Yup.... You missed the point of the deck obviously
Of course, the fact that I evaluate select card choices differently than you means I've missed the point of the swarm deck.
Anyway, what are people's thoughts on Skullcrack right now? I was giving them a whirl but I wasn't overly impressed, so I've brought in Fiendslayer Paladins instead because it offers very relevant protection in a mono black dominated meta, especially as UWr and Big Boros are starting to pop up more and more frequently. We'll have to see how it goes.
I think you are missing the point of the deck... Its a deck of Synergy.. There isnt much that truly generates value on its own in this entire deck.... Not to mention if you want the Akroan Hoplite to have evasion (other than Brave the elements) then why not run it alongside Cavalry Pegasus
I'm missing the point of the deck? lol
It is indeed a deck of synergy, but what I was saying is that those cards I presented all offer something that Akroan Hoplite doesn't - either very relevant evasion (which is really how the deck operates, squeezing in damage) or first strike alongside the generation of additional threats. Akroan Hoplite is a beater, yes, but it's also a beater that has no form of evasion on its own and will not be consistently cast on turn two if you're only running the eight red sources.
Furthermore, if you're running Cavalry Pegasus, you do give most of the other creatures flying, but what are you losing? You're spending valuable card slots on that. Would you cut Boros Charm? The entire reason to be red in the first place. Precinct Captain? You lose battalion enablers, and, if you ARE playing Akroan Hoplite, you're losing potential additional power. Daring Skyjek? You're losing 2 power which definitely adds up over the game. Imposing Sovereign? You're putting less power on the board and letting your opponents creatures block the turn they come in, some of which flying wont avoid (playing against mono-blue devotion, for example).
How often would Akroan Hoplite be better than a Wojek Halberdiers, or a Daring Skyjek?
I'm of a like mind. For two drops, I'd rather have any of the three standard two drops than Akroan Hoplite. Imposing Sovereign is a beating in creature based matchups, Precinct Captain is good against mono red and control, and Daring Skyjek is one of the best beaters we have. Akroan Hoplite doesn't generate value on its own or have a relevant form of evasion which makes it even less appealing to me.
Thats my current list. It's testing very well vs all the major decks. Esper is a bit of a rough match up. Flirting with the idea of going 3 Glare of Heresy on the SB. Not 100% on that yet though. Mainboard is exact to the ones having major success at the SCG and GP. Tried putting two Ajani main but he didn't feel worth it after testing vs several matchups. Lands feels just about spot on.
3 Glare of Heresy, I feel, is a good idea not just for Esper, but also for G/W and mirror matches. However, if you want to solidify the esper matchup, some cards to consider are burning earth and skullcrack, the latter of which also has applications in the mono black matchup.
Most Mono-white decks are being forced to making a choice between the Skyjek and Cavalry Pegasus..... While I think both are requirements.... Cavalry Pegasus more so than the Daring Skyjek.... I think if you could fit both in you are really looking to max on potential....
I really don't think that Calvary Pegasus is remotely necessary for this deck to do well. Daring Skyjek offers itself the same evasion while also adding two more power to the board. The difference between 3 power and 1 power, as you may have realized, adds up quite a bit. Furthermore, the deck has a lot of evasion inherently built in. You have Soldier of the Pantheon with pro multicolored, Daring Skyjek with flying battalion, Ajani with the -3, and most importantly Brave the Elements, the very card this deck is made to abuse. Because of these other cards, I dislike playing a 1/1 for 2 with an upside that is almost never necessary in my experience. It may have worked out well for you in the past, I'm not a fan.
Alright guys, here's my match report and I can talk a little about what I might change after. I've waited a bit long to write these and I didn't take notes so they may not be the most detailed, but I'll give what I have.
Round 1: Junk Midrange (2-0)
Game one, I kept a hand that was something like Dryad Militant, Daring Skyjek, Ajani, Mutavault, and three plains. I won the die roll and that helped a lot. I play my Dryad Militant and pass. His first turn he thoughtseizes me and takes my Ajani, which wasnt a huge deal with both mutavault and daring skyjek in my hand. I went on to draw judge's familiar and banisher priest but all he was able to commit to the board was a fleecemane lion and scavenging ooze.
