The meta at our LGS is mostly control of various builds (BW, Mardu, Esper), couple of ramp decks and some occasional aggro in the form of mono-red or mono-white. Since control is quite prevalent I decided to go and build a deck that focuses on discard while giving me good card advantage and efficient and/or hard to kill creatures.
I have 7 main deck discard cards plus 3 more Duress in the sideboard. As for the creatures, they are all quite efficient, the Tracker is an all-star in combination with Evolving Wilds. The toad is great as well especially if the game takes longer. The seer doubles as discard on a body and the Smasher is just a tough creature for control to kill and an absolutely great top-deck. I can say that the control and ramp matchups are very manageable and it becomes easier post-board.
What I'm having problems right now is the BG Aristocrats deck. Can you guys help out in identifying what needs to be put in to make the matchup against it better? Or does anyone have any ideas on how to make the deck better as a whole?
Why The Gitrog Monster? There are much better creatures out there to use as finishers or mid game pressure. Also, if I was a control player, I wouldn't be afraid of your discard package. Maybe a overhaul of your creature base could get you where you want to be with the discards?
I think if your creature base looked something like that not only could you hit your opponent's hand much harder, but you could also turn it into some good card advantage. I'd probably also change Transgress the Mind to Mind Rot. I know there's a point early in the game when taking a scalpel to your opponent's hand is better, but I prefer to use a hammer. Especially if running them out of cards can trigger Asylum Visitor and net more draws. Plus getting additional draws out of Smothering Abomination and Asylum Visitor will add more damage to Ob Nixilis.
So, I realize this is a month later, but I just put a list together--fairly similar to the OPs, and I've liked it so far. So I'm looking for suggestions. Anyway, I wanted to call this "B/G/C Nothing Fancy Midrange" as I'm not trying to do anything except grind value. Anywho, I'd love some suggestions.
I decided that hitting heavy black was more important than anything else the deck was doing, which forced me to downplay green. Notably, crumbling vestige has overperformed in fixing for this deck, to the point that I went up to the full four, after testing on two and three. I also tried deathcap cultivator but ended up no liking him as much as I thought. Importantly, getting delirium with this deck has been…challenging. If you don’t see evolving wilds, he is usually a 2/1 elf in a world of 2/3s. Either way, I’m usually using discard and removal the first few turns anyway, so getting a seer or Kalitas a turn early rarely pays off much.
I also haven’t liked the gitrog monster. The lack of evasion means that he is chumped for days against a number of token producers. You could say the same about seer and Kalitas, but seer’s immediate impact is great and kalitas is a value engine, regardless of what they are doing.
Other than those differences, I’m largely on the same plan as the OP. Right now, I have about two flexible slots, in terms of hangarback and bearer of silence—both of which have been good but not great at times. I’ve considered going up on the number of Smashers, but I kind of like where my curve is now.
I also need suggestions for the sideboard. Clip wings is mostly for westvale abbey, as I have few other outs. Moreover, someone at my shop is playing fevered visions and, in general, I’d kind of like to work in a way to run some enchantment/artifact removal. Any suggestions about what is the best option currently? Both root out and conclave naturalists seem OK but a bit clunky.
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Root out is a sorcery though. I would choose Naturalize over it almost everytime.
The other option's the caterpillar, but that's just a worse root out unless you can tutor it with traverse.
This is a good point you make. I sort of forgot it was a sorcery.
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The first thing I want to say about the decks previously posted is that you are not running enough land. If you want to be casting stuff that cost 4+ mana on time you need to up the land count. Even worse, you have no way of digging for them either other then some Read the Bones. I do not know how you guys plan on playing stuff on curve with these list. My deck has 26 lands, 4 Traverse the Ulvenwald and 4 Read the Bones and I still sometimes have a hard time casting everything when I want and this deck is MANA HUNGRY!
Anyway, here is an explanation of my card choices, and be sure to follow my blog as I think this is the deck I'm going to be using for a little while!
Reality Smasher - So I've been playing GB Aristocrats for a while, but I was losing to Languish/Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet decks to much and was looking for stuff to improve my match up. I've seen more and more Collected Company decks playing this and Thought-Knot Seer and just decided that maybe Collected Company isn't where I want to be anymore (I play online and people love control decks). Anyway, this card is probably the best card possible against control because it has haste and if it resolves they have to spend two cards to get rid of it!
Tireless Tracker - When I saw the previews for Shadows, I said that I think this is probably the best card in the set. I don't think I am wrong with that assessment.
Sylvan Advocate - Probably the best overall creature card in all of Standard right now. It provides an excellent body that can attack and still play defense. I will often times tutor for this in the late game as it feels like a Tarmogoyf being so cheap to cast and still be able to leave mana up to kill something!
Read the Bones - I've always enjoyed this card. It helps dig for answers and is just a solid card draw spell.
Ruinous Path - There is a lot of Planeswalkers seeing play right now, and I want to be able to answer them. That is why there is two more in the sideboard and I've even thought about playing To the Slaughter for more answers!
Warping Wail - Eldrazi Charm! This little spell is pretty good, it can kill creatures early, counter those discard spells and sweepers, or provide mana/creature in a pinch.
Sinister Concoction - I've been thinking about going up to 4 of these honestly. They just kill whatever, and being able to play it out and have it sit there will slow opponents down. Also, it doesn't count as a spell against opposing Reality Smasher's, which has already come up.
Traverse the Ulvenwald - This card has been an all-star so far. Early game it gives me something to do and helps make sure I make my land drops. In the mid to late game I almost always have Delirium on and being able to fetch any creature or land I want for one mana feels dirty. I would say that this is honestly one of the best cards in the deck right now.
Transgress the Mind - Sadly, probably just the best discard spell in Standard right now.
Other cards I may test:
Hangarback Walker - Excellent threat at any time in the game. Helps with getting Delirium on as well.
Duress - Doesn't feel needed right now, and I would rather have stuff like Ruinous Path for stuff that get's topdecked. Nothing feels worse then when you use something like Duress or Transgress the Mind and then your opponent topdecks something.
Languish - With all the removal I have and my creature base, it hasn't felt completely necessary to have this yet, but I have had a couple games where I wish I had it. Probably just going to try to hold out until we see what at least the new set has first. I would even take a 5 mana sweeper, lol.
So yeah, that's the deck as of right now. The sideboard will probably be getting some adjustments over the next couple of days. Also, I will be streaming with this deck tomorrow at some point, be sure to look for it!
