You should look at the cards in each one (you can find lists online for the Magic Duels version of the sets) and try to figure out which cards you really want to make a deck out of.
Definitely this. You will have a more fun time playing with a deck you want at its most optimal level.
That being said, I have been loving what Shadows over Innistrad has in Duels. Reasonable removal(Sinister Concoction, Lightning Axe, Fiery Temper, Angelic Purge), respectable creatures at the common and uncommon level, just nice cards all around.
I am admittedly biased against Battle for Zendikar as a whole, though, so take my opinion as a grain of salt.
I feel like I'm breaking some cardinal rule of forum posting when quoting myself, but feel the need to discuss this deck I posted now that I've been playing with in in VS mode (rather than just against the AI).
I should not be winning with this junk* deck and yet I am. The fact that half the time I'm swinging in for the kill while my opponents have no cards in their library tells me that the deck should choose a win condition and stick to it instead of spreading its game everywhere, but for the life of me I can't figure out what to change, and part of me doesn't want to change a thing.
The only loss I've had playing it was against a reanimator deck. Reanimator decks has always been favored when playing against mill strategies, since the mill decks feed their game plan. When I jumped into the next VS Match to my chagrin it matched me against the same reanimator player, but I decided to stick it out now that I new the other guy's deck and ended up winning with a Forgotten Creation helping me to cycle my hand away and find enough Instants and Soceries to transform a Thing in the Ice.
I still think reanimator is a bad matchup, but because this deck's game plan is essentially all over the place and most of the cards in the deck are just really good at out tempoing the opponent, it meant that I could refrain from playing mill cards and still dig for a way to win. This makes me like the fact that the deck doesn't go all-in on one strategy and why I don't want to change it.
*(I typed in "jank" on my iPad and autocorrect changed it to "junk". Normally I hate this sort of correction, but I have to say it it wasn't wrong in this case and almost makes me want to rename it "Jeskai Junk".)
Hey All, I don't have the complete list because I'm still missing cards but I've been talking with a few Duels players and the consensus is that Superfriends is (probably) at the top of the food chain, with a 4-color variant as the most popular.
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Vorthos-y Johnny. All will be One
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
Hey All, I don't have the complete list because I'm still missing cards but I've been talking with a few Duels players and the consensus is that Superfriends is (probably) at the top of the food chain, with a 4-color variant as the most popular.
I am running Naya colors and doing very well, lots of early game burn/mana fixing it goes very well so long as I don't draw too many lands (seriously, I have cut the thing to 20 lands and my losses tend to be cause I draw too many lands)
Well it has been another week and I think I've found a new favorite deck. I feel like a I've the habit now of building a new deck in Magic Duels every week, and then posting it on these forums.
It's simple enough and a blast to play when it gets going. It's plan is to drop a bunch of low cost creatures with prowess and then cast a ton of cantripping spells to pump your team when you attack. I don't know what else to say about it since its a pretty simple game plan with two copies of Rise from the Tides to help the deck recover from board wipes. After much experimenting I decided that 22 land felt about right and Telling Time is in the deck because Magic Duels doesn't have Anticipate.
I agree that it could be faster, but I've had to make do with the less than complete card list that Magic Duels gets from each set and as a result certain cards that are in standard right now aren't available in duels (like Sanguinary Mage, Elusive Spellfist, Magmatic Insight and Tormenting Voice). If I had Tormenting Voice then I think I'd try some madness spells. I also dislike the mana base for all the "comes into play tapped" lands, but I feel it's a nessisary evil because I often need something like UUURR to string together a bunch of cantrips when I've built a big enough board state and I don't want to get color screwed, which can happen when a deck's two color mana base is comprised entirely of basic lands.
I tried using Docent of Perfection and Bedlam Reveler, but both didn't make the final cut. Docent just sat at the top of the curve and clogged up my hand too much and Reveler did much the same. The Reveler got replaced with Collective Defiance as an altogether more versatile way to get rid of a handfull of land and it also can be cast as early as turn three. Docent as well as the two planeswalkers got cut in favor of a much lower curve in the form of four Thermo-Alchemists.
Overall the deck's much more consistant and faster, I switched out some the spells for four Galvanic Bombardment and removed Telling time in favor of four Take Inventory. I also kept in a single Rise From the Tides for recovery after a board wipe (and because it's just a really fun spell to use to flip Thing in the Ice). Both Rise From the Tides and Mirrorwing Dragon are by far the late game all stars of this deck and casting either one practically wins the game on the spot if they resolve and you live to untap with them on your next turn.
