MTG Salvation

Gideon only has two loyalty abilities as semi-spoiled, so it's not clear to me that he's the mythic. Could be Ugin instead?

The main thing that Cloud of Faeries lets you do is play a faerie on turn two while still holding up a Spellstutter Sprite. With no 1-drop, you can still counter a 2-drop and with a one drop, you can counter a 3-drop after your second turn. So, yes, ideally give me a good 1-drop faerie (e.g. a 1/1 flying faerie with deathtouch or kitesail-esque hand disruption) and Cloud of Faeries.

Planar Void seems like one that might make sense that I haven't seen mentioned yet. If you want to help the faerie decks (yes, please!), Cloud of Faeries is solid and it plays into a potential cycling theme that Jim Davis mentioned could make sense.

Anyone ever considered Jace, the Living Guildpact as a two-of in the deck? It gives a another way to deal with problematic permanents that get resolved or return Bog and TWest to you hand, repeatedly put cards in the graveyard, and select what you're cycling into, but I'm not sure what I'd drop for it.

A few thoughts:

1. 4 Vendilion Clique is probably 1 too many since its legendary.
2. 2-3 tar pits probably is better since they're tap lands and you're on a tempo plan. This deck really wants at least 2 secluded glens.
3. I'm not sure you want 4 mana leaks. I would drop at least 2 for hard removal or some card draw. Go for the Throat is the standard hard removal, since push hits everything in affinity that can be hit.
4. I wouldn't go for too many cryptic commands in a tempo list - a couple to tap the opponent and push through the last bit of damageis reasonable.

What the deck really needs is Jace, the Mind Sculptor.:rolleyes:

Tried the Blue Moon Living End version today that 1310hazzzard premiered this morning - it's a riot. Having 4 Simian Spirit Guide and 3 Blood Moon main deck hits tron matchups hard without hurting the mana base like Field of Ruin does. Simian Spirit Guide is also good for cheating out As Foretold early or an emergency extra counterspell. The current version uses a Madcap Experiment/Platinum Emperion sideboard package for aggressive decks, which is interesting, too.

Quote from KTROJAN »

Quote from Borachon »

So for a 21 land mana base, what would you run? Fetches help thin the deck and get to your key pieces, so say 4 Tolaria West, 4 Field of Ruin, 6 fetches, 2 shocks, 3 island, 1 swamp, 1 urborg?

You want more than 3 island 1 swamp when running fields imo. You also don’t want to take damage from your mana base and want to be clear of blood moon when you’re a 4 cryptic deck.

That's the broader problem when I try putting together something multi-color. Black is probably the best added color, and Collective Brutality is a nice black flex card since for checking/getting rid of things counters before playing As Foretold, it can kill early mana dorks, and it's life gain can help in burn matchups. Yahenni's Expertise as a one-of extra sweeper/way to dig for Living End is also not bad. But what I do I give up for that? A mana base that's more fragile to resurgent Blood Moon strategies, is more painful for the burn matchup, and is less effective in fighting big mana decks. I think the mono-U version is actually well placed right now.

So for a 21 land mana base, what would you run? Fetches help thin the deck and get to your key pieces, so say 4 Tolaria West, 4 Field of Ruin, 6 fetches, 2 shocks, 3 island, 1 swamp, 1 urborg?

It depends on what you use the extra color for. Targeted discard and spot removal can frequently buy another turn by ditching their biggest threat which you may not be able to answer or removing that threat from the battlefield that's left after Living End, for example Wurmcoil Engine against Tron. I think the biggest loss going with 2 colors is the Tolaria West/Field of Ruin/Bojuka Bog interactions. You can't run as many utility lands in a 2-color mana base, and a lot of the deck's best lines leverage Tolaria West, so they're more likely to, for example, get to tron than in the current build.

I'am inclined to look at Black as an extra color, too. Black gives us access to discard, spot removal, Fulminator Mage, and hardcasting Leyline of the Void. Yahenni's Expertise is also interesting you move from Architects of Will to Horror of the Broken Lands, since the -3/-3 will often kill anything of theirs that does come back from the graveyard, or give a way to stall by wiping the board while digging with Ancestral Vision, especially if you're already holding a Bojuka Bog or have a Leyline in play.

Thanks for the suggestion; the second Brutality is really nice against aggro-heavy lists, which my local meta has a lot of. I'll try moving the thoughtseize and remand back to mainboard in place of the leaks. I've also thought of running two Ghost Quarters instead of the Pendlehaven and a basic island; I'm less sure about that change. Finally, I may just put a spell snare or two in the sideboard to be able to consistently resolve an early bitterblossom, particularly when on the draw.

I don't think Scions need to go as far as running miscreants. With the discard, removal, and counters in a UB faerie deck, you do have some time to find a threat, and with a deck with a few swords, a few mistbinds, and a clutch of Scions, even a resolved Spellstutter can turn into a lot of pressure very quickly.

EDIT: For example, here's my current list, which mainly oriented towards an aggro/combo/midrange-heavy meta:

My current thinking is that lists that want to run Scion probably don't want to run Cryptic, Snapcaster, or Tar Pit, and vice versa. Scions are best for creature-heavy midrange and aggro/tempo lists that favor a fast clock over inevitability. Cryptic, Snapcaster, and Pit seem better in grindier, more spell-heavy builds that people generally run Liliana in. This is in many ways an implicit criticism of Scion - running Scion means choosing it and other cards (e.g. swords and more cliques) that are, in general terms, worse cards than Cryptics and Snapcasters.

That said, it can still be the right call depending on the meta. I've had good luck with a Scion/Sword/Clique list so far in a relatively aggro/combo-heavy meta because of the combination of pressure it creates and it's ability to stall other decks temporarily. As a tradeoff, it's match up against midrange decks and control decks is worse.

Oh, I agree that they're unlikely to do it; it would be a huge price shift for many cards, and a big question is if it would generate enough demand to be worth it. Hence the "Wizards lost (gained?) their mind" statement :). I also just found it an interesting exercise to think about what it would take to do in terms of prices, and to think about how a deck would fit into this direction; I thought others might find the exercise interesting, too.