Primarily creature based to take full effect of her ability while applying pressure to the opponents
Combat all threat classes/card types with special attention to combating the power cards in the format
Compensate for the loss of explosive early turns with amazing mid/end game
Proactive disruption with the ability to be reactive
Redundant, but not at the cost of variety
These goals can be attained through the following construction theories, which are applicable to any deck.
Construction Theories Overload the mana flow, while maximizing mana consumption:
Overloading the mana flow essentially means ramp hard. Ramp is a necessary evil of the format, and figuring out how to jump your curve is the first priority when theorycrafting a deck. Playing enough lands is a major factor in overloading the mana flow of a deck, so never short yourself on your land count.
Building on a curve is the first step in maximizing mana consumption, as well as setting your curve in a realistic manner. Just because Swords to Plowshares is a 1 mana spell, does not mean it is always a turn 1 play. The next step in maximizing mana consumption is making sure you have enough effects that require mana to activate. Do not fear activation costs, as most effects that require a payment are usually more powerful than those that dont. for example, Withered Wretch vs Scrabbling Claws. Untapped lands are wasted opportunities.
Card quality over card quantity:
Each card should be as versatile and functional as possible, as well as relevant in the largest number of games and board-states. This principal usually is the contrary to the theory of "card quantity", where large amounts of cards are key. Through superior card quality, you will always "out-draw" the card quantity decks as your spells are always live. The card quantity decks greed out and play the "most powerful in a vacuum" cards in hopes of chaining them together to net advantage. Their goal is to leverage the raw power of their spells to win a game. The issue with this is, when a hiccup in the flow of cards presents itself to them (dead cards), they fall apart. Card quality decks on the other hand, while playing with less raw power, have more universal applications of the spells they play. The result of this is less opportunity for the deck to not respond to your needs (better top decks).
open-ended interactions and non-linear combos:
this theory expands upon the "card quality over card quantity", taking card quality to new heights. what this theory is promoting is enhancing each cards quality when paired with other cards in the deck. what this effectively does is obsolete all linear combos and linear interactions from the build, while reducing reliance on combos. other positive side effects of this are mitigating the effects due to loss of any particular combo or value piece.
while combos do win games, they present a chink in the deck. if any dedicated combo piece is neutralized, the whole deck suffers greatly. an example of this can be found in teferi + knowledge pool. if someone is able to cut the teferi player off of knowledge pool, the terfi players chance at winning the game are severely reduced. if combo kills are to be included into a deck, they pieces that create them need to provide as much function as possible. the combo kill should be a result of good synergy (card quality), not necessity.
core slots vs staples vs flex slots:
Core slots can be loosely defined as the cards that make the theme of the deck. these are your engines and cards that make the deck tick. in contrast, flex slots can be loosely defined as the cards that are not core cards. These are your Meta slots, pet cards, redundant spells and what not. Anything that can be tailored to your needs. as for staples, the whole concept of format staples is an illusion. there is no such thing as a "must play" card (other than maybe strip mine). i have played countless decks without a sol ring or solemn simulacrum (by choice), several blue decks with out rhystic study, or even red decks without wheel of fortune. once a deck builder can dismiss the mind set of "format staples" as well as "sacred cows" ("staples" for specific commanders, i.e. lord of extinction in jarad, golgari lich lord), they can begin to achieve the discipline to identify core cards for a deck they are working on without bias. being that there is no perfect 99 for a commander, once these core cards have been identified, the painstaking task of filling the flex slots can be started.
strengths (internal)
-highly customizable
-top notch consistency
-can assume any role in any pod, while having the ability to change roles mid game
weaknesses (internal)
-large decision trees create room for sub par plays
-price point of the deck may put it out of reach
-high learning curve
opportunities (external)
-exhausts the opponents resources
-extremely resilient to hate
-deep synergy trees cause opponents to misplay
threats (external)
-susceptible to explosive combo
Land Theorycraft
Core lands Basic Lands:
The deck runs a fairly high count of basics. This is due to the high amount of creature based land ramp the deck does, and for consistency in setting up emeria. Running the bare minimum of nonbasics allows the utility those nonbasics provide while strengthening its game against the land hate strategies of the format.
When using the creature based ramp, extreme care should be taken on deciding which type of basic to get. There is no set formula for what order to grab basics in due to the awkward mana tension in the deck composition (the mana base is predominantly white, while the spells are predominately green--this is alleviated by the threshold of land-search effects in the build). The closest thing to a metric to gauge your fetching by is a 2:1 ratio in favor of plains. You will want to get plains as soon as possible to get the emeria set up out of the way, but you will need enough green mana to reliably cast spells.
The process of using Fetchlands to grab basics throughout a game is not as straight forward as some may perceive it to be. A healthy percentage of the time, Fetchlands should NOT be activated as there are an ample amount of interactions that strengthen the use of stockpiled fetches. Further notation on this can be found in the "Fetch Engine" section.
A 50/50 split of snow and non-snow*, for each basic type, would create the perfect manabase for the deck. This is an often overlooked part of "min/max"-ing a deck. Using this technique allows you to reap benefits of greedy Extraplanar Lens players, regardless of what type of forest or plains they imprint. This also gives a bit of extra survivability against cards like Wake of Destruction.
*I personally do not use this split anymore, as I much prefer the aesthetic appeal of Unhinged lands.
The dual lands: Savannah and Temple Garden are the only dual lands that warrant inclusion. Excluding Horizon Canopy, no other multicolor lands are used due to amount of creature based ramp, protection against nonbasic land hate, the type checking of Emeria, and use of the fetch engine. The fetch engine:
All playable fetchlands (in addition to krosan verge) are put to extensive use is this build. The functions and utility they provide here are unmatched by any other deck, and require discipline to use correctly. The math has been done to prove that 3-5 fetches in a game do not significantly thin your deck... but this build can easily rip 12+ lands out of the deck, drastically changing deck composition.
"Aggressive fetching" is acceptable in the early stages of most games, but it is strategically advantageous to stockpile these activations. Evidence of this can be found in offensive and defensive applications of these types of effects. Some defensive applications can be found in Sylvan Safekeeper consuming a Fetch, anticipating a land wipe, using KoTR to bait crypts, or getting dryad arbor for defensive triggers or surprise blocking. Offensive tactics that can be deployed using stockpiled Fetches can be anything from multiple Avenger of Zendikar triggers/Sensei's divining top activations in the same turn to using Lotus Cobra as a massive Dark Ritual.
i had more on this subject, but lost a ton of work i had written down... so expect more to come
horizon canopy:
A stellar card in the KotR/crucible toolkit, and can turn sun Titan into a draw engine. The deck plays a fair game with fair cards in an unfair format. With that being the case, the deck needs to be able to get value in any way it can.
strip mine:
Probably the ONLY true staple of the format.
gaea's cradle:
With the amount of creatures the deck runs, it is a nonbasic forest at its worst. While not being integral to the game plan of the deck, it is an irreplaceable and invaluable component.
emeria, the sky ruin:
The deck aims to get value from all possible angles. This is a stellar engine to reap value as it is hard for most opponents to combat effectively. It has so many subtle uses, such as baiting crypts and interactions with survival.
dryad arbor:
This inconspicuous little land is a power house in this build. It provides an almost unanswerable way to trigger various effects and feeds some loops that are not seen in the list at first glance...for example sylvan safekeeper + dryad arbor + Saffi. While it does have its weaknesses, i dare you to find a deck where it has more strengths.
ancient tomb:
With no sol ring/mana crypt in the list, the deck needs ways to make fast mana. Ancient tomb allows the sacrifice of the explosive turn 1/turn 2 for an equally explosive turn 3 and more consistent endgame. It does this while not consuming any spell slots and giving the deck the fragility that artifact based decks tend to have.
high market:
Each feature of the card make it fundamentally stronger than all other land based sacrifice effects. Tapping for mana edges it out over diamond valley, and no activation cost puts it over miren. gaining 1 life may not be as high as the life gain on diamond valley or miren, but when you take into account the average life gain (per activation) of the 2 lands that did not make my list, the choice becomes much more acceptable (especially when you add a mana cost to that life gain).
Flex lands
2 more lands should be played to round out the land count. Preferably, the lands should come into play untapped and produce mana. At a minimum, the lands should provide a function relevant to your metagame and/or compliment your play style. The best options to fill the flex slot are as follows...
Bazaar of Baghdad:
bazaar offers a saffi a different avenue of play in heavy combo builds/metagames. Perhaps one of the most difficult cards in magic to play, learning how to effectively use it (outside of dredge) can be a demoralizing experience. This land should not be used as the flex land unless you are thoroughly familiar with the deck.
Cavern of souls/winding canyons:
these are the best land-based tools for tables with opponents who are heavy on counterspells. Cavern is better at forcing through a small set of cards, while canyons is better at causing your opponent to misplay. The choice of which to use should depend on the ammount of counterspells you expect to be aimed at what you are putting on the stack. If there are a lot of counterspells at the table, play cavern. If the counterspells are not high in numbers, play winding canyons.
I like these options better than grand abolisher type cards due to resiliency. Although the deck is 40+ creatures, those slots are precious. There are better ways to protect yourself without hindering your creature options.
Diamond valley/Miren, the moaning well:
for disenchant heavy metas, these lands provide ways to sacrifice creatures that are less likely to be removed by your opponents (especially when the high profile lands the list runs are taken into account).
Flagstones of trokair/riftstone portal
the flex candidates if land wipes are what is hindering your performance. Each option will alter the way the deck should be played when expecting a wipe. For example, a dual land should be kept in the deck as long as possible and reserved for a flagstone trigger if flagstones of trokair is what is chosen for the flex slot.
Glacial chasm:
against aggro/infect or other decks with high burst damage such as heartless, omnath or iname.
Mistveil plains:
in metas with high ammounts of graveyard removal, this should be what is selected to fill the slot. Although I am not a fan of it, the effect is unique to lands and counts as a plains for emeria and the fetch engine. this is often a necessary slot due to hostile metas.
Mouth of ronom:
the best snow tech available, but the weakest option available for the flex slots. If some of the more expensive lands are out of reach, mouth of ronom makes decent filler.
Springjack pasture:
an upgrade to vitu-ghazi, the city-tree (for the ghazi-glare engine). Applications of this land are plentiful, and I consider it the baseline for the flex lands. Activations may be costly, but the way it interacts with many cards in the deck make up for that. This is the land of choice for open metas, new metas, learning the deck and midrange mirrors.
