It seems like the 4/4/4 configuration of dorks/cobra/rallier is the consensus between these builds.
The winning list from the IQ also has the spicy 1-of chupacabra with no black sources
I was expecting JTMS to make some headway in these decks but it seems a tuned build has not been found yet (although it seems to be performing alright in Hoogland's latest KikiChord streams).
Unfortunately I have not had time to play the deck since the unbannings, but what has everyone's experiences been playing AGAINST BBE and JTMS? (specifically BBE Jund as it has been on a huge upswing lately)
@Shanti I think he means that you should consider Courser/Tracker as 3.5CMC because you optimally want to play a land after casting them. So they technically cost 3 but the 4th land is optimal, which "averages" the cost.
P&K are certainly good but I just found it was not nearly as effectively without Resto/Chord. Having to sorcery-speed the blink with Cat and not being able to utilise the 3 bodies for Chord turns it from all-star to *only* great in my opinion. Also I'm having more success prioritizing the combo game over the beatdown plan which leads to my inclusion of Oracle instead.
I actually think Rallier is super good in the value-grind as the combo with Voice/Oath is so powerful. I've played a fair number of UW/R Control matchups and more often than not they are forced to remove Voice on their mainphase, which sets up an easy fetch, Rallier + Voice on your own turn. The most common comment I received postmatch was that they immediately felt behind from that play pattern (and tbh Voice in general). LIkewise with other grindy decks that are "forced" to deal with Voice on your terms. I think there's room to cut 1 but I would be wary of going down to only 2 copies.
On paper Rallier getting back a land isn't great, but in the context of an average opener it can easily put you to 5 mana on t3 even without Cobra.
My current 2-drop suite is:
3 Cobra
4 Voice
2 Coiling Oracle
1 Qasali Pridemage
but I did have a Teeg there at one point (meta full of Tron and Storm). I can see Selfless Spirit if you want to grind, but Arbiter seems way too painful for us (we aren't really a resource-denial deck in the first place). I think a lot of us have transitioned to a 6-dork configuration as well (usually cutting a cobra and cat/rallier).
Gavony is powerful but I haven't found the need to have it in the deck. Like you said mana issues can certainly come up and I think consistency is more key than the ability to win via Gavony. The only colorless land I would consider is Ghost Quarter as it has niche uses with Rallier, but I haven't been able to find the cut for it. I did also play around with some spicy jank like Alchemist's Refuge, but it didn't make the cut obviously.
Lack of synergy with Saheeli is actually why I don't currently have Tracker in my build (although it is common and I can see why). Courser is a little awkward but I think there are too many small edges to be gained that it's certainly worth consideration. I don't run Baloth so my maindeck Burn bullets are only Thragtusk and Sigarda, so Courser fits in as an early stopgap. Extra land drops also work incidentally with Cobra.
I would consider Acidic Slime in board if you need more artifact/enchantment/land destruction, it's not a bad choice there. Not sure if it fits as well in the main (I know Hoogland had it initially but I tried it and most times didn't feel the need to evo it out).
Avalanche Riders is much better maindeck in my experience. Actually the general idea is that while Blood Moon is good against Tron, it's only really effective if you also have a clock, which Riders can provide (as you said they can just eventually hardcast their threats). He can also randomly win games on his own if opponents miss land drops, and playing him AFTER Saheeli allows you to double stone rain with her copy ability.
Alternatively you could try Magus of the Moon for the same effect as Blood Moon but on a stick. It does allow for a t2 "Blood Moon" effect if you dork t1 (note that you basically have to fetch Forest + Plains with your first two lands). Magus is much easier to remove but it's also searchable via Evolution and Oath, so you have to weigh the pros/cons.
I liked P&K but for some reason it kept getting stranded in my hand and RR became too much of an issue for me. I could see it being useful for an Affinity meta however. But like you said their ability is weakened without Chord of Calling. Similarly I tried Kiki as well but the times when it's stuck in hand felt really bad (perhaps this is where Augur comes in? Brainstorm it away!)
Also just wanted to mention that you have priority when Courser and Tracker resolves, which means you will always get a least the 1 life or Clue if you play a land afterward. So there isn't really a situation where you're strictly down a card outside of them getting actually countered.
For the 2-drop card draw slot I actually run Coiling Oracle Again, not the popular option here but just something else you can look at. Worse against Burn and Aggro decks but the extra land drop potential has helped me enough that I'm comfortable running them over Wall.
@maniospas (re: Augur) The most optimal case is certainly having the fetchland available to really "brainstorm" but even without, I found the basic filtering/draw-fixing effect incredibly helpful (plus it's not uncommon to find a fetchland from the effect). A case that came up often was simply evo-ing for it on a board that wouldn't particularly have been good for the cat, and in that situation even being able to fix draws was quite good.
@daviusminimus I used to ran 1 copy of Sun Titan and it felt fine - some games it straight up wins you the game on the spot. However it definitely sucked to draw into it early without a Cobra to power it out and not being able to evo for it. It was great against the GBx type decks but worse than expected against Control.
