight on pure quality of Threat density but it's barely over threshold.
2. In order to keep devotion in check without making it not viable there is an incredible amount of 1 for 1 removal. It is pretty hard to just play good threats turn after turn and hope to win unless they are of the type mentioned above. Basically even if manage to land something big and swingy that doesn't have the above it basically has one turn to do work. Ever wonder why Brimaz a seemingly great card hasn't seen nearly as much play as it should. It isn't swingy enough. Atleast Polukranos can conceptually untap take out a little guy and get in for 7.
3. Using above basically no creature itself or no direct combination of cards is worth investing mana into. I'm basically saying Monstrous and Heroic are really awkward mechanics unless they let you set up a board state where you can just one time the opponent. Similarly any sort of equipment that you can't play and equip in one turn by say T4 is a waste of time. However, if that means playing 1 drop, 2 drop, equipment, equip.. I'm pretty sure that is a waste of time.. If it was 1 drop, 3 drop, Equipment + Equip (or even Equipment, Equip + 3 drop) it might be ok. The best way to fight this no single threat matters is to play a tempo game. Expect every creature doing anything relevant to die, but that they might not be able to keep it all down or kill the last one.
Admittedly with all 3 sets out now the format as got just a tiny bit stronger. Maybe enough to flex some of these constraints, but it means stuff like expensive Equipment that doesn't protect the creature equipped with it, or vanilla creatures or effects that do nothing to the board over 4 mana are a waste of time if untapping with them doesn't basically mean I win the game. Unfortunately in an aggressive midrange shell you probably have to play atleast a handful of these creatures but I think you have to prioritize them in a way that the one that can do the most work if it survives one turn. By that ordering of 4 drops it's clear why Polukranos usually takes precedence. Advent is actually up there because it's time window works out generally to 2 attacks unlike the others (EoT Flash is almost like psuedo haste) or possibly a surprise block. Even something as terribly awkward as Reaper of the Wilds usually is pretty good if you can untap with it since it means it's generally hard to kill and is good for 4 damage a turn or it's going to take out something bigger and scry. Ghor Clan Rampager as cast isn't quite good enough, but the Bloodrush makes it atleast have a haste throw away value. Xenagos, the Reveler atleast has value with splitting where the removal/damage goes if a 2/2 is reasonable rate. I suspect Deadbridge Goliath is more playable than Gideon. The biggest benefit of Gideon right now is that it dodges both Lifebane Zombie and Abrupt Decay which gives it a slight edge over say Advent (which gets killed by Decay, but let's face it that's one less decay of Banishing Light and they should be running those out at your 1 to 3 drops before that point). I like that it's kind of awkward for say burn, but playing against any aggressive deck if you don't have a a mass way to approach it basically either a fog for a turn not of your choosing (a huge difference from old Gideon) or the abyss for a turn or 2. Admittedly being the Abyss has been good enough for Desecration Demon an otherwise usually pretty lackluster card but that's in a deck chalk full of removal. There is a reason proactive decks have a hard time supporting Demon.
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Gods Willing and Brave.. Those are good right now because of the push for tempo but only in decks that can leverage them. Mind you in generally I think they are good enough to atleast look playing a couple regardless right now. Brave is probably better in these decks but they might be just a touch too big and not tricky enough to really warrant it's play. Brave works best when you have 9 power in play on T3 pretty much every game. This deck is close, but one removal spell can bottleneck it.. It's better in the 12 1 drop type of decks that don't really look to do much more than that. GW Aggro has more game than that but it's at the cost of a card like Brave not quite doing enough. Basically if you are willing to play 4 drops Brave isn't really as much in your wheelhouse. Especially if the 4 drop isn't white. A curve topper like Hero of Bladehold would be a completely different story. Still I think it is uniquely good enough due to the metagame that it's worth pursuing right now.
Gods Willing is better in a deck that has threats worth protecting. And enough of them that you can't actually afford to play more of them for curve concerns or because you intend to pile on in rapid succession. As a miser's 1 or 2 of it's quite effective at building tempo but you need really swingy effects. Like Willing your Advent with Ajani is swingy. But you need more than that. Think Brave Naya swingy... mind you since that deck is mostly white creatures it actually is a deck that wants Gods Willing but can fully leverage Brave which is the best of both worlds for it.
