So my most successful decks run 19 (Thrun) and 24 (Akroma) control spells. Control as defined as purely added to stopping my opponents from doing what they want. My count might be a bit off for both of them, but it appears I include about 1/5 - 1/4 of my deck to interacting with my opponents. I'm not saying it's the correct way to play but I have found in order for myself to play the way I like (Battle crusier, Aggro, etc.) I just inherently add this much control. I can see other decks with more focused win conditions running more control, and decks that run more draw/tutor to run less.
Kumano, Master Yamabushi: So I did like this commander a LOT. The issue is the commander requires a lot before he 'works'. Red doesn't have enough decent instants to play as draw go. Overall the deck just tried to jam as much mana as possible while hoping people left you alone up to that point. Which never happened. It was also super easy to disrupt. Overall, I wish I could of done more to make the deck work, but I had to let that one go.
I assume you aren't running Heartless Hidetsugu because he needs to tap for the ability, right?
What are the pros for having Kaervek as the commander instead of the other legendaries?
Indeed, if he was ETB I would totally run him. The issue is, he requires you to tap and he has such a huge effect, that it makes people lock on until you are dead. Even if you get to use his ability, it doesn't make you win, and now everyone is pissed off at you for doing tons of damage. The good news, is that there is a spoil for the next set that reduces everyone's life by 1/3. I will be adding it to this list after it is confirmed, and I have play tested the deck as is.
Kaervek the Merciless has several pros compared to the other legendaries I mentioned. He sets up well after wraths, he doesn't interfere with the early game (The deck is fairly mid game oriented), and he is much more condemning if he is allowed to stay. Vial Smasher the Fierce/Mogis, God of Slaughter might have higher potential for damage over time but Mogis doesn't do much against token decks, and Vial Smasher is random. Vial Smasher would likely make the deck more aggressive (I would also change add Sword of the Animist and remove Thran Dynamo) but requires you to be much more proactive (constantly playing cards to fully utilize his effect). Mogis, God of Slaughter is more a cast and forget commander and slowly tax everyone. In this way, Mogis is more similar to Kaervek because you don't need to use resources to get value but Mogis is much more situational.
Which one you use is likely based off your play-group/playstyle. If you need to be faster, I would consider Mogis, just because the deck is more situated around control and wearing people down. Vial Smasher would likely work as the commander, but I feel that you would likely want to make the deck much more proactive than this version is.
As for why I chose him, I have three other decks (displayed in my signature). They all basically take the commander, and jam them into people till they die. While, I love this type of play. People have been putting in more removal, combat ignoring, and defenses. I also love the heck out of Rakdos and decided this is a way I can murder people, without worrying about combat but still get that 'murder' feeling. In short, Kaervek lets me play less proactively, gets me out of what I am constantly doing, and lets me get to share the Rakdos love.
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Hey Guys!
So I got some play testing with this! I might want a few more board clears as I was finding a lot of times where I wanted to play my hate cards into an empty board state. Having said that, I think moving towards Vial Smasher might be a much better choice for commander than Kaervek. Kaervek has the issue where he is a good bomb shell when you need it, but I found that Vial Smasher does a ton of damage. Most of the time people don't go insane about him either. As such, the deck just needs two changes to transition to a Vial Smasher deck. Sword of the Animist needs to go in, Kaervek needs to come out completely, and Thran Dynamo seems less important now that Kaervek isn't in the list.
I am going to try this list with Mogis now instead of Vial Smasher. Vial Smasher is cool and all, but I keep having issues where I want to clear the field but am unable. Seeing as I run a lot of clear, so I think Mogis will end up either chewing on a lot of life or eating a bunch of potentially decent creatures. Mogis will also live through the wraths and pestilences.
Someone in my meta used to run Kaervek and it was a monster of a deck. His CMC means he's probably dodging the first wave of removal and board wipe. Your deck looks great! I was always a fan of red's pestilence, Pyrohemia and got good mileage from Vicious Shadows. Life gain runs rampant in our group so Erebos, God of the Dead and Sulfuric Vortex are all stars. Also, I cannot hide my love for X spells. Since your life total is likely to be higher than most, maybe Earthquake, Rolling Earthquake, and Fault Line can double as board wipes and game enders.
First, I want to thank you, this is great feedback.