I agree that Sinister Concoction is a terrible card, but it was left in accidentally and it has surprised me so far actually. As far as them fizzling it, that is a blowout no matter what you cast. You just have to play smart and not cast or use stuff with Archangel Avacyn mana open. As far as flicker effects, the only one that sees any real play is Eldrazi Displacer, which is probably going to be eating this anyway. I don't know of any cards that grant hexproof that see real play either. Another thing is that this card actually impacts the game as a threat to kill something rather then killing something. I have often cast it on turn one or two and you can tell that opponents play around it by playing out their worst threat possible. As well, often times I have extra cards in hand that I don't mind pitching to it in a pinch. Lastly, they will probably end up being Dead Weight anyway, lol. I'm just testing it at this point.
As far as Read the Bones, its just the best card draw spell available to this color pair, plus I have plenty of cheap plays like Sylvan Advocate, removal or discard after board, and tap lands. And casting it on turn three is not the worst thing in the world, Scrying for two then drawing two cards is pretty good. I will say that it would be better with Languish in the deck.
So yeah, that's the deck as of right now. The sideboard will probably be getting some adjustments over the next couple of days. Also, I will be streaming with this deck tomorrow at some point, be sure to look for it!
About the land count—24 has been pretty good, but I will admit I’ve considered going up to 25, so I’m not ruling that criticism out. That having been said, 24 has been OK thus far for me.
Some questions about card choices:
Traverse the Ulvenwald seems like it falls into the delirium trap for my deck again—very often it will be “search for a basic.” If I’m on that plan, I’d probably play deathcap cultivator again, as it accelerates and is always a creature.
I really, really question the sinister concoction—it is two card, two mana, and a life to kill a creature. It would make more sense with Kalitas, as being able to generate zombie for 1 mana if he’s cast on turn five sounds OK. Also, the “good against R. Smasher” defense isn’t so great when it costs you 2 cards overall to kill anything. I’m just not sure what the upside for this card is.
As for To the slaughter, I trimmed oneultimate price to add a maindeck slaughter, mostly for an additional out vs. westvale abbey. It has been pretty mediocre in most circumstances. I’m not ready to cut it yet, but I haven’t loved it.
Have you liked MD warping wail?—I run a few in the board, and I like them there, but they seem lackluster in some matchups.
Thoughts about your list generally: I would argue that 30 is too many mana sources overall. I also think you are underselling the value of duress—yes it gets sided out a lot, but the format feels planeswalker heavy to me, and simply stealing a removal spell into a comfortable turn two advocate is great. I’d probably cut the Traverses for three Duress and an ultimate price. Cut the concoctions for other removal of your choice. I would also want Languish in the board somewhere, as you are going to need to play a controlling game some of the time. It is also where I like Dead Weight—it can be really awkward if not drawn early. Finally, pulse of murasa has been a solid sideboard choice against more aggressive lists.
I also agree with you completely about read the bones being solid, even without ramp.
Im not sure if I like this one more over the Gc ramp deck or the BG aurora/season's past deck. I guess it's there in the middle of those two.
For me, it is just more straightforward than either of those decks, less dependent on things working out to a specific endgame. All of those variants are working to get a large haymaker together and run iffy cards to get to that point. I feel like these lists are trying to skip that stuff and make each play value-oriented. I'm not arguing it is better, but I do think this approach has some strengths.
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I'm going to test to see if Flaying Tendrils is a good enough sweeper or if Languish is needed today on stream, so be sure to check it out!
Right now the deck is sitting at 8-3. My losses have been against UR Fliers, a UR Eldrazi aggro deck, and White Weenie. I have beat RUG Assault Formation[c/], UB Zombies, BR Vampires, Mono Green The Great Aurora, Mono White Aggro with Equipment twice, Jund Reanimator/Delirium, and UR Turbo Mill.
I am debating adding more one-of creatures to the sideboard that could have a high impact in certain match ups to be able to tutor with Traverse the Ulvenwald.
I'm going to test to see if Flaying Tendrils is a good enough sweeper or if Languish is needed today on stream, so be sure to check it out!
Right now the deck is sitting at 8-3. My losses have been against UR Fliers, a UR Eldrazi aggro deck, and White Weenie. I have beat RUG Assault Formation[c/], UB Zombies, BR Vampires, Mono Green The Great Aurora, Mono White Aggro with Equipment twice, Jund Reanimator/Delirium, and UR Turbo Mill.
I am debating adding more one-of creatures to the sideboard that could have a high impact in certain match ups to be able to tutor with Traverse the Ulvenwald.
Outside of commenting that going more "all-in" on traverse seems like a bad idea with your list (at that point, I'd probably go more delirium focused, as there are solid cards if you get there consistently), I would like to discourage flaying tendrils. As you can see above, it was in my sideboard for a while, but it just never did enough. Humans seem to outpace it quickly, and most everything else ignores it outright. This standard loves X/3s. I found myself only siding it in for GW tokens, so I cut it for virulent plague--it can really screw tokens if they don't have the dromoka's command, and even if they do, it is still no worse than tendrils.
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As I said, Flaying Tendrils is going to be tested to see if it is good enough right now (I just have a feeling Eldritch Moon is going to have a sweet Black sweeper). As for Traverse the Ulvenwald, I have been really enjoying it so far actually. In the early game fetching for a basic land has been solid, and in the mid to late game being able to fetch any creature or land I need is outstanding. I keep it in against any control or other midrange decks, but it is easy to side out against aggro decks. As well, this deck is very mana hungry and needs to hit land drops every turn, so it helps with that as well and is why I am running 30 total right now. I like the versatility that Warping Wail provides, but in certain match ups it is a do nothing card and is why I only have one in the main and one in the side (against other decks it is amazing, like Grixis decks). I think Duress is a great card, I just haven't really felt the need to have it, yet. Traverse the Ulvenwald tends to be a better top deck in the mid to late game almost always, if nothing else it thins the deck and shuffles for me. Also, I am finding Ultimate Price is perfect as a three of in the deck, I wouldn't want four of them right now. Grasp of Darkness is just better overall against so many Devoid and multi-colored creatures seeing play right now. I have been thinking of cutting the Warping Wails for Duress, and I probably will at some point, but I want to test cards that I am unsure of their value unless I actually cast them. Right now I like Spatial Contortion over Dead Weight strictly because as you said there is a lot of 3 toughness creatures seeing play. Conclave Naturalists is probably another card that will be going on the chopping block soon enough. Not that I think it is bad, but for the most part I don't think that it is truly needed right now. What will probably eventually happen is that the Warping Wails and Conclave Naturalists will turn into Duress (so one main and two sideboard) and Clip Wings will become one Bearer of Silence and one To the Slaughter.
