I haven't really seen anything quite like this list, but I've really been wanting to throw Arlinn Kord in a deck, and I've recently lost games to Reality Smashers, so this is the somewhat straightforward result of that. I want to include more interaction, which of course green is not the best at. Maybe Rabid Bite somewhere in the 75 and perhaps Oath of Chandra and Fiery Impulse against aggro. The only other lament is that there is no RG manland for Advocate to power up.
Manabase may not be perfect. Could probably use some advice there too, but the point is to have the colorless available to support thought-knots and reality smashers, while also being able to regularly cast Thunderbreak. Thunderbreak and Reality Smasher here are both evasive mostly for the sake of opposing planeswalkers, and are nice for their penalties for targeting.
So, having done some testing the deck is actually pretty aggressive. Suffers from a lack of interaction, though that is the weakness that GR often has. So far the manabase has actually been alright, though I sorely miss having a manland in here with the advocates. Tempting to jam in some lumbering falls, but the only things I could take out are colorless sources so I couldn't run more than 2 I would think and then at the cost of increasing the number of painlands.
Is this thread exclusively for Arlin Kord decks or for any gruul midrange decks? I have a gruul brew that is somewhat niche with elemental Bond bit dont know if that fits here.
I have looked around the web for a standard Gruul deck, or any deck using Elemental Bond to some success but haven't found any so far. Spike players tend to stay away from cards that don't alter the boardstate upfront in standard, which is why cards like these usually don't see a home outside combo decks. Because the card is a hefty investment of a 3 CMC card that doesn't have an upfront value, for it to be worth including, it requires a deck which utilizes the card to it's full potential. It requires the deck to be able to produce bodies with 3+ power at a high rate, preferably one every turn. I can see either a GR or GW shell doing this - note that flickering from Eldrazi Displacer and Eerie Interlude satisfies Elemental Bond. I chose to go the Gruul route however due to the immense CA Chandra, Flamecaller can produce with her +1. Besides Chandra, the deck needs a certain density of creatures with 3+ power to function. The challenge here is to find enough quality creatures that have 3+ power and are mana efficient. The beatiful thing with Elemental Bond is that it provides built-in resilience to each of our creatures, so when choosing creatures we can instead go for powerful bodies and utility rather than resilience.
The deck is no CoCo so it's not neccesary to include over 24 creaters or the like. Instead, it's more important to smooth out the land drops and the curve so that the 3rd land on turn 3 and preferably 4th land on turn 4 is dropped. At 3 CMC is where Elemental Bond is activated and many of our creatures. Since casting Elemental bond on turn 3 means that we wait until turn 4 to stabilize and cast a threat, it's crucial that our game plan is not delayed any more turns. Stumble on 2 lands is a death sentence. For this reason, I suggest including 1 CMC Oath of Nissa and/or 2 CMC Seek the Wilds as there is little completetition at those places in the curve, and they help with land drop 3 and 4. Later in the game, these cards are not dead, as you can choose to dig up a threat instead. Oath of Nissa allows for tricks such as including Sarkhan Unbroken a planeswalker that otherwise finds it hard to find a home. In this deck, his +1 ramps into Chandra or more creatures, while his -2 produces a 4/4 dragon and thus CA. For the delirium package, another option is Traverse the Ulvenwald, a better version of Seek the Wilds if you have delirium.
Besides creatures, planeswalkers and fixing, the deck needs some much-needed interactions. As gruul players, you know how hard it can be in a format where white and black removal rules supreme. Here are my suggestions for interactions:
Atarka's Command (not optimal, but can kill fliers when they swing and sometimes you have abundant lands on hand due to the card draw)
Draconic Roar (often seen as one of the lesser bad burn spells if combined with dragons)
Exquisite Firecraft (3 mana sorcery for 4 damage is not optimal, but it's what we got these days)
Sadly, I don't own any Chandras or Sarkhans so I haven't been able to test this deck outside casual play yet. Since no one has used Elemental Bond yet, I'm guessing it's because it simply isn't viable in competative play.
I'm not going to put this deck together, but I think these decks need ramp and a way to continually drop creatures. I imagine the deck goes something like this.
Put a tad of time into it. I actually kinda' like it. Playing your 4 drops on turn 3 and your 5 drops on turn 4 is the nuts. You can pull ahead of the Avacyn decks this way and are never constrained to holding up Lightning Axe. 22 lands seems really low, until you start filtering through your deck with Traverses, Oaths, and Ruins. Sometimes it takes a big of nursing, but you can really leverage your mana in a deck like this.
