A singleton Gemstone Caverns is an interesting run in any deck. A Moon deck especially.
Let's start off by asking if it is good enough when we are on the draw. Let's go with a 7 card opening hand and seeing 7 more cards throughout the game.
thats a 50% of being a very good 100% would run card and a 50% chance of being bad. At which point there is a 74% chance that we have seen our Blood Moon where it is as good as any of our other non-basics. (I could factor turn for turn but that's a lot of math and the numbers come fairly close anyway) (but it is bad as a turns 2&3 land)
On the draw Gemstone Caverns is definitely good enough for the deck. On the play it definitely isn't.
Considering an even meta, 50% of all games we are going second. (Unless we are willing to give that up for a singleton, you shouldn't)
So, would you run a terrible land for a 50% chance of epic? If your list isn't too red heavy I'd try it. Especially as a 22nd land that you could cut for games 2&3 if you're in the play.
Vanreth, Arrogant Bard RG Legendary Creature - Human Shaman (M)
Arrogant Bard can block any number of creatures.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature your opponents control. R:Target creature with a +1/+1 counter on it attacks this turn if able.
2/5 "Is that a threat?" "Probably."
I hated the idea of Kessig from the get go. I won a game off of it and I told my friend next to me that I still would have rather had a basic. But its been in my list the last few weeks because I hadn't yet seen it without Blood Moon and wanted the fully rounded experience. Now I have.
I also was wary of all the RR on that list.
But don't bring what I think is the best version of the deck to my LGS, I try to test out new things.
This time I was solidly impressed, It really felt able to stick to plan A and still never flood on too much LD. Color was never a problem, generally I shocked myself once more a match, and payed closer attention to what I searched up, but no actual problems. Occasionally I wished I had more finishing power.
Next week Fracturing Gust is going in the board. It's definitely slower but affinity can't come back from that, let alone the life swing. Instant to punish overcommitment. Boggles is coming back. Wx Prison is a deck. Enchantment Combo decks are an actual thing now. I think it might be our best option there and will test thusly.
Alchemist's Test Subject2U
Creature-Homunculus [R] 1UU:Alchemist's Test Subject becomes a copy of target creature until end of turn.
Transmute 1UU(1UU, Discard this card: Search your library for a card with the same converted mana cost as this card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. Transmute only as a sorcery.) "Here drink this." —Nikia, Master Alchemist
1/1
Loyal Argivian1WW
Instant [U]
Create a 1/1 white Soldier creature token.
Recover 1W(When a creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay 1W. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, exile this card.) Fight for your king if you can. Fight for your life if you must!
LGS tonight. I was testing the full on Goblin Dark-Dwellers version of the deck. It played well, and I didn't ever see a GDDwhen I didn't have a target to make use of it. I still think that the list needs to be heavier on threats.
2-0 EldraTron
2-0 Bye
1-2 Burn
2-0 UW Control
Burn:
Game 1 on the play. He never untaps with a land. I'm at 5, He's topdecking. I Pull through.
Game 2 I don't get online or see my boarded in Finks or Trinisphere.
Game 3 Still don't see board cards, I'm racing him. I'm at 4. He topdecks Boros Charm.
We are not the same combo deck that Eggs once was. While it can happen a full 50 iterations to get Bitter Ordeal to matter is not a particularly easy win for us. It is also vulnerable to Leyline of Sanctity, I is much easier for us to Pyromatics 20 times than Gravestone that much. And then there are much better cards we could be doing it with.
Silence is a great card. Some lists have run it. Us being more inconsistency than during Egg's heyday it is hard to justify space for it, preferring to go all in. Though I look forward to the list that makes it work.
*I don't know why the Mothership has this listed as UB.
I feel that this version of the deck closes the game fastest after getting Gift out. It is not uncommon for the other builds to still lose after getting out Gift. Many games you will win with this deck before even attacking.
Red is an aggressive gameplan to get 6 creatures in your yard and see as many new cards as possible. In most games you play and drop Gate to the Afterlife turn 5.
History: This is a new concept out of Hour of Devastation. It first saw Tournament Results out of the Hour of Devastation ProTour 07/30/2017
Uniqueness:"Why isn't this the same thing as UW Gifts? There are a variety of factors that go into making this deck unique. My primary points being that:
Marionette Master. When reanimated off of God-Pharaoh's Gift comes back as a 4/4 with 3 1/1 Servos. This alone is a powerful interaction. When combines with a Metalwork Colossus in the graveyard it can often be an instantaneous kill.
Metalwork Colossus. In addition to working powerful in conjunction with a reanimated Marionette Master it also finds a unique interaction in this deck. God-Pharaoh's Gift also has the perk of costing 7, that alone can make it come down cheep.
Let's start off by asking if it is good enough when we are on the draw. Let's go with a 7 card opening hand and seeing 7 more cards throughout the game.
thats a 50% of being a very good 100% would run card and a 50% chance of being bad. At which point there is a 74% chance that we have seen our Blood Moon where it is as good as any of our other non-basics. (I could factor turn for turn but that's a lot of math and the numbers come fairly close anyway) (but it is bad as a turns 2&3 land)
On the draw Gemstone Caverns is definitely good enough for the deck. On the play it definitely isn't.
