Domri is 100x better then Rhythm. Fights and ramps and pumps....no contest.
It doesn't grant haste...
and it's only 2 of, roughly 10 creatures in that deck have riot. Like I get why it's not in the mainboard that's obvious and really steers away from the main point. Neither cards really don't do much against discard or wrath based decks but I digress and will drop the topic all together.
No it is a good point. I'm not sure if it is worth the lil extra SB value to take up a SB slot though.
Using 3x domri has worked for me but i have been testing with both cards interchangeably. Seems like they always have the mortify for the rhythm tho. My domri seems to last longer in that matchup than the rhythm did.
Personally, I'm a big fan of stranding Esper's stupid sideboard Hostage Takers when you have a Domri in play.
Nice, good to know and congratz ! Do you mind sharing your deck list ? I tried out a bunch of different versions but I'm still unsure who "small" or how "midrange" I really want to go. Are Llanowar Elves and Pelt Collector needed to get the most out of Domri, Anarch of Bolas ? If so, what are we really "ramping" into - and are we running 5 drops and/or other walkers ?
I don't like going big as this format develops. As the removal catches up with the threats, I think we'll find that tapping out for Ilharg, the Raze-Boar -- the current RG fad of the day -- is completely unreasonable.
Sarkhan lets you turn the corner really really fast. If you ever stick a Sarkhan with a Domri in play against a removal player they just get run over.
What exactly are you ramping into? Going wide and activating GCGs. A lot of times, if you're in a midrange battle and you play two big spells in a turn 1st, then you're very far ahead.
In 8 rounds on Bo3 Arena, Domri, Anarch of Bolas has really impressed. It lets you trim specific removal in favor of playing a 3cmc mana dork that anthemns your team and fights.
I made Mythic last night, beating Caleb Durwald for my last two bars. He was on RG Pig. He was slow to the board and I ran him over 2-0.
As I"ve mentioned, I feel that this line of play, or with a Spellbreaker on turn 3 instead of Domri, makes Evolution Sage a really interesting turn 4 play followed by a land right away. Adds 3 power to the board and proliferates all your stuff for a total of 5-6 power, then proceeds to buff your stuff every turn.
I forgot to post this in a previously, but I did like the Evolution Sage suggestion and completely missed it with my intitial in-depth analysis.
Though I would note that 12 creatures that ETB with a counter (I'm counting Pelt Collector since it checks Evo Sage) which might not be enough for Evolution Sage to not be a vanilla 3/2 a notable % of the time. Growth-Chamber Guardian may be difficult since the card is so mana intensive. Maybe Rhythm of the Wild needs to be looked at for Evo. Sage?
However.... when you look to Boros you see that their mechanic is Mentor...
I'm also curious why you didn't mention God-Eternal Rhonas, the 5-drop I would actually want to test as a 2-of instead of Sarkhan the Masterless or Skarrgan Hellkite / Regisaur Alpha. Rhonas is very hard to - permanently - remove and has an incredibly strong ETB-effect that will most likely lead to a lethal alpha strike or lots of chump blocking by our opponents, provided we have enough board presence.
God-Eternal Rhonas has a variety of issues, mainly, while laddering, I play against a lot of Esper, Reclamation, and the like. A 5 drop that requires you to have a board is wildly irrelevant. 5 drops against combo just aren't relevant at all.
If they target it with a removal spell, it still functionally Teferi tucks, which for a card that doesn't have haste, is as good as a removal spell against Teferis, Searches, etc. While from a certainly perspective, a Teferi tuck isn't that bad, it's still card disadvantage while putting us back on the board state.
I'd imagine that God-Eternal Rhonas is good against exactly Sultai. Even then, it doesn't have evasion, which may be a deal breaker.
_______________________________________________
Despark, Tyrant's Scorn, Ritual of Soot, Kaya's Wrath, Teferi and Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God are going to run this format. We just have to figure out how to line up our threats to get through their defenses. My hunch? We won't be able to lean into the power of Rekindling Phoenix like we have been. This is why I've been suggesting some of the walkers that we have access to. Sarkhan plays well with playing a couple walkers. His static, imo, is largely irrelevant.
This card is very similar to Dromoka's Command. It plays great on the play, allowing your 2 drops to push through damage and function very similar to Fleecemane Lion and co. of the past. So what's the draw back here? It's sorcery speed, meaning that you're getting set up to get blown out. You can't realistically play this card into open mana. We're already tight on removal spells and, in a lot of cases, Lava Coil will be just as good if not better.