I'm not a fan of having the extra combo pieces in the board - generally it becomes MORE difficult to go off in postboard games and you really need those slots to combat other decks. I also haven't felt the need to play all 4 Cats (I run 2 only, myself). As you only have 2 maindeck 5 drops, I don't really see the problem you're having with too few 3-drops to sacrifice for.
EWit is amazing in Chord but I found fairly underwhelming due to the slow nature of Evolution. I also don't run maindeck Paths so if you are I could see the worth there.
I also found that Reflector Mage underperformed, but it's possible this is meta-dependent. I could see the usefulness against GBx, Storm (if you're lucky to hit Baral) and ETron, but he's just terrible against Control, Mardu Pyro, Tron, etc. He may be useful enough as a sideboard card in the right meta.
The 2-drop card draw slot (Wall of Omens, typically) is valuable as it is something you can do early that pairs with another 1-drop play on t2 if you have a dork. Ex.
t1: Land, Dork
t2: Wall, Land, Dork/Path/Oath
I dislike Caryatid as it doesn't seem impactful enough, especially as a 3-drop! People are winning games with Blood Moon and LotV and we are...drawing a card and can't even attack? If you're focused on the grind you're better off with Tireless Tracker in the slot.
Huntmaster is fine but slow in my opinion. I like Avalanche Riders but my meta is Tron-heavy. My second choice is Riverwise Augur which has overperformed for me but isn't as well received here.
As you said Rec Sage isn't great in the main and I have replaced it with Pridemage myself. No blink value but it enables revolt and is recurrable with Rallier.
4x Voice is basically core to the deck even though they can be mediocre in non-interactive matchups. They're pretty much our best card against Control and can win those matchups singlehandedly (since trying to combo off or casting Evolution is so risky there).
I prefer 4 cobra/4rallier to 2 arbor elf for sure. Much more explosive especially vs Tron allowing you to dump a ton of power out t2 and just race tron.
If the teeg is purely to combat storm, I find eidolon does it better as it can't be bolted and is much harder to grapeshot away. Most decks such as Tron, Scapeshift, and Coco decks have plenty of my ways to remove teeg.
Not a fan of riverwise auger in testing... The card has just never really done anything for me. Easy swap for magus if you think it's relevent in your meta.
I prefer a sun Titan to the reveillark as it can win games on the spot if you have access to a couple saheeli between the gy and battlefield and also provides just as much value vs midrange.
Without ee you are super weak vs go wide aggro like humans, elves, merfolk, affinity... consider a couple ghostly prison to fill the gap. I also find linvala great vs affinity and elves.
Only 1 way to remove artifacts and enchantments seems pretty loose, try and find room for another pridemage, or an angel of sanctions, or acidic slime.
Ide much rather see 4 voice and 2 oracle. Voice has a huge hedge vs midrange, control, and burn where oracle is only possibly better vs combo.
As Shelldell already mentioned, I found it difficult to dump out the hand on t2 or t3 as it required a near-perfect draw. I used to run 4/4/4 but still didn't feel smooth enough. I found I was winning more regularly by having a t1 dork to set up a 3 mana play on t2 than having the nut land+dork+cobra+rallier draw.
Teeg is probably worse than Eidolon against Storm but has been performing well as a roadblock to other decks such as Control and Tron/ETron. Storm typically doesn't run bolt in the main and they can often combo faster than us, so I actually found that it could stall them long enough for us to race. I'm actually a bit negative on Eidolon recently as we are so sorcery-speed focused that it hurts us nearly as bad (casting only Oath on our turn is depressing). Of course, it's still our best out against Storm so I'm obligated to have a copy in the board.
Augur has impressed me enough to be a viable 4-drop option (I would still most likely run Avalanche Riders if I could find one locally). In situations with weak hands and/or boardstates, the brainstorm effect has been very relevant, and can set up well with any of Oath, Coiling Oracle, Saheeli (and tons of shuffle effects). Don't think it's for everyone's style of play but I liked it enough to keep it around.
Sun Titan has been floating in my periphery for a while...I started on 2 copies, then 1 and currently none. It felt terrible to have early on and was difficult to evo into. The double Saheeli combo is very niche, but I agree that Titan is great against midrange. Sadly, in my meta midrange has fallen off in favor of stuff like Burn, Tron, Storm, Control. That said it's possible Reveillark isn't as good as typical choice (Sigarda) and open for a different card.
I like your Linvala suggestion a lot, she may make it in SB after all as Walking Ballista is a HUGE pain for us to deal with. Not as big a fan of Ghostly Prison however, or cards that can't easily be found with Oath/Evolution in general. In the end I may have to bite the bullet for Explosives (or pray for reprint in Masters 25).
4/2 Voice/Oracle is probably the correct config. I think I have an addiction to card velocity (see: Riverwise Augur).