I sideboarded poorly, forgetting completely about voice. What I brought in was my two pacifisms and the third Ajani, taking out the two frontline medics and a spear of heliod. Nevertheless game two was a steamroll. I curved out normally and when he went turn 2 voice of resurgence into turn 3 unflinching courage, I had the banisher priest to punish. From there it was only a matter of ending the game.
Round 2: B/W Midrange (2-0)
Game One: I win the die roll again and go turn one soldier of the pantheon before passing the turn. He comments something about the mirror before thoughtseizing me to find a precinct captain and imposing sovereign in my hand. He proceeded to not draw this third land having kept a two lander on the draw, so it was easy going.
Game Two: I sideboarded in my two glare of heresy, but probably should have found room for at least one celestial flare in the case that he played blood baron. All that ended up happening was me curving out dryad militant, daring skyjek, banisher priest hitting his sin collector (which hit nothing, of course), and just rode the wave from there.
My view on the matchup is that it would have been substantially harder had he played the updated list with banisher priests in the main over sin collectors. I feel that, outside of the pro tour meta, such a change is absolutely necessary.
Round 3: G/B Aggro homebrew (2-0)
I wont go into too much detail about this match because it was an ineffective deck overall. He played experiment one and elvish mystic and renegade krasis and corpsejack menace paired with some removal. You will never see this guy playing anything approaching a "net deck", so I knew to expect something funky.
Round 4: W/G Aggro (2-1)
My opponent's deck was an interesting version of g/w that was built to abuse brave the elements. He played imposing sovereign, loxodon smiter, banisher priest, voice of resurgence, fleecemane lion, brave the elements, selesnya charm.
Game One:
I lost the die roll, and both of us played turn tow imposing sovereign, leading to a clogged board state. He eventually won by hitting brave the elements two turns in a row, just running me over.
Game Two:
I sideboarded in my two glare of heresy, two pacifisms, and three boros reckoner. I curved out turn one soldier of the pantheon, turn two imposing sovereign, turn three boros reckoner, and from there I held the advantage with a banisher priest in hand. Relatively short game.
Game Three:
This was a tough game for me, as he ended up drawing two unflinching courages. I mulled to six and kept a hand with imposing sovereign, dryad militant, glare of heresy, mutavault, and two plains. I spent my third turn casting glare of heresy on his loxodon smiter, somewhat hesitantly, for fear of the unflinching courage. The mutavault was super awkward in this game, as I ended up with two boros reckoners rotting away in my hand. I dealt with his first unflinching courage through a banisher priest, but he was able to get his creature back with a priest of his own. Later in the game, I was able to establish a fairly favorable board position against his until he played a second unflinching courage, this time on an imposing sovereign. There we traded blows for two turns until I was at six life and he was at ten. I left behind my mutavault and an additional blocker that turn because he had shown me selesnya charm in a previous game, but he tapped out to play two fleecemane lions pre-combat, which guaranteed me the win. I took the four damage, going down to two, and played the spear of heliod that had been sitting in my hand to swing back for lethal.
Round 5: Esper Control (2-1)
I was sitting as the last undefeated at the end of the fourth round as the other 3-0s, an american control deck and an exper control deck went to turns and ended up tying. Thankfully I played against the esper list, which I feel is probably an enormously better match up without anger of the gods to worry about.
Game One: I was silly, riding the positive tilt from previous rounds, and kept a triple judge's familiar, dryad militant, one land, two other card hand. He won the roll and so I drew the land i needed right off the bat. I played dryad militant turn one and then the precinct captain that had been in my hand, which I feel was a mistake. I probably should have just committed the judge's familiars to the board, given the matchup. This was a long grindy game where he hit all the key cards: Jace, AoT on turn four, supreme verdict the following turn, and sphinx's revelation and elspeth waiting in the wings.
Game Two: I side in my two glare of heresy, two rootborn defenses, Ajani, and Heliod, taking out two frontline medic and four banisher priest. On the play this game, after we both mulliganed, I opened with a soldier of the pantheon into a daring skyjek. I don't recall this being a particularly difficult game - just a matter of me being on the play against his mono scry land draw.
