My suggestion of your next addition will depend on your vision for how you want it to shape up in the early going.
If you want to get several lands out so you can be popping Ashilng whenever you want to, then I'll suggest adding in a Druidic Satchel. Even without any library manipulation at this point, you'll still hit a land greater than 90% of the time if you blindly activate it.
If you want a bigger, splashier effect, then you need to take a look at Sythe of the Wretched. Wipe the board, and take everything for yourself. Classic.
- LimDul945
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Dec 1, 2011LimDul945 posted a message on Updating Green/Black BraidsYou just had to bring that time up...Posted in: LimDul945 Blog
I do however like your idea of trying out Skullclamp in place of the Rancors. It does leave me with a much lower effective threat density if I make the switch though. - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
All good suggestions. I had wanted to find some room for a Retrace spell or 2 at one point, and had definitely considered Waves of Aggression then. Maybe now that my commander can sneak out some commander-damage-wins more easily, I'll try to find some room again. I also have a nostalgic soft spot for Dragon Breath, since I played the old "Angry Hermit" deck in one of the Extended formats of old, but I'm not sure about its effectiveness here beyond just matching with Zacama.
Overall, the deck has always played as a slow control deck with minimal contributions from the commander. This was one of the big reasons to switch away from Rith, so as to get some new utility out of the commander slot. I had always looked to get slow value and grind out games with the deck. Obvious sneak wins with Inkmoth Nexus/Kessig Wolf Run. Maybe it will get to play more aggressively with Zacama, now.
- Blasted Landscape, Riftstone Portal
+ Scattered Groves, Sheltered Thicket
- Earthcraft, Viashino Heretic, Yavimaya Elder
+ Tireless Tracker, Ramunap Excavator, World Breaker
The land update was pretty straightforward. I definitely want more cycling lands, and I definitely want fewer lands in the manabase producing only colorless mana. While I'm sorry to see the Riftstone Portal go out of the list, I have noticed a trend away from having lands in the graveyard, which should only increase with the new inclusion of Ramunap Excavator.
I feel that this deck has never been able to adequately utilize Earthcraft. In the right deck, it is a very strong card. In this deck it has never been able to show its power. I'm sorry to lose the green ancestral recall, but I feel like there are not enough basic lands in the deck to reliably generate card advantage. Tireless Tracker should be able to better generate the card advantage I am looking for, while also possibly serving as a later game attacker.
- Ghostly Prison, Norn's Annex, Windborn Muse
+ Void Winnower, Angelic Arbiter, Open the Armory
The "attack tax" cards were never as effective as I really wanted them to be. I chose to instead disrupt the board through a different avenue. While I think these are better fits for the deck overall, this does raise the overall CMC for the deck.
And for more reasonable use cards:
Skyshroud Ranger. I think Explore should be good enough for consideration as well, even if it's just a 1-shot.
That would only be true if the demand for the non-fetchland portion of the decks was equally as high. If dealers/speculators are buying the decks for ~$35 and only getting a return of $10 on the fetchland, then that means they can also sell the other 99 cards for <$25. If demand for the other 99 cards is very low due to flooding the market with several print runs, then the price of the fetchland would creep back up as it made up a greater and greater percentage of the value of that $35 packaging.
Anyway, more on-topic: I expect that any "fetchland" we see is going to be of the Terramorphic Expanse/Evolving Wilds type, or new cards in line with Rocky Tar Pit.
Having made that caveat, I feel like you want to have a mix of cards which will slow the game down for your opponents (such as Hall of Gemstone, City of Solitude, and Mana Web) and ones that will keep the cards flowing to your opponents' hands (like the ones @Wildfire393 mentioned above - Temple Bell, Howling Mine, etc).
I've put down my thoughts about Origins in a couple of places. There are a couple of cards that look nice, but are way overpowered in the format, and a few that compare pretty well with other cards that I think do see play in the format. Some cards I think you've missed in your evaluations:
Let me know what you think!
Gideon's Phalanx - The basic effect is rather lackluster on its own, but the added effect if you have Spell Mastery makes it an intriguing card. Mass indestructibility at instant speed can definitely lead to some blowouts when facing an opposing Wrath effect. However, I think the fact that you need to meet certain conditions in order to make this card playable in Type4 means that it is not in fact a playable card.
Hallowed Moonlight - I like this printing better than Containment Priest in the context of Type4. A cantrip is better than being left with a 2/2 body. I think if you're playing more cards like Tooth and Nail, then this card has the potential to shine. In my list, I think it would be primarily used to combat Metathran Aerostat. I don't think there's enough use in my own stack, but it could really shine in some others.
Hixus, Prison Warden - I like that it has the potential to exile multiple creatures. I dislike that you need to be damaged by those creatures, and that those creatures return from exile once Hixus has been dealt with. The 4/4 body isn't enough to make up for that.
Kytheon's Irregulars - A decent defensive ability, but the body isn't very good, even after becoming Renown. Its outclassed by other similar creatures, such as Crowd Favorites.