At first I was pretty cold on new Domri. Why? Well, I was spoiled with Domri the first time around -- Domri Rade was amazing and was a staple in RG as long as it was in standard. This 3cmc guy though? It just fights, ramps, and pumps. Is that good? I think, in a deck where the pilot is trying to deploy big, fast, and evasive creatures, being able to cut dead removal for cards that fulfill multiple purposes is great. I don't want to run a bunch of bad cards either. I want to be lean and efficient, playing to the board hard and not letting up. Domri lets you do that while having escape valves to creatures that threaten to take over the game. Need to snag that Thief of Sanity? Slam a Domri and go to work. Need to ramp to 4cmc to get out Phoenix? We're served here.
I think Domri is an excellent roleplayer in a RG Aggro deck, maybe just not the staple that Domri Rade was in the past.
This strikes me as a card I would have to play a lot with to figure out if it's good or not.
This card is great against control and, for 3cmc, might be quite an excellent slot for against Grixis and Esper.
Doesn't have evasion. Nope. Maybe if we go big enough with Banefires and other big mana plays.
This card just isn't very good.
Illharg and Neheb -- I'm not linking because theses guys aren't really worth talking about. They die easily and require a whole turn to get going. Illharg requires for you to have fatties in hand while Neheb needs 4cmc up front. There is going to be so much removal flying around that, for as long as we have a big standard, these guys probably won't be that great.
These guys are also not that great. Kiora has some elements of Pestermite/Deceiver Exarch in that you can get some mana back but it's probably not worth it. We don't play that many 4 power creatures.
Samut is double haste. You're paying 4cmc to buy the same thing twice. We can get that already in Rhythm of the Wild.
I actually have high hope for these guys as SB role players. If the format is about protecting walkers, Vraksa could be great. If the format is about going wide and then finding a piece of evasion, Gruul War Chant just might be excellent. They have somewhat redundant abilities, so I doubt that we'll play both in the board at the same time. But I can envision a world in which we play one of these puppies.
Let's talk about removal since it has such a major impact on how we build our decks:
Ok, this is bad news bears for us. Despark is insane against Rekindling Phoenix, our stickiest threat. Tyrant's Scorn is more copies of Cast Down, already a premier revmoal spell against us. Will we be able to survive a format like this? Ok, well I think there are ways to combat things like this. Cards that come to mind are Regisaur Alpha or even something dumb like Tibalt, Rakish Instigator (I told you it was dumb). Better yet, you can slam this familiar guy:
Hell. Yeah.
Make dragons, turn your PWs into dragons, I'm all about this. It plays excellently with RG walkers lower down the curve -- mainly both Domris. Having a few extra walkers handy means that Sarkhan's uptick will have effective haste. Unfortunately, the dragons die to Find // Finality but my suspicion is that Grixis and Esper may make quick work of whatever is left of Sultai.
Thrashing Brontodon is bad but I just got sick of drawing Warbosses against a bunch of Chainwhirlers. We're back on Chaos Bringer since we want walkers that cantrip in the face of spot removal for walkers and we want walkers in play so that when we play Sarkhan we can immediately attack for 4.
I've picked this deck back up again after a bad run through Plat at the start of this season with GR aggro -- the tempo decks just aren't there to prey on anymore.
x/4s and x/5s are pretty decent right now, especially with people trying to play Jund Chainwhirler, a deck that's kind of slow off the ground and doesn't really go that big. Walkers and preboarded Ravager Wurms are huge there. It's weak to a turn 4 Phoenix so we're maindecking Lava Coil -- not that big of a deal and common in other lists. Maybe Wurm should be Allosaurus but I think the animation from Wurm is worth it.
I used the same list I posted, how has your all's testing gone?
Haven't played a lick of arena at all this season. I'll get to it this week. There's no modern paper tourneys for me to prep for.
I played the Cleveland Classic on sunday and went 4-3, losing my last round -- which would've vaulted me into top 32 but outside of Top 16 since my breakers were trash. I played the event after losing my Day 2 win-and-in in the Open
Personally, I'm a big fan of stranding Esper's stupid sideboard Hostage Takers when you have a Domri in play.
Rhythm of the Wild and the Ilharg, the Raze-Boar play well together, I'll be the first to admit.
He plays well with other walkers that are lower down the curve like domri.
4x Pelt Collector
4x Zhur-Taa Goblin
4x Growth-Chamber Guardian
4x Gruul Spellbreaker
2x Jadelight Ranger
4x Rekindling Phoenix
3x Lava Coil
2x Collision // Colossus
2x Domri, Anarch of Bolas
2x Domri, Chaos Bringer
2x Sarkhan the Masterless
4x Rootbound Crag
9x Forest
6x Mountain
3x Fiery Cannonade
4x Cindervines
2x Vivien Reid
1x Banefire
2x Angrath, Captain of Chaos
1x Sorcerous Spyglass
1x Ravager Wurm
1x Nullhide Ferox
I don't like going big as this format develops. As the removal catches up with the threats, I think we'll find that tapping out for Ilharg, the Raze-Boar -- the current RG fad of the day -- is completely unreasonable.