Everybody seems to be running witness. Do you usually go get it with evolution? I've cut mine from the decklist since I almost never want to draw it and never want to go get it with evo/chord. never missed it.
For the people who have been running more mana dorks: dont you get flooded at some point? Do you get the feeling that there is too much air in the deck? Or does the explosive starts that they provide compensate that?
Stony Silence on the draw can range from unplayable to very good (they keep a egg-filled hand with no turn 3 tron). I believe the plan vs tron is to go full combo and trim the big things from this deck. Land destruction into combo usually does the trick. Gaddock teeg is very good vs them also.
Clique seems interesting. UU is certainly tough. I can see it being decent vs removal/combo decks/tron.
My List for reference. The maindeck baloth is a nudge to burn. I hate losing to it but it could be anything (another guardian, sigarda, maindeck riders)
As others have mentioned Ewit is just a solid recursion piece. I'm actually on the bubble about cutting it as it's nowhere near as good as it is in Chord, and I don't run Path main which also diminishes its uses. I do think it's an actual engine piece if you are running Chord however.
The deck is a little more prone to flood out with 6 dorks but honestly in the situations where you have no action, a dork is just about the same value as a 2/1 cobra and marginally worse than a 3/2 rallier.
For your list, I would highly recommend at least a second copy of Guardian. When I first ran the 1-Guardian lists, Path was absolutely killer and shuts down the whole combo by itself.
How has maindeck Baloth been outside of the Burn matchup? I can't imagine I'd be totally happy drawing or evo-ing it outside of Burn. Perhaps you want to look at Courser of Kruphix? It is great against burn and offers solid uses otherwise (namely hitting lands).
Really appreciate the answers @Brulander.
Regarding finks/baloth: baloth lets you evo for titan. In my list I only have 2 4-drops which is why I chose baloth over finks.
Teeg is indeed a no-go with chord. But chord has been good for me nonetheless. Will keep running it. If you had to swap the chords you dont like from my list, what would you put? ewit and another hate card? ewit and another guardian?
Most decks don't run that many 4-drops, which is partially why I'm hesitant to play Sun Titan in the first place as you do often are looking to hardcast it. I think if you're cutting Chords you probably don't need Ewit as much (and you also don't run Path main anyway). First order of business is to add at least another Guardian, IMO. I also favor 22 lands as 21 felt super sketchy to me, especially when I was on only 4 dorks.
Oath of nissa wasn't something I considered and I guess I'll try that out - if I can find the space! What I've been playing has proved reasonably consistent though, I've run into almost no trouble casting Saheeli and a turn 3 combo turns up in something like almost half my games, and the creature beat down plan B is solid, so I'm certainly pleased. Keen to hear what others think of my list though!
IMO Oath is one of our best cards bar none and any less than 4 is questionable. Because of that it feels like you're more midrange focused than combo.
I talked about it earlier but I found maindeck Trackers fairly poor as they didn't interact well with the combo half of the gameplan. Similar situation with Finks, they felt pretty low impact except for the Burn matchup and the combo with evo is neat, but overall wasn't worth it in the shell. As you are running so many Paths I think an Ewit would be worth it. I would also much rather have P&K or Riders over Huntmaster. How has Wingmate Roc been? It's also been on my list of things to try but have not gotten around to it.
Couple notes:
* Arbor Elf are budget Hierarchs (but can sometimes tap for red)
* Teeg maindeck as a bullet to Storm
* Augur flex slot (would probably play Avalanche Riders if I can find one)
* Reveillark flex slot (debating over Sigarda, Heron's Grace)
Missing 2 cards in board, open to suggestions! I don't expect Affinity or Lantern which is why I've cut Stonies and Kataki. Are Stonies good enough against Tron that we want them anyway? (Most likely at least 1 G/x Tron and U Tron will be there)
They're out of my budget, but I will probably add 2x Engineered Explosives if I can borrow them for the event. Also debating more Paths and Magus of the Moon.
Has anyone tried Vendillion Clique? UU is tough but it could help clear the way to combo?
I agree with @BadMcFadden's argument, but that is why I actually think we shouldn't be playing the 50/50 game between combo and midrange, but tuning to favor one or the other based on meta.
My local meta (and from what I've played on MTGO) skews towards linear aggro and combo (and Tron variants), so I've been running my build to race the combo. Our grindy plan B basically can't match decks designed to actually force the midrange game anyway.
I've found much more success opting for a combo-focused build than to play a delicate balancing game between combo-grind. It's painfully obvious that hand disruption and spot removal becomes a weak point in a combo build, but to be honest we are dogs against matchups that play those type of interactions, even if we are more midrange focused! For this reason I choose to use glue cards like Coiling Oracle (Wall is fine but worse with Cobra) and Augur to provide card advantage and selection to supplement the combo.
