So far with my testing, it really doesnt seem like there is much of an opportunity cost at all for having three tolaria wests and there are some reasonable benefits. It makes control almost impossible to lose against (it was already a very good matchup though, gives us a both a game 1 out to humans and makes game 2/3 more winnable, and was even used to find black sources against hatebear decks. I am wondering if there is a way to optimize this list, I feel like the one darkslick shores could probably be turned into a utility land, but im not sure which.
I don't think the unbanning of Jace is good for us...Leylines would be good against him though.
I thought about it and it seems worse than Nahiri (against us) in a lot of ways. Its win con is much slower compared to a nahiri ult and casting it on turn 4 still risks losing to the combo. The pro to using Jace is that its plus ability some what interacts with us if we don't have the combo yet, but I don't see that being a huge problem if the control player does the smarter thing and plays it while holding up counter magic.
Odd question, but do you guys think that Bloodbraid Elf would be strong in Amulet Titan with lotus bloom? It has the potential to ramp for 3 mana, get us azusa, get us a pact, and at worst cantrips with ancient stirrings.
What is the game plan versus storm? It seems like if they know what they are doing and combo off leaving themselves with remands/blue mana open and the ability to storm off again next turn, its almost impossible to win as they are a turn faster than us.
I just bought Adn, so i have no experience. But, i do play alot of storm and i can imagine what you would want to do. Storm is faster, but you can cheat death and that will make storm fizzle (hopefully). So, pray that you have a Angels grace. Let him go of, and respond with grace after grapeshot (if possible, keep up atleast 2 white mana, for remand). If storm is popular in your local meta, 3 Leyline in main might be something to concider. Most of the decks run 3 grapeshots, and no empty MB. Hope i could help a lil bit
The problem with this is that this only works against inexperienced storm players. Someone who is smarter will hold up at least one blue land and try to find a remand while still comboing off, making it so you need both a second grace effect and a pact of negation to combo off; which is much harder to get by turn 4.
What is the game plan versus storm? It seems like if they know what they are doing and combo off leaving themselves with remands/blue mana open and the ability to storm off again next turn, its almost impossible to win as they are a turn faster than us.
I need a second opinion on a play. Here is the context.
I am playing game 1 against a UR control deck which may or may not play the through the breach. On my turn 4 they snapcastered remanded my lotus bloom. They are tapped out. On my main phase, I have 2 darkslick shores and a gemstone mine. Relevant cards in my hand include 2 ad nauseams, a phyrexian unlife, and 2 spirit guides, 0 pacts and 0 lands. I am at 20 life. Is it correct to hardcast ad nauseam in an attempt to draw a large sum of cards (relevant cards being ramp, pact of negations, and angel's grace) that would make going off easier and prevent lethal with through the breach or should I cast phyrexian unlife, allowing me to to potentially combo off next turn if they tap out, but at the risk of dying to a through the breach.
I think Mystical Teachings has the same mana cost and serves the same purpose at instant speed with the bonus of Flashback to even allow you to get both pieces of the combo. Unless they change the rules on this and it will allow you to retrieve an exiled Ad Nauseam which was Surgical Extraction-ed then I would really consider this card. Coz there's only 2 cards that can fetch a card from exile, Pull from Eternity and Riftsweeper
Putting ad naus in the sideboard would allow you to fetch one after being surgicaled. The bonus with this card is effectively allowing you to fetch for an answer to any hate card/alt wincon/bad matchup game 1 and effectively being 4 copies of said hate card/alt wincon.
Do we want Mastermind's Acquisition? Allows us to run seven copies of ad nauseam and angel's grace if we put one in the sideboard (or eight if we don't, I doubt its correct to put grace in the board) and lets us access alternative wincons/relevant hate cards from the sideboard.
Have you guys tried Quicksilver Fountain out of the sideboard? I’m tempted to give it a slot this weekend since on paper seems like it could be good especially against Tron/Non blue matchups and the fact that we can bounce lands to get rid of flood counters could buy us a lot of time to start jamming Primetimes, but I’m afraid to hose myself more than the opponent lol
Sounds like something that would be better in the lotus bloom version.