Been playing a GB delirium list that is noticeably light on the delerium. Mainly because apart from Ishkanah, Grafwidow and Mindwrack Demon there aren't many delerium cards in duels that I feel are worth playing (Gnarlwood Dryad is decent, but there is so much flying in this new meta that I took them out in favor of other things). This has been by far the most consistant deck I've built since the Kaladesh update.
In find Fleshbag Marauder to be useful here because it serves a dual purpose of removal that I can retrieve with Grapple with the past and a sacrifice outlet for Primal Druid to help me ramp into the late game.
I tried running Eldritch Evolution, but to be honest it never felt like it fit in the deck and I ended up taking out and put in a third Marauder and an Ever After because my graveyard fills so quickly that I rarely don't have two targets for it when I get to six mana. After some more testing I added the 2nd Ever After as my 61st card since aside from the single Greenwarden of Murasa, the deck has no reliable way of bringing back an Ever After that I've self milled
Been playing a GB delirium list that is noticeably light on the delerium. Mainly because apart from Ishkanah, Grafwidow and Mindwrack Demon there aren't many delerium cards in duels that I feel are worth playing (Gnarlwood Dryad is decent, but there is so much flying in this new meta that I took them out in favor of other things). This has been by far the most consistant deck I've built since the Kaladesh update.
In find Fleshbag Marauder to be useful here because it serves a dual purpose of removal that I can retrieve with Grapple with the past and a sacrifice outlet for Primal Druid to help me ramp into the late game.
I tried running Eldritch Evolution, but to be honest it never felt like it fit in the deck and I ended up taking out and put in a third Marauder and an Ever After because my graveyard fills so quickly that I rarely don't have two targets for it when I get to six mana. After some more testing I added the 2nd Ever After as my 61st card since aside from the single Greenwarden of Murasa, the deck has no reliable way of bringing back an Ever After that I've self milled
seeing that you have almost nothing with delirium... is Vessel of Narcency REALLY necessary?
Vessel of Nascency really occupies a flex spot, really I'd like Grim Flayer and/or something else that gives me more self milling. However since Magic Duels doesn't give the player all the cards from every set I settled on the Vessel since there aren't that many options that I can use to fill my graveyard for three or less mana. The only other real option is Crop Sigil, but I like the vessel because it's quicker.
Vessel of Nascency really occupies a flex spot, really I'd like Grim Flayer and/or something else that gives me more self milling. However since Magic Duels doesn't give the player all the cards from every set I settled on the Vessel since there aren't that many options that I can use to fill my graveyard for three or less mana. The only other real option is Crop Sigil, but I like the vessel because it's quicker.
Gather the Pack seems a lot better in a vacuum.
Digs deeper, you'll get a creature from Vessel the vast majority of time...
Vessel of Narcency has the advantage of being an enchantment which is a lot rarer in your deck, though.
The enchantment card type does help in turning on delirium for Ishkanah and Mindwrack Demon, but the main reason I prefer the vessel over Gather the pack is because my deck has a little bit of a renaimator theme going and I usually find myself grabbing a land or Planeswalker with the vessel and putting any big creatures I reveal into the graveyard. Getting a land can especially be useful since the deck doesn't really hit it's stride until I get to six lands and if I'm not being pressured by my opponent I often use Grapple and the vessel to make sure I'm hitting every land drop.
This is a Bant humans deck I've been doing well with lately. Actually, 'doing well' may be an understatement. Losses are exceedingly rare. However, I do play a fair share of opponents who think that decks with 65+ cards is a good idea. I've also been lucky to get three copies of Reflector Mage despite only having 26% of Oath. Lots of lines of play available. MVP might be Whirler Rogue, as it breaks stalemates like a champ.
After playing my last deck a ton I've decided to build another deck in which I can explore a full-on reanimator strategy using 2 Ever Afters, 3 Necromantic Summons and maybe a few Rise from the Grave if I feel the deck needs more reanimation spells. Currently I'm leaning toward a BRx build. Either Mardu, Jund or BRC(colorless). White would expand the number of planeswalkers I can use, open up my removal options and a offer me angels as reanimation targets. Green gives me a whole host of big creatures to dump in the graveyard the most useful of which is Greenwarden of Murasa. Colorless mainly opens up Reality Smasher, Thought-Knot Seer and perhaps Endbringer.
