Eight-and-a-Half-Tails (8.5 Tails) can turn a spell or permanent white and give permanents protection from white. Would it be able to save a land from Strip Mine? By the time 8.5 Tails tried to target Strip Mine, Strip Mine would no longer be on the battlefield due to the sac being part of the cost, and 8.5 Tails can't target activated abilities, so it seems like Strip Mine would be "8.5 Tails-proof." It also seems like the same would be true of any non-white permanent that had a targeted activated ability that required sacrificing said permanent as part of the activation cost. Am I understanding this correctly?
It depends on the deck. I have a friend who built a Melek deck centered around Dragonstorm. It takes a long time for him to set up and go off, but when he does, he usually outright kills one person and puts himself in a very good position to kill a second person. The game isn't just over, though, necessarily, because some well-timed disruption can prevent him from being able to kill multiple people in a turn, so the table often has a chance to wrath the dragons away. Also, in a four player game, he usually can only kill two of his three opponents in one go even under the best circumstances, so the fourth player has a chance to come back if they're still in the game. In my opinion, that deck is a glass cannon strategy but is also fun and interactive because it doesn't just win on the spot when it goes off. If you're going to build a glass cannon deck like that, it's good to hit that sweet spot between powerful and fun or your playgroup will get sick of it really quick.
Best combo generals: Hermit Druid, Sharuum, Arcum, Oona, Niv-Mizzet
Best aggro generals: Krenko, Kaalia, Animar, Rafiq, Edric
Funnest generals to play with: Roon, Norin, Krenko, Maelstrom Wanderer, Ruric Thar
Funnest generals to play against: Zedruu the Greathearted, Pheldagrif, Ruhan, Norin the Wary, Melek
Best control generals: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Azami, Arcanis, Teferi, Oona
Best 1v1 generals: Edric, Zur, Derevi, Geist, Clique
Early on, I had Avenger and Createrhoof in, but the problem is that I don't really have a way to cheat them into play. I picked Armada Wurm because he's much easier to hardcast, and I can still blink him for value. If I were to put in the aforementioned finishers, I'd probably want more ramp, and include some way to cheat them in, maybe Tooth and Nail. Lately this deck has been playing a much more control-type game, but if I feel that a more aggressive strategy is necessary, this will be the first change I'll make. Same thinking about Woodfall Primus.
Fair enough. I think I actually run less ramp than you and a higher curve. It works for me, though, because the power of my big spells allows me to catch up in the late game even if I fall behind a bit in the early game. This is possible in part because of the environment that I play in. There are so many wraths being cast that the games tend to go longer and having creatures that are very powerful on their own is important since they might only stick around for a turn or two.
Regarding Farseek versus Nature's Lore, do you ever find that not being able to get U/W to be a problem? I have a lot of UU and WW cards in my curve, makes me hesitant to get rid of Farseek.
Mana hasn't been a problem for me, but I'm running more fetches (all the Zendikar fetches, plus Windswept Heath), the pain lands, and no man lands, so my mana base is a bit more stable. In addition, my meta might be slower and grindier than yours, so it might just be that I'm under less pressure to have perfect mana early. I would give Nature's Lore a try, but Farseek might just be better.
One last thought: If you're going for a more controlling build, Cryptic Command seems perfect. It's extremely powerful in a vacuum, but even more so in a deck with lots of creatures with ETB abilities like this one, since you can use it to bounce your guys and replay them. It definitely seems better than Rewind.
Armada Wurm is efficient, but he's not big and dumb enough to be worth running as a finisher and doesn't provide enough of an advantage to be worth running for value. Avenger of Zendikar and Craterhoof Behemoth are both much better finishers.
Control Magic seems like an odd choice. If you're going with an enchantment, Treachery is much more powerful, but Sower of Temptation works better with your blink theme.
Privileged Position is fine, I suppose, and it might be a good metagame call, but I find that blink effects and reanimation spells are usually good enough answers to spot removal, and Privileged Position doesn't protect against wraths, which are more of a problem in my meta anyway. How has it been for you? I would cut it for another value creature if it were me, but maybe it's better in your meta. For example, you could run Lavinia of the Tenth in that spot. I'm not sure why she's not more popular, to be honest. She can completely lock down someone's board in the right situation, and she's almost never a dead draw. The protection from red is randomly relevant as well.