Some more thoughts about potential sideboard cards; would be interested in the general opinion: Spell Queller - Creature-based interaction, but I'm not quite sure which matchups it should come in. I can only think of boarding in against Control, but it's pretty awkward with so much Bolt and Helix going around. Faerie Macabre - My friend was trying this out as disruption against graveyard shenanigans. Literally uncastable but also uncounterable. He mainly had it against Snap decks but it had some play against BR Hollow One, Dredge, and even delaying Tasigur/Angler. Some "gotcha" moments against Storm as well (exile Past in Flames if they don't cast it immediately after Gifts). Janky but I found it interesting.
You're probably right on the Pacts being too all-in, although I think it wouldn't be bad against some of the matchups you mentioned where we do have to race (Storm and Affinity). Still just a thought experiment and likely just a bad idea
In my own testing I quite liked a Gaddock Teeg and Sigarda, Heron's Grace in the main as the bullets against Storm, but I'm also wary of adding the 5th color to my deck as you have. I haven't seen Cheerios in a long time so I'm not sure if having the Kambal is worth it. Lack of Cheerios in my meta also leads me to shy away from Thalia (also her nonbo with your noncreature pieces). Postboard they usually bring in the creature removal anyway...
If adding black, I would like to toy with the idea of Anafenza, the Foremost, as we are such a dog against Dredge and RB Hollow One has been surging in popularity recently (she's also just a great beater).
Hmm...I've certainly had my fair share of bad beats but I actually think the deck is fairly consistent - not necessarily at having the combo t3 but at presenting the threat of the combo at least. Been 3-1ing paper events and 3-2 or better in MTGO leagues the last 3+ months on a regular basis with a fairly stock build (4 Dork, 4 Cobra, 4 Rallier).
I feel like Cobra is so essential to our broken draws that 4-of is a necessary evil even if it's not great in multiples, as it enables a ton of lines that would be otherwise impossible. If anything the shave may be on Rallier as the combo is much less reliant on it as the rest of the pieces (I could see cutting 1 or 2).
Has there been any testing with Nissa, Steward of Elements? I want to swap with a pair of Ralliers and see where it gets me. Part of the deck's weakness is the lack of CA and manipulation and she seems to fit both roles (non-bo with Rallier of course).
The other insane idea I've been bouncing around is shaving pieces for some number of Summoner's Pact, maybe even the full playset. If our primary game plan is to assemble a turbo-combo on t2 or t3, it would help us find the missing piece (either Cobra or Rallier) to complete it. Again, this is definitely just theorycrafting.
Sideboard
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Path to Exile
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Stony Silence
3 Unified Will
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Reveillark
Would prefer a few different cards in sideboard but card availability is a bit of an issue here. Notably no Chameleon Colossus, Avalanche Riders or Glen Elendra in my region.
Regarding Riverwise Augur, I disagree that we're never podding for it as there are often board states where a good target for Felidar doesn't exist. In my experience Tracker has felt like a trap, at least in the main deck. It looks good on paper but has been disappointing to play. As mentioned, you essentially never want to pod for it, which is a major detracting factor as four of your best cards in the deck are your main engine in Eldritch Evolution! Not to mention it doesn't interact well with blink effects and only with Saheeli if you have a land to play (and time to crack clues). The circumstances where it is effective is so narrow:
You must find it naturally as a 1-of
You need to play a land to come out ahead
It needs to live long enough for you to benefit
Hope your G1 opponent isn't on Burn, Storm, Tron, Dredge, or any other linear deck that doesn't care
I just don't think the deck should be focusing on midrange creature beatdown in a meta full of linear aggro and combo decks. And in the matchups where it is supposedly good, you still have to find it! I'm not saying it's a straight swap with Augur either (they occupy different roles in the deck), but I think I would even play Courser in the main first.
As far as Thalia's Lancers, it has overperformed for me as a 1-of as it can tutor for both sides of the combo, as well as legendary bullets.
I jammed 1-of Riverwise Augur in a mainboard flex slot and my first impressions have been quite positive so far. I think @Lejoon hit on a a lot of the points and these are my own thoughts on the matter:
Synergy with fetch/shuffle effects (one of the most valuable points of Brainstorm)
Synergy with flicker/copy effects
(Minor) Synergy to set up Oath
OK topdeck (replaces self and orders your upcoming draw steps)
OK on an empty board
Fine 4cmc target to evo for if no other good Cat targets are available
CONS
Poor body
Brainstorm ability not ideal without shuffle effects
U in casting cost could prevent hard casting in a majority G/W manabase
Redundant evo target if ANY good flicker targets are available (you would evo out Felidar 99% of the time otherwise)
Overall I think the case for Augur depends on whether you view the deck as "combo-first, value-second" or vice-versa. On a pure value standpoint, Tireless Tracker can run away with the game if unanswered, whereas Augur's flexibility allows for more complex lines to assemble the combo. The opportunity cost of Augur and the absolute worst case scenario (drawing 3 lands with an empty hand and empty board) is also not bad - as long as one of those lands is a fetch you can shuffle away the rest.