Why Red? Because Cathartic Reunion seems a pitch perfect card purpose built to help put big creatures in the graveyard and dig for a reanimation spell. I only wish Magic Duels had put Goblin Dark-Dwellers in its card list when the OGW expansion was released so I could get extra uses out of reunion.
Other cards I'm considering are Sanitarium Skeleton on the low end because it makes a late game reunion top deck less of a dead draw and of course the standard all-star Smuggler's Copter.
I followed through with my Jund reanimator idea above, but found it a little too inconsistent to be worth posting. However I do have a new deck I really like. It started with me trying to figure out if there was a lifegain deck worth building in the limited cards duels gets from each set. Turns out there is, and I think it could be quite oppressive to play against once it's tuned. Here's what I have built so far.
Cards that I tried but didn't make the cut: Linvala, the Preserver - I found that her ETB abilities were almost never active because I usually had more life and more creatures than my opponent.
Essence Extraction - This was originally my method of choice to transform Lone Rider but I found this deck can sometimes struggle to get two black mana in the early game where this matters the most, Blessed Alliance is better since it can be cast a turn earlier, is less mana intensive and can also transform the Rider.
Call the Bloodline - I thought this might be a useful card to dump excess land to, but found I never used it.
Drana's Emissary - I eventually decided that I preferred the Evangel over this as a source of life gain. After dropping it I decided to go in on my human tribal subtheme and added the lieutenant to pump lone rider and militia captain to combo with the lieutenant and Evangel. This also has the benefit of giving Bruna more targets to bring back from the graveyard in the late game.
Filigree Familiar - It never gained enough life for me to transform Lone Rider and just sat on the battlefield without adding much to the deck. I removed it in favor of more human tribal support.
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar - I feel like he probably has a place here, but I'm tired of playing him in every white deck I build so I left him out more because of my personal preferences than lack of being useful.
Explaining some of my more unusual choices:
Sandstone Bridge - Perhaps one of the most deceptively useful cards, it pumps lone rider and makes it very unprofitable for an opponent to attack next turn if the rider transforms. The fact that it comes into play tapped isn't as bothersome here as it is in other decks.
Geier Reach Sanitarium - I originally had two Blighted Steppe in the deck, but saw them way too often, I pulled out one and put in a copy of the Sanitarium as a way for me to dig for answers if I needed it. It has been more useful than I expected it to be, the only thing preventing me from putting in a second copy is the fact that it's legendary.
Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim - Even though I often get to 30 life I rarely use her second ability. She's in here because she trades with everything on the ground and is pretty much unblockable because the AI never wants to trade with a two mana creature. She's especially good if given vigilance from Sandstone bridge or Always Watching.
Solemn Offering - It gains life and is rarely useless when playing against the current artifact heavy AI decks.
That's because I tend to play against the AI the most. I don't know what it is about my internet connection, but a lot of the time when I try to find an online VS match I just sit and watch the searching for other players screen for five minutes before giving up and going back to the AI. Perhaps it's more a problem with the iPad version of magic duels than my connection, but most of the time online play for me results in a lot of waiting for matches and very little gameplay.
I enjoy most playing 5c superfriends. I put in most of my pws + the owths and mass removal. It's a bit weak against vehicle decks and some who run Fevered Visions but wins most of the other matchups. Apart from that I play Grixis and Dimir control.
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I apologize for my English, it's not my main language.
Been fooling around with a very weird deck that started with me experimenting with the Trial and Cartouche cards. I feel like I could have something here. It plays a super grindy midrange game, but also can really overwhelm my opponents if they're not running much removal, it also has a fairly good game against aggro because of the deceptive amount of lifegain within the deck. It's only real weakness is tokens and combo (since it's all sorcery speed).
Just about every card here has proven its worth, Ovyia offers great virtual card advantage on a stalled board and helps give the deck big creatures that it can use to fight other big creatures with the Cartouche of Strength.
Gifted Aetherborn, Herald of the Pantheon and Cartouche of Ambition give the deck so much lifegain that, unless my opponent is attacking for lethal, I prefer to not block because I can regain the life later with a 5/3 beast with lifelink or simply from the constant +1 life of the Herald. Gifted Aetherborn also works really well with Cartouche of Strength because it can kill any creature and gain me three life in the process (while never feeling like a two-for one since the Cartouche also bounces all of my trials).