Woodfall Primus is ridiculously powerful as a value creature. He's expensive, but he always has targets and the persist ability means he is very hard to remove permanently, since you can blink him to "reset" him. I would cut one of the wraths for him. Wrathing is generally not what you want to be doing in this kind of deck anyway, so one wrath should be enough to fall back on.
As far as non-creature ramp, I think you could do better. I agree with the people who said to replace Farseek with Nature's Lore and Kodama's Reach with Skyshroud Claim. Lands coming into play untapped is really good, and you can always get non-basic forests if you need colors besides green.
Any particular reason you're not running Scalding Tarn? I saw you were running the rest of the Zendikar fetches, so I was curious.
Arcs: / / : Oloro, Ageless Ascetic - Lifegain combo (Test of Endurance, Felidar Sovereign, Sanguine Bond/Exquisite Blood, etc.) / / : Nekusar, the Mindrazer - Not too interested in Grixis, but this guy seems fun / / : Prossh, Skyraider of Kher - Ramp/combo. I have this built now and it is stupidly powerful / / : Uril, the Miststalker - VOLTRON!!! / / : Roon of the Hidden Realm - Blinky blink blink. Grindy value midrange deck. I have this built and it's pretty good
This card is bad. Not sure why everyone is getting so excited about it. It will not see competitive play. It is NOT comparable to Assemble the Legion or a planeswalker. Assemble the Legion builds up board advantage over several turns and will eventually take over the game by itself, which is why it's good. It is inevitability. Keranos is not. He draws you a little less than half a card each turn (assuming you're running him in a control deck with 26-27 lands) and deals a little more than 1.5 damage (half a Lightning Bolt). On top of that, you don't get to choose which mode you get. Scrying only helps so much. What if you need a bolt to keep from dying and you have a land pocket on top of your deck? You're still screwed. That inconsistency is a big problem. Now compare that to Jace, Sphinx's Revelation, or Assemble the Legion. Those always do the same thing, regardless of what's on top of your deck, and are just more powerful on top of that.
All three G/W/X color combos can be fun and/or powerful, depending on the commander and how you build the deck.
Naya: Probably the weakest overall, but also gives you access to Uril, the Miststalker, who is arguably the most powerful voltron commander in any color combination. I don't think Naya is really worth going for unless you're either playing Uril or building a casual deck, though.
Junk: Junk has arguably the best removal of any color combo, lots of good combos and engines, and several powerful commanders. Ghave is a top-tier combo general. Karador is awesome as dredge, combo, or just a grindy card advantage deck. Doran is also very good in smaller groups or 1v1 as an aggro general, so keep that in mind.
Bant: Bant is the quintessential goodstuff color combo, where every card in your deck is very powerful and provides tons of value and you win by just grinding out card and tempo advantage over the course of the game until you're so far ahead that your opponents can't hope to catch up. All of the bant generals lend themselves to this strategy to an extent, with each one focusing on a slightly different approach. Rafiq is an excellent voltron general, and can also do enchantress or control. Derevi works well as an aggro-control or control general. Jenara can do all of the above.
For Kruphix, I am looking through the guides to find mana sinks....or is basically to be able to hold up counters?
The reason Prophet of Kruphix is so good is that you basically get another turn for each turn your opponents take. You (player 1) take your turn, playing some creatures or whatever, then pass the turn, untap on player 2's turn, play MORE guys because they have flash, then untap on player 3's turn, etc. etc. As for mana sinks, Roon himself is an awesome mana sink, especially since you get to untap him every turn. Deadeye Navigator is even better, and if you ever get Prophet of Kruphix and Deadeye Navigator out at the same time, you probably just win, assuming you have something for Deadeye to blink. So you play out your hand, or, if you've already done that, you play Roon and just start blinking stuff every turn. The best is when you start blinking a creature that draws you cards and draw into more guys to play on other people's turns. It might not sound that broken, but you're doing this every single turn, not just your turns, and that adds up very quickly to an insurmountable advantage. I'd say the only cards in my Roon deck that are better than Prophet of Kruphix are Deadeye Navigator and Tooth and Nail... and I usually fetch PoK with Tooth and Nail.