GWU Knightfall Modern
UW Tempo Legacy
UGR Burning Wish Cobra Vintage
Most of what you said is true, but the idea that a card needs to be good in the first two turns it is out or be really hard to remove has been true for a while now (pretty much since Delver). It is actually less true this Standard than in previous ones. It isn't the fact that current removal is so good (it is solid, but not really amazing), it is simply the fact that aren't many creatures that are any good by that standard. Last year had better removal than this year (with the exception of Downfall, making it roughly equal). The difference is that 1-for-1 removal can be effective because there are so few value creatures. There are no Thragtusks, Huntmaster, RestoAngel, or undying creatures that turn
1-for-1 removal into 1-for-1/2. The same standards for evaluating creatures should be used, we just have to set the bar much lower. That is where I think Gideon fits, as a creature who is harder to remove. I would not play Gideon if we had any decent 4-drop creatures with a good ETB, a better 4cmc walker, or a decent god. Nylea doesn't fit in this deck, Karametra is awful. I had Heliod where Gideon is now but was disappointed with him every time I drew him (excluding a single match where the opponent was playing Dictate of Karametra). I really just think we need a hard-to-remove/value creature in the four drop, and Gideon, while not ideal, is the only one we've got.
I have been playing GW Aggro since the beginning of Theros.
I stopped playing it when BNG was released, but with Mana Confluence out I have picked it up again.
I just played the following at states and was pretty happy with it.
Let me know what you all think and what changes you might make!
4 Experiment One
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
2 Dryad Militant
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Fleecemane Lion
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Loxodon Smiter
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1 Boon Satyr
4 Selesnya Charm
3 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
2 Banishing Light
Lands (23)
4 Temple Garden
4 Mana Confluence
4 Temple of Plenty
5 Plains
5 Forest
1 Rogue's Passage
3 God's Willing
1 Boon Satyr
3 Advent of the Wurm
3 Unflinching Courage
1 Archangel of Thune
3 Hunt the Hunter
1 Setessan Tactics
With Banishing Light in I decided to pick up GW again and tested a few lists/matches. Banishing Light is good, as expected, but Holy Smokes, Setessan Tactics buries MUD! Everything we play fights some MUD creatures for value! Soldier and Voice at least trade with, and everything that has 3 or more Power just kills every creature they play except for Thassa! I'll run 2-3 SB...
Also, Setessan Tactics on an Advent Token spells death for pretty much everything that is played in Standard right now... Blood Baron, Obzedat, Stormbreath, Polukranos, you name it...
My problem with Tactics is that it is only good if your creatures are already as big as the opponent's. The place where I really want removal is against Desecration Demon and Stormbreath Dragon. Tactics only kills Stormbreath if you have Polukranos out already, and only favorably kills Demon with a Monstrous Polukranos or Polkranos and another creature that can win a fight with another of their creatures (if the fight is a trade, it is card disadvantage, but if you kill another creature too it becomes a 2-for-2).
The lack of removal besides Selesnya Charm and Banishing Light still make it worth using, especially against aggro, but it just isn't good enough when we need it most.
Setessan Tactics isn't meant to handle big guys, unless those big guys have pro W.
Desecration Demon and Polukranos are a job for Selesnya Charm and Banishing Light, so Tactics doesn't come in vs MBD or Big Gruul. As for Stormbreath, White can't touch him and green has no removal for him outside of Tactics (unless you run Plummet, which is a very narrow SB card right now).
Setessan Tactics is meant to clean up against faster, smaller Aggro decks (like mono U). Trading something against a Madcap-Skilled heroic-dude is a 2v2, 2v3 if you pay the strive for another one of their dudes, fighting a Precinct Captain with anything but Soldier is good, etc., but killing a Master of Waves is the best thing Tactics can do, IMO
I ran 23 lands, and I drew too many lands. 21 lands and I got mana screwed. 22 is perfect for me. May not be for you, but it is for me.
