MTG Salvation

This is the pool I got, went 2-1-1, 14th/46. It's not too bad, but there were many choices I'm still not sold on, and I wasn't satisfied by how it played.



This is the actual deck I built :


1) Originally I intended to go metalcraft, with 3 Vedalken Certarch and maybe a few of the Black Coven Vampires. I felt like with shatters being splashed all over, it was a bit too clunky, and I would lack board presence, so I went with Blistergrub instead which is good when everyone plays infect. Was that the right choice?

2) Grand Architect was really good for getting a Wurmcoil Engine on turn 4, or draining for 15 with Myr Battleshpere tokens, but now that I think of it, maybe playing red would have been more appropriate? It's only 2-4 cards anyway, but Cerebral Eruption is quite a wiper...if it passes.

3) When is the right time to play the Masticore? Often on turn 4 (or 3 with a Myr), the opponent will have nothing in play. Assuming you don't have anything else to put pressure on the opponent, should you play it as a 4/4 on the spot, or wait until end-game?

4) Any other way this could have been improved?

Consider trying Tempting Wurm. With the amount of discard you play, his drawback isn't too much of a problem, and just like Goyf/Bear, he isn't a T2 drop.

You could try to trade a box for some stuff like Jace/Primeval Titan. Who knows, it may work. The average casual player that doesn't have the budget to get boxes will certainly be interested, and there's no way you can consider that "ripping off" because a box is literally cash value.

I think it wouldn't be bad to have an Unpowered category, because I think many people have a local metagame that's a mix of competitive vintage decks, and legacy stuff like countertop/goblin.

The idea of a red splash inspired me a little, so here's my take on it. It has a few other different functions too.



First, the land base. The first major change is the addition of Ancient Tomb. If we are to play Blood Moon, it should be as fast as possible, and this allows it turn 2. It also help with the slow equipement problem, where you need 1 turn to play the equipement, another to equip to a creature. Since you have access to 4 mana on turn 3, you can play-equip a jitte or a sword (using stoneforge if you hardcasted it turn 2) on turn 3 rather then turn 4, which does make a difference. Since Ancient Tomb generates colorless mana, I cut the Rishadan Port as not to weaken our own manabase too much (blood moon becomes the land-denial anyway). Wasteland is still too good not to be played though. Now the problem is when too many of our lands are non-basic, which might cause a white source shortage under our own blood moon. That's why I have only 2 Karakas and 2 Plateau as to have as many Plains as possible.

The addition of planeswalkers is mostly made possible with Ancient Tomb. Elspeth is very good. It creates blockers to buy us time (and time allows equipements, which allows victory). Swinging for +3 in the air is also very good if you happen to have an equipement attached to something like a Mother of Runes as it allows you to hit without trading. Also, she is an anti-Pernicious Deed measure. If we happen to lack in creatures, our equipements are dead (which is sometimes a problem in this deck). She creates creatures. An early (turn 3) Ajani is also very efficient, because it can lock down the few lands they have, bolt their early Nacalt, shut down a goyf, etc. The ultimate will seldom ever be used, but in a long game against say, enchantress or lands, who don't have many means of getting rid of him, destroying all their lands is gg. He gains some life, too.

Speaking of gaining life. Ancient Tomb might make you loose up to 6 life. The speed boost is worth it, but it makes you more vulnerable, too. Generally, you can use Jitte to save you in these cases, but I wanted to have other means of staying alive. Lightning Helix is an excellent card for that purpose. Basilisk Collar is a sometimes overlooked equipment that comes down really fast. Equipped on 1 drops, stoneforge or elspeth tokens, it can make attacking on the ground very difficult for the opponent. And of course, it can gain you life. And a lot.

Now, for the creature base. Mother of Runes is very good in very many situations, but I felt I needed another 1-drop. The candidates are Steppe Lynx, Figure of Destiny, Student of Warfare and Martyr of Sands. Well, not sure about Martyr, but gaining ~6-9 life, reccurable with Sword of Light and Shadow helps. It can also be vialed in at instant speed ("Tendrils for 22! No, I now have 26 life"). Steppe Lynx is aggressive, and now that we have Arid Mesa it can actually be considered, although I'm not sure that's enough. I've though of it only because it can help hide the fact that you play red. People won't suspect a red splash just because you play fetches, which makes them more vulnerable to fall into bolt range. Well, if such thing really happens. Student of Warfare becomes a 3/3 first striker on turn 2, which is really good. You will usually let it sit there, the 4/4 mode is only for very-late-game. Unlike Figure, it falls into bolt range, but an instead bolt when you try to level the figure to 4/4 mode makes you drain more mana, so I prefer the student, but whatever.

I like to have Ethersworn Canonist MD as we are quite weak against combo. It also slows down control, since they can't counter you spell and brainstorm EOT, or goyf + ponder. If you think you need more graveyard hate, Grunt is also good for that spot.

I wanted a single blood moon effect MD, and a vialed-in magus of the moon can surprise people. Sideboard is pretty straight-forward. You will usually side out Mangara if you side in Blood Moon. With 2 color maybe we can fit in an Engineered Explosives, I don't know.