I intentionally did not add Pyrohemia due to it's heavy red mana cost to use. I also thought of Vicious Shadows shortly after I posted this deck. I think I am solid for win conditions but that card is very high on my list to include should I need it.
We don't have rampant life gain tactics in my group, but I did consider these cards (Erebos and Sulfuric). I decided to exclude the because they might push people past just paying the toll, and focusing me to death. I also run some life gain, and theft would be an issue due to their statuses as Enchantments (Red/Black does not deal with those easy).
Lastly, I feel that the amount of X spells I have in deck are already approaching high levels (I count the pestilence effects as X spells as well). It would be hard to justify these additions and would require value cards get cut.
I will inform you that when I find clunky cards through play testing, I will be referring to your post for any possible changes. Thanks for the great feedback!
So the concept of the deck is to punish people for common value generation. This deck can technically be piloted with three different commanders (Kaervek the Merciless, Vial Smasher the Fierce, Mogis, God of Slaughter).
I have the opposite issue. I end up weighing each card as I put them into the list. I usually have an internal list of whether the card was added (Comfort, Staple, Intent, Pet, etc.). If I end up with to many cards and want to add another one, I end up trying to cut a card. From here, I try and ask myself questions like 'do I already run a less good version of this card?'. After that, I ask 'Do I need this effect?'. Lastly I ask 'What have I been choking on, or having issues with in recent games.'
I would make this an Abzan deck. I would also try to cut some of the more expensive tutors. Just run more draw and you should be fine. I would also consider running Sliver Queen as the commander, and run a few ways to play her or you could even make this a true 5 color combo deck and run Skullclamp.
If you have any fetchlands it also serves as a creature sac at instant speed. Plus as he said turn one GSZ for dryad arbor is really good.
I don't really need to run a fetchland package in this deck, due to the amount of draw and tempo ramp I am running. I am also not running enough value lands for Crucible of Worlds to be a consideration. I would rather use Green Sun's Zenith(GSZ) to find answers than to tempo harder.
Aside from the niche, turn one GSZ or fetchland shenanigans for a blocker. I think the card is underwhelming. It's like adding a forest, that dies to wraths, and doesn't generate mana the turn it comes out. Khalni Garden feels better than Dryad Arbor in terms of playing from hand. I would rather run Maze of Ith and Crop Rotation, as it would be a longer term solution than the Dryad.
While I can see the benefits of Song of the Dryads in limited cases, (indestructible permanents, creature removal, etc.) It is very similar to Oblivion Ring in that its a short term solution to a long term problem. Mostly because wrath's don't hit lands. Which means the problem would just come back. I'll consider it however, if I start seeing more things I can't interact with.
Lignify is better in different ways, but it only targets creatures which is unfortunate. Ideally, I can just make Thrun bigger and better, instead of focusing on creature removal are my thoughts.
Bind is amusing, sadly, I don't think we run that many activated abilities. This would be good against Oblivion Stone, and I'm unsure if this works on Planeswalkers. I will have to keep this under consideration if I start noticing some troublesome activated abilities.
Sadly, I am not a huge fan of Dryad Arbor. It's basically a land that doesn't generate mana the turn you play it. So my question would be, why not just run mana weenies? If I was running fetches, I could use it as a blocker but that is really niche.
Vow of Wildness: Cheap, curves well, buffs, gives evasion, and can be used for protection. Treetop Bracers: cheap, good evasion (not even creatures with reach can block), and a minor pump Gigantiform: curves well, +4/+4 and Trample.
Blanchwood Armor -> Sunbringer's Touch: Buff that avoids wraths, and gives short term trample. Avarice Amulet -> Traverse the Outlands: Better Tempo. Savage Punch -> Crop Rotation: Just avoid the problem, instead of dealing with it! Acidic Slime -> Bind: I got a suggestion, I at least want to try. Ulvenwald Hydra -> Crook of Condemnation: Need more gravehate. Chord of Calling -> Pounce: I am on the fence on this, but I have had a lot of situations where I just don't need/want to use Chord. This deck ends up power drawing and Chord ends up being too expensive. Pounce is just a magical number, I can keep four mana up and double regen if I need to, or use it and regen for removal. Lots of good stuff here. Rending Vines -> Crushing Canopy: Killing fliers is good, it also comes with the option to kill something else. The draw on Rending isn't valuable enough for the hard removal this offers.
