I was thinking about a couple counterspells indeed. Probably dust off my pair of Plasm Captures. Now that Monoblue is losing presence in my meta I can probably go without the Gainsays.
I would not touch Hybridization though, its worse than a 1-for-1 and I have very limited noncreature spell slots. That's also why Curse of the Swine really shines, because you can deal with many threats with just a single card.
Might add another Arbor Colossus to the sideboard.
I was thinking about a couple counterspells indeed. Probably dust off my pair of Plasm Captures. Now that Monoblue is losing presence in my meta I can probably go without the Gainsays.
I would not touch Hybridization though, its worse than a 1-for-1 and I have very limited noncreature spell slots. That's also why Curse of the Swine really shines, because you can deal with many threats with just a single card.
Might add another Arbor Colossus to the sideboard.
I hear ya on Hybridization, but to work against grey merchant or stormbreath ya really need instants. Plasm Capture is probably the way to go. (Since we ramp and they need to be at 5 mana anyways.) Oh and we untap all the time so having the 4 mana open isn't really telegraphing our plan...
I'm glad I have a few of em I knew when DM came out it was a sweet card!
I hear ya on Hybridization, but to work against grey merchant or stormbreath ya really need instants. Plasm Capture is probably the way to go. (Since we ramp and they need to be at 5 mana anyways.) Oh and we untap all the time so having the 4 mana open isn't really telegraphing our plan...
I'm glad I have a few of em I knew when DM came out it was a sweet card!
Hybridization works just fine against Stormbreath. It would also help against Merchant to an extent, since you can nuke their Specters in response. It actually seems like a great spell for this deck, since a 3/3 vanilla token isn't much scarier to us than the 2/2 pigs are. Plus it's a fine top-deck when we are in beatdown mode and want to turn our walls and elves into 3/3 (5/5 with Biomancer) creatures
Here's my new list. Embarassingly, I misread Garruk and thought you could only get one of the creatures he reveals. That's a bit of a game-changer. Please keep in mind that I haven't played in two years
A lot of the fat has been cut. Curse of the Swine is a pretty insane card in this deck. Also, I found I was badly in need of a 3-drop beater, and Witchstalker fills that role quite well. This list has tested a lot better against aggro than my previous one, and still has a pretty decent control matchup thanks to AEtherling and maindeck counterspells. Not sure about the sideboard. My list has been changing so quickly I haven't had time to test that.
I'm now up to 10 manadorks in my list, will bring more results soon.
Primordial doesn't really give me anything I need. If it had trample or some kind of evasion I would play it. Prime Speaker at the top of my curve is fine. I usually win the game if she hits
Edit: also, does anyone else think the inspiration mechanic might do some fun things for this deck? The new sphinx looks worth testing at the least
Primordial doesn't really give me anything I need. If it had trample or some kind of evasion I would play it. Prime Speaker at the top of my curve is fine. I usually win the game if she hits
Edit: also, does anyone else think the inspiration mechanic might do some fun things for this deck? The new sphinx looks worth testing at the least
Primordial gives you everything you need. He deals with planeswalkers and he can lock greedy mana bases out of a color (I'm looking at you esper humans).
Update. Went 3-1 at FNM last night only loss was against Esper Humans. Never played against the deck before we went 2-1. I just couldn't interact with obzedat. Got 6th place overall (only played one person in the top 5) I hate how Fnm rankings work. There was around 30 people there.
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Would Dark Confidant still be good if he punched you in the face for 5 damage a turn?
the thing with Primordial is it stonewalls Desecration Demon and Stormbreath Dragon, both of which can be annoying against us. Killing a permanent is pretty good too, as there are a lot of good targets for it such as Detention Sphere, any land enchanted with Underworld Connections, Bident of Thassa, any planeswalker, etc.
Are there any useful ways to tap a creature we control for value the turn it comes into play? I'm thinking of ways to abuse the inspiration sphinx by untapping it multiple times with Prophet.
Mediator of the Ideal4UU
Creature - Sphinx (rare)
Flying Inspiration - Whenever ~ untaps, reveal the top card of your library. If its an artifact, creature, or land card you may put it onto the battlefield with a manifestation counter on it. It is an enchantment in addition to its other types.
4/5
Maybe Springleaf Drum, which is supposed to be reprinted in Born of the Gods? Kinda mediocre on its own, though. Still, it would let us get free critters each turn.
