I'm playing rug pod (with combo) and i'm wondering what's the best acceleration package to have in the deck.
The 4 birds are a must, but what's giving me some problem is the 2 cmc accelerator.. i've played with lotus cobras, but given that our match up vs mono red is just incredibly bad, i've replaced them with overgrown battlement, that performed good for me. The other option is viridian emissary, but when i was testing it i've always been in a situation where i needed a third mana immediatly and the emissary was not going to be killed anytime soon. The plus side with the emissary is that it can go aggro really well against control, but i don't know if that's enough to justify his addition.
The last point: Is sylvan ranger worth his singleton slot in the deck?
I'm curious to hear the opinion of the community about the best acceleration package and sylvan ranger
Yeah, I don't bother with Viridian Emissary. When I want my land, I want it now... now later. I've been in too many situations with it where they don't kill it soon enough.
I don't think you can go wrong with 3 Lotus Cobra + 4 Birds + 2 Llanowar Elves + 1 Sylvan Ranger, Chapin's accel package. It's quick, and it can draw removal too. Sometimes that's a good thing, other times it's a bad thing. But most importantly it is quick. Turn 3 Titan has happened before.
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About the only time I can see you having an issue with emissary is if you keep a 2 lander and on turn 3 you still need a 3rd land to pod.
This is a very important part of the early game and in this one scenario the ranger would be better. But in almost every other point of the game the emissary would be better than the ranger.
If your running low land count then perhaps consider the ranger a bit more but honestly I have not had problem with my opponent not killing the emissary.
I don't like all my accel acting as Pyroclasm bait, and Lotus Cobras just aren't consistent enough for me in the pod decks. I know they're great, but, eh. In my RUG build I've been using 4x Birds of Paradise and 4x Overgrown Battlements, and I've been thinking about porting that base over to my Bant list minus one battlement.
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I totally agree with Frox. I found that since the most played removal spell by far (dismember) killed battlement too, cobra is just the better choice because the upside if it sticks is much better.
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Since I love boarding in 4 Pyroclasms against Aggro I play 4+3 Battlement. I'm playing the Australian RUG Twin tough. I guess for a Chapin-style list it's not aggressive enough.
Lotus Cobra. It's just the trade off you make.. You can't bring your A game out against Mono Red. It always works the same with decks with small mana creatures. Viridian Emissary is good against Mono Red but completely miserable against decks where you need the ramp. You want the ramp to get ahead to jump into your midgame. Emissary is better if you want to stabilize.
Mono Red and Vampires are the only decks that you are taking a stabilization stance. Against these decks we often don't mind as long as we hit our land drops that they are using removal against our early plays as it hopefully limits the threats they are playing out. Against Tempered Steel or Elves or other less interactive proactive strategies we seek to be the toolbox, and against Control the inevitability engine. Both of the latter prefer us to explode out the gate since either these decks will largely ignore what we are doing anyway so we can't slow them down by baiting them or they have mass answers so they will save their answers for when they can get the most value so we have to get ahead. We need to get to our 3/4 drops (Pod) before they get to their 3-4 drop key spells(with/without being able to play around permission) or before they can reach critical mass of creatures.
To me Lotus Cobra is the obvious inclusion. Dismember makes the argument even better since they pretty much all die to that. But Cobra is so explosive. The risk is well worth the reward. I do like how you can attack with Emissary but that only makes sense in a deck that can do fast damage anyway. Otherwise it suffers from River Boa syndrome. River Boa is amazing against Control as it pretty much dodges everything and Islandwalks them.. but 2 damage a turn and keeping mana up to protect it (basically playing fish) is never good enough on a pure 2 power creature. There is a reason fish decks have lords, swords, some other boost.. By the time River Boa, Viridian Emissary does 10 damage it's turn 8 and you are dead.. Your deck would need to be able to win off beats turn 4-5 to justify it, but then if that is the case what does the ramp do for you? It's possibly best in a defensive deck in a format without many fliers. Like a deck that runs it's own DoJ's like a GW control deck.
Sylvan Ranger on the other hand has it's uses. It's not ramp but fixing. It's a must in most 3 color decks without blue. Like Naya and Jund probably need this card. And I imagine enemy color non-blue 2 color decks like GB probably want it too. It lets you run a little land light if bodies are more important to your deck (like decks with Lead the Stampede or Birthing Pod or Fauna Shaman). What you see is what you get (short of it getting countered). It's a useful tool for many decks. You can compare it to Terramorphic Expanse which puts the land in tapped.. You basically pay 1 additional mana for a 1/1. If that sort of thing is relevant to your deck it's all value.