Wasteland:
with three (recurring) ways to handle problematic lands in the main deck, lands are usually not an issue. Although, if your Meta has multiple decks, with multiple problematic lands, a fourth may be required. Wasteland would be the most effective and efficient choice to fill the flex slot.
Buried ruin:
it is so close to making the jump to a core card. The list may not run many artifacts, but the artifacts that make the cut are extremely important. It also offers amazing lines of "grindy" play, one of my favorites being a crucible, oblivion stone, buried ruin soft lock. Aside from protecting artifacts, it does have the hidden feature of protecting other non-basic lands.
oblivion ring
While not entirely embarrassing to cast, it still holds up as an invaluable rector target. With 15 gods in the format now, as well as the deep pool of disenchant-proof targets, the ring still holds weight. Its use against planeswalkers has been one of its greatest features as it allows you to focus your combat damage on the player. another great feature of the card is how well it can protect other permanents you may have in play. removing a wild pair with oblivion ring before resetting the field with an oblivion stone will allow you to completely outpace opponents on the rebuild.
*Due to the templating of oblivion ring, manipulating the triggers is a real thing and a thing this deck can do well. responding to the "comes into play" trigger with a disenchant of your own can be done with ease using cards like wickerbough elder, viridian zealot or an aura shards trigger. this line of play should always be kept in mind as an oblivion ring in the graveyard is never a bad thing when sun titan is around.
glare of subdual
glare was originally put in the deck to combat the titans when they were first printed. over time though it has become a linchpin of the deck. the card has many offensive and defensive uses. tapping down threats who may come your way, or regulating problematic permanents are all feasible options as the deck runs more creatures than most decks in the format. EoT, tapping down someones board for an unblocked attack is extremely strong when you can sacrifice your field after combat and bring your team back untapped. also, sunblast angel made this card BONKERS. tapping down a players field of creatures to then cast sunblast angel (with consistent saffi back up) can lock some people out of ever having relevant creatures.
greater good
simply put, greater good wins games. here is the thing... greater good will only win you games if you understand the concept of "card quality vs card quantity". this is a deck of 2/2's. with greater good, you are granted the ability to cash in a 2/2 for 2 cards, and then in return you lose your 3 "least relevant" cards. here's the thing...often times, you want those cards in the graveyard. for example, to re-buy it with a karmic guide, or protect your grave with an ulamog shuffle. this is not even factoring in, using a saffi trigger on what you will sacrifice to grater good, or baiting a graveyard removal effect with what you discard. greater good helps you dig, and it helps put things where you want them. as you start to sacrifice creatures with grater power, the effect only gets better. once a loop can be established with greater good, you have won the game. for example, saffi + karmic guide + greater good. you will eventually find everything you need for a combo kill after several activations of greater good.
*bonus points for quoting lines from hot fuzz when casting/activating "the greater good"
pattern of rebirth
Extending academy rectors reach to creatures is a ridiculous effect, and is an effect that should not be undervalued. this list also runs a high threshold of "self sacrificing" creatures, making this an easy trigger to pull. an important thing to remember when playing this card is, if you have no creature besides saffi in play... you CAN enchant saffi with this and then proceed to sacrifice saffi and target an opponents creature with her effect. then, as long as you move saffi to your graveyard, your pattern trigger will resolve.
wild pair
notes on wild pair can be found in the in depth card strategy section martyr's bond
the premier creature removal in the build. an uncontested martyrs bond usually ends the game. cards like triskelion take it to ridiculous levels due to being multi-typed. inevitable locks with this card come in many flavors. for example, saffi + karmic guide (with or without a sac outlet) is taking at minimum 2 creatures on each of your upkeeps. this is not counting other plays you will be making during the turn with effects like qasali pridemage...or how amazing it is at making combat miserable for your opponents.
gift of immortality
gift has given a whole new angle on how the deck can operate by effectively giving it a second saffi (although it is more narrow). it enables ridiculous plays such as triskelion massacres, completely shutting down opponents combat steps with spore frog, ramping into oblivion with a tribe-elder or even just giving sun titan yet ANOTHER thing to go infinite with. the key to making this card work is as simple as having worthwhile creatures to attach it to (self sacrificing or not), and every single creature in this deck that is not an academy rector gets completely out of hand with this aura.
Artifact Theorycraft
sensei's divining top Coming Soon!
skullclamp
more often than not, skullclamp will only deter attackers from coming your way or allow you to get a bit of damage in, as nobody will block your clamped creatures. because of this, do not hesitate to cannibalize your 1 toughness creatures that may not make sense to skullclamp on (tribe-elder for example).
altar of dementia
the the third of the three "pure" sacrifice effects in the deck, and arguably the best available. the quickest possible combo kills involve this card. outside of the combo, it is amazing disruption, and allows the deck to effectively play like a dredge deck. from interactions with emeria, to dismantling decks with scavenging ooze and angel of finality, this card will ruin the most games for your opponents.
*tread with caution when milling your self in set up for a combo kill if using altar. it is a far riskier line due to the significantly less control over what you have hitting the graveyard. walking right into something like Crypt Incursion or an untimely ulamog hitting the graveyard can be very unpleasant.
crucible of worlds
seemingly out of place, crucible of worlds provides essential functions to the build. while its text is very simple, its applications are quite numerous. it is almost like a saffi for lands. one of the greatest things you can do with this card is play it along side buried ruin, due to the fact that they each protect each other. the manabase is sculpted to take full advantage of it so it can enhance the performance of many cards in the build. sylvan safekeeper, sensei's divining top, avenger of zendikar and altar of dementia (to name a few) all benefit from its inclusion.
oblivion stone
the second most synergistic sweeper available to the deck. not much can be said about it that has not already been said as it is a known quantity in the format. natural ebb and flow of the deck will always put it ahead after any sweeper (used by any player), so board control with a sun titan or buried ruin lock can seal the deal against less competitive metas or opponents who have used up significant resources.
birthing pod
notes on birthing pod can be found in the in-depth card strategy section.
Sorcery and Instant Theorycraft
Core Cards
the only sorcery or instant cards that create the core of the deck are the top 4 available tutors. being that the deck has access to pretty much effect imaginable in and out of the scope of its colors, these four cards aid in giving it the consistency it is infamous for. value other than "get what i need, when i need it" can be had when dealing with these types of cards from the subtle synergies and interactions they have with the deck.
Enlightened Tutor & Worldly tutor:
these cards may be "card disadvantage", but this is saffi... everything turns a profit here. these two cards are the fastest and most flexible options for finding engines, or cogs for engines. being able to set up turn 2, or capitalize on a draw phase/trigger is enough to put it over things like chord of calling or sylvan tutor.
*i suggest using worldly tutor aggressively and enlightened tutor conservatively.
Eladamri's call:
essentially the weakest of the tutor suite, but its weak in the way mystical tutor is weak in vintage.
Green sun's zenith
the power of this spell has set the mold that the rest of the engines should be formed around due to the amazing overlap with wild pair/birthing pod. Although it creates the awkward tension in deck composition, the functionality it provides is unparalleled (such as alleviating mulligans far better than other tutors). The protocol I follow for GSZ is the same as birthing pod. Each rung in the CMC ladder should contain relevant effects proportionate to the stage of the game it will be relevant in. More information on this topic can be found in the in-depth card strategies for birthing pod and wild pair.
Flex Slots
virtually any other 2 magic cards can be used to fill the last 2 slots. as with all flex slots, they should either be tailored to your meta, play style or cater to your weaknesses while piloting the deck.
Austere command
very close to achieving core-card status, this is a card that has more than pulled its weight over the years. austere command does everything from function as an unorthodox sac outlet, to fight the hate cards and roadblocks that try to combat this deck. the best feature of this card is how it decimates opposing field while not augmenting the decks natural flow.
Tooth and nail
tooth and nail is the "99th card". what this means, is that functionally, it is the weakest card in the build. this is due to the fact that the deck will only cast tooth and nail for value (as opposed to generating a win by resolving it). although the game can end with a developed board, most of the time it will not. good thing this deck loves value. with that being said, the reason this card obtained the "99th slot", is how effective it is at netting advantage. the trend in the deck is that one card is never just "+1". if the text of tooth and nail essentially reads "+2", the actual gains are far higher. an example of this can be found in a basic tooth and nail combination of "disenchant + recursion". at minimum, the tempo/card advantage gains in that pair are at minimum "+4" off of one spell (when not factoring in any additional triggers that may occur from the creatures (such as aura shards). in the context of this build, value of that level is hard to achieve with other spells while maintaining the necessary levels of consistency that makes the deck function so well.
*this is not a straight forward card. it takes a bit of experimentation to make the most effective pairs. i highly recommend playing with chord of calling in this slot if you are looking for a similar effect while learning the deck. once competency has been developed, the switch to tooth and nail will be easy, and prove worthwhile.
In-Depth Card Strategy
Coming Soon!
Impact of Commander 2014
While C14 is probably the greatest set of cards to see print since Innistrad, it does not offer much to Saffi. The only card noteworthy of inclusion (one that I will personally be testing a lot) is Titania, protector of Argoth. She interacts with the deck in a very interesting way, allowing a creature based way to get lands back from the graveyard. What this essentially does is protect the high profile lands in the deck, while feeding her ability to create an army. When she is in play along side creatures like Knight of the Reliquary or Sylvan Safekeeper, the game can end quickly in favor of Saffi.
The only other card in the set worth mentioning, is a card that is a slight cause for concern. Containment Priest, the white legacy and vintage card. This is a card Saffi pilots should be mentally preparing for, but not a card to be up in arms about. The reasoning behind this is, she is only playable in a small subset of decks. A lot of decks in the format are on some form of reanimation or flicker strategy, preventing them from running this card. Those decks that do not run the types of effects she combats are likely to run her, but just as likely to get hated off of a table because of it. The other reason why she should not be a cause for concern is, the deck has faced these types of menaces before. During New Phyrexia, people thought Torpor Orb would kill this deck. Saffi survived. M15 brought Hushwing Gryff to the table. Saffi shrugged it off. This will be no different as the deck has many natural outs to the card, but pilots should still recognize the card as well as their outs to the card.