I see you all running Traverse, but you don't have consistently delirious decks. Can i recommend Ruin in their Wake? You already run 4 Evolving Wilds, with 4 Ruins, you'd only need 1 Waste to really make it work.
As I said, Flaying Tendrils is going to be tested to see if it is good enough right now (I just have a feeling Eldritch Moon is going to have a sweet Black sweeper). As for Traverse the Ulvenwald, I have been really enjoying it so far actually. In the early game fetching for a basic land has been solid, and in the mid to late game being able to fetch any creature or land I need is outstanding. I keep it in against any control or other midrange decks, but it is easy to side out against aggro decks. As well, this deck is very mana hungry and needs to hit land drops every turn, so it helps with that as well and is why I am running 30 total right now. I like the versatility that Warping Wail provides, but in certain match ups it is a do nothing card and is why I only have one in the main and one in the side (against other decks it is amazing, like Grixis decks). I think Duress is a great card, I just haven't really felt the need to have it, yet. Traverse the Ulvenwald tends to be a better top deck in the mid to late game almost always, if nothing else it thins the deck and shuffles for me. Also, I am finding Ultimate Price is perfect as a three of in the deck, I wouldn't want four of them right now. Grasp of Darkness is just better overall against so many Devoid and multi-colored creatures seeing play right now. I have been thinking of cutting the Warping Wails for Duress, and I probably will at some point, but I want to test cards that I am unsure of their value unless I actually cast them. Right now I like Spatial Contortion over Dead Weight strictly because as you said there is a lot of 3 toughness creatures seeing play. Conclave Naturalists is probably another card that will be going on the chopping block soon enough. Not that I think it is bad, but for the most part I don't think that it is truly needed right now. What will probably eventually happen is that the Warping Wails and Conclave Naturalists will turn into Duress (so one main and two sideboard) and Clip Wings will become one Bearer of Silence and one To the Slaughter.
Fair enough about tendrils—I suppose I’m just salty because I really had high hopes for it and it didn’t pan out. Might I ask why you aren’t a fan of Languish? It really has worked very well for me when I needed it. Also, even if a 5cc black sweeper comes out in Moon, 4cc is pretty important.
You are right about Duress being weak in the late game—but so is Traverse when you don’t have delirium. I’d also consider more Grasps over Price, but the BB cost is occasionally problematic, so that’s not the direction I’ve gone recently.
Actually, how quickly do you get delirium? I tried Traverse and it just did not work consistently for me. However, I realize you are running more lands that you can sacrifice, which might make the difference. IF I could reliably get delirium, I’d probably consider something like obsessive skinner; he gets out of hand very quickly when delirium is on.
As far as dead weight in the board, it works pretty well. One of the nice things about it (outside of being cheap) is that it tends to cripple threats long term, even when you can’t kill them outright. This becomes relevant in match-ups where creatures tend to grow over the course of the match (i.e. humans). Contortion is a solid card though, and I’ve thought about running it over weight as well.
You also mention bearer of silence, which I’m running as a one-of. It’s an iffy card, I’m thinking about cutting it myself. The thing I like sac effects for best (Abbey), it can’t hit at instant speed. The no blocking thing also makes it awkward. Just my two cents on it.
I see you all running Traverse, but you don't have consistently delirious decks. Can i recommend Ruin in their Wake? You already run 4 Evolving Wilds, with 4 Ruins, you'd only need 1 Waste to really make it work.
As I mentioned above, that is one of my issues with running Traverse. I'm not sure what ruin really does for us though--sure it ramps, but, it is particularly awkward if everything doesn't go according to plan. I would think you would want something like Traverse to help set up ruin, not either-or. Either way, if we want acceleration, I think we'd be better off with deathcap cultivator or even hedron crawler than ruin.
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I have nothing against Languish except its current price tag, lol. Flaying Tendrils has proven effective enough so far. And I did pull the trigger on swapping the Warping Wails and Conclave Naturalists for Duress's, so now now there is one main and two in the sideboard. And as for Traverse the Ulvenwald, I think you guys are looking at the card much differently then I am. I don't include the Delirium text when I am looking at the card, I like it for it's thinning ability and mana fixing, which allows me to make sure that I hit my land drops on curve, very important for this deck, and for allowing me to cast Grasp of Darkness more reliably. The extra text on the card is pure benefit. The biggest reason why Bearer of Silence is on my radar is because I have the chance of being able to fetch it with Traverse the Ulvenwald. I am going to keep at least one Clip Wings for sure. I'm not sure about To the Slaughter, Clip Wings saying flying is very relevant.
All that said, I did play test for three hours today on MTGO, and I got 8 matches in. I went 7-1 and I played against "real" decks for the most part. I'm going to have a nice breakdown of the matches on my blog probably tomorrow. I beat GW Tokens, GB Aristocrats (sanctioned match), BW Allies, UR Turbo Mill, Bant Humans, Esper Dragons, and Grixis Midrange. My lone loss was against the BW Allies deck (I had bad draws and wanted a rematch, lol). Games I went 14-6, dropping games to BW Allies (2-3), Grixis Midrange (2-1), Bant Humans (2-1), and GW Tokens (2-1). You can find my stream on Twitch if you want to watch the games or look for them on youtube this week. I really think that this deck is going to be a player going forward, hopefully another pro or streamer will pick up the deck and give it a try to get some more exposure for the deck.
Not sure if it's already been answered, but for combatting the BG aristocrat deck, tainted remedy is a great SB in addition to Kalitas.
I did a similar deck to this that I think I posted in the dark eldrazi thread. It had a few sneaky features that I really liked.
First, it was heavier in black with the discard/kill like yours, then the green was added for Pulse of Murasa and Elemental Bond (really good draw engine in the right deck, but advocate or tracker or both can take that spot). Finally I splashed blue for Altered Ego. I only used the UG dual lands and not one game had mana issues. It ran a playset of Smasher and TKS, and copying those was back breaking for opponent.