Sarkhan lets you turn the corner really really fast. If you ever stick a Sarkhan with a Domri in play against a removal player they just get run over.
What exactly are you ramping into? Going wide and activating GCGs. A lot of times, if you're in a midrange battle and you play two big spells in a turn 1st, then you're very far ahead.
I made Mythic last night, beating Caleb Durwald for my last two bars. He was on RG Pig. He was slow to the board and I ran him over 2-0.
Evolution Sage + Scapeshift can be a nice little overrun early in the game.
Something like our Pelt Collector shell + Explore package.
Nice.
I forgot to post this in a previously, but I did like the Evolution Sage suggestion and completely missed it with my intitial in-depth analysis.
Though I would note that 12 creatures that ETB with a counter (I'm counting Pelt Collector since it checks Evo Sage) which might not be enough for Evolution Sage to not be a vanilla 3/2 a notable % of the time. Growth-Chamber Guardian may be difficult since the card is so mana intensive. Maybe Rhythm of the Wild needs to be looked at for Evo. Sage?
However.... when you look to Boros you see that their mechanic is Mentor...
Might be worth looking into.
God-Eternal Rhonas has a variety of issues, mainly, while laddering, I play against a lot of Esper, Reclamation, and the like. A 5 drop that requires you to have a board is wildly irrelevant. 5 drops against combo just aren't relevant at all.
If they target it with a removal spell, it still functionally Teferi tucks, which for a card that doesn't have haste, is as good as a removal spell against Teferis, Searches, etc. While from a certainly perspective, a Teferi tuck isn't that bad, it's still card disadvantage while putting us back on the board state.
I'd imagine that God-Eternal Rhonas is good against exactly Sultai. Even then, it doesn't have evasion, which may be a deal breaker.
_______________________________________________
Despark, Tyrant's Scorn, Ritual of Soot, Kaya's Wrath, Teferi and Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God are going to run this format. We just have to figure out how to line up our threats to get through their defenses. My hunch? We won't be able to lean into the power of Rekindling Phoenix like we have been. This is why I've been suggesting some of the walkers that we have access to. Sarkhan plays well with playing a couple walkers. His static, imo, is largely irrelevant.
You need creatures that attack well on their own if they cost 3 mana.
This card is very similar to Dromoka's Command. It plays great on the play, allowing your 2 drops to push through damage and function very similar to Fleecemane Lion and co. of the past. So what's the draw back here? It's sorcery speed, meaning that you're getting set up to get blown out. You can't realistically play this card into open mana. We're already tight on removal spells and, in a lot of cases, Lava Coil will be just as good if not better.
At first I was pretty cold on new Domri. Why? Well, I was spoiled with Domri the first time around -- Domri Rade was amazing and was a staple in RG as long as it was in standard. This 3cmc guy though? It just fights, ramps, and pumps. Is that good? I think, in a deck where the pilot is trying to deploy big, fast, and evasive creatures, being able to cut dead removal for cards that fulfill multiple purposes is great. I don't want to run a bunch of bad cards either. I want to be lean and efficient, playing to the board hard and not letting up. Domri lets you do that while having escape valves to creatures that threaten to take over the game. Need to snag that Thief of Sanity? Slam a Domri and go to work. Need to ramp to 4cmc to get out Phoenix? We're served here.
I think Domri is an excellent roleplayer in a RG Aggro deck, maybe just not the staple that Domri Rade was in the past.
This strikes me as a card I would have to play a lot with to figure out if it's good or not.
This card is great against control and, for 3cmc, might be quite an excellent slot for against Grixis and Esper.
Doesn't have evasion. Nope. Maybe if we go big enough with Banefires and other big mana plays.
This card just isn't very good.
Illharg and Neheb -- I'm not linking because theses guys aren't really worth talking about. They die easily and require a whole turn to get going. Illharg requires for you to have fatties in hand while Neheb needs 4cmc up front. There is going to be so much removal flying around that, for as long as we have a big standard, these guys probably won't be that great.
These guys are also not that great. Kiora has some elements of Pestermite/Deceiver Exarch in that you can get some mana back but it's probably not worth it. We don't play that many 4 power creatures.
Samut is double haste. You're paying 4cmc to buy the same thing twice. We can get that already in Rhythm of the Wild.
I actually have high hope for these guys as SB role players. If the format is about protecting walkers, Vraksa could be great. If the format is about going wide and then finding a piece of evasion, Gruul War Chant just might be excellent. They have somewhat redundant abilities, so I doubt that we'll play both in the board at the same time. But I can envision a world in which we play one of these puppies.