Impact of Khans of Tarkir
All in all KTK seems to have minimal effect on the deck. Delve, while not appearing on many playables can be combated through the usual means of Gaddock Teeg. The charm cards are all pretty powerful, but if the shards charms are not seeing much play... I doubt these will. If they do, the deck has outs the the relevant modes across all charms. The same goes for the ascendency cards. Its gotten to the point I just shrug off all enchantments and artifacts that do not find its way INTO the deck.
Cards that are on my radar as possible threats are Utter End (exile is bad news), Villainous Wealth (X exile is even worse), and believe it or not... Altar of the Brood. Utter End does not bother me so much as Villainous Wealth. "Genesis Wave YOU" seems like very bad news if the opponent is smart. If they cast off Saffi, we can always sacrifice Saffi upon death of the stolen guys to get them back. but, if the player is smart, they will just leave the removed creatures in exile. Now, for Altar of the Brood. If anyone has ever played against Mesmeric Orb, knows consistent burst mill can be extremely effective. The deck has its outs (Ulamog reshuffle and infinite disenchants), but it is still a very powerful effect.
KTK also brought 5 new generals to the foray. I think only 2 will cause a splash. Narset, Enlightened Master and Anafenza, the Foremost. Narset is a terrible general, so im not worried about it. I am only mentioning it because I feel like it will be everywhere for a short while, so start planning accordingly as the good builds do have potential to steal games. Anafenza will take a while to catch on. When she does, its going to hurt. One of my teammates is brewing a list up for her, so I will have an analysis for the match up soon.
Unfortunately, there are no cards that warrant testing for the deck. At best, Onslaught fetchlands are reprinted, opening up availability (if you can stomach the art).
Match-Up Analysis
Coming Soon!
Rules Clarifications:
If Saffi Eriksdotter is equipped with a Skullclamp, she must be placed in the graveyard indefinitely to draw cards from the Skullclamp trigger. Moving her to the command zone will not trigger Skullclamp, as the replacement effect of moving your general to the command zone nullifies any graveyard based triggers.
Same deal as Skullclamp.
The effect of Genesis is a triggered ability, not an activated ability
The Wild Pair trigger checks power and toughness upon resolution of the trigger. This means if your opponent has an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite in play, the -2/-2 will affect your pair. This also means counters or p/t setting effects can be ordered to tailor your pairs.
Example: Triskelions counters can be removed or Scavenging Ooze can be activated in response to the trigger, or the amount of lands in your graveyard (in regards to Knight of the Reliquary) will influence your pair.
You can in fact order your triggers in such a way that a sacrificed Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre will return to play before the shuffle trigger resolves.
Example: Sacrifice Saffi, targeting Ulamog. Sacrifice Ulamog to Greater Good. The draw effect of Greater Good goes on the stack, then Ulamog goes to the graveyard. This will trigger 2 effects which will attempt to simultaneously go on the stack. If they are ordered "shuffle graveyard into library" > "return Ulamog to play", the stack will look like this...
draw 10 cards, discard 3 cards
shuffle your graveyard into your library
put Ulamog from your graveyard into play
Being that resolution of the stack happens "first in, last out", the first effect to resolve will be putting Ulamog into play. After that, you will shuffle your graveyard into your library. Finally, you will draw 10 cards and discard three.
Reveillark can get creatures back that hit the yard when the trigger goes off.
Example: I have lark and Hornet Queen in play. You Damnation. By the time the lark trigger goes on the stack, Hornet Queen is already in the graveyard. Therefore, I get back my Hornet Queen and you proceed to flip the table.
Omg yes!!!!!!
I just recently moved off to college and my saffi deck is still at my parents' house. I'll be watching the thread and keeping up to date.
You should put Mirror Entity down in the Wild Pair section (Using him in response to wildpair trigger.)
Can you explain the line with Academy Rector and Oblivion Ring?
Rector reads: When rector is put into a graveyard from play, you may exile rector. If you do, you may search your library for an enchantment card and put that card into play.
O Ring reads: when O ring enters the battlefield, exile target nonland permanent.
O Ring triggers because it has entered the battlefield. Still targets?
Omg yes!!!!!!
I just recently moved off to college and my saffi deck is still at my parents' house. I'll be watching the thread and keeping up to date.
You should put Mirror Entity down in the Wild Pair section (Using him in response to wildpair trigger.)
Can you explain the line with Academy Rector and Oblivion Ring?
Rector reads: When rector is put into a graveyard from play, you may exile rector. If you do, you may search your library for an enchantment card and put that card into play.
O Ring reads: when O ring enters the battlefield, exile target nonland permanent.
O Ring triggers because it has entered the battlefield. Still targets?
oops. the rector thing was a goof on my part. as for "mirror entity in the wild Pair" section, i am going to do an in depth section on wild pair. i quickly threw information up to give the thread title a little relevancy while working on it.
Also, it would be best to link any card that you talk about (Withered Wretch for instance)
im going to get to all the formatting soon enough. it is clearly a rushed job, but my main concern was getting substance out there for the community. i still have quite a bit of information to put up here, so i may just format this first to make editing a bit easier in the long run.
other than that, any feedback on content would be very much appreciated.
So first off, I know nothing about building land bases, so I won't comment on that section.
The bullet points at the beginning are kind of ambiguous in meaning, people coming into the primer with no information to start with may have no idea what you're trying to say in parts of these bullet points.
The Oblivion ring section (or at least the rules section) needs a part explaining the Fiend Hunter / Oblivion Ring / Leonin Relic-Hoarder triggers with sac outlets.
Maybe talk about Strip Mine with Crucible of Worlds. I guess not everyone knows about it.
There isn't a whole lot I can say right now because the primer is incomplete, but as a base there are a lot of sections I'd like to see like "Notable Interactions", "Possible Includes", "Wild Pair/Birthing Pod Chains", an explanation of the Dementia Combo (Oh how many times I've had to play it out entirely in games because people wouldn't believe me,) ways to go off if the other person has like three eldrazi in their deck (like milling yourself until you hit trisk and winning with damage on trisk by dealing two to the opponent and one to trisk, or just saccing trisk,) a section on torpor orb especially when paired with darksteel forge (things like archon or justice or what not,) the combo with ulamog and greater good, etc. etc. etc.
There are a bunch more things I'd like to see, but as I noted this isn't a completed primer so I'll leave those things until you're done.
Effectively, the only real problems that I haven't outlined are formatting, spelling, or grammatical errors that you are probably already aware of.
So first off, I know nothing about building land bases, so I won't comment on that section.
The bullet points at the beginning are kind of ambiguous in meaning, people coming into the primer with no information to start with may have no idea what you're trying to say in parts of these bullet points.
The Oblivion ring section (or at least the rules section) needs a part explaining the Fiend Hunter / Oblivion Ring / Leonin Relic-Hoarder triggers with sac outlets.
Maybe talk about Strip Mine with Crucible of Worlds. I guess not everyone knows about it.
There isn't a whole lot I can say right now because the primer is incomplete, but as a base there are a lot of sections I'd like to see like "Notable Interactions", "Possible Includes", "Wild Pair/Birthing Pod Chains", an explanation of the Dementia Combo (Oh how many times I've had to play it out entirely in games because people wouldn't believe me,) ways to go off if the other person has like three eldrazi in their deck (like milling yourself until you hit trisk and winning with damage on trisk by dealing two to the opponent and one to trisk, or just saccing trisk,) a section on torpor orb especially when paired with darksteel forge (things like archon or justice or what not,) the combo with ulamog and wildpair, etc. etc. etc.
There are a bunch more things I'd like to see, but as I noted this isn't a completed primer so I'll leave those things until you're done.
Effectively, the only real problems that I haven't outlined are formatting, spelling, or grammatical errors that you are probably already aware of.
first off, thank you very much for the feedback. although the write-up is in a very incomplete state, i am working towards filling in several holes in existing content (i wanted to get the framework up at the very least) as well as adding new content. issues such as grammatical errors and formatting problems have been a result of the "copy and paste" process i have had to use. i am writing most of this on my phone/note pad on my laptop and then just pasting it on to the original post. it has also been quite a task prioritizing the information i am trying to put out. i said it a long time ago, i have a LOT of things to say about the deck. its going to take time for me to get it all out there.
as for things the community would like to see... please be open and explicit in your expectations. the more information i have about what the community wants, the more i can get out (and shift priorities around to accommodate those wants). if there is something that you want, please do not hesitate to post about it. i would like the end result of this thread to be a "one stop shop" of all saffi needs and discussion.
This seems like a strong start to something that can be great. I have been removing combo pieces out of my deck a little bit at a time, although I have been leaning towards adding more aggro instead of control elements like you have here. I plan on fixing my list to match yours and test it out for some time. I like the overall looks of the list, playing it is the only way to say for sure how it works out in my playgroup
This seems like a strong start to something that can be great. I have been removing combo pieces out of my deck a little bit at a time, although I have been leaning towards adding more aggro instead of control elements like you have here. I plan on fixing my list to match yours and test it out for some time. I like the overall looks of the list, playing it is the only way to say for sure how it works out in my playgroup
one of the amazing things about this list is the fact that all of the combo pieces are just products of synergy. the only cards that can be considered "combo cards" are greater good and altar of dementia, although each provides a much needed function to the deck outside of being a way to outright end the game.
Is there any reason you do not run any "extra land drop" cards such as Exploration or Oracle of Mul Daya? They indeed aren't crucial to the desk, but in combination with card advantage and crucible they would add a little more explosiveness to the deck
Is there any reason you do not run any "extra land drop" cards such as Exploration or Oracle of Mul Daya? They indeed aren't crucial to the desk, but in combination with card advantage and crucible they would add a little more explosiveness to the deck
very good question. there are a few parts to this answer. the main issue with these types of effects is how high variance they are. while it is a great boon to the deck, allowing these extra lands to come into play untapped... they are not a guaranteed extra land. with the threshold of creature based ramp triggers and the high levels of recurrence of those creatures, the deck can achieve the same effect without having to use those exact "extra land drop" effects. for example, opening on a turn 2 sakura-tribe elder with ample lands to make your regular land plays, you end up with 8 lands on turn 5 using only 2 cards. this changes deck composition to a fair degree if you hit a few fetchlands along the way (on average 2-3 by turn 5) as you have removed about 11 lands from the deck by turn 5. thats an average of 20 cards you have seen or put into play by turn 5. to achieve those numbers with extra land plays, you need to have drawn the lands as well as the card that allows the land plays.
the second reason these types of effects are not run is they are not available on synergistic sources. sorcery and instant based land ramp/plays are the worst thing the deck can be doing. enchantment based land plays are best in blue or black based decks with tons of draw. the same can be said for the creature sources of this effect as well. while the creature based sources are where this deck would look to obtain these effects, they wind up being more of a detriment to the deck. after about 9-10 lands are in play, the deck does not need any more lands. this reduces the effectiveness of land related sorcerey, instant and enchantment cards. what gives the creature based sources the edge is the synergy they have with the rest of the engines in the build. at worst, they are triggers for various effects (or even block). when these synergy trees are taken into account, trigger based ramp creatures offer way more utility over the land play creatures.
the other big weakness the land play creatures have is the possibility of being cloned. clones are a big part of the format, and should be prepared for. relying on land play creatures opens up a window for an opponent to get in on your ramp capabilities. this is usually bad news, as the resource denial plan is usually the main method of attack for saffi. allowing an opponent to keep up with your mana production is counterproductive to what the deck should be doing.
hopefully this sheds some light as to why i avoided these types of effects. if you would like i can delve deeper on the subject.