Personally, I have had little success with Tireless Tracker, as it lines up very poorly in my meta and takes time to set up. It is too slow against linear decks (Tron, Valakut, Storm, Burn) and not impactful enough against grindy matchups (Control, GDS, Humans, Spirits). Even if it resolves against Control/GDS you must have a land ready to even replace itself. I don't think I've ever drawn more than 2 cards before it died, and even that was a fairly rare occasion.
If anyone else has testing experience with Augur I would highly appreciate it. I think it has definite potential in the deck (not more than 1-of) but requires much more data points before anything conclusive can be drawn.
Hoogland ran another stream yesterday with an updated build, going all in on 4 cats as well as the 1-of Thalia's Lancers! Coiling Oracle also looked pretty good in his build, and he cut the Sun Titan's completely.
Personally I still think 2-3 Cat (leaning towards 2) is better as we do have 4 extra copies in EE. Also interesting to note that he ran 0 Path in the 75.
Hi all, long time 4C Saheeli player / thread lurker, first time poster.
My friend recently played the a very close variation to Hoogland's recent list at 2 modern events and ran 3-0, 2-1.
He had a super spicy piece of tech in the main: 1x Thalia's Lancers
His reasoning was to push the deck into a more linear strategy and frankly it seemed great in the matches I was able to watch. One of the real challenges the deck has is finding the planeswalker side of the combo outside of Oath, and Thalia's Lancers is a fairly good way to do so (imo), while providing a very relevant body. It's evo-able off a Rallier on t3 (t2 with birds, both with Cobra obv) and can not only tutor up Saheeli, but also Oath of Nissa or any legendary bullets (Pia and Kiran Nalaar, Sigarda, Gaddock Teeg). Also pretty fun copying it with Saheeli for more value.
@Shelldell - I've blown out so many opponents with Unified Will I'm convinced it's the best card of all time (at least in the sideboard), especially for our worst matchups. I've countered:
Tron - Karn, All is Dust
Scapeshift - Scapeshift, Primeval Titan
Jeskai/UW Control - Cryptic Command, Wrath of God
UR Breach - Through the Breach
Also, are we off the Avalanche Riders MB plan? The 1-of felt OK when I tried it, and echo can occasionally combo with Rallier.
I'm also wary of splurging for Horizon Canopys, how critical is it in the deck and what could I replace it with?
SCG Modern IQ Norman (1st)
SCG Modern Open Indy (32nd)
It seems like the 4/4/4 configuration of dorks/cobra/rallier is the consensus between these builds.
The winning list from the IQ also has the spicy 1-of chupacabra with no black sources
I was expecting JTMS to make some headway in these decks but it seems a tuned build has not been found yet (although it seems to be performing alright in Hoogland's latest KikiChord streams).
Unfortunately I have not had time to play the deck since the unbannings, but what has everyone's experiences been playing AGAINST BBE and JTMS? (specifically BBE Jund as it has been on a huge upswing lately)
P&K are certainly good but I just found it was not nearly as effectively without Resto/Chord. Having to sorcery-speed the blink with Cat and not being able to utilise the 3 bodies for Chord turns it from all-star to *only* great in my opinion. Also I'm having more success prioritizing the combo game over the beatdown plan which leads to my inclusion of Oracle instead.
I actually think Rallier is super good in the value-grind as the combo with Voice/Oath is so powerful. I've played a fair number of UW/R Control matchups and more often than not they are forced to remove Voice on their mainphase, which sets up an easy fetch, Rallier + Voice on your own turn. The most common comment I received postmatch was that they immediately felt behind from that play pattern (and tbh Voice in general). LIkewise with other grindy decks that are "forced" to deal with Voice on your terms. I think there's room to cut 1 but I would be wary of going down to only 2 copies.
On paper Rallier getting back a land isn't great, but in the context of an average opener it can easily put you to 5 mana on t3 even without Cobra.
My current 2-drop suite is:
3 Cobra
4 Voice
2 Coiling Oracle
1 Qasali Pridemage
but I did have a Teeg there at one point (meta full of Tron and Storm). I can see Selfless Spirit if you want to grind, but Arbiter seems way too painful for us (we aren't really a resource-denial deck in the first place). I think a lot of us have transitioned to a 6-dork configuration as well (usually cutting a cobra and cat/rallier).
Gavony is powerful but I haven't found the need to have it in the deck. Like you said mana issues can certainly come up and I think consistency is more key than the ability to win via Gavony. The only colorless land I would consider is Ghost Quarter as it has niche uses with Rallier, but I haven't been able to find the cut for it. I did also play around with some spicy jank like Alchemist's Refuge, but it didn't make the cut obviously.
I would consider Acidic Slime in board if you need more artifact/enchantment/land destruction, it's not a bad choice there. Not sure if it fits as well in the main (I know Hoogland had it initially but I tried it and most times didn't feel the need to evo it out).
