I have considered Bring to Light. The problem I found is that it misses the text 'Instant'. The only thing it does better than chord is allow me to search for removal and coralhelm, the power of our removal is that it's instant speed & having a face-up card in exile ready to destroy something doesn't do it for me, especially at the cost of 5 mana.
Woodland Wanderer seems sweet, it's a card that I admit I had my eyes on before. The only issue is the everlasting problem of 'what do we cut?' The obvious candidate of Loxodon just a beater' Smiter is just so good vs anything, can't be countered, can't be discarded, can't be bolted. I'm hardly ever not happy to see it.
Magus of the Moon hoses some decks so hard, if they don't float mana for an answer they lose. Being a one of creature off of half a land splash (also used for kessig) doesn't bother me at all.
Gavony Township is a card I'd love to play, I do find myself with leftover mana from time to time and it would allow a smiter to beat a goyf after 1-2 activations. Cons: not as good vs top control.
Dryad Arbor turns Chord into 3 mana get a land, food for thought.
Red splash doesn't seem to be an issue. Taking out the hallowed fountain really improves so many starting hands. That being said, I'm still not set on either gavony or kessig. Kessig just feels better, burstier. Only downside for me is splashing a red land that might make opening hands slightly more awkward. Having said all that, 7 dorks 9 fetches makes mana so smooth.
Round 1 vs Tarmotwin
Game 1 had me path two goyfs and allowed geist + double exalted to get in there for the two turn clock.
Game 2 was nasty, had a board with a hierarch + retreat + fetch to make enough mana to cast chord through spell pierce.
2-0
Round 2 vs UB Mill
Game 1 beats got there
Game 2 mediocre curve -> got milled.
Game 3 beats got there
2-1
Round 3 vs RG Tron
Game 1 T3 combo, sorry
Game 2 he got the perfect curve, couldn't even call my mom to say goodbye and that I loved her
Game 3 was close, abrupt decay on oblivion stone was king here. Chording for fulm would have allowed me to cripple him earlier.
2-1
Round 4 vs Abzan Company
Game 1 T3 combo, sorry
Game 2 he was more efficient and got there
Game 3 I was more efficient and got there
2-1
I was exhausted, I'm sure we both made tons of misplays in the last match-ups, I feel like the combo bailed me out of two very difficult match-ups, which is nice as that's the reason I play this deck. Oops, I win. Arguably very lucky though, seeing as I cut a retreat to make room for abrupt decay.
Today, I did some thinking and noticed I need to switch some of the fetches around if I want to optimize my ability to have BG or WG available T2. Right now a breeding pool in play + a Misty Rainforest in hand leaves me unable to pull the Godless shrine I need.
T1 we want to cast either a dork or a path.
T2 without a dork we want to have WG or BG available, with a dork we have no colour problems, ever, so none of this matters.
T3 we want to have U available so we can cast retreat or geist.
T4 extra W for 3drop + path
T5 extra BG for 3drop + path
Priorities for me are hitting the T1 dork and, in case of no dork, hitting the T2 flexibility of creature or decay. This makes me want to drop a Hallowed Fountain and a Plains for a Forest and a Breeding Pool. They are never the lands we want to see T1 and never the land we want to fetch T2, the only time we need blue is either for Retreat to Coralhelm(2U) or Geist of Saint Traft (1WU) in which hallowed fountain is no better than any other blue land. (Even Meddling Mage out of the sideboard is WU)
Additionally this makes the question of which fetch to run easier, as this turns both Windswept Heath and Verdant Catacombs into fetches that fetch respectively 10/10 and 9/10 of our fetchables. The 9th fetch would be Marsh Flats, optimizing our T2 mana requirement by being able to fetch everything but Breeding Pool.
Other cards of interest that are still up for debate: Courser of Kruphix instead of Scavenging Ooze here but I'm scared this leaves me weak to snapcaster shenanigans and makes the curve too heavy. Fulminator Mage and others in the sideboard. I play chord so I can play silver bullets in the sideboard, yay!
Reading that deck tech made me really want to finally switch over to kessig so I have an excuse to maindeck Magus of the Moon
I dunno, I definitely think discard is stronger glue than dorks though. Playing dark confidant as a way to dig for the combo might not be the worst either. I'll fiddle around with it.
Being able to abrupt decay exarchs (and random combo pieces) and inquisition combo decks brings a lot to the table.
Been thinking about it more and more, I think chord is where we want to be. The fact that it allows us to play with a toolbox sideboard just seems too sweet to pass up. I think this means we have to play dorks and no discard. Abrupt decay seems so good though.