Here's a sample deck just off memory that worked really good (took out ele bond for you since most don't like it)
OK, this is where I’m currently at, for reference. I’ve been doing fairly well at my local FNM (which is really all I’m aiming for), but I also want to stress that I am working in a somewhat smaller meta than others might be.
Overall, the major differences are that I cut a read the bones for a 25th land (and one that, incidentally kills that stupid demon prince) and put bearer of silence out for the more consistent hangarback walker. I’ve also thought of running the 4th tireless tracker—as he’s awesome if he sticks, but is super easy to remove until I can crack a clue—so I don’t like running him out on turn three. I’m also sort of considering Matter Reshaper, as he’s a safer play on turn three and a somewhat sticky threat. Right now the hangarback seems OK though.
I’d also really recommend picking up Kalitas for anyone considering this type of list—he makes a huge difference, often dominating the board when he sticks. Moreover, with the amount of discard and other problematic threats, he often sticks for a few turns.
The sideboard is constantly in flux. I hate running clip wings but nothing else seems to handle the westvale abbey problem very well. Everything else is at least OK for what I want it to do.
I have nothing against Languish except its current price tag, lol. Flaying Tendrils has proven effective enough so far. And I did pull the trigger on swapping the Warping Wails and Conclave Naturalists for Duress's, so now now there is one main and two in the sideboard. And as for Traverse the Ulvenwald, I think you guys are looking at the card much differently then I am. I don't include the Delirium text when I am looking at the card, I like it for it's thinning ability and mana fixing, which allows me to make sure that I hit my land drops on curve, very important for this deck, and for allowing me to cast Grasp of Darkness more reliably. The extra text on the card is pure benefit. The biggest reason why Bearer of Silence is on my radar is because I have the chance of being able to fetch it with Traverse the Ulvenwald. I am going to keep at least one Clip Wings for sure. I'm not sure about To the Slaughter, Clip Wings saying flying is very relevant.
All that said, I did play test for three hours today on MTGO, and I got 8 matches in. I went 7-1 and I played against "real" decks for the most part. I'm going to have a nice breakdown of the matches on my blog probably tomorrow. I beat GW Tokens, GB Aristocrats (sanctioned match), BW Allies, UR Turbo Mill, Bant Humans, Esper Dragons, and Grixis Midrange. My lone loss was against the BW Allies deck (I had bad draws and wanted a rematch, lol). Games I went 14-6, dropping games to BW Allies (2-3), Grixis Midrange (2-1), Bant Humans (2-1), and GW Tokens (2-1). You can find my stream on Twitch if you want to watch the games or look for them on youtube this week. I really think that this deck is going to be a player going forward, hopefully another pro or streamer will pick up the deck and give it a try to get some more exposure for the deck.
So, first off, I’ve seen the math on deck thinning and it doesn’t really exist on one-to-one cards (like fetchlands)—the amount of rounds that you have to go for in order to see any statistical benefit is very high. If you just are that mana hungry, have you tried deathcap cultivator? He really doesn’t suck, I just decided I’d rather go a different route.
I’m also entirely with you on T.T.Slaughter being disappointing. Still, I run it just so I have outs when necessary.
Additionally, your sideboard is going to be worse if you don’t spring for the languish. Just sayn’.
Not sure if it's already been answered, but for combatting the BG aristocrat deck, tainted remedy is a great SB in addition to Kalitas.
I did a similar deck to this that I think I posted in the dark eldrazi thread. It had a few sneaky features that I really liked.
First, it was heavier in black with the discard/kill like yours, then the green was added for Pulse of Murasa and Elemental Bond (really good draw engine in the right deck, but advocate or tracker or both can take that spot). Finally I splashed blue for Altered Ego. I only used the UG dual lands and not one game had mana issues. It ran a playset of Smasher and TKS, and copying those was back breaking for opponent.
Here's a sample deck just off memory that worked really good (took out ele bond for you since most don't like it)
First off, welcome to the discussion. I’ve lurked on the dark eldrazi thread a bit, and, to an extent, I’m running a list similar to some of those, but splashing green. So there’s definitely some overlap.
How has matter reshaper worked for you? Again I’m interested in it, but I’m not sure if it is better than hangarback walker in the slot for my list.
I’m also really, really confused about altered ego—of all the things to splash for, a souped up clone? I also suspect you are missing out on the tireless tracker party—really if you are a creature deck in green, there isn’t a compelling reason not to run a few. Honestly, if I was going to splash a third (fourth?) color, it would certainly be white—shambling vent and improved removal get me every time. Still, I have to imagine that you are sacrificing some consistency by stretching that far.
Vampiric rites also seems like an odd choice, although I could see it making the reshapers better. I also feel like you might be a bit removal-lite.
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Not sure if it's already been answered, but for combatting the BG aristocrat deck, tainted remedy is a great SB in addition to Kalitas.
I did a similar deck to this that I think I posted in the dark eldrazi thread. It had a few sneaky features that I really liked.
First, it was heavier in black with the discard/kill like yours, then the green was added for Pulse of Murasa and Elemental Bond (really good draw engine in the right deck, but advocate or tracker or both can take that spot). Finally I splashed blue for Altered Ego. I only used the UG dual lands and not one game had mana issues. It ran a playset of Smasher and TKS, and copying those was back breaking for opponent.
Here's a sample deck just off memory that worked really good (took out ele bond for you since most don't like it)
First off, welcome to the discussion. I’ve lurked on the dark eldrazi thread a bit, and, to an extent, I’m running a list similar to some of those, but splashing green. So there’s definitely some overlap.
How has matter reshaper worked for you? Again I’m interested in it, but I’m not sure if it is better than hangarback walker in the slot for my list.
I’m also really, really confused about altered ego—of all the things to splash for, a souped up clone? I also suspect you are missing out on the tireless tracker party—really if you are a creature deck in green, there isn’t a compelling reason not to run a few. Honestly, if I was going to splash a third (fourth?) color, it would certainly be white—shambling vent and improved removal get me every time. Still, I have to imagine that you are sacrificing some consistency by stretching that far.
Vampiric rites also seems like an odd choice, although I could see it making the reshapers better. I also feel like you might be a bit removal-lite.
Yeah, I messed that list up a tad from what I was actually running. First the manabase was as follows, not what I put originally.
Similar, but no Hissing Quagmire due to it being tapped, and I knew I had slightly more black than green. Basically the only truly "Tapped" land is Lumbering Falls. And this mana base is actually really consistent because of all the doubling up. Counting Crumbling Vestige as an untapped colored land (because you play it when you need it) you have this mana curve:
Blue = 8 untapped, 4 tapped, 12 total. (earliest need is T4, usually played T5 or T6 or later though).