Avalanche Riders is much better maindeck in my experience. Actually the general idea is that while Blood Moon is good against Tron, it's only really effective if you also have a clock, which Riders can provide (as you said they can just eventually hardcast their threats). He can also randomly win games on his own if opponents miss land drops, and playing him AFTER Saheeli allows you to double stone rain with her copy ability.
Alternatively you could try Magus of the Moon for the same effect as Blood Moon but on a stick. It does allow for a t2 "Blood Moon" effect if you dork t1 (note that you basically have to fetch Forest + Plains with your first two lands). Magus is much easier to remove but it's also searchable via Evolution and Oath, so you have to weigh the pros/cons.
I liked P&K but for some reason it kept getting stranded in my hand and RR became too much of an issue for me. I could see it being useful for an Affinity meta however. But like you said their ability is weakened without Chord of Calling. Similarly I tried Kiki as well but the times when it's stuck in hand felt really bad (perhaps this is where Augur comes in? Brainstorm it away!)
Also just wanted to mention that you have priority when Courser and Tracker resolves, which means you will always get a least the 1 life or Clue if you play a land afterward. So there isn't really a situation where you're strictly down a card outside of them getting actually countered.
For the 2-drop card draw slot I actually run Coiling Oracle Again, not the popular option here but just something else you can look at. Worse against Burn and Aggro decks but the extra land drop potential has helped me enough that I'm comfortable running them over Wall.
@daviusminimus I used to ran 1 copy of Sun Titan and it felt fine - some games it straight up wins you the game on the spot. However it definitely sucked to draw into it early without a Cobra to power it out and not being able to evo for it. It was great against the GBx type decks but worse than expected against Control.
EWit is amazing in Chord but I found fairly underwhelming due to the slow nature of Evolution. I also don't run maindeck Paths so if you are I could see the worth there.
I also found that Reflector Mage underperformed, but it's possible this is meta-dependent. I could see the usefulness against GBx, Storm (if you're lucky to hit Baral) and ETron, but he's just terrible against Control, Mardu Pyro, Tron, etc. He may be useful enough as a sideboard card in the right meta.
The 2-drop card draw slot (Wall of Omens, typically) is valuable as it is something you can do early that pairs with another 1-drop play on t2 if you have a dork. Ex.
t1: Land, Dork
t2: Wall, Land, Dork/Path/Oath
I dislike Caryatid as it doesn't seem impactful enough, especially as a 3-drop! People are winning games with Blood Moon and LotV and we are...drawing a card and can't even attack? If you're focused on the grind you're better off with Tireless Tracker in the slot.
Huntmaster is fine but slow in my opinion. I like Avalanche Riders but my meta is Tron-heavy. My second choice is Riverwise Augur which has overperformed for me but isn't as well received here.
As you said Rec Sage isn't great in the main and I have replaced it with Pridemage myself. No blink value but it enables revolt and is recurrable with Rallier.
4x Voice is basically core to the deck even though they can be mediocre in non-interactive matchups. They're pretty much our best card against Control and can win those matchups singlehandedly (since trying to combo off or casting Evolution is so risky there).
As Shelldell already mentioned, I found it difficult to dump out the hand on t2 or t3 as it required a near-perfect draw. I used to run 4/4/4 but still didn't feel smooth enough. I found I was winning more regularly by having a t1 dork to set up a 3 mana play on t2 than having the nut land+dork+cobra+rallier draw.
Teeg is probably worse than Eidolon against Storm but has been performing well as a roadblock to other decks such as Control and Tron/ETron. Storm typically doesn't run bolt in the main and they can often combo faster than us, so I actually found that it could stall them long enough for us to race. I'm actually a bit negative on Eidolon recently as we are so sorcery-speed focused that it hurts us nearly as bad (casting only Oath on our turn is depressing). Of course, it's still our best out against Storm so I'm obligated to have a copy in the board.
Augur has impressed me enough to be a viable 4-drop option (I would still most likely run Avalanche Riders if I could find one locally). In situations with weak hands and/or boardstates, the brainstorm effect has been very relevant, and can set up well with any of Oath, Coiling Oracle, Saheeli (and tons of shuffle effects). Don't think it's for everyone's style of play but I liked it enough to keep it around.
Sun Titan has been floating in my periphery for a while...I started on 2 copies, then 1 and currently none. It felt terrible to have early on and was difficult to evo into. The double Saheeli combo is very niche, but I agree that Titan is great against midrange. Sadly, in my meta midrange has fallen off in favor of stuff like Burn, Tron, Storm, Control. That said it's possible Reveillark isn't as good as typical choice (Sigarda) and open for a different card.
I like your Linvala suggestion a lot, she may make it in SB after all as Walking Ballista is a HUGE pain for us to deal with. Not as big a fan of Ghostly Prison however, or cards that can't easily be found with Oath/Evolution in general. In the end I may have to bite the bullet for Explosives (or pray for reprint in Masters 25).
4/2 Voice/Oracle is probably the correct config. I think I have an addiction to card velocity (see: Riverwise Augur).
