I don't know what 1 drop is good enough to replace lavamancer...but I just don't really like him...he's taking away my fuel if I don't have anything useless. Plus most of our spells can flashback, so I don't even want to exile those.
I don't really know what I would do if I had to weigh 2 damage over losing 2 power/toughness on my main creatures. Seems bad...but I don't know I could be wrong. Maybe try wolfbitten captive? something that we can burn mana on in the beginning? just throwing things ou there.
Ive been having similar thoughts about my list and lavamancer. As it stands, creatures are usually the last thing you want to remove in this deck, but my list also runs 10 cards with flashback... that leaves Mulchs and lands that lavamancer would remove. The first is only 4 cards in the deck, the latter almost never makes it to the GY, aided by the fact that Mulchs put such lands in my hand.. I find he has little food often enough to matter.
That said, I cant think of much of anything to replace his raw power when I absolutely need it... I am at a bit of an impasse here. Running Ambush Vipers comes to mind as lavamancer really fills a creature control slot, but its far more limited in many aspects that makes me want to still run lavamancers. (Ambush is useless vs first strike, flying, ext)
'bout the deck - I tested your list, Kueson, and it's one of the most funny decks I've ever piloted. It is intresting, you have to control your graveyard etc. not just play creatures and swing. Gnaw to the Bone jest just awesome. RDW player killed me 'bout three of four times and I was still alive after using Gnaw 6 times. Of course, sometimes I wish it was Slagstorm, but they are in sb so it's ok.
I think that in my version i'ld drop Lavamancers. Don't know yet what should come in, but there are some options, maybe Elk.. or Acidic Slime. Have to test that.
Cheers, fellow Splinterfrighters.
Yeah, i feel like NOT running 4 Gnaw to the Bone maindeck is like telling Soul Sisters not to run 4 copies of Martyr of Sands maindeck. It just provides so much life advantage, and game stalling, that I can think of very few other cards that rival its pure advantage. Post board, drop 1-2 and probably trackers for sideboard slots 90% of the time, but in game 1 when you don't know what your up against, GttB seems to help me far more then maindeck slags or any other control method.
Edit:
I've also been thinking, has anyone tested a list with 2 Birthing Pods in place of our third mill? In theory, it does everything we need it too. It can turn Grim Lavamancers and Birds of Paradise draws into Boneyard Wurms or Veridian Emissarys, Boneyard Wurm/Veridian Emissarys into Splinterfrights, and then.. well thats it. I can think of no reason why you would want to mill a freight into anything else, hes the real beast of the deck. All the while, its sending creatures to your graveyard making the creatures your tutoring for bigger when they hit the field. And it in itself is in most cases a turn 3 option, and you could even pop off its ability for 1 mana constantly because running 3-4 Gnaw to the Bone would completely negate its health loss, plus some. (It in fact, fuels you for exactly 2 health for every time the ability is used if you GttB afterwords.) Running 2 mainboard seems like it makes sense, I've just not tested it in a literal game... Could be powerful tho.
A couple points here.
- Bonehoard gives p/t based on the number of creatures in all graveyards. That's another reason why it costs so much more. It's twice the fun as a Wreath.
- Grim Lavamancer is one of the few reliable answers this deck has to Mirran Crusader and flipped Delvers. It's also a great way to kill off a surprise Snapcaster. Yes, you must carefully weigh the pros and cons of which spells to exile, but I have found that I almost always have at least 1 Mulch and 1 land in my yard that I'll gladly pitch. I'd not consider his inclusion bad in any way.
- The problem with the Pod is that new Grafdigger's Cage. People want to play it, especially with all the Undying guys running around. (Strangleroot Geist especially)
- GttB is awesome, except when it's not. Too much of a good thing means your hand or your yard will be cluttered with spells and not creatures. Besides, every time I've come across a problem that Gnaw might stall, Slagstormsolved it. Yes, milling a Slagstorm sucks, but it's soooo powerful. It has helped me pull crazy come-from-behind wins like no other.
- Also, randomly, 3x Hellriders on the field at once is hilarious.
- GttB is awesome, except when it's not. Too much of a good thing means your hand or your yard will be cluttered with spells and not creatures. Besides, every time I've come across a problem that Gnaw might stall, Slagstormsolved it. Yes, milling a Slagstorm sucks, but it's soooo powerful. It has helped me pull crazy come-from-behind wins like no other.
^^^This is my general problem with replacing Slagstorm with more GttB. Typically, I only need 1 or 2 uses of GttB to win the game. In addition, GttB is a one-dimensional spell, while Slagstorm is 4-dimensional: 1) it can kill all your opponent's creatures, thus stopping their attack; 2) it can kill some of your own weenie creatures, thus making your beaters more effective; 3) it can clear out blockers, thus allowing you to swing in for heavy damage; and 4) it can be directed at players, thus able to hit planeswalkers.
Yes, I agree that it is terrible when its milled. But it also extremely versatile in its function. GttB is extremely good at what it does, which is gaining you 20+ life which basically restarts the damage clock that your opponent has to deal. Yes, it is bad against Sword of War and Peace, but using Slagstorm doesn't mean that we won't hit a GttB. Imo, it is useless to have unused GttB in the graveyard or to be at 60+ life, which is what happens when you run 4 of it. With all of our mill, I haven't had a game yet where I haven't drawn/milled a GttB, except for a few where I lost before I would have been able to flash it back anyway.
And on the discussion of Grim Lavamancer, he is half the reason to run red. I can understand why you might not like him as much in the aggro version, since there might be less extra cards in the graveyard; but in the midrange version, there are typically either plenty of cards in the graveyard for you to use or plenty of creatures, which means that you are probably in a good position anyway. Considering the meta is heavy delver and other solid early drops that you need to be able to respond to quickly, I would never imagine dropping Grim.
Last FNM i took my UG deck, which was a measly 2-3 (overrun by tokens on all 3 losses). This week I've swapped my blue out for red, and I'm probably going to run my aggro list, since it seems to be playtesting better against tokens. It has even stolen a few matches from Delver decks, which is where my meta used to be fairly heavily.
I'm still not sure if this deck will play better, but I'm going to test it out. Still considering Crimson Mage as a creature-haste-giver, but not sure what to pull for it. Maybe even the Huntmaster :/
Last FNM i took my UG deck, which was a measly 2-3 (overrun by tokens on all 3 losses). This week I've swapped my blue out for red, and I'm probably going to run my aggro list, since it seems to be playtesting better against tokens. It has even stolen a few matches from Delver decks, which is where my meta used to be fairly heavily.