So I've been wanting to make a Thrun deck for a long time. This being the result. Any feedback would of course be appreciated.
I just wanted to express that Vanishing does not cause an ETB trigger if you were not aware. I do think that this deck is interesting though. What about Conjurer's Closet. Maybe consider dropping some stones and equipment for more ETB abuse creatures and clones.
Not to be 'that' guy, but these are fake. Google image search shows that Cat'Apult Master is from something called Warrior Cats. Search can be found Here. Amusing though.
Does a car company intentionally make a worse model (the key here is 'intentionally')?
To be fair, this is a game and not a car manufacturer. You can't just make cards better and better, otherwise Overrun would become a 1 green mana spell that spits out tokens with haste over the passage of time. It's called game balance.
Please don't take my previous comment as a form of validation. I don't even begin to understand how why Overcome couldn't just be a functional reprint, but there are lots of cards that are fairly close to others, but are costed differently. I believe WotC do their card balancing around Standard, while keeping Modern in mind (They might even try to keep other formats like Commander at hand, but not with an overwhelming focus).
This means, if you want to know a reason why this couldn't just be Overrun, that it is likely a Standard issue because Overrun isn't run in Modern. Which means, I would look at the creatures that are 4 mana and less.
While I agree that it would have been cool to see Overcome, have 1-2 mana cycling. I don't think this is unacceptable for the reasons stated previously (1. The passage of time is not a valid reason to increase power level. 2. Game mechanics should be balanced around supported formats).
If you are looking for a Reanimator, Control-ish, Angel deck. I currently have one that I rather enjoy that uses Akroma, here. Please note that it has been designed for a more casual meta, so don't expect a lot if you are going against a mass land destruction, combo by turn 5, hard-lock meta.
Scrabbling Claws may be better off as a Tormod's Crypt, particularly if you're not running Sun Titan to get more use out of it. Alternatively, Angel of Finality exiles a full graveyard, or Stonecloaker who exiles a single target card, but can bounce itself to do it again.
I'm not really worried about hitting entire graveyards currently. The claws are in here because they give a bit of grave hate, value, and cycle into a new card for 2 mana. These are all valid points though, and if your meta has more graveyard abuse I recommend considering these changes.
You're in mono white with an 8 cost general. I would think gauntlet of power and caged sun would almost be required just to keep you in enough mana to keep recasting her as she gets removed (she will...she's quite good and that invites kill spells).
You are a mono color deck, I see no reason to include arid mesa and friends. Most of the time, those would be better off as basic plains. I could see it if you were running mistveil plains with intent to recur, but you don't seem to be and there are other plains fetch in the deck.
You have an ungodly amount of low end utility stuff. Why no sun titan to recur them? It should be much stronger than sunscorch regent, I think.
Most people would play akroma's memorial. However, you are playing Akroma, angel of wrath as your general. Run concerted effort instead? That list of stats is impressive on a single creature. It's a heck of a lot more impressive when your entire army has them.
I run, a lot of graveyard recursion. That is how I can avoid running gauntlet of power and caged sun. These cards also require a full turn rotation before they can be utilized for the purpose of replaying Akroma. I have also found that people don't just exile remove Akroma 24/7, especially since she is a 4 turn clock, who doesn't generate perceived value off her existence. As such, I am not worried about having enough mana to play her at all times, because the only removal I care about is exile removal.
Arid Mesa and friends are better than Plains because they remove potential lands draws and make top deck draws better. It is minor of course, but saying that Plains would be better seems a little far. In the event you are running a budget list though, replacing these with Plains would not be an issue.
Sunscorch Regent is a threat that can get out of hand quickly. I do think that there can be room for Sun Titan. I will be cutting Kozilek, Butcher of Truth because of the threat of Bribery and the fact that he doesn't synergize well with my graveyard recursion.
My army tends to be Akroma, plus one or two creatures, as such I am not sure the inclusion (Memorial/Concerted Effort) would be enough to be validated.
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Game Update (06/07/2017):
I lost and won one game.
