MTG Salvation

E witness is much worse in the hand though. By running a 1 or 2 of Snapcaster, I wouldn't anticipate it as a reliable coco hit.

Anyone tested Snapcaster Mage as a 1 or 2 of? That extra path/blessed alliance or even reusing CoCo could be a big play.

I'll give Firemantle Mage a shot. I did dismiss it in my first iteration and never had it as a card to test out, but yeah it could definitely help close out games.

Thoughts on the card choices
Been playing this somewhat budget version of the deck on MTGO for the last week a fair bit and feel like I'm absolutely killing it. Bosk Banneret, Burning-Tree Emissary, and Beastcaller Savant are so good at dumping your hand for that turn 4 power play. The haste from Beastcaller Savant has been relevant in so many games, allowing me to get in 3 extra damage off of a Rage Forger. I started testing with only 2 Shaman of the Great Hunt but he has just been amazing. So far I have not had the dud opening hand full of him and always seem to draw a good amount. He is easily the second lord, and I couldn't imagine playing any other 4 drop unless it also had haste. The card draw is a bonus but rarely used.

Commune with Nature was excluded at first but after testing the card is exactly what we want. I've still got to pick up some other sideboard silver bullets like Fulminator Mage which is super pricey. But commune with nature makes game two a lot better when looking for silver bullets. Also hitting that Burning-Tree Emissary turn one with it is satisfying.

I continually side out Eternal Witness and I may end up removing it altogether. I'm trying to be pretty fast in general and it really offers nothing at the three many slot. I will probably also remove Anger of the Gods and Flames of the Firebrand from the sideboard. I thought the deck might struggle against tokens but it does fine.

I don't know why you would ever go down to three Flamekin Harbinger. It gives you assurance of hitting Rage Forger, and redundancy in getting multiple copies. Sometimes topdecking that Rage Forger is all you need to close out a game. I've won off triggers in board stalls several times now.

Cards I've tested that underperformed and removed.
Birds of Paradise - not really needed at all when you have Beastcaller Savant. It also feels horrible to topdeck.
Experiment One - Also feels absolutely horrible to topdeck. Might consider testing a 2 of again.
Fauna Shaman - Just way to slow and clunky. Might put in the sideboard now that I have a little room for the grindier matchups.
Oath of Nissa - I did a little goldfishing with this replacing Commune and feel its strictly worse. Digging 5 for that missing aggro piece is huge over digging for 3.
Æther Vial - Don't really need help emptying your hand with the aforementioned cards that help you do so. Again another horrible top deck.

Non-budget updgrades
Fulminator Mage - We can race tron fairly well but it would be a lot better to have this guy in the main and side.
Cavern of Souls - Obvious reasons. So expensive though.
Mutavault - Can't have too many colourless sources, but I would love to test a muta. Could make a world of difference.
Fetches/Shocks - Obvious helps our mana consistency.
Atarka's Command - This card is close to 10 tix and to be honest I'm not sure it is what we want. I feel unblockable effect from Gruul charm would be more useful, however that gain control of permanents you control is such garbage.
Collected Company - Obvious choice, I think it might be a 2 of in place of Shaman of the Great Hunt.
Raging Ravine - Maybe a one of, cant really afford to have taplands, but manlands are always good against grindy decks.

So how do we fare against these new Eldrazi decks?

Played the ~mirror tonight in game night (though not for first place...) where I play a more aggro and less rampy version of the deck. The guy was running close to Sam Blacks list as I could tell. I have 4 Banishing Light and 4 Valorous Stance mainboard plus 3 Erase sideboard and it is all you need to break the mirror. The problem with the deck is that once the manifest pieces are removed, there isn't actually much too it. I conceded game one as he just got the engine ahead and had a chance of winning before time. I played the next game with 20 minutes to spare and won handily, Erase being the tech to get me through.

Quote from DarklingScribe »

For mirror matches, I've often wondered if Archetype of Courage would be better than Bow of Nylea. The bow is undoubtedly more versatile, but you can flip the archetype and take out most of their manifested creatures with your manifested creatures. It also is a really neat way to get around the hornet queen and her four 1/1 deathtouch problems.

Been following this thread for ages and have my own version of the deck with 2x Archetype of Courage in the board, but not for mirrors. I have it for Hornet Queen and token decks, because I found token decks like to combine tokens and burn to get down your higher toughness creatures.

I've been running a midrange/aggro shell. A couple of differences would be I main 4 Banishing Light and 4 Valorous Stance which actually help a lot in the mirror. Post board I would side in 3 Erase as well. I've been running Ajani's Pridemate with the 4 dual life lands, 3 Radiant Fountain, Courser and Bow, I often get them to 4/4 minimum very quickly and I highly recommend it. I guess I'm playing a more aggressive build as I run Heir of the Wilds, Warden of the First Tree and Fleecemane Lion as well. It allows me to go under most decks, and if it doesn't work then the manifest cards take over the game.

I'd post my decklist but tappedout is down so I can't recall it all, and my deck is in a bag somewhere. If anyone is interested I'll post it a little later.

I have seen a few cards in M15 and Huey to make me think that Walls may be a bit more interactive/useful, and that Wizards might like to see them being played. We also know that an evergreen mechanic is being changed, and why not defender?

I would think cycling and scry would be contenders as they are simple ways to fix bad draws without MaRo constantly having to defend mana screw/flood.

I like this deck, and think that most of your sideboard should be to change your land destruction for aggro hate.

Wow did not even know the card catch//release existed. That will go into my sideboard for walkers decks. I'm loving the options in RUG at the moment and I'm looking to make something of a similar nature. I'm not sure whether to go RUG monsters/walkers or RUG control/walkers.

We're yet to see how Keranos pans out, but I don't believe you need to activate him at all. I also think Thassa will compete with too many other three drops for that slot. All said and done though, I might sideboard it or one of for a monsters match up.

I like this deck, I've been thinking about making something very similar myself when I saw Keranos spoiled, and Ken Crocker ran a similar list below (I can't post links yet so add the http to the front lol)

brainstormbrewery.com/im-friends-with-rug-monsters

The only issue I see is that you have no ramp, which I think is crucial for getting ahead of your opponent. I'm curious as to why you don't have any.