I'm still not sure if this deck will play better, but I'm going to test it out. Still considering Crimson Mage as a creature-haste-giver, but not sure what to pull for it. Maybe even the Huntmaster :/
The list looks decent enough. I would put in -1x Hero of Oxid Ridge and +1x Huntsmaster, since Huntsmaster is good on a weak field, while Hero is good on a strong field. For your question, I would decide based on the meta of the FNM: if it looks like a lot of people will be running U/x decks, I would cut a Kessig Cagebreakers and a Phyrexian Metamorph for 2 Crimson Mages. Otherwise, I might consider sticking with what you've got here. From my testing, KCB has been terrible against U/x decks. He's actually become my least thrilling creature, since I hardly ever get to swing with him; but if I do, it's usually gg ;), so I would never want him as less than a 2-of, but never more than a 2-of.
@ lotusmonk: I'm sorry that you didn't have much success with the deck so far. I've been doing a lot of testing with it and I've been doing really well. I did take my deck to an FNM last week and went undefeated for the first time in a long while. Currently, my only bad matchup is against control, which is, I guess, the nature of the beast: aggro --> control --> midrange --> aggro... But considering the current meta, I would rather be strong against mid-range and aggro than control.
If you are playing in a heavy control area, I would suggest either running the aggro version or the U/G version (I've been checking in on their deck a bit, and apparently it does well against control due to extra pressure off of Schreeching Skaab); in that sense, I don't mind being the anti-aggro version of Splinterfright, kind of like Grixis is the anti-aggro version of U/B control.
I've also faced off a little bit against smallpox and zombies; Mulch keeps us running in cards to pitch and GttB is a nightmare for those decks, since it wrecks their preplanned clock.
Thanks for the thoughts, and I definitely see what you're saying. It's odd, because Crimson Mage is strongest when paired with a KCB. I almost view the KCB at that point as a 6CMC that reads, "You Win. Next Game!"
For my latest testing, I've been running Hellrider instead of the Hero, and it's actually testing better than the Hero. I think I'm going to do the full switch soon. Guaranteed damage is a really, really nice thing, and in multiples? Dear lord, that's fun
- The problem with the Pod is that new Grafdigger's Cage. People want to play it, especially with all the Undying guys running around. (Strangleroot Geist especially)
- GttB is awesome, except when it's not. Too much of a good thing means your hand or your yard will be cluttered with spells and not creatures. Besides, every time I've come across a problem that Gnaw might stall, Slagstormsolved it. Yes, milling a Slagstorm sucks, but it's soooo powerful. It has helped me pull crazy come-from-behind wins like no other.
- By teh same logic, Postmortem Lunge is unplayable because its only 2 of my 75 cards, and is stopped by cage. >.>. If my enemy sides in 3-4 Grafdigger's Cage to counter only two cards in my whole deck, let them imo. Thats actually an advantage for us because they had to screw over something in there deck for those 3-4 slots, *I assume. Siding in 1-2 would be silly for consistency.*, and all we have to do us make it into Faithless Looting fodder, or be more aggressive with Mulch and Splinterfright mill.
TLDR; I see almost no downside to the cage when played against us, when running a small amount of pods. It can only lead the opponent into an improper sideboard while not really hurting us. I'm probably going to attempt a list with 2 pods soon, see how well it preforms.
- Well first, in my list, i ran GttBs over Slagstroms, so it didn't mess with creature count in the process. As well, the logic behind "Besides, every time I've come across a problem that Gnaw might stall, Slagstormsolved it." can go both ways in *most* situations. Any situation Slagstorm might have stalled, Gnaw to the Bone could stall as well. Really Slagstorm only ever buys me 2-4 turns of my enemy not attacking, because they have to build up an army again. But if I had GttB, they might still be attacking me, sure, but I set them back 2-4 turns worth of damage, creating the same gap.
3) it can clear out blockers, thus allowing you to swing in for heavy damage;
Ive been able to completely get around this problem simply by just KWRing for zero. Your creatures are big enough in any given game. 1-2 trample creatures swinging every turn while you spend 3 mana a turn gaining 20+ life will eventually beat your opponent into submission unless they can deal with your creatures, and fast.
TLDR; They have been almost interchangeable in 90% of my testing matchups, and I prefer leaning twords GttB because it has flashback, so it doesn't have the added possibility of clogging my deck. And either way, my list had ran 3 Slagstorm in the sideboard for those other 10% of my games that found it to be the superior option.
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This is just my experiences with the deck thus far however. It could be that after much more testing, id come to the same conclusion as you guys, but sense finding this thread I've played almost 75-80 matchs online, and these are my findings thus far.
I definitely think you raise valid points. Pod could well be a surprise that helps us get up the chain while boosting our own yard. I'll give it a test run as well. If nothing else, I'm always open to new ideas. (That doesn't mean I won't try and anticipate problems with them at the same time.)
Maybe the Slagstorm v. Gnaw debate is more a meta thing. I just know that the last time I lost it was due to tons of tokens, and those tokens were never bigger than X/3. Slagstorm fixes that problem, because with this deck you really only need one turn to stabilize and swarm if they're out of creatures. Gnaw, on the other hand, just delays the inevitable. But then again, I've also found that only having 2 Gnaws was enough -- enough that I usually felt free to discard one to a Looting and still have it when I needed it.
Maybe the third Gnaw will push it over the edge. Let me know how the testing goes. This is all about reps, all about putting in the games, and seeing how it responds to the other decks out there.
Below might be a little messy, just wanted to share a match i just played online before I got into another.
Minor results of a quick two out of three I just did after posting, with 2 Birthing Pod maindeck.
Vs. White/Black Tokens
Flat out, pod was the MVP of game 1. I turn one'd a birds, into a turn 2 pod, turn 3 I milled birds for Viridian Emissary using the birds as its own mana sourse to the ability, and double Faithless Looting, pitching 2 Gnaw to the Bone, 1 Boneyard Wurm and 1 Mountian. Turn 4 I attacked with the emissary, they let it threw *they had nothing but 1/1 tokens at this point*. Then proceeded to mill the emissary for a Splinterfright at a 3/3. Turn 5 I milled a lavamancer and a birds threw fright, and then I flashed back a faithless, drawing into my third faithless, pitching 2 creatures and then played the faithless in my hand, pitching 2 more creatures, and swung for 9. The rest of the turns I just flashed back a GttB and a Faithless each turn having topped out at 6 mana and eventually just grind'ed the game out till I won.
