Thanks very much for the feedback, you’ve raised some great points there.
With regards to the discard suite, would you recommend Hymn to Tourach or Inquisition of Kozilek? Personally I prefer Hymn but the double-black can be a bit stiff.
As for Deathrite Shaman, he’s one of my favourite cards ever (this deck was halfway to being modern Junk when he got the banhammer) – fitting him in here is tough though, I’m not sure what to take out to put him in. If I cut the Mox Diamonds I’m hurting the Knights, and if I cut the Knights the supporting cycling land/retrieval is pointless and it feels like a different deck. He’s so good though that I can see why he should be in there, I’m just not sure where best to use him. The CITP lands are never actually played as lands – they’re there solely to discard to the Mox Diamonds or cycle for card draw but again this is a bit swingy as so far I’ve either found it works perfectly or bogs me down, there’s no consistency with them.
Finally, I agree that the Punishing Fire / Grove of the Burnwillows is a bit clunky – while I’ve had some good returns from it can be slow to pull the pieces together.
Essentially I feel like I’m pulling this deck in two different directions. If I was able to lay my hand on some Bayou it would make the call for me and I’d ditch all the red influence, as it is I’ve either got ¾ of a cares-about-land deck or ¾ a Junk deck. I’ll have a go at stripping out the clunk bits and using basic lands for now and see what it does.
i have a question, i heard people said that rest in peace affect arcbound ravager, how does it affect and what is the logic? if not affected, please explain as well. i am rather confuse by people statement on this.
Rest In Peace replaces going to the graveyard with exiled, the trigger for Arcbound ravager modular ability happens when it hits the graveyard. You can sac stuff to the ravager up when it leaves play itself it's modular ability won't kick in and you'll lose the counters.
So I've been playing this on MTGO pretty heavily since my Pod deck was banned. Overall, I think I'm starting to get the hang of the deck. My problem is that I feel like I'm using Arcbound Ravager really ineffectively. Does anyone know of any videos or something that can help me or give me more of an idea how to use it?
Hi, this via is a useful primer that goes over some of the common tricks:
I'd say the biggest flaw is playing your Ravager too early, don't signpost it to your opponent - yes it works as a good value reclaimer when your stuff is targeted by removal but it can be killed too quickly by someone who knows how to respond to the triggers properly. Ravager is best kept until you're going to spring it, played in the Precombat main phase and then used to quickly pile death-level counters onto your Inkmoth nexus, etched champion and the like when you see an opening.
Can stretch to see stubborn denial if you've landed an Ensoul Artifact or pumped an Arcbound Ravager already but not much of our stuff has trample so with swan song aren't you're giving them a way to chump your own win condition? You could still attack through with Etched Champion so that would work but I'd be concerned you'd be losing a turn of attack and exposing yourself to retaliation as you'd have a blocker tapped.
At the moment I am mostly thinking about the following:
1. Replacing 4 Steel Overseer with 2 and 2 Spellskite main deck.
2. Ditching Ancient Grudge completely and just playing Wear//Tear and Back to Nature
3. How many Whipflares?
4. 1 or 2 Grafdigger's Cage?
5. What about Unified Will as the sideboard counter? - But it costs 2 CMC and not 1.
Much prefer Wear//Tear - useful in a lot of different places.
Hey folks, I'm looking to move from mostly casual play with the occasional modern game up to playing in proper Legacy matches; I've been playing a long time so have built up decent cards but not built a really competitive deck at this level before. Below I've tabled out what I'm currently running plus a list of other stuff I've access to that I think could work in this deck too. My questions are:
Am I on the right track with the main deck?
I'm terrible at sideboarding, what should go in that?
I've listed out beneath the rest of my decent pool. I'd appreciate that - while it clearly won't be optimal you - could suggest from that list first as I can't buy much more right now though if there's something obviously missing then I'll look into it.