Aid from the Cowl is amazing here, in a deck that's bouncing permanents practically every turn and has 58 permanents to reveal. I added in Cradle of the Accursed to help activate revolt in the longer games and it works much better than I expected it to, I'm almost tempted to add in a third one even though that would give the deck five lands that don't produce colored mana.
Edit-
Changed the list a bit, there's enough double black costs to make me feel like I needed more mana fixing so took away a number of basic lands and added three Foul Orchards as well as four Evolving Wilds for added Tireless Tracker and Aid from the Cowl triggers.
I am starting the game. I am still playing the history mode Shadows over Innistrad. My card pool is very limited. What are the best colors to start playing?
I think you can build an okay red/white aggressive deck to start with.
Long time lurker, first time poster. I dropped Duels Origins when BFZ was released (*really* not a fan of that set / mechanics) but recently picked it back up. Prior to picking up the app game I was a physical card player back in the mid- to late 1990s.
Anyway, for a long while I've been enamored of the deck listed below -- a 2015 post by Technomagus. (I had to look up what 'Sultai' means, though.) I like the concept of the 'tapout control' deck, where you are in control of the board even though you're not sitting behind open mana.
I've been having some decent luck with a Sultai Tapout Control deck. Strong color fixing, lots of removal, and a nasty top-end. I'm currently sitting at Rank 30, somewhere like 36-6 in games, mostly due to flooding (though I did lose a few games to legitimately being outplayed, and one to misordering blockers because it's really counterintuitive).
The numbers might be slightly off, as I'm typing this from memory and am not at home at the moment to check. The deck is a little slow starting off, but can really punish other slow decks or decks that stumble early. I've had numerous players ragequit against variations of this deck. Liliana Emblem + Fleshbag Marauder is disturbingly oppressive and pretty much impossible to deal with in this format.
This is purely an Origins deck so it doesn't take into account card rotations or the many newer sets. For example, Gatekeeper Vine and Mwonvuli Acid Moss were both removed which makes the mana smoothing more difficult. I have been trying various combinations of Ainok Guide, Oashra Cultivator, and Explosive Vegetation but would love some suggestions for cards from other sets that can help here.
I also feel like Cruel Revival might not be the best anti-creature spell now that a bunch of Embalm creatures keep returning to the battlefield and becoming Zombies.
But in general I highly enjoy decks like this, with a lot of interesting ETB or Enters The Battlefield creatures (we used to call them '187' creatures) combined with 'good stuff' cards. Any thoughts on current decks that fit the same niche?
And as noted the combination of Liliana's Emblem plus Fleshbag Marauder is utterly ridiculous. (Basically you force your opponent to sacrifice a creature every turn, yours and theirs, until you reanimate all of their creatures.)
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Definitely this. You will have a more fun time playing with a deck you want at its most optimal level.
That being said, I have been loving what Shadows over Innistrad has in Duels. Reasonable removal(Sinister Concoction, Lightning Axe, Fiery Temper, Angelic Purge), respectable creatures at the common and uncommon level, just nice cards all around.
I am admittedly biased against Battle for Zendikar as a whole, though, so take my opinion as a grain of salt.
Special thanks to XenoNinja of Heroes of the Plane Studios for the awesome avy!
I feel like I'm breaking some cardinal rule of forum posting when quoting myself, but feel the need to discuss this deck I posted now that I've been playing with in in VS mode (rather than just against the AI).
I should not be winning with this junk* deck and yet I am. The fact that half the time I'm swinging in for the kill while my opponents have no cards in their library tells me that the deck should choose a win condition and stick to it instead of spreading its game everywhere, but for the life of me I can't figure out what to change, and part of me doesn't want to change a thing.
The only loss I've had playing it was against a reanimator deck. Reanimator decks has always been favored when playing against mill strategies, since the mill decks feed their game plan. When I jumped into the next VS Match to my chagrin it matched me against the same reanimator player, but I decided to stick it out now that I new the other guy's deck and ended up winning with a Forgotten Creation helping me to cycle my hand away and find enough Instants and Soceries to transform a Thing in the Ice.
I still think reanimator is a bad matchup, but because this deck's game plan is essentially all over the place and most of the cards in the deck are just really good at out tempoing the opponent, it meant that I could refrain from playing mill cards and still dig for a way to win. This makes me like the fact that the deck doesn't go all-in on one strategy and why I don't want to change it.