Game 2 I noticed in the chat line of Cockatrice that he sideboarded, so I assumed cages and just simply sided out the pods and 3 GttB for 3 Slagstorm and 2 Shreikhorn. He in fact turn one caged, but it really didn't slow me down. I proceeded to play a "regular" game with the deck and beat him outright, him putting himself a turn behind pretty much ended it for him. A side note, I never got to use the Slagstorms.
Game three, didn't exist! Yay me!
When it comes down to it, game 1 was pretty much pod. It was a turn 2 drop that fetched a free mana threw emissary and proceeded to net me my big fattie. The ability to tutor for the only creature in the deck with trample was really broken imo. I never drew into a splinterfright in either game, but game 1 I just said "You know what, i feel like winning the game!" so i hand picked a fright out of my deck and did.
Edit:
Ill probably play a mock tournament tomorrow with some friends and a few local players I know threw FNMs over Cockatrice, 18 people, 4 round swiss. Ill try to remember to write down all the important stuff and give my report sometime tomorrow.
I actually like the Pod Idea it's obviously better than Shriekhorn and it allows us to stay straight red green. Also makes late game birds etc good. Kueson do you think 2 is a good number?
Also it makes Stragleroot Geist absurd (but he's also counterproductive for the deck. We could also run a singleton Thrun now against control.
Not sure yet, I've only done a total of 5 games now with them mainboarded. And only 3 I had a pod hit the field. But when it did hit the field, I felt a huge jump in my preformance because at taht point, I could basically do whatever I wanted.
I defiantly like how it can become a draw fixer and a mana fixer all in one. Need mana, pitch things to fetch emissaries or if you were lucky enough to draw one, play and pitch it the same turn. Keep getting utility creatures when you need beaters? No problem, your 1 mana and 2 life away from the exact card you needed. Its defiantly powerful in a splinterfright shell.
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If it looks like a bug, sounds like a bug, and acts like a bug then it's probably working as intended.
@Kueson: Thanks for the report on Birthing Pod. I think that it was kind of discussed earlier, but no one really persued testing it. I'll try it out as soon as I can grab some pods. I still think that we need to main deck some Slagstorm. I just finished playing my first match against W/B tokens, and GttB just wasn't going to get the job done. The problem is that, once they get out Vault of the Archangel, they can out lifegain us. Therefore, they stall better than us, while killing all of our creatures. The only way to combat that is to clear out all of their blockers and then alpha strike them. I do think that you sided correctly in your match though. It's not an unwinnable match by any means, but it is probably one of the only matchups where it is more important to deal with the opponent's creatures than to just play big beaters.
Deck update before I turn in, because it has changed more than normal for today... Still debating where I want the Crimson Mages. Tested a lot against Delver tonight, and I found that pulling 2x Hellriders for the 2x Slagstorms made a huge difference.
And yes, my sideboard is a mess right now. Any suggestions on that?
In terms of playtesting: Essentially, this deck needs a R source T1, and a 1drop creature, or it's in trouble. Mana can come after that, but T1 is key. Mulligan aggressively. Heck, one game I even ended up pinging my own Emissary with a Lavamancer just to get an extra mana so next turn I could Slagstorm or Splinterfright, whichever I needed more.
@Kueson: Thanks for the report on Birthing Pod. I think that it was kind of discussed earlier, but no one really persued testing it. I'll try it out as soon as I can grab some pods. I still think that we need to main deck some Slagstorm. I just finished playing my first match against W/B tokens, and GttB just wasn't going to get the job done. The problem is that, once they get out Vault of the Archangel, they can out lifegain us. Therefore, they stall better than us, while killing all of our creatures. The only way to combat that is to clear out all of their blockers and then alpha strike them. I do think that you sided correctly in your match though. It's not an unwinnable match by any means, but it is probably one of the only matchups where it is more important to deal with the opponent's creatures than to just play big beaters.
Yeah I think it was originally bearsman's idea. I'm gonna try to get some pods. Maybe try taking out the shriekhorns for pods in your current list?
Yeah I think it was originally bearsman's idea. I'm gonna try to get some pods. Maybe try taking out the shriekhorns for pods in your current list?
Yeah I cant imagine myself being the first one to suggest running them, they just make to much sense to me in the deck. Its defiantly not a 4 of by any means. But replacing the 2 of on Shreikhorns or Tracker's Instincts seems like just the right amount, and the deck automatically supports this in most cookie cutter lists.
I think its defiantly worth some serious testing, ima leave them in my online lists for now. Before just having refomatted my computer within the past 45 min, i got 2 more matchs in, first one I went 2-1 against delver, grim lavamancer really being MVP there, and half the reason we run him, go figure. >.>. The second I went 1-2 against mono green beats. I just couldn't hold them off, and not mainboarding slagstorm could be the whole reason.
As well, not getting into some serious testing pre and post sideboard, I'm noticing a lot more cages being pulled on me. As much as I like GttB, its actually hurting me in most games post board, because i always pitch them first if i don't see a cage on the board, only to see my opponent drop a cage the following turn, rendering all the flashbacks I'm pitching useless and really tripping me up.
Shreikhorns are in my sideboard specifically to side in when i know cages are going to be sided in against me, so i take out the biggest reason for them siding in, hoping to force there hand into somewhat dead draws.
Considering I am also running the pods, i might cut the emissary down by 1-2, and possibly even a birds by 1 to make room for a few Forge Devils, just for a little more early game battlefield control. Reason being I'll more then likely only "need" 1-2 emissaries to help with land fixing and with pods in the list, I can just tutor for them if i did not get one.
Private Mod Note
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If it looks like a bug, sounds like a bug, and acts like a bug then it's probably working as intended.
TBH I think you could take out 2 Gnaw to the Bones for 2 Slagstorms or if you want you could try Rolling temblor. I'd actually be interested to see how that does. how good has Emissary been for you?
In the pod version, invaluable. Emissary is the perfect pod fodder on the 2 drop. If i keep the pod, I'm keeping at least 2 of him, if not a full 4 maindeck.
In a non pod version, somewhat lacking. I use her when i go tri color, splashing blue as a mana fixer, but I've started to feel like blue splash R/G isn't the way to go.