They should go back to the Preconstructed Decks of old. The ones that came with a foil basic land. They were fun to play and expand upon, and more importantly, they weren't as fueled with filler.
I gladly sacrifice the foil rare and the two packs, for better preconstruct decks.
This. I still use the shell of a preconstructed deck from Urzas Saga and another from Time Spiral that have stood up for casual play - these Khan's decks are OK but don't show off the clans mechanics as well as they could. The Azban one has low toughness creatures without Outlast and makes you jump through hoops to give them counters, they would be better in the Mardu deck.
The preconstructed decks shouldn't be tournament-ready in a box but they should at least have a clear and decent core to build up from.
Hi, hope you enjoy Affinity! It's a great deck to play
Honestly there's nothing that comes close to Mox Opal in terms of the raw speed but at a push you could try a Paradise Mantle and putting it on your Melanies / Ornithopters.
Your probably better if just getting started and lookin for a budget option to instead limit the number of coloured spells you play so that it lessens the impact.
When I started playing Magic (Tempest-era) I was very into green and ran elves & Fatties before Urza block came round, I discovered Pestilence and my love of all things black went from there. I went through a pure artifact phase, and a Blue phase for a while but my main decks have always been Black.
I love it because it can deal with anything if you're willing to pay a high enough price. There's always a solution if you're willing to find it and the number of times I've sat opposite someone who thinks they have a lock only to pull out some awful thing that might hurt me but definitely kills them.
There are two cards that for me sum up why Black is the best:
Kaervek's Spite
With this card you have Blacks total disregard for its own safety and the expense of win. Other colours worry about pillow-forting or otherwise keeping themselves alive while they do their thing, Black just wants you dead and gone and doesn't care if it gets hurt as long as it is still alive at the end.
Soldevi Adnate
Everything is a resource to Black. You invest your mana in creatures and artifacts but if they aren't cutting the mustard anymore or are otherwise not helping fill the plan then Black still gets some value from them. To paraphrase Azax-Azog - "You serve the plan, your pieces would better serve the plan elsewhere."
Another thing that makes Black so much fun is that it can rub along with any of the other colours nicely - some of the other enemy pairings can get a bit clunky but Black & White? Black & Green? Lots of excellent things happening there. With its ally colours it just goes nuts - Black & Blue control, Black & Red aggro are things to fear.
With regards to the discard suite, would you recommend Hymn to Tourach or Inquisition of Kozilek? Personally I prefer Hymn but the double-black can be a bit stiff.
As for Deathrite Shaman, he’s one of my favourite cards ever (this deck was halfway to being modern Junk when he got the banhammer) – fitting him in here is tough though, I’m not sure what to take out to put him in. If I cut the Mox Diamonds I’m hurting the Knights, and if I cut the Knights the supporting cycling land/retrieval is pointless and it feels like a different deck. He’s so good though that I can see why he should be in there, I’m just not sure where best to use him. The CITP lands are never actually played as lands – they’re there solely to discard to the Mox Diamonds or cycle for card draw but again this is a bit swingy as so far I’ve either found it works perfectly or bogs me down, there’s no consistency with them.
Finally, I agree that the Punishing Fire / Grove of the Burnwillows is a bit clunky – while I’ve had some good returns from it can be slow to pull the pieces together.
Essentially I feel like I’m pulling this deck in two different directions. If I was able to lay my hand on some Bayou it would make the call for me and I’d ditch all the red influence, as it is I’ve either got ¾ of a cares-about-land deck or ¾ a Junk deck. I’ll have a go at stripping out the clunk bits and using basic lands for now and see what it does.
Rest In Peace replaces going to the graveyard with exiled, the trigger for Arcbound ravager modular ability happens when it hits the graveyard. You can sac stuff to the ravager up when it leaves play itself it's modular ability won't kick in and you'll lose the counters.