Lost Game:
Winner: Gisa and Geralf
Participants: Nahiri, the Lithomancer, Gisa and Geralf, Zedruu the Greathearted
The game I lost was against a Nahiri, the Lithomancer and Gisa and Geralf deck. The Nahiri deck exploded early and was setting up to violently murder us. The G/G deck played a Boompile to try and stop the Nahiri player, to which the Nahiri played a Karmic Justice to force a potential pop (which worked, lucky for us). The game came to a stand still afterwards with slow chipping on all sides until the Nahiri deck got a Worldslayer out and was able to proc it the same turn. Unfortunately the G/G deck had two undying creatures resulting in myself and the Nahiri conceding due to inability to rebuild quickly enough. Overall, I don't want to count this game as loss because it was the equivalent to a table flip by the Nahiri player and handing the game to G/G. The game went well for us this game though. I just played lands and played Ghostly Prison to shunt opponents away until I could play Akroma. Overall, pretty solid.
Please note: I did not mention Zedru at all because he did mostly nothing the entire game, aside from a couple of attempts at winning the game with Felidar Sovereign which Akroma stopped with punching.
This game was mostly just early game plays to beat the Hazezon player who was playing token swarm, into a large wave of damage. All of us chip damaged the Hazezon player to low health by the time he was able to get a swarm of tokens, with a buff. The Nekusar finished him off with his commander and forcing him to wheel, killing him. From here the Nekusar player was messing with the G/G deck with wheels (not the good ones, just the cycle to hand count) hitting the G/G's value spells, but missing Zombies.
The game resolved with the G/G deck counterspelling my Koziliek, resulting in me getting a full hand. After which, I played Loyal Retainers and ressed Koziliek. The G/G deck tried to play his commander, which I counterspelled with Koziliek due to him having juicy targets for Zombie reanimation.
Indeed, if he was ETB I would totally run him. The issue is, he requires you to tap and he has such a huge effect, that it makes people lock on until you are dead. Even if you get to use his ability, it doesn't make you win, and now everyone is pissed off at you for doing tons of damage. The good news, is that there is a spoil for the next set that reduces everyone's life by 1/3. I will be adding it to this list after it is confirmed, and I have play tested the deck as is.
Kaervek the Merciless has several pros compared to the other legendaries I mentioned. He sets up well after wraths, he doesn't interfere with the early game (The deck is fairly mid game oriented), and he is much more condemning if he is allowed to stay. Vial Smasher the Fierce/Mogis, God of Slaughter might have higher potential for damage over time but Mogis doesn't do much against token decks, and Vial Smasher is random. Vial Smasher would likely make the deck more aggressive (I would also change add Sword of the Animist and remove Thran Dynamo) but requires you to be much more proactive (constantly playing cards to fully utilize his effect). Mogis, God of Slaughter is more a cast and forget commander and slowly tax everyone. In this way, Mogis is more similar to Kaervek because you don't need to use resources to get value but Mogis is much more situational.
Which one you use is likely based off your play-group/playstyle. If you need to be faster, I would consider Mogis, just because the deck is more situated around control and wearing people down. Vial Smasher would likely work as the commander, but I feel that you would likely want to make the deck much more proactive than this version is.
As for why I chose him, I have three other decks (displayed in my signature). They all basically take the commander, and jam them into people till they die. While, I love this type of play. People have been putting in more removal, combat ignoring, and defenses. I also love the heck out of Rakdos and decided this is a way I can murder people, without worrying about combat but still get that 'murder' feeling. In short, Kaervek lets me play less proactively, gets me out of what I am constantly doing, and lets me get to share the Rakdos love.
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Hey Guys!
So I got some play testing with this! I might want a few more board clears as I was finding a lot of times where I wanted to play my hate cards into an empty board state. Having said that, I think moving towards Vial Smasher might be a much better choice for commander than Kaervek. Kaervek has the issue where he is a good bomb shell when you need it, but I found that Vial Smasher does a ton of damage. Most of the time people don't go insane about him either. As such, the deck just needs two changes to transition to a Vial Smasher deck. Sword of the Animist needs to go in, Kaervek needs to come out completely, and Thran Dynamo seems less important now that Kaervek isn't in the list.
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Another update guys!
I am going to try this list with Mogis now instead of Vial Smasher. Vial Smasher is cool and all, but I keep having issues where I want to clear the field but am unable. Seeing as I run a lot of clear, so I think Mogis will end up either chewing on a lot of life or eating a bunch of potentially decent creatures. Mogis will also live through the wraths and pestilences.