As far as GttB is concerned, i know its a hard concept to grasp, not running a maindeck sweeper, but my game performance actually went up when I cut it, and move them to the sideboard. Really there is only one match up so far I've lost, strictly because i didn't run slagstorm main imo, and that has been to mono green beats. Tokens are about 50-50. Most of the time slagstorm and GttB are interchangeable, simply stalling the game for me till i can start trampling for the win. Other time, if they establish enough life link of there own, I'm left helpless and needed slagstorm more. Its really a race vs tokens without maindeck slagstorms.
Surprisingly, I'm torn on KCB. He is a great card in this deck, hands down ends games if he gets a swing in. Problem is, he never gets a swing in for me. And for costing 5 to get going, I really hoped to expect to see him make more of a dent in my games. But as it stands, hes just a huge target for removal, and or is countered on the spot. I almost feel like those 2 slots would be of better use at 3 or 4 drop creatures, giving us a better curve imo. Especially in a midrange pod version, where I am currently not running a single 4 drop. But at the same time, there are very few creatures I can think of that I would want to sacrifice a Splinterfright to bring into play.
I tested birthing pod without dka and it is quite good in this deck.
However I think 10 milling cards is not enough: you have a high probability to draw none of them. Maybe 1 more birthing pod and some dawntreader elk?
4 Gnaw is a lot, usually one gnaw milled is enough (if you have enough millers). It is a dead card against Solar Flare and believe me, you don't want (too many) dead cards for this match up.
I would probably play 1 Phyrexian metamorph and maybe a strangleroot geist too.
Getting GG T2 isn't as hard for you guys, since you want that G T1, but... I'm not sure the Geist is as strong in this deck as he would be in others.
Dawntreader Elk and I have parted ways, since a while ago I noticed how much I disliked having to leave mana open for him to be useful. That's when I went back to Viridian Emissary, which has been immensely more useful to me.
@Kueson: Forge Devils does its job really, really well ... if you play them after your opponent's 1drop. Otherwise, I found that I always wished it had been a Lavamancer, and that made me a bit sad. But what can we really hope for from a 1drop? Maybe I was too hasty.
I do like the Pod, in theory, but finding space for it was rough, I think. I can see it fitting easier into the midrange deck, especially in place of Trackers Instincts since the blue splash isn't helping all that much, and I, too, am seeing more and more cages to neutralize our flashbacks.
The problem with Roiling Temblor is that it misses some of the most important targets and reasons we'd run sweepers: flying creatures! It's almost to the point where a T2 flipped Delver requires a Slagstorm from us, or we're toast.
What's so funny is that, as much as Kessig Cagebreakers is a wincon all its own, without haste (the reason for my thought on Crimson Mage), it's just too expensive. Yes, I know how that sounds: a 5-drop is too expensive? But it's true. The rest of the curve topping at 4 really makes things smoother, more consistent I've found. Especially if I could add in a few more Huntmaster of the Fells. They really do turn games around simply by being so efficient and demanding an immediate answer. Besides, they can force bad plays by your opponents who really just don't want them to flip. It's pretty funny.
Back to the pod. I see it got it's pros, but the cons is worth to mention tho. True, it can fix your mana by killing emmisary in T3 or something, and thats awesome agreed, but the truth is, that if u don't see Pod in the starthand, I won't draw them at all.
What do pod give us Pros/Cons:
they do fill our grave, by killing bops and emmisarys, but for what cost?
1.) It's not a creep, (neither is shriekhorn)
2.) They're a tech against our very own and beloved lavamancer, by adding only few creeps to the yard, where shriekhorn f.x. was a fountain of both creeps and fodder for the GY.
3.) Pods helps later on by trading our bops from the draw for big threat in wurm fx. But in my mind, thats exactly why I putted lootings in the deck at the first place, and with all those threats in MB it's hardly, you won't dig you way to it.
4.) It might not mean that much, since it provides creeps to GY it self, but it thins the deck for creeps, which means, lootings and mulch gets less effective..
It's not because I hate the pod Idea, I just try to make it obvious, that it issn't THAT great for this deck. I can't find a spot in my deck for them yet. Another thing is, that it forces me to play emmisaries, which I don't want to. I don't see the need for ramping with this low curve the deck provides, and especially when you need some milling before you wanna play threats as splinterfright KCB, wurms and ghouls...
I've noticed that pods solves the problem just fine, but if it's the only pro I can't find a spot for it in my deck. Maybe later, if you convince me, about it's insanity
Basically, everything you just said about Pod was a positive if you think about it.
0) Not seeing pod in your opening hand does not mean that you wont ever draw one. Thats like saying, if you don't see Shreikhorn in your hand, you'll never get it all game. You still draw 1 card per turn, have 4 faithless lootings to cast, and 4 more to flash back. You have plenty of opportunity to draw one. What you stated is not a con, its a fact about the third milling slot. And any mill card that would fill it is subject to this exact same probability to be draw/used in a game.
1) It fills over a slot that wouldn't be a creep anyway, so there is literally no drawback here, because there is no "better option". (A better option being a creature that could provide a heavy mill.)
2) Lavamancer more often then not, has to hit 1-2 creatures from the yard anyway to hit high priority targets as is. It simply does exactly what any other card for the slot would do, fill the graveyard, next.
3) Sure, lootings and mulchs do the "same thing", but I'm not talking about replacing them. The third mill slot inf R/G has very few options. Pods would only replace the void left by Shreikhorn or Tracker's Instincts, and its a void that MUST be filled anyway, 10 mills isn't enough. Pod IS a milling effect, do not forget that. In fact its basically an uber Shreikhorn. It mills every turn, not for two, sure, but it still mills, and it will ALWAYS be a creature.
Getting back to point, pod is a milling card that makes you also have a much stronger board pressense, and much MUCH more controlled board. You can never have to many good creatures on the board, thats what the deck is all about. Filling the GY with creatures, and turning the ones on the field to the left. Pod aids both aspects of that.
4) This is simply a non issue altogether. ANY, and i do mean ANY mill card put into this slot would do the exact same thing. You are literally saying "You shouldn't run mill cards, because it makes the rest of your mil cards ineffective." It dosent matter what mill card you put in this slot, if it hits creatures, like it is saposed to do in the first place, there are going to be less in the deck for other cards. Your whole argument in point four is that it does its job to well, that is a HUGE positive imo.
Pod IS that good for this deck, it does exactly what this deck needs done. IMO better then even faithless lootings and mulch once it gets going.