Game Three: This game I keep a hand somewhat similar to the one from the first game. I have three judge's familiars, dryad militant, two plains, and one other card. This time I opened with the dryad militant into double judge's familiar. Where the game got tough was when he went turn four Jace, AoT and was at a healthy fourteen life. I was forced into committing more to the board to try and deal with jace as fast as possible, but he never hit the verdict luckily. However, the turn after I killed the jace, he promptly played another, leaving him with one card in his hand. A turn later, after attacking Jace down to two, I drew Heliod which hit the board uncountered, sealing the game away. I swung my three dryad militants at him and the next turn I began the quick two turn beat down lead by Heliod.
Against this opponent, I almost sided in celestial flare for game three, when I was on the draw, but I had him pegged as being on a list more like Wafo-Tapa's essentially creatureless and ashiokless list.
All in all, I'm very satisfied with the list. If I were to change something about the list, it would probably be to find a way to squeeze another daring skyjek in there. The card is very aggressive, and helps enormously against a Jace, AoT, having one of the highest powers in the deck. I probably also will drop a pacifism for a third glare of heresy in the future, as the card does serious work.
While a mono white devotion deck in the style of the mono blue and mono red lists is an interesting concept, I still quite like the traditional low curve white weenie deck. It's worked quite well for me thus far, and continued to do so at Game Day today, which I won. If anybody wants to hear about the matches, I'd be glad to write a bit about them. Otherwise, here's the list, and this (or the white splash red list) is where I think the deck should be.
There were, obviously, a few problems with this sideboard. Pithing needle doesn't fit at all, and I never really wanted Heliod. Furthermore, I've learned that I need some cards for the R/G Monster matchup. So looking forward, my sideboard is going to be something closer to this:
The celestial flares are in the deck to deal with Blood Baron of Vizkopa, primarily, though it's far from optimal. I'm planning on trying the pacifisms against the R/G monster decks as well as other decks that play Boros Reckoner and the like. Though I took the 3rd Ajani out of the main in favor of an Imposing Sovereign, I still want it in my 75. And I feel that the fourth Frontline Medic and Banisher Priest will help out in grindy matchups.
I don't think Door of Destinies is where this deck wants to be at all. First off, it's four mana, and it generates value from playing creatures after the critical phase of your game plan.
I've played the deck in multiple events this weekend to success and this is where my maindeck's ended up after all's said and done. The only thing that I'm not quite sure about is going back down to 2 Ajani from 3 because the card is really good in this deck. So that's subject to change.
Of course, the fact that I evaluate select card choices differently than you means I've missed the point of the swarm deck.
Anyway, what are people's thoughts on Skullcrack right now? I was giving them a whirl but I wasn't overly impressed, so I've brought in Fiendslayer Paladins instead because it offers very relevant protection in a mono black dominated meta, especially as UWr and Big Boros are starting to pop up more and more frequently. We'll have to see how it goes.
I'm missing the point of the deck? lol
It is indeed a deck of synergy, but what I was saying is that those cards I presented all offer something that Akroan Hoplite doesn't - either very relevant evasion (which is really how the deck operates, squeezing in damage) or first strike alongside the generation of additional threats. Akroan Hoplite is a beater, yes, but it's also a beater that has no form of evasion on its own and will not be consistently cast on turn two if you're only running the eight red sources.
Furthermore, if you're running Cavalry Pegasus, you do give most of the other creatures flying, but what are you losing? You're spending valuable card slots on that. Would you cut Boros Charm? The entire reason to be red in the first place. Precinct Captain? You lose battalion enablers, and, if you ARE playing Akroan Hoplite, you're losing potential additional power. Daring Skyjek? You're losing 2 power which definitely adds up over the game. Imposing Sovereign? You're putting less power on the board and letting your opponents creatures block the turn they come in, some of which flying wont avoid (playing against mono-blue devotion, for example).
I'm of a like mind. For two drops, I'd rather have any of the three standard two drops than Akroan Hoplite. Imposing Sovereign is a beating in creature based matchups, Precinct Captain is good against mono red and control, and Daring Skyjek is one of the best beaters we have. Akroan Hoplite doesn't generate value on its own or have a relevant form of evasion which makes it even less appealing to me.