*(I typed in "jank" on my iPad and autocorrect changed it to "junk". Normally I hate this sort of correction, but I have to say it it wasn't wrong in this case and almost makes me want to rename it "Jeskai Junk".)
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
I am running Naya colors and doing very well, lots of early game burn/mana fixing it goes very well so long as I don't draw too many lands (seriously, I have cut the thing to 20 lands and my losses tend to be cause I draw too many lands)
Dragons of Legend, Lead by Scion of the UR-Dragon
The Gitrog Monster
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Shogun Saskia
Hive World
Atraxa hates fun
Abzan
2 Abbot of Keral Keep
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Stormchaser Mage
2 Thing in the Ice
3 Umara Entangler
3 Jhessian Thief
2 Jori En, Ruin Diver
4 Expidite
4 Fiery Impulse
4 Slip Through Space
3 Telling Time
3 Grip of the Roil
2 Rise from the Tides
Planeswalkers: (2)
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
5 Island
3 Mountain
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Wandering Fumarole
2 Skyline Castcade
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Highland Lake
It's simple enough and a blast to play when it gets going. It's plan is to drop a bunch of low cost creatures with prowess and then cast a ton of cantripping spells to pump your team when you attack. I don't know what else to say about it since its a pretty simple game plan with two copies of Rise from the Tides to help the deck recover from board wipes. After much experimenting I decided that 22 land felt about right and Telling Time is in the deck because Magic Duels doesn't have Anticipate.
2 Abbot of Keral Keep
3 Stormchaser Mage
4 Thermo-Alchemist
2 Thing in the Ice
2 Jori En, Ruin Diver
1 Mirrorwing Dragon
Instants:
4 Expedite
2 Fiery Impulse
4 Galvanic Bombardment
3 Grip of the Roil
4 Slip Through Space
4 Take Inventory
2 Collective Defiance
1 Rise from the Tides
Land:
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Geier Reach Sanitarium
4 Highland Lake
3 Island
5 Mountain
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Wandering Fumarole
I tried using Docent of Perfection and Bedlam Reveler, but both didn't make the final cut. Docent just sat at the top of the curve and clogged up my hand too much and Reveler did much the same. The Reveler got replaced with Collective Defiance as an altogether more versatile way to get rid of a handfull of land and it also can be cast as early as turn three. Docent as well as the two planeswalkers got cut in favor of a much lower curve in the form of four Thermo-Alchemists.
Overall the deck's much more consistant and faster, I switched out some the spells for four Galvanic Bombardment and removed Telling time in favor of four Take Inventory. I also kept in a single Rise From the Tides for recovery after a board wipe (and because it's just a really fun spell to use to flip Thing in the Ice). Both Rise From the Tides and Mirrorwing Dragon are by far the late game all stars of this deck and casting either one practically wins the game on the spot if they resolve and you live to untap with them on your next turn.
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Expedition Envoy (eh, early drop)
Reflector Mage (self explanatory)
Dauntless River Marshall ? (3/2 for 2, tpas creatures late game)
Selfless Spirit (flyer, works well with Nebelgast Herald )
Nebelgast Herald (flash on this guy has been very great, swing for 2 following turn)
Thalia, Heretic Cathar (stops haste, decent body with first strike)
Tattered Hunter (lol, flyer, Nebelgast feed)
Wharf Infiltrator (suprisingly good here, draws cards, pumps out 3/2)
Sylvan Advocate (early beater, dodges Impulse/Galvanic Bombardment)
Frost Lynx (another body that slows down atatcks)
Spell Queller (um, been useful)
Bygone Bishop )flying, many 3 and under drops)
Reclamation Sage (against abundant Revelation decks and Nimbus Wings)
Declaration in Stone (decent removal)
Unsubstantiate (lol, no comment)
Imprisoned in the Moon (lol, suprisingly works)
Tamiyo (locks early beaters, card draws for creatures,
4 Primal Druid
3 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Liliana, Heretical Healer
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2 Tireless Tracker
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Mindwrack Demon
1 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
1 Gitrog Monster
1 Verdurous Gearhulk
1 Greenwarden of Murasa
1 Noxious Gearhulk
1 Ulvenwald Hydra
1 Decimator of the Provinces
4 Grapple with the Past
3 Grasp of Darkness
2 Languish
2 Ever After
Enchantments:
2 Vessel of Nascency
Planeswalkers:
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Nissa, Vital Force
Lands:
4 Forest
4 Swamp
2 Drownyard Temple
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Foul Orchard
2 Hissing Quagmire
2 Westvale Abbey
2 Woodland Cemetery
In find Fleshbag Marauder to be useful here because it serves a dual purpose of removal that I can retrieve with Grapple with the past and a sacrifice outlet for Primal Druid to help me ramp into the late game.