Ramping is not a bad thing, imo you need to reach 6 mana as early as possible, to allow for 2 flashbacks per turn. And bythe time you have 6 mana, you will likely have a LOT to flash back. Getting to 6 mana in most games pretty much ends them for me. Over two turns, once at 6 mana, I usualy GttB 1-2 times and lootings 1-3 times. That makes for insanely huge creatures, and basically reseting my life total to 20 if not much MUCH more.
Getting GG T2 isn't as hard for you guys, since you want that G T1, but... I'm not sure the Geist is as strong in this deck as he would be in others.
Dawntreader Elk and I have parted ways, since a while ago I noticed how much I disliked having to leave mana open for him to be useful. That's when I went back to Viridian Emissary, which has been immensely more useful to me.
@Kueson: Forge Devils does its job really, really well ... if you play them after your opponent's 1drop. Otherwise, I found that I always wished it had been a Lavamancer, and that made me a bit sad. But what can we really hope for from a 1drop? Maybe I was too hasty.
I do like the Pod, in theory, but finding space for it was rough, I think. I can see it fitting easier into the midrange deck, especially in place of Trackers Instincts since the blue splash isn't helping all that much, and I, too, am seeing more and more cages to neutralize our flashbacks.
The problem with Roiling Temblor is that it misses some of the most important targets and reasons we'd run sweepers: flying creatures! It's almost to the point where a T2 flipped Delver requires a Slagstorm from us, or we're toast.
What's so funny is that, as much as Kessig Cagebreakers is a wincon all its own, without haste (the reason for my thought on Crimson Mage), it's just too expensive. Yes, I know how that sounds: a 5-drop is too expensive? But it's true. The rest of the curve topping at 4 really makes things smoother, more consistent I've found. Especially if I could add in a few more Huntmaster of the Fells. They really do turn games around simply by being so efficient and demanding an immediate answer. Besides, they can force bad plays by your opponents who really just don't want them to flip. It's pretty funny.
Well in my theorized decklist, I wasn't going to replace lavamancers with them, merely run 2-3 along side them as in a pod list, with 2-3 emissaries, mana almost became a non-issue.
Thats pretty much my whole plan with pod at the moment. I don't expect to go BAM I win as soon as pod its! Landing a pod on the field actually gives me more of a control element to playing, allowing me to accurately throw around creatures the moment i need them, as soon as i need them. Flooding the field with X/X tramplers is just one possibility of using pod, and the one I've used the most because when utilizing 4 GttB mainboard, almost any match up becomes a race against the clock.
Pretty much my thoughts on KCB exactly. I could also try and run a list with 2-3 Mages over a few emissary and 1 bird slot like I was gonna try the devils, but I think the better option would be is simply cut the KCBs for Huntmaster of the Fells. Its probably the best 4 drop in standard right now, period. And likely the only creature I would crack a Splinterfright for should I ever decide to pod one out to move on to bigger and better things.
And I think we can all agree, a non counterable Huntmaster of the Fells being dropped into play with a Pod is a damned good thing.
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When it all boils down, I can only think of one negative to running pod in the deck, and only one. It costs 4 mana and 4 life to make it preform as early as possible, only for 1 mill and 1 tutor. But if it can stay on the field for 2-3 turns, it more then pays for itself, eating leftover mana for guaranteed creature mills and creature fixing ability. So its a negative that becomes a positive over time.
All this said, I purpose a question. If such a card existed that stated "Sacrifice a creature, search your library for a creature and put it onto the battlefield." existed at 1 mana with flashback 1, would you not play it in your third milling slot? Its almost exactly what faithless looting does but targeted at putting a creature in your graveyard and giving you a better creature on the field, guaranteed.
That card purposed, I've given some thought to a MINOR, black splash for Altar's Reap instead of a pod list. 1 Swamp and birds/emissaries would be more then enough to cover the splash, and the card itself is pretty solid compared to all other mills for the last slots. It puts 1 creature into your graveyard, and puts 2 cards into your hand. It isn't perfect by any means, and compared to lootings and mulch it lacks, but it has unique benefits vs pod, shreikhorn and trackers that could prove to be alright. That said, its a venture that will likely fail!
@Kueson: I agree with your theory 'bout Pod, now it just have to be tested. The idea with Altar's Reap could be awesome if only it had flashback. Without it, I would play Tracker's and Pod above it all day long.
Well what makes me think it could have a positive impact on gameplay, is simply because it is instant speed. You can still block with a boneyard wurm or something, and end step drop it to draw two cards, of which are highly likely to be more mill or creatures to replace him.
It'll probably preform lacking'ly, but its at least worth a test once I'm done testing pods.
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I don't really know what I would do if I had to weigh 2 damage over losing 2 power/toughness on my main creatures. Seems bad...but I don't know I could be wrong. Maybe try wolfbitten captive? something that we can burn mana on in the beginning? just throwing things ou there.
That said, I cant think of much of anything to replace his raw power when I absolutely need it... I am at a bit of an impasse here. Running Ambush Vipers comes to mind as lavamancer really fills a creature control slot, but its far more limited in many aspects that makes me want to still run lavamancers. (Ambush is useless vs first strike, flying, ext)
Yeah, i feel like NOT running 4 Gnaw to the Bone maindeck is like telling Soul Sisters not to run 4 copies of Martyr of Sands maindeck. It just provides so much life advantage, and game stalling, that I can think of very few other cards that rival its pure advantage. Post board, drop 1-2 and probably trackers for sideboard slots 90% of the time, but in game 1 when you don't know what your up against, GttB seems to help me far more then maindeck slags or any other control method.
Edit:
I've also been thinking, has anyone tested a list with 2 Birthing Pods in place of our third mill? In theory, it does everything we need it too. It can turn Grim Lavamancers and Birds of Paradise draws into Boneyard Wurms or Veridian Emissarys, Boneyard Wurm/Veridian Emissarys into Splinterfrights, and then.. well thats it. I can think of no reason why you would want to mill a freight into anything else, hes the real beast of the deck. All the while, its sending creatures to your graveyard making the creatures your tutoring for bigger when they hit the field. And it in itself is in most cases a turn 3 option, and you could even pop off its ability for 1 mana constantly because running 3-4 Gnaw to the Bone would completely negate its health loss, plus some. (It in fact, fuels you for exactly 2 health for every time the ability is used if you GttB afterwords.) Running 2 mainboard seems like it makes sense, I've just not tested it in a literal game... Could be powerful tho.
- Bonehoard gives p/t based on the number of creatures in all graveyards. That's another reason why it costs so much more. It's twice the fun as a Wreath.