Put a tad of time into it. I actually kinda' like it. Playing your 4 drops on turn 3 and your 5 drops on turn 4 is the nuts. You can pull ahead of the Avacyn decks this way and are never constrained to holding up Lightning Axe. 22 lands seems really low, until you start filtering through your deck with Traverses, Oaths, and Ruins. Sometimes it takes a big of nursing, but you can really leverage your mana in a deck like this.
Gotta say, I've been too busy lately tinkering with other decks to work with this and initially there didn't seem to be much interest. I think the 4 Smashers over 2/2 Split with the Seers is probably good. Seers could go in the SB. How have you been finding the firebirds over the Thunderbreak Regents? I would assume part of the reason to run them is the Lightning Axes.
Gotta say, I've been too busy lately tinkering with other decks to work with this and initially there didn't seem to be much interest. I think the 4 Smashers over 2/2 Split with the Seers is probably good. Seers could go in the SB. How have you been finding the firebirds over the Thunderbreak Regents? I would assume part of the reason to run them is the Lightning Axes.
Thunderbreak is very good but, unfortunately, it just doesn't matchup well against a lot of the format. Firebird is more squishy, doesn't kill a Gideon, and doesn't have a sweet *target* trigger but rebuying Firebirds as you flood out is the real deal. A lot of decks try and close the game with walkers and Firebird doesn't let them do this since you continually nuke their Sorin/Ob/etc.
Lightning Axe is also just better than the Draconic Roar pairing that most buy into when playing Thunderbreak. You want instant speed interaction so you can nuke Avacyns. Maybe if Bant Humans becomes the defacto deck, then Roar gets better, but right now I'm playing Axe due to it's flexibility and mana efficiency -- when you get ahead you're glad to spend extra cards to stay ahead. Your threats are powerful enough to close the game in 2-3 turns.
Gotta say, I've been too busy lately tinkering with other decks to work with this and initially there didn't seem to be much interest. I think the 4 Smashers over 2/2 Split with the Seers is probably good. Seers could go in the SB. How have you been finding the firebirds over the Thunderbreak Regents? I would assume part of the reason to run them is the Lightning Axes.
Thunderbreak is very good but, unfortunately, it just doesn't matchup well against a lot of the format. Firebird is more squishy, doesn't kill a Gideon, and doesn't have a sweet *target* trigger but rebuying Firebirds as you flood out is the real deal. A lot of decks try and close the game with walkers and Firebird doesn't let them do this since you continually nuke their Sorin/Ob/etc.
Lightning Axe is also just better than the Draconic Roar pairing that most buy into when playing Thunderbreak. You want instant speed interaction so you can nuke Avacyns. Maybe if Bant Humans becomes the defacto deck, then Roar gets better, but right now I'm playing Axe due to it's flexibility and mana efficiency -- when you get ahead you're glad to spend extra cards to stay ahead. Your threats are powerful enough to close the game in 2-3 turns.
Yeah. I'm definitely fully on board with the Lightning Axes. I'm going to have to pay attention to how often I would rather have Firebird when I have Thunderbreak.
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4 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Sylvan Advocate
4 Lambholt Pacifist
4 Tireless Tracker
4 Thunderbreak Regent
2 Thought-knot Seer
2 Reality Smasher
4 Oath of Nissa
Planeswalkers (8)
4 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
3 Arlinn Kord
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
Lands (24)
3 Cinder Glade
1 Game Trail
4 Crumbling Vestige
2 Yavimaya Coast
2 Shivan Reef
8 Forest
4 Mountain
Manabase may not be perfect. Could probably use some advice there too, but the point is to have the colorless available to support thought-knots and reality smashers, while also being able to regularly cast Thunderbreak. Thunderbreak and Reality Smasher here are both evasive mostly for the sake of opposing planeswalkers, and are nice for their penalties for targeting.
3x Hedron Crawler
4x Sylvan Advocate
3x Tireless Tracker
4x Akoum Firebird
4x Reality Smasher
1x Dragonlord Atarka
4x Ruin in Their Wake
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
3x Oath of Nissa
4x Lightning Axe
Planeswalkers: (3)
3x Arlinn Kord
4x Evolving Wilds
4x Cinder Glade
3x Wastes
7x Forest
5x Mountain
Here are some candidates.
