I think this deck has more in common with rw sun and moon than would seem apparent at first. What does everyone think of temple of silence? I don’t think tap lands hurt the deck greatly since we have plenty of room for sequencing them advantageously.
I am not. I’ve only played this deck in fnm level events. I’ve played concealed courtyards to have a better chance of casting first turn discard spells. As you’ve mentioned the downside is coming into play tapped when it’s your fourth or greater land drop. I think the deck has a generous enough manabase that one could mostly sequence correctly to have first turn and fourth turn mana on the curve.
Sorin, lord of innistrad. Sorry for the confusion. I chose lord of innistrad over solemn visitor due to the fact that token generation is a + ability and thus allows for stalling a disadvantaged board state while being equally good in a neutral or advantageous board state due to being able to create an emblem for only two loyalty.
I’m of the opinion that it’s a little faster to stabilize and turn the corner. Sorin is Gideon, ally of zendikar five and six. Whether or not these changes are correct is more a reflection of the meta one is playing in.
My suspicion (that’s all it is) is that the sideboard is loaded down with a bunch of cards that are decent in many situations but good in one or two specific ones and that the player would be able to hold out long enough to draw the single card that really shines. Once again, that’s just a guess.
Fwiw, I’m trying out gideons in sun and moon. I think it will play in a similar way but not be dead to Tron or a turn one blood moon.
So every time I’ve drawn arguel’s blood fast I’ve wished it was something else. And it requires 2bb and two life to make that happen. I think it should just be something else. Night whisper and read the bones are the obvious answers with underworld connections and phyrexian arena being slightly less obvious. Does anyone have thoughts on oathvof lili? It’s immediate removal that also can apply pressure later on.
I don’t think Karn is anything we want. The floor gives minor card advantage at the cost negative card selection. Furthermore, those cards are lost for good should Karn be destroyed.
Karn tokens are also not particularly good (for us) because we don’t generally run artifacts. The fact that token creation is a tick down ability hurts it further.
Should we be ahead on board, either four cmc Sorin is just a better way to close the door faster.
I have a screenshot but it’s with my phone and not the best quality. I played an almost identical list last night and wasn’t particularly impressed. I missed wall of omens badly. The first rule of control decks is preserve your life total and wall does that well. I’m trying a 3/1 split with wall and arguel’s blood fast.
Match one was against rg land destruction. He had a nut draw in game one (t2 blood moon into t2 stone rain) and a solid draw in game two (t3 bloodbraid into tracker, t4 inferno titan). I could have drawn a sweeper to turn game two around but was dead to anything else. Cutting basics hurt this matchup. I chose to scoop early in g1 to conceal information rather than attempt to draw the five remaining basics.
Gmatch two was against coco allies. Game one had me stabilize at one and settle the wreckage his board. He cocoed into gas and finished the game. Game two and three played out similarly with sweepers, Liliana and bloodghast put in lots of work. Bloodghast was great for pressuring his ajani and preventing it from really doing anything besides a single use to give flying. Wall of omens was also very good in this game as a blocker and card draw.
Match three was against 4c jund. I won game one on the back of bloodghast while removing OP’s creatures. A Gideon let me swing for lethal. I was mana screwed in g2 and only got to three lands for bontu’s last reckoning before being beaten out by creatures. Game three was competitive until I drew lands and inqui-seizes for 7 turns in the face of a dark confidant and ever growing board. Gideon of the trials, wall of omens and spirit tokens let me stay in the game until I drew a sweeper. A Gideon emblem prevented me from losing as we went to turns and the game ended in a draw.
In closing, the changes made helped where I wanted them to help. Bloodghast was terrific to discard to lilis or opposing discard effects and allowed me to apply pressure in circumstances where it would not have otherwise been possible. Wall of omens was great to see at any point and kept me in games where I would have otherwise gone to zero or kept me in games I lost a turn or two longer.
This is not to say that these changes are perfect. The stock list is much more resilient to blood moon in both having more basics and being less thirsty for [m]b[/m]. Also it’s possible the draw from night’s whisper or read the bones would have been superior. If nothing else, it’s something to think about.
Hi everyone. I’ve been playing a stockish list for the past few weeks at fnm and comparable events. My results have been what one would expect from the deck; good vs fair and not so good vs unfair.
The deck is a bunch of fun. My only complaints are the ones that have been brought up by others in that the deck lacks draw and is too slow to beat Tron/combo reliably and lacks card draw/fixing to dig for answers.
I humbly submit the following list as a way to deal with some of the shortcomings. It cuts the more expensive walkers and replaces them with lili of the veil and bloodghast as a way of applying pressure and control earlier and from different angles as well. Bloodghast doubles as a recurring threat that’s good at breaking stalemates after a wrath. Wall of omens serves as a source of card draw that cycles in late game and is strong in the early turns and forces opponents to extend into a sweeper. Finally, I’ve dumped all my colorless land slots into field of ruins as a way of combating Tron and mana fixing.