Green = 12 untapped, 4 tapped, 16 total. (earliest need is T2, in a list with no advocate, played later).
Black = 12 untapped, 4 tapped, 16 total. (earliest need is T2, double black if running grasp, but can run diff removal to ease that).
Colorless = 8 untapped, 4 tapped, 12 total. (earliest need is T3, T2 if you use Warping Wail).
The lack of a T1 play, and the general ease on mana symbols (besides Grasp) makes it all pretty consistent, and in my original list I dont think I used Grasp or Advocate so it was actually even better.
Altered Ego = Copies whatever you need it to, including enemy creatures as well. This is how I generally used it in "perfect" curve. TKS -> Smasher -> Smasher Clone as a 7/7. I could see it going down some, and I could see adding white for Shambling Vent too, but I'm a fan of the clone Tireless Tracker = It was between this guy and Sylvan Advocate to me, and quite frankly, I'm not that big of a fan of him. He comes down T3 and dies to almost everything, I usually wouldnt be popping the clue until T6 or so, especially if I curve out, but he is CA so cant be discounted. Vampiric rites = This card is mostly for protection, if you have some spare mana up, which as I said above, I dont usually till late game, but thats when I need this guy. If they target my TKS or Smasher, in response I use this, gain a life and draw. Just a bit of protection against removal really. Matter Reshaper = This guy is freaking Amazing. I'm never sad to see him, he trades with most early to mid game threats, and draws us a card at worst or ramps us at best. Very good CA imo, better than Tracker. If im the aggressor, I attack almost every turn with him, basically letting the opponent choose: take 3 or give me a card/ramp. If I'm defending, hes a solid blocker that says: trade a guy and ramp/draw
Some other cards that I used in mine that I really liked, but aren't necessary are: Touch of Moonglove, and Grotesque Mutation.
Finally, I've also been toying with the idea of an "Abzan Lands/Eldrazi midrange" deck that seems pretty sweet in theory, but may be too slow.
Sideboard would just probably be utility, some discard for more controlly matchups, maybe a few more creatures for aggro/other midrange. Kalitas, Drana, Ayli stuff like that. Personally I'm not a really big fan of Declaration in Stone, sorcery just hurts it more than the 1 extra mana and 3 life hurt Anguished imo. Ondu Rising could be a good card with Awaken and lifelink to the team for two. Ruinous Path would also be decent. Nahiri's Machinations is a bit of a silly card, but seems pretty sweet with the manlands to protect them.
Basic idea of the deck is to use just a fairly aggressive midrange value curve, then instead of using traditional card advantage, use man-lands and Pulse instead.
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The meta at our LGS is mostly control of various builds (BW, Mardu, Esper), couple of ramp decks and some occasional aggro in the form of mono-red or mono-white. Since control is quite prevalent I decided to go and build a deck that focuses on discard while giving me good card advantage and efficient and/or hard to kill creatures.
Here's the deck:
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Hissing Quagmire
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Wastes
3 Forest
4 Swamp
4 Deathcap Cultivator
4 Sylvan Advocate
3 Tireless Tracker
4 Thought-knot Seer
3 Reality Smasher
2 The Gitrog Monster
3 Transgress the Mind
3 Read the Bones
2 Ruinous Path
3 Grasp of Darkness
3 Languish
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
I have 7 main deck discard cards plus 3 more Duress in the sideboard. As for the creatures, they are all quite efficient, the Tracker is an all-star in combination with Evolving Wilds. The toad is great as well especially if the game takes longer. The seer doubles as discard on a body and the Smasher is just a tough creature for control to kill and an absolutely great top-deck. I can say that the control and ramp matchups are very manageable and it becomes easier post-board.
What I'm having problems right now is the BG Aristocrats deck. Can you guys help out in identifying what needs to be put in to make the matchup against it better? Or does anyone have any ideas on how to make the deck better as a whole?
you curves high shave some higher drops add a land or two
competitive player/brewer/lover of the game
4 Smothering Abomination
4 Asylum Visitor
4 Sibsig Icebreakers
4 Rottenheart Ghoul
4 Deadbridge Shaman
I think if your creature base looked something like that not only could you hit your opponent's hand much harder, but you could also turn it into some good card advantage. I'd probably also change Transgress the Mind to Mind Rot. I know there's a point early in the game when taking a scalpel to your opponent's hand is better, but I prefer to use a hammer. Especially if running them out of cards can trigger Asylum Visitor and net more draws. Plus getting additional draws out of Smothering Abomination and Asylum Visitor will add more damage to Ob Nixilis.
4 Llanowar Wastes
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Yavimaya Coast
4 Hissing Quagmire
4 Crumbling Vestige
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Swamp
1 Wastes
1 Forest
Creatures (17)
4 Sylvan Advocate
3 Tireless Tracker
4 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Reality Smasher
1 Hangarback Walker
1 Bearer of Silence
3 Duress
2 Transgress the mind
3 Read the Bones
2 Ruinous Path
1 Languish
Instants (6)
3 Ultimate Price
2 Grasp of Darkness
1 To the slaughter
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Clip Wings
2 Languish
2 Flaying Tendrils
1 Duress
1 Transgress the Mind
2 Warping Wail
2 Pulse of Murasa
3 Dead Weight
I decided that hitting heavy black was more important than anything else the deck was doing, which forced me to downplay green. Notably, crumbling vestige has overperformed in fixing for this deck, to the point that I went up to the full four, after testing on two and three. I also tried deathcap cultivator but ended up no liking him as much as I thought. Importantly, getting delirium with this deck has been…challenging. If you don’t see evolving wilds, he is usually a 2/1 elf in a world of 2/3s. Either way, I’m usually using discard and removal the first few turns anyway, so getting a seer or Kalitas a turn early rarely pays off much.
I also haven’t liked the gitrog monster. The lack of evasion means that he is chumped for days against a number of token producers. You could say the same about seer and Kalitas, but seer’s immediate impact is great and kalitas is a value engine, regardless of what they are doing.
Other than those differences, I’m largely on the same plan as the OP. Right now, I have about two flexible slots, in terms of hangarback and bearer of silence—both of which have been good but not great at times. I’ve considered going up on the number of Smashers, but I kind of like where my curve is now.