- Grim Lavamancer is one of the few reliable answers this deck has to Mirran Crusader and flipped Delvers. It's also a great way to kill off a surprise Snapcaster. Yes, you must carefully weigh the pros and cons of which spells to exile, but I have found that I almost always have at least 1 Mulch and 1 land in my yard that I'll gladly pitch. I'd not consider his inclusion bad in any way.
- The problem with the Pod is that new Grafdigger's Cage. People want to play it, especially with all the Undying guys running around. (Strangleroot Geist especially)
- GttB is awesome, except when it's not. Too much of a good thing means your hand or your yard will be cluttered with spells and not creatures. Besides, every time I've come across a problem that Gnaw might stall, Slagstorm solved it. Yes, milling a Slagstorm sucks, but it's soooo powerful. It has helped me pull crazy come-from-behind wins like no other.
- Also, randomly, 3x Hellriders on the field at once is hilarious.
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^^^This is my general problem with replacing Slagstorm with more GttB. Typically, I only need 1 or 2 uses of GttB to win the game. In addition, GttB is a one-dimensional spell, while Slagstorm is 4-dimensional: 1) it can kill all your opponent's creatures, thus stopping their attack; 2) it can kill some of your own weenie creatures, thus making your beaters more effective; 3) it can clear out blockers, thus allowing you to swing in for heavy damage; and 4) it can be directed at players, thus able to hit planeswalkers.
Yes, I agree that it is terrible when its milled. But it also extremely versatile in its function. GttB is extremely good at what it does, which is gaining you 20+ life which basically restarts the damage clock that your opponent has to deal. Yes, it is bad against Sword of War and Peace, but using Slagstorm doesn't mean that we won't hit a GttB. Imo, it is useless to have unused GttB in the graveyard or to be at 60+ life, which is what happens when you run 4 of it. With all of our mill, I haven't had a game yet where I haven't drawn/milled a GttB, except for a few where I lost before I would have been able to flash it back anyway.
And on the discussion of Grim Lavamancer, he is half the reason to run red. I can understand why you might not like him as much in the aggro version, since there might be less extra cards in the graveyard; but in the midrange version, there are typically either plenty of cards in the graveyard for you to use or plenty of creatures, which means that you are probably in a good position anyway. Considering the meta is heavy delver and other solid early drops that you need to be able to respond to quickly, I would never imagine dropping Grim.
I'm still not sure if this deck will play better, but I'm going to test it out. Still considering Crimson Mage as a creature-haste-giver, but not sure what to pull for it. Maybe even the Huntmaster :/
4x Grim Lavamancer
4x Stromkirk Noble
4x Splinterfright
3x Phyrexian Metamorph
2x Huntmaster of the Fells
4x Hero of Oxid Ridge
3x Kessig Cagebreakers
3x Ghoultree
Spells (12)
4x Faithless Looting
4x Mulch
2x Gnaw to the Bone
2x Slagstorm
3x Forest
5x Mountain
4x Copperline Gorge
4x Rootbound Crag
2x Kessig Wolf Run
3x Evolving Wilds
2x Ratchet Bomb
3x Ancient Grudge
2x Slagstorm
3x Beast Within
2x Daybreak Ranger
2x Thrun, the Last Troll
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The list looks decent enough. I would put in -1x Hero of Oxid Ridge and +1x Huntsmaster, since Huntsmaster is good on a weak field, while Hero is good on a strong field. For your question, I would decide based on the meta of the FNM: if it looks like a lot of people will be running U/x decks, I would cut a Kessig Cagebreakers and a Phyrexian Metamorph for 2 Crimson Mages. Otherwise, I might consider sticking with what you've got here. From my testing, KCB has been terrible against U/x decks. He's actually become my least thrilling creature, since I hardly ever get to swing with him; but if I do, it's usually gg ;), so I would never want him as less than a 2-of, but never more than a 2-of.
@ lotusmonk: I'm sorry that you didn't have much success with the deck so far. I've been doing a lot of testing with it and I've been doing really well. I did take my deck to an FNM last week and went undefeated for the first time in a long while. Currently, my only bad matchup is against control, which is, I guess, the nature of the beast: aggro --> control --> midrange --> aggro... But considering the current meta, I would rather be strong against mid-range and aggro than control.
If you are playing in a heavy control area, I would suggest either running the aggro version or the U/G version (I've been checking in on their deck a bit, and apparently it does well against control due to extra pressure off of Schreeching Skaab); in that sense, I don't mind being the anti-aggro version of Splinterfright, kind of like Grixis is the anti-aggro version of U/B control.
I've also faced off a little bit against smallpox and zombies; Mulch keeps us running in cards to pitch and GttB is a nightmare for those decks, since it wrecks their preplanned clock.
For my latest testing, I've been running Hellrider instead of the Hero, and it's actually testing better than the Hero. I think I'm going to do the full switch soon. Guaranteed damage is a really, really nice thing, and in multiples? Dear lord, that's fun
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- By teh same logic, Postmortem Lunge is unplayable because its only 2 of my 75 cards, and is stopped by cage. >.>. If my enemy sides in 3-4 Grafdigger's Cage to counter only two cards in my whole deck, let them imo. Thats actually an advantage for us because they had to screw over something in there deck for those 3-4 slots, *I assume. Siding in 1-2 would be silly for consistency.*, and all we have to do us make it into Faithless Looting fodder, or be more aggressive with Mulch and Splinterfright mill.
TLDR; I see almost no downside to the cage when played against us, when running a small amount of pods. It can only lead the opponent into an improper sideboard while not really hurting us. I'm probably going to attempt a list with 2 pods soon, see how well it preforms.
- Well first, in my list, i ran GttBs over Slagstroms, so it didn't mess with creature count in the process. As well, the logic behind "Besides, every time I've come across a problem that Gnaw might stall, Slagstorm solved it." can go both ways in *most* situations. Any situation Slagstorm might have stalled, Gnaw to the Bone could stall as well. Really Slagstorm only ever buys me 2-4 turns of my enemy not attacking, because they have to build up an army again. But if I had GttB, they might still be attacking me, sure, but I set them back 2-4 turns worth of damage, creating the same gap.
Ive been able to completely get around this problem simply by just KWRing for zero. Your creatures are big enough in any given game. 1-2 trample creatures swinging every turn while you spend 3 mana a turn gaining 20+ life will eventually beat your opponent into submission unless they can deal with your creatures, and fast.