Let's talk about removal since it has such a major impact on how we build our decks:
Ok, this is bad news bears for us. Despark is insane against Rekindling Phoenix, our stickiest threat. Tyrant's Scorn is more copies of Cast Down, already a premier revmoal spell against us. Will we be able to survive a format like this? Ok, well I think there are ways to combat things like this. Cards that come to mind are Regisaur Alpha or even something dumb like Tibalt, Rakish Instigator (I told you it was dumb). Better yet, you can slam this familiar guy:
Hell. Yeah.
Make dragons, turn your PWs into dragons, I'm all about this. It plays excellently with RG walkers lower down the curve -- mainly both Domris. Having a few extra walkers handy means that Sarkhan's uptick will have effective haste. Unfortunately, the dragons die to Find // Finality but my suspicion is that Grixis and Esper may make quick work of whatever is left of Sultai.
Anyway, who wants a rough draft? I do.
4x Pelt Collector
4x Zhur-Taa Goblin
1x Kraul Harpooner
4x Growth-Chamber Guardian
4x Gruul Spellbreaker
2x Thrashing Brontodon
4x Rekindling Phoenix
2x Collision // Colossus
2x Domri, Anarch of Bolas
2x Domri, Chaos Bringer
2x Sarkhan the Masterless
4x Rootbound Crag
9x Forest
6x Mountain
Thrashing Brontodon is bad but I just got sick of drawing Warbosses against a bunch of Chainwhirlers. We're back on Chaos Bringer since we want walkers that cantrip in the face of spot removal for walkers and we want walkers in play so that when we play Sarkhan we can immediately attack for 4.
4x Path to Exile
4x Finale of Devastation
4x Noble Hierarch
1x Birds of Paradise
4x Wild Nacatl
3x Tarmogoyf
1x Goblin Cratermaker
1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1x Remorseful Cleric
2x Scavenging Ooze
2x Knight of the Reliquary
2x Tireless Tracker
2x Knight of Autumn
1x Magus of the Moon
1x Renegade Rallier
1x Huntmaster of the Fells
4x Wooded Foothills
3x Arid Mesa
2x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
2x Sacred Foundry
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Kessig Wolf Run
1x Horizon Canopy
2x Forest
1x Plains
2x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1x Declaration in Stone
2x Rhythm of the Wild
2x Gaddock Teeg
1x Remorseful Cleric
2x Cindervines
2x Blood Moon
1x Kataki, War's Wage
IDK if Dryad Arbor is even good here.
Ok, so this immediately pushes us into a tool box deck -- which is fine IMO.
What are we getting?
I'm packing:
This card is also good with Tracker, FWIW.
Tracker is rarely a card you want a bunch of, but it is excellent in attrition MUs and this card lets you find it.
This card, notably, pumps Goyf.
I'll engineer a list tonight, probably.
4x Thrashing Brontodon
4x Ripjaw Raptor
4x Regisaur Alpha
3x Carnage Tyrant
2x Ravager Wurm
4x Commune with Dinosaurs
4x Thunderherd Migration
3x Lava Coil
3x Savage Stomp
2x Domri, Chaos Bringer
4x Rootbound Crag
10x Forest
5x Mountain
3x Fiery Cannonade
2x Vivien Reid
2x Banefire
1x Crushing Canopy
1x Lava Coil
3x Cindervines
3x Nullhide Ferox
I've picked this deck back up again after a bad run through Plat at the start of this season with GR aggro -- the tempo decks just aren't there to prey on anymore.
x/4s and x/5s are pretty decent right now, especially with people trying to play Jund Chainwhirler, a deck that's kind of slow off the ground and doesn't really go that big. Walkers and preboarded Ravager Wurms are huge there. It's weak to a turn 4 Phoenix so we're maindecking Lava Coil -- not that big of a deal and common in other lists. Maybe Wurm should be Allosaurus but I think the animation from Wurm is worth it.
Haven't played a lick of arena at all this season. I'll get to it this week. There's no modern paper tourneys for me to prep for.
I played the Cleveland Classic on sunday and went 4-3, losing my last round -- which would've vaulted me into top 32 but outside of Top 16 since my breakers were trash. I played the event after losing my Day 2 win-and-in in the Open
2-1 Gates
1-2 UB Midrange
1-2 Sultai
2-0 Drakes
2-0 Esper
2-1 Esper
1-2 Sultai
Lost to a lot of Hostage Takers this weekend. My loss to UB involved 3x in our final game and both sultai opponents resolved at least one a game.
Beat Jonathan Hobbs on Esper in Round 6 with a nice little Banefire off the top for lethal.