Alright, I've been waiting to comment until I read through the thread and had time to test a version of the deck myself. So far, I've been pretty impressed. Thoughtseize into Brain Maggot (or vice versa) just doesn't seem fair.
I actually arrived at a number of conclusions discussed here before stumbling upon the thread, but hadn't considered the heavy focus on card disruption.
Before I go into details, I will make a small note about the Kalonian Hydra. It's just one of my staple cards, so I find a way to put at least 1 in every deck capable. It's a big threat that requires an answer or you win. I also realize it puts the count at 61, but I'm willing to live with it for now.
With that said, I think one of my few differences is that I'm still using Oath of the Ancient Wood as a singleton. There were two, but I took one out for the 4th Thoughtseize that came the other day. I still like the card, specifically how it can allow the deck to go from Mid-Range/Control-ish to Beatdown in a turn or two. It doesn't offer as much as Primeval Bounty, but it can be put out earlier and can give cards like Courser of Kruphix a little added defense.
I initially wasn't sure about the addition of Scavenging Ooze, but it has definitely been pulling its weight, despite not being an enchantment. The same can't really be said for Underworld Connections, so far in my testing. To be fair to the card, I haven't needed it because I've been lucky and have gotten my EoBs consistently. It is nice being able to draw the top card Courser shows at times, but I feel like I'd prefer something a little more proactive in its place, whether it be more kill spells, another Oath, or something else that can stand on its own. I'm going to leave it in for now and see how FNM goes, but I could see myself swapping the two out for another Primeval Bounty and Oath.
It was briefly discussed before about potentially using our off-color temples for red to use things like Slaughter Games and Rakdos's Return. Has anyone reached a conclusion with that in testing? If we were to go that route, I might also consider taking out the Doom Blades in the SB for Dreadbores, to give another cheap kill spell that could hit Planeswalkers as well. Sorcery speed is a little disappointing, but doesn't seem like a deal breaker.
Concerning rotation, for now it looks like our kill spells could be cut down quite a bit, or their cost could increase with cards like Silence the Believers and Gild. There are some more situational cards like Asphyxiate and Feast of Dreams. Losing Golgari Charm will be the biggest hit though.
losing golgari charm and abrupt decay would be kinda bad.. do we have any other spot removals besides downfall post-rotation?
It really depends on what m15 ends up having, and what Khans of Tarkir ends up bringing to the table. It's all pretty up in the air at the moment, but we currently have Bile Blight and Ulcerate as cheap spot removal, and should we move into white, that opens up Banishing Light and Reprisal. But I doubt we'll be found wanting in terms of spot removal come rotation.
@Burkistocles: I suppose I'll evaluate your list as if Kalonian Hydra wasn't in it---going to 61 cards is basically never worth it, except in extreme niche cases involving one-of tutor targets. Your list looks fine, and while I'm not a fan of Oath of the Ancient Wood, I'll admit I haven't actually tested it. I would, however, advocate dropping it for the fourth Hero's Downfall, as that's just an incredibly useful card.
I tested out the splash red option, and it does improve our control matchup, while somewhat worsening the other ones. If your metagame has a lot of UWx control, I'd reccomend it, but otherwise, the base GB list works fine.
Well, Back to Nature just made the decision of whether or not to splash white easier. Getting randomly swept and having Banishing Light give my opponent back something doesn't seem...good. I don't know how widely played the card will be going forward--many decks will have some splash damage from the card, so there is at least that. Outside of Ulcerate, there isn't much in the way of removal from this set. I think Chord of Calling and Garruk, Apex Predator are the two biggest possible additions this deck gains, along with the painland and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth providing some nice smoothing for our mana. Ulcerate might be a bit too hard on our life total, especially if Thoughtseize is in the mainboard. I think Soul of Innistrad could possibly be worth a glance, as well as Liliana Vess.
This deck gets some nice tools, though we also have to keep an eye out for Back to Nature going forward.
Well, it's a good thing we got a counter to that obvious sideboard card with our own, Stain the Mind. And honestly, I think we'll be doing fine til we hit rotation since we should be hitting cards like that with our hand disruption in the first place.
