Played against Jeskai control twice, Bant control, and WR vehicles. The games went pretty much how you would expect them to, with control matchups consisting of me jamming walkers until they ran out of answers, then riding it up to ultimate and the aggro match was killing stuff until I could put a walker on the board that didn't immediately die, then winning with it.
Some of the cards that haven't really been mentioned: Authority of the Consuls: comes in against WR vehicles. Shuts down their ability to play a creature and immediately crew a vehicle with it and gains life. Never got the chance to play it, so I don't have a review. Hash Scrutiny: for UW flash. Grabs Spell Queller and Archangel Avacyn out of their hand so you can use your removal or manlands without getting blown out by flash creatures. Gonti, Lord of Luxury: comes in against pretty much everyone for various reasons. Against control it grabs a counterspell out of their library that you can use against them while providing a 2/3 deathtouch that they have to deal with or slowly die to. Against aggro, it gums up the ground while providing value. Stasis Snare: double white isn't good, but it does allow you to exile an incoming Gideon. Archangel Avacyn: yes, this card is obviously good. I had Goblin Dark-Dwellers in this slot for a while, but then realized a lot of my instants and sorceries don't do much at sorcery speed, like Blessed Alliance. I decided to put her in because I wanted more at 5 mana (to get over Spell Queller) and I wanted something that I could use to kill enemy Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Wouldn't Thalia be better because it attacks and blocks well instead of authority? I use anguished unmaking over stasis snare because it's more versatile and good with goblin DD. How come you don't have kalitas in your board? So good against aggro, emerge, and midrange
I chose Authority of the Consuls over Thalia, Heretic Cathar because it's cheaper and harder to get off the board. Most of the time on turn 3 I'm trying to cast removal in those matches, anyway, and if I'm on the draw, they've already had a chance to crew a Smuggler's Copter by that point.
I had Anguished Unmaking instead of the Stasis Snares when I was trying out Goblin Dark-Dwellers, but I don't have any sorceries main deck and GDD forces your instants into being sorceries, which reduces their value a lot. Even with Unmaking, I had a total of 5 hits in the main, which doesn't seem reliable enough. The matchups where I want to be casting either of those cards are also usually the ones where 3 life is important.
As for Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, no one is playing emerge around here and very few graveyard decks, so I didn't think about it. Since it would be good in the vehicles matchup and amazing in others and Authority of the Consuls would only come in for that and tokens, I'm going to swap those. He also works well with my Oath of Lilianas. Good call.
I run 4 galvanic bombardment, 4 harness lightning, and 3 live fast as my main deck gdd hits. However he really shines at recasting sideboard cards like anguished, transgress, lost legacy, and fragmentize
I went 3-1 today. Beat and lost to RG midrange energy, beat UW spirits and RG pummeler. In the RG match I lost, they ramped into Chandra, Torch of Defiance both games and emptied their hand except for one card by the end of turn 5. A Radiant Flames would have cleaned up most of that mess except for Chandra, but that deck has so many ways to pump creatures out of range of that. I beat another person playing a nearly-identical deck later in the day which wound up having to play their hand out way slower, so I think I can assume that was a fluke that it curved out so well.
As for GDD, it does seem way better in your version of the deck, since you have a significantly more spell-based plan. I just feel like Avacyn is much better in the planeswalker-heavy version I have.
It looks closer to blackhawk23x's version, with more spells, Goblin Dark-Dwellers, and no oaths. It only has 14 cards listed in the sideboard, though. If I had to slot one in, I'd say Linvala, the Preserver is suspiciously absent. Also of note is that it has no main-deck board wipes, with 1 Flaying Tendrils and 3 Radiant Flames in the side. With 7 main-deck creatures, it probably has too many to really encourage the opponent to board out a lot of their removal, so the only one in the listed sideboard is an additional Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet.