I also need suggestions for the sideboard. Clip wings is mostly for westvale abbey, as I have few other outs. Moreover, someone at my shop is playing fevered visions and, in general, I’d kind of like to work in a way to run some enchantment/artifact removal. Any suggestions about what is the best option currently? Both root out and conclave naturalists seem OK but a bit clunky.
Blighted Fen isn't a bad idea. I keep forgetting about it.
This is a good point you make. I sort of forgot it was a sorcery.
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Tireless Tracker
4 Sylvan Advocate
Spells - 18
2 Ruinous Path
4 Read the Bones
2 Ultimate Price
2 Grasp of Darkness
2 Warping Wail
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
2 Sinister Concoction
2 Blighted Fen
2 Blighted Woodland
1 Warped Landscape
1 Wastes
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Hissing Quagmire
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Forest
4 Swamp
1 Conclave Naturalists
2 Ruinous Path
4 Transgress the Mind
1 Ultimate Price
1 Grasp of Darkness
4 Spatial Contortion
2 Warping Wail
The first thing I want to say about the decks previously posted is that you are not running enough land. If you want to be casting stuff that cost 4+ mana on time you need to up the land count. Even worse, you have no way of digging for them either other then some Read the Bones. I do not know how you guys plan on playing stuff on curve with these list. My deck has 26 lands, 4 Traverse the Ulvenwald and 4 Read the Bones and I still sometimes have a hard time casting everything when I want and this deck is MANA HUNGRY!
Anyway, here is an explanation of my card choices, and be sure to follow my blog as I think this is the deck I'm going to be using for a little while!
Reality Smasher - So I've been playing GB Aristocrats for a while, but I was losing to Languish/Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet decks to much and was looking for stuff to improve my match up. I've seen more and more Collected Company decks playing this and Thought-Knot Seer and just decided that maybe Collected Company isn't where I want to be anymore (I play online and people love control decks). Anyway, this card is probably the best card possible against control because it has haste and if it resolves they have to spend two cards to get rid of it!
Thought-Knot Seer - Pretty much the same story as with Reality Smasher, this is excellent at disrupting the opponent!
Tireless Tracker - When I saw the previews for Shadows, I said that I think this is probably the best card in the set. I don't think I am wrong with that assessment.
Sylvan Advocate - Probably the best overall creature card in all of Standard right now. It provides an excellent body that can attack and still play defense. I will often times tutor for this in the late game as it feels like a Tarmogoyf being so cheap to cast and still be able to leave mana up to kill something!
Read the Bones - I've always enjoyed this card. It helps dig for answers and is just a solid card draw spell.
Ruinous Path - There is a lot of Planeswalkers seeing play right now, and I want to be able to answer them. That is why there is two more in the sideboard and I've even thought about playing To the Slaughter for more answers!
Ultimate Price - Kills creatures.
Grasp of Darkness - Kills Eldrazi.
Warping Wail - Eldrazi Charm! This little spell is pretty good, it can kill creatures early, counter those discard spells and sweepers, or provide mana/creature in a pinch.
Sinister Concoction - I've been thinking about going up to 4 of these honestly. They just kill whatever, and being able to play it out and have it sit there will slow opponents down. Also, it doesn't count as a spell against opposing Reality Smasher's, which has already come up.
Traverse the Ulvenwald - This card has been an all-star so far. Early game it gives me something to do and helps make sure I make my land drops. In the mid to late game I almost always have Delirium on and being able to fetch any creature or land I want for one mana feels dirty. I would say that this is honestly one of the best cards in the deck right now.
Blighted Fen - Kills hexproof and Ormendahl, Profane Prince
Blighted Woodland - Provides colorless mana and helps me get to 6 lands in a pinch if needed for Sylvan Advocate
Warped Landscape - Provides colorless mana, and can be tapped for mana the turn it is played.
Conclave Naturalists - Kills artifacts or enchantments, and I can fetch it with Traverse the Ulvenwald.
Spatial Contortion - Kills Eldrazi Displacer among other things.
Transgress the Mind - Sadly, probably just the best discard spell in Standard right now.
Other cards I may test:
Hangarback Walker - Excellent threat at any time in the game. Helps with getting Delirium on as well.
Duress - Doesn't feel needed right now, and I would rather have stuff like Ruinous Path for stuff that get's topdecked. Nothing feels worse then when you use something like Duress or Transgress the Mind and then your opponent topdecks something.
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet - Kind of out of my budget at the moment, but it beats GB Aristocrats.
Languish - With all the removal I have and my creature base, it hasn't felt completely necessary to have this yet, but I have had a couple games where I wish I had it. Probably just going to try to hold out until we see what at least the new set has first. I would even take a 5 mana sweeper, lol.
So yeah, that's the deck as of right now. The sideboard will probably be getting some adjustments over the next couple of days. Also, I will be streaming with this deck tomorrow at some point, be sure to look for it!
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As far as Read the Bones, its just the best card draw spell available to this color pair, plus I have plenty of cheap plays like Sylvan Advocate, removal or discard after board, and tap lands. And casting it on turn three is not the worst thing in the world, Scrying for two then drawing two cards is pretty good. I will say that it would be better with Languish in the deck.
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About the land count—24 has been pretty good, but I will admit I’ve considered going up to 25, so I’m not ruling that criticism out. That having been said, 24 has been OK thus far for me.
Some questions about card choices:
Traverse the Ulvenwald seems like it falls into the delirium trap for my deck again—very often it will be “search for a basic.” If I’m on that plan, I’d probably play deathcap cultivator again, as it accelerates and is always a creature.
I really, really question the sinister concoction—it is two card, two mana, and a life to kill a creature. It would make more sense with Kalitas, as being able to generate zombie for 1 mana if he’s cast on turn five sounds OK. Also, the “good against R. Smasher” defense isn’t so great when it costs you 2 cards overall to kill anything. I’m just not sure what the upside for this card is.
As for To the slaughter, I trimmed oneultimate price to add a maindeck slaughter, mostly for an additional out vs. westvale abbey. It has been pretty mediocre in most circumstances. I’m not ready to cut it yet, but I haven’t loved it.
Have you liked MD warping wail?—I run a few in the board, and I like them there, but they seem lackluster in some matchups.