I'm not sure running Stain the Mind on the off chance that our opponents are running Back to Nature is really worth playing the card. I think it's probably best to just play more conservatively and run lists that don't necessarily need to overextend on enchantments. And until rotation, we do still have Golgari Charm to protect against effects like that. Back to Nature is a strong hate card, but it's also the kind of card that is only going to be run if this kind of deck is very present in the metagame--it misses Gods, so it has to compete with Deicide and Unravel the AEther in sideboards, not to mention any splash damage decks running the card might take. It's also a self-solving problem--if Constellation is very popular, Back to Nature comes in and is very good for a time, which pushes Constellation out, and makes Back to Nature much less impressive against the rest of the metagame and therefore not worthy of a slot. And if it doesn't push Constellation out this way, that's still a good thing. The deck should be fine going forward.
Seeing Back to Nature being reprinted was a little discouraging, but as others have said Constellation decks don't appear to be so popular that every deck will splash green just to dedicate sideboard slots to a card that doesn't deal with any of the Gods. It also makes the hand disruption aspect of the deck all the more important.
Tomorrow I want to give Rockstars a try at a large tournament, but I don't have time to test it properly, nor to come up with a list. I discovered this deck yesterday and I fell in love with it. So screw my other decks, I want to play this!
I'm searching this thread for a list to copy (since I don't have a lot of time to test it). I'm expecting a lot of Mono Black, Black White Midrange and Blue White Control. So I want to tech the list for those MUs. Wich list would you suggest? I think a list with Boon Satyr over Doomwake Giant will be nice, but I dont have the experience with the deck to make that call. Also, I'm seeing some Mana Bloom ramp/trigger strategies. Is that the route to go or is just better to play good cards instead of synergy?
Tomorrow I want to give Rockstars a try at a large tournament, but I don't have time to test it properly, nor to come up with a list. I discovered this deck yesterday and I fell in love with it. So screw my other decks, I want to play this!
I'm searching this thread for a list to copy (since I don't have a lot of time to test it). I'm expecting a lot of Mono Black, Black White Midrange and Blue White Control. So I want to tech the list for those MUs. Wich list would you suggest? I think a list with Boon Satyr over Doomwake Giant will be nice, but I dont have the experience with the deck to make that call. Also, I'm seeing some Mana Bloom ramp/trigger strategies. Is that the route to go or is just better to play good cards instead of synergy?
If you are expecting more control-ish decks, I would maindeck (assuming you have these cards...) Thoughtseize and keep a playset of Duress in the sideboard for extra disruption on top of Thoughtseize and Brain Maggot. I would also recommend Boon Satyr, but I would probably main two copies of Doomwake and have an additional two in the sideboard to deal with Elspeth.
If you need a list to compare to, here is mine, though as of my posting this TappedOut is down for maintenance.
Made an account to reply here as I've been playing with constellation since its inception and wanted to add my 2-cents. Been running it as junk largely because I wanted to run both Eidolon of Blossoms and Underworld Coinsmith.
I was going to post a link to my deck on tappedout, but apparently I'm not yet allowed to :p. So instead I'll create it here:
The sideboard for that deck still needs some tweaking. Might add a fourth Miscutter Hydra and Drown in Sorrow for control/aggro respectively.
The deck is mostly green-centric splashing for black and white, to make it junk. I find concentrating on one colour specifically and only using cards that require two of a specific colour of the main colour (i.e., like Courser of Kruphix - 2 green), really helps keep the deck consistent. I tried running Master of the Feast and/or Herald of Torment and found it hampered/hurt the deck more due to consistency issues. Though, with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth back in standard this could help make double black mana cards viable in a tri-colour deck - though I feel it's still too risky.
A few things to note about the deck and some of the cards:
1) Eidolon of Blossoms is cool but in my version of the deck, which otherwise lacked a great deal of punch, pulling too many of these actually hampered it a little. I find I need no more than one of these and it provides card advantage as soon it as it hits the board. I can also get some card advantage with Kruphix's Insight.
2) Doomwake Giant is the bomb.