Very good explanation, I follow your line of thinking on the subject as well. Why do you run yavimaya granger over wood elves? I only see 4 creatures that specifically hunt for land, have you ever desired more? In a deck like this they just become clamp or pod fodder
Very good explanation, I follow your line of thinking on the subject as well. Why do you run yavimaya granger over wood elves? I only see 4 creatures that specifically hunt for land, have you ever desired more? In a deck like this they just become clamp or pod fodder
my response is going to be a little convoluted so bare with me lol...
Yavimaya Granger gets a slot over Wood Elves for several reasons. The granger can grab basic plains, while Wood Elves cannot. This is a very valuable aspect of the card, as Emeria, the Sky Ruin should always be set up (passively). With 8 fetchlands in the deck, access to the dual lands is high. This reduces the possibilities of Wood Elves getting the slot.
They both interact with Skullclamp well, although Wood Elves interacts a bit more favorably. If you take in to account the "self sacrificing" nature Yavimaya Granger, it is only slightly behind Wood Elves in regards to Skullclamp, but shines brighter with other synergies (such as Genesis or Martyr's Bond) or a lack of sacrifice outlets.
The final edge that Yavimaya Granger has over Wood Elves is the interaction with Wild Pair. When building for this enchantment, I wanted 2 ramp creatures at 2, 1 at 3 and 2 at 4. Lotus Cobra got the nod at the 3 slot**, and Solemn Simulacrum and Sakura-Tribe Elder were both locks at their respective values. This was the deciding factor that gave Yavimaya Granger the slot, so in reality, Wood Elves would be fighting for the slot that is taken by Farhaven Elf.
**Lotus Cobra makes it in as the 3 pair for a multitude of reasons as well. The not so obvious reason is, Yavimaya Elder is a card suited for undeveloped decks. The more obvious reason is the competition for slots at the 3cmc range. Something like Viridian Emissary would make the cut over the elder because it bridges the curve. This allows most of the same synergies Yavimaya Elder would provide at a cheaper price, while actually ramping you. Lotus Cobra has the edge in this particular build as a way to use the land-base to create Dark Rituals. This Effect can also be achieved by pairing LoBro with other land searching creatures, allowing for explosive plays that no other creature that pairs at 3 can provide.
You mention not running Sol Ring by choice. If you were solely interested in making the deck as competitive as possible would you run Sol Ring? Mana Crypt? Any cards the deck should have but you choose not to run out of fairness, fun etc?
You mention not running Sol Ring by choice. If you were solely interested in making the deck as competitive as possible would you run Sol Ring? Mana Crypt? Any cards the deck should have but you choose not to run out of fairness, fun etc?
nothing is ever excluded for fun or fairness. the only reason why something may not make it in the deck is "it is not good enough". not every deck needs a sol ring or mana crypt to be competitive, and this list is proof of that.
what makes you think making this list as competitive as possible is not my sole interest?
edit: i just realized how hostile this reply sounds, and i dont mean it that way. i really am just curious as to what gives the impression that i am not very serious about this deck lol.
I applaud you good sir for the exclusion of Sol Ring. Good riddance to Sylvan Library and Scroll Rack too. This is not a good stuff deck, and while those spells could arguably help dig out your combo, I'm not a fan of adding them just to add them.
I've heard explanations for Gift and Glare, and whether or not I agree with them is secondary to the fact that you have seemingly well thought out reasons for including them. A second round of applause. I do however question the addition of Austere Command. You could list it's merits and there would be many I'm sure, but unless there is a way to go get it when needed, or unless it wins you the game, it's out of place. I feel strongly it should be Idyllic Tutor.
I'm surprised to see no mention of Angelic Renewal in these threads. It's tutor-able, creates a loop with Sun Titan, is a form of wrath/removal protection giving a creature resilience, and enables abuse with sac outlets and creatures with etb triggers (the very essence of this deck). Pair it with Birthing Pod and pod off the same cmc twice if necessary. It's such a dynamic spell in these lists.
Edit: facepalm just read gift of immortality again. holy crap.
about sol ring and other format power
some people have called me crazy for many years because i exclude fast mana and some crowd favorites from a lot of my decks. after a number of games with some of the people who called me an EDH heretic, they quickly came around to my views and theories of the format. there is a very big difference between building for the format and building for your general. the majority of the time, the deck that build for the general are going to come out on top.
about angelic renewal and gift of immortality
gift of immortality crushed any hopes of renewal making it in to the list... not that angelic renewal ever had a chance before the printing of gift. angelic renewal never accomplished enough to maintain anything higher than "testing" status. it was always a poor imposter of the "holy trinity" and cut into precious non-creature slots. gift, on the other hand... wow. when i first saw it spoiled, i thought it would be okay. first game i sleeved up the card went as follows...
turn 1- enlightened tutor for gift of immortality
turn 2- sukara-tribe elder
turn 3- gift on elder
turn 4- martyrs bond
turn 5- opponents scoop
the card immediately made core status as i started to explore all of its interactions in the deck.
austere command
being that austere command is a flex slot, i am not going to speak much about its inclusion (as i usually do not debate flex slots). what i will say about it is... the deck is configured to be the most competitive 99 it can be across any given metagame. i have traveled all over the states with this deck, sweeping edh events in boston, washington, and new jersey (not to mention all over new york). because i have to worry about more than just my play group, i need the spells to be as flexible as possible. idyllic tutor can do decent things, but it is not anything austere command cannot do.
if you do have some reasoning more than 'you cant tutor for it' as to why austere should be cut, im all ears. i am also interested in why you think idyllic tutor should get the slot.
I was wondering if you could comment on your addition of Thragtusk to your list, and how it's played for you so far. Also, would Titania, Protector of Argoth get consideration for that slot? Seems pretty sweet with the fetch/Crucible shenanigans going on but maybe too conditional?
Austere Command as a "flex" spot seems right.
This is how I see it:
Drawing Austere Command says, "Oh look I drew a random bomb sorcery that may or may not be useful to my current situation once I have enough mana to cast it".
Drawing Idyllic Tutor says, "I can now tutor up a wide variety of spells with specific applications that can either enable multiple lines of attack, generate advantage, or interact with the board to suppress a specific threat."
I'll be honest, it's not even close to me.
As for Titania, I like her but she requires a Strip Mine or Dryad Arbor to make a token swarm, right? It's an added card to the loop.
Have you ever considered Dryad Militant ? For the few cards it prevents your list from getting back I would think it could seriously ruin some opposing strategies
I was wondering if you could comment on your addition of Thragtusk to your list, and how it's played for you so far. Also, would Titania, Protector of Argoth get consideration for that slot? Seems pretty sweet with the fetch/Crucible shenanigans going on but maybe too conditional?
thragtusk has been slotted in shortly before i started the OP. the main reason for its inclusion has been the ludicrous amounts of hate i have been getting while playing magic. my main group has a few players who feel i need to be taken out at all costs (it has started effecting other decks and formats as well). in an attempt to add a bit more survivability, as well as test the loss of indrik stomphowler (which was discussed in the old primer thread), i went with thragtusk. so far it has been 50/50 on which is going to stay in the deck, as not much testing has been done with it. what i have learned about the card is that the 1 extra point of power has been relevant, but not as relevant as the disenchant. ultimately i cannot really speak on this change in as much depth as i would like to, due to the fact it has not been tested extensively.
i was waiting for the spoilers to finish to speak about titania. but since you asked...
she seems like she will be an amazing addition, and is one i immediately want to try. without much thought, she looks like she would take the slot that is being tested at the moment (thragtusk vs indrik stomphowler). while she does not give the lifegain that thragtusk provides, the manabase completely supports her effects (which affect survivability and aggressiveness). with 11 sac-lands, dryad arbor tricks, knight of the reliquary and crucible of worlds, she can put massive power on the board. she also effects things like greater good in a very positive way. outside of all the amazing red cards out of the set (that i will never play), she is the only card i am excited about (dat art though!). thankfully she is only like 2 bucks right now. i may just wait for one to show up on pucatrade.
i gotta give it to you gesam... you truly understand the deck lol
Have you ever considered Dryad Militant ? For the few cards it prevents your list from getting back I would think it could seriously ruin some opposing strategies
i dont think this card is as relevant as gaddock teeg or scavenging ooze. while it does have its up-sides, it does not prevent the spells from being cast the first time or stop anything that was played before it hit play. i can see it as a decent flex card over something like ethersworn canonist, but i think she fights the blue decks much better than the militant. have you tested this card? i would like to hear some experiences with it to sway my opinion.
Austere Command as a "flex" spot seems right.
This is how I see it:
Drawing Austere Command says, "Oh look I drew a random bomb sorcery that may or may not be useful to my current situation once I have enough mana to cast it".
Drawing Idyllic Tutor says, "I can now tutor up a wide variety of spells with specific applications that can either enable multiple lines of attack, generate advantage, or interact with the board to suppress a specific threat."