Update on my version of the deck: Starting on Game Day, I've been 13-3 (4-0, 3-1, 2-2, 4-0, 4-0) with this deck. I feel like the sample size has gotten large enough that the deck doing well is likely no longer a fluke and it actually has legs in this meta. It feels advantaged against GB delirium (both aggressive and Emrakul versions) and WR vehicle decks and feels about even now with UW flash. I swapped the one Harnessed Lightning for Radiant Flames, so this is my latest list:
Soorani's list fixes the issues a lot of the decks posted here have. Too many walkers, and not enough ways to protect them. If you're gonna make a walker deck, you need to include instant speed removal in order to protect them, and creatures that can win the game on their own. GDD represents not only great value, but also a reasonable body with the menace keyword. Oath of chandra is just not a good card and I feel should be cut from everyone's decks. Blessed alliance is not as good as harnessed lightning against copter because it gives them the option to sacrifice something else and since its attacking, it gives them the loot. There are so many good pieces of removal in the Mardu colors that it shouldn't be hard to find a nice combination of them. Grasp, path, and harnessed lighthings feels like must includes and then you can pick a combination of immolating glares, stasis snare, galvanic bombardment, anguished unmaking, unlicensed disintegration, and stasis snare. Just keep in mind what can and can't be hit by GDD if you decide to play that card (blessed alliance won't be able to kill a creature since you don't play GDD at instant speed). Also, running nahiri without good targets for her ult is kind of a waste of a really cool toolbox ability.
I'm currently on a tweak of Soorani's list. However, I can say that Oath of Chandra's were fine for me. I'm not using them now, but being able to ping planeswalkers was nice and bought me time to deal with them. I've been playing Soorani's list though because I enjoy casting Goblin Dark Dwellers and Kalitas over and over with Liliana
I'm currently 29-11 with my list with a slightly adjusted sideboard. -2 Gonti, -1 Linvala, +1 Avacyn, +1 Kalitas, +1 Radiant Flames.
Oath of Chandra is one of the weakest cards in the deck, but I don't consider Harnessed Lightning to be an upgrade if you have enough walkers and don't have any other energy producers. There's plenty of other ways to deal with copter and the 2 damage per walker really adds up over the course of a game. That said, I already am planning on replacing it with a certain card from Aether Revolt we're not supposed to be discussing yet.
As for Blessed Alliance, it's one of the best cards in my particular deck, mostly because it has the flexibility of being 2 mana or getting you 4 extra life, plus it can take care of creatures of any size, so it's always relevant. You also have the option to block their other creatures to kill them, then make them sac after damage. The other thing is that if you are running Oath of Liliana, you're going to want to be killing every single creature they play, anyway. If you aren't playing Oath of Liliana, you probably shouldn't be playing a planeswalker deck.
Grasp of Darkness is an efficient card, but not one you should be expecting to cast on turn 2 in a 3-color deck. I have one in my sideboard for when I just want my entire deck to be removal, but I consider it a card I'm going to cast on a later turn along with another spell, not as an answer to a turn-2 copter. If you aren't trying to cast turn-4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar or Chandra, Torch of Defiance, you can adjust your land base to make this easier, though.
Ruinous Path is fine if you are having trouble with planeswalkers in general, but if you have Oath of Chandra and Chandra, Torch of Defiance, you should be able to take out most of them with incidental damage. If you specifically want to stop Gideon, Ally of Zendikar as soon as possible, Stasis Snare is a much better choice most of the time. The exception, of course, is that this is probably the best removal spell to hit with GDD.
The thing is that none of the removal is that great in standard right now, so there isn't anything that is just an auto-include like, say, Hero's Downfall or Crackling Doom. Certain ones are going to be better in different decks and against different threats. The value of the oaths is directly proportional to the number of walkers you are running, just like the value of 3-drop sorceries is directly related to the number of GDD you are running. Mardu has a lot of different directions it can pull in, but at some point you need to decide if you are a control deck that uses planeswalkers to win or a planeswalker deck that uses spells to fill out the rest of the curve, and then make your decisions from there.
I am looking to run a version of this deck at FNM this week and I am looking for some constructive thoughts. Heading into the great unknown with an unestablished metagame, I think this will be a fun way to toe the waters and be competitive. Anyway, here is the decklist:
I built this deck in more of a traditional Walkers shell because I do not want to be stuck with a ton of Planeswalkers in my hand as I am being overrun by fast aggro. The walker suite contains all of the best in what I consider to be appropriate numbers, but I am open to opinions.