TLDR; They have been almost interchangeable in 90% of my testing matchups, and I prefer leaning twords GttB because it has flashback, so it doesn't have the added possibility of clogging my deck. And either way, my list had ran 3 Slagstorm in the sideboard for those other 10% of my games that found it to be the superior option.
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This is just my experiences with the deck thus far however. It could be that after much more testing, id come to the same conclusion as you guys, but sense finding this thread I've played almost 75-80 matchs online, and these are my findings thus far.
Maybe the Slagstorm v. Gnaw debate is more a meta thing. I just know that the last time I lost it was due to tons of tokens, and those tokens were never bigger than X/3. Slagstorm fixes that problem, because with this deck you really only need one turn to stabilize and swarm if they're out of creatures. Gnaw, on the other hand, just delays the inevitable. But then again, I've also found that only having 2 Gnaws was enough -- enough that I usually felt free to discard one to a Looting and still have it when I needed it.
Maybe the third Gnaw will push it over the edge. Let me know how the testing goes. This is all about reps, all about putting in the games, and seeing how it responds to the other decks out there.
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Minor results of a quick two out of three I just did after posting, with 2 Birthing Pod maindeck.
Vs. White/Black Tokens
Flat out, pod was the MVP of game 1. I turn one'd a birds, into a turn 2 pod, turn 3 I milled birds for Viridian Emissary using the birds as its own mana sourse to the ability, and double Faithless Looting, pitching 2 Gnaw to the Bone, 1 Boneyard Wurm and 1 Mountian. Turn 4 I attacked with the emissary, they let it threw *they had nothing but 1/1 tokens at this point*. Then proceeded to mill the emissary for a Splinterfright at a 3/3. Turn 5 I milled a lavamancer and a birds threw fright, and then I flashed back a faithless, drawing into my third faithless, pitching 2 creatures and then played the faithless in my hand, pitching 2 more creatures, and swung for 9. The rest of the turns I just flashed back a GttB and a Faithless each turn having topped out at 6 mana and eventually just grind'ed the game out till I won.
Game 2 I noticed in the chat line of Cockatrice that he sideboarded, so I assumed cages and just simply sided out the pods and 3 GttB for 3 Slagstorm and 2 Shreikhorn. He in fact turn one caged, but it really didn't slow me down. I proceeded to play a "regular" game with the deck and beat him outright, him putting himself a turn behind pretty much ended it for him. A side note, I never got to use the Slagstorms.
Game three, didn't exist! Yay me!
When it comes down to it, game 1 was pretty much pod. It was a turn 2 drop that fetched a free mana threw emissary and proceeded to net me my big fattie. The ability to tutor for the only creature in the deck with trample was really broken imo. I never drew into a splinterfright in either game, but game 1 I just said "You know what, i feel like winning the game!" so i hand picked a fright out of my deck and did.
Edit:
Ill probably play a mock tournament tomorrow with some friends and a few local players I know threw FNMs over Cockatrice, 18 people, 4 round swiss. Ill try to remember to write down all the important stuff and give my report sometime tomorrow.
Also it makes Stragleroot Geist absurd (but he's also counterproductive for the deck. We could also run a singleton Thrun now against control.
My Trade Thread
I defiantly like how it can become a draw fixer and a mana fixer all in one. Need mana, pitch things to fetch emissaries or if you were lucky enough to draw one, play and pitch it the same turn. Keep getting utility creatures when you need beaters? No problem, your 1 mana and 2 life away from the exact card you needed. Its defiantly powerful in a splinterfright shell.
And yes, my sideboard is a mess right now. Any suggestions on that?
In terms of playtesting: Essentially, this deck needs a R source T1, and a 1drop creature, or it's in trouble. Mana can come after that, but T1 is key. Mulligan aggressively. Heck, one game I even ended up pinging my own Emissary with a Lavamancer just to get an extra mana so next turn I could Slagstorm or Splinterfright, whichever I needed more.
4x Grim Lavamancer
4x Stromkirk Noble
2x Viridian Emissary
4x Splinterfright
3x Phyrexian Metamorph
2x Huntmaster of the Fells
3x Hellrider
2x Kessig Cagebreakers
3x Ghoultree
4x Faithless Looting
4x Mulch
2x Gnaw to the Bone
2x Slagstorm
Lands (21)
2x Forest
6x Mountain
4x Copperline Gorge
4x Rootbound Crag
2x Kessig Wolf Run
3x Evolving Wilds
2x Ratchet Bomb
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Crimson Mage
2x Slagstorm
2x Beast Within
2x Daybreak Ranger
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
2x Postmortem Lunge
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Yeah I think it was originally bearsman's idea. I'm gonna try to get some pods. Maybe try taking out the shriekhorns for pods in your current list?
My Trade Thread
Yeah I cant imagine myself being the first one to suggest running them, they just make to much sense to me in the deck. Its defiantly not a 4 of by any means. But replacing the 2 of on Shreikhorns or Tracker's Instincts seems like just the right amount, and the deck automatically supports this in most cookie cutter lists.
I think its defiantly worth some serious testing, ima leave them in my online lists for now. Before just having refomatted my computer within the past 45 min, i got 2 more matchs in, first one I went 2-1 against delver, grim lavamancer really being MVP there, and half the reason we run him, go figure. >.>. The second I went 1-2 against mono green beats. I just couldn't hold them off, and not mainboarding slagstorm could be the whole reason.
As well, not getting into some serious testing pre and post sideboard, I'm noticing a lot more cages being pulled on me. As much as I like GttB, its actually hurting me in most games post board, because i always pitch them first if i don't see a cage on the board, only to see my opponent drop a cage the following turn, rendering all the flashbacks I'm pitching useless and really tripping me up.
My Trade Thread
4 Boneyard Wurm
4 Ghoultree
4 Splinterfright
2 Kessig Cagebreakers
Creatures "Utility": 12
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Viridian Emissary
Mill: 10
4 Faithless Looting
4 Mulch
2 Birthing Pod
4 Gnaw to the Bone
Lands: 20
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Copperline Gorge
2 Kessig Wolf Run
8 Forest
2 Mountain
3 Slagstorm
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Shreikhorn
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Postmortem Lunge
2 Bonehoard
1 Kessig Cagebreakers
Shreikhorns are in my sideboard specifically to side in when i know cages are going to be sided in against me, so i take out the biggest reason for them siding in, hoping to force there hand into somewhat dead draws.
