MTG Salvation

This is a build i've been messing around with. It is a mixture between Saproling/Knight tokens and a few of the new angels.I really like Shalai, Voice of Plenty. I started looking at all the really good token spells and enchantments.

I wanted each token to get some added value from a few other cards i have added.

Shanna, Sisay's Legacy She will get big quick if unanswered.
Sporecrown Thallid He'll pump all the Saproling Tokens
History Of Benalia Plays both rolls pumping Knights and token generator
Shalai, Voice of Plenty Will protect the field and can put counters on everything
Lyra Dawnbringer This card is awesome. Will get protected by Shalai and also pumps her.



This is what i have so far. Let me know what ya think. Could use some idea's on sideboard choices. More removal?

I'm also messing aroung with a G/W Tokens deck, but my version is quite different as it focuses on 3 main cards:
Legion's Landing, Anointed Procession and Huatli, Radiant Champion and I also threw in a copy of Tendershoot Dryad which seems like a good 1x-of for the deck.

Here it is:


The main thing missing here is an anthem to pump the tokens so maybe I should add Song of Freyalise (over Treasure Map) though it is so slow (basically "suspend 2" to put counters) that I'd hesitate playing it.

Song of freyalise is awsome! it ramps you sooooo much in torken strategys.. =) in my pure saproling decks it gets me turn 5 kills..

I've tried it for a while and wasn't impressed as the timing of the abilities needs to line up exactly with what you have so if you have nothing to ramp into (or need the creature fot attacking/blocking) it does little for a couple of turns and same goes for the counters which sometimes require you to put the tokens in play as fast as possible to get the benefit rather than using removal or setting up Procession/Huatli.

I prefer Path of Discovery as a way to put counters on the tokens while also providing much needed card selection.

A decent option to close out games can be Appeal // Authority but I'm not sure what it can replace in the deck and it is susceptible to spot removal so maybe something like Pride of Conquerors would be better.

A copy of Oketra the True seems like a good addition as well though with Vraska's Contempt/Seal Away
(Cast Out/Ixalan's Binding/Thopter Arrest) being the go-to removal in the format it can be removed.

Quote from D90Dennis14 »

I've tried it for a while and wasn't impressed as the timing of the abilities needs to line up exactly with what you have so if you have nothing to ramp into (or need the creature fot attacking/blocking) it does little for a couple of turns and same goes for the counters which sometimes require you to put the tokens in play as fast as possible to get the benefit rather than using removal or setting up Procession/Huatli.

I prefer Path of Discovery as a way to put counters on the tokesn while also providing much needed card selection.

A decent option to close out games can be Appeal // Authority but I'm not sure what it can replace in the deck and it is suseptible to spot removal so maybe something like Pride of Conquerors would be better.

A copy of Oketra the True seems like a good addition as well though with Vraska's Contempt/Seal Away
(Cast Out/Ixalan's Binding/Thopter Arrest) being the go-to removal in the format it can be removed.

Thrashing Brontodon is good for fighting off enchantment removal. I like it more than the strait removal since it gives a body that can swing for damage and if they have to waste a removal on it, the fellow did his job anyway. Also as a 3/4 it dodges Wizard's Lightning and Lightning Strike. That and running a one or two of Shalai, Voice of Plenty can stop most spot removal. Heck, I use it as a removal magnet since the opponent has to answer Shalai to even hit any more important piece.

This was my own thought process when looking at what to sideboard for the white enchantment epidemic:

Fragmentize -> Cheap, but Sorcery Speed. It does hit all the culprits I want it to hit, though.
Slice in Twain -> Replaces itself, which is good. Unfortunately, unlike Blink of an Eye, we can't opt out for early removal.
Decommission and Invoke the Divine -> Feels like it's only good against vehicles decks and not so much against the sort of decks running Seal Away.
Nissa's Defeat -> Do green enchantments exist? Oh wow it hits Vraska! Wait, but Never // Return also hits vraska and gives a zombie... why does this exist?
Forsake the Worldly -> Dear lord is this expensive on mana for what it really does, but that cycling makes it so much better than everything else on the list and it exiles the target.

Also, in my local meta Fungal Infection has been amazing. There's so many X/1 creatures running around that it feels like I'm running an instant speed Dead Weight that gives me a free token. I've been swapping it out for Fatal Push when I'm dealing with certain decks.

Shalai, Voice of Plenty is a card I've considered but I'm mainly interested in the last ability and am not sure how consistently it can be activated with only Llanowar Elves (and Treasure Map if you count it) as ramp.