3) Underworld Coinsmith works well in this deck for both the lifegain and the drain to help finish an opponent off.
4) It really works for this deck to run lots of two of's as it helps give the deck the flexibility it needs.
I haven't read every post (there's like 20 pages!) but there seems to be an emphasis on Golgari enchantment. I actually think this form of deck is better off going junk as it allows for useful cards like Gift of Immortality, Ethereal Armor, Deicide, Nyx-Fleece Ram (awesome anti-aggro card) among others. Sure they're susceptible to Back to Nature, along with Banishing Light, but that's the risk you take in an enchantment heavy deck. It might be worthwhile in the current meta to sideboard more non-enchantment stuff to help combat against this card so you don't lose everything.
So I do like the idea of playing white in constellations, but I also love four mutavault.
I've been testing a golgari version of this deck post m15. I've played around with some split of apex predator and liliana vess in the main or sideboard. I also love hornet nest. Has anyone else tested this deck post m15?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
I thought about Hornet Nest as well. Might be a great stall card early on, but it's biggest drawback is that it's not an echantment creature, which is kind of antithetical to the whole point of the deck.
Hornet Nestalso looks a little silly if it eats a removal spell. Not being an enchantment makes that even more painful---if our Boon Satyrs or Courser of Kruphixes immediately eat removal there's at least the chance that they snagged some value from...well, themselves or a constellation trigger. Hornet Nest doesn't have that going for it. It does look a little more interesting in the context of a sideboard card against red decks, though. If it gets Shocked or something, it's still spitting out the tokens. It could be worth testing in that capacity.
I've been kicking around a post rotation list that is similar to the one Caleb Dunward talked about some time ago, but I'm not quite certain where to go with the deck going forward in the waning months of this standard. With Chord of Calling, a 1-of Pharika, God of Affliction becomes more enticing. I'm still trying out different builds, though nothing looks drastically different from what I had pre-m15.
Hornet's Nest is a card I'm a big fan of in the Jund/Gruul Monsters matchup, especially considering that we'll have access to Chord of Calling, as you can drop it in at instant speed and then have a ton of flying Deathtouch blockers.
EDIT: If anyone has access to Premium on SCG, Sam Black has an interesting take on how Chord could be used in a Constellation deck (albeit a Junk version).
I think hornet nest is best as a sideboard card that we side in against aggressive decks or decks with little removal. I also fear that green decks may board back to nature, which is a beating without a golgari charm. Boarding in cards that don't die to back to nature seems like a decent strategy to me. You shouldn't board out all of your synergy, but it seems smart to attack from a few different angles.
Are you still a fan of the new garruk in this deck?
I also saw the lists with chord. I'm not completely sold on chord in standard, but it is something I plan on testing.
I definitely don't think we can fit chord and garruk into the same deck.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
I would agree we probably can't fit both, especially during the next few months when Primeval Bounty will still be around (which we will probably want to still run). I'm with you, Warewofford - I'm not entirely sure Chord of Calling is going to see a ton of play in standard. I'm kind of on the fence about it. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if it DOES see play, but if it comes down to a choice between Chord and Garruk, I think the choice pretty clearly has to be Garruk.
Chord's playability will matter a lot on how many low-cost, high-impact creatures there are. I will be playing a UG Prophet deck probably but I think Chord works well in this deck as well with cards like Reclamation Sage, Scavenging Ooze, Brain Maggot, Courser, Pharika, Hornet Nest, and others. My guess is that the sweet spot will be 3cmc or less. Obviously, Chord will work better in creature-heavy decks so if some lists are really trimming back on actual creatures and loading up on removal + non-creature enchantments, it might not work out as well.
I have been testing GB Constellation for a while and honestly this deck is Tier 1. It has an excellent Mono Blue matchup, a decent mono black matchup, and a decent monsters matchup. The UWx matchup is less good, but still not horribly unfavorable. Here is the list I have been testing:
4x Doomwake Giant goes a long way in that monoblue matchup. I really need to get in some testing with the full playset of giants. How has Garruk fared in testing? Mana Bloom didn't impress me much early on, though I admit I never did try it with the full 8 constellation creatures. What does the Vraska in the side come in against? I was never particularly crazy about her in any matchup, though she wasn't terrible by any means.