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I also use the ramp package from chapin but how effective it is will depend on your meta and how you play the deck. If you land turn one birds with cobra and a fetch you are able to use its ability extremely well. What most people don't know is that they can't respond to you playing a land so you should always get at least one mana off cobra when using it that way. As for ranger vs. emissary I like ranger. I'll use emissay when ranger rotates but until then having my land hit board that turn is too crucial.
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The 4 birds are a must, but what's giving me some problem is the 2 cmc accelerator.. i've played with lotus cobras, but given that our match up vs mono red is just incredibly bad, i've replaced them with overgrown battlement, that performed good for me. The other option is viridian emissary, but when i was testing it i've always been in a situation where i needed a third mana immediatly and the emissary was not going to be killed anytime soon. The plus side with the emissary is that it can go aggro really well against control, but i don't know if that's enough to justify his addition.
The last point: Is sylvan ranger worth his singleton slot in the deck?
I'm curious to hear the opinion of the community about the best acceleration package and sylvan ranger
I don't think you can go wrong with 3 Lotus Cobra + 4 Birds + 2 Llanowar Elves + 1 Sylvan Ranger, Chapin's accel package. It's quick, and it can draw removal too. Sometimes that's a good thing, other times it's a bad thing. But most importantly it is quick. Turn 3 Titan has happened before.
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About the only time I can see you having an issue with emissary is if you keep a 2 lander and on turn 3 you still need a 3rd land to pod.
This is a very important part of the early game and in this one scenario the ranger would be better. But in almost every other point of the game the emissary would be better than the ranger.
If your running low land count then perhaps consider the ranger a bit more but honestly I have not had problem with my opponent not killing the emissary.
Wolfwood Sama on MTGO (Westane for PureMTGO community events)
UR - Burning Vengeance
BG - The Rock
RUG - RUG Control
BBB - Zombies
"Some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality that we shall either go mad from the relevation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." H.P. Lovecraft
Mono Red and Vampires are the only decks that you are taking a stabilization stance. Against these decks we often don't mind as long as we hit our land drops that they are using removal against our early plays as it hopefully limits the threats they are playing out. Against Tempered Steel or Elves or other less interactive proactive strategies we seek to be the toolbox, and against Control the inevitability engine. Both of the latter prefer us to explode out the gate since either these decks will largely ignore what we are doing anyway so we can't slow them down by baiting them or they have mass answers so they will save their answers for when they can get the most value so we have to get ahead. We need to get to our 3/4 drops (Pod) before they get to their 3-4 drop key spells(with/without being able to play around permission) or before they can reach critical mass of creatures.
To me Lotus Cobra is the obvious inclusion. Dismember makes the argument even better since they pretty much all die to that. But Cobra is so explosive. The risk is well worth the reward. I do like how you can attack with Emissary but that only makes sense in a deck that can do fast damage anyway. Otherwise it suffers from River Boa syndrome. River Boa is amazing against Control as it pretty much dodges everything and Islandwalks them.. but 2 damage a turn and keeping mana up to protect it (basically playing fish) is never good enough on a pure 2 power creature. There is a reason fish decks have lords, swords, some other boost.. By the time River Boa, Viridian Emissary does 10 damage it's turn 8 and you are dead.. Your deck would need to be able to win off beats turn 4-5 to justify it, but then if that is the case what does the ramp do for you? It's possibly best in a defensive deck in a format without many fliers. Like a deck that runs it's own DoJ's like a GW control deck.
Sylvan Ranger on the other hand has it's uses. It's not ramp but fixing. It's a must in most 3 color decks without blue. Like Naya and Jund probably need this card. And I imagine enemy color non-blue 2 color decks like GB probably want it too. It lets you run a little land light if bodies are more important to your deck (like decks with Lead the Stampede or Birthing Pod or Fauna Shaman). What you see is what you get (short of it getting countered). It's a useful tool for many decks. You can compare it to Terramorphic Expanse which puts the land in tapped.. You basically pay 1 additional mana for a 1/1. If that sort of thing is relevant to your deck it's all value.
GWU Knightfall Modern
UW Tempo Legacy
UGR Burning Wish Cobra Vintage
GRWolf Run
"It's actually quite simple, but since you've only recently begun to walk upright, it may take some time to explain."—Jace Beleren, to Garruk Wildspeaker