My concerns are as follows:
Is the removal appropriate and in the right numbers? Am I missing anything?
The sideboard needs some work, so is there anything recommended?
Is the draw necessary? Is anything better?
Is the Revolt plan sound? I chose to go that route to get the Fatal Push in there, but could have easily gone an Aether Hub - Harnessed Lightning route as well. Thoughts?
I'm still running Soorani's version. I really enjoy how strong casting Goblin Dark Dwellers over and over is. Going into an unknown meta having lots of removal and universal answers seems strong which is what his list provides.
No updates with any new cards? I did think about doing the same as a baseline and adjusting as needed, but who knows how things will shake out? Have you play tested any against some of the new brews? Sadly, I haven't yet.
I haven't really taken a look at cards that could work. Maybe run Fatal Push over Galvanic Bombardment? Nothing really seems critical. Yaheeni's may be a good sideboard card, but that will take some testing to see if the extra mana is worth it over Radiant Flames.
Edit:
Took a look and most of the new spells that are any good are X spells. I may try out the XXR destroy X artifacts spell, but that's all that really caught my eye.
Got 2nd place at a GPT today. I played 3 Saheeli combo decks, including one in the finals, going 1-2 against it. (One of which I lost because the previous game had gone long and I didn't completely remove my sideboard in the rush to start the next, drew the one card I left in, and thought it was still a game loss.) I beat a GW humans deck, BW midrange, and GB delirium.
My main deck is the same listed above. The sideboard is adjusted a little:
Kalitas is there for really grindy creature decks and graveyard recursion decks. The deck is already great against grindy decks and graveyard recursion doesn't seem as popular. Aethergeode Miner is for when the deck needs to be the aggressor, but that that doesn't seem like it's the case often enough to matter at the moment, but it's still a card to keep in mind if the meta shifts. So I'm probably going to cut the third Kalitas and the Miner and then reassess after seeing what decks come out of Columbus.
EDIT: Probably just going to put in 2 more Thalia.
I really like the idea of using Heart of Kiran with Oath of Chandra and Unlicensced Disintegration to get tons of free damage and pressure. I'm going to give this a go once I try and get some Heart of Kirans and hopefully it will do well.
Game 1: I saw all the removal and killed everything he laid out early before casting Yahenni's Expertise to sweep the board so he was playing off the top of his deck. I was too, but I saw Sorin, Grim Nemesis, ticked him up revealing lands, and made 19 Lifelink Vampires. I saw literally no other Planeswalkers this game.
Game 2: Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Nahiri, The Harbinger took care of business until Combustible Gearhulk joined the fun. Gearhulk drew me three cards Every. Single. Time. I cast it.
Round 2: GW Tokens 1-1-1
Game 1: This match up was against my friend. Game 1 saw him get stuck on 4 lands while I managed to deal with his Nissas and Gideons, along with all the other piles of guys he throws on the board and pumps up. The board was gummed up for a lot of this game and went very long.
Game 2: I get stuck on four lands and he gets ahead. I manage to sweep finally, but between Oath of Nissa and Ajani Unyielding, he draws tons of cards and I eventually have to scoop.
Game 3: There was little time left in the round, but I have a good hand and go for it. He also has a good hand and comes out strong, but I cast Yahenni's Expertise into a Live Fast, one of the greatest plays this deck can make. He comes back with another strong push and Oath of Chandra sneaks enough damage to his Gideon allowing me to kill it via my own tokens. I was just starting to stabilize and get the upper hand when time was called. I played the first two turns attempting to win the match, but the outs I would have to do that were really slim. I could not get it done, but I have no doubt that I would have won the match with 5 more minutes.
Round 3: UB Zombies (1-0-1)
Game 1: I figured this match would be impossible with all of the recursion, but I managed to win game 1. My opponent went in the tank on nearly every play his turn, leading to the 1-0-1 finish. He actually flipped a Westvale Abbey and I was having trouble dealing with it, but I cast Fumigate to clear the board, dropped a Gideon and made a token, and sat back with a Blessed Alliance licking my lips and waiting for him to attack. He did not disappoint, had to sacrifice his indestructible guy, and I managed to win.