First, I want to thank you, this is great feedback.
I intentionally did not add Pyrohemia due to it's heavy red mana cost to use. I also thought of Vicious Shadows shortly after I posted this deck. I think I am solid for win conditions but that card is very high on my list to include should I need it.
We don't have rampant life gain tactics in my group, but I did consider these cards (Erebos and Sulfuric). I decided to exclude the because they might push people past just paying the toll, and focusing me to death. I also run some life gain, and theft would be an issue due to their statuses as Enchantments (Red/Black does not deal with those easy).
Lastly, I feel that the amount of X spells I have in deck are already approaching high levels (I count the pestilence effects as X spells as well). It would be hard to justify these additions and would require value cards get cut.
I will inform you that when I find clunky cards through play testing, I will be referring to your post for any possible changes. Thanks for the great feedback!
1x Mogis, God of Slaughter
Creature (19)
1x Will-o'-the-Wisp
1x Harsh Mentor
1x Crypt Rats
1x Imperial Recruiter
1x Scab-Clan Berserker
1x Vampire Nighthawk
1x Zo-Zu the Punisher
1x Crypt Ghast
1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Dire Fleet Ravager
1x Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1x Thrashing Wumpus
1x Kagemaro, First to Suffer
1x Massacre Wurm
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Myojin of Night's Reach
Artifact (9)
1x Expedition Map
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Sol Ring
1x Mind Stone
1x Worn Powerstone
1x Oblivion Stone
1x Whip of Erebos
1x Batterskull
1x Bitterblossom
1x Necromancy
1x Necropotence
1x Phyrexian Arena
1x Spellshock
1x Manabarbs
1x Pestilence
1x Painful Quandary
1x Polluted Bonds
1x Havoc Festival
1x Price of Knowledge
Instant (9)
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Abrade
1x Starstorm
1x Terminate
1x Chaos Warp
1x Crypt Incursion
1x Kolaghan's Command
1x Silence the Believers
1x Wretched Confluence
Sorcery (12)
1x Vandalblast
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Exsanguinate
1x Night's Whisper
1x Sign in Blood
1x Torment of Hailfire
1x Beseech the Queen
1x Read the Bones
1x Damnation
1x Disrupt Decorum
1x Fiery Confluence
1x Blasphemous Act
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Land (38)
1x Arid Mesa
1x Badlands
1x Blood Crypt
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Cabal Coffers
1x Canyon Slough
1x Command Tower
1x Dragonskull Summit
1x Graven Cairns
1x Marsh Flats
1x Myriad Landscape
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Polluted Delta
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Smoldering Marsh
1x Strip Mine
1x Tainted Peak
1x Temple of the False God
1x Thespian's Stage
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Wasteland
1x Wooded Foothills
12x Swamp
2x Mountain
So the concept of the deck is to punish people for common value generation. This deck can technically be piloted with three different commanders (Kaervek the Merciless, Vial Smasher the Fierce, Mogis, God of Slaughter).
Kaervek the Merciless -> Sword of the Animist
Thran Dynamo -> Blasphemous Act
Rakdos's Return -> Harsh Mentor
Vial Smasher the Fierce -> Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Sword of the Animist -> Dire Fleet Ravager
Any feedback is welcome!
I don't really need to run a fetchland package in this deck, due to the amount of draw and tempo ramp I am running. I am also not running enough value lands for Crucible of Worlds to be a consideration. I would rather use Green Sun's Zenith(GSZ) to find answers than to tempo harder.
Aside from the niche, turn one GSZ or fetchland shenanigans for a blocker. I think the card is underwhelming. It's like adding a forest, that dies to wraths, and doesn't generate mana the turn it comes out. Khalni Garden feels better than Dryad Arbor in terms of playing from hand. I would rather run Maze of Ith and Crop Rotation, as it would be a longer term solution than the Dryad.
While I can see the benefits of Song of the Dryads in limited cases, (indestructible permanents, creature removal, etc.) It is very similar to Oblivion Ring in that its a short term solution to a long term problem. Mostly because wrath's don't hit lands. Which means the problem would just come back. I'll consider it however, if I start seeing more things I can't interact with.
Lignify is better in different ways, but it only targets creatures which is unfortunate. Ideally, I can just make Thrun bigger and better, instead of focusing on creature removal are my thoughts.