I use it as a 1-of in my UW Midrange deck and it's been very good. People have poo-pooed it a lot, but I haven't found anything better as a 5th removal spell--the number of deceiver exarchs I've reality shifted is very high
I could see Knightfall supporting two because of the lifegain and extreme bear defense. But really what's missing from Knightfall midrange (in my experience) was abrupt decay.
Abrupt Decay sounds so good, wish this deck had access to that card. I'll give Reality Shift a try.
It was the first time I tried the deck and i went 3-1 (for the 4th place).
I'll need to fine tune my play cause when i have combo in hand, I always want
to combo but it's not always the wisest thing to do. Another thing i've seen is
that the deck is not that easy to play. Sometimes there's a lot of hard decisions
to take but it can be really rewarding.
1st round (agaisn't a kid with a Junk ghostway deck):
Game 1 he gained quite some life with thragtusk and kitchen finks. He killed some of
my guys but he made a lot of mistakes that did hurt him a lot. Game 2, he didn't do much and
i comboed on turn 5 or 6
(1-0)
2nd round (agaisn't affinity):
Game 1, i was almost able to combo for the win, but he topdecked a cranial plating on his vault
skirge and gained 9 life (which brings him to 25 and me to 5). With that low life total i wasn't able
to combo for the kill. Game 2, i drew a S**** ton of land, even scryed 2 to the bottom of my library with
retreat. He killed my with not much resistance.
(1-1)
3rd round (agaisn't a BUG control):
Game 1 I did combo on turn 5 after he tapped out, nothing much to say. Game 2, he made a big misplay by casting
disfigure on my knight on turn 5, but i had a fetch up to bring it up to 3/3. I did combo the turn after.
(2-1)
4th round (agaisnt a grixis control/delver):
I won 2-0 but those games where the funniest game of the night. The games were long and grindy (the 2nd game
ended with like 7 minutes left to the round. Game 1, he tried to cryptic my retreat and my voice of resurgence (counter and bounce)
but in response i bolted my voice to make his Cryptic fizzle. 2 turns later he tried a Brutal explosion to bounce my knight (to stop my
attack) and kill my voice but in response I bolted it to make it fizzle. When it fizzled, he tried to remove my grave with rakdos charm to be safe from lethal
(he was at 10 and i had 2x 4/4 knights and a voice). Rakdos did resolved, he took 7 and i had a bolt in had.
(3-1)
Overall, I wasn't sure about bolt in the deck, after tonight i saw it did a lot of works in many games by destroying creatures. I didn't see geist exept for my
first game of the night (i'm running 2 copies) so I can't say much about him. I was also trying 1 grim lavamancer and i only played it once but it did a lot of work too, but i don't think i would
leave it there. I don't know what else could be put in it's place tough. I'm also not sure about the kessig wolf run, i never used it in any of the games and everytime
I had it, it was pointless since my opponents rarely had more than 1 or 2 creatures that i was able to tap with retreat. The deck was sure fun and people were kind of excited to
see it in action (no one ever played that deck at my LGS) and it did put up good results. Happily i was able to dodge the 2 tron deck or else i would have got anihilated. I don't know
what to think about the deck after tonight, i was playing Abzan company for 3 weeks (and was undefeated). The deck is funny, can kill fast with the combo if you got it but i always
felt abzan company was a better deck. I will surely test it a bit more, but unless i get a good feeling playing the deck, i don't think i will main this deck over abzan.
What is your list? I'm interested to see how you fit the bolt mana in.
Woodland Wanderer seems sweet, it's a card that I admit I had my eyes on before. The only issue is the everlasting problem of 'what do we cut?' The obvious candidate of Loxodon just a beater' Smiter is just so good vs anything, can't be countered, can't be discarded, can't be bolted. I'm hardly ever not happy to see it.
Magus of the Moon hoses some decks so hard, if they don't float mana for an answer they lose. Being a one of creature off of half a land splash (also used for kessig) doesn't bother me at all.
Gavony Township is a card I'd love to play, I do find myself with leftover mana from time to time and it would allow a smiter to beat a goyf after 1-2 activations. Cons: not as good vs top control.
Dryad Arbor turns Chord into 3 mana get a land, food for thought.
Round 1 vs Tarmotwin
Game 1 had me path two goyfs and allowed geist + double exalted to get in there for the two turn clock.
Game 2 was nasty, had a board with a hierarch + retreat + fetch to make enough mana to cast chord through spell pierce.