Yes, tricolor goodstuff decks can definitely work, and bant is one of the best color combinations for it. Roon seems to be the go-to bant general of choice for that kind of deck now. Keep in mind that Roon is best as a tempo deck, though, so choose your goodstuff accordingly. I used to think that goodstuff decks were just decks that... well, played good stuff, but that's not the whole story. Goodstuff decks still need a plan, because there's a LOT of cards that qualify as "good" and you can't play all of them.
Roon is great if you are going to either present enough threats or protect him. He basically acts as another saving blink spell on a stick. I run a heavy blink deck. I don't need Roon on the field, but when I can get him to the field and to stay, its basically impossible at that point to remove him.
I built my blink deck more as a grind out a victory kind of a deck, it slowly builds up board position and with that resilience while stopping other shenanigans through destroying lands / artifacts / enchantments that have a potential to shift the game to far away from me.
That's exactly how I built Roon and it's worked out great for me as well. You just play a ton of creatures that are good on their own and REALLY good when blinked, and this allows you to grind people out through sheer card advantage. It's actually a fairly aggressive deck, especially since I run a bunch of broken equipment that can be fetched with Stoneforge Mystic and Stonehewer Giant (swords, jitte, etc.). I've won plenty of games where I never needed to cast Roon. It's not cutthroat competitive, but it can certainly hold its own.
People in my meta don't actually build new decks too often, except for me. The two people that I play with the most have had the same decks built for several years and they just constantly refine those decks. Those decks are really pimped out and honed to perfection, though.
I like your deck! I run a similar build, though mine runs slightly more ramp, a higher curve, and more GY hate. A few thoughts, based on my experiences with Roon:
In my experience, Elvish Visionary is better than Wall of Blossoms because it can attack while holding equipment. I run both, but if I had to pick just one, Visionary would get the nod.
Speaking of equipment, Jitte is absurd and you should definitely run it.
Fiend Hunter seems kind of weak, as it's surprisingly difficult to permanently exile things with him. I cut him from my deck after playing a few games with him. I replaced him with Sower of Temptation, which lacks the ability to permanently deal with things but makes for a much bigger tempo swing. I've been meaning to try out Mangara of Corondor, though, which seems like it would fulfill much the same role.
You only run 14 instants and sorceries (one of which, GSZ, should not be in the GY, so 13 that are recurrable under normal circumstances), so running Snapcaster AND Archaeomancer AND Mnemonic Wall seems like a bit much. I get that it's super powerful to recur instants and sorceries a bunch of times, but you have so few that it might make sense to cut one of the instant/sorcery recursion creatures.
Frost Titan doesn't seem all that great. He's OK, but I think there are more powerful things you could be doing.
While he isn't a blink target, Stonehewer Giant is great in a deck that's running a lot of busted equipment like yours is.
Lavinia of the Tenth is awesome. She locks down mana artifacts, equipment, tokens, many planeswalkers, and small creatures. I definitely recommend trying her out.
Chord of Calling seems like a better Wargate. While you can only get creatures with it, you can cast it at instant speed, which can lead to huge blowouts.
Stonecloaker is another good GY hate option. It can also save an important creature (like Prophet of Kruphix) from a wrath if Roon is unavailable. Probably meta-dependant.
I notice you don't run any bounce except for Venser. Riftwing Cloudskate is another possibility if you want to expand your options there.
Terastodon is another creature in the same vein as Woodfall Primus. Obviously, if Woodfall Primus is too expensive for you then this guy is too, but I just wanted to throw him out there as another option in the "blowing up noncreature permanents" department.
Blade Splicer has helped me defend against super aggressive starts from opposing decks and is an OK blink target later on. You run a lower curve than me, so this might not be as much of an issue for you.
Armada Wurm is kind of big and dumb, but it gets out of hand pretty quickly if you blink it a couple of times.
You didn't mention lands, but Alchemist's Refuge is better in Roon than in most decks, and I found that it is worth the slot in my deck.