3 Glare of Heresy, I feel, is a good idea not just for Esper, but also for G/W and mirror matches. However, if you want to solidify the esper matchup, some cards to consider are burning earth and skullcrack, the latter of which also has applications in the mono black matchup.
I really don't think that Calvary Pegasus is remotely necessary for this deck to do well. Daring Skyjek offers itself the same evasion while also adding two more power to the board. The difference between 3 power and 1 power, as you may have realized, adds up quite a bit. Furthermore, the deck has a lot of evasion inherently built in. You have Soldier of the Pantheon with pro multicolored, Daring Skyjek with flying battalion, Ajani with the -3, and most importantly Brave the Elements, the very card this deck is made to abuse. Because of these other cards, I dislike playing a 1/1 for 2 with an upside that is almost never necessary in my experience. It may have worked out well for you in the past, I'm not a fan.
Round 1: Junk Midrange (2-0)
Game one, I kept a hand that was something like Dryad Militant, Daring Skyjek, Ajani, Mutavault, and three plains. I won the die roll and that helped a lot. I play my Dryad Militant and pass. His first turn he thoughtseizes me and takes my Ajani, which wasnt a huge deal with both mutavault and daring skyjek in my hand. I went on to draw judge's familiar and banisher priest but all he was able to commit to the board was a fleecemane lion and scavenging ooze.
I sideboarded poorly, forgetting completely about voice. What I brought in was my two pacifisms and the third Ajani, taking out the two frontline medics and a spear of heliod. Nevertheless game two was a steamroll. I curved out normally and when he went turn 2 voice of resurgence into turn 3 unflinching courage, I had the banisher priest to punish. From there it was only a matter of ending the game.
Round 2: B/W Midrange (2-0)
Game One: I win the die roll again and go turn one soldier of the pantheon before passing the turn. He comments something about the mirror before thoughtseizing me to find a precinct captain and imposing sovereign in my hand. He proceeded to not draw this third land having kept a two lander on the draw, so it was easy going.
Game Two: I sideboarded in my two glare of heresy, but probably should have found room for at least one celestial flare in the case that he played blood baron. All that ended up happening was me curving out dryad militant, daring skyjek, banisher priest hitting his sin collector (which hit nothing, of course), and just rode the wave from there.
My view on the matchup is that it would have been substantially harder had he played the updated list with banisher priests in the main over sin collectors. I feel that, outside of the pro tour meta, such a change is absolutely necessary.
Round 3: G/B Aggro homebrew (2-0)
I wont go into too much detail about this match because it was an ineffective deck overall. He played experiment one and elvish mystic and renegade krasis and corpsejack menace paired with some removal. You will never see this guy playing anything approaching a "net deck", so I knew to expect something funky.
Round 4: W/G Aggro (2-1)
My opponent's deck was an interesting version of g/w that was built to abuse brave the elements. He played imposing sovereign, loxodon smiter, banisher priest, voice of resurgence, fleecemane lion, brave the elements, selesnya charm.
Game One:
I lost the die roll, and both of us played turn tow imposing sovereign, leading to a clogged board state. He eventually won by hitting brave the elements two turns in a row, just running me over.
Game Two:
I sideboarded in my two glare of heresy, two pacifisms, and three boros reckoner. I curved out turn one soldier of the pantheon, turn two imposing sovereign, turn three boros reckoner, and from there I held the advantage with a banisher priest in hand. Relatively short game.
Game Three:
This was a tough game for me, as he ended up drawing two unflinching courages. I mulled to six and kept a hand with imposing sovereign, dryad militant, glare of heresy, mutavault, and two plains. I spent my third turn casting glare of heresy on his loxodon smiter, somewhat hesitantly, for fear of the unflinching courage. The mutavault was super awkward in this game, as I ended up with two boros reckoners rotting away in my hand. I dealt with his first unflinching courage through a banisher priest, but he was able to get his creature back with a priest of his own. Later in the game, I was able to establish a fairly favorable board position against his until he played a second unflinching courage, this time on an imposing sovereign. There we traded blows for two turns until I was at six life and he was at ten. I left behind my mutavault and an additional blocker that turn because he had shown me selesnya charm in a previous game, but he tapped out to play two fleecemane lions pre-combat, which guaranteed me the win. I took the four damage, going down to two, and played the spear of heliod that had been sitting in my hand to swing back for lethal.