As others have mentioned Ewit is just a solid recursion piece. I'm actually on the bubble about cutting it as it's nowhere near as good as it is in Chord, and I don't run Path main which also diminishes its uses. I do think it's an actual engine piece if you are running Chord however.
The deck is a little more prone to flood out with 6 dorks but honestly in the situations where you have no action, a dork is just about the same value as a 2/1 cobra and marginally worse than a 3/2 rallier.
For your list, I would highly recommend at least a second copy of Guardian. When I first ran the 1-Guardian lists, Path was absolutely killer and shuts down the whole combo by itself.
How has maindeck Baloth been outside of the Burn matchup? I can't imagine I'd be totally happy drawing or evo-ing it outside of Burn. Perhaps you want to look at Courser of Kruphix? It is great against burn and offers solid uses otherwise (namely hitting lands).
How has maindeck Finks been for you? I used to run one but it felt mediocre outside of Burn. What do you think about Courser in the slot instead?
Most decks don't run that many 4-drops, which is partially why I'm hesitant to play Sun Titan in the first place as you do often are looking to hardcast it. I think if you're cutting Chords you probably don't need Ewit as much (and you also don't run Path main anyway). First order of business is to add at least another Guardian, IMO. I also favor 22 lands as 21 felt super sketchy to me, especially when I was on only 4 dorks.
IMO Oath is one of our best cards bar none and any less than 4 is questionable. Because of that it feels like you're more midrange focused than combo.
I talked about it earlier but I found maindeck Trackers fairly poor as they didn't interact well with the combo half of the gameplan. Similar situation with Finks, they felt pretty low impact except for the Burn matchup and the combo with evo is neat, but overall wasn't worth it in the shell. As you are running so many Paths I think an Ewit would be worth it. I would also much rather have P&K or Riders over Huntmaster. How has Wingmate Roc been? It's also been on my list of things to try but have not gotten around to it.
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Arbor Elf
3x Coiling Oracle
3x Lotus Cobra
1x Gaddock Teeg
3x Voice of Resurgence
1x Eternal Witness
3x Renegade Rallier
2x Felidar Guardian
1x Riverwise Augur
1x Reveillark
1x Thalia's Lancers
1x Thragtusk
4x Oath of Nissa
4x Eldritch Evolution
4x Saheeli Rai
Land (22)
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
3x Flooded Strand
1x Breeding Pool
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Stomping Ground
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Temple Garden
2x Horizon Canopy
2x Forest
2x Plains
1x Burrenton Forge-Tender
2x Path to Exile
1x Qasali Pridemage
2x Unified Will
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Tireless Tracker
1x Chameleon Collosus
1x Glen Elendra Archmage
1x Obstinate Baloth
1x Cataclysmic Gearhulk
Couple notes:
* Arbor Elf are budget Hierarchs (but can sometimes tap for red)
* Teeg maindeck as a bullet to Storm
* Augur flex slot (would probably play Avalanche Riders if I can find one)
* Reveillark flex slot (debating over Sigarda, Heron's Grace)
Missing 2 cards in board, open to suggestions! I don't expect Affinity or Lantern which is why I've cut Stonies and Kataki. Are Stonies good enough against Tron that we want them anyway? (Most likely at least 1 G/x Tron and U Tron will be there)
They're out of my budget, but I will probably add 2x Engineered Explosives if I can borrow them for the event. Also debating more Paths and Magus of the Moon.
Has anyone tried Vendillion Clique? UU is tough but it could help clear the way to combo?
My local meta (and from what I've played on MTGO) skews towards linear aggro and combo (and Tron variants), so I've been running my build to race the combo. Our grindy plan B basically can't match decks designed to actually force the midrange game anyway.
I've found much more success opting for a combo-focused build than to play a delicate balancing game between combo-grind. It's painfully obvious that hand disruption and spot removal becomes a weak point in a combo build, but to be honest we are dogs against matchups that play those type of interactions, even if we are more midrange focused! For this reason I choose to use glue cards like Coiling Oracle (Wall is fine but worse with Cobra) and Augur to provide card advantage and selection to supplement the combo.
Some more thoughts about potential sideboard cards; would be interested in the general opinion:
Spell Queller - Creature-based interaction, but I'm not quite sure which matchups it should come in. I can only think of boarding in against Control, but it's pretty awkward with so much Bolt and Helix going around.
Faerie Macabre - My friend was trying this out as disruption against graveyard shenanigans. Literally uncastable but also uncounterable. He mainly had it against Snap decks but it had some play against BR Hollow One, Dredge, and even delaying Tasigur/Angler. Some "gotcha" moments against Storm as well (exile Past in Flames if they don't cast it immediately after Gifts). Janky but I found it interesting.