I tried running Eldritch Evolution, but to be honest it never felt like it fit in the deck and I ended up taking out and put in a third Marauder and an Ever After because my graveyard fills so quickly that I rarely don't have two targets for it when I get to six mana. After some more testing I added the 2nd Ever After as my 61st card since aside from the single Greenwarden of Murasa, the deck has no reliable way of bringing back an Ever After that I've self milled
seeing that you have almost nothing with delirium... is Vessel of Narcency REALLY necessary?
Gather the Pack seems a lot better in a vacuum.
Digs deeper, you'll get a creature from Vessel the vast majority of time...
Vessel of Narcency has the advantage of being an enchantment which is a lot rarer in your deck, though.
2 Bomat Courier
3 Goblin Glory Chaser
3 Thornbow Archer
2drops
3 Furyblade Vampire
2 Heir of Falkenrath
2 Ravenous Bloodseeker
2 Scrapheap Scrounger
2 Smuggler's Copter
2 Bloodmad Vampire
3 Incorrigible Youths
Spells
4 Alms of the Vein
2 Collective Defiance
2 Distemper of the Blood
2 Exquisite Firecraft
4 Fiery Temper
2 Key to the City
lands
2 Dragonskull Summit
10 Mountain
2 Smoldering Marsh
6 Swamp
Getting very good results at rank 30+
deck is very, very fast, usually wins on turn 5.
1 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
2 Hanweir Militia Captain
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Reflector Mage
2 Thalia's Lieutenant
2 Jhessian Thief
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Heron's Grace Champion
3 Whirler Rogue
1 Archangel Avacyn
2 Sage of Ancient Lore
2 Always Watching
Planeswakers (1)
1 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
Sorcery (5)
2 Declaration in Stone
2 Rabid Bite
1 Eldritch Evolution
Instant (3)
1 Disperse
2 Essence Flux
Lands (24)
1 Canopy Vista
3 Evolving Wilds
2 Glacial Fortress
2 Hinterland Harbor
2 Prairie Stream
2 Sunpetal Grove
4 Forest
4 Island
4 Plains
My 720 Peasant Cube
Why Red? Because Cathartic Reunion seems a pitch perfect card purpose built to help put big creatures in the graveyard and dig for a reanimation spell. I only wish Magic Duels had put Goblin Dark-Dwellers in its card list when the OGW expansion was released so I could get extra uses out of reunion.
Other cards I'm considering are Sanitarium Skeleton on the low end because it makes a late game reunion top deck less of a dead draw and of course the standard all-star Smuggler's Copter.
2 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
2 Hanweir Militia Captain
3 Lone Rider
2 Thalia's Lieutenant
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Liliana, Heretical Healer
3 Pious Evangel
1 Gisela, the Broken Blade
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Angel of Invention
1 Archangel Avacyn
1 Noxious Gearhulk
2 Bruna, the Fading Light
2 Always Watching
Instants & Sorceries:
3 Blessed Alliance
2 Anguished Unmaking
2 Solemn Offering
2 Languish
Planeswalkers:
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Sorin Grim Nemesis
Lands:
1 Blighted Steppe
4 Forsaken Sanctuary
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
2 Isolated Chapel
2 Mortuary Mire
4 Plains
4 Sandstone Bridge
2 Shambling Vent
2 Swamp
2 Westvale Abbey
Cards that I tried but didn't make the cut:
Linvala, the Preserver - I found that her ETB abilities were almost never active because I usually had more life and more creatures than my opponent.
Essence Extraction - This was originally my method of choice to transform Lone Rider but I found this deck can sometimes struggle to get two black mana in the early game where this matters the most, Blessed Alliance is better since it can be cast a turn earlier, is less mana intensive and can also transform the Rider.
Call the Bloodline - I thought this might be a useful card to dump excess land to, but found I never used it.
Drana's Emissary - I eventually decided that I preferred the Evangel over this as a source of life gain. After dropping it I decided to go in on my human tribal subtheme and added the lieutenant to pump lone rider and militia captain to combo with the lieutenant and Evangel. This also has the benefit of giving Bruna more targets to bring back from the graveyard in the late game.