Round 5: Esper Control (2-1)
I was sitting as the last undefeated at the end of the fourth round as the other 3-0s, an american control deck and an exper control deck went to turns and ended up tying. Thankfully I played against the esper list, which I feel is probably an enormously better match up without anger of the gods to worry about.
Game One: I was silly, riding the positive tilt from previous rounds, and kept a triple judge's familiar, dryad militant, one land, two other card hand. He won the roll and so I drew the land i needed right off the bat. I played dryad militant turn one and then the precinct captain that had been in my hand, which I feel was a mistake. I probably should have just committed the judge's familiars to the board, given the matchup. This was a long grindy game where he hit all the key cards: Jace, AoT on turn four, supreme verdict the following turn, and sphinx's revelation and elspeth waiting in the wings.
Game Two: I side in my two glare of heresy, two rootborn defenses, Ajani, and Heliod, taking out two frontline medic and four banisher priest. On the play this game, after we both mulliganed, I opened with a soldier of the pantheon into a daring skyjek. I don't recall this being a particularly difficult game - just a matter of me being on the play against his mono scry land draw.
Game Three: This game I keep a hand somewhat similar to the one from the first game. I have three judge's familiars, dryad militant, two plains, and one other card. This time I opened with the dryad militant into double judge's familiar. Where the game got tough was when he went turn four Jace, AoT and was at a healthy fourteen life. I was forced into committing more to the board to try and deal with jace as fast as possible, but he never hit the verdict luckily. However, the turn after I killed the jace, he promptly played another, leaving him with one card in his hand. A turn later, after attacking Jace down to two, I drew Heliod which hit the board uncountered, sealing the game away. I swung my three dryad militants at him and the next turn I began the quick two turn beat down lead by Heliod.
Against this opponent, I almost sided in celestial flare for game three, when I was on the draw, but I had him pegged as being on a list more like Wafo-Tapa's essentially creatureless and ashiokless list.
All in all, I'm very satisfied with the list. If I were to change something about the list, it would probably be to find a way to squeeze another daring skyjek in there. The card is very aggressive, and helps enormously against a Jace, AoT, having one of the highest powers in the deck. I probably also will drop a pacifism for a third glare of heresy in the future, as the card does serious work.
4 Dryad Militant
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
3 Daring Skyjek
3 Imposing Sovereign
4 Precinct Captain
4 Banisher Priest
2 Frontline Medic
2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
4 Brave the Elements
3 Spear of Heliod
Lands [23]
4 Mutavault
19 Plains
1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
3 Boros Reckoner
2 Celestial Flare
2 Fiendslayer Paladin
2 Glare of Heresy
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
2 Pacifism
2 Rootborn Defenses
The sideboard that I played today was as follows:
3 Pithing Needle
2 Fiendslayer Paladin
2 Celestial Flare
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Rootborn Defenses
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
There were, obviously, a few problems with this sideboard. Pithing needle doesn't fit at all, and I never really wanted Heliod. Furthermore, I've learned that I need some cards for the R/G Monster matchup. So looking forward, my sideboard is going to be something closer to this:
2 Fiendslayer Paladin
2 Pacifism
2 Celestial Flare
2 Rootborn Defenses
1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
1 Glare of Heresy
1 Frontline Medic
1 Banisher Priest
The celestial flares are in the deck to deal with Blood Baron of Vizkopa, primarily, though it's far from optimal. I'm planning on trying the pacifisms against the R/G monster decks as well as other decks that play Boros Reckoner and the like. Though I took the 3rd Ajani out of the main in favor of an Imposing Sovereign, I still want it in my 75. And I feel that the fourth Frontline Medic and Banisher Priest will help out in grindy matchups.
I've played the deck in multiple events this weekend to success and this is where my maindeck's ended up after all's said and done. The only thing that I'm not quite sure about is going back down to 2 Ajani from 3 because the card is really good in this deck. So that's subject to change.
4 Dryad Militant
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
2 Daring Skyjek
4 Imposing Sovereign
4 Precinct Captain
3 Banisher Priest
3 Frontline Medic
2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
4 Brave the Elements
3 Spear of Heliod
Lands [23]
19 Plains
4 Mutavault