I’m not particularly sure about the sideboard as it’s still stockish.
I’ve had good results goldfishing and will be playing it this evening but would love to have comments and criticism.
@lektek, any guide provided would be specific to flavor of deck that it was written for and that specific meta which changes quickly.
Looking at your deck, it seems to be a mishmash with more fun ofs than I’d suggest. Dnt suffers from variance to a higher degree than most any other deck in the format and this will only increase said variance.
@sspiegel, the deck has an absolutely brutal learning curve; ent is steeper yet. Don’t get disheartened.
Catmix wrote a sideboard guide some time ago. I wish I had a link but alas; I do not. Spider wrote another guide that’s in the leonin library in the OP.
Canopy is not essential but any W or WG deck will be better almost all of the time because of it. Play them if you have them.
I’ve been playing Wb less eldrazi and taxes for a little while. I’ve had very strong results both in paper and online. Here are my results from tonight.
Round 1: bye
Round 2 vs jund vengevine WIN
Used arbiter and Thalia to lock op out of game one. I sided in RIP, forge tender and fiend hunter in g2 siding out restos and two stranglers and two flickerwisp. This proved to be a mistake as my cards proved not to be high impact enough besides rip. Hollow one proved to be very strong against against me as my cards were not to be terribly high impact. I brought two stranglers and a resto back in. I slowly whittled down ops resources in game 3 two for oneing frequently. Strangler proved to be better than expected.
Round 3 vs ug merfolk LOSS
I mulliganed to four in g1 and he had much to strong of a start with all the typical merfolk tricks. I sided in fatal push and fiend hunters in g2. I kept a canopy one lander in g2 based on being full of removal and a Thalia. I topdecked another canopy on the second turn and played Thalia. Op played the new merfolk lord that taxes removal. This was too much for me to overcome. This was my match to lose and my choices directly led to that. G1 was almost certainly unwinnable but I should have mulliganed in g2. Furthermore, casting Thalia when I didn’t have a vial or a land heavy hand was a mistake which was compounded by the new pseudo lord.
Round 4 vs ug merfolk WIN
I had all my best cards and was able to pick ops hand apart and processing it. I brought In fiend hunters and fatal pushes. G2 had op unfix my mana with spreading seas and outpower me before I could lose the enchantment. G3 was a more even version of g1 with me getting plenty of removal and him drawing lots of high impact creatures. This proved to be a slugfest with him drawing well as I established strong card advantage. I eked out a win for third out of 15 players.
@fyreelemental, it top 8ed the SCG event this past weekend so it’s pretty ok. Lists must be tailored to the meta you’ll be playing in as dnt is a meta deck at heart. Your ability to tailor it is step one in being successful. A deck that has the flex spots filled with otherwise good cards for the wrong meta will not do well. Be prepared to lose often as this deck has a vicious learning curve.
Once again, that’s just my opinion.
My suspicion (that’s all it is) is that the sideboard is loaded down with a bunch of cards that are decent in many situations but good in one or two specific ones and that the player would be able to hold out long enough to draw the single card that really shines. Once again, that’s just a guess.
Fwiw, I’m trying out gideons in sun and moon. I think it will play in a similar way but not be dead to Tron or a turn one blood moon.
oath of Liliana
Karn tokens are also not particularly good (for us) because we don’t generally run artifacts. The fact that token creation is a tick down ability hurts it further.
Should we be ahead on board, either four cmc Sorin is just a better way to close the door faster.
Gmatch two was against coco allies. Game one had me stabilize at one and settle the wreckage his board. He cocoed into gas and finished the game. Game two and three played out similarly with sweepers, Liliana and bloodghast put in lots of work. Bloodghast was great for pressuring his ajani and preventing it from really doing anything besides a single use to give flying. Wall of omens was also very good in this game as a blocker and card draw.
Match three was against 4c jund. I won game one on the back of bloodghast while removing OP’s creatures. A Gideon let me swing for lethal. I was mana screwed in g2 and only got to three lands for bontu’s last reckoning before being beaten out by creatures. Game three was competitive until I drew lands and inqui-seizes for 7 turns in the face of a dark confidant and ever growing board. Gideon of the trials, wall of omens and spirit tokens let me stay in the game until I drew a sweeper. A Gideon emblem prevented me from losing as we went to turns and the game ended in a draw.
In closing, the changes made helped where I wanted them to help. Bloodghast was terrific to discard to lilis or opposing discard effects and allowed me to apply pressure in circumstances where it would not have otherwise been possible. Wall of omens was great to see at any point and kept me in games where I would have otherwise gone to zero or kept me in games I lost a turn or two longer.