Game 2: I bring in Anguished Unmakings, which are great against Prized Amalgams and Planeswalkers. I should have brought in Lost Legacy to game his recursive threats, but did not. In between games, he had to run out to his car to get something, further leading to going to time.
Notes
While I don't feel like I was playing slow, I probably need to speed it up and hold my opponents accountable for their pace.
Combustible Gearhulk drew me 3 cards every single time that I cast it. No one wants to gamble against this card, which could deal 8-17 points of damage - or none.
Yahenni's Expertise into Live Fast is one of the more satisfying plays the deck can make.
Oath of Chandra is great at breaking the symmetry in Planeswalker stalls. I liked running two.
Oath of Liliana provided those bonus zombies, also a nice way to help protect my planeswalkers. I liked two.
I may need to up the number of threats to put a faster clock on my opponents. Whether it is a creature or more planeswalkers, I'm not sure. Open to suggestions!
The deck is very powerful and a lot of fun to play. I really enjoyed it!
I've been toying around with this list for a while trying to deal with copter and emrikal but with them now gone I feel superfriends really has a chance to shine. Here is mine current list:
You might want to consider more manlands. They really help out when a game goes long, with Needle Spires closing out games at a reasonable pace and Shambling Vent giving you some life gain if someone is threatening to burn you out.
Some other threats: Aethergeode Miner (hard to get off the board once you have some energy), Thalia, Heretic Cathar (delays the Saheeli combo), Gisela, the Broken Blade (really strong if it stays on the board), Aerial Responder (vigilance gives it a clock while also playing defense)
I'm not a big fan of putting many creatures in the main deck, especially ones with low toughness and no cast/ETB effect, as it turns on their removal, but Baneslayer-type creatures out of the board are great.
If you plan on upping the planeswalker count (which I'm obviously a fan of), Oath of Liliana's swarm of zombie tokens puts out a lot of pressure.
I agree that my version is soft to Saheeli game one. What are our best options mainboard for this? Stasis Snare? Murder? More Unlicensed Disintegration? To the Slaughter?
I was originally going to maindeck 3 Shocks, but I'm not sure they do enough.
The problem with instant-speed interaction is that you have to hold up mana constantly for it. It's not too bad with Shock, but having to eat up 3 mana every turn holding up Unlicensed Disintegration really eats into your tempo.
I'm leaning towards either on-the-board disruption (Authority of the Consuls, Thalia, Heretic Cathar, Walking Ballista), or just being able to look at their hand. Most Saheeli decks just have Nahiri, the Harbinger to deal with Authority, which means they are likely tapping out to deal with it, letting you drop a Chandra, Torch of Defiance while their counter magic is down. I'm also considering Harsh Scrutiny again, because even if you whiff you can know whether the coast is clear or not, then just jam on them with impunity. Duress would have been preferable, though.
One big problem with trying to counter "Saheeli combo" decks is that it takes up so little space in their lists that the rest of it can be anything they want. We could even splash blue and shove the combo in there ourselves, if we wanted. It would be quite the surprise out of the sideboard and if you wanted to do it as a surprise turn 6 play it would just take 1 island if you're running 4 Evolving Wilds and 4 Aether Hub already.
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4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
Creatures
2 Archangel Avacyn
Spells
3 Oath of Chandra
1 Harnessed Lightning
4 Blessed Alliance
4 Oath of Liliana
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
2 Stasis Snare
4 Shambling Vent
1 Needle Spires
3 Inspiring Vantage
3 Smoldering Marsh
4 Aether Hub
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Plains
2 Swamp
3 Mountain
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Grasp of Darkness
4 Transgress the Mind
2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
2 Collective Brutality
2 Harsh Scrutiny
1 Linvala, the Preserver
1 Authority of the Consuls
Played against Jeskai control twice, Bant control, and WR vehicles. The games went pretty much how you would expect them to, with control matchups consisting of me jamming walkers until they ran out of answers, then riding it up to ultimate and the aggro match was killing stuff until I could put a walker on the board that didn't immediately die, then winning with it.