Garruk is a good curve topper especially with the amount of ramp that I play in the deck. I don't think I would ever want more than a singleton Garruk, but having that haymaker to play in the late game is nice. It is also nice having a threat in the MD that isn't an enchantment.
Mana Bloom has been fantastic for me and honestly I don't see how many aren't playing the card. The deck plays much better when it is able to play Eidolon on Turn 3 instead of 4 (or Underworld + Draw a card on Turn 3 instead of 4). In addition to the ramp the ability to spam Constellation triggers is also excellent. I love the card.
I bring Vraska in against just about anything midrange. She is good against Mono Black at killing Demons and Connections, she is good against Monsters for helping to pick off their walkers and Stormbreaths. Plus, like Garruk, she is immune to enchantment destruction.
@Warewofford - I still like Garruk AND Chord (at a singleton and grip, respectively) in the deck. By running Chord we are effectively running extra copies of stuff like Eidolon, Maggot, as well as potential singletons in Hornet's Nest, Reclamation Sage, or even stuff like Armament of the Gods, Eidolon of Rhetoric, and Nyx-Fleece Ram in Junk builds. EoT Chord for Eidolon or draw step Chord for Maggot is too good to not at least try and find room for. As for Garruk, he's worth it as a singleton because he wins you the game, straight up. As long as Standard is slow enough for people to win with Elspeth, Garruk isn't too slow to do the same for us.
@Koopa - I think the issue with Mana Bloom is that it does nothing, effectively. Yes, it is an enchantment and thus triggers Constellation, but even Caryatid is a Hexproof blocker when topdecked on an empty board. In comparison, Mana Bloom is just kinda...eh. I can see the logic in running a copy or two, but not a full grip.
Mana Bloom becomes significantly better the more top end heavy you are (ie Doomwake ) and especially so given the main deck Garruk and Bounty's. Mana Bloom is not comparable to Caryatid, but as a compliment to a specific curve it has it's merits.
Chord feels like a trap to me, as the cheap stuff we could be Chord'ing into are less good in general (Maggot is quite embarrassing of late) and Underworld Connections is the better CA engine should you be in the market for such an effect. Vraska I like less because most of the time she simply comes down and eats a Connections or a Banishing Light/Detention Sphere and with the printing of Reclamation Sage among st others there are simply cheaper/more efficient ways to get such an effect.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Brilliant ideas are stupid ideas that worked - Patrick Chapin
@Koopa Agreed with the Doomwake vs. Mono-blue. Although I'm wondering if the card draw seems excessive to you or not with both 3 u/w connect and a full playset of eidolons? Also how do you feel about running the 4x Thoughtseize mainboard along with the connections, is that why you SB's two Nylea's Disciple for the lifegain? And how come you decided to not include whip?
I also agree with Mana Bloom, another player at my LGS got fed up with the repetitive card draw/counters with Bloom and Primeval Bounty that he ended up using a dissolve on one of them, wasn't sure who won in that trade but people don't really respect it. I avoid a full playset however as doubles are excessive until mid - late. Also, it's rare but Mana Blooms could also serve as a temporary drop just in case you miss a land drop.
I run a junk version of this list, and I also ended up dropping one courser for an Abrupt Decay, and I found that the splash white for sideboarded Obzedats have done wonders for me in the UWx match up.
Anyone playtested with Nissa yet? Right now I really prefer Garruk at the top of my curve over Nissa as he is more threatening overall, but I haven't bothered making a proxy with Nissa yet.
Pharika has been nice for me as a miser with the more constellation-heavy version of this deck [with a playset of doomwake and eidolon]. Leaning to a multitude of permanents means she is either activated or able to summon enchantment-snakes.
The main thing I'm unsure about is Underworld Connections. More Boon Satyrs could be better with their pseudo-removal, but card advantage without eidolon is important as well.