Thoughts about your list generally: I would argue that 30 is too many mana sources overall. I also think you are underselling the value of duress—yes it gets sided out a lot, but the format feels planeswalker heavy to me, and simply stealing a removal spell into a comfortable turn two advocate is great. I’d probably cut the Traverses for three Duress and an ultimate price. Cut the concoctions for other removal of your choice. I would also want Languish in the board somewhere, as you are going to need to play a controlling game some of the time. It is also where I like Dead Weight—it can be really awkward if not drawn early. Finally, pulse of murasa has been a solid sideboard choice against more aggressive lists.
I also agree with you completely about read the bones being solid, even without ramp.
For me, it is just more straightforward than either of those decks, less dependent on things working out to a specific endgame. All of those variants are working to get a large haymaker together and run iffy cards to get to that point. I feel like these lists are trying to skip that stuff and make each play value-oriented. I'm not arguing it is better, but I do think this approach has some strengths.
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Tireless Tracker
4 Sylvan Advocate
Spells - 18
3 Read the Bones
2 Flaying Tendrils
2 Ruinous Path
2 Grasp of Darkness
2 Transgress the Mind
2 Ultimate Price
1 Warping Wail
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
1 Blighted Woodland
1 Warped Landscape
1 Wastes
2 Blighted Fen
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Hissing Quagmire
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Forest
5 Swamp
1 Conclave Naturalists
2 Flaying Tendrils
2 Ruinous Path
2 Grasp of Darkness
2 Clip Wings
2 Spatial Contortion
2 Transgress the Mind
1 Ultimate Price
1 Warping Wail
I'm going to test to see if Flaying Tendrils is a good enough sweeper or if Languish is needed today on stream, so be sure to check it out!
Right now the deck is sitting at 8-3. My losses have been against UR Fliers, a UR Eldrazi aggro deck, and White Weenie. I have beat RUG Assault Formation[c/], UB Zombies, BR Vampires, Mono Green The Great Aurora, Mono White Aggro with Equipment twice, Jund Reanimator/Delirium, and UR Turbo Mill.
I decided to cut Sinister Concoction for Transgress the Mind, I wanted a little more hand disruption to pair with my Thought-Knot Seers in the main deck. The other main deck change was cutting one Read the Bones and one Warping Wail for two main deck Flaying Tendrils and cut one Blighted Woodland for a fifth Swamp.
I am debating adding more one-of creatures to the sideboard that could have a high impact in certain match ups to be able to tutor with Traverse the Ulvenwald.
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Outside of commenting that going more "all-in" on traverse seems like a bad idea with your list (at that point, I'd probably go more delirium focused, as there are solid cards if you get there consistently), I would like to discourage flaying tendrils. As you can see above, it was in my sideboard for a while, but it just never did enough. Humans seem to outpace it quickly, and most everything else ignores it outright. This standard loves X/3s. I found myself only siding it in for GW tokens, so I cut it for virulent plague--it can really screw tokens if they don't have the dromoka's command, and even if they do, it is still no worse than tendrils.
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Fair enough about tendrils—I suppose I’m just salty because I really had high hopes for it and it didn’t pan out. Might I ask why you aren’t a fan of Languish? It really has worked very well for me when I needed it. Also, even if a 5cc black sweeper comes out in Moon, 4cc is pretty important.
You are right about Duress being weak in the late game—but so is Traverse when you don’t have delirium. I’d also consider more Grasps over Price, but the BB cost is occasionally problematic, so that’s not the direction I’ve gone recently.
Actually, how quickly do you get delirium? I tried Traverse and it just did not work consistently for me. However, I realize you are running more lands that you can sacrifice, which might make the difference. IF I could reliably get delirium, I’d probably consider something like obsessive skinner; he gets out of hand very quickly when delirium is on.
As far as dead weight in the board, it works pretty well. One of the nice things about it (outside of being cheap) is that it tends to cripple threats long term, even when you can’t kill them outright. This becomes relevant in match-ups where creatures tend to grow over the course of the match (i.e. humans). Contortion is a solid card though, and I’ve thought about running it over weight as well.
You also mention bearer of silence, which I’m running as a one-of. It’s an iffy card, I’m thinking about cutting it myself. The thing I like sac effects for best (Abbey), it can’t hit at instant speed. The no blocking thing also makes it awkward. Just my two cents on it.
As I mentioned above, that is one of my issues with running Traverse. I'm not sure what ruin really does for us though--sure it ramps, but, it is particularly awkward if everything doesn't go according to plan. I would think you would want something like Traverse to help set up ruin, not either-or. Either way, if we want acceleration, I think we'd be better off with deathcap cultivator or even hedron crawler than ruin.
All that said, I did play test for three hours today on MTGO, and I got 8 matches in. I went 7-1 and I played against "real" decks for the most part. I'm going to have a nice breakdown of the matches on my blog probably tomorrow. I beat GW Tokens, GB Aristocrats (sanctioned match), BW Allies, UR Turbo Mill, Bant Humans, Esper Dragons, and Grixis Midrange. My lone loss was against the BW Allies deck (I had bad draws and wanted a rematch, lol). Games I went 14-6, dropping games to BW Allies (2-3), Grixis Midrange (2-1), Bant Humans (2-1), and GW Tokens (2-1). You can find my stream on Twitch if you want to watch the games or look for them on youtube this week. I really think that this deck is going to be a player going forward, hopefully another pro or streamer will pick up the deck and give it a try to get some more exposure for the deck.
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I did a similar deck to this that I think I posted in the dark eldrazi thread. It had a few sneaky features that I really liked.
First, it was heavier in black with the discard/kill like yours, then the green was added for Pulse of Murasa and Elemental Bond (really good draw engine in the right deck, but advocate or tracker or both can take that spot). Finally I splashed blue for Altered Ego. I only used the UG dual lands and not one game had mana issues. It ran a playset of Smasher and TKS, and copying those was back breaking for opponent.
