Manlands are a little text-heavy for an expedition frame. Perhaps some colorless land cards including Mirrorpool and Wastes.
The current Expeditions use as many as 5 lines of text and neglect to print the specific mana they tap for.
If you're referring to shocklands + tangos, that's because the tapping for mana part is reminder text and not rules text. It comes with the basic land type.
I want to explore instants and sorcs that untap our creatures as an effect, because couldnt that net us one mana? Crypsis, Triton Tactics(!)? Crypsis is kind of a wincon too
The problem with those is you can't do anything with them early game to try and draw into the combo pieces, which is rough when there's already twinflame and retraction helix doing so. Helix already deals with blockers, and crypsis doesn't actually net any more mana than just any 1 mana spell
This deck makes me sad that this is the first time in 4 years that Elixir of Immortality is not seeing a reprint. That card would be amazing in this deck, alongside something like Dakra Mystic you wouldn't need to play any other wincons. I guess wizards was aware they might create eggs in standard :X
My two thoughts on what could be tested in this deck:
-It could be worth trying cutting some number of Divination for Tormenting Voice? You can often discard a land or such to it, and it might make it easier to go off on turn 4.
-Another potential win condition to look at is Master the Way, but I don't know how consistently we could kill with that.
Edit: Tormenting voice seems worse than div in this build. Makes it really hard to get to critical mass, with jeskai ascendancy already providing a discard outlet. Master the Way + Cranial Archive might be better than 2x Twinflame against decks with caryatid (ie, we can't bounce it with helix, and *sometimes* we only have 1 large creature)? I don't think you can actually get a kill with that card without the archive, so this is probably a sideboard deal. The archive is necessary because I don't think this kill is possible without the helix + mantle combo, and you can't consistently get that combo off with enough cards left in your deck. Regardless, these are good cards to keep in mind as the build changes + once the next set is released
ITT: People who don't play limited. I open this page and see the two cards and think: "Yeah, I'll probably play the golem from time to time. I'd probably always play the efreet if I had it but still a bit expensive".
Yeah, I couldn't really devote time this week to finding all the relevant cards for this format. After digging ~1000 cards deep into gatherer and not finding any combos that were terribly strong i figured the biggest threat to play around would be shriekmaw Which apparently would've been slightly better than my TNN. The other decks I was looking at were sliver aggro, decks like Feyd's, Zealot il-Vec + Nightshade Peddler, and Painter's Servant + Lifebane Zombie
I really wanted to build Braids, but I couldn't find a way to get her out fast enough to make her good. Is there a way to turn 2 braids in this format? Because turn 3 braids is too slow for this format, I believe.
Oof. I thought maybe *some* people would play some of the threats that were relevant last time. Turned out the one that showed up is the only one I didn't play around! Figured some combination of Ionas, Hydras, and Karakas-Singularities would appear somewhere. Welp, you win some you lose some.
1tomsloger : beast zenith
grove of burnwillows / red sun's zenith / beast within / noxious revival
0-6
2Feyd_Ruin : Lands? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Lands!
Reaper King / Reaper King / Phyrexian Metamorph / Act of Aggression
0-6, I think, our spells leave us in a stand-off, but he can use AoA to kill me since I take so much damage.
3Madmanquail : mono blue
Island / Perplexing Chimera / Rishadan Brigand / Daze
3-3, I think.
5WhammeWhamme : plan b
Reaper King / Foil / Volcanic Island / Fireball
2-2 At any given time we match up 2 cards to 2 cards, and play at the same speed. I can use Act + Metamorph to kill the reaper in some lines, but playing all three of my spells opens me up to dying by fireball.
6mogg : theater guide
Dramatic Entrance / Elvish Spirit Guide / Elvish Spirit Guide / Progenitus
0-6 If i play all of my cards, I die to a single progenitus swing. Period. He can make progenitus on my EOT, attack with it, then even if I make my own progenitus he can attack with his a second time before I attack with mine.
7 | 0 0 3 0 2 0 X | 4
Kinda gave up halfway through with this one, and it shows
I'll do mine in a bit...I was considering this deck, and now I wish I did it:
Chancellor of the Forge / Chancellor of the Forge / Leyline of the Void / Leyline of the Meek / Leyline of the Meek
I think that beats everyone but feyd and tom?
edit:
1tomsloger : meekforge
chancellor of the forge / chancellor of the forge / chancellor of the forge / leyline of the meek / leyline of the meek
0-6
2whammewhamme : foiled again
Foil / phage the Untouchable / Reanimate / Underground Sea / Subterranean Hangar
I think 3-3? He counters a tangle wire, the other wire (and his copy) lock him up for...3 turns? iunno.
3madmanquail : Defective Equipment
Phage, The Untouchable / bottomless vault / Mishra's Workshop / Epochrasite / Chalice of the Void
3-3, Chalice X=0 on his play, otherwise I get in underneath chalice and he can't cast anything.
6Wild Eep : phage therapy
Saprazzan Skerry / Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth / Lake of the Dead / Phage the Untouchable / Mana Drain
6-0 I'm too fast
7psly4mne : phage control
Black Lotus / Mana Drain / Pact of Negation / Bottomless Vault / Phage the Untouchable
3-3
8Feyd_Ruin : A Random Attempt to Semi-Meta
Ancient Tomb / Arcane Denial / City of Brass / Lingering Souls / Ratchet Bomb
0-6 ratchet kills my win condition
9mogg : from beneath you it annhilates
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn / Lion's Eye Diamond / Shelldock Isle / Sonic Seizure / Volcanic Island
6-0 I think? I can always sac enough to keep my emrakul, and his crypts allow me to win after 1 swing.