I'll be honest, it's not even close to me.
i honestly feel your views on the card are biased, but if idyllic is working for you, please continue playing it. austere command cripples most of the power decks in the format, while leaving your board unscathed. it is an out to humility and can act as a sacrifice outlet in a pinch, just to name a few features. while idyllic can mirror most of the applications of austere command, it cannot do them efficiently or as effectively.
in the interest of discussion, i will compare each card in regards to what idyllic tutor can search out.
idyllic into wild pair: this line of play seems decent due to the value of wild pair, but is wildly (excuse the pun) inefficient. this is a function that austere command can still provide if you have an academy rector in play.
idyllic into martyrs bond: nine mana over two cards to not wrath the board, where you could have just cast austere for 1 six mana card. this line still requires creatures, making it nowhere near as good as just casting austere command. the worst part about this line is how it is open to disruption at each step of the line of play.
idyllic into greater good: this is where things get interesting, as seven mana can turn into a game win. the problem with this scenario is that saffi would require a fairly specific board set up for it to result in a win. what this means is that idyllic into greater good is mainly for value. while that is never a bad thing, it all depends on what you will need to dig for. austere command can buy you the turns required to dig as well.
idyllic into pattern of rebirth: there are two possible reasons to take this line of play. either you need to solve a problem, or create a problem. austere still has both of those hidden modes while requiring only one card against the three (at minimum) this line would need.
idyllic into aura shards: six mana over two cards to set up a disenchant engine. austere command is still more efficient, especially when you factor in you cannot start getting triggers until creatures hit play. this line is strictly inferior to casting austere command.
idyllic into survival of the fittest: probably the only reasonable line of play idyllic offers.
idyllic into oblivion ring: six mana, over two cards to solve one problem. unless that problem is a planeswalker, this line is strictly inferior to casting austere command.
this all sways even more in austere commands favor when you take game state scenarios and match-ups into consideration. moral of the story, austere is a stronger slot than idyllic tutor.
I just happened to stumble across a Militant in my cards and it caused me to raise an eyebrow at it. I do agree that ooze and teeg out class it, I was curious if the card had ever crossed your mind in putting cards together for your list.. I did assemble the list as is last night and played out some hands, it runs extremely smoothly.. The mana base feels spot on
upon its release, i thought about its applications and decided against it. it never really went past that for me.
if you do decide to take my list out for some games (or even if you dont lol) i wish you luck! its a great deck that has given me a lot of success across the US. although i am sure that WotC has some personal vendetta against me as they seem to be doing what they can to kill this deck off, haha. between changing the template on oblivion ring type effects to all the hate cards they print (i dont think containment priest is going to see excessive play), spoiler seasons are becoming scarier and scarier for me.
as a side note, im glad discussions are picking up here. hopefully we can keep this going!
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These goals can be attained through the following construction theories, which are applicable to any deck.
Construction Theories
Overload the mana flow, while maximizing mana consumption:
Overloading the mana flow essentially means ramp hard. Ramp is a necessary evil of the format, and figuring out how to jump your curve is the first priority when theorycrafting a deck. Playing enough lands is a major factor in overloading the mana flow of a deck, so never short yourself on your land count.
Building on a curve is the first step in maximizing mana consumption, as well as setting your curve in a realistic manner. Just because Swords to Plowshares is a 1 mana spell, does not mean it is always a turn 1 play. The next step in maximizing mana consumption is making sure you have enough effects that require mana to activate. Do not fear activation costs, as most effects that require a payment are usually more powerful than those that dont. for example, Withered Wretch vs Scrabbling Claws. Untapped lands are wasted opportunities.
Card quality over card quantity:
Each card should be as versatile and functional as possible, as well as relevant in the largest number of games and board-states. This principal usually is the contrary to the theory of "card quantity", where large amounts of cards are key. Through superior card quality, you will always "out-draw" the card quantity decks as your spells are always live. The card quantity decks greed out and play the "most powerful in a vacuum" cards in hopes of chaining them together to net advantage. Their goal is to leverage the raw power of their spells to win a game. The issue with this is, when a hiccup in the flow of cards presents itself to them (dead cards), they fall apart. Card quality decks on the other hand, while playing with less raw power, have more universal applications of the spells they play. The result of this is less opportunity for the deck to not respond to your needs (better top decks).
open-ended interactions and non-linear combos:
this theory expands upon the "card quality over card quantity", taking card quality to new heights. what this theory is promoting is enhancing each cards quality when paired with other cards in the deck. what this effectively does is obsolete all linear combos and linear interactions from the build, while reducing reliance on combos. other positive side effects of this are mitigating the effects due to loss of any particular combo or value piece.
while combos do win games, they present a chink in the deck. if any dedicated combo piece is neutralized, the whole deck suffers greatly. an example of this can be found in teferi + knowledge pool. if someone is able to cut the teferi player off of knowledge pool, the terfi players chance at winning the game are severely reduced. if combo kills are to be included into a deck, they pieces that create them need to provide as much function as possible. the combo kill should be a result of good synergy (card quality), not necessity.
core slots vs staples vs flex slots:
Core slots can be loosely defined as the cards that make the theme of the deck. these are your engines and cards that make the deck tick. in contrast, flex slots can be loosely defined as the cards that are not core cards. These are your Meta slots, pet cards, redundant spells and what not. Anything that can be tailored to your needs. as for staples, the whole concept of format staples is an illusion. there is no such thing as a "must play" card (other than maybe strip mine). i have played countless decks without a sol ring or solemn simulacrum (by choice), several blue decks with out rhystic study, or even red decks without wheel of fortune. once a deck builder can dismiss the mind set of "format staples" as well as "sacred cows" ("staples" for specific commanders, i.e. lord of extinction in jarad, golgari lich lord), they can begin to achieve the discipline to identify core cards for a deck they are working on without bias. being that there is no perfect 99 for a commander, once these core cards have been identified, the painstaking task of filling the flex slots can be started.
10 plains
8 forest
1 savannah
1 temple garden
1 krosan verge
1 windswept heath
1 arid mesa
1 flooded strand
1 marsh flats
1 verdant catacombs
1 misty rainforest
1 wooded foothills
1 horizon canopy
1 buried ruin
1 strip mine
1 gaea's cradle
1 emeria, the sky ruin
1 dryad arbor
1 mistveil plains
1 ancient tomb
1 high market
ARTIFACT (6)
1 sensei's divining top
1 skullclamp
1 altar of dementia
1 crucible of worlds
1 oblivion stone
1 birthing pod
1 survival of the fittest
1 aura shards
1 oblivion ring
1 glare of subdual
1 greater good
1 pattern of rebirth
1 martyr's bond
1 wild pair
1 gift of immortality
SORCERY/INSTANT (6)
1 worldly tutor
1 enlightened tutor
1 eladamri's call
1 green sun's zenith
1 austere command
1 tooth and nail
CREATURE (41)
1 sylvan safekeeper
1 spore frog
1 fauna shaman
1 gaddock teeg
1 lotus cobra
1 leonin relic-warder
1 ethersworn canonist
1 phyrexian revoker
1 qasali pridemage
1 scavenging ooze
1 sakura-tribe elder
1 viridian zealot
1 aven mindcensor
1 eternal witness
1 fiend hunter
1 farhaven elf
1 harmonic sliver
1 knight of the reliquary
1 mentor of the meek
1 mirror entity
1 yavimaya granger
1 reclamation sage
1 angel of finality
1 solemn simulacrum
1 wickerbough elder
1 academy rector
1 reveillark
1 karmic guide
1 titania, protector of argoth
1 genesis
1 acidic slime
1 archon of justice
1 sunblast angel
1 triskelion
1 sun titan
1 duplicant
1 regal force
1 hornet queen
1 avenger of zendikar
1 woodfall primus
1 ulamog, the infinite gyre
strengths (internal)
-highly customizable
-top notch consistency
-can assume any role in any pod, while having the ability to change roles mid game
weaknesses (internal)
-large decision trees create room for sub par plays
-price point of the deck may put it out of reach
-high learning curve
opportunities (external)
-exhausts the opponents resources
-extremely resilient to hate
-deep synergy trees cause opponents to misplay
threats (external)
-susceptible to explosive combo
Basic Lands:
The deck runs a fairly high count of basics. This is due to the high amount of creature based land ramp the deck does, and for consistency in setting up emeria. Running the bare minimum of nonbasics allows the utility those nonbasics provide while strengthening its game against the land hate strategies of the format.
When using the creature based ramp, extreme care should be taken on deciding which type of basic to get. There is no set formula for what order to grab basics in due to the awkward mana tension in the deck composition (the mana base is predominantly white, while the spells are predominately green--this is alleviated by the threshold of land-search effects in the build). The closest thing to a metric to gauge your fetching by is a 2:1 ratio in favor of plains. You will want to get plains as soon as possible to get the emeria set up out of the way, but you will need enough green mana to reliably cast spells.
The process of using Fetchlands to grab basics throughout a game is not as straight forward as some may perceive it to be. A healthy percentage of the time, Fetchlands should NOT be activated as there are an ample amount of interactions that strengthen the use of stockpiled fetches. Further notation on this can be found in the "Fetch Engine" section.
A 50/50 split of snow and non-snow*, for each basic type, would create the perfect manabase for the deck. This is an often overlooked part of "min/max"-ing a deck. Using this technique allows you to reap benefits of greedy Extraplanar Lens players, regardless of what type of forest or plains they imprint. This also gives a bit of extra survivability against cards like Wake of Destruction.
*I personally do not use this split anymore, as I much prefer the aesthetic appeal of Unhinged lands.
The dual lands:
Savannah and Temple Garden are the only dual lands that warrant inclusion. Excluding Horizon Canopy, no other multicolor lands are used due to amount of creature based ramp, protection against nonbasic land hate, the type checking of Emeria, and use of the fetch engine.
The fetch engine:
All playable fetchlands (in addition to krosan verge) are put to extensive use is this build. The functions and utility they provide here are unmatched by any other deck, and require discipline to use correctly. The math has been done to prove that 3-5 fetches in a game do not significantly thin your deck... but this build can easily rip 12+ lands out of the deck, drastically changing deck composition.