Any particular reason you're not running Tooth and Nail? It's pretty busted even under the fairest circumstances, and the Magical Christmasland scenarios with it are just bonkers.
Thanks so much!
Best aggro generals: Krenko, Kaalia, Animar, Rafiq, Edric
Funnest generals to play with: Roon, Norin, Krenko, Maelstrom Wanderer, Ruric Thar
Funnest generals to play against: Zedruu the Greathearted, Pheldagrif, Ruhan, Norin the Wary, Melek
Best control generals: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Azami, Arcanis, Teferi, Oona
Best 1v1 generals: Edric, Zur, Derevi, Geist, Clique
Mana hasn't been a problem for me, but I'm running more fetches (all the Zendikar fetches, plus Windswept Heath), the pain lands, and no man lands, so my mana base is a bit more stable. In addition, my meta might be slower and grindier than yours, so it might just be that I'm under less pressure to have perfect mana early. I would give Nature's Lore a try, but Farseek might just be better.
One last thought: If you're going for a more controlling build, Cryptic Command seems perfect. It's extremely powerful in a vacuum, but even more so in a deck with lots of creatures with ETB abilities like this one, since you can use it to bounce your guys and replay them. It definitely seems better than Rewind.
Armada Wurm is efficient, but he's not big and dumb enough to be worth running as a finisher and doesn't provide enough of an advantage to be worth running for value. Avenger of Zendikar and Craterhoof Behemoth are both much better finishers.
Control Magic seems like an odd choice. If you're going with an enchantment, Treachery is much more powerful, but Sower of Temptation works better with your blink theme.
Privileged Position is fine, I suppose, and it might be a good metagame call, but I find that blink effects and reanimation spells are usually good enough answers to spot removal, and Privileged Position doesn't protect against wraths, which are more of a problem in my meta anyway. How has it been for you? I would cut it for another value creature if it were me, but maybe it's better in your meta. For example, you could run Lavinia of the Tenth in that spot. I'm not sure why she's not more popular, to be honest. She can completely lock down someone's board in the right situation, and she's almost never a dead draw. The protection from red is randomly relevant as well.
Woodfall Primus is ridiculously powerful as a value creature. He's expensive, but he always has targets and the persist ability means he is very hard to remove permanently, since you can blink him to "reset" him. I would cut one of the wraths for him. Wrathing is generally not what you want to be doing in this kind of deck anyway, so one wrath should be enough to fall back on.
As far as non-creature ramp, I think you could do better. I agree with the people who said to replace Farseek with Nature's Lore and Kodama's Reach with Skyshroud Claim. Lands coming into play untapped is really good, and you can always get non-basic forests if you need colors besides green.
Any particular reason you're not running Scalding Tarn? I saw you were running the rest of the Zendikar fetches, so I was curious.
x : Karn, Silver Golem - Karn is actually very powerful as a commander, though he can be pretty mean. This would be fun to build.
Mono:
Allied Pair:
Enemy Pair:
Arcs:
Wedges:
Chromatic:
Naya: Probably the weakest overall, but also gives you access to Uril, the Miststalker, who is arguably the most powerful voltron commander in any color combination. I don't think Naya is really worth going for unless you're either playing Uril or building a casual deck, though.
Junk: Junk has arguably the best removal of any color combo, lots of good combos and engines, and several powerful commanders. Ghave is a top-tier combo general. Karador is awesome as dredge, combo, or just a grindy card advantage deck. Doran is also very good in smaller groups or 1v1 as an aggro general, so keep that in mind.
Bant: Bant is the quintessential goodstuff color combo, where every card in your deck is very powerful and provides tons of value and you win by just grinding out card and tempo advantage over the course of the game until you're so far ahead that your opponents can't hope to catch up. All of the bant generals lend themselves to this strategy to an extent, with each one focusing on a slightly different approach. Rafiq is an excellent voltron general, and can also do enchantress or control. Derevi works well as an aggro-control or control general. Jenara can do all of the above.
Oh, and Prophet of Kruphix. That card is so stupidly broken it's basically a win condition just because of the absurd tempo advantage you get from it.