Here's a sample deck just off memory that worked really good (took out ele bond for you since most don't like it)
4x Yavimaya Coast
4x Lumbering Falls
4x Llanowar Wastes
4x Hissing Quagmire
4x Crumbling Vestige
4x Swamp
4x Sylvan Advocate
4x Matter Reshaper
4x Thought-Knot Seer
4x Reality Smasher
4x Altered Ego
4x Transgress the Mind
4x Pulse of Murasa
4x Grasp of Darkness
2x Read the Bones
2x Vampiric Rites
1 Blighted Fen
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Hissing Quagmire
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Crumbling Vestige
2 Foul Orchard
4 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Wastes
Creatures (17)
4 Sylvan Advocate
3 Tireless Tracker
4 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Reality Smasher
2 Hangarback Walker
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Read the Bones
Removal (9)
3 Ultimate Price
2 Grasp of Darkness
2 Ruinous Path
1 To the Slaughter
1 Languish
Discard (5)
3 Duress
2 Transgress the Mind
2 Languish
2 Pulse of Murasa
2 Dead Weight
2 Warping Wail
2 Virulent Plague
2 Clip Wings
2 Naturalize
1 Duress
Overall, the major differences are that I cut a read the bones for a 25th land (and one that, incidentally kills that stupid demon prince) and put bearer of silence out for the more consistent hangarback walker. I’ve also thought of running the 4th tireless tracker—as he’s awesome if he sticks, but is super easy to remove until I can crack a clue—so I don’t like running him out on turn three. I’m also sort of considering Matter Reshaper, as he’s a safer play on turn three and a somewhat sticky threat. Right now the hangarback seems OK though.
I’d also really recommend picking up Kalitas for anyone considering this type of list—he makes a huge difference, often dominating the board when he sticks. Moreover, with the amount of discard and other problematic threats, he often sticks for a few turns.
The sideboard is constantly in flux. I hate running clip wings but nothing else seems to handle the westvale abbey problem very well. Everything else is at least OK for what I want it to do.
So, first off, I’ve seen the math on deck thinning and it doesn’t really exist on one-to-one cards (like fetchlands)—the amount of rounds that you have to go for in order to see any statistical benefit is very high. If you just are that mana hungry, have you tried deathcap cultivator? He really doesn’t suck, I just decided I’d rather go a different route.
I’m also entirely with you on T.T.Slaughter being disappointing. Still, I run it just so I have outs when necessary.
Additionally, your sideboard is going to be worse if you don’t spring for the languish. Just sayn’.
First off, welcome to the discussion. I’ve lurked on the dark eldrazi thread a bit, and, to an extent, I’m running a list similar to some of those, but splashing green. So there’s definitely some overlap.
How has matter reshaper worked for you? Again I’m interested in it, but I’m not sure if it is better than hangarback walker in the slot for my list.
I’m also really, really confused about altered ego—of all the things to splash for, a souped up clone? I also suspect you are missing out on the tireless tracker party—really if you are a creature deck in green, there isn’t a compelling reason not to run a few. Honestly, if I was going to splash a third (fourth?) color, it would certainly be white—shambling vent and improved removal get me every time. Still, I have to imagine that you are sacrificing some consistency by stretching that far.
Vampiric rites also seems like an odd choice, although I could see it making the reshapers better. I also feel like you might be a bit removal-lite.
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OK, how about oath of nissa? Helps smooth things out early game, don't have to rely on delirium to get creatures when necessary.
Yeah, I messed that list up a tad from what I was actually running. First the manabase was as follows, not what I put originally.
4x Lumbering Falls
4x Llanowar Wastes
4x Crumbling Vestige
8x Swamp
Similar, but no Hissing Quagmire due to it being tapped, and I knew I had slightly more black than green. Basically the only truly "Tapped" land is Lumbering Falls. And this mana base is actually really consistent because of all the doubling up. Counting Crumbling Vestige as an untapped colored land (because you play it when you need it) you have this mana curve:
Blue = 8 untapped, 4 tapped, 12 total. (earliest need is T4, usually played T5 or T6 or later though).
Green = 12 untapped, 4 tapped, 16 total. (earliest need is T2, in a list with no advocate, played later).
Black = 12 untapped, 4 tapped, 16 total. (earliest need is T2, double black if running grasp, but can run diff removal to ease that).
Colorless = 8 untapped, 4 tapped, 12 total. (earliest need is T3, T2 if you use Warping Wail).
The lack of a T1 play, and the general ease on mana symbols (besides Grasp) makes it all pretty consistent, and in my original list I dont think I used Grasp or Advocate so it was actually even better.
Altered Ego = Copies whatever you need it to, including enemy creatures as well. This is how I generally used it in "perfect" curve. TKS -> Smasher -> Smasher Clone as a 7/7. I could see it going down some, and I could see adding white for Shambling Vent too, but I'm a fan of the clone
Tireless Tracker = It was between this guy and Sylvan Advocate to me, and quite frankly, I'm not that big of a fan of him. He comes down T3 and dies to almost everything, I usually wouldnt be popping the clue until T6 or so, especially if I curve out, but he is CA so cant be discounted.
Vampiric rites = This card is mostly for protection, if you have some spare mana up, which as I said above, I dont usually till late game, but thats when I need this guy. If they target my TKS or Smasher, in response I use this, gain a life and draw. Just a bit of protection against removal really.
Matter Reshaper = This guy is freaking Amazing. I'm never sad to see him, he trades with most early to mid game threats, and draws us a card at worst or ramps us at best. Very good CA imo, better than Tracker. If im the aggressor, I attack almost every turn with him, basically letting the opponent choose: take 3 or give me a card/ramp. If I'm defending, hes a solid blocker that says: trade a guy and ramp/draw
Some other cards that I used in mine that I really liked, but aren't necessary are: Touch of Moonglove, and Grotesque Mutation.
Finally, I've also been toying with the idea of an "Abzan Lands/Eldrazi midrange" deck that seems pretty sweet in theory, but may be too slow.
4x Shambling Vent
4x Caves of Koilos
4x Hissing Quagmire
4x Llanowar Wastes
3x Crumbling Vestige
3x Forest
2x Swamp
4x Sylvan Advocate
4x Catacomb Sifter
4x Matter Reshaper
4x Thought-Knot Seer
4x Reality Smasher
2x Liliana, Heretical Healer
3x Declaration in Stone
3x Nahiri's Machinations
4x Anguished Unmaking
4x Pulse of Murasa
Sideboard would just probably be utility, some discard for more controlly matchups, maybe a few more creatures for aggro/other midrange. Kalitas, Drana, Ayli stuff like that. Personally I'm not a really big fan of Declaration in Stone, sorcery just hurts it more than the 1 extra mana and 3 life hurt Anguished imo.
Ondu Rising could be a good card with Awaken and lifelink to the team for two.
Ruinous Path would also be decent.
Nahiri's Machinations is a bit of a silly card, but seems pretty sweet with the manlands to protect them.
Basic idea of the deck is to use just a fairly aggressive midrange value curve, then instead of using traditional card advantage, use man-lands and Pulse instead.