"Aggressive fetching" is acceptable in the early stages of most games, but it is strategically advantageous to stockpile these activations. Evidence of this can be found in offensive and defensive applications of these types of effects. Some defensive applications can be found in Sylvan Safekeeper consuming a Fetch, anticipating a land wipe, using KoTR to bait crypts, or getting dryad arbor for defensive triggers or surprise blocking. Offensive tactics that can be deployed using stockpiled Fetches can be anything from multiple Avenger of Zendikar triggers/Sensei's divining top activations in the same turn to using Lotus Cobra as a massive Dark Ritual.
i had more on this subject, but lost a ton of work i had written down... so expect more to come
horizon canopy:
A stellar card in the KotR/crucible toolkit, and can turn sun Titan into a draw engine. The deck plays a fair game with fair cards in an unfair format. With that being the case, the deck needs to be able to get value in any way it can.
strip mine:
Probably the ONLY true staple of the format.
gaea's cradle:
With the amount of creatures the deck runs, it is a nonbasic forest at its worst. While not being integral to the game plan of the deck, it is an irreplaceable and invaluable component.
emeria, the sky ruin:
The deck aims to get value from all possible angles. This is a stellar engine to reap value as it is hard for most opponents to combat effectively. It has so many subtle uses, such as baiting crypts and interactions with survival.
dryad arbor:
This inconspicuous little land is a power house in this build. It provides an almost unanswerable way to trigger various effects and feeds some loops that are not seen in the list at first glance...for example sylvan safekeeper + dryad arbor + Saffi. While it does have its weaknesses, i dare you to find a deck where it has more strengths.
ancient tomb:
With no sol ring/mana crypt in the list, the deck needs ways to make fast mana. Ancient tomb allows the sacrifice of the explosive turn 1/turn 2 for an equally explosive turn 3 and more consistent endgame. It does this while not consuming any spell slots and giving the deck the fragility that artifact based decks tend to have.
high market:
Each feature of the card make it fundamentally stronger than all other land based sacrifice effects. Tapping for mana edges it out over diamond valley, and no activation cost puts it over miren. gaining 1 life may not be as high as the life gain on diamond valley or miren, but when you take into account the average life gain (per activation) of the 2 lands that did not make my list, the choice becomes much more acceptable (especially when you add a mana cost to that life gain).
Flex lands
2 more lands should be played to round out the land count. Preferably, the lands should come into play untapped and produce mana. At a minimum, the lands should provide a function relevant to your metagame and/or compliment your play style. The best options to fill the flex slot are as follows...
Bazaar of Baghdad:
bazaar offers a saffi a different avenue of play in heavy combo builds/metagames. Perhaps one of the most difficult cards in magic to play, learning how to effectively use it (outside of dredge) can be a demoralizing experience. This land should not be used as the flex land unless you are thoroughly familiar with the deck.
Cavern of souls/winding canyons:
these are the best land-based tools for tables with opponents who are heavy on counterspells. Cavern is better at forcing through a small set of cards, while canyons is better at causing your opponent to misplay. The choice of which to use should depend on the ammount of counterspells you expect to be aimed at what you are putting on the stack. If there are a lot of counterspells at the table, play cavern. If the counterspells are not high in numbers, play winding canyons.
I like these options better than grand abolisher type cards due to resiliency. Although the deck is 40+ creatures, those slots are precious. There are better ways to protect yourself without hindering your creature options.
Diamond valley/Miren, the moaning well:
for disenchant heavy metas, these lands provide ways to sacrifice creatures that are less likely to be removed by your opponents (especially when the high profile lands the list runs are taken into account).
Flagstones of trokair/riftstone portal
the flex candidates if land wipes are what is hindering your performance. Each option will alter the way the deck should be played when expecting a wipe. For example, a dual land should be kept in the deck as long as possible and reserved for a flagstone trigger if flagstones of trokair is what is chosen for the flex slot.
Glacial chasm:
against aggro/infect or other decks with high burst damage such as heartless, omnath or iname.
Kor haven/maze of ith/tower of the magistrate:
should only be used if there are consistently 2 or more "general damage" decks around.
Mistveil plains:
in metas with high ammounts of graveyard removal, this should be what is selected to fill the slot. Although I am not a fan of it, the effect is unique to lands and counts as a plains for emeria and the fetch engine. this is often a necessary slot due to hostile metas.
Mouth of ronom:
the best snow tech available, but the weakest option available for the flex slots. If some of the more expensive lands are out of reach, mouth of ronom makes decent filler.
Springjack pasture:
an upgrade to vitu-ghazi, the city-tree (for the ghazi-glare engine). Applications of this land are plentiful, and I consider it the baseline for the flex lands. Activations may be costly, but the way it interacts with many cards in the deck make up for that. This is the land of choice for open metas, new metas, learning the deck and midrange mirrors.
Wasteland:
with three (recurring) ways to handle problematic lands in the main deck, lands are usually not an issue. Although, if your Meta has multiple decks, with multiple problematic lands, a fourth may be required. Wasteland would be the most effective and efficient choice to fill the flex slot.
Buried ruin:
it is so close to making the jump to a core card. The list may not run many artifacts, but the artifacts that make the cut are extremely important. It also offers amazing lines of "grindy" play, one of my favorites being a crucible, oblivion stone, buried ruin soft lock. Aside from protecting artifacts, it does have the hidden feature of protecting other non-basic lands.
notes on SotF can be found in the in depth card strategy section
aura shards
oblivion ring
While not entirely embarrassing to cast, it still holds up as an invaluable rector target. With 15 gods in the format now, as well as the deep pool of disenchant-proof targets, the ring still holds weight. Its use against planeswalkers has been one of its greatest features as it allows you to focus your combat damage on the player. another great feature of the card is how well it can protect other permanents you may have in play. removing a wild pair with oblivion ring before resetting the field with an oblivion stone will allow you to completely outpace opponents on the rebuild.
*Due to the templating of oblivion ring, manipulating the triggers is a real thing and a thing this deck can do well. responding to the "comes into play" trigger with a disenchant of your own can be done with ease using cards like wickerbough elder, viridian zealot or an aura shards trigger. this line of play should always be kept in mind as an oblivion ring in the graveyard is never a bad thing when sun titan is around.
glare of subdual
glare was originally put in the deck to combat the titans when they were first printed. over time though it has become a linchpin of the deck. the card has many offensive and defensive uses. tapping down threats who may come your way, or regulating problematic permanents are all feasible options as the deck runs more creatures than most decks in the format. EoT, tapping down someones board for an unblocked attack is extremely strong when you can sacrifice your field after combat and bring your team back untapped. also, sunblast angel made this card BONKERS. tapping down a players field of creatures to then cast sunblast angel (with consistent saffi back up) can lock some people out of ever having relevant creatures.
greater good
simply put, greater good wins games. here is the thing... greater good will only win you games if you understand the concept of "card quality vs card quantity". this is a deck of 2/2's. with greater good, you are granted the ability to cash in a 2/2 for 2 cards, and then in return you lose your 3 "least relevant" cards. here's the thing...often times, you want those cards in the graveyard. for example, to re-buy it with a karmic guide, or protect your grave with an ulamog shuffle. this is not even factoring in, using a saffi trigger on what you will sacrifice to grater good, or baiting a graveyard removal effect with what you discard. greater good helps you dig, and it helps put things where you want them. as you start to sacrifice creatures with grater power, the effect only gets better. once a loop can be established with greater good, you have won the game. for example, saffi + karmic guide + greater good. you will eventually find everything you need for a combo kill after several activations of greater good.
*bonus points for quoting lines from hot fuzz when casting/activating "the greater good"
pattern of rebirth
Extending academy rectors reach to creatures is a ridiculous effect, and is an effect that should not be undervalued. this list also runs a high threshold of "self sacrificing" creatures, making this an easy trigger to pull. an important thing to remember when playing this card is, if you have no creature besides saffi in play... you CAN enchant saffi with this and then proceed to sacrifice saffi and target an opponents creature with her effect. then, as long as you move saffi to your graveyard, your pattern trigger will resolve.
wild pair
notes on wild pair can be found in the in depth card strategy section
martyr's bond
the premier creature removal in the build. an uncontested martyrs bond usually ends the game. cards like triskelion take it to ridiculous levels due to being multi-typed. inevitable locks with this card come in many flavors. for example, saffi + karmic guide (with or without a sac outlet) is taking at minimum 2 creatures on each of your upkeeps. this is not counting other plays you will be making during the turn with effects like qasali pridemage...or how amazing it is at making combat miserable for your opponents.
gift of immortality
gift has given a whole new angle on how the deck can operate by effectively giving it a second saffi (although it is more narrow). it enables ridiculous plays such as triskelion massacres, completely shutting down opponents combat steps with spore frog, ramping into oblivion with a tribe-elder or even just giving sun titan yet ANOTHER thing to go infinite with. the key to making this card work is as simple as having worthwhile creatures to attach it to (self sacrificing or not), and every single creature in this deck that is not an academy rector gets completely out of hand with this aura.
Coming Soon!
skullclamp
more often than not, skullclamp will only deter attackers from coming your way or allow you to get a bit of damage in, as nobody will block your clamped creatures. because of this, do not hesitate to cannibalize your 1 toughness creatures that may not make sense to skullclamp on (tribe-elder for example).
altar of dementia
the the third of the three "pure" sacrifice effects in the deck, and arguably the best available. the quickest possible combo kills involve this card. outside of the combo, it is amazing disruption, and allows the deck to effectively play like a dredge deck. from interactions with emeria, to dismantling decks with scavenging ooze and angel of finality, this card will ruin the most games for your opponents.
*tread with caution when milling your self in set up for a combo kill if using altar. it is a far riskier line due to the significantly less control over what you have hitting the graveyard. walking right into something like Crypt Incursion or an untimely ulamog hitting the graveyard can be very unpleasant.
crucible of worlds
seemingly out of place, crucible of worlds provides essential functions to the build. while its text is very simple, its applications are quite numerous. it is almost like a saffi for lands. one of the greatest things you can do with this card is play it along side buried ruin, due to the fact that they each protect each other. the manabase is sculpted to take full advantage of it so it can enhance the performance of many cards in the build. sylvan safekeeper, sensei's divining top, avenger of zendikar and altar of dementia (to name a few) all benefit from its inclusion.
oblivion stone
the second most synergistic sweeper available to the deck. not much can be said about it that has not already been said as it is a known quantity in the format. natural ebb and flow of the deck will always put it ahead after any sweeper (used by any player), so board control with a sun titan or buried ruin lock can seal the deal against less competitive metas or opponents who have used up significant resources.
birthing pod
notes on birthing pod can be found in the in-depth card strategy section.
the only sorcery or instant cards that create the core of the deck are the top 4 available tutors. being that the deck has access to pretty much effect imaginable in and out of the scope of its colors, these four cards aid in giving it the consistency it is infamous for. value other than "get what i need, when i need it" can be had when dealing with these types of cards from the subtle synergies and interactions they have with the deck.