I finally got to try the Lotus Bloom version tonight, seems very smooth and most likely the best way to make the deck work optimally. I think there was some question of whether 3 or 4 Blooms was correct, but considering they stack and in many way enable plays as busted as double amulet, 4 is likely the correct number. Serum Visions is also a solid card in this list and I can't see leaving it at home. I wonder if we even need the Hive Mind. In the event that you have a Hive Mind without a pact it just sits there doing nothing. And even with a Pact of Negation or Slaughter Pact it's entirely possible you will have absolutely nothing to cast those on.
3 White Leylines in the SB felt like they were indispensable. Valakut, Storm, Burn, any Black deck, etc. all produce groans when seeing it in G2. I can't bring myself to cut the Tracker from the main and even decided Obstinate Baloth was still too much of a blowout against heavy discard, Liliana, and burn to cut from the main. Ramunap Excavator is still seeing some testing, with Mirrorpool in the mix this card produced some hilarious interactions.
Been testing both the Lotus Bloom and No Lotus Bloom version and the Lotus Bloom version seems much stronger. Being able to go off turn 4 with just a lotus bloom is much more consistent than hoping you get the right lands with the snake.
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Lightning Storm
4 Phyrexian Unlife
3 Spoils of the Vault
4 Angel's Grace
4 Ad Nauseam
2 Pact of Negation
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Plains
4 Gemstone Mine
2 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Temple of Deceit
1 Island
4 City of Brass
1 Darkslick Shores
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
1 Walking Ballista
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Pact of Negation
1 Echoing Truth
2 Slaughter Pact
2 Thoughtseize
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
So far with my testing, it really doesnt seem like there is much of an opportunity cost at all for having three tolaria wests and there are some reasonable benefits. It makes control almost impossible to lose against (it was already a very good matchup though, gives us a both a game 1 out to humans and makes game 2/3 more winnable, and was even used to find black sources against hatebear decks. I am wondering if there is a way to optimize this list, I feel like the one darkslick shores could probably be turned into a utility land, but im not sure which.
I thought about it and it seems worse than Nahiri (against us) in a lot of ways. Its win con is much slower compared to a nahiri ult and casting it on turn 4 still risks losing to the combo. The pro to using Jace is that its plus ability some what interacts with us if we don't have the combo yet, but I don't see that being a huge problem if the control player does the smarter thing and plays it while holding up counter magic.
The problem with this is that this only works against inexperienced storm players. Someone who is smarter will hold up at least one blue land and try to find a remand while still comboing off, making it so you need both a second grace effect and a pact of negation to combo off; which is much harder to get by turn 4.
I am playing game 1 against a UR control deck which may or may not play the through the breach. On my turn 4 they snapcastered remanded my lotus bloom. They are tapped out. On my main phase, I have 2 darkslick shores and a gemstone mine. Relevant cards in my hand include 2 ad nauseams, a phyrexian unlife, and 2 spirit guides, 0 pacts and 0 lands. I am at 20 life. Is it correct to hardcast ad nauseam in an attempt to draw a large sum of cards (relevant cards being ramp, pact of negations, and angel's grace) that would make going off easier and prevent lethal with through the breach or should I cast phyrexian unlife, allowing me to to potentially combo off next turn if they tap out, but at the risk of dying to a through the breach.
3 Grave Titan
2 Path to Exile
2 Thoughtseize
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
1 Pact of Negation
1 Echoing Truth
Putting ad naus in the sideboard would allow you to fetch one after being surgicaled. The bonus with this card is effectively allowing you to fetch for an answer to any hate card/alt wincon/bad matchup game 1 and effectively being 4 copies of said hate card/alt wincon.
Sounds like something that would be better in the lotus bloom version.
Been testing both the Lotus Bloom and No Lotus Bloom version and the Lotus Bloom version seems much stronger. Being able to go off turn 4 with just a lotus bloom is much more consistent than hoping you get the right lands with the snake.