Hi, this via is a useful primer that goes over some of the common tricks:
http://youtu.be/04By1K3HYMU
I'd say the biggest flaw is playing your Ravager too early, don't signpost it to your opponent - yes it works as a good value reclaimer when your stuff is targeted by removal but it can be killed too quickly by someone who knows how to respond to the triggers properly. Ravager is best kept until you're going to spring it, played in the Precombat main phase and then used to quickly pile death-level counters onto your Inkmoth nexus, etched champion and the like when you see an opening.
Much prefer Wear//Tear - useful in a lot of different places.
I've listed out beneath the rest of my decent pool. I'd appreciate that - while it clearly won't be optimal you - could suggest from that list first as I can't buy much more right now though if there's something obviously missing then I'll look into it.
2x Barren Moor
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Forest
2x Grove of the Burnwillows
1x Horizon Canopy
1x Maze of Ith
1x Swamp
1x Savannah
3x Scrubland
2x Taiga
1x Tranquil Thicket
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3x Wasteland
4x Windswept Heath
4x Knight of the Reliquary
2x Dark Confidant
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Tarmogoyf
1x Gaddock Teeg
Instants
4x Swords to Plowshares
3x Punishing Fire
Sorceries
2x Green Sun's Zenith
3x Thoughtseize
3x Lingering Souls
3x Life from the Loam
2x Sylvan Library
4x Mox Diamond
3x Liliana of the Veil
Possible Inclusions
2x Qasali Pridemage
2x Choke
2x Maelstrom Pulse
4x Abrupt Decay
1x Dark Confidant
1x Wasteland
4x Deathrite Shaman
2x Pernicious Deed
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Hymn to Tourach
4x Path to Exile
Cheers for any/all help received!
Maybe the cycle:
This. I still use the shell of a preconstructed deck from Urzas Saga and another from Time Spiral that have stood up for casual play - these Khan's decks are OK but don't show off the clans mechanics as well as they could. The Azban one has low toughness creatures without Outlast and makes you jump through hoops to give them counters, they would be better in the Mardu deck.
The preconstructed decks shouldn't be tournament-ready in a box but they should at least have a clear and decent core to build up from.
Land - Taps for 1, 2T: gain 1 life for each colourless creature you control.
Probably to clunky for us but could it be used to keep Burn in check?
Honestly there's nothing that comes close to Mox Opal in terms of the raw speed but at a push you could try a Paradise Mantle and putting it on your Melanies / Ornithopters.
Your probably better if just getting started and lookin for a budget option to instead limit the number of coloured spells you play so that it lessens the impact.
New Garruk card smiled on the mothership today.
Ps, he's mental.
Black all the way.
When I started playing Magic (Tempest-era) I was very into green and ran elves & Fatties before Urza block came round, I discovered Pestilence and my love of all things black went from there. I went through a pure artifact phase, and a Blue phase for a while but my main decks have always been Black.
I love it because it can deal with anything if you're willing to pay a high enough price. There's always a solution if you're willing to find it and the number of times I've sat opposite someone who thinks they have a lock only to pull out some awful thing that might hurt me but definitely kills them.
There are two cards that for me sum up why Black is the best:
Kaervek's Spite
With this card you have Blacks total disregard for its own safety and the expense of win. Other colours worry about pillow-forting or otherwise keeping themselves alive while they do their thing, Black just wants you dead and gone and doesn't care if it gets hurt as long as it is still alive at the end.
Soldevi Adnate
Everything is a resource to Black. You invest your mana in creatures and artifacts but if they aren't cutting the mustard anymore or are otherwise not helping fill the plan then Black still gets some value from them. To paraphrase Azax-Azog - "You serve the plan, your pieces would better serve the plan elsewhere."
Another thing that makes Black so much fun is that it can rub along with any of the other colours nicely - some of the other enemy pairings can get a bit clunky but Black & White? Black & Green? Lots of excellent things happening there. With its ally colours it just goes nuts - Black & Blue control, Black & Red aggro are things to fear.