Enlightened Tutor & Worldly tutor:
these cards may be "card disadvantage", but this is saffi... everything turns a profit here. these two cards are the fastest and most flexible options for finding engines, or cogs for engines. being able to set up turn 2, or capitalize on a draw phase/trigger is enough to put it over things like chord of calling or sylvan tutor.
*i suggest using worldly tutor aggressively and enlightened tutor conservatively.
Eladamri's call:
essentially the weakest of the tutor suite, but its weak in the way mystical tutor is weak in vintage.
Green sun's zenith
the power of this spell has set the mold that the rest of the engines should be formed around due to the amazing overlap with wild pair/birthing pod. Although it creates the awkward tension in deck composition, the functionality it provides is unparalleled (such as alleviating mulligans far better than other tutors). The protocol I follow for GSZ is the same as birthing pod. Each rung in the CMC ladder should contain relevant effects proportionate to the stage of the game it will be relevant in. More information on this topic can be found in the in-depth card strategies for birthing pod and wild pair.
Flex Slots
virtually any other 2 magic cards can be used to fill the last 2 slots. as with all flex slots, they should either be tailored to your meta, play style or cater to your weaknesses while piloting the deck.
Austere command
very close to achieving core-card status, this is a card that has more than pulled its weight over the years. austere command does everything from function as an unorthodox sac outlet, to fight the hate cards and roadblocks that try to combat this deck. the best feature of this card is how it decimates opposing field while not augmenting the decks natural flow.
Tooth and nail
tooth and nail is the "99th card". what this means, is that functionally, it is the weakest card in the build. this is due to the fact that the deck will only cast tooth and nail for value (as opposed to generating a win by resolving it). although the game can end with a developed board, most of the time it will not. good thing this deck loves value. with that being said, the reason this card obtained the "99th slot", is how effective it is at netting advantage. the trend in the deck is that one card is never just "+1". if the text of tooth and nail essentially reads "+2", the actual gains are far higher. an example of this can be found in a basic tooth and nail combination of "disenchant + recursion". at minimum, the tempo/card advantage gains in that pair are at minimum "+4" off of one spell (when not factoring in any additional triggers that may occur from the creatures (such as aura shards). in the context of this build, value of that level is hard to achieve with other spells while maintaining the necessary levels of consistency that makes the deck function so well.
*this is not a straight forward card. it takes a bit of experimentation to make the most effective pairs. i highly recommend playing with chord of calling in this slot if you are looking for a similar effect while learning the deck. once competency has been developed, the switch to tooth and nail will be easy, and prove worthwhile.
The only other card in the set worth mentioning, is a card that is a slight cause for concern. Containment Priest, the white legacy and vintage card. This is a card Saffi pilots should be mentally preparing for, but not a card to be up in arms about. The reasoning behind this is, she is only playable in a small subset of decks. A lot of decks in the format are on some form of reanimation or flicker strategy, preventing them from running this card. Those decks that do not run the types of effects she combats are likely to run her, but just as likely to get hated off of a table because of it. The other reason why she should not be a cause for concern is, the deck has faced these types of menaces before. During New Phyrexia, people thought Torpor Orb would kill this deck. Saffi survived. M15 brought Hushwing Gryff to the table. Saffi shrugged it off. This will be no different as the deck has many natural outs to the card, but pilots should still recognize the card as well as their outs to the card.
Cards that are on my radar as possible threats are Utter End (exile is bad news), Villainous Wealth (X exile is even worse), and believe it or not... Altar of the Brood. Utter End does not bother me so much as Villainous Wealth. "Genesis Wave YOU" seems like very bad news if the opponent is smart. If they cast off Saffi, we can always sacrifice Saffi upon death of the stolen guys to get them back. but, if the player is smart, they will just leave the removed creatures in exile. Now, for Altar of the Brood. If anyone has ever played against Mesmeric Orb, knows consistent burst mill can be extremely effective. The deck has its outs (Ulamog reshuffle and infinite disenchants), but it is still a very powerful effect.
KTK also brought 5 new generals to the foray. I think only 2 will cause a splash. Narset, Enlightened Master and Anafenza, the Foremost. Narset is a terrible general, so im not worried about it. I am only mentioning it because I feel like it will be everywhere for a short while, so start planning accordingly as the good builds do have potential to steal games. Anafenza will take a while to catch on. When she does, its going to hurt. One of my teammates is brewing a list up for her, so I will have an analysis for the match up soon.
Unfortunately, there are no cards that warrant testing for the deck. At best, Onslaught fetchlands are reprinted, opening up availability (if you can stomach the art).
Same deal as Skullclamp.
The effect of Genesis is a triggered ability, not an activated ability
The Wild Pair trigger checks power and toughness upon resolution of the trigger. This means if your opponent has an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite in play, the -2/-2 will affect your pair. This also means counters or p/t setting effects can be ordered to tailor your pairs.
Example: Triskelions counters can be removed or Scavenging Ooze can be activated in response to the trigger, or the amount of lands in your graveyard (in regards to Knight of the Reliquary) will influence your pair.
You can in fact order your triggers in such a way that a sacrificed Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre will return to play before the shuffle trigger resolves.
Example: Sacrifice Saffi, targeting Ulamog. Sacrifice Ulamog to Greater Good. The draw effect of Greater Good goes on the stack, then Ulamog goes to the graveyard. This will trigger 2 effects which will attempt to simultaneously go on the stack. If they are ordered "shuffle graveyard into library" > "return Ulamog to play", the stack will look like this...
Being that resolution of the stack happens "first in, last out", the first effect to resolve will be putting Ulamog into play. After that, you will shuffle your graveyard into your library. Finally, you will draw 10 cards and discard three.
Reveillark can get creatures back that hit the yard when the trigger goes off.
Example: I have lark and Hornet Queen in play. You Damnation. By the time the lark trigger goes on the stack, Hornet Queen is already in the graveyard. Therefore, I get back my Hornet Queen and you proceed to flip the table.
November 2014
-thragtusk
+titania, protector of argoth
Pookelyduke's list
I just recently moved off to college and my saffi deck is still at my parents' house. I'll be watching the thread and keeping up to date.
You should put Mirror Entity down in the Wild Pair section (Using him in response to wildpair trigger.)
Can you explain the line with Academy Rector and Oblivion Ring?
Rector reads: When rector is put into a graveyard from play, you may exile rector. If you do, you may search your library for an enchantment card and put that card into play.
O Ring reads: when O ring enters the battlefield, exile target nonland permanent.
O Ring triggers because it has entered the battlefield. Still targets?
oops. the rector thing was a goof on my part. as for "mirror entity in the wild Pair" section, i am going to do an in depth section on wild pair. i quickly threw information up to give the thread title a little relevancy while working on it.
Some typos and capitalization errors.
Also, it would be best to link any card that you talk about (Withered Wretch for instance)
im going to get to all the formatting soon enough. it is clearly a rushed job, but my main concern was getting substance out there for the community. i still have quite a bit of information to put up here, so i may just format this first to make editing a bit easier in the long run.
other than that, any feedback on content would be very much appreciated.
The bullet points at the beginning are kind of ambiguous in meaning, people coming into the primer with no information to start with may have no idea what you're trying to say in parts of these bullet points.
The Oblivion ring section (or at least the rules section) needs a part explaining the Fiend Hunter / Oblivion Ring / Leonin Relic-Hoarder triggers with sac outlets.
Maybe talk about Strip Mine with Crucible of Worlds. I guess not everyone knows about it.
There isn't a whole lot I can say right now because the primer is incomplete, but as a base there are a lot of sections I'd like to see like "Notable Interactions", "Possible Includes", "Wild Pair/Birthing Pod Chains", an explanation of the Dementia Combo (Oh how many times I've had to play it out entirely in games because people wouldn't believe me,) ways to go off if the other person has like three eldrazi in their deck (like milling yourself until you hit trisk and winning with damage on trisk by dealing two to the opponent and one to trisk, or just saccing trisk,) a section on torpor orb especially when paired with darksteel forge (things like archon or justice or what not,) the combo with ulamog and greater good, etc. etc. etc.
There are a bunch more things I'd like to see, but as I noted this isn't a completed primer so I'll leave those things until you're done.
Effectively, the only real problems that I haven't outlined are formatting, spelling, or grammatical errors that you are probably already aware of.
first off, thank you very much for the feedback. although the write-up is in a very incomplete state, i am working towards filling in several holes in existing content (i wanted to get the framework up at the very least) as well as adding new content. issues such as grammatical errors and formatting problems have been a result of the "copy and paste" process i have had to use. i am writing most of this on my phone/note pad on my laptop and then just pasting it on to the original post. it has also been quite a task prioritizing the information i am trying to put out. i said it a long time ago, i have a LOT of things to say about the deck. its going to take time for me to get it all out there.
as for things the community would like to see... please be open and explicit in your expectations. the more information i have about what the community wants, the more i can get out (and shift priorities around to accommodate those wants). if there is something that you want, please do not hesitate to post about it. i would like the end result of this thread to be a "one stop shop" of all saffi needs and discussion.
thanks again
bederndern
edit: deck tags seem to be broken -_-
one of the amazing things about this list is the fact that all of the combo pieces are just products of synergy. the only cards that can be considered "combo cards" are greater good and altar of dementia, although each provides a much needed function to the deck outside of being a way to outright end the game.
very good question. there are a few parts to this answer. the main issue with these types of effects is how high variance they are. while it is a great boon to the deck, allowing these extra lands to come into play untapped... they are not a guaranteed extra land. with the threshold of creature based ramp triggers and the high levels of recurrence of those creatures, the deck can achieve the same effect without having to use those exact "extra land drop" effects. for example, opening on a turn 2 sakura-tribe elder with ample lands to make your regular land plays, you end up with 8 lands on turn 5 using only 2 cards. this changes deck composition to a fair degree if you hit a few fetchlands along the way (on average 2-3 by turn 5) as you have removed about 11 lands from the deck by turn 5. thats an average of 20 cards you have seen or put into play by turn 5. to achieve those numbers with extra land plays, you need to have drawn the lands as well as the card that allows the land plays.
the second reason these types of effects are not run is they are not available on synergistic sources. sorcery and instant based land ramp/plays are the worst thing the deck can be doing. enchantment based land plays are best in blue or black based decks with tons of draw. the same can be said for the creature sources of this effect as well. while the creature based sources are where this deck would look to obtain these effects, they wind up being more of a detriment to the deck. after about 9-10 lands are in play, the deck does not need any more lands. this reduces the effectiveness of land related sorcerey, instant and enchantment cards. what gives the creature based sources the edge is the synergy they have with the rest of the engines in the build. at worst, they are triggers for various effects (or even block). when these synergy trees are taken into account, trigger based ramp creatures offer way more utility over the land play creatures.
the other big weakness the land play creatures have is the possibility of being cloned. clones are a big part of the format, and should be prepared for. relying on land play creatures opens up a window for an opponent to get in on your ramp capabilities. this is usually bad news, as the resource denial plan is usually the main method of attack for saffi. allowing an opponent to keep up with your mana production is counterproductive to what the deck should be doing.
hopefully this sheds some light as to why i avoided these types of effects. if you would like i can delve deeper on the subject.
my response is going to be a little convoluted so bare with me lol...