I dunno. For what it does, it might just be easier to draw a card with something and cast whatever you get, instead of playing this sphinx.
Are there any useful ways to tap a creature we control for value the turn it comes into play? I'm thinking of ways to abuse the inspiration sphinx by untapping it multiple times with Prophet.
Mediator of the Ideal4UU
Creature - Sphinx (rare)
Flying Inspiration - Whenever ~ untaps, reveal the top card of your library. If its an artifact, creature, or land card you may put it onto the battlefield with a manifestation counter on it. It is an enchantment in addition to its other types.
4/5
Maybe Springleaf Drum, which is supposed to be reprinted in Born of the Gods? Kinda mediocre on its own, though. Still, it would let us get free critters each turn.
I dunno. For what it does, it might just be easier to draw a card with something and cast whatever you get, instead of playing this sphinx.
The sphinx is a consideration. The drum is really a no go. You only get 1 extra mana a turn. I'm not sure what manifestation counters do yet so it might be worse than it seems?
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Would Dark Confidant still be good if he punched you in the face for 5 damage a turn?
Primordial gives you everything you need. He deals with planeswalkers and he can lock greedy mana bases out of a color (I'm looking at you esper humans).
Update. Went 3-1 at FNM last night only loss was against Esper Humans. Never played against the deck before we went 2-1. I just couldn't interact with obzedat. Got 6th place overall (only played one person in the top 5) I hate how Fnm rankings work. There was around 30 people there.
Planeswalkers haven't been a huge concern to me outside of Elspeth. It might put my UW matchup firmly into my favor. He might be worth sideboarding over Bramblecrush
The new sphinx probably isn't going to make our deck, but Inspiration in general might do some good things for us, especially if it gets put on a land
My assumption is that Inspiration is an ability word -- a term that links multiple abilities that will trigger on untapping. And the manifestation counter is just to help track that the permanent is an enchantment.
I highly doubt there will be multiple cards that let you put permanents onto the battlefield from the top of your library.
Planeswalkers haven't been a huge concern to me outside of Elspeth. It might put my UW matchup firmly into my favor. He might be worth sideboarding over Bramblecrush
The new sphinx probably isn't going to make our deck, but Inspiration in general might do some good things for us, especially if it gets put on a land
What does your meta look like? Mine is filled with Jace, Chandra, Garruk, Elspeth, and even more Jace.
None of those really scare me. Jace does virtually nothing against us. Garruk isn't really used in any decks that concern us besides GR and Stormbreath is really the only scary card in that deck. Chandra isn't much of a threat. Elspeth can be annoying, but if you run AEtherling you already have the absolute best card against control..
Like I said, it's probably good to have in the board, but 7 mana seems like an awful lot for a spell that doesn't win the game. If it could kill creatures and gods, I would consider it
I've been following this thread rather close as i've been trying to get simic to work in standard for several months now. This is the list i've ended up with. It's tested really well against Boros burn and somewhat well against the esper humans deck. Just made some changes to try and improve the matchup against mono black, mainly trying to either counter their important drops or turn off their devotion post board. May have to put Urban Evolution back in to give some card draw once you've dumped your hand. Ordeal of Thassa is also a possibility.
I've been following this thread rather close as i've been trying to get simic to work in standard for several months now. This is the list i've ended up with. It's tested really well against Boros burn and somewhat well against the esper humans deck. Just made some changes to try and improve the matchup against mono black, mainly trying to either counter their important drops or turn off their devotion post board. May have to put Urban Evolution back in to give some card draw once you've dumped your hand. Ordeal of Thassa is also a possibility.
Switch the Chimeras for Prognostic Sphinx, it'll be much better for your curve (you have twelve 4-drops), flashes in right after prophet, blocks like a champ and fixes your draw step when you don't need any more manadorks.
Had not thought of that, discard a late game mystic or caryatid to him to avoid spot removal as well as the deck fixing. Good swap, i'll get them changed out. Also, my land count was off in the above post it's gonna be 8 forest not 9.
I've been following this thread rather close as i've been trying to get simic to work in standard for several months now. This is the list i've ended up with. It's tested really well against Boros burn and somewhat well against the esper humans deck. Just made some changes to try and improve the matchup against mono black, mainly trying to either counter their important drops or turn off their devotion post board. May have to put Urban Evolution back in to give some card draw once you've dumped your hand. Ordeal of Thassa is also a possibility.