Event Type: Magic Grand Prix Trial
Event Multiplier: x 3
Players: 39
Participation Points: 3
Format: Standard
Location: Manteca, California, United States
Place: 3
Sanctioning Number: 14-05-5054437
Match History:
1 Bye (+9)
2 Win (+9) Corren, Nate
3 Win (+9) Burall, Joshua
4 Win (+9) brewer, robert
5 Win (+9) Bowers, Kenny
6 Loss (+0) Garibay, Rogelio
Planeswalker Points Earned:
Seasonal: 48
Lifetime: 48
I find I don't need the help in most aggro matches, as simply having bigger guys is often enough. I typically only lose to aggro when they get excellent draws including several Ghor-Clan Rampager. I think Tactics was originally suggested as a mainboard card. As a sideboard for MUD it is excellent, I just don't need the help there very much. Mistcutter is enough and good vs control as well. If RG monsters gets more popular around me I will definitely start playing it. There are only two people who play it at my lgs, they both have Sormbreath in their deck, but neither is particularly successful (one is just not very good and the other is slightly below a 50% win rate vs MBD, the most common deck in my meta
Kaiyla, what was your loss against?
My own deck.
Sixth round, 1-2. Mono Black splash green. First game was over so quickly, he downfalled a voice with a +1/+1 counter on my turn (I would have taken him out with lethal damage but I think he did the downfall to try and stall to get an answer). Three elemental tokens made. Side out 2 Godsend, side in 2 Ajani, Mentor. Game 2, mana screw, sat on 1 land the entire game. Game 3, I kept a 4 land hand and drew 4 more lands before I played Ajani Mentor and even there Ajani bricked me with 4 land clump. If I didn't get flooded out game 3 I think I would have won. 4 lands, Brimaz, Voice, and Mentor in opening hand. Only answers he had were downfalls, Abrupt Decay, no Thoughtsiezes or anything. That game was decided very quickly when all I could do was draw land after land.
However, he lost to a Selesnya midrange deck in the final match. Was awesome to see another GW deck go to top 4 and win it all. Even better, I beat him in round 4. So yeah, goes to show that the decks do perform. I took 3rd, Rogello was 2nd, and Robert with GW midrange took 1st.
I kept the 1 lander because I had 2 Voices, a banishing Light, Ajani, Advent, and an Experiment One. It looked like a perfect nut draw. All except I had 1 land.
As for the midrange, I did get his list.
Here is his list:
4 Temple of Plenty
4 Temple Garden
3 Mutavault
7 Forest
6 Plains
Creatures:
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Courser of Kruphix
3 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Kalonian Hydra
2 Archangel of Thune
2 Polukranos, World Eater
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Banishing Light
2 Deicide
2 Setessan Tactics
1 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
3 Nyx-Fleece Ram
2 Deicide
2 Launch the Fleet
1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4 Fiendslayer Paladin
2 Launch the Fleet
http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/frank-analysis-how-many-colored-mana-sources-do-you-need-to-consistently-cast-your-spells/
2nd, @Quaker.
Advent is too slow for g1 and shines the most postboard when games get slower, you inevitably hit your 4th land and your opponent has cards like lifebane zombie and verdict.
Dryad Militant is important for tempo and Ajani gives reach. In the matchups where they are bad, they are still fine g1 and then you board them out.
Scooze fills a spot on the curve when you are beating down against control and is insane vs other aggressive decks.
Smiter is easy to cast and is bigger than everything else at 3 mana. The text isn't great, but it isn't irrelevant either. The most important thing is to have a creature on 1, 2 and 3.
Boon Satyr is fine, I used to play more copies, but it usually isn't very good on 3 mana. It is best when bestowed, and I really don't want many, if any 5 mana spells in a 23 land deck.
Hunt the Hunter is an insane sideboard card vs other green creature decks and your creatures don't stay smaller for long when you give them +2/+2. If you 2-for-1 yourself, something else is wrong.
3rd, about Setessan Tactics.
This card is best vs non-black devotion strategies.
Keep your creature count high.
4th, @Kaiyla
I would keep that hand only on the draw and if it was a dual land. On the play it is way too risky.