This is not to say that these changes are perfect. The stock list is much more resilient to blood moon in both having more basics and being less thirsty for [m]b[/m]. Also it’s possible the draw from night’s whisper or read the bones would have been superior. If nothing else, it’s something to think about.
The deck is a bunch of fun. My only complaints are the ones that have been brought up by others in that the deck lacks draw and is too slow to beat Tron/combo reliably and lacks card draw/fixing to dig for answers.
I humbly submit the following list as a way to deal with some of the shortcomings. It cuts the more expensive walkers and replaces them with lili of the veil and bloodghast as a way of applying pressure and control earlier and from different angles as well. Bloodghast doubles as a recurring threat that’s good at breaking stalemates after a wrath. Wall of omens serves as a source of card draw that cycles in late game and is strong in the early turns and forces opponents to extend into a sweeper. Finally, I’ve dumped all my colorless land slots into field of ruins as a way of combating Tron and mana fixing.
I’m not particularly sure about the sideboard as it’s still stockish.
I’ve had good results goldfishing and will be playing it this evening but would love to have comments and criticism.
1x Bontu's Last Reckoning
2x Collective Brutality
2x Concealed Courtyard
1x Damnation
1x Day of Judgment
3x Fatal Push
2x Fetid Heath
4x Field of Ruin
2x Gideon of the Trials
3x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3x Godless Shrine
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Liliana of the Veil
4x Lingering Souls
4x Marsh Flats
3x Path to Exile
3x Plains
1x Settle the Wreckage
3x Shambling Vent
3x Swamp
3x Thoughtseize
2x Wall of Omens
1x Wrath of God
1x Bontu's Last Reckoning
2x Extirpate
1x Grafdigger's Cage
3x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Pithing Needle
3x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
1x Surgical Extraction
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
Looking at your deck, it seems to be a mishmash with more fun ofs than I’d suggest. Dnt suffers from variance to a higher degree than most any other deck in the format and this will only increase said variance.
Catmix wrote a sideboard guide some time ago. I wish I had a link but alas; I do not. Spider wrote another guide that’s in the leonin library in the OP.
Canopy is not essential but any W or WG deck will be better almost all of the time because of it. Play them if you have them.
I’ve been playing Wb less eldrazi and taxes for a little while. I’ve had very strong results both in paper and online. Here are my results from tonight.
Round 1: bye
Round 2 vs jund vengevine WIN
Used arbiter and Thalia to lock op out of game one. I sided in RIP, forge tender and fiend hunter in g2 siding out restos and two stranglers and two flickerwisp. This proved to be a mistake as my cards proved not to be high impact enough besides rip. Hollow one proved to be very strong against against me as my cards were not to be terribly high impact. I brought two stranglers and a resto back in. I slowly whittled down ops resources in game 3 two for oneing frequently. Strangler proved to be better than expected.
Round 3 vs ug merfolk LOSS
I mulliganed to four in g1 and he had much to strong of a start with all the typical merfolk tricks. I sided in fatal push and fiend hunters in g2. I kept a canopy one lander in g2 based on being full of removal and a Thalia. I topdecked another canopy on the second turn and played Thalia. Op played the new merfolk lord that taxes removal. This was too much for me to overcome. This was my match to lose and my choices directly led to that. G1 was almost certainly unwinnable but I should have mulliganed in g2. Furthermore, casting Thalia when I didn’t have a vial or a land heavy hand was a mistake which was compounded by the new pseudo lord.
Round 4 vs ug merfolk WIN
I had all my best cards and was able to pick ops hand apart and processing it. I brought In fiend hunters and fatal pushes. G2 had op unfix my mana with spreading seas and outpower me before I could lose the enchantment. G3 was a more even version of g1 with me getting plenty of removal and him drawing lots of high impact creatures. This proved to be a slugfest with him drawing well as I established strong card advantage. I eked out a win for third out of 15 players.
4x Concealed Courtyard
4x Dark Confidant
1x Field of Ruin
4x Flickerwisp
4x Ghost Quarter
2x Godless Shrine
4x Horizon Canopy
2x Kitesail Freebooter
4x Leonin Arbiter
3x Marsh Flats
4x Path to Exile
2x Plains
4x Restoration Angel
2x Swamp
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Tidehollow Sculler
1x Vault of the Archangel
4x Wasteland Strangler
3x Burrenton Forge-Tender
2x Dismember
3x Fatal Push
3x Fiend Hunter
1x Orzhov Pontiff
3x Rest in Peace
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
Edited to add: the above list is not correct. The sideboard should have two surgical extractions in place of two dismembers.
Good luck.