I would side out Bident for AEtherling, Curse, or Polukranos (or some combination) or even replace it with Jace. It's at a delicate spot on the curve, and is going to be a dead card at times
Also, did you guys see Kiora's Follower? That guy is pretty much perfect for our deck
Swapped out the Chimeras for Prognostic and took out the bidents to bring in the singleton aetherling. Also upped the mana back to 24. Set of 5 games against Esper Humans and Boros Burn netted no losses, and required no boarding. Have yet to test the changes vs Mono black or Mono Blue. Thinking of cutting swan song out of the sideboard to put a 3 of in to fill the gaps, but not sure what to bring in. Perhaps gainsay or rapid hybridization? After the changes the match ups really just don't look bad on paper. Only some more testing will tell for sure, but solidify the sideboard and I think it might be fairly done.
The new merfolk looks absolutely amazing. I will for sure be finding a way to squeeze kiora and the follower into this shell come born of the gods. It almost makes me want to run nykthos for the ramp but i'm not sure it's needed unless you pull mistcutter into the main.
I don't think it takes Caryatid's place, but yeah, I'll probably be running some number of both.
Nothing takes Caryatid's place. I plan on playing it along each other, 4 Elvish Mystics, 4 Caryatids and 2 Kiora's Followers. More than enough to ensure I can cast Sylvan Primordial and my Scry suite deals with them in the late game.
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I would not touch Hybridization though, its worse than a 1-for-1 and I have very limited noncreature spell slots. That's also why Curse of the Swine really shines, because you can deal with many threats with just a single card.
Might add another Arbor Colossus to the sideboard.
I hear ya on Hybridization, but to work against grey merchant or stormbreath ya really need instants. Plasm Capture is probably the way to go. (Since we ramp and they need to be at 5 mana anyways.) Oh and we untap all the time so having the 4 mana open isn't really telegraphing our plan...
I'm glad I have a few of em I knew when DM came out it was a sweet card!
Hybridization works just fine against Stormbreath. It would also help against Merchant to an extent, since you can nuke their Specters in response. It actually seems like a great spell for this deck, since a 3/3 vanilla token isn't much scarier to us than the 2/2 pigs are. Plus it's a fine top-deck when we are in beatdown mode and want to turn our walls and elves into 3/3 (5/5 with Biomancer) creatures
Standard:
GU Prophet
Legacy:
WBU Shared Fate
Trades
Can't wait to see what's in BNG, I want spoilers now!
4x Elvish Mystic
4x Sylvan Caryatid
3x Mistcutter Hydra
3x Witchstalker
2x Polukranos, World Eater
3x Master Biomancer
4x Prophet of Kruphix
2x Aetherling
1x Progenitor Mimic
1x Prime Speaker Zegana
3x Curse of the Swine
2x Cyclonic Rift
2x Plasm Capture
Planeswalkers(2):
2x Garruk, Caller of Beasts
Lands(24):
4x Temple of Mystery
4x Breeding Pool
9x Forest
5x Island
2x Nykthos, Shrine of Nyx
2x Jace, Architect of the Mind
3x Gainsay
3x Simic Charm
2x Prognostic Sphinx
3x Rapid Hybridization
2x Bramblecrush
A lot of the fat has been cut. Curse of the Swine is a pretty insane card in this deck. Also, I found I was badly in need of a 3-drop beater, and Witchstalker fills that role quite well. This list has tested a lot better against aggro than my previous one, and still has a pretty decent control matchup thanks to AEtherling and maindeck counterspells. Not sure about the sideboard. My list has been changing so quickly I haven't had time to test that.
Standard:
GU Prophet
Legacy:
WBU Shared Fate
Trades
I'm now up to 10 manadorks in my list, will bring more results soon.
EDIT: Born of the Gods' Blue pre-release promo is neat !!
Primordial doesn't really give me anything I need. If it had trample or some kind of evasion I would play it. Prime Speaker at the top of my curve is fine. I usually win the game if she hits
Edit: also, does anyone else think the inspiration mechanic might do some fun things for this deck? The new sphinx looks worth testing at the least
Standard:
GU Prophet
Legacy:
WBU Shared Fate
Trades
Primordial gives you everything you need. He deals with planeswalkers and he can lock greedy mana bases out of a color (I'm looking at you esper humans).