Some of the cards that haven't really been mentioned:
Authority of the Consuls: comes in against WR vehicles. Shuts down their ability to play a creature and immediately crew a vehicle with it and gains life. Never got the chance to play it, so I don't have a review.
Hash Scrutiny: for UW flash. Grabs Spell Queller and Archangel Avacyn out of their hand so you can use your removal or manlands without getting blown out by flash creatures.
Gonti, Lord of Luxury: comes in against pretty much everyone for various reasons. Against control it grabs a counterspell out of their library that you can use against them while providing a 2/3 deathtouch that they have to deal with or slowly die to. Against aggro, it gums up the ground while providing value.
Stasis Snare: double white isn't good, but it does allow you to exile an incoming Gideon.
Archangel Avacyn: yes, this card is obviously good. I had Goblin Dark-Dwellers in this slot for a while, but then realized a lot of my instants and sorceries don't do much at sorcery speed, like Blessed Alliance. I decided to put her in because I wanted more at 5 mana (to get over Spell Queller) and I wanted something that I could use to kill enemy Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
I had Anguished Unmaking instead of the Stasis Snares when I was trying out Goblin Dark-Dwellers, but I don't have any sorceries main deck and GDD forces your instants into being sorceries, which reduces their value a lot. Even with Unmaking, I had a total of 5 hits in the main, which doesn't seem reliable enough. The matchups where I want to be casting either of those cards are also usually the ones where 3 life is important.
As for Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, no one is playing emerge around here and very few graveyard decks, so I didn't think about it. Since it would be good in the vehicles matchup and amazing in others and Authority of the Consuls would only come in for that and tokens, I'm going to swap those. He also works well with my Oath of Lilianas. Good call.
EDIT: Replacing a Grasp of Darkness with a 2nd Kalitas, too.
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
As for GDD, it does seem way better in your version of the deck, since you have a significantly more spell-based plan. I just feel like Avacyn is much better in the planeswalker-heavy version I have.
Also, apparently someone reached day 2 in GP Providence with a deck labeled Mardu Planeswalkers:
http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gppro16/day-2-archetype-breakdown-2016-10-23
I'm curious how planeswalker-heavy it is and how well it did day 2.
EDIT: Apparently it didn't make top 64, since I didn't see it in the list of decks.
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/34020_Daily-Digest-Should-We-Tell-Him.html
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/507900
It looks closer to blackhawk23x's version, with more spells, Goblin Dark-Dwellers, and no oaths. It only has 14 cards listed in the sideboard, though. If I had to slot one in, I'd say Linvala, the Preserver is suspiciously absent. Also of note is that it has no main-deck board wipes, with 1 Flaying Tendrils and 3 Radiant Flames in the side. With 7 main-deck creatures, it probably has too many to really encourage the opponent to board out a lot of their removal, so the only one in the listed sideboard is an additional Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet.
There's also this list that got 3rd at an IQ:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/508971
16 planeswalkers, no oaths, no GDD, but runs Emrakul, the Promised End (probably for Nahiri, the Harbinger). I'm suspicious of the curve on this deck, with only 11 spells that cost less than 4, but it does have 2 Fumigate and 2 Chandra, Flamecaller to clean up if the board gets out of control.
Update on my version of the deck: Starting on Game Day, I've been 13-3 (4-0, 3-1, 2-2, 4-0, 4-0) with this deck. I feel like the sample size has gotten large enough that the deck doing well is likely no longer a fluke and it actually has legs in this meta. It feels advantaged against GB delirium (both aggressive and Emrakul versions) and WR vehicle decks and feels about even now with UW flash. I swapped the one Harnessed Lightning for Radiant Flames, so this is my latest list:
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
Creatures
2 Archangel Avacyn
Spells
3 Oath of Chandra
1 Radiant Flames
4 Blessed Alliance
4 Oath of Liliana
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
2 Stasis Snare
4 Shambling Vent
1 Needle Spires
3 Inspiring Vantage
3 Smoldering Marsh
4 Aether Hub
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Plains
2 Swamp
3 Mountain
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Grasp of Darkness
4 Transgress the Mind
2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
2 Collective Brutality
2 Harsh Scrutiny
1 Linvala, the Preserver
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
Oath of Chandra is one of the weakest cards in the deck, but I don't consider Harnessed Lightning to be an upgrade if you have enough walkers and don't have any other energy producers. There's plenty of other ways to deal with copter and the 2 damage per walker really adds up over the course of a game. That said, I already am planning on replacing it with a certain card from Aether Revolt we're not supposed to be discussing yet.