Bind is amusing, sadly, I don't think we run that many activated abilities. This would be good against Oblivion Stone, and I'm unsure if this works on Planeswalkers. I will have to keep this under consideration if I start noticing some troublesome activated abilities.
Sadly, I am not a huge fan of Dryad Arbor. It's basically a land that doesn't generate mana the turn you play it. So my question would be, why not just run mana weenies? If I was running fetches, I could use it as a blocker but that is really niche.
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
Creature (9)
1x Caustic Caterpillar
1x Sakura-Tribe Scout
1x Ulvenwald Tracker
1x Elvish Visionary
1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Wall of Blossoms
1x Eternal Witness
1x Silklash Spider
Artifact (15)
1x Mana Crypt
1x Expedition Map
1x Infiltration Lens
1x O-Naginata
1x Sol Ring
1x Crook of Condemnation
1x Mask of Memory
1x Mind Stone
1x Torpor Orb
1x Oblivion Stone
1x Boompile
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sword of Vengeance
1x Batterskull
1x Mind's Eye
Enchantment (10)
1x Exploration
1x Rancor
1x Gaea's Touch
1x Sylvan Library
1x Cartouche of Strength
1x Snake Umbra
1x Epic Proportions
1x Primeval Bounty
1x Mythic Proportions
1x Eldrazi Conscription
1x Berserk
1x Crop Rotation
1x Nature's Claim
1x Pounce
1x Bind
1x Deglamer
1x Unravel the Aether
1x Beast Within
1x Crushing Canopy
1x Crushing Vines
1x Hunter's Insight
Sorcery (16)
1x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Nature's Lore
1x Explore
1x Rampant Growth
1x Regrowth
1x Revive
1x Sylvan Scrying
1x Recollect
1x Riding the Dilu Horse
1x Harmonize
1x Increasing Savagery
1x Sunbringer's Touch
1x Hunter's Prowess
1x Soul's Majesty
1x Traverse the Outlands
1x Rishkar's Expertise
1x Garruk, Primal Hunter
Land (37)
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Blighted Woodland
1x Buried Ruin
1x Cathedral of War
1x Dust Bowl
1x Myriad Landscape
1x Mystifying Maze
1x Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1x Opal Palace
1x Rogue's Passage
1x Scavenger Grounds
1x Strip Mine
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Terrain Generator
23x Forest
Vow of Wildness: Cheap, curves well, buffs, gives evasion, and can be used for protection.
Treetop Bracers: cheap, good evasion (not even creatures with reach can block), and a minor pump
Gigantiform: curves well, +4/+4 and Trample.
Blanchwood Armor -> Sunbringer's Touch: Buff that avoids wraths, and gives short term trample.
Avarice Amulet -> Traverse the Outlands: Better Tempo.
Savage Punch -> Crop Rotation: Just avoid the problem, instead of dealing with it!
Acidic Slime -> Bind: I got a suggestion, I at least want to try.
Ulvenwald Hydra -> Crook of Condemnation: Need more gravehate.
Chord of Calling -> Pounce: I am on the fence on this, but I have had a lot of situations where I just don't need/want to use Chord. This deck ends up power drawing and Chord ends up being too expensive. Pounce is just a magical number, I can keep four mana up and double regen if I need to, or use it and regen for removal. Lots of good stuff here.
Rending Vines -> Crushing Canopy: Killing fliers is good, it also comes with the option to kill something else. The draw on Rending isn't valuable enough for the hard removal this offers.
So I've been wanting to make a Thrun deck for a long time. This being the result. Any feedback would of course be appreciated.
Guardian of Tazeem: Just okay.
Jwar Isle Avenger: I feel this was added due to tribal
Chancellor of the Spires: Iffy, this could stay though.
Prognostic Sphinx: I feel this was added due to tribal
Fellwar Stone: Not sure too much ramp is worth pushing.
Coldsteel Heart: Not sure too much ramp is worth pushing.
Lightning Greaves: I am always unsure about adding this into decks
Swiftfoot Boots: I am always unsure about adding this into decks
Empyrial Plate: I feel like out valuing them would get you further instead of swinging with your commander
Sword of Feast and Famine: Ehhhhh.
Coalition Relic: Not sure too much ramp is worth pushing.