Also, with all the expensive spells you need to hit a running lands which is really improbable.
In any case, even though this is the competitive subforum, your experiences with the deck are just as valid as mine. I happen to think this deck is not well placed right now. I find myself just being overpowered by Jund monsters and post board Esper can be nasty to beat. A couple of Nyx Fleece Rams will slow you down in a hurry. I'd still take it to a large event because it's a deck I know well, but I think as standard progresses other decks will arise to make this deck untenable.
Yes, I do understand that, thats exactly why I said Advent shines post board when you know you are facing cards like Lifebane Zombie and Verdict.
Now that we have Mana Confluence and Brimaz, GW is actually so quick that a 4 drop is unnecessary. Especially g1 when people are without their anti-aggro cards.
Also, with 23 lands, you don't consistently hit your 1st four land drops.
When Advent was played by Wescoe at the block PT and Shrout top8ed the Invitational, there were not better options, the mana was clunky, and Revelation decks were a larger presence in the field. Now we have more options in the curve, better mana and the field is a lot more diverse.
Having the most streamlined curve is where you want to be for game 1, and then you sideboard Advent in when it is appropriate.
I would wager than most FNMs are less than 39 players. I've never been to one with that many players.
He's from Nashville, which is a city of 1+ million. In cities that large there are large FNMs. I've been to a few in San Jose or San Francisco and there was an average of 80-100 people at a time. But I live in Tracy, 10 minutes from Manteca. The two cities combined have around 125k people. So a showing that large is quite nice. Here, there's an average of 30 people for FNM standard, and FNM draft there's another 30 or so people. War Torn has seating for 250 and we saw that in the Journey prereleases. States in Montclair had 143 people on Saturday, and I would have played had I not grabbed the wrong deck. D'oh! However I stayed, played EDH, Modern, a bit of Legacy. Watched people play. And I'll tell you it was sobering to see around 50 people play mono back devotion alone. Another 10 were playing some black variant. 30+ others were playing what's popular. And another 30 or so were playing GW Selesnya. It was a nice sight to see.
Of course, here's a deck that's GW aggro that took 1st recently. http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=66624
Top 8 in State: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=67197
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=67126 - G/W aggro took first in Penn State
What took 1st? MUD. And only a single black deck was in the top 8 in California. Why's that?
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=67159
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=67225
Intriguing... GW Aggro looks like it top 8'd in every state tournament over the weekend. Nice, eh?
Except Verdict is a maindeck card...Lifebane is mainboarded in mono-B Aggro and I've even had mono-B control play it mainboard when G or W based midrange or aggressive white decks were popular. If you find yourself siding things out for it often then to me that's an indicator that it's better suited mainboard.
I guess what I am disagreeing with mostly is the idea that this is a "fast" aggro deck. Selesnya lacks haste, removal, evasion, reach, and burn. We have cards that can pretend to be those things, but they aren't as reliable. What we do have are efficient threats that can give a good beating early on while still being able to compete in the late game. For that reason I'm not a fan of your 2 Dryads. This isn't a deck like the R, B, and W aggro decks that want 3 2-power creatures on turn 2. Looking at your decklist, you have 13 3-drops including Ajani and Banishing Light. That's not necessarily a bad thing since there are a lot of good options there, but it's not exactly the sign of a hyper-aggressive deck. Sure, with 23 lands you run the risk of having an Advent stuck in hand, and that's happened to me before, but I've won far more games off the back of a 5/5 tramply Wurm than I've lost due to uncastable Advents. It's good in every matchup, and now the mana is even better with Confluence.
I am not hopeful, but we'll see. I do like that Star City IQ list. I'm running something very similar. Also, please note no Mutavaults there either and she was running 23 lands. I think the color dilution and the chance to put yourself behind a turn on mana because you attacked with your 'Vault and they killed it are simply not worth it. Flooding out often would make Vault more attractive, but I daresay that flooding is a rarer problem then not being able to close the deal with 1 more attack from a 2/2.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=67126
I take it that's you? Congratulations, but since you played the deck, why don't you tell us what you'd change and what you liked. Were you actually killing people on T3?