2-0
Round 2 vs UB Mill
Game 1 beats got there
Game 2 mediocre curve -> got milled.
Game 3 beats got there
2-1
Round 3 vs RG Tron
Game 1 T3 combo, sorry
Game 2 he got the perfect curve, couldn't even call my mom to say goodbye and that I loved her
Game 3 was close, abrupt decay on oblivion stone was king here. Chording for fulm would have allowed me to cripple him earlier.
2-1
Round 4 vs Abzan Company
Game 1 T3 combo, sorry
Game 2 he was more efficient and got there
Game 3 I was more efficient and got there
2-1
I was exhausted, I'm sure we both made tons of misplays in the last match-ups, I feel like the combo bailed me out of two very difficult match-ups, which is nice as that's the reason I play this deck. Oops, I win. Arguably very lucky though, seeing as I cut a retreat to make room for abrupt decay.
Today, I did some thinking and noticed I need to switch some of the fetches around if I want to optimize my ability to have BG or WG available T2. Right now a breeding pool in play + a Misty Rainforest in hand leaves me unable to pull the Godless shrine I need.
T1 we want to cast either a dork or a path.
T2 without a dork we want to have WG or BG available, with a dork we have no colour problems, ever, so none of this matters.
T3 we want to have U available so we can cast retreat or geist.
T4 extra W for 3drop + path
T5 extra BG for 3drop + path
Priorities for me are hitting the T1 dork and, in case of no dork, hitting the T2 flexibility of creature or decay. This makes me want to drop a Hallowed Fountain and a Plains for a Forest and a Breeding Pool. They are never the lands we want to see T1 and never the land we want to fetch T2, the only time we need blue is either for Retreat to Coralhelm(2U) or Geist of Saint Traft (1WU) in which hallowed fountain is no better than any other blue land. (Even Meddling Mage out of the sideboard is WU)
Additionally this makes the question of which fetch to run easier, as this turns both Windswept Heath and Verdant Catacombs into fetches that fetch respectively 10/10 and 9/10 of our fetchables. The 9th fetch would be Marsh Flats, optimizing our T2 mana requirement by being able to fetch everything but Breeding Pool.
Other cards of interest that are still up for debate:
Courser of Kruphix instead of Scavenging Ooze here but I'm scared this leaves me weak to snapcaster shenanigans and makes the curve too heavy.
Fulminator Mage and others in the sideboard. I play chord so I can play silver bullets in the sideboard, yay!
Reading that deck tech made me really want to finally switch over to kessig so I have an excuse to maindeck Magus of the Moon
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Marsh Flats
2 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
1 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Qasali Pridemage
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Loxodon Smiter
1 Eternal Witness
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Magus of the Moon
Support (13)
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Chord of Calling
3 Path to Exile
4 Retreat to Coralhelm
3x Rhox War Monk
3x Aven Mindcensor
2x Burrenton Forge-tender
2x Spellskite
1x Kataki, War's Wage
2x Meddling Mage
1x Magus of the Moon
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Polluted Delta
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Windswept Heath
2x Forest
2x Plains
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Breeding Pool
2x Temple Garden
1x Godless Shrine
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Gavony Township
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Sejiri Steppe
4x Noble Hierarch
3x Birds of Paradise
3x Voice of Resurgence
2x Qasali Pridemage
2x Scavenging ooze
3x Geist of Saint Traft
4x Knight of the Reliquary
3x Loxodon Smiter
1x Eternal Witness
Spells (13)
3x Chord of Calling
3x Abrupt Decay
4x Path to Exile
3x Retreat to Coralhelm
3x Rhox War Monk
3x Aven Mindcensor
2x Burrenton Forge-tender
2x Spellskite
2x Kataki, War's Wage
2x Meddling Mage
1x Vendilion Clique
Been thinking about it more and more, I think chord is where we want to be. The fact that it allows us to play with a toolbox sideboard just seems too sweet to pass up. I think this means we have to play dorks and no discard. Abrupt decay seems so good though.
Can't we make WGbu work?
9 fetch
2 gavony township
1 sejiri steppe
4 basic
7 others
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Birds of Paradise
3 Qasali pridemage
3 Voice of Resurgence
3 Geist of saint traft
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Wilt-Lief Liege
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lingering Souls
4 Retreat to Coralhelm
I need to figure out the manabase but looking on your input as to how far we can stretch the colors.
What is your list? I'm interested to see how you fit the bolt mana in.