Gilded Lotus: Doesn't ramp you to your commander
Thran Dynamo: Doesn't ramp you to your commander
Add stuff like Temporal Mastery, Treasure Cruise, and Stunt Double
To be fair, this is a game and not a car manufacturer. You can't just make cards better and better, otherwise Overrun would become a 1 green mana spell that spits out tokens with haste over the passage of time. It's called game balance.
Please don't take my previous comment as a form of validation. I don't even begin to understand how why Overcome couldn't just be a functional reprint, but there are lots of cards that are fairly close to others, but are costed differently. I believe WotC do their card balancing around Standard, while keeping Modern in mind (They might even try to keep other formats like Commander at hand, but not with an overwhelming focus).
This means, if you want to know a reason why this couldn't just be Overrun, that it is likely a Standard issue because Overrun isn't run in Modern. Which means, I would look at the creatures that are 4 mana and less.
While I agree that it would have been cool to see Overcome, have 1-2 mana cycling. I don't think this is unacceptable for the reasons stated previously (1. The passage of time is not a valid reason to increase power level. 2. Game mechanics should be balanced around supported formats).
Happy hunting!
I'm not really worried about hitting entire graveyards currently. The claws are in here because they give a bit of grave hate, value, and cycle into a new card for 2 mana. These are all valid points though, and if your meta has more graveyard abuse I recommend considering these changes.
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I run, a lot of graveyard recursion. That is how I can avoid running gauntlet of power and caged sun. These cards also require a full turn rotation before they can be utilized for the purpose of replaying Akroma. I have also found that people don't just exile remove Akroma 24/7, especially since she is a 4 turn clock, who doesn't generate perceived value off her existence. As such, I am not worried about having enough mana to play her at all times, because the only removal I care about is exile removal.
Arid Mesa and friends are better than Plains because they remove potential lands draws and make top deck draws better. It is minor of course, but saying that Plains would be better seems a little far. In the event you are running a budget list though, replacing these with Plains would not be an issue.
Sunscorch Regent is a threat that can get out of hand quickly. I do think that there can be room for Sun Titan. I will be cutting Kozilek, Butcher of Truth because of the threat of Bribery and the fact that he doesn't synergize well with my graveyard recursion.
My army tends to be Akroma, plus one or two creatures, as such I am not sure the inclusion (Memorial/Concerted Effort) would be enough to be validated.
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Game Update (06/07/2017):
I lost and won one game.
Lost Game:
Winner: Gisa and Geralf
Participants: Nahiri, the Lithomancer, Gisa and Geralf, Zedruu the Greathearted
The game I lost was against a Nahiri, the Lithomancer and Gisa and Geralf deck. The Nahiri deck exploded early and was setting up to violently murder us. The G/G deck played a Boompile to try and stop the Nahiri player, to which the Nahiri played a Karmic Justice to force a potential pop (which worked, lucky for us). The game came to a stand still afterwards with slow chipping on all sides until the Nahiri deck got a Worldslayer out and was able to proc it the same turn. Unfortunately the G/G deck had two undying creatures resulting in myself and the Nahiri conceding due to inability to rebuild quickly enough. Overall, I don't want to count this game as loss because it was the equivalent to a table flip by the Nahiri player and handing the game to G/G. The game went well for us this game though. I just played lands and played Ghostly Prison to shunt opponents away until I could play Akroma. Overall, pretty solid.
Please note: I did not mention Zedru at all because he did mostly nothing the entire game, aside from a couple of attempts at winning the game with Felidar Sovereign which Akroma stopped with punching.
Won Game:
Winner: Myself
Participants: Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Gisa and Geralf, Hazezon Tamar
This game was mostly just early game plays to beat the Hazezon player who was playing token swarm, into a large wave of damage. All of us chip damaged the Hazezon player to low health by the time he was able to get a swarm of tokens, with a buff. The Nekusar finished him off with his commander and forcing him to wheel, killing him. From here the Nekusar player was messing with the G/G deck with wheels (not the good ones, just the cycle to hand count) hitting the G/G's value spells, but missing Zombies.
The game resolved with the G/G deck counterspelling my Koziliek, resulting in me getting a full hand. After which, I played Loyal Retainers and ressed Koziliek. The G/G deck tried to play his commander, which I counterspelled with Koziliek due to him having juicy targets for Zombie reanimation.