Relic Seeker - If the search trigger put the equipment onto the battlefield (instead of into your hand), I think it may be worth it. As printed, it's definitely not worth it.
Starfield of Nyx - In your stack runs a lot of high-impact enchantments, I could see this being a reasonable addition. Its a recursion engine, which can continually get things directly onto the battlefield (thereby avoiding the 1-spell-per-turn hurdle). I really dislike the Opalessence side of the card however, since these "creatures" are going to be hit by additional sweepers, and are now the target of a greater breadth of removal spells.
Tragic Arrogance - Compares favorably with Cataclysm, but now you're the one making the choices rather than your opponents. I think that there are few enough lands in my own stack that I'll be making the switch.
Alhammarret, High Arbiter - A decent card, which suffers from the singleton nature of the format. I don't think temporarily stopping your opponents from casting a single card from their hands is disruptive enough on its own.
Disciple of the Ring - The counterspell effect is useless for us, but the other effects are really intriguing. Unfortunately, she needs to eat a card from your grave for every activation. Close, but no cigar here.
Displacement Wave - A scalable Upheaval effect. If you're looking for a board-sweeper , this is certainly a reasonable option for you.
Mizzium Meddler - An effect I like to refer to as "chaotic". Really similar in execution to the Much Drubb or Willbender I'm running in my list. I don't think I need another of these effects.
Psychic Rebuttal - It is a bit more narrow than something like Scatter Arc or Negate, but has the potential for greater payoff. I could see this leading to some blowouts. I don't think it's good enough without its Spell Mastery activated, however.
Sphinx's Tutelage - Boundless card-draw. Completely unreasonable and overpowered for the format.
Talent of the Telepath - Without Spell Mastery active, there's not really a reason to want to play this over another spell from your own deck.
Kothophed, Soul Hoarder - Pretty big body, evasion, and potential to draw quite a few cards. A pretty reasonable inclusion, but I think you would need some way of guaranteeing drawing some cards off of him, which you can't really do. I don't think it compares favorably with other similar effects, such as Bringer of the Blue Dawn.
Shadows of the Past - Boundless infinite life-loss once you meet a pretty easy requirement. Completely unreasonable and overpowered for the format.
Chandra's Ignition - Similar to Inferno or Blasphemous Act. If you have the largest creature at the table, it's a pseudo-Wrath effect. The fact that this does direct damage to each opponent is fantastic, though. I used to really like playing with Fling, which is a pretty similar direct-damage effect, but with a much greater risk for you than the 'Ignition. I think I may need to switch this in for one of my other damage-based sweepers.
Flameshadow Conjuring - If you're running some sac outlets which you'd like to push harder, this could be an all-star. It's pretty good on its own, essentially granting haste to all of your creatures with an additional level of protection on top.
Ravaging Blaze - Has the potential to 1-shot an opponent. Too powerful, while also being too variable, and I don't want to deal with it.
Elemental Bond - A reasonable draw engine. With the one-spell-per-turn rule, I think its a bit underpowered for this format, though.
Evolutionary Leap - Great sac outlet. If you're looking to increase the prevalence of sac' outlets in your own stack, I'd strongly recommend giving this one a hard look.
The Great Aurora - A pretty hard reset, which favors a player who has drafted more lands than anyone else. I don't think there are enough lands in my stack to really make much of a difference, so it's just a reset. I'd compare it most closely in my build with Sway the Stars, but I prefer having the life total reset included with everything else.
Managorger Hydra - If you're running a "big, dumb beater" like Taureen Mauler or Lord of Extinction or Vulturous Zombie, then give this a look.
Nissa's Revelation - Compares well with Soul's Majesty or Hunter's Prowess. If you're running one of those cards, give this a look. I personally would rather have Momentous Fall as a similar effect at instant speed.
Outland Colossus - A big, dumb beater. I think it would be an interesting option if the static ability was instead, "can't be blocked by only one creature."
Hangarback Walker - Really, really good in this format. It doesn't have any evasion, so you could chump-block all day. But I think the token trigger on death is just too strong for me. I could see this being a great inclusion in some higher-powered stacks than mine, but I'm not comfortable running this.
Mage-Ring Responder - A big attacker, with psuedo-vigilance for this format, and built-in removal. I like this guy a lot.
So that puts me at:
00 Chandra's Ignition
00 Mage-Ring Responder
Please let me know what you think!
Sorcery - Arcane Plains
Target player may play up to three additional spells until the end of turn.
Cycling: 1UBR
When you cycle Decree of the Creator, you may play an additional spell until the end of turn.
Legendary Land
You may play up to two spells each turn.
Whenever you have no cards in hand sacrifice Tolarian Scrubbery
Instant
As an additional cost to play Real Good Looking Tutor (RGLT), compliment target opponent.
Playing Real Good Looking Tutor does not count towards your spell limit for the turn.
Search your library for a card, reveal it, and then put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Sorcery
Permanently exchange places with target player.
(Switch hands, graveyards and libraries with target player, then exchange control and ownership of all permanents you and the target opponent control.)
I think these are about the right level of strong and silly that I wouldn't mind playing with them in a casual format like this one.