As for Blessed Alliance, it's one of the best cards in my particular deck, mostly because it has the flexibility of being 2 mana or getting you 4 extra life, plus it can take care of creatures of any size, so it's always relevant. You also have the option to block their other creatures to kill them, then make them sac after damage. The other thing is that if you are running Oath of Liliana, you're going to want to be killing every single creature they play, anyway. If you aren't playing Oath of Liliana, you probably shouldn't be playing a planeswalker deck.
Grasp of Darkness is an efficient card, but not one you should be expecting to cast on turn 2 in a 3-color deck. I have one in my sideboard for when I just want my entire deck to be removal, but I consider it a card I'm going to cast on a later turn along with another spell, not as an answer to a turn-2 copter. If you aren't trying to cast turn-4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar or Chandra, Torch of Defiance, you can adjust your land base to make this easier, though.
Ruinous Path is fine if you are having trouble with planeswalkers in general, but if you have Oath of Chandra and Chandra, Torch of Defiance, you should be able to take out most of them with incidental damage. If you specifically want to stop Gideon, Ally of Zendikar as soon as possible, Stasis Snare is a much better choice most of the time. The exception, of course, is that this is probably the best removal spell to hit with GDD.
The thing is that none of the removal is that great in standard right now, so there isn't anything that is just an auto-include like, say, Hero's Downfall or Crackling Doom. Certain ones are going to be better in different decks and against different threats. The value of the oaths is directly proportional to the number of walkers you are running, just like the value of 3-drop sorceries is directly related to the number of GDD you are running. Mardu has a lot of different directions it can pull in, but at some point you need to decide if you are a control deck that uses planeswalkers to win or a planeswalker deck that uses spells to fill out the rest of the curve, and then make your decisions from there.
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
Spells
2 Oath of Chandra
2 Shock
3 Blessed Alliance
4 Oath of Liliana
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
3 Heart of Kiran
Lands
4 Shambling Vent
1 Needle Spires
3 Inspiring Vantage
3 Smoldering Marsh
4 Aether Hub
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Plains
2 Swamp
3 Mountain
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Shock
2 Lost Legacy
2 Hanweir Garrison
1 Radiant Flames
2 Collective Brutality
2 Harsh Scrutiny
1 Archangel Avacyn
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Replacing the Archangel Avacyns and 1 Oath of Chandra in the main deck with Heart of Kiran, 1 Blessed Alliance and the Radiant Flames with Shock for the Felidar Guardian combo, and both Stasis Snare to go up to 4 Unlicensed Disintegration now that there's some artifacts in the deck. The sideboard probably needs further updates and I think I want to make room for Release the Gremlins, the 4th Heart of Kiran, and maybe Aethergeode Miner if I feel like I need to be the aggressor. Fatal Push probably belongs somewhere in the list, but I'm not sure what to cut. It will likely be way easier to determine the exact removal package in a couple weeks since everything is pretty open right now.
2 Combustible Gearhulk
1 Noxious Gearhulk
Planeswalkers
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
Spells
3 Yahenni's Expertise
2 Fumigate
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
4 Blessed Alliance
2 Fatal Push
2 Oath of Chandra
2 Oath of Liliana
4 Live Fast
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Concealed Courtyard
3 Shambling Vent
3 Smoldering Marsh
3 Inspiring Vantage
5 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Mountains
4 Authority of the Consuls
4 Transgress the Mind
1 Ruinous Path
1 Fumigate
2 Fatal Push
3 Harsh Scrutiny
I built this deck in more of a traditional Walkers shell because I do not want to be stuck with a ton of Planeswalkers in my hand as I am being overrun by fast aggro. The walker suite contains all of the best in what I consider to be appropriate numbers, but I am open to opinions.