Update. Went 3-1 at FNM last night only loss was against Esper Humans. Never played against the deck before we went 2-1. I just couldn't interact with obzedat. Got 6th place overall (only played one person in the top 5) I hate how Fnm rankings work. There was around 30 people there.
Mediator of the Ideal 4UU
Creature - Sphinx (rare)
Flying
Inspiration - Whenever ~ untaps, reveal the top card of your library. If its an artifact, creature, or land card you may put it onto the battlefield with a manifestation counter on it. It is an enchantment in addition to its other types.
4/5
Maybe Springleaf Drum, which is supposed to be reprinted in Born of the Gods? Kinda mediocre on its own, though. Still, it would let us get free critters each turn.
I dunno. For what it does, it might just be easier to draw a card with something and cast whatever you get, instead of playing this sphinx.
The sphinx is a consideration. The drum is really a no go. You only get 1 extra mana a turn. I'm not sure what manifestation counters do yet so it might be worse than it seems?
Planeswalkers haven't been a huge concern to me outside of Elspeth. It might put my UW matchup firmly into my favor. He might be worth sideboarding over Bramblecrush
The new sphinx probably isn't going to make our deck, but Inspiration in general might do some good things for us, especially if it gets put on a land
Standard:
GU Prophet
Legacy:
WBU Shared Fate
Trades
I highly doubt there will be multiple cards that let you put permanents onto the battlefield from the top of your library.
What does your meta look like? Mine is filled with Jace, Chandra, Garruk, Elspeth, and even more Jace.
Additionally there is mutavaults, Underworld Connections, Whip of Erebos, Bident of Thassa, and even the occasional Blind Obedience
None of those really scare me. Jace does virtually nothing against us. Garruk isn't really used in any decks that concern us besides GR and Stormbreath is really the only scary card in that deck. Chandra isn't much of a threat. Elspeth can be annoying, but if you run AEtherling you already have the absolute best card against control..
Like I said, it's probably good to have in the board, but 7 mana seems like an awful lot for a spell that doesn't win the game. If it could kill creatures and gods, I would consider it
Standard:
GU Prophet
Legacy:
WBU Shared Fate
Trades
4x Elvish Mystic
4x Sylvan Caryatid
3x Horizon Chimera
3x Witchstalker
3x Sylvan Promordial
4x Master Biomancer
4x Prophet of Kruphix
2x Arbor Colossus
3x Spell Rupture
2x Simic Charm
3x Plasm Capture
Enchantments(2):
2x Bident of Thassa
Lands(23):
4x Temple of Mystery
4x Breeding Pool
8x Forest
7x Island
1x AEtherling
3x Curse of the Swine
3x Mistcutter Hydra
2x Pithing Needle
2x Polukranos, World Eater
2x Swan Song
2x Unexpected Results
I've been following this thread rather close as i've been trying to get simic to work in standard for several months now. This is the list i've ended up with. It's tested really well against Boros burn and somewhat well against the esper humans deck. Just made some changes to try and improve the matchup against mono black, mainly trying to either counter their important drops or turn off their devotion post board. May have to put Urban Evolution back in to give some card draw once you've dumped your hand. Ordeal of Thassa is also a possibility.
Switch the Chimeras for Prognostic Sphinx, it'll be much better for your curve (you have twelve 4-drops), flashes in right after prophet, blocks like a champ and fixes your draw step when you don't need any more manadorks.
I would side out Bident for AEtherling, Curse, or Polukranos (or some combination) or even replace it with Jace. It's at a delicate spot on the curve, and is going to be a dead card at times
Also, did you guys see Kiora's Follower? That guy is pretty much perfect for our deck
Standard:
GU Prophet
Legacy:
WBU Shared Fate
Trades
Yes, I'd use 2 or 3. Pretty handy that it can untap Bow of Nylea (another way to deal with Stormbreath Dragon)
I don't think it takes Caryatid's place, but yeah, I'll probably be running some number of both.
Standard:
GU Prophet
Legacy:
WBU Shared Fate
Trades
The new merfolk looks absolutely amazing. I will for sure be finding a way to squeeze kiora and the follower into this shell come born of the gods. It almost makes me want to run nykthos for the ramp but i'm not sure it's needed unless you pull mistcutter into the main.
Nothing takes Caryatid's place. I plan on playing it along each other, 4 Elvish Mystics, 4 Caryatids and 2 Kiora's Followers. More than enough to ensure I can cast Sylvan Primordial and my Scry suite deals with them in the late game.