Filigree Familiar - It never gained enough life for me to transform Lone Rider and just sat on the battlefield without adding much to the deck. I removed it in favor of more human tribal support.
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar - I feel like he probably has a place here, but I'm tired of playing him in every white deck I build so I left him out more because of my personal preferences than lack of being useful.
Explaining some of my more unusual choices:
Sandstone Bridge - Perhaps one of the most deceptively useful cards, it pumps lone rider and makes it very unprofitable for an opponent to attack next turn if the rider transforms. The fact that it comes into play tapped isn't as bothersome here as it is in other decks.
Geier Reach Sanitarium - I originally had two Blighted Steppe in the deck, but saw them way too often, I pulled out one and put in a copy of the Sanitarium as a way for me to dig for answers if I needed it. It has been more useful than I expected it to be, the only thing preventing me from putting in a second copy is the fact that it's legendary.
Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim - Even though I often get to 30 life I rarely use her second ability. She's in here because she trades with everything on the ground and is pretty much unblockable because the AI never wants to trade with a two mana creature. She's especially good if given vigilance from Sandstone bridge or Always Watching.
Solemn Offering - It gains life and is rarely useless when playing against the current artifact heavy AI decks.
My 720 Peasant Cube
2 Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter
3 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Herald of the Pantheon
2 Sylvan Advocate
3 Lambholt Pacifist
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 Rhonas, the Indomitable
2 Tireless Tracker
3 Trial of Ambition
3 Trial of Strength
4 Cartouche of Ambition
4 Cartouche of Strength
2 Aid from the Cowl
Planeswalkers (2):
1 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
Sorcery (2):
2 Never // Return
4 Swamp
5 Forest
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Foul Orchard
2 Hissing Quagmire
2 Westvale Abbey
2 Woodland Cemetery
2 Cradle of the Accursed
Just about every card here has proven its worth, Ovyia offers great virtual card advantage on a stalled board and helps give the deck big creatures that it can use to fight other big creatures with the Cartouche of Strength.
Gifted Aetherborn, Herald of the Pantheon and Cartouche of Ambition give the deck so much lifegain that, unless my opponent is attacking for lethal, I prefer to not block because I can regain the life later with a 5/3 beast with lifelink or simply from the constant +1 life of the Herald. Gifted Aetherborn also works really well with Cartouche of Strength because it can kill any creature and gain me three life in the process (while never feeling like a two-for one since the Cartouche also bounces all of my trials).
Aid from the Cowl is amazing here, in a deck that's bouncing permanents practically every turn and has 58 permanents to reveal. I added in Cradle of the Accursed to help activate revolt in the longer games and it works much better than I expected it to, I'm almost tempted to add in a third one even though that would give the deck five lands that don't produce colored mana.
Edit-
Changed the list a bit, there's enough double black costs to make me feel like I needed more mana fixing so took away a number of basic lands and added three Foul Orchards as well as four Evolving Wilds for added Tireless Tracker and Aid from the Cowl triggers.
I also took out Oath of Liliana and put in Never // Return since direct planeswalker removal was desperately needed.
I think you can build an okay red/white aggressive deck to start with.
Anyway, for a long while I've been enamored of the deck listed below -- a 2015 post by Technomagus. (I had to look up what 'Sultai' means, though.) I like the concept of the 'tapout control' deck, where you are in control of the board even though you're not sitting behind open mana.
This is purely an Origins deck so it doesn't take into account card rotations or the many newer sets. For example, Gatekeeper Vine and Mwonvuli Acid Moss were both removed which makes the mana smoothing more difficult. I have been trying various combinations of Ainok Guide, Oashra Cultivator, and Explosive Vegetation but would love some suggestions for cards from other sets that can help here.
I also feel like Cruel Revival might not be the best anti-creature spell now that a bunch of Embalm creatures keep returning to the battlefield and becoming Zombies.
But in general I highly enjoy decks like this, with a lot of interesting ETB or Enters The Battlefield creatures (we used to call them '187' creatures) combined with 'good stuff' cards. Any thoughts on current decks that fit the same niche?
And as noted the combination of Liliana's Emblem plus Fleshbag Marauder is utterly ridiculous. (Basically you force your opponent to sacrifice a creature every turn, yours and theirs, until you reanimate all of their creatures.)