My concerns are as follows:
Is the removal appropriate and in the right numbers? Am I missing anything?
The sideboard needs some work, so is there anything recommended?
Is the draw necessary? Is anything better?
Is the Revolt plan sound? I chose to go that route to get the Fatal Push in there, but could have easily gone an Aether Hub - Harnessed Lightning route as well. Thoughts?
Thanks for any help or comments.
Has anyone been testing against any new metagame brews?
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
Edit:
Took a look and most of the new spells that are any good are X spells. I may try out the XXR destroy X artifacts spell, but that's all that really caught my eye.
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
My main deck is the same listed above. The sideboard is adjusted a little:
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
Spells
2 Oath of Chandra
2 Shock
3 Blessed Alliance
4 Oath of Liliana
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
3 Heart of Kiran
Lands
4 Shambling Vent
1 Needle Spires
3 Inspiring Vantage
3 Smoldering Marsh
4 Aether Hub
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Plains
2 Swamp
3 Mountain
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Shock
1 Authority of the Consuls
2 Collective Brutality
1 Radiant Flames
1 Fumigate
2 Lost Legacy
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Aethergeode Miner
1 Release the Gremlins
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
Kalitas is there for really grindy creature decks and graveyard recursion decks. The deck is already great against grindy decks and graveyard recursion doesn't seem as popular. Aethergeode Miner is for when the deck needs to be the aggressor, but that that doesn't seem like it's the case often enough to matter at the moment, but it's still a card to keep in mind if the meta shifts. So I'm probably going to cut the third Kalitas and the Miner and then reassess after seeing what decks come out of Columbus.
EDIT: Probably just going to put in 2 more Thalia.
4x Aether Hub
2x Concealed Courtyard
4x Foreboding Ruins
2x Inspiring Vantage
4x Mountain
4x Shambling Vent
3x Smoldering Marsh
3x Swamp
Sorcery (3)
1x Live Fast
2x Painful Truths
Planeswalker (13)
3x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3x Liliana, the Last Hope
3x Nahiri, the Harbinger
2x Ob Nixilis Reignited
2x Sorin, Grim Nemesis
1x Anguished Unmaking
2x Shock
3x Unlicensed Disintegration
Enchantment (5)
3x Oath of Chandra
2x Oath of Liliana
Artifact (3)
3x Heart of Kiran
Creature (4)
4x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
1x Anguished Unmaking
2x Fumigate
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2x Mind Rot
1x Ruinous Path
1x Shock
3x Transgress the Mind
3x Yahenni's Expertise
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
2 Combustible Gearhulk
Planeswalkers
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
Spells
3 Yahenni's Expertise
2 Fumigate
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
4 Blessed Alliance
3 Fatal Push
2 Oath of Chandra
2 Oath of Liliana
3 Live Fast
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Concealed Courtyard
3 Shambling Vent
3 Smoldering Marsh
3 Inspiring Vantage
4 Plains
3 Swamp
3 Mountains
4 Transgress the Mind
2 Lost Legacy
2 Fragmentize
2 Anguished Unmaking
1 Ruinous Path
1 To the Slaughter
1 Fumigate
1 Fatal Push
1 Live Fast
10 Players, 3 rounds of Swiss
Record: 2-0-1
Round 1: RW Vehicles 2-0
Game 1: I saw all the removal and killed everything he laid out early before casting Yahenni's Expertise to sweep the board so he was playing off the top of his deck. I was too, but I saw Sorin, Grim Nemesis, ticked him up revealing lands, and made 19 Lifelink Vampires. I saw literally no other Planeswalkers this game.
Game 2: Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Nahiri, The Harbinger took care of business until Combustible Gearhulk joined the fun. Gearhulk drew me three cards Every. Single. Time. I cast it.
Round 2: GW Tokens 1-1-1
Game 1: This match up was against my friend. Game 1 saw him get stuck on 4 lands while I managed to deal with his Nissas and Gideons, along with all the other piles of guys he throws on the board and pumps up. The board was gummed up for a lot of this game and went very long.
Game 2: I get stuck on four lands and he gets ahead. I manage to sweep finally, but between Oath of Nissa and Ajani Unyielding, he draws tons of cards and I eventually have to scoop.