I haven't had issues with brain maggot yet, but have been hearing others turning away from it. What is the reasoning for leaving it behind?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I actually arrived at a number of conclusions discussed here before stumbling upon the thread, but hadn't considered the heavy focus on card disruption.
With that said, here is my list:
4x Boon Satyr
4x Brain Maggot
4x Courser of Kruphix
4x Eidolon of Blossoms
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Doomwake Giant
1x Kalonian Hydra
Other Enchantments:
1x Oath of the Ancient Wood
2x Underworld Connections
1x Primeval Bounty
Instants/Sorceries:
4x Thoughtseize
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Devour Flesh
2x Golgari Charm
3x Hero's Downfall
5x Forest
5x Swamp
4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Temple of Malady
2x Temple of Abandon
2x Temple of Malice
2x Mutavault
3x Duress
3x Mistcutter Hydra
2x Bile Blight
2x Doom Blade
2x Golgari Charm
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Hero's Downfall
Before I go into details, I will make a small note about the Kalonian Hydra. It's just one of my staple cards, so I find a way to put at least 1 in every deck capable. It's a big threat that requires an answer or you win. I also realize it puts the count at 61, but I'm willing to live with it for now.
With that said, I think one of my few differences is that I'm still using Oath of the Ancient Wood as a singleton. There were two, but I took one out for the 4th Thoughtseize that came the other day. I still like the card, specifically how it can allow the deck to go from Mid-Range/Control-ish to Beatdown in a turn or two. It doesn't offer as much as Primeval Bounty, but it can be put out earlier and can give cards like Courser of Kruphix a little added defense.
I initially wasn't sure about the addition of Scavenging Ooze, but it has definitely been pulling its weight, despite not being an enchantment. The same can't really be said for Underworld Connections, so far in my testing. To be fair to the card, I haven't needed it because I've been lucky and have gotten my EoBs consistently. It is nice being able to draw the top card Courser shows at times, but I feel like I'd prefer something a little more proactive in its place, whether it be more kill spells, another Oath, or something else that can stand on its own. I'm going to leave it in for now and see how FNM goes, but I could see myself swapping the two out for another Primeval Bounty and Oath.
It was briefly discussed before about potentially using our off-color temples for red to use things like Slaughter Games and Rakdos's Return. Has anyone reached a conclusion with that in testing? If we were to go that route, I might also consider taking out the Doom Blades in the SB for Dreadbores, to give another cheap kill spell that could hit Planeswalkers as well. Sorcery speed is a little disappointing, but doesn't seem like a deal breaker.
Concerning rotation, for now it looks like our kill spells could be cut down quite a bit, or their cost could increase with cards like Silence the Believers and Gild. There are some more situational cards like Asphyxiate and Feast of Dreams. Losing Golgari Charm will be the biggest hit though.
It really depends on what m15 ends up having, and what Khans of Tarkir ends up bringing to the table. It's all pretty up in the air at the moment, but we currently have Bile Blight and Ulcerate as cheap spot removal, and should we move into white, that opens up Banishing Light and Reprisal. But I doubt we'll be found wanting in terms of spot removal come rotation.
@Burkistocles: I suppose I'll evaluate your list as if Kalonian Hydra wasn't in it---going to 61 cards is basically never worth it, except in extreme niche cases involving one-of tutor targets. Your list looks fine, and while I'm not a fan of Oath of the Ancient Wood, I'll admit I haven't actually tested it. I would, however, advocate dropping it for the fourth Hero's Downfall, as that's just an incredibly useful card.
I tested out the splash red option, and it does improve our control matchup, while somewhat worsening the other ones. If your metagame has a lot of UWx control, I'd reccomend it, but otherwise, the base GB list works fine.
I'm currently trying to find a grip of Bile Blight for rotation, though I hope we get a Doom Blade-esque replacement in Khans or m15.
This deck gets some nice tools, though we also have to keep an eye out for Back to Nature going forward.
Tomorrow I want to give Rockstars a try at a large tournament, but I don't have time to test it properly, nor to come up with a list. I discovered this deck yesterday and I fell in love with it. So screw my other decks, I want to play this!