Holy crap, that worked well. Would've been perfect record if I went with Glimpse + Grapeshot (knobbodi pointed out my 1 loss) but I guess I was more scared of countermagic than I should've been.
Though that deck wouldn't have been standard legal
If you're referring to shocklands + tangos, that's because the tapping for mana part is reminder text and not rules text. It comes with the basic land type.
The problem with those is you can't do anything with them early game to try and draw into the combo pieces, which is rough when there's already twinflame and retraction helix doing so. Helix already deals with blockers, and crypsis doesn't actually net any more mana than just any 1 mana spell
This deck makes me sad that this is the first time in 4 years that Elixir of Immortality is not seeing a reprint.
My two thoughts on what could be tested in this deck:
-It could be worth trying cutting some number of Divination for Tormenting Voice? You can often discard a land or such to it, and it might make it easier to go off on turn 4.
-Another potential win condition to look at is Master the Way, but I don't know how consistently we could kill with that.
Edit: Tormenting voice seems worse than div in this build. Makes it really hard to get to critical mass, with jeskai ascendancy already providing a discard outlet. Master the Way + Cranial Archive might be better than 2x Twinflame against decks with caryatid (ie, we can't bounce it with helix, and *sometimes* we only have 1 large creature)? I don't think you can actually get a kill with that card without the archive, so this is probably a sideboard deal. The archive is necessary because I don't think this kill is possible without the helix + mantle combo, and you can't consistently get that combo off with enough cards left in your deck. Regardless, these are good cards to keep in mind as the build changes + once the next set is released
Do you play limited?
I really wanted to build Braids, but I couldn't find a way to get her out fast enough to make her good. Is there a way to turn 2 braids in this format? Because turn 3 braids is too slow for this format, I believe.
1tomsloger : beast zenith
grove of burnwillows / red sun's zenith / beast within / noxious revival
0-6
2Feyd_Ruin : Lands? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Lands!
Reaper King / Reaper King / Phyrexian Metamorph / Act of Aggression
0-6, I think, our spells leave us in a stand-off, but he can use AoA to kill me since I take so much damage.
3Madmanquail : mono blue
Island / Perplexing Chimera / Rishadan Brigand / Daze
3-3, I think.
I could be missing something though.
4Wild Eep : sprout swarm deck #463
Island / Hinterland Harbor / Sprout Swarm / Reweave
0-6 SAPROLINGS EVERYWHERE
5WhammeWhamme : plan b
Reaper King / Foil / Volcanic Island / Fireball
2-2 At any given time we match up 2 cards to 2 cards, and play at the same speed. I can use Act + Metamorph to kill the reaper in some lines, but playing all three of my spells opens me up to dying by fireball.
6mogg : theater guide
Dramatic Entrance / Elvish Spirit Guide / Elvish Spirit Guide / Progenitus
0-6 If i play all of my cards, I die to a single progenitus swing. Period. He can make progenitus on my EOT, attack with it, then even if I make my own progenitus he can attack with his a second time before I attack with mine.
7 | 0 0 3 0 2 0 X | 4
Kinda gave up halfway through with this one, and it shows
My girlfriend wanted to kill me.
5 | 0 6 3 3 6 3 0 6 | 27
I was so tired when i did that, lol.
In this thread:
"OAMDGALKF CARD IS TRASH"
"Hey give it a chance a 4 mana 0/2 is good in even numbered theme decks if the standard meta is right"
Chancellor of the Forge / Chancellor of the Forge / Leyline of the Void / Leyline of the Meek / Leyline of the Meek
I think that beats everyone but feyd and tom?
edit:
1tomsloger : meekforge
chancellor of the forge / chancellor of the forge / chancellor of the forge / leyline of the meek / leyline of the meek
0-6
2whammewhamme : foiled again
Foil / phage the Untouchable / Reanimate / Underground Sea / Subterranean Hangar
I think 3-3? He counters a tangle wire, the other wire (and his copy) lock him up for...3 turns? iunno.
3madmanquail : Defective Equipment
Phage, The Untouchable / bottomless vault / Mishra's Workshop / Epochrasite / Chalice of the Void
3-3, Chalice X=0 on his play, otherwise I get in underneath chalice and he can't cast anything.
4sockfresh : minion of heaven
phage the untouchable / lotus bloom / irrigation ditch / angel's grace / sneak attack
3-3
6Wild Eep : phage therapy
Saprazzan Skerry / Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth / Lake of the Dead / Phage the Untouchable / Mana Drain
6-0 I'm too fast
7psly4mne : phage control
Black Lotus / Mana Drain / Pact of Negation / Bottomless Vault / Phage the Untouchable
3-3
8Feyd_Ruin : A Random Attempt to Semi-Meta
Ancient Tomb / Arcane Denial / City of Brass / Lingering Souls / Ratchet Bomb
0-6 ratchet kills my win condition
9mogg : from beneath you it annhilates
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn / Lion's Eye Diamond / Shelldock Isle / Sonic Seizure / Volcanic Island
6-0 I think? I can always sac enough to keep my emrakul, and his crypts allow me to win after 1 swing.
5 | 0 3 3 3 6 3 0 6 | 24
subject to stupidity, I'm tired.
Though that deck wouldn't have been standard legal