I think that Naturalize is a perfectly fine answer to enchantments which is reasonably costed and instant speed
(good for immediately removing Gift for instance).
The deck also has the catch-all Ixalan's Binding (or Cast Out if someone prefers it) which also hits enchantments.

BtW, why are we talking about enchantment removal in specific ? Do you think it is a major issue for the deck ?

Fungal Infection is a fine card in "BG Saprolings" but this thread is about "GW Tokens" (which might also be GW Saprolings if it turns out to be better which I'm not sure about).

Quote from D90Dennis14 »

Shalai, Voice of Plenty is a card I've considered but I'm mainly interested in the last ability and am not sure how consistently it can be activated with only Llanowar Elves (and Treasure Map if you count it) as ramp.

I think that Naturalize is a perfectly fine answer to enchantments which is reasonably costed and instant speed
(good for immediately removing Gift for instance).
The deck also has the catch-all Ixalan's Binding (or Cast Out if someone prefers it) which also hits enchantments.

BtW, why are we talking about enchantment removal in specific ? Do you think it is a major issue for the deck ?

Fungal Infection is a fine card in "BG Saprolings" but this thread is about "GW Tokens" (which might also be GW Saprolings if it turns out to be better which I'm not sure about).

I actually bring up enchantment removal because look at what people are brewing at the moment: UW Historic, UW control, WB knights, there's a lot of white. Seal away has become a staple in the format right now and while the deck is strong against point removal by the direction of the strategy, the win condition with Shanna, Sisay's Legacy can get hit by it. The same thing with Lyra Dawnbringer. The other big thing is the relevance of History of Benalia. That card is basically 8 damage strait up unless it gets answered, and UW historic can play it at the end step and get two tokens right away out of it.

On the upside good old Blossoming Defense helps against the seal away, so it's really more of a thing to use against benalia spam or to deal with a problem enchantment after it lands.

Here is a new list - https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-wg-50986
And here is a different looking list - https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1075589
Both lists have virtually (the first list has 2x Thopter Arrest) zero interaction in the mainboard which seems wrong.

I'm not sure how good Shanna actually is in the deck.
Turning on opponents' removal seems bad as she's only protected from enchantment based removal (as those use abilities to exile).

Angel of Invention doesn't seem particulary impressive either as an expensive anthem (Call for Unity can be better for that and harder to remove) or token producing creature (Tendershoot Dryad and Regal Caracal are probably better).

I'm a bit surprised not to see any lists playing Procession and very few playing Huatli as I think those should be the best payoffs for playing tokens in these colors.

I love this deck; I went 3-0 at FNM for my first solo win with it. Here's the build:



Matches: (unfortunately don't remember the exact sideboards)

Match 1 - Jeskai Historic Control

Game 1 - Fast start, appealed a Shanna and won by turn 6.

Game 2 - Slower start with more back and forth and lots of Seal Aways, stabilized after a Fumigate with a Sram's Expertise into song of freyalise. Huatli, Radiant Champion wins the game.

Match 2 - UB Control

Game 1 - Legion's Landing, Servo Exhibition, Benalish Marshal, Skymarcher Aspirant was a fast start but everything got countered until he dropped a Karn, Liberated. Drew a counter with an adorned pouncer and then pride of conquerers for the win.

Game 2 - Sorcerous spyglass naming Karn...he took them all out for The Scarab God. Whoops; big punt on my part. He played 3 Cast downs and 3 fatal pushes, 3 disallows. I die to Torrential Gearhulk and my own Shalai, Voice of Plenty.

Game 3 - Skymarcher, Sorcerous Spyglass on The Scarab God, fight through tons of removal and counters. Eventually grind my way to saprolings and servos, and resolving a Huatli, Radiant Champion wins it through double Azcanta searches on consecutive turns looking for an answer.

Match 3 - Jeskai Thopter Vehicles

This deck looked super fun.

Game 1 - Perfect start: skymarcher aspirant, servo exhibition, song of freyalise, 4 saprolings, win.

Game 2 - Mull to five: 3 lands, a skymarcher aspirant and a Sram's Expertise. He builds a huge boardstate, I die to Pia, Thopters, HoK.

Game 3 - Reasonable start: legion's landing into song of freyalise. Ramp into Shanna, Voice of Sissay and more servos. +6 on Huatli the turn she drops allows for a second turn ultimate and my boardstate gets crazy. He scoops.

Notes:

Song of Freyalise was awesome. My Match 3 opponent straight up said it blew him out. It doesn't always ramp into anything, but even just pumping for a swing makes it worth it.