I'm searching this thread for a list to copy (since I don't have a lot of time to test it). I'm expecting a lot of Mono Black, Black White Midrange and Blue White Control. So I want to tech the list for those MUs. Wich list would you suggest? I think a list with Boon Satyr over Doomwake Giant will be nice, but I dont have the experience with the deck to make that call. Also, I'm seeing some Mana Bloom ramp/trigger strategies. Is that the route to go or is just better to play good cards instead of synergy?
If you are expecting more control-ish decks, I would maindeck (assuming you have these cards...) Thoughtseize and keep a playset of Duress in the sideboard for extra disruption on top of Thoughtseize and Brain Maggot. I would also recommend Boon Satyr, but I would probably main two copies of Doomwake and have an additional two in the sideboard to deal with Elspeth.
If you need a list to compare to, here is mine, though as of my posting this TappedOut is down for maintenance.
I was going to post a link to my deck on tappedout, but apparently I'm not yet allowed to :p. So instead I'll create it here:
4 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Plains
2 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Temple Garden
2 Temple of Malady
2 Temple of Silence
2 Temple of Plenty
1 Rogue's Passage
Creatures
2 Boon Satyr
2 Courser of Kruphix
2 Doomwake Giant
2 Fleecemane Lion
2 Nyx-Fleece Ram
2 Eidolon of Blossoms
2 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Underworld Coinsmith
2 Banishing Light
2 Ethereal Armor
2 Gift of Immortality
2 Oath of the Ancient Wood
Instants
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Golgari Charm
2 Selesnya Charm
2 Putrefy
Sorceries
2 Kruphix's Insight
Planeswalkers
2 Vraska, The Unseen
1 Abrupt Decay
3 Aegis of the Gods
2 Deicide
3 Drown in Sorrow
3 Mistcutter Hydra
3 Witchstalker
The sideboard for that deck still needs some tweaking. Might add a fourth Miscutter Hydra and Drown in Sorrow for control/aggro respectively.
The deck is mostly green-centric splashing for black and white, to make it junk. I find concentrating on one colour specifically and only using cards that require two of a specific colour of the main colour (i.e., like Courser of Kruphix - 2 green), really helps keep the deck consistent. I tried running Master of the Feast and/or Herald of Torment and found it hampered/hurt the deck more due to consistency issues. Though, with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth back in standard this could help make double black mana cards viable in a tri-colour deck - though I feel it's still too risky.
A few things to note about the deck and some of the cards:
1) Eidolon of Blossoms is cool but in my version of the deck, which otherwise lacked a great deal of punch, pulling too many of these actually hampered it a little. I find I need no more than one of these and it provides card advantage as soon it as it hits the board. I can also get some card advantage with Kruphix's Insight.
2) Doomwake Giant is the bomb.
3) Underworld Coinsmith works well in this deck for both the lifegain and the drain to help finish an opponent off.
4) It really works for this deck to run lots of two of's as it helps give the deck the flexibility it needs.
I haven't read every post (there's like 20 pages!) but there seems to be an emphasis on Golgari enchantment. I actually think this form of deck is better off going junk as it allows for useful cards like Gift of Immortality, Ethereal Armor, Deicide, Nyx-Fleece Ram (awesome anti-aggro card) among others. Sure they're susceptible to Back to Nature, along with Banishing Light, but that's the risk you take in an enchantment heavy deck. It might be worthwhile in the current meta to sideboard more non-enchantment stuff to help combat against this card so you don't lose everything.
I've been testing a golgari version of this deck post m15. I've played around with some split of apex predator and liliana vess in the main or sideboard. I also love hornet nest. Has anyone else tested this deck post m15?
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
I've been kicking around a post rotation list that is similar to the one Caleb Dunward talked about some time ago, but I'm not quite certain where to go with the deck going forward in the waning months of this standard. With Chord of Calling, a 1-of Pharika, God of Affliction becomes more enticing. I'm still trying out different builds, though nothing looks drastically different from what I had pre-m15.
EDIT: If anyone has access to Premium on SCG, Sam Black has an interesting take on how Chord could be used in a Constellation deck (albeit a Junk version).