Considering an even meta, 50% of all games we are going second. (Unless we are willing to give that up for a singleton, you shouldn't)
So, would you run a terrible land for a 50% chance of epic? If your list isn't too red heavy I'd try it. Especially as a 22nd land that you could cut for games 2&3 if you're in the play.
Vanreth, Arrogant Bard RG
Legendary Creature - Human Shaman (M)
Arrogant Bard can block any number of creatures.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature your opponents control.
R:Target creature with a +1/+1 counter on it attacks this turn if able.
2/5
"Is that a threat?" "Probably."
I hated the idea of Kessig from the get go. I won a game off of it and I told my friend next to me that I still would have rather had a basic. But its been in my list the last few weeks because I hadn't yet seen it without Blood Moon and wanted the fully rounded experience. Now I have.
I also was wary of all the RR on that list.
But don't bring what I think is the best version of the deck to my LGS, I try to test out new things.
This time I was solidly impressed, It really felt able to stick to plan A and still never flood on too much LD. Color was never a problem, generally I shocked myself once more a match, and payed closer attention to what I searched up, but no actual problems. Occasionally I wished I had more finishing power.
Next week Fracturing Gust is going in the board. It's definitely slower but affinity can't come back from that, let alone the life swing. Instant to punish overcommitment. Boggles is coming back. Wx Prison is a deck. Enchantment Combo decks are an actual thing now. I think it might be our best option there and will test thusly.
Alchemist's Test Subject 2U
Creature-Homunculus [R]
1UU:Alchemist's Test Subject becomes a copy of target creature until end of turn.
Transmute 1UU(1UU, Discard this card: Search your library for a card with the same converted mana cost as this card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. Transmute only as a sorcery.)
"Here drink this." —Nikia, Master Alchemist
1/1
Loyal Argivian 1WW
Instant [U]
Create a 1/1 white Soldier creature token.
Recover 1W(When a creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay 1W. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, exile this card.)
Fight for your king if you can. Fight for your life if you must!
2-0 EldraTron
2-0 Bye
1-2 Burn
2-0 UW Control
Burn:
I handily win all my other games.
4x Blood Moon
4x Utopia Sprawl
Planeswalker (2)
2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Sorcery (11)
3x Molten Rain
3x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
4x Stone Rain
1x Sweltering Suns
Creature (13)
4x Arbor Elf
2x Birds of Paradise
4x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
3x Stormbreath Dragon
4x Lightning Bolt
1x Beast Within
Land (21)
1x Cinder Glade
8x Forest
1x Kessig Wolfrun
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Mountain
2x Stomping Ground
4x Wooded Foothills
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Boil
2x Faerie Macabre
3x Trinisphere
2x Kitchen Finks
2x Thrun, the Last Troll
I knew this, I was being dumb when writing it.
It's a good strategy, especially if they don't see it game 1 and/or siding it out once they expect it.
I've been thinking that White Enchantment deck has subsumed the role that this deck would play in the meta. I wonder how we can become relevant again.
Silence is a great card. Some lists have run it. Us being more inconsistency than during Egg's heyday it is hard to justify space for it, preferring to go all in. Though I look forward to the list that makes it work.
4 Curator of Mysteries
3 Striped Riverwinder
4 Walking Ballista
4 Marionette Master
4 Metalwork Colossus
4 Hollow One
4 Insolent Neonate
4 Champion of Wits
4 Cathartic Reunion
Artifact (5)
1 God-Pharaoh's Gift
4 Gate to the Afterlife
Land (20)
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Aether Hub
8 Mountain
6 Island
1 God-Pharaoh's Gift
4 Chandra's Defeat
1 Sweltering Suns
2 Aethersphere Harvester
3 Drake Haven
2 Negate
2 Abrade
*I don't know why the Mothership has this listed as UB.
I feel that this version of the deck closes the game fastest after getting Gift out. It is not uncommon for the other builds to still lose after getting out Gift. Many games you will win with this deck before even attacking.
Red is an aggressive gameplan to get 6 creatures in your yard and see as many new cards as possible. In most games you play and drop Gate to the Afterlife turn 5.
I've tested Geier Reach Sanitarium but felt there hasn't been a need for it.
I like the concept of cutting the creatures. I love the multifaceted win conditions you have, keeps opponents from picking just one kind of answer.
I've been a TurboFog fan forever. I even Wrote the Modern Primer for it.
This has got to be the most interesting incarnation of it yet.
4 Champion of Wits
4 Curator of Mysteries
4 Desert Cerodon
4 Hollow One
4 Insolent Neonate
4 Marionette Master
4 Metalwork Colossus
3 Striped Riverwinder
4 Gate to the Afterlife
1 God-Pharaoh's Gift
Sorcery (4)
4 Cathartic Reunion
Land (20)
2 Aether Hub
5 Island
2 Ipnu Rivulet
7 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
Idea:To get God-Pharaoh's Gift out early with Gate to the Afterlife
History: This is a new concept out of Hour of Devastation. It first saw Tournament Results out of the Hour of Devastation ProTour 07/30/2017
Uniqueness:"Why isn't this the same thing as UW Gifts? There are a variety of factors that go into making this deck unique. My primary points being that:
Combos:
What're your thoughts on this deck?