Yavimaya Granger gets a slot over Wood Elves for several reasons. The granger can grab basic plains, while Wood Elves cannot. This is a very valuable aspect of the card, as Emeria, the Sky Ruin should always be set up (passively). With 8 fetchlands in the deck, access to the dual lands is high. This reduces the possibilities of Wood Elves getting the slot.
They both interact with Skullclamp well, although Wood Elves interacts a bit more favorably. If you take in to account the "self sacrificing" nature Yavimaya Granger, it is only slightly behind Wood Elves in regards to Skullclamp, but shines brighter with other synergies (such as Genesis or Martyr's Bond) or a lack of sacrifice outlets.
The final edge that Yavimaya Granger has over Wood Elves is the interaction with Wild Pair. When building for this enchantment, I wanted 2 ramp creatures at 2, 1 at 3 and 2 at 4. Lotus Cobra got the nod at the 3 slot**, and Solemn Simulacrum and Sakura-Tribe Elder were both locks at their respective values. This was the deciding factor that gave Yavimaya Granger the slot, so in reality, Wood Elves would be fighting for the slot that is taken by Farhaven Elf.
**Lotus Cobra makes it in as the 3 pair for a multitude of reasons as well. The not so obvious reason is, Yavimaya Elder is a card suited for undeveloped decks. The more obvious reason is the competition for slots at the 3cmc range. Something like Viridian Emissary would make the cut over the elder because it bridges the curve. This allows most of the same synergies Yavimaya Elder would provide at a cheaper price, while actually ramping you. Lotus Cobra has the edge in this particular build as a way to use the land-base to create Dark Rituals. This Effect can also be achieved by pairing LoBro with other land searching creatures, allowing for explosive plays that no other creature that pairs at 3 can provide.
nothing is ever excluded for fun or fairness. the only reason why something may not make it in the deck is "it is not good enough". not every deck needs a sol ring or mana crypt to be competitive, and this list is proof of that.
what makes you think making this list as competitive as possible is not my sole interest?
edit: i just realized how hostile this reply sounds, and i dont mean it that way. i really am just curious as to what gives the impression that i am not very serious about this deck lol.
I've heard explanations for Gift and Glare, and whether or not I agree with them is secondary to the fact that you have seemingly well thought out reasons for including them. A second round of applause. I do however question the addition of Austere Command. You could list it's merits and there would be many I'm sure, but unless there is a way to go get it when needed, or unless it wins you the game, it's out of place. I feel strongly it should be Idyllic Tutor.
I'm surprised to see no mention of Angelic Renewal in these threads. It's tutor-able, creates a loop with Sun Titan, is a form of wrath/removal protection giving a creature resilience, and enables abuse with sac outlets and creatures with etb triggers (the very essence of this deck). Pair it with Birthing Pod and pod off the same cmc twice if necessary. It's such a dynamic spell in these lists.
Edit: facepalm just read gift of immortality again. holy crap.
Modern
RBig RedR
GMean GreenG
WWW AlliesW
BGScavengeBG
WUVenser SilenceWU
EDH
RWAurelia 1 vs 1RW
GWURoonGWU
GWSaffiGW
about sol ring and other format power
some people have called me crazy for many years because i exclude fast mana and some crowd favorites from a lot of my decks. after a number of games with some of the people who called me an EDH heretic, they quickly came around to my views and theories of the format. there is a very big difference between building for the format and building for your general. the majority of the time, the deck that build for the general are going to come out on top.
about angelic renewal and gift of immortality
gift of immortality crushed any hopes of renewal making it in to the list... not that angelic renewal ever had a chance before the printing of gift. angelic renewal never accomplished enough to maintain anything higher than "testing" status. it was always a poor imposter of the "holy trinity" and cut into precious non-creature slots. gift, on the other hand... wow. when i first saw it spoiled, i thought it would be okay. first game i sleeved up the card went as follows...
turn 1- enlightened tutor for gift of immortality
turn 2- sukara-tribe elder
turn 3- gift on elder
turn 4- martyrs bond
turn 5- opponents scoop
the card immediately made core status as i started to explore all of its interactions in the deck.
austere command
being that austere command is a flex slot, i am not going to speak much about its inclusion (as i usually do not debate flex slots). what i will say about it is... the deck is configured to be the most competitive 99 it can be across any given metagame. i have traveled all over the states with this deck, sweeping edh events in boston, washington, and new jersey (not to mention all over new york). because i have to worry about more than just my play group, i need the spells to be as flexible as possible. idyllic tutor can do decent things, but it is not anything austere command cannot do.
if you do have some reasoning more than 'you cant tutor for it' as to why austere should be cut, im all ears. i am also interested in why you think idyllic tutor should get the slot.
I was wondering if you could comment on your addition of Thragtusk to your list, and how it's played for you so far. Also, would Titania, Protector of Argoth get consideration for that slot? Seems pretty sweet with the fetch/Crucible shenanigans going on but maybe too conditional?
This is how I see it:
Drawing Austere Command says, "Oh look I drew a random bomb sorcery that may or may not be useful to my current situation once I have enough mana to cast it".
Drawing Idyllic Tutor says, "I can now tutor up a wide variety of spells with specific applications that can either enable multiple lines of attack, generate advantage, or interact with the board to suppress a specific threat."
I'll be honest, it's not even close to me.
As for Titania, I like her but she requires a Strip Mine or Dryad Arbor to make a token swarm, right? It's an added card to the loop.
Modern
RBig RedR
GMean GreenG
WWW AlliesW
BGScavengeBG
WUVenser SilenceWU
EDH
RWAurelia 1 vs 1RW
GWURoonGWU
GWSaffiGW
thragtusk has been slotted in shortly before i started the OP. the main reason for its inclusion has been the ludicrous amounts of hate i have been getting while playing magic. my main group has a few players who feel i need to be taken out at all costs (it has started effecting other decks and formats as well). in an attempt to add a bit more survivability, as well as test the loss of indrik stomphowler (which was discussed in the old primer thread), i went with thragtusk. so far it has been 50/50 on which is going to stay in the deck, as not much testing has been done with it. what i have learned about the card is that the 1 extra point of power has been relevant, but not as relevant as the disenchant. ultimately i cannot really speak on this change in as much depth as i would like to, due to the fact it has not been tested extensively.
i was waiting for the spoilers to finish to speak about titania. but since you asked...
she seems like she will be an amazing addition, and is one i immediately want to try. without much thought, she looks like she would take the slot that is being tested at the moment (thragtusk vs indrik stomphowler). while she does not give the lifegain that thragtusk provides, the manabase completely supports her effects (which affect survivability and aggressiveness). with 11 sac-lands, dryad arbor tricks, knight of the reliquary and crucible of worlds, she can put massive power on the board. she also effects things like greater good in a very positive way. outside of all the amazing red cards out of the set (that i will never play), she is the only card i am excited about (dat art though!). thankfully she is only like 2 bucks right now. i may just wait for one to show up on pucatrade.
i gotta give it to you gesam... you truly understand the deck lol
i dont think this card is as relevant as gaddock teeg or scavenging ooze. while it does have its up-sides, it does not prevent the spells from being cast the first time or stop anything that was played before it hit play. i can see it as a decent flex card over something like ethersworn canonist, but i think she fights the blue decks much better than the militant. have you tested this card? i would like to hear some experiences with it to sway my opinion.
i honestly feel your views on the card are biased, but if idyllic is working for you, please continue playing it. austere command cripples most of the power decks in the format, while leaving your board unscathed. it is an out to humility and can act as a sacrifice outlet in a pinch, just to name a few features. while idyllic can mirror most of the applications of austere command, it cannot do them efficiently or as effectively.
in the interest of discussion, i will compare each card in regards to what idyllic tutor can search out.
idyllic into wild pair: this line of play seems decent due to the value of wild pair, but is wildly (excuse the pun) inefficient. this is a function that austere command can still provide if you have an academy rector in play.
idyllic into martyrs bond: nine mana over two cards to not wrath the board, where you could have just cast austere for 1 six mana card. this line still requires creatures, making it nowhere near as good as just casting austere command. the worst part about this line is how it is open to disruption at each step of the line of play.
idyllic into greater good: this is where things get interesting, as seven mana can turn into a game win. the problem with this scenario is that saffi would require a fairly specific board set up for it to result in a win. what this means is that idyllic into greater good is mainly for value. while that is never a bad thing, it all depends on what you will need to dig for. austere command can buy you the turns required to dig as well.
idyllic into pattern of rebirth: there are two possible reasons to take this line of play. either you need to solve a problem, or create a problem. austere still has both of those hidden modes while requiring only one card against the three (at minimum) this line would need.
idyllic into aura shards: six mana over two cards to set up a disenchant engine. austere command is still more efficient, especially when you factor in you cannot start getting triggers until creatures hit play. this line is strictly inferior to casting austere command.
idyllic into survival of the fittest: probably the only reasonable line of play idyllic offers.
idyllic into oblivion ring: six mana, over two cards to solve one problem. unless that problem is a planeswalker, this line is strictly inferior to casting austere command.
this all sways even more in austere commands favor when you take game state scenarios and match-ups into consideration. moral of the story, austere is a stronger slot than idyllic tutor.
EDIT: containment priest makes me sad
if you do decide to take my list out for some games (or even if you dont lol) i wish you luck! its a great deck that has given me a lot of success across the US. although i am sure that WotC has some personal vendetta against me as they seem to be doing what they can to kill this deck off, haha. between changing the template on oblivion ring type effects to all the hate cards they print (i dont think containment priest is going to see excessive play), spoiler seasons are becoming scarier and scarier for me.
as a side note, im glad discussions are picking up here. hopefully we can keep this going!