Are you still a fan of the new garruk in this deck?
I also saw the lists with chord. I'm not completely sold on chord in standard, but it is something I plan on testing.
I definitely don't think we can fit chord and garruk into the same deck.
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
4x Doomwake Giant
4x Eidolon of Blossoms
4x Sylvan Caryatid
3x Courser of Kruphix
2x Herald of Torment
Spells(19)
4x Thoughtseize
3x Abrupt Decay
3x Hero's Downfall
3x Mana Bloom
3x Underworld Connections
2x Primeval Bounty
1x Garruk, Apex Predator
5x Forest
4x Mutavault
4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Temple of Malady
3x Llanowar Wastes
3x Swamp
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3x Golgari Charm
2x Bile Blight
2x Duress
2x Mistcutter Hydra
2x Nylea's Disciple
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Ultimate Price
1x Vraska, the Unseen
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
Mana Bloom has been fantastic for me and honestly I don't see how many aren't playing the card. The deck plays much better when it is able to play Eidolon on Turn 3 instead of 4 (or Underworld + Draw a card on Turn 3 instead of 4). In addition to the ramp the ability to spam Constellation triggers is also excellent. I love the card.
I bring Vraska in against just about anything midrange. She is good against Mono Black at killing Demons and Connections, she is good against Monsters for helping to pick off their walkers and Stormbreaths. Plus, like Garruk, she is immune to enchantment destruction.
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
@Koopa - I think the issue with Mana Bloom is that it does nothing, effectively. Yes, it is an enchantment and thus triggers Constellation, but even Caryatid is a Hexproof blocker when topdecked on an empty board. In comparison, Mana Bloom is just kinda...eh. I can see the logic in running a copy or two, but not a full grip.
Chord feels like a trap to me, as the cheap stuff we could be Chord'ing into are less good in general (Maggot is quite embarrassing of late) and Underworld Connections is the better CA engine should you be in the market for such an effect. Vraska I like less because most of the time she simply comes down and eats a Connections or a Banishing Light/Detention Sphere and with the printing of Reclamation Sage among st others there are simply cheaper/more efficient ways to get such an effect.
I also agree with Mana Bloom, another player at my LGS got fed up with the repetitive card draw/counters with Bloom and Primeval Bounty that he ended up using a dissolve on one of them, wasn't sure who won in that trade but people don't really respect it. I avoid a full playset however as doubles are excessive until mid - late. Also, it's rare but Mana Blooms could also serve as a temporary drop just in case you miss a land drop.
I run a junk version of this list, and I also ended up dropping one courser for an Abrupt Decay, and I found that the splash white for sideboarded Obzedats have done wonders for me in the UWx match up.
Anyone playtested with Nissa yet? Right now I really prefer Garruk at the top of my curve over Nissa as he is more threatening overall, but I haven't bothered making a proxy with Nissa yet.
4x Brain Maggot
4x Sylvan Caryatid
2x Herald of Torment
3x Courser of Kruphix
4x Eidolon of Blossoms
4x Doomwake Giant
1x Pharika, God of Affliction
Spells (9)
4x Thoughtseize
3x Hero's Downfall
2x Golgari Charm
2x Mana Bloom
2x Underworld Connections
1x Primeval Bounty
Lands (24)
4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Temple of Malady
3x Llanowar Wastes
1x Uborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Mutavault
6x Forest
4x Swamp
2x Golgari Charm
2x Mistcutter Hydra
2x Duress
2x Boon Satyr
2x Nylea's Disciple
2x Bile Blight
3x Abrupt Decay
Pharika has been nice for me as a miser with the more constellation-heavy version of this deck [with a playset of doomwake and eidolon]. Leaning to a multitude of permanents means she is either activated or able to summon enchantment-snakes.
The main thing I'm unsure about is Underworld Connections. More Boon Satyrs could be better with their pseudo-removal, but card advantage without eidolon is important as well.
I haven't had issues with brain maggot yet, but have been hearing others turning away from it. What is the reasoning for leaving it behind?