Any time I landed a Huatli, I won. Moving to at least two mainboard, maybe three. From a Match 3 spectator: "What does Huatli's ultimate do?" **picks it up** "Oh, it wins the game." Opponent: "Yeah, it wins the game."

I was worried about the lack of one-drops, but eked out wins anyway without a ton of issue. Slow start in M2G2 may have been helped with more one-drops.

I sided out Benalish Marshall a lot, so only got to see him one game. I might take him out for dauntless bodyguards to ensure the curve and protect Shanna, Sisay's Legacy who turned out pretty sweet each time she got out, but he's the only three drop in the list, so I have to work on that. I ordered a third History of Benalia so that's probably going to take the spot.

Not having Settle the Wreckage in the sideboard was a big mistake; putting them in for the naturalizes probably.

In two games the opponent was two or three draws from a sweeper that probably would have swung the game. Heroic stops fumigate but not settle or golden demise so even though I won through a fumigate round one I feel like I need to incorporate more protection from board wipes. Any thoughts?

Shalai stops Settle the wreckage you know.. so if you can power her out and protect her your golden.. =)

I have tried this kind of deck but I really don't know what to do with Goblin Chainwhirler

I feel like this archetype could definitely go Bant. Throw in a Jace, Cunning Castaway and some card draw, and we've got ourselves a party. My take, off the top of my head:



I'll fill in the gaps concerning the lands and the rest of the sideboard when I get the chance (kinda on a time crunch).

I don't really see Blue helping the deck very much (the only worthwhile blue card is probably Champion of Wits),
for card draw I'd play Treasure Map over Divination as it is much better and can get double the number of treasure tokens with Procession.

Jace is a pretty weak PW (that messes up the mana being a UU splash card) and maxing out on Huatli would be much better imho as she can ult quickly and begin drawing an absurd number of cards.

Your draft seems pretty skimpy on token producers for a tokens deck imho.
Where is Saproling Migration (or Sram's Expertise/Spore Swarm) ?
I'd probably add them over Shanna and shave off a copy of Shalai and maybe a Song as well (Pride seems like a better anthem).

Quote from D90Dennis14 »

I don't really see Blue helping the deck very much (the only worthwhile blue card is probably Champion of Wits),
for card draw I'd play Treasure Map over Divination as it is much better and can get double the number of treasure tokens with Procession.

Jace is a pretty weak PW (thats messes up the mana being a UU splash card) and maxing out on Huatli would be much better imho as she can ult quickly and begin drawing an absurd number of cards.

Your draft seems pretty skimpy on token producers for a tokens deck imho.
Where is Saproling Migration (or Sram's Expertise/Spore Swarm) ?
I'd probably add them over Shanna and shave of a copy of Shalai and maybe a Song as well (Pride seems like a better anthem).

You're right about me not having enough token producers. Honestly made the deck before bed, which is why it was off the top of my head. I thought I had put Saproling Migration in the deck, but was mistaken. I will add it to my build, and remove Shanna, Sisay's Legacy from the deck because she doesn't really offer anything to my build. However, I disagree with your assessment of Jace, Cunning Castaway being a "weak" PW. By himself, sure. He's no Karn, Teferi, or Chandra. You don't just throw him in any old deck. But in a a deck tailor made or built around him, he shines. What he represents is inevitability. It's very easy to "ult" him because of how little loyalty is required to do so. And it makes killing him (all the copies of him, that is) really hard as well. Treasure Map is far too slow in a deck such as ours. You don't benefit from casting it AT LEAST until Turn 5. And you have to pay into for the first three (sometimes four) turns you've cast it. We want to be assembling our deck pieces much sooner than that, and with Jace and Hautli, card draw may not be that big of an issue. Also, splashing for UU isn't difficult either. We have almost ridiculous mana fixing in our colors, in a deck that is primarily W no less. As for Shalai, my rule is this: If a 4cmc card is powerful or has a powerful affect, you never want to have more in your hand than one at any given time. BUT, you need to be able to find the card relatively easy/fast. Having her as a "3 of" is where the deck needs to be.

EDIT: Spelling

This was posted on MTGGoldfish:

If yall make this into an Abzan tokens construction I think it gets a lot stronger. Tendershoot Dryad is an insanely powerful card especially if you can recur it (hence the black) Plus you get a lot more payoff cards for your tokens such as slimefoot.

I also have to agree that Jace can be a good PW if you build around him. I have an Esper tokens build that goes nuts with him around.