Game 3: There was little time left in the round, but I have a good hand and go for it. He also has a good hand and comes out strong, but I cast Yahenni's Expertise into a Live Fast, one of the greatest plays this deck can make. He comes back with another strong push and Oath of Chandra sneaks enough damage to his Gideon allowing me to kill it via my own tokens. I was just starting to stabilize and get the upper hand when time was called. I played the first two turns attempting to win the match, but the outs I would have to do that were really slim. I could not get it done, but I have no doubt that I would have won the match with 5 more minutes.
Round 3: UB Zombies (1-0-1)
Game 1: I figured this match would be impossible with all of the recursion, but I managed to win game 1. My opponent went in the tank on nearly every play his turn, leading to the 1-0-1 finish. He actually flipped a Westvale Abbey and I was having trouble dealing with it, but I cast Fumigate to clear the board, dropped a Gideon and made a token, and sat back with a Blessed Alliance licking my lips and waiting for him to attack. He did not disappoint, had to sacrifice his indestructible guy, and I managed to win.
Game 2: I bring in Anguished Unmakings, which are great against Prized Amalgams and Planeswalkers. I should have brought in Lost Legacy to game his recursive threats, but did not. In between games, he had to run out to his car to get something, further leading to going to time.
Notes
Here's a list of all the creatures I've considered:
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
4 Gideon, ally of zendikar
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Liliana, the last hope
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
Enchantments
2 Oath of Liliana
2 Oath of Gideon
2 Stasis Snare
1 Quarantine Field
Spells
3 Fatal Push
3 Unlicensed Disintegration
2 Grasp of Darkness
2 Anguished Unmaking
2 Fumigate
2 Sram's Expertise
1 Radiant Flames
3 Concealed Courtyard
2 Inspiring Vantage
2 Shambling Vent
2 Smoldering Marsh
2 Foreboding Ruins
1 Westvale Abby
1 Evolving wilds
5 Swamp
4 Mountain
2 Plains
2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
2 Kalitas, traitor of Ghet
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
2 Authority of the Consuls
4 Transgress the mind
1 declaration in stone
1 Radiant Flames
1 Anguished Unmaking
Im an active trader on MOTL my handle there is Vito
Some other threats: Aethergeode Miner (hard to get off the board once you have some energy), Thalia, Heretic Cathar (delays the Saheeli combo), Gisela, the Broken Blade (really strong if it stays on the board), Aerial Responder (vigilance gives it a clock while also playing defense)
I'm not a big fan of putting many creatures in the main deck, especially ones with low toughness and no cast/ETB effect, as it turns on their removal, but Baneslayer-type creatures out of the board are great.
If you plan on upping the planeswalker count (which I'm obviously a fan of), Oath of Liliana's swarm of zombie tokens puts out a lot of pressure.
Also, your deck seems really soft to Saheeli combo game one, with only the 2 Unlicensed Disintegration and 3 Fatal Push (which requires cracking Evolving Wilds on the same turn).
EDIT: Also might want to consider Dragonmaster Outcast
I was originally going to maindeck 3 Shocks, but I'm not sure they do enough.
Martyr Proc Thread
Esper Relicblade Thread
Standard:
Mardu Superfriends
Turbofog
I'm leaning towards either on-the-board disruption (Authority of the Consuls, Thalia, Heretic Cathar, Walking Ballista), or just being able to look at their hand. Most Saheeli decks just have Nahiri, the Harbinger to deal with Authority, which means they are likely tapping out to deal with it, letting you drop a Chandra, Torch of Defiance while their counter magic is down. I'm also considering Harsh Scrutiny again, because even if you whiff you can know whether the coast is clear or not, then just jam on them with impunity. Duress would have been preferable, though.
One big problem with trying to counter "Saheeli combo" decks is that it takes up so little space in their lists that the rest of it can be anything they want. We could even splash blue and shove the combo in there ourselves, if we wanted. It would be quite the surprise out of the sideboard and if you wanted to do it as a surprise turn 6 play it would just take 1 island if you're running 4 Evolving Wilds and 4 Aether Hub already.