Comments? The deck sounds good on paper, but I haven't tested it, it might not be consistent, and I don't know if the proposed solutions are actually efficient against the meta.

Quote from colo

Not much of a problem really, since having a vial at three requires having a vial at two at some time before having it at three, right? Also, Flickerwisp.

It is indeed true that even when drawn late game, after having the vial at three, there are still ways to make it a 4/4. The trouble is that very often you will just topdeck it (or when you have neither vial or wisp) and it will be a 1/1, only good for blocking. Sure he comes back later, but unless we already have board control (and are already winning), waiting for it to come back is not the best you can hope for. I play full-four in my build right now and it's not really as good as I'd like it to be, I'm waiting to find some mother of runes so I can replace them. Most of the time I'd like to drop a Serra Avenger better, or a mystic if I need some equipement quick. or an Ethersworn Canonist (I play 2 main) against most decks (it makes many people have to choose between brainstorm or goyf).

@CidVicious

Not a bad idea, certainly worth trying out., mostly against Lands/Landstill. Not sure about Opal Guardian though, it does nothing but block, comes in a bit late, easy to play around and costs 3 white. I'd rather have something like Parallax Wave to buy myself the much-needed time against Zoo.

The main problem with Epochrasite is that it requires Vial to be at 2 counters. Dying to artifact removal isn't great either, but I can it being sideboard material against Zoo or something

If you can try to get a playset of the new Leyline of Sanctity, as it shuts down Oath pretty bad. You're going to need speed, more speed. Add 4 Wild Growth, and take out Words of Worship and Steely Resolve, Oath doesn't run much removal (I think) and unless you plan on playing your Enchantresses T5 you won't have the time to stick a Resolve before they get bolted or whatever, and you'd be better off playing worship then gaining life, not that it's good either. Replace Story Circle for another Solitary Confinement. Swap a plain for a single mountain, and replace Words of Wilding for Words of War. Consider seal of Cleansing/Primordium and City of Solitude too.

That way your deck should run much better.

There's not much point in running multiple duals if you run fetches. Enchantress rarely has mana problems. It has Serra's Sanctum to generate all the white you need, and in normal cases more green then white, plus the wild growths. What you don't want is getting 2-for-1'd when the opponent hits with wasteland when you have multiple land auras attached to it. As for Horizon canopy, it can't even be enchanted with Utopia Sprawl, and Enchantress draws so much mid/late-game anyway. As for humility, as people have said before, it kills your Argothian Enchantresses, which kinda slows you down. A lot.

cabal, pact, guide, grant, diamond

I think you can play in the following manner :

Remove Guide (G), Grant for Bayou, Tap Bayou (BG), Cabal Ritual (BBB), LED, Pact for Slithermuse, Sac LED in response (UBBBB depending), Evoke Slithermuse and draw 5-7 cards with B remaining for a ritual.

let's see, I'm going to play it as safe as possible and draw as many cards as I can without going straight for petal>dark rit>bargain:
petal>dark rit>tutor a morphose...

Then tutoring a Manamorphose makes you loose 2 mana, and we're pretty tight on mana already...

mox, bayou, cabal, pact, tutor, witness, morphose

It might have been safer to wait till turn 2. Mox (Witness), Bayou, Tutor something, another Pact perhaps (depends on what you draw after).

Anyway, that aside, I'll agree with you that I will sometimes mulligan into oblivion. Perhaps not that often, but still more then I'd like.

Also, you claim 60% turn 1 wins. But what's turn 2 win%? Turn 3%? Never? Mulligan frequency? Also, if the opponent does have a FoW/Duress, and uses it correctly, what becomes of these %?

It's not really a tournament staple, but it's still a casual/EDH favorite, so it's not going to loose that much value. But I don't think there's a point in holding onto him either.

In my opinion, the nature of the card makes multiples not that necessary. It's essentially a tutor/card advantage card, that gets equipements, but itself does not pose much of a threat, being only 1/2. But equipments are already very mana-intensive, and can take two turns to use by themselves, making them more of a mid-game and late-game card. Early-game is better spent playing immediate threats (creatures), especially in GW versions, and wastelanding their lands. Not to mention that we will be getting equipements without having tutoring for them on a regular basis, and more then often a single sword or jitte will help win a battle of attrition.

I doesn't seem so bad to be the case on ebay yet, but it looks like Eldrazi Monument just spiked. SCG seems to be sold out on it (when does that ever happen?), though it's unsure if they just removed it temporarily.

Did I miss something, or is it some baseless speculation again?

Red isn't awful, but most of it's good spells lies mostly in stuff like burn, removal, combat tricks, etc. But in limited that alone will not win you games. It also lacks good non-rare creatures. Red is a very good support color and in my opinion, the best splash color, but it can't win without 1-2 colors beside it.

After mulling over this and testing the format for a while, I find that the format really isn't fast at all, and that I rarely loose a game because I'm one turn behind. Yeah, I think I'll give credit to drawing first.