Considering I am also running the pods, i might cut the emissary down by 1-2, and possibly even a birds by 1 to make room for a few Forge Devils, just for a little more early game battlefield control. Reason being I'll more then likely only "need" 1-2 emissaries to help with land fixing and with pods in the list, I can just tutor for them if i did not get one.
My Trade Thread
In a non pod version, somewhat lacking. I use her when i go tri color, splashing blue as a mana fixer, but I've started to feel like blue splash R/G isn't the way to go.
As far as GttB is concerned, i know its a hard concept to grasp, not running a maindeck sweeper, but my game performance actually went up when I cut it, and move them to the sideboard. Really there is only one match up so far I've lost, strictly because i didn't run slagstorm main imo, and that has been to mono green beats. Tokens are about 50-50. Most of the time slagstorm and GttB are interchangeable, simply stalling the game for me till i can start trampling for the win. Other time, if they establish enough life link of there own, I'm left helpless and needed slagstorm more. Its really a race vs tokens without maindeck slagstorms.
Surprisingly, I'm torn on KCB. He is a great card in this deck, hands down ends games if he gets a swing in. Problem is, he never gets a swing in for me. And for costing 5 to get going, I really hoped to expect to see him make more of a dent in my games. But as it stands, hes just a huge target for removal, and or is countered on the spot. I almost feel like those 2 slots would be of better use at 3 or 4 drop creatures, giving us a better curve imo. Especially in a midrange pod version, where I am currently not running a single 4 drop. But at the same time, there are very few creatures I can think of that I would want to sacrifice a Splinterfright to bring into play.
Getting GG T2 isn't as hard for you guys, since you want that G T1, but... I'm not sure the Geist is as strong in this deck as he would be in others.
Dawntreader Elk and I have parted ways, since a while ago I noticed how much I disliked having to leave mana open for him to be useful. That's when I went back to Viridian Emissary, which has been immensely more useful to me.
@Kueson:
Forge Devils does its job really, really well ... if you play them after your opponent's 1drop. Otherwise, I found that I always wished it had been a Lavamancer, and that made me a bit sad. But what can we really hope for from a 1drop? Maybe I was too hasty.
I do like the Pod, in theory, but finding space for it was rough, I think. I can see it fitting easier into the midrange deck, especially in place of Trackers Instincts since the blue splash isn't helping all that much, and I, too, am seeing more and more cages to neutralize our flashbacks.
The problem with Roiling Temblor is that it misses some of the most important targets and reasons we'd run sweepers: flying creatures! It's almost to the point where a T2 flipped Delver requires a Slagstorm from us, or we're toast.
What's so funny is that, as much as Kessig Cagebreakers is a wincon all its own, without haste (the reason for my thought on Crimson Mage), it's just too expensive. Yes, I know how that sounds: a 5-drop is too expensive? But it's true. The rest of the curve topping at 4 really makes things smoother, more consistent I've found. Especially if I could add in a few more Huntmaster of the Fells. They really do turn games around simply by being so efficient and demanding an immediate answer. Besides, they can force bad plays by your opponents who really just don't want them to flip. It's pretty funny.
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http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=307188
Basically, everything you just said about Pod was a positive if you think about it.
Pod IS that good for this deck, it does exactly what this deck needs done. IMO better then even faithless lootings and mulch once it gets going.
Ramping is not a bad thing, imo you need to reach 6 mana as early as possible, to allow for 2 flashbacks per turn. And bythe time you have 6 mana, you will likely have a LOT to flash back. Getting to 6 mana in most games pretty much ends them for me. Over two turns, once at 6 mana, I usualy GttB 1-2 times and lootings 1-3 times. That makes for insanely huge creatures, and basically reseting my life total to 20 if not much MUCH more.
Well in my theorized decklist, I wasn't going to replace lavamancers with them, merely run 2-3 along side them as in a pod list, with 2-3 emissaries, mana almost became a non-issue.
Thats pretty much my whole plan with pod at the moment. I don't expect to go BAM I win as soon as pod its! Landing a pod on the field actually gives me more of a control element to playing, allowing me to accurately throw around creatures the moment i need them, as soon as i need them. Flooding the field with X/X tramplers is just one possibility of using pod, and the one I've used the most because when utilizing 4 GttB mainboard, almost any match up becomes a race against the clock.
Pretty much my thoughts on KCB exactly. I could also try and run a list with 2-3 Mages over a few emissary and 1 bird slot like I was gonna try the devils, but I think the better option would be is simply cut the KCBs for Huntmaster of the Fells. Its probably the best 4 drop in standard right now, period. And likely the only creature I would crack a Splinterfright for should I ever decide to pod one out to move on to bigger and better things.
And I think we can all agree, a non counterable Huntmaster of the Fells being dropped into play with a Pod is a damned good thing.
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When it all boils down, I can only think of one negative to running pod in the deck, and only one. It costs 4 mana and 4 life to make it preform as early as possible, only for 1 mill and 1 tutor. But if it can stay on the field for 2-3 turns, it more then pays for itself, eating leftover mana for guaranteed creature mills and creature fixing ability. So its a negative that becomes a positive over time.
All this said, I purpose a question. If such a card existed that stated "Sacrifice a creature, search your library for a creature and put it onto the battlefield." existed at 1 mana with flashback 1, would you not play it in your third milling slot? Its almost exactly what faithless looting does but targeted at putting a creature in your graveyard and giving you a better creature on the field, guaranteed.
That card purposed, I've given some thought to a MINOR, black splash for Altar's Reap instead of a pod list. 1 Swamp and birds/emissaries would be more then enough to cover the splash, and the card itself is pretty solid compared to all other mills for the last slots. It puts 1 creature into your graveyard, and puts 2 cards into your hand. It isn't perfect by any means, and compared to lootings and mulch it lacks, but it has unique benefits vs pod, shreikhorn and trackers that could prove to be alright. That said, its a venture that will likely fail!
Wall of text, out!
Is this list right? I plan to run it at FNM:
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Boneyard Wurm
4 Viridian Emissary
4 Splinterfright
4 Ghoultree
2 Kessig Cagebreakers
4 Gnaw to the Bone
4 Faithless Looting
4 Mulch
1 Island
1 Mountain
8 Forest
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Rootbound Crag
2 Kessig Wolf Run
Well what makes me think it could have a positive impact on gameplay, is simply because it is instant speed. You can still block with a boneyard wurm or something, and end step drop it to draw two cards, of which are highly likely to be more mill or creatures to replace him.
It'll probably preform lacking'ly, but its at least worth a test once I'm done testing pods.