In my own testing I quite liked a Gaddock Teeg and Sigarda, Heron's Grace in the main as the bullets against Storm, but I'm also wary of adding the 5th color to my deck as you have. I haven't seen Cheerios in a long time so I'm not sure if having the Kambal is worth it. Lack of Cheerios in my meta also leads me to shy away from Thalia (also her nonbo with your noncreature pieces). Postboard they usually bring in the creature removal anyway...
If adding black, I would like to toy with the idea of Anafenza, the Foremost, as we are such a dog against Dredge and RB Hollow One has been surging in popularity recently (she's also just a great beater).
I feel like Cobra is so essential to our broken draws that 4-of is a necessary evil even if it's not great in multiples, as it enables a ton of lines that would be otherwise impossible. If anything the shave may be on Rallier as the combo is much less reliant on it as the rest of the pieces (I could see cutting 1 or 2).
Has there been any testing with Nissa, Steward of Elements? I want to swap with a pair of Ralliers and see where it gets me. Part of the deck's weakness is the lack of CA and manipulation and she seems to fit both roles (non-bo with Rallier of course).
The other insane idea I've been bouncing around is shaving pieces for some number of Summoner's Pact, maybe even the full playset. If our primary game plan is to assemble a turbo-combo on t2 or t3, it would help us find the missing piece (either Cobra or Rallier) to complete it. Again, this is definitely just theorycrafting.
Creatures (26)
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Coiling Oracle
4 Lotus Cobra
1 Gaddock Teeg
3 Voice of Resurgence
1 Eternal Witness
4 Renegade Rallier
2 Felidar Guardian
1 Riverwise Augur
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
1 Thalia's Lancers
1 Thragtusk
Non-Creatures *12)
4 Oath of Nissa
4 Saheeli Rai
4 Eldritch Evolution
Lands (22)
3 Flooded Strand
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Horizon Canopy
Sideboard
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Path to Exile
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Stony Silence
3 Unified Will
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Reveillark
Regarding Riverwise Augur, I disagree that we're never podding for it as there are often board states where a good target for Felidar doesn't exist. In my experience Tracker has felt like a trap, at least in the main deck. It looks good on paper but has been disappointing to play. As mentioned, you essentially never want to pod for it, which is a major detracting factor as four of your best cards in the deck are your main engine in Eldritch Evolution! Not to mention it doesn't interact well with blink effects and only with Saheeli if you have a land to play (and time to crack clues). The circumstances where it is effective is so narrow:
As far as Thalia's Lancers, it has overperformed for me as a 1-of as it can tutor for both sides of the combo, as well as legendary bullets.
Riverwise Augur
PROS
Overall I think the case for Augur depends on whether you view the deck as "combo-first, value-second" or vice-versa. On a pure value standpoint, Tireless Tracker can run away with the game if unanswered, whereas Augur's flexibility allows for more complex lines to assemble the combo. The opportunity cost of Augur and the absolute worst case scenario (drawing 3 lands with an empty hand and empty board) is also not bad - as long as one of those lands is a fetch you can shuffle away the rest.
Personally, I have had little success with Tireless Tracker, as it lines up very poorly in my meta and takes time to set up. It is too slow against linear decks (Tron, Valakut, Storm, Burn) and not impactful enough against grindy matchups (Control, GDS, Humans, Spirits). Even if it resolves against Control/GDS you must have a land ready to even replace itself. I don't think I've ever drawn more than 2 cards before it died, and even that was a fairly rare occasion.
If anyone else has testing experience with Augur I would highly appreciate it. I think it has definite potential in the deck (not more than 1-of) but requires much more data points before anything conclusive can be drawn.
Personally I still think 2-3 Cat (leaning towards 2) is better as we do have 4 extra copies in EE. Also interesting to note that he ran 0 Path in the 75.
My friend recently played the a very close variation to Hoogland's recent list at 2 modern events and ran 3-0, 2-1.
He had a super spicy piece of tech in the main: 1x Thalia's Lancers
His reasoning was to push the deck into a more linear strategy and frankly it seemed great in the matches I was able to watch. One of the real challenges the deck has is finding the planeswalker side of the combo outside of Oath, and Thalia's Lancers is a fairly good way to do so (imo), while providing a very relevant body. It's evo-able off a Rallier on t3 (t2 with birds, both with Cobra obv) and can not only tutor up Saheeli, but also Oath of Nissa or any legendary bullets (Pia and Kiran Nalaar, Sigarda, Gaddock Teeg). Also pretty fun copying it with Saheeli for more value.
@Shelldell - I've blown out so many opponents with Unified Will I'm convinced it's the best card of all time (at least in the sideboard), especially for our worst matchups. I've countered:
Tron - Karn, All is Dust
Scapeshift - Scapeshift, Primeval Titan
Jeskai/UW Control - Cryptic Command, Wrath of God
UR Breach - Through the Breach
Also, are we off the Avalanche Riders MB plan? The 1-of felt OK when I tried it, and echo can occasionally combo with Rallier.
I'm also wary of splurging for Horizon Canopys, how critical is it in the deck and what could I replace it with?