2 CMC:
3 CMC:
4 CMC:
The deck is no CoCo so it's not neccesary to include over 24 creaters or the like. Instead, it's more important to smooth out the land drops and the curve so that the 3rd land on turn 3 and preferably 4th land on turn 4 is dropped. At 3 CMC is where Elemental Bond is activated and many of our creatures. Since casting Elemental bond on turn 3 means that we wait until turn 4 to stabilize and cast a threat, it's crucial that our game plan is not delayed any more turns. Stumble on 2 lands is a death sentence. For this reason, I suggest including 1 CMC Oath of Nissa and/or 2 CMC Seek the Wilds as there is little completetition at those places in the curve, and they help with land drop 3 and 4. Later in the game, these cards are not dead, as you can choose to dig up a threat instead. Oath of Nissa allows for tricks such as including Sarkhan Unbroken a planeswalker that otherwise finds it hard to find a home. In this deck, his +1 ramps into Chandra or more creatures, while his -2 produces a 4/4 dragon and thus CA. For the delirium package, another option is Traverse the Ulvenwald, a better version of Seek the Wilds if you have delirium.
Besides creatures, planeswalkers and fixing, the deck needs some much-needed interactions. As gruul players, you know how hard it can be in a format where white and black removal rules supreme. Here are my suggestions for interactions:
Here is a sample decklist:
4 Lambholt Pacifist
2 Sin Prodder
2 Surrak, the Hunt Caller
4 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Tireless Tracker
3 Chandra, Flamecaller
2 Sarkhan Unbroken
Enchantments (8)
4 Elemental Bond
4 Oath of Nissa
Other spells (7)
2 Atarka's Command
2 Draconic Roar
3 Seek the Wilds
4 Cinder Glade
4 Game Trail
9 Forest
7 Mountain
Sadly, I don't own any Chandras or Sarkhans so I haven't been able to test this deck outside casual play yet. Since no one has used Elemental Bond yet, I'm guessing it's because it simply isn't viable in competative play.
2 Conduit of Ruin
3 Deathcap Cultivator
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Hedron Crawler
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
2 World Breaker
4 Exquisite Firecraft
4 Ruin in their Wake
Enchantments 2
2 Elemental Bond
Lands 26
4 Blighted Woodland
4 Evolving Wilds
8 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Wastes
Ramp + ways to draw/sift through the deck. Conduit to pull up answers. Little burn to clear the odd blocker/finish an opponent.
4x Hedron Crawler
3x Sylvan Advocate
2x Tireless Tracker
2x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4x Akoum Firebird
4x Reality Smasher
1x Dragonlord Atarka
4x Ruin in Their Wake
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
2x Oath of Nissa
4x Lightning Axe
Planeswalkers: (4)
2x Arlinn Kord
2x Chandra, Flamecaller
4x Evolving Wilds
4x Cinder Glade
2x Wastes
7x Forest
5x Mountain
Put a tad of time into it. I actually kinda' like it. Playing your 4 drops on turn 3 and your 5 drops on turn 4 is the nuts. You can pull ahead of the Avacyn decks this way and are never constrained to holding up Lightning Axe. 22 lands seems really low, until you start filtering through your deck with Traverses, Oaths, and Ruins. Sometimes it takes a big of nursing, but you can really leverage your mana in a deck like this.
Gotta say, I've been too busy lately tinkering with other decks to work with this and initially there didn't seem to be much interest. I think the 4 Smashers over 2/2 Split with the Seers is probably good. Seers could go in the SB. How have you been finding the firebirds over the Thunderbreak Regents? I would assume part of the reason to run them is the Lightning Axes.
Thunderbreak is very good but, unfortunately, it just doesn't matchup well against a lot of the format. Firebird is more squishy, doesn't kill a Gideon, and doesn't have a sweet *target* trigger but rebuying Firebirds as you flood out is the real deal. A lot of decks try and close the game with walkers and Firebird doesn't let them do this since you continually nuke their Sorin/Ob/etc.
Lightning Axe is also just better than the Draconic Roar pairing that most buy into when playing Thunderbreak. You want instant speed interaction so you can nuke Avacyns. Maybe if Bant Humans becomes the defacto deck, then Roar gets better, but right now I'm playing Axe due to it's flexibility and mana efficiency -- when you get ahead you're glad to spend extra cards to stay ahead. Your threats are powerful enough to close the game in 2-3 turns.
Yeah. I'm definitely fully on board with the Lightning Axes. I'm going to have to pay attention